I've never been a big fan of Mexican food until recently. We went to three different Mexican food restaurants while we were in Vegas. One was a first for me. I've always heard that Chiplotle was good, so my dad and I decided to give it a try. Those burritos were HUGE! It was a wonder I could get my mouth around it all. Mmm. Good stuff. Very tasty. 

The guy who made my burrito also hit on me. I was very flattered even though he was short, had braces, and was probably 16 years old. 

Now I'm watching "The Great Mouse Detective" with my sister while my dad snoozes on the couch. I'll be heading home tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to the drive home. I can't complain about sleeping in my own bed, though. 

It's been a hard weekend, but I'm glad I came.

On The Border. It's a Mexican restaurant. I LOVE it. They have them elsewhere, but the only one I know of is in Vegas. So, whenever I'm in Sin City, I always request going there. 

OH the fajitas. Yum yum yum yum yum! Habanero Fire Sauce is amazing! So spicy! Mmm.

On the painting front, we finished except for a 2nd coat on one wall. I've been very sore and hurty, mostly for reasons unrelated to the work we've been doing; and so I've been getting steadily more grumpy at time went on. So, while we had an extra pair of arms (Alyson's ex-husband, Mike came to help us paint) we moved all of the furniture over to the house. I stayed behind and loafed. It was great. 

"Hey Katie!" "What?" "Want to start a paint contracting business with me?" "Ummm... no." - Conversation with my dad after 6 straight hours of painting.

We painted nearly all day today. From about 11:30am to 7:30pm. I realize that's only 8 hours, but that's a LOT of painting time. And we're not even finished yet. There's only a bit more trim work left, and then mostly roller work, which should go pretty quickly. And then we still have to move all of Alyson's stuff from her apartment to her new house. Alyson has a LOT of stuff. I sound like I'm complaining. Well... I am kinda. This has been a lot more work that I anticipated. I knew it would be quite a bit of work, but this is a LOT of work. It doesn't help that I'm PMS-ing right now. Too much info? Sorry. It's the truth.

I other news, it looks fabulous. That's good. It's a beautiful house and the colors she picked are pretty. I'm just tired of the tedious work that is painting. 

Also, we'll be sleeping at the house tomorrow night. At least... that's the plan. So... I might not be able to post for two days because Alyson won't be able to hook up the wireless. I'm praying that I can steal some from one of her neighbors. If not... I apologize for breaking my 'Blog Everyday in April" quota. Oh well. 

Isn't it pleasant when a drive that takes 9 hours feels like it only takes 6? I have to say how much I love traveling with my dad. He's a great travel companion. Mostly because he drives the whole way, and doesn't mind if I choose the music. I do try to pick stuff I know he'd enjoy. He's great.

I'm in Vegas now. We got here about 3.5 hours ago. Stopped at my sister's new house to see it. It's awesome. And it's going to be a trick to paint it. Insanely tricky. We're getting a scaffolding. It's going to be legit. 

We then went out to eat at Red Robin (Yum!) Tip: Guacamole Bacon Burger = fabulous. 

I'm going to Vegas tomorrow for five days. I can hear your groans of jealousy. But before you get too excited, I'm not going to Viva Las Vegas to party it up in the city of sin. 

My sister is moving into her new house. My dad and I are driving the eight to ten hours it's going to take to get us there so we can help her paint her new place and move all of her stuff from her apartment into her big girl house. It's going to be a lot of work.

But I get to spend time with my wonderful dad (He's a great road trip companion. Kinda love traveling with him.) and my sister, Alyson. I lived with Aly for 6 months and got used to seeing her every day. Once every three or four months just isn't cutting it. Nope. So five days with her is going to be amazing! (Even if she is making me paint her house.)

I've had a crappy knee since July of 2007. It happened at a big family gathering. We rented out the second floor of a restaurant and as we climbed the stairs, my knee popped. It hurt SO badly. I have no idea what I did. I didn't feel like I stepped wrong, put my weight on it funny. It was fine one moment and screwed up the next. It hurt inexplicably for two weeks.

Something everyone should know about me. I hate the sound of popping. Popping knuckles, necks, backs, toes. Any body part that can be popped, if I hear it, I cringe. I'll pop my own knuckles and shudder a little inside. The sound of popping is my nails on a chalk board.

Well... my knee has popped since that day I walked up the stairs in that restaurant. Not just once. Three times. Each time I stood up. "Pop pop pop." Each time I danced. "Pop pop pop." Each time I walked up the stairs. "Pop pop pop. Pop pop pop. Pop pop pop." You get the picture.

Squats. Torture for my knee. Listening to my knee popping each time I bent down... like torture. Well, today, I was working out. Jillian Michaels. She's kind of crazy anyway, and by the end of a circuit I look at her like she's a mad woman. But to hear the words "Okay! Jumping Squats!" come out of her mouth at the beginning of a circuit... my face instantly turned to skepticism and worry. I could already hear my knee popping. But I tried. I try all of the work outs. 

Jump one. Squat. Jump two. Squat. Jump three. Squat. Wait... No "pop pop pop?" And the same for jumps and squats four, five, six and all the rest. I didn't "pop pop pop" once. Weight loss is saving my knee. 

I've mentioned before that when I look at old pictures from high school, I can't help but think how silly I was to think I was fat. True, I was bigger than the majority of my friends... that might have had something to do with it. 

Well, I had the realization the other day that I'm VERY quickly getting too small for my clothes. And unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy new clothes. But I had another realization. I'm about the weight I was in high school. I have old clothes from high school upstairs that didn't fit me when I got bigger.

I tried the ones that are still cute on today and...

Too bad I got rid of my pants. I have a few new cute tops and AWESOME work out pants! Feeling skinny and fabulous. 22 pounds left to my goal weight. I can't even imagine how great it's going to feel when I'm there if I'm feeling so good right now.

I always panic a little bit when someone sits behind me in church and whispers my name before the meetings start. It only means one of two things: 

Of course I said yes! But who am I to judge what people will like or not. I finally settled on one of my favorite games.

Boxers or Briefs.

No. We don't line all of the guys in the ward up against a wall while the girls debate what they think they are wearing underneath. Simply because all of the guys there tonight would have been wearing garments and it wouldn't have been a fun game. 

Here's what the back of the box says: "Grab some friends and get ready for rounds of laughter as each player is put on the hot seat. The hilarity begins when you have to choose from the wild & wacky statements your friends pick to describe you. Will they reveal hidden quirks or will you all share a good laugh at their absurd choices? This easy-to-learn game will get the party started! More than 2000 unique and funny phrases provides hours of entertainment."

I first played this game at a party in 2007. Loved it the moment it started. I'm so shocked that more people don't know about it. It's simply hilarious to play. Everyone loved it. And even better, I had been having a pretty rotten day, and this cheered me up immensely.

I felt awesome today. I felt like my weight loss was showing, I love my dress, my shoes, my hair, my accessories. My makeup was great too! I just felt really snazzy.

Church was also amazing today. I very much enjoyed it. The spirit there was incredible.

Things I am excited for:

I find stars completely enthralling. I could gaze at them all night. I stared into space curled up in about 7 different layers of clothes and blankets for about an hour this evening. I haven't just relaxed on the ground looking up into heaven for a very long time. At least since last summer. But I don't remember actually going stargazing at all last summer, so it might even be longer. (Unless waiting until nightfall in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and then looking up into the sky and finding all of your favorite constellations which the makers of this brilliant game so awesomely put in all the right spots counts as star gazing... but I don't think it does.)

As I lay there tonight, searching the skies for Cassiopeia and Orion, I felt so infinitely small. It's a feeling I get quite often when I star gaze. The universe is so vast, and goes on forever, something completely unfathomable to me. I remember the first time I went to the Clark Planetarium at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City. At the top of the stairs is an exhibit about the solar system.

They have large models of each planet, scaled to show how much bigger or smaller one planet is from another. The earth is huge. We all live on it, and even if we were the most privileged person in the world and spent our entire life roaming over its surface, we would never see everything it has to offer. It's that vast. Earth looked like a tennis ball compared to Jupiter. Jupiter was about as tall as I am, maybe even taller. (5'8" if you're curious.) It completely dwarfed our little planet. Now, when I think about just how big our planet is, and if Jupiter is that much bigger... I feel like a tiny little speck. And we're only in one stretch of the galaxy. And there are boundless other galaxies out there. Space is infinite. 

I lay there on my front lawn, and while I could have felt like I didn't matter, that I was just one of billions of people on this tiny little place we call Earth; I felt so incredibly loved. There's a purpose to everything. To every single person's life. I looked up into that beautiful dark sky sprinkled with twinkling stars that are so far away, the light has traveled years just so I can see a tiny little glimmer of it's magnitude; and felt my Heavenly Father's love. He made all of this, the ground at my back, the sky above me, even my own body. I owe him so much. I have so much to be thankful for. 

My day has been pretty low key. After a week of plans and things to do, I'm feeling insanely bored. I have no plans. Any time I tried to come up with something to do, the plans fell through. I'm feeling a little bit down right now. It's no one's fault, I think it's just been one of the first times in a while that I've actually been left alone with my thoughts and emotions instead of putting them away while there are people around, or even venting a few of them with friends and family. I'm not a big fan of being alone with my emotions, thoughts and feelings. Don't get me wrong, it's good for me to work everything out in my alone time, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. 

Have you ever felt like you are someone different than what everyone sees? That's how I'm feeling right now. I feel like I have multiple personalities. I show one side of me online, another when around my friends, another around my family. I think I'm even a different person when I'm alone. The differences are subtle for the most part, but I don't understand why I can't just be me. Just me. I want that to be enough. 

There are quite a few things that make me smile: 

I took my camera with me to FHE tonight, figuring that a good group of the people I mention regularly in this blog would be in attendance. I thought I'd help my readers put a name with a face.

Pete. Yup. That's him.

Natalie and Me. I love this girl. She's easily my best in town friend.

Brooke and me. I also love this girl. I can always count on her. ALWAYS makes me smile.

Mecailla and me. I met her through Brooke, and love her to death. 

Natalie, Jessica and me. We're very excited about something. Oh so cheesy.

"Da Moose, Da Moose!" AKA how Natalie says hi.

Have you ever just wanted to spend an entire day in bed? I had my laptop with me, and spent the afternoon cuddled in my covers chatting with CJ, watching random videos and playing random games. And of course dozing off when the mood suited me. I have been unnaturally sleepy today, but I can't really complain. I have a comfortable bed and internet access. It's been a good day.

Happy Easter!

It's tradition to dye Easter Eggs every year. I almost didn't this year. SO very glad that I did! Unfortunately, it was too cold to dye the eggs out on the picnic table. Out there I don't have to worry about ruining my grandma's table or carpet and therefore make MUCH more exciting eggs. I had 18 all to myself and only dyed five.

It's also become tradition for the older kids (the ones that aren't young enough not to be judged by the cars driving by.) to hunt Easter Eggs with the younger ones. I love this. Even though it was absolutely freezing and I didn't bring a coat.

My cousins are gorgeous. Love them.

We spent the evening playing games and then watching a movie. 'The Box' is about the stupidest movie. (Aside from "The Fountain" of course.) I didn't finish it. It was that stupid.

Very good day. I'm exhausted. Yay for Easter.

My friend Brooke invited me over for a game night with a big group of people. I wasn't sure I wanted to go. But I figured it would be better to go and hang out with a bunch of people I don't know,* than sit at home and feel sorry for myself.

I got all dressed up. I must say, I looked pretty cute. I've learned a new trick, if you dip an eyeliner brush in eye drops and then into an awesome eye shadow, you can use the color as eyeliner. Tonight I did navy blue and turquoise. It was sweet! I had a big flower in my hair, and felt pretty hot.

We sang some karaoke. Played Apples to Apples. Mecailla and I ditched everyone for a minute and went upstairs to play Halo. It was a great night.

Though... Pete was there, and that was a bit awkward. Eeshk!

*Brooke is the Relief Society President of the other Singles Ward in town. She's knows a lot of people and is GREAT at setting people up, so I figured it would be a good idea to go.

That's right folks. I'm doing 'Blog Every Day in April.' I'm not sure how well I'm going to do, but I'm going to try. I've been slacking in my blogging for the past two months, and I'm determined to pick it back up! So, here goes nothing!

It's April Fool's Day. I hate this holiday. There are couple of reasons which I will now list for your reading pleasure:

Let's focus on these three things for this year.

I hate April Fool's Day.

But BEDA will be fun. I'm determined to make it so.