To Kiss a Frog

Well so much has been happening since this summer started.. I've had trips and adventures nearly every week and have had scarcely any time to just relax. But still, that's the way I like my summer to be, so it's been quite agreeable so far :) So much has happened since my last post.. I'll try to do it all justice :)

MIDNIGHT PREMIERS

In the past month my friends and I have gone to two midnight premiers-

Man of Steel and Despicable Me 2

Of course, we had to get treats at the grocery store before going to the movie

Becca, Nakita, and their friend Abby came with us to Man of Steel for their first midnight premier... I think our crazy driving, music, and Chinese fire drills kind of scared them though ;)

Ben being a crazy driver :) (I'm not completely sure what I'm doing... ;)

We also like to color while waiting for the movie to start... so I grabbed my family's entire stack, as well as our party pail full of crayons and my giant Cinderella coloring book :)

We were the coolest people at the theatre... all of us coloring in our strawberry shortcake and princess coloring books ;)

Because of our habit of getting treats from the grocery store, we also have to figure out how to sneak it in ... it sometimes gets a little bit tricky when we realize we have LOTS of food and NOWHERE to hide it. We have to get a little creative at times as to sneaking it all in ;)

At Despicable Me 2 someone came up with the ridiculous idea of sneaking a watermelon in. I was the lucky one who got to tape it to my belly and put another shirt over to conceal it... It felt ridiculous, especially when I had to birth it right in the theatre.... slightly awkward!

We also had the wonderful idea of dressing up as minions for the movie. We all wore yellow t-shirts, jeans, and suspenders. Classic :) (Hopefully Savanna will post the pictures of this adventure :)

HIKING! :)

I've also gone on quite a few hikes these past weeks.. they've all been so lovely and such great adventures :)

The Stake Youth Council went on a hike from the Salt Lake to Bountiful temple.. It was about 11 miles, but surprisingly didn't seem that bad!

When we finally made it we were so relieved! :)

Carter and I also hiked Adams Canyon.. but we got lost a few times so also got to explore a few other canyons :)

We wore our explorer outfits which we got from the DI.. but I guess they were bad luck because we ended up exploring lots more than we wanted ;)

When we finally got on the right trail we had fun with the rocks and water along the trail :)

We FINALLY made it to the waterfall exhausted from so much extra hiking and so glad to be there ;) The 2 hour hike took us 6 hours total from start to finish because of all our wandering ;)

This morning Carter and I went on a sunrise hike to elephant rock near my house. We left at 4:30 so we could get up there by 6 to watch the sunrise.. it was so fun and beautiful. But we were a little tired :)

We got up there just in time for a lovely (but cloudy) sunrise :)

:) :)

You can see the rays of sunlight if you look closely :) but the clouds made it hard to watch the actual sun come..

YOUTH CONFERENCE

We stayed at a "barn" in Grover, Utah near Capitol Reef . What we thought was a barn turned out to be more like a fancy lodge... equipped with a big screen TV, couches, beds, pool table, kitchen, and lofts for the youth to sleep in :)

I was thrilled to be assigned making french toast for breakfast!! :)

We went on a lovely hike where there was CLIFF JUMPING! Well kind of... it was only about 13 ft high, but I still loved it :)

We FINALLY convinced mom to jump after what seemed like forever :)

Chalk Drawing! We had a contest to see who could draw the best depiction of our theme.. "Turning hearts to the Lord"

GIRLS CAMP :) :)
As always, girls camp was amazing.. but especially so since this was my last time :( But it was so great :)

We had a slip 'n slide, but it turned more into a mud fight/bath. Albanee and I got quite dirty ;)

Of course, girls camp must include a couple games of PHASE 10 :)

I finally learned how to do the cups thingamabobber! We used it for one of our roll-call cheers..

We had the best cheers. Although I must admit that some of them were a little bit scary ;)

Swimming and tubing down the river! :)

Our skit... was amazing :) and I even got to be the main character!

NO FLIP FLOPS allowed on the river :( so Albanee and I got creative and taped our shoes to our feet :)

Sisters :)

Pedicures!! :) haha gotta love the ridiculous things we do at girls camp ;)

BOATING!!

Just being silly :)

Goofy :)

Carter wake boarding!!... kind of.... :)

FLAMING GORGE with the SHELLEYS :)

Nate, Ben, and Hayden were so silly... still in their wet swimming suits, they stood by the fire pit trying to get warm in the rain storm :)

the boys :)

Our lovely massage line... although I was the unlucky person who got stuck at the back of the line :/

We made tie dye shirts!

Some of us got just a little bit too much dye on our hands... :)

We also went to Dinosaur National Monument.. but Nakita and I were a little tired of camping at this point. This is my scowling face ;)

:) notice our lovely tie dye shirts :) :)

I can't believe that Junior year is finally over! I have mixed feelings for this year... It's definitely been the most stressful of all, but despite this I can't help but feeling like it's been the best. I've met so many new people, done so many new things, and had so many adventures :) And now that it's over I can't believe it... especially because I'm a SENIOR now!! But the last months of school have been wonderful.. I'll do my best to do them justice :)

MISSIONARIES!!

The change of the missionary age was possibly the biggest thing that's happened all year.. it was so crazy to hear that Heidi was old enough to leave right then. Heidi was called to serve in the Germany, Berlin mission... speaking German!

Yesterday we dropped off Heidi at the MTC. In 6 weeks she'll be in Northern Germany and in a few months she'll be speaking fluent German.

It felt so strange saying goodbye.. and there were definitely some tears on my part. But I'm so proud of Heidi choosing to go on a mission :)

We didn't want to let her go when we got to the MTC.. it was so hard!

It was so amazing when Jessica was the one to welcome Heidi to the MTC.. and it was so cool to see her after she's been a missionary for 5 weeks.

FCCLA FASHION SHOW

We put on a fashion show fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital.. it was a TON of work, but so much fun :)

Carter, Ben, and Thomas were such handsome ushers in their tuxes and bow ties :)

Me and my boys ;)

GEODE HUNTING

We went geode hunting with Carter and his family during spring break.. it was so fun :)

We also shot Carter's paintball gun and shotgun for the first time.. an interesting experience ;)

Carter's mom insisted on bringing a homemade outhouse or "todet", as one of his nephews called it :)

MICROSOFT GRAND OPENING... camping at City Creek and the free Train concert :)

Basically, I have the greatest, most adventurous mom ever. She's always up to going on crazy adventures with me :)

We had a crazy time.. playing cards, laughing, and sleeping off and on. It felt so strange spending the night at City Creek mall, but it was exciting :)

Pretending to be asleep for the picture... ;)

When they woke us up at 7 to move outside into the pouring rain, I almost felt like crying. So I was a little upset when Carter and Mom could do nothing but laugh ;)