This past week I had a few adventures with my family.  It was great and so much fun, Thank You for the memories!

Adventure #1:
16.June.2010
My roommate gave me coupons for Lagoon Theme Park and so I called my mom and let her know I had them.  However, she neglected to tell my dad about them and my sister had to work that day, so just my little brother flew up to go to Lagoon with me.  I picked him up from the airport and we went to breakfast at Village Inn, and it tasted amazing.  Lagoon opened at 11am and we were one of the first in line to get in.  It was such a nice day, it wasn't too hot or too cold and the lines for the roller coasters were very short.  I couldn't have asked for it to be better. By three pm, we did all the rides we wanted to do, and then the storm clouds came in and the wind picked up so we rode the Samurai and the Rocket one more time each and we left.  The Samurai is definitely my favorite ride, I've never laughed so hard on a ride before in my life.  We went to Jimmy John's for lunch/dinner and then went to the city library to go on the roof, only to find it was already closed.  We were disappointed and still had time to kill before I had to take Chip back to the airport so we went to Gateway Mall. Thank you for coming up and going to Lagoon with me Cheppe, I had a lot of fun and it was great spending the day with you.

Adventure #2:
19.June.2010
Last week my cousin, Allie, participated in Miss Utah Pageant and my aunt invited us to go on Saturday, the final day of the pageant.  Allie represented Miss Castle Valley.  My mom and grandmother flew up on Saturday afternoon and we went to Temple Square and the Gateway Mall before the pageant started.  We met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousins and ate dinner at Rumbi's.  Allie was so beautiful and did an amazing job.  When she did her talent, she performed an amazing dance routine that was so graceful and elegant.  I may be biased but she was the best girl on that stage.  The theme this year was Mission: Possible, which was very fun and didn't seem like a typical theme for a pageant.  Congratulations to Allie for making it in the top 10.  I'm so happy I could come watch you and also for being inspired to do great things.

Adventure #3:
20. June. 2010
On Sunday, my mom and grandma wanted to go down to Orem to visit my cousin Cody, who tore his ACL and other tendons and ligaments so the three of us drove down there.  My mom texted Cody on Saturday night to let him know we were coming down, but the rest of his family didn't know.  We got there around 10:30am and went inside through their backdoor.  No one was around inside so we shouted his name and then my aunt came downstairs.  She was very surprised to see us, which was pretty fun.  My cousin Brady then came upstairs to see what was going on and then my uncle came home.  It was great to visit with everyone and spend time with them.  We realized we made them late for church, which we felt bad about, since we didn't go to church at all.  We then went to the Edgingtons because we had time to kill before my mom and grandma had to be dropped off at the airport for their flight back to St. George.  We decided to wait outside in the car because we didn't think they would be home from church yet. Across the street there were some fruit trees and the conversation we had about the trees went like this:

Mom: What is that tree over there with the red things on it?
Grandma: Oh, it's a cherry tree.  Can't you tell by the leaves? (She said that in a 'well hello! Don't you know?' type voice... priceless)
Dani: Bahahahahaha (I was crying because I was laughing so hard; like we know anything about fruit tree leaves.  I mean, really.)
Mom: Hahahaha. Mom you know we don't have any reason to know what cherry tree leaves look like. (she said something like that in between her laughing.  I can't exactly remember word for word what she said and what was said after that because like I said before, I was laughing so hard.)

Our trip to Orem and Provo ended up being a lot of fun, I enjoyed it so much.  It felt weird because we didn't go to church, and we spent all day with family, but it was still very nice.  The only thing missing was my dad, brothers and sisters.  I wanted to go home for father's day but spending time with important women in my life was really great too and I'm grateful that I could.  Love you all.  

Dear Dad,

I love you.  I am so grateful and so blessed to have you in my life.  Happy Fathers Day!I hope you have a wonderful fathers' day today and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.  I appreciate everything you do for me, and I know it's A LOT!!! Thank you for all the many memories we have shared and I am excited for many more to come. You are amazing and I look up to you soo much.  Thank you for everything.
Love, your daughter

Shout Out...

Happy Birthday Jacee!!

Today is my little sister's birthday.  Yes, I know she isn't little and she is taller and looks older than me... but still, she will always be my little sis or sir... :) Some interesting facts about Jacee:

1. She is the only family member that doesn't have blue eyes.
2. She is always near a swimming pool, either swimming, teaching lessons or guarding.
3. She just graduated from Desert Hills High School.
4. Her favorite movie is Lethal Weapon 4.
5. We always have crazy fun times together,especially driving and shopping.
6. She is very friendly and can be friends with almost anyone.
7. She loves the TV show Psych, but doesn't watch TV often.
8. You can find Jacee wearing sweats, a t-shirt and a swimsuit.
9. She makes awesome bracelets.
10. Jacee wants to be a nurse practitioner.
11. She is on the Student Alumni Association at Dixie State.
12. She loves salads.
13. She can't cook, but her skills are improving.
14. She likes taking pictures.
15. She IS funny, and has a good sense of humor.
16. She likes all types of music.
17. Her best friend is Kelci Simmons.
18. She is officially an adult!

Love you sir, hope your day is fantastic.

Clay.

Isn't it interesting how certain experiences or memories define life, and in effect, seems to define and make you, YOU? My friend Maren posted this on her blog, and it sums up how I feel pretty well.  Thanks Maren!

It has arrived. finally. But, I've decided that summer is not the same without the red rocks, boiling temperatures, frequent frisbee and frasketball games, and late night games of St. George. This summer will be strangely different than last. But it will still be good. :)

If someone told me where I would be living and how I would be living my life this year, I would have made some skeptical or sarcastic comment.  Not being in St. George has seemed to changed my life completely.  I would have to say it is neither a good thing or bad thing, actually it's both.  It's weird to think about how I would have defined myself to someone just six short months ago versus what I would tell you today.  I like the analogy of how we are clay and our experiences, faith, God, feelings, hardships, successes and so on shape us into an amazing end result.  We can't see the changes too much while they are happening, but in the end we can look back and see that certain things had to happen to make us who we are.

[ I do not own this picture, copying or selling this is probably illegal. ]

Memorial Day Weekend...

So some friends and I decided to go to St. George for the long holiday weekend.  It was such a good idea.  I love going home.  I absolutely LOVE St. George, which makes it super hard to leave.  Leaving home is always the hardest part of the whole trip.  But anyways, we went and played at Sand Hollow Reservoir, went swimming, and went to Zion National Park, had a barbeque at my house, made several wal-mart runs, TP'd a friend's house, and made dry ice bombs.  I also got pulled over by a Washington City cop because my brake light was out.  I have never gotten a ticket and i guess I needed to prove to my friends that I don't get tickets.  It was so great.  At Zions, some people did Angel's Landing and since I've already done that hike, I wanted to do something else.  Five of us did Hidden Canyon Hike, it was so sweet.  The views were incredible.  Unfortunately after the hike, we had to drive back up to Salt Lake.  The drive wasn't too bad, my friends Rosana and Freddy and I had some good chats.  I think my favorite part of the whole trip home was swimming and playing at Sand Hollow and Sunday when I spent all day with my family.  My family is the greatest, and people who know my family would have to agree.  I'm so grateful for them in my life.  Family, I love you and Thanks for a great Memorial Day Weekend!!