June 2009

June was a great month for me. I had so much fun mainly because I got to spend a week and a half with my family and part of that was in Disneyland so that always makes for a great time, right?

While packing for this trip I decided to start moving back home and the amount of stuff that I was taking with me was a enough to fill two big suitcases, a small carry on bag, another suitcase to carry on and I still needed more room. I'm a little worried about fitting everything in my car to get home...

My trip started June 6th. Saturday was Zolie's baby blessing and I was so glad I was able to make it. I made it to Easton's and I just couldn't miss Zolie's especially since I was supposed to be home for good by now. One of the greatest parts about the blessing was being able to see all the guys in my family up there. It was the first time everyone was ordained an elder and was able to participate in the blessing. Zolie Maye could not have looked cuter.

That night part of my family and I left for California. Marcus, Mandi, and Zolie Howard were unable to join us for Disneyland but we hope to have another trip soon and they can join us then. I think I got the best end of the deal when I got to ride in the back seat with Easton and Cooper in the car with Wes and Courtney. Those two boys are such characters. I loved every minute of it. I even got to listen to High School Musical with them. haha. Such a great time.

That night I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve because we were going to Disneyland in the morning. I know I was just there in December but this time I was going with MY family. I couldn't wait to begin my vacation. Cooper had quite the experience at Disneyland, he not only lost his first tooth while we were waiting for California Adventure to open but lost his second tooth just a few hours later. Since it is the year of celebration at Disneyland I got him a pen for celebrating his first tooth coming out, they really don't have one of those it just said I am celebrating. He was thrilled when I gave it to him, cheapest gift I ever gave anyone for the best reaction.

Easton loved all the characters which is a complete opposite to the way Cooper was at that age. Now that Cooper is older he was excited to see all the characters so we tried to see them all and even waited in line at Mickey's house for over an hour. Easton especially loved Pluto and was trying to play with his whiskers, it was SOOOO cute.

At Disneyland I feel like I had the best of both worlds. I could be with my brothers and Mindy (Brandon's girlfriend) to go on the rides or be with Cooper and Easton and enjoy Disneyland with kids and watch them experience the excitement of Disney. I had an amazing time with my family at Disneyland.

We left Thursday to head back to good ole HOT Arizona. Friday must have been not too exciting because I don't have any pictures and that is how I remember what I did during my trip.

Saturday was exhilarating. I took Brandon skydiving. When I was home in April I had told him I want to spend a day with just him and I asked him what he wanted to do. He told me the lake but if we went to the lake we would have to have someone else come with us and we wouldn't be able to really hang out much. Right as I was leaving for the airport during my April visit I mentioned skydiving and he said really?? He got pretty excited about that and so we started to plan our skydiving adventure. This skydive was my third time and perhaps my last, I said that last time so we shall see. It is still as exciting the third time as it was my first time. Although I must saw my plane ride was much scarier than ever before. I don't know if I can explain this in a way that would make you realize how scared I was on the flight up but I will try...

First let me explain how the plane is set up and how the seats are arranged. There are two benches on either side of the plane facing each other and a small bench to fit about 3 people on at the rear by the door of the plane. The row of benches on opposite side of the door (the door that we all jump out of) is longer than the other bench and therefore extends midway through the door. I am sitting at the very end of the bench directly across from the door and there are no type of seat belts on the plane at all. We just sit on the bench and are not tethered to anything and part of the flight the door is WIDE open. Part of the take off it was open and then when we got to about 7000 feet, I think, it was opened again and stayed open til e jumped. We jump at 13,000 ft so it was open for a while. During the flight there were 3 people on the small bench right be the door but they all had parachutes, one was jumping solo and had two instructors jumping with him, my instructor was beside me but he also had a parachute, 3 cameramen, including mine were sitting opposite of me on the other bench and they also all had parachutes. I am not attached to my instructor until about 11,000 ft or so, therefore I was sitting in front of an open door for the majority of the flight WITHOUT a parachute. One wrong turn and I was falling out of that plane and nothing to slow me down. Okay, I know that if that were to happen I have all of those trained professionals around me to either stop me before I fell or jump out after me to help me but when you are in the situation you just think the worst. Thankfully, one of the instructors by me was pretty funny and I was making fun of him for getting goosebumps in the summer in Arizona. I later got them because it was so cold when we got so high and he had a nice time making fun of me then. After I left the plane and I was freefalling at a speed of 120 mph I felt much better, don't try and understand me, I've given up.

I think when I was home last year right before Christmas or sometime during the latter part of 2008 Cooper was asking me when I am moving home for good. This was back when I was planning to be home before the summer even started and I made a promise to him that has haunted me since I decided to extend my time here in NY. My promise was that I would be home for good by his birthday, which is June 14. Okay so I didn't keep my promise but I was there for his birthday.

Monday I got to take Cooper and Easton to the zoo. I have a Zoo membership that has done me a lot of good since being in New York... We had a great time seeing all the animals. We weren't there too long because of the heat and other plans but I was glad to use my membership since I haven't used it in over a year and a half. :'(

A couple months before I was coming home we had planned to get family pictures taken while I was home because I would be home and the next month Brandon would be leaving for his mission. We all completely forgot about that until after we had gotten back from California. I called around and found a photographer through my cousin Whitney. I called Tiffany, her website is http://www.tiffanyhaynesphotography.blogspot.com on Saturday and we scheduled to have pictures taken Monday night, thanks Tiffany for doing such great pictures so last minute!! They turned out great and I was so glad to have those done before I left.

Tuesday I got to hang out, AKA babysit, Cooper and Easton and then later that night I went out with my friends.

I loved my trip and I am always so grateful for my family. I have had an awesome experience here in New York but when I was home with them I realized that is where I belong. A part of me was always worried about missing the city, my friends and the family I work for here in New York but nothing compares to being home and being with your family. I know there will be times that I wish I could be back in New York for various reasons but nothing is more important to me than my family and now finishing my education.

Thanks for reading. More coming soon...

Pictures are coming soon. I am still trying to get all my pictures in one place. I have some on CD, flash drive, my old computer, and my new computer. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get all your pictures into one place without taking up so much space on your computer of having to use about a hundred CDs?? I have thousands of pictures and I need a better way to store them.