Disappearing For A Bit

Wow... So it turns out I'm really bad at keeping up with my blog.. I really gotta work on that. But working on that will have to come later, because tomorrow I'm taking a much needed vacation!!!! :) Woohoo!! So, first, tomorrow we are driving up to Provo, Utah for my wonderful cousin Marisa's wedding on Friday!! I am so excited for her! It will be lots of fun, and lots of family will be there. Then, either that night or the next morning we will be leaving for Lake Powell!!

So, for those of you who don't know about Lake Powell, my mom's side of the family goes every year and it's pretty crazy. You'd think camping on a beach for a week would be amazing right? It is!!! But here, let me break down what happens for you (after the boring parts of setting up camp and what not).

1. Swimming!!! Lots and lots and lots of it. It's basically the only way you can stay cool when you're living on a beach for a week.

2. Tubing! This is one of the best parts. My dad has a big strong boat that can pull us pretty darn fast, and it's his goal to whip us as hard as we can until the entire thing flips and throws all of us off like this..

The boat also puts out GINORMOUS waves that he will loop back around to make us jump, and it's so much fun!!


3. THE SAND HILL!!

This is a tradition we do if we can, and don't ask why, because I have no idea... We climb this extremely tall, steep hill made up of sand (which makes it even more difficult to climb). It takes a long time for me, and I normally have to stop and rest once or twice, lol, and you haven't officially climbed it until you get all the way to the top and touch the back wall.

It's a beautiful view from the top though :) And then once we're at the top we can do fun things in order to get down. Like if you're my cousin Syrena, you can do 10 back hand springs with sand flying in your face all the way down until you crash and you roll the rest of the way. If you're my brother Kirby, you can get a broken wake board and use it to slide down the whole way. And if you're me... you can run/skip down the hill full speed.

4. Go boating through the canyons!

It's so pretty through here, and we normally go swimming in some nice shady part. It's always fun to go as far back in the canyons as you can, because every year the water level is different.

5. Random gaming and other stuff!

In our spare time when we don't feel like going out on the boat and we just want to sit in the shade, we normally break out a game like the AMAZING Killer Bunnies!!! So much fun :)

6. Surviving Rain storms. This is the worst part of Lake Powell every year, and it's what almost makes it so we don't come back, but we are crazy enough to put ourselves through the torture yet again. This is what we see in the distance

I know what you're thinking. "Ooh! Pretty!!" Yeah, I know... but that storm was deadly.. this is the after picture, after it's done its damage. What damage you ask? See for yourself.

Shade tarps gone to pieces because we couldn't take them down in time. Those storms come up with little warning and pick up wind speed like crazy. Last year one of the smaller boats even sank... nearer to the shore so we had the whole family rocking it back and forth and bailing water and sand. It was ridiculous, but we saved it. It was pretty trashed, but it could be fixed.

7. Star Gazing. At night on the beach, there's no lights out there, so the best part of the night is laying down and looking up at the stars. There are so many and it's guaranteed you'll see at least two shooting stars per night. It is so beautiful out there and I could look at the stars for hours. It's truly amazing.

Well, there's other stuff that we do, but that about sums up what I'll be doing for the next 10 days or so. Lots of fun :) Anyway, so I will be out of touch for a while and won't be posting anything on here. Not that you'll notice... Anyway, See you guys!

Fun Fact Friday

Well guys, it's that time of the week! It's FRIDAY!! The best day of the week as some people might say. As of right now for me all it means is that we'll be super busy at work tonight... lol it's still a good day though :). So this is the segment of my blog that will be something random about me that not a lot of people know. Things like my pet peeves, random food I like, things that make me happy, stuff like that. Something that will help y'all get to know me a bit better. So, today's fun fact is.....

I hate name tags...

This issue has come up quite recently actually as we had two wards combine and there's soooo many new people that they've asked us to wear name tags. So, why do I hate them? Let's make a list

Problem #1

Though I like meeting new people, I swear name tags make it super hard. It's like, "Oh, I already saw your name, so I figured I didn't need to know anything else about you." Like, at work we have name tags and whenever we get a new person I feel awkward if I don't introduce myself the first time I see them, because then, a month into working with this person you still have never used their name because you think it would be awkward if you just started using their name because you saw it on their name tag and not because you met them, so then you go on never talking to this person and it just creates even more awkward situations down the road... Seriously, the world would be so much better off without name tags. If you want to know my name, just ask. That way I won't think you're creepy if you come up to me on a day that I don't have a name tag and you use my name...

Problem #2

 Name tags mock me... Name tags are like another way of proving to everyone that I cannot come up with something clever or funny on the spot. Hardly anyone puts their REAL name on their name tags and they'll put something clever, like the first person whoever thought of putting "Inigo Montoya" on theirs. That's clever and funny. Me? I put my real name because I lack the skills of coming up with anything else to put on there. So then, I'll try to be cool and write my name all fancy. I seem to surprise myself at how terrible my artistic skills are every time I try to be creative in drawing. I am also reminded that I have terrible hand-writing... So it's just another form of public humiliation for me lol

Last, but not least there is 

Problem #3....

.....Where the heck do you put it?!? 

I mean, guys do not really have this problem at all, but the girls do. We try to avoid the obvious, but awkward place to put it, so we try everything we can. We try putting it right on our ribs, but that doesn't work so well. We're crossing our arms, and moving around so much that it falls off within minutes. So the next thing we try is on the side of our shoulder or arm. This solution is a tad bit better if you're one who can sit still, but if you're not, then it's just bent the name tag into a more unnatural position and it just continues to curl up until it pops off. So... with the obvious solution being the only one left, we at least try to make it better by putting it higher up closer to our collar bone without putting it on our skin because that is annoying. But I tried this on sunday and it was soooo hot that I sweat through the dang thing and ended up just ripping it off in embarrassment and frustration. I swear, we're better off putting them on our foreheads.... 

Well friends, that was the fun fact of this fantastic friday. (Try saying that five times fast) I hope you enjoyed it, and it made you laugh or at least smile... if not, too bad. It's not like you came into MY blog expecting to laugh! You should know me better than that. Anyway, enjoy the start of what I hope will be a wonderful weekend for everyone! And see if you can get that darn song out of your head....

My New Blog!

So, I've been wanting to make a blog for a really long time, and I finally did it! Woohoo! Haha most of you who know me know how much I talk, so this is a way to get out everything that I don't say, and random stuff like that. When I talk some times I don't always have the right words, but when I write, it's different. So this blog is just kind of random to document my thoughts and let you get to know me a little better, and I'll have certain special things that I'll do. Things like posting a new photo every once in a while to try and better my photo skillz, and trying a new dessert recipe at least once a month. Random stuff, you know.
The blog is titled "Loving Life" because that's what I'm doing right now. Though life gets hard sometimes (heck, it's hard right now), there's really no use in being down about it all the time. And I'm not saying I'm always happy-go-lucky like everyone thinks that I am. I have problems just like everyone else, but I bear them well because I know how to see the good in situations and still be positive. So maybe some of the days I blog will just be tips for living a happy life or something. Though I don't often give out advice because I'm really bad at it, lol. And yes, I will be using "lol" and "haha" in the blog to express a funny moment or whenever even though I know it's text talk. It's just what I do.
So.... I figured I'd start you guys off with my favorite photo of the week. It is currently my laptop background, and I really like it :)

These flowers grow on these massive bushes that grow around the house I was living in, and I was playing around with a camera one day and got this. This huge, obnoxious, thorny bush blossoms with these absolutely beautiful little flowers. It kind of remind me of people sometimes, you know? Sometimes the people that seem all hard on the outside can really surprise you with something that they do, and then you realize that they really are a good person, and you just had to get to know them a little better. Like this plant. I definitely did not like it during fall or winter because all it was was a big annoying thornbush, but in the spring it showed me another side of itself that I would never gotten to know if I hadn't taken the time to explore. Sometimes it just takes a little effort on your part ;)

Well my friends, I hope you enjoyed my little blog post, and I hope to post often, but I can't promise anything. I don't even know who will read this, but I hope people do. Bye for now