….like this….

recently i stumbled on a VERY anti-BYU website.  i couldn’t help but read through some of the blogs.

most made me feel uncomfortable because of the anti-Mormon things that were being posted.  some were funny.  some were just plain ridiculous.

but i found this jem of a shirt, and had to share it with all of you.

i love my school.  i think that it is great that i get to open my classes with a prayer (i know this sounds crazy to most of you). and i love knowing that i am learning in an environment where the spirit can be present to help me learn and know what is true.

BUT i totally agree with this shirt.  sometimes i feel like the people that are around me in provo are zombies and don’t really have a mind of their own.

even though i just went on and on about being lonely without him, i AM excited to have some time to finally work on some projects that i’ve been wanting to complete.  also, it will give me more time to train, which is something that has been lagging behind in my life lately.

so maybe this will actually be a good thing…..

i haven’t thought much about it, until last night at the Brammer sunday dinner where my mother-in-law showed obvious concern about when chase & i would be seeing each other this next year.

and when i started thinking about it, i got sad.

now that chase is accepted into his  program AND contracted to work 30 hours a week for rain AND working on a bunch of side projects that need finishing up, he is going to be very busy.

and by busy i mean:

working from 6-12

classes from 12-6

GMAT study/group projects from 6-9:30

fall asleep 9:45

and this is an everday schedule for the next 9 months.  looks like i’m about to have a lot of alone time that will need to be filled.  if anyone wants to be my friend, let me know.  i will be here.  that’s a guarantee.

(jeez, i’m gonna miss this guy)

i have been a terrible person.  i never bring my camera along on events that deserve documentation.  luckily i am blessed with a great sister in law who makes up for it.  and since i now have a few pictures, i think it’s time to blog about the trips that chase & i took this summer…

first was our brammer family vacation to the brammers condo in st. george.  we headed down on wednesday night and were hooked up with a rockin condo that was so luxurious.  the next day everyone else made it down and we spent the long weekend with the kiddos in the pool, shopping, boating and eating some good food.  oh and lets not forget some great conversation, where we learned a great deal about our grandpa brammer. 

the condo we stayed at

the pool at our condo

the lake that we spent the day boating at

from there we set out on a smith family reunion which is held annually in laguna beach, california.  we rented a couple of beach cruisers (which was the best idea ever!), went on some fun runs around orange county, hung out at the beach, went to an angels game and did some baptisms at the newport temple.

this is the private beach that we stay at

us in the stands at the angels' game

the beautiful newport temple

on the last day, we were graced by the brady and nicki family came to emerald bay to hang out and go to dinner.  here are some pictures that nicki sent me….

….seem to always go a little something like this….

chase and i are on our way back from lunch today and i start telling him how i think i have endometriosis.  i tell him about the symptoms that i think apply to me and he says,

“linds, you don’t have endomysosis.”

“it’s called endometriosis but thanks anyways.  how come you can’t even remember what the name of your wife’s disorder is?”

“because all i need to remember is the name of your real disorder…”

“you better not be thinking something that starts with an h!”

and he breaks down laughing because he thinks it’s so funny to tease me about being a hypochondriac.

thanks mom, for telling him about that.  you rock.

not really.

yay!  i never thought the day would come that some of my favorite friends would pack up their cache valley ways and move on down here by me.  (there seems to be some serious stereotypes of ‘happy valley’ residents up there, sheesh).

but my longtime friend, well basically brother, Jordan and his extremely beautiful wife, Jill have made the jump down here which means a whole lot of sarcasm and jokes are about to be heard.  here they are in their engagement glory…

and chris and jenn maddern are here now.  i think they’ve been living in salt lake, but now they are in orem which makes dinner/date nights way more feasible.

i’m pretty sure that these guys and their wives have been down here for a bit, but my mind is barely catching up to reality.  i’m real excited to meet jill and get to know her better and i can’t wait to see jenn again.  we danced together at Tueller’s all growing up and it will be fun to catch up with them.  hopefully we will be able to figure out a dinner soon, because i can’t wait to show them all of the things that i love about utah county.

…and just because i feel left out here’s an engagement of chase and i.  all together us three couples make for a good looking group, eh?

as i was blogstalking today i ran across one of my favorite friends, lindsey (petersen) hannay, and saw that she had run a marathon!  the park city marathon to be exact.

it reminded me that Chase and i once dreamed of running marathons.  in fact we are entered for 2 that happen in the next month or so.  we trained and trained and trained and trained and then i got swine flu and Chase got runner’s knee and our training went down the drain.

but after being inspired by the hannays and their spur-of-the-moment marathon run, i have decided to kick my training in the butt for the next few weeks and accomplish my goal of running a marathon under 4 hours.

if anyone feels the need to cheer me on, look for me at these two marathons.

(st. george & top of utah)

….is ruining my life!

and the crappy thing is that i love it.  he is taking up all of my time and i’m getting nothing done during the day.

every free second i have goes towards reading his stupid (but incredibly romantic) books.  poor husband.

i have read numerous Nicholas Sparks books in the past  (A Walk To Remember, The Notebook, Nights In Rodanthe, Message In A Bottle, etc.)

and for some reason i purchased the rest of his books.  i’m hoping to read them by the end of september, but we’ll see.  at the rate i’m going, i will probably have them finished up by next week!

in the past 2 days i have read the following:

The Lucky One

which is about a soldier who finds a picture of a beautiful woman while serving in Iraq.  he ends up believing the picture is his good luck charm during war and sets out to find the woman when he leaves the army.

they fall in love, blah blah blah, there’s tragedy (what nicholas sparks book doesn’t have that?) and then they fall back in love, blah blah blah.  but it’s so ridiculously sappy and lovey that it hooks you.  i read it in 1 day.

and the next day i started

Dear John

a story about a soldier, who is home on leave, and a college girl on vacation in his hometown.  in the course of THREE days, they not only meet and date, but exchange vows of undying and eternal love.  gag.  why do i read these stories?  they are so not believable.  i can’t help it though.

he goes back to war and she writes him for 2 years.  3 days of dating=2 years of writing?  call me crazy but…..

then there’s some more tragedy and then happiness at the end.

don’t get me wrong, i LIVE for these books sometimes, but i never actually believe that love is anything like that.

however, i DO recommend these books for any girl who wants to fall in love with love all over again. 

(oooh and just so you know, Dear John will be made into a movie with the scrumptious Channing Tatum in 2010.  get excited!)  it seems that all of his books are getting turned into movies.  go Nicholas!

the next book is currently sitting on my desk practically begging me to open it.

i am trying to resist as i really should take care of things in the offce first, but my self-restraint can only last so long…

i’ll let you know how it goes.

for family night, we saw this…..

i had been told really great things about it, and was prepared to sob during the whole thing.  i did.

i absolutely loved the storyline, but was disappointed with the ending.  no spoilers here, but come on!  if a movie is going to make me cry during the whole thing, it had better have a happy ending.

oh well.  we can’t everything in life, right?!

What we can have is some incredibly handsome/sexy Eric Bana and the equally adorable Rachel McAdams share the scene for a glorious 2 hours.  Take a look…

(i’ve even had the privelage of being told that i look like Rachel McAdams.  my life is complete.)