My secret fear

In case you are ever driving in front of me slash behind me
and see me swerve in an irrational manner
to miss hitting something in the middle of the road like
a box, a bag full of something or maybe even a shoe
its because I have a secret fear...

there might be kittens inside.


and you have to look out for the little loves.

Eat. Breathe. Sleep. Swim.

The above stated = our life for the past three months/twelve weeks/84 days.

Introducing the Mesa High Swim Team


It all started back in August, when the three of us witnessed an hour that is never spoken of in our family during the summer. Apparently the sun rises around 6:00 am in the summer. Who knew?



A week before school started we rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn for swim practice. We were really excited to be there. See also none of us were coherent enough to realize how stupid we were to be up that early.

It was Annie's first year and Julia's third so Julia was a darling and showed Annie the ropes of how it was done. We practiced a lot over the summer at the pool to try and get Annie to learn that she had to swim ALL the way across the pool and couldn't stop in the middle. Both girls did really well.

Sometimes Annie acted ticked but she secretly loved it as evident in the second picture.

Saturday practices were always entertaining (sans the mosquitoes) because I got to watch them do stupid exercises like the bunny hop and jump or dive. Random Julia talent, she is really good at jump or dive. Read: really lucky at jump or dive and the coach always says what she is already doing so she won the game. Jones's are never actually coordinated.


Julia had one major set back. When she got her team suit one strap was ridiculously shorter than the other strap. You can see in this picture as she is about to race how far the strap is cutting into her back.

This is what it looked like on the front...


I told everyone on swim team that she just had really uneven boobs. Julia wasn't so much a fan of that littler rumor.
No exaggeration. When we held up the straps it looked like this.



The extra strap isn't part of the short strap its the strap that goes across her back. I honestly don't know how she got the swim suit on. But I think it was lucky because this was the pool that Julia first broke her 29 second 50 free and got a 28.7. We were very proud. Here she is coming in from the race.


Julia really focused on dropping time this swim season and did an awesome job! She qualified for state which is no small feat as junior and we are hoping she will swim at state next year too!

While Annie waited for her race she practiced her top model poses. Who says a cap and goggles can't be fashionable.




Annie was a great swimmer! She was able to drop over 18 seconds on her 50 free over the course of the season. Annie always swam so fast on the first 25 lap across the pool but her favorite thing to do was stick her head out of the water to see who was cheering for her on deck. So her second 25 kinda slowed her down since her stroke went like this one arm, two arm, stick her head out of the water and turn back to see who was on deck cheering. She just loved seeing that all her friends were on deck screaming for her to do well.

At the swim banquet (my pictures are on my internal camera memory and i can't transfer them to my memory card so we might never see them...if you are reading this and have pictures of Julia or Annie at the banquet send them to us) Julia got another Varsity certificate so she received a pin for her letter that she got as a freshman (like I said she's really good). Annie got a junior varsity certificate and was able to give a little thank you speech to the other kids. She was very nervous but did an awesome job speaking clearly in front of everyone and reading her little speech. Then she told all of the swimmers that they were her BFF and handed out a bumper sticker that looks like this:


You know you are jealous. Let me know if you want one, we have extras. All during swim season, as Annie made friends on the team she would tell them that they were her BFF so we decided they all deserved a bumper sticker that said it for all the support they gave Annie.

Anyway Julia and Annie both had an awesome season and we are so excited to do it again next year!

Consolation Prize

Hi there, Devin here.
No, no, I am not going to gloat. I know that a lot of our friends were ardent supporters of John McCain, and trust me, I know what it is like to have your candidate lose, while the country elects a president you think will ruin the country. So, as an olive branch, I give you one of the best videos I have seen in some time. God Bless America and God Bless snarky kids on the internet.

Its been three years this month...

since I met my best friend.

DEVIN

ALAN

FLETCHER

(the above mostly drawn on mustache was a joke for labor day)

We are awesome and met in a Preparation for Celestial Marriage class.
We both were there because we were dying to get married as soon as possible and were ready to tackle the first person who approached us and asked on a date.

PSYCH!
(when's the last time someone said psych?)

For serious though, we were both there because of completely random situations.
You might even say that it was meant to be.

My dear friend Sean Larson was about to leave me friendless as he embarked on his mission to Australia, so I was looking for someone new to hang out with. At the time I was going through a phase where I changed my friends as often as I changed my underwear. So when I remembered that tall kid who I saw at institute wearing a Get Up Kids shirt...I thought it was time our fates collided. Turns out, he was Devin's best friend.


(a million times thanks! and as you said at our wedding...be careful who you introduce your friends too.)

Dear Darson introduced us.
After introductions we talked some music, I gave him a CD to listen to, and he gave me a new middle name.

One John Vanderslice concert later it became very apparent to me that I kinda liked this kid.

We held hands about a month later while watching "Walk the Line" at the movies. The next day he kissed me before I left on vacation to Florida with the fam.


Every night I was gone I would walk outside of the house we were staying in that had bad reception to talk to his friend Courtney trying to figure out if I was sure I liked him. You see anytime a boy liked me back I immediately figured something must be wrong with him. I was coming home that Saturday so I had to make a quick decision on whether I was okay with this whole thing. She told me that the whole time I was gone he kept singing these lyrics...

"And yeah if only it was Saturday Saturday,
things would be better in every way every way,
And I would be okay."
...from a Rocket Summer song

As well as these modified lyrics...
"Come back to me from Florida
All of us here in Arizona
Are starved for your attention
We're starved for your attention"
...from a Copeland song

That sealed the deal for a while.
But a short time later we broke up. You see our feelings are like this picture...


He was all for it, but I was hesitant.
So when I told him I wasn't sure I was ready to be exclusive we broke up.

That lasted a whole five days.
After showing him true devotion by going to an Aquabats concert with him we were back together.

By late December I was in love. On New Years I asked him what he thought about getting married since I couldn't imagine being with anyone else and the first Sunday in February we fasted about it and decided to go for it.


He proposed in March. He thought he was pretty sneaky but I knew the whole time.
(hence the painted nails)


Since then we got married and now we are just two stupid kids in love.


He still makes me mix CDs.
He still says I love you at least a million times a day.
He still can make me laugh harder than anyone else can.
He still randomly puts on 50s music and slow dances with me in the kitchen.
He still likes me love handles and all.
and He still gives me that look that tells me that I'm the only one for him.

So for me October 26, 2005 was a pretty good day.

Blarg

My excuse for not blogging are as follows:

1. THIS


2. Fourth Year Camp (next door cousins please excuse the swearing you heard from my parents house last Saturday when I was cleaning out the throw up in my backseat from the trip home. I finally resorted and got the car detailed. It still smells.)


3. School per usual.

My month of October has been rather full. Which leads me to two conclusions

1.I can't wait for November to come

2.I am so glad I put up my Halloween decorations mid september. Boo to all you Halloween Naysayers. My goal is to convert you all.

I leave you with evidence that Halloween can be cute.

More about voting

I realized while watching the debates last night they totally stole the idea of presidential debates from high school.

Or maybe its the other way around...


Either way if one of these guys wants my vote then they'll have to win over the leading man in my life

because he pretty much gets two votes.

Dear Susan B.

Sorry if I wasted your time with the whole women's suffrage thing.
I don't care about voting.

Sincerely,
Laura

Voting Sucks

Laura: I didn't vote in the last election

Devin: I forgive you.

So I needed to register to vote since my address changed. While I was registering it asked me what my political party was. What kind of a question is that? I dunno the answer to that. "I'm Mormon so I'm republican" doesn't fly with me but then again I don't want to go all "crazy Devin-liberal wants to disarm our army and give them bubble blowing guns instead of real ones apparently we're going to soap them to death." But then again I'm not all "on the third day God invented the Remington bolt action rifle so men could kill the dinosaurs and the homosexuals." Therefore I did what any reasonable person would do given this predicament. I took an online quiz.
Perfect solution.

On the quiz, this was one of the questions:

You find out that the government is tapping your phone line. What do you think?

a. With the proper checks and balances the government can keep us safe and protect our liberties.

b. Hey, the world is a different place after 9/11. If these measures mean keeping me and my family safe, I'm all for it.

c. If the government starts getting this involved, what's to stop them from monitoring our bedrooms, what we eat, etc; where does it end?

d. These security measures are all about protecting our foreign investements. We need to be focused on improving our domestic social programs.


I chose C because I had just come home from watching Eagle Eye. Shia LeBeouf fought against evil government computers tapping our phones and taking over America so I will too. Who needs debate and reason when crappy movies can make my decisions for me?

Concerned Blog Reader: So why did you become a liberatarian?
Laura: Two words. Stanley Yelnats

Krispy Kreme Debacle.

Okay so if any of you read this hilarious post....it will help you understand my story better.


So today at swim practice we worked on starts in the deep end. Annie has lately been like the queen of belly flops and its been hurting her poor little legs so I decided it was time to crack down and get her to stop flopin and start diving in a little deeper. We practiced a ton in the deep end and she was having a hard time trusting me by tucking her chin and diving deep she wasn't going to crack her head open. So being the good sister that I am I bribed her with Krispy Kreme. If she could get her start down we would go get donuts.

She did a fantastic job after that (I highly recommend bribery) and so we headed off to the donut shop after swim practice. As we pulled up to the drive-thru I thought of Sara's recent post and how wouldnt that be so funny if my debit card got declined...okay not really funny, that would be sad but amusing since it just happened to her since someone stole all her money unlike mine where it would have been like your account is already -$45 you silly girl who has no money.

Anyways so I get to the window to pay only to realize that all I have with me is my swim bag meaning no purse and no wallet this no money. Crap. After feeling like an idiot I asked them to hold on to them while I drove home to get my wallet.

Lesson learned: Don't think that other people blogs will come true in your life or else they will.


Post Script- Sorry about my stories on this blog, they kind of have a well developed beginnning a shaky middle and a lack of an ending. I think devin rubbed off on me. So sorry that my stories have no end. The end.

Dear Daniel,
Ditto.
Love Laura

return to sender. no such number.

(i wish my phone looked like this)

back story: the ONLY reason we got a phone was because Emily was kind enough to give us her old tivo (which Angie had given her...thanks ang!) when she got a new one and to have tivo you need a phone line. therefore the only people that call us are telemarketers for some lady who doesn't bare the name Laura Fletcher and now people from our ward because we decided it was time to be adults and get a "home phone number" rather than just cell phones. earlier today the phone rang and given my experience with it only being telemarketers I told Devin not to answer it. The person left a message and it ended up being the stake YW pres needing to talk to me.

set scene: 3:48 PM we are watching our niece Delia and Eden and so Devin, Laura and the girls are taking a nap together on the Fletcher's bed. Laura wakes up to the sound of our phone ringing.

action: I hear the phone so I wake up. I think, "I gotta answer this because it might be the YW pres again slash if I don't its gonna wake up the girls". I groggily stumble out of bed, open our door to grab the phone in the kitchen, put my ear to the receiver and hear this...

"This is a Quest collect call from, 'Mom I'm in jail. I need help!' If you choose to accept these charges..."

I hang up.

At first I was ticked but then I thought...If this kind of entertainment continues I am very happy that I got a real phone.