California Vacation

There is nothing better than a vacation is there? I recently went to Southern California with family. It was our last hurrah before my brother Jay leaves for Fortelaza, Brazil. We did the typical trip of visiting all the theme parks and spending a day at Newport Beach. There is just something about California that I love. I hope that in the next 10 years I find my way there. I would love to live there and experience the California living.

We like to pose...My mom wanted this to be the best picture. I think we talked about what we would do for a half an hour. She wanted it to be perfect.
Nothing better than spending a day at the happiest place on earth.
I've been to Sea World a lot in the past 2 years. I made everyone do this park in 1/2 a day. You can only look at Penquins for so long...But of course the whales get all the attention anyway.
I love Lucy! It was great to see my idol as not my idol but hey I can't help it. My fav episode is when they eat all the chocolate in the factory. LOL
3D Glasses-so sexy right?

F is For Foust. Its one of the best letters in the alphabet.
I only got this pic because a coworker of mine likes him. He kinda smelled funny-not the coworker but Beetle Juice. Anyways it was a fun vaca and it was great to get out of town for a week.

Remembering BYU

It’s been just over a year since I graduated from BYU. I wish I was still there. So to commemorate my time at BYU, I’ve made a list of just some the good times that I had during my four years of living in Provo, Utah.

Tennis Games-Made a lot of friends playing tennis with Squires. Did I mention we are women’s doubles intramural champions?

Nicmo Prank: Sophomore year. Boys wanting + Girls with water balloons at Kiwanis Park=Getting chased around Provo at 3 a.m….great prank.

True Blue Football: There is nothing better than rolling around in blue foam commemorating Homecoming Week.

Hiking the Y: I hiked the Y several times. I’ve done it in the middle of the night and in the middle of the day. Great hike to show you’re a real cougar.

Liberty Square Polar Bear: Ok we made this up when I lived there. Here’s how it works: Make snow angels outside in the well you know snow, and then run and jump into the pool (it’s in an icky bubble thing). We were frozen but the video we have from this is excellent.

Shaving Cream War: Let’s just say spectacular time.

Reporting Live From BYU: Reporting, anchoring, weather, executive producing was a blast. Living in the Brimhall building while working on stories from that lady who won prizes on Price is Right wearing a BYU shirt, to a dog that saved its family, to how firefighters save lives, and of course Miley Cyrus coming to Stadium of Fire.

Tuna/Cat Food Prank: 40 cans of tuna and cat food +FHE bro’s weren’t home + we had a key to their apt. Their apt stank so bad! This started a semester long prank war.

Park City Concerts: Nothing better than going to a concert in the middle of winter outside and drinking hot chocolate in the greatest ski city in the US.

Campouts: Gosh too many memories of these even to start listing. Bonfires, waking up at 4 a.m. to hike, rafting the Colorado River, and playing games in the tent are priceless.

Squaw Peak: Need I say more?

Utah Lake: Holds many memories from having fires on the beach to making Jen paddle me everywhere in our canoe on the lake.

Floating the Provo River: I swear no matter what time of year you go the river is always freezing. Fav memory from doing this is when Mark went under the bridge-a current took him under and ripped all of his clothing and popped his tube. He was so not happy. Ok one more for this-we took Megan’s truck up and we tried to put 5 tubes in the back. Obviously we can’t pack very well because the tubes kept flying out.

There are so many more but these are what comes to mind right now. Everyone should live in Provo for some serious good ole fashion BYU fun!

Purple Snot

I went to Holi: The Festival of Colors again this year in American Fork. There is something to be said for getting dirty... You start throwing the chalk after they symbolically burn a women (manekin) at the stake to somehow celebrate the coming of Spring.

Once everyone starts throwing the chalk, you can hardly breathe in the huge crowd. I think I had purple snot for over a week-I know your thinking gross but seriously who doesn't love snot that isn't green right?!

Mike and I. Ok seriously I couldn't get this stuff out of my clothes, nose, or hair.

Me and my bf Katie. See that pink on my scalp...ok it never came out. Its like once I tried to wash my hair, the pink decided to stick instead of wash out. I tried everything from washing my hair in baking soda amongst other things. Finally I was desperate so I called my friend Holly for an immediate hair session. Thankfully, I am now blonde again-but it was touch and go there for a while.
Pure Pandemonium and Pure Joy at Holi. We chanted Hara Krishna, Hara Krishna-oh the joy of celebrating other cultures. I love it.

The Weekend Warrior

As I’m winding up this work week I can’t help but think about the weekend that is fast approaching. We may all love our jobs-however there is something to be said for enjoying the weekend.

I am a weekend warrior. I’m a typical person who according to Wikipedia does recreational activities like skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and swimming solely on the weekends since I work Monday through Friday. So from now on expect weekend updates because I seriously believe that you should have at least one fun activity in your week or else you’re very boring and need to get a hobby.

So this weekend it’s skiing (uh in between conferences of course-guilty laugh hehehe). But really I am going to the morning session so don’t worry I’m legit. So in between doing my taxes (ya the deadline is fast approaching) watching conference, and skiing-I think I’ll have a very fulfilling weekend. Hopefully I won’t get any injuries but instead am wishing for a sweet goggle sunburn/tan-I love those. Although I don’t think it would look very good on cam but eh whatev that’s why some dude created makeup.

Oh and here is my plug for General Conference: Watch it! You’ll totally learn at least one thing (if not many) by the time it’s over.

TopTenREPORTS March 27th

Need I Say More?

Facebook App That Knows What You Look Like

There are about one billion pictures uploaded to Facebook each month. With this staggering amount of photos people put on the web, it’s hard to keep up. There might be pictures lingering out in the Facebook world of you that you don’t even know about. But how do you find these pictures?

The answer: Photo Finder by Face.com. It’s a Facebook application that became available Tuesday (to some) that can find those unknown pictures of you or your friends. Photo Finder uses photo recognition technology that may even be smarter than the technology your favorite TV detective uses. It’s able to recognize faces even if they’re not head on. So even if the picture has bad lighting or is blurry - Photo Finder should be able to figure out who is in the picture.

Once Photo Finder recognizes the faces of your friends it will automatically tag them for you. The app also lets you have face galleries. This is the feature that allows you to find unknown or lost photos of yourself by searching your friend’s galleries.

I’m looking forward to using this app but unfortunately Face.com only released it to a few people Tuesday because it’s in Alpha mode. I tried to sign up for it the minute I heard about it, but their limit was already full. :( It should be available to the public later this year, but for now you can register for the waiting list.

I'm Addicted to Sudoku

Hi my name is Jessica and I am addicted to Sudoku. It’s crazy I know, but it’s true.
I was first introduced to Sudoku in college. It came in the Daily Universe (BYU’s newspaper). I would see my friends and other students rip the Sudoku section out of the paper and play it in class-secretively of course. I never knew what it was until a guy I worked with at BYU’s Lost and Found taught me how to play. I can’t say I was hooked right away…but before long I too was playing secretly in the back of class.
Now while I eat my breakfast (most important meal of the day!) I play Sudoku. I wish I could say that every morning while I eat breakfast I read the Deseret News (local newspaper) all the way through. But I can’t-I glance at the headlines, knowing that I’ll read more news at work. So I go immediately to the section with Sudoku. While I’m eating my bowl of Trail Mix, I search for the right number in the right box.
I seriously play Sudoku every day. On Monday, it’s an easy one, but it progressively gets harder as the week goes on. By Sunday it takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to finish just one Sudoku puzzle. Some may think it’s a waste of time, while others think that it’s a great way to get your brain working. I’m agreeing with the last because I need to tell myself I’m making myself smarter by playing Sudoku every morning.
For those of you who were like me, and don’t know what Sudoku is-you should download the Sudoku app for the iPhone. Then you can become addicted like me! I work at TopTenREVIEWS so of course I have a video on the app-check it out: