So school started on Wednesday. I was not really excited, but it was better than I thought. Sadly though, on Tuesday night I had the worst sleep of my life. It happened last year too - the night before school started. I'm thinkin maybe it's cause i'm subconsciously excited or something ridiculous like that. I got in bed around ten thirty, and was just laying there for hours, it felt like. Then, I woke up at three and I seriously thought I had never fallen asleep. I dont know if i ever did, but then i was just laying there till like five when i fell asleep. When my mom came to see if I was up around six she "woke me up" and she said I said something weird to her. I do that quite often. So, yeah that sucked. But it wasn't that bad a week of school. I already got behind on my homework but don't even worry, that's not how it's gonna be the rest of the year. Straigh A's (and i'll settle for B's) baby!

Here's some pictures from the last week of summer.



La Jolla Shores, Ward beach party. Thank goodness Cali got me unafraid of cold water. I'll go in no matter what :) Thats the way to do it.





Me and some girls from my ward went to the boys volleyball game and cheered them on. I felt kinda bad that the other wards playing them didn't get the girls from their ward cheering them on but i guess they don't love them like we do. Later that night we went to In N Out. The following saturday they had their championship game and sadly..lost. It was the most intense game. A good one, but depressing. They get really into it over here....



^^(far left) Dolphins!!



Yeah, I did learn how to surf. Hailey took about 150 pictures of us (literally. that was our day of taking two hundred pics since thats on an epic summer list) and so I'll get those and post them up. It was so much fun, and I'm going again right after I finish this. I hope to get good...

Beauty #2

(^^not bad ehh?)
On Saturday night we got to go to a wedding reception from Bre Francois and Jordan Hepworth. Bre waited for Jordan as he served a mission and got engaged shortly after he got back. They were kind enough to invite us, even though they don't know us very well. They invited most of our ward. They were so cute together, it made me so jealous :) They got married in the San Diego temple that morning and then used a friend's backyard for the reception. It was gorgeous, with an amazing view.

The reception was just as I've always dreamed. They started out with a ring ceremony, where Bishop Clyde explained a little the ceremony they had in the temple and what it meant. They said a few things to each other, which was adorable, and exchanged rings. It was almost like a non-lds wedding - the bridesmaids and ushers walked up and everything.


They then had a buffet with delicious food. They had a dessert table with a chocolate fountain. It was amazing. A little later they had a "Roast." The maid of honor (Hailey Francois) and the best man (Jake Wertner) took turns telling embarrassing stories of the bride and groom. Haha that was sure fun. They had a toast and then they cut the cake. Later, the bride and groom even did the whole "First Dance" thing, and had the bride dance with the father, and the groom with his mother. Then everyone else could dance. They ended with the bouquet being thrown and the garder being removed.
It was a good old traditional service. That's exactly what I want to do with mine. And it made me extremely excited for my sister to get married, whenever that may be.

^^Click for bigger view

Beauty #1

Beauty of the Day 8/14/10:



So on Saturday we went to the beach thinking itd be sunny and warm and all. But it was coold and cloudy. The water, was ice cold. My feet ached from walking in it for two minutes. But I went with the intention to boogeyboard, so i did so. I made my dad come with me, which is a huge accomplishment since he won't get in the pool if it's a little too cold. And this water...man. On the lifeguard tower they wrote that it was sixty degrees. I do not believe that. It felt so much colder than that! But my beauty of the day was boogeyboardin with my dad. And the beach - it's still gorgeous even on its cloudiest days.

Eat. Pray. Love.

Eat Pray Love. I saw this movie today, and really liked it. It was all about taking the time you need for yourself, to make the changes you might have to and to find out what life's all about. How amazing would it be, to spend a year in places you've never been, all for yourself. Meeting new people and trying new things. I would love more than anything to do that. Learning new languages, trying new foods. The possibilities would be endless. I hope that I can do that one day. I'd love to go to Italy, and to Bali. I'd love to go to where people meditate and receive their fortunes from an old medicine man with no teeth. I'd want to see if I can take it, staying in a home with no walls or electricity. Riding a bike everywhere - Surrounded by the wilderness of Bali. Space to breath :) I'm guessing I should start saving up for this trip now..along with the money I'm supposed to be saving for a car, and college...ay.

Some words of wisdom from Ketut: "Ruin is the road to transformation."
& "To heal is to trust." How I'd love to meet a man like him.

Fallen in Love

I have definitely fallen in love with Lucy :) I absolutely love this show. I laugh so hard. It puts me in such a good mood. First I got into Audrey Hepburn, and then my friend got me into Elvis movies, and now I Love Lucy. I'm thinking I'll stick to the oldies. They're better anyways.

Cookie Fail

Beauty of the Day 8/6/10:

This was my attempt at making cookies. This is more like my FAIL of the day, but let's look at it in a beautiful way: I learned exactly how not to make cookies. How do we learn without mistakes, right?
I wanted to make these cookies all by myself and was determined on doing so. The recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of flour. I took that as two 1/4 cups of flour...makes me look pretty stupid doesn't it. I wondered why it didn't just say a half a cup, but did it anyway. When seeing that the dough was a lot less thick than it should have been, my mom asked me if I put the full two and a fourth cups of flour in. I just burst out laughing. I ran over to the oven, and beheld my wonderful creation.
That reminded me of a time i tried to make brownies for my friends that were coming over. It called for 1/4 a cup of water. But no...i put in four cups of water. When the batter was basically liquid I realized my mistake and added enough flour to make it thick. I didn't realize however, that that would over power the chocolatey taste. You can all assume that those brownies weren't the best around.
So, what I learned from all of this, I suck at cooking. Its not just not one of my strengths, it is my weakness. Someday, I'm going to take cooking classes and be the best chef there is :) maybe...

Leaving Utah

Beauty of the Day 7/28/10:




We drove back to California on Wednesday, and we had to stop by a friend's house to drop something off. So we decided to go up to the temple for a second. It was raining, and there was lightning and I loved the way it looked reflecting off the clouds, revealing the silhouette of the mountains. Oh how i love those mountains. I tried to catch lighting in a picture buut i don't think digital cameras are the best to do so. I then decided that I want to do that before I die - capture a picture of lightning. That would be amazing.
I love the Salt Lake valley. It is so beautiful. You definitely don't appreciate those sort of things until they're taken away from you.

The Catapult

Beauty of the Day 7/29/10:




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Beautiful? To me, yes. I overcame my childhood fears. I remember going to Lagoon oh so many years ago, looking at The Catapult, and thinking to myself: "I will never, ride anything like that in my entire life." So while there on Thursday, I thought: "Why not! I might as well prove myself wrong." I paid the 15 dollars, and went on that thing with no hesitation. Granted, I was freaking out the second I was strapped in but thats normal. It was a thrill - so much fun. My friend Whitney said that the Sky Coaster was more fun, but I still liked it :) I was so proud of myself. Afterwards, we watched the video they recorded from the camera inside the ball and I really wanted to buy it. It was ten dollars and I only had 5, so the guy said he could just give it to us if we didn't tell anyone. It's amazing what a little flirting can get you. Now sadly, we got the wrong video when we went back to get it...but at least we didn't pay for it. But on the bright side, I got a video of some random people that I can laugh at!

The Weekend

So i haven't blogged in a couple days, 'cause I went to bear lake! So much fun. Every year, my mom's whole side of the family goes up to Bear Lake for the weekend. Some of us stay in a hotel, and others camp out. We always go to my Grandma's cousin's house for breakfast and lunch on Saturday. I refer to her as my Aunt Barbara. Her little vacation house is right on the lake. She's made the best "hot cakes" for as long as I can remember. The hotel a lot of us stayed in is called the Motor Lodge. Nice, right? There was a big hispanic family reunion that had taken up every single room there except for the ones we got, so let's just say we had a hard time getting to sleep at night. They were super friendly people, but at night when they had too much beer and were belting out Hotel California, we second guessed our choice of venue.
Boating is the best thing ever, so I had a lot of fun. And let's not forget those famous Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes. We get them every year :)




Alissa brought her friend Jessica. We bought these flowers (can't really see mine) from a little girl selling them along the beach. Alissa lost hers cause she wore it on the waverunner, but she bought another one the next day. Ohh alissa...