The 24th of July

Otherwise know as Pioneer Day for the people who live in Utah. This is a day that has been celebrated for only the past 150 years or so. And is a day that is only seen as a holiday in Utah. For this is the day that the pioneers entered into the great state and decided to call it home. It is a day where pioneers should be honored for there hard work and determination. A day where one should rejoice that they are able to live here in this great state because people fought for it. In essence, this day is a day that should be celebrated.

In my family we have always started our celebrating by going to the 24th of July parade that is held in downtown Salt Lake City. In all my years I have only missed the parade twice. No, we do not camp out over night. Although, my moms family used to when they were kids. Now days, we all just get up at the crack of dawn and head on down to the city. Over the years of going we have found are favorite spot to park and to sit. We tend to park on second south and then walk down the street to the parade route. We have found that we like to sit by the police families. One, because they sit in the street and they don't block of the road until about 7am, which is when we arrive, which also guarantees us that we get pretty close to front row seats. Two, since the police families are sitting there all of the motorcycle cops in the parade do their shows right in front of us. And three, they set up the radio stand right across the street, so we hear all of the announcements and stories about each entry.

This year was no different. We got up bright and early and left the house by 6:30am. We drove downtown and meandered our way over to our favorite parking spot. From there we walked the three blocks to the parade route and set our chairs up in the street right next to the police. Since we get there so early, we always have time to just hang out and read, play cards, eat breakfast...or my personal favorite...people watch. And lets just say that you can find some very interesting people at the parade. You can also find some interesting people in the parade as well. They themselves make the parade entertaining to watch. Plus, I do like to see the floats and the cop shows(favorite!)


Wendi and Ben dub him my future husband.....






After our fun at the parade Wendi and I decided to go run some errands. Our first stop of the day turned out to be Kinko's. I had been put in charge of making the Whiting family directory and needed to make copies of it to hand out that night at the family BBQ. Then we went to Costco and got free Cremmies, the raspberry ones were amazing! From there we headed up to Layton where we made a stop at Downeast. Once inside this store we found out that they sell furniture as well as clothes. They had the cutest red couches that were so comfy. Plus I also got a new swimsuit. It was a good stop. After that we decided that we should probably go and get ready so we could be to the BBQ on time.

Every year my grandparents hold a BBQ at their house on the 24th of July. After dinner it is tradition to go over to the school field where they hold Butler Days. In all my years. I don't really ever remember going. I know we went when we were younger, but in recent years we have just never gone. We have always gone and done our own thing. But, this year we happened to go and it was a blast. It was so much fun partly because of the food, the park games, the concert, and the fireworks but, mostly it was so much fun because it was my family. When we are together we always find things to laugh about and just have fun in each others company. It doesn't really matter what we do as long as we do it together. Granted, we do do some fun things, but most of the time I think they are only fun because of who I am doing them with.

This family get together turned out to be no different. Upon arriving we were put right to work husking corn and getting chairs set up. Even then, we still found things to laugh about like how the corn was soaking wet (we have no idea why), how Joe had never husked corn before and didn't know what to do, how we would put the chairs down and then grandpa would just go and move them again, and much much more. From there we all just hung out, ate yummy food, told stories, and laughed some more.





Once dinner was over and cleaned up we decided that we should head over to the school grounds to get a spot for the fireworks. Here we met up with the Brown family and quickly claimed our seats. Upon arriving, we found out that Eclipse was preforming. Therefore, after a few moments of hellos and hugs some of us were quickly off to the front of the stage. For you see, we wanted to dance. And not only dance, but dance right up front like we have at their concerts before. I am glad to report that we not only danced at this concert, but we started the dance party right up by the stage. It was such a blast! If you have never run and danced at a concert I highly recommend it. After our song was over we started to head back to join the family when to our surprise they started to sing another one that we could dance to. So what do we do?? We turn right around and go running back to dance once again. And let me tell you, running back in the dark to the stage is not that easy when you take into consideration that half of us were in heels, we were jumping over people and weaving through blankets. I am pretty sure that we didn't step on anyone. After the last song we headed back to the family and made it just in time to sit and watch the fireworks. We love the ones where you can feel the boom and luckily for us there were a lot of them. We did decide that they played some very entertaining songs though..we had the ants go marching in, Yankee doodle, and a variation of primary songs. They also had some interesting fireworks that kept shooting off into a different area. Once the last song was played and the last firework shot we headed back to the grandparents house to do a firework show of our own where we lit the fuses in the dark, almost had one go off on a person, and danced in the street with sparklers to end the night. All in all, I think it was a pretty darn good day, one that will just have to be celebrated again next year. :)

Friday Fun

What do five girls, who happen to the best of friends, do when they realize that they all have the same Friday off of work? I will tell you....they go to the zoo. At least that is what we choose to do, and boy did we have fun.

The day started with meeting at the Hogel Zoo at ten in the morning. Since we all live in different places we figured we would just meet up there. Wendi was the smart one and brought the sunblock so we wouldn't look like lobsters by the end of the day. Once we were all covered and protected we headed off to buy tickets. We ended up getting the adventure passes which include a ride on the train and the carousel. And yes, we were quite excited about this and no, we did not have any little children with us. We were just excited to be hanging out and going to the zoo.

From there we spent the day walking around looking at the all of the animals and laughing along the way. We went to all of are favorite childhood spots and relived the memories that had been made at each while making new ones along the way. We saw the baby animals and the older animals. We saw the elephant show with baby Zuri and the rhinos that blended in with the rocks. We saw the camels with there shedding fur and limp humps. We saw the sleeping grapes (giant apes) and the jumping monkeys. We saw the lions, tigers and humans in a cage. We stuck our heads into the mouth of a lion and sat on an elephants trunk. We saw the black tongues of the giraffes and the inside of the gofers home. We walked through the humid lands of the frogs, lizards, and snakes. We saw the inside of an egg and the stripes on the backs of the caterpillars. We went through a giant snake and dark bat caves. We let ourselves get blown away by air and water. We saw natures nightmares and natures beauties. We saw the highlands of Asia and the dry lands of the mountain dessert. We saw and rode exotic animals around in circles. We rode a train to different lands. We saw Indian tepees and the miners graves. We saw the world through the eyes of kids and the eyes of animals. In essence, one could say we experienced the zoo.
The Lions Mouth

Caged Human

An Elephants trunk

A Giraffes tongue

Getting Blown Away

Asian Highlands

Riding Exotic Animals

Natures Nightmares

Gofers Home

A Caterpillars Back

Inside of an egg

Going through a giant snake

Train Ride to Different Lands


Seeing Through the Eyes of Animals

When we had accomplished all of our adventures we walked through the spinning jail and landed back in reality. A reality where it was after one in the afternoon and above 90*. A reality in which we were all hot, sweaty, and hungry. After some discussion we concluded that the only way to make this reality better was to go to lunch together. So we headed off to Red Robin for chicken wraps, fries, melon, flavored lemonades, and much more laughter. Reality ended up being pretty sweet.
Sweet Reality

Cedar City

Last Monday I left the valley of Salt Lake to travel to another known as Cedar City. I was headed down to the Shakespeare Festival, and was excited to be going. I was also excited because about 50 of the students that I worked with were going as well. My first stop was at my site teachers house. We had decided earlier that we were going to carpool down with some other people. Once at her place I found out what we would be riding in. I will have you know that we took a limo the whole way down. For you see, her dad just happens to own one and wanted to drive it. It was a very nice drive.

Once we got to Cedar City we stopped at the hotel and checked in. From there we ran through the agenda with the students and there parents. We also went through all of the dances that they would be preforming in the plays the next day. Once that was accomplished our limo picked us up and we went over the the campus to see the shows. The first show we watched was the Greenshow that is put on before the main plays. It was full and singing, dancing, and jokes, and just fun to watch. After that show we headed over to the Randall Theater to watch Great Expectations. The students were excited to see a real play and even more excited to all be going together. The show was done really well and we all had a great time.



The next morning we got up bright and early to get to the Adams Theater by 7:15 in the am. Our students were granted the opportunity to preform their plays on stage at the Adams Theater that morning. They were to start the show at 9:00. Therefore, we needed to get stage props ready, costumes in order, sound hooked up, and all of the students in hair and makeup ready to go on stage. It was a crazy morning where everyone was just running around trying to get things accomplished. I helped unload props, set up costumes, run through dance numbers, and was just making sure that all of the students were accounted for.



All of the students were really excited to be putting on their show somewhere beside the school gym. They were especially excited when they saw that it wasn't just their parents that were coming to watch them. We had a lot of the college students on campus and other people who were there for the festival come and watch the students preform. They heard something was going on and came to check it out. Overall, the students did a really great job with their shows. Some where a bit nervous and missed a line here or there, but for the most part they all did an amazing job. I spent most of my time back stage helping them change costumes, fix makeup, cuing them when they needed to get on stage, and just trying to keep things in order. It was fun to be a part of it all and see how much these students had accomplished.

After the shows, the owner of the theater took all of the kids on a backstage tour. He took them down to the tunnels and showed them all of the actor rooms and trap doors to the stage. He also took them to through the tunnels to the theater across the street and to the prop storage area. The students thought that is was really cool to see how everything worked and how it could all come together. After the tour we served them lunch and then handed out awards to all of the cast members. They all did such a great job with their parts that we had to give one to everyone.

Once every award had been given out and all of the lunch stuff had been cleaned up we decided to go and get our own lunch(it always seems to be the case that when you are the one serving lunch you never eat). We went to the place called the Pastry Pub. It is this dry Irish pub that has amazing food. My favorite part was the Italian sodas. I got a strawberry coconut mint one. It truly was delicious. From there we just went back to the hotel and crashed for a couple of hours. After running around all morning it was nice just to hang out and relax for a little bit.



That night we went to the Green show once again. This time they had a Scottish themed show. They did some funny songs and some great dancing including Irish and tap. It was so much fun to watch them preform. After the Greenshow we went and saw Macbeth. We were lucky enough to get tickets from my site teachers parents. These ticket just happened to be on the second row in priority seating. It was such a neat experience to be that close to the stage and to really see the expressions on the actors faces. The not so cool part was getting spit on when they talked, but it was worth it. The show was soooo good. The actors did an amazing job and most of the time you felt like you were actually there with them. It was also really cool to watch because Macbeth is one of the shows that my students put on. It was fun to compare the two and to see the students reactions to watching a show that they preformed as well.




The next morning we just packed up and headed home. It was such a fun trip and I am really glad that I was able to go and be involved with the students once again. They all did such great work and I am really proud of them. If you have not been to the Shakespeare festival I highly snuggest that you go. It is a truly great experience.

My Mom

It has come to my attention over the years that my mom is one of the amazing ones. I am sure that others of you think your moms are amazing as well, and if so, you are very lucky. Because it has also come to my attention over the years that not all moms are so great or amazing. Not all moms support you or make you feel loved, but I am happy to say that my mom does.

Growing up I am sure that I took most of what my mom did for me and my siblings for granite. I just assumed that every mom did everything that she did and that that was what all moms were supposed to do. I just sort of figured that every other kid grew up with what I did. As a little girl it never clicked that all moms were not the same. The more I have grown though, and the more that I have talked to others about growing up as kids, the more I have realized just how amazing my mom really is. For you see, growing up I had a mom who cared in a big way. A mom who cared about what we did and what we learned. But also a mom who cared about each of us enough, that we never felt like we were missing out on anything or that we had been passed over for another sibling.

As a kid I grew up hanging out on my moms bed while she would make bows to go in mine and my sisters hair. I remember watching her curl the ribbons and tie the bows together and wondering what I would wear it with when she was finished. I grew up making cookies in the kitchen all of the time, even though we tended to get more of the frosting and sprinkles over ourselves and the kitchen rather then the actual cookies. I grew up going to Wheeler Farm, the Zoo, The Childrens Museum, and many more places, thinking that it was the biggest adventure one could ever go on because my mom would make it seem that way. I grew up playing with a quiet book in church that my mom made for us (and I am just realizing how much work it took to make because I am making my own). I grew up having birthday parties with friends and sleepovers where we were allowed to laugh into the night. I grew up taking dance lessons and playing baseball because my mom told us that girls could do both. But more than any of this, I grew up with a mom who believed in me, and not only in me, but in my brother and sister also.

Growing up we were always encouraged to try new things and be involved. Whenever any of us wanted to do something new or try something out or be a part of something. she would always say ok, and then help us figure out how to do it. Even as we got older, the answer was always go for it. Even if she thought we were going to fail, she would let us do it anyway. And then when we crashed and burned she was right there to help us get back up and try something else. And therefore, my life has always been full of different things. At times it has been crazy busy.

As a little girl I was involved in dance, baseball, school, and with friends. In Jr High, I was still taking dance and now competing, I was part part of the honor society and an officer for it, I took up choir and art, and still hung out with a variety of friends. As I got to High School I still took dance and competed, I also started teaching dance at the studio. I was now a part of two choirs. I got a job, where I was quickly made the Team Captain. I was still taking art, but now I was also taking AP classes. I was still hanging out with friends, just now it was with not only people from my own school but others as well, where we participated in many school functions ans activities. Then comes college, which includes many classes, a new job at the U, being in a sorority for four years where I was an officer part of the time, being in the MUSS for four years for football, a singles ward that came with callings of course, and a whole new group of friends to mix in with the old ones. And through it all though, I wasn't the only one this busy. My brother and sister where just as busy and involved in their lives as well. But do you want to know that thing that amazes me the most? It's not that my mom not only let us be this involved but encouraged us to be. And through it all she was always there.

No matter how busy it got, she was there for each of us. She always believed in us and supported us in everything we did. She was always there. In all my years she was at every dance performance(but one) and every competition, every one of my choir concerts and shows, every award ceremony, every graduation, every little league baseball game, every night I got home from a date, and just every time that I have needed her, she has been there. And she has been that way with each of us. She has never missed anything that has meant something to us. My mom has always been our biggest cheerleader and supporter, and I love her all the more for it.


So thank you Mom. Thank you for everything you did for us as kids. Thank you for letting us try new things and be crazy busy. Thank you for always being there. Thank you for always believing in each us. But most of all....Thank you for just being my mom. You truly are one of the amazing ones and I love you for it.

Wonderful Escape

Every year my family takes the fifty minute or so drive up into Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird. Every year we go up on a Saturday afternoon and spend part of the week there. Every year we go with the same people, stay in the same rooms, eat mostly the same foods, and do most of the same things.....and yet, every year I absolutely love it!

For you see, it doesn't matter that we do the same things, or eat basically the same foods, or stay in the same rooms at all... in fact, it is doing those things that make it so much fun. It is one of those trips where you know that you can just go and relax. One where you know what to expect and you know what you are going to do. You know that you will probably go hiking, lay by the pool, read a book or two, go look through the shops (even though they never change), go on the nature walk almost every day, visit the playground, watch thunder storms from the balcony, and play cards or watch movies in the evening and into the night. You also know that it will be filled with much laughter and fun along the way. And that, my friends, is why I love it. I love just being there with my family and hanging out. It truly is a wonderful escape from the world.