My Pet Peeve of Provo

School starts again on Monday. With this comes the HUNDREDS of people that disappeared over the summer. Yeah, all those people who CAN'T DRIVE!

Ok. So they can drive. They're just not smart drivers.

Case in point: The Suicide Lane-ers.

These are the people marked in RED in the picture above. They see an opening to turn left on the opposite lane of traffic, so they take it and decide to drive in the Suicide Lane until there is an opening. The problem is that half the time they don't act like they're going to make it into the suicide lane, they're trying to get into your lane when you're RIGHT THERE! I'm already paranoid of being cut off, and these people are the type that would do something like that to you.

The other problem these drivers cause is that they just stick around in the Suicide Lane without a care in the world waiting for something to open up so they can merge over, but all I really want to do is make a left turn from right where they're sitting. I shouldn't have to take a detour because of something like that.

It's kind of frustrating. Especially considering that I've seen it at least twice a day everyday for the last week.

Some people's children . . .

Last Day

Yesterday was my last day at AMP! I can't really believe it. I feel like I'm going to be going back there tomorrow night again, but I guess its official.

To celebrate my last day of work, Chris, Allie, and myself all decided to be awesome together and wear uniforms.

I'm really gonna miss those guys, and a lot of the other people I worked with! Can't say I'll miss the actual job though. haha. Good times. Maybe I'll see some of you again next summer. . . ?

PS- BEST PICTURE EVER.

. . . to be continued

So, Lagoon was awesome and I got a lot of fun pictures to share, but it will be a few days before I can actually post them.

You see, after a long yet fun day riding all the rides and enjoying some sunshine, we decided to go on the Wicked, and on this fateful ride, my brand new phone decided to fall out of my pocket, along with all the pictures I had taken.

The phone was recovered, but the screen stopped working and a piece fell out, so Verizon is kind enough to send me a new one that I should be receiving tomorrow or Wednesday. Then I'll go into the store so they can transfer all of my pictures over to the new phone.

Stay tuned! You won't want to miss the pictures!

You're so good for me. . .

TOMORROW:

I'm so excited!!! woo! Pictures are for sure to come!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

My small town is finally getting noticed!! If any of you have ever messed around on google earth or google maps, you've probably noticed they have a cool "street view" option so you don't just have to see the sky view. Up until very recently (I don't know exactly when this happened, but its just within the last few weeks) that feature wasn't available in my hometown. Now it is! Whoopie!

What does this tell you?

While I was home today, the phone rang, and I was the one that got to answer it. When I picked up, I nearly said "AMP, this is Lauren" but instead I said "Hi, this is Lauren" like it was my cell phone. To make matters worse, it was our friend Lori on the other end, who knows that we usually answer the phone "Hello, this is the Bytheways."

I have been working there for way too long.

Good thing I only work there for 2 more weeks, huh?

Home Sweet Home

Today while I was working my 8 hour shift at the beloved AMP, I had a crazy idea enter my mind to go home for the weekend so I could work on the baby blanket I'm making for Trent and Manda. By doing so, I would also get to go on the legendary Sunday night walk with my friends.

I had it all planned out in my head, get off work at 3, stop by Old Navy (because I had a coupon for 30% off that expires tomorrow), go home, pack, and hit the road by 5 at the latest.

Turns out, my plans changed. When I was nearing the end of my shift at 1, my brother Ryan came in and told me a sad story of how his recently newly replaced iPod stopped working that morning, and how he was so sad that he had to work all night because he wouldn't be able to make it up to the Apple Store to get it checked out. Jokingly, he suggested that I could be a really nice sister and run up to the Apple Store for him to get it fixed. I thought about it, and decided that he had been such an awesome brother to me this summer (getting me a job, giving me rides, fixing my car, hooking me up with wireless internet, entertaining me with Rockband and movies, introducing me to Netflix, etc.) that I could make the trip to attempt to pay him back.

I drove up to Salt Lake, paying careful attention to follow the directions Ryan gave me because I had never driven in Salt Lake before, let alone by myself. I found what I thought was a decent parking spot and made my way to the Apple Store. It was packed! I thought for sure it would take forever to be able to talk to someone, but the concierge hooked me up and I was talking to a genius within 3 minutes of walking in the door. He took the iPod to look it over and said he would see what he could do. 20 minutes later he came over to me and told me the problem wasn't as easy to fix as he thought and to be patient. Well, what else could I do? haha. So I just sat there texting some friends to keep me occupied. About a half an hour later he came back with a new iPod in hand and some paperwork with me to sign. He said he tried to fix it 2 different ways and he couldn't solve it, so he just replaced it. He also gave me a reciept with the plastic cover stuck to it and told me to go to the Invisible Shield kiosk for a replacement cover, so I did. I called Ry-Ry to share the news before I started the trip back to AMP to drop off the iPod. Ryan was pretty happy because he didn't actually have an Invisible Shield cover before, so it was really an upgrade for him. Lucky kid.

As I was walking back to my car, pulling my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door, the Parking Enforcement officer pulled up behind where I was parked and stopped. She then got out of the vehicle and started to look around at the car parked next to me. In my eagerness to find a parking spot, I overlooked the fact that I had parked right in front of a fire hydrant. (whoops.) Luckily, I was able to move my car before I got a ticket, and the officer didn't even say a word to me as I unlocked my door and got into the car. phew. close call. Then Ryan would have really had owed me one for this favor.

After dropping off the iPod around 6 I made a quick stop at Old Navy and quickly got home to pack up some essentials and my laundry to do at home. I had a particularly uneventful drive home, just spent rocking out to some tunes (using my new mp3 player from Woot).

When I got home and drove into the driveway, I was happily surprised to see some extra cars in the driveway belonging to Trent and Manda and Lori. Who knew I was coming home to a party? Everyone was out in the barn watching the boys work on the bikes, so I made my way over to say hi. Within the 10 minutes I was out there, I was attacked, no, seriously. ATTACKED by mosquitos. Go Figure. I go all summer without a single bite, and I come home for 10 minutes and they've made up for all the lost time. geeze. Here is some proof of the damage (beware, it is kind of gruesome).




Seriously. I promise those are all mosquito bites. Not paintballing welts or cancerous growths of skin cancer. All that from about 10 minutes outside!!!















Oh welcome home. Home, Sweet Home.