My Summer...

was awesome!! Fantastic!! Inspiring!! I had a wonderful summer that just didn't last long enough. Here are some of the things I got to do:

Abbey and I met Taylor Lautner!!

I went on a hike for Girls Camp with the Young Women...

I helped pass out all of these and tons more at Ironman...

...with the help of these Roman/Scottish guys:

I enjoyed the 4th of July with barbecued ribs and fireworks at our Nana and Pops Smidt's house!

My family and I went to Boise and spent every single day by water at some point. On one of the days, I learned how to double ski, then slalom ski... it was hard, but I finally got it!

And we went to the zoo and had fun being crazy! Oh, and we got to see my grandparents' neighbor's newborn calf.

I had to be with these freaks... :)

I celebrated my birthday with a party with Jeff and went to the airshow at Fairchild.

I got to babysit these awesome kids, Brookey and Austin, with Noelle.

I finally got to go to Glacier!!! I went with Linda and Dave, Shawn, Chelsey, Callie, Reese, and Laurel...

Laurel, Callie, and me:

We floated the river with Linda, Laurel, and the Fagans...

Jacqualine, me, Laurel, and Noelle:

Cam, Jacqualine, Noelle, Kayla, me, Jaynie, and Laurel:

I went to Girls Camp!! Cassidy and I got to do our "Bagle Quest" too!

Those two, Olivia and Brook, in the upper left corner are hilarious!!! All of the princesses did a fantastic job and made me cry. Fred, Earl, Sampson, and Bubba reunited and... I got a picture of some friends :)

We got to shoot rifles too!! And in the bottom right corner, that's me, Abbey, and Jessie with our tent sign "The Other White Meat."

Upper Left Corner: Buddies!, Upper Right Corner: More Buddies!!, Lower Left Corner: Even more!!, and Lower Right Corner: My running buddy during Girls Camp, Malia!

We went to the Sharp's cabin and rode their "ski doos," as Sheila calls them :)

I spent most of my summer with these two crazy cute boys!

My mom's friend, Tina, visited us and we picked her up from the airport dressed like so in the upper left picture... then, later that day, I got to go with Tina and my mom to the Highlands spa as a birthday present from Tina. It was so nice and I loved the foot massage stuff! We spent the next day at Boulder Beach and Silverwood!

We played some tennis... I know you're jealous of our looks right now, whoever you are.

I attended Princess Emmalee's royal Sweet Sixteen birthday party!

I had a fun day at Kendrick Nagel's cabin with the Cross Country team and we played an intense game of Duck, Duck, Goose!:

And my family and I got to go to Boise again for my cousin's wedding! This was her cake:

The candy bar (there was also popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones, french fries, watermelon, and corn dogs):

The beautiful ceremony: Nicole was such a gorgeous bride!

My family: The cute little girl in the upper right (Olivia) was the most adorable flower girl ever! And we had a blast dancing and being the crazy people we are :)

In the upper left corner: My cousin, Trevin, holding one of the neighbor's chicks (the same neighbors with the calf), Upper Right: Me with my cousin's wife, Debbie, in my uncle's Jeep, Lower Left: Noelle with our cousin, Kylie, wearing awesome Asian hats, Lower Right: Mandy, Noelle, Kylie, and Me (Our names for the night were Emma, Roxy, Angelica, and Georgia) at a Boise Stake Dance... it was SO fun!

Our last day in Boise: (Upper right corner is Knightley, one of the cutest little boys ever, and his little brother below him, Mason who is just as cute!)

The cross country team at Gooey's (the theme was 80s prom night, but not many of the girls dressed up. the boys did though!):

Just me being crazy with team buddies!

And that's my summer up to this point!! I hope yours was just as fun!

P.S. I went on my first date too!! It was super duper fun!

Kendall and Amanda being Freaks!!!

Dancing with the Stars

This was Aiden and Edyta's quickstep on Dancing with the Stars this last week. Skip to the actual dance performance because it's really funny. From about the middle of the song to the end, the singer's voice kept cracking. The dance starts at about 2:35 and goes for maybe a minute or so... Of course, you can also watch the whole 7+ minute video too :)

EFY 2009: Be Thou An Example

Last week, I got to attend an EFY session in Rexburg, Idaho at BYU-I. I went down with Emmalee and David Priebe, Melissa and Jamin Jeske, Melissa's friend, Jessica, Ashley Whiteley, TeAnn Dryden, Courtney Gunnerson and Kendall DeWitt. Some of the Priebes, Jeskes, Whiteleys and Gunnersons also came down, but kept traveling down to Utah after dropping us off at BYU-I. I had sooooo much fun meeting new friends, learning more about the gospel, strengthening my testimony, and so much more!

This is on our way down to Rexburg in the Priebe's big van. In the upper left corner, Courtney and I decided to wash the car windows at every gas station...even when it was raining. Upper right: Kendall and Emmalee being shy, timid Chinese women. Center: Everyone "asleep." I was supposed to be "sleeping" too. Lower eft: TeAnn and Courtney in the middle row of seats. Lower right: Group hug!

We got to stop by the temple before we checked in for EFY. It was (and still is) beautiful!


David standing by a lamp post.


Playing Ninja...DESTRUCTION!


TeAnn, Ashley, Emmalee and Kendall with James.


Jamin and Melissa. What a cute pair of siblings! :)


One of my personal favorites that I have from this trip.


TeAnn was in the middle of telling me to not take a picture while I was taking one.


All the girls (Emmalee's taking the picture...thanks!) with Claire and Ashlyn.


Just a few rules of BYU-I.


Ashley putting a band-aid on her ankle. It absolutely fascinated me, so I just had to take a picture.


This is my first visit to the garden. Courtney and I only got to the building in front it (the one that this window belongs to), then we ran out of time to actually go into the garden.


More window pictures!


It was pretty!


Emmalee in front of the tree by her company meeting spot.


Kendall's favorite picture. It was after the Tuesday night dance.


One of our roommates' moms brought us McDonald's hamburgers at about 11:00 pm. They were amazingly scrumptious--so scrumptious that Kendall said she could marry her's. So, I decided to take wedding announcement photos. This would be one of them.


This was one of our hyper nights...


...As you can see.


This was right after Emmalee's camera battery died. But don't worry! It all worked out!


Ashley and TeAnn!


This was a very cold Wednesday morning. The lamp post thingy was very warm. Everyone decided to put their hands on it, so I took a picture.


Getting ready to walk through the sprinklers.


Jacob and David playing Oshka (I think that's what it's called).


Some people in a picture.


TeAnn, me, Emmalee, Kendall and Ashlyn. I wish we could've gotten one with Courtney and Ashley too!


David and Jacob walking to our classes.


Lunch time!!!! Kendall was trying to ruin the picture because I ruined one of her's. I think she just looks funny though. :)


My second visit to the garden...with TeAnn.


We found this freaky centaur statue person. He reminded me of a certain bad guy.


TeAnn with the freaky centaur statue person.


I'm supposed to be imitating that lady behind me.


A bridge in the garden.


Kendall and me with those amazingly delicious Honey BBQ Fritos in our mouths.


My third, and last, visit to the garden. This time, Courtney, TeAnn and Ashley came with me.





Another statue head person, but a girl!


I think he was her C.O.W. (Crush of the week) :)


Courtney and me smelling the oh-so-wonderful aroma of the pink flowers.


All the girls who came together that were 15 or younger.


Ashley's drinking Courtney's, Courtney's drinking TeAnn's, and TeAnn is drinking Ashley's!


This was another hyper night. Kendall and one of our roommates, Steph, were acting like old grandpas. We got it on Steph's video camera too (well, we taped it on her camera).


Then, another one of our roommates found this absolutely beautiful purple dress in the back of her closet. We all took turns trying it on. (The girl who tried it on before me had just showered and her hair was wet, so that's why there's water on the dress.)


Just one of the many signs we passed every day.


Emmalee modeling for Aeropostale.


I like this one!


All of my roommates and our counselor, Dani.


TeAnn and me after the service project.


TeAnn and me again!


Emmalee getting Kendall ready for the Friday night dance. Thanks for doing our hair, Emmalee! It was beautiful!


Waiting after dinner.


Everyone in my company. I won't bother naming everyone.


Everyone in my counselor's group.


All the other girls in our company.


All the boys in our company.


Our company's counselors, Ashley, Cory and Dani.


My roommates with our counselor.


My counselor, Dani, and me.


All the boys in Emmalee's, Ashley's, Courtney's and TeAnn's company.


Preston, James and Aaron.


Everyone who came together. Melissa and Jessica were ready to take the picture while we were getting everyone together, but then they had to go back to their company right before we took it.


Kirk with me. He was amazing! He picked up all the girls' trays at each meal and wouldn't stop until they were all cleared. Thanks for doing the same, David and Jamin! (And some other guys)


Parker with me.


The "In the Service" boys with Ashlyn, Kendall, Emmalee and me.


Steph telling one of her scary stories. Kendall called Nate and put him on speaker phone. Then, Steph told a scary story about Tom Cruise and Nate. (The night before she had told a scary story about Barney, Michael Jackson, and Lauren, another one of our roommates.)


Just some shots from Saturday before and during our ride back home.

Thank you so much, Priebes, for the transportation and willingness to have me around! Thanks Sister Gunnerson for letting me stay in the hotel room! I had a wonderful time and wouldn't have without all your help!