July 4th

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the food, the family, the friends, the fireworks, etc.  Last year on July 4th I was DYING.  I was in the middle of taking the medication from Hell and I had to miss out on a lot of the fun. This year I was determined to enjoy myself.  I woke up early and watched the parade with my family.  After the parade a couple of my roomies and I went to the lake.  We fried our bums off and had the time of our lives.  I am paying for it now, though.
After the lake I went to a bbq with the fam and then went to watch fireworks with friends.  This year was the perfect mix of family and friends.  I couldn't have asked for a better rebound July 4th! Stadium of Fire knew that I needed an awesome July 4th and they put on the best fireworks show they have done in years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*all photos taken with an ipod so please 'scuse the quality

I am SO Awkward

A couple weeks ago I was at school and I saw my friend getting a drink at the drinking fountain.  I decided to sneak up behind her and scare her.  So I got my T-Rex arms going and started to sneak up on her.  I was right behind her when she turned finished getting a drink and turned to face me.  It was not my friend.  We made eye contact and I slowly put my T-Rex arms down.  Then I walked away.  Didn't smile, didn't say anything. I just walked away. Because I am that awkward.

That same night I had plans with my sister and I was waiting for her to come pick me up.  There was a bridal shower going on upstairs so I called to tell her to use the basement door instead of the front or back doors.  She didn't answer so I left her a voice mail. I knew she was coming any minute and I decided to wait in the downstairs kitchen so I could see her coming. A couple minutes later I saw her legs go past my door and head to the back door.  I  ran out my door and shouted, "Wrong door, you imbecile!" thinking I would get a good laugh over it.  Well, she turned to face me....and it was, again, not the person I expected. I don't even know who it was.  And AGAIN I didn't say anything. I just ran back inside my house and closed the door. 

What have we learned from this? 

I can't tell friends from total strangers.  

Sisters

Dear Sisters-

I had a vision in my sleep the other night.  Here it is: we all lay in a circle with our heads in the center:

THEN: we all braid our hair to the person next to us! Like a star of braids! A family of braids!

See this post for questions

ZION

I have had adventures in the past while that I have failed to blog for a variety of reasons:
1. I am just way too lazy
2. I have had homework
3. I forget
4. I am seriously so lazy
5. Nobody is pressuring me

So there.  But now I am in a productive mood (and not the productive homework kind of mood) so here are some pictures from my adventures. Kate and I went down on a quick weekend trip to Zion National Park.  We hiked Angel's Landing (a steep and cliffy hike that drops off 1200 feet on one side and 800 feet on the other) and I died. Twice.  But it was absolutely beautiful.

We ate peanut butter on Oreo's at the top of the climb 

 

This was supposed to be our Christmas card for 2012 but it never quite came to fruition.

Do you see how steep that is? Those chains are not there for funsies.  They are there to keep you alive.  If you lost your grip you will fall off the edge and die. Not a joke, people. Not a joke. 

After this Zion adventure I went back down two weeks later with my dad.  This was one of the first things we saw: 

*cue muffled screams

Then we got to go through the tunnel. It is this tunnel that they basically blew through the mountain.  It is absolutely black inside with the occasional "window" to the world.  This is what one of those windows looks like from the road below:

 

And this is what one of those windows looks like from the tunnel:

 

The Rest

Here I am to finally blog the rest of Mexico. You are SO welcome. In the words of every blogger ever "Prepare for picture overload!"

Gecko chocolate!

Satan's speedbumps

5th piña colada

 

Coconut ice cream. Obsessed.

my 13th piña colada

the 16th (and final) piña colada

On the right you will see the rare rice elephant

Musical chocolate!

5th Avenue Mexico style

 

 

 

  

 

  

Carlos. Future GA, I am sure of it.

 

  

 

 

 

Wild monkeys.  They make the scariest sounds. For rilz.

Zip Zip Zip

We went on a couple little adventures while we were waiting for the end of the world down in Mexico.  We went zip lining at Selvatica.  It was so so much fun. Also: our guides were pretty good lookin'. Win-win.

See that man behind me? That is Luis. I heart Luis. He is a paramedic.

*photos courtesy of Selvatica Park