Spring Break... two weeks late!

(This post was national geographic worthy for pictures... but somehow they wouldn't work so sorry! Check my facebook though, all of them are on there!)

For my spring break this year, mom, dad, and I (after driving to Josh's) went to Sharese's. We got there on Mondayish, albeit slowly with me driving! We stayed until Friday and the week was full of fun with the kids, practices, parties... and just hanging out with family. I swear that between emma, halle, and jordan, there are enough webkinz to fill toys 'r' us... The first day I got there I got the low down on who was who and when they were bought... after 15ish dogs and cats names that spanned from fluffy to whiskers, I kinda dozed off.

Haha it was fun though getting to spend time with the kids and seeing how much they've grown over the past few years. I haven't seen them since about two years ago. Man have they changed!

We also visited the Air Force museum near the AF Base. We saw tons of planes, spaceships and everything in between. We even got to go on the actual base to tour past planes of presidents!

We celebrated Eli's and Dad's birthday with cake and ice cream (of course.) Sharese had the cutest kit for a "monkey" party for Eli. She taught me how to ice cupcakes. i should pretty much go pro now! Of course… Sharese had me do the ones with sprinkles just in case I messed up too bad we could have a way of covering them up!

At the end of the week we drove to Indianapolis, Indiana to go visit places for the final four.

We got to see team practices, the Lucas Oil Stadium, the convention center

and alot of stuff. The stadium which usually houses the Colts, had a basketball court moved into the center and chairs all around it. It was HUGE. no joke! There were thousands of people... It was unbelievable.

Sadly we had to say goodbye after a great week.

Until next time!

This awesome cathedral we saw in Indiana.

I would say we had an uneventful drive home.. which we did until about 35 miles out in Swan Valley when Bambi lodged itself onto the front right side of the bumper on Jeremy's SUV. Let's just say.. it didn't turn out to good. For the car or the deer. But thankfully (since I'm so lat ewith this post) I can say that the car is fixed and it looks amazing (meaning a lot coming from Jeremy!). Now.. I can't say so much for the deer.

At one of the gas stations we saw this sign behind it:)

Josh's and the Mall of America!

To celebrate my week off for Spring Break, mom, dad, and I all headed out on a 28-hour drive to see Josh, Sharese & family. The first weekend we spent with Josh in Rochester, MN. He showed us all the amazing sights, and his work. He's doing his residency at the Mayo Clinic there and he graciously gave us a tour. The thing is HUGE! (...well technically it has a hospital and a clinic? but I won't go into that) It started as a convent? or a place with nuns then when the influenza of the early 1900's came, the two Mayo brothers in partnership with the nuns used it as a place of refuge and healing... then voila! It is what it is today. Despite the various add ons and underground tunnels that span the entire city. It was very calm there and up beat. Definitely not filled with the doom and gloom of some places. I was so proud when I saw Josh's name on a little board in the section of the clinic he works in! Aww.. All grown up:]

These really weird light things that were hanging in one of the corners.Sniff sniff.. I'm tearing up. But look! There's Josh's name. How precious is that??

The next day we drove to Minneapolis to go to the Mall of America! It. Was. Gigantic. Four floors/stories of shops, cafes, stores, amusement park, and anything you name it they have it! The mini-disneyland is in the center of the beast and stores surround the park in a huge circle, then stores surround those stores! Ahh! There had to be at least 1,000 stores. Luckily we got there earlier in the morning so we could shop a little before it got SO crowded. (definitely not a good idea to go on a Saturday!)

Now that I’m home, Dad jokes with the shopping I did we have our own “Hall of America” right here in this house. I think he might be right!

Three floors! (for most of it.. .there was a little hidden fourth floor)

Waiting in line for rides all by myself... :( haha just kidding. There were only enough points leftover for one ride! Josh and Mom came on the other rides with me.

Ahh!!

Mom, Josh, and I on the twisty twister!Lego Land (this one is for Devin, Jeremy, and Dallin.)

The indoor Amusement Park

Phew... thankfully there are escalators!

Mall Directory. Picture = of one floor. and it has four sides.

It was so fun to see Josh and to visit the places he sees everyday! Now.. the 12-hour drive to Sharese’s!

Dad's New Hair Style

There comes a time in life when you just become tired of the same ol', same ol' hairstyle. That happened this week with Dad's hair.... I think Ashley inspired his choice of length and hair color with her recent futuristic dance costume that requires something that looks a little like this:

New Countertops!

This week we had a mighty fine surprise of getting new countertops... but this time they were granite! They look absolutely beautiful and our kitchen looks SO much better now. No joke. It's a huge difference. Mom didn't even tell me she was so smug until I walked into the house and... There they were! She picked out one of the best ones at the store, I must say. So pretty!

Also this week: I had a track meet on Friday in Preston, Idaho. It took us five hours there and back and lucky us, it snowed the entire time we were there. But I did get to see some pretty flippin' sweet sites.... the colored lockers, hand-printed walls, and the steps of Preston High School.. (Napolean Dynamite was filmed there).

Ashley had a dance performance in Utah on Saturday for the Odyssey dance invitational. Her dance team was one of three that were invited back to perform from one of her competitions which is pretty dang cool!

Next week is spring break and I am totally stoked! We're driving back to Rochester to see Josh (and go to the Mall of America of course!!) for the weekend then going out to see Sharese, Travis, and all the young'ns. At the end of the week (which it will pass by way too fast) we'll make the long drive back!

Just A Warning!!

WIth soccer, track, school, and church all going now at the same time, I'm going to be pretty busy! So apologies in advance if I don't update my blog for two months!

There's a little less than three months left in the school year, and the time is going to fly before summer is gonna be here! Just one of my favorite pictures lately...

ISU Field Trip!

Yesterday the two Honor's Science classes at Taylorview headed to ISU for National Engineers Week. Everybody participated in different areas to make projects whether it be: perpetual motion, edible cars, clay boats, spaghetti bridges, electric car, and mousetrap car. Ally, Shaylyn, and me all did edible cars.. and despite our efforts we didn't walk away with any prizes, just very sticky hands. We put alot of effort into it, but walking into the competition blind is pretty hard. The day was still so much fun! We played around alot and met tons of new people.. Plus, even though my group didn't win, Taylorview still won 1/2 to 3/4 of the awards. THat's right! We dominated!!

Both classes

Me and Katie on the bus

I met a new friend!
Our car died a painful death at the end of the ramp
To celebrate our wins in class Friday we had a little party with Root Beer and dry ice.

Our second food car! Rice Krispies, kisses, pretzels, and marshmallow wheels. We even put a liscense plate on it that said: "UBUGME"
We were really bored on our way down!! haha

St. George

I've been doggin' it on my posts lately so here goes...
St. George temple at night... So pretty! It just barely got painted. Apparently it is is made out of red sandstone and just painted white!! Fun fact!On one of our many dessert stops! We had to make up with teh mistake of getting ice cream from Jack In the Box so we stopped at DQ the next night! My blizzard was overflowing!Last week mom, dad, and I headed out to sunny, warm, 65 degree St. George for my Ice Breaker soccer tourney. An arch we saw on our way down....We left Thursday after school and went to SLC where we stayed with Devin and Julie for the night. Some nummy razzleberry pie was picked up along with ice cream for dessert.

What got me thru the long trip: Red Mango- frogurt, and homework. We began the long drive Friday and got there around 2:30. We stayed in Cedar City (about 40 miles north) at the Crystal Inn. They had the BEST breakfast ever. I was pretty much in love with it the whole weekend... despite the fact that it was free and served in a pub.. ANYWAYS! once we got to Cedar City we started shopping! There major store Christensen's was our first stop.

I was looking at some Mek's to try on when I reached into the pocket and found $250! in cash!! Wow! haha I toook it up to the front desk where we found out whose it was ( this lady named Tangie). It was definitely a warm fuzzy moment!

haha afterwards we stopped for dinner at the Hong Kong Buffet. Let me tell you, that place is SOOO good. There was so much food and even a sushi bar and a dessert bar and like 30 other bars of food! A chinese lady waited on us and I'm not gonna lie I was kinda scared. She kept staring at me so I felt pretty intimidated. If you look closely you can see her in the background with the pink shirt staring right at me!

"For buffet to go PLEASE make sure that the box is fully closed when it is finished. We will charge an extra price IF IT IS not closed!!"

Later that night we watched "Up" which mom and dad loved! Cutest show ever. Sorry, had to include this picture. I have to say it is the CREEPIEST rabbit I have ever seen so I had to document it! Saturday the games started and we played two, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first game the other team was up by 3 goals at half but we came back and scored 2. In the second game we lost 1-0. I didn't get to play my main position (sweeper, defense). instead I played striker or forward, and wing. It was a new experience, but once I got the hang of it I got really aggressive!Me and Dad. and me and mom... bonding moment!!

With our extra time we escaped to go shopping and to play some golf. I got some way cute pants! and other stuff:]

We had a spaghetti dinner that night with the team at one of my friend's condos. We played the "What if" game. All the girls decided to gang up on our coach, Charlie, and after I had all ready written my question, I thought of an even better one! What if Charlie bit me??? refer to youtube clip.

Sunday we were able to go to a local church and watch the movie about hockey, "Miracle." the first time I watched it I fell asleep so this time I made a conscious effort to stay awake... yeah.. lasted about an hour!

Duke, Jill, Mom and Dad... the old rag tag gang!
Later in the day we decided to go visit one of dad's mission companions, Duke Hollingshead, who are also college friends with Mom and Jill H., out in Minersville. It was really fun and everyone got to reflect on old memories and times. WE also got to go feed Duke's cows and see his horse and baby calf, along with the old dairyWe also saw the Parowan Gap, with the crazy engravings on the stones. The Gap between the mountains!

(don't tell dad but there WERE buffalo there way back when!!!)

Monday we had our last game where we played the number 1 seeded team!

All the Taylorview gals! We lost by 2... or maybe 3. For the weekend tourney I thought my team played pretty good for only have 3 practices together. not even outside! We still have a foot and a half of snow in Idaho!Our whole team!

We shopped a little on the way home before arriving at our end of travel at around 9 o'clock. I got to drive from a little before blackfoot till all the way home! It was a lot of fun to drive, and to let mom and dad have a little break.

Well, that was it for our President's weekend! On to this new week with my science field trip to ISU to compete in the edible car contest (more on that later) so Hobey ho, let's go!