Learning to be a girl

So I have a problem. I feel like I need to cut my hair. I don't know if I need to go to a length I have been before, a new length, need to add layers, add real bangs, grow out my bangs, or just learn how to do my hair (I blame this on my younger years when I would never let my mom touch my hair. Thus i don't know how to curl or french braid my hair. So, basically what I'm saying is I don't know how to be a girl). Should I go back to a length I have had before? Or should I do something new?

 I know you can't see this one very well. But turns out lately I don't 

have many pictures of me with my hair down. Sorry.

Is Ron Artest really changing his name to Metta World Peace?

That is not ok.

Southern Sun

In the past month we have gone on two vacations in Southern Utah, Moab and Escalante. My family went to Escalante every Memorial Day to our Porter family reunion all growing up. Although our family has seemed to now boycott the boring reunion, we all still go down, still stay in the Circle D motel, and still find new things to do. This year we went to Hole in the Rock for the first time. We also hiked down to Lake Powell and touched its beautiful waters for the first time. On our drive back home some of us stopped near Bryce Canyon and rode the Thunder Mountain Trail. Really it was one of the most amazing trails I will probably ever ride. It was so cool!

Then just last weekend we went to Moab. Although I love Moab, after going the past 2 years in a row and doing the same thing each year (river rafting on a very mild river and dirt biking), I wasn't super excited about going this time. However, I was wrong to not be excited because it was a lot of fun. The river was pretty high so we got good enough rapids to watch my dad fall out. hehe. It was awesome. Also we went on some fun mountain biking trails. Taking my whole family on The Slickrock Trail might not have been the best idea. The best part of it was when my sister (who is not very athletically oriented, but still wanted to try coming with us) said "Mindy, how do you get on the bike without falling off?" Oh steph. Love it. 

At Dead Horse Point Jake made sure to stay out of camera range so we wouldn't get stuck taking more pictures. 

Too bad for him I snuck this one in.

Festivities

This weekend Jake and I were very festive, just for the wrong cities. Orem and Springville were both having their city carnivals so, naturally, we decided to take part. We got up at 6:45 to run  the Orem Annual Firefighter 5k. My dad was on leave from Afghanistan and wanted to run one with me, but then because he was jet lagged from the long flight he didn't end up coming. Oh well, it was still fun. Some of the highlights of the race were:
-Jake saying "This sucks already" right as we took our first steps
-Both of us passing the Amazon woman (named by Jake) who had socks to her knees that had an arrow pointing up saying "Bad A**"
-Getting a medal for finishing 2nd place in my age group (22-29) and being the 2nd female finisher overall
-Jake making sure he finished before the 10 year old who was hot on his heels.

After resting all day (taking a nap, watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, playing Dominion -best new game ever- and reading) we were rejuvenated enough to eat at Cafe Rio and then go to Springville's Art City Days with some friends. Because of our great scavenging skills (finding multiple tickets and quarters near the upside-down-going-rides), we went on two rides. Eating Cafe Rio right before was a really bad idea.We almost threw up both of those rides. We both felt sick all night and had to go lay down in the amphitheater and listen to country performers for an hour. It was awesome. However, the fireworks afterwards really were awesome.

It doesn't look like the ride on the right would make you sick. But don't be fooled.

All pictures from here