The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

This past weekend, I found myself reading through my journals of when I was 15 and 16.  It all started with Danny getting his childhood journal from his mom, who was visiting.  Danny wrote maybe 4 times as a teenager; I wrote every single day.  We compared what we were doing on the same days of our teenage lives, which was rather amusing.  I then found myself reading more and more of the inner thoughts of my younger self.  Fascinating, really.  Not so much that I had deep thoughts or anything, but more of how I used to think.  When I mentioned to my mom about reading my teen journals, her response was: "So, did you laugh or cry?"  Ha, I love my mom, so honest.  I answered, "A little bit of both."  Man, being a teenager is hard.  Nostalgia tends to make you forget the tough stuff.  So here are my jumbled thoughts after reading the end of my freshman year, my whole sophomore year and the beginning of my junior year. First, if...

I'm behind in blogging.  That means I get to smash together all these fun outings from the past couple weeks in one big post!  Enjoy. Saratoga Springs Concert This evening was a dream come true.  My two favorite men in the whole entire world (my Dad and Danny) performed together for the arts in the park series in Saratoga Springs.  We had a great time and I'm so glad the storm held off so we could listen to their tunes.  Danny's friend DRU also came and performed a few songs with Danny. One of my Dad's original songs, "Porter Rockwell."  I grew up hearing this song. And another song I love by my dad, "Desert Song."  PS There was a big playground at the park, so you can hear the kiddos screaming and having a good time. And here is a cover of "I'm a Believer" by Danny and DRU.  (You can watch the whole concert on Danny's YouTube Channel if you would like.) Bees Game I got free tickets for the Bees baseball game ...

Picture of the leaders and participants of our 2013 Girl's Camp. I participated every year from age 12 to 17 in girl's camp; put on by LDS congregations all over the world for the teen girls in their areas each summer.  However, this was my first year as a leader at girl's camp.  It was definitely more stressful than being a teen participant, but it turned out great.  Anyway, here are a few gems from last week that I learned or was reminded of... I know all creatures both big and small were created by Heavenly Father, but I'm seriously convinced that horse flies are influenced by the devil.  They are horrible and their bites are the worst. thing. ever.  (Well, losing a limb is probably worse, but horse fly bites are pretty bad.) When sitting around a campfire with a bunch of 14-15 year old girls and you aren't sure how to start a conversation, Justin Bieber is a good topic to bring up.  They all have opinions about him, both good and ba...

Every year, I get excited for the summer, because I equate summertime with adventures.   (An adventure for me usually consists of wandering around in the wilderness or a road trip, in case you were wondering.)  I feel like I haven't been fulfilling my summery adventure needs as much as I should be this year.  Perhaps this is because Danny and I went on our big road trip back in April (when we went to Capitol Reef and Mesa Verde ) and haven't been able to get away since.  I've been itching to go somewhere and found this little gem on pinterest, of all places!  A couple of Saturdays ago, Danny, Danny's sister Sarah and I headed out to the Uintas to check out these waterfalls along the Provo River.  It ended up being a popular spot with lots of families.  It was gorgeous and we had fun hiking down and wading in the river a bit.  I highly recommend. This first waterfall is just a couple steps from the parking lot.   Sarah, Me and Danny...

Isn't Danny cute all bundled up in a poncho?  I think so. I've come to the conclusion that people's "side gigs" are more telling about them than their employment.  It's just a little theory of mine.  Anyway, I've mentioned before that one of my side gigs is writing reviews for the Utah Theater Bloggers Association .  It's volunteer based, but I do get to go to productions for free and bring a guest, so there's a perk. Anyway, I signed up to review "The Sound of Music" which is being performed down at the Scera Shell in Orem.  It was sprinkling outside when we pulled up to the park, so we pulled out our ponchos and hoped for the best.  The show must go on, so we watched the first hour in sporadic little showers until lightning and thunder rolled in and then we were all sent home.  I ended up not writing the review, since I didn't get to see the whole show.  I was really saddened by this, because I actually was really impress...

We had such a great Independence Day weekend, practically perfect in my opinion!  We started an early celebration on July 3rd at the Canyons Resort in Park City.  One of our good friends sings in a band called the Soulistics  who were performing, so our main purpose was to go and support her.  We invited my parents to come along and we had such a fun time.  Before the concert we went out to eat at Cafe Rio.  Then for my favorite part of the evening, taking the gondola up from the parking lot to the resort.  It was exhilarating. We then walked around and observed the activities and got some ice cream.  Afterwards, it was time for the concert!  The Soulistics put on such a fun show.  They had a lot of people dancing up front.  We slipped out at the end of the concert to beat the traffic and watched the fireworks from the parking. This turned out quite well, since I think we had a better view there then the people up at the ...