August 4, 2010
Then mom came to visit!! That was so much fun. Chris and I picked her up from the airport. So get this I called her and went in to the terminal talking to her on the phone. I snuck up behind her and scared her.. She slapped me across the face! Well kinda she kinda realized it was me in mid-air. It was mean of me to sneak up on her but it was so funny. She met the family that night and the next day we took all 4 kids to the Field Museum (its like the one in NYC that they filmed Night at the Museum) it was fun we were there all day. Then we saw this really cool fountain then went home. It was a really long day with all the kids and my back still hurt really bad. On wed it was Beverly’s 1st birthday so we celebrated it. We had everyone over for dinner the whole family it was fun. On Thursday we cleaned up the house and then took the kids to Bama’s house (gma) then we went up to Lake Geneva for the afternoon. We had dinner up there and then went on a boat ride and saw the sun set. It was beautiful. Then we came home and packed and went to the city that night. We spent the night at my friends apt. we got there late but it was better then sitting in traffic all morning. We woke up and went to the Shedd Aquarium it was sooooo cool I loved it. I could go there again. We saw lots of cool animals. We spent most of the day there. But we also had to go to the Planetarium that was not as cool just all about planets so did not spend to much time there. Then I had a surprise for mom. So we went back to the car and changed our clothes. Then we walked down to the pier and she figured out that we were going sailing!!! We went for a 2 hour sailing ride. We saw the skyline of Chicago from the lake it was really cool. We went to sleep after then on sat morning we went to the museum of Science and Industry. It was way cool. There was so much to see there. I would go back. Then we went to Sears Tower. They have this really cool part that you stand on glass and you can see everything under you. It was really cool but mom was scared that it was going to break and we would fall to our death. Lol!! It was funny :) we saw the sun set up there it was beautiful. After that we went to White Castles it is a burger joint that Grandpa took mom to when she was a kid. Well I just put the address into the GPS and it took us to this really scary part of town. We were the only white people that we could see for a long time. We got our burgers and got out of there. Mom was freaking out the whole time. She was so funny to watch. I guess you had to be there but I almost peed my pants!! Then we drove home! Sunday we went to church. Then we went to the temple but it was closed for maintenance but one of the locks on the gate was unlocked. So we walked around the temple!! Oops!! Lol!! :) it was really fun! Then we went over to the Peterson’s house for Brunch. They always make Brunch for some people in there ward she invited us to come. On Monday we stuck around the house and that night Chris made us dinner it was really good. And Tue I had to take mom to the airport. I did not want her to go home but she had to.

July 11, 2010
So Last time I wrote you I told you I was going to Lady A and Tim McGraw. Well it was amazing!! But I forgot the tickets so Chris and I got all the way to the concert and that is about a 1 ½ hr away and remembered and it was to late to turn around. So I called my boss and they were at there own concerts. So I called the grandpa and he was able to get the ticket and fax it to me at a place down the street! It was crazy we totally missed Lady A we heard there last song while we were running toward the stage. We saw them walk off stage. But on the bright side Tim McGraw was amazing!! We were so close to him I could have tossed a baseball and hit him!! It was the best concert ever!

For the 4th of July I saw fireworks 3 nights in a row! It was way fun! I went to the park with some friends, then drove up to Lake Geneva on the 3rd and 4th and saw them on the lake. We sat in the boat watching them it was fun. On Sunday night I stayed up at the lake house and in the morning we went out to eat breakfast then went for a boat ride did some yard work and then came home. I took Cj’s little sister Amanda Peterson shopping. I stayed for dinner and FHE. They have a family of 9 kids only 7 were there at the time CJ was not there and one is on a mission. But it felt like home. To be in a house with a family that shares the same religion as I do it felt really good. We sang lots of hymns and primary songs but it was fun!


I went to a White Sox baseball game with Chris we had really good seats it was a really good game. We won and there were fireworks right after the game. Oh guess what they are filming Transformers 3 in downtown Chicago!! Crazy yea! I hear on the radio or have friends who see them filming it! We had a YSA conference that weekend and it was really good to have lots of LDS singles all in one place. It was a combo of 8 stakes. We played games in the morning then a service project we cleaned up a park. Then water games then a dance that night. It was good I met a lot of new friends. On Sunday I sang in the choir it was good to sing again. And of corse church. We had a lunch after church so we got to spend more time with our new friends. The next weekend I went back up to Lake Geneva with Chris but this time we brought some friends. We all spent the night and went boating and had fun the next day. Chris’s family has taken me in and they are kinda like my family while I am out here. I know all of his siblings and there kids it is fun. And I have my favorite’s of corse!! Lol but I love them all.

June 24, 2010
Well everything is going well here. Over mothers day weekend I went to moms house. I worked all day on Wednesday then I got on a plane and landed in Vegas at 11:40 and that is 1:40am my time so I was tired. Nick Barnum picked me up and we drove home we got home late. Mom came up to say hi to me it was like 3 am I missed her a lot. Thursday morning I got up and got my drivers licences and went to the dentist and I had to get a cavity filled that was no fun. I saw Canada and melissa and there new baby she was 3 weeks old. It was really good to see them. Then Bundy came over to moms house and we talked. Friday morning I got up early and drove to Cedar to I could help set up for the wedding reception. I was there all day long except for when I had my hair apt. everything went really well! On sat Lisa got married and we had her lunch in thing!

Then I saw some more friends and on Sunday I spent the day with mom! We had a nice dinner and just hung out at the house. Then we called my Brother Paul that is on a mission. I was so sad that they could talk to him longer then I could but I could not miss my plane! I cried I just really missed my brother.

April 15, 2010
On Tuesday I went to the Bulls vs. Celtics game with Chris. We were on the 5th row right behind the hoop it was so much fun. I was hoping for the Celtics to win but they didn’t. The game was rigged it was stupid every call they made was on us and so the Bulls won 101 to 90 or something like that. It was a really close game but now the Bulls can go to the play-offs. The Celtics were already in the play-offs so it was ok. On Wednesday Bamma (grandma) took me to get a pedicure with the baby. It felt so good. And today I took the girls bev and lizzy to the park with the neighbor kids it was way fun. I might do it more often the girls played so well together there better then at home they don’t fight as much!

HAPPY EASTER!!! I was kinda all by myself out here but I got to call home and I talked to everyone.. The family I live with are Jewish so they don’t celebrate Easter so we went over to Bammas house ( grandmas house). I watched conference here then drove over there. The family spent the night at Bamma’s house so the Easter bunny could come visit them in the morning. After the first session was over I got ready and went over to the house for the Easter egg hunt. It was fun! We had a big dinner with lots of family. I am still trying to meet everyone Becky has a very big family her mom has 7 or 8 brothers and sisters! And they all live near here. Anyway I came home and worked on my scrapbook. I am not sure if I told you or not I am making a scrapbook online of my east coast experience. It is almost done just the cover and then I can get it printed off!! I am very excited to be finished!!

March 24, 2010
Well where to start.. Thursday night I put on a surprise birthday party for my friend chris it was just at a restaurant down the street from me. We had about 10 people there. It was good! My vacation!!! I had a BLAST!!! :0) Friday morning I got to the airport at 5am. Ugh so early!! But its ok. I had a layover in Houston Texas ya I kinda back tracked. I got to Fort Lauderdale at about 2 and Steve landed about 20 min before me so it worked out perfect. It was so good to see Steve again it has been a long time. We got to our hotel and then went out to see the town. Near Ft. Lauderdale there is a town called Hollywood. We went there to this famous casino called Hard Rock Café and Casino or something they had a mall kinda attached to it so we walked around. We had dinner at this really cool old diner they served endless fries!! They had huge guitars every where I took a pic next to everyone I found, Steve thought I took a lot of pics! Lol!!! We left for our boat really early in the morning it was kinda chilly outside but it was beautiful the sun was shining and there was no snow on the ground (still snow in Chicago) I love being on a big cruise ship. It was so much fun! We watched a movie in there theater and then it got kinda stormy so when you walked in a straight line you would walk side to side. I looked like I was a drunk person. I told Steve this is the closest I will ever be to understanding how drunk people feel! On the back of the deck they were having a party for all the spring breakers. It was fun to watch people play games and stuff. It was so beautiful just looking out in the ocean and see nothing on all sides of you. I liked the front of the ship the wind in your face and nothing ahead of you I felt free! We will have to go on a cruise when you get back it was a blast! The cruise was 8 hours we got to the Bahamas at about 2pm. It was beautiful!! The water was so clear and the beaches were amazing! We got to port and got in a taxi and went to our hotel. They drive on the wrong side of the road.. That is crazy it was weird having the cars pass on the right side instead of the left. Some cars have the steering wheel on the right and some on the left like we do so it is kinda weird! We got to our hotel it was in town but they said that they were shut down and that they were going to let us stay at there sister hotel for free and it is right on the beach!!! We got so excited!!! We could see the ocean from our room. It was right on the shore it opened up to the beach it was crazy! We were super lucky. We also had a kitchen and everything so it worked out really well cause we wanted to save money and cook instead of go out. Well we went to this little place it is kinda like a mini outside mall but there are a bunch of little shops with homemade stuff inside. They made some really cool things. We went to this little grocery store and bought mac and cheese, milk , cereal and a few other things to hold us over for the next few days! We went back and made dinner and then walked on the beach!! It is so beautiful there! I want to go back. The next day Sunday!! We slept in!!! we kinda just hung out around the hotel went exploring it was fun went swimming a little bit. I got some cool shells! On Monday we went kayaking it was fun it was in this national park they have there. Our tour guide was like a human dictionary he knew everything about the island. He has been living there since he was 6 years old he came from Spain I think. It was about a hour drive to the park so he talked to us the whole time about the island. I got the front of the kayak and we went out into the ocean it was fun!! There are no waves like there is in California just flat and smooth. Then we went in this little stream river thing for about 2 hours. I just relaxed and Steve did all the work cause we were not going that fast. I took a lot of pictures it was a perfect day! When we got to the end we pulled up our kayaks up and then all got on this raft that had a rope attached to it that ran along to the other side. So we pulled ourselves over to the other side. We walked through some trees and it opened up to this beautiful beach. You could not hear any cars or see any buildings it was so cool it was like we were the only ones on the island. Next we went on this tour he told us all about the trees and the plants and birds and wildlife. Then we went down in these caves!! They were way cool most of them are underneath the water and they had underwater tunnels that lead to another cave. They have them all over the island. They mapped it all out if you scuba dive then you can go from cave to cave! We went back to our hotel and went exploring again. I found these really cool conk shells they were big they are the ones that you put your ear up to them when you were a kid and you could hear the ocean. They were just laying there. They had some holes in them and I guess they could not sell them at there stores so I picked the 2 coolest ones. The next day (tue) was our last day we just went swimming and did more exploring. We got back on the cruise ship we left at about 4pm and they had dinner on the boat and we just watched the sun set and then you could see the lights from the Bahamas it was really cool. It was so dark outside and you could see the stars! I loved sitting on the front of the boat with the wind in my hair sailing nowhere!! We got back to our hotel at 1am! We were switching hotels the next morning we rented a car for the next few days our hotel had a kitchen in it too so we went grocery shopping again! Our hotel is right next to the biggest outlet mall in the world so we went to go check it out. It took 4 ½ hours to walk the whole thing. The next day we had to sit through this 90 min thing to try to get us to buy into a time share that is how we could stay there for free. Then we went down to the beach! It was more like Cali but the beach part was not as dirty. We looked in all the surf shops and had some ice cream. It started to rain so I got in the ocean! It stopped but we kept on swimming the currant was so strong I could not stay in one place Steve had to hold me so I would not float away. We went back to our hotel and went hot tubbing. We met some interesting people some were from Canada that was cool to talk to them. On Friday it was raining so we did not do a lot we went out to lunch at applebees then went back to the mall. Steve had to drag me out cause I kept on buying things!! LoL!!! we went country dancing that night at this really cool place he is a really good swing dancer so it was good to dance again. People came up to us and asked if we were professional? It was really funny! We are just that good!! Lol!! We got back to our hotel at about 1 and we had to wake up at 3:30 am. We only got about 45 min of sleep! Ya we were tired at the airport. I had to leave first and Steve left about 30 min after me so it was not to bad. He walked me up to my gate and waited for me to board. It was a long flight home cause I was so tired I kept falling asleep then waking up. I had a lay over in Atlanta and my plane was late and I did not know where I was supposed to go! I almost missed my plane I would have not been happy if I missed my plane! I was in the front row of my plane so I was happy about that cause I had extra leg room to sleep! Well that was my trip I made it home safe and I had a blast!

February 25, 2010
Last weekend on Saturday we celebrated Lizzy’s 4th birthday we had about 12 kids over for the party! It was fun then after the party I went out with Chris. I really miss country dancing so I texted him on Thursday and said that is what I wanted to do! So I picked him up at his house and we went dancing. It was at this bar cause you can’t go dancing anywhere else here. I had a blast they do a lot of the dances different so it took me a little bit to get the hang of them. But I really like our dances better they are more fun theirs is really boring just really easy stuff I leaned all of them by just watching! So I requested “life is a highway” by Rascal Flatts and I wanted to do the line dance that goes with it. Now I knew that no one knew the dance so I was going to do it by myself. So when it came on I went out on the dance floor and started dancing!! I was the only one dancing for about the first min... then I was going to stop but then these two girls came up to me and said I was so cute lol and they wanted to learn so they followed!! Then more people came in and started to learn!! It was fun!!! Church is getting better now that I know more people I only went to sacrament this Sunday cause the family went to mid-evil times. It was so much fun!! We have one in Vegas we will have to go when you get back! We went for Lizzy’s birthday and Bamma’s (grandma) birthday! I went to FHE for the first time on Monday. We decorated cakes. The cakes were shaped like fish I made a finding Nemo cake!! It is way cute I did a really good job everyone said I had the best looking cake! I brought it home and Tuesday was Lizzy’s actual birthday so we went out to eat we went to Kelsey road house it is right down the street it is her favorite place. I took the Nemo cake and we sang happy birthday it was fun!

February 11, 2010
Well on Thursday we packed up the kids and went to Burch Lake. The family has a cabin in upper Wisconsin it is about a 6 hour drive from the house we left once the kids got home from school. We had another family come with us that has 4 kids as well they followed us up there. It was not that bad cause they were sleeping most of the time. When we got there it was about 1am and we had the wrong key for the front door :( it was -4 degrees outside it was super cold all the kids were sleeping while all the parents were trying to figure out how to get in the house. We could not go to a hotel cause we would have to drive about a hour to get to one. The hide-a-key was under about a foot of solid ice so we could not get to it. After about a hour of trying to find the key or trying to find a way to get in the house Mike said to try a credit card on the front door. Well guess what it worked!!! YEA!!! We woke up the kids and got in to bed. The house was freezing but it warmed up fast. The next morning we got up and took the kids to the ski hill. It was Lizzy’s first time on ski’s she had a lessons so it was good. She did a great job. I went boarding while everyone else was on ski’s it was fun!! We got back and had dinner and just played games and watched movies. We went up to the ski hill the next day as well and we did more boarding. Then I had to go back and watch Beverly so Becky could go skiing for a little bit. I got stuck on a lift for about 20 min. I felt bad cause that was 20 min less time for her to ski. The hill closes at 4pm so kinda early but that is ok I was tired by that time. We went back to the cabin and had dinner and hung out and went to bed. The next morning Sunday was Valentines day!! The other family that was with us went home that day and we wanted to stay another day and drive back on Monday. So we cleaned up most of the house and then watched Harry Potter and then went out to dinner at this little place. It was super tiny. They had great food though. We went back to the cabin and got ready for bed and watched Harry Potter 2. Lizzy fell asleep halfway through the movie and I was getting tired so I took her to bed and I went to sleep too. The next morning we got up and cleaned up the cabin and we left to go home. Yes a 8 hour drive home with all the kids awake we had to stop a lot and we stopped to eat dinner. It was a great time.

February 7, 2010
So I just got home from my little overnighter with the singles ward ok let me tell you how it went. Umm....... my friend Chris picked me up from my house (he is the one that took me on that date and went ice skating with) and we drove to Amy’s house. Then we drove 2 ½ hours to Wisconsin Dells. We got to the Hotel where we were staying and everyone was already eating pizza so we ate some dinner we got there at about 10pm. I checked into my room all the rooms were free cause the owner is in our stake and let us have some rooms. So we all changed into our swim suits and went swimming I got in the hot tub and it was like luke warm... ugh it was cold for a HOT TUB! Anyway I stayed there until 11:30 then went back to my room and got in my PJ’s LOL!! :0) I was sharing a room with a girl named Jessica and Deanna. Jessica was on that double date with Chris and I so I already knew her and that was good. We watched some tv then went to bed. So about 3am I woke up to someone screaming out side of our room then it was quite so I went back to bed. Then at about 4:45 am I heard it again and they were just screaming so much and just swearing up a storm dropping the F bomb every other word. So I got sick of it and opened up my door and told them to be quite, a girl came over and said “sorry Mam’ I am trying to calm down my friends .....” I just replied “well could you go in a room or take it down the hall it is 5 in the morning and people are trying to sleep.” she said “I will try but please don’t call the cops.....” I shut the door. Now these girls were like 16 to 18 ears old. Like young girls that were so drunk and fighting over a boy or something I tried not to listen. The screaming went on for till 5:30 so Deanna called the cops and they said someone was already on there way. So the police came and I fell back asleep.. What a night LOL! So we woke up in the morning got ready and went to a girls cabin.(she is a nanny and it is her employers) to eat breakfast and meet everyone. We went to the winter festival about 11:30am to go check things out. It was cool. We got free lift tickets to go tubbing, skiing or snow boarding. We all decided to go tubbing. It was for 2 hours and we just had a blast... I am going to send you a video! Then we saw some dog sledding the dogs were so beautiful.. Then we ate lunch! Then they had this contest who could make it across the water. So you are going down the hill on snow and get enough speed to make it across some water. I will send you a video of that too. It was super funny and cool! Anyway after that we got in our cars and headed into town. Wisconsin Dells is known for there water parks so we drove around they were really cool I want to go to them in the summer time. We went out to dinner and then headed back to the cabin. We played games and watched a movie and then went to bed... way late.... LOL!! Woke up at 6:45 am to drive back home.. Well that was my trip I had a blast.

December 31, 2009
New Years Eve I said goodbye to my mom and pop and drove to Las Vegas!! I went with my dancing partner Matthew and a friend Nick, Jenette and her friend. We met up with one of my good good friends Bryon and his friend Tracon. We walked the blvd and checked out some hotels jenette’s friend has never been to Vegas before so we were trying to show her everything we could. At 12:00 midnight there was a bunch of fireworks that went off on top of all the casinos it was cool. We went out to denny’s after and then went to a family friends house to spend the night. The next morning January 1, 2010 I got ready and my friends drove me to the airport and I flew to Chicago!

December 20-27, 2009
For Christmas I had a blast I went to Northern California to my moms parents house. We just had a blast it was my Aunt Carol and her husband Jerry and 3 of there 5 children were there and my grandparents my mom and pop and me! We played a lot of card games and watched Christmas movies, did some art and crafts and ate a lot of food! Lol! I miss spending time with my cousins it has been a few years since we had a lot of time just to play together. We used to have cousins week at my grandparents house. Cousins week is a week to two weeks all the cousins get to go to our grandparents with no parents!! It is always over the 4th of July. I have been going the longest I went 16 years since I was 2 years old till I was 18. We have had up to 15 cousins there at a time. It took us about 13 long hours to get home because of the traffic. It was so long it was just me and my patents in the car but I still had a blast with them.

December 9, 2009
Paul left on his plane to the MTC today and we will all miss him a lot. He is serving a 2 year mission in Guatemala, Guatemala City south mission. He will do a great job. I love paul very much. He will do a great job at being a missionary.

December 4 and 5, 2009
For Paul’s last weekend we went to Pine Valley to a friends cabin. We had my parents, my sister Jen and her husband Zach, Paul, my step sisters Amanda and Nan and her son Jaxton. We made a paper chain for 2 years while Paul will be gone. We had dinner and hot coco and played games. We had a blast! There was no snow on the ground when we got there and then when we woke up in the morning there was about 8 inches on the ground! It was so much fun. We took the van up there so we got stuck on the way home. It was funny we had to push the van and I was sitting on the hood to keep the weight on the front. But we did make it home safe so that is good. Paul is gone now. He left on December 9th. . He flew from the St. George airport then my dad picked him in SLC and took him to the MTC. It is so quiet around the house now that he is gone.

November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving was a blast! We had 26ish people here for dinner because Paul’s farewell was the Sunday after. So everyone came up early and spent the whole weekend with us. Paul’s farewell was really good. He did a great job on his talk. After church we had all of Paul’s friends and the family come over to the house and have lunch. I made about 6 different kinds of cookies for everyone to eat. I made them a few days before and I was in the kitchen from 10am till 5pm. My feet hurt so bad from standing on them all day! But they were good to eat. It was really good to see the whole family again for the farewell.

November 21, 2009
For Daxton’s 2nd birthday my family got together and celebrated his birthday. My mom and I went to the hospital and had the turkey sandwich special! That is the best sandwich in the world. I had it in the hospital when I had Dax I have had it every year on his birthday! We also had the angel food cake again this year! My whole family got together and sang happy birthday to him. We love him very much and always talk about him.

October 31, 2009
Halloween was a blast. I was with my friend Melissa and her husband Ryan and his twin brother Russ. We made caramel apples and brownies and had lots of candy! It was fun being at their house and handing out candy to all the little kids. This was my first year doing that. It was fun! We played games and watched scary movies. This was also the first year I did not dress up as anything, so it was a new experience.

October 9, 2009
Jennifer and Zach’s wedding went great. She looked beautiful and everything went as planned. We had the reception at the electric theater where she has her dances every week. I set up Christmas lights all day long the day before for the wedding reception. It took Pop and me about 8 hours to put all of them up. It was great to see the whole family there. Some family I had not seen in a few years! She is so happy now. They live in a little condo here in St. George so it is good to have her close.