Fast Sunday, Pools and Jane Austen

This may sound weird, but trust me, it will all make sense once I explain. It all started yesterday. I have been in school for a couple weeks so it's no surprise I woke up at an earlier hour. So I got dressed, showered an did all of that fun stuff. By 11 o'clock Dad asked Eric and I if we wanted to help in the garden. When everything was finished, I was sweating and tired. Then we were invited to swim with the Burnthams ( they are a family friend of hours). We went to their uncle's house to swim and when I say pool, I mean a big pool. Long story short, we had pizza and swam.

So this weekend I have also started to read Jane Austen's Emma. I have already seen the movie so I have a pretty good idea of what's happening. More updates later.

This brings us to today. So today is fast Sunday (Which is a fancy way of saying not eating for religious purposes). Usually the day before I try to eat extra so I won't be sick. Church was fun today and I am glad I went.

School and Other Things

So, If you have been wondering what I have been doing these couple days, I can sum it up in one word: school. I know, I said that terrible "S" word that should be outlawed for the entire month of July. School itself has been interesting, and I wish to not go into any more detail.

My sister Robyn has been baking to let the summer days go by. So far we have had devil's food cake, spice, yellow, and now Robyn is making a pound cake.

Mom has been watching nine kids this weekend because the Monsons from Ohio came out West to visit. So basically, I am inside the confinements of my home until Monday. This house has gotten louder and that is why I camp out in a bedroom to get away from the noise.

I think the only good thing that has come out of this week is the fact I can escape from everybody and read.

Happy Arizona Daze

Don't think I quit just yet, I still have more to write about. So Arizona has been treating me well. Although I really need to start getting used to extremely hot cars and dust storms.

First I should cut to the chase, Fourth of July was amazing. First Dad took us to the store to get food for the party. Then we went to the house Uncle Paul was touching up in a place he like to call Mesaco. After Dad took us to Quik Trip and we

got slurpees to cool off from the Arizona heat. Dad still needed chipotle peppers

and surprisingly enough, it took us three stores to find them. A couple hours later, we went to Paul and Erin's house for BBQ and swim. I recently got a new swimsuit so I was really excited to wear it. After we lit fireworks, firecrackers, Roman candles and anything under the sun (No pun intended). All in all, a very fun-filled

day.

20 Things I Have Done In (Almost) Two Weeks

1. Moved

2. Made bread and salad with Grammy

3. Had an entertaining dinner with Grandma complete with a banana split

4. Attempted to sew something (did not work)

5. Completed a puzzle and stayed up till almost midnight finishing it

6. Had more Mexican food

7. Went to a BBQ

8. Went to a new ward

9. Unpacked my room

10. Bought two new shoes within two days (they were on sale)

11. Tried to adapt from East to West coast

12. Seen friends that I have not seen in ages

13. Played many board games

14. Accidently locked myself out of the bathroom

15. Missed Ohio dearly

16. Stayed up longer than I care to admit

17. Made Quinn like me and dislike me in the span of a week

18. Spent a considerable amount of "cave time"

19. Morphed my little sister Quinny with an ewok ( reference to Star Wars, watch if not informed)

20. I Still am smarter than a doorknob ( minus door incident today)

Moving In

Today the movers came to deliver our things. The house is full of boxes right now and people are either in the process of moving things in or taking things out of the boxes. This is that awkward stage in moving where most of the "house" is packed up. Although some things like food items, the piano and the sofas have already been put in their places. Since we had hired a moving company, Mom warned everyone to stay out of people's way, especially Quinny. Except for the whole moving thing, it was pretty much a regular day.

Yesterday was Father's Day so Mia picked out a card for Dad. It turns out we did not really look inside until we bought it and the card said "Happy Birthday." Ironically, my Dad's birthday was more like a Father's Day so I guess it all worked out. For dinner we went to Grammy and Grandpa's house for dinner and dessert. Quinny must have had something yesterday because she was EXTRA crazy. She danced, helped Grandpa open his gifts (although I doubt he needed it), and sang "Happy Birthday Grandma" to Grandpa. Needless to say, everyone was entertained.

Yesterday was also my first day in the new ward. There were a ton of people in church. It makes my ward in Ohio seem even smaller than it already was. I didn't really meet that many people, but oh well, there will be other times. But just like my Ohio ward, everyone certainly likes to talk. Go figure.

That Big Brown House

So my family has moved in to the new house in Arizona. There is still a ton of stuff to do though. I, for one, have to unpack and organize my room. My bed is HUGE. It is a king size bed and the only reason Mom and Dad got the bed that large was because 1) It would look silly to have a bed smaller than a king in a room that large and 2) Once I move out, the room will be a guest room.

Eric really likes his room. He is glad he has a fourth wall and a door which he did not have in the house in Ohio.

Mia and Quinny are still sharing a room together. Their room here is PINK, and when I say pink, I mean very pink. Quinn calls the room her "Princess Room." They have this really cute bedspread that is covered in flowers.

Because of the shortage of pillows yesterday, Mom, Dad, Robyn and I all went to Target to get what we needed. After which we all went to bed afterwards. So, yeah, this is what has been happening so far.

Hola Arizona!

The day has finally come, I am in the grand old state of Arizona. I came here on Sunday. Our family went to the airport and Mia, Robyn, Eric and I went on the plane. Mom, Dad and Q did not because they are going on the open road to move everything to the new house. I am sure you are wondering where I am staying, so here it goes: I am staying at my mom's mom and dad's house. In other words, my Grammy and Grandpa's house. I have stayed here before and also lived here for a couple months.
There was a pool party yesterday at Aunt Karen's house. We had BBQ also. Uncle Rod (Karen's husband) cooked amazing chicken. Uncle Lawrence also came to the party all the way from Oregon. I think everyone had a great time there.
Today I am going to bake bread and make French toast for breakfast with Grammy. More to come later.

Mimi's Birthday and a Few Other Things

Thursday was Mimi's birthday so there was a lot of celebrating in the house. First, Dad took Mia to a doughnut shop. When Mia told the lady working there it was her birthday, she got extra doughnuts. When our family came home, Mia ate the sprinkle doughnut she had picked out. Everyoneelse also enjoyed their doughnuts. Later on, Mia, Sienna (Mia's friend), Mom, Robyn and I all went to get pedicures. Mia and Sienna both got matching yellow nails. And when I say yellow, I mean BRIGHT yellow. Right after the pedicures, we all went to get Red Robin for lunch. Mia told everyone at the table it was her birthday, but she said she did not want the free dessert. Sienna chimed in and said she willeat the dessert for her. This makes me wonder about the phrase, "what are friends for." After full stomachs and colorful nails, we all went home and had cake and presents. Needless to say, Quinn really wanted one of the gifts to be hers. After a couple hours of play time with the new toys, our family, minus Robyn (she was at a friend's house), went to Nagoya. When we went there, we all sat at the hibachi grill. Quinny got super scared of the fire at the beginning and hid behind Mom. After a while, she really started to like the show. Mia sure had a wonderful birthday.

Yester

day was my last full day in Ohio. Let us just say that it was quite an adv

enture. At eleven, all of our family drove to a friend of Dad's house. We all had hotdogs and mac & cheese for lunch. There was also a dog that Q was very afraid of. Wherev

er the dog went, she went the opposite direction. Let

us just say she burned a ton of calories that way. A couple hours later we went to the Monson's house. We had everything from tacos to corn and to top it

all off , there was a water slide. For dessert we all had banana splits. After dinner, we all went home and Robyn invited some of her friends over. They played piano, jumped on the trampoline and played cards. It was a very fun-filled last day in Ohio.

Dad's an Old Man and Other Things

Yesterday was Dad's birthday. He is now a 40 year-old geezer. It all started with a Zone bar, diet Coke and a gym. Afterwards, our family went to iHop and got a very big meal. Trust me, don't let a pancake or crepe fool you there. Then our family went to get cake, turns out the other bakeries were closed so our family chose to go to Sam's Club. Dad got a chocolate cake and Mia got a Hello Kitty cake for her soon-to-be birthday. To her dismay, Mia was not allowed to hold the cake in the car. When everyone got home we got Dad's cake ready and put candles on it. Quinn got really mad about this because she thinks the candles were hers. It took a little talking to get her to give us the candles.

A couple hours later, we had a gourmet meal of Chinese take-out courtesy of Rice King. The dinner was amazing and I think everyone was satisfied.

Today was an interesting day, for the most part everyone was either packing or watching t.v. I think the most watched show was Phineas and Ferb. Mom says it was more annoying than Dora which I am surprised to hear.

The last young women meeting was today. I really enjoyed it and hope that everyone liked it as much as I did. I am going to miss everyone and in honor of it, I wrote this:

"Young Womens has been amazing. I have many fond memories from it. I remember girls camp and getting rained on constantly. I remember the service projects, but most of all I remember the kindness all the young women and leaders have shown me. Personally speaking, it's not where you go or what you do that makes things special, it's the people you are with. This is the true thing that made young womens special for me!"

Provo, UT Girls - BYU Divine Comedy

REALLY FUNNY!

"Squirrels in my Pants" Music Video

Just Some Funny Things

Yesterday Dad came and he was really excited to see everyone. As we were driving home from the airport Mia exclaimed, "today, I was at the Fronks (they are our neighbors) and I was playing with Emily's new pet rats and one of them got on my pants!" I thought she said rats in her pants which reminded me of a song from the show "Phineas and Ferb." The song is called "squirrels in my pants," and it is extremely funny.

Another funny thing that happened today was I was looking on Youtube and found this video called "Provo, Utah Girls." It is a parody of Katy Perry's "California Gurls." This made my Dad laugh a lot. And just to clear things up, I happen to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ if Latter Day Saints which made this video funnier

Ideas of What to do This Summer (cont.)

14. bake a cake

15. make jewelry

16. make a blog

17. study? (not so sure anyone wants to)

18. go to a

museum

19. pet a stingray

20. go to an

all you can eat buffet and get the biggest

meal you've ever had

21. eat really spicy food

22. try something new

23. eat a bizarre food ("If it looks good, eat it")

24. play ninja

25. bungee jump

26. sky dive

27. memorize the Constitution (good if you

are taking government next year)

28. take an art class

29. read an encyclopedia

30. invent a new device

31. bike ride

32. make weird faces when nobody is looking

33. burst out into song in a public area and try to get people to follow you

24. go see Broadway

25. See Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2!

26. time travel ( as in, pick a time period you want and take a field day on what it was like)

27. visit a memorial

29. drive across the country

30. be a tourist in your own town and go to every tourist attraction possible

31. stay at a hotel for no reason

32. bake bread

First Day of Summer

Oh, how I wish I could be there

This is one bad side of moving, everything is in boxes so there is little to do. Then again, Dad is coming today which I am very excited about. He is supposed to come around 9 at night. Monday is his birthday. He is turing the big four-O.

On another note, I have been feeling a little under-the-weather today. My nose is very stuffed up and it really is not fun. I think I will feel fine tomorrow though. My little sister Addi had it way worse yesterday, she threw up and was crying during the night. I am glad she is feeling a little better today. The medicine Mom gave her helped a lot.

So yeah, this is basically what is happening today. More to come.

Ideas of What To Do Over Summer

1. Moving, but that doesn't really count

2. Make fudge with Grammy

3.Go on a plane ride (Going to do that soon)

4. Shop

5. Sew a shirt, skirt, dress or whatever

6. Learn Beethoven

7. Swim

8. Sweat ( Trust me, it's going to be 100+ degrees in Arizona, it's certain)

9. Read

10. Watch educational t.v.

11. Learn Spanish or attempt Italian

12. Cook steak with Dad

13. Watch Quinn

Last Day of School

Well, sophomore year is over. High school has really been quite a trip. I have been in two plays, did singing at a talent show and read a lot of books. Before I go any further, I must state that I am going to move to Mesa, Arizona. I am moving to a new house and going to a new school.

So now that I mentioned Arizona I might as well give a few facts. Arizona became a state on February 14th 1912. The state motto is Ditat Deus or "God Enriches." And for any jewelry lovers out there, the state gem is turquoise.

So now that I am done with that, let me tell you about my family. I have four siblings, three sisters and one brother. My sister Robyn is fourteen years old and is going to be a freshmen next year. She is far more active than me and can usually outdo me in running and flexibility. Then again, I have never been that active of a person. My brother's name is Eric and he is going to be in sixth grade. He LOVES soccer, and he is really good at is as well. I also love soccer, but nothing close to my brother. My younger sister's name is Mia and she is so sweet. She always has a story to tell and can cheer people up. Then there's my sister Addison, but I call her by her middle name Quinn most of the time. Also very cute, she is fun to be around and she loves it when people read books to her. She is three years old. My mom and dad are from Arizona and somehow we just ended up in Ohio. My mom's name is Kim and my Dad's name is Robert. They were high school sweethearts and got married a couple years later. So, yeah that's about it.