Carli's Life in Paradise

Blast from the Past

2012-02-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been 10 years since the Olympics were in Salt Lake. What a great 2 weeks! It was a good thing I was only in 5th grade so missing school wasn't such a big deal. I was able to be a Child of Light for the opening and closing ceremonies and I will never forget dressing up in my little eskimo costume. Last night at the Gallivin Center they had a little party to celebrate the 10 year anniversary.

2 of us showed up to represent!

The most decorated people of the Olympics and my two favorite moms!

My 15 minutes of fame

Olympic athlete from the bobsled team!

Such a great friend to come stand in the cold!

Yes, we are eskimos!

I loved being able to relive my experience from 10 years ago for a few minutes! Let's hope the 2022 bid comes true and we get to see this happen again!

Celebrations

2012-02-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday night Meisha and I had a little date night at Weber State. Our favorite couple, Addison and Bre, were staring in the play Xanadu and of course we had to go see it! We met these two in London and they quickly became our best friends even though they are married. Bre was the leading lady in the play and she totally killed it. We also had the great opportunity of Addison dancing right in front of us. We didn't know he had it in them. They were so great and we loved being able to see them in their element! They are going to be great in the world of musical theater!

As you know it was my mom's birthday a week ago so tonight we were able to go out to dinner and celebrate with her whole family. My mom is one of the most patriotic people I know so I couldn't resist getting her an American flag. You can send a flag request in to your Congressman to fly an American flag over the United States Capitol. Luckily, I am still on good terms with my office so they made sure to have her flag flown on her birthday. You could say the gift was a success...she loved it!

Sister Christensen

2012-02-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

You may recognize this girl from my blogging days in London. She was in about every picture I took. Meisha and I became the best of friends rooming in our little 5 by 5 flat together in London. Now she has decided to serve a mission and I could not be happier for her. I traveled to SLC last night to watch her open her call. Almost everyone guessed a state side or visitor's center mission and boy were we surprised when her call read the Philippines, Naga mission!

She is definitely going to stand out in the Philippines! June 6th is going to come quick! Congrats Meisha! You are going to be the best missionary!

xoxo

The Queen

2012-01-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to the Queen of Queens. My mom Nata. I do not know where I would be with out her. She is my biggest cheerleader in everything I do. Over the past 9 months I have spent more time away from my mom then with her but we have proved distance doesn't matter. No matter where I am or what I am doing I am always in contact with her and she really is my best friend.

I hope you are having the best day soaking up the sun in our favorite place! You really are the Queen!

Happy Birthday mom!

xoxo

21 Days

2012-01-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

I found a 21 day junk food challenge on Pinterest the other night (gotta love it right?). It sounded like a good idea so I told my roommates that we are all doing it. They are thrilled...not. But I figured if we did it together it would be much easier.

Wish us luck!

Picture Post

2012-01-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a little weekend recap in pictures...

New blue pants and a Valentine's Day pedicure

We cheered on BYU in a very depressing game

Once again I stayed up all night watching tennis. Yes, I got that diet coke at 1 in the morning

Just a little Sunday pic

What the rest of my week is looking like...I love the 1st test of the semester

Overall, it was a pretty great weekend in P-town!

Reunited And It Feels So Good

2012-01-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

We had quite the crew in Washington DC and luckily the majority of us are still living in Provo so we get to see each other now and then. Morgan and I have been wanting to go bowling since October but the boys weren't so keen on the idea. Well, bowling is much cheaper at BYU so we planned a little reunion at the BYU bowling alley.

It was so much fun to be back with these peeps. I have missed being with all of them at the same time. We have all been really good about keeping in touch but this was the first time we've really hung out all together. Bowling proved to not be the best sport for us girls and the boys proved they are superior. Don't worry we will get them next time and Trevor will be buying all of us dinner!

It has been so great to come home from DC and be able to keep up these relationships. The laughter never stops when we get together!

As of Late...

2012-01-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

This has taken over my life...

Especially when my boy Federer is playing. Unfortunately, Australia is a day ahead of us making it so the matches are on in the middle of the night. Lack of sleep has also made me do some out of the ordinary things such as tweeting a really cute American tennis player...

Carli Schneider @carlischneider

Falling in love with @ryanharrison92 what can I say I love my tennis players. #onlycuteamericanplayer #austailianopen

Sleep has not been my friend but there has been some amazing tennis played. This has become my new motto:

The good thing is that I have a lot more time to do my homework! I just have to make it through Sunday and then my schedule can return to normal, or as normal as it ever is.

Star Gazing

2012-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Sundance Film Festival always creates a lot of hype around here. Facebook and Twitter pages blow up with everyone bragging about which celebrities they saw. Confession time...I am one of these people except I never have any celebrity sightings to brag about. But I love walking up and down main street searching for all of those celebrities that are supposedly there.

We got a group together and headed up to Park City for some dinner and celebrity hunting. Although our only claim to fame is walking past Justin from Wizard's of Waverley Place I would say the night was a success. The boys were especially happy when they met one of the missionaries from the Preach My Gospel videos. Leave it to the BYU kids to be excited about that right?

Thanks for the good times Sundance maybe next year I will finally get to meet one of the stars I spend so much time reading about!

Valley of the Sun

2012-01-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

We love our home away from home in Sun Valley. It was fun to be up there as a family to spend the weekend together. The last time we were all there together was in the summer. The weekend was spend relaxing, watching football and basketball, walks on fairway road, and playing games. Unfortunately I got an awful cold right before we left so my weekend was all about a little rest and relaxation. It worked! By the time I got back to Provo on Monday I was almost as good as new.

I am always looking forward to when I get to return to our little get-away!

Music of the Heart

2012-01-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Thank you music for being my constant companion!

xoxo

Memory Lane

2012-01-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

I have to take a moment to revisit my time at BYU-Hawaii. The reason I am doing this is because my best friend and roommate Lohren Merrill has just moved to Provo. It will be the first time since being at BYU-Hawaii that we will be living in the same city and I could not be more excited about it! We did everything; surf competitions, spontaneous drives around the island, hours spent in Waikiki, learning the hoe-down throw down from the Hannah Montana movie, every movie that came out, buying a tent to camp on the beach, hikes, never sleeping or sleeping too much, beach beach and more beach, and of course staying up till 3 am during finals week to rap to Aaron Carter.

First day on Campus

Our typical transportation

Let the camping adventures begin with matching sweatshirts!

I don't think we could count how many movies we went too!

The best crew!

Halloween in Waikiki

Birthday's were celebrated!

The Awesome Foursome

Hawaii was my first real adventure away from home. It is the reason I have been able to go and experience so many other adventures. I love the time I spent in Hawaii and the people I met! But the best part about it was spending it with my best friend and now we are finally reunited!

And by far the best picture taken of the year!

Carizzy

2012-01-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

This is Carizzy... Carli plus Lizzy.

As you can tell we are very happy to be reunited as roommates once again. We've already fallen back in our attached at the hip routine and are loving every minute of it. Sometimes we do very productive things and other times it's not so productive but whatever we do it is always fun!

Our goal for the semester is to be spontaneous. So if you are up for an adventure give us a ring! Chances are we will come along with you!

New Year, New Home

2012-01-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

Once again I have changed locations! Are you surprised? I am back in Provo living at an apartment with my friends and attempting to actually do school. Moving in this week has been quite the experience! Luckily I have my wing girl Lizzy to help me figure everything out or be with me as we attempt to figure everything out. After getting all of my stuff out of my car and into the apartment (I have a LOT of stuff) we started unpacking.
First up was trying to hang up the mirror in our hallway. The nails wouldn't stay and it was proving more difficult then we thought. Lizzy thought we should leave it hanging sideways making it abstract art. That wasn't happening. At one point Lizzy had to take the mirror away from me because I was getting so frustrated. This was our last attempt:

Fortunately we had some boys come over later that night and got the mirror all fixed up for us.
Next, was trying to fix my desk chair. It was pretty much built for a 5 year old so we tried to raise it up which led to the chair breaking into two pieces.

This is pretty much a very typical Lizzy/Carli situation.

Finally after a day and a half of unpacking, shopping, and hanging things up I had a room to call my own, a first for me in college life!

I got a new chair that my great friend Trevor came and fixed up for me, put cynder blocks under my bed by myself, adding the last touches my room is complete! School has started, books have been bought and the new year is on its way! Wish me luck!

One Last Run

2011-12-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

To finish off my time in DC I made sure to do one last run of the monuments. The national mall is where I spent most of my time when training for my half-marathon and it became one of my favorite parts of DC. But before we get to that there were a few things that made my last week so great.
There was a Redskins game and even though they lost it was a blast! My first NFL game! Ice skating, seeing Christmas trees, and eating at all the restaurants I hadn't been to yet!

My office threw me a great going away party with customized Sprinkles cupcakes and a beautiful picture of the Capitol signed by everyone!

After staying up late all week and checking things off our list I woke up early Friday morning and went running. It was nice to run the mall on a Friday morning when everyone is at work because it was pretty much deserted. It was a beautiful morning and a great run!

After running I checked out of my room and went for one last meal in Georgetown with Sean, Trevor, and Jason before catching our shuttle to the airport. I was sad to leave DC but it has been so great being home! It is definitely an adjustment but a good one. And it's not like I won't be going back to visit right?

Skating in the City

2011-12-08T15:28:00.001-08:00

We had one last FHE activity this past Monday and after our epic fail of not skating on Monday we thought it would be the perfect activity! There were definitely some skaters in our group. Let's just say I was one of the people attempting to get their balance on the ice for the entire hour and a half. Lucky for us one of the girls came a little late so she decided to become the photographer for the night!

There hasn't been many times this semester where a large group of us have been together so it was a lot of fun for everyone to hang out. I got to spend some time with people that I haven't spent much time with which I loved!

Our final week in DC continues with us checking off our last minute things one by one!

The spreading of Christmas cheer continues...

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-06T20:53:00.001-08:00

Last weekend after the tree lighting we decided to go back and get a closer look! Of course we had to have ourselves a little adventure first. We walked or more like roamed around the city looking for a place to eat. You wouldn't think that would be difficult in a place like DC but when you have 5 people all wanting different things it can create some problems. We finally settled on Chipotle. Real original right? The best part is we walked a good half hour to eat there when we have one 5 minutes away from our house. Good times!

After dinner we were going to go ice skating but they were sold out for the night so instead we made our way to the White House. I never tire of the view in DC. The National Mall all lit up is one of my favorite things especially when it is Christmas themed!

Our Utah Tree

We wanted to go say hi to the Obama's but this is as close as we could get!

The Christmas music has been playing on my computer for the past couple weeks! We are trying to see all the that DC Christmas has to offer before we leave! Let the Christmas cheer begin!

Merry Christmas from the Obama's

2011-12-04T06:50:00.001-08:00

Usually I am not a very lucky person. I don't really win contests and I never catch any of the prizes at Jazz games but this luck all changed last week. I entered a lottery in November to see the National Christmas Tree Lighting at the White House and I won 5 tickets!! We were really far away from the stage and the tree but it was still pretty cool.

Big Time Rush (the group from the Nickelodeon show) performed for Sasha and Malia. I personally had hoped they would ask for the Biebs but I guess they have seen enough of him. Then the President himself delivered a Christmas message and brought up the entire Obama clan to turn on the tree. It is a much smaller tree this year because the one that had been there for 30 years was destroyed in a storm.

Ella Goulding performed and if you don't know who she is look her up. She is great. Enough so that she sang at the Royal wedding. Michelle Obama read Twas the Night Before Christmas with Kermit the Frog. Santa made an appearance. Rodney Atkins, the country singer, also performed. The night ended with One Republic singing their one and only original Christmas song. They were awesome!

It hasn't felt like Christmas around here with the weather so warm and not being home so this was the perfect way to set the mood and kick off the holiday season!

Thanksgiving New York Minute

2011-11-28T20:15:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend was spent in New York City with my sister Kacey and our fabulous hosts Catherine and Preston Wallis. Catherine and Preston got married in September and have been living in NYC and since I am so close we decided that it would be a great place to spend Thanksgiving. The only time I have been to New York is for the US Open and I wasn't able to see any of the city so this was a whole new experience for me. Catherine made sure I got the full New York experience.

We started Thanksgiving Day with the Macey's Parade. Lucky for us Preston works on 6th ave and 34th street so we got to watch from his office. We were up on the 11th floor and sat on the window seals, it was the perfect view. Our sweet family friends the Matheson's invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We love this family. They have the cutest kids and really made it feel like we were with family.

Friday we needed to regroup a little bit. We slept in and then took a nice walk through Riverside Park where You've Got Mail is filmed. We showered and went out for a day of attempting to shop, sightseeing, and then seeing the Rockette's Spectacular Christmas show that night. The perfect way to start off the Christmas season. We walked all around 5th Ave and Rockefeller Center before heading home.

Saturday was more sight seeing with Central Park, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, more shopping and of course Serendipity for some lovely Frozen Hot Chocolate.

We had such a great weekend! We missed being with our family but Catherine is about as close to family as you can get for us. Thanks for such a great weekend Preston and Catherine! Thanksgiving in New York City can now be checked off the bucket list!

Go Hoya's!

2011-11-16T09:44:00.001-08:00

Since the NBA won't be playing games anytime soon we decided to take the matter of seeing a basketball game into our own hands. Lucky for us, Georgetown's season just started and they are pretty good. We headed to the Verizon Center for the Georgetown Hoya game against North Carolina. It wasn't much of a game. The Hoya's doubled the other teams score but we made it a good time.

The Crew

Run Forest Run!

2011-11-13T20:14:00.001-08:00

This weekend I accomplished something I had been working towards for the past 2 months. I ran the Richmond Half-Marathon! A big group of us headed down to Richmond on Friday to spend the night. There were 8 of us running the marathon and then 3 people came to be our cheerleaders. We carbo-loaded on Friday night with pasta and were up at 6:00 am to get to the race.

Pre-Race

At the starting line

I have been working hard for this. I gave up all junk food and sweets about a month ago, was drinking one diet coke a day (a major sacrifice) and running between 3 and 10 miles every day. I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I had a goal to finish by 2 hours and 15 minutes and I ended up finishing in 2 hours 4 minutes. I thought that mile 8 and 9 were never going to end but they did and I made it to the finish without ever stopping.

Post-Race

The real adventure didn't start until after the marathon though. We split up into 3 different groups. One of the guys Jordan, that had come to watch, and I were in a car together. We got stuck in traffic for about 2 hours and by this time I was starving. It was a really frustrating situation but luckily nothing was going to put me in a bad mood after that run so we were laughing the whole time. We finally made it to a restaurant and met up with another group. I ordered a nice big cheeseburger and sweet potato fries with a diet coke of course.

Cheerleaders!

From the left: Kristen, Jordan, Me, Janae (we stayed at her apartment) and Nicole

Our three cheerleaders: Kristen, Nicole, and Jordan wanted to do a little sight seeing so the four of us plus another runner Jen went off to see the sights of Richmond. Let's just say I was not in the greatest condition for much sight seeing and therefore can't really tell you what we saw but I have to say the scenery was beautiful.

The Confederate Fish

Maymont Mansion

We finally made it back to DC around 7:00 but then Jordan and I had to return the car we had borrowed and we also had to drop another runners things off at her house. After getting lost multiple times through out the day we were ready to be done and get home. But of course that wasn't going to happen. We ended up getting lost on the way to her house and then after finally finding it both our phones died leaving us with no GPS to get to the person's house to drop off the car. After realizing another girl had left her phone in the car we made some calls and finally made it to the house. Let's just say it made for a very very long day.

My Sweet Roommate

I finally made it home and took a nice LONG shower before cozying up in sweats and climbing into bed. I had slept on the floor the night before the race so this bed of mine felt mighty good! To top it all off I came home to some beautiful flowers from my family.

Richmond

Thank you to everyone who texted and called through out the day. It made it so much better when I knew how proud people were of me. I can't wait till I can run another one!

Days Go By

2011-11-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a night that needed to be spent away from the Barlow Center. It is very easy to catch cabin fever around here and sometimes you just need to get out. Sean and I headed to Urban Outfitters for a little shopping. Walking around Georgetown is something I will never tire of. After that we met up with some others and headed to the GW campus for Foto Week. They had all of these National Geographic pictures projecting on the side of a building. It was pretty sweet.

I haven't really been on the George Washington campus yet and it is beautiful. It cured me of my cabin fever and it was a great fall night. I am not ready for the warm nights to be over.

Can't Get Enough of Fall

2011-11-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

It has been the perfect fall weekend. The weather was just crisp enough for a chill but then the sun was out making it perfect. Definitely scarf and boot weather which is always my favorite combo! We spent as much time as we could outside. Friday we had class at the Capitol where my fabulous boss Congressman Matheson spoke to us. He rocked it. Then we went to the Tax Court and had a mock trial where I totally won my case for an appeal.

(Pictures curtesy of Sean Mearns)

Saturday I took a group on a tour of the Capitol and then we headed to Good Stuff for lunch, one of my favorites! We met up with some others and walked towards the Botanical Gardens where we explored the jungle, desert, Hawaii, and medicine plants. The night was spent on a roommate date walking the streets of Georgetown.

Daylight Savings was heaven sent on Sunday morning. That extra hour really helped me out. Sunday's can get really long sometimes and by 9:00 I was having serious cabin fever. Morgan and I went for a nice Sunday stroll.

Overall I would have to say it was a pretty great weekend. Now there is another busy work week ahead of me and a half marathon to run!

Ronald Reagan started the tradition of President's returning the salute to US Soldiers.

Top of the World

2011-11-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

The other intern Tara and I had the chance to go to the top of the Capitol dome this week. It is very special tour and only people that are with a member of congress are allowed to go. Luckily another office had a couple of spots open and we were able to go with them. We climbed 300 steps and ended up outside right underneath Lady Freedom. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Here are some of the many pictures I got...

What a beautiful city I am able to live in!

The Capitol dome was completed during the Civil War as a sign that America would stay one country and not divide.

Witches, Ghosts, and Ghouls...Oh My!

2011-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween. I always feel like I am revisiting my childhood getting all dressed up except now instead of Trick or Treating we have to find other fun things to celebrate. Our stake had a Halloween Dance on Friday night to kick off the weekend. I felt like I was back in high school when I first entered the dance but as always it turned out to be one of the funnest things. We had some great costumes going on. Tron girls, Occupy Wall Streeters, Fantastic Mr. Fox, James Bond, and I was the Morton Salt Girl. We danced the night away and by the end we were exhausted!

We were waiting in the cold for a half hour before the shuttle came for the dance!

Saturday was a little break from the Halloween festivities. I slept in long and hard. Friday had been the longest day so I thought I deserved it. And then I went to the Holocaust museum. I now been to the London Holocaust museum, Dachau Concentration Camp, and the DC Holocaust museum. But I still get emotional walking through these exhibits. DC has a great museum and I am glad that I went alone so I could really absorb and take it all in. I definitely needed a pick me up after that which ended up being me watching football with the guys. It was way to cold to venture outside so I was just fine cozying up and watching sports.

It was snowing.

Halloween finally came on Monday and we still had no plans. I had to cook dinner for my dinner group and I decided to make it a little Halloweenish. We decided to dress up and head over to Georgetown. It was crazy how many people were there and all of the costumes. I felt like I was back in Waikiki for Halloween. A huge group dressed up as farmer's because there was some deal at Chipotle so while they went to get food Sean and I walked the streets. People watching is one of my favorite things and I never stopped being entertained by the people that walk these streets. After our walk we all headed back home and watched the best Halloween movie ever...Hocus Pocus! Such a classic.

I hope everyone had a great Hallows Eve!

November 1st was made "All Hallow's Day" by Irish Immigrants making October 31st "Hallow's Eve"

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-10-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Though it was not the most exciting weekend that doesn't mean we didn't make it a blast. Friday we had class from 9:30-4:00 (miserable right?) this made for a very very long day. That night a couple from our professor's ward that had attended Washington Seminar invited us over for swimming and BBQ. They had a beautiful house in the woods, gave us delicious food, and provided us with much entertainment. It was nice to spend that night in a home and not at our stake center house. On our way there our professor locked her keys in her house so we had to all cram into two cars. This led to Sean and I being stuck in the trunk of a mini van. We felt like we were in a scary movie where they stuff you in a trunk and drive you around till you end up in the woods.

Saturday morning was great because I actually got to sleep in a little which has become a rarity for me lately. We are required to do a service project for our class. Two of the kids in our group arranged for us to help out at an elementary school book fair. It wasn't quite the service we were expecting. We went in shifts and my group went from 11-2. Well, they didn't have many costumers and there were way more of us then there were of them so we ended up sitting in chairs talking and playing games for a good 3 hours.

Disclaimer: We did not actually sleep

When it was finally time for us to leave we grabbed some lunch and watched a little football. Then I set off for a 10 mile run to train for my half marathon. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and it wasn't as hard as the first 10 miler so that was great news!

Saturday night we headed to the national mall to take a look at the monuments. There is not a prettier sight then seeing these monuments at night. It is one of my favorite things about living here in DC. We had a great time walking around and taking pictures. By the end I was absolutely freezing! Fall is here and winter is definitely coming!

The weekend ended with a nice home cooked dinner by our institute missionary couple. Every week they invite people over for dinner and this week I was one of the lucky ones!

Every Vice-President has a bust statue in the Capitol, most reside in the Senate chamber.

Words for the Weekend

2011-10-20T20:05:00.001-07:00

Aren't Parents the Best?

2011-10-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

I had a very special treat this weekend. My parents came into town for a visit. My mom arrived Wednesday night, we went to the Cheesecake Factory and I spent the night at the hotel with her. (such a good nights sleep). I had to go to work on Thursday so she spent the day touring the Smithsonian and Supreme Court but met up with me for lunch. My dad came from business meeting in Philadelphia on Thursday. We went to a delicious dinner Thursday night at a great restaurant called The Founding Famers. We would definitely recommend it.

Friday morning we were up early for a tour of the Capital. I was giving the tour which made it a little different than most tours I take around and of my parents wanted to make sure I had all my facts straight. After the Capital we went to Good Stuff Eatery for lunch and then headed to the Library of Congress for a tour. This was by far my favorite thing. I was amazed at the building and of course all the things they have inside. From books to music to video games they have just about everything ever published.

It was a rainy day and we wanted to stay dry. It was a good thing we had run into my friend Nefi the night before and he told us he would give us a tour of CNN, where he works. I hurried and called him up, luckily he was free. We headed over and got a behind the scenes tour and actually got to see a live show happening. After our CNN tour we headed to a movie in Georgetown. We saw Footloose and absolutely loved it and then went for a Japanese dinner.

On Saturday we headed for the Smithsonian Space and Air museum where we learned about the Apollo missions to the moon and then saw a movie narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio about the Hubble space telescope. It was finally a beautiful day so we headed towards the National Mall to take a look at the monuments. After seeing the Washington, World War II, Korean, and Lincoln memorials we headed back to Georgetown for some shopping.

We had heard about an I Love Lucy concert happening that night at the Library of Congress. If you know my mom at all, you know that she LOVES Lucy. A lady told us a way to get tickets and get tickets we did. 3 tickets on the front row! It was a concert honoring Desi Arnaz and his music. It was one of the most fun concerts I have ever been too.

Sunday was another big day. We headed to the White House garden tours first thing in the morning. It was pretty cool to see the White House from the backyard. Then we headed towards Arlington Cemetery where we were able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was another perfect fall day so we enjoyed being outside. We headed to Georgetown for a little more last minute shopping and then sent them off to the airport!

We were going, going, going, all weekend and I am definitely tired but I wouldn't change a second of their trip. I loved having my parents here and being able to show them around. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad!

The Library of Congress has the first ever map that labels America.

Virginia is for Lovers

2011-10-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning 6 of us woke up early and hit the road. We rented a car and headed to Charlottesville, Virginia for the long weekend. A girl in our group, Anne, has friends in Charlottesville that kindly opened their house to us for the night. It took us about 3 hours to get there in our rockin mini van. We headed to church first where they had a fabulous munch and mingle complete with a full spaghetti meal. After church we went to the University of Virginia campus. This campus was designed, built, employed, and founded by Thomas Jefferson. It was gorgeous.

Thomas Jefferson at University of Virginia

Family for a weekend

Campus

After campus we headed to Anne's friends for dinner. The girls stayed at a neighbor's house so we went up there and met the sweet Waite family that opened their home to us. The boys went to watch football while the girls watched 27 Dresses. It was probably one of the best nights sleep I have had since being in DC.

Monticello

Couple's Vacay...JK

We woke up bright and early the next morning and headed to Monticello. This is Thomas Jefferson's home. Many times through his presidency he said he would rather be in Monticello and I can understand why. It is a secluded home in the middle of the country surrounded by mountains and trees everywhere. He designed the house full of 21 rooms and 3 levels plus his own vegetable garden. I quickly fell in love with this beautiful home.

Thomas Jefferson's Grave

After Monticello we headed to lunch at Panera Bread a restaurant that they seem to have everywhere but Utah. It was quite delicious it was like Paradise Bakery. The boys and Anne had met up with some people in the ward about attending a class at the Law school. This was definitely not how the rest of us wanted to spend the afternoon so we headed to downtown Charlottesville for shopping. It is such a great town. If I marry someone that wants to attend Law school I would move to Charlottesville in a second.

The boys went to class and the girls did this...

We jumped back in our van and headed for the city. The drive was great with all the countryside and fall leaves. I am so happy I saw so much scenery this weekend. I finally know what everyone is talking about when they say back east is the best in the fall. I am in love.

Thomas Jefferson died July 4th 1826, 2 hours later John Adams died.

The Gettysburg Address

2011-10-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Four score and seven years ago...Our group headed to Gettysburg for the day on Saturday. I have wanted to go to Gettysburg ever since that scene in Remember the Titans when they wake up at like 5:00 am and run to the cemetery. Unfortunately I found out that the scene was filmed in Georgia, I know I was crushed too. It is just starting to become Fall back east so the leaves were changing and the scenery was beautiful. Gettysburg is much bigger than I was expecting. It took us about 2 hours to go on our bus tour but as always we made it as fun as possible.

We received a good history lesson about the Civil War while we were there. I was told again and again that the civil war was not fought for slavery but for state rights. It is interesting how perceptions of events change over time. I have never seen so many monuments in one place. Our guide said he has yet to see all the monuments and he had been there for years.

After Gettysburg we ventured over to Harper's Ferry. It is a tiny town where a big slave movement happened two years before the war began. There is a view up on a rock overlooking the water that Thomas Jefferson said was worth crossing the Atlantic for. So of course we had to check it out.

It was a long day, full of lots of sights and history. By the time we got home we were exhausted but before I could relax I had to go for a run. And go for a run I did. I am training for a half marathon coming up in about a month so running long distances is a must. I ran 10 miles Saturday night! I never thought I would be able to do it but I did and am now paying for it dearly with very sore muscles!

There were critics of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address with many of them calling his words silly.

22 Fabulous Years

2011-10-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

My sister and best friend turned 22 years old today! Hip Hip Hooray for her birthday! Kacey is the greatest in so many ways. She is an amazing dancer, a loyal friend, great listener, gives the best advice, always knows what books to read and shows to watch, and loves unconditionally. Kacey has been my example of who I want be for as long as I can remember. How lucky am I to have her as a sister?

Happy Birthday Kacey! I am sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you but I know that you will have many great celebrations this week! I can't wait to see you for Thanksgiving! I miss you every day!

I Love you!

Girl's Just Want to Have Fun

2011-10-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Some things went as planned this weekend and other things didn't. But by Sunday night none of it mattered because it had been a great and needed weekend. On Friday we had class and then went to the American Art Museum for a lecture and since it is right next to China town we thought we would stop for lunch.

Friday night we went out to celebrate one of the girl's birthday's. Well this definitely did not go as planned the restaurant could not fit us in so we ended up walking about 15 blocks before eating a $2 slice of pizza. This was not how I was going to finish my night so me and another girl Morgan met up with some girls from her work and went country dancing! Unfortunately we did not get any pictures but let me tell you it was a sight to see. I had the best time. It is something I will be doing much more of in Utah!

Then it was time for general conference. Saturday was a nice relaxing day spent watching general conference, grocery shopping, and cleaning. The weather dropped about 20 degrees over night so staying curled up inside was a must. But I am also training to do a half marathon in about a month so before I could do any of this I had to run 7 miles in the cold rain. It was a blast!

As long as I have my Diet Coke I am a happy girl!

Luckily that night was Priesthood Session so the girls got to go out for a night without the boys. We celebrated by going out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The best place to have a girls night. We did a little shopping before hand and then spent the night laughing and eating. It was nice to get out of the Barlow and have a little girl time!

What a great weekend we had listening to the leaders of our church, relaxing, and bonding!

Gerald R. Ford was the most recent president to be laid in state in the United States Captiol.

Whirlwind Weekend

2011-09-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at home in Salt Lake. I have to thank Catherine for having her wedding so I was able to go home for a quick minute and see everyone! I am so happy that I was able to be home for Catherine's wedding. I have always seen her as my third sister, she has been apart of all the major events in my life and many of the little moments. She is the best in every way and I can always count on her. Her wedding was perfect and so much fun! I can't wait for her to be in New York and just a few hours away from me!

On Saturday we went for a bike ride to Hennefer. You are probably asking yourself where that is because I had no idea either but it is by Echo Lake. 2 hours and 26 miles later I had a bruised bum, kinked neck, and my exercise done for the day. Kacey and I are not the biggest bikers so we definitely slowed our expert parents down but it was fun to be together. And the leaves were BEAUTIFUL.

The rest of the day was spent reuniting with friends and having a nice home cooked dinner with the family. I was able to catch up with everyone. After dinner I met my friends down at Hires for a treat. It was so much fun to hear about what everyone has been up to over the past month. After that Lizzy and I went hot-tubbing while a few others came to visit.

Sunday morning came quickly and before I knew it I was on a plane back home. The visit was short and sweet and well worth the trip. I was happy to see my friends and family but I was excited to get back to my new home in DC and in my routine. Thanks for a great weekend Utah!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

2011-09-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

It was an early morning on the bus going to Philadelphia. 30 kids at 7 in the morning stuck on a bus is not the best combination but everyone was surprisingly chipper. We arrived in Philadelphia around 9:00 and headed to the Constitution Convention Center. I was inaugurated as President, hung out with the signers of the constitution, and signed the constitution.

You may call me Madam President

Hanging with Benjamin Franklin

After the constitution we headed to the Liberty Bell. It was pretty cool to see the object that has been our symbol for independence and freedom for over 200 years. It was actually Constitution day on Saturday so it ended up being the perfect day to see all of these sites.

Then we headed to Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. It was pretty amazing to be in the same place that our Founding Fathers were in.

Where the Declaration and Constitution were signed

Where Franklin's home was

After Independence Hall we were set free to experience the city on our own. We all immediately went to get Philly cheesesteaks for lunch. We went to these two different places that were rivals and are across the street from each other. Half ate at one while the other half ate at the other. Then we walked around the city and found the LOVE statue.

By 4:00 we were definitely ready to head home. It had been a long 2 days. We jumped on the bus and had a good 3 hour drive home. The BYU vs. Utah game started right when we were going home. It was me and one other kid, Trevor, rooting for the U and we definitely picked the right team!

The Liberty Bell was cracked when it was first shipped to the US so another one had to be made that was cracked years later when they were trying to fix it and so it was retired.

The Battle of Valley Forge

2011-09-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

In every history class I have taken my teacher always referred to the winter at Valley Forge as the Battle at Valley Forge. Well this weekend I learned that I had been taught wrong. There was never a battle at Valley Forge just a cold, miserable 6 month winter the troops had to suffer through. But it was because they suffered through that winter that America won the revolutionary war. This weekend our group traveled to Valley forge and then to Philadelphia for a little history lesson. On Friday night we stayed at these dorms called the Freedom Foundation. It felt like we were back in junior high at youth conference. After settling in we took a tour of Valley Forge.

Utah Medal of Honor statue

Martha and George

Our tour guide

Barack Obama followed us to Valley Forge

George Washington touched this banister

After our tour we had the one and only Thomas Jefferson come speak to us. Yes, it was a man that dressed and acted exactly like Jefferson. At the beginning I felt like it was going to be really corny but I was completely enthralled. He does this professionally all over the country and is supposedly one of the best at what he does. I learned a lot about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and these men that made it all happen. They learned to compromise and work together even though many of them had very different thoughts and opinions. It was my favorite part of the day.

We woke up bright and early at 7:00 am and headed off to Philadelphia for the day...

Thomas Jefferson was in France when the Constitution was written.

A Rooftop Party, A Campaign, A Memorial

2011-09-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend was filled with lots of different activities. Since it was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 the city was having memorials, programs, and different exhibits going on. But before we got to the 9/11 part of the weekend we had a few other events to attend.
Friday night we went to a birthday party for my friend Matt Holton on the roof of his apartment building. We felt pretty cool about the whole situation. The view was beautiful since you could see DC all lit up. I actually ran into a few people I knew from home which is always fun and we met a few new friends through out the night.

Kristen and I with our Root beers

Saturday morning I was up bright and early. Me and two other guys decided to volunteer for Mitt Romney's campaign. The two guys had been helping with it all summer and had found out they needed people to collect signatures in Delaware to get Mitt on the primary ballot. We took a two hour drive out to Delaware with 3 we'll say interesting individuals. We went to the Milford town festival and started asking people if they were registered republican voters. The responses went a little something like this:
"Yes, how do we get those democrats out of there"
"I am a felon and can't vote"
"I am a democrat but wish I was republican"
"You better wash your mouth out little lady for asking me that question"
"I'm an independent"
"Is he that mormon guy? I like Perry"
"If I vote for anyone it's going to be him"
I met some very interesting individuals to say the least. They ranged from American flags on their t-shirts to covered in tattoos and smoking cigars. But the good news is we got enough signatures so the day was worth it!

They had all of these old fashioned cars lined up

The campaign crew

I could not have asked to be living in a better city than DC for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Even though there was a terrorist threat happening all weekend everything went just fine and the city was filled with an amazing spirit. For class on Friday we ventured to the Pentagon to see the new memorial dedicated to the 184 lives lost in the plane that hit the pentagon and the pentagon itself. It was the perfect way to start off this emotional weekend. It was a beautiful memorial where each victim has been given a bench engraved with their name. I am always amazed at the people that come up with these memorials and how much symbolism goes into it.

One of the benches dedicated to a victim. Underneath is a reflecting pool of water

If the name is being read while you are facing the building it meant the victim was killed in the Pentagon, if your back was to the pentagon the victim was in the plane.

Outside the memorial

On Sunday after church a small group of us went to the Smithsonian. They have an exhibit that is part of the American History museum that is dedicated to 9/11 and artifacts recovered from the 3 sights of the attack. We weren't able to get into the exhibit today but we saw a movie they had put together that was clips of the coverage and people's stories from that day. The firefighter chief that was on location at the Twin Towers that day and to hear his story and the bravery of all those rescue and recovery teams that risked their lives to run into those buildings really touched me. It was a day full of spirit, hope, and recovery. We are so blessed to live in such an amazing country that grows and become unified in the face of such destruction.

I am grateful for all that this flag symbolizes.

9/11 Never Forget.

It Must Be Love

2011-09-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

I went to New York City for the first time over Labor Day weekend. Even though I didn't see much of the actual city I loved what I did see. I met my parents, older sister Allie, my grandparents, aunt and little cousin for the US Open. Before we got to the tennis I took my parents and Allie to see Warhorse. A play that I had seen in London and had absolutely loved. My family loved it and I enjoyed it even more the second time. If you have the chance make sure to see this play!

We had tickets for the main Arthur Ashe stadium where Caroline Wosniacki, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic would be playing. Subaru had given my dad some seats but we weren't quite sure where they were, well they ended up being on the fourth row! I was able to see my hero, Federer play right in front of me.

Roger Federer

We went back again the next day and saw even more great tennis. Tsonga and Verdasco, Mardy Fish, John Isner, and of course Andy Roddick. It is crazy how fast the time goes by when you are watching these matches. Before we knew it our days were gone and it was time to go home. Unfortunately, I forgot my phone the second day so my mom has all the great pictures on her phone.

Verdasco (He is really really cute)

Tsonga

And the number 1 in the world Djokovic

One of the best moments was on the second day when we were walking to Roddick's match and all of the sudden James Blake is standing in front of me. Luckily, we had just thought to buy a tennis ball and sharpie just in case we could get autographs so I got Blake's autograph. During Roddick's match I made my way down to the second row so I could try and get an autograph. When he finished he started walking off the court and then he veered right to where I was standing, signed my ball and then almost stole my pen! I was so happy because Allie's favorite player in the world is Andy Roddick so I was able to give her his autograph!

It was a wonderful weekend spent in NYC!

The Arthur Ashe stadium at the US Open is the largest outdoor tennis-only arena in the world

Moonlit Bike Ride

2011-09-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday one of the girls in our group put together a full night of activities. Since we have class on Friday's and no work it makes Thursday feel like a weekend night. We started off at the Kennedy Center where they have free concerts every night at 6:00 365 days of the year. How great is that? We saw Eric Lindell and his band. They are from New Orleans and play R&B/soulful/jazz type of music. I actually really liked some of his songs. It didn't hurt that random people in the audience were breaking out full dance moves like the sprinkler.

My roommate Kristen, Me, and Elly

After the concert we headed to Chipotle for a little bite to eat and then a smaller group of us rented bikes for the night. We started in Georgetown and rode to the Lincoln Memorial all the way down the mall to the Washington memorial and then on to the Capitol through the White House and back to the good old Barlow Center where we live. It took us about 2 and a half hours because we kept stopping to take in the sights. If you ever come to Washington DC make sure to go see the memorials at night when they are all lit up. It was gorgeous!

Sunset

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Memorial

Our Group

The Capitol

I didn't get a picture of the White House because the police were yelling at us to keep moving!

There are bells throughout every building linked to the Capitol that ring every time a vote is going through the House.

Hit the Ground Running

2011-08-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

In the past 2 years I have moved around a lot. You would think that I would have the routine perfected but I don't. I still and always will overpack, need my parents to bring me things when they comes to visit, and once again go through those awkward first introductions when people ask what my major is and I hesitantly answer, "Oh I am still trying to figure it out". I will say that I am pretty good at fitting lots of things in confined spaces. One thing I have learned is the best way to get to know a new city or place is just to start walking the streets and you'll figure it out pretty quickly.

I started my internship for Congressman Matheson yesterday. I had butterflies the entire way to the office but right when I walked in they went away and I got started. Everyone in the office was nice and welcoming and then they just threw me into what I was suppose to be doing. Luckily, the U of U intern had been there for a week so she showed me the ropes. I learned how to answer the phone, "Hello, Congressman Matheson's office" and with that how to transfer calls (not as easy as you would think). And then we were sent on a scavenger hunt all over the Capitol, Congress, and Senate buildings. That would be 2 hours of walking and let me tell you I learned the whole don't wear high heels in DC lesson real fast.

Ronald Reagan

Sergeant of Arms

I hadn't seen much of the city so after work I bandaged my feet up and went for a run. I think it was one of the most beautiful runs I have ever been on. I had to keep stopping to take pictures and take in all the sites I was seeing. I could not get past the fact that I was so casually running past such historical and significant sites. I am happy to report that I haven't gotten lost and after 2 days I feel pretty comfortable in my new home.

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Memorial

The second day of work was good, I got my ID so I am an official staff member. After I definitely wanted to go out and about. Since we live next to Georgetown a group of us went to check it out and find the oh so famous DC Cupcakes. Well, I now know where I will be spending most of my free time. Georgetown has the best shopping on such a small street: Anthro, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Lucky, Lulu, JCrew and others. My credit card is in serious trouble. It was so cool because they were filming the new season of DC Cupcakes when we walked in the store so we got to see the TLC filming crew. Unfortunately, Sprinkles cupcakes taste much better.

It is not going to take long for me to fall in love with Washington D.C!

The Statue of Freedom on top of the Capitol sits 287 feet above ground

Cheers!

2011-06-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

My 6 weeks in London are up. I have crossed off everything on my to-do list and even did a couple of things twice. My bags will be packed tomorrow even though it seems like it was yesterday that I was unpacking. My family flew in today and in another day or so we will be on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Then it will be time to leave Neverland and return to reality. We couldn't leave without making our mark on London...

We had to go to Abbey Road for the infamous Beatles picture. The entire wall that goes on for a block is covered in writing. We weren't leaving without putting our names on the wall so one day we can come back and find them again!

Sadly we were missing our fourth bandmate.

We had been talking about going on the London Eye since we got here. We almost did it our very first night here but by the time we made it over there it was already closed. Instead we chose to wait and do it for one of our last nights.

We had a funny face competition while waiting in line. Clearly, I won.

We went right at sunset so the lighting over the city was beautiful. It was a great way to say goodbye to the place that has treated us so well the past 6 weeks.

We couldn't leave London without having high tea at Kensington Palace. Monday was our cute roommate Desi's birthday so we celebrated by heading over to the Orangery in Hyde Park for tea. Meisha and I shared the Chamomile tea and I had a delicious slice of banana walnut cake.

Our last group activity was Hampton Court Palace. My family arrived the same time I was supposed to be there making me anxious to leave so we weren't there very long but we sure had fun!

We had to do an audio guide tour that took twice as long because the lady on there talked forever!

After Hampton Court Meisha and I ran over to St. Paul's to meet my family. We had yet to actually tour through the church and climb the dome which is apparently a must-do thing.

We are finally adjusting to life living in London and being more of a local than a tourist and now we have to leave. Tomorrow we will be spending the day enjoying London and reveling in all its glory. I feel so lucky to have had this amazing experience where I have learned so much about theater and history but more importantly about myself. I have fallen in love with London and cannot wait till the day I am able to come back!

Cheers!

All the World's a Stage...

2011-06-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Waking up at 6:30 am to get on a bus is hard enough then with tours of castles, farms, cottages, and churches, and a play makes for a very long day. And boy did our bus driver know how to talk. and talk. and talk. But we were excited to head out of the city for a few days and experience Shakespeare first hand in Stratford. Our first stop was Coventry Cathedral. This cathedral was bombed during the blitz so half of the church is in ruins and the other half has been rebuilt.

After a good 45 minutes spent at the cathedral we were back on the bus and headed toward Kenilworth Castle. It belonged to Queen Elizabeth I and that is about all I remember about it.

Next stop was Anne Hathaway's cottage (no not the actress from Princess Diaries) more like she was Shakespeare's wife.

There was a ton of land in her backyard full of woodland and even a maze! Yes, we all made it through the maze...without cheating!

If you can even believe it the day did not end there. We were back on the bus and on our way to Mary Arden's Farm also known as Shakespeare's mother. This was a literal working farm. We saw pigs, horses, sheep, cattle, and even a falcon demonstration.

We finally arrived in Stratford and were dropped off at 3 different bed and breakfast's. Luckily for Meisha and I we somehow got put in the one that was a mile outside of town but it was also the nicest one so we were not complaining. We had about 20 minutes to put our stuff down and then get back on the bus to head back into town grab a bite to eat and head to the theater to see Merchant of Venice.

Girl's of flat 6

When we finally got home from the 3 and a half hour play we could not get into bed fast enough. They weren't letting us catch up on rest either. We had to be downstairs the next morning at 8:00 am for breakfast and then more sight seeing.

If you are thinking that I don't look as perky as usual in the above picture it is because I barely got any sleep the night before. You would think after the day we had I would crash and burn, yeah not the case.

Our first stop was Shakespeare's birthplace. We were able to walk through his childhood home which was much bigger than I was expecting. The girls bedroom alone could fit 2 and a half of our little bedroom in our flat!

Then we were off to see the Nash house and Hall's Croft. To tell you the truth I can't keep much of the things we saw straight. Pretty much after the first house they all seemed to be very much the same and I was running off no energy. But both the houses are relatives of Shakespeare either son-in-laws of granddaughters or something. It was actually a gorgeous day so most of us ended up laying in the grass and soaking up the sun at most of these spots...oops!

After the sight seeing we had the afternoon free so we spent it eating lunch in the park, going on rowboats on the Avon river and seeing Shakespeare's grave followed by going back to the theater to see Macbeth.

Friday we woke up early once again got back on our bus and headed home. We stopped at Blenheim palace where Winston Churchill was born. The Duke and Duchess of Marlbourgh live there now and Meisha and I were able to see the Duke returning home from his morning game of golf. This was my favorite place that we visited. The grounds were massive and went on for miles.

Rose Garden

Secret Garden

Final stop was Oxford where we visited Christchurch. The filming spot for the Great Hall and Quidditch Pitch in Harry Potter and where all the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland came.

Quidditch Pitch

Our great group!

Until next time...

It's the simple things

2011-05-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

There is only a week a half left on this amazing adventure of mine! Time has gone way to fast but as I look back I realize it is the simple memories that made these 6 weeks so amazing.

First day out and about, we decided to always try and take the stairs

A night at the ballet

Matching headbands bought at PriMark

Lazy Saturday mornings spent blogging and watching movies

Seeing old roommates in new places

London and their funny signs. Who would want to take a bath in the Hyde Park lake?

Sun hats at the globe

and other funny hats too

Being constantly reminded that I am in LONDON!

Splitting a 15 pound sundae at Harrod's. (mom we had to do it)

Watching one of our professors frolic through the fields

First real rain storm spent at Kew Gardens

We love Sperry's!

Jersey Boy's made my list of top 3 musicals!

Mamma Mia never gets old!

Feeding a horse during our country walk

Jumping in other people's pictures

Finding a kindred spirit

Just a few of the many great memories we have had in London Town! And we are off to make many more in Stratford the next two days. We are going to the birthplace of the one and only William Shakespeare! I guess you could say we kind of like Shakespeare around here!

Until next time...

Never Never Land

2011-05-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

Our flat is right across the street from Hyde Park. This has been one of my favorite things while living in London. We are able to go across the street for a run, a walk on a lazy day, Sunday strolls, games, and tea parties.

Hyde Park is full of all sorts of memorials to different people like Princess Diana, King Albert and so on. The trick is finding your way to these memorials without getting lost and all turned around.

Princess Diana Memorial

King Albert

And of course Peter Pan

The creator of Peter Pan placed this statue in Hyde Park in the middle of the night so that the children would think it just appeared. He wanted to keep the magic of Peter Pan alive.

We have had a few birthday's in our group while being in London so we decided to celebrate them all at once with a tea party in Hyde Park. It was right before travel week so everyone brought all of their extra food to share with the group.

The Birthday crew

Our delicious spread

It was my first time trying tea and after adding a good amount of sugar I quite enjoyed it!

One of the boys was really smart and brought a frisbee over with him so we planned a game of Ultimate frisbee one morning. This was so much fun it was a great way to wake up and get outside for some exercise.

The frisbee group

Pre-game pictures:

Team 1

Team 2

Post-game pictures:

They look pretty happy considering...

that this wonderful team one!

We are down to the two week countdown so we are trying to take advantage of every second we have. We have found there is no other place we would rather spend most our time than in this beautiful park!

Until next time...

The Land of Scotts

2011-05-23T17:01:00.001-07:00

Our professor's are great and gave us a travel week during our program. It was perfect timing right at the half way mark when we all needed a break from Shakespeare and Theater. I decided to spend a day in Scotland and the rest of the time in Ireland. I stayed in hostel's and lived out of a backpack for 5 days straight! We had a group of 12 in Edinburgh and then split in to 2 groups of 6, one going to Ireland and one staying in Scotland.

...Make a wish...

Our first night in Scotland we ate at a pub that had 2 meals for the price of 1 and two desert for the price of 1. It could not get better than this for our group. After a delicious Scottish meal we did a ghost tour of Scotland's underground city. Our tour guide was getting very into it and telling us all these stories of previous people on the tour seeing ghosts and having marks on them when they came out. Nothing happened to our group but we did jump a few times. We then headed home to our lovely hostel.

It was a 3:30 am wake up call for our group. We were going to climb Arthur's Seat to watch the sunrise. Well, we ended up going up the wrong mountain to begin with so we did see the sunrise but not exactly where we wanted to see it.

Since we were already out we decided we might as well do the hike we were supposed to do to begin with. Meisha and I were a little hesitant because it was freezing cold but the view was worth it. I felt like I was on top of Scotland.

We got home around 8:30 and immediately climbed into bed trying to get heat back into our bodies and we ended up crashing for a couple of hours. Then it was time to wake up and start moving. We headed to the Edinburgh Castle.

After the castle it was time for our two groups to split ways. Sadly, Meisha had to decided to stay in Scotland for the weekend so this was a very hard goodbye for the two of us. Everybody was laughing at us because we were hugging for a good 2 minutes. Our flight wasn't for a few hours so we decided to continue our sightseeing journey through Edinburgh.

We had to try the traditional Scottish food Haggis which is sheep stomach...but don't worry it tastes like Hamburger Helper!

Do you recognize me in this picture???

The one and only cafe where J.K Rowling started writing Harry Potter

Soon enough it was time to start heading to the airport. We arrived with 2 hours to spare (aren't you proud Dad?) After hanging out at the gate for 2 hours it was finally time to board when they told us that the engine wasn't working and our flight would be leaving 4 hours late. By this time it was 6:00 at night and we were running on little to no sleep. Needless to say, we were not very happy especially when they decided to give us vouchers for 3.50 ten minutes before we were suppose to board and all the places in the airport had closed. Don't worry we were able to enjoy some lovely drunk Irish men sing at the top of their lungs for the whole 1 hour flight to Dublin!

By this time this was about all I could do...

Kiss Me I'm Irish...

2011-05-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

After a very long day and long night trying to locate our hostel we finally made it to Dublin. We were so excited to be in Ireland! We decided to sleep in a little bit the next morning and try to recover and then it was off to explore Ireland. We did not have any plan at all for what we were going to do so we decided to head to Wicklow (the place from P.S I Love You) for the day. Here comes the first lesson I learned about Ireland...
1. Information desks have no information. They only thing they can do for you is give you a map.
We were at the bust station for a good half hour just trying to figure out how to get to Wicklow it was a very frustrating process. After an hour and a half bus ride we made it to Wicklow town.

We were expecting something like this...

and ended up with this...

Yeah, not the same thing. We decided to stick around the town and see what we could find. It wasn't much. After grabbing some lunch we headed to the tourist information where once again they couldn't help us out so we headed to a Taxi Cab service where I learned...

2. There are no public transportations to National Parks in Ireland.

Does that make any sense to you? Because it sure doesn't make sense to me and the taxi cost 100 Euro so that plan was thrown out the window. I then looked down and found a pamphlet to Usher Gardens, I had no idea what it was but found out a taxi was only 6 Euro so to Usher Garden's we went.

There was the cutest little shops in front of the garden entrance

We felt like we were entering Secret Gardens

Our Irish Family

We became the parents of the trip guiding our way through Ireland

The girls

After returning to Dublin we decided to call it an early night since we would be waking up at 5:30 the next morning to catch a train to Limerick for a scheduled day tour. 5:30 came pretty early but we all woke up and found ourselves in Limerick excited to have an actual tour set up. Surprise Surprise when I walked up to the information desk and they told me they had never heard of our tour. I then called the tour office where they told me that the tour started down the street. We had a few minutes to spare so took our time walking through the little town. Lesson 3 of Ireland is...

3. Locals are very friendly and useful when it comes to information about their country.

We discovered that if we ask locals they know exactly where and what to tell us. Our tour was called Paddywagon Tours

This is our tour guide Sean

The tour took us to the Cliff's of Moher. Also known as the Cliff's of Insanity from Princess Bride or the cliffs where Dumbledore takes Harry to destroy the horcrux in HP 6.

After the cliffs we went to a little town called Doolin where we grabbed some lunch before hitting the road again.

Next stop was along the coast where everything was covered in Limestone. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The tour lasted through the day and by the end we were exhausted. After our 2 hour ride train home we found a little pub to have a nice baked potato in and then headed home for bed. This was the night I learned lesson number 4...

4. You will probably get told that you look sad by a 60 yr. old man in a pub and called kitty, kitty on the street don't worry this is just how the Irish flirt.

The next morning was our last day so we decided we should spend it walking around Dublin. We hit all the sights in about 3 hours time, we were on a roll.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Inside the Dublin Castle church

Mickey and Minnie paid us a visit at the Grand Opening of the Disney store

The shopping is pretty great in Dublin and of course we couldn't leave without our Celtic hand/heart/crown rings. But lesson 5 was...

5. Dublin is not a very pretty city and it smells funky so remember your nose plug! Instead spend as much time in the countryside as possible

We loved our weekend getaway and came home with many adventures and stories to tell. We very much enjoyed the Luck of the Irish!

Until next time...

Two Peas in a Pod

2011-05-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there were two girls that grew up in Salt Lake. They went to rival high schools (highland and skyline) and lived only 10 minutes away from each other. They had been introduced briefly by a mutual friend during high school and a few years later found themselves together in a prep class for a study abroad in London. These two recognized each other from the past and quickly began discussing plane flights and the idea of being roommates. Two months later they were on a plane to London together and pretty much talked for the whole 8 hour ride. Little did they know they would become the best of friends.

First night in London

One of the girls dreamed of seeing the Royal Wedding and knew the only way to see anything would be to camp out and the other girl jumped right on board!

Soon they found that they liked much of the same things when it comes to food. Date nights and making meals are a regular occurrence but nothing makes them happier than peanut butter.

Every activity is planned with each other and the few days they have been separated in the last 3 weeks have caused separation anxiety for both the girls. So they have decided it is better to stick together

The two girls quickly moved out of the getting-to-know-you stage and onto more serious conversations. Both already feel apart of each other's families and stay up in the night talking about all the funny stories they have. But the thing these two girls do the most is laugh and laugh and laugh which tends to make them do some pretty funny things together.

Revisiting childhood at Hemley's Toy Store

Trying to imitate the theater faces on the door handles

Masquerade!

The Lollypops were huge!

They have more fun than two girls should be allowed to have especially in London. And they can always count on each other for help out of sticky situations

Like when one girl's hair gets caught on her jacket and she can't get it out...

Already they are making plans for the summer and visits to DC in the fall when one of them leaves for an internship. There is an ongoing list being made of movies and activities they must do together. They keep saying how funny it is that is took an ocean for the two of them to become friends.

Already the two girls are shopping for the same things and buying matching shoes!

As you can see this story ends with a very happy ending. The list of stories and memories goes on and on and they still have 4 weeks to go!

So if you are wondering who the girl is that stars in all my pictures and blog posts her name is Meisha and she is the greatest gal around.

Until next time this is how we will be living...

Got My Toes in the Water

2011-05-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes me happier than the sight of this...

Put me on a beach with an ocean and I am one happy girl. On friday we had a completely free day so we hurried and planned a trip to Brighton. It was a 50 minute train ride followed by a 10 minute walk so it wasn't bad at all. The weather was great we had sunshine and a little bit of wind. For some reason the beach always rejuvenates me and makes me so happy. No wonder I went to BYU Hawaii.

It felt so nice to dip my toes in the ocean again. We had such a great day at Brighton. There was no sand so the beach was full of rocks but it was still beautiful. The pier was so much fun. It is what Coney Island was based off of. It had all sorts of rides and restaurants. Of course we had to have Fish n' Chips!

The serving was huge so Meisha and I split one.

On our walk to the pier

We decided to be a little spontaneous when we saw this ride...

You have four people on each end and then it rotates like a windmill while turning you upside down. A group of us really wanted to go so finally we looked at each other and said "When in London...'

I started getting really nervous when we were at the top waiting for the other group to get on and then the ride started and I could not stop laughing. None of us could scream because we were laughing so hard. It was so worth it and such a good memory.

Then we went to a Royal Pavilion. It is an Indian designed palace type deal that Queen Victoria sold to the city of Brighton for 1 pound because she didn't like it.

Ellen and I

We headed home around 7:00 after walking all down the coast line and back plus a little shopping. All of the stores were beach themed and it seems that the color of the summer is white. I guess I have to jump on that fashion train!

It was such a great day and so nice to get out of the city and into fresher air. We loved it!

Until next time, this is where I will be...

Lovely London

2011-05-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

In the past 5 days we have seen many different parts of London- tourist spots and sights out of the city. First up was a tour of the Globe Theater, Borough Market, and the Tate Modern. Like I said, a variety of things all at once. The Globe was interesting especially since our tour guide looked like this...

The most exciting part of the tour was when we walked in the Globe and there were actors rehearsing. One of them looked very familiar to all of us and we finally placed who he was. Geoffrey from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be acting in one of the Shakespeare plays we see!

Borough Market was crazy! It was so crowded and had every sort of food you could want. Meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, chocolate, cheese of every kind, and even drinks! Luckily for us, almost every stand has samples so we had a great time wandering around trying everything.

Yellow Plums!

Taking a break in a little cafe

Decorated chocolate! We were afraid to eat it.

Last up for the day was the Tate Modern. I really don't understand modern art so Meisha and I ended up walking around the museum laughing hysterically at what a canvas of circles was suppose to be.

On Monday we went to the Tower of London. That place is huge and has so much history involved that it can be very overwhelming. From dungeons to crown jewels to armory it has everything a royal family would need.

Tuesday was one of my favorite days so far. We had the chance to go to the London Temple and spend the day. Unfortunately, our bus wasn't scheduled correctly so we had to take a train and then taxi's to get there but it was definitely worth it. The day was beautiful and the sun was shining the whole time.

We ended the night seeing an amazing play called War Horse about the bond between a boy and his horse. The horse is sold into the army and the boy joins the forces just to bring his horse home.

I realize this blog post is getting quite long but if you hang in with me for a wee bit longer I am almost finished with my update. Today I went on a bus tour that our professors had given us tickets for. We went all over London. Even though we had already seen most of what was on the tour it was nice to see it from a bus and not walking all over the place. The bus ride also included a ferry boat ride so it made for a fun day!

Trafalgar Square

Abraham Lincoln outside of Westminster Abbey

We love Big Ben!

Liz and I on the bus

St. Paul's Cathedral

The London bridge

London really is beautiful

We ended the night walking around Convent Garden looking at shops and listening to live music

Sorry for such a long post. Hopefully you made it to here without being completely bored. I will try to update more often so they can be shorter. As for right now I learn more and more everyday of how lovely London really is.

Until next time...

Highlight of the Week

2011-05-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

We went and saw Les Miserables. It was incredible. We made a little date of it going out to dinner first and everything. We had understudies for 4 major parts - Jean Valjean, Inspector Javert, Cosette, and Marius. At first we were worried about this but they were so great. Some girls had gone a couple of nights before and didn't like Jean Valjean but we loved ours! It was Eponine who stole the show for me. When she sang On My Own I was completely blown away I had tears streaming down my face. Les Mis was the first musical I have seen since being there and it set the bar high for the other plays I will see. Hopefully they can measure up!

They had crushed ice at the restaurant and let you have as much as you wanted! A rarity here!

6th row seats with student discount. We scored big!

Our beautiful group!

A Hard Day's Night

2011-05-06T17:36:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of so many activities it is hard to keep it all straight. From class to scheduled tours and seeing everything in between plus all of that dang homework the day is over before I have had a chance to blog about it all. Touring can be exhausting! Every night I am asleep before my head hits the pillow. I guess that is a good thing though, it means I am being productive! I have seen and done so many things that I have so much to catch up on so this post is going to be a lot of pictures!

The Countdown for the Olympics has started!

Buckingham Palace-They are still working on cleaning everything up from the wedding.

We went to the Globe Theater for All's Well That End's Well. It was freezing but so much fun!

St. Paul's Cathedral, one of my favorite cathedral's I have been to. No wonder Princess Di wanted to get married there! It was beautiful.

My traveling buddy/bunk mate Meisha

Yes that is the Palace Guards playing the drums and electric guitar. They were just rocking out to Somebody To Love...NBD

The Wedding never ends. Went to Westminster Abbey to see all the wedding decorations. Here is where the Duchess of Cambridge entered the Abbey

The beautiful Flowers and Aisle Way

The bouquet. Pictures weren't supposed to be taking so you didn't see any of this (wink wink)

A palace horse named Coachman. He reminds me of the horse on Tangled. Don't you agree?

The Carriage that Prince Charles and the Middleton's rode in on the left. The Carriage that the Queen and Prince Phillip rode in on the right.

William and Catherine's carriage. Unfortunately they did not have it opened up.

The Coronation Carriage

The car the Catherine and her Father rode in on the way to Westminster Abbey

We could not resist...we love their puffy hats!

I don't know if you can really see it but they had the wedding date wrong on this ornament. It said 20 April instead of 29 April

We went on the tour of the National Theater and next to it was this place set aside for graffiti. Someone had gone and put Will and Kate on one of the posts.

Pippa's bum has been making quite a fuss...it even has a facebook page!

Sorry for the overload of pictures, like I said we have been doing so much this isn't even half of it! I promise to be better at keeping updated and actually explaining what I am doing.

Until next time...

Wizard Independence Day

2011-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Kings Cross Station Platform 9 3/4 is a must see in London especially for me. I have to credit my love of Harry Potter to my sister Kacey because she is the truest fan I know. She was the one that finally made me start reading the books when I was 12 and boy am I glad she did! Although the movies aren't as great as the books are they are still pretty good so I could not pass up the chance to see the scenes from the filming.
Unfortunately Kings Cross is under construction so platform 9 3/4 is not as legit as usual but it was good enough for me.

Next up was Diagon Alley what every person that knows Harry Potter dreams of seeing. Lucky for us it is Bank Holiday in England so everyone has closed down shop for the day making the little place that Diagon Alley was in a ghost town leaving the whole place to us. Which of course meant that we took way too many pictures making the day even more memorable. The them of pictures today was goofing off, we are already sick of the standard smiling pictures.

With our constant picture taking we got a little distracted...

Next up: The Leaky Cauldron

Sadly, it has been since painted blue that takes away from the melancholy black that is in the movie.

This wonderful gal was our tour guide for the day. She did all the research for us yesterday and mapped it all out while we were slacking. It was also her birthday today. Happy 19th Tiff!

Last up was Grimwald Place which is much different than what you think. It is just a random office building in the middle of nowhere so they definitely make some changes to it in the movie but we are thinking this big gap between the two sets of offices is where they brought 12 Grimwald Place out of.

The Harry Potter Crew.

Spending my day with Harry Potter is the best way I could think of to spend Wizard Independence Day. Don't you agree? We had an adventure today even getting lost a few times but that's what the best memories come from I think.

I wish Hugh Grant really lived in Notting Hill

2011-05-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Notting Hill has become a recent favorite movie of mine. With Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant a movie can't get much better. Ever since finding out I would be coming to London I have been watching it more often every time getting more excited to walk the streets of Notting Hill. After the hustle and bustle of the Royal Wedding we decided to take Saturday morning easy before heading off to Notting Hill and Portobello Road.

Here are the girls of Flat 6

(Me, Des, Meisha, Meg, Ari)

I had no idea that Portobello road went on for over half a mile. Did you know that it is the largest antique shopping area in the world? We didn't. Since we are still in our first week in London Meisha and I decided to not do a lot of shopping and more experiencing. We walked down the street stopping at all the souvenir shops and vendors on our way. It was the first time I didn't feel like a tourist even though I had my camera out the entire time.

Since Portobello Road is only open on Saturday's we decided that we would be spending many of our Saturday mornings there. It is such a fun atmosphere and cheap too which is always a bonus. I think is was especially crowded with all the people still hanging around from the Royal Wedding so hopefully next time we go we won't be fighting the crowds so much.

Haven't you always wanted to by flowers off the street like how Meg Ryan does in You've Got Mail. Well Meisha and I have but we didn't really want to carry flowers around all day and we don't have anywhere to put them in our tiny little flat so we had to settle for a picture instead.

It did not take long for me to fall in love with Notting Hill. Sadly, the blue front door was never found but I am going to keep looking. If I were to ever move to London this is where I would choose to have my house.

Thanks for the Invite Will and Kate

2011-04-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

I arrived in London on Wednesday afternoon. Since then I have slept 6 hours and eaten around 2 meals, who has time for that stuff when you are in London? Not me. We have been going, going, going since we arrived but it has been so worth it.

The Royal Wedding is one of the reasons I wanted to come on this study abroad, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to see this historical event. We went to Buckingham Palace to check out what was happening the day before and already there were tents lined up in the street. That's when I knew that if I wanted to see anything I would have to sacrifice my sleep and camp out at Buckingham Palace. I managed to convince 13 other people to join me in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so glad that I did.

We could not have found a better place to be we were literally in the center of all the action! After 10+ hours siting and waiting we were able to see the Queen leave for Westminster Abby and then to our surprise the bride drove by also.

Although we were unable to watch the ceremony they had speakers everywhere so we could hear it (plus I knew I would be able to watch it on the news later). Then came the procession. Standing just yards away from the newly married couple is a sight I will never get. Unfortunately, the pictures do not justify since my shock of seeing the Prince and Princess in real life distracted from my photography. Then came Harry, Pippa, THE QUEEN, and the parents of the newly weds. I have never seen so many horses in my life.

The most memorable part of the day for me came at the end when the entire Royal family stood on the balcony and waved to the millions of people. I found myself thinking I was in a movie because I couldn't believe I was actually witnessing this in person. The first kiss was a sight to see and you could tell they were the happiest people in the world.

The Royal Wedding is something I have been looking forward to for months and it exceeded every expectation I had. With 14 people camping out for 14 hours we have many experiences and stories to share. To be apart of it all in person is a memory I will have forever. I mean how many people can say they spent the night at Buckingham Palace and saw the royal family?

Happy Birthday Justin Bieber!

2011-03-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, my apartment threw a birthday bash for the Biebs! Complete with his favorites-Sweet Tarts and Doritios, we even had purple birthday hats!

What can we say?

This Bieber Fever is incurable....even for 20 year old girls!

Welcome July!

2010-06-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that June is almost over? I spent so much time dreading this month and now it has already come and gone!

It is a new month and so I am changing some things in my life. I guess it's kind of like making New Year resolutions but in July instead of January. Except I am going to call it my Happy List because I have so many reasons to happy and it's about time I start taking advantage of them.

~Lake Powell, a place you can't help but be happy in

~One month marks

~~Patriotism. I love the month of July because it is full of patriotic music and fireworks!

~Old and new friends which also means getting on with life

~Getting determination and motivation

~Letters from unexpected friends and letters from best friends

~Being busy with work

~Pictures, I discovered that I love TAKING pictures of people and capturing moments

~Tennis Camp is coming up!! Pebble Beach here I come!

~Spontaneity

~Family Vacations, just got back from Powell and now we are heading to the Valley of the Sun

~Summertime-Swimming, Snow Cones, Drive-In movies, and lots of sun!

I am going to be sure to make July the most fun month of my summer!!

Toy Story 3

2010-06-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, get off the computer and go see it right now! I have already seen it twice I loved it so much! From the very first seen I had the biggest smile on my face, it was like I was a little kid all over again! I have grown up with Toy Story and a year ago I was Andy leaving for college so it definitely hit close to home. I was laughing so hard that I was crying and then I was crying because it was all ending. I'm pathetic, I know. I definitely give it 5 stars. I can't say enough good things about it! So I suggest that everyone goes and sees it!

Time

2010-06-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

Isn't it strange how Time can move seem to move slow but fast all at once?

Lately, Time has been on my mind. It feels as though Time has decided to go into slow motion for me. What feels like should have been a month has only been 2 weeks. Time is playing a mean trick on me.

When you look back on a year ago and it seems like it went to fast. But then you think about that year and how much happened. It was full of experiences, new faces and friends, problems and challenges, and so many more memories. When you are looking back a year seems like nothing, but when you are living that year it is a whole different story.

I always think about how when I am hanging out with my friends the Time flies by and all of the sudden it is Time to go home but when I am working out 5 minutes feels like 30 minutes. Or how when you are in school and Friday can't come fast enough but in the summer you couldn't care less.

I have learned that Time really does fly when you are having fun. When I am doing the things I enjoy, spending Time with the people I love, and keeping busy it feels like I don't have enough Time in a day. So the past few weeks I have tried to keep as busy as possible-it hasn't really worked.

Time is a concept that I haven't been able to wrap my head around and probably never will. To tell you the absolute truth-Time freaks me out.

Oh Time, please stop torturing me and pick up the pace! I want to get on with my attempt at a care-free summer!

Hello, Goodbye

2010-04-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been a couple weeks since I have blogged so bear with me because this one is going to be kind of long. 1 week ago I was getting on a plane to come home from Hawaii...for good. I was excited to be coming home but sad and shocked that my Hawaiian experience was already over.
Lohren and I started packing up our room at the beginning of the week and although it was weird, sad, happy, and so many other things, we made sure to make our last week one to remember as roommates.
One of my favorite nights was when we were attempting to study for our biology final the next day (attempting being the key word) before we knew it the time was 2:00 am. Lohren and I had been singing Aaron Carter's "Aaron's Party" for a few days and decided that we had to make a video of it:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150154055780084&subj=512411426
After a few tries we finally perfected it and then went on to study till about 3:30 am!

The next day I was so excited because I was able to go pick up my mom from the airport! She was coming over to help us get ready and packed to go home. We made a stop at the temple to snap a few pictures before heading to her hotel.

The packing continued and before we knew it we were just about done with our finals. We spent the last few days either sorting through our room or sitting by the pool at Turtle Bay trying to get the last few rays of sunshine before heading to Utah. Our last final was in sign language. We had to get up in front of the class and do a children's book in sign. So as we were tanning by the pool we were also practicing.
Of course the last weekend of being in Hawaii I had to get sick. It made it a little harder to stay up late and celebrate finishing my
freshman year of college but somehow I managed. Lohren and I spent
our last days watching movies, packing, and reminiscing. On our last night we went to a party with everyone but I started coming down with a fever so we didn't last to long there. Instead we came home and tried to get all of our odds and ends together before having to check out the next morning, but of course we made it much more fun then it sounds.
Sneaking around the dorms, eating oreos, laughing, singing, falling off chairs, and of course dancing. We were finally getting into bed when I realized that we hadn't done the one thing we promised we would do. On our first day as official roommates we were feeling like losers so we sat in our room and learned the Hoedown Throwdown from the Hannah Montana Movie. We kept saying that we were going to film it and never did. So I dragged/pulled/forced Lohren out of bed at 3 am to make this:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=420640231426&comments

We didn't get too sad checking out until we had to close our door to our room. I couldn't believe that I would never open this door again into the little 5 by 5 space we had made to be our home.
We had to make one last stop at Ted's before leaving, so we decided to go on the way of taking Garrett to the airport and it worked perfectly because we ran into Egan there.

On our last day we woke up to do something that we hadn't done yet. After 7 months of living in Hawaii you'd think that we would have gotten up on a surfboard but the truth is we hadn't even really tried. So we signed up for lessons and the hotel and hit the waves.
We were pretty nervous paddling out there, it is quite the work out. Our nerves grew when our instructors realized that the waves were much bigger than they thought, but that didn't stop us. By the end of the two hours we had both stood up and unfortunately had both gotten crushed by the waves as well. It was the perfect note to end such an amazing experience on.

Good as New

2010-04-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

This year I have discovered that I am probably too emotional for my own good, but I can't do anything about that. So last night as I was talking to my Mom and we were both in tears-I was homesick and didn't like being away for my birthday-and she didn't like being away from me at all. After getting off the depressing phone call I needed something to make everything better. Do you have something that no matter what the situation is it can make everything okay? If you don't then I suggest you find it! For me, it is the movie You've Got Mail. I curled up in my bed, turned it on, and was smiling again within seconds. And now, today, I am as good as new and ready to attack the SUPER busy week ahead of me and then get on a plane HOME!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2010-04-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend was very special because it was our last full weekend here at school and it was MY BIRTHDAY!! Let's just start by saying I have the best family in the entire world. My week started off by getting about 7 packages.
My mom had sent me a package for every day of my birthday week full of things centered around 19. My cousins and grandparents and sent a combined package and then I had one from Kacey. It was super hard not to rip them all open on right when I got them but I made it through. At midnight I opened a package from my mom and it was a birthday cake!! I couldn't believe it! For all of our birthday's we always have a Mrs. Backers cake so my mother made sure I got one! Kels, Jess, Lo and I dug in right away! I also opened my cousins package that was a super cute headband and rings!

In the morning I woke up to a completely decorated room with a banner, confetti, and balloons. I opened my other two packages-shoes and necklace from kacey and a new watch, family picture, and vera bradley wallet! The girls went to Hukilau Cafe for breakfast which was delicious. Unfortunately, I had to go to class and then a thing for my piano class after but it was fine. Then Jess, Kels, and I went to go get me a nice diet coke!
We came back, showered and headed into town for a fabulous girls night! We ate dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise where Lohren pretended being deaf and I was her translator, we needed to start practicing for our sign language final! Our waitress was so great and brought me out a mud pie on her for my birthday so they sang and I blew out my candles!

After we hit the streets of Waikiki where I got my fortune read-she told me that I needed to enjoy my youth, I am going to fall in love immediately, my husband is going to worship and cherish me, and that
whatever I do next in my life will

make me very very happy!
That was quite the experience! After that, we went and I opened a pearl and had it set on a beautiful ring. It was an amazing birthday!

The next morning we woke up and rounded up Garrett, Egan, and Walker and headed to the water park. It was SO much fun! haha We were having a blast. It was such a riot. We were just laughing the entire time down every single slide. It was a beautiful day and we all got some sun! Overall it was an amazing birthday! Thank you to everyone for all the texts, calls and birthday wishes, it made my day that much better!