Glassblowing

This was something fun we did in Alaska this summer. Almost everyday we drove people on tours to this little place just right on the outskirts of Skagway called the Jewel Gardens. In the full bloom of summer it was a breathtaking piece of land with a quite little café and a fun little shop. People who go there for garden tours, lunch or to glass blow. I thought the gardens were beautiful, but personally I would never spend $150 + to look at them or a whopping $200+ to glass blow there. Luckily, the locals are treated like gold in Skagway as long as you weren’t a day visitor discounts were incredible. So why not right? We picked our colors and designs and hit the floor. It was cool to watch the glass melt down and become all one color, and then as it would melt the brilliant colors would shine through again. We had so many fun experiences in Skagway and it was home to us for a short little while. Thanks Skagway for being so….cool (brrrrr!).

The Good Kind of Weekend

General Conference

When it comes along is there anything that is more of a prize? I love how this biannual conference ALWAYS kicks me back into shape and makes me see how my priorities should be. Every time we get the experience to listen I remember why this gospel is so right and so incredible. Some things that I have gained and want to yet realize in my life after this weekend,

• talking about the gospel to anyone, anywhere and make if feel like casual conversation

• being a parent (someday, not now)

• living a life more conducive to the spirit

• having a million baby girls for Dylan to protect

• remembering how many batches of our biannual cinny rolls to do (is it 3.5 or 4.5 jo? I’ve already forgotten)

• becoming more acquainted with the Book of Mormon

I feel like with every new general conference I watch the more and more specific talks are, and the more I feel like they are talking directly to me. Anyone else feel that way?

If you don’t know what general conference is, check it out here!

Football Season

And so it begins, another wonderful season of BYU football. For me this is a unique experience that thankfully is only seasonal. I've found only a few women who can understand and relate to what life becomes for me once football season has begun (and let's not forget to mention basketball season following right on it's jersey tails). Most of the women happen to be in the family I married into and have lived with the men's enthusiasm (read: consuming obsession) for many MANY years. One of these great, patient, enduring ladies is my mother-in-law. So as this season approaches I was brought back to an email she sent me at this time last year with an article that couldn't describe the experience any better.

She wrote: "My life. I laughed so hard when I saw this. If you are not a McKinnon or married to one, it may seem impossible to fathom that it can actually be like this. We, McKinnon wives, can vouch for the authenticity of this obsession. Even as I write, two McKinnon boys are talking about "the game" in the background on the phone! We love them so! That is what makes them them! Love you all! Sherry"

Confessions of the wife of a college football fan. If you even slightly know what I'm talking about when I say life is literally put on hold when it's game day, read that article and you'll be able to relax a little, realizing you're not alone in this crazy world.

Farah

I am back from the summer of working long hours and days strung together of never endingness. So what do I come back to? More work! Seriously I'm really excited about this. You see folks, I don't have just any ordinary hum ho kind of jobto come back to, I have Farah. Farah is one of my best friends and is such a light in my life. When I left she was sick and consequentially unhappy quite often. I was worried about her all summer. Now that I've seen the lovely girl I am happy to announce that she is back to her good ole happy beaming self again (Farah is a true summer baby). She makes so many people happy and has blessed countless lives. She teaches lessons through her happy optimistic demeanor. How did I get so lucky to find her?

We’ve had some really good times together and I am so blessed to know this remarkable person.

How bright our future is...

Out of all of the semesters going to BYU I've learned some things, and i'm not talking information from my books and teachers. It's those kind of life lessons you realize you've learned after the fact. One of those happens to be how HARD school is. Not homework, staying focused, tests and ignoring the pencil tapper behind me. School is hard because the decisions that have to be made, specifically what to study. I am now going in to my 5th year of college and I've just declared my last and final major (hopefully). Yes definitely. Yes, for sure.

It shouldn't have been majorly difficult for me because secretly I hope I can settle down with a family and apply the things I've learned from my major to motherhood and not a full-time job. But what about those people who do need to be concerned about liking what they do in school because they could be doing it for 30+ more years. HARD HARD HARD things.

Dylan is going through this right now. He's taking his time because we really want him to find something he loves and is excited about. He has taken just about every intro to whatever class out there and has been exploring his options endlessly. Finally he has stumbled upon a class this semester that we're hoping will give him the answer. It's a career exploration class. I wasn't trying to get my hopes up, but today they took a million of those career tests that will tell you what you should be and Dylan finally discovered his calling in life.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet your next nanny in the world, Mr. Dylan McKinnon.

Juneau

So after our adventure to Whitehorse with Chase, Jen and Val, we decided this getting out of Skagway thing for a few days was a good idea. So, a few weekends ago we decided to take some time off work and enjoy what Alaska had to offer. So first off we headed over to Haines on a 4X4 tour with Chase, Jenny and Goo.

It was a pretty fun time -- the views were beautiful, the company was great, and everyone got a chance to drive.

Early the next morning we left the Browns behind and headed for Juneau, and had an awesome ferry ride to get there. Here's the prettiest thing we saw on the ferry:

We spent a few days in Juneau and slept at the youth hostel there. It was sad not being able to spend the night together, but we couldn't pass up $10 a night.

In Juneau we rode up the Mt. Roberts tram (and took some sweet jumping pictures)

We went on a whale watching tour and saw sea lions and humpback whales

Ate some really good King Crab at Tracy's Crab Shack

Hiked out to the Mendenhall Glacier, and even up onto it

Then did a puzzle we found on the ferry as we came home to Skagway

It was an awesome weekend, and we loved spending it together in such a beautiful place. We tried to do as many things as we could that you can only do in Alaska (or at least that you can't do in Utah) and I think we did a pretty good job.

Also, you just got duped into reading a blog post by Dylan, and you probably didn't even know that he wrote it until now!

Welcome to our life

Basically this is what we see every day of our summer. If you're jealous, it's alright, you can come visit. PLEASE?

The other day, when Dylan and I were finishing up work we got a call from Jenny. She was in Whitehorse (the next town away from Skagway, about 2 1/2 hours away) visiting Chase while he was on tour. She invited us to drive up and spend a day with them. We stole a car and we were off. I was especially excited for this spontaneous rendezvous. Why you may ask? SKAGWAY DOESN'T HAVE A MOVIE THEATRE. Normally that's not a big deal, but when THE VERY LAST MOVIE OF HARRY POTTER (meaning the end of my childhood as I know it) CAME OUT WEEKS AGO AND I STILL HADN'T SEEN IT, it becomes a very big deal.

And we saw it, and I cried, many times. Many many times. Tears of joy and sadness.

The drive to Whithorse is beautiful. We get to do half that drive on tour about once a week, but being able to do it without crazy tourists and lugging a big bus up the mountain was a totally different experience.

This is Dylan and Valerie planking together on a bridge. It was all Valerie's idea and since Dylan can never say no to her, he had to give in.

It's not that I want you to see my face all the time, but this is the only picture of Jenny I got on the whole trip. And Goo's face is always priceless.

Oh ya and did I mention all the friends we met along the way.

Alfred the porcupine.

A bear that looks like a gorilla.

and my very first spotting of a MOOOSE!!!

and this is Chase, jumping off a bridge. Again, it was Valerie's idea, and no one can refuse her. Obviously.

Need I say more?

What we've been up to...

Dylan and I are in Alaska for the summer driving big busses around chuck full of tourists. I know, you're jealous already.

I was really worried at first to come to a new place and most importantly to be away from everything that is going on at home. Needless to say the couple days before we left I was having a very bad attitude about the whole thing.

But I'm happy to stand sit before you today and say I am loving it here.

We're living in a small town Skagway in the inside passage. It is so small there aren't any stoplights and the next town by road is over 2 hours away.

We work a lot, but when we're not working there is so much to do. We've been ziplinning, hiking, swimming (more like a polar bear plunging), and hanging out with family and friends. Jen and Chase are here with little Goo, and Dyl's cousin Seth and wife Elise are here as well. LUCKY!

Sorry to post such a revealing picture, but really, how can you get enough?

Need to finish this paper but I can't...

Why you ask?

• We leave for Italy in 2 weeks (2 weeks people!)
• can't stop looking at Reagan's blog and drooling
• reading through 30 minutes of a facebook thread trying to catch up on all my friends lives
• drooling over Heathers recipe's on her cooking blog (check it out! Sugar Betty)
  
• wondering how i'm going to catch up to Reagan and her tan lines
  
• feeling much more snuggley than scholarly
  
• and there is a cute boy in the next room over...

oh ya and the video of Maggie (4th video down) on this blog post.

Murder Mystery Dinner...

Our hosts, Holly and Fred

See all the awards around our necks. Everyone's is the real deal except for mine.
Sam: Best dressed
Reagy: Best actress
and for the shocker
Dylan: Best actor (say what!)
I was very proud to say the least

Jenny and Johnny....and yes, that gold chain Dylan is wearing is from my grandmothers jewlrey collection. How did you know? (sorry grandma, Dylan sports it the best.)

and did I mention the house the party was held at? It was everything and more, the library was heavenly to say the least. I imagine myself spending my summer mornings there.
(sorry I am an accessory to this picture, it's much better without)

Dylan Clarinet McKinnon

at this moment I am reveling in the music my husband is producing. Anyone know that Dylan could play the clarinet? I hardly did either. I snuck a couple pictures of him and when he caught me he pouted. I'm loving this whole marriage thing. Especially the parts when I discover new things that I married, like clarinets...(and pouting).

Dialogue of Dylan and me the other day while driving to school...
(side-note, Dylan has been really excited about the radio station 101.9 lately, because it plays all the music that used to be popular when we were young.)

A song on the radio comes on that I would deem a little to hard for my taste.

D: "oh wow, this is crazy!"
B: "what song is this??"
D:"don't you remember this song? It was like the biggest thing in sixth grade" (another side-note, we lived on completely different continents in sixth grade).
B:"I don't think I ever listened to music like this."
D:"really? everyone knew this song." then he pulls out a fact from his vast reserve of music knowledge "I would have to say this song is probably the forerunner to all screamo music."
B:"oh really"
D: "ya, it's Papa Roach"
....
D:quietly singing along to himself, and knowing ALL the words
then all of the sudden I recognize it and sing out loud
B:"SUFFOCATION NO BREATHING!"
what!? where did that come from. Thankfully those were the only words that I knew. The whole song is about suicide...what in the world?!?

And now I want to know what other kinds of music worked it's way into my small eleven year old self without me knowing it!

Please someone tell me if you remember this song too. Or if it's just weird Dylan and I who in some weird trick oddly know this awful awful song...

{and can we take a small moment and notice how cute he is?}

Yesterday, oh yesterday...

Yesterday would've been the day my parents dropped me off at the MTC...

but instead I spent the evening stuffing wedding announcements into envelopes!

Here are some of the ways people have put my switch in life into words....

" you're still going on a mission,
just a different kind"

"if you're going for easier I would've
stuck with the one that only
lasts a year and a half"

"Dylan is your mission now"

"oh man, you think the mission you were
going to go on is hard, just you wait!"

and my personal favorite by best friend Lauren....

"you're going to make babies instead of converts"

....my intentions exactly.

that poor person

I feel bad for whoever thought up story problems. They probably thought it was a great idea so people would like math more, because they could apply it to everyday life. Oh boy, they were wrong. And that is why I feel bad for_______, for creating the story problem. What a bummer way to go down.