an eternal family

there is something wonderful to know that 

the lord blessed us with the opportunity to have an eternal family. 

this past year was one of the hardest testimony testers for me. 

in may, i had to say goodbye over the phone, 

from 3000 miles away to a beloved grandfather. 

and just this december i never got to meet a wonderful little cousin.

there is something heartbreaking about two funerals in one year. 

one for a man who got to live a full-ish life and a man who never got to live. 

but somehow, there is a peace that lives in my heart. 

a knowledge and conviction that my family can be together forever 

allows me to put one foot in front of the other 

and not be a hot mess of emotions and grief. 

grandpa is waiting for us. 

he's preparing the mansion in heaven that we will all share. 

and little sam is there with grandpa, 

learning as a child should 

from such a wonderful role model. 

and sometimes i get a little jealous of the angels.

but it helps the aching heart to know that they are happy.

my soul was racked with eternal torment;
but i am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.

this was the scripture that we found open in the days

after my grandfather's funeral.

there were probably some of his last words

he read from the scriptures before his death.

and what a powerful statement.

my soul is pained no more.

looking back on that week, and the letter i wrote

home, i realized that i was being prepared well

before i even knew something was astray.

i had been studying in the book of mormon

and reading in the doctrine and covenants

about what happens to man after he leaves this life.

and what a comfort this scripture still is to me:

and the next verse says: 

and then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those

 who are righteous are received into a state of happiness,

which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, 

where they shall rest from all their troubles 

and from all care, and sorrow.

well, hello there

so it's been a while. life got pretty busy there.

i have gotten back from my best eighteen months in nicaragua.

to check up on how that went, go and check out

hermanagraves.blogspot.com

it really was an adventure of a lifetime, and i would love to spend all day

talking about how amazing it really was.

since moving back home, i have seen lots of friends,

spent a lot of fun time with female role models in my life

getting adjusted to the rm wardrobe,

worked, and most importantly, fallen in love with these guys again:

photo creds to darrin perryman photography

we took family pictures right before i left for my mission
and thanks to weekly emails, i somehow survived the
eighteen month sabbatical from daily life.
lots of pictures, and lots of spanish vocabulary words,
made the adventure interesting to retell.
but this time, i got to be there, and that was special.

i am now back to school, trying to get my lazy butt
excited to be at school again.
i have some good motivation hanging over my head,
so there isn't much time to waste.

rae got married to a cute guy named prince eric
and they are great. waay cute couple.
it's a plus that they live a few blocks away too.

bug went to the other blue school
and we have to learn to love the weird again.
#showmethescotsman

russman got big. watch out world.
a stud muffin is a cooking.
chris is as tenderhearted as ever,
and has become quite the little adventurous one.
still holds out for the football player dream,
but there may be some growing that has to happen first.
hannah is the little princess.
she's the only little girl left in the house
and i don't think she will let her brothers forget it, either.
spencer is into everything sports,
which really isn't new to me.
the kid can't think straight if it's not raining outside.
he loves playing outside...


i love my family and i can't believe that
we made it through eighteen months.
congratulations family.
we rock.

home!

i have finally reached it:

HOME!

nothing describes the relief that was felt 

when i saw the familiar interstate exits after ten months.

i almost cried.

but after over 29 hours in the car, i was ready for my own bed.

my grandparents were saints, and helped drive me the 29 hours to k-town.

my grandfather is a history nut, so one of the stipulations of the cross country drive,

was that we had to stop at a couple of historical sites on our way. 

stopping at winter quarters, missouri and nauvoo, illinois only added two hours to the drive.

they have some great visitors centers at both places, 

and we were able to learn and see a lot of neat things.

and of course, my grandfather got to show his extensive knowledge of Church History.

the poor ladies at both visitors centers didn't hold a candlestick to his vast knowledge.

it was really cool though to learn more about church history at those two places.

the gorgeous nauvoo temple.
rebuilt in all its pre-fire glory.

since i have been home, i have been busy!

got two jobs.

have been to multiple doctors' offices.

been used as a pin cushion to get vaccines.

filled out paperwork for my mission for 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

and have gotten my t-shirt quilt almost ready for the quilters.

i am one doctors appointment and two interviews away from submitting my mission papers

and i am ecstatic!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

goals:

1. read and study the scriptures and Preach My Gospel daily.

2. finish my mission papers and get them submitted.

3. get my t-shirt quilt into the quilt shop.

4. go out with the sister missionaries at least one every two weeks.

5. practice the hymns so i can play more than two sufficiently.

something hard

The hardest thing of college so far? Missing all of the firsts. (wow, that sounded motherly.) But seriously, I miss seeing my brothers and sister off to their first day at their new schools. I missed the first day of seminary. And the hardest thing? Missing my parents' 19th wedding anniversary.

Nineteen years ago, on Tuesday, September 6, 1994, my parents were sealed for time and all eternity in this beautiful building:

And I couldn't be more glad that they were. I love them so much and I miss them so much. I know that my gift to them this year is miniscule, but I hope that they will like it. 

They say that a girl marries their favorite trait about their father. As I pondered what that actually is in my father, I thought about what I say when people ask me about my father. And I found my answer. He is so amazingly handy. He built my mother her dream kitchen. And he did it all himself. He added onto our house and only hired someone twice to do work, and it was only because he didn't have the time to do it himself: the boy next door to bring the shingles onto the roof, and someone to paint the exterior of the house. He is the resident mechanic. He landscapes and builds a garden each year. Plus, he can cook. 

Then I thought about my mother. My favorite trait about her. She is her own person and she is crafty. She decorates the house each season and has made a lot of the decorations for herself. She can create wonderful things from a little bit of fabric and thread. She is beautiful. She is amazing. She isn't afraid to get a little dirty and she can make the most wonderful food ever. 

And my favorite part of my parents: the fact that they aren't afraid to show me how much they love me. 

You remember this picture:

                                             
And this was my parents sometimes. But not always really. It was more along the lines of hugging her from behind and finding that ticklish spot and tickling her just to see her cringe and laugh. Along the lines of hello and good-bye kisses, no matter how much of a rush he is in to get to work. Along the lines of apologizing after the fight. Along the lines of being excited about sitting next to her at meals after almost fifteen years of sitting at opposite ends of the table because she can't stand hitting his outstretched feet under the table. It's really in all the little things.

And most of all, thank you Daddy for loving my mother like Sis. Dalton taught in this talk:

I love you guys and thank you for setting the perfect example of what an eternal couple should be like. I am so sorry that I can't be there this year, but I know that it's only the first of many anniversaries that I will miss. good luck Daddy with your new job. Good luck Mommy with all your crafts and work and every other thing you juggle. Happy anniversary.

moved out

so school starts in a month. crazy life. this summer has been almost been separated into two parts: Tennessee and Utah. it's been all sorts of crazy too. before i moved to Utah, it was all about catching up with people, making last minute plans, packing up my life, and patching up and saying good-bye to people I will probably never see again. [scary thoughts, no?] now that I have moved to Utah, my life has been all about finding a job, keeping up with the family plans and having some fun. don't get me wrong, Utah is amazing and I love being able to draw a circle two hours wide, and being able to hit five uncles and four aunts, two sets of grandparents, and countless other extended family members. it's great... but I miss home. I miss the baby and toddler sounds in church. YSA branches are quiet enough that even if you snicker, the guy across the chapel can hear you. i miss my family, and all of the crazy times that we had just sitting around the house. i miss being able to pick a movie from the DVD's or Blu-ray's and watch it a couple of times without the Internet being a problem, or it costing me a buck twenty to rent it. i miss all of my friends! i miss being able to go out and hang out with them. it would be amazing to have plans during the week besides "what does great grandma have for me to do today!?" (although that will change just a little bit due to my job!) i miss home. i miss all of my adult leaders/friends. I miss the missionaries, for crying out loud.

but life will get better once I get my feet on the ground. I found a job, at a local grocery store. I am currently a bagger, but will hopefully being learning the ropes of cashier here soon. I love it so far. It kind of stinks when your feet and knees and hips go numb from standing in pretty much the same position for eight hours, but I am hoping that a trip to the local Wal-Mart and a Dr. Scholl's will help that out.

church is interesting, because i am fresh meat in town and all of the men are off their missions, dating a girl, and/or are too old for me to fathom right now. I know that it won't be better once school starts, but hopefully there will be some more girls closer to my age when that happens. i want to get settled here, but right now the whole stake is combined into one meeting right now, so it's kind of hard to find new people. a lot of the people are just waiting for their housing contract to be up so that they can move into a new ward... rough life. it's kind of hard because I want to find people my age, but I know that's close to impossible because they are all serving the Lord. I hope that I don't go two years without going on a date. Ugh, that would be awful on all sorts of levels.

let me just say this. living with your great grandmother sounds like a great idea and a great opportunity to get to know her a little bit better. and let me tell you, it has been really cool to spend some time with her and talk to her about her earlier life. but sometimes it's just plain rough. at about nine o'clock every night, I am in my room watching a movie on Netflix or watching one I rented from Redbox. She doesn't have more than some granola, toast with peanut butter and honey, or a smoothie for breakfast and doesn't have the fixings for much else. She eats things WAAAYY past expired out of her food storage and eats vegetables like they are going out of style. Don't get me wrong, it's been interesting to see all of the different ways you can make a green salad, but the otherwise light main courses are a little rough to eat sometimes. I mean, she doesn't eat meat. Canned chicken, a little bacon, and some tuna is all I have seen her make/eat in the three weeks I have been here. Where's the BEEF!?

I love her, but seriously, the generation gap may be a little much on this one.

time to grow up

Is it weird that I miss typing? That I miss my computer classes because I could sit and take notes with the computer. But that will soon become a reality when I can take my laptop anywhere and I can take notes on my laptop anytime I want. SCARY! College seems like such a great thing, but I am kind of scared about it. I mean, the experience sounds amazing, but the fact that it costs all this money…that’s the scary part. Loans, payment plans, interest payments. It’s all way too scary. I want to go back to complaining that $25 was too much to spend on something. Not $2,500 or $25,000. But that’s a fact of life: we grow up. The zeros pile onto our expenses as we try to pile them onto our paychecks. And that’s all we really can do, right? Is do our very best and pray that the Lord sees us through? Yes, that is all we can do. Be obedient, follow all of the commandments that the Lord has laid out for us and pray that your best scan be completed with the Lord’s merciful hand.

I am going to miss Tennessee. All of the friends, all of the family that I have made and have come to love, sentenced to a 1700 mile restraining order. It’s going to kill me. I love Tennessee. I can honestly say that I never thought I would say that. When I moved here in 2002, Tennessee was just going to be place #2 on the Map of My Heart. But now, Tennessee is number one. And it will always be. I’m officially a Tennessee Girl. Born in UT, but raised to love UT. It’s great to be a Tennessee Vol. Yes it is. Tennessee will always be a beautiful place. The rain, the wonderful shrubbery; all of it have no parallel. To be able to look out over one hill and see the next one, it’s all just so amazing. I thought when I was little that it was all one bad roller coaster, but man was I wrong. It’s all one beautiful valley that I get to call “Home” for forever more. “Never Let Go.” how fitting. You have to learn how to hold onto the past and learn from it. Never let go of those things that are important to you. Never let go of the values that you hold to be true. Never let go of your zeal for life. “Never letting go;” so much better than “YOLO” or any other lame catch phrase from this decade.

Live is going to be so different in the next couple of months. You talk about growing up fast. We leave for “life” in 18 days. And I don’t think that I am ready. I want to live in the security of home. I want to be able to see mom and dad every day. I don’t want to have to deal with all of the scary real life things: debt, living on my own. There are a few things that I can’t wait for though: to be a wife, to be called “Mommy,” and to be in charge of my own home. I want it so bad, but for some reason I know that it won’t be happening right away. The Lord has funny ways of revealing things to us, and I just have a feeling from reading my patriarchal blessing, from babysitting smaller children, and from being with my own siblings. I know that my husband and I will have some sort of teary good-bye. I will have some adorable children. I want this future, but at the same time I am so not ready for it. I want to be a child forever but I’m ready to grow up. When did decisions become so life-altering?! Goodness!

it’s been said

It takes a village to raise a child. And I always had an inkling of what that meant, until recently when I saw how true that statement really is. There are so many people who have touched my life and have helped me grow. All of the teachers, all of the coaches, all of the church members, all of the neighbors, all of the friends and all of the family members. It all adds up to a rather impressive village. And I just wanted to thank all of the village people for the wonderful woman that you have helped create.

Thank you to all of the teachers who have helped me learn the importance of an education and for guiding me to what I will be studying in college and will be going to school to become “when I get older".

Thank you to all of the coaches who have helped me to learn the importance of hard work and dedication. Even if I kicked and screamed while I did it.

Thank you to all of the church members who have helped me gain a testimony of the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For giving me great Sunday School lessons and Young Women lessons that helped me gain such a strong testimony that can be boiled down to FIVE things:

• God lives and loves EACH and EVERYONE of us. Regardless of our misdoings.
• Jesus Christ suffered for us and the Atonement is real. Through Christ and His ultimate Atonement, we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Christ again.
• The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is what it says it is: Another Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Joseph Smith, Jr. was a divine prophet who truly saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and restored the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto the Earth that we may all have the Gospel again.
• Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet of God and runs His church on the Earth today. President Monson and his counselors help the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and guide us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you to all of the neighbors who really were my village. Thank you for all of your sincere concern and care for me. It truly means the world to have good neighbors.

Thank you to all of the friends who have created a tight bond and have become my surrogate family. Thank you for making me feel loved and making Tennessee a home away from home. (Although, now Tennessee really IS home.)

Thank you to all of the family members who were my closest friends. Thank you for the countless memories and love that you have showered me in. Words can not express my love for you.

 

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A GREAT VILLAGE.

home improvements

let me just say that living in a construction zone stinks. absolutely and quite literally some times.

for the last three years my dad has been working on the west side of our house (ie the kitchen) expanding the kitchen. the project started back in the spring of 2008 when my dad broke down the wall between the kitchen and the family room. that was then. now we have twice the kitchen space, a HUGE island, a longer L-shaped counter, hardwood floor throughout the downstairs, a fruit room, a covered patio, and a longer garage.

YEA!!

but wait until you hear what else we still have to do:
trim
flooring in the mudroom
all the sanding and mudding of the drywall in the mudroom
countertops

all on the to-do/honey-do list. it is quite long when you break it down. my dad is hoping to have all the trim done by the summer. maybe. depends on the budget i think.

but the kitchen looks great and my mom currenty has more drawer space than she knows what to do with. quite literally. i can not tell you how many times i have caught myself going to the pantry for a plate, cup, or bowl in the last week or so. it is going to get some getting used to for sure.

christmas and the new year

christmas was a success and a fairly small ordeal this year. my parents have been budgetting for the house so the gifts were small but homemade. the only really super big gifts given this year were the trampoline that my grandparents "bought" for us (they sent us a check and we bought it with the deposit) and my dad's router that santa got for him. the family got like 6 new movies (3 of them that we watched before lunch time!), two new games and then of course the trampoline. i got some new gloves, some waterproof playing cards (ive been asking for them for like ever!), the first three Percy Jackson books (rachel got the last two), a new wallet, a handy case for my Walkman, a rifle for colorguard (im soo excited!!!), and then an umbrella. but the umbrella has a story:

opened my gift from santa and was excited, my OWN umbrella, but then i was prompted to open the umbrella upside down. turned out that santa made it rain money! in between each individual prong, was a five dollar bill. so if you counted thats five prongs, so ten bills x five bucks = $50!! yep, i was allowed 50 dollars to go and spend on clothes that were badlly wanted and needed, mind you. monday i went and shopped the after christmas sales with rachel and i purchased a waist belt, a flowly sweater, and two new pairs of jeans (thank you old navy and jcpenney's!!) after our excursion, i then went to oldnavy.com and spent an addition 30 dollars on some fashionable scarves that were not in the store. they arrived thursday afternoon which is impressive seeing how i got the cheapest shipping (5-7 days). rachel was a little upset because she ordered a dress from downeastbasics.com on christmas that took until friday to show up. she was a little mad when i showed her my scarves to say the least. hahaha :)


the new year has been good to me so far. i spent the count down to the new year talking to my friend-boy that i would really like to be my boyfriend but there are age requirements on my side that prohibit that until my 16th birthday. haha cant wait for that! im only 6 months away from it! the old year was not exactly. the day before new years eve i was supposed to babysit this adorable little girl from the neighborhood while her parents went to a bowl game in nashville. unfortunately i got sick an hour before the job started and was forced to pass it to my sister. ugh i was soo not happy about doing that. but i didnt want to take the chance of getting her sick as well. luckily after a long, needed nap i felt better and was able to help in laying the hardwood in kitchen addition.

thats right! you heard me right!! the boxes that have been stacked in the living room for about a year, have finally been ripped open and the glue/sealant has been bought and both have been ripped into as we have started applying hardwood to the entire downstairs. as of the moment we have successfully floored the kitchen and family room and have crossed our way into the entry way and our small hall closet. we are down to the bottom of our fifth! (yes 5th!!) 5-gallon bucket of sealant/glue and are going to have to scrap to finish whats left of the hallway. needless to say, my father will be purchasing about three more buckets at lumber liquidators in the next couple of days. we still have about 15 boxes left of hardwood to use in the dining and living rooms that my dad thinks we wont need. we will just see how far they get us. it officially looks like we are moving if you are to look in through the downstairs windows, and taking everything with us. we have evacuated every piece of furniture, accessories, and more into the garage, fruit room, mud room, and shop as possible in order to make the rooms scarce and easy to empty when we shift rooms. needless to say, the house is an udder pig stye as me, my mom and dad, and rachel work our tails off to finish as much as possible before my dad goes back to work tomorrow. but unfortunately, that wont work seeing how we are down to the bottom of the glue. we will have to resume work tomorrow.

in the mean time, im getting ready for school! i cant believe im saying this, but im getting tired of the break! all the house work and the mindless hours of sitting down doing nothing are killing me and i cant wait to have something productive and educational to do. that is my life!! as you can imagine with all the house work, my social life has been paused in order to help, so i cant wait to see all my friends again. yipee!!


umm new years resolutions.. earn so mula! be more loving and helpful; make a list of things i will need for college and work on the little things (sheets, a quilt, a scrapbook of memories, my own clothes [none of the sharing business anymore], a cookbook, and things like that); get another honor bee (i had my interview yesterday and im getting it presented next week! im ecstatic! i finished the book of mormon on friday); and maybe build up a library of books for the college life. who knows its all news to me!

thursday begins the new semester for school and i will go into honors chemistry, lifetime wellness, accounting one, and concert band. wellness is like health and gym combined, so its pretty much a joke. and chemistry is going to be interesting, but seeing how i had algebra two last semester its supposed to be easier. (hopefully!!!)

thanksgiving weekend

this thanksgiving the school board decided to be nice and give the kids wednesday through friday off. thank goodness.

wednesday we didnt have any mutual so rachel snapped the opportunity to have a party. a just-for-the-heck-of-it party. we ended up having two dozen people show up to the house at one point and we had a lot of fun. we played catch phrase, capture the flag, mafia (upon popular request *cough*cough* **barrett** *cough*cough*), and then we settled down with The Princess Bride. yes possibly the greatest movie of all time... and ive only seen it three times. i know i know what a shame...

thanksgiving was a blast. the church girls got together to play powder puff football at the high school and it was a lot of fun. we were playing touch until becker showed up with flags which turned out to be soo much better. our team turned out to be significantly better at defense than offence. what a shame. ahaha but we still had fun. we had a family friend the raineys over for dinner and some horse play aka motorcycle riding for the little boys and some chatting for the female. hahaha sadly i must admit that the tom boy came out in me and i spent my time watching the rainey boys race around our yard on a couple of small motorcycles. soo adorable. hahahahahaha then we went for dessert to the giacalones and we were going to play games but that didnt work out hahaha too much chatting going on. plus too many people.


and lets see. whats left for this post? o yes! a list of thankful fors....

so i am thankful for...

this little goober that is a ball of laughter and fun one breath

and a raging tyrannt the next

but that is the fun part. always living on your toes

this little girlie who refuses to be called our little sister

and wants to be seen as my equal and nothing less

i just hope that she continues with her persistance

this little sweetheart who is the sweetest little girl ever.

she reminds me of rachel somedays so much i almost call her that.

shes adorable and the sweetest little mommy's helper ever.

this goofball i get to call my twin sister.

shes a freakball sometimes but my best friend too.

the coolest girl EVER

the oppurtinity to build onto our house.

i was trying to find a picture of the back of the house,

put that didnt work.

these amazing people. they are the greatest parents ever.

and the greaest role models. thanks so much mommy and daddy

the great moments in life like this. father and son bonding time...

even if the son doesnt enjoy it as much

nature.

the beautiful moments that can only be caught with a camera or your eyes

this goofball of a brother.

love the kid to death.

he should be a drama kid hes that funny

this little cutie.

he is a little boy who knows what he wants in the world.

even if hes about ten years too early :)

the gospel. for the standards it has set me with.

for the beautiful reading that it has filled my life with.

for good books that my mom has helped me choose.

as well as my grandmas.

a warm bed to sleep in.

even if i hardly ever make the thing.

make up and a toothbrush.

what would i do without hygiene.

for clothes! what a blessing

technology. if it is too slow for my liking sometimes.

shoes. boy o boy do i take them for granted.

and then friends. but i dont have a picture of that. hahaha there are too many friends to count and put into one picture. love you all

i think that is all. if i havent thought of it assume im thankful for it. unless its something like war... then its questionable. hahaha :)

scripture bag

in times past i have been known to have a bad relationship with scriptures and the beautiful bad that holds it. since the first time i got my scriptures, i have exchanged my scriptures 3 times but kept the same bad. recently the bad ripped at the seam that held one side of a handle to the other. now the handle didnt rip, but about 1/4 inch below the handle did, so it was putting a lot of stress on the hole to carry my scriptures around by those handles. my idea was to just build a whole new case, but that changed when i found this really cute bag that i could make instead.

just recently i finished that bag:



the finished bag has pleats, two handles, and a huge inside. but no pockets inside!!





<>

inside of the bag

but the exciting part was i was able to find enough of some scraps that my mom had. she had used the two cotton pieces to make a skirt for christmas a couple years ago.



the two contrasting colors

the bag is super easy. nothing really complicated about it, except for maybe the slip-stitching you do at the end to close the whole in the lining. but nothing really else complicated.

the best movie since star wars

unless you have been living underneath a rock or without cable, you know that Avatar, nominated the best movie since Star Wars, was released on thursday. that night my parents went to the store for some camping stuff, and returned with the movie as well. and what do you do when you get a new movie and you have a flat screen and surround sound along with a Blu-Ray player and a Blu-Ray copy of the movie? lu duh, you watch it ASAP! so last night i watched the famed movie for the first time. and i have to give that movie a 4.5 out of 5. the reason it isnt a 5 is because the main character is an ex-Marine and a stereotypical one at that, so he has a dirty mouth. other than that, it was amazing!! really cool computer generation and really cool sound effects. my twin sister is now obsessed with it and insisted upon watching every spare moment she had today, but i think we have finally snapped her out of it, the author says hopefully. lol but the movie was really good, but i hate the way that the colonel and the project director have no respect for the Na'vi people. makes me so angry... but i guess that is the object of their characters: to act conceded and rude.

(shoulder shrug)

the house

i have exsalia bushes outside my house and they are in full bloom. sooo gorgeous. unfortunately they will shrivel very quickly due to the humidity of the air, but i got some really amazing pictures of the house and the flowers before they got all shriveled. yeah!

our pretty dogwood out front

 

spring break

this past week has been amazing. i got to sleep in until 8:30 am (and yes i know that isnt late, but we were pet sitting a dog that had to be taken out at 8:30, so naturally i had to be there to do it.)

monday and tuesday i went with my family and some friends up to wilderness in the smokies and spent the night. i had a lot of fun, even though i dont do roller coasters. one of the newer slides has a ginormous funnel and u drop about a foot into the thing. it is the scariest thing in the entire world when you can't see the drop coming and you actually can see it. i actually prefer to not see both and going down it sideways. it is funnier that way :) the green slide is my favorite though. it is really fast and awesome even though it doesnt have a giant funnel or scary drops or flips in it. one time i went with some parents and a really light nine year old, so we went really fast and really swirly inside the slide. one word describes that ride: awesome! the wave pool was cool too. about every twenty or thirty minutes, the lifeguards press a button that starts a huge wave of water. it is so much fun. i didnt go on the artificial wave that they had there partially because i didn't feel the need to.

thursday night i hung out with katherine at anchor park and then we went to her house and watched she's the man. i am officially in love with that movie. amazing!!!! love amanda bynes as a dude. sooo funny.

friday me and my sister went to a friends house and played a round of pool, watch a few minutes of brian reagon, and played just dance on the wii. we had a bucket load of laughs and had fun being together.

saturday and sunday were general conference and easter weekend so we didnt really have a lot to do expect for stay at home. yes... time to be lazy!

monday was torture because we had to prep to go back to school, eew. not fun, but still enjoyable b/c i didnt do anything