Things One MUST Do During Christmas Time

Read A Christmas Carol

Take a nap

Get your hair cut

Snuggle with your niece :)

It Was Cold So I Went .....North?

I had the opportunity to go to one of my brother-in-law's favorite places: Virginia Beach! I had to get up the same time I do for Seminary: 5:45 a.m. Everyone was complaining about how early it was but I was used to it. We eventually got on to the buses. They were really nice, big buses with plushy seats and a dvd player for all the tv screens. On our way up, we watched "Avatar" and "School of Rock." It was my first time watching "Avatar." It was better than I expected. When we finally got to the hotel, we unloaded and went up to our rooms. I quickly changed and did a short work out. Then, we all got ready to go to a sail boat where we danced and ate pizza. :) I had a lot of fun. We were all tired when we got back and went to sleep.
The next day, we could basically do what we wanted until about 2. I ran on the beach and boardwalk. I read. I showered. I ate lunch at Abbey Road Restaurant and Pub. It was yummy. We left for our music Festival at 2:30. First Chorale sang with Chamber Choir as a big mixed choir. Then Chorale waited for Chamber Choir to sing. We went back and were escorted to Wendy's b/c the Navy was in town! There were a few people who asked us if were choral or prom, which we all thought was silly b/c girls wouldn't wear the same thing to prom.....oh well. We went back to the hotel. I was boring and stayed in my hotel room. It felt like vacation to me because I was able to watch tv. :)
The next day, we got up early and checked out. Then we went to Busch Gardens! I t was soooooo much fun! I rode a ton of roller coasters. At 9 p.m., we had the awards ceremony. Lexington won first place for Chorale and Chamber Choir! We got two other awards as well. It was pretty awesome. We left the park and got on the buses. We watched "The Princess and the Frog." Then, I tried to sleep for about five hours. I was so happy to be home. Fortunately for Mom and Dad, they decided to leave me the car. I am now happily at home.

Celebrating 17

(If anybody was wondering what I looked like early in the morning, you don't have to wonder anymore.)

I had an awesome seventeenth birthday that started pretty early. I think I was the first awake in our house. We, Mom, Dad, Amy and I, all celebrated by going to Waffle House for breakfast. I had a waffle, of course, and my mom and I put some quarters in for music. It was classic with Elvis Presley playing and eating a waffle. (We had a lot of driving and I read my Book of Mormon on the way.)This is a before picture at the beginning of our hike at Table Rock State Park. It was my dad, my mom, Orah, Zara (the dogs) and me.

We finished! I am very happily pointing to the sign saying we were at 3,124 feet. We hiked about 7 miles. It was not easy.Someone was nice enough to take the picture for us so we could have a group shot, including the doggies. :)Lunch at the summit. I had an apple of course.
Dad with Zara (see if you can find her)I told Mom it would be better for her to be in the picture because then she wouldn't have to see how high we were. It was beautiful.
A prettier view on the mountainDad with both of the dogsMom showing the steps cut into the mountain with OrahEliza and me tasting the frosting from my red velvet birthday cake: Yum-yum! Thanks, Mommy!

Birthday cake!

We went to Shealy's for dinner. It was delicious!

West Columbia Stake Trek 2009

Before: We're all clean and not sweaty

Friday at 6:24 A.M.

Friday night's campsite: I learned to love trees even more when I want to make a tent. My family was sort of lucky. There weren't very many adviser couples/grandparents so we shared an adviser couple/grandparents with another family. Families usually had nine people in them: two people were "ma and pa" and seven people were "children". I was a child. So we ended up having like a cousin family because we shared grandparents. Having a cousin family came in handy when we were trying to make our tents. We had rope, tarps, and wooden poles. We were able to make two tents to fit the girls and the boys. Other families that only had one pair of grandparents were pretty close together in the tents. that's what happened to my mom and dad. they said they were packed in like sardines. They had to sleep in the middle to separate the boys and girls: boys on one side, girls on the other. We were usually in cleared meadows so there were a lot of bugs.

Mom and Dad's family: They were grandparents to what they said was the most diverse family.

These are after pictures. I was very happy to take a shower. My bed and pillow were very nice also. My favorite picture is the one below.

It was soooo much fun. I wouldn't have traded it for all the world.

Mother's Day

I don't really like this picture, but Mom and Amy do, and they look nice in it.

I just wanted to do a little post honoring mothers. I know my mom has definitely spoiled me in the smaller things. She has to be one of the best people I know. I am so proud I'm able to call her my mom. My sisters are also terrific people I'm proud to know and call my sisters and mothers.

Sixteen Candles

This past week I turned 16. Woo-hoo! If any of you are familiar with the movie "Sixteen Candles," I fortunately did not have a beautiful, stupid sister's marriage to a jerk cause anyone to forget my birthday (I only havebeautiful sisters married to nice guys). On the contrary, my mom got up at who knows when to go to Wal-Mart to get fruit for my breakfast, a balloon, gorgeous flowers and doughnuts for people at seminary. Everyone was happily suprised. There were some doughnut holes left over and I gave them to to friends at school. Thankfully, I did not have to ride the bus, but got to drive myself home.
When Mom and Dad got home, I got to unwrap presents including:

I was having a ton of fun playing with my new toy.
And talking to my siblings.

Just so you know, I had gone running and that's why I'm sweaty. But the cake is banana-delicious!

I'll have to tell more about the party later.

The World According to the U.S.

My teacher showed this to us in Geography. I thought it was funny. It pretty much speaks for itself.