Family of Bloggers

So, I've been blogging off and on since 2007.
By off and on I mean that I didn't blog for two years and now have this strange desire to do it.
Well, little miss Ashlynn just took her first job ever in Colorado Springs as a nanny.
She decided to blog and that made me happy.
Then I was talking to my mother Renee and I said
"hey Mom, you should start blogging! All of your girls are out of the house and you don't get the chance to talk to everyone of us everyday so you should blog about all the crazy things that happen there!"
Renee is sometimes technologically challenged, in my opinion, and I never thought she would but a weeks later guess who got her own blog? That's right. Renee!
Ashlynn and Mom have both started blogging and are both already better at keeping theirs up than I am at keeping mine up.
Point: check out their blogs! I really enjoy reading them both and most people who read my blog know them and would enjoy their stories because they blog just like they talk.

Ashlynn's blog is

http://asher-basher.blogspot.com/

& Renee's blog is

http://reneeandx.blogspot.com/

I hope that you can all enjoy their blogs as much as I do.

They both only have two right now but they are both great.

Mom's most recent one about Adam and his ear makes me laugh every time!

Spirit Week Relay & Some Family. Lots of Adam.

Topics of this blog:

50 Lap-Relay

Mom, Dad, Adam, & Bradon coming into town to pick up Sophia (Dad's pick up).

Every couple of semester BYU-Idaho does a spirit week 50-lap relay. For the past few years our ward has always competed. This semester we went the them of NERDS and ran with it. This is our group at the beginning of the race. I think we dressed sooo appropriately for the event. We alternated boy, girl, boy, girl and just had a blast with this event. I personally enjoyed the chance to wear whatever just felt right. You can't see it great here but my outfit = nerdy nerdy nerdy. I had a sign on my back that said kick me. Emma, as always, dressed the part but looked great and pulled it off beautifully. She ran the first lap of our race and was such a good competitor, which normally she is not. Way to go champ! Anywoo! There are over 100 wards here at BYU-Idaho and our ward took 2ND place! I'll admit, in the past I've tried to cheat to win (believe it or not) and we've always ended in like 15th or higher. This time though I was sooo distracted by everything going on, and our lack of boys, that I did not have time to tell everyone to cheat and we finished 2ND! I could not have been happier. I still don't really believe that cheaters never prosper but I can see how playing fair helps.
These are just a few (of the MILLION pictures taken) of my highlights.
Some of the girls all ready to run and in their NERD bests.
Danny Morgan. Good runner. Better Nerd. Best friend! Danny made me laugh the whole time that he ran his lap because he was so happy the entire time and ran with this wig on. He always just does it right. Kevin (Ronald McDonald) and Jake (another sick wig) running together. Jake helped Kevin run because he was wearing this Ronald head and could barely see. As Kevin ran around the track people went nuts! They loved this sooo much and Kevin was definitely a highlight of the night. They even announced "give it up for Ronald McDonald (insert people going crazy) on the PA system.
Remember how I mentioned earlier that we had a lack of boys? Well, enter my two heroes! Adam (brother) and Bradon Ray (Bobby Rays real brother, and my favorite adopted little tall brother). We were short just a few boys and Adam and Bradon sooo gladly stepped up to the plate. Which means that we peer pressured them into running for us.
They got into town (after their 20 hour drive to Idaho which is another blog in and of itself), unloaded the car, checked into their hotel room, changed into their clothes, and came to the relay. Such troopers!!!
They each ran one lap and did soo good. Adam did not so much love the fact that he had to run 1/4 of a mile with his asthma and the Idaho altitude but he did however love the fact that he could flirt with all of the college girls, which he did. Bradon, not so concerned with flirting, but more concerned about beating Bobby's time which he did. He was like a Gazelle.
We took this picture after they were all done running. I was soo happy that they could participate and had so much fun sharing a college experience with my brother(s). I hope to one day be as tan as Adam. One day Adam, one day.
After the boys ran we headed out early to get dinner because everyone was STARVING apparently and just couldn't wait. Literally Mom and Emma were whining because they both thought they were going to die of fatigue. Not the case guys. So, we ended up missing this final picture but here is the team at the end of the relay. Good job guys!
Like I've briefly mentioned some of my family was in town this weekend to pick up my Dad's truck that I've had up at school since August. She's had some problems so I've had two cars in Rexburg since April. I was sooo excited to have everyone here with me and Emma. My Dad and brothers have not been here for two years and I just LOVED having them here so much.

Me, Emma, Bobby and his fiance Kelsie all went to dinner with my family. We had a blast! I forget sometimes, because I've been away from home so long, how much I love spending time with them. My parents truly are two of my best friends and Adam is one of those too and has the funniest personality of anyone I know. We ate and then just sat at the restaurant and talked for another hour. The place was pretty much closing down around us but we just kept talking.

By the time we left the restaurant it was around 11 and Mom & Dad were pretty tired after their road trip so we went back to my complex and split up. Renee & X went back to the hotel. Bradon Adam, Emma, and I went to Sammy's for pie shakes.

After that Bradon went with Bobby, while Emma, Adam, and I went and hung out with my friends.

But while driving and taking some wrong turns we found this beauty. Which of course Adam HAD to plank on. With a car full of girls we thought we were going to get arrested but Adam didn't care and climbed it anyways.I'll admit, I was a little nervous about how Adam was going to feel around people all years older than him and his best friend not being with him, but he was great! I was the proudest older sister. He mingled, made friends, made good impressions, told jokes, and was completely confident. We hung out for hours and had a blast! We even got into a wrestling match with each other which made me feel right at home with him there. I love that as me and my siblings all get older we stop acting like siblings and more like friends.

Adam and Bradon both stayed the night at Bobby's (once again me stressing out and Adam not caring). The boys (my boys, like the boys I hang out with always) have this thing where they go to Ramirez, a local taco place that is the latest thing open in Rexburg, after curfew on Friday nights to chat and have some delicious food. Stephani Ray my roommate and Adam have this special bond after Steph came and stayed a week with my family. When Adam first got into town Steph was on a date which made Adam not so happy with her. When we got home that night Steph said that she HAD to see Adam right away and did not care where he was. So, Steph and I got in the car and went to Ramirez with the boys. That is the picture below.Once again, proud sister when I saw Adam mixing and mingling with all of the boys I hang out with daily. He's so confident and it wigs me out!

The next morning Emma and I went to my parents hotel room and enjoyed some nice time with them. We just lounged around for a while and talked about our lives and how things were changing in all of our lives. Emma needed Mom time and I need some Dad time. So, we both got exactly what we needed.
We then went out for a bite to eat, at the great Sandwich shop Millhollow and then went and met up with my friends who were playing a great game of sand volleyball. Adam once again stepped up and played like a champ with all the people there. He's quite the athlete I guess.

After the game everyone got to meet my parents. It was so great to have all of my friends meet them and for my parents to finally put names with faces of people I've been friends with for years now. Having my real family and my Idaho family meet was the greatest thing. I think both parties really enjoyed it. Mom also fell in love with some of the boys that I spend my time with and to this day can't get over why I'm not in love with all of them.

Because of the traumatic experiences it was getting up here my parents wanted to get on the road asap. We went back to my complex and loaded the truck onto the trailer. Most of the boys who played and even some who couldn't make it came to help my Dad load the truck. It was the nicest thing! Both my parents were super impressed and I was super grateful. I sure couldn't do it.

It was then time for my parents to leave but not before my family and friends all talked for another hour in the scorching sun and my roommates and I shuffled with Adam.

Finally it really was time for them to leave. We said our quick byes and love yous and off they went. Not before we planked Sophia though.

She was a good truck and taught me lots. Life lessons have been learned in this Ford truck. I'm really not being sarcastic either. Thank you Sophia for being so great to me. You are missed daily. I know that there are no picture of my parents being here but they were. I promise.

It was great having them here no matter how brief it was. I could not have needed it more and could not have been more grateful to play with Adam. He's such a stud. Thank Mom & Dad for the world wind visit!

You may also be asking yourself "what is shuffling?" Well here it is. Please follow the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8

We throw food for fun

A few weeks ago while brainstorming ideas for ward activities Jacob looked at me and said "I think we should just do a massive Food Fight!" I laughed and then realized he was completely serious and that this was something that we were doing because Jacob was excited and loved the idea. We set the date and the activity was under way.

Activities provided flour, refried beans, and crushed tomatoes. Everyone who participated was asked to bring whatever food they would like to throw in the food fight.

I got off work at 5. Grabbed my roommates and headed to the dollar store where we got ammo for the fight. Things we purchased = Italian dressing, powdered sugar, pudding, syrup, oil, pie filling and some other weird weird things. We then went to the activity. This is our before picture. Those water guns. Full of oil. We're creative I think.

Admittedly I was very worried about how people would feel about this activity but we had a warm reception to the idea. My roommates and I met up with our ward and then led the troops outside of town so that we could have our food fight and hopefully not get arrested or a citation.
This may or may not come as a surprise but in the past year I have had cops and many many security guards show up to many of the activities because of what we were doing. This time we were cautious. And by cautious I mean smart and went outside of town-ish.
Anyways, once we got to the park we split into teams. Made alliances. And took a team before pic.Then the festivities began. I ran around the outside and snuck up on the opposite team from behind. It's all about strategy really. Flour went everywhere! It was like a cloud of flour. As thing progressed they just got grosser and grosser (made up word). Obvious by the mayo in the air this was serious.Julia really really like the ketchup bottle and rightfully. I mean look at her. She was so gross and I felt a wee bit bad for her. Things began to slow down and we then had time to admire each other.This is Emily. I love this girl. (I even went on a road trip with her which means a lot) She was soo grossed out by this and you can completely see that in this picture. I think that I would be grossed out too if you could make a full Italian dinner with everything that she was wearing food wise.

These are some of the people after the actual fight. You can't say that you're not impressed.

This was our after the battle roommate picture minus Emma because she immediately ran to the water to rinse off. We all felt gross and you can see why. This picture just makes me happy.

After we all rinsed off we took this picture. Reasons I love it? One thing. Kris Burgess. Creeping into this picture shirtless.Reasons I wouldn't do it again? I think I still have powdered sugar and refried beans in my ears and hair and my clothes will forever smell like corn gross gross. I am glad that we did this. I've always wanted to do a huge food fight for some reason. I loved every second of it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas

WARNING: THIS POST HAS A LOT OF PICTURES!

When Emma and I were younger we forever used to say that on our 21st birthdays we would go to vegas for our birthdays, meaning I wait until Emma was 21 and we'd celebrate her 21st and my half 21st. It is very typical and cliche I know but we both felt that it was the right thing to do. So, last month was Emma's 21st birthday and once again the topic came up. We had talked about it with my family when we were last home but had not said anything about it in months. The week of Emma's birthday I told my Mom that we'd really like to go and she laughed. No surprise. So I took that as a no. Emma's birthday was on a Friday. On Wednesday I was sitting in my class when I got a text from my Mom. It said "Race you to Vegas. Rooms booked for Friday-Sunday. See you there".......WHAT? immediate joy is what. I ran home and told Emma and we were both full of joy. Well you can imagine that two days later Emma and I were in a car on our way to Fabulous Las Vegas. (there was a lot of stress on Emma's part because of classes and what not (Emma's not mine) but it all just worked out perfect!) Within 24 hours we had figured out classes, callings, assingments and everthing that one would need to so we could leave for a stress free birthday celebration weekend. We spent most of Emma's birthday in the car travelling but some of our best times are during road trips so it did not really matter to us. We did end up beating Mom to Vegas (only by seconds, but it was a victory that I'll take). People on this trip included Rhonda, Robert, Grandma (such a nice surprise), Ashlynn, Deasiya, Mom, Emma, and I. My Dad and the boys stayed home for a guys weekend, sad, but I understood. After settling into our rooms and changing from car apparell the festivities began. It was about 11 p.m but our party was ready to play. We went out onto Freemont street and were delighted to see this Queen light showon the roof above. A little weird but it's Vegas.

Ashlynn was more than happy to see the "Four Queens" where the Rat Pack used to eat. She was a little bit of a creep about this place but we did not mind.

All four our the sisters. This was the frist time we had all been together in like, oh, 6 months. It was beautiful and we could have not been more pleased.

Keeping in mind it was Emma's birthday we got some late night grub at a walk up type of place. When we were on our way out Robert got Emma a birthday cake (brownie) and we then sang to her on the elevator. It was so happy.

We then decided since we were in the city that never sleeps (I don't really know if that's Vegas or not) we would go to the pool at 1 a.m, apparently as a whole we are night owls. The picture below is not that great but Ashlynn makes me laugh because she is such a good picture taker. While we were there we saw "Bobby Ray" from Sweet Home Alabama. We definetly stared until we realized who he was but that no big deal. All picture by pools were taken on Ashlynn's camera so sorry about that. Saturday was nuts! Agenda: breakfast, pool, shopping, eating, sight seeing, learning new stuff, and just having a good time. We woke up. Got dressed. Had breakfast and hit the town. Our first stop was the mall. In my family apparently you can't go on vacation without going shopping, which I don't get but I was not going to complain.
The mall had rougly 600 escalators. Emma looked great on all of them.
Randomly while we shopped, the floor came up from under groud and all of the sudden there were male models for LaCost just strutting their stuff.
Well we shopped and shopped. Truth be told we did a lot of waiting for Grandma and Rhonda to be done shopping. They can go forever! We then headed back to the hotel so we could enjoy some pool time. But, on our way back Mom and Robert realized that we were just blocks away from GOLD & SILVER PAWN SHOP. The shop has been made famous from show on some network called Pawn Stars. What to do in a situation like that? Find the shope and go to the Pawn shop. After a little google search and GPS guidance, we ended up at the shop. We waited in line because apparently EVERYONE loves them too. It was so fun though, ghetto, smelly, but great fun! That is when I realized that I get my random and spontaneous from my mother. Such a proud moment.
I guess my family watches the show because everyone was so happy to be there. Mom and Grandma kept looking for Chumlee. Never spotted though. We were not disappointed though. We were just glad to be there! I would also like to say that since this trip I have watched pawn stars and I do like it as much as one person can. It makes me laugh and every time we watch it I get to say "I've been there" never gets old. We then went back to the hotel and sat pool side for a while. It was so nice and we all had a good time just relaxing and trying to get some color. Deasiya beat us all that's for sure. haha! Just kidding D! We then went back to our room and got ready to go out again. We felt that it was appropriate to look saucy and we really enjoyed this chance. We went to the Mirage for dinner and found this in the lobby. You better believe we fit 5 people in the phone booth. I think everyone was impressed. We couldn't breath when the door was closed but it was well worth it. Not a one person could stop laughing at this. We then went to dinner and finally got to sing to Emma in an appropriate setting with a real cake and candle. The whole group at dinnerAfter dinner we went to the fountains at Bellagio. This was one of the happiest parts for me. I loved them!Then walked the strip a little more and were happy with everything we saw If you ask Emma and Ashlynn, seeind and taking a picture with Darth was the best part of the night. He was not as scary as he looks. Emma loves Pina Colada's (virgin) and was so glad that she got to buy one, they carded her, and she could still get it. Getting carded was just part of what made being 21 so happy to Emma. She was very very sad when it was all gone though.After our night of play we headed back to the hotel and once again hit up the pool and played a bit more. Most of our group went to bed but Ashlynn, Emma, and I stayed up to play until we could no longer. While we were walking back to our room we found this casino chair. Emma had to take a picture. she will forver cherish this. becoming 21 doesn't make you less of a nerd I guess. now I know that I'm going to get in trouble for this one. Ashlynn = not really throwing up in the bushes, but she thought that this picture would be funny. she was right. it makes me laugh every time. Once we got back to our room, Ashlynn and I stayed up and talked until the early morning which I really enjoyed. It was fun to be with Ash in a place that we did not have to worry about anything or have any responsibilities. We're both always so busy and this was a good chance to catch up. I'm very excited for Ashlynn to go to Colorado this next month for the Fall because it will be a good adventure for her. She just all around makes me happy.
On Sunday we lounged around for a while and then headed out. We took a few pictures before leaving. I was sad to see everyone go this time but it was almost perfectly in the middle of the semester so it did not feel like it would be long before I saw them again.

Me & Grams (I really enjoy her leg pop here)
Mom & the girls After saying byes we all got back on the road and headed back to reality. The weekend was so fun. We did everything that Vegas had to offer us and enjoyed all of our time together away from everything that was happening.
Our trip was great and ended just the way it should. Emma sleeping and me driving.
It was the perfect ending to a great weekend. Thanks to Robert and Mom being spontaneous, we had a fabulous time.