Fun Times....

Catelyn, Elvira, Me

Peace!

I jumped off!! (this is way bigger in real life)

Camping on my B- day

This was her first time ever camping

mmm I love her!

This is what all the kids do in China, it mans 'I love you' haha!

Well, School has started again and summer seems like it was forever ago but I will always remember it! A couple things that I still haven't posted about was camping for my B-day and our exchange student Elvira. Catelyn came down for my birthday and we had a fun night with Elvira and my family. The next morning we got up and left to go camping. We had so much fun just hanging out together, playing games and eating! We even hiked down a loooong, hard hike to a big waterfall and got to swim in the fresh water. The camera makes the waterfall look smaller than it is (trust me, its huge and scary). But I jumped off!!! (After standing at the top for about ten minutes getting talked into it by my dad with everyone looking at me and people getting frusterated behind me)...... but I'm still proud I finally did it. I'm glad I could finish off the summer with an awesome few days with my famiy.

OK, I can't believe I still haven't posted about Elvira becasue she was with us for 3 weeks and was such a blast!!! We bonded so quickly and had so much fun shopping, doing hair and makeup, and listening to mucsic with each other. She really bacame such a good friend and it was so sad to see her go. I hope she always remembers me and the fun we had together. I'm going to try hard to stay in touch with her.

Well, thats all for today. I'm so excited to see the Allreds and hang out with them for nine days!! They will be here in a few hours! Gotta go!

P.S.- I got my driver's license!! whoo hoo!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

40 reasons why you are amazing! .....

1. you make everything fun

2. you're so beautiful

3. you're a FABULOUS cook

4. You're halarious & goofy

5. you love to go shopping with me

6. you let me help you with your hair

7. you give great advice

8. trustworthy

9. great example to me
10. super strong in the gospel

11. you love Dad

12. you look funny when you sleep :)

13. you help me choose what to wear

14. you listen to what I tell you to wear

15. you are organized

16. you always keep a clean house

17. you don't complain about everything you do for the family

18. when I was little you used to kiss my hand so I could hold your kiss all day

19. in elementary school you used to leave notes on my napkin

20. you always make an awesome Valentines dinner and put so much work into making the table so pretty

21. you go above and beyond to make every holiday special

22. you always want to hear everything going on in my life

23. you're not very coordinated....haha

24. you look halarious trying to dance

25. you're always thinking about others and wanting to give service

24. you compliment others

25. you don't let a bad hair day get you in a bad mood

26. you always smile to people you don't know

27. you always point out the positive in people

28. you work so hard to make sure we are all where we need to be

29. you try so hard to be on time to pick us up (and succeed most of the time)

30. you smell amazing all the time!

31. you're kinda paranoid (when I'm driving).... ok REALLY paranoid but don't worry, its cute

32. you're good about writing in your journal

33. you're super smart

34. you're good at surprising people

35. you ask and take my advice on things

36. you're loved by everyone in the ward and so looked up to

37. you're so affectionate towards me and the other kids

38. all the kids in primary ADORE you

39. you're so patient about little annoying things

40. you are one of my closest friends and I couldn't ask for a better Mom!

I love you so much Mom! Happy Birthday!

EFY & Utah Trip

Camping with Cousins


Lucy Goosy!

Amelia

Kissing Connor

My favorite girls ever!

EFY

Getting ice cream during freetime

haha

My whole company (we were the best at the whole session)

Whit and I with our friend Sarah

We see boys!!

Mine & Whit's Crushes. Whit was after Quinn (blond) and I was after Cale. SO cute.......

Ok, well I have been avoiding this post this whole week because so much happened in Utah and there were SO MANY amazing moments that I have been worried I would not be able to write about them all and even remember some of the things I wanted to say.... so, I am just going to scratch the whole idea of writing about it all (it would be way too long and nobody would probably end up reading it anyway) and post a bunch of pictures instead. All I'm going to say is: eventhough I was in good ol' Utah with family instead of vacationing in the Bahamas, I don't think I could have asked for a better summer. It was so good to see family and cousins that I haven't seen for way too long and spent the 4th camping with some of them. EFY was such a blast and an amazing experience (right here is where I want to go into full detail and talk about every little part, but I'll resist). Whit and I made some BEST friends there that I already miss so much. After two weeks in Utah (and away from our pool) I still wasn't ready to go!

Girls Camp 2008

Me with Elsie, Catelyn, and Darcey Perkins
Catelyn, Carly and I

Catelyn and I with a couple of our girls

On a hike

Catelyn and I with our little baby first years

Girl's Camp seems to get better year after year. This past week I had the opportunity to be up at Stake Girl's Camp. Catelyn Perkins and I, along with another girl from my ward were all YCLs (youth camp leaders) together over a group of little first years from a different ward in our stake. We were SO excited when we found out that we would be YCLs together and wanted to make everything fun and adorable for our girls. We spent a lot of time making cute handouts, mailboxes, and stuff weeks before camp. We even had a little pre-camp swim party with our first years to get to know them a little before camp. We were so excited as just the YCLs left Tuesday morning to go to camp. We spent that whole day just checking out camp, decorating our girl's cabin to make it ADORABLE and of course spraying every inch of the camp with Raid! Early Wednesday morning all the girls came up and our girls were so happy to see all the fun things we had done for them. We quickly bonded with our girls and had a blast treating them like they were our little sisters or something. Catelyn and I had so much fun just being YCLs, leading everyone in camp songs along with the other YCLs, giving devotionals to our girls, and just laughing a ton. The week was so amazing and our ward especially seemed way closer than any other ward in the stake. I LOVE my ward!! I feel like I have the best leaders ever and we all had so much fun just being ridiculously goofy together. All the work that Catelyn and I put into making it fun for our girls was all worth it. I feel proud that we were able to play such a large roll in making our girl's first year so memorable. The last night, as with most Girls Camps, was the most intense and my favorite part. We all went to a really great fireside by the stake presidency in the "Sacred Grove" and then split into wards afterwards to have testimony meeting. I have been to many Girls Camps, Trek, Youth Camp, EFY and lots of spiritual meetings but I don't think I have ever sat through a more intense meeting than this. The spirit was incredibly strong and I had so much love for every person there. Our entire ward was not just teary-eyed but completely SOBBING!! haha we were all total messes with headaches and sniffling for hours that night. Part of the reason that it was so emotional was because the Perkins girls (Catelyn, Elsie, and Darcy) are all moving about three hours away. They are such an important part of our Young Womens and everybody loves them. That night they had to leave right after testimony meeting. Catelyn and I went to our first year's cabing right befor she left so they could say good bye to her. All the girls were balling along with Catelyn and I. It felt like a member of our little family we had formed that week was moving away. That night was especcially hard for me because I had grown so close to Catelyn over the past week and it was so hard and weird to be alone. I felt like I had made and lost a best friend within one week. I also LOVE Elsie and Darcy SOOO much, they are the sweetest, funniest girls ever. I will miss them all but I know I will see them a lot. Saturday morning we packed up and drove home. I was so sad as I hugged my first years goodbye, I love those girls so much. They couldn't stop talking about how we are going to have and after-camp party/reunion and re-checking that I had got their e-mails and would e-mail them as soon as I got home. SO CUTE! I am just so grateful for another awesome Girl's Camp experience and I know with all my heart that the gospel is true. Now I am just happy to have a few days home with my family (showered and bug free) before I take off again to Utah!!!

Tagged by Tay

Here are some juicy details about my exotic life :)
A. Attached or single: single
B. Best Friend(s): Whit, Tay, Erica and I love all the girls in my ward (just got back from girl's camp, can ya tell??) and of course, my mama
C. Cake or Pie: well since I don't like fruit (accept apples) which usually has something to do with most pies, cake is definatly better. Tres Leches cake is my FAVORITE!!!
D. Day of Choice: Probably saturday cuz I can just chill out and do things that I WANT to do.
E. Essential Item(s): well, my camera comes with me everywhere and I gotta have chapstick!
F. Favorite Colors: thats hard, i guess I love green and just anything that looks pretty together
G. Gummy Bears or Worms: mmmm sour gummy worms! i love sour chewy candy (sour patch kids are my fav.)
H. Hometown: hmmm, I was born in Sandy, UT. woop woop! but I love my old city in Cali and I feel like I have spent a large chunk of my growing up years in Az. but I will always feel like Ut is home to me cuz thats where most of my family is.
I. Indulgence: Definatly nice bags and purses.... CAN'T resist 'em!!
J. January or July: July. First of all its my birthday month haha and Iabsolutely love the summer! swimming and tanning is the best!
K. Kids: Can't wait to have plenty of my own when I"m married.
L. Life isn't complete without: Family, friends, the gospel, and halarious moments :)
M. Marriage Date: I would love to get married in the fall when it is still nice outside but not too hot, maybe September??
N. Number of Brothers and/or Sisters: 2 bros, 2 sistas
O. Oranges or apples: apples are the only fruit I'll eat (on occasion)
P. phobia or fear: lets just say I have a "slight" phobia of needles and blood and definatly spiders too......
Q. Quote: the one at the top of my blog I guess
R. Reason to Smile: When I am goofing off with friends and laughing my guts out!
S. Superman or wonderwoman: Hmmm, I've never seen either in movies so I don't know. I'll just stick to cute chick flicks, thanks.
T. Tag 5 people: Well I set up my blog to keep in touch with family and they have all been tagged haha!
U. Unknown Fact About Me: I cna krump like no other black woman you have ever seen!!!
V.Veggies: Asparagus
W. Worst Habbit: i definalty have a clapping issue. I just have to get a good clap in, ya know??
X. X-ray or Ultrasound: I would love to see my stomach... sometimes I WORRY that I might have an ulcer or two!
Y. Your Favorite Food: I love Mexican food, turkey burgers are the best and I love avocado with everything ( hey, do those count as fruit!!??)
Z. Zodiac Sign: I have NEVER known what sign I am... somethimes it says cancer and others say leo for my B-day. I was born July 24th so if someone knows, tell me!!

Trip to Cali!!

Hard at work on our cake!

1 am photo shoot

Being Crazy

Magic Mountain

As many of you know, I spent this past week in Valencia, California with my best friend Erica. Erica and I met in 5th grade on my first day of school after moving to California and became great friends very quickly. Over the years since we moved to Arizona I have seen her a couple times a year and we always write and call. For some reason, these past 2 YEARS we have not been able to see each other once!!! So of course I was very excited as I got ready to spent the week with her. The first day we just hung out by her pool and didn't do much of anything. Around dinner time we had a brilliant idea to make (attempt) a huge, gormet wedding cake with tiers and everything! To say the least, her entire counter space with FILLED with different sized cakes, cupcakes, buntcakes, heart cakes, ect... It was looking perfect until we tried to asseble it all together, when the entire thing cracked down the middle and ended up in little pieces! At first we were sad but quickly realized that the little chunks of cake tasted just as amazing as a good-looking one would have! That night we dressed up crazy to take a few pics and before we knew it, it was 1 in the morning and we had WAY more pics than anyone would ever want to see!! (We tend to get a little carried away...). That next morning we woke up early and went to Magic Mountain with a few friends that I haven't seen since 6th grade! Magic Mountain has always been one of mine and Erica's favorite places and it seemed like as we waited in line at each roller coaster we had at least one funny memory on that ride that we could laugh about. On Wednesday we woke up even earlier and drove and hour to Carpenteria Beach where her Dad dropped us off. We spent the ENTIRE day in the hot sun and perfect water. We could not have asked for better beach weather. As you can imagine, that night we fell asleep fast after a movie, exhausted and very sun burned. The next morning we woke up and got ready to go shopping! We got dropped off in Santa Barbara which is an absolutely beautiful city! We spent most of the day shopping and then took the trolley to the beach where we spent the next three hours just relaxing, swimming and tanning. Friday we finally got to sleep in and just hang out at Erica's house before leaving for the airport. It was such a blast to spend time with one of my favorite people ever and the week could not have been better! Even though a part of me never wanted to leave, I was so ready to get home and see my family who I missed very much. I'm so grateful for an awesome first trip of this summer!

Happy Father's Day Pops!!!

As far back as I can remember, my Dad has been one of my very favorite people ever. I have so many memories of him being my "Prince Charming" while I dressed up like Cinderella, taking me to Daddy-daughter dances and feeling like the coolest one there because of our awesome line dance skills :) and always feeling like a princess when he was around because I knew how much he loved and adored me. Something I admire most about my Pops is that he never seems to stress out about anything! It is so nice knowing that no matter how worried I am, my Dad can always make me feel better. He is the best husband to my Mom and I have so much respect for him. I am so lucky to have a Dad that honors his priesthood and is so strong in the gospel. I hope to be able to marry a man like him someday. I love you Dad!!

What Will I Do Without My Big Bro??!!

That was one looong graduation!


We went out to dinner before and then got shaved ice afterwards

As many of you know, Alex is leaving for college in a couple of days. I always knew he would be leaving at the end of this year but it never really hit me that I wouldn't have an older brother around until this past week. I am so used to him always being there for me and he is such an important part of our family. He really helps to hold the family together and he is the best example to me and my other siblings that an older brother could be. I will miss his hugs and funny comments everyday. Its weird how all the sudden I have the responsibility of being the oldest kid in the house. On top of that, I will have to always make sure I am close by to help control my Mom's frequent "crying episodes" :). I love Alex so much and I hope that I can be as good of an example to the younger siblings as he has been for me.

Summer Has Arrived!!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! My second year of Highschool was much better than the first and I have had so many new experiences. I'm so grateful for great friends who make everything a blast. This summer is going to be amazing, here are my plans:

• Spend a week in Cali visiting my best friend there (beach, shopping, ect.)
• A week at girl's camp as a YCL! super excited
• 2 weeks in Utah with Whit and family! (arriving june 2nd)
• Me and Whit are going to EFY in Logan for one of those 2 weeks... CANT WAIT
• After that I have about 2 weeks left until school starts, I'll just be hanging out by the pool getting a tan, with friends and family, nannying and shopping.
• OH and how could I forget?! I'll be FINALLY turning 16 a few days berfore school starts!

I'm going to be busy going from place to place and all together gone for about half the summer (we only have 2 months off) but I am so excited and I know this summer will be one of my favorites. I especially can't wait to be able to spend time with friends and family that I haven't seen for WAY TOO LONG! Summer... here I come!