My Serious Tagging

Notice the pun with grafitti? I spend too much time around gang banging high schoolers.

8 things that i am passionate about
1. Counseling kids
2. The gospel
3. Nick/my marriage
4. Friends
5. Sleeping
6. The Ducks and BYU football
7. Being outside and active, for any excuse
8. Politics

8 words or phrases i use often...
1. Get your butts down! Stay on the balls of your feet! Watch your foot work! (I'm helping coach girls volleyball)
2. One more episode (of Arrested Development/Friends)
3. I'm tired (every night after work and practice)
4. I'll see you tomorrow night, maybe (to Nick when we go to bed)
5. Yeah, that's frustrating (kids being in a class they hate or some other problem)
6. Hi, I'm Lexie (I've met a lot of new people in the last few weeks)
7. No! (to kids and to Nick)
8. I can take a look at it (working with teachers, administrators, parents, kids, etc.)

8 things i want to do before i die...
1. Have a family
2. Travel to a lot of different places, as many as possible
3. Learn Spanish well
4. Start my own counseling business
5. Go on a mission
6. Do a triathlon, at least a sprint
7. Let people know how much I care about them.
8. Sky dive

8 things i have learned from my past..
1. Life sucks as a teenager.
2. Living in the moment is what true peace is. Worrying about the future does not do any good (still trying to get better at this :))
3. Trust in the spirit and have faith in the Lord, even when things don't make sense.
4. Everyone else has their own insecurities too.
5. Be nice to your parents.
6. In high school (well and pretty much most of their life) boys are only really thinking about one thing.
7. The older you get, the less you really know.
8. Get your will in order before you die (this is a shout out to my madre).

8 places i would love to go or see..
1. Australia/New Zealand
2. Italy
3. Jerusalem
4. Costa Rica
5. Southeast Asia
6. Seattle!!!! (can you believe I've never been)
7. Portland Rose Garden (one of my favorite places ever)
8. Anywhere!!! Honestly, I will go anywhere and see anything (I mean, within logical reason).

8 things i currently need or want...
1. More sleep
2. A window in my office
3. A lot of money for Nick's school (as in, not a loan)
4. A couch for my office and a couple rugs for my house
5. Free vacations all the time!
6. Nicer/new running shoes and running clothes
7. A baby :(
8. Road trips with my friends - preferrably to see any kind of theater event.

8 people i tag..
1. Amander
2. Bri Hugh
3. Meredith
4. Carly
5. Kristi Jo
6. Melinda
7. Sally
8. Megan Thayne

Labor Day Freezing!

Once again, Nick and I went to our favorite spot this weekend, our family cabin. I love going there because it gives me an excuse to not shower the whole weekend, all in the name of being "outdoorsy." We were all geared up for wakeboarding and waterskiing, but instead, it almost snowed. It was 35 degrees one night, and not usually above 55 during the day. Nick and I did jump in the water one night, but it was too cold to stay in longer than 5 seconds. But we still had an extremely enjoyable weekend with David, Stacy, Sisi, and the Kuykendalls. On Saturday, we decided to go to Crater Lake, since I had never been. Can you believe it! I went to high school in Oregon and still never went. I could not consider myself a true Oregonian until I had been there.

I could not believe how blue the water was.

I kind of think the background looks fake. But oh no, it's not. I don't know what weird face Nick is making. He's weird.

I like this picture because of the beautiful scenery and because of Nick's body language. He is telling a very engaging story. Either that, or else he just smelled something nasty.

Saturday night we went with my Dad and James (uncle) to the Oregon Ducks game, and felt very special sititng in the VIP section. We actually mostly just felt young, because there were a lot, a lot, of old Ducks fan. It was a fun game to watch, particularly Washington get the crap beaten out of them. I also enjoyed listening to the chants from the Ducks which mostly were just , "F#$% you Huskies!" Very creative! (P.S. I tried to fit in by wearing my "Duck Off! Duck You!" tee-shirt).

There was a guy sitting behind my Dad who kept rubbing his shoulders. Hahaha. For anyone who knows my Dad, you can imagine how much he enoyed this. The guy was a little drunk and was not getting the message even when my Dad told him to stop it.

Nick is teaching our little cousins (Nash and Jaxon) to shoot bebe guns. They had a full-on brawl later where they put on masks, a.k.a swim goggles and binis, and ran around the forest shooting each other.

Sunday, still being really cold, my Mom and I decided to go on a nearby hike to Fawn Lake. You might think my Mom was trying to be artsy with her picture, but she is just really bad at taking pictures.

Too much time

Here are some updated pictures of my house. I was going to post the inside, but its not that exciting, and I didn't want to clean it, so sorry. Notice anything different on the outside? Yes, that's right, we put up shutters. And when I say we, I mean Nick. I did, however, paint the door all by myself. And if you get close enough to it, you can tell (which is why I stayed far away).

I decided today that I have a little bit too much time on my hands. I actually like it, however, because I feel like the creative side of me is coming out a little bit more. I just keep thinking, is this what normal people feel like? Where you work and then come home and have a bunch of hours? I've been so busy the last few years that I think my sense of a normal schedule is slightly off. It's nice that I'm home more though, because I love where I live. The only bad thing is that I have no friends and I feel sort of like a single person because school has begun to take over Nick's life. So I have been working really hard to find things to do by myself. I don't mind spending time by myself, I think its good for me. But my problem is, I still want to share everything with friends. So, whether you like it or not, here is my sharing of things that I am doing with too much time.

These are the blackberries right next to our house. There are a ton of them and they are SO good. So I've picked quite a few blackberries. I may attempt to make jam one day, but I am taking my domestic strides slowly. Don't want to do too much too fast (Rachel Green, "You know what happened to the girl who tried too much too fast don't you? She died.")

Mmmm, I end up eating a lot of them while I'm picking. Anyone who saw me taking this picture was probably a little weirded out. I am getting pretty good at self portraits though.

Here are my latest picks.

For those of you who know me well, you know how much I love flowers and potpouri (a.k.a. dried crap), so I thought I would try to put my flowers to good use. These ones were about to die, so I'm going to take them to my office at school. I've also been picking my gardenias and letting them dry out so that I can use them as potpouri; they still smell so good even after they're dead.

Here are some annuals I put above my kitchen sink. I feel all domestic. But who knows how long it will last. I am probably going to be coaching this year, so I'm sure once kids start school and I'm up really early in the morning, my energy may wear out. In the meantime, thanks for letting me share a little bit of my life with you. And I'm still hoping people come visit me when they get a chance!

Put to Work

In our second week at our new ward, Nick and I got callings. All I have to say is thank goodness, because that is the only way I really know how to make friends in wards. Considering my job as a freshmen counselor, I should have a lot of fourteen year old friends by the end of the year because I am the new mia maid advisor.

Nick got called as the Sunday School teacher for the 17-18 year olds. Nick and I couldn't have asked for better callings. We are both excited about working with the youth, and Nick will be pretty busy, so it will be perfect for him. As for myself, I have been campaigning to be in Young Women's for the last four years or so. Finally, it paid off! I think they called me before they had a chance to realize that I might be a bad influence on their daughters. I blew my chances in my old ward when I got in trouble with the stake young women's at girls camp (I just thought curfews were optional). So please, if you have any good ideas for fun activities, let me know, because I am not a very creative person.

Neglecting my camera

I have been terrible at taking pictures, something I think I am normally pretty conscious of. So I apologize that I can't share some of my most recent experiences in a very real way. But I promise I will get better. But life has been so great, and Nick and I are started to adjust to life here. I just wanted to share a few of the things that we've been up to.

- I started work at North Salem High School, meeting with parents and kids. I already have a lot of great stories to share about the wild and crazy kids I see. But I will only share one right now (I think I may add a sidebar with stories from school, because it's one of the greatest things about working in a school, passing along all of the ridiculous things teenagers do). I had a junior come in with a one month old baby girl a few days ago. And the baby was the cutest thing I had ever seen. We met for a while trying to figure out her schedule, I was a little distracted because I was cooing and smiling at the baby. I was so tempted to keep the baby, just pick her up and take off sprinting to my car. Who would have cared, I mean really? I was tempted to ask the girl what her secret was, any tips for fertility.
-Nick started school at Willamette, well, the orientation. He already loves it, and I have a feeling I am going to have to hear quite a bit about business principles and organization (I guess its just karma for me telling stories about my kids at school). He said about 30% of the students are international, and have moved from Asia, Middle East, Africa, etc. I think that surprised him, and he is learning a lot just from their experiences.
-We are a little surprised by the weather. It was 105 degrees here a few days, which is freakin' hot here! I walk outside and just start sweating. Luckily, my parents have seadoos, so we were able to meet my Mom and Sierra and take them out for an afternoon. The next three days, however, were 60 degrees maybe, and rainy and cloudy. It was a nice cool down, but my poor flowers and plants didn't handle it too well (yes, that's right, I'm attempting to grow things in my yard).
-We have visited a lot of the parks around Salem, and there are so many so close together. Nick and I went on a bike ride the other day to a bunch of them around downtown. It seems like they always have a lot going on in them; we went and saw a free movie outside in one of the big parks along the river.
-I saw a transvestite at TJ Maxx the other day, he/she was about 6'6", and clearly a man underneath the wig. It warmed my heart to have sexually confused people around me. Awww, diversity.
-We went to our ward and have visited with our bishopric, and everyone was SO nice. Our ward is small, but we're excited to get to know everyone.
-Perhaps the best thing so far has been our family cabin on Crescent Lake. I think it might be one of my favorite places. My uncle brings up his boat, and I've been able to wake surf, wakeboard, tube. But its also so nice to just lay out by the water, read, and breathe in all the clean air, and spend time with family. Plus, I get tanner there than perhaps anywhere else, and that's what's really important!

-I went to the library and had to refrain myself from checking out too many books. I limited it to 4. But I really just got gitty thinking about all the time I will have to read at night. I have been working and going to school for the last couple years and was really hardly ever home. It's kind of a stupid thing, but I'm a nerd, so what can you do (however, not as big as my sister Briawna when it comes to reading).

Sorry this has been a lot of writing, and not very many pictures. I generally try to avoid that. Nick and I have loved being here so far, and feel like we're doing what we're supposed to be doing in our lives, so that's a good feeling. But we still miss our friends, and sharing some of the fun stuff with them. We're hoping we make some soon :)

Toto, I'm Not in Kansas Anymore

Substitute Kansas with Utah.

The last couple of days I have been doing district training for my job as a counselor. Most of it is extremely boring and painful, and I feel like I am back at the beginning of high school. I have had to introduce myself in the most unique ways over and over again. One of these introductions happened this afternoon; I had to group with three other educators, and we had to find things that were unique to only us and things we all had in common. The conversation went like this:

Girl #1: Oh I love Starbucks tea . . .

Girl # 2: Me too

Girl # 3: Yeah, I do too . . .

Me: Oh, I don't really drink tea

All girls: Oh okay . . .

Girl # 1: Well I love Starbucks coffee

Girl # 2: Yeah, of course

Girl # 3: We could put that down

Me: Sorry, I don't drink coffee

All girls: huh . . .

Girl # 1: Do you guys like wine tasting, cause I love wine tasting

Girl # 2: Oh yeah

Girl # 3: Mmm hmmmm, me too

Me: With a shrug, I don't drink alcohol

Extreme awkward silence.

I am realizing that I have had to introduce myself to a lot of new people that would have no clue that I am LDS, and so I'm definitely being forced to put myself out there. Even growing up, I didn't have to do that a ton because all of my friends just knew I was LDS, I didn't have to start from the beginning and explain everything. It's kind of scary, and I've been out of practice for a while. But I'm starting to get better at it.

Yeah right!

Okay, so maybe I'm a sore loser. Last night the chinese girls gymastics team beat out the U.S. for gold, and honestly, they really did better than the U.S. girls. But there is no way they are 16! And like the rest of the gymnastics world, I believe the Chinese government gave them passports that lied about their age. Look at the pictures and tell me for yourself. Maybe 12, maybe.

Stupid China.