sometimes you go camping

...and come home with enough mosquito bites to swell your eye shut.

Classy.

Otherwise, girls camp was a hit. We camped at a beautiful inlet of the Chesapeake, the weather was gorgeous, and I ate my fair share of smores. Now that's a success.

boards time

10 days until Doug takes his board exams.

Oh man.

my uncle is a wise man

My mom's brother Lee and his wife Linda were recently called to serve a mission for our church in the Canary Islands (I know... pure torture, right?).

They're in Madrid at the MTC waiting for their paperwork to go through so they can head to the islands, and this was part of the hilarious email he sent to my mom this week:

We really love it here, but I think I have found the reason Spain lost all of its New World colonies. Pillow cases! Believe it or not, pillow cases here are open at both ends. They are just sort of a tube. So, you get the case opened, the pillow tucked under your chin and then pull and stuff the pillow inside. Then, when it’s mostly in, you give a nice jerk and “whoosh” it shoots to the floor. You just cannot effectively administer colonies when you have to spend so much time making the bed in the morning.

I think he's on to something. Elder and Sister Parker are going to be fabulous missionaries, proper pillow cases or not.

Hermana Dunlop and Lee--he drove down from San Luis Obispo to see me my last night in the mission. Love this man.

doug meets his first firefly

There are important events in every man's life, and this was surely one of them.

Fireflies are rarely found west of Kansas, so this event was a long time coming.

be kind to your friends...

...because you never know what they have in their arsenal.


Halloween 2002. Thanks for not letting me live it down, Brant. And thanks for putting these on Facebook.

ticketmaster UK

My mom and I went to London 3 years ago this month, yet I still can't bear to unsubscribe from the Ticketmaster UK emails I get every week. It's just too fond a memory.

Maybe in another year I can finally bite the bullet and get rid of them. Maybe.

so... i guess it was time for a new phone

It's surprising how hard it is to use a phone that's in two pieces. Huh.