I'm leaving on a jetplane. I don't know when I'll be back again. Oh wait, yes I do. 18 months, haha.... ha... ha.... eh

I guess it's appropriate that I write a goodbye blog since this will be my last time posting on "Our Thoughts Exactly" so Lauren, you better change it to "My Thoughts Exactly." You can find my new blog in 18 months under the title "Overweight, Awkward, but Oh So Spiritual."
To name a few, these are the things that I will miss the most, in no special order:
Jeans, in particular skinny jeans, my animals (special shout-out to Wilma and Nannie Boo Boo), my Green Rocketdogs, of course you, my friends who read my lame blog, Tennis, Christmas presents, not wearing nylons, not waking up at 6:30 am, my hot body, facebook, music, namely Angels and Airwaves, Safety Suit, Frou Frou, and Anberlin, BYU, My family (yes even Jens), Desperate Housewives and Glee, Evening Bike rides with Leah, and my longer than one inch earrings.

But even missing all of these wonderful things won't stop me from leaving. I know what you're thinking, crazy right? And maybe I am but if I've learned anything in my life, it's that you do what the Lord tells you to do and have faith in Him and things will be okay. Although Missouri definitely wasn't my first choice of a mission, I'm sort of warming up to the idea of hangin with all the hillbillies and possums. So if you need me, I'll be kickin it in the Independence Visitors' Center, preaching, giving tours, and passing out BofM's like crazy. Pray for me and my unfortunate companions and I'll see you soon.

Love Always,
Rachael Marie Howe

Some Things I never knew

Okay, so there is only one thing I never knew that I am going to publish in this post and it's called Lindsey/Lydia and her lady of the night ways.

Where is this coming from you ask? What evidence do I have? Behold-the evidence:




Yes, I know-looks can be deceiving. Let me explain. One, Lindsey rolls herself in big yellow tubes wearing next to nothing and tries to seduce men. At Seven Peaks no less. And Two, she comes home in the middle of the night dressed only in her princess comforter. Hmm . . . I wonder where she was? A little sketchy I think. Now I will allow you all to draw your own opinions, but as for me I now believe that Lindsey is just not the sweet, innocent person that I always thought she was.

On a brighter note, or a completely random note (I just want to post this picture) We went to Seven Peaks . . .
Sure it was like two months ago, but I don't care. It was fun and since Rachael is leaving in about two weeks I figured it was time to post this photo.

Here's A Little Snack

..... because i love you

-rach

You're My Little Fluffy One

As of yesterday, I have three more things to love. BUNNIES! If you know me then you know how much I adore all things furry so this was a fantastic surprise for me. They haven't been named yet but I'm sure when we do, the caliber of their names will be up in the ranks of "Mimi Foo Foo", "Shining Zshaw Zshaw", "Atinka Glassy", and "Nannie Boo Boo."



Wilma (my wonderful dog) is excited about the whole thing.... a little too excited. Whenever we go out to look at the little babies she glares at them then innocently looks up at me as if to say, "Ummm... can you please give me those fluffy things." I won't, considering she caught a squirrel not two days ago and made it's eyes pop out of its tiny head, the little darling.



Well, that's my latest exciting news.... oh wait, there's one other thing. I had a first on Saturday. I went horseback riding in the rain! The horse riding part wasn't my first but the rain part was. How incredibly romantic right? Except my dad was the only male around. I often get so close to what could potentially be a romantic situation but is lacking in one key element... a strapping, young bachelor. One day *sigh. But until then I have three new friends to keep me company.

Wordle

Sometimes I have trouble sleeping and so what is there to do but explore the vast and unknown territory of the internet. On my most recent venture I found this nifty little site where you can create fun word art.

This first one includes the first couple of lines to a timeless love story and one of my favorite books. Can you guess which one it is?


This Wordle is all about ME.


And this last one is of one of my favorite quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft.


Anyway, You should go to wordle.net and check it out. It's kind of fun.

Cake Wrecks

Recently my friend Caytee Wankier showcased a noteworthy blog on her blog that I just had to pass on to you. It's all about cakes, the good, the bad, and the ugly (but mostly just the bad and the ugly). I've found the website to be an absolute delight. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are some excerpts from cakewrecks.blogspot.com and if you like what you see you should definitely check it out because there's plenty more where that came from.



The message couldn't be more clear: Recycle, or die in a fiery mushroom cloud. Now that's how you teach the younger generations, my friends.


"Okay Super...uh...Sam?...just keep your hands where I can see them!"


Ah, yes: the great clown massacre of '77.


Lastly, though, is a truly "special" Dora. A Dora that stands out in the crowd. A Dora that says, "my baker sees the world a little differently." A "manager's special" Dora, if you will:

What the cake was supposed to look like:

Oooh, preeeetty

How the cake actually turned out:

Oooh, shii...er...NOT pretty.


Who else thinks there's a roll of toilet paper under there?

And Don't Come Back for Five to Seven Days!

Once upon a time there was a girl who was in some serious need of adventure in her life because Sanpete turkeys and youth conference adolescents just weren’t cutting it. So, with her wonderful family (minus Jens), she traveled to the wonderful land of Midway where her condo and exciting enterprises awaited her.
Yes, I got the heck out of Ephraim for six days, and it would have been seven if I didn’t have to go back to work, lame. But no matter; this little vaca hit the spot, now let me tell you why.

Day 1: Immediately upon arrival at our condo, me and the siblings stripped ourselves of our confining, ordinary clothes and put on more appropriate attire… SWIMMING SUITS, and headed to the nearest body of water. The Howe family practically lives in their swimming suits when they go on vacation. It’s just the way it is.
Later that night mommy and daddy took me and only me (because they love me best) to the Zermot Resort where we enjoyed a fabulous Seafood buffet. The sushi, coconut shrimp, crab legs, and truffles were my favorites.

Day 2: Ahhh, day two was a good day. We went boating and Jet skiing with some of the extended family on my mom’s side. Yes I went tubing, yes I did a back flip off the tube when we hit a thousand foot high wave, yes I almost died, and yes I loved every minute of it… thanks Uncle Steve. My dad thought he was something else riding that skidoo, and me and mom had to persecute him a little.

Day 3: Day three was a Sunday so nothing too thrilling happened on the Sabbath, it being holy and all. However, we did go to Cascade Springs with my mom’s sister and her family. I think Cascade Springs is one of the most beautiful places in Utah and I’m sorry that my pictures don’t do it justice.
After our little nature walk we went to a family bbq with my mom’s side of the family which was an adventure in itself. You think my mom’s crazy, try multiplying that by 50 and you’ll get a little taste of a Christensen family get-together. They’re wild, extreme, and maybe even a little mad, but I heart them.

Day 4: Day four was a magical day because we went to Park City and you know what that means, shopping at the outlet malls! Not only did I take advantage of the many great deals that the Tanger malls have to offer, I also discovered two things: one, a J. Crew outlet mall, and two: a new friend made entirely of legos. I wanted to touch. “I like can I touch?” –ten points to the one who can name that SNL clip.

Day 5: At this point I realized that my vacation was coming to an end so I had to act quick and do something extreme before it was too late. Thus, once again we journeyed to Park City and you know what that means, Utah Olympic Park (after a little morning tennis of course)! First we watched some future Olympians skiing off these sweet jumps into a swimming pool. It reminded me of mine and Lauren’s skiing days. Yeah, we were that good *cough. Before the skiers would hit the water, someone would turn on a machine that would pump a lot off air into the pool, creating a lot of bubbles and foam at the surface, making it a softer land for the children. But soon we had enough of watching others having fun and we were ready to have some fun of our own. First we went up the ski lift so we could go down the alpine slide. I think my car was retarded because I never could get it to go very fast. The slide was amusing but not nearly as exciting as what we were about to do next… Go on the steepest Zip Line in the WORLD! (No joke, it really is). Two words: Pure Ecstasy. As you can see from the picture, I was the winner because Zip Lines are not new to me and I know that to travel the fastest you have to curl in a little ball while going down.
After the first run we knew that we would not be satisfied with just one ride, so we bought more tickets and sailed down the mountain a second time. My fellow riders caught onto my technique, mimicked it, and needless to say I did not win a second time. Usually I would be seriously upset because I hate losing with a passion, especially to my brothers, but it was okay this day. The thrill of the ride fulfilled all my desires. P.S. That tiny box on the very top of the mountain on the horizon is where we started.


Day 6: I ended my vacation with a bang. Mid-afternoon, we strapped on our swimming suits and headed down to Vivian Park, which you and I both know is right on the Provo River. My mom had reserved us tubes to go down the river in. After checking in and grabbing a life jacket, we all boarded a school bus and headed up river to where our ride would begin. One may have thought that it would be a nice, relaxing ride down the river, but no dear reader, it wasn’t. First of all, the water could have housed ice monsters, if they existed, we had to make sure we got out of the water before we went under, in our instructor’s words “the bridge of death,” we had to remember left right right because those are the ways we were to turn when the river forked and if you went the wrong way, you were screwed. Not to mention all the sharp, jagged rocks and pokey trees and bushes on the bank that we had to avoid. Because Leah wasn’t yet thirteen, her tube had to be hooked onto mine which made steering even more difficult. Luckily we made it to the end okay. My mom and brother Jordan weren’t so lucky. They were the last to get in the water and so no one was there to rescue them from the knarly bushes that captured their connected tubes. When they tried to free themselves, Jordan’s tube came out of its casing and my mom’s tube started leaking air. Then Jord’s tube somehow got disconnected from my mom’s and started floating down the river. My mom was able to swim and catch him but she lost some blood doing it. One of her toenails is now in two (I should have got a picture). But there were no fatalities and I had a blast so I’m calling the river run a success.

I love vacations. I love getting away because when I do I am reintroduced to the fun, happy girl that I really am. I find myself again while on vacations like these. I find enough of me to hold me over until my next break from a sometimes mundane life.

Now That's Friendship

Yesterday I may or may not have taken advantage (in a bad way) of the friendship between me and my good friend Jake. Me and the posse (Jake, Kell, Bryce, and Me) went on a grand adventure to Lagooooooon, and if you've ever been to Lagoon or any other amusement park you know that it's a pain to have to carry a bag or a purse. So you can imagine my HUGE disappointment when I started my period that very day which meant that I would need tampons and meds close by at all times. So, I asked Jake to do the impossible (forced him really). I asked him to carry my tampons for me, and not in a bag or in a backpack, in his POCKETS where there was a possibility of them being seen on his person or falling out of his pants. Of course I would have carried the cargo myself but girl pants have such small pockets compared to man-pants-pockets, yet another gender inequality that we can add to the list. Anyway, he carried them nobly. Naturally he whined a little about it at first and at the end he had to inconspicuously shake my hand to return the tampis, but that's not the point. Jake was there for me. Thanks buddy, I owe ya one.

......And why did no one tell me that Andrew McMahon (Jack's Mannequin) is such a dream boat? Why was I not informed of the vital information? Well I guess I know now and that's all that matters. After seeing him up close in concert on Saturday, I've been smitten. The Fray was awesome but my mind kept wondering back to the way Andy sang I'm Ready just for me, how he jumped on and off his Baldwin piano so gracefully, and how he did his original dance that would have looked stupid had anyone else done it.
So to conclude, Thanks Jake and Thanks Andy for being such studs and making my life a better place to be.

It's official. I'm addicted. Help.
http://www.ventoline.com/frozenbubble/bustamove640.html
-rach

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Tonight I(rach) decided to blow of the dust of one of my old journals and take a gander. Luckily I didn't need the key to this one because my demon brothers had already broken into it and read it for their viewing pleasure (notice the cut strap on the side). Bless them.
Here are a few entries that I thought were pretty priceless.

October 7, 1999
Dear Diary
We just got to our hotel. Its been a long hard drive. On the way I needed to go pee really really bad. We had to stop by the side to go pee. It was kind of embaresing. I never want to do it again.
-Some things never change

November 29, 1999
Dear Diary;
We finished decorating our Christmas tree. I was fun. But the bad thing about it was that it also fell on Jan. He cryed, and cryed. Our Thanksgiving was great, But not very many people came. Grandparents day was nice too.
-So that's why Jan has a psychological fear of evergreens.

September 12, 2001
Yesterday was a day I and many Americans will always remember. I'm not even going to write down what happened because it hurts me so much to even think about it. It makes me so scared to think of bombs dropping everywhere in a land to me that has always been free. I would hate it if my dad had to go to war and die. My latest boys I like is a toss up between Tim and Tyler. It's different every day. One I'll like Tim and the next day I would like none. Although Tim is going out with Tristi, I think he likes me a little. Tyler used to like me in 6th grade but now he doesn't want anything to do with me.
-and clearly that was the real travesty of the day. Tyler how could you?

Yeah, so glad I kept a journal when I was younger, and there's plenty more where that came from.

It is a well-known fact that Dr. Laura is mean and crazy, but she did something on her radio show the other day that was kind of noteworthy. She read an email from a family who's son, a soldier in Iraq, lost his legs in a roadside bombing. They didn't ask for money to help with the medical bill, they only asked people to send their son a birthday card as his special day is approaching.
Our soldiers deserve our respect, if not our kindness. He of all people could use a few words of understanding and gratitude for his sacrifice, and that's why I (rach) wrote Daniel a letter. It would be cool if you would too.

Daniel Thornhill
Fort Sam Houston Fisher House
3623 George C. Beach Road
Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234

The Year in Review

We apologize that this is the longest blog in the history of blogs. But we had no choice. It is long because we are documenting our entire year through pictures. So just sit back, relax and enjoy the summary of our year.


At the beginning of the year, Rachael and Ashley bonded over many boating outings with Ashley's uncle.

The following pictures are of Rachael's birthday. We went all out, we threw her a surprise party but before we blindfolded her and took her to dinner. Only we had to drive her around for like an hour because people weren't over for her party yet--she got quite the ride . . . and birthday spanks.

A special birthday treat of cake in the face

Yes, Lindsey does look like this all the time

We dressed Rachael up in her birthday outfit and then kidnapped her. She thought she was so brilliant and knew where we were going but she was wrong. All the time she was asking "Are we going North?" or "OOOH! We are at Walmart aren't we?" my favorite, "We are going up the mountains!!" She did call us on the WalMart one . . . and Zupas. I think she cheated.

Her awesome surprise party! Rach was actually surprised, shocking seeing as she SAW me making about three dozen cupcakes, the idiot.

We stayed up late and made Rachael a cake, only I had a little problem with the chocolate mousse, called- I dropped it on the floor. From this point on, POOPS was born. I got the poops all over my glasses too, so gross.

Rachael's evil eyes, she will never live this down. Whenever she gets angry we retaliate by giving her the "evil eyes"

Oh, the memories. We stole Cameron's gloves . . . several times and had our way with them. They liked it better with us anyway.


We took them on a field trip to their old home and spied on Cam and his roommies. The geniuses had no idea.

Rachael took some of her girls from High School up to her condo in Midway . They relived their youth, and tennis trips by playing a special little game. Hannah loves spanking Eastman . . . and he likes it too.

For Halloween we were the four seasons, pretty brilliant. And yes, we did those faces the whole night.

Mckelle and Rach went on a little adventure to Vegas where they saw not only Thunder from Down Under, but The Phantom of the Opera as well.

Welcome to our life. See that face Brenda (aka Brendan) is pulling? Yeah, we get that a lot. . .

One of the many nights that we beat up Seth and forced him to wear the pink shoes. Also he had to buy us ice-cream. It's not our fault he wasn't man enough to get his shoes back.

This is what we did in our apartment about every night. Rach and I in our nests on the floor. Rachael playing with her hair. Lindsey playing with fairies or facebook animals on her computer. Jared chillin' on the couch in a rather feminine position and Ash taking pictures.

We acquired a little present from Radiotron that we named B.A.R.T (It's an acronym, don't ask of what, I can't remember) so the roommies decided to give Rachael a little surprise (she was asleep when we picked up B.A.R.T) for when she woke up in the morning--a half-naked man!

Unfortunately we had to return B.A.R.T. the next day, but Rach did give him a beautiful makeover!

I gave him a little something special as well--a tramp stamp.

While Ash felt him up, she looks like a molester right?

For Christmas we went to Temple Square and had a little photo session--Seth was our photographer, he did such a great job--only not so much.


Rach and I took a ski class winter semester. We were in the never-ever group. And I must say we did pretty well. There were some days when we fell down . . . a lot, and we got in a little car accident, but overall-SO FUN!

We had a ton of game nights throughout the year. One night Rach decided she wanted to leg wrestle, only one problem. No one could remember how to do it. So we basically just rolled around on the ground like idiots for like half an hour then we gave up and watched T.V.

The girls of OA 104 decided to take a Scuba Diving class Winter Semester. It was so great, only we were seriously the idiots of the class. Every week at least one of us (usually all four) got yelled at by the instructors for blowing out an O-ring, losing our goggles, not paying attention, running out of air. . . you name it we did it.

We did our open water dives in the Crater in Midway. This picture shows our true personalities--look closely. Rach loved the water . . . so good for your skin, right Rach?

Sigh. The highlight of our life. Jared gave us his x-box for a weekend, and we ended up keeping it for two months. We had to be a little conniving to keep it that long, but in the end we won it fair and square. Favorite Games: Bust a Move, Mortal Kombat, Mission Impossible (Thank you Natasha) Gotham Racer, BUT NEVER MARBLE MADNESS!!! Barf!

Another highlight of the year, Caleb came to visit us, and he graced us with a little fashion show. Recognize those pink shoes? We made everyone wear them--so hot right now. Another highlight, Cal stole a little kiss from Rach--well, he tried, I'm sure his wounds will heal, eventually.

After one of our open water dives in the Crater we went to Rachael's condo and swam in the pool, okay, mostly we jumped into the pool and took pictures. . .

We needed a group picture in the condo of us in all of our post-scuba glory. Don't we look good? Gross.

One of the many pictures Cam took in the photo booth at Ashley's cocktail birthday party.

We spent a lot of time getting ready for the party, one project was spray painting Japanese lanterns sliver-it got a little messy.

After Ashley's party things got a little out of hand. Rachael received her first ever Tramp Stamp. Looks pretty good I think considering how tipsy I was. She loves showing it off to all the boys.

For Cameron's birthday we made him a special present called Cameron's Castle! Rach and I even snuck into his room and put it on his desk for when he came home. It didn't seem like a big deal to go into his room, but when we ran into his evil roommate who hates us we realized just what a sacrifice it really was, we violated the Honor Code for that?!?!

To celebrate the last day of classes we had a little party which included Fruit Pizza. As you can tell food is very very important to us.

We moved our mattresses out to the living room. Rachael is getting ready to show of her Opera skills, can't you tell?

Yes, we ate fruit pizza and played the x-box all night, and pretty much all during finals week. At least it was an improvement from fall semester finals. That was an adventure--I don't think any of us showered much, we didn't do laundry, dishes or pick up anything.

Seth and Rachael got a little frisky one night. Actually they just played a harmless game of suck and blow.

But when Rachael tried to play it with Cameron, it got a little out of hand.

Point proven.

Rach gave up sugar for Lent--this is the last night of Lent when she got to eat sugar once again. What did she choose to indulge in after 40 days of nothing? Oreo ice-cream pie.

Bajinkas! Also known as Nads, balls, family jewels--you get the idea. Rach coined the term Bajinkas after she gave Brenda a little gift of hitting him where it hurts, she says on accident, I don't know about that . . . but from that point forward this was how we threatened Brenda.

We are a little mischievous, most of our adventures wreaking havoc are not documented because we couldn't leave any evidence, but one night Rach and I did take our camera's when we went to gather newspaper for a little somethin' somethin'

We sneak . . . a lot . . . you can't be sneaking without striking this pose.

See, I'm not sneaking, so I didn't catch a duck.

Bavarian Jell-o. We had a end of the year BBQ. And Lindz made something called Bavarian Jell-o. Yeah, you could eat it with a straw.

We had a picnic before everyone left for the summer--Brenda loved catching grapes . . . and raindrops.

Brendan tried to capture the wild beast for his own personal pleasure, but alas, it was all in vain. This wild animal cannot be tamed.

We relived our childhood one day. First of we painted our faces.

And we got tattoos.

When we went rollerblading. Something Rach, Ash and I did regularly. Ash was by far the person who fell down the most. Case in point. See that wheel behind her? That's the car, and that's how far she went before she fell.

Our rollerblading posse.

Seth came with us one day on the River Trail--take a gander at his face, doesn't he look good?

Later that day we finished our day by decorating the sidewalk with chalk.

*Quite the year I would say--we lived, we laughed we loved. But we also stole, cheated and kidnapped. Overall, I think we did pretty a pretty good job--