CHIPOTLE!

In celebration of school ending and me going to Honduras, I decided that today I should go to Bountiful and eat at CHIPOTLE. It's about time we get one in Utah. I thought it would never happen, and now my dreams have come true. It's really funny how in Utah driving from Provo to Bountiful seems really far away, but in California we drive for an hour all the time just for fun! I'm sure if I were to tell anyone where we drove today they would think it was really rediculous. Robyn got lucky and called me while I was there, so I brought her a burrito back!
We tried taking a self-portrait several times, and finally some guys came up and offered to take the picture for us! And so there we are!

Before and After...

Here by popular request...

I don't think I looked like a beaver at all...also, notice the wounds left behind where I used to have eyebrows.

Why did I do that?

Audrey took this picture...don't know what I'm doing, but there's a close-up of it later on in the blog...it shows my eyebrows nicely, if you know what I mean...and you soon will.

I spent most of today getting ready for my trip to Honduras! I'm really excited to go, but a little nervous, 'cause we'll be going places we've never gone before. I leave Salt Lake City at 6:05 am on Tuesday, May 1. From SLC we fly to Dallas and then Miami and then San Pedro Sula, Honduras. From San Pedro we'll drive about an hour to the east to a small village outside of Tela called Tornabe. Our hotel or house or whatever it is I reserved today is right on the beach, walking distance from our rooms to the waters of the Caribbean. We'll be in Tornabe and Tela Tuesday after we arrive, all day Wednesday, and we'll leave Tornabe and Tela on Thursday to drive down to the ancient Mayan ruins of Copan. I'm WAY excited. We'll then spend all day Friday in Copan, and Saturday we'll drive down to Tegucigalpa, where we'll spend the rest of our time visiting with old friends and girls that wish we would marry them (don't worry, dad, I won't come home engaged...I PROMISE). PS, I keep on talking about "we" and "us." I'm going with Dallin Bundy from St. George and Jordan Schefer from Florida/Farmington, UT. Here are some pics of them.

Dallin jumping through an "O" at Disneyland.

Jordan counting money at his club.


Anyway, as I got ready for Honduras I got to thinking about how hot it's going to be down there, and decided I should get a hair cut. I went to the JC Penney Salon (as I probably will for the rest of my life now that it's been so many years) and got an immediate appointment. I got my hair cut by the same girl that did it last time I went (Marcy or Marcey or Marci or Marcie...) and as I sat down to get my hair washed, she gave me a good stare and then asked me if I'd ever gotten waxed before. I didn't really know what she meant at first and I struggled to find an answer. Finally, I asked, "My eyebrows?" I could tell she was staring at them after a few seconds (that seemed like an eternity). She said, "Yeah!" And I said, "NO!"

After that awkwardness, we went back over to my chair, she cut my hair, we made small talk about whether or not she had found the diamond that had fallen out of her ring the last time I'd seen her, etc. When she was done, she told me to follow her, and I thought she was taking me to rinse my hair out again. We went to a different sink, however, and she proceeded to WAX MY EYEBROWS. I guess I kind of let her do it, 'cause I'm always game for trying new things at least once (cow stomach, manicures, octopus, etc.). Anyway, after she finished with my eyebrows she told me my eyes were going to be a little pink for a few hours, but that it would go away. I stood up and realized that my eyes were watery and puffy. She rinsed out my hair, then I went and sat down and saw what she had done...I looked like I'd not only cried my eyes out, but that I'd done it after getting KO'd in a boxing match or something. I thought it was pretty bad. She styled my hair in the typical hairstylist fashion, I went and paid, where I realized that everyone was paying more attention than normal to my eyes (or eyebrows). Luckily I had my sunglasses with me to make a quick escape.


After I got my hair cut, I went and met up with my roommate from my freshman year, Chris Jones. He needed some help moving out from his apartment, so I helped him, pink eyebrows and all. I told him what had happened and we laughed. While he was bringing down some boxes, I saw a girl I work with, and the first thing out of her mouth was, "What happened to your eyes."


I said, "I don't know," and she said, "Oh, well maybe you got sunburned." Luckily the puffiness went down before I went to work tonight...


Here are some before and after pictures of my eyebrows. The lady that cut my hair said in admiration of her work, "There, now you don't look so much like a beaver." Couldn't she have compared me to a more charming animal?

BEFORE.


Me hiding my puffiness behind my new glasses. I decided I wanted some cheap glasses to take to Hondo with me (just in case they get stolen), so I bought these ones. They covered up the puffiness perfectly.

AFTER. The finished masterpiece! In the words of Chris Jones (the least sarcastic person I know...the only person more sarcastic than Chris is David Dorius), "Those are some nicely sculpted eyebrows."

Randomness

Okay, so the previous post was acting a little strange, so I'm starting a new one. Read the one just before this one before reading this one.

Marianne's brother lives here, and no matter what the temperature, I always roll down her window and yell, "Hi Eric." She started it, but I have made it a tradition.

On 200 East between 400 and 500 North, there is this stupid, giant banana. We always drive by, make sure our windows are down, and say, "Stupid banana."

I was over at their apartment the other day, and decided I need to stretch my lower back, and this was the only stretch that would do it for me... This picture, however, was taken in the JRCB (Law Building). I guess I feel like I kinda own the place, since I am a descendent of the namesake... JK.

On my mission, Elder Larson and I would always mimic bucks (deer) when they fight. I've brought that one back with me, and occasionally have been known to buck Audrey or Marianne or a number of other people.

In December I decided to switch to US Bank. Apparently, Tennessee is the only place in the world where Wells Fargo is not. As a general rule of conduct, I always try to avoid as much human contact with bank employees as is possible, sticking with ATMs, internet banking, and phone calls to automated banking voices. For example: When someone has accumulated a lot of coins, he or she usually goes to the bank or to the Coinstar machine. I, however, go to the ATM. I get as many envelopes as I need (filling them with about $2.00 in coins), and deposit them one at a time. Wells Fargo never had a problem (or at least has never called me on it) with me depositing coins in their ATMs, but one Friday I deposited an envelope in the US Bank ATM, and the next Monday morning I got a phone call from a very upset bank official telling me that because of me their ATM had been clogged all weekend thanks to my envelope full of coins. Luckily, since I didn't recognize the number, I didn't answer the phone, and she had to leave me a message, allowing me to even avoid human contact with the bank when I'm in trouble.

As of late, we have become expert elevator jumpers, and it is just assumed that when in an elevator, you jump. We have been caught with all the buttons pushed in the JFSB at least twice, and we always use the secret elevator in the library to avoid suspition. We've decided that jumping is the best when your eyes are closed. When you're going down, your stomach totally turns inside out.

In January I went with a group of 11 people to Disneyland. I drove, and had four people in my car the whole trip. One of those people was my friend Dallin from St. George that we picked up on the way down. The other two (excluding Christine who had the front seat 'til Dallin kicked her out) were Audrey and Marianne. Since the day we got home from the big trip, I think I've spent most of my free time with either Marianne or Audrey, and usually both. All three of us like to spend a lot of time in the library, so we knew our friendship was meant to be. I would like to spend this blog talking about the stupid things we three (Audrey, Marianne, and I) do to entertain ourselves. I haven't taken the pictures yet, but plan on doing so RIGHT NOW. So...I'll be back.

I'm in my favorite place in the world (the BYU Library) reading everyones' blogs and noticed that some of you if not all of you (except for Ashley) have no idea who Sidney Poitier is (or was). Well, let me tell you.

It's really not that exciting. He was in a movie with Katherine Hepburn called Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Sidney Poitier's character was gonna marry Katherine Hepburn's daughter, or something like that, and it was pretty controversial 'cause it was gonna be an interracial marriage. The plot of the movie revolves around the family getting ready for their special dinner guest. I guess it was a landmark movie or something. Anyway, that's who Sidney Poitier is.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner...

Guess who came to my lunch today...and it's not Sidney Poitier (do any of you even get that?).

I got to work this morning, and one of my co-workers told me that President Hinckley was going to be at our banquet. She then said that Elder Oaks and Elder Scott were also on the guess list. I hurriedly went and got my black shirt and my blue vest (BYU Catering), changed, ran up to the kitchen and asked if it was true. My captain told me it was, and for some reason, two hours before the guests were even going to arrive, I started getting really nervous. I think part of it was that I had just run up three flights of stairs, and the other part was real nervousness. Anyway, it was a banquet for 80 in our presidential room for some guy that donated a lot of money to start a foundation in his wife's name. There were six of us on the banquet (all maitre d's and captains, no wait staff), and we had every manager from BYU Dining Services breathing down our necks as well. It was quite the ordeal. As I was putting the finishing touches on the room before the guests arrived, I took peek at the place cards to see who was coming. President Hinckley had cancelled (due to old age) and for some reason Elder Scott didn't come, but there at the head table was Elder Oaks place card, along with his wife's. Also in attendance were President Samuelson, Bishop Edgley, Susan Tanner, Andrew Skinner, etc. It was fun. After the room had cleared out, I stayed behind while the rest of the crew was down in the dish room. As I made my way around the room, I decided I deserved a memento, and pocketed Elder Oaks' and Bishop Edgley's place cards. I had to be able to prove that I had served them today!

Happy Birthday To Mom...

Just a few unpublished pics to show the many sides of mom...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lindsay's Juice Party

My friend Lindsay and her roommates (especially Audrey) have an obsession with juices. I went to Costco with them once, and they bought four gallons of juice. About a week ago, or maybe a little more, Lindsay found out that Rob, a guy in my ward, is also a big fan of juice, so the two of them together decided to have a juice party.

They did it at the Duck Pond on the south side of campus, served a variety of juices with cheese and crackers. It was pretty fun.

And just for fun, here's another picture of me with my favorite bandana (or headband, as Taylor calls it) and my Mexican Day of the Dead shirt!

Conference Weekend

It's official. I never want to drive to Conference alone again.

On Saturday afternoon at about 1:oo I gave my friend Chris a call asking him if he wanted to go to the Priesthood session of General Conference with me. I didn't have any tickets, but I figured we could go wait in the stand-by line and probably get in. Chris answered his phone, and I asked him if he wanted to go, and he said that he was already going with his dad. I hung up the phone, and then a few minutes later he called back and told me that he had an extra ticket, and that if I wanted to come I could meet them at the Conference Center at 3:30. I then heard his dad in the background saying something along the lines of how he didn't want to stand around waiting for me to show up, so I knew I had to be prompt.

I didn't really know why I had to be at the conference center two and a half hours early since we had tickets, but there wasn't time to ask, so I simply agreed, got ready, and left for Salt Lake. I got there at about 2:00, and the Saturday afternoon session was still...in session. I parked in the ZCMI Center on the sixth floor and headed over to the Conference Center.

As I walked over there, I was imagining a huge line outside with tons of men waiting to get into the Priesthood session. When I got there, I realized that the exact opposite was so. There was no one waiting to get in, and hardly even anyone at all. Worst of all, my friend and his dad weren't there either. They didn't show up for another thirty minutes.

While I waited, people kept on walking up to me, thinking that I was with security or something. They must've felt really stupid when they walked by me only to get stopped by locked doors.

When I finally got to talk to Chris and his dad, they told me how they were California time, thinking that the meeting started at 5:00 and not at 6:00. We all had a good laugh about how empty it was outside the Conference Center.

The meeting itself was great, but on my way home I forgot everything I learned as I fought traffic. It took me 45 minutes to get out of the parking structure and another 15 minutes to get to the freeway. After I got back to Provo, I decided that I did not want to go back to Salt Lake for any Sunday sessions.

I didn't bring my camera with me, so here's a picture of my birthday mocktail party at Fridays.