all things must pass

He lived next door to me my whole life.

His candy cupboard was always stocked with goodies.

When we were little, he would catch us in his legs and sing "You're in the jail house now."

He always talked about people he knew from Wyoming like we, also, knew them.

His knowledge of cowboys and Western novels seemed exponential.

Mainly, one could always find him sitting on his floral-patterned couch, watching tv with the volume turned up too loud.

His family trips to Hawaii were the greatest. Kahana Sunset was the BEST condo in the world, with a heated pool and everything.

He loved to sing and was always letting us in on the latest secrets to enhance vocal quality.

He was my grandpa.

Earlier this semester, I had an assignment for Creative Writing to write a personal essay. I decided to write on some memories of my grandpa. Click here to read it.

I love you, grandpa. Say hello to grandma for me.

what goes on

Every morning is the worst morning of my life when Ariel comes and wakes me up at 6:30 am.

But we feel really good afterwards.

Now we're on our third week.

This man is our personal trainer:

Every day we get one workout closer to a rockin body.

carnival of light

Grandma Myler.

She lived with us when I was younger and I loved having sleepovers with her. Most kids had to travel to get to their grandparent's house, I just had to walk to the next bedroom.

She gave us foot rubs on Christmas Eve and had the strongest hands I've ever felt.

She put salt on her apples because she said it brought out the sweetness. I was intrigued and disgusted by this. I've still never had the guts to try it.

She had a twin sister and as a young girl I was horrified that there was someone who looked exactly like my grandma, but wasn't my grandma.

The only time I've ever watched Little Rascals was with her.

I was mad when she left me to go on a mission, but she sent us letters with puffy stickers that pretty much made up for her being gone.

As she got older, she would always make the joke that us grandkids were growing while she was shrinking.

She was a nurse during WWII and then she went back to school at the age of 63 to refresh her license.

My grandma was so great. Now she's with her parents, twin, husband and daughters. I'm grateful to have had her in my life and I'm happy about where she's at now.

11.5.1925-3.3.2011

I love you.

birthday

We had a few birthdays this month. Four, to be exact. Dad on the 2nd, Weston's actual birth day on the 4th, Mom on the 6th, Rachelle on the 8th. Happy birthday to all. Especially this little one:

Weston Orsak. 9 lbs 1 oz.

20.5 inches long.

I can't wait to meet this little boy.

all my lovin

L is for love.

I love my sweet nephews more than words can describe and this Valentine's day Rachelle sent me some cute pictures of their attempt to spell out the letters LOVE. I loved it.

I love sweet baby Weston. parents who still care about me going to all my classes. phone calls from Conner. facebooking with my sister. three-way phone calls. birthday cards. pasta. learning how to braid. books. netflix. other people's blogs. roommates who do my laundry. veggie chicken nuggets. sunshine. home

An average of seventy-four species become extinct every day, which is one good reason but not the only one to hold someone's hand. The History of Love

Family and friends: all my lovin, I am sending to you. Happy belated Valentine's Day.

christmas time (was here again)

...but first it was Thanksgiving. I was thankful for Lauren because she came to Hawaii to visit me. Jessica was a doll and moved down to the couch for the week. Lauren and I saw the night show at the PCC, walked to the temple and took pictures, toured BYUH campus, spent a day at the beach, watched psych, rode TheBus, went to Ala Moana on black Friday, did some homework, laughed, talked, fought..the usual. Basically it was a dream come true and I loved having her here and showing her my life.

Christmas came and went too too fast.

Rachelle, Trey and Conner spent a few nights in our basement. I spent a few nights up in Lauren's room with her. Christmas with a toddler was incredible. It was getting a little difficult to get all excited about Santa with a house full of adults. I saw White Christmas in Salt Lake, baked cookies, felt Rachelle's stomach, babysat, slept in, made Christmas Eve shirts, opened presents, gave presents, saw all my cousins, spent time with my family, went to a wedding reception, played wii with my parents for hours, watched Christmas movies, and laughed laughed laughed.

My family is the best. Christmas is the best.

Until next year, ho ho ho.

i feel fine.

FREEDOM.

Let's just say that I have seen far more sunrises at the close of this semester than I cared for. I have also worn out my tolerance for propelling a metal contraption with only my legs carrying the weight of myself plus approximately one hundred pounds of books on my back.

I am ecstatic to be going home in mere hours. The sunshine of Hawaii just can't compare with the snow on the ground in Utah during Christmastime.

Mele Kalikimaka.

*Update posts to come.