Boating

My Aunt Michelle and her family came up to see us last week and we went boating! I didn't get very many pics, but the summer is still young!

.Sisters.

My cute cousin Matthew

Mason. McKayla. Matthew.
.Dad.
Love Summer 2010!

Shopping

This last weekend I went to "Art in the Park" down at Howard Amon Park. There were tons of vendors set up along the river selling different trinkets. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the crazy vendors down in South America. So here is my compare/contrast of the two:

Similarities:

• People sell the same stuff.
• It is all overpriced.
• The layout and setup of the markets, vendor after vendor, all in a neat row.
  

Differences:

• Vendors bombard customers in S.A. but they also allow you to barter them down to practically nothing.
• Language barriers. Vendors in Richland speak English, vendors in S.A. do not.
• Here the products are mostly homemade and crafty, in S.A. they are touristy souvenirs.
• Richland had belly dancers performing in the amphitheater....weird....but kinda cool.

These are pics from the Art Show in Richland.

These are from S.A.!I want to go back and shop there! Cusco markets are the best!

Laughing

Sometimes when I start laughing....I end up crying. It's something I've inherited from my mother. I remember freshman year, one of the first nights in my apartment, trying to get to know my roommates and the neighbors; my laughing turned into curling up in a ball in the kitchen due to the waterworks. It is definitely one of my trademark moves. :)

So since I have been home I have had several of these moments and I would just like to say that I love my family! McKayla and I pulled all of our quarters together the other night and went out for blizzards. Then we came home and started to de-junk her room. We laughed so much! That girl had at least two large bags of garbage and another two large bags of stuff for the goodwill. It's kind of fun de-junking when it's not your own stuff. We had a blast! We found notebooks and papers that were several years old, ten pairs of scissors randomly spread throughout the room, tons and tons of junk! Love my sister lots!

I have these weird thing with feet. I absolutely hate them! I hate other people's feet and I hate it when people touch my feet. I think they are so gross! So I was sitting on Kimmi's bed, bugging her, and my mom comes in. Kimmi leaves the room, my mom goes to grab my foot because she thinks it's funny and somehow she shoves me onto the floor, I almost hit my head on the corner of the dresser, she falls too, and we both end up crying. Gotta love those moments!

Memory Lane

Today I took a trip down memory lane in my memory box. I have two Rubbermaid totes full of important things I have saved over the years. It is kind of fun looking through everything, seeing pictures and remembering childhood friends. I cried a little and laughed a lot. I was a serious pack-rat!
I have one binder full of birthday cards, handouts from young women's, school projects, and notes from family and friends. I found two papers that really stuck out to me. The one on notebook paper is an invitation to a Christmas Eve sleepover including a diagram of where each of us got to sleep and a time-line of when we would get up and when we would wake up our parents. The other one just goes to show how entrepreneurial I was at a young age. It's a sign-up sheet for my makeover business. Yes, I used to make my sisters sign up to let me do their hair and make-up. But honestly...I think I was probably twelve or thirteen when I did this one....but there were many! I love my two younger sisters to death! I know I used to be super bossy when we would play but it was so much fun! Being the teacher or the mom was just part of being the oldest, special privileges for me. :)
Of course I also found many pictures my brother drew for me, they are some of my favorites. I still have one note from him that I keep on my bulletin board at school . It says something about him hoping I am "all ready to go to collage" and it makes me happy. I love my brother!

There are a lot of different things I saved from high school. It's crazy how much those four years really impacted my life. I have my diploma and tassels, including the honors chords. Plaques from swim team, student government, and DECA. A swim cap and my sash and crown from prom court. In another folder I have tons and tons of certificates. High school was a big deal, but who am I today?

I worked so hard and tried to accomplish everything I possibly could in those four years, but was it really worth it? Yeah it was, but I think that I really cared too much. Looking back is so crazy. I have changed so much since graduation. I know all of us do. But looking through everything, it felt like I was a completely different person. All of these keepsakes are nice, but the Shana that attended Kennewick High School and the Shana that is attending Utah State are so different it almost is unbelievable. I'm proud of what I have done but I am even more excited for everything I will do.

Dog or Child?

Two in one day, here I go!

There are two things on my mind right now.

1) I just bought 360 sheets of scrapbook paper for $20 and I am super excited! Picking out scrapbook paper is like clothes shopping for me...and I absolutely love getting new clothes. It is super-typical of a Mormon girl to love to scrapbook but I am so excited to get going on my South America album. Oh gosh, I am a loser and I love it!

2) Putting your child on a leash is not OK! I had this discussion with a girl at work last night after she watched a mother yank her kid and he fell on the ground. Seriously, kids are not meant to be treated like pets. If you can't control or keep track of your child, put him in a stroller, or leave him home with a babysitter. I think the leashes are ridiculous and its no wonder the kids are out of control. Show them some love, hold their hands, carry them, don't walk them. The cute stuffed animals on the back of the leashes don't make up for it either, it is so wrong!

Dum Dums and Tantrums

The main purpose behind me moving home this summer was to save money and make money, so I picked up a babysitting job this week and was pretty excited since it really has been years since I have babysat. Yesterday everything went pretty well, we went and saw Despicable Me in 3D and it was pretty cute. We ate lunch at the park, colored, played outside, swam in the little pool; all typical summer activities, great day for sure. Well today was pretty good too, until the 4-year-old decided he didn't want to go to swimming lessons. It took me about 20 minutes to convince him to put on his swim shorts and then we had to stop by my house on the way because of course I had left my cell phone there and they don't have a home phone, so it really was important. Once we got to the Court Club, he sat on a chair and told me he wasn't getting in. So I talked to his teacher and she brought over another teacher and basically they took off his shoes and carried him into the pool....he did not like that! Super tantrum!!! They had me go sit outside and wait so he couldn't see me and after five minutes he was totally fine and after the class he was all smiles. My mom had given me a couple dum dum suckers when I stopped by, so in order to keep him from hating me after that episode, he got a sucker. What did I learn from this? 1) Make them get in the pool, because if you let them sit out, they will never want to get back in. 2) I don't mind watching other people's kids for a short amount of time, but it is definitely going to be years before I even consider having my own. 3) Dum Dum's are good bribes.

RIP Prince!

So I am really bad at the whole "keeping up on the blog" thing, once school starts back up I know I will improve, once I get my fancy library job back.

But for now, super lame postings will have to work. Yesterday I helped lay bark for some people in the ward and made some great money. (My back and arms are soooooo sore, but it was definitely worth it!) Then it was my first day back at the theater. I swear the moment I walk back into that place I feel like I am 17 all over again and I never left. I kind of hate it, no, I really hate it, but a job is a job and I am grateful to have one here.

Today was a pretty monumental day. I went to the singles branch... yep.... me.... at the singles branch... and I didn't die. Two summers ago I went with Trisha and it was such a horrifying experience. Today was different and it was ok. A lot of my friends are finally starting to come back from missions so the branch actually seems like it could be pretty fun. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But it might be safe to say that I will probably go back next week.

Ok now I'll take a moment for Prince. Yesterday morning Kimmi left for EFY so of course I volunteered to sleep in her queen bed while she is gone. Her poor fish, Prince, hasn't been looking so great lately and last night I had to flush him. It was pretty sad. So sad that Lil' Steve and I had to take pics with him before.

Fireworks

This is how I spent my 4th of July:

We attempted to watch fireworks from our roof.....and of course monster trees blocked our view.


So we drove around and found a field to watch them from and then took some fun pics. Happy 4th!

Home

I have been home for three days now and I think I've finally settled in, even though I really wish I was still down in South America. It all feels like a dream, like I have been in the Tri all summer and never even went there. Crazy! But I learned so much from this trip and can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. It was extremely educational and a lot of hard work, but I can definitely say I have changed and hopefully it is for the better. It was the small things I saw everyday that had the greatest impact. I don't want to bore anyone with my life-changing moments, but just know that I would go back in heartbeat and I loved every moment of it.

But there are some things that make me grateful to be back. Like...

• Brushing my teeth with tap water.
• Drinking tap water.
  
• Working out.
• Being able to go on a walk without the fear of being robbed.
• Not wearing a money belt.
• Driving my car and not riding in a bus
  
• Eating salad.
• Eating meals at home.
• My family.

And here is what I miss.

• My S.A. family....all 30-something of them!
• Trying to communicate with people in Spanish.
• Empanadas
• The tres amigas
• The beach
• Macchu Picchu and Cusco
• All of the other sites
• Churros with dulce de leche
• Random song outbursts
• Journal writing with my girls
• Soccer games
• Everything!!!