More to come... maybe

So much has happened in the past month that I wish I had taken the time to blog about each one individually. Unfortunately, I didn't and now I have to try and explain to y'all the awesomeness of everything in a few short sentences. Here goes... (they aren't necessarily in chronological order)

We had some nice, windy storms at the end of August. As a child, my siblings and I used to play in the storms with sheets tied to our wrists and ankles. This was all before Andrea was born so Heather and I suggested to her that she enjoy these storms the way we did. I don't think she got the full effect doing it by herself but it was fun to watch her.

The end of August also brought about the end of my residence at the Peach Palace. Lauren, Jessa, and I made sure we left with a bang and spent two days packing, sleeping in the front room, decorating the bathroom in streamers, watching scary movies til 2 in the morning, burning boxes of matches in the front yard, and dragging the most ADORABLE neighbor boy around town for a day just to name a few.

Jessa with her matches- Matchbox Fire- Marshmallows for roasting

Decorating our bathroom


Slumber Party!!!

Lauren and I had wanted to go camping all summer and we finally did it! We went up Squaw Peak with some friends from our ward. We couldn't find any open camping sites so we made our own fire pit in the middle of a meadow and we laid out our sleeping bags. So much fun!!!

A quick glimpse at a few of the awesome people that came



Our homemade firepit :)


After attending an amazing George Strait concert last summer my dad and I decided to try our luck with another concert. This time it was John Michael Montgomery. It was at the Scera Shell in Orem so the tickets were super cheap and we got 3rd row seats!!! Andrea wanted a chance to wear her new cowboy boots so she joined us for the adventure. I don't know if I am a fan of his voice so much, but he writes/performs the BEST love songs of all time.

My camera makes us look farther away than we really were


That is all I have time for now. Hopefully the part 2 will be coming soon...

Trail Ride up Tibble Fork Canyon

All summer long my neighbor (well, my parent's neighbor) and I have been planning a ride with our horses up the canyon but never went. So at the end of August we made ourselves set aside a date hoping that this would make it actually happen. Well, it worked. We finally went. We woke up super early Saturday morning (6:00 is super early for me) and we hit the trail. We had some others join us as well which just made it more enjoyable. We actually ended up with a rather large group. It included myself; my parent's neighbor, Elizabeth; Mailani's owner, Joel; Joel's friend; and his friend's son and grandkids. Sorry, that's a lot of relations to try and figure out. Just know that we had quite a large group. :)

We went to Tibble Fork Canyon and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! The weather was perfect (breezy and cool) and the scenery was breathtaking (not a house or building in sight). It was also one of the best rides that I have had with Mailani. I thought it was going to be a rough one because at the barn she wouldn't let me near her to put the halter on and once it was on she wouldn't budge. It ended up being because Joel had just showed up at the barn. I thought I was going to have to fight her the whole ride because Joel was coming with us but it ended up making it better for her. She was more obedient once we got going and didn't seem to be as bothered by me.

Starting out on the trail

I think this is Tibble Fork Reservoir but I'm not sure.
I just really liked the mountains in the background.

Here are some more pictures of my favorite thing about Utah... the Mountains!!!

We went until we hit the top of the mountain
and then we took a rest :)

This is one of my favorite horses ever: BJ!!!

This is Elizabeth on Buddy :)


and here is Mailani and Me :)

My First Attempt... Needs Work

Since I had lots of free time this summer and my first niece is on the way, I decided to make a quilt. When I was in 3rd grade my mom and I made a quilt for kids in Kosovo. We tied that quilt when we were done sewing it together. That is all the quilting experience I have so this was going to be a new adventure. The putting together of the quilt didn't take very long (about 2 days) but the actually quilting is a totally different story. It takes FOREVER!!! No wonder grandma's do it more than others. They are the only ones with enough patience!

I didn't want to tie the quilt with yarn cuz I was never really a fan of quilts with yarn all over them. The front of the quilt is a floral design with lots of flowers and vines so my plan was to quilt by following the vines. I pictured it to be a masterpiece when I was done. Oh boy was I wrong! First, I tried using a million different types of stitches. I wasn't too satisfied with the 'up-down' stitch so I tried making up a few of my own.

Needless to say, that didn't work very well. It took me 1 week of non-stop quilting to get 1/5 of the quilt done. My back ached, my fingers hurt, and I was frustrated. So I decided to take a new plan of attack. I decided to just quilt the square pattern that I had created with the different fabrics. This wasn't as fancy but it only took me about 4 days to finish the entire thing. Definitely a worthwhile trade. This doesn't mean that the quilt was lookin' good, though. I was in such a hurry to get the quilt done in time for Stephanie's birthday that I had tons of buckling and uneven stitching. I didn't have time to fix it but I thought, "Oh well, someday I'll borrow it back from her and fix it. In the mean time, she can appreciate my effort, right?" Okay, so I should have fixed it cuz I know I will never find the time to go back and fix it but oh well. It is finally done!!!

My first attempt to quilt the vine design
that took WAY too long


Decided that was a bad idea and quilted squares instead


The finished product!

Scrub Down

Two of my roommates went on vacation this week, two of them moved out at the beginning of the week and the other one has been spending the week at her grandparents in Orem. So, I have had the house to myself and I decided now was the best time to take advantage of the emptiness and clean out my house. When I say clean I mean take everything out of each room and scrub the walls, doors, & furniture and get all the gunk out that has sat there for the past few years. Also, giving me the chance to go through what junk accumulated as girls moved in and out and toss stuff that had no owner. It feels so good!!! Before this adventure, I hated being home. It made me feel claustrophobic and dirty and I never really felt like I could settle in and relax. Now I love to be home. Everything is so clean and organized. There is no clutter, counters are cleared off and corners are cleaned out. I think my biggest pet peeve (especially in kitchens) is having appliances and things on the counter or shoved in a corner. It gives the room such a cramped feeling.

So how did I manage to do such a big task? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret... Little sisters can be bribed with anything. I told my sisters that they could have a sleepover at my house and eat all my junk food if they would help me clean. It's summertime, they were bored, and so they agreed. The first night we were only able to get the kitchen, bathroom, and living room done, but we cleaned them so well that I feel we were efficient with what time we had. Andrea was excellent at scrubbing base boards and Rebecca is great at decorating and organizing. Each girl put forth their talent and the end result was worth it.

The second day, I left the girls at home to play with Izzy and Daisy and finish a couple more chores while I went to work. When I got back, we started on the impossible task: cleaning the basement. Our basement is no ordinary basement. It is literally a hole dug out of the ground under the house with room enough for a furnace, water heater, and some old, dusty shelves. Oh yeah, and lots of spiders. Over the years, ppl have stored stuff down there while living here and things just accumulated. So we took everything out (ewww!!!) and threw away all the garbage. When we had it all cleaned we used a shovel to even out the dirt on the floor and made it look somewhat not as creepy. Once we finished this we moved on to our back room and cleaned out more junk that had accumulated and cleaned off the washer/dryer and the vanity area. It's disgusting how much make-up and hair products can get stuck on a counter that never gets cleaned.

And thus completes the cleansing of my house. To finish off such a fantastic adventure we made homemade hot-pockets (biscuit dough, ham, and cheese), played Phase 10, and made a maze of DVDs for Izzy and Daisy to run through. This adventure was a 100% success!

I forgot to take 'before' pictures but here are some 'after' pictures from our adventures as well as a few things we did to spruce up each room:

Living Room:
We moved some furniture around and
it really made the room feel more open

Bathroom:
There isn't a hair or dust bunny
to be found anywhere. Yay!

Kitchen:
All the dishes got washed and cupboards cleaned out.

Kitchen 2:
Got rid of an unsightly table cloth and
cleared off the window sill


Evidence that Rebecca helped:
Rebecca put a flower arrangement in both the kitchen and living room.
Andrea and I couldn't help but laugh.


Washer/Dryer:
Okay, this doesn't look all that clean but you should have
seen it before. The shelf above was chaotic and covered
in dead ants and the washer lid was super linty and grimy.


Vanity Area:
The counter used to be brown and covered in hair,
curlers, combs, and other such things. Now it's clean :)

(Don't pay too much attention to the mirror,
the junk behind it is stuff from our basement)

And thus concludes my cleaning adventure. Too bad I'll be moving out of here in a few weeks :(

A New Home

Aunt Karen, this post is for you...

So I have lived in my current house for 2 years now. It is an adorable little peach house just south of campus and I love it here! Okay, that's a lie. I loved it here! This past year I have run into roommate problems. I never thought I wouldn't be able to get along with someone but this past year has changed my mind. Let's just say some people just don't care about cleaning and taking care of things the way that others do. So I decided I couldn't take it anymore and the only way to solve the problem was to move. So I searched high and low for a new place in the same price range as my current house. The only place I could find was at the Branbury Apartments. Unfortunately, the Branbury has a no pet policy so I have to find a new home for my little girls :( Also, I have no friends looking for a new place so the only person I found to room with was my sister, Heather. I love you Heather, but we both know that we never got along while we shared a room when we were younger. So last Thursday, I finally sold my contract for the place I am at now and guess what happened... My roommate anounced that she was moving out!!! Yep, that's right. The same day that I finally get everything taken care of to move, I find out that the reason I was moving didn't matter anymore. Talk about bad timing. So now I am moving to a new home and I am also looking for a new home for Izzy and Daisy. If anyone is interested in taking care of them, please let me know. They deserve a good, loving home and I am having a hard time finding one right now. :(

Vacation Time!!!

Holy cow, there is so much to tell you all about. The last two weeks for me were just one ginormous vacation. I guess I better start at the beginning (a very good place to start). On the 3rd of July I went boating with Lindsay, Kaylie, Spencer, and the Petty family. It was so much fun! I have not been on a boat since my family sold ours many years ago. It felt so good to be back in the water again.

Here is Spencer showing us how to wakeboard the right way

Later that night my family all got together for our 4th of July tradition of KFC and watching fireworks on the Marriot hill in Provo. I think this is my favorite holiday tradition because it stays the same as you get older. It is still just as fun at 21 as it was when I was 5.

The beautiful firework finale

Monday was the parade and the 5K. My mom wanted to run in the Freedom Run this year and so I volunteered to join her. Oh my... I have never ran that far before and it took a lot of training but I did it!!! And I did it in 29 min. and 30 sec. My goal was to get a 10 minute mile and I succeeded! My mom did amazing too! Jake also decided to run with us at the last minute and he kept us going the whole time.
The parade was wonderful as well! Usually I go home disappointed at the end of the parade because there was too much advertising and not enough parade but this year was different. There was a perfect combination of everything!!!

I sent this picture to Benjamin and he knew exactly what they were right away :)


Every year I always look forward to the KSL float. I just love to see all the newscasters on it.


And of course, BYU! Go Cougars!!!

After the parade I went tubing down Provo River with Lindsay, Kaylie, Spencer, the Petty's, and the Parker's. It was sooooo cold but so much fun! I was so glad to be able to spend time with Lindsay. We have so much fun together!

And thus concludes my fourth of July weekend. Now onto my next vacation:

Alabama!!!

Tuesday morning I flew to Alabama with Amber, my cousin. We were going to visit Steph, Joseph, and the boys. The week flew by so fast and we had so much fun. I was so glad that we were able to be there for Benjamin's birthday!!!

We took a trip to a beach in Florida.
It was my first time at the ocean and it was salty, big, and beautiful


We also went shopping (of course) and both of the little boys insisted on wearing these glasses and taking a picture. How cute!



These little trouble makers are up to no good :)


Joseph had a river tube that he inflated one night and Garrett LOVED it! He couldn't get out so it was the perfect play area for him.



Benjamin really enjoyed licking the chocolate batter off the mixer for his cake. I have a cute video of it but I can't get it to load.



Benjamin's friend, Jacob, came over for lunch. They enjoyed their chocolate cupcakes!
(There is a '1' on the cupcake cuz we ran out of candles)


We also went bowling for Benjamin's birthday and Amber bowled her first strike!!! This is her strike face :)


Benjamin LOVED bowling!


Last of all, here is Benjamin with some of his presents:
A Lightning McQueen shirt from Rachel and Jason


A garbage truck from Aunt Teresa :)
(He picked it out himself)


and a puppy and books from Grandma Wood


Amber and I almost missed our flight back home and so our goodbye to the boys was said as we jumped out of the car. Love you guys!!!!!!

And thus concludes our trip to Alabama... next stop, Cousin Camp!!!

Our flight got in at ten on Tuesday night and we got picked up at eleven so we didn't get home til midnight. The next morning we headed down to Holden at 7:30 AM to go spend the week with cousins at my grandparents. It was a week full games, crafts, good food, and good times.

I was put in charge of Wednesday's craft and so I pulled out my Elementary Education skills and did sock puppets. I loved the way they turned out and I hope everyone else enjoyed them too. Here are some of the crafts we did:

My masterpiece puppet


Flower picture made from real flowers


and hook rug

I finally arrived back at home sweet home Saturday night and crammed in a hike up to the Y with roommates and friends before officially declaring my vacation over. Now it's back to real life and work...