My Life

Thirty-Onederful

2011-03-24T12:34:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a pretty low-key day but it was so nice to receive birthday wishes from so many friends and family.
The best part of the day may have been when my aunt thought I was only turning 28. That's right, she's my new favorite person! I love you Deb.

Shady Hotel??

2011-03-21T19:53:00.002-06:00

As we're looking forward to our trip to Europe this summer, we are trying to decide where to stay.
I've stayed in some shady hotels before- the Best Western in a shady neighborhood in L.A., the Motel without locking doors that led directly to our ground level parking lot room in Newark, NJ, etc.
But now we're trying to decide what is a acceptable as far as European rooms. I'm not expecting American standards but I do expect some things (Listen I'm not a barbarian, I don't want to share a bathroom with a whole floor of strangers!)
So, I need some opinions. Is it acceptable to book a 1 star hotel that is in a great location, has a private bathroom, and has raving reviews on tripadvisor, for about $100 less than anything else in Florence? The drawback: no air-conditioning in the middle of June and did I mention it's only a 1 star???
HELP!

Europe 2011

2011-03-05T21:39:00.005-07:00

Last summer on our road trip to Vegas, we decided to save up our cash and celebrate our friend Carlee's 30th birthday in Europe.

Fast forward almost a year and now it's official!! We bought our plane tickets a few weeks ago and we will be spending two and a half weeks in England, France, and Italy this June.

I'm dusting off my passport in preparation to see places like: The Tower of London, the Arc de Triumph, Big Ben, and enjoying a stunning gondola ride.

I knew 5 years ago when I tossed my coin in the Trevi Fountain, I would be back to the Eternal City!

And one of the things I am MOST excited about is this...

THE EFFEL TOWER!!!

So now the countdown begins...13 weeks from yesterday. I guess I should brush up on my French and Italian (or at least learn how to say "Where's the bathroom?")

June 2010

2010-10-02T11:46:00.009-06:00

I decided to just take it a month at a time to try and get caught up with these pictures. I had such a great summer and with weather in the 90's this past week it has almost felt like it's still summer (minus the fact that I've been at work and in the real summer I can just kick it by the pool!)
We started the summer by attending the first of our country summer concerts at USANA. We went to the Mega Country Jam the second weekend in June. You can see that we are all wearing winter coats and carrying bundles of blankets. IT WAS FREEZING!!!!
We thought the concert would just be two or three performers and then we'd go home. We got to USANA in the middle of a rainstorm around 1:00 and found out that there were MULTIPLE groups to perform and it lasted until 11:00 that night. Once you entered the grounds you could not get back in, so we waited out the afternoon in our blue burrito (luckily we had brought a tarp to sit on and it was large enough to cover us so we didn't have to get rained on!) It was an adventure to say the least, but we had a good time and got to listen to some really fun bands.

The next day we left for a week at Lake Powell. The weather was gorgeous and the houseboat was just as nice as we remembered from last summer.

We enjoyed our time playing games and watching movies, and especially lounging with a good book while soaking up the rays in these awesome zero-gravity chairs!

We had a black and white day while we were there since we realized we had each brought a black/white combo swimsuit.

We had some wild and crazy tube rides, Kelly and Audrey were the dare devils- no hands...

Jenny and I still had a great ride, we just held on tight! I didn't get any pictures of the water weenie, but we had some wicked rides and no one got hurt!! That's right, when have you ever ridden a water weenie and NOT knocked heads or taken a knee to the eye, or something worse! I'd like to think it was our expert ability to fall gracefully but I'm not too sure about that.

We became expert wake-boarders, see me up out of the water and everything!

And our favorite part of all were the 2 brand new wave runners with turbo power and the ability to brake. Kelly and I loved to head over to this slot canyon close to our home for the week and dare each other to get off the wave runner in to open water and wait there by ourselves as long as we could. Kelly was daring, I waited a few minutes then swam over to the ledge to wait. I was creeping myself out thinking about the 300 lb. catfish swimming just below me!

I love Lake Powell, how could you not look at that red rock and emerald green water! I'm so lucky to have great friends that keep inviting me year after year, Thanks Jenny!

Spring 2010 (I know it's already fall!)

2010-09-11T13:23:00.015-06:00

I have had such a fun and busy summer that I am just now starting to post some pictures from the Spring!
We had a black and white dinner party that was tons of fun. I loved the lights behind Kell and Al in this picture. You can tell it was in the cutural hall at the church because of the carpeted walls! I was the only one who opted for a print instead of solid black.

Kelly:

Me:

Al:

For Aly's annual Oscar party we indulged in some home-made cotton candy. Pink sugar was everywhere, but it was delicious!

Al makes ballots each year and we vote before-hand on who we think will win each category. Carlee was the winner this year, she sure knows her movies!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Las Vegas. We stopped for a delicious breakfast at one of my favorites: the Bear Paw in St. George. Car came in this sweet ride.

The crew outside the Bear Paw, stuffed french toast: YUMMMY!

We stayed at the Tahitian Village and the pool area is amazing!

We also stopped in at the Town Square Mall to hit up the Sephora and H & M, and enjoy one of my favorites, Yogurtland.

We also went to the Lion King at Mandalay Bay. It was amazing. The costumes alone were awesome, but it's great to go to a show where you already know most of the songs!

Of course, what is a road trip without snacks? Kell offered to pose with a small portion of the treats we snarfed down on the way home!

It was an excellent Spring, that led in to an awesome summer!

Southern Carribean Cruise

2010-04-26T21:13:00.014-06:00

I'm way behind on blogging so I'm going to skip some things and blog about them later!
For my big 30th birthday, 10 of my friends and I went on a cruise to the Southern Carribean. Here we are arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 11 girls with 10 days worth of luggage, YIKES! Our first day on the ship we ate and headed to the pool to catch some rays!

Our first port was St. Thomas. After a recommendation from a crew member we took a water taxi to this secluded beach on Water Island. It was beautiful and we practically had the place to ourselves.

The water taxi waiting place was also an outdoor library/post office!

Our second port was Dominica (pronounced DOM-in-ee-ka). We split up a little at this port and my group hiked to two different waterfalls Trafalgar falls:

And Emerald Pools:

The rainforrest here was beautiful and we liked it even better when our guide told us there were no poisionous snakes or spiders on the island.

Our 3rd port was Barbados. It was beautiful and we loved our excursion. These pics were a little out of order, since this picture of my leg was taken back on the ship that night. Notice the bruise that takes up my whole inner calf.

I received this bruise from stupidity. I decided to do a back flip off of the catamaran, ended up breaking blood vessels (showed up immediately) in both of my calves! OUCH! I hear I made a great slapping sound when I hit the water with my calves and shins!

We got to snorkel over a shipwreck and with TONS of fish, then they took us to snorkel with 3 Sea turtles! It was amazing.

Here we are on the catamaran, it was a very relaxing day (minus the bruising!)

Our 4th port was St. Lucia where we did a zipline through the rain forrest. It was awesome and we had a really great guide.

This is us BEFORE we put the harness, hair nets, and helmets on!

Our 5th port was my FAVORITE! St. Kitts is one of the most beautiful islands and has gorgeous beaches. This is shipwreck beach!

There was a great bar that cooked a delicious burger and yummy pina coladas. You can see my sun damaged skin pretty well in this pic, but I can't help it. I love the sun!

Our last port was St. Maarten, which also had a pretty nice beach. We took another water taxi to the beach and spent the afternoon shopping and relaxing sipping more pina colada's beach side!

We got back to San Juan and spent the day touring the Fort and Old Town. It is a beautiful city and I would love to go back. We got to spend the evening in the hot tub and the next day poolside since our flight didn't leave until 3:30 p.m.

We had a couple hour lay-over in Hot-Lanta and by this point we were pretty tired after spending 10 days on the go (mostly laying in the sun by some type of water!)

Luckily there were plenty of gossip magazines to catch up on!

We had a great trip and I'm already trying to decide where to go next!

3 things

2010-03-16T22:28:00.002-06:00

There were 3 things that made me happy today:
1. I was working with a kindergartener today giving him this ESL test and he stopped in the middle of the test and pointed to his head and told me, "I have a lot of pretend stuff in here." Then he went on to pretend to build a pair of "machine" gloves for me and for him. The gloves were a lot like a transformer from what I could tell from the sounds and actions he was making. He was right, he did have a lot of "pretend" stuff in there!
2. As I was taking out the trash, I noticed 2 buds popping up in our flower garden. One purple and one white. This was yet another sign that spring is on its way! The first sign was that I got to drive home from work with my sunroof open and the rays shining directly on me!
3. I checked carnival's site and realized we leave on our cruise in 18 days!!!!!!

Southern Caribbean here we come!

It's UNDERland, silly!

2010-03-10T21:09:00.005-07:00

My mom's birthday was last week and she said the only thing she wanted for her birthday was to go to dinner with the fam and see Alice in Wonderland. We ended up going to Jordan Commons and seeing it on the IMAX screen in 3D.

For those of you who know me well, that means closing my eyes through a LARGE portion of the movie so I don't get sick.

Over the years, I've gotten really good at LISTENING to movies instead of watching them.

Even though I had to just listen to a lot of this movie, I still really liked it. Plus we got to wear these fashionable 3D goggles!

A few of our favorite quotes from the movie:

It's not wonderland, it's UNDERland, silly! (I think he actually called her stupid, but I'll "draw it mild"!)

Another favorite quote: "PIG! I need a pig. I love a warm pig belly to rest my aching feet on."

* "Draw it mild" comes from the BBC miniseries Little Dorrit (a great series!) It means, "take it easy"

Mockingjay

2010-03-02T21:08:00.002-07:00

So if you are not on the Hunger Games bandwagon yet, you don't know what you're missing. I was introduced to the series by my roommate and blasted through them in a few days. They were my go-to gifts for Christmas this year!

ANYWAY...

They announced a while ago that the 3rd and final book in the series was coming out this summer but they just announced the title and cover called Mockingjay.

Is is too soon to start a countdown to August 24th?

Moab for the long weekend

2010-02-27T09:37:00.007-07:00

I have been a horrible blogger lately! I guess I haven't been doing many exciting things to want to write home about!
We did get to take a short trip down to Moab over President's Day weekend. It was nice to relax, catch up on some reading and do a little hiking.
We decided to try to hike Corona in the cold, luckily the snow had melted on most of the hike but there were still a few slippery spots!

Our first view of the arch!

Kell and Al contemplating life under the arch

Then we decided to try some yoga poses under the arch:

Warrior II

Tree pose

Warrior I

As we were leaving a man in a "super Dell" type flying machiene (A parachute with a seat and a large fan propelling him) flew down from nowhere and started circling the arch then finally flew right through the middle of the arch. It was hilarious to watch!

You can barely see the parachute in the picture but it was pretty loud with his fan/motor running.

We really love our quick weekend trips and it was nice to get some warm weather. I am gearing up for spring!

SURPRISE!!!

2010-02-08T21:26:00.006-07:00

I have been feeling guilty about not updating my blog more regularly. I couldn't think of anything to post about, but then I got out my camera for my roommates birthday to snap some pictures and found some shots from Dec. so I thought "what the heck!"
These first two are aprons that I made for my mom and sister-in-law for Christmas. They were a big hit and super easy, (especially thanks to my roommate's mom and Kelly-my sewing partner/model) I loved this fabric with the bright yellow and red ruffle, sooo fun!

Now on to the big surprise. We went to our annual girls dinner at the Mandarin during the winter break then over to visit Em's new house. I love getting together with these girls and especially catching up with everyone.

Lyndsi had some shocking updates. At dinner she informed us that she had gotten married...a month earlier!

Here are our reactions to the news-

Lyndsi: all smiles!

Em- jaw-dropping news

Me- WOW! Congratulations!

Al- shock and awe

Kell- wide-eyed surprise

We were super happy for Lyndsi and Ryan and so glad she found a great guy. Secretly I think she was just trying to show me up, her on the second husband and I still haven't even found one yet!!!

New Year, New Post (with a hint of Chocolate)

2010-01-12T22:20:00.005-07:00

Since it has been nearly a month since I have posted I thought it would be a great time to update. We had a great Christmas. Nate, Hill and the girls got to come out to Utah the week before Christmas and we loved having them here. The weekend before they came was our 6th annual chocolateering. *See below! My brother Nick and his new wife Lindsey spent Christmas Eve with us at my parents along with my sister Al and my other brother Jake. We had a good time and enjoyed watching movies and playing games. On Christmas day we went to Sherlock Holmes (excellent!) and had a delicious dinner.
We spent New Year's Eve up at a house in Huntsville watching North and South, and Wives and Daughters curled up by a roaring fire with enough treats to make us sick. We enjoyed it so much we went home for dinner on New Years (and to get our annual Carter Christmas/New Years Stockings) then drove back up to Huntsville.
I really did have a great holiday and it's been rough getting back in to real life, (and the gym!) But 11 of my friends and I are going to the Southern Caribbean for Spring Break so no more diet starts Monday. But in fond rememberance of better days, here are some of the chocolates from '09. It was one of our best years for appearance, but not so great for getting along. 3 straight days of slaving over sugar will get the best of anyone.

This was a new one for this year. It's homemade caramel with a layer of crushed almonds topped with chocolate. Then we put this edible transfer on top. Adoreable if I do say so myself.

My personal favorites...snowballs. A white chocolate ganache center mixed with macademia nuts. Dipped in white chocolate then rolled in coconut.

Presented in super cute red polka dot papers.

The Chocolateers: (Al had to leave a bit early so I didn't get a picture, but she helped I swear!)

Kelly scrubbing away at all the pots and pans.

Me transfering finished product to cooling racks.

Carlee doing the same.

A couple of parts of the end count

We really do have a good time making these and we especially enjoy giving them to people!! They sure don't last long.

Jazz vs. Pacers

2009-12-19T12:56:00.005-07:00

Alyson got some great tickets to the Jazz game a few weeks ago. We got a sponsored dinner followed by desserts from Schmidt's bakery. Then we got to walk to our seats through the portal the players come through. We walked in with Frank Layden (he commented that we should be in beauty pageants, etc. Thanks FRANK!)
We were sitting by Daron Williams wife and baby (you should have seen the bling on her watch!) and spent a lot of the game watching the players on the injured bench just below us (especially Kyle Korver!!!)

It was an especially good games because it was close but the Jazz pulled out the victory.

After the game we went up to Hires for hot chocolate with our friends Amy and Ashley from Florida. It worked out perfectly that they were in town for a family reunion and had to kill a few hours waiting for their Mom's flight. It was a great night of basketball and chatting with friends we don't get to see too often.

We did get to plan a trip to Chicago for the summer so if you'd like to join us in July let me know!!

So You Think You Can Dance

2009-12-06T21:47:00.006-07:00

We are big fans of the TV show So You Think You Can Dance and have been to the tour two years now. It was back in November but I'm just not getting around to posting about it. Life, huh!
Anyway, we had a great time going to dinner and then watching some of our favorite dances. It's always better in person, and this year did not disappoint. Here I am with Kelly in a grainy view from our seats. Sorry about the lighting in this pic, hard to get the flash with the bright lights in the background.

Lyndsi and Kelly

Me and Carlee

Kirsten and Al

The whole crew...
Watching these dancers and hearing the music blaring seriously makes you want to get up and dance.

We are loving some of the dancers from Season 6 and can't wait for another tour! If you don't watch it, you should start. Seriously some amazing dancers and choreographers.

Halloween '09

2009-11-15T09:49:00.010-07:00

We had a fun Halloween weekend. On Friday night we went to a party at a friends house. On the way there I was having a hard time finding the turn for the house so I was driving really slow down the median and u-turned about 3 times before I was finally pulled over for drunk driving! So 2 officers come up on both sides of the car and shine their lights in at a fallen angel, a pirate, and a cat. Yeah it was embarrassing! He let us go after some explanation of where the turn was without even a warning. Good Night!
Here we are with Kirsten as Garth from Wayne's World, Al as a fallen angel, Kell the pirate wench, Me the cat, and Jenny as a masquerade person. On Halloween I went with the girls to a club for some dancing. Here are some single shots...

And here are a couple more...

We had a great time dancing, (even though I did see a former student there and it made me feel old!) I hope you had a great Halloween too!

2nd Annual Witches Brew Tea

2009-11-09T18:08:00.005-07:00

We had another great Witches Brew hosted by Kell this year. She really outdid herself with the invites...(It's a ceramic finger if you couldn't tell.) Kelly does a great job with the decor and really makes her place SPOOKY! (She even caught one of the candles on fire a few days later while we were getting ready for Halloween! That's how dedicated she is!)

I always have a gret time when I get together with some of my best girls, we were sad some couldn't attend this year but can't wait for them to come again next year.

Great time for dress up, good friends, and delicious food. Three things I love best!

Parkour!

2009-10-31T10:55:00.002-06:00

Because of the Office, we decided we would try some Parkour while we were out on a trail by ourselves. As you can see, we are pretty good at it! Parkour is defined as a sport or activity in which the participant seeks to move quickly, fluidly and creativly through an area.

Enjoy!

Moab for UEA

2009-10-31T10:20:00.008-06:00

I can't believe it has been a month and a half since I have posted. I guess life has just been busy!
I went to Moab the first week of October for UEA break. I went with my roommates who had never been before so naturally we spent a lot of time hiking in Arches.
Here's the traditional picture in front of the sign-luckily there were plenty of German's around to take our pictures! This one's in the Garden of Eden, taken by another German tourist! All of my practice in Jr. High, High School, and College finally paid off.

"When I say boost, boost!"

Taking a nice break, enjoying the view.

Practicing our jumping skills...PARKOUR!

One of my favorites, Sand Dune Arch.

And finally, even though I have hiked in Arches countless times I have never actually hiked Delicate Arch. I have hiked the lookout but never to the actual arch. It was beautiful up close, and I'm so glad I finally got to do it, (Even though I am pretty red-faced in the pictures!)

We also spent some time hiking to some petroglyphs and window shopping on main street. It was conference weekend so we took some drives down the river road and listened to conference. It was a great weekend and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Whiskey Creek Ranch

2009-09-19T13:32:00.011-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend we headed up to Whiskey Creek Ranch in Grace, Idaho. We had a great time hiking, chatting, fly-fishing, playing with animals and riding 4-wheelers.

Kelly has great form from years of fly-fishing!

This was my first time fishing, crazy I know. I had to learn a few tips from M.R. Brown but we caught a beautiful rainbow trout after a team play of him casting and me reeling it in! (We didn't get a picture of it before we had to put it back in.)

We feed the piglets slop, (mostly left-over pizza and rotten veggies but they loved it!)

Kell and her cousin Alan decided to chase the pigs in the pen. They really can squeal!

We played with the calfs.

I even got in the pen to pet them. Notice I was wearing flip-flops. I just had to watch where I stepped.

We spent the afternoon riding the 4-wheelers. Here is one of Kell trying to reply her accident with Dave K. back in junior high.

Al refused to ride without a helmet, even though Kell and I are the ones with no health insurance!

It was a long, but beautiful ride through the forest. We had a great time.

Here are a few shots of the ranch courtsey of M.R. Brown: it is harvest time!

We had a great time, and I was sad when we had to leave. Hopefully we can head up there again next summer for the giant slip-n-slide!

Lagoon

2009-09-09T19:46:00.008-06:00

Carlee's sister works for Lagoon, so we decided to head over for a family appreciation day. Our first stop: Jet Star. It turns out that you have to have even numbers to ride and since there was three of us we weren't sure what to do. There were 3 guys behind us so Kelly offered to ride with them. Oh, did I mention the 3 guys were somewhere between the ages of 10-11. The kid sat behind Kelly and had to straddle her. Car and I couldn't stop laughing! Next, Kell and Car decided to ride the Samurai. I do not ride spinny, twisty rides unless I'm feeling like I want to puke. I had a nice rest on a bench and did some great people watching. (Hill this one's for you: Dammit Derek!)

After a few more rides, we strolled over to Pioneer Park. Even after my 2 summers lifeguarding at the beach I still had not spent any time here besides riding the log flume. It was fun exploring the old houses and shops.

This is what Carlee did while Kell and I had a look around. She had apparently been to Pioneer Village before and once you've seen one log cabin, you've seen 'em all!

We ended the night with a fun ride on Wicked, the new roller coaster. It was a blast, and always fun to hang out with some of my best girls!

Orlando in July?

2009-08-30T21:29:00.013-06:00

Since I'm so backed up on updates, I am just now posting pics of my trip to Orlando in July. My friend Kelly had to go for work so I decided to tag along to see some of my besties since 7th grade who live in FL! Ash lives in Orlando and Amy made the drive up from Gainesville for the weekend.
It was so fun to see these girls, and it reminded me that even though I hadn't seen them for a few years we'll always be good friends.
While Kelly was working, we got to head out to Cocoa Beach. It was beautiful. We played a great game called tailgate golf. I was by far the worst, but it was great fun!

This was our spot, we layed here for hours. The thing I love about the this water is that it's warm, if you try this in the Pacific even in the middle of summer you still get a shock the first time you step in! Not in Florida, bathwater yet still refreshing!

We stopped at the famous Grills restaurant and I had this...

crab legs, creamy red potatoes, veggies, garlic bread, and sweet potato french fries. YUM!

By the evening we had given our meal time to settle, and Kelly joined us for dinner in downtown Orlando. We ate at a delicious Thai restaurant. The next day while Kell was working again, we did some awesome outlet shopping, then we grabbed some yummy peanut butter cup dessert!

The next day Ashley's friend who works for Universal Studios got us in for free! We rode some great rides at Islands of Adventure and enjoyed a buy one get one free churro!

I don't know how people on the East Coast do it, but as soon as we walked outside we started sweating. YUCK!! That was one thing I didn't not appreciate, standing in line while you felt sweat bead up and roll down your back.

With Kell's work we got to go to Epcot at Disney as VIP's and have a dinner reception and VIP seating for the fireworks show on the Rivers of America. (We also got in free here

Here I am at Epcot, I love Disney! And here's one with me and Kell in front of our VIP seating at the fireworks. notice the shiny faces. Even at 9:00 at night it was still super humid, it never cooled off.

I spent plenty of time at the pool catching up on some reading and we headed out to Cocoa Beach another afternoon so Kelly could get a chance to dip her toes! We had a great trip and I was so happy to see Amy and Ashley. Hopefully I can get back to Florida again soon!

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!

2009-08-23T11:36:00.007-06:00

I know it has been forever since I have updated, I can't believe August is already more than half over, I have to start school tomorrow and I'm totally not ready! This summer has been crazy, but fun! Things started to slow down a little after the wedding/blessing/farewell weekend and I got to go to the Kenney Chesney concert with a bunch of friends.
Here are a couple of the girls we went with: My roomates and Kirsten's sister Ann. Ann works for Rio Tinto and since the concert was at Rio Tinto stadium we got floor seats for less than the top bowl seats! I was so glad because it was outside and it started at 4 in the afternoon! It looked soooo hot up in the stands because the afternoon sun was right in their faces. The other people we came with were not as lucky and had seats up in the tippy top! With everyone fanning their faces it looked like little bugs swarming and in constant motion. Luckily we had lots of shade but it was still hot. Lady Antebellum started out the show...Love, love, love them.
Here's me and the roomies, these girls are so fun!

Me from our seats, pretty good!

The backdrop was a huge beach towel!

Kenney puts on a great show and even though you hate the sexy tractor song you can't help but sing along. Someone threw a U hat up on stage and while the lights were off he switched out of his cowboy hat to wear Crimson red! (This one's for you Nate!)

I think he had to wait for the lights since he's bald and doesn't want anyone to see him without a hat!

It was a great show and totally worth the sweating!

Nick and Lindsey's Wedding

2009-08-04T22:23:00.005-06:00

Nick and Lindsey got married on Sat. July 18. It was fun to have Hill and her girls out here for a whole week before the festivities, and Nate was super helpful finishing the deck when he got out here.
Before the ceremony, Claire decided to play a little rock band! Some of the girls, I'm not sure where Emme was at this point. Probably sleeping if I know her like I think I do!

Nate was the groomsman/photographer.

The happy couple!

Notice Emme is still sleeping!

Jake's farewell and Emme's blessing was the next day but somehow I didn't take any pictures. I'm sad that we forgot, but it was a great way to end a hectic weekend.

Favorite Things 2009

2009-07-24T10:18:00.002-06:00

We had our 2nd annual Favorite Things party in the middle of July and it was a blast. There were great gifts and I've already used a bunch of them. It is so fun to get together with my best girls and just hang out, it's even better when gifts are involved.
Here are a few of the gifts and girls!

I was especially glad that Hill and Liz were both in town from Virginia at the same time and could both make it.

I sure miss you girls, I hope you can visit more often.

4th of July

2009-07-10T10:20:00.007-06:00

We had a great holiday weekend. Bountiful does their fireworks on the 3rd so we all went to Carlee's house for a BBQ before the show. It was just what I needed to get me excited for the 4th! I haven't been around for the past 2 years because that has been when we've gone to Lake Powell, so I was especially excited. We started out the day with the annual Bowman's breakfast, where they serve mickey mouse, turtle, or dino print pancakes! (I must have been sleepy and forgot to open my eyes!)

Then we headed down to the parade. It was really nice because it was overcast during the parade so there wasn't the scorching heat to deal with. It was fun to see people from the neighborhood as well as spend time with my best girls!

Lucky for us the weather cleared up and the clouds burned away and we went swimming all afternoon. Then we headed back up to my parents house for a BBQ and to watch Kaysville's fireworks. It was a little disappointing that they had some technical difficulties with the music, but overall it was great.

After the fireworks we headed to the Winwards for the after-party! He always strings up his whole backyard with firecrackers and other fireworks and puts on a show! You can see it gets more popular each year, this year I think we were on the 3rd row!

As we were walking back from the fireworks to the Winwards I realized that I didn't have my phone. I put it in my camera "case/Sock" and it had fallen out. It was only 3 days old. Jake called it and luckily someone had turned it in to lost and found. I was so relieved!
I really the love the 4th for so many reasons:

Fireworks, BBQ's, Swimming, Parades, spending time with famiy and friends. What's not to love?

Park City

2009-07-02T23:44:00.003-06:00

We had a great day last Saturday. A hole day with some of my best girls, it can't be beat.
We started off the day with brunch at Ruth's Diner. Delious Biscuits! Then headed up to PC for a day of fun and shopping.
We were going to ride the zipline but after we got done shopping and got to the resort the wait was too long and we had to get home. Lyndsi and Carlee decided to just enjoy the weather... While Al, Kell, and I decided to brave the Alpine Coaster! The line was long but it was totally worth it!

I've never actually ridden the alpine slide so I didn't really know what to expect. I'm told the coaster is way better. You can go as fast as you want with out the danger of serious road rash from falling off!

All in all it was a great day, and really fun to catch up with the girls!

Virginia!

2009-06-30T19:12:00.005-06:00

I had such a good time in Virginia last week. I loved visiting with Nate, Hill, Claire, and Emme! We also got to go to Short Pump and have lunch with Liz, Danny, and Gavin. It was good to see some friends out there too! They have a cute little train at the mall that Hill and Claire rode in.

This was pretty much what Emme did the entire trip. She's so cute and cuddly!

And last but certainly not least...Claire is her latest sun gear! We couldn't resist the hat, it was so cute!

I already miss them so much and I wish that they lived closer, but I can't wait to see the Dahle's in a few weeks!

Crime at Church?

2009-06-07T22:43:00.002-06:00

In the family ward in our neighborhood there was a crime spree today. Our neighbors told us all about it. Apparently while everyone was in the building, someone(s) was breaking in to all the cars in the parking lot and stealing the garage door openers and registrations (which had the address to the house.) Then they went to the different houses and stole anything they could find.

Crazy, huh!

Luckily my registration is still sent to my parents house so even if my registration was stolen they wouldn't come to my house. Sorry mom and dad!

Memorial Day!

2009-05-31T22:10:00.002-06:00

I was reading my friend Natalie's blog and she had a great idea to post memories of grandparents that had passed away for a memorial day post. I love the idea so here it goes!

Grandma Hawks: She always made us eat all of our dinner, since Al and Hill were picky eaters they always had to sit at the table until they finished their meal. I never had to do that. It probably shows now! She was a lunch lady and knew the secret recipe of how to make lunch lady style peanut butter bars.

Grandpa Casey: He had such a bad back that he walked practically bent in half, but he always worked out in his yard. When he wasn't in his yard he was sitting in his rocking chair. I always thought it was funny that he and my grandma had separate bedrooms.

Grandpa Carter: I loved to visit him at the grocery store he worked at because he always bought us doughnuts. We would sleep over at his house and he would tell us the story of Farmer McGregor and Peter Cottontail in bed. He also loved to sing "starkle starkle little twink, who the heck are you I think" instead of twinkle twinkle. I think I loved it the most that he didn't think damn and hell were swears and liked to combine them to say "dammit to hell!"

Grandma Hazel: She lost her husband when she was in her thirties and never remarried. She was 108 when she died (she lived in 3 centuries!) and she was always really short, like under 5 foot. I think I out grew her by the time I was in 4th grade. She had the most amazing collection of salt and pepper shakers.

I really liked remembering these special people. Sorry if the post was long and boring!

School's Out For Summer!

2009-05-29T17:29:00.001-06:00

So it's official, I am out of school for the summer. I have a lot of time on my hands since I'm not planning on working during the summer for the first time in years. I still have 5 weeks of classes spread out through the summer but I'm looking forward to spending some quality time by the pool and spending a week in Virginia with Hill.
Summer tan here I come!

The Perfect Pushup

2009-05-24T09:08:00.002-06:00

We have been on a hiking spree these last few weeks and while we were down at the Gateway this weekend, we decided to stop in at Dick's for some supplies. While we were there we noticed these disks that rotate. The Perfect Pushup. I have never been known for my upper body strength but I did execute a perfect pushup on the floor of Dick's.
Only 29.99! I don't think I could ever do more than one, though!

I'm an Aunt! (again)

2009-05-13T22:19:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to Nate, Hill, and Claire for the new addition to their family. Amelia Jane was born late Sunday night after a couple of long days in the hospital.

I loved this pic of Claire and Emme! Don't I have the cutest nieces?

Corndogging!

2009-05-07T17:28:00.002-06:00

So I learned a new pharse today. When I went to pick up my kids from recess two of the nicest kids were yelling at each other. I asked them what was wrong, and Nick tells me that Daisy told him to "corndog" Isaac. I made him repeat what he said thinking I had misheard him. Nope, he totally said "corndog." I said why did you listen to her. He said she told him if he didn't "corndog" Isaac, she would "corndog" him. I had to ask what "corndogging" was and pretty much every kid in my line showed me. You basically grab onto the shoulders of the person in front of you and knee the person inbetween their cheeks.
I had to turn around to keep from giggling. Then I explained in no uncertain terms that no one in our class could tell someone else to "corndog" another person and they were not allowed to do it either, whether someone else told them to do it or not.

I still smile when I think of "corndogging" someone. Beware!! If someone behind you puts both hands on your shoulders, watch out!
P.S. 14 days!!!!

Called to Serve!

2009-05-02T12:06:00.003-06:00

So after a long wait, (My dad was out of town from tuesday until Friday so when the call came on Wednesday, Jake was a trooper and waited until Friday to open it) my little brother got his mission call.
Jake will be serving in the Texas Houston South Mission, Spanish speaking. I'm so proud of Jake and I know he will be a great missionary. He leaves on July 22, which is 4 days after my brother Nick gets married. July is going to be a busy month but I can't wait!

In the video my mom says, guess what they eat there. Jake is known in our family as a really picky eater and she assured him he would be eating steak, which is one of the only things he likes!

It's Vegas Baby!

2009-05-02T11:42:00.010-06:00

We took a quick weekend road trip to Las Vegas last weekend and had a ton of fun. Alyson was supposed to come with us, but ended up having to work at the last minute so Kelly, Carlee, and I took advantage of the nice weather!
This is us in in front of the Beliago fountains and Paris! We enjoyed frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity, (I thought they were only in New York, but apparently Vegas has everything!)

On Saturday morning we enjoyed the sun and some sight-seeing in front of this Seigfried and Roy statue.

We spent most of Saturday by the pool. I love the sun and it made me sooooo excited for summer, unfortuantely we came home to 40's and it's supposed to rain here in Northern Utah for a straight week.

We got tickets to go to Mystere, which had amazing acrobats. It was a little weird, but the tricks were amazing.

We actually went to a double feature that night and went to the late showing of Phantom of the Opera. The theater was beautiful, and although we were super tired by the time we got home we really loved both shows.

The next morning we headed back to the pool again and enjoyed the last of our weekend.

We discovered an awesome new mall on the South end of the strip called Town Square, we shopped at H & M, and found this amazing frozen yogurt place called yogurtland. It was like a salad bar for fro-yo! You loaded up your bowl then paid by the ounce. It was delicious! We went here 3 times this weekend!

So what trip through Southern Utah is complete without a stop at the giant rocking chair in Beaver? It was raining and the chair was wet so we didn't sit on it.

We had a great weekend, and it just made me that much more excited for summer.
Not that I'm counting or anything, but only 18 days of school left this year! YIPEE!

Jeep Safari take 2

2009-04-17T18:17:00.002-06:00

I finally figured out how to load video so here is a short clip of one of the guys climbing the hill. He was probably one of the quickest to make it up.

Jeep Safari 2009

2009-04-17T17:43:00.009-06:00

We went down to Moab last weekend for Spring Break/Jeep Safari. We have been going to Jeep Safari since high school and I think this was one of the coldest. We did have some nice weather on Saturday morning and Kelly, Debi, Jerry and I hiked up the trail to Tombstone. There were some really cool petroglyphs the whole way up.

With Jerry's expert help we hiked up this fin. It doesn't look like much in the picture, it's actually a lot steeper then we made it look on film!

Here we are with Dead Horse Point in the background, (I don't know exactly where, I could never quite figure out where Jerry was pointing to, I just know it is behind us!)

Since the weather wasn't that great we decided to go to a matinee of Fast and Furious 4, it was better than I had expected. All I can say is Paul Walker...NICE!
The weather had cleared up after the movie so we went to catch the last of the daredevils on Potato Salad Hill. There are some crazy people up there, and we saw a couple of guys put on a great show. It is the first time in years that we have been there and NOT seen anyone roll. It was kind of disappointing for us, but there were plenty of close calls that made it totally worth watching.

Some of the crazy people had a goat on a leash, weird.

This guy really gave us a show, after unsuccessfully trying to go up the hill he backed down for the drive of shame, hit some sand and started sliding sideways into the crowd. The one man at the bottom of the rock didn't even flinch, he just stood there and watched it slide toward him. CRAZY!

We had a great time, and even with cold weather it was nice to get away for a quick weekend.

General Conference

2009-04-04T08:37:00.004-06:00

I'm really excited for General Conference to start today. We are off on the annual Carter Conference Drive and Conference Kick session.
Ever since I can remember, my family has packed a picnic lunch and taken off on Conference Weekend. I remember going up Cedar Canyon and listening to Conference blaring/crackling from the car radio speakers as we sat at a sometimes snow-covered spot to listen to Conference.
A few years ago we started Conference kicks. I don't know how or why, but we started to see who could kick over my brother Jake's head. He was a lot shorter then!
I don't remember the last time some one actually could kick over his head, and I'm pretty sure he gets kicked in the back at least once each Conference weekend but he is a good sport and still lets us do it. (I secretly think he just likes getting a swift roundhouse kick to the small of his back!)

Field Trips, YIKES!

2009-03-30T17:37:00.002-06:00

We took the 4th grade (about 90 kids) on a field trip to the Utah Museum of Natural History up at the Universtiy of Utah last week. It was an adventure to say the least. To start off the trip one of the teachers was sick so she didn't come, then 2 parents didn't even show up so we were already down 3 adults. We rearranged groups and were off for the drive from Ogden to the U, when we got to Bountiful the second bus started having problems and was only going 35 on the freeway. My bus had to pull over and wait for them so we could drive behind them just in case there was a problem. (Imagine taking a fully loaded bus that is already having problems, up that hill on 4th South. We were totally chugging!)
We finally got to the museum late and didn't get to eat lunch before we went in. We did have a really good time there. The picture below features the kid whose family eats pet rabbits (see the earlier post!) He's the one in the white coat. We spent some time in the museum then loaded the buses again to drive to a parking lot where we pulled out the lunches and ate on the buses since it was freezing. Then we started to drive home. I ended up on the broken bus and it seemed to be doing fine until we reached Kaysville, then we started doing 25 on the freeway and the bus pretty much died in Clearfield. We had to pull over and wait for another bus to come pick us up.

We had left late from the museum and driving slowly didn't help out either. Our school gets out at 2:30, but by the time we pulled over in Clearfield it was already 2:50. The other bus had left us to get most of the kids back (still about 20 minutes after school got out.) After waiting for the replacement bus and loading it up, we finally got back to the school at about 3:45. Needless to say it was a long day!

Bumpits?

2009-03-12T21:36:00.006-06:00

I have been bombarded with this informercial for the past few weeks so I decided to blog about it. I saw this commercial with my family and we laughed so hard, then I saw my cousin had blogged about it (thanks for some of the pics Candice!) Since then I have seen this commercial no less than three times.

Presenting the "Bumpit." A great way to get Utah hair without the rat's nest.

Part of the tutorial:
Here are the "bumpits," 2 minis, 2 regular, and one hollywood (the hollywood is for extra extra volume, see below.)
If you have not seen their commercial you can see it here:

www.bumpits.com

You've got to check it out!
(I also love a company that has the words "bum" and "pits" in their name!)

Tales from 4th Grade

2009-03-05T18:19:00.002-07:00

I had a student tell me today that he had a really good day yesterday. When I asked him what had made it so good, he told me a lady from his church had brought his family two bunnies. I told him that was great and I asked him if they had named them yet. He said, "No, we didn't name them. We ate one for dinner last night. He was really good. My dad let me and my sisters' keep the feet!" Then he told me that they were planning on eating the other one next week.

I thought Hill would appreciate this story since one of her beloved bunnies met an untimely end as well. (He was a runt and got peed on by the others then froze to death.) I hope your day was as good as mine!

Note from a "parent"

2009-02-27T17:00:00.003-07:00

I got this note from one of my students today explaining why he was late. It cracked me up. I decided I had to take a picture and post it. The problem is, I can't get it to focus. So, I'll tell you what it said.

"Juan was lat becaus he was at the Dentest.

Juan's Mome"

I loved that the note was signed "Juan's Mom" and that he knew how to use an apostrophe the correct way. It is kind of discouraging that a 4th grader doesn't know that there is no "e" on the end of mom though!

Parent Teacher Conferences

2009-02-25T20:40:00.003-07:00

I have had parent teacher conferences this week and it's interesting to see which parents come out of the woodwork. The sickest thing happened tonight: if you know me, you know about my weak gag reflexes. I was talking to a mom and her son tonight while her two year old ran around. She mentioned that the little boy had been sick for over a week, when he came up coughing and wheezing. He started to cough so hard that HE PUKED, over and over. It went all over the floor right in front of me. (I doubled checked to make sure it didn't end up in my shoes-that's how close it was to me.) My way of cooping with this: I scooted back in my chair and pretended like it didn't happen. My student teacher went to find the janitor and couldn't, so she came back with the mop and cleaned it up. I don't know what I would have done without her.
YUCK!

Moab!

2009-02-17T19:29:00.004-07:00

I went down to Moab this weekend with my sister. We had a fun time visiting with family and relaxing. We went bowling, which is something I have not done in quite some time. Before this trip my personal best score was 70. Don't judge, I've never been a great bowler I think it has something to do with wearing borrowed shoes.

My first game I bowled a 79! I thought perhaps all those hours of Wii bowling were paying off. Then I bowled an amazing 123!!!! I have not even dreamed about breaking 100, but there it was. Ok so maybe the computer was off on one of the gutter balls I threw and instead of giving me zero, it gave me nine. That's not my fault and computer errors don't mean that I didn't deserve the 123!

Two great things happened at the bowling alley: 1) Alyson started to swing her arm back to throw her ball and let go, throwing it into the crowd (Luckily she is weak and it was only an 8 lb. ball!) 2) My cousin Jailene went a little too far across the line and ice skated half-way down the alley before falling into the gutter. (It's really slippery out there!)

All in all we had a great trip! I hope to go back down again when it's warmer and we don't have to follow a snow plow through Spanish Fork canyon!

Disney Finale

2009-02-12T21:31:00.002-07:00

We just got back from our fourth and final trip to Disneyland this year. It was fun even though it rained literally the whole time. We embraced our ponchos and were able to ride and see every attration and show in both parks. Here I am riding Buzz, my score is kind of low since I'm not used to stearing and shooting at the same time. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and loved being so close to the parks. We saw some celebs and ate at some fun places on our $100 gift card. I'm going to miss the quick trips to California, but I'm excited to visit more places soon!

(Sorry about the lack of pictures, none of us brought a working camera so we had to buy a disposable camera and I have some videos but I'm not quite sure how to post them yet.)

Things I have Done!

2009-01-30T22:58:00.002-07:00

Things I have done
To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.(I put all the things I have done in black)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (If Rock Band counts?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (to Rome with a crazy lady in our cabin!)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen an eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing-Does Midnight Shark Fishing count?
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone- only if finger bones count!
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book-in Elementary school our teacher bound our books
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House- I've been close but I haven't actually visited
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-Drew Barrymore and Edward Norton in Vegas
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

I want to go back...

2009-01-22T16:53:00.006-07:00

I've been thinking about warm tropical weather lately and I realized this time last year I was in Hawaii. I decided since I didn't have a blog last year I would post some pics to remind me of warm sandy beaches and pretty much anything else besides work!

Delicious Pineapple plantation! We went midnight shark fishing in Waikki, I was a little scared of the giant dead fish that were used for bait. We caught 2 sharks, so it was pretty exciting.
The Poly Cultural Center: I was being a Maori warrior!
Sunset Beach at sunset ironically! It was beautiful here on the North Shore, and there were some serious waves people were surfing on. I could sit on this beach everyday.
Hanauma Bay: the snorkeling was not as great as I remembered it when I went with my family, but it is still an awesome place to explore.
Black Sand Beach in Maui: we hiked to this beach as a sidetrip on our way traveling the Road to Hana. It was probably the coolest beach I've been to. I loved it! (Maybe it was just because I liked taking a break from that crazy curvy road! My carsickness is getting worse as I get older.)
The hike to black sand beach, not great in flip-flops!
I really loved going back to Hawaii. It was so nice to have a break from the cold here. I can't wait to visit again.

Wii, balance, stamina, strength

2009-01-18T10:11:00.002-07:00

We were playing Wii on friday night and decided to see who was the youngest in Wii years. There is a place where you test your skills and it tells you your Wii age. I competed against Kelly and she was 80 (the oldest you can be or she probably would have been older) and I was 55. Not great, but better than Kell!

New York-Finally

2009-01-10T20:52:00.013-07:00

It has been quite a while since I have posted. The holidays were crazy and now being back at school and taking classes I have been more busy than I had hoped. I realized that I had not posted much about New York so here it is!
*** Warning***
Lot's of pics in this post, sorry it's kind of long!
We flew in to JFK on Thursday night after a pretty uneventful time at the airport (very unusual for me) and went to our hotel right on Times Square. It was great being in such a central location, we could pretty much walk anywhere in midtown, and the train station was right next to our front door.
On friday morning we slept in and then strolled down to 5th Ave for window shopping and a stop at the greatest toy store: FAO Schwarz. We were waiting for Nate to get in since he had to work and flew in Friday morning instead of driving from Virginia with my parents and Hillory in a horrid snow storm that swept the East Coast that weekend. We met him at Grand Central Terminal.

We did a little bit of sight seeing where Nate and Hill were disappointed this bedazzled M&M leather jacket was NOT for sale. Then we headed down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is one of my favorite art museum and I was sad we only got to spend a couple of hours there. Seriously, ever since I read the book "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" when I was in elementary school, I have wanted to live at the Met, too!

After the museum, we went to Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Spectacular. It was amazing and I loved seeing them in person after watching them for years in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The next morning we went down to the Statue of Liberty and wandered around ground zero. It was freezing and we didn't want to wait in the line to take the ferry out to the Statue and Ellis Island. I took it the last time I was in New York and it's a lot different in New York in July!

After we ate some soup at the Soup Nazi restaurant, we went to look at the tree and ice skating rink at Rockerfellar Center. It was beautiful, but there was a concert going on on the ice so it was amazingly crowded and we couldn't get anywhere near the ice. Here is my mom and me in front of the tree.

On Sunday we went to the Manhattan Temple to go to church, but found the chapel was under construction so we went for brunch! Then we wandered around the other side of central park and went back to the hotel to stand in the TKTS line for broadway tickets. We finally got some to see Spamalot, (starring Clay Aiken- not a good selling point for us!) We were starving and we had some time before the show so we ate at a BBQ place called Virgils (delicious train wreck fries- steak fries smothered in cheese, scallions, bacon bits and ranch! YUMMY!) then we walked down to 34th street to see the Macy's windows and Santa Land.

We walked back up to the theater district to go to the show and stopped to take some pics in Times Square at night! (I stole some pics from Nate's blog-Thanks Nate!)

On Monday morning we went back to Rockerfellar center to see the Today Show (we were too late but we saw Kathie Lee and that other lady.) Then we went back to St. Patrick's Cathedral, and back to stroll 5th Ave. We window shopped again, and browsed the American Girl store (AMAZING!!!!!) then back to FAO Schwarz.

Hill and I wanted our picture in front of the Plaza Hotel- a favorite of ours since we first watched Big Business starring Bette Midler! It was harder than we expected!

After a quick lunch at Pop Burger, we headed over to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the park, then it was time for us to head back to the airport. It was such a fun trip and I was so excited to see Nate, Hill and Claire. I miss them so much.

New York in December is amazing, I highly recommend it!

Wii Christmas!

2008-12-30T22:01:00.005-07:00

It was a Wii Christmas at the Carter house. We really got spoiled with this new system and all the new games and accessories we got for it. Since I took this picture, we have bought even more, yikes! Even though I didn't get any pics of us actually playing (my parents even got in to a tennis tournament with us!) believe me, we have already gotten plenty of use out of it! Besides the Wii and all the accessories I was also spoiled with other gifts this year: cozy slippers, cute clothes, funny movies and TV shows, make-up, luggage tags, and gift cards. But my favorite gift was...

My new video camera! Two of the ladies in South Africa had these and I've wanted one since then. They can hold up to 60 min. on this tiny digital camera then you just upload it to your computer through a pop-up USB drive. So cool!

As soon as I figure out how to load videos on here I'll post some. (I have a black-mail video of Carlee in liquid leggings acting like the bad Sandy from Grease-dancing and all!)

I hope all of you had a great Christmas as well.

Winter Fun

2008-12-23T22:00:00.005-07:00

I went to dinner with my best girls for our annual Christmas get together. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and even though there was 7 of us there, we only waited for about 30 minutes. We always have a good time when we are together. I have been friends with these girls since Junior High. Crazy!

Then a few nights later we went to the Nutcracker. It was supposed to be a mother/daughter night but there was a horrible snow storm and Lyndsi and her mom decided not to go out. Then my mom ended up being on her death bed with some horrible cold/flu thing, so it was the girls and Kelly's sister Paige and her mom. We still had a good time, there's something about the Nutcracker that gets you excited for the season!

I've Been Tagged!

2008-12-23T21:34:00.002-07:00

I have been tagged by Mindi!
RULES
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

#1 This is probably no surprise, but I really do love to travel. I have been to six countries and a lot of different states. This year alone I have been to Hawaii, Disneyland 3 times, South Africa, and New York. Sadly, I think I have spent more on travel this year than on rent, it's one of the few perks of being single!

#2 I love dance! Ever since I was in elementary school in the "Petites" I have been a dancer! In Jr. High my friends and I spent every day of the summer in my front yard practicing our routines and cheerleading stunts. Any movie or TV show that has dancing is always one of my favs. I couldn't help but reinact the Rockettes and the Nutcracker for my roommates who didn't get to see either of those shows this year.

#3 I'm glad I teach fourth grade for one main reason: the 6th grade math was killing me. I'm not kidding, math was never my strong suite but some of that stuff I would really have to study before I tried to teach it.

#4 I am 28 and I can still do the splits!

#5 I am a hair twister. It's who I am. Anyone who is around me for any length of time will know that when I'm sitting, I'm twisting. I blame my mom (she twists with both hands) and has passed on this trait to my sister Hillory and Me. Have I twisted knots into my hair that I had to cut out? More than once.

#6 I have stared down an Elephant that was looking to charge, and won.

#7 Did I mention we went to Disneyland 3 times this year? That was because we became annual passholders in March. Have I comtemplated signing up again next year? Um, yes. It's the most magical place on Earth.

I tag Annie, Kelly, Hillory, Jenny, Emily, Amy, and Sharee.

New York Top Three

2008-12-17T22:37:00.004-07:00

So we made it home from New York. I don't have lots of time so I wanted to post my top three New York memories.

3. Caution signs posted in the subway station for R.O.U.S.'s (Rodents of Unusual Size)

2. The window displays. I loved the Macy's and Sak's 5th Ave. windows that were geared toward kids, but the Bergdorf windows were AMAZING! They were all themed around Sworovski crystal and they had designers make one-of-a-kind gowns featuring the crystals. This one was my favorite. You can't see the detail, but the crystals are sewn on in the shape of snowflakes.

1. But, my number one favorite memory of New York was spending time with my sisters and niece. (And my parents and Nate!) This picture was inside Macy's. You can see some of the decorations, red arches throughout. They also had a great Santa's Village and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Elf, especially when Hill started to ride the escalator like him!

I will post more pictures from our trip later. I'm off to our friend party tomorrow night and then to the Nutcracker on Friday. It's hectic, but I still love it!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-12-10T20:40:00.002-07:00

I came home from work a few nights ago to this: our Christmas lights were glowing, there was fresh snow on the ground, and when I went inside our fireplace (gas) was roaring! I don't really know if gas fires can roar, but you get the picture. It was so nice. I was kind of in a bad mood from having to finish up some things at work, but this cheered me right up. Then I started to remember something funny that happened that day at school. One of my students had gotten his hair braided into corn rows over the weekend. When we went to read with our kindergarten buddies, his buddy just stared at him for a long time then said, "How did you get those to stick on there?" It was so cute becuase he really wanted to know what this kid had on his head. Out of the mouths of babes, huh!

Chocolateering 2008

2008-12-07T19:06:00.005-07:00

Well, we made it. We successfully finished our 6th annual chocoalte making session. For a couple of years now, a few of my friends and I have tried our hands at homemade chocolates. We have perfected a few recipes and have added a few new experiments each year. This is a three day process: The first night is shopping for supplies (we order a 10 lb. bar of chocolate ahead of time and that wasn't nearly enough this year!) The second night is making centers (this year we stayed up until 1:30 in the morning finishing.) The third day is an all day dipping event! Emily and Sam stopped by to help dip on Saturday. Here is some of the finished product before it gets packaged.

Pretzels

Caramellows, (a new experiment this year, thanks Martha Stewart!)

Coconut Whispers/Frosty Balls (we can't decide on a name!)

The Chocolateers: Carlee and Kelly

Al and Cyd

It takes a ton of time and patience, (we ended up making three batches of caramels and two batches of fondant before we got it right.) That was an expensive mistake, but worth it for the end product. But, in the end we love doing it and enjoy giving them to family and friends.

It's also a great way to get in the Christmas Spirit!

I can't believe I forgot!

2008-12-04T23:16:00.003-07:00

I totally forgot the craziest part of our night, we were driving home from the Fesitval of Trees and as we turned on to Center Street in Bountiful we couldn't believe what we saw. There was a cat wandering down the middle of the street. We couldn't tell at first what it was, but we could see something moving on the road. Then as we got closer we had to come to a complete stop because he just walked right up to the car. We realized why as he got closer, he had a doritos bag stuck over his head. That's right, who hasn't had their head stuck inside a bag of doritos once or twice? I guess it was blocking out all light and sound, or the cat was an imbecile. Either way he was walking down the middle of the street and almost ran in to our stopped car.
Kelly got out of the car and pulled the bag off his head, (even though she hates cats and told us so.) As soon as she pulled off the bag he darted away.
Crazy!

Festival of Trees

2008-12-04T22:54:00.005-07:00

I went to the Festival of Trees tonight with some of my friends. I haven't been in years and I had forgotten how much fun it was. There were quite a few Twilight trees, but this one was probably the best. There were gifts for each character in the book as well as ornaments with character names. This was my favorite tree. It was made of blown glass and had lights timed to music like the Bellagio fountains in Vegas. It was amazing!

Here we are at the BEST part of the festival, the snack corner. Seriously, chocolate dipped bananas for 50 cents. Delicious.

I was glad I decided to go, it really got me in the Christmas spirit. Now I just have to gear up for three days of chocolateering!

Go Jazz!

2008-11-26T15:26:00.002-07:00

On Wednesday night my sister Alyson had some extra tickets to the Jazz game against Milwaukee. I went with my friend Quin and we had a great time. The seats were really good-lower bowl a few rows back from the court, and the game was good-they were down for a while, then came back to win at the end even though half their players are injured.
So, in honor of Kyle Korver who got injured after this game and couldn't play on Friday I decided to post this pic!
Cute, huh?

Twilight Movie Night

2008-11-22T16:11:00.002-07:00

So we went to Twilight last night. We did have fun taking pictures in front of the Ducati and talking to the self-proclaimed "Chocolate Abs". None of the other girls would be in the photo shoot with us!
My review of the movie: I liked it, I didn't love it. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie based on a book that was better. We did have a lot of fun counting the number of times the audience cheered- (9 full on clapping and screaming cheers, with a couple of other times that didn't count because it was only one or two people!)
I'm not going to lie, I think the best part of the show may have been the Harry Potter preview!

Moab

2008-11-20T17:35:00.002-07:00

We went down to Moab last weekend. It was a short trip but the weather was really nice while we were there. It's a shame that this is the only picture I took the whole time we were down there! (That's my brother Jake in the background, I'm not sure why he's making that face.)

Halloween at school

2008-11-18T21:46:00.002-07:00

I realize it has been a few weeks since Halloween but I just got these pictures from my school computer so I thought I would post a few. I remember Halloween at school as such a fun time. I loved dressing up, even when I was in kindergarten and I was a thundercat and no one knew what I was, I still loved Halloween. Here are a couple of girls in my class after we had our school-wide parade of costumes. It was fun to see all the kids so excited. These are a couple of the boys in my class. They weren't as in to dressing up as the girls but they were ok with painting their faces.

We made oragami bats and yarn spiders. A couple of kids really ran with it and used every little scrap to make a whole bat/spider family so I had to take a picture.

Hope you don't mind my late Halloween post, and I hope everyone has the fond memories of Halloween that I do.

New York, New York

2008-11-12T16:58:00.002-07:00

I knew I couldn't go very long with out a trip in the works. My sister Alyson has to go to some conference in New York in December and my parents were already going to be in Virgina that weekend visiting my sister Hillory so we are all meeting in the city for a long weekend.

I'm excited because Hill has never been before and my parents have only been for a day. Should be good times!

What's not to love about New York at Christmas time? The Rockettes, a broadway show, ice skating at the Rockefeller Center, I can't wait!

Where to go?

2008-11-05T21:22:00.003-07:00

So yesterday when I went to vote I ran in to Joann Neilson and she was asking where I was going next? I was stunned to realize I don't have ANY trips planned. That is so unlike me. I decided to throw it out there and ask, "Where do you think I should visit next?" Please give me some great ideas!

Disneyland (Finally!)

2008-11-02T20:29:00.017-07:00

We left over UEA break for California again. We were shocked to find out that the weather while we were there was going to be 86 for the high. It was SOOO nice to get some sun.

This is a re-enactment picture of Kelly at the airport. Her birthday was a few days before our trip and she hadn't realized her license was expired until we got to the airport. Luckily, she was able to get her passport to the airport just in time to board the plane. She did have to run through the whole airport and was frisked by security. We were so happy when she finally made it on to the plane.

This trip we brought along this hidden mickeys book to pass the time in line. Apparently Disney is famous for hiding mickey's throughout the park. We found quite a few of them.

This one was hiding on the ground just behind the "R" of the big California letters. This one was hidden in the tree of the entrance to our hotel, the Grand Californian. It was fun to have our own entrance to the parks and it was really nice to be so close. We loved hanging out at the pool, but I don't think we'll pay to stay here again.

We finally got to ride on the new Toy Story ride. It is a lot like Buzz Lightyear where you have things that you have to shot at but it's in 3D. We got to ride it twice while we were there.

We loved how they decorated for Halloween, everything including the letters was themed.

For staying at the hotel, we got a magic morning so we could go to Disney an hour before opening. It was a beautiful morning, and we finally got to ride Nemo. It was fun, but totally not worth the 7 hour waits that we saw last summer on opening day.

Toy Story the 2nd time.

Kelly had always wanted to get a turkey leg and this was her time. We thought she was disgusting for wanting meat on a stick, but she loved it. It did smell and taste suspiciously like ham though.

Minnie Mouse in her fall attire.

On our way back to L.A. we stopped at In-N-Out for a quick cheeseburger, animal style.

It was a fun trip, but it was very quick. I loved seeing how Disney goes all out for the holidays. I didn't post any pictures of the Haunted Mansion, but it was completely changed to the Nightmare Before Christmas inside and out. SO FUN!

Photo Tag!

2008-10-30T21:37:00.003-06:00

This is my first blog tag so I'm kind of excited! Thanks Annie! This is the fourth photo in my 4th picture file on my computer. It's an oldie but a goodie! This was a disco murder mystery party with my family over Thanksgiving 2006. SO FUNNY! I especially love that my dad was a good sport and that my mom was channeling Cher!

I tag Hillory, Mindi, and Kelly to post their fourth picture in their fourth photo file on their computer.

Witches Brew Tea

2008-10-30T21:21:00.002-06:00

On Oct. 22nd Kelly hosted the 2nd annual Witches Brew Tea. I love how decorative Kell is. She decorated her whole house with spooky birds and candles and such. We had a delicious dinner and the one requirement was to wear a witch hat.
I love getting together with my best girls and enjoying some delicious food. I especially love this time of year because of all the pumpkin treats. Em made a pumpkin roll and Lyndsi brought some yummy pumpkin cake. Thanks girls for the fun time.

Fall Fun!

2008-10-26T14:42:00.009-06:00

My family has this tradition that we go for a drive on General Conference weekend. We used to take a picnic lunch, now depending on where we go we either stop or pack a lunch. This October we decided to get a condo up in Park City so we stopped at Schmidt's Bakery on 21st South for lunch.

When we got up to Park City, the girls did some outlet shopping and the boys went to Priesthood session. Then we all did a little hot-tubbing and played Apples-to-Apples.

Carlee and Kelly joined us. This is the loft where we slept. Don't mind the morning hair!

The next weekend Carlee, Kelly, and I wanted to go to Ikea so we decided to make a day of it and drive to Alpine to check out Dear Lizzie before going to Ikea since we were going to be down in that direction.

They had this star duster so we got little glitter stars on our cheeks. The store was totally worth the drive. SUPER cute, but also SUPER expensive.

After Ikea, we went to Gardner Village. They have all their witches out on display. We found lots of spooky witches and some really fun crafts.

After we left Gardner Village, we decided to go to lunch at Ruth's Diner. I lover their famous mile-high biscuits. It was such a fun day with two of my best girls!

Obssessed?

2008-10-23T17:32:00.003-06:00

Ok so I just finished Breaking Dawn. I liked the book but I'm pretty sure some people are obsessed. I don't know if I liked this book as much as I liked the first one, but my sister keeps telling me that's because I waited so long to read it. If I would have read it right when it came out, I would love it just like everyone else. Regardless, I did just purchase tickets with some friends for the 9:45 showing on Friday Nov. 21. Call me crazy for buying movie tickets a month in advance. I guess I like it more than I let on! ( I did refuse to go the the midnight showing on Thursday night, I still have to work crazies!)

Cape Town Day Two

2008-10-19T15:43:00.007-06:00

We woke up to beautiful weather on Friday morning in Cape Town, perfect for our tour to Table Mountain. We had this view of Lion's Head Mountain from the Winchester Mansions Hotel (our hotel that was right on the Indian Ocean. When we reached Table Mountain we were a little nervous about the weather and the people at the bottom told us there was zero visability. We rode up in Gondolas that spun around so you had a 360 degree view. It was breath-taking and I only started to get motion sick just before the top. This is Kell and Me at the top of Table Mountain. This is the point of Good Hope where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see, the worker was totally wrong. We could see forever. We could also see out to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held in prison for years.

After Table Mountain we went to the V & A Waterfront for some amazing shopping. We had heard great things about all the stores here from everyone we talked to and we were not disappointed. I did get to buy some super cute brown boots handmade from the Tsonga tribe. They look kind of like Uggs and they are sooo warm!

After the Waterfront we went to more shopping at some boutique shops at Kalky Bay. This was one of our favorites. It had the most amazing little girls clothes, toys, and decorations.

You couldn't have a trip to Kalky Bay without some fish and chips from Kalky's. I don't normally eat fish but it was supposed to be excellent and fresh because it is right on the water. Turns out, even if it's fresh I still don't like fish 'n chips.

We were really sad to leave Kalky's becuase that meant it was time for us to go home. On the way to the airport we saw three huge whales about 50-100 yards off shore. We pulled the cars over and just watched them for about 30 min.

I feel so blessed to have been able to go on this trip. It was really a once in a lifetime opportunity. I really loved being with one of my best friends Kelly. I would recommend it to anyone who gets the chance!

Disneyland!

2008-10-15T22:43:00.001-06:00

So we are off to Disneyland tomorrow for the 3rd time since March when we became Disneyland Annual Passholders. We are super excited for this trip because we are staying at the Grand Californian. It is super expensive so I hope it is all it is cracked up to be!

Cape Town Day One

2008-10-13T17:46:00.006-06:00

We woke up on Thursday to a beautiful morning at Lake Pleasant. After a quick photo shoot we were off on our drive along the coast to Cape Town. These were from our deck looking out to the lake.

We stopped at a cute store called the Pumpkin Patch and found these beautiful boa's made from dyed ostrich feathers. There were ostrich farms all along the road, they had all kinds of things made from ostrich feathers including these boa's and feather dusters.

When we arrived in Cape Town we checked in to the Winchester Mansions Hotel. It was right on the water and had a beautiful courtyard in the center. We stayed on the top floor and had some great views.

We had a delicious dinner with the rest of the teachers at the hotel restaurant. We were so excited to be in the most talked about city in South Africa.

Knysna and Lake Pleasant

2008-10-12T19:48:00.010-06:00

We woke up on Wednesday Sept. 17th at 5:30, that's A.M. people, to go on our last game drive. We had pretty much seen almost everything so our goal was to finally get a glimpse of the mother cheetah and her two cubs. We had a pretty empty car this morning. When we got to the boma with the cheetahs we were pleasantly surprised to see all three of them. The mother was smaller than I expected but the two cubs were adorable. They were very playful and looked like two puff balls.

These two girls were our waitresses at Kichaka. They both speak the clicky tongue language as well as English. It was cool to hear them pronounce their names.

We had to leave Kichaka that afternoon and we were sooooo sad to have to leave but we were excited for our drive to Lake Pleasant and Knysna. We drove along the southern coast of Africa and we stopped at this burger place that was supposed to be the best burger in S.A. I don't know if they have ever had an American burger, but if that was the best I feel bad for them.

We also stopped at this bridge that is the world's highest bungy jump and we got to watch someone jump. We didn't have time to do it ourselves but I don't think I would have anyway, so I was glad for an excuse not to!

We found this spot of concrete that was in the shape of Africa. It was kind of like people spotting the Virgin Mary in a potato chip! We are pointing to South Africa on the "map!"

Here is the view from our balcony out to Lake Pleasant. I don't remember what this orange blossoming tree was called but they were everywhere because it is Spring over there. I loved how vibrant the orange was, this picture doesn't do it justice.

That night we had a traditional African BBQ called a "Braai." It was delicious, we had steak and sausage, lamb and broiled potatoes. We also had a delicious pudding (it was totally a cake but they called it pudding) and EXCELLENT diet coke! We also got to wear our traditional kaftans.

After a long day of traveling and a delicious meal, we slept like babies in our huge bed!

Twlight!

2008-10-08T20:59:00.002-06:00

Ok, so usually I am totally up to what's going on in the world of pop culture literature. Sadly, I have read and loved all of the Twilight books except for the 4th book. I don't know why, I read every night. I was holding off for the 26 hours in route to S.A. but for some reason I didn't start it on the flight and now I'm finishing another book. I took this quiz anyway (thanks Mindi for sharing!) And I'm proud to say I'm an Alice. I was SOOOO happy not be be a Bella, sorry I think she is a whiner. (P.S. I am totally team Jacob!)
Anyway it's a fun quiz if you are in to the series!
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Kichaka Day Two!

2008-10-06T18:46:00.000-06:00

We got up early in the morning to go on our first game drive of the day. We were not disappointed with Francois (the man, the ranger the legend) and his abilities to hunt down the big 5. We (and by we, I mean Francois spotted it and pointed it out to the rest of us) spotted this lion track and started our search for the king of the jungle.

After a few minutes of searching we finally saw three lions just after they had made a fresh kill. It was disgusting/breath-taking/amazing to be this close to these large, dangerous animals. They were probably my favorite animals we were able to see this whole trip. This mom and her teenage son and daughter had killed an eland and were just sitting down to breakfast.

It kind of surprised me how much like Clyde these big cats were!

After we spent about an hour just watching the lions we decided to start looking for more big game. We soon found this rhino just hanging around some of the staff housing. His horns were quite frightening to look at.

Just after we saw the rhino we came upon a herd of zebra or "Zehbra" (rhymes with Debra) in South African. They were beautiful. We stopped for a quick potty break just behind these bushes. It is a little bit nerve-wrecking to have a nature call out in the middle of nature! It was also a great time to stop for some hot chocolate and biscuits. Here is Kell and me in front of our Indiana Jones like vehicle.

When we went back to the lodge for breakfast this was part of the food they had spread out for us. Delicious strawberries, granola, breads and cheeses. Then we were able to order from a cook to order menu as well.

We loved Kichaka lodge, it was beautiful. We had a couple of hours until the next game drive so we took more pictures of our place.

On the afternoon game drive we went back to watch the lions for a while then decided we wanted to see more elephants. We saw a few more giraffe on our search for the "big boys."

When we finally found these two brothers ,who had been kicked out of the herd as teenagers, we were amazed. They were HUGE! Francois told us we would be alright as long as they didn't surround us and start to pretend they were eating... which is exactly what they started doing. We had a few tense seconds when this guy started to fake eat and circle around behind us. I was sitting on the back row and I would just like to say, I stared down an elephant and I won! The business end of the elephant!
It was freezing on this game drive and we were bundled up with two blankets, a couple of jackets, gloves, a head wrap, and a hoodie. Even all those layers couldn't keep us warm.
We drove back past the lions on our way back to the lodge. It was kind of creepy to see all three of them at dusk and their eyes started to gleam.

Safari sunset, need I say more?

Just before we entered the lodge grounds we ran right into the 4th lion that lives on the reserve. She was just hanging out right next to the road. She was huge compared to the other lions we had seen. She was not a member of their pride and the reserve people are in the process of buying another lion so they can start their own pride.

It was another amazing day at Kichaka. When we got back to the lodge we were able to look through their giant telescope at the full moon and the different constalations they have in the southern hemisphere. It was crazy not to see the North Star or the big dipper!

Port Elizabeth and Kichaka

2008-10-05T20:24:00.000-06:00

On Monday September 15th we left Joburg at 4:30 in the morning to fly to Port Elizabeth. We were all a little tired with the early flight but we were looking forward to the safari. The TSA would be shocked and appaled with the security at the Joburg airport. We just walked around and we didn't need ID or even a boarding pass with our name on it. It was crazy! We drove about 45 minutes to the Kichaka Game Lodge and we were totally impressed with the beautiful landscape on our way there. The first thing we saw as we entered the main lodge was this hippo just walking around in the backyard. We were so excited!They feed us a beautiful lunch and then we went to go check out our bungalows!Kell and I were so excited we documented each step of the way with photos. This was the walk-way to Milkwood (our cabin.)Here's Kell at the door, we were super excited to find out what was waiting for us inside!Each bungalow had sliding doors that would open the whole corner of the room out the the private deck with our own plunge pool. The rooms were beautiful and the giant tub was awesome to soak in after a long cold drive.We were finally able to go on our first game drive. They were almost like being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland but in real life! The first large animals we saw were three giraffe. They were beautiful and graceful animals. I think I could watch them for hours!

This big guy had really dark spots and I think I liked him the most of all the giraffe we saw because he had been attacked by the lions a while ago and had scars all down his legs. I think they gave him character and he reminded me of my good friend Kell who also has a scar leg!
After we left the giraffe, we went in search of the elephants! These were amazing creatures. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them since it was getting dark and they were heading into the bush, but what we did get to see was amazing.

We saw a couple of warthogs that night and then as we got back to the lodge and they started to show us the dinner menu we realized that we had a choice of steak or warthog. When in Rome, right? It was actually quite good, it tasted pretty much a pork chop. Yummy!

This was what we got to come home to, the lights leading us to the main lodge where people were waiting to give us hot chocolate and the fireplaces were roaring!

We ate a late dinner and then headed back to our rooms for a good nights sleep, only to get our wake-up call at 5:30 the next morning for the morning game drive. This time were in on a mission to see more of the big 5!

The Convention

2008-09-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

September 13th and 14th we were at the convention. It was amazing to see all of these women brought together for scrapbooking. There was one page that someone had displayed that reminded me of my sister Alyson. It was titled "Confessions of a Shoe-a-holic" and the whole page was of 81 different pairs of shoes. We got to eat lunch with the lady who did the page and she told us of the different name brand shoes she used: manolo blanik, christian leboutin, jimmy choo, etc. She had 4 different pairs of knee-high black boots that she assured us were all different in there own special way. CRAZY!

We loved the different ladies that helped us in each of our classes. Most of them were great helps!

Saturday night we had a Gala dinner where the colors were black and magenta. We had such a great trip with the other girls from Utah.

Sunday night after two long days at the convention we went to a really nice steak place called "The Butcher Shop." I got a full steak dinner with the works for $15 we could not believe the prices for food other there. It was unbelieveably cheap. Then we took a few pics with all the stuffed animals they had, Kell with the warthog and me with a hippo. So fun!

Although we had a great meal, we were almost too excited to enjoy it. We had to get up the next morning at 4:30 to get to the airport on time for our flight to Port Elizabeth to go on Safari!

SOWETO

2008-09-29T17:34:00.000-06:00

On Friday Sept 12 we went on a tour to the Soweto neighboorhood in Joburg. This was a neighborhood where many black people were forced to move from the city. It was eye-opening to see the shacks some people were living in as well as seeing so many advertisements for HIV and AIDS. I knew it was a problem, but I didn't really think about it being that prevelant.

We got to tour a church and see some school kids there for a memorial for one of their teachers. It was interesting to see that children are the same no matter what country their from or what socioeconomic status they have.

We then went to a museum about some of the violence that happened back in the 60's with some students who refused to learn Afrakanns.

After that we went to lunch at a local restaurant called "Wandie's" the food was surprisingly tasty (of the things we dared to eat!)

When we returned to our hotel we went shopping at Nelson Mandela Mall. It was pretty high end but we did get to take our picture with this giant statue of the man himself.

Africa Pics

2008-09-28T21:39:00.001-06:00

Ok so I finally got some pics from our trip.

We left Salt Lake at 6 in the morning on Sept. 10 and finally arrived in Johannesburg at 5 pm on Sept. 11. Even with the 8 hour time change we were still traveling for a little over 24 hours.

We had a great flight from Atlanta to Dakar on the western tip of Africa. That leg was about 9 hours and we each had our own row so with three seats to lay on and an ambian, things were really good.

At Dakar we stopped to refuel and let some stinky guys on to check the plane for bombs and other things left behind by people getting off. Then we continued on for another 8 and a half hour flight to Johannesburg.

We stayed in a pretty nice neighborhood in Joburg and after a little incident with ambian (Kelly not me) on the flight we decided to try another one so we could sleep that night.

I'll update more later!

Out of Africa

2008-09-21T08:51:00.000-06:00

Ok so I decided after this amazing trip to Africa, I needed to start a blog so I could remember everything that happened. I am a horrible journal keeper so I think this will be a much better option for me!
We had a couple of really long flights but they were totally worth it when we actually got there.