Double 9

Because 9 is my favorite number, and this is my 99th post, I wanted to do something special for it. I've spent these last few weeks trying to figure out what "special" thing I wanted to post about, and believe you me... it's been rough! I have finally settled on posting pictures from some of my favorite memories I've had this summer :) Because I failed miserably with staying on top of blogging for the last few months, this will also be a good way to catch up on things! So here we go with 9 of my favorite memories this summer:




Going to the rodeo with my family (heart)



Going on a trip to St. George with my best friend, her sisters, and one of their cousins :)




Doing a photo shoot with my older sister :)

Going to the midnight showing of Step Up 3 with my German sister. AWESOME!!

Vacationing in Manti with the best two roommies in the world!

Shopping for rings in Springdale.

Staying at an amazing ranch near Zions National Park (they had a pretty cool swimming pool:)

Doing a photo shoot involving balloons with my German sister and ... "real" sister... haha

My German sister treating myself and my family to a German breakfast! (Something I had been wanting to gorge on for the last two years!)

AND!!!!!-- I have a bonus memory that I love:

My little bro came back from his service mission!!!!

Welcome home little bro :) You da bomb!

Postcards from Around the World :)

There are a few things that I collect: rubber duckies, key chains, and postcards. Out of these collections, my postcard collection is by far the biggest! For fun, I have been putting the postcards on my bedroom door so I can look at them every day. However, I think it is about time I take them down and put them somewhere safe. It's always scary to come through my doorway with a laundry basket, a backpack, or a box because I fear bending some of the postcards on my door. While looking at my door won't be the same anymore, I think I can happily make a scrapbook of all the wonderful postcards I have :) I have postcards from countries like Bolivia, Peru, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Canada, and the U.S.-- Utah, California (Disney Land), Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Forida, New York, and so on.

Off to the Rodeo We Go!

A little over a week ago, I went to the Rodeo with my parents, little sister, and older brother. It was a delightful time :) This was my 3rd time to the rodeo; I went once as a little child and only remember the clown (I did not like that clown.... strange memory), and I also went last year. I will tell you what, it is a really fun time! My favorite part of the rodeo is probably the Mutton Bustin! This year a little girl won :) It was so so so funny to watch this little girl cling onto the sheep for dear life (plus she was riding the sheep backwards, haha). I hope my family makes it a tradition to go every year :)

Bad llama

I went to the Llama fest the other day with my best friend. It was so wonderful! While we barely missed watching the llama's go though the obsticle course, we had fun looking at all the llama's and getting Henna Tattoo's. Henna is so cool! We both had put Henna on ourselves before, but there was a woman from India there that was doing it for people, so we paid to have her do it for us :) Way neat.

I looked up, and saw many family members sitting in the tree with me

Last week, we had a family reunion :) This is one that we have every year, and it is tradition to have homemade ice cream there! So good. There were so many interesting, but good flavors there. A woman even made a grape flavored ice cream! Very interesting.... My favorite though was the one that my dad made: Chocolate with raspberries. Mmmmmm..... so good!

At the reunion, one of my dads cousins took all of the children on a "Lion Hunt". There were many adults that went along, and it was so cute to see how the kids would react to this very animated man! We travled through a pretend river, up a mountain (it was a hill), under the "Jub-Jub" tree, through a patch of pretend fire ants, and finally through some quick sand. Then we found the make-believe lions! Right as we were about to shoot them, the man eating "Pigmies" came out, and we had to back track through everything we had just gone through. Very fun :) In the end, a little boy started crying because he thought it was real, but everyone else was fine, haha.

I love family reunions! They are so great :)

More than a moment, more than a memory

One upon a time, there was a young woman that lived in a town not well known to the rest of the world, let alone the rest of the country! This young woman enjoyed being happy and having fun. While she still considered herself to be a "child", she recognized the many things that she had been blessed with in life, and the many wonderful truths she had learned. Life had become a joyous ride for this young woman. It was full of laughter, suspense, friendship, action, fear, content, adventure, learning, pain, wonder, success, and ultimately joy. What lay ahead of her in life, she did not know, but she was ready to tackle it full on, with the Lord on her side. Her life was evolving into more that just a collection of memories...