Year of Firsts...July

 My senior year of high school, I remember my friend telling me that she and her family did something where they put a candle in their ears, lit the end on fire, and then had all their earwax suctioned out.   For the past 14 years, that memory resurfaces at random.   I have been known to request random activities amongst friends in the spirit of "bonding."  Waxing.  Juicing.  And what I now know to be called ear candling.  Every time I suggested ear candling in the past, or any of my previous mentioned bonding activities, I was always answered back with blank stares.  What better excuse to finally get people to try it with me than, "It's something I've never done before.  It's a first."

It's actually quite scary.  An open flame and ashes burning down a wax strip hovering above your face and hair.  You can practically see the fear in my eyes.

Upon preparing for this activity, I read a lot of information about ear candling.  Supposedly the negative pressure of the smoke going into your ear is supposed to suction the wax out of your ears.  All recent articles warn against ear candling and say that it is highly discredited.  Most of the wax that is in the candle upon completion is actually just the wax from the candle itself, and not your ear.  Regardless, I finally got my 14 year long wish to try ear candling.

I even got Angela to try it with me.  We only had a couple near burning experiences, but we survived.  Here are our remnants in the candle....or shall I say, here is the wax from the candle itself.  My ears didn't feel any differently afterward, but the heat flowing into my ears during the burning felt kinda cool.  Mark that off my bucket list!

Year of Firsts....June

Half way through the year and still loving my New Year's resolution.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Cirque du Soliel shows, so when my friend Hailee's husband was out of the country doing an internship the whole summer, I maximized the opportunity and made her and Angela take a Vegas trip with me.  

Like every vegas trip, we had to get our pool time in!  We got settled into our condo and decided to have a snack.  I was beginning a healthy eating adventure, so we decided to make smoothies..... Well, I guess I don't know how to operate a magic bullet because this is the result.

I really don't know what happened other than I couldn't figure out why it was so difficult to screw the bullet into the base without losing all the smoothie mixture.  haha

After we had sufficient pool time, and after Hailee had practically walked around and debugged the whole pool, we decided to hit the town.  We stopped by the garden room at the Bellagio and watched the water show.

 But the real reason we were there was to watch "O" by Cirque du Soleil!  I have wanted to see this show for years, and what better way to see it than while trying to accomplish my "year of firsts."  Despite all its quirkiness and weird statues, Vegas is a quick and easy weekend getaway that never disappoints.   And I would highly recommend "O!!"  So good!!

Year of Firsts....May

Fifth month into my New Year's Resolution to try one new thing a month.  Once again, talking about this resolution with friends helped me come up with ideas.  I was visiting with my friends Nick and Suzie and we decided to take a cooking class.  The class we chose was "pastas."  As a carbohydrate lover myself, you can imagine my excitement for this class.

We started the class bright eyed and bushy tailed.  How hard could it possibly be?

A little harder than we thought.  Making the homemade pasta proved to be a challenge, and our first attempts were unsuccessful.  Determined to conquer our dough, we put it back through the ringers.  Practice makes perfect, and after about 4 tries, I finally made homemade pasta!

We made Marinara, Alfredo, noodles, ravioli, butter sauce, and a couple other things I can't remember, and I can't find my recipe paper to trigger my memory.  It was all delicious, except the marinara, but I'm not really a marinara kind of girl...

While visiting with Nick and Susie, Nick starting talking about his new gun and target shooting.  While I had shot guns with my brother-in-law in New Mexico, I had never shot a shotgun and I had never shot clay pigeons!  Suzie chose to stay home, but she let me borrow her husband to go skeet shooting.  It was surprisingly more fun that I anticipated.  I started out rough....I didn't even know where the bullets were ending up once I aimed at the pigeon.  I think I was closing my eyes...not the best technique for doing anything while holding a gun.  Round 2 proved to be much more successful!  I hit around 8 out of 20, which I thought was fantastic!  The next couple days, my shoulder was killing me!  It felt like a thousand needles constantly pricking at it, but it was well worth the adventure!

Year of Firsts....April

Most people have already given up on their New Year's resolutions by April, but I was just getting started.  The end of April was approaching and I still hadn't come up with an idea of what to do.  I had a moment of doubt that I would be able to think of something for each month for the end of the year, especially if after only 3 months I was struggling with ideas.  I decided to talk to people at social gatherings and allow other's creativity to help.




















I was sitting at a bonfire and brought up my resolution as small talk.  A girl there said I should try curling.  My first response, "Curling?  Like the Olympic sport on ice that's super boring to watch?"
"Yep!  I compete in a league every week and this month is the last month the oval will be open."
I guess her enthusiasm

convinced me that this curling thing might be kinda fun to try.  Even though this girl backed out last minute on our plans to go curling, my friend Stacey came with me.
I quickly learned that it was much more fun to play than to watch....kinda like baseball.  It's a sport of precision and accuracy.  And I'm not gonna lie, "sweeping" can be kind of tiring.

Our technique is really sloppy but we never fell over, which apparently can happen to people. The purpose of the game is to throw the "rock" down the ice to the target on the other end.  Your teammates "sweep" a path down the ice for the "rock" to follow.  You get points for landing in the target. Pretty simple...but not really. LOL

The purpose of this new year's resolution is to expose me to more potential hobbies.  Do I think curling will become a hobby of mine?  Absolutely not.  Do I think I would have ever gotten out of my comfort zone enough to ever pursue trying such a unique sport before this resolution?  Sure don't.  Needless to say, I'm happy I can say I have tried curling!  Not many people can say that.

Happy Birthday BFF

Abby Bailey Morrill is not one who takes a liking to many people.  She is what some like to refer as "rough around the edges" or "doesn't play well with others."  Well, at least that's how she used to be viewed, but thankfully, I got to know the real Abby.  She is the kindest, sweetest, most considerate person I have ever met, and I am lucky enough to be her best friend!  Abby is one who cares more about my life and well-being that I do for myself.  Example:  I put a post of Facebook that I was going to miss my team at work.  She called me that night around 11 PM.  I had people over so I didn't answer, but I thought to myself, "It's 11 PM and Abby is calling me.  It's unlike her to call that late.  I hope everything is ok."  I decided to text her, so she would know I'm here but I wouldn't be acting rude toward my house guests.  "I have people over.  Is this an emergency?  Or can I call you tomorrow?"  She responds, "You can call me tomorrow."  The next morning I called, and she immediately said, "Did you quit your job?  And why is your voicemail not set up?  Is everything ok?"  I assured her that I still had my job and was just changing departments, realizing that I had forgotten to fill her in on this part of my life, and that I also had a new phone.  Abby wants to know the little details of my life.  She always has.  She supports and loves me, and I couldn't ask for a better friend!  I love you, Abby!

 I went to her house for cake and ice cream!  Happy 33rd bday!  While there, she also tried to help me figure out a game I play where they give you 4 pictures, random letters, and you have to guess what the 4 pictures have in common.  Isn't she so smart?


I decided to go through some of my old scrapbooks and take pictures of pictures, so I apologize for the poor quality.

We had fun times in college.  We would occasionally go to the sand dunes and ride 4 wheelers and go camping.  Nothing bonds friends more than peeing in the bushes together.  For those of you who know the story of when I crashed on a 4 wheeler and had to go to the ER, this IS NOT the same 4 wheeling trip

In high school we were on the basketball team together.  When I was sophomore, Abby deemed me cool enough to sit in the back of the bus with her and the older crowd.  It was here that Abby would tease me by say things that she knew I didn't know the answers to and would laugh as I would try to figure it out.  We had another friend who was kind enough to always fill me in.  Abby, "You don't know what foreplay is?"  Me, "No...Stephanie, what does foreplay mean?"  Stephanie, "Abby!  Quit teasing Holly!" hahaha

Don't judge me.  Bangs were cool.

In college, Abby had a genius idea to try throwing the bowling ball while I was giving her a piggy back ride.  That didn't go over so well....

Another picture that was taken, and I'm sure she was behind the camera laughing at me trying to figure out her bridal shower gifts.

We did intramural basketball in college.  We always made it to the championship game but always lost to the same team.  They had a girl who played for SUU and she was like 6'5"....no matter how hard I tried guarding her, I was not meant to be a center and couldn't stop her enough to gain a victory.

At the time, I love the movie, Josie and and Pussycats, so Abby threw me a surprise birthday party and made pussycat ears for everyone to wear.  She made close to 40 pairs of ears for all those in attendance.  So thoughtful!

She had the most comfortable bed!  She, Matt, and I would spend hours each day just laying on her bed and talking or joking around.  Occasionally the elbow of death would come out to play.

She would always wear these black leather pants.  We called them her "hottie pants."

We also had a lot of fun nights on my hot pink skateboard!

 Abby loved Vegas!  We would go down there several times a year.  We would always joke that she would elope there....I, of course, would drive the carriage from the Chapel 'O Love!

Don't judge again...long socks were cool at the time

I would say our true bonding was when we both worked at Convergys together!  She made that job bearable.  She had the best stats, and we would joke it was because of her "do what I say" attitude.

She also wouldn't get jealous when me and her now husband would wrestle.  He would let me think I could win, and then BAM, I was down for the count!  He wrestled in High School, and I obviously did not.  Not really a fair match!

I was so happy for her when she found the love of her life!  Matt is an amazing guy for my amazing friend!  I love you guys!!

Year of Firsts....March

First red eye flight

 January and February were amazing and fantastic, and March was equally great....once again, don't want to make any other months jealous!

Let's flash back to several months prior.  I am sitting at breakfast with my "girls" (5 of us girls from the mission who have remained best friends).  We are getting together with Kristy one final time before she moves to Dominican Republic for her husband's work.  She invites all of us to come visit her for a girl's trip.  Immediately everyone gets excited and starts talking about when is good and who do I know with buddy passes, etc.  Spring break is in March, so that caters to those who are students.  Someone else knows someone who works for an airline and could probably get some buddy passes, but not enough for everyone.  Strategies are flying all around the table.  I sit there quietly, adoring and loving my "girls" but thinking that the reality of catering to 5 people's schedules and different lives is going to be near impossible.

I walk out of the restaurant and say to Kristy, "Despite whether or not everyone else falls through, I'm coming to visit you.  Im serious."  She smiled her sweet smile and said that she would love that!

view from the condo

 March came and my sister Shantell and I flew to the Dominican Republic.  I was excited!  Partly because Kim Kardashian frequents the DR for her vacays, but mainly because I was getting a tropical vacation in the middle of a cold Salt Lake City March.  I was also very excited to see my friend Kristy and her cute little family!  Our other friend Stacey had been living down there the past several weeks to help Kristy transition, so we would get to spend some good quality time

Our practically private beach

 with her also!  The view from their condo on the beach was amazing!  We could walk out the back sliding door, go down the side walk past the pool, and we had our very own uncrowded beach.  The waves were huge!  There were no tourists to be found.  The weather was hot but not scorching.  It was perfect!  It was everything that I wanted my Hawaii trip to be, that it wasn't.

One thing that is for certain about the DR is the crazy drivers and crazy streets.  I literally saw 2 guys riding a little motor bike, and the guy on the back of the bike was carrying a mattress.  Who needs moving trucks when you have motor bikes.  We, of course, had to get a ride on some!

One day we went on an excursion to 27 waterfalls.  It was a full day of stops and culture.  We went to some small villages outside the town and got to see a more simple life.  Little kids would run along side the truck yelling, "benta, benta."  I could totally be spelling and pronouncing that incorrectly, but basically, they wanted us to throw them candy.  Had I known I was going to be riding in the back of truck throwing candy like a parade, I would have come more prepared.  Much to the little kids' disappointment, they didn't get any candy from us..  At one point, we saw a little herd of piglets following their momma running down the path.  It was the first and only time I have found pigs adorable!

We also got to see a cock fight.  They put punching gloves on the claws so the cocks didn't actually hurt each other, but it was pretty intense.

 I don't have pictures of 27 waterfalls because we didn't have a waterproof camera, but that was such a fun time!  We had some tour guides that helped us.  We had to wear life jackets and helmets because we were literally swimming through ponds of water and hiking up the water fall.  I don't mean hiking along side the waterfalls while walking on a trail.  I mean treading water right below the falls, looking up with squinted eyes to avoid the water blurring you vision, climbing up the water while it is pounding you down....all with the help of the guides, of course.  Now, if you are envisioning a huge waterfall of 100+ feet, you are giving me way too much credit for my waterfall-hiking skills.  These were more like cascading waterfalls, each reaching the height of 5-10 feet.  We only hiked up the first 7.  If you wanted to do all 27, you had to hike on a trail along side the waterfalls.  I would rather do 7 and hike up them, than take the easy way out and stay and solid ground.  After we hiked our 7 waterfalls, we got to slide back down each one of them.  They were like natural water slides.  For those of you who know how much I love water slides and water parks, you can only imagine how much I LOVED 27 waterfalls!!

 We went to another place called Monkey Jungle.  They had little Capuchan monkeys that, as you can see, will come right up to you and make themselves at home.  This particular monkey decided to his its meal on my head and left a little sunflower seed for later.   They truly were adorable.

 I also got to hold a parrot on my shoulder....a little less friendly, but still eventually came to me.

As part of Monkey Jungle, they had a 7 zip line tour.  We had a group of about 12 people, 10 were from Canada who just happened to be there the same time as us, and 5-6 tour guides.  Each tour guide had a fun name that explained their personality.  Long story short, Bob Marley had become fond of me.  If you want details, you'll have to talk to me in person, but let's just say, he helped me accomplish yet another "first" for March.

Zip lining....LOVED it!!!!

Shantell and I posing for a picture with Eddie Murphy and Bob Marley