Lately...

Our computer has been broken. So. I am using that as my excuse for not updating this "family blog" of our little threeish foursome at home.
Well. This last month has passed by WAY too fast. I only have 14 days left of school!
I've had two soccer tournaments. One in twin falls, and one here in IF. The weekend in Twin Falls.. I drove the entire way there I was SO proud! And our games went really good. Saturday we played The Utah Firebirds and tied them 2-2. We played together like a team so well. Our game in the afternoon we lost 2-0 to Boise's Rush Nike. They were both age 16 teams, premier, some of the best in their states! Which says something about how much better our team is getting!
After visiting with Jeff and Rose, and making a stop at Costco, we rushed home. Uncle Carl and Aunt Joan just got back from their mission in Sacramento, so all the family came to hear them in church and visit. It was really pleasant and we got to meet Doris, Clark's (Marilyn, Sharilyn, Robbie) new wife. She was super nice and her cooking was delicious!
Sunday we went to Joan/Carl's homecoming and afterwards to dinner at their house. Everyone that could come was there and it was just great to see everyone. We got to meet Sharilyn's husband, Thomas and hear his amzing conversion story. It was just great.
Fast forward a weekend!
A couple of my friends and me crashed the freshman formal at our rival junior high, Gale. It was a blast and we danced the night away!
Next weekend!
IF soccer tourney! Again our team played awesome and we are improving SO much. I've really bonded with them (finally) and we all get along. Our team lost the first game, tied the second, and won the third. Somehow with the way our points turned out we got to play two games saturday instead of one friday, saturday, and sunday. I was really excited because usually i never get to play the last game!
Well. That's our update for the last month! Sorry. Again no pictures. I'm too lazy! But hopefully once I'm done with school i will have sharese-worthy posts! Haha everyone have a great week!

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