Ready for a change...

I already know what I'm going to do, so this isn't really a poll to get your opinions or anything. At least, I don't think that's why I'm posting this...

Anyway, through the past couple of years, I have had some fun with my hair. It took me a while to summon the courage to chop my hair off (almost completely!) just over 2 years ago. The girl who cut it kinda botched it, and so my sister-in-law Abby introduced me to Lindsay Smith, who salvaged the damage as much as she could. And I liked my hair. I kept going back to Brigham City to have her freshen the cut. Then 6 months after the initial chop (we're talkin' Dec 2006) I decided to grow it out. I knew that doing such a thing would be awkward, but I was ready for...more hair on my head, I suppose.

Nov. 2006, shortly after a cut.
(Kind of blurry, but you get the idea)
Me, Tracie and Brooke...

Here are some pictures of that awful process (of growing out my hair)...

Me and Brent in Jan '07,
right before he left for his mission.

I think this was taken in February '07.
I actually really like my hair in this picture...

Softball Season 2007

Me and Sethington, 07/07/07

Somewhere in Sept/Oct '07 the first time I dyed my hair...

Christmas '07

Me and Seth, March '08
You can't see it well, but you get the idea that it's growing!

End o'May 2008

07/11/08
Tracie and me at Missy and Briant's wedding...
(Please do what you can to ignore the startlingly white legs!)

Some days it looks really cute, and I've been getting compliments on it a lot lately. Longer is probably better. And don't worry, I'm not gonna butch it again. Somewhere in between short-short and how long it is now. Obviously. -I'm going to Brigham next weekend to have Lindsay do her magic. (By the by, she moved away to Vegas for most of my "growing my hair out" experience...but she's back now! I LOVE her and I'm excited to let her do her magic on my hair once again!) I'm thinking a messy bob cut. I haven't found a picture of what I want it to look like, but that's probably because I'm not sure how I want it to look.

Basically, alls I have to do is tell Lindsay, "Messy bob," and she makes it work. I love Lindsay...

Four (4) Things:

I was tagged by my cute lil friend Hillary. Here goes...

*4 RANDOM THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY HUSBAND *
-I can't answer this question, as I don't have a husband...

*4 JOBS I HAVE HAD*
-Front Desk-er at a couple of hotels (namely Grande Denali Lodge and Crystal Inn)
-Caterer at Traditions Catering at BYU-Idaho (this one was FUN!)
-Various jobs at the Hub food court at Utah State University
-Speech-Language Pathologist

*4 MOVIES I'VE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE*
-Dumb and Dumber
-Phantom of the Opera
-Sense and Sensibility
-The Labyrinth

*4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED*
-Brigham City, UT
-Denali, AK
-Logan, UT
-Idaho Falls, ID

*4 TV SHOWS I HAVE WATCHED*
-House
-The Office
-That 70s Show
-3rd Rock From the Sun

*4 PLACES I HAVE BEEN*
-SCOTLAND!!!
-London!!!
-Vancouver, BC
-Alaska

*4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY*
-Brent
-Momma
-Bunny
-Hillary?

*4 FAVORITE FOODS*
-Hawaiian pizza
-Mexican food! (Especially fajitas and flautas!)
-Pulled Pork!!!!!!!!!!
-Fresh veggies

*4 PLACES I'D LIKE TO VISIT*
-Greece
-Boston
-Hawaii
-Brazil

*4 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS COMING YEAR*
-the Orgill family reunion in September. (Yep, I really am looking forward to a fam. reunion!)
-Vance and Abby's house being finished so they can move in!
-Any time I get to see my family and play with my nephews.
-Chillin' with Janell in October and watching a play at the Tuacahn!

*4 PEOPLE I TAG*
-Julia
-the latter half of patmie
-Malissa
-Rachael

Wax On, Wax Off!

Let it be known throughout the land: Waxing a car (by oneself!) is, in my official opinion, grunt work. For real. I had myself a slew of cancellations today (meaning my clients canceled for various reasons), so I decided to do something productive with my time off. I washed and waxed my car. All by myself.

I rather enjoy washing my car, honestly. I don't always do a dynamite job, but I do well enough to get rid of all those water marks and bird poos. Well today, since I had the time, I thought I'd go the extra mile. So I purchased some Turtle Wax, turned on some tunes, and set to work...

I'm not quite sure how long it took me, but it took a long time. I was out in the sunny heat for quite a while! And I'm almost embarrassed at how tired it made me! I've decided that I will never do that job by myself again! "I have counted to three." (If anyone can figure out which movie that quote came from, that'd just make my day.)

Anyway, here're some pictures of my hard work. I should've taken a picture of the way my car looked before because my car was sick! And I know that nobody will appreciate my hard work quite like I will. AND, I was only going to post one picture...but I worked hard enough that I wanted to show it from different angles. Admire my hard work!

What an attractive car...

"Ooo, Gina! Your car looks delicious!"

Victory is Sweet

Actually, it tastes more like steak...

Because it's next to impossible for me to be short and concise with my personal narratives, I'll be giving you the whole story. (Get comfortable.)

3 months ago (back in the days when I was still in the IF 1st branch), we did a pinewood derby for FHE. Our branch is divided into "families" who ended up being our teams for the aforementioned race. When it came time to actually making the cars, it was me and Josh vs. Brooke and Matt. (There were other teams as well.) Anyhoo...Josh and Matt are roommates, and Brooke and I are roommates, so a little competition ensued.

I'm not gonna lie to you-I have no idea what I'm doing with tools, and making a derby car ain't exactly up my alley, if you catch my drift. But Josh and I got to work and laughed until we cried. (At one very low point, our car resembled a woman's slipper. We did what we could to fix it...)

Josh made the mistake of showing Matthew our "car" and then Matt told Brooke something along the lines of, "I don't care if we lose to everyone else, but we can't lose to Gina and Josh." How's that supposed to make me feel when Brooke passed along that information? (Of course she's gonna tell me what he said; Brooke likes a good competition as much as the next person!)

And so a bet was laid on the table: the losers would provide the winners with dinner and dessert.

So...the long-awaited day arrived, and I was nothing but nerves. Typically I'm NOT a betting gal; and if, by chance, I'm goaded into taking a bet, you better believe I don't accept unless I know I'm going to WIN! -Such was not the case this time...I had NO CLUE how this bet was going to play out.

Our...ah...creations.
Purple team=Josh and Gina
Red team=Brooke and Matt

Truth be told, neither car was goin' real fast. Both cars were in the "losers" bracket. And then...it was time. We set our cars on the track and let loose.

Now this isn't just to make the story better; our cars really were neck and neck, up until the very end. (Which took a while, because our cars were NOT fast.) Red car pulled ahead. And then at the last possible second, purple car won! It's true!

We did best of 3. I think. We switched lanes and did at least one more race, of that I'm certain. All I know for sure is that Josh and I WON!

The victor: Joshua!
Oh yeah, we won a bag of chocolate kisses too.
Not sure what happened to them...

And now (3 MONTHS LATER) Brooke and Matt have finally paid up. Matthew grilled us some delish steaks, and Brookey made her tasty homemade steak fries.

Yummy, yummy!
This steak is Josh's. He likes his steaks to bleed...

I like to win!

a CONGLOMERATION of pix...

That's right, I said CONGLOMERATION. A conglomeration of pictures. Of stuff I've been up to but haven't posted. Until NOW. Here goes:

Fall Creek
(28 June)

The waterfall felt more powerful this time than it did last May. What fun!

Chris, holding up the sky. Almost...

The falls...

Our group...
Kelly, Tara, Brooke, Gina, Chris & Lisa

Tara and me jumping in.
The water was so cold!

Don't we look so cute?!
It was hard keeping our eyes open.

Independence Day: Brigham City Style!
(4-5 July. Duh...)

This was a lazy weekend spent relaxing with the fam. I brought Brookey along with me. We spent most of our time in B-to-the-righam, but headed to Centerville with my folks to say hello to Aaron and Amy (and, of course, to squish Jackson and Seth). We ate some tasty food, visited, read, napped. Not much, but not bad!

Jackson getting loves from gramma and grampa!

Sethington playing with my phone...

Me and Dad (who is sporting his one and only USU hat.
He typically wears BYU. Silly man...)

My folks. I heart them so!

Me and Brookey, waiting for the show to start!

Some of the fireworks...

Not bad, eh?
(PS I know it says 5July08, but it's really the 4th.
I think my camera time is set a couple hours ahead...)

I give you...Mr. and Mrs. Giles!!!
(11 July)

Missy-kins and Briant were married this past Friday in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a lovely ceremony, and a lovely reception. Cheers!

The happy couple!

Me & Missy
(I was her Maid of Honor!)

4 perdy girls outside the Temple, waiting for the newlyweds...

Awww! Look how happy they are!

This is me at the end of the day. After I got beautified by Brookey
(who did my hair all up and perdy with hundreds of bobby pins).
I changed out of my formal dress and let my hair down.
But it stayed up. Somehow...
I'm really happier than I look in the picture!
I just had a headache from all those bobby pins!

Let's Make it AWKWARD!
(FHE: 14 July)

That's the name of the game, my friends! Here are the rules:

*Start with one person in the middle of a group of people, all of whom are sitting on chairs. We'll call this person "it." "It" is also holding a ball in one hand.
*"It" calls on a seated person who comes to the middle of the circle and manipulates "its" body however he or she so desires. Person 2 holds hand with "it" and calls on another person.
*Person 3 manipulates #2's body, and the game goes on and on and on...
*...and on. Until "it" drops the ball...at which point everyone scatters--runs to an open seat. The person left standing is the next "it."

Do you get it? This game is fun! We played a few times, and each game we got braver with how we manipulated the person ahead of us. It got awkward. (That's the name of the game, after all...) I'm super glad someone had a camera!

Here are a few awkard shots...

Yep, it was awkward.

What a mess!

Pretty sure Willie's head does not belong there!

Can you see Willie's face among all those feet?

Awkward?

My hip felt like it was out of joint...
it's even less comfortable than it looks!

Ironic...

Which Fruit Are You?


I'm Banana
You are a softie! Loving, gentle, warm and sympathetic by nature is the banana lover.

You often lack in self-confidence and are quite timid by nature.

People often take advantage of your sweet temperedness, and sheer vulnerability to a situation.

You adore your partner both for their mental and physical beauty!

Your relationship is always in harmony!

I took this little quiz, just for fun, on facebook. I was curious what the answer would be. What are the odds that I'd be a banana?! I wasn't prepared!

Talk about ironic...

This one's for you, Pops...

I somehow forgot to do a little tribute to my Poppa Bear on Father's Day. That was unintentional, of course. It doesn't mean I don't love the man.

Because I do love him. A lot!

Today is my Old Man's birthday. I won't tell you how old he is, but know this: he's gettin' up there. He's well on his way to senior citizenship! (So are we all, yeah?)

But I digress...

My Dad is an amazing and wonderful man. He's always been really involved with us kids from the start. He--and Momma, of course--have taught us right from wrong. Dad taught me how to throw a ball. He has encouraged my love of words and reading. Dad has always been there for me, even when I was an annoying teenager who blew her "tweeny" little problems out of proportion. He's always loved me, and I've always known it. I'm his princess. And whenever I'm down and need some extra help...I know I can always turn to Dad for a Priesthood blessing. Even if he's feeling all stressed and the likes himself...if I ask, he's there to help. That's meant a lot to me throughout the years. He's my hero. I'm looking for a fella to marry who has so many of the qualities my Dad has; I'm used to amazing, and I don't want to settle for less.

I hope this doesn't make me sound snooty or like my expectations are too high. I'm realistic, really I am. I'm just sayin'...my Dad is awesome, and there are certain things I have come to expect from men in general. Because of my Dad. (And brothers too.)

Okay, so I'm not sure that this post is coming out so great as I had intended...sigh.

Let's end it here: I LOVE YOU, POPS! Thanks for everything!

Dad, doin' what he does best.
(Doting on his grandkids!)

Don't ask...

We lost. It was a fun game, and I played better from the start. But it hurts that we lost more than we won. Makes me feel sad inside. And on the outside too. :(

Yet..although we had a losing record, I'm sad that the season is over.

I heart softball.

Another CaLViN & HoBBEs strip.
Because CaLViN & HoBBEs can always make me smile.

PS I tagged 2 people out at home tonight. That also makes me smile. :)

because you pretend to care...

Just wanted to let y'all know that we won our game last night. And we didn't even have to kick dirt to scare or confuse the other team!

So anyway, we're 6 & 7. One more game to prove our worth! I have a good feeling about tomorrow's game. Really, I do.

Picture tag...

I was technically tagged by Dana, because she tagged anyone who thinks her little boy is cute. And he is. Very cute. So here goes:

1. Toilet
{SHINY! Brooke just cleaned it today!}

2. Laundry
{That's my laundry basket; there's a few things inside
but I didn't feel like showing my "unmentionables" to the world.
I did laundry on Saturday.}

3. Kitchen sink
{Squeaky clean! Sometimes we have dishes in there,
but like I said, Brookey was cleaning today.
Plus, I loaded the dishwasher before heading back to work.}

4. Closet
{It goes back even deeper than you think.
A small child could get lost in there!}

5. Refrigerator
{That's pretty true to life. I don't like an empty fridge.
Oh yeah, and PS all that food is NOT mine alone...}

6. Favorite pair of shoes
{Not really my favorite pair, but during the summer,
I don't like to think of putting shoes on my feet. Ick!}

7. Favorite Room
{I heart my bed}

8. What your children are doing right now
{Mm-kay, I have no idea whose hands these are, but I don't have any children yet,
so I suspect my unborn children are praying for me to
find Mr. Wonderful so we can get married and reproduce. I suspect.}

I tag anyone who has a child.

another one bites the dust...

5 and 7. We lost. We SO lost. Again.

But I still had fun! We have 2 more games. That means 2 more chances to win. If we win them both, my...ah...dream of coming out with a tied win/loss record could come to fruition. We'll just have to see...

This ain't exactly true for me,
but I love Calvin & Hobbes!