Painting in the Sun

Back in July my friend, Steven, called me and asked if I wouldn't mind sitting for his so he could paint a portrait of me for his big summer project. I thought, heck why not! I was #5 of 47 portraits he painted for this project. Steven started painting me at around 4 in the afternoon and it was blazing hot! I love how he captured the heat on my face- i was so hot and totally sweaty while he was painting me! Last summer Steven did this project where he would paint people in one hour which I thought was so cool- it really shows how much talent he has! Here's his artist's statement on the project:

"The art scene in Provo is growing and fluctuating. "Hour Provo" is an effort to contribute to that growth and to allow the diverse people that make up our community to become the art themselves. These folks are just some of the elements and ingredients that represent Provo. Each individual’s portrait was captured in oil paints and painted directly from the live model in one hour.Our community has a wealth of diversity. Some have been here for multiple generations while others have been here only months. Some ask for money for food and some ask for political votes. There are musicians, businessmen, children, artists, mothers, students, old and young, poor and rich. There are many beliefs and many ethnic backgrounds. All are equal. Whether prominent or subtle, each individual is given the same attention as a part of "Hour Provo". Each is painted in one hour and each is equally represented."

Here's my portrait! Steven, you did a wonderful job and I know you will go far becuase you are so talented!

Christmas Celebrations!

This last Christmas was so much fun! The first of many parties was a sugar cookie making party. I made Grandma Callister's famous sugar cookie dough and then I had a bunch of people over and we baked and then frosted and decorated the cookies. They were so good!! I think it's so fun doing stuff like this with friends.We had an awesome Christmas Party with all the Dental Hygiene Students and Staff. We had such a fun time wearing our ugly Christmas sweaters and eating good food and playing fun games. I love all the girls I go to school with- they are so awesome and I'm going to really miss them when we graduate in April.

My parents got home from their mission a few days before Christmas and it was great having them home. Debbie and Dan came for the holidays- just the singles this year! Since Christmas Day doesn't have as much excitement when little kids aren't there, we decided to open presents for like 10 minutes then hit up good old Dodge Ridge for the rest of the day. It was awesome snowboarding on Christmas Day- no one else was there and we were together as a fam!

A few days after Christmas, we went to Las Vegas to see the rest of the family. It was great seeing my dear Grandma Fife. She was so excited to see my parents after their mission. I loved seeing how proud she was of my mom and dad for serving a mission.

Family love!

Best part of the vacation- hearing Dan tell the story of how he got attacked by a dog during a blind date! I think I heard the story 18 times and it never got old!

School, football, and cinnamon rolls

Well it has definitely been a while since I've updated! School has started and life is pretty crazy. But I quit my job last week and life has been wonderful since then! I am loving school so much! I have so much fun with the other 13 girls in my program and we're all doing so well in clinic and everything. We're learning so much and getting better every day.

One thing that has helped me destress this semester has been cooking. I've tried all sorts of new things and it's so much fun! The most recent: cinnamon rolls (yes, I've never made cinnamon rolls in my life!). I made them with Amanda last Sunday and they turned out pretty good. The first one we used so much butter when we rolled them up and it was so soupy! So the second one we cut back on the butter and they looked way better.... but you can guess which one tasted better :)

Another exciting thing about Fall Semester starting is BYU football!!!!! For the first game, against Oklahoma, we had a huge BBQ and watched the game at a friend's house and we went crazy! Go Cougs! PLEASE don't choke any more!!!

Here's a 7 layer dip we made for the game! Count the # of "players" It's legit!

Here's a video of our victory celebration!!

Continuing the Summer Fun!

One of my friend's who is in the BYU sailing club took a few of us out on one of the BYU sail boats! It was so much fun! I had never been out on Provo Lake and I didn't know it was only like 10 feet deep! Sailing was so much fun and I can't wait to go out again!

Salt Lake Real soccer game vs. Toronto. It was an amazing game and such a fun atmosphere! I just love soccer! I've been to a few BYU soccer games too and they are pretty intense! So much fun! This is a legit picture- not taken from online or anything! So pretty! Rio Tinto stadium is awesome!

My friends and I went to the Manti Temple Pageant and we had a really fun time. The pageant was pretty funny- the sound track was easily 40 years old and totally cheesy! After the show we went to a friend's cabin and we kept quoting our favorite parts of the show. It was so funny! The Manti Temple is so pretty! It looks just like a castle on top of a hill.

4th of July weekend was probably one of the most fun weekends I've ever had! On the 3rd, a group of us went to a rodeo! I just love rodeos! And I especially love the small town ones because they are just so much fun chillin' with all the locals! We had a good time there! My roommate, Laura, and I got a picture with the rodeo clown! He was, of course, so funny!

We got home from the rodeo around midnight and we were driving down University Ave and there were thousands of people out on the side of the street camping out for the parade that started at 9AM the next morning! I couldn't believe how many people (including families with little kids) were out there partying at midnight! We drove home and Laura and I rode our bikes down there and joined in the festivities until 2:30AM. There were dance parties and food places and little shops were still open and it was just so fun! The next morning, Laura and I, once again, rode our bikes down to University Ave for the parade which was so much fun!
At work on the 3rd, I won tickets to see the Stadium of Fire!!!! One more time, thank you APX!! They weren't the best seats but it was seriously such a fun show! There were dancers out on the field and they were cool and the Jonas Bros performed! I couldn't believe how many teenage girls were there screaming their heads off! It was crazy! The firework show was the best! It was so cool!

Now I've got about 1 more month to party before school starts again! I can't wait to see what happens next!

June fun!! What haven't I done?!

Ok I feel like I need to do some serious catching up! This last month has been one of the funnest months ever! (And it's not even the end of the month yet!) So I'll just list some of the fun things I've done during June:
I went with a couple people in my ward and hiked to the Mt. Timpanogos Caves and took a tour of the caves. It was so cool!! It was a pretty hard hike up there but I would still recommend it to anyone!

Two awesome FHE activities: fingerpainting murals in the parking lot and a sweet wiffleball game at a park!
We had an "American Idol" competition at work to win two tickets to a Kelly Clarkson concert. There were about 6 of us and we had to pick one of her songs to perform for the rest of our department. It was totally embarrassing but really fun! Blake one the tickets and he knew I really wanted to go so he took me! He didn't bring a sweatshirt so he had to wear one of mine... it didn't really fit him very well! haha. My friend Ceci was there too and it was fun partying with her!! Kelly Clarkson was sooooo amazing! She is so good live! Thank you APX for the free tickets and thanks Blake for being an awesome performer and winning the tickets!My sister Debbie came into town to run the Wasatch Back Ragnar Race. She was on a team with our brother and his wife and a bunch of other family. They did awesome! They got 84th out of 700 teams!! That's so awesome! Since Debbie was in town, we decided to make it into a long weekend and go up to the cabin with Dave and his family. I love having Debbie here! It's so much fun hanging out with her and laughing and doing crazy stuff. When I picked her up from the airport, the first thing we did was go to Cafe Rio! She was craving it so bad because there aren't any out in the east. I love how excited she looks in the picture! The cabin has been so much fun! Debbie and I were up here alone for a day and it was so fun relaxing and hanging out together. Dave and Becky and their kids got here and it has been non-stop partying ever since! It's pretty cold up here right now but that didn't stop us from 4-wheeling!!

Blast from the past!

This is a poem I wrote in Kindergarten at good old Alicia Reyes Elementary School.

"I Used to Be"

I used to be scared of the dark
But now I'm not.
I used to be wacko
But now I'm not.
I used to play dogs
But now I don't.
I used to be a prom queen for Halloween
But now I'm a waitress on roller blades.
I used to be annoying
But now I'm not.
I used to be stupid
But now I'm not.


Are you kidding me?! I can't stop laughing every time I read this! What was I thinking?!! Haha!

Ok here's a little note I wrote to my brother, Jon, when I embarrassed him or something. I don't remember what happened, but here's the note I had to write to him. Take note of the spelling:

Dear Jon I am sary that I inbarist you wan yor frands were here. I'm sary that I didient go to bed. I'm sary that I was bing bade.
Love,
Julie


Ok last one. This is a note that I wrote to my parents. I'm not sure why I wrote it but here it is. Note the spelling once again:

Dear MoM & DaD you have bene gude parince & you hlpe Debbie & me to solve prabloms
Love
Julie

I can't get enought of the cabin!!

When I went to visit my parents a few weeks ago, my mom said, "Julie, you should take friends up to the cabin for Memorial Day Weekend!" You should, not you can! I'll always take up that offer! So I took a bunch of friends up to the cabin and it was such an awesome weekend!! There were 11 of us and it was a great group. We went 4wheeling a lot and it was so fun becuase it was really muddy up there so we got really dirty! Of course all the boys loved that! We saw the Mt. Everest IMAX movie on Saturday night which was really fun. After church on Sunday, we went into Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful and all the other classic stops. It was such a fun trip!! I love taking people up there! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!
Of course I took everyone to Big Springs to feed the fish. There was one fish there bigger than any fish I've ever seen up there at Big Springs. We named it "Big Mama." We canoed down the river from Big Springs and we had a fun time. It started sprinkling and I thought it might start pouring down on us so we made it home really fast. Luckily the didn't dump on us! I rode in a canoe with Paul and Brian who are my hometeachers! Love those guys!

Haha! I convinced some of the guys to jump off the bridge and it was in no way warm outside! Suckers! No it was fine- they liked it still.

And of course- there was a lot of sleeping happening the whole weekend. The boys got tuckered out from 4wheeling.

On our way home, I got pulled over and I was so scared becuase I've never gotten pulled over on the freeway before. The cop said I was following the car in front of me too close (sorry Mom!!!) Luckily I only got a warning. I can't remember a time when my heart was beating that hard or fast! The funniest part- the other two cars in our group were driving behind me so they totally saw me pulled over- they both called me a few minutes later to get the story! So funny! I tell you- Idaho cops have it out for California drivers!