Roller Coasters

This Sunday was Kami's mission farewell, even though she is leaving in two weeks... It seriously looked like Stake Conference in there! There were SO many people who showed up, it was great! We have officially made Farewells a popularity contest. ;) but that's what you get when you have four sides of the family and four sides of town all supporting everything you do. The Priests and Laurels also sang for the special musical number, "As Sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman" medley we've been "practicing" for a few weeks now. I'm not the best singer, I will admit that, but I just love singing... so it's kind of frustrating, but since I had choir practice before church, my voice was going out... and so I didn't have the best voice up there, but the other girls are so great at singing so hopefully you couldn't pick me out too easily. The guys did an alright job, too! Poor Cal had really bad allergies that day, and I didn't see him show up, so I was worried they were all going to sound pretty bad... but thank goodness he showed up even though he wasn't feeling good! I think he left right after, bless his heart. He is so amazing. :) I had to hold back tears during the song, but when Kami was up there they all came out. I am going to be so sad when she leaves, and I will probably cry whenever I hear the song Boondocks or just at anything that reminds me of her, but it will be a sweet memory. I know I won't be losing her forever, and she is doing far better things that will benefit all of us. I'm so proud of her to be leaving, but I wish I was going right along with her. :') I'm trying to look at the positive things, and try not to dwell on the negatives, but it is really hard because I know that 2013 will be so rough, and I'm living in an eternal countdown... this many days until this happens, I have this many weekends left to go hiking, I have this many school days left, this many days until I can do whatever... it kind of gets to me sometimes.
After the farewell, we came back home where we fed at least 50-60 family members dinner... oh boy. And how many farewells do we have left? ;)

After school on Monday we headed to CALIFORNIA!! :) I've been waiting weeks for this to happen. We're going to Knott's Berry Farm, a first for us all. We wanted to get one more family vacation in as a whole before Kami leaves. But really, this probably is our last family vacation as just the 10 of us.. because next time, we'll be either gone on missions, or at college, or married! It's so crazy to think that all my life I've been waiting for life to start, and I'm right at the tip of it just waiting to go. It's weird to think that it's all about to happen in a few short months.. I always imagined I'd be here, but never thought it'd actually come in the moment, you know? Thank goodness I have no regrets or anything. I have lived my life in the way I wanted to. :) And now off to graduation, work, college, mission, marriage, and family... I am so excited! Anyways, we got to our hotel around 11 or so, and stayed the night. OH! We rented a HUGE 15 passenger bus. We ride in style. ;)

Tuesday we got up, had breakfast, and drove off to the park! There were a total of about 25 cars in the parking lot. 25. There was no one there! It was so crazy! But we're told it's like that all the time, so maybe they were having a busy day? I am proud to say that I rode on every single ride! Even the ones that your feet were dangling, the ones with loops and corkscrews, backwards, straight up, straight down, swinging in a circle... I looooove rollercoasters! I could ride them forever and never get sick. I have been riding them since I was a little kid. I love them! :) But... the rest of my family does not! Which is a bummer because I have to bribe them into going on them... my family is not very adventurous! I'm always like, let's go hiking in the rain, or climb this mountain, or ride this super fast roller coaster... but they're the sitting type.. nothing too crazy.. I'm the spice in their lives.. ;) no such thing as motion sickness for me! For some reason all day long I was craving a salad... which almost NEVER happens. So I ate a salad. And it was delicious. Ha ha ha. I like to think of myself as a daredevil. ;) just kidding. Just with roller coasters and other stuff that makes me feel like I'm cool. The park is only open from 10-6, but by 4 we were pretty much done, so we just walked around and listened to all the cool music they were playing. WAY better than the bell medleys at Disneyland, they were playing U2, Death Cab for Cutie... a whole bunch of good stuff! More reason to like this place. It turns out, I really like Knott's! I didn't think I'd like it that much, but the rides were so fast and thrilling! Don't get me wrong, I still have a soft spot for DLand.. :) However, by the end of the night I was feeling a little sick.. so I fell right asleep in the bus on the way to our hotel in Indio... sketchy Indio.. they gave us a smoking room... so it was quite terrible. The boys put on their swimsuits and went in the hot tub/hole in the ground. Then Noah jumped in the regular pool! Fool! It's like 50 degrees outside! Crazy kid.

The next morning we were out around 8 in the morning. It was only like a 4-5 hour drive so we were back in the afternoon. Me and Joe had to sit in the back this time, and it was nice because I could actually stretch out my legs and lay down and be comfortable! But the air didn't reach all the way back there... so it got miserable by the time we hit the border. Can I just say how much I really dislike big cities, aka Phoenix?? It's just so ugly! There is nothing pretty about Phoenix. No mountains, no trees, no green... just angry drivers in metal boxes driving to concrete boxes to be more angry.. I want to live in the country forever.. Living out here for two years now I don't know how I handled Mesa... every time I drive there I feel suffocated and hot. Anyways when we hit Gilbert I felt much better when I saw the temple along all of the fields. :) I am so excited for it to be finished! I think it's supposed to be done later this year!! :)
Anyways, I got home, unpacked, did all the usual stuff, caught up with homework. And then I was off to Mutual for the YW New Beginnings! Maizey was in charge of it for one of her value projects. She did such an amazing job! It's been really great watching her grow up. She is so beautiful and I really need to be nicer to her. I just love her! She asked me to bear my testimony about the YW program helping me Stand in Holy Places.. needless to say I brought some tears to some eyes... ahah it's so weird, if I don't make people cry I feel like I haven't done a good enough job.. but I know the Lord speaks through me, so I know I touch people's hearts even if I don't know I am.. I even cried. I just like to bear my testimony whenever I can. I just feel so great afterwards! :) I don't even really remember what I said..
Oh! Earlier in the day, I took some of Kami's mission pictures! They look really good! Let's hope they're all clear! I've been having some camera body and lens issues for a few weeks now, and I've almost ruined like two families pictures because half of them are blurry because something is wrong with the lens... I might just buy a new camera... Actually I know I'll have to... but I need money for college, a mission, and other stuff first... I need a more stable job is what I need!! :P Good thing I babysit all the time.

Going back to school was difficult. :P What was awesome was that Art and Seminary were the only classes who noticed I was gone. But it felt nice to be missed! :) It felt good to be back for those classes, since they are what keeps me going to school every day. I missed a whole bunch of work! Why is it that whenever I'm at school my teachers have us do absolutely nothing, but when I'm gone I get all this makeup work?? I was only gone for two days! But I am so mad! So I got an 80% on my math test, which NEVER happens, but because I didn't pass off an objective before, I started off with an 80%, so that brought me down to a 60%... why can't I just be smart in math?? :( Looks like I'll have to be getting some more tutoring! :)

Thank goodness I only had to go to school for the last two days of the week! I was EXHAUSTED by Friday. I love the feel of Fridays! I got to babysit the Caldwells after school, they are the cutest kids ever! I also discovered how awesome Project Runway is... and I NEVER though I'd be saying how much I like it! I don't know what it is about it, but it's so incredibly weird and ridiculous, but you have to keep watching it for some reason? I dunno. But it was pretty schnazzy.

Saturday I slept in waaaaaay too late! I technically woke up at 6:30 for missionary week, however I kept hitting the snooze for three hours. That's a record, my friends!! I felt soooo lazy, but I knew all I would be doing was babysitting from 3 until 10, so I had no plans. I babysat the Caldwells again, and we got to go out in their awesome backyard. They have the greenest grass I have ever seen in this part of town! It was so nice just to lay down and feel the cool breeze on my face with the bright blue sky above me.. I live for that kind of stuff! :) In fact, I was feeling so good, I decided to do a cartwheel for the very first time in about 5-6 years! I did 5 of them in their grass. The boys were so amazed by that! They kept shouting, do it again! Whoah! Haha Blake is so stinkin' adorable. I think he has a little boy crush on me. ;) He would ride his bike around their track and shout, "Move outta the waaay, Pretty!!" and then he always cuddles with me while watching movies, and he likes to play with my hair, too. It's so cute! I love babysitting! :) I want a family of my own, but there is no way I'm ready for one within the next year like some of the girls I know.. it's weird to think that some of the girls I go to school with now could be married by this time next year and having families of their own!! But I am not one of those girls! No way Jose! I gotta go on a mission first... so I figure in about three years I'll be married and starting a family... which is CRAZY INSANE. Because 3 years goes by SO fast.. life will be here before I know it! But I'm ready to start that process.