Momma's Birthday

Friday, September 12, was my beautiful mother's birthday! I couldn't be more grateful for her. She is one of my best friends, and I love the close relationship I have with her. Thank you Mom for always being here for me, I couldn't live without you!

 In the morning, I made her breakfast. But since it was a school day, I didn't have a ton of time. I just made some waffles and eggs and called it good. It's the effort that counts, right? Also, my little sister and I left little heart notes around the house that she could find throughout the day. On each heart was a reason why we loved her. I know my mom deserved the best day ever, and that's just what I tried to give her!

 We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which was pretty good. Wanna know what else we did that night though? We went laser tagging... Yeah, that's right. For my mom's birthday, we went out to laser quest and did some serious damage. Just kidding, nobody was harmed. But with the screams escaping from our bodies when we turned the corner and got laser tagged by a lurking player, you would've thought we were dying. It was a blast! I forgot how terrifying it is though, it was creepy to be honest. I took 3rd place out of 13 players.... Not like I'm bragging or anything ;)

 After laser tagging we came home and enjoyed a delicious cake, opened presents, and went around the room between my little sister and I, and told my mom all the reasons why we love her. That's a family tradition of ours we do on everyone's birthday, and I really like it. Overall, I had a great day spending time with Hudsen and my mom.

 Families are forever, I'll never forget that. They are so important to me because they will always be there even when my friends aren't. I'm grateful for my mother and the love and care she always gives me. I hope you had the best birthday ever Missy! I love you to pieces!

LAKE POWELL

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a marvelous summer so far! There doesn't seem to be a lot of it left; I have about a month until school starts so I'm trying to make all the memories I can before then :) this week I went to Lake Powell! Wow can I just say how pretty it is there? This is the first time I've ever been and now I understand why everyone always talks so excitedly about the place. 

 The first night we were I got my first look at the stars, and because we were away from the city they were clear and bright and beautiful! One of the nights we even saw a falling star, not a shooting star, and it lasted for 5 seconds; it was huge! It's amazing how getting away from everything you can enjoy the beauty of the twinkling stars in the sky and even point out some constellations. 

 The problem with camping at Powell is the weather there can be brutal. And we embraced many wind and rain storms! Seriously, they almost took out our camp and we all got pelted with so much sand I'll probably be getting it out of my hair and ears for a few days. Sometimes they lasted for a few hours, and other times they came by quickly. 

 My favorite part of the trip was probably cliff jumping. The boat ride to the place was beautiful getting to see all the rocks and pretty formations! I loved watching everyone work up the courage to jump off the cliff, even the youngest one there, who was 7, conquered one of them. I myself am scared of heights and got terrified so I couldn't go all the way to the top haha! It was still a blast though :)

 Oh yeah, almost forgot about this part: tubing. Wow let me just tell you, we had plenty of hardcore wipeouts on the tubes that hurt some people pretty bad. One time I fell off so hard I threw up. Is that too much detail? Woops. Even though we fell off a couple times when we hit humongous waves, none of us were too badly injured and we managed to always get back up there again. 

 I made new friends, got a tan, laughed a bunch, learned to wakeboard, played night games, saw the BIGGEST bug EVER, learned how to play scum, and so much more! I would love to go back another time, hopefully with less storms. Thank you to everyone who made this week possible! It's good to be home with working showers and toilets though. Lake Powell was definetly an experience I won't forget. I loved it! Pictures don't even do it justice but they're here to look at anyway! :)

Gigi we love you!

My sweet great grandmother Gigi is someone I will never forget. How could the memory of her sweet self ever slip my mind? That woman truly had a heart of gold. Nobody had anything negative to say about her, and she had nothing negative to say anything about them either! She was the kindest woman ever, all the way up to the day she departed. Gigi was 94 years old and still beautiful! Everytime we got to visit her, she knew how to bring a smile to everybody's faces. I can't wait to see her again and be reunited, because families are forever! I hope she's up there in heaven right now with her husband and other loved ones having a wonderful reunion. My mom told me about a note she found in Gigi's room after she has passed, and It can be a lesson to us all. Gigi wrote, "Things I wish I would have learned: learn to knit, learn to make home made noodles, learn to swim, and learn to dance more." That last wish my Gigi had is heart warming. We should all enjoy our time on earth we have now with our loved ones and celebrate with a little more dancing to keep us happy. Rest in peace Gigi, I love you so much! You're the most beautiful angel ever. 

This picture above is of my grandma, Mimi. Gigi was her mom. :)

Gigi loved pink, that was her favorite color! Good thing she got a pretty pink casket :)

An Adventure at Lagoon

I have been such a slacker on the blogging lately, so I apologize. BUT, last Friday I went to the amusement park Lagoon with my boyfriend and you guys, it was so much fun! We were enjoying our day when only a few hours into the rides and fun, my sandal broke. Completely broke, in repairable. I guess that's what I get for wearing sandals to Lagoon! I was being stubborn about my money and did not want to spend it on some overpriced shoes from the souvenir shop. Soooo... As you might already be able to guess how this is going, I walked around barefoot for a while. Surprisingly, Mark wasn't giving me too much grief and he wasn't that embarrassed to walk around with me hahah. I got many stares and disapproving faces but whatever! I had to do what I had to do to survive. Don't worry, eventually after a while, I couldn't go on a ride because I had no shoes, so I bought some very ugly shoes (they were the cheapest we could find) and wore them the rest of the day. We got a good laugh out of that little situation and it gave us a good memory! Here's a picture of the shoes.

A bad memory from that day however, was Markus forced me to go on the rocket. Do you know how terrified of the rocket I am?! It kills me. It's a ride that shoots you straight up and down so it's not a roller coaster. Let's just say this, I cried the whole time while Mark thought it was all hilarious. That was one of the scariest moments of my life and being at the top of the rocket looking down was so terrifying. I can handle roller coasters, but not those kind of rides. I'm glad Mark got a kick out of it though hahah I'm sure it was funny seeing me cry over something like that!  I'm so happy I have Markus to spend the summer with though. Lagoon was a ton of fun and if you haven't been, I encourage you to go. :) 

 I got him to go on the Ferris wheel with me! That spooked him out a bit being up that high, but it was worth it! I hope everybody is having a good summer and spending it with the ones they love, I know I am! :)

The Utah Hogle Zoo!

All summer I've been wanting to go to the zoo, and I finally got the chance to today with my oldest sister, Hannah, and my mom. I'll admit it, last time I went to the zoo, I got emotional. Not because I was sad or anything; for some reason I just couldn't fathom the fact that I got to look at the amazing animals in person. I realize an experience at the zoo isn't as amazing as it would be on the actual African Safari or in the Virguna Rainforest, however, this is as close to that as I can get right now. So I just enjoy it all that I can and admire these animals behind an exhibit! Anyway, I didn't lose control of myself today and no tears left my eyes haha. 

  While we were looking at the lions, a zoo helper told us that they sleep 20-22 hours a day! Woah! That's insane, but I guess the summer sun really does tire the creatures out. Most of the animals were sleeping or basking in the sun just lounging around. I don't blame them either, if I was an animal I would want to do the same thing. 

We were lucky enough to see the elephants during okay time while they were working with their keepers, and those humongous beauties are hilarious! I love elephants, who doesn't?! I didn't want to leave them, definetly could've stood there admiring for quite some time. 

Another animal I love with all my heart, are sloths. I can't get over them and for my birthday my sister symbolically adopted me one from WWF! I even have the certificate hung up in my room and everything. :) so they have a special place in my life lol! Not a lot of people know they have a sloth at the zoo because it's kind of hidden and is almost ALWAYS sleeping in it's little hammock, but to me, just to see it is enough. Of course I even had to get a picture by the cute little guy, even though he's almost hidden. 

I had a great day wandering around the zoo with my camera and admiring all there was to see. :)