A Week in Review

Hello! How was your week? Mine was alright. Would like to hear about it? I’ll tell you (queue music). A Week in Review really should have a theme song.

Saturday
I took last Saturday off at the store! It was wonderful. All day Friday I would think about work the next day, and then remember that I didn’t have to go to work, and it made me so happy. The store is great, but everyone needs a day off every once in a while. I slept in, of course, and then I went to the Wal-Mart for new tires on my car. Not tremendously exciting, but it had to be done. It’s amazing how much better a car feels with new tires.

Saturday was the day before Sierra left for school, so I went to lunch with them and then told her goodbye, but before that I wanted to get her something for her apartment. She had told me about table lamp that she saw at Target with “these black dangly things on it”, so I went in search at my local Target store. I found the lamp, and it was pretty much awesome, so much so that I giggled, and then called Marla to tell her about it. I wish I had a picture. Marla wanted to see it, and she wanted Skittles, so I went over there, she admired the black, dangly lamp, and I kissed William several hundred times. He’s so cute.

I met Sierra and family at Fuddruckers for some bacon cheeseburgers and fun. They really have good food. Everyone was in fine form, just acting normal really. Barry and Melody aren’t the sloppy emotional type. They love their kids, but they don’t gush or get dramatic about things. I for some weeks was in danger of getting too dramatic about Sierra going, and probably did a few times, but in the end we did well enough. After lunch we went to my car, I gave her a giant bright pink gift bag, she looked inside and said, “It’s the sequin lamp!” and then we hugged. I hugged the other girls too, gave Sierra one last squeeze, told her to have fun, and we left. Not even a tear. Pretty good huh? I’ve been following her on Facebook since (hooray for Facebook), and she seems to be having a good time. All is well with the Sivertsons.

Labor Day
Monday I went to Bear Lake! The last time I saw Bear Lake was before my mission, years and years ago. Gosh it’s pretty up there. Cheryl and her husband, Dr. Don Doty, have a home in the mountains about 15 minutes away from the lake, and they invited me to come spend the day. Another coworker, Ed, also has a home up there, so I saw both, and they are beautiful places. Cheryl took me driving around on the Rhino, which is something like a cross between a four-wheeler and a golf cart with some extra guts to get it over mountain roads. We drove all over their property, and she pointed out different points of interest, and we saw lots of cattle, and she told me about the cattle getting out of their fences and into people’s yards, and they’ve had to chase the cattle. The Dotys are not country folk, they’ve been townies all their lives, but they really have taken to this ranch. Don cuts down dead trees and cuts up firewood. He and Cheryl have built and repaired fences. They’ve chased cattle! It’s really impressive. And they love it. I can see why. It’s so quiet there; the air is fresh, and the scenery is gorgeous. It was a really fun day.

On the way home I stopped at a little shack for a raspberry shake. EVERYONE who knew that I was going to Bear Lake told me that I had to have a shake, so I made sure to get one. It was very delicious. But I do not recommend eating one and driving a car. You know how thick shakes go up above the rim of the cup. The ice cream above this cup was about the same size as the cup, and I couldn’t eat it fast enough, and it melted, and soon I was wearing a lot of it. So sticky. I stopped in a little town called Randolph to wash my hands and clothes. Was the shake good enough to be worth the mess? Yeah, I think so.

Harry Potter
Remember that I was reading The Alchemist by that Brazilian writer? It didn’t do much for me. It’s a good book, one of those inspiring follow your dreams kind, but I don’t think that I was in the right mood. So I skimmed through to the end, and then decided to start 1984 by George Orwell. I’m sure you’ve all heard of it. That is not an inspiring story. In fact it’s very disturbing and really quite terrifying. I read before going to sleep, and was turning off the lights every night feeling very unsettled. I decided that I really wasn’t in the mood for that either. It’s a classic, so I should read it, but maybe some other time.

What am I in the mood for? A little Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. After seeing the latest movie I’ve wanted to read number seven again because there’s so much that I’ve forgotten. I’ve read each book only once, and it seems like a long time ago now. But, the sixth movie left out quite a bit of the book, which they usually do, so decided to read number six again before number seven. I’m really enjoying it! JK Rowling is great. What a fantastic story. This series is worth all of the hype it’s gotten. I look forward to reading every night, and I love that. I love having a book that I’m excited to get back to. I’ll read number seven next.

Well, I think that’s it for today. Thanks, as always, for your continued excellence.
You are loved.