Wyomin' on my mind...

Last weekend we went to Las Vegas (aka Lost Wages) with Josh and Jenna. My dad was also there for the basketball tournament and we got to spend some time with him. We had a blast.

This is a picture made out of flowers. So beautiful and so temporary.

So I spend about ten hours a week at this desk in the harp room in the Harold B Lee Library working on my bibliography. One day I looked up and the statue of this man (I don't know who it is) was creepily peering over the top of the desk. I got scared and had to turn him the other way before I could resume work.

I turned 24 this week. To celebrate we had some delicious bbq together.

My eyes are closed in this picture but it is the only picture that captured the beautiful birthday cake that Phil created. It was tasty and so adorable of him.

New oboe reed thread! I am a nerd!

My sister Sherisa gave me this beautiful bouquet for my birthday. I love these flowers.

This weekend the BYU Chamber Orchestra went on a mini tour to the cities of Worland and Powell Wyoming. We spent a lot time in the bus, played a couple concerts, went to the Buffalo Bill Museum, got to know the members of the orchestra better, and met some amazing people. This photo of Mandy and I comes from the home of one of the host families we stayed with. They are trappers. We stayed up really late talking with them because they were so friendly and interesting.

This little dude was also in the home.

I loved this painting from the Buffalo Bill Museum.

Trip Around the Wool Blanket

Do I need to add blue squares to this blanket? I can't decide. Little by little I have been cutting out the 225 4"x4" wool felt squares required to make a blanket. Last night I finally laid out all the squares. The directions for the project are found on purlbee. I bought the wool felt for this project almost 2 years ago. It feels good to get this far with the project. Now all I have to do is sew the squares together by hand. No big deal! Phil thinks it will take me all summer. He might be right.

Here are the squares all picked up and organized in 15 different baggies.

Here is Anders, my adorable nephew, showing me where his mouth is. Sage and Tim have taught him well!

:)

Some days are great. Today is one of those days.

Weekends of Positivity

This picture of Josh pretty much sums up President's Day weekend. It rocked. We were invited to our friend's cabin in Idaho. There was at least 4 feet of snow and it snowed the whole time we were there. I cannot even begin to describe how much fun we had. The food was fantastic and the company was even better. I feel lucky to have such incredible and generous friends. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Our band, Flashes of Quincy, recorded a couple songs this weekend.

And then we made bacon wrapped dates to celebrate. Most get-togethers at our house include these tasty morsels.

This chair is my favorite piece of furniture in our house. But there is only one problem: when people sit on it they usually fall off. I bought the chair a couple years ago from Planted Earth in Orem. I tried to remedy the problem by making a new seat for it. The original seat was made of rotting wood and was not sturdy at all. One weekend last fall my mom was in town and she helped me make the seat pictured above. But now we need to figure out a way to attach the seat to the chair because the seat still slides around. The chair was also painted bright yellow when I bought it. Yellow is my favorite color, but I just wanted to try something different so I painted it a color that worked better in out living room. Oh I just love old furniture. I wonder if this chair was functional when it was first made or if it was always consigned to a life of decoration.

Meet my aerogarden. It is so smart. It only needs water and nutrient packets to grow. And light of course. But the light turns on and off all by itself.

Top left: thyme, Top right: dill, Bottom center: basil. I think baby herbs are the cutest plants. Especially basil. I kind of don't want them to grow up.

2 years of love

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Exactly 2 years and 1 day ago I went on a really great date with Mr. Philip Jones Hurst. It was our first date after a 3 year break of not dating each other so I count it as our dating anniversary. After spending a full day together we drove up to the Pearson's cabin and he made me a very romantic dinner pictured below:

This year we recreated the meal. Spaghetti carbonara is not the most photogenic of foods, but it is soooo delicious, there is no arguing about that:

Our kitchen table adorned in a table cloth from my great-grandma-Nona Bingham, who also was the original owner of the table it adorns. The table is on loan to us from my mom. Also adorned by flowers from my sweetheart. And candles we bought in Mexico:

It was a very lovely day. I love Phil. So much.

I have only taken 10 pictures so far in 2011 and here are 4 of them

Here is Christina and Jordan the recently engaged and very happy couple. I am sooooo excited for them! We went up to Park City and ate at that pizza place. Which is actually the only restaurant I have ever been to in Park City. I love how the main focus of this photo is the pizza and how the pizza looks bigger than Christina and Jordan.

Us at that pizza place. The funny thing about this picture is that Phil looks like there are flowers growing out of his head.

Jenna and Josh. You guys can use this one for your wedding announcements if you want. The funniest thing about this picture is the man in the background wearing the striped sweater who took too big of a bite and has pizza sticking out of his mouth.

A couple weekends ago I played an oboe recital and it went really well. I am so relieved to have it over and it is crazy to think that I only have one more recital before I graduate from BYU for the second time. What to do after I graduate is the big debate currently going on in my mind and soul. How am I supposed to make these kind of decisions! This picture was taken at the post-recital celebration dinner.

I am getting my hair cut and colored this week which makes me very excited. Hopefully my bangs which I tried to trim myself and are now very asymmetrical can be saved.

Next weekend will be the first since the beginning of the semester that I have not performed in a concert or recital and we are going to a cabin in Idaho with our besties. I cannot wait for some time away from the HFAC. And for some chances to take some nature photos. I want to learn how to use my lomography cameras better before I go to China this spring. Typing about going to China makes my heart hurt because I am going to miss Phil so much :(

Have a happy Valentines Day! If you are reading this I probably love you!

Graduate Oboe Recital

Thanks Whitney for the great photo!