saturday is a special day

This past Saturday was a busy one. Much busier than my typical Saturdays, at the very least.

-I was supposed to have been at the Willie Free 5k by 7:45am

(I was exactly 17 minutes late). I helped register and time the run.

-I went to the Farmers Market with Brooke, Brooker and Lisa for a look-see

(also, where a kind stranger paid for mine and Brooker's jeweled

garden turtles and then vamoosed before we knew any better.

THANK YOU, KIND SIR!)

-Brooke, Lisa and I donated blood (which took a long time,

but it was worth it, because we're everyday heroes.)

-Brooke and I met up with a bunch of lady friends for a

bridal shower for our dear friend K-Sand (soon-to-be K-New!)

-Brooker and I drove to Teton, then rode our bikes into Newdale

to a place called Monkey Rock, cooled our feet in the water,

rode back to Teton, drove back to IF, etc...

-I took a very quick shower so I could be to the stake center

in time for the Saturday evening session of stake conference at 7:00

-Stake Conference from 7:00 until 9:00

 I have to say, I was pretty dang nervous about riding my bike shortly after giving blood (because I'm a wimp, I suppose), but it all turned out really great! We biked, we figured, at least ten miles, and I only nearly passed out once on our way to Monkey Rock. I stopped and drank some water, and Brooker gave me a raspberry cream saver to suck on while I rode some more, and I was back on track.

This is kind of a gross picture, isn't it?

I took this selfie and didn't even fall off my bike!

Monkey Rock

Helmet head!

This...is Newdale. Isn't it gorgeous?

Saturday's weather was perfect!

This is super grainy, I know, but if you squint, you can see the Tetons right in the middle of this pic.

And here are a few other pictures I've taken on my phone: 

I was running errands on Friday. I saw flowers and wanted them,
so I bought them for me. #thankyouself

Jeanna and I have been walking at the park instead of the mall when the weather is lovely.

I posted these three pictures on Instagram
(Left: Jules watching "Nightmare Before Christmas"
Middle: an old picture of me and Julia, laughing like maniacs
Right: Jane caught a fish and named her Sparkles--and then ate her)
When I looked at my profile, this lineup cracked me right up.

 That's all for now, folks. I'll write again after my birthday celebrations (I'm turning 32 this week! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN|?!) .

Catch ya later!

last tuesday (and beyond)...

Last Tuesday, Jen and I were at Jeanna's house as the three of u us planned our upcoming trip to Europe.

We were looking at maps and discussing whether or not to swing up to Germany for a day or two, laughing and getting excited over a number of things, when Jeanna got a phone call.

From the police. Jen and I were talking when we looked up and saw the color drain from Jeanna's face.

Jeanna is VP at a local bank in town, and the police called to let her know that a crane had been driving on the parking lot at her building, and that the lot collapsed into the parking garage below.

We wrapped up our planning session pretty quickly, then hightailed it over to the bank.

This is what we saw.

There was quite a crowd gathered around, and police officers had taped off the danger zone. Jeanna's boss showed up a few minutes later, so she disappeared inside the bank offices to have a powwow, and I stayed outside to watch...

Here we see an even bigger crane pulling the original crane out of the parking garage.

Pretty cool, hey? I daresay this is the most exciting thing that's happened here in Idaho Falls in quite some time...

I'm annoyed that I took the video portrait-view instead of landscape, but I wanted to get some of the second (bigger) crane in the shot, so...whatever.

If you can hear in the video, a police officer is talking to a city worker about what might be under the street, and then at the end the cop says, "There's a jeep down there." Eesh. Poor jeep...

Anyway. I guess what happened is that the crane (which weighs 80,000 lbs, I later learned) was trying to make a right hand turn, but the turn was too tight and he couldn't make it. At that point, the driver reversed onto the parking lot, but it got stuck in a rivet or something, so he gunned it, and then the lot collapsed beneath him. 

How scary would that have been?! I would have freaked right out!

I should probably ask Jeanna what's the latest with filling in the hole and whatnot. I talk to her nearly every day. (We're mall-walking buddies, after all.)

Other stuff that's happened in the last week or so:

My phone turned on in my back pocket and took a couple of pictures:

I...I'm not sure what happened, or how...

Also I have no idea where the light was coming from? Weird.

The weather was temperamental all weekend:

We experienced all of the weathers last Friday.
These dark clouds threw down giant drops of heavy slush,
which turned into fat raindrops, then the skies cleared for a bit,
and then the wind nearly blew the siding off my house that night.
Helloooooo, springtime in Idaho!

And yesterday I went to a seminar in Jackson Hole with my good friend Jami. We both walked away feeling like we learned ZERO new information, but at least they fed us, and we walked away with .55 credits. Also, the nearly four hours of driving gave us lots of time to chat and catch up, so it definitely wasn't a complete loss. 

The fresh pineapple they served with breakfast was AMAZING.

I've made you all jealous, haven't I? You're trying to figure out how you can live the dream in Idaho Falls, aren't you? Because the story of the fallen crane, and the crazy weather, and my stellar seminar and exciting life.

You're welcome, my lovelies. I'll do my best to keep this high caliber stuff coming at you.

Little Miss Aubree

Good grief, I just tried writing an actual post about what's been going on in my life over the course of the past two weeks, and it. was. boring. Absolutely nothing in my personal life is really blog-worthy. I mean, boring enough that I haven't even taken many pictures on my iPhone.

BUT! If I look away from myself, toward my family, there's something completely fantastic. Absolutely noteworthy.

In the wee small hours of the morning of May 2, a new little member of the O-clan came to earth, and she is sweet!

Her name is Aubree Janel, and I can't stop staring at this picture.

 I can't go to Utah to meet her for a couple more weeks, and it's nearly killing me! Doesn't she look like 

she smells like Heaven? #swoon