After Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone for yet another year, but man was it a good one! We had lots of goodies, amazing meals, family time, and yes...presents lol :) but one of the most incredible things about this Christmas is the amount of snow we are getting!!!! oh my heck we have tons at our house! I helped my dad shovel snow off our back deck on Christmas morning...that was until he started throwing snow on me ha ha then I couldn't feel my face or fingers and I bailed! We also have some massive icesicles hanging from our house that I fear could fall any moment, so I don't stand under any doorway too long :) I'll have to take some cool pictures and post them later. Now we've been trying to keep up with all the snow and getting out of our driveway with the cars in one piece lol. New Years is coming up and I can't believe it's already almost 2009! This year seemed to fly by!

I'm not very good at this blogging thing...I'll try to do better!

Ok ok, so I think I am kinda failing at this blogging thing. Life has been so crazy and busy that this just hasn't been a priority (not that anyone really reads this lol). But anways, lately things have been going pretty good: it's Christmas time, all the family is together, and NO SCHOOL!!!! I'm enjoying break just sleeping in, watching movies, building legos, making cookies, and having no school whatsoever! I've been on break for about two weeks now and still have two weeks left! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the fam and I have some big plans. Tomorrow morning we are going to breakfast at Old European with our friends the Novakovichs...that place is amazing! Then tomorrow night we are doing our traditional dinner at Grandma Jenson's house. We have a big ham and Belgian waffle dinner and then open presents from her and give her our gift to her as well. Then CHRISTMAS!!! Christmas morning we wake up (no sooner than 8:00 according to Dad) and line up oldest to youngest at the top of the stairs. Then him and Mom go down to make sure Santa got everything right lol and then they call us down. We open presents and read the Christmas story in Luke 2. After that we all work together to make the best breakfast ever! Eggs, ham, sausage, hashbrowns, toast, OJ, and fruit! Then we hang out the rest of the day and have a big turkey dinner that night. The next day (this Friday) we're going to see Marley & Me with the Novakovichs (you'd think we like em or somethin' lol :-) just kiddin' guys). Well I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and may God bless you!

It's Been Awhile

Sorry it has been awhile. With school, soccer, and just life in general I've been crazy busy! But recent news I guess is that my senior year of soccer is over, but we made it to state! We lost this last Tuesday to Shorecrest in overtime and I was so disappointed, heart broken, and regretful, but looking back I realize how much we accomplished and have to be proud. The four captains this year were Morgan Manchester, Mallory Mott, Echo Abramson, and me...we bonded so tight this year and grew closer than ever. We were there for each other on and off the field and that made playing together all that much better. Morgan and I made 2nd team all-league and I'm so appreciative and grateful :)

Also, we have a new puppy! An english mastiff named Cooper has joined our ranks lol and boy is he a cutie! My parents and sisters went over by Tacoma today to pick him up and I saw him for the first time this evening....so adorable!...even though he drools and will require training.

Yes, unfortunately it is true...I am back in the boot for 3-4 weeks :( I barely survived ten days, so I'm wondering how I'm gonna make it through 28?! But I am definitely ready to be healed and have my leg stop hurting constantly.
Well that's all I have for now, but I will try to keep up with it better! ttyl

Girls Camp 2008

So let's just say that Girls Camp this year was flippin' amazing!!! I'm sad to say that this was my last year, but at least it was an awesome one! I was a 4th Level YCL which means one thing in particular....CANOE TRIP! Oh my goodness it was the best! The 4th Level campers, their YCLs, their level leaders, the canoe masters (my mom and Nikki Novakovich), and the chase boat drivers (my dad and Brother Novakovich) all left at 6:30 Monday morning and man was it cold! We had the whole talk about how to row, swamp, and steer the canoe and then we got our boat assignments and got in the water. It was only like 61 degrees and we had to swamp our canoes to make sure we knew how to do it...brrrrrr lol. After everyone had swamped (and was now shaking from hypothermia) we began our journey :) The first 3 hours or so what spent exploring a really neat little creek that ran back into the Sandpoint area and was very quite and beautiful. We went about a mile and a half and decided to turn around and go get lunch. All of us put our canoes on the shore and waited while the leaders got our lunches out of the chase boats. While we were waiting we saw that there was a big group of cute guys across the way doing the rope swing. They looked over at us then jumped in the water and swam over to us ha ha. They asked our leaders if we were LDS because they heard someone say brother or sister...and it turns out that they were members too....and one of them was really cute :) so after eating, some of the other girls and I went over to do the rope swing. It was so fun!!! I even tried going with two people at once (Baily) and it was scary, but fun! After the rope swing it was time to take off again...4 more miles til we stopped for the night. But after swamping our canoe, bailing water out, and some really good laughs, we made it to Springy Point camp ground. We set up camp and all of us were dying to get out of our swim suits so we changed. Well...Abby Gehrett and I forgot bras in our canoe bags (we had some back at camp) so we made our own out of bandanas, duct tape, and twine ha ha. Funniest thing ever! That night we had a fireside given by Sister Otte, a bit of certification, and some amazing tin foils dinners and dutch oven cherry-chocolate cobbler. Yummy! I was so worn out and ready for bed that I was pretty much out when I hit the pillow. The next morning came way too soon if you ask me, but we packed up and got all loaded before we ate. Again, more great food. We had yogurt, Costco muffins, granola bars, fruit, and juice! Scrumptous! Then we got on our way and reached Camp Piene at about noon. We came a rowin' in singing our awesome cheer and waving our paddles in the air. All the other campers were yelling from the dock and shouting too. It was so fun...and it reminded me of my 4th year and the canoe trip we went on. We ate lunch, decorated our level while the girls were at an activity, and got back into regular clothes (and a bra ha ha). I could write about everything that went on at Girls Camp, but this would be a never ending post lol. So I'll tell you some of my favorite parts. Let's see...free time is the best!!! I didn't swim on Tuesday because I had been on the water for two days straight, so I made myself a really cool looking journal book that I am glad to say actually turned out cute! The level firesides are always good and the spirit felt there is amazing. Wednesday night was Bishop's Night!!!!!!!!! Leslie Wilson and I were conducting that fireside so we thought it would be way cool to have matching fros! They were so huge. The theme of Bishop's Night this year was The Wizard of Oz and we related reaching Oz in the Emerald City to reaching our Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom. Leslie and I were the ones trying to persuade the bishops to choose the wrong and people said that we made the show hilarious! Then for my ward's Bishop night (after the big show and whatnot together), Bishop Jamison read to us from his little black book ha ha. He had asked the priests in our ward ahead of time what they thought we needed to know to help us better understand them. It was awesome...I learned alot about them that night. It was kind of like what they thought when we were on dates should happen, not to be offended if they say dumb things, they appreciate modesty, all those kind of honest opinions stuff. Funny. Then we had ice cream and donuts! It was kind of a hard night for my mom and I because the date was the 13th and that was my Grandpa Jenson's birthday. On Thursday the 4th level and the YCLs got to have this amazing First Aid Pudding War!!! We all got completely covered with chocolate pudding and then just ran and jumped in the lake of the dock! In the fave, hair, swimsuit, legs...pretty much everywhere! Thursday night was level testimony meetings and wow...amazing girls that I got to work with. The spirit that they carry with them is remarkable. I feel like I learned more from them than they did from me ha ha. Friday morning we had to pack up camp completely before we could eat breakfast. We just ate what was left over from all the mornings and then everyone hit the road. My mom and I rode home with Sister Romeny in her car and Haley and I watched Superman Returns. My dad picked us up at the Stake Center and I went home to shower!

I Survived the Summiteer Hike!!!

On July 31-August 2 I had the awesome privilege of going on a summiteer hike! Me, thirteen other girls, and 4 leaders left bright and early Thursday morning for a fun-filled three day weekend. We got into cars and left the church, heading for Stephen's Lake in Idaho. The drive there was way fun (that was before we really knew what we were getting into) and we took a random picture of us being clean! Us girls thought we were tired and would sleep during the car ride, but Brother Nowels knew otherwise...he said that we'd be wired. And much to his dismay he was right; we were way too excited to sleep! Once we arrived at the bottom of the mountains they parked the cars and we got out to eat our lunches. Two of the cars took our bags and gear up to a different point so that we could just walk and then start from there. After a delicious cold lunch and a bathroom that was about 99.9% germ filled, we took off. Each of us got our own bags on and adjusted them to fit just right. Then we huddled together to get an awesome photo of the whole group, clean and ready to begin our long hike (wait til you see the after photo). The first day we hiked about 3 miles and I don't even want to know what portion of that was spent going pretty much straight up! It was so fun though...I had never done anything like it so I didn't know what to expect, but I had a blast! Below are some pictures of my goofy friends and I along the way. Half of the funny things that happened were, unfortunately, to me ha ha. These pictures capture my friends during their funny moments because luckily, I was the one behind this camera! All of the inside jokes were hilarious and boy were there plenty of them. Kaylee Hartshorn and I were the "Clutz Queens" because we probably spent more time on our butts the second day than on our feet. I'm sure if you know me you are nodding your head and laughing so I'll get back to telling how our three days went and I'm sure you'll hear more about our funny moments later on! After hiking three long miles up, we reached our camp ground right on the water's edge of Stephen's Lake. The view was breath taking. The sun was shining behind the lucious green mountains, the sky was bright blue, and there was snow glistening on the edge of the lake. Okay, so maybe the last part wasn't exactly what we were hoping to see, but it was pretty funny. We were hot and sweaty from our hike so we wanted to go "swimming". Only about 7 out of 13 of us did though because it was so cold. I technically didn't swim. I got in the water and started walking out slowly (while I was shivering) and then eventually got in but only to my shoulders. If I got my head wet I would have froze to death. I'm one of those people who likes the water she swims in to be warm! Kendra Brown and Kaylee Hartshorn were with me and they got in to...Kaylee was the only one who went all the way under though. Then we laid on a big huge rock over looking the lake and dried in the sun. By this time it was time to start dinner (yep...we got to actually cook our own food!) That night Kaylee and I were laying in our tent and we heard something outside...no joke. We knew there were bears and deer out there but this sounded different and we were officially freaked out. We asked Kendra, Eden, and Dani if they heard it and they said yes too. Long story short, we blew a fog horn really loud and then just hoped they went away while we went to sleep. The next day we climbed to the summit! It was so high and straight up! But oh my goodness the view was AMAZING!!! The pictures can't even do it justice. Once up there, we all touched the "actual summit plate" and took somes pictures. There was only one cell phone that had service so some of us called our families to tell them that we were "on top of the world!" After taking in the view we ate our lunches and enjoyed some of the snow that provided ice to our warm waters ha ha. On the hike down we found huge mounds of snow running down the side of the mountains and we actually sled down them...or down then past them. A short version of the funny/scary story here is that I was one of the last to sled down. The snow was really slick as this point and a track already made in the snow. So when I was towards the end I dug in my heels to stop but I kept sliding past and wasn't stopping. Somehow I got turned around and was heading head first towards a big pile of rocks and I was so scared. One of my friends Holly grabbed my ankle to stop me but then she was coming down with me. I'm honestly not even sure what stopped us, but we stopped just short of hitting the rocks. That was definitely a scary moment. Then we got back to camp and Kendra and I really wanted to go on our "raft" so we got in our suits and went to take it out in the 45 degree water. Well I don't know how old this "raft" was, but once we got on it the logs started separating and we were slippin' and fallin' all over ha ha. Then once Kendra, Eden, Kaylee, and I were "on" the raft the logs were getting way far apart. Eden fell under first and that sent the log that Kaylee and I were on floating and her and I fell in too. Kendra's the only one who didn't get wet and go under. Brrrrrr! So I hope you enjoy the funny picture! Once I got warmed up and ensured that I didn't have hypothermia, we had a fireside from Sister Wilson and then we played Maffia. We slept better that night and the next morning we packed up and headed home. We stopped in CDA for pizza at Pizza Hut and man did that taste good after two days of cooking my own food ha ha. Then we came home!

Camp Piene

This last Thursday my family and I returned from Camp Piene on the Pond Orielle River. It was so much fun!!!! We had a blast tubing and swimming (even though the water was freezing!). My parents had amazing dutch oven meals planned out for us and man were they delicious! Between great food, wild tube rides, and just relaxing around the campfire, it was an awesome trip! Here is my dad being a goof ball (as always). I'm still trying to decide if he is showing off his muscles or his farmer's tan. Ha ha ha. I'm just kidding daddy-o...I know it was the muscles right?

Here is my mom water skiing. The water was pretty rough throughout our trip, but they took advantage of the moments when the water was smooth...I think they only got one good ski round in. But they made the best of it and it looks like my mom had a blast! My parents have been skiing since they were way little and they still got it...wow! Nice job Mom!

Kaylyn is the wakeboarder in our family. I myself have gotten up, but due to an ankle injury, haven't tried for a couple summers. She is amazing!!! She can do a 180, jumps, and some of the best wipeouts I've ever seen. Lol. I love watching Kay wakeboard and seeing the neat things she can do on a board with fins. I hope to be able to try again soon and maybe be half as awesome as she is!

And this is me tubing...or should I say doing a handstand? I know the picture doesn't show it there, but I am secretly praying that I land that jump...alive. Ha ha ha. Just kidding...I love tubing and getting big air is the best! Also on this trip, Jaren, Nick, and I were riding the three-man tube and hit the biggest wave I've ever seen (or experienced for that matter). We caught so much air it was insane! I'm not even joking when I say that the bottom of the tube on my side was 12 feet off the water. It was tilted so Nick was only about 8 feet up but still. WOW! I fell from like 10 feet up and got sunked under the tube...I was so sore the next day! If that weren't bad enough...we hit another big wave (not the driver's fault at all) going sideways and it flipped. But the bad part is that Nick fell out his side then my side folded over to his so the tube was in half and as soon as he was off, the tube catapulted me off. I hit the water so hard that I literally thought I felt my back break. I just laid in the water floating for a couple of minutes til I finally thought I could move. I'm still a bit sore 3 days later. Lol. But it was worth it...I just wish we had a camera for that one!

There's Aleah just relaxing and enjoying the...freezing cold water! He he he. She sure loves those blow up tire things and I don't know if I ever saw here without that thing glued to her hip. She looks so peaceful and serene...why isn't she always like that? Lol. Just kidding Aleah! But she really did enjoy swimming and being in the water constantly.

Last but not least is Mackie! What a cute pic! She is so funny and full of energy all the time that she makes us all laugh constantly. McKenna's favorite part of the trip was prolly getting to ride her bike so much and being able to go anywhere her big sister, Aleah could.

All in all we had a great time up at Camp Piene! Despite the bad weather we had fun in the water and we were able to enjoy a nice big fire each day, and we had amazing food!

Camp Piene

Well I'm heading out camping on Lake Ponderielle tomorrow and am way excited! It's a very nice camp ground and we get the beach and swim area all to ourselves. I won't be able to post for awhile because I'll be gone...hopefully you all survive. JK. lol. Talk to ya'll later!

Tia is the sweetest little girl!

One of my part time jobs is nannying a one year old sweetheart named Tia. She is such a cutie and so happy all of the time. Even though she's only one she seems to love life and recognize how blessed she is. It is so amazing to be able to work with her, this sweet little spirit that came directly from our Heavenly Father and I love every minute of it. There have been numerous accounts when Tia has made me laugh out loud...literally. Her and I have a blast every day that we're together and she always winds up being completely exhausted and thens sleeps for a couple of hours after I leave. I'm so grateful to know this amazing child!

Indoor Soccer Summer 08

Can I just say that indoor soccer is amazing and that I think I may like it almost as much, if not better than outdoor soccer. Towards the beginning of June my indoor session started and I play on an awesome team. Myself and Kaylyn, Jon and Danny Olson, Nick Novakovich, Matt Kunz, Lucy Giblette, David Lowe, Mary Wilson, and Brittany Carter. We are in the hardest co-ed bracket and are loving every game we get to play in. So far we have 1 loss, 3 wins, and 1 tie i believe. Not only is it a great workout and a good ball control activity, but you also get to slam people into the wall like in hockey! lol. Its been a blast and I can't wait for the rest of our games!

First Entry

Well...I have created a blog and hopefully all of you will like it. I wanted to keep all of you in touch with what lifes throwin' my way and remain a part of your lives as well (hopefully). Enjoy!