Stamps

My passport expires in a few short months so I had to get a new one.
Receiving my new passport was a bittersweet moment. 

Over the past 5 years since I received my last passport I have had the opportunity to travel to some really awesome places where a lot of amazing memories took place. In the past 5 years I have had the opportunity to travel to:

France(x2), Switzerland, Austria, Germany (x3), Spain, Italy (x2), England (x2), Brussels, Netherlands, Wales, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, and Finland

While traveling throughout Europe I have received a lot of cool stamps. 17 in total!

I'm sad to have to start my stamp collection over
BUT
I'm excited to see the places my new passport will take me!

20/20

Since the fourth grade I've had to wear glasses and since the seventh grade I've worn contacts. I've been grateful to wear glasses/contacts since they allowed me to see. Also, since I was about 12 or 13, my parents told me that when I was old enough and a good candidate, they would pay for me to have LASIK eye surgery. I certainly never let them forget this little promise!!

About a month ago my parents told me they didn't want me to have to worry about contacts on my mission. (side note: for those of you that didn't know, I'm planning on serving a mission for the LDS church and I'll leave sometime late summer). They told me to start doing my research and find a LASIK surgeon. I gladly did my research and had a couple consultations. Thankfully the doctors told me I was a perfect candidate. I ended up choosing to have the surgery done by the great doctors at Hoopes Vision. And this past week I had LASIK eye surgery!!!

At the beginning of last week I had 20/500 vision. That means that what normal people see at 500 ft. is what I saw at 20 ft. Pretty crazy! On Friday, one day after surgery, I had 20/20 vision!

In the days leading up to the surgery I had so many people asking if I was scared or nervous. And honestly I never was. It is a little freaky thinking that your eyes are going to be cut open but I was just so excited to not have to wear contacts. Plus I knew they were going to offer me some Valium, which I gladly took.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have had LASIK surgery and I am so grateful that it went well.

 The valium definitely made me feel calm and super tired. 

 This is during the actually procedure. My mom got to sit and watch the whole thing through the glass.

Following the surgery they handed me a dvd of my surgery from the surgeon's view. I haven't watched it yet but I'm pretty excited to watch it!!!

Reasons to travel

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

– St. Augustine

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.

-Mark Twain

Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. 

– Cesare Pavese

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. 

– Miriam Beard

 Though we travel the world to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love my major

Sometimes I forget how awesome my major is. 

Technically my major is: 

Recreation Management and Youth Leadership, Leisure Services Emphasis, Commercial Track. 

Yeah, I know it's a mouth full. 

What it all means is that I want to be an Event Planner when I grow up. 

Since my major is in the RMYL department there are some required classes that I never expected to take.

For example RMYL 223R: Outdoor Skills Leadership.

In this class we learn about leadership and modules but we also go on awesome (free) field trips

including cross country skiing, scuba diving, ropes course and a camping trip.

This past week I went Cross Country Skiing for the first time ever.

Since moving to Utah I have taken up Skiing and snowboarding but never this.

It was quite the experience. 

I was surprised by how hard it was at first since it is like a cross between hiking and downhill skiing. 

Overall is was a great night and I only fell twice!

San Francisco: Part 2

I am in love with San Francisco! 

Day 2 in San Francisco was even better than the first.

And much colder! 

Highlights from our Sunday adventures: 

Oakland Temple 

AT&T Park a.k.a Christine's favorite place in the world

Ghirardelli Square

Fisherman's Wharf

We found some hotties on the beach. Walter was my favorite :)

Alcatraz

The Sea Lions on Pier 39 are the most hilarious animals ever! 

If you don't believe me then check out this website. (best during the day)

Bistro Boudin

DELICIOUS clam chowder in their famous sourdough bread bowl

Cable Cars- also bought that awesome sweatshirt because it was FREEEEZZZZING

Lombard Street

Mary's Cathedral

Actually riding the cable cars

View from Top of the Mark

Chinatown

24 hours of driving was worth the 48 hours in San Francisco

"Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart. 

You want to linger as long as possible."

-Walter Cronkite

San Francisco: Part 1

#24hoursfor48hours

A few friends and I decided to take advantage of this glorious 3-day weekend and go to
SAN FRANCISCO!!!
best idea I have ever had.

We left Friday afternoon and drove 12 hours to spend 48 hours here in SF. The drive was not as bad as I expected thanks to the Wicked Soundtrack and the large amount of junk food I purchased. also getting pulled over by the popo was probably the least favorite part. But we made it to SF and spent our first 24 hours outside of the city due to the 49ers game. 

Here are the highlights from Saturday.....

UC Berkeley

Muir Woods

Golden Gate Bridge

Ocean Beach

(clique beach jumping pictures were a must)

For more pictures check out my FB album!

Carl Bloch

This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Copenhagen. Around the time I was helping plan the trip, BYU's Museum of Art had an exhibit of Carl Bloch paintings. While visiting the exhibit, I learned that there were a bunch of Carl Bloch originals in Denmark. I was ecstatic to go to the Frederiksborg Castle and see 23 original Carl Bloch paintings in the place they were designed for. We planned an entire day to travel outside of Copenhagen to tour the castle and see the paintings.

When the time finally came to visit the castle, I was so excited and had researched exactly where in the castle the paintings should be. I had seen the pictures of the room they were housed in and knew it was by the chapel. To our surprise, we walked right through the room with out realizing that was the room with the Carl Bloch paintings. We had to back track through the castle to get back to the room once we realized we had passed right through it.

The room was surprisingly small and dark. The paintings were tiny and easily glanced over. To me and my family these paintings were beautiful and meaningful yet so many people just walked right through this room without taking a second glance. (we did the first time)

Carl Bloch is such a significant artist to the Mormon culture yet most people in the world couldn't care less about his paintings.Each painting is a beautiful depiction of a part of Christ's life. It is sad to think that these paintings are so often overlooked and passed over. His paintings are incredible and I wished he received more recognition for his incredible paintings.