europe in a very small nutshell

siena, italy - in a tie for first for my favorite city

so I went to Europe which was so amazing. I loved it. a lot. I plan on giving more details later, I can just never find enough time. here is where we went: Spain - Barcelona and Pamplona; France - Nice; Monaco; Italy - Cinque Terre, Siena, Pisa, Florence, Rome.

I went with these people
moving left to right - tori, me, kira, becca, kelsey; tommy, devereaux, nate, devin.
when we started only devereaux knew everyone, but it was was a great group and we had a great adventure touring through Europe!

the details

So I said I'd provide more detail, but there still won't be a lot. so here are some things that have been very good lately

1. I finished the St. George triathlon - I finished in 2 hours 2 minutes, slower than I expected, however, I underestimated the swim. Oh my gosh, was it hard! I thought I was going to die in that water and then I remembered I could back stroke and things got better. I did get passed by the next wave of swimmers, but hey, I made it alive. My bike went well even if I had only ridden once to train and my run was the best I've run a 5K. And now, of course, I want to do more and train a little better

2. my good friend Michael got married and I got to see lots of friends at the wedding events. it just so happens the wedding was the same weekend as the triathlon. I met Michael and his roommates at King Henry years ago and we became fast friends and have all stayed friends. Everyone has gotten married, moved away, and started having kids (go me, someone has to be the fun single one!) so Michael's wedding was a great chance to catch up and see so many old friends. it was such a fun weekend! and Michael found himself a great girl.

3. I booked my ticket to Europe - that's right. I'm going to Europe! I leave on Saturday. I was so happy when my friend Devereaux called me with the invite to Europe and it didn't take long for me to give a definite "Yes!" We'll be going to Barcelona, Pamplona, Nice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome and a few others between. I've never left the country so this is a big deal for me. I'll do my best to take pictures so you can all be a little jealous upon my return :)

I've been absent. . .

. . . it's not like I blog and blog and blog, but I feel like I've taken a longer vacation from blog world than normal. I haven't even read a blog for about a month, which in blog world is probably like decades. a few reasons I haven't blogged, is nothing has really happened until this past weekend. all I've done is work, relief society stuff (ok that's new-ish, say hello to a new and completely overwhelmed relief society president), workout and train for the SGTri, work some more, and the most random odd-end stuff. I've been so busy, I haven't even been shopping for like a month (unheard of) - at the mall or online -what is wrong with me?! (my bank account doesn't mind the change though). so, you may ask, what happened this weekend that might be blog worthy? let me make you a list and then explain later because time is short.

1. I finished the St. George triathlon
2. my good friend Michael got married and I got to see lots of friends at the wedding events
3. I booked my ticket to Europe

those are all very good things for me, but you'll just have to wait until later for more details.

today's dinner prayer

today I was asked to say the dinner prayer

me: . . .thankful for the messages we heard during conference, please help us use them to become better. . .(random smoker's cough)
annie: giggle, giggle, giggle
mom: giggle, giggle
me: uncontrollable laughter (i'm laughing just writing this, you probably had to be there)
more uncontrollable laughter from all as I'm trying every method I know to stop laughing
dad: please bless kristen to mature and be able to say a prayer, bless the food. . .amen.

more uncontrollable laughter, a few tears, and lots of eye-rolling from dad
annie: so much for becoming better. . .

I sure hope Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. some days you just have to laugh

numbers from the pulpit

today I announced some upcoming activities at the beginning of our ward meeting and I took my trusty co-chair with me for a little help on some details. he began by announcing the women's hockey game we will be attending to support two girls in the ward and ended with, "oh, and I need to get your numbers. . ."

I hear two quick whispers from behind me: "smooth", "there's one way to get phone numbers"

I take over, "well, that's a smooth way to get some phone numbers . . ." and on with the next activity through the laughter.


apparently, he was talking jersey numbers; it was still a good laugh for the rest of us

not appreciated

the other night I joined my parents for dinner at Chili's. as we are standing in the not-so-well designed Chili's waiting area, in walks young family of mom, dad, and 2 rambunctious kids. out of no where, mom pulls out a freshly changed diaper and starts waving it around as if she's a flag girl on parade and asks the hostess to throw it away. really?!!!

mortified hostess declines and quickly directs her to the bathroom where things like that are generally disposed. mom takes one more wave through half the crowd, tells dad good luck with the kids, and finally takes off in the right direction.

I'm pretty sure my jaw was dropped in disgust followed by lady next to me exclaiming, "really, you're just going to wave that around in here?" it obviously wasn't appreciated as an accompaniment to our dining experience.

Jade Baby

this is our new puppy Jade.

she is a Shorkie. she is adorable.

kristen's dating advice

today we discussed dating in our sunday meetings and kristen was reminded of her dating soap-box so here you are - kristen's dating do's and don't's

- call a girl to ask her out. none of this texting stuff. none of this call once or twice and then text all the details. just man up and call.

- if you do have a chance to ask her in person, don't ask her out in a very public situation - we don't like being put on the spot like that

- first dates are for getting-to-know-you questions, not first phone calls. keep the first call short and sweet, it keeps her interested.

- be a man. make a decision. make a plan for the evening. we want to know that you can come up with a plan for an evening out not just be a pleaser. asking, "what do you want to do now?" never puts you on track for a second date. with meals, chose a restaurant and go there. we don't want to make that decision for you; we don't know how much you want to spend, and again, we want to see your decision-making skills. if you're really worried about a restaurant you have some options 1) ask her what kind of food she likes when you CALL her to ask her out 2) provide her with two or three options (we still don't like making that decision, but at least you're giving some parameters).

- give her an idea of the activity you have planned. i know you don't want to give away the surprise, but we just want to know what to wear. a lot of thought goes into that first date outfit and we'd hate to show up in a skirt to go ice-blocking.

- be a gentleman. open her door, let her order first. don't call her dude. chivalry is not dead.

- don't make the date last all night long. we don't need you to keep us out for 6 hours to impress us. I've had some 2 hours dates that are a heck of a lot better than the marathon dates. I'd save the marathon dates until you know she's into you. once we like you, spending all that time together is not so bad. however, it can be a nightmare (for you too) if we know we're never going out with you again.

- walk her to her door at the end of the evening. even if you're never going to go out again, be a gentleman.

- don't text her too much (if at all) between the first few dates - again, it takes away from the mystery

- just be yourself, we can usually see through the act

- if you do get turned down (it happens) don't act totally dejected about it and make spiteful comments - if there was a possibility for a second chance you just lost it. take it graciously.


now, there are exceptions to be made, however, I wouldn't bet on getting one of them.