RFTH!!!

Unlike some people, I have zero problem admitting that I watch TV often and I absolutely love it.  In fact, I look forward to watching TV at night after I do all my homework.  These wonderful shows give me another world to escape to and something else to think about beside my life.  I don't care if the people are fictional and stuff like that "doesn't really happen it real life," I become attached to the characters and their story.  Sometimes I cry for them because I can relate to how much pain they're in or what happened to them that day, other times I catch myself smiling when something good happens.  And some TV shows are inspirational, too. What's not to love?

I respect that (is what I imagine Chris is thinking)
Original Footage Courtesy of: ABC (picture thanks to me)

There is this one show I watch though that none of the above really apply to (beside the fact I stop thinking about my life while watching it).  This show is called The Bachelor.  Honestly, I do not care if you like this show, or as my one friend tried to tell me as she shook her head, "That show demeans women."  They wanted to go on the show and no one is making them act a certain way, so how is it demeaning?

We don't just watch The Bachelor, we have a Bachelor Viewing Party.  It's an intense experience where we all react strongly and...this is the best part - we pause the TV and take pictures of the horrendous faces/expressions people make.

This may sound mean (or demeaning) to you guys, but no judgement!  Everyone does things to make them laugh, this is just what we do.

Ski Bunnies (JK We're Babes Now)

There is a tradition that as taken place since I was barely able to walk that my family refers to as the Ski Bunnies.  As you might have guessed, this tradition has something to do with skiing, but I'm not totally sure how the bunnies part came about.  Anyway, the Ski Bunnies is the annual ski trip that three mother-daughter pairs make to Park City for a weekend in the winter.  On average, there is a nine females at our house during this weekend each year.  A few years there has been eleven if the younger siblings come along, too. 

When my family moved from California to Utah before I was born, they left behind many of their friends and family members.  My dad's sister's friends all had babies the same year my sister was born, 1998.  These women became good friends with my mom.  The women all had other children that were born around the time I was, but they weren't all girls and we didn't have the same relationship all the 1998 girls had.  So because of this, I tag-along with the older girls on the Ski Bunnies trip. Now all of the older girls are about eighteen years old, I'm fifteen, the other younger girl is fourteen, so we are not quite cute little bunnies anymore, but more so some serious Ski Babes....hahaha totally kidding, we don't quite possess supermodel status.

A stylish bunch...check out Claire's Crocs and my gauchos!  From L-R: Grace, Emma, Gretchen, Claire, Braden, Mac, Me

Go Hard or Go Home

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated the wonderful holiday of Easter.  My family is not religious, so this is not a day where we think about Jesus and all the wonderful other religious things other families do.  We didn't even go to church.

We did, however, have an Easter egg hunt!  Ever since my sister and I were little I remember waking up early in the morning to find a note that the Easter Bunny wrote us sitting at the top of the stairs.  On this note, he wished us a "Happy Easter" and said how many eggs were hidden (always an even number so my sister and I got the same amount).

My mom told me this year that we were not going to have an Easter egg hunt because my sister and I are too old now.  My sister had egg hunts when she was my age, so I should get one, too!  Although, in the future I will not be having egg hunts while Claire is off at college (that's just sad), I was somewhat crushed inside, but I didn't care that much.

On Easter morning, we all got ready to go to brunch at our friend's house.  During the primping, my sister walks down the stairs and tells me we weren't going to have an egg hunt. That's old news girl, old news.  She ended up talking my mom into setting up our last egg hunt ever when we got home from brunch.

Guess what we did at this brunch?  We had an egg hunt!  However, it was more for the little grandchildren and not so much for the teenagers although we were encouraged to participate.  There is just something about taking candy from a baby that is so difficult, so me and my friend would walk every ten feet and pick up an egg (they were all scattered in a field), so I didn't get that many.  On our way back inside, there were eggs still sitting in plain sight that the toddlers had walked right past.  That is just SO sad.

Me mid egg hunt on Easter.  I was determined to get that blue egg.  Photo Courtesy of: Mi Madre

Spread Your Wings and Fly, Darling!

Sometimes kids just have more fun, it really is that simple. I discovered this was the case several weeks ago when my family and I were all sitting in our living room one night.  There was nothing particularly special about this night, we were just sitting there watching TV and talking.  I am not totally sure how we started doing this strange activity but I think it went something like this...

My sister, Claire, was lying on the ground in front of our TV with her legs in the air.  I walked past her and leaned over her feet to talk to her.  With my hands on the backs of her feet, I was putting some of my weight on her legs.

This sparked a memory from my childhood, something that every kid did at least once when they were small, airplane (although the internet does not know what I am talking about).  You know, when your mom or dad would lie on the ground and heft you up into the air.  Your tummy would be resting on their feet and your hands would be in their hands.  The parent would then proceed to move you side-to-side in the air like an airplane while you squealed with glee.

Look at that form. Photo Courtesy of: Moi

The Pokey Puppy

Put simply, life can be rough.  It's definitely not always fair and sometimes it seems just plain sucky.  The worst things seem to happen suddenly, you don't expect what is to come and hope that it never does (or at least not for awhile).  These times in life leave me contemplating why things happen.  People tell me frequently, "Everything happens for a reason."  But is there really a reason for the bad things in life?  Do these things really make me a better person?  Quite personally, I don't think they do.  I think I would be just fine if my life was sunshine and roses all the time, but that's just not how it goes.

This weekend started off pretty great.  I was babysitting for this family down the street on Saturday morning and was looking forward to earning some pocket money.  A few hours after I got to their house, I was reading the two little boys books.  My phone started ringing and I asked the little boy if it was okay if I answered it.  He of course said no, but I ignored him anyway.

Love you, Henry

I wondered why my mom was calling me - she knew where I was - but I didn't think much of it.  On the other end of the phone something in my mom's voice sounded off.  I could tell that she was trying not to sound sad and keep it together.  My mom tells me that she took our dog, Henry, to the vet and his wound (he was bitten a little while ago) had become really infected.  I thought maybe she was going to tell me that he had to get surgery or something, but then she tells me that it was decided that he was going to be put down.  In just a couple hours.  Henry had some previous health issues including a heart murmur, being blind in one eye, practically deaf, and he had been losing weight and having accidents almost daily.  For these reasons, operating on him was riskier and wasn't totally worth it.

I was trying to choke back my tears but couldn't stop them from falling down my face.  She asked if I wanted to see him before he was put down.  Of course I wanted to see him and say goodbye one last time. Unfortunately after hearing this depressing news I had to continue babysitting.

City of Roses

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite times of year are the times when I do not have to go to school.  It's fabulous and this past week was another one of those times.  My sister is a senior in high school so everything is about college currently.  We have toured several colleges in different states over the past few years.  However, this was the first tour that we were going on since she had applied and been accepted to college.  We traveled to Portland, Oregon - aka the City of Roses for those of you that didn't piece that together quite yet.

As the acceptances and scholarships came rolling in, she had seriously been considering where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life.  College costs the big-bucks and you want to go somewhere you'll like, so it was a big decision for her.

We went to Portland to visit one of her top contenders, the University of Portland. I had never been to Oregon before so I did not know what to expect.  I just knew that it rained a lot.

After we got off our plane, we drove over to UP to walk around.  It was one of the greenest campuses I've seen.  The campus overlooked the shipyard and the Willamette River below.  Claire's friend gave us a brief tour this day and on Monday we came back for the actual tour.

The Monday tour was LONG.  I believe we were there for six to seven hours!  It was presentation after presentation, but it was somewhat interesting.  The best part was that we got free food from their cafeteria for lunch.  They have some yummy options!  I also enjoyed seeing the dorms and different parts of the campus.  It was exciting for all of us, but my sister was pumped!

I was rudely cut out of this picture.  Photo Courtesy of: My Mom

Is That You, Queen Elsa?

I love not having school.  I have more free-time and don't have to worry about doing homework on Sunday, so having a three-day weekend is pure heaven.  Because we didn't have school on Martin Luther King Junior Day, three of my friends and my family and I went to the Ice Castle in Midway.  It was so fabulous and I am gonna tell you all about it.

Abbi, Emma, Elise, my mom, Claire, Will, and I all crammed into the car to get to the Ice Castle.  I had both my Guc and puffy coat on because I was not gonna be cold.  I tried to convince my friends to take some gloves or a hat but I was met with resistance, so it was just me who liked like a giant Oompa Loompa.

Chillin' with my peeps -get my pun?  (Look how warm I look)  Photo Courtesy of: Claire

After we arrived at the Ice Castle we walked a very long way from our car to the entrance where a parking supervisor asked us how our time was.  He was met with several very confused looks from many teenage girls.  He then preceded to tell us that there was an entrance right where we had come from, yeah we weren't paying attention.  As we were about to go in, Elise turns to me and asks if I have seen her gloves.  Oh, Lisey.  We couldn't find them on the ground anywhere and my mom told us that someone had yelled out saying they found a pair gloves.  Obviously we still hadn't been paying attention, but what do you expect from a gaggle of girls?