Hello Utah.

I forgot how much I love this place. Despite the constant need to apply lotion and chapstick (it's so dry!), Utah has captured my heart. Probably because it's the place where I first really found me. It's a good place. Totally worth the craziness it took to get here. Long story short, I missed my 6am flight and couldn't get on another one until 5:30pm, and then they closed the airport, but then they reopened it and let us fly, and eventually we rolled into SLC around midnight. I was tired. So tired, in fact, that I accidentally fell asleep on the shoulder of the kind man sitting next to me on the plane. Awkward. He was asleep when I woke up, so I decided to pretend it didn't happen. I really think they should put more space between those seats to avoid that embarrassing situation! Thankfully, my pal Kate (a rockstar missionary from the OEM) let me crash with her in Salt Lake so I wouldn't have to travel to Provo so late.

I finally made it to Provo Sunday night and had a sleepover with Megan and Katie. So many laughs. It was a joyous reunion and we almost had Megan convinced to stay an extra day, but unfortunately we had to say our goodbyes just as quickly as we had said our hellos. I'm excited for her though. Big California adventures await :)

Greta and I spent all day catching up, running errands, moving me into my apartment and (the highlight of the day) going to the Payson temple open house. Hmm...I keep trying to think of an adequate adjective to describe the temple. No words seem good enough. Language can be so restricting. 

Also, look who I found whilst unpacking... ;)

Willy James and Alfonso! pahahaha, my friends are funny.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Once upon a mission, I was addicted to ice cream. It's all I ate for at least a week straight. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Instead of trying to help me break my addiction, everyone just fed it. Not that I'm compaining. I didn't mind being taken out for ice cream almost daily. And I didn't mind when we were smuggled a pint or two during the week. Eventually I broke that addiction and moved on to a brief tofu addiction (Eugene...it gets to you). But sometimes, that craving comes back.

Today is one such day. All day long, I longed for ice cream. When I could stand it no longer, I made a quick run to the store. This is what I found. 

In case you can't tell, those are EMPTY  ice cream shelves. 

All of the quality ice cream RECALLED. I settled for a tub of subpar ice cream.  Now I just have to decide: am I more upset that I couldn't get the ice cream I truly wanted OR am I upset because I ate a ton of Blue Bell ice cream last week that may or may not have been contaminated by listeria?

...I miss Oregon's scrumptious and uncontaminated Umpqua ice cream.