We made it!

Nearly fourty eight hours after departing from Salt Lake City, a cheerful albeit numb faced family of six arrived in the suburbs of Calgary, Alberta!
It was one of the more treacherous drives they had undertaken. Snow plows with seemingly malicious intents blew buckets of snow across the front windshield. The van tires skidded to and fro on the slick Idaho country roads. Winding through the mountains, they cruised through Montana's pitch black outback at a breezy 10 mph.
In the dark of night, they crawled into a cheap trucker motel to rest. It was not a resort sought out in intimidation of the elements but a...

Well yes it was. The roads were terrible, and I feel blessed to have made it here safely.
But we are here, and I love it here. It is my second home, and my true escape from the monotony of Utah.

Here's what my sched is looking like so far:
10:00- Wake up
10:30- get out of bed
11:00- Brunch, Nana's cooking!
11-6:00- Browse through my grandparents library,
eat, sleep, ski, a little violin, no homework,
chill with cousins, own at rock band, watch batman begins,
ski, facebook, watch dark knight, go for a run, have a nap.
6:00- Dinner
7-1:00- Whatever the heck I feel like.
1:30- Asleep before I hit the pillow.

I'll get my ski pictures uploaded when I can. I hope you guys are having a wonderful break!

To my lovely friend HIllary

I love your uniqueness, and your inspiring photography! Thanks for being a great friend.

She was...

the valedictorian at her high school, she has a Master's degree, she runs a business, she is a personal trainer, she passed a law, she accompanies me on the piano, she's writing a book, she home schools while managing an unruly three year old.
She's my mom, and it's not only the accomplishments I admire but the character behind them.
I love my mother, and I feel so lucky to be her daughter. Half the time she is exasperated with me, and the other half I am exasperated with her. But then there are those sweet moments in between.
In those moments I know I wouldn't make a trade for the world.
I feel such a great weight to live up to her.
I know she truly understands the meaning of service, and I see how she sacrifices herself every day for me and others. As I watch her grinding through the daily hurricane of events, I know that I can be better, kinder, more focused, and a little more selfless.

Did you forget about this color?

Ice and icecream

Borrowed Dad's boots :)

Gave up on that.

I have a view outside from my bed.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was the wonderful powdery whiteness.

So I hopped up and took a walk.
Nothing could make me come back inside.
Only the headache from the powerfully pounding flakes,
Would make me consider it.
Everything was beautiful.
Don't care about summer.

When the roads get icy we know it's the time to make our annual trip up to Calgary, Alberta. It's quite an adventure- a 16 hour drive stuffed into a mini van with a family of six (five of whom are outfitted with skis). I'm so excited to go and visit my cousins and grandparents! I rarely see them, and Christmas is so happy with all of us together. I must admit, a big part of my excitement is coming from the fact that we are spending some serious time on the slopes! There's nothing like Canadian snow...and skiiers.

Oh, and one more great thing about winter? Cold Stone Creamery has amazing seasonal flavors!

Tonight I got pumpkin icecream with caramel, whipped cream, cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs.

It was quite tasty.

I love my family!

Can you guess which member of the family had a temper tantrum and didn't want to wear his brown sweater or have his hair combed?

Irrationally happy

A good day for no reason
7:15 I crawled out of bed
My mind a blur
7:20 blaring honking sounded from the driveway
My hair a mess
I laughed all the way to school
Peanut butter sandwich in AP
Plus a witch DBQ
That I'll never see again
Slogged through Chem test just to find
Hot chocolate waiting for me
Sat on the heater and chatted through lunch
Warm through and through
And so much SNOW!
Dying for that stiff legged
Painfully numb fingered
Ruddy faced
Been-on-the-slopes-all-day
Feel
Peer pressure in seminary
Led to my first taste of shrimp
Chewed twice and swallowed whole
Never doing that again
Chemistry lab after school
Grapefruits and apples and limes and lemons
2 hours for 10 EC points
Mullins' idea of fair
Hopped on TRAX so utterly tired
Dozed despite the old man's stare
"Gallivan Center", the smooth voice called
Woke with a start
Tripped out of the train
With all the grace
Of a herd of stampeding turtles
Trekked two blocks in the blizzarding snow
Only to find
A disheveled violin teacher
Suited up in a stately tux
Bearing the news of a last minute concert
A cancelled lesson
Back home a sugary scone and a cozy fire
Listened to my new favorite song
With prospects of missing
Every single B day
For the rest of the week
Running through my head
:)

Newport II

Can I just grow to be a mermaid and live forever at Newport beach?! After two hardcore days at Disneyland, it was nice to just relax at the beach. Everything was so picturesque, my camera was snapping nonstop!