michael's birthday

of course it included dancing, cake, other treats, nice people, and michael.

graden is very into dancing.

michael's buddies.

who wants to go to burley?

a lot of catching up to do...

oh boy, i got to go to burley. im so lucky. my dear friend morgan was headed off to the mission field so i had to pay her one last visit. especially because she's from burley.

this is her backyard. i had a good laugh about it. the snake river, windmill, cows, and horses.

burley! morgan lives on the outskirts of town on the highway. we made sure to drive into town to see all of the highlights. the fairgrounds, albertson's, and the lone hotel proved the best highlights.

it was great to be there altogether again. these are the same girls that were with me in thailand! oh the fun we had there....

i can't forget this wonderful moment. morgan told us that we needed to drive 7 miles exactly before we would see the freeway entrance. so we drove exactly 7 miles and NOTHING. we drove a couple more and still nothing. there were no businesses anywhere to stop and ask so we did the only normal thing and stopped at a random house. turns out the freeway entrance was 18 miles. haha. 18!!

famous blogger

i wrote a blog post on the united way blog. this means that i am famous, in case you were wondering. here is the link: http://www.unitedwayuc.org/blog/ or you can read it below!

A study done by the Kaiser Foundation (featured both in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times) describes the immense hours youth spend on media related items each day and the unhealthy effects it is causing. Tweens and teens are spending 7 hours and 38 minutes on average each day. That equals out to about 53 hours a week. It’s hard to even figure out how that is possible when these same young people are in school until 3 everyday. Some of the researchers thought they were “consuming about as much media as humanly possible in the hours available.” This heavy media use is leading to many different behavior problems, obesity, and lower grades. Now imagine how much longer youth are spending consuming media during the summer!

One girl from the study argues with her mother constantly about the need for technology. Speaking about her mother she informs the researcher, “back in her day, they didn’t have that stuff. I feel like it helps us open up and learn new things…instead of sitting around at home being bored.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I love technology. My grandpa continually uses the fact that computer games are good for his brain as an excuse, so it seems it has some positive effects. It isn’t that technology and media are bad, but there are so many other worthwhile opportunities and social interactions to be had!

AND now that it’s summer, there are even more great opportunities. I’ve come up with some ideas to start to entice you (both youth and adults).

· Find a new hobby- inline skating, volleyball, basketball, photography, creative writing, reading (it is fun!), cooking, biking

· Go swimming! If you don’t have a pool, there are plenty of public pools and summer passes are usually pretty cheap. OR you can turn on the sprinklers.

· Garden- this might not sound like too much fun, but I promise that from experience, it can be so thrilling to see a little seed turn into something you can actually EAT!

· Spend more time with your siblings and parents- play games, take walks, go to the park.

· Exercise! Go on a hike, run, go to the gym, or find other inventive ways.

· SUMMER OF SERVICE- Come to our projects or do service on your own! Tutor someone, help a family member, senior citizen, stranger, or think of another way to serve. You can find more out about Summer of Service on our website or look for our group on Facebook, ‘Summer of Service 2010.’

Here are the links to the articles for further reading:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/20/business/la-fi-youth-media21-2010jan21

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html

big eyes.

Although embarrassing for me, I think everyone should see this picture...


I miss Taiwan, for obvious reasons. My friend Kelly, in the bottom right star, took me out to dinner one night and told me she had a surprise for me afterward- she was very excited. These photo booth pictures were it- how lucky am I? The machine somehow magically fixes your hair, puts makeup on you, and makes your eyes double the normal size. I think I look a little bit like an alien.

this is the place.

the other week, maggie, cait, and i went to 'this is the place' to help with a service project. wow, that place is so pretty. after the project two very nice people took pictures of us. the field was full of dandelions and the sun was setting. it was good for the soul.

frolicking. i think maggie is having the most fun.


how perfect is that shot??

cait, the ballerina.

a very nice stranger took this picture.

this is the place!

st. george.

I love st. george. seriously though, so so much. i think it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.



the pretty pretty rainbow on the way to st. george. i'm very thankful it was NOT raining down there. the weather was quite perfect.


see that sun?? right now it is snowing and i wish i could see the sun.


happy as a clam, except for the fact that i am not in asia traveling.


jen told me that i could suck some sort of juice out of the middle of the flower and she was right!


here is everyone that went minus jen who is taking the picture and another set that were back at the house. the best surprise was bethany (who i worked with and went to jerusalem with) who i did NOT know was coming.



so beautiful!


i rock climbed up this wall. super easy.


i love jen lee. the boys really liked trying to climb up the walls.


haha, i just love this picture. aren't they the happiest of friends?


we are best friends, can't you tell?


scrambling required?


just scrambling...


we went to this river/stream place that my friend knew about, but he forgot to inform us (or maybe he didn't know) that the water was zero degrees. i was forced to go in to my knees, but no further. instead, i just wandered around while andrea put mud on her face and jen took pictures.


matt actually got in the water- so did ben and ed. crazy boys.


here we all are again with jen trailing in the back (behind the camera, not the one with no shirt on).

after all the hiking we went 4-wheeling and swimming. there might have also been a synchronized swimming show. the house was great, the scenery was beautiful, the food was so good, the company was fun, and church was uplifting. jen, andrea, and i shared a room that had 3 beds in it and had lots of wonderful laughing attacks and possibly a small concert at 3 am. i want to go back right now and breathe in that fresh air and sit and watch the stars.

life motto.

love it.