Let's Just Say . . . It was Memorable

This gorgeous place to the left is a city in Arizona called Sedona. It's about 2 hours north of Mesa. My family decided to go there yesterday for Memorial Day. We went on a 10 mile hike on a trail called West Fork. It was quite an adventure.

First, we were only about 10 seconds on the hike when a bee flew into my head and knocked me off balance. It must have been quite the scene to see because my family couldn't stop laughing. I was not laughing . . .

Next, we were hiking and a huge horse fly landed on my leg and bit me. It hurt! I didn't even know they could bite, but trust me. . . they do.

Then, about two hours into the hike me and my sister had to go potty. So . . . I've never done that in the wilderness before. It was interesting, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. :) Maybe this is too much information for some of you. Sorry.

Next, my sister and my dad were behind me and my mom taking pictures and so we decided to stop and wait. We waited for about 15 minutes when we realized that we had somehow gotten off the trail. So, we got back on the trail and started looking for them, but we had no idea where they went! They were lost. So, we decided to finish the hike without them. Maybe we would see them on the way.
We had almost made it to the end when we decided to turn back and look for them again. We finally found them! They somehow got ahead of us and were waiting at the end of the trail.

Finally, on our way back to the car, I stepped on a sandy rock and slipped! I landed on my left side. I have bruises everywhere and I cut my finger, knee, and arm. I was bleeding. My mom had me wash up in the river. I also rolled my ankle a little bit so I had to limp back 2 miles to the car. It was not the greatest feeling ever.

When we finally got back to the car and bandaged up (my sister's shoes made her feet bleed) we went out to dinner. We were all starving. We went to Wildflower Bread Co. It was so delicious. I had never been there before. I got a BLT and Potato Soup.

After that, we headed home. I was so tired and sore. I slept the whole way home. It was a pretty adventurous day, but then again, It's always an adventure when I'm with my family. :)

Growing Up!

My sister had her High School graduation this last week. It was so great. When we got to the High School it was nice outside and it seemed like it was going to be a perfect night for a graduation. The sky quickly turned dark and cloudy after 30 minutes of being there. The rain came. . . It was cold. I was not prepared. The principal decided that since it was raining he was not going to give his speech. Of course the crowd cheered when he announced this. The superintendent read a 30 second poem and then quickly sat down. A three hour graduation turned out to only be about an hour and a half! Of course, I was soaked. We all looked like we had jumped in the pool with our clothes on. But, it was worth it.

I am so proud of my sister for accomplishing this big goal in her life. She is going to be going to the LDS Business College in Salt Lake at the end of August. I am going to miss her so much. She is truly my best friend.

Congratulations Sis! Way to Go!! :)

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It's Been Way Too Long . . .

Sorry all of those who faithfully check and read my Blog and have found no new postings since February. I have been very busy. I want to give a shout out to all those who have just graduated last week. Congratulations!! You all are done with school! Yea! It's so great. I have been graduated for 4 months now and it is not at all what I was expecting. I do not miss the challenges that come from school work and college life, but there are new and different challenges that come with growing up and I am loving every bit of it!
I have been having nothing but fun since I've been in Arizona. I am going to post more soon and hopefully I'll be able to keep my blog more updated. I guess that is something to look forward to. . . :)

My Birthday!

I turned 23 about 2 weeks ago. So far, my 23rd year has been . . . interesting. For my birthday, my parents took me and the rest of my family to a Suns game. The Suns won . . . of course, and Steve Nash rocked the house, like he always does. :)

Nash is the one in the very middle of the picture. Also in the picture are Amar'e Stoudemire, Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Richardson, and Leandro Barbosa.

Anyway, we all had a lot of fun!

Especially my brother-in-law, Jeremy, which you can tell from the picture below couldn't contain his excitement!

(I'm not quite sure what my little sister Lou is doing. It looks like some deep, interpretive thinking. I am trying to block and dribble the imaginary ball, and my older sister is trying to look energetic, but is afraid that if she moves around too much she may go into labor.)

In this picture to the left, I am clearly going to block Jason Richardson from making a basket. I think I would have really blocked him if he wasn't made out of cardboard!

My birthday was so much fun. I love being home with my family. I couldn't have wished for a more perfect day. The only thing that would have made it better was what I wished for when I blew out my candles. I guess I just have to wait and see if my wish comes true! ;)

Church was weird. . .

Maybe I lived in Utah for too long, but church was different today . . . more than usual. First, I got up thinking that church started at noon. Luckily, my mom found out from the Bishop that the singles ward in my stake started at 1:30pm. I could have been at church super early; good thing she double checked. I got to church at 1:25, only to discover that nobody was there. I thought to myself. . . Did I miss the meeting? So, I sat in the foyer not knowing what to do when I heard a young man ask, "What time does the singles ward start?" Another boy replied, "1:45 pm." Oh, man! I still had 20 minutes before church. I was still there super early. Oh, well. I got to meet the bishopric, and fill out a new member form, and transfer my records, and get my picture taken for the ward directory, and stare at everybody as they walk into the sacrament room and watch them stare me down . . . after all I am the new girl in this ward of 20 members. Maybe people are out of town this week, but there were only 20 people in church today. This is a really small ward.

One of the counselors started the meeting by saying, "You may have noticed that the program says that the speakers are to be announced. That's because we are just going to call on random people to come up and talk to us about setting goals and sticking to them. They can also share what they are thankful for if they'd like to." Okay . . . what? . . . I was confused. Did they really not have speakers? "Okay, the first speakers are . . . Kim, Ruth, and . . . Paul." They really called up random people to speak. Looking around for an exit I remembered that I just moved into the ward and they probably won't call on me because they don't know me. Wait! They do know me. I spent the last 20 minutes engaged in conversation with them. The minutes past… I was nervous. What would I say if they called me up? Then, something happened that made me forget all my worries.

*Latin Dance Music*
:)

Someone's cell phone had gone off. It was loud and it was definitely dance mambo/Latin/salsa music. I looked around to see who forgot to turn off their cell phone. It was . . . the bishop's wife. Not only could she not find her phone so it went off for a whole minute, but when she finally found her phone she answered it!! I was laughing so hard with the boys I was sitting by. We were so shocked, we couldn't help but laugh. This is going to be an interesting change and an entertaining ward.

No Snow? I love it here!!

After 15 long hours of driving through 3 blizzards on 3 hours of sleep, I am finally home . . . No snow, 60 degrees, sunny all day long . . . I could get used to this. :) I love Mesa.

The picture to the top left is a really big hill that my car got stuck on in the snow Monday Night. Because my family and I had driven through two blizzards all ready and was hitting our third one, we decided to stop in Flagstaff for the night. Unfortunately, my parents picked the hotel that was on top of a mountain!! I was stuck on the hill for 15 minutes waiting for my dad to come push me out of the snow. Lucky for me, a man who happened to be going to the same hotel saw my struggles and came to my rescue. I love random acts of kindness. What a good man. My family and I managed to make it home just in time for Christmas Eve Eve (The day before Christmas Eve.) I am so excited for Christmas. You know what they say . . . It's the best time of the year. I think so too. :)