The end of a decade

Since 2011, I have done an annual year in review on the last Sunday of December (or on January 1, when it falls on a Sunday). So here we are. Time to review 2019.

January. I wrapped up my job at the Sundance Film Festival, and then I got to attend with the ten free tickets I got (that spilled over into February). I spoke in sacrament meeting, thereby missing President Nelson speaking in my home ward.

Apollo 11 was the first film I saw at the Festival, and it was a good one.

February. After the Festival, I had lots of free time, so I began spending time at the Church History Library to do research for my Pioneer Day book. I spent a week in California with my nephews, who were on a February break.

March. At the end of the month, I accompanied my parents to various state parks, national parks, and national monuments in southern Utah. The season began at This Is the Place, but I had helped out there for weeks, doing field trips, cleaning, scheduling, and other things.

This was the first time I saw Delicate Arch.

April. I saw P!nk in concert with my sister, niece, and cousin. I got my copy of The Saints Abroad, the book I coedited, but it officially came out in May.

On the day before Easter, I wanted to run up Mueller Park Canyon. I got a mile up the trail and had absolutely no desire to finish the run, which is not characteristic. Turns out it was the beginning of a sickness, and I had to take off an entire week of work. I usually don't get that sick! I spent some time purging myrtle spurge from the Wild Rose Trail.

May. I did my second Splash 'N' Sprint Triathlon, and my time was worse than last year, but I was recovering from sickness, and the bike route was much harder.

It was an unusually cold and rainy (and snowy) May, which meant I often got off work early from This Is the Place, which gave me more time for research. But I did have to work late on May 10, the sesquicentennial of the transcontinental railroad.

June. I went to see the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti for its final run; it was a kitschy performance, and I understand why it's ending.

I decided I should apply for grad school, so I bought a GRE practice book to study at work. Near the end of the month, some Tongan kids got overheated on a day trek at the park, and the EMTs told them they couldn't push handcarts anymore, so all of us employees had to go get them. For my mom's birthday, I took her to see a cat circus. And on June 30, I wore my American flag suit to church, while my friend Shane wore his Canada suit.

July. I camped with my family at Lake Washington in the Uintas.

This Is the Place dedicated a monument to pioneer children, but I had to direct traffic. It was a miserable day, but it got better when I attended the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day concert featuring Sissel. On Pioneer Day itself, I tried to find a Pie 'n' Beer Day event, thereby learning that it really isn't a thing. On the last day of the month, I went with my parents to camp at Moosehorn Lake, again in the Uintas.

August. I hiked with my dad up Bald Mountain in the Uintas.

I received a free sample of Zombie Skittles to review. And I fed the sister missionaries, giving them tomato zucchini cobbler and grape bread, some of my favorite summertime dishes.

September. I took the GRE and did very well on the verbal part and OK on the other parts. I turned thirty-one. On the day after my birthday, I got bit by a leashed dog on a trail, further cementing my general hatred of dogs.

October. I enjoyed running through the autumn leaves.

This Is the Place had Little Haunts, and I played Alice the Dragon a few times. My work there wrapped up for the season, but I started back at Sundance Institute on October 30. On Halloween, I invited friends over, and we watched The Mummy.

November. I enjoyed running on certain trails in Park City (and North Salt Lake) before the snow stuck around.

I saw Holiday Inn with my grandparents and made sweet potato pie and mincemeat pie for Thanksgiving.

December. I attended three Christmas concerts: JD McPherson, Tabernacle Choir, and the Lower Lights.

JD McPherson's Socks is one of best Christmas albums ever.

I worked lots and lots of overtime, but the craziness subsided right before Christmas, allowing me to enjoy more time with family. I age out of the YSA ward.

But this is not an ordinary year. Not only is it the end of a year, it's the end of a decade. (I know some of you pedants are out there saying it's not the end until the end of 2020, but we refer to decades by their digits, so for all practical purposes, it's a new decade.)

Ten years is a long time, and I certainly have changed. I think I worry less, and I'm more confident. I'm more athletic, with much more impressive calves, but I'm also more obsessed with seasonal junk food.

Anyway, it's time for a review of the entire decade as well.

2010. As a socially awkward, freshly returned missionary, I started my studies at Brigham Young University. I declared a major in English language (linguistics, not literature!) and a minor in editing. I joined a dinner group, and I took up running so that I wouldn't gain back the sixty pounds I lost on my mission. During summer term, I took a Dinosaurs! class, and I got to go with my professor on a dinosaur dig in the days before Pioneer Day.

This was during the Great Recession, and try as I might to get a job in Provo, I couldn't find one. So I took the fall off to find a job at home. It took two months of applying before I got a job at the Church Distribution Center, where I put orders in boxes. It was a good thing I took that fall off. If I had attended that fall, I wouldn't have had a scholarship, but with the way scholarships worked in those days, I got one because I took the fall off. (And I didn't even know that at the time!) My youngest nephew, Nathaniel, was born in January, but I didn't first see him until December.

2011. In winter semester, I got a job cleaning up after sporting events. But I don't think my boss liked me, and I wasn't invited back. (Good thing I don't want to be a janitor!) In the spring, I got to go to Disneyland for the first time with my family.

My niece, Allie, at Disneyland

On May 1, I started this blog! During summer term, I had no roommates, and my air conditioning was out for six weeks. I declared a geology minor, but I didn't have any geology classes that year. In the spring, my dad had to work in Chicago, and then he was laid off. Since funds were tight, I once again took fall semester off, and I got back my job at the Distribution Center. And then my dad got another job and all was well again.

2012. For some reason, 2012 seems to be one of the most memorable and important years of my life. When I think back on things, I often think, "When was that? Oh, 2012, of course it was." I feel like I really became who I am in 2012. I made many friends, including some whom I referred to as "horses" after I had a dream about a horse that took a liking to me. I took my first real editing and geology classes, including one that took me on a field trip to Death Valley. In April, I fainted while running and ended up scraped up. The next week, I got an editing internship with BYU Studies, which changed the direction of my life. I was obsessed with YouTube singer Jan Terri. Even though I took classes every semester and term, I had an enjoyable August, during which I spent some time with my nephews, who had recently moved to California.

This is my youngest nephew, Nathaniel, or Qi-en, but we called him Baby at the time. I absolutely adore this picture of him.

2013. This year wasn't quite as memorable as 2012, its twin, but it's still a major year in my memory. On January 24, we had freezing rain, and I slipped and landed on my teeth. They were chipped and cracked, and I had to get a root canal. That initiated a tremendous fear and hatred of ice, which persists to this day. (At least I no longer have recurring nightmares about ice.) I had a relaxing summer term because I only worked part-time, with no classes, and I got to go to Disneyland with my family again, but my nephews were not impressed. I took many memorable classes, including geology of planets, structure of English (all about ambiguity), the editing capstone, groundwater, swimming for non-swimmers, and Old English. But most memorable of all was geology field studies, during which time we spent two weeks camping, making geologic maps, and exploring the rocks of Utah.

I didn't shave during those two weeks, because when else would it be acceptable to have a beard in a BYU class?

2014. When I think back on 2014, I think of it as a sad year, even though good things happened. On Valentine's Day, I went home to visit, only to witness my mom destroy her leg on the stairs. On Mother's Day, my sister's husband left her. Even the good things were bittersweet times of transition. I got a job with the Church History Department, but that meant I had to leave BYU Studies. I worked for the Church remotely from Provo for a few months after I graduated, but then I moved home in August, bidding Provo and the life I knew goodbye. I began to explore trail running, and running thereby became a hobby rather than simply exercise.

The first and last time I hiked the Y was the day I graduated.

Our cat Jenny sleeping in an interesting position

 2015. This really wasn't a very interesting year. I kept working at the Church History Department, but I transitioned to the team that worked on the book that ultimately became At the Pulpit in 2017. This was the first year I formally celebrated Pioneer Day.

2016. The book A Historian in Zion, which I had coedited, was published. 

 In the summer I went on a family trip to several national parks in California and Oregon. In the fall I was called as executive secretary. And I got my reviewing gig over at The Impulsive Buy.

2017. While 2017 wasn't as fantastic as 2012 or 2013, it was still a wonderful year, because I made it that way. I made bucket lists for every holiday, which led me to do things I wouldn't otherwise do. When I turned 29, I began completing a bucket list of things before I turned 30. So I bought a car (2017 Toyota Rav4 hybrid, which is now paid off!), ran a half marathon, and did other things. In July, my family went to New York City. On July 10, we had to put down our 15-year-old cat Jenny. That was the last time I cried. On October 21, I adopted an 8-year-old cat and named him Jimmy.

I just adore him!

 My job at the Church History Library ended.

2018. I spent months applying to jobs before I landed one at This Is the Place Heritage Park, a job for which I am vastly overqualified.

Here I am with my niece and nephews on the Fourth of July in the print shop.

 As part of my bucket list, I visited all 29 county seats in Utah while I was 29. My family visited New York and New England in June. On Halloween, I began working for the Sundance Film Festival.

2019. I attended the Sundance Film Festival after my job with them ended. I resumed my job at This Is the Place, began spending lots of time doing research for my Pioneer Day book, took the GRE, and applied to grad school. I returned to Sundance Institute in the fall.

In June, I got my copy of The Annals of the Southern Mission. I spent the summer of 2014 making sure every handwritten word was transcribed correctly. It finally got published, so I added it to my shelf of books I've worked on.

"It's the end of a decade.
In another ten years' time,
Who can say what we'll find,
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of [twenty]-nine?"
—ABBA

Crazy cat lady and basic white girl

Ever since our cat Jenny died this summer, I've felt like there's been a hole in my heart that could only be filled by a cat.

It might not be super masculine to admit this, but I love cats. I love the way cats walk into a room and start purring. I love how they stretch out their front paws and blink as they do so, and they stretch out their back legs behind them. I love the way they knead. I love how they rub their head and neck on everything. They're just adorable.

After Jenny died, I began thinking about what I wanted to do. Since I've wanted to do 30 major things while I was 29, I thought I could wait until my birthday and then get a cat as one of my bucket list items.

I also thought that if I waited to get a cat until the fall, I could get a kitten, and then it would still be a little kitten for when my nephews come visit at Christmastime. (Jenny was not good with children, so they didn't really get to play with her.)

As I thought more about it, though, I thought a kitten wasn't a good idea. Kittens certainly are the most adorable things on the planet. But the problem is that my dad will only let us have a cat if it is declawed. Jenny was declawed as a kitten. I was practically a kitten when she was a kitten. But I can't bring myself to get a cat declawed. I don't care that other people do, but I can't be the one that gets it done to them. (Just like I don't care if people hunt but I can't do it myself.) So I decided the best option was to adopt a cat that was already declawed.

Yesterday we drove down to the Humane Society to pick out a new cat. There were only three they knew of that were declawed. The first cat didn't like humans, so they didn't even let us look at it.

The second one was a black and white two-year-old female named Sky. They said she was super sweet, but she was scared and shy and wouldn't really let us pet her. In that room, the cats were all in individual cages, though they would let some of them out at a time.

Then they took us to see one named Oliver, who was eight years old. The employee told us she thought he was the one with a short tail. In that room, all the cats were living together communally outside of cages. We petted the bobtail cat, but he wasn't super friendly. At that time, we overlooked this cat sitting placidly on a chair.

Will the real Oliver still stand up?

We went back in the cage room to look at Sky again. Our biggest concern with that cat was she had long hair. We've only ever had domestic shorthairs. We were amused by some of the other cats in that room; there was one cat relaxing in a plastic bag.

There was a big grey cat that kept trying to get out of its cage, but there were three signs on the cage saying not to let it out! You could only let it out if you were going to adopt it and there were no other cats out. Some of the other cats would hiss whenever they walked by.

I still wasn't sure about Sky, though, so we went back to look at Oliver. And we learned that the one we thought was Oliver actually had claws. There was another similar cat, with a full-sized tail, that didn't seem to have claws. So we confirmed with the employees that the one sitting calmly on a chair was actually Oliver. He was much more welcoming of us petting him. At one point, two other cats got in a mild fight, and one of them backed underneath Oliver's chair and began hissing and growling at the other cat. Oliver was perfectly serene with the fighting going on literally beneath him. (I think one of those cats was the one that kept randomly attacking my mom's hands unprovoked.) I decided that was the one I wanted.

We learned that Oliver had been turned in when his previous owners had a baby. He had been in the shelter since April! We also learned that he had really just been called "Kitty"; Oliver was what the shelter called him.

So I adopted him. But his name is now Jimmy. Once I was making a vet appointment for Jenny, and they thought I said Jimmy, so I thought Jimmy would be a good name for a boy cat. I still have to get used to calling him that, though.

I feel happy that we were able to finally give him a home after he had been there so long. I don't know why he wasn't adopted before, because he's such an easygoing cat. Maybe because he's eight years old no one wanted him?

He's still a little skittish and getting used to us. But he spent all night on my bed, sometimes headbutting me. He really likes chasing laser lights. I haven't really seen him eating, so I hope he remembers where his food is. He is our third cat and our first boy cat; the others were Dinah (2001-2002) and Jenny (2002-2017).

I'm excited to get to know him better in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. 

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup, aka Basic White Girl Hour.

 Someone made this pumpkin pie for an FHE activity, but I suspect they bought the crust. It was runnier than most pumpkin pies, but still good. 8/10.

 I got this Bahama Buck's Caramel Apple Shaved Ice on a warmer day this week. It's an apple shaved ice with caramel and some other things on it. I liked it and found it refreshing, but I think that was the apple part more than the caramel part. 7/10.

 When they asked if I wanted my Kneaders cinnamon caramel apple cut, of course I said no! That takes the fun out of it. I like the cinnamon flavor because some of the other flavors get overwhelming with too much stuff on them. 8/10.

 These Nonni's Pumpkin Spice Thin Addictives are from Big Lots. That should tell you something. They're like croutons with the sweetness level of fortune cookies. I wasn't impressed. 3/10.

 This is the third or fourth year I've had these Sunbelt Bakery Pumpkin Spice Chewy Granola Bars. They're not as pumpkiny as some things, but I really like them. 7/10.

 Little Debbie Pumpkin Spice Rolls are disappointing. They have "natural & artificial flavor." That means real spices but not real pumpkin. Really!? Pumpkin rolls, made with real pumpkin, are one of the most basic pumpkin desserts out there! 5/10.

 I had a Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice drink, which is basically warm apple juice with caramel and whipped cream on top. I think it's real juice, but it had that artificial apple flavor you expect in candy, and it was sickeningly sweet. 4/10.

 The Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin was better, though they could have done without the cream cheese--not because it was bad, but because it didn't add anything. 7/10.

 I had a Pumpkin Pie Larabar on a short run this week. I've had better Larabars. 6/10.

 Thomas Pumpkin Spice Bagels are the best store-bought bagels I've found. They have little pockets of what seems to be pumpkin pie filling. 7/10.

 I had Smith's Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts. Is there such a thing as a bad donut? 8/10.

 I thought this Alouette Pumpkin Spice Soft Spreadable Cheese would be disgusting, but it wasn't. It's like cream cheese, though it has a strange cheesy aftertaste. 7/10.

 Not everything from Big Lots is bad, though. I liked these Mother's Farms Pumpkin Seed Tortilla Chips better than the Trader Joe's pumpkin tortilla chips. They're tortilla chips with a hint of sweetness. 7/10.

 I ran to Ensign Peak and then to its base, then ran back home, 10 miles roundtrip. On Ensign Peak I ate my Spiced Pumpkin Pie Clif Bar. It actually hasn't been long since I had one, since I had some leftover from last fall. These are better than you might expect. They have a definite pumpkin and spice flavor. 7/10. I'd probably give it a higher rating if I hadn't been eating it with a somewhat dry mouth.

 This week I should draft my official review for these Nestle Toll House Pumpkin Cobbler Cookies. Is there even such a thing as pumpkin cobbler? These cookies have a sticky pumpkin filling. They're pretty good. 7/10.

I first had these Jet-Puffed Pumpkin Spice Mallows on a groundwater field trip four years ago. They taste like ginger and not much else. 6/10. I'm really disappointed I haven't seen the caramel apple marshmallows this year, because I thought those were the best of the fall-flavored marshmallows. 

Jenny the teenager

This is Jenny.

We have had her for fourteen years now. I don't remember exactly when we got her, but it was sometime during September or October of 2002.

Fourteen itself isn't that significant an anniversary--except that I was fourteen when we got her. I turn twenty-eight this week, meaning we have had her for half of my life now! Of course, two of those fourteen years I was on a mission, and I had 4-5 years in college when I only saw her on occasion. But it's still been half of my life. And since I don't remember much when I was a tiny child, we have had her for more than half of my memory.

We like her, but I'm not really sure why. It's not like she's a particularly great cat. The only useful thing she does is kill mice. And furthermore, I don't really know why we as humans like cats. What's so great about a small mammal inhabiting our house, and why is that more desirable than innocuous, tiny six- or eight-legged animals? We exterminate one but seek out the other.

Regardless, I'm a cat person. I understand why other people prefer dogs, so don't come at me with your "Dogs are better than cats" arguments. I get it. But me, personally, I prefer cats. Probably because I have the personality of a cat--introverted and cynical.

We got her in the fall of 2002 after our previous cat mysteriously disappeared after we had her a year. We went to the animal shelter in Fruit Heights, and I picked the gray kitten, which we soon named Jenny, because she seemed like the most playful kitten they had. 

A few weeks after we had her, my dad's parents came to visit. My grandma was wearing soft white leather shoes, and Jenny began rubbing herself against them. I'm not sure that was the first time, but ever since then, she loves feet. She doesn't like being petted by your hands. She usually tolerates me rubbing her neck for a minute, but then she leaves. However, if you put your foot out and start wiggling it around, she will come up to it and rub against it. Often she does this when she wants something, but sometimes she just likes being petted by a foot. She could do it for a long time. 

When she was younger, she would often follow a petting session with a biting session, but she rarely does that anymore. And she also used to sometimes chase after my feet and hug my ankles to attack them, but she almost never does that anymore--although I think she did earlier this year.

When I was on my mission (so when she was between five and seven), my dad decided he was sick of her throwing up in the house (she seems to have a sensitive stomach), so he decided that she needed to be fed in our sun room, just off of my parents' bedroom. So now that's where we feed her. But my dad goes to bed early, and she wants to go into the room to be fed, so she figured out that if she presses her face into the door jamb just right, she can open the door! Then she goes and wakes my dad up--so we try to open it for her when we can.

She also dislikes children. She doesn't really hurt them, but she hisses at them and runs away--or sometimes she swats them, but she only has back claws, so no harm done. My niece lived with us or practically lived with us her whole life, and yet I think she was eleven before Jenny quit hissing at her. This past summer, Jenny kind of let my eleven-year-old nephew foot pet her, but only when my younger nephews weren't around, and she didn't like his style of foot petting. (She prefers to rub than to be rubbed.)

Despite her lack of front claws, she is adept at killing mice. She leaves them on the back porch. Last Halloween she brought us a large rat, and thrice this year I've found small rabbits--but I'm not sure those were her, because two of them weren't in the usual spot. It's gross to dispose of the rodents, but it's better than having them in the house. We haven't had mice problems, but I don't know if that's because of her, or if we wouldn't have them anyway and she just brings us mice we wouldn't otherwise see.

She is kind of picky about her water. She likes me to fill her bowl up--and then she plays in it, splashing it on the floor, putting her paw in while she drinks, and sometimes she'll just lick her wet paw instead of actually drinking.

She also purrs all the time. And she doesn't like most strangers; she usually hides, so most people haven't seen her. But on March 18 this year, we had some old neighbors come visit, and she was meowing to be let outside. Our neighbor began meowing, so Jenny came up to her foot! (The neighbor didn't like that.)

Last Halloween I first noticed that she was limping, and in March she was diagnosed with arthritis. We got special joint care food for her, but she still limps around. It's sad. When she jumps down from places, now her landing is a little clumsy. She's definitely slower than she was and doesn't dart down the hall like she used to. Other than that, she seems to be in decent health for her age.

We like this purring, mouse-killing, foot-loving, child-hating, door-opening, teenage creature. Even if we don't know why.

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup!

 I go to Kneaders a lot this time of year, and I got the Kneaders spice cupcake. I reviewed it last year, and I feel the same way. The cake is tasty, and I like the filling on the inside. But there is way, way, way too much frosting. For one thing, the purpose of a cupcake is to be easy to eat, but that much frosting makes it difficult. You basically have to eat the frosting separate from the cake, and what's the point in that? But even worse, that much frosting takes it from being indulgent to being sickening. And yet I still eat it all because I hate wasting food. I feel the same way about their red velvet cupcakes (Valentine's Day) and mint chocolate cupcakes (St. Patrick's Day). I give it 3/5. It would get 4/5, or maybe even 5/5, with less frosting.

On a separate Kneaders trip, I also had Kneaders pumpkin pie, which is typical pumpkin pie. I forgot to take a picture because a friendly stranger was chatting with me. (He told me I have a healthy lifestyle, since I read books for a living and like trail running.) But it looks like typical pumpkin pie, except there are cute leaf cutouts on top. 4/5.

 I went to Farr's Fresh downtown and got their Farr's pumpkin pie soft-serve ice cream. I put some granola on it. It was tasty, but not exactly bursting with flavor. 4/5.

 I went to Target and got these Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice Glazed Pepitas. (They're in a teaspoon because I was running out of calories for the day.) Pepitas are unshelled pumpkin seeds. I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. These are really good. The glaze is made with pumpkin powder, butter, and spices, and it goes well with the crunch of the seeds. 4/5.

 I'm not really a yogurt person, especially Greek yogurt, but I got this Chobani pumpkin spice blended Greek yogurt. There's a little bit of a spice flavor in there, but mostly it has the bitterness of Greek yogurt. 3/5.

 Chobani caramel apple blended Greek yogurt is better. It has real apple pieces, and the sweetness cuts the tang of the yogurt. I definitely recommend it over the pumpkin spice one. 3.5/5.

My parents got this Krusteaz pumpkin spice quick bread mix. It can be used in a variety of recipes, this time pancakes. It comes with pecans to put in the mix, but not a whole lot of them. Definitely better than plain pancakes. I didn't put any syrup on them. But not spectacular either. I appreciate that they actually have pumpkin in them (pumpkin flakes). 3.5/5.