New Name?

So now that I've joined the land of the marrieds I'm thinkin that I need a new blog name. I mean, Jake is totally cool with being referred to as a crazy chick and all, but I feel that the title should be something a little more inclusive. Any suggestions?

I can has cookie?

Hello everybody. My name is Lisa and I have officially ignored my blog for over 8 months. I believe that such an accomplishment deserves a plaque, or a cookie or something. While I have no good explanation for never updating, I will just claim laziness and move along.

I'm kinda tired at the moment, and my eyes are burning like they're on fire, but I'm going to try and cram 8 months worth of updates into one concise post. Wish me luck.

~ Last summer was pretty fantastic as it was filled with concerts, girls camp, bike rides and hanging around with Jake.

~ Work has been good. Crazy, but good. Despite the fact that I'm a foodservice slave, I really do enjoy my job. I work with fun people and I love the daily interactions that I have with my eccentric regulars. Perhaps I'll continue being a sandwich slave for many years to come.

~ The holiday season was great! This was the first time that I've ever had to do two different family Thanksgiving dinners, but I really enjoyed both of them. I had a great time getting to know Jakes family even more as I hung around with them at their Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. I also really loved that he came to my family Thanksgiving and that he spent Christmas day with me and my family. Another special treat was that my Grandma and Grandpa Lewis came down and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. I'll always have the awesome memory of sitting around the dining room table teaching Grandma how to play Apples to Apples. :D While they were down Ryan recorded Grandpa telling stories and recalling memories from WWII. These recordings are so incredibly precious to my family now.

~ As most of you know my family experienced a loss like we've never felt before this January. January 6 my younger brother Ryan passed away. He had turned 24 just three days before, and it came as a complete surprise. I miss him so much that even as I type this I find myself tearing up. My family is doing ok though, because we have the plan of salvation and we know that as an eternal family we WILL be together again. While we wish that we could still have him with us, we know that he's doing important work on the other side and we rejoice in the fact that he is finally free from the debilitating and chronic pain that he had to suffer with for so long. LOVE YOU RY!!!!!!!!

~ On to a happier subject. It's been one year since I was put in as a worker in the Special Needs Mutual and I cannot imagine a calling that would bring me greater joy. I love each and every one of my kids and I am so grateful to be able to hang out with them each week. We're working on our play for this year, which is going to be FANTASTIC! It's called The Magic Bus and it's a 60's musical revue :D So far it looks like it'll be on April 30th, but if I remember I'll post the final date when it's decided on.

~ Well, that's about taken it out of me for now so I'm gonna sign off for tonight. Hopefully I'll get over the blog-apathy and post again soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath. ;)

Girls Camp! (random pics for now, captions later)

summer being amazed at the watermelon that mady is eating

catelyn putting some gobstoppers to good use

mady says "it's win!"

beehive pile in the cabin

the bishops wife actually brought linens to use. LINENS!

a deer peeking out from by campsite 4

the view when you opened both the doors to our cabin

by thursday my brain was completely fried.....

i felt totally spoiled when the bishop brought this up for my birthday on wednesday

emo-manda totally carved this from some trail wood. kitteh is win!

emo-manda whittling under the tree during a rain storm :D

a cute stream we saw on our hike

more hike photos

my super fun girls goofing around

the whole fam damily!

the paper says it all...

my firestarting team at the camp certification olympics

my bandaging team at the camp certification olympics

my first place knot tying team at the camp certification olympics

the lake :D

emo girl doing crafts

the amphitheater
the pavilion where we hung out and ate our meals

the trails to the bathrooms :D

our ward flag hanging at the pavilion

the bus ride up

more bus ride up :D

BASh!!!!

Ok, so I totally wasn't planning on going to the Big Ass Show this year, but then the day of the show I get a phone call at work and my friend Jake had scored some VIP passes to go!! How does a girl turn that down?!?! So I took half the day off and we totally went wild at the show. We were a little late getting there, but we made it in time to catch Airborne Toxic Event (THEY'RE AMAZING!!!!), Alkaline Trio, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Unwritten Law and.... THE OFFSPRING!!!! The whole thing was amazing, because we had these VIP badges on lanyards that got us pretty much everywhere. You never quite know how respect feels until a cranky old parking lot attendant looks at your VIP badge and says "very good sir, pull into that lot closest to the stage". Since we had the VIP badges we got to go down into the mosh pit, which is totally the best place to be at a show like that. I, being a somewhat ditzy girl sometimes, wore my flip flops so now there are some VERY gnarly and awesome looking bruises on my feet from being stepped on numerous times. We were deep in the front of the pit for The Offspring and were so close that if Dexter had spit, we totally would've been able to be spit on by DEXTER FROM THE OFFSPRING!! I was lucky enough to be in the pit with my friend Jake who's like 6 feet tall and solidly built so he did the decent thing and made sure to toss the crowd surfers away who kept falling on my head (the people around us had no concept of how to keep somebody up and surfing, so I had about 5 people fall smack on my head and neck). Another awesome thing that happened was that somehow Jake became the go-to guy to throw the emo kids up on the crowd to surf. Once on 90 lb emo girl sees that you can do it, then they all want you to toss them up there. He was a good sport about it though and just kept tossing them up there. All in all, it was a totally amazing experience and definately worth the bruises and shin splints :D

random ramblings from the crazy chick

So, I've totally been shirking my blogging duties lately, but I have a really good excuse....uhm, well a passable excuse at least :D

I've been juggling work and three different church callings for awhile now, and it's sorta been taking it out of me, but the good news is that I've got a decent summer break coming up. :) So for now I'll just take a second and throw out some random sound bites about my life.

~I've been working with the Special Needs Mutual as the young womens instructor since February or so, and it's been one of the coolest and most fulfilling jobs I've ever had. The kids that I work with are incredibly awesome, and I've come to appreciate them as my true celestial friends. We just put on our yearly play on May 15th, and I've never been so proud as when I was watching my kids strut their stuff onstage. The 40's never did look so fantastic! :D Our mutual takes a break between June and August and while I'm looking forward to a little free time, I'm gonna miss my kids like crazy.

~Girls camp is still coming up waaaaayyyy too fast. It seems like just yesterday they called me and all of a sudden we're leaving for camp in two weeks!! It's been fun getting stuff ready and getting the girls excited to go, but it's also been some tiring work. It's awesome though, how when I feel like I'm never gonna get everything done that I have to get done, all of a sudden something will come up and everything will fall into place. The power of prayer is truly wonderful.

~The kitties are still good, they're just doing the same old same old. Life is always exciting for a cat you know.

~Work is good. We've been crazy busy quite often lately, which is a really great thing in this economy. We're losing one of our best workers at the beginning of june, but she's being replaced by a pretty awesome chick, so it looks like things are gonna work out.

~I totally scored some decent seats to the Def Leppard/Poison/Cheap Trick show coming up in August, so I've got something to look forward too :D :D :D

And with that high note, I believe I'll wrap up these random ramblings and go take a nap.
Later!

She Drives Me Crazy

My Life in Itunes

RULES:

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

So I did it and…oh my. That’s all I can say. Oh. My.

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?

~You're Crashing But You're No Wave: Fall Out Boy

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF

~Best Laid Plans: We The Living (hmmm, i suppose i do have some plans..)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

~Another Night: Real McCoy (LOL!!!! PLEASE STAY!!!!!!!!!)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

~Hollowman: Trapt (um, i was more angry chick, but evs)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

~Not The Doctor: Alanis Morrisette. (GET IT WORLD! I'M NOT THE DOCTOR!!!)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

~6 Gun Quota: Seether (YAY!!! NRA 4EVA!!)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

~The Promise: When In Rome (woot!! i'm a synthesized 80's ballad!)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

~Love Bites: Def Leppard (erm...ok? I'M GONNA SEE THESE GUYS IN AUGUST!!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

~Devils Dance: Metallica (WHOOO!!!!!!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

~Stay Young: Strata ;)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

~Who Will Save Your Soul: Jewel (well, yeah, what with all the guns and devil worship....)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

~Don't Dream It's Over: Crowded House (clinically depressed apparantly. that's what i wanna be when i grow up.....)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

~Step Up: Drowning Pool (ALL YOU IN THE CHEAP SEATS!! I WANNA SEE YOU ROCK!!!!!!)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

~Panini Puakea: IZ (hawaiian men...how can they not be a hobby?)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

~Dust In The Wind: Kansas (shut up!! i have VERY sensitive eyes!!!!)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

~Sweet Dreams: Marilyn Manson (woot!!!)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

~Wheel In the Sky: Journey (you know you want one too ;) )

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

~Place For My Head: Linkin Park (they get me.....)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

~She Drives Me Crazy: Fine Young Cannibals

You know you want to do this.

how.......

I can think of younger days when living for my life
Was everything a girl could want to do.
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow.

And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend a this broken girl?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.

I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees
And misty memories of days gone by
We could never see tomorrow, noone said a word about the sorrow.

And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend this broken girl?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.