Tradition continues...

Happy Birthday McKell =)

Thank Goodness for Birthdays, or McKell, Kristen and I would never get together. Sad :( But we've started this tradition a while ago, that around all of our Birthdays, we go to lunch! So if no other time during the year, we atleast get together 3 times. Even though it's a sad number 3---- We ALWAYS have a blast. No matter how long it's been, when we get together it's like we're in Jr High still and just the best of friends! And we forever will be!

May 9 was McKell's birthday so Kristen came up to Logan and Kell picked Firehouse for lunch. Good pick I must say. Afterwards there was this cute little crafty store that Kell said was really cute, so we went to check it out. Adorable store and it was fun to just shop around. SO-- we found another store- an antique one. Not our style AT ALL but we still make everything fun :)

This was at the antique store. We just thought it was good picture quality :)

After the antique store we were feeling like taking some random "antique" looking photos. Ha! So we roamed around Logan looking for some cute ones :)

This brought us to end up at Willow Park. Ha! Three friends walking around Willow Park. I think the last time I did that was my 8th birthday party on rollerblades. No joke :)

There's even some "antique" looking spots at willow park! haha!

We got back to McKell's house and started taking random pictures. We LOVE to take funny pictures. We've been this way since 6th grade. If not before. The 3 of us + A camera = Great memories!

One of the favorites. Not sure why. It's just our personalities all over :)

I just LOVE these girls so much :) We're all at VERY different points in our life and don't always keep in touch as much as we'd like. But when we are together it's like nothing has ever changed. Happy Birthday Kell! Love ya!!

Can We Rewind.......

Back to HAWAII ? =)

I've been a procrastinator when it came to writing this post.
#1 because it's going to be a big one.
#2 reality sets in that I'm not there anymore...
#3 It makes me want to go back RIGHT now!

But- Here it goes. March 4th, my family and I flew out early in the morning
with several layovers....

Our layover entertainment......:

The plane rides really weren't as bad as I was expecting on the way there. I think my excitement made up for the long boredom of the flights.
We got to Hawaii late that night and checked into a little hotel for the night until we could check into our other hotel the next day.
The next day we got up, had breakfast and went off to our hotel:
This was our view from the room. There was a pool, hot tub, and the ocean RIGHT THERE. Gorgeous views!

One of my new favorite things is snorkeling. We got snorkel gear and practiced in our hotel pool, and then took it out to the ocean. There's so many neat fish and creatures in the ocean. You also float so easily that it's kind of relaxing to just float and look at fish!

The boys all went body surfing a lot. They would go to some wild beaches with HUGE waves. I stayed back and only went a couple times where it wasn't quite so dangerous for me. Waves sure can take you away!!

We went to church on Sunday and it was such a fun meeting. There's just as many visitors as there are members of their ward so they start off by saying "Aloha" and we repeat it back. The members talked a lot about their recent temple trip. Man, living in Utah you sure do take the many temples around for granite. They talked about the money they had to save up for a temple trip. They have to buy a plane ticket to get to the other island. They have to pay for food, and a hotel room. There's so much to this trip, and lucky us can get to a temple 20 mins ANY direction of us. (And soon one right in town!) We sure are lucky.

My mom, dad, Blake, and I went on the road to Hana one day. It was gorgeous! That is what I had really pictured Hawaii to be. Everything was so green and pretty. We would stop to see waterfalls and take little walks to pretty views. There were the cutest fruit stands and shops along the way too!

Brooke and Aaron took us on a great boat ride "Aqua Adventures" and it took us out to Molokini Island where we were able to go snorkeling and snuba diving. Snuba is in between snorkeling and scuba diving. You are connected to your air tank that stays up above the water. It only allows you to go about 15-20 feet under the water. It's perfect. It really plays with your mind though. Blake and I were connected to the same air tank and we both started struggling. Pretty soon Blake took off and was able to stay under, but I still struggled. Then eventually I was able to make it down, too. (Coming up occasionally because I would start to freak out a little!) But soon I was able to get down and STAY down, and it was awesome!! Once again there were so many things to see, and just the fact of being under water like that was so fun!

The turtles are SOO cute. Brooke would always talk about how cute they are, and you really can't even imagine in full, till you are able to get up close to one and REALLY see just how cute they are. They are so peaceful and big and fun to watch =)

One night we went to a Luau at our Hotel. The food was delicious and it was great entertainment! My favorites were the little tiny girls (They sure can shake!) and the New Zealand dancers. Blake went to New Zealand on his mission, so we all have a soft spot for New Zealand. Their Haka dance was really neat!!

There is SO much more I'd love to write about but this is one huge post. We had so much fun ALL the time! Just playing around on the beach, laying out by the pool, going to dinner (we had some really good dinners and desserts!) Lahaina was my favorite place. Great food, and awesome shopping! The mall was fun, just simply EVERYTHING! One last thing that was really awesome were the whales. March is a good time to go because the whales are everywhere. There were so many whales all the time. Every time you looked out at the ocean, you could spot atleast 2 whales breaching close by. On our boat ride we were able to get up REALLY close to them. It was so neat. They are HUGE!

Last but not least, we decided to do some family pictures before we left. Here are a few!

Needless to say.....This was SUCH a fun trip and I wish I could still be there! (Especially as it is snowing as I type....in APRIL!)
Thanks to my awesome family, for taking me and making it SO much fun =)

New favorite fun....

SLEDDING AT 2:00 AM! =)
So the re-accuring event of the break was sledding. Not just sledding, but NIGHT sledding. Perfect! Nobody at the park but you! A couple times we did the 2:00 AM sledding, and others we just went at 10:00 or so. Either way, it's a blast. It was a fun activity for all of us to get together and let our goofy sides out again =)

CAUTION: Beware of the jumps at the end of the hills that you CAN'T see in the dark :)

...and a HAPPY new year!

Along with the fun of Christmas, comes the fun of Christmas BREAK! No school for a whole month... and I loved it :)

New Years Eve I went to the "EVE" party downtown Salt Lake. It was a blast! I was with some of my very best friends who I don't get to see as often with different schools, but we went to dinner before, and had a great time. Even making the news. Haha!

Kristen, Marissa, Kati and Me. We had so much fun!

We found some of our other high school friends there and had fun hanging out with them!

We decided to have a party at Kati's one night and get a bunch of high school friends together. We had so much fun catching up on what is new with everyone and remembering old times. I seriously LOVE all my high school friends!

A bunch of us girls =)

Ben, Me, Bobby & Kati

I really like this quote and really found it fitting over the break. I can't wait for the next break!!

"Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young."

Merry Christmas!!

I looove Christmas! This year was my sisters turn to come here for Christmas. I was more excited for the day they came than Christmas Day!
Christmas day my poor dad was sick ALL day. I saw him for about a half an hour the

whole day =(
The good news... he was perfectly fine the following day! The rest of the holiday had some sickness here and there as well, but it was Christmas none the less and a blast as always!

The older you get, the more you realize what Christmas is all about. Just the spirit of the whole season is what I love most. Having family come together and enjoy each others company create the best Christmas memories of all. I always feel a little closer to the spirit around the holidays and I know it's because we're taking a little more time to really focus on what is most important it our lives.

Each year my mom reads the nativity story. We dress up as each part in the story is read. It's a wonderful tradition!
This year my mom added something extra that REALLY hit me for the true meaning of Christmas. We had made a cake earlier that day. It was a Christmas tree cake, and my mom said we would eat it later.
After we read the nativity story, she went and got the cake. We lit candles and continued to sing happy birthday to Jesus. It was a great way to really hit close to home, the meaning of the season and why we celebrate!

Hope you all had a great Christmas!