The Last Hurrah

So a little over a month ago we decided that before I move back to Florida we should have one more fun adventure as cousins. Since our grandma lives about an hour from Los Angeles we decided it would be fun and do-able to hit up some of the tourist sites Cali has to offer.

Day 1: April 29

My last day in Utah. Stopped by some apartments and said my goodbyes. Not fun at all. After I spent a few hours doing last minute packing and running errands, and was set and ready to go for about 3 hours before we finally left. The drive to Vegas was strange weather wise. From Provo to Vegas we drove through, sun, wind, rain, snow and HEAVY snow! SO weird, but it kept it interesting. We also stayed entertained jamming out to some Glee and my "Back in the day" playlist which consisted of a mix of N'SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, LFO, Simple Plan and much more! :D Cappy also did a good job at keeping me company in the back with all of my luggage that tried its best to take over! We got to Alicia's house in Vegas around 8 and spent the rest of the night wathing TV and just relaxing. Great way to just chill after driving!

Day 2: April 30

Another day of driving, only this time we were headed to our first tourist area. The beautiful Santa Barbara beach/pier! We started off the day with a heart pancake breakfast and then took off. We got to Santa Monica around 11:30 and it was SO nice to see the beach, although it was much different beach than back home. The water was darker and the sand was brown, but it was still nice to feel the sand between my toes. It was pretty windy but we decided we could handle riding bikes around, so we rented bikes for an hour. It was nice and relaxing riding down the bike trail and just enjoying the wonderful view. After riding for about 30 minutes we figured we should start back to where we came from, but we didn't realize is that we had been riding with the wind and the wind had picked up A LOT!!!! What began as a relaxing bike ride turned into a major work out! We probably looked pretty rediculous as we stuggled to get back to the pier in time, but it was definately as much fun as it was miserable! The wind continued to get worse and we sat shivering eating pizza, then we checked out a cool little aquarium! We also had lots of fun playing on one of the playgrounds on the beach! We left the beach and spent 2 hours in the famous LA traffic! We finally got to our grandparents house and ate lots of mexican food, including tamales, enchiladas and rice. A great meal to end the day!

Day 3: May 1

Six Flags Magic Mountain!! It has been so long since we have been there! At least 10 years!!! and what a fun day it was! It was also a beautiful day! Super sunny and warm! Highlights of the day: watching 12 year olds make out (ewwww!), about to get on the batman rollercoaster and them announcing they are having technical difficulties, got spit on while waiting in line for Goliath. Even though all of these unfortunate events occurred I love that they really just made it more memorbale of a day! We have to learn to laugh at moments like those, I mean if we start focusing on the negative we always will!We just walked around, drank frozen lemonade, ate normal amusement park food, soaked up the sun and I even got a little bit of a tan! YAY! I love rollercoasters and amusement parks, and thankfully we managed to fit in the best two rollercoasters for last! The second to last one we rode was Goliath! It dosen't go upside down, but it goes 85mph and has a SUPER steep drop! It went so fast that it made my eyes water and I was so in awww that I couldn't even scream, I just sat there with my mouth wide open the entire time! It blew my mind!!! But by far the best ride there we rode last was X2!!! It is so hard to describe, but basically it is a rollercoaster that does go upside down and at the same time your seat spins off the side of the track! It was such a thrill and while the coaster slowly took us backwards up the high high slope I really did get scared for my life. I have never been that nervous on a rollercaoster!!! Unlike Goliath, I could NOT stop screaming at the top of my lungs!!! What a thrill! Definately a moment and a feeling I won't forget! When we got home grandma made us toquitos (more mexican food)! And we went to bed pretty early! Being out in the sun can really exhaust you!

Day 4: May 2

Definately a more relaxed day! We drove to the Hollywood walk of fame and checked out the 17 blocks of stars! There were a bunch of people walking around dressed up as characters, which was pretty random and kind of weird, but definately interesting! We didn't spend a lot of time there, so when we got hungry we decided to head over to Olvera street to eat! Olvera street is this mexican street that has resturants, little shops and a ton of kiosks that has been around LA for 80 years! It is basically where a lot of the mexicans go to celebrate hispanic holidays and just go shop! We use to go all the time when we lived in California so it is always fun to go back! We ate carnitas con arroz y frijol at La Luz del Dia, and custard filled churros at Mr.Churro! SOOOO much good mexican food! Grandma bought me an awesome small backpack, which is awesome because I was in desperate need of a new purse. We headin back pretty early and just spent the rest of the night watching TV with our grandparents and eating delicious strawberry pie!

Day 5: May 3

The day started with a HUGE breakfast, and then the drive back to Vegas! Our last night together was spent at the Stratosphere on the Vegas strip. It is always fun just being in vegas! We went to the top and looked over all of Vegas! Such an amazing view!!! The best part of the night was definately riding the BIG SHOT!! I rode it twice, Jessie and Leesh rode it three times! It is like they make you just sit there in anticipation and then when you least expect it the shoot you up so stinkin fast, you can help but scream in fear! What an awesome feeling! Another huge thrill!!!!

A GREAT TRIP! We kept super busy and with all of the traveling I am now quite exhausting! As fun as it was, I am ready to be home with family! and enjoy what I hope will be an amazing summer!

California Here We Come

Yesterday around 4:00pm we started our little road trip to California. Our original plan had us getting to our grandmas house last night, but with some psycho bipolar weather we decided to stay in Vegas for the night and head out this morning. So that is what we are doing!

As of right now I am sitting in Alicia's house eating chocolate chip pancakes and delicious syrup, about to leave to head to santa monica! I was planning on updating after everyday, but it seems as if I wont have as much time on the computer as I thought I would. So I will be back in a few days to talk all about this trip!

And So It Goes

Boy oh boy has it been a CRAZY week! Why so crazy? Well, let me just tell you; studying for finals, packing, and attempting to have as much of a social life as possible is very difficult, but luckily I was able to do it all! Just call me "Super Wiser"! :D Anyway, being so busy distracted me from the fact that tomorrow I will be leaving Utah for a good while. It came SO soon, and after spending all day packing it finally hit me! While it is going to be much harder to leave this place then I thought it was, I am SOOOO looking forward to being home! It is going to be a great summer I can just feel it!

Things I will miss about Utah!

Going to the temple whenever I want!


Having Fun & Living with my Best Friends!




Hanging with the MOST AMAZING FHE family EVER! Be Jealous! :D



The snowy mountains


my amazing bed that haley is jealous of!


Things Im looking forward to in Florida!

Being with my family


Playing soccer & hanging with my friends!



the beach


and SO much more!!!

nobody said it was easy, it's such a shame for us to part

So sunday was an interesting day. It was the day I realized leaving Provo was definately going to be harder than I thought it would a couple months ago.

The reason this realization came on sunday was because for most people it was there last sunday in the ward. When sacrament meeting ended I just didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay there and just talk with people! But it was nice to walk home in such beautiful weather! After we got home Kara came and chatted for a while and that was fun, of course! Then we went to Rene's to eat dinner! My last sunday dinner over there for a while. :( Not long after we got home it was time for ward prayer. The last one as an entire ward! Another sad moment! There wasn't much to announce and there was no one left to introduce so it went by pretty quickly, but it was nice to have more time to talk to everyone. I just remember standing there, writing nice notes, and seeing everyone together and thinking, "wow! i have met nso many amazing people!" I knew I had made some good friends in the ward, but looking around and seeing them all at once helped me notice how many people I will actually have a hard time saying bye to. I have made so many amazing friends that I love and am so comfortable around, way more than I realized!

While making new friends will definately make it harder to leave, at the same time it is nice to know that after trying so hard to get into BYU and nothing coming of it, I know now why I needed to come out to UT! It may not have been what I thought it was, but I almost feel like it is even better! I needed to come out here to meet the wonderful people I have and to learn for myself that I am capable of making friends on my own! Especially lately I have felt very much so, that I have had to rely on myself to make an effort to meet people and get to know them, and that is SO good for me! It has helped me grow as a person so much!

I have already had to say goodbye to one person and that wasn't fun at all! And I will continue to be saying bye to people all this week! But I know I will stay in touch! These friends that I have made will definately last a lifetime and I just love knowing that the church will make that possible to happen! :D

Life is good, life is GREAT, and hopefully life will continue to bring me adventures and lots of experiences to learn from!

When You Say You Love Me

I have found what I would love to be my wedding song one day!!

Josh Groban is amazing, and so is his song "When You Say You Love Me"!
If you haven't heard it I reccomend you go and listen!

my arms get cold in february air

so it isn't february, and for once in Utah it isn't that cold outside, but I just had to post something about my awesome monday this week!!

We went to an Owl City concert, and Paper Route and Lights opened for them. The sad thing is that I actually enjoyed Lights more than I did Owl City, but it was still a great concert! I havent been able to stop listening to Lights though! She is so stinking good live and even though her music is so different, it has a really cool sound too it and I just cant get enough!

So despite the fact that I felt like I was fighting for my life the entire time because people were so pushy and we were right in the front, that day was the best day of my life so far! Why??? well because there was a certain someone that was at the concert! The one and only David Archuleta. Of course we all left our cameras in the car, so the one chance that I will probably ever get to see him we couldnt get any evidence, but that image won't ever leave my memory. I was down in the crowd, somewhat miserable, HOT, getting trampled on, but then I would look up and see him smiling and dancing to the music and I just couldn't stop smiling! I still can't stop smiling! It was just a great feeling!

It was just a great night!!!!!!! AMAZING night!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Wow! I really have no idea where to begin? So much seems to have happened since coming back to Utah after christmas break!

Thrown right back into everything! School, searching for a job, school, finding time to talk to friends back home, having a social life, and well school!

I really dont even know what happened between christmas break and now my plans for summer and fall! It seriously just all seemed to happen at once and now plans are set and getting put in action.

My plan, after lots of pros and cons list, praying, fasting, contemplating with myself and others, I have decided that the best thing for me is to go home and work in the summer, and go to school in florida in the fall. I was scared at first. I had so many options, and I just didn't know what to do. I have never been so confused, and have never had to make a decision as hard as this. My decision to come out to Utah seemes so easy and right. I didn't care that I would have to work super hard to try and reach my goal of getting into BYU. I told my self that I would do whatever I could to get in, and after trying so hard it began to feel as if I wasn't getting accepted for a reason. I remember so perfectly the feeling I had when I got the email saying "a decision has been made on your application of enrollment to Brigham Young University". I wasn't nervous, and I wasn't excited, I just had this feeling that I knew what I was going to see when I checked, and sure enough I was right. I saw "Denied" for the 3rd time. It was at that moment I realized I had to change my plan. Going to BYU has always been the one thing I have ever dreamed of doing in my life, but if I have done everything I possibly could then it must not be the place for me. It was hard to accept that, but we need to always follow the promptings of the Lord. We may have a plan for our life, but He knows what we need to do, and where we need to be.

I feel like I have come so close to the Lord through this whole experience! I know that He knows me better than I know myself, and I will always put my trust in him!

If I am needed in Orlando for whatever reason, I will go, and I am looking forward to it SO much! I just know it is going to be an amazing experience and I will be able to learn more about myself and what I am capable of by stepping out of my shell and doing something that really has just fallen in place. Not something that I had to try so hard to make work!

I love life right now and cannot wait to have an amazing summer and what I hope and am sure will be a great an different life.