an APple a day keeps the courses away

Hello once again, it's your favorite neighborhood Jansen-man. I'm here to tell you about the wonderfully exciting life of my alter-ego, Jansen. Jansen's day began late, but abruptly, when at 11:00 two things caused me to bolt out of bed: a) hearing conversation about and b) smelling French Toast. Unfortunately, it was all for nothing because my roommates didn't leave any for me. Wah. But I'm a big boy, so I had some cereal or something; it was all good.

Then, suddenly, I realized what day it was! July 1st! The day AP scores are available to be called in! (Granted, it cost $8, but such is the price we pay. Of course, I could have just waited a few weeks, but I did need to know my Calc score sooner rather than later in order to pick the right class for the fall). So I got all my needed information and called in--and became SUPERCALIFRAJALISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS-DUPER HAPPY! I actually surpassed (most of) my expectations! There was only one score where I fell short. I don't feel like re-posting them, so I'll just link to my facebook note (*the smiley person in the note is one of my friends. He likes it when I put embarrassing pictures of him online). Yep. That's me.

After that I wasted some time until my BoM class at 2, which, again, was pretty cool. We talked about how Lehi's dream becomes the new cultural narrative for the Nephites (replacing the exodus) and how that dream imagery pervades Nephite culture. It makes for some really interesting stuff. I lucked out with this guy.

After BoM I got back to the apartment, then my Grandpa (Kelly) picked me up to go to this ballooning banquet As some of you may know, it is independence day weekend coming up, and apparently that's really big out here. And when I say really big, I mean, REALLY big. They're setting up like this whole fair kind of a thing, with rides and everything. It's wicked intense. Anyway, there's this balloon meet for that, which starts tomorrow and ends on Monday. I'm not going to be going tomorrow, but I'll definitely be going Saturday and Monday. It's been so long since I've been to a balloon meet (and I promise to take lots of pictures for those of you who have never been to a balloon meet). Annnyway, that was a lot of talking and I kind of got off track. The point to this paragraph was what my Grandpa was driving when he picked me up. I'm not very car-literate, but I think these should be pretty self-explanatory:

Yeeppp. That's actually my Grandma's car. It is so. Freakin'. Cool. The top folds back literally at the touch of a button. IN the words of my Grandpa: "Those Germans sure know what they're doing." (It's a Mercedes-Benz).

The banquet was all right; standard Utah fare: a salad with plenty of Ranch dressing, then meat and potatoes. No bread, no fruit, and no veggies (besides the salad and the potato, of course. Did I mention that the potato wasn't baked, but was deep fried?).

After the banquet, I went back to my grandparents house. I'm going to Lagoon tomorrow with Tutu and Kea, for which reason I decided to skip bio (calm down; all the lecture is online, and I did just get a 100 on the test. I think I can give myself some pretty good leeway) so we could get to Lagoon as it opens. Then, I realized that both sets of grandparents live within 10 minutes of each other, so it would actually be better to sleep over and my Kelly Grandparents (and the myriad cookies and bread that were there helped to make up my mind). Before I put up the pictures of their house and yard, I'll just comment on the family that is over: the Stanleys (my mom's sister and her family) are here from St. George, and then Liz (another of my mom's sisters) is here with her ~10 month old, Evan (I don't know where her hubby is; ok, that's a lie. I know he's in Idaho, but I don't know why she came down separate. I just didn't bother to ask).

This is the view from the loft in my Grandparent's house; in other words the coolest place ever. That weird looking guy is my Uncle Josh. Never believe a word he says. Most of the time, he's just joshing you.

A view up from the loft, to see the neat skylights. Also, you can almost see the floor (this view is to the right of the view above)

My grandparents' pond. It's really cool, and my Grandpa keeps it stocked with (I believe; correct me if I'm wrong) freshwater trout

This is a view of the stone wall that fronts the 'beach.' Upon the wall and stretching back a ways is the garden, which is absolutely immense. Their house is in the back.

This is the patio next to the pond; the stone wall is to the left. There is a firepit, and some nice furniture that I'm not sure if it's home-made or bought.

This is the cool waterfall/feature that was in the back of the last picture. It's pretty.

Apparently, after the hatch blew up in season 4 (? or was it 3?), it relocated itself to my grandparents' yard. I could see a light at the bottom of it, and heard a name that sounded distinctly like 'Desmond'

My Cousins (Stanleys)--On the left is Colin, with some rockin' glasses. Then, (Foxy) Roxy. Finally, the fluffball is Jonah (don't eat the clay)

As evening fell, Roxy, Jonah, and I played some Mario Kart, as well as the coolest thing ever: Lego Rock Band (all on DS, of course) Then, here I am, in Highland, about to go to sleep. But that's OK because I've finally finished and I've got Lagoon to look forward to tomorrow. W00t!