Goodbye Tiffany

First my awesome roommate, Katie, moved out. Then my other awesome roommate, Tiffany, just moved out. Now there is no awesomeness left, except me of course. Ha, I kid. I truly miss them both. So much fun together and the best roommates. We had a goodbye dinner for Tiffany last Sunday. A few of us are pictured here. Then I realized I didn't even get a picture w/ Tiffany. Tiff, you must come back!

My Summer Vacation = 1 week

Yes, ONE WEEK. I made the most of it though, that's for sure. Seems like I was constantly doing something, going from one thing to another. I had to fit in as much as possible in just one week. I had a lot of things on my list. As proof here's what I got to do:

Hike Ensign Peak w/ Elise & Erik

See friends at Millrace (where I used to live)

Help Elise & Erik glean goodies from their garden

Outdoor concert w/ Elise & Erik - big band music

Lots of time at the pool

Mtn. biking, shave ice, and dinner w/ Allison

Bees game w/ Jordan

Lunch w/ Beth and her fiance Jonathan

Boating w/ Allison, Amy, and Stew

Chat and visit w/ everyone at Maeser - the school where I used to teach

Ice cream w/ Danielle and Abbey

Basketball with the wardies

Mtn. biking again

Lunch w/ Xaviera

Shooting (hand gun, rifle, shot gun) with Lane

Bridal Veil Falls & Squaw Peak w/ Elise

Beth & Jonathon's wedding in Manti & reception w/ Allison & Erin

Attempt at going to Spanish Fork Res (dang lightning!)

Movie The Help w/ Allison

I did lots and got to see lots of good friends and family. The only things I didn't get to do that I really wanted to where the Sundance Moonlight Ski Lift Ride, Spanish Fork Res, Stewart Falls. Next time! I didn't get pictures from everything, but here's a few. All the pictures from the end of my trip are lost forever. My camera card decided to stop working and it'll take $250 to get them back. Sorry, not worth it.....

Portland Day 10 - Occasional bursts of sun

My roommates and I hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls, a 1 mile hike with about 11 painful switchbacks going up. Kind of reminded me of hiking the Y, except that one's a lot tougher and a lot longer I feel like. There was a gorgeous view from the top, overlooking the Columbia River, with Washington on the other side. Beautiful falls.

We felt like we were in a jungle of sorts with all the vegetation and greenery so we had a little together with some friends tonight with dinner, dessert and the movie Jurassic Park to end the day.

My First Experience with a PhotoBooth

You should try it! It's so much fun! My roommate Allison and I helped at a wedding reception the other night and this was our excitement for the night before leaving. If you haven't been able to tell yet from reading my blog over the last several years, I seem to find joy in life in the smallest of things. You could say I'm easily entertained, but I don't see it that way. There is so much in life to experience and do, so why not start now?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Had an amazing year in 2010 and am looking forward to even better adventures and experiences in 2011. We played a little Guitar Hero to celebrate before going to a rockin' party - sorry, no pictures. It was my kind of party, though, as people were going around daring each other to do things the whole night. Let's just say I had my fill :) You can do anything on New Year's, right? Right!

Colors of Fall

I LOVE FALL! I grew up in AZ without experiencing Fall, so I enjoy it thoroughly every year up here. Except this year the colors have seemed to escape without even making an appearance. Allison and I have been mtn. biking every Tuesday now so we decided it was time to head up the canyon before it was too late. It was one of the most beautiful rides and the picture doesn't do it justice. We rode through canopies overhead of red, orange, and yellow leaves with a smattering of the same colors on the ground, crunching as we rode over them. It's a good thing October has just begun! There's more fun to come!

Merry Christmas from the coolest apt. ever!!

These are the funnest and coolest girls EVER!!

Hallowen Fun

So I've always wanted to go to the famous Cornbelly's mostly because my sister Snowb always talks about it. So my roommates and I all got together and went on a group date. They have a giant corn maze and then lots of other little activities and games like the picture shows

It's a great time. Here's some pictures of us on the Jumping Pillow and at the end of the maze - longest one ever! Haha!

A week or so later we went to the pumpkin patch to pick a few pumpkins both for carving and for making dinner in a pumpkin, made by my roommate Allison. Dee-liscious! We look pretty funny in this picture....on the move!

Mr. Esqueleto

My roommates and I had the privilege of hosting FHE this month. In honor of October we threw a spooktacular Halloween party! Allison knew how to make these bone-shaking skeletons from paper plates. So everyone hopped on over with their pair of scissors and away we went! Wish we had the music to go along "dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones...." Here's the progess....

And here's the completion..... I'm the one taking the photo :)

After our lovely little operation, we had a donut eating contest in the kitchen. Boy did it get wild! Ready to dig in......

Getting clotheslined or something to that effect :) I think I lost sight of my donut! Haha!

Now that's dedication!

New York City

Amy and I went to visit Allison (both roommates) in New York City for a week back in July. She moved there for an internship for the summer. Such a FUN trip! My bro served his mission in NYC and we went as a family back in 2002, but it was so much fun to go again just with friends. We basically packed everything into 5 and 1/2 days. It was such a good trip because we did all the touristy stuff, but also the not so touristy stuff (thanks to Allison) as well. There's so much to tell, but I'll let the pictures tell it for you. Enjoy!

A Few Disneyland Pics...

My personal favorite....!!!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride....see any resemblance?! Haha

The Jungle Cruise

Tom Sawyer Island

California Screamin'

DISNEYLAND!!!

More pictures soon to come....

Last week, my friend Amy and I went to Disneyland….for 4 days!! It totally rocked! I hadn’t been for 5 years so it was tons of fun to go back, especially with Amy who is a Disneyland nut. We like to do Disneyland the same so it worked out perfectly. You might think I’m a little too old for Disneyland, but I’ll never be! I love it!

The only bad thing about the week was that it was Spring Break in California the same time we went, which we didn’t realize. It was so bad on Friday and Saturday that we could barely walk from point A to point B. Lines were super long too, but we had the FastPass system down pretty good.

Since I hadn’t been for 5 years, I got to go on the new Space Mountain, the Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Buzz Lightyear, the new It’s a Small World, the new Pirates of the Caribbean, the new Tom Sawyer’s island, (didn’t make it on the Finding Nemo Subs)….there has been a lot of changes, but good ones! Oh my gosh! I absolutely LOVE the Tower of Terror!! See post below for more info.

We also got to see lots of shows and fireworks. We saw the Aladdin play, a High School Musical performace, the Pixar parade with all the characters, fireworks every night, Fantasmic (which is totally rad), and of course the Tiki Room…my favorite!

So I had to talk Amy into going on all my favorite rides. She doesn’t really like them and hadn’t been on them in years, but she was happy to go on them again. I think she appreciated my enthusiasm for them :) I got her to go on Storybook Land, Casey Jr. Circus Train (have to sit in the wild animal cage!), the Carousel, Star Tours, Autopia, Jungle Cruise, and Davy Crockett’s canoes. I love the last two…the “tour guides” are always hilarious. I also got her to go on California Screamin’ (the roller coaster that goes upside down) and she loved it!

I also love all the Disney kiddie rides. Peter Pan is my all time favorite!! Well, after riding on Pinocchio, there was an older man working that gave us pins to wear! I was SO excited and it totally made my day. You can see us wearing them in some of the pictures. Oh wait, I don’t have any up yet! They will soon be there!!

Just so you know…..my favorite rides…..
Splash Mountain in Disneyland
Tower of Terror in California Adventure

What are your favorite rides?

Happy Happy Birthday!!

The big 25. Just a quick recap on my birthday celebration that was forever ago....February 1st. It was pretty much a 4-day celebration. My birthday was on a Sunday so I got to celebrate on Friday at school. Lisi made a big sign outside of my classroom and brought balloons. A few classes sang to me. I got to celebrate on Saturday going out to dinner with the family at Goodwood. Artisto's birthday was on Jan. 30 and Hunter's on February 6 so we got to celebrate 3 birthdays in one. We then had a cake afterwards for the three of us. Sunday we did dinner together. And Monday I went to dinner at Carraba's with my old roommates Allison, Dixie and Amy. What a party!!

My First Time on Skiis!!!

It was an adventure and I LOVED it! I went cross country skiing with my roommate and her family yesterday up in Midway. I'd never been on skiis before in my life, but I'd say I did pretty good and picked it up pretty quickly. I couldn't get enough of it, that's for sure! I did fall down several times, but that makes it fun right! I think I'll be sticking to cross country skiing for now. Regular skiing looks too scary for me.....