Back to reality

With summer coming quickly to a close, I thought I'd recap all the fun and wonderful things I've done in the last 3 months, since, according to some, I've been slacking in my blog writing :)

June - My birthday came the very beginning of the month. My friends threw me a surprise party on the 6th and we went to the local amateur baseball game that night where my name was put up on the billboard during the 7th inning stretch. Go Modesto Nuts!

Girls' Camp was the very next week (9th-14th), but I've already blogged about that.

July - I started off the month with a trip to San Fran to see my cousin David right after he got off his mission. Fireworks at the college on the 4th with my family. Lake trip on the 5th. An afternoon at the driving range on the 14th. (We witnessed a pretty good car accident just as we were getting there. Yikes!)

The month was finished off quite nicely with a visit to the county fair on the 29th to see Little Big Town in concert and my yearly quota of funnel cakes.

August - The month started off with a bang on the 1st when a couple friends and I pranked my 16 year old neighbor when she was away on the stake's youth Pioneer Trek. Poor Nicole never saw it coming :)

My mom came the next week, and that's already been recapped for you all. The occasional Sunday hang-out has been had after church at my house as well, but those are pretty uneventful. The night of the 22nd we got another itch to prank someone, but our initial target threw us a curveball when she didn't drive her own car home for the weekend, so we had to do some scrambling and ended up hitting our old branch president's daughter. Good times :) (On a side-note, do not mind the glowing eyes of the dang dog that wanted to be in every picture we took)

The next night, after not getting to bed until 4am after the prank, I was able to go see Hairspray on stage in Sacramento. That, plus dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory and great friends made for a great night!

The last week has been pretty fun as well! I got my first ride on a motorcycle on Sunday and we had another trip out to the lake on Monday for FHE.

It's been a blast of a summer, but as of Thursday I will be best friends with these for the next 3 1/2 months:

Hopefully everything will get approved though and this will be my last semester of coursework and I'll be graduating in June! I have no idea how much free time I'll have though, so this blog may have to suffice for a while. 'Til next time!

We Are Family

So, this is very late in getting done, but my mom and younger siblings came out for a visit from August 5-13. It was fun having my siblings around again. I miss the teasing I get to do sometimes :) While they were here, the cousins did a talent show for us grownups. It was quite hilarious and I'll have to post some video as well. The girls choreographed a dance to a Celine Dion song that was mighty cute.

A few days before they left we all went to Funworks and played put-put, rode the go-karts and the kids all played on the water/bumper boats and got soaked to the bone!

Aaron

Dallin

Sarah & her cousin Brooklyn

All in all, good times were had and I look forward to seeing them again for Christmas!

Sarah Nicole

Happy Birthday little sister! Sarah is 9 today (it's already the 3rd in Virginia, so I'm on time there). I'm excited to see her in just a couple days, as I just found out today that my mom, Sarah and my two younger brothers will be here for a week starting Tuesday! She's such a cute little girl and I am so happy to have her as my sister. Hope her day is great!

Fighting for Us

Well, yesterday was a day I've been dreading since last October when Justin got home from his first tour in Iraq. I was able to talk to him on Tuesday and say goodbye, and that made me an emotional wreck for the rest of the day, but that's how it goes. My parents drove down to his base in North Carolina to see his platoon off yesterday morning at 0720. I'll miss him like crazy for the next 6-7 months, but no matter what happens I know it's what the Lord has planned. I just thought I'd pass along his address as well, for anyone who feels so inclined to write him. He loves mail!

LCpl Rackham, Robert J.
1st Bn 2nd Marines, Alpha Company, MAP
Unit 73045
FPO AE 09509-3045

How Could I Resist You!

I haven't laughed as much during a movie in a long time as I did during Mamma Mia yesterday. You'll leave the theater laughing and singing the songs over and over. Meryl Streep and her two friends are hilarious and make the movie great. I highly recommend it to all!!

Dallin is 11!

Another birthday to celebrate! Today is actually the special day for this funny kid. This picture was taken a few years ago, but it totally embodies Dallin's personality. He is someone that makes me laugh my head off everytime I'm at home. It's crazy how funny he is. In elementary school he would even make up new names for himself on his papers everyday. Took his teacher a couple days to figure out what was going on :) I wish I could be there to celebrate, but I did get to talk to him and he's had a great day so far! Happy birthday Dallin!!

Happy 23rd Birthday Trisha!

This is a couple days late in coming, but I wanted to acknowledge my sister's birthday on the 28th! She is more than I could ask for in a sister and a friend. We had our differences growing up, as most siblings do, but I'm so grateful that she is my sister. I look forward to the years to come when we can only grow closer. Happy Birthday Trish!