Move Along

Another summer is practically gone. Some of my fellow workers finish work tomorrow. College classes resume one week from Monday. Tomorrow is the day that I move out of my house. This summer has gone by in a flash and I don't think I am quite ready for it to be over. It's amazing how time never seems to wait for me...

I have been packing since Monday. I figured if I did a little bit every day then I wouldn't stress myself out on Thursday night. What a good idea that was! I have everything packed that could possibly be packed and I am feeling great.

I own a few things that are too big or awkward to fit in a box.

I also own lots of things that can be boxed. I have neatly packed everything I own and surprisingly enough I was able to get all of it into SIXTEEN boxes. I feel good about that number especially because some of the boxes are pretty small.

I don't have to be out of my current house until 6 p.m. tomorrow evening, which is really convenient. I can get up and do some cleaning, move everything out when my parents arrive, and finish cleaning in the afternoon. I took tomorrow off of work in order to make all of this possible.

The downside to all of this is that my new house won't be ready for me until next Wednesday. So what do I do with all of my stuff? My new landlord has been kind enough to allow me to store my belongings in an apartment, which he owns, that is nearby. I have way too many things. I would never be able to fit all of my stuff in my car even if Dad and Grandpa Clark teamed up to pack it. So the situation isn't what I would call convenient; however, I do appreciate my landlord's generosity in providing a place for my material possessions.

After all of the moving happens, I am headed to Island Park for a weekend getaway with some co-workers. Upon my return I will be staying with Jessie and Lacee at their apartment because I will be homeless from 6 p.m. tomorrow evening until Wednesday when I start moving into my new house.

I am pretty sure this will be the last move I make here in Logan, Utah. I can't say that packing and moving boxes is my favorite thing on Earth. I can say that I hate the cleaning process that comes with the moving even more than the actual packing and moving. Alas, the end of the summer is here and moving is inevitable. One more year. One more set of roommates. One more house. One more move. It is time once again to move along.

Table v. Flag

Last Thursday, I headed to Village Inn after a disappointing game of bowling (I scored 89. Seriously, who does that?). As we sat around the table waiting for our food to arrive, David and James decided to play a little Table Football. Instead of flicking the sticky paper from the wrapped silverware, they decided to slide objects from the table. The point of the game was to score by getting the object to hang over the edge without falling off. Once the object was hanging off, the person that scored got to flick the item through the "goal posts" to score an extra point.

They started with a sugar packet and slowly worked their way up to bigger things. Next came a packet of jam --> a salt shaker --> a spoon --> the jam caddy --> a full glass of water --> the salt/pepper/sugar caddy --> a milk shake --> a plate of food. Extra points didn't exist after the packets of jam for most of the items were unflickable; but don't fret, they still tried. David slaughtered James with a score of 60 (or more) to 13.

After church on Sunday, Colette and I finished my Cafe Rio salad from the previous evening. Once we had finished eating, we sat around talking and decided to play a little football with the empty tin. I scored so many times that we eventually stopped keeping score.

We tried flicking the tin for extra points but a simple finger flick just wouldn't suffice. We decided to try using all of our fingers to score extra points. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it didn't.

Colette going for the extra point

After a few falls off the table and some overzealous flicks, our tin got a little dented...

Tonight we played Flag Football. Last summer, Doug invested some money into some blue and orange fabric. He cut all of it into strips and donated it to the cause of Tuesday Night Flag Football. We have tried to make this game a weekly tradition but with vacations and busy schedules it hasn't always happened. However, we enjoy the times that we do get to play and I am sad to see the summer coming to a close. We start at 8:00 and play until we can't see the ball anymore. We create different teams every week. We don't keep score and we always encourage the opposing team. It's clean competition-some of the best kind. Tonight Doug mentioned that it was the best two dollar investment he's ever made and I must agree. Thanks Doug for making that investment, for it has been well worth it.

The kick-off

The return



The down

Closing Statement: Although I prefer Flag Football for the movement and the higher level of competition, it really doesn't matter which one you play. You end up having fun no matter what.

Friends + Fair + Funnel = Fun

After the Cardboard Regatta, I spent some time watching the Olympics with some friends and then we (David, Mike, Seth, Anthony, Colette, Jani, and I) headed to the Cache County Fair. The best part is that it was free! I didn't know free fairs existed. We wandered around and looked at various things. First, we saw this HUGE tractor. I have never seen a tractor this big and I was so amazed I just had to take a picture.

We then headed to the animal pavilions. If you knew me, you would know that the animals are my favorite part of any fair because of...you ready for this?...the SMELL! I love the smell of farm animals. I took a picture by this pig because of his ears. They looked like they had been chewed on. WEIRD!

After making the animal rounds, we walked around the carnival. The rides were too expensive for us college students so we headed towards the food. We talked about sharing a couple funnel cakes but again, they were too much money for us college students. David and Anthony came up with the wonderful idea of making our own funnel cakes. So we headed home. On the way back to the vehicle, I provided transportation for Colette, Anthony, and Jani.

While Anthony, Seth, Colette, Jani, and myself shopped at Wal-Mart for funnels, David and Mike found a recipe for funnel cakes (Thanks, Alton Brown!).

First we mixed the batter



Then you pour the batter into a funnel, allowing the batter to drip into the hot oil



You let the batter cook on one side



Then you flip it over



After it cooks, you end up with a beautifully fried creation!



But if you cook it too long, it's not so beautiful

We used powdered sugar or cinnamon/sugar to top the cakes. If you want to get really fancy, you can use whipped cream and fruit topping-which is absolutely delicious but remember, we are cheap! David manned the hot oil and I topped every one's cakes with their desired topping. Since Saturday night was the first time some of these people had tried Funnel Cakes, I insisted that everyone allow me to document their first bite...

Anthony's First Bite (powdered sugar)

Mike's First Bite (Cinnamon/Sugar)



Seth's First Bite (1/2 Cinnamon/Sugar 1/2 Powdered Sugar)



Jani's and Amelia's First Bites (also 1/2 and 1/2)



Brad's First Bite (1/3 Cinnamon/Sugar and 2/3 Powdered Sugar-he was very particular)



David's First Bite (Powdered Sugar)



My First Bite (Powdered Sugar)



I must say that the following sequence was my favorite part of the evening:

1. Approximately 1/3 of Colette's Funnel Cake



2. Ready to stuff



3. The Actual Stuff



4. The Full Cheeks



5. The Half-Masticated Cake rolling around in her wide open trap (you get the quote?)

By the end of the night, I was exhausted so I lay my head in Colette's lap. She decided to style my hair for me. Not too bad, right?

WRONG



She styled a crooked French Braid (because I was laying down) and missed a chunk of hair. To remedy the mistake, she curled it around and stuck it with a bobby pin. Attractive, eh?

It was an eventful evening with lots of grease and lots of sugar. I don't see a problem with this although some people would beg to differ. Really what it comes down to is this: Triple F (friends, fair, funnel) equals FUN!

Cardboard Regatta

Yesterday was the 3rd Annual Cardboard Regatta for the 48th Ward. Since I am the Activities Co-Chair, I was in charge of planning the events. I was running around Saturday morning trying to make sure everything was ready to go and I didn't even take time to look at my legs that morning. When I arrived at First Dam, someone exclaimed, "Jalayne! What happened to your legs?" Thinking she was referring to the scrapes and scabs that were the results from picking up tree branches, I started to explain and I looked down only to find this:

My legs were covered in bites! I counted 48. After I finished counting, I looked around some more and found a few that I had missed. I had at least 50 bites from my knees to my ankles. I worked outside every day this week, but I was in doors on Thursday and Friday nights. There is only one that has been itchy and bothersome, the rest have simply existed. It seemed like a lot of bites to be mosquito bites and I couldn't think of anywhere I had been where I would have been attacked so badly. Seth thought they were spider bites, which wasn't at all comforting considering the fact that most spider bites come at night while sleeping in bed. I washed my sheets, vacuumed, and dusted my room when I returned from the activity. I was a little nervous to shave over the bites today before church, but I didn't rip anything off and nothing itches today. Hopefully all of these bites won't result in West Nile.

So what is the Cardboard Regatta? First of all, a regatta is a boat race. For the past three summers, my ward has held a regatta with other wards in the stake. The rules are simple: the boat and paddles must be homemade from cardboard and duct tape-that's it. We started assembling our boat a couple of weeks ago. We had three or four engineers from the ward working on our boat design. They penciled out ideas and even calculated the dimensions. It took a lot of time and even more duct tape, but it was worth it. Other wards already had plans or weren't able to participate so we raced our cardboard boat against a raft. It was a grand time.

Getting ready to put the boat in the water

The race has begun and Colette and David can't figure out how to paddle together to make their rubber raft go in the right direction...so the homemade boat is winning

Seth, Mike, Beckie, and Jani rowing into the finish line (if you look closely, David and Colette are behind the canoe)

The Winning Team-Seth, Jani, Beckie, and Mike

And once they crossed the finish line, David threw Colette in the water

After racing the homemade boat with the raft a couple of times, we feasted on sandwiches, played a little volleyball, and headed out. It was a fun activity even though we didn't have another cardboard boat to race. The homemade boat lasted two races and a half hour ride that include a few little rapids. The boat was so water logged by the end that we just cut slits in it to allow the water to drain, severed major joints, folded the boat in half, and disposed of it in a dumpster. The activity was a success!