gearin' up

i hope everyone had a great Christmas! ours was pretty quiet this year...katie enjoyed opening presents in the morning and then betsy came over from her mom's and we did some more gift exchange. we just hung around the house, had dinner and then watched The Dark Knight in the evening (i got it for Christmas)...a very Christmasy movie haha not, but still a very good one.
other than that i haven't been doing much. today some friends came over in the afternoon and we just hung out...made some pretty awesome videos. also today my family went on a outing to Santa Ana to go to this ski wear house where they sell snow gear for cheaper. betsy and i both got a pair of new ski pants, since we have both been wearing our other ones since we were 13. gary pointed out that he had been wearing his same ski gear for the last 15 years, but then i pointed out that 15 years ago we were 2 and i think our size has changed a bit since then.
why the ski shopping you ask? well, i don't know if i mentioned it on my blog, but we are off to utah tomorrow morning. we get to visit our family out there for a few days, which will be fun. i always love seeing my cousins. we are all going to go up to a mountain lodge place for a couple of days and then stay at their house as well. they live in Sandy, Utach, which is right outside of Salt Lake.
well, just though i'd give you all an update. i'm tired and must get up early for the airport tomorrow, but be sure to check my blog next week(i come back on the 31st) because i'm sure i'll have lots of pictures to put up.
hope you all are enjoying your breaks!
and i'll end with some words of wisdom...from my little dove chocolate wrapper.
"Smile when you want to, cry when you need to, laugh whenever possible"
many blessings!

christmas really gets you in the dancing mood...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

i re-posted it above, since amy said she couldn't see it...hope it works the second time around.
julie and i were really bored the other night and decided to make an elf-yourself video! who knew we had those moves? :) ms. admiraal is going to love us! haha we totally sent this to her, she being three of the elves and all. haha enjoy!

have a wonderful Christmas, everyone! and amidst all the gifts and food, don't forget the true meaning of the holiday.

olvera st videos!

from left to right: andrea, me, terisha and allison. yeah best video ever! i would attack allison's puppet haha.at lunch, allison and i began having to much fun with the remnants of andrea's quesadilla. :)

Olvera St. Adventures!

last tuesday, spanish 4 got to go on a field trip to Olvera St. we got to make cool videos of us all taking in spanish for a project. our group consisted of allison, andrea, terisha, me and then since he didn't have a group, john groce. why mrs. langton? why?
overall we still managed to have a pretty good time.

enjoy the pics!




metal man! with allison and me






































yeah, looking at my face should make you happy! :P













yet another metal comrade



















group picture...what a dreamy conquer, but by the looks of this picture allison and i will have to fight over those abs of steel. :)





i am so relieved to be on Christmas break! this last week was a stretch, but we made it and now i have two whole weeks of no homework! sweet!
i'll post some videos of our Olvera St. trip at a later date, since i'm going to bed now.
night!

what do rain storms have to do with tennis banquets?...well nothing really, i guess

yesterday was a day i will probably always remember, for two reasons. one being the intensive rain storm and flooding, which, as you may have guessed, causes august and i to do random things. the second reason being our tennis banquet.
i'll start with the rain. it rained a good part of the night and was still raining when i got up for school (yay!). by the time i got out to my car and began driving to school, it didn't lighten up as you would have thought, but progressively got harder. when driving down Palo Verde between South and 183rd, it was coming down in buckets and then entire street was practically flooded! it was impossible to drive in the right lane! turning right on 183rd really worried me with my car being so low and all. i seriously though water was going to start coming in...it was ridiculous haha! eventually i made it to school (the traffic back up was insane!) and tried to run through the parking lot to the shelter of hall D. luckily i found grace, who had an umbrella, at the cross walk and was able to take refuge under it with her. unfortunately, umbrellas do not protect against ankle-deep unavoidable puddles and wearing canvas-topped converse do not ensure dry feet...who knew? :) i left grace in hall D and then attempted to make a run for hall C without getting too wet. that did not work out too well. by the time i arrived to 1st period, my skirt, jacket and shoes were dripping and i am not exaggerating. just ask terisha; she began ringing out my skirt it was that bad. after sitting through two classes, feet freezing, (my cloths pretty much dried) august, who had the same feet problem as i did, and i decided to go into the bathroom at break and hold our shoes and socks under the heated hand dryers. wow and i've always dislikes those things because they take so long to dry your hands. it was pretty funny though...only with her would i do something like that. it didn't fully dry them, but it did help a bit.
later that night was our tennis banquet at my house, which was fun. we had dinner and then ms. admiraal talked a bit about the season, making us guess "who was most likely to____" on the team. for example, "most likely to go swimming unexpectedly at a pool party", and the answer was me. next were the awards.
MVP-alicia (totally deserves it! i'm proud of you, alicia!)
Sportsmanship-laney and jamie (also totally deserve it!)
Most Inspirational-me
Most Improved-sasha (she did improve and work hard to do so)
Coaches Award-me
after awards, brittany, alicia and i got to give coach her gifts! we were quite excited for this. she said she was scared to open them since we were so excited. her gifts included, a 24 pack of coke (yes feed her addiction haha), a gift card to both olive garden and yogurt land (we took her to yogurt land during season, so we thought it appropriate), a pair of footy pj's!! (bright red with a monkey on it and sock monkey feet! how awesome is that?!) and i also made her a scrap book (for a more sentimental touch). yeah we are the best captains ever! or at least pick out the best gifts haha :)
although, there was no crying this time, getting together with the team really made me miss tennis all over again. i mean, i miss everything about it! practice, matches, my teammates, ms. admiraal. i mean i know i can still play tennis, see people on the team and i talk to ms. admiraal pretty much every day, but putting all those factors together really makes something that i just really love. but, i've got lots to look forward to ahead of me. it's just that since i haven't experienced anything in my future(obviously), so it is hard to look forward to things when i don't know what things to expect. well, thats why God is in charge and i'm not. because as frustrating as not-knowing is sometimes, i truly believe that i would never want to know exactly what my future holds. for one, i might go crazy with all the thoughts that, that would cause and for another, what would be the fun in living life through if we knew what was coming? i will probably touch on this subject again sometime...for, now i'll just leave it at that.

i'll post tomorrow about my field trip that was today. twas fun!
until then...

oh, the fun of Christmastime

last saturday, we were in the belmont shore christmas parade (again) for gary's city council. like last year, justin came along, this year, sporting a fantastic christmas sweater; he got 16 compliments on it altogether, i believe haha. the funniest thing was, we were at a part before the parade, getting food and justin was standing with betsy and i. everyone was trying to figure out who justin was, since they know gary doesn't have a son. one guy goes "so, gary, is that their boy friend in the sweater?"...what like we share one? gary goes "heck no! that's my nephew!" pretty funny...





















oh, we always do take good pictures.

when we were ridding down 2nd street, justin got tired of waving, so, being the innovative individual he is, told betsy and i to stand on either side of him and then put his arms around each of our shoulders and then waved that way...pathetic! then he goes "all these people are probably thinking ' i didn't know gary had a son' and that what a nice brother i am, hugging my two lovely sisters." he is somethin' else, i'll tell ya! he is a crack up though! funny thing is, he is around so much, i feel like he is the older brother i never had, more than i feel like he is my cousin. haha

see the awesome sweater?! i wanted one haha :)

these were the next day at the christmas tree lot, when we went to get out tree. katie was skeptical...apparently. or disgusted. one or the other

uh...no comment on this one

well, i think i'm pretty much caught up on my life's activities, since all i did monday-thursday of last week was lay in bed, dying...or feeling like i was dying, anyway.

tomorrow is our tennis banquet, which i'm excited for! brittany, alicia and i went shopping last weekend and found the best gift ever for coach! she's in for a real treat... :D

nighty, night time for me now, so...until we meet again...

will i ever catch up with my life?

nope. i don't think so, but thats okay. here are some pictures from katie's 3rd birthday, which was November 25. can't believe she's three! currently, she MUST have her way and if you tell her no, she will complain to another house hold member and say, i quote, "[insert name] scream at me". since when did a simple "no" become screaming? news to me... but, she does do other things that are mighty cute. she loves to build "houses" with the pillow cushions off the couch, she is fully potty trained (big bonus!) and loves to play any time of the day or night. oh, gotta love her!

big nemo! and justin at the right, who looks as if he is dying...
yeah...he loves me! :)


justin tried drawing me on the couch with one of those little magnetic board and then he just had to take a picture! by the way, this was a very uncomfortable position.


these are not from katie's birthday, but from another night when i was baby sitting and we decided to go outside in the back yard. i was instructed by the princess of the house to wear a hat like hers, so that is why i'm wearing a hat.

oh, she is such a little ham!

gettin' in the christmas spirit

honestly i would have updated sooner, had i been able to. i have been sick for the last four days. like really sick. i guess i caught some type of stomach flu because on monday morning (about 1:30 am) i woke up with the urgent need for a toilet or at least a bucket. and seven more times that night, between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 i was up. i didn't even have much food in me to throw up. yuck! no fun at all! i am feeling a lot better now. still not fully up to par, but much better. i think i'll be able to make it to school tomorrow (one day out of the week haha).

anyway, as much fun as it is to hear about my being sick, i'll just do a quick post about last friday. the adventure started after school, when august and i decided that we wanted something to do that night. we sat in the parking lot for 45mins talking and thinking about what we could do. when school got out for everyone else, (we have a 7th off campus) i went to go find alicia, who was supposed to be coming home with me. we must have spent 20 minutes going around in circles looking for each other! i went everywhere i thought she could possibly be! library, office, hallways, admiraal's room. but, couldn't find her. and since she doesn't have a phone, this was somewhat of a problem. i decided to go back to my car and see if she was there. as i was walking up to my car, i didn't see anyone standing by it and i began trying to think of what to do. then all of the sudden the door of my car opens and she gets out. only, alicia would GET IN my car (i left it unlocked when i went to look for her). so funny!

later, august came over and we hung out for a bit and then took alicia home, which was a challenge since she doesn't know where she lives! haha just kidding. after we managed to find alicia's house, august and i had the brilliant idea that it would be fun to get subway and then go to the beach and eat it there. we excitedly grabbed subway and then drove to seal beach where we spent maybe almost and hour trying to find a parking spot! a parade was going on, so there was NO parking! i then just decided to go to bolsa chica, down the road. i parked in a restaurant parking lot and we began to walk towards the beach. now, let me remind you that it was like 6:30-7:00 (very dark at this point). we walked onto the dark deserted beach and began walking towards the ocean. i looked over at august, "are you scared?"

"more nervous..."

yeah...nervous was the right word then she goes "you know, this is how those freak murders happen..."

me: "do you want to go?"

"yeah"

we didn't just turn and stroll back towards civilization. we ran! flat out sprinted! we are so lame. the beach seemed like a good time when it was light out... :) instead we ended up going to a christmas tree lot and running through the trees, ducking behind them, while people weren't looking. i think one lady thought i was stalking her.

we ate our subway's

amongst the trees and i even managed to kill a baby tree. i wanted to see how heavy it was so i picked it up and it fell out of it's stand. then a worker guy came up behind me as i was whispering to august to help me and asked me if i needed any help picking out a tree. i stood there holding up the tree and said i didn't, waiting for him to walk away. when he did i dropped the tree, which fell over and then ran down another isle.

i wanted the giant one, but i didn't know how to get it in my little red mustang

we were too embarrassed to admit that we had come to christmas tree patch for fun and thus wouldn't ask anyone to take a picture. we went to a spot that was secluded and had many trees around and then hung the camera on a branch and put it on a timer. we are so cool...i bet you all didn't have that much fun with your friday night! :)

coffee galore

did you know that this is actually what a coffee tree looks like. and inside those berry looking things (which you can eat and they taste rather sweet, but odd) are the actual coffee beans that are...













...white, as kristi is showing us, right.

first, one must gather/pick the beans off the trees in basket, looking much like this (actually this is the basket that was attached to my stomach













here are the beans, drying, after they are picked and shelled by a super neat shelling machine!

















and here you have me, with my cool british hat and legit basket, pickin' coffee beans





















amy and her legit basket tied to her waist









































my prosper! yeah!


















going down the mountain the sun looked amazing!















and then the sunset on the way back to San Salvador...i loved the cloud line and the mountains right here












epic...absolutely epic

















i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves since words really can't justly describe how amazing it was





































and then the sun rise in the morning as we got up to go to the airport




















amy, hannah, me and cheyanne at around 5:00am. yeah we look good!





alright, that is the last you will hear of El Salvador (in theory). sorry it has taken me so long to get this done. hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

i've got some major catching up to do...

i know i got back from El Salvador almost 2 weeks ago, but i'm almost done with all the pics i wanted to put up here...i've just been so busy!


this is the day we went hiking up at the coffee farm...amy and i getting ready to go! like my hat? :)













hannah doing who knows what...haha


















hannah, cassie and emilytyne













the only reason i posted this picture was because there is a funny story, which actually amy and hannah aren't aware of this yet, i believe. amy had my camera and then goes "hey look! it's mickey" she handed the camera to hannah and hannah took a picture. i didn't even see the mickey on the wall or the picture at that time. when i got home and was looking through my pictures, i noticed that eveybody's favorite mouse is indeed smoking something and judging by the nice rosy complexion of his eye, that ain't no legal substance. i just think it's hilarious because neither one of them saw it! oh, you girls!






the view from the coffee farm


















an awesome tree that grew on top of a bolder...it was on our hike. as you can see in the picture, there was a bridge type thing that we all walked across one at a time to go on top of the tree. so cool!



















the tree roots...cool huh?



















me and amy with the beautiful view. by the way, i did not gain 20 pounds; the wind was blowing and that is why i look puffy :)


























































































krystal, cassie, me and amy in a bat cave! how awesome! you can't see it in the picture, but they were flying everywhere!



















when we arrived back from our hike, during which i ran up the final stretch of incline, amy and i did some relaxing in the hammocks and took some pretty crazy pictures.




































amy, life isn't that bad...don't strangle yourself!


















see the bug! i screamed about .05 seconds after the picture was taken

















































who says i can't be gansta? haha...i really can't





























what is up with my smile?