Happy New Year!

Hello! Hope you all had a very wonderful white Christmas! I sure did. Well I don't have much time. Just thought I'd say hello and wish you all a Happy New Year! I'll put photos up here of our decorations (bummer, though I didn't take a single photo on Christmas day...!) sometime soon, but for now I have to go. Happy New Year! God's Blessings to you this Holiday Season! ~Butterfly~

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here are two more photos that I took sometime in November. They are of snow on leaves and pine needles!

And also one more photo that I took this last Thursday of a frog (not real) in the snow. This one is for Nana!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year filled with blessings and great health!

God Blessings to you all this Holiday Season!

~Butterfly~

P.S. Also I will be taking photos of our Christmas tree/decorations and house lit up (from the outside) at night and be putting them up sometime soon!

Just in time for Christmas!

These photos are mostly of snow and different types of foliage. One is of the mountains North of our house (their actually called South Mountains though!) covered with snow and I took a photo of this cholla (choya) cactus silouteted by a sunset on Sunday evening. Enjoy the final updates of not only writing, but photos as well! Enjoy and have the most wonderful Merry Christmas! God's Blesses to you all, ~Butterfly~ p.s. one more photo on the way, dedicated to Nana, coming up soon in a new post!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Hello everyone! Welcome to my official update for this site. I know it’s been going on four weeks (three as of yesterday) and you’ve all very patiently waited for me to get around to catching you all up on what I’ve been doing since then. I guess I should start off with where I left off, which if I remember right there was nothing really significant that weekend. But wait there was!

Wednesday we did school and everything that we normally do… Except for the fact that outside it wasn’t a typical day. It snowed part of the day and QUITE a bit that evening. So in the morning we had about nine inches. But then again that would be for Thursday’s part…

For Thursday I would guess we did the same… So it was the same, with the exception that it was pretty cold outside (a low of 5 degrees F, which is still our current record low) and a beautiful Winter Wonderland. I already wrote about that all though, because it was that day that I last filled you in on what I’m doing. But what I realized that I didn’t mention, when I looked back to see where I left off was… I had been sledding that day right…? Well one of the times that I was “sledding…” I was running with the “flexible” sled and was going to jump on it when I felt I was going fast enough. Well when the time came to jump, I jumped, and… … … well I didn’t exactly make it onto the sled. I happened to land with all my weight (ouch, 100 (+) lbs.) on the (ouch again) hard gravel on one knee (ouch), my right one! It hurt so bad that I just lied there in the snowy road for about a minute in shock not able to move. It was really extremely painful and hurt excruciatingly. Finally I decided that I better get up and make my way toward the house to check out the damage. Thankfully I was only in front of our house not down the road half a mile. I hobbled up the driveway and went inside. After examining it, I decided that it was only red from the coldness. But later I was to find out that I was wrong… With that conclusion I went back down towards the road and continued to sled and whatever else I mentioned on the last update…

So here I am Friday morning and my knee is hurting pretty bad when I got up, so I took another look at it, realizing it was not just red from the cold, but very badly bruised. My entire right knee cap was green, blue, purple, red, yellow, orange (every color of the rainbow), but I do have to say it was quite a beautiful array of variety! And now 3 weeks later it still hurts when I put pressure on it directly in one spot, but other than that the bruise was gone about a week ago and is healing nicely. I just hope I don’t find out one day that I actually broke it… I’m very thankful and glad though that it doesn’t hurt anymore. And warning to you all, don’t ever land with all your weight on your knee in a very heavily graveled road, it is not pleasant.

Aha, Saturday is different! On Sabbath when I woke up I just laid in bed until 8:00 a.m. listening to my favorite radio program/show “Down Gilead Lane” produced by CBH Ministries. Finally I decided that I better get up and get ready for church or I may not make it. Our family ended up taking two vehicles. My dad has to leave earlier than everyone else because we have the sound system* and he has to get there to set it up before people start to show up. I wasn’t ready to go when my dad was so I went with my mom about half an hour later. *We have the sound system because our church doesn’t have a building yet, so we have to transport it back and forth each week. Although as of last Thursday (a week ago tomorrow) we did have the concrete/foundation laid/poured for our church. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, so I’m going to have to make you wait until later in this update/“letter” to learn about that.

Anyway… After church we headed back to our house with 6 guests over for lunch. We ate a little hurriedly as we only had a short while before we had an appointment to get to. We already knew we didn’t have enough and would be late, but didn’t want to make us later than necessary.

After lunch we drove “quickly” to our “appointment…” practice for our Christmas caroling the following Sabbath evening. It was fun, especially listening to everyone start off in a different key! Nothing else is really interesting for that day

On Sunday I checked my e-mail and ate a little bit of breakfast (I didn’t have much of an appetite after eating an atrocious orange…

I talked to Nana and then a friend of ours came over to take us to a baby shower for some girl that we didn’t know. It was like her friend’s nephew’s girlfriend or something like that. It was fun there, for as fun as baby showers are… After that we went over to our friends house. Oh while we were with them for the day my parents were Christmas shopping in town.

We ate dinner and played a game called Scattergories. It’s pretty fun! I like it! Have any of you all ever played it?

For Monday we did the regular…

Tuesday we went to town, but just my mom and I. We went Christmas shopping for friends of ours and cousins. I also got a gift for my sister, which took us forever. You see we were looking for this specific store in the mall and spent two hours just looking for it, when we had walked by it like several times, but I insisted it wasn’t it. *I was wrong* and so mad at myself when we realized that it was the place. We actually spent less than 5 minutes in the store itself once we found it. Anyway… we shopped all day and went to our chiropractor appointment. Finally we finished shopping for my cousins and met my dad at Dion’s Pizza for dinner. It was good, but I only got salad because I didn’t want the dairy/cheese on the pizza. Anyway… After that my parents took me to a furniture store (actually two different ones) to pick out a desk for my room. I chose one (that is actually a computer desk, but fits it’s/my purpose/need.) and then we headed home…

The rest of the week was normal, having most of the snow melted around our yard, except for the areas in partial/complete shade. But that week it didn’t really get above 40 degrees during the day. I guess winter is on it’s way… My knee was still hurting quite bad and still pretty and colorful, but beginning to slowly heal up. It hurt to walk on it, put pressure on it, stand on it, bend it to a 180 degree angle and tighter than a 90 degree angle, but I survived it.

That Sabbath we went to church and then that afternoon we had a rehearsal for our annual (like 4^th or 5^th annual…) church’s Christmas play presented by the younger generation of the church family. Last year I had the luxury of being Mary (which I didn’t enjoy and would have backed out if possible), but this year I was a wiseman (or would that be a wisewoman?) as I had been all other years but last. It was a hectic rehearsal, but it’s over with now as well as the actual play, which had/was a pretty good turnout. Luckily this year my entire lines for the whole play are as follows “My Lord, I bring You a gift of Incense” and that’s it. Gabriel and Mary, who had extensive memorizations were quite jealous.

That evening we went Christmas caroling in Moriarty. It was fun, but very cold outside (34 degrees F). I was glad when we finished and got into our cars with the nice heaters. Aren’t we so blessed and spoiled!

Sunday I can’t remember anything exciting!

Monday school…

Tuesday we went to town to go shopping, it wasn’t a normal town day. As we only go every other week normally but went for shopping purposes.

Thursday morning a phone call came in at 6:41 a.m. and woke me up, as a phone is next to my bed… I normally wake/get up sometime around 9:00 a.m. so this was very early for me. It was our church’s treasurer calling to tell us (me specifically) that the concrete was being poured out at the church property for the building’s foundation… As I am the church photographer I had to quickly get up and ready to go (in the car) the > 2 miles to the site to get pix. I did that and it was pretty cool (as in awesome and cold!). They had a concrete pump (looks like a crane) that they were using and I got some photos that will come in handy when I put together the presentation when we finally get into our church!

The rest of the day/afternoon I went out to the property 3 other times to get more progression photos. As well as fitting my school work in the awkward schedule for that day.

That evening there was a church board (IMO: BORED) meeting which I had to go to, since both my parents are on the board. So I tagged along and was bored all evening. I guess the bored meeting was successful!

Sabbath we had our Christmas play and it was a great success! Every remembered their memorized lines and it was really good! I tried to back out a head of time (as I don’t really enjoy being up front) and be the photographer as I should be, but I guess they needed my participation.

In the afternoon we went home and my dad, our dog, Risa, and I went on a 1¾ mi. walk/hike down behind our house. It was fun and I enjoyed it, except for the fact that my right foot was really “killing” me by the end.

Later on that evening we went Christmas caroling, this time in our own neighborhood. We caroled to about 8 houses (who were home) and some people were very nice (as we don’t know very many of our neighbors, sadly) and appreciative! It was fun! But again near the end my foot really began to feel like I was stepping on a package of pins. When we got back to our vehicles/the house and I got in the car (as we were going to carol at one more place (an elderly couple’s)) a sudden, sharp pain went up my foot (in one spot) feeling like a needle had gone through it. It was very painful and made me scream. Luckily after taking my shoe off and rubbing and pinching it, it subsided and began to feel better! I don’t know what it was, but hope it never happens again!

That night I spent the night at a friend’s house and we had pizza for dinner while watching “Ice Age; The Meltdown.” It was ok-good, but I wouldn’t rate it necessarily good, recommend it, or watch it again if I had to.

Sunday there was a work bee on the church property to try and get the foundation prepared for the framing and if possible get part of the framing done. I didn’t help out (because of my back), so I eventually called my mom (who was at home; my dad was at the property working) and asked her to come get me. While everyone else was slaving away, I watched the movie “Cheaper by the Dozen 2.” It was good and pretty funny!

Back at the church property that evening I took more progression photos as one of the framed walls had been put up earlier that evening. It’s very cool to see our church finally getting built and it will be very neat to finally be able to worship in it and watch the presentation that I am putting together, with progression pictures from since last month until the completion!

Finally that evening my mom and sister went to a finance meeting for the church, while my dad and I stayed home and watched the Charlie Brown Christmas specials on tv! I love those shows!

Monday nothing exciting… Except a few inches of snow… Oh wait… My sister went over to a friend of ours house while my mom and our friend worked at the church property to help prepare for more framing. It began to snow, and I was home doing school work with my puppy/our dog! Realizing that I should get out and exercise I finished up all my schoolwork but algebra (which is my favorite so I knew I would get it done later!), bundled up, and headed out the door towards the church property to get some photos! Oh and I had Risa with me. FYI: the weather outside was continually snowing and quite heavily I might add. The temperature was 24 degrees F.

It took me 15 minutes to walk the 1¼ - 1½ miles there which was pretty good time. I had to cross Rt. 66 by foot (it’s only 2 lanes total) and I-40 over a bridge. Risa did great, with the exception of crossing a cattle guard (which I didn’t realize until I had crossed it and she wasn’t next to me, scared to cross it). I pulled on her leash and she sort of leaped across, trying not to get her paws caught. Oh and when we were going across the bridge and a big semi truck would go underneath us making noise Risa would crawl down to her stomach scared, but we made it.

I took photos and then headed back home! Altogether over the past 3 days I estimated that I walked/hiked about 7½ - 8 miles total, which I am now paying for. Specifically since it was cold that walk on Monday).

Yesterday morning I woke up and my hip and legs hurt very badly. I guess it’s from the cold walk I took the day before.

I did my school work and then we went to town. It had snowed that night and was still falling lightly. In town we did shopping and went to our chiropractor appointment(s). We weren’t in town all that long, but once it started snowing very heavily on our way to the chiropractor, taking us 30 minutes to go a few miles, my dad told us we better start heading home then.

After the appointment that’s exactly what we did. Normally it would take us 40 minutes to get home, but it took us 2¼ hours last night! It was a quite a night, sliding across the road in our vehicle on the slushy snow, our tires spinning trying to make it up a slippery hill, but we had it home safely and thankfully!

Now I’ve updating you all on what I’ve been doing, oh but I forgot today…

Today I did school, went to go get a Christmas tree, but the people who were selling them weren’t there at the moment, so bummer, checked the mail, and went to the grocery store…

We cleaned up the house and did lots of laundry, because my Grandma is coming in on the bus tomorrow for Christmas! Then in the evening there is a church building committee meeting that my parents have to go to, but I’m going to stay home with Grandma!

Anyway, you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Years & Holidays, and Seasons Greetings! Since I probably won’t be able to update this with the holiday right around the corner and lots to do to prepare!

Have a wonderful Holiday Season and God Blesses to you all!

~Butterfly~

Ok, ok...

Hi! Happy Holidays! Ok, today my project is working on this update, so bear with me and it should be all ready for viewing by the end of the week. Just keep tunned here and checking on it. I'm hoping to get it up this afternoon/evening or tomorrow afternoon. Thx for all your patience! God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I know it again has been a while since I've updated this... But I promise as time allows I will write up an update and put it on here once it is finished, which hopefully will be before the end of this week. And if you're all lucky (blessed) it might be by tonight or tomorrow morning/evening. You all have a wonderful Holiday Season and God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Happy Holidays to One & All!

Hello once again and Happy Holidays to you all! I am now back from Colorado/Thanksgiving and doing the regular school work and such. And guess the last time I truly wrote, or began writing was about the 10th or so. And here it is the 30th; I think this is the farthest behind I've gotten. Actually, I take that back, I know… I've scribbled down a few notes a couple minutes ago, trying to refresh my memory of the past events. And just to warn you all about how much I've updated this... There is over 5 pages (not quite 6) of new updates, so you may want to put off reading it until you have time, because somethings are interesting (to me anyway). So just as a warning be prepared to put your reading glasses on and be here a while! I guess I could just say, that I did the normal routine, school, chores, and the like, but I think I can go a little more in depth. Not much, but a bit. On the 9th, my mom ordered the MP3 player that I decided on and had been wanting. Which is the SanDisk Sansa m250, 2GB, black. And then on the 13th, it was delivered on. But there was a mix up when we ordered it... You see we have a PO Box for our mail, and don't get mail here at our house/physical address. The only way we can get mail here is via: UPS, DHL, Fed Ex, and the like. So when we ordered it we put our regular mailing address right... well it said it couldn't take PO boxes so we put our physical address, assuming that it would be sent UPS or a carrier of that sort. Well the next day it shipped and my mom got an e-mail saying that it was shipping to our physical address via USPS. So my mom contacted Amazon and they couldn't do anything about it, because it had already been shipped, then my mom called the PO and was told to come in on Monday to talk to our mail carrier. On Monday, my mom went in, and signed us up for a physical address here at the corner of our street, a little over a mile away. But we wouldn't get our mail box key until Wednesday. So Wednesday when we checked our PO Box, we went up front and got our new key. On our way home I checked the cluster box and there was a notice to go to the PO and pick up a package. So we turned around, and picked it up. It just so happened to be my MP3 player (it could have also been my mom's book that she had ordered with my gift). Right there in the PO I started to open it up. I knew right away that it was mine, because the box was so light. Then we went to the grocery store. I stayed in the car, trying to open up the packaging around the actual electronic, but didn't get very far, only managing to cut myself in the process. Oh well. When I got home, I talked to a good friend of mine, while opening and setting it up. Thank you very much again Nana, for my early CHRISTmas present! On Friday, the 17th, I began to pack to go to Colorado Springs. You see, we have a family tradition that we've done for the past 4 years... As much of my mom's family that is able to make it, heads up there to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving! It's always so much fun and a blast! Especially seeing all the relatives that you only get to see once a year if that. Anyway... I started packing for our trip. Besides packing, school work filled in all my time, e-mail, chores, cleaning, and whatever else I could do to fill my time (except somehow my site was not in that list). On Saturday, the 18th, we went to church, had potluck afterward, and in the evening had a music/"jam" session over at a friend of ours house, played games, and fun stuff like that. Sunday, the 19th, my sister and I went to my dad's work for a few hours with him. After my dad finished what he needed to do there, we went and ate lunch at Twisters. Then got a few food items at Wild Oats, exchanged a wrench at Sears, got stuff at Costco, and a dog rope for Risa at Petsmart. We got home a little bit later than planned, but had some fun. The 20th & 21st we just did school. But wait, I take that back, on Tuesday we went to town. We worked really hard to get all our school work finished on time, so we could leave the house within a reasonable time. We didn't have all that much school work to do, since the following day was a holiday, so it wasn't too hard. In town, we picked up some books from the library, went shopping for a few items at Wal-Mart, ate lunch at Twisters, went to Title Wave Books to kill time, and then met my friend at Taco Bell to pick her up from school. Then we went to the chiropractor and Wild Oats to get some glucosamine for our dog, dropped my friend off at her house, and came home. Wednesday, the 22nd, we did a wee-bit of school work, did some final packing, loaded the van up, cleaned the house, put the dog in the van, and eventually headed out. In town we stopped by Costco to fill up with gas, ate lunch at Taco Bell, got lunch for my dad at Subway, and picked my dad up from his work. Then we washed the outside of our vehicle and hit the road. It is only a 6 hour drive, but seems longer when you're anxious to see your family and cousins. We got there around 7:30 -8:00 p.m., said hello to everyone, and had salad and spaghetti for dinner. Which BTW I soaked my salad (like in a pool) in dressing! Ooops, it wasn't a shaker top! Late that evening my uncle and aunt from Virginia flew in. We all thought prior to Thanksgiving that they weren’t going to be able to make it, because the airfare rates had sky rocketed with it being the holiday season. But about a week before Thanksgiving my dad found some really cheap flights that they could get and lo and behold, they made it for the celebration! Thursday, Thanksgiving! It was also my uncle from Colorado's birthday! We just had fun all day long, playing foosball in the basement with 4 of us, chasing my little cousins around the house and just having so much fun with my little cousins and older younger cousins. That morning my uncle went and got my other aunt and uncle from Arizona from the airport. For the 2nd time (out of the 4 years) my mom's entire family was there, oh except Papa. It was really nice! I loved my time there and thoroughly enjoyed my stay! Before we had Thanksgiving dinner (in this case it's was like a Linner, lunch and dinner) my uncle and aunt from Virginia made an announcement... They're going to have a baby in July of next year! That was really exciting! So now there will be 8 cousins! (Me being the 2nd oldest...). I can't wait! Anyway... We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey (I didn't have any, BTW), stuffing (nope), mashed potatoes (yum!), cranberry sauce (never even tasted that stuff), bread rolls, salad, asparagus and noodles, and whatever else was on the table that I don't remember. Oh, but I can't forget the Sparking Apple Cider. I will forget the wine though, since I didn't have any... Later on that evening, after all the other mess from the cooking, we had Turtle Cheesecake, which my aunt (from CO) made from scratch and oh, it was so good, rich, and ahhh! We had that because it is my uncle's favorite and it was his birthday. Surprisingly we didn't have any pumpkin pie! That evening, we all went down to the basement, where they have a really nice surround sound theatre and watched "Cars," which I had never seen before. It is really good, but it's not one of my favorites, because I really don't care for cartoon(ish) videos. Friday, it didn't get about 30F outside and was totally freezing. That's the day that we normally go out and do something fun, but in this case, we just hung around inside all day long, watching family reunion videos from this year, our vacation video from when we went to Florida, looking a pictures from Florida and boring stuff like that. We were supposed to go to Garden of the Gods and places like that, to go hiking and also so I could take photos and such. Bummer, it was cancelled. That evening all of us, except my uncle and the two little ones played a game called “Apples to Apples.” If you all have never played it, it’s an absolute must! We were all laughing so hard it was tough to stop and hurt so bad. We played for a couple hours and finally went to bed. My back was hurting so bad, I was miserable. I think it was mostly from laughing so hard. Anyway, it was such a blast and I loved it, even though I kind of paid for it later… Also that morning my aunt and uncle from Virginia went back home. Sabbath, we didn't go to church (we never really do on Thanksgiving when we're up there). But we did get out of the house around noon and went to Old Colorado City and walked the main street, mostly window shopping. Oh my uncle and Nana, as well as my aunt and uncle from Arizona, because they had taken them to the airport to go back to AZ. It was already 3 o'clock and we were all starting to get really hungry. Especially me, and I was also beginning to feel sick (almost nauseous) because of some stinky chap stick that I had put on earlier, which gave me a major headache and such. So we quickly found a place to eat; a pizza shop called Charlie's Pizza/Old Town Pizza. We decided to eat there and they made so really good pizza, but not as good as Second Avenue Pizza that I had in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Anyway, after lunch we continued walking Main Street After a few minutes of walking we came across the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! Oh their chocolates are so good, but I didn’t get any. No sweets for me! Normally I wouldn’t anyway, but this time for sure I said no. You see, the previous day we hadn’t gone out of the house, mainly because it was so cold, and everyone was too lazy, so we ran out of food/groceries, that is unless you wanted to eat the leftover turkey. So with nothing to eat, I settled on 3 slices of Apple Pecan Streusel and a HUGE, HUGE slice of pumpkin pie with whipping cream on top. Oh yeah, I did have a bowl of cereal in the morning. I didn’t really feel all that bad on Friday after only eating junk, but the day after I was really feeling it, so that’s what made me say no to the sweets.

After admiring all the chocolates we walked on to Santa’s House at the North Pole. It was a long walk but we eventually got there! Anyway, we went there and let the little ones see Santa, tell him what they want, and get a candy cane. Then we walked back to an ice cream shop that we had passed by before and got some ice cream. Again I didn’t get anything. My uncle and Nana met us back there from dropping my aunt and uncle off at the airport.

Then we started walking back towards the vehicles, but it took us a while, because we got lured into some shops, by too much window shopping. We first stopped in a souvenir/gift shop place, where they mostly sold glass wall hangings (which I’d been there before the prior summer and bought a couple things), beanie babies, shirts, jewelry, candles, and little miscellaneous items. The second and last shop that we stopped at was a soap shop. They sold all handmade/natural soaps there, perfumes, lotions, and neat stuff like that. Oh it smelled so good in there and so many selections! I never did decide which smell I like the best, but the rosewater lotion they had smelled really good!

We finally got out of the old town and back to our cars, as it was beginning to get dark. Back at the house we just hung loose and I ate a slice of apple pie.

Sunday! Bummer! Time to go home! We got up in the morning and packed all our stuff up, clearing the basement of our clutter. Oh my uncle also had a really nice guitar that he had, and gave it to my sister. It’s really nice and she loves it! It’s got red-mahogany and really pretty! Reluctantly I helped my dad load up the van. Then we were ready to go, we said our last goodbyes and hit the road. But before we made our final stretch for home, we stopped at the “Pita Pit” to eat lunch! It was really good! Then right lunch a good friend of mine called and we talked for quite a while, mostly until we ran out of things to talk about.

On the 5 ½ hour drive home I just sat there and occasionally listened to my MP3 player! The seat I was sitting in was most uncomfortable. We had taken the middle seats out of the van and replaced them with the back seats, which do not recline and aren’t all that comfy. But it was better than the ride up there, where we were so loaded that I only had six inches of seat, so that I am grateful for. Then as we were nearing Santa Fe for our turn towards home and final descent my good friend called again and we talked some more.

Finally we reached our destination, home sweet home, around 8:00 p.m. or so.

Monday, double bummer, back to school! But we had a motivation. My dad had promised us that if we got all our school done in a timely manner on Monday that we could decorate for the holidays! So with that in our minds, we finished quite quickly and around noon headed out to the shed to get out our decorations! Then the rest of the afternoon we decorated the house, putting up lights in the windows, around the front door, and around the poles in and out of our home. As well as putting up the bells in-between the living and dinning rooms and all the other miscellaneous décor around our living quarters.

Tuesday we just did plain old school, but also talked to some great friends that evening!

Oh and that evening we heard on the radio that the Sandia Mountains were going to be getting quite some heavy snow that night, and high possibilities for Albuquerque, so that means snow for us too!

Yesterday morning I woke up suddenly and remembered that it was supposed to snow, looking out my window, I realized it was true! There was about 2 inches of snow outside and it was still falling! All day it continued to fall off and on. A little before noon my sister and decided (well it was more my idea and decision) to go outside and take our CHRISTmas photos in the snow. Bad idea! After spending a little under an hour out there, we gave up and came inside. We were trying to capture the snowy scenery in the background with us sitting on a snowy log, but without dressing like it was cold. Well we paid for it, the pictures are all pretty good, but we were quite cold and our faces, noses, and ears are bright red because it was 15F outside.

After wasting our time doing that, I realized that I hadn’t done any school yet, but first I had to eat lunch and warm up. Eventually around 3 p.m. I started on my school work, finishing sometime near 6 p.m.

This morning we woke up quite startling. The door bell rings! Who could it be… it’s not that early in the morning, but we were sleeping in… I sleepily come out of my room and peak out the porch window. Great! It’s the neighbors! My sister had just woke up from them too, so we neither of us wanted to open the door. My mom who was already slightly awake got up and answered the door. You see we had left the gate open all night long, so it wouldn’t be snowed shut in the morning. Well their dog, Bub-bino, had gotten out and was in our yard and they wanted to let us know and ask if they could get her. We haven’t seen the neighbors in quite a while, for some unusual reason (like 2 months almost) and seeing that they were home from school (since it was closed due to the 9-12 inches of snow outside) and actually at our house I took that as an opportunity to go, see them and say hi. So I dressed quickly, as well as my sister and went outside to play. They neighbors finally caught their dog and had to go eat breakfast before they could play. So we came inside and ate as well. Then after eating, I went to the shed and got out our 2 sleds and a saucer.

Bummer, though, the snow wasn’t the right type to sled on. It’s the light and fluffy kind that it’s all that great for a heavy sled to glide across. But we decided to pack it anyway and we sledding down the street. We live at the end of a deserted cul-de-sac so we can play in the street all the time. Then we went a little farther down the street to where it slants more downwards. I hadn’t taken the time to put on my warmer gloves so my hands were totally freezing and almost frozen. So I went back up to the house, got some warmer gloves, and a mug of hot water. After playing a little bit more at the end of the road, I suggested that we got behind our house and play at the REALLY steep hill that is awesome for sledding on, good or bad snow! So we did that and had an awesome time! Finally getting the hang of just how to steer the sled for that type of snow and rocky area.

Eventually we all got quite cold, so we all trudged back to our homes and came inside to warm up. We’ll got back out in a little while. So now I’m just on my computer writing and finishing this up, and later this afternoon I’ll get online and post this “letter.” My mom is in town right now for a doctor’s appointment, and my sister is the in the other room watching a movie while eating something. I should probably go for now, because the “post” is already over 5 pages long and shouldn’t keep you all any longer. Hope you all are enjoying the cold weather that has swept across the nation. I sure am! It got down to 5F last night, our record low. I’ll tell you all if it gets that cold or colder again! Off to do my school work for the day! God Bless you all in these upcoming holidays! Happy Holidays and Have a Merry CHRISTmas!

God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everybody! I apologize that I haven't been updating this and started to the other day and never finished. But I really have been busy, you just have to understand. Right now we're heading out the door to Colorado Springs, so I need to go. Just wanted to say a quick "Hello" and wish you all a very wonderful "Happy Thanksgiving!" God Bless you all in the coming holidays, ~Butterfly~

Here Comes Thanksgiving!

Hello! Ok, now I'm going to try and remember what I've been up to... But first I'm going to go and eat breakfast and then be back... Yum! Home- canned peaches and Raisin Bran! Oh before, I begin... I apologize that my messages on this blog aren't sorted into paragraphs. I actually do write them in paragraphs, but for some reason when it shows up on the blog, it isn't anymore, but still when I edit it it is. So anyway, I apologize for that. Let's see... the last time that I really wrote was last Thursday/over a week ago. Since then... Well, some not so pleasant news... One of our really good friends 5th cousin died, he was a great kid (18), (FYI: like 600-700 people at the funeral...), but anyway, let's get to the better stuff.

Hey Guys!

Bonjour Everybody! Hope you are all doing great and have enjoyed your week so far... I certainly have! School has been fairly easy going. I got my MP3 player in last night and absolutely love it! It's perfect; Thank you Nana! I really don't have time or energy to sit here and think about my past week to tell you all. So sometime in the near future, hopefully I'll be able to sit down and share my week with everyone! Just keep checking back here to see if I've updated it, because I'm planning on doing it soon. You all have an awesome evening and God Bless, ~Butterfly~

The Dream Machine Foundation!

Hi all, again! OK, now to complete get you all up to date... This last Sabbath we decided to go to a different church, other than our own. We chose to go to the Heights Church in Albuquerque, where we used to go before we moved out here. We mainly chose to go there, because they had a guest speaker that we wanted to hear. So instead of having to get up early and go help set up for our church here, we slept in, skipped Sabbath School, and went to the church service at Heights. The speaker that was giving the sermon was Stephen Arrington. I'll tell you a little bit about his story/testimony. As a boy he had dreamed of being a diver; his hero was Jacque Cousteau. He was in the Navy as a frogmen and went to Vietnam 4 times. Then he got into dealing/transporting illegal drugs (marijuana and cocaine) from Central American countries, doing this with/for a "friend" of his. He shattered his dream with the choice and went to jail. After a couple-few years there, he was released. Sometime after that his dreams were fulfilled; he became the chief diver of the Cousteau Society. He then became a Seventh-day Adventist and now has a children's ministry (Drugs Bite) where he teaches kids that drugs aren't good and stuff like that. He also works with a ministry called Dream Machine Foundation. Through that ministry he funds/helps 3 schools in Fiji. Each year missionaries go there to help out. Some of the footage he showed of diving in the reefs is unbelievable in the colors and sea life down there. Anyway... We went and listened to his sermon for church as well as the presentation that he gave in the evening about Fiji and his expeditions with the Cousteau's, and stuff like that. It was really good and Fiji sounds wonderful, especially helping others there by building them new schools, hospitals, and churches. (I can't not mention the beautiful scenery there, that would be totally awesome to photograph!) Anyway, that's about the rest of what I didn't get around to mentioning yesterday evening. You all have an awesome day in Jesus! God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Sunsets, Clean Teeth, iPods, and Fiji!

Hey everybody! No, I haven't forgotten about you all. Things just get busy. I've thought about writing, but then there seems to be nothing of interest to write about, so why bother. But after receiving a comment (which I have no clue it's from...) hinting that they're waiting for an "update," I figured it's time to do it, whether or not there is anything you'd enjoy reading about. So anyway... Let's see, it's been quite a while since I've been on here and I don't remember when that was, so I'm going to have to look it up, so I don't repeat anything (especially if it's boring)... Wow! Way back in October, it's already like a week and a half into November. Now I see why people started hinting... But can my memory recall any interesting things among the jumble of boring stuff since then? OK... Time to put the brain to work, but I don't want to, I've already used it enough doing school earlier today. Oh OK, I hear you all out there, wanting to know what I've been up to... Alright, alright, I'll give it a go. Since I don't know where to start off, I'll begin with what the above photo is of, when, and where. I took that picture 2 nights ago. I was just sitting at my computer listening to music (ah. Something that reminds me of something to write about...) when I happened to look out of the office window and see some pink clouds. Getting up off of my chair (which was most likely a big exercise ball) I saw that it was the gorgeous sunset. So running quickly into my room I grabbed my camera out of my dresser, and no, it wasn't all that dusty. I ran out the back door and got out my camera. And this is one of the shots that I took. And actually this is the last pic that I took. Funny, the first pics that I took weren't as colorful as the last ones. I guess it just got prettier as it aged. Oh, and also, if you notice in the photo, the stickish weeds that are in it are almost as tall as the telephone wires. Just thought I'd point that out. Those are between our fence and the neighbors (a 18 inch gag), not big enough to mow in there. So the weeds just grow taller and taller. So, the topic of music reminds me of a "project" that I've been doing. For some reason I decided that I was interested in iPods (generically MP3 players) and wanted to know more about them. So I started reading reviews on different brands and such. Specifically comparing the iPod Shuffle and the Sandisk Sansa m250. After putting hours of research into this, I think I've finally come to the conclusion. For the same price as the Shuffle, which is 1 GB, I can get the Sansa m250, which is 2GB, has a FM tuner, built in mic, display screen, and stop watch. So you tell me which one I'm going to choose. So now that I've decided on that, I just have to figure out which place I'm going to buy it from. Anyway... that's one thing that has kept me busy. And I also downloaded iTunes one evening, which I had to leave my computer on all night long to get it done, because I wasn't going to stay up til midnight waiting for it to finish on our slow connection speed. And I really like it a whole lot better than Windows Media Player, no matter if they have a cool skin/mini player or not. Nothing else of interest that I can remember. My dad went to Denver last week for four days and he's back now. Yesterday we went to town. We had a dentist appointment that was in the early afternoon so we had to leave an hour early to be on time, which left me with very little time to do my school work. So as a result of that, I only got in a little more than an hour. At the dentist we all had general checkups and cleanings and all 3 of us (that went) had no cavities and teeth are doing great. My teeth are doing perfect, except for the fact that I have receding gums (genetically from my mom) and have to be really careful about that when brushing. We also went to the chiropractor yesterday, as well as Title Wave Books, Costco, Wal-Mart, and the Library (like 5 minutes before they closed). At the library we got the older video (1943) "My Friend, "Flicka" based on the book by Mary O'Hara. We watched that last night and it was really good! A very good movie (old fashioned) and family friendly (unlike most movies nowadays). Anyway, now that I realize it, I could go on and on, but my mom is asking me to get off so she can use the phone to call my dad. As you can see in the title there is one topic that I didn't get to, so that'll leave you with something to look forward to and come back waiting. If I get the chance I'll get back on this evening and finish about this last weekend. But for now I'd like to say "From New Mexico, everybody, Byebye!"

Rain Runner!

Well, hello, once again to you all! I guess I better start off where I left off; Tuesday! I didn't have time to do school on Tuesday, because we had to leave the house around 9:45 AM to go to town. We met our friends and caravaned into Albuquerque. We all arrived at the downtown train station, where we were all going to ride the Rain Runner. It's the new train that they've put that goes between downtown Albuquerque and Bernalillo. Eventually it will go between Los Lunas (or Belen?) to Santa Fe. It is mostly for the people who commute, but since it is currently free (for the first few months) we decided to make it a field trip and go. The train itself was extremely nice and new! We rode (both ways) on the top deck. It was really nice! By estimating, I'm assuming the train went about 75-80 MPH. I kind of did that by telling how fast one road, that was parallel to us for a while, was going, because their speed limit said "55." And we were easily passed those cars in a few seconds. Like I said the train itself was really nice, but the area that we rode through was junk. When we fist left the station we were down in the industrial part of Albuquerque, where there is just a lot of junk everywhere (manufacturing junk) and then junk yards (with homeless people climbing/digging in them), and then just plain junky homes and yards. It's definitely not the way to impress your friends about your city. It was a 25 minute ride to Bernalillo. It made a one minute (and literally ONE minute) stop and then continued one. When we got to Bernalillo we sat there for 15 minutes and then headed back. The sway of the train just puts you to sleep! After the ride all but 3 of us (there were 12 that went) went over to Twisters and ate lunch! After lunch we all split up and went our own ways. We headed to our chiropractor appointment, stopped at our favorite bookstore Title Wave, and then went shopping at Target because I had one a gift card for there. I thought I'd get some new winter clothes, but the styles there... well, let's just say that they weren't all that appropriate. So after walking through the whole store I finally ended up buying toothpaste, hand soap, face wash, water, gum, mints, and a new road atlas for my dad. That was after spending about 2 1/2 hours looking around. Then we made a quick dash to Costco and then barely made it to the library before they closed. I had a book that I'd been waiting for on hold for forever and it was the deadline to pick it up and I didn't want to miss it. I also checked out a few books on Photography and then we went home! Wednesday we did school and my sister went over to her friends house. Thursday we did school and Friday as well. Yesterday we went to church and then afterwards came home, ate lunch (yummie lasagna!), and then rode our bikes for about 3-4 miles to and from the church property. It was a good ride and on the way back I talked to Nana! In the evening we went to AY. We played a game where you pass balloons around like hot potato and then when the music stops whoever had the special balloon (painted and named Lucy) had to choose another non-special one to pop and answer the question inside. The questions were geared towards getting to know one another. After AY we hung around and had a campfire outside. It was nice! We finally came home around 8:30 PM. My dad and sister are at my dad's work today, I decided to stay home and do some things around the house. Anyway, I've got you all caught up, once again, so I guess I'll say good bye! Have a wonderful day and week. God Bless, ~Butterfly~

School and Very Cold Weather!

Hello once again! Nothing really new. But what's funny is that I'm always busy, but yet nothing interesting goes on. Lets see on Sabbath we went to church and then afterwards just hung out at some friends house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Sunday we got up a little bit early (earlier than normal) and left the house around 8 a.m. to drive to Corrales. The Texico Conference Lay Leadership Retreat/Meetings were being held that weekend and my dad had a Risk Management meeting to go to. So we went to that. After that we went shopping for my sister and I, new beds/mattresses. A few weeks ago I had been rotating my mattress and happened to notice a tag on the side that said the name of a hotel that my grandparents used to own. I told my dad and he guessed that the mattress set was about 25 years old. And what's scary is that it's from a hotel and you don't know who has slept on it and 25 years old! So we were shopping for a new one. My sister and I both got new beds and my dad picked them up Monday evening and they are so comfortable! After shopping for the mattresses we ate lunch and then went shopping for new sheets (and bed sets) for my sister and I, since our new beds are thicker than before and our old sheets wouldn't fit. All in all, it was a very long day and it was nice to get home. But when we got home we had to rearrange the office, to put my sister's old bed in there as a guest room and so on. We finally went to bed quite late. One thing that I've recently enjoyed watching is baseball. I'd never really had any interest in it before (and I still don't think I'd really like to play it), but I really enjoy watching it. As I watch it I have to ask my dad questions as to what they mean or why wasn't that a foul, etc. But I'm learning. I can't wait to watch the 5th game of the World Series tonight. (I'm for the St. Louis Cardnials). Which I just found out is on now, so I'm going to go watch that. So guys, I'll tell you about my busy day on Tuesday next time I have the time (which will most likely be Sunday). Just to keep your attention, what we did Tuesday was pretty interesting. So anyway, I want to wish you all a very Happy Sabbath and God Bless you all, ~Butterfly~

School, School, and More School. Guess what? Have I mentioned school?

Hey everyone! Not much going on other than the title above. (^) I finally forced myself to clean my room up, which I did this morning. So my room is some what cleaner. I still have a few things that I need to re-organize and I didn't have the energy this morning. And to add to that (lack of energy), last night I decided to try and break my current/old record for jump roping. (FYI: I can do it in the house because of our high ceilings in the living room and the space). My current record was and still remains at 327. And in the course of trying to beat that last night, I landed on my right foot wrong, and now it really, really hurts to walk or put pressure on it. So I can't jump rope again until it heals. Anyway, not much new here. Except that Monday morning my dad left on a buisness trip to San Jose, California and he gets back this evening. And tomorrow is my mom's birthday! I should probably go for now, because I still have one minor subject in school left to do today. And then I might work on crocheting another afghan. It sure is going to be a cold winter this year. Last night, for the 3rd time so far, it got below freezing and normally it doesn't do that until LATE October-Mid November. God Bless you guys, ~Butterfly~ P.S. I'll try and get some more photos taken from around here when I get the chance and then share them with you all. ~Butterfly~

More Photographs!

Hello and Good Morning!

I have a few more photographs for you all to enjoy! That is if I can get them all uploaded today. It's been an hour already and I've only tackled 1 1/2 of them. This one is of a leaf (I don't remember what type) and water- droplets on it. This photograph is of a purple larkspur with water droplets on it and green grass in the background. This photo is of the herb, Dill, with water- droplets on it. All of these photos were taken after a rain storm, except the following one. This photograph is of a bunny who I ran into on a bike ride the other day. He looks quite scared as he decided to take a mad dash in front of me.

Leaves, Needles, and Cookies!

Bonjour everyone! I am finally done with school for this week, caught up and everything. Well not caught up on the 3 weeks that I took off for Florida, but for this week anyway. So to catch you all up on everything around here, I better get started... This last Sunday we were going to go to the Fourth of July Campgrounds, but we changed our minds and went to town instead. For those of you who don't know what Fourth of July Campground is... It is a place where in the fall all the trees change colors and look like fireworks, hence the name Fourth of July. I'd been wanting to go take photos of the fall colors there, but with the temperature outside being 45F I really didn't feel all that up to it. In town we went shopping at a couple different places and then when dinner time came around we ate at Sweet Tomatoes. On Monday, nothing interesting that I can remember... Oh yeah... I went outside in the morning (when it was like 45F out there) and took photos of the raindroplets on Pyracantha Bushes, Pine Tree Needles, and flowers. Here are a few of the ones that I took. Tuesday was a pretty hectic day. I had to rush and get my school done before 2 o' clock so we could go to town because we had Chiropractor and Orthodontist appointments. I barely got half of my work finished befrore then, but that was mostly due to me sleeping in till between 9 and 10 o' clock. So I had to put off my school work until I was able to finish it, whenever that would be. In town we went to our appointments (which I am officially done with braces!) and did a little bit of shopping. I got some final items for one of my most recent projects, which I'm not letting on what it is yet... When we got home we barely had time to eat dinner and get going to the church board meeting. (IMO it is BORED meeting!) We got home late and that was the end of that stessful day... Wednesday... let's see... I think school would describe it very well. Catching up on the school from the previous day and finally finishing my project that I have been working on for the last week or two. I will say that it involves needles. So this post's title is "Leaves, Needles, and Cookies" well, it not only means pine needles, but crochet needles and another needle as well... This winter is going to be a quite harsh and cold one, so as some of my projects to keep me occupied while I have to be indoors due to the weather outside, I am crocheting blankets and stuff. But no, that is not the type of the most recent project that I have been working on. Oh yes, and my sister and her best friend went to go stay at another friend's house, who is a balloonist. They got to get up really early yesterday morning (lucky them..., not) and go help with the National Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. They got to go up (on a teathered line) in the balloon too! Yesterday while they were enjoy the balloons I had to do school work and continue catching up on a couple things that I hadn't gotten done the prior day... I had to rush yesterday also, because we had to leave the house around 2:00 p.m. to run errands in town before we went to Corrales. So I barely got all my school work done, had time to clean up around the house a little bit, do a little bit of my e-mail, and do dishes before we left. While I was doing school my mom made a few dozen cookies to sell that evening. We ran our errands, mostly returning un-needed items that we had gotten on Sunday and then drove through rush hour traffic (along with the out of town traffic due to the Balloon Fiesta) to Sandia View Academy in Corrales, NM. At the school there, they were having a Fall Festival, but it was really like a minature indoor carnival. Our church had a booth there, where we were going to sell bread, cookies, popcorn, water, juice, cards, and ribbon kid tiaras. But being the gymnasium for 4 hours was kind of tiring. All the extremely rowdy high schoolers... they were quite obnoxious. But overall we did make quite a bit there last evening for our church's building fund project. We got home quite late though. Today I slept in, but what's new? For school I mostly had tests. So it was an easy day in school for me. The tests seem to be a whole lot easier than the review and take quite a bit less. Anyway, nothing new really. I'm just eating lunch now as I'm writing this, but the green chili is really hot today. So, I'll go for now and let you enjoy the photos, as I continue to upload them with this slow connection speed. Enjoy and God Bless, ~Butterfly~

P.S. This isn't all the photos yet, but I'll have to get the others uploaded some other time. But enjoy these ones for now! ~Butterfly~

Quick "Hello!"

Hello everyone! I only have a few minutes, so I can't say much more than "hello!" and let you know that I haven't forgotten to update the site, but that I have been really busy. I just barely finished school today (and still have one item left) and I thought I'd better catch up on my e-mail (which I haven't gotten a chance to do in the last 3 days or so) and so on. So I'm just here to say hi real quick. But check up later this evening, or hopefully at the lastest tomorrow, back here and I should have this all up-to-date and with a few more photos for you all to view and enjoy! And with that I have to go do (a ton! of) dishes and then we've got to sca-dattle! God Bless, ~Butterfly~

...Back to School... Bummer!

Hello everybody!

I guess I really haven't been keeping up around here, but I have been busy. Let me see when I last wrote and then I'll know where to catch up from... Ok, Tuesday... but I think I forgot something before then even... Oh yeah, last Sabbath evening we had AY (FYI: Adventist Youth) and a good friend of mine turned 18 and we had a birthday party for her afterwards. We had cake, popcorn, chips, pretzels, etc. around a campfire. It was fun! And on Sunday we went to the Rio Grande Nature Center with Nana. We walked a ways; up to the river (which is barely flowing (at all)) and walked back. We would've gone farther, but then parking lot locked at 5:00 p.m. and we needed to have our car to get back home, so we figured we'd better not take too much longer. I did get a few good photos while I was there though. I'll share one with you now... It is of a pond with the Sandia Mountians in the background. The mountains around here are the Sandias and Manzanos. In Spanish Sandia means Watermelon and Manzano means Apple. Not much else exciting during the week. I got back into the routine of school (Bummer! after a 3 week vacation!) and rearranged my room and cleaned it up a bit. (Which BTW is still a complete mess, I need to finish putting things away from a trip. But it took me like a month from the last trip, lets hope not this time...). Wednesday morning (Early! And I mean early!) Nana left to go back home/to Florida. We did school and I worked on one of my most recent projects (maybe more on that another time) and that was about what I did the rest of the days through Friday. This morning we got up and got ready to go to church. After church I went to a friend's house and got home just a little while ago. Now I'm just on my new computer (oh yeah, BTW I got a new one last night! And it is totally a whole lot better than my last one!) uploading a photo for you all to see (which takes forever here on Dial Up) and writing to you. But I should be getting off once this photo finishes. It's almost time for bed anyway. So Happy Sabbath to you all and God Bless you all very much, ~Butterfly~

Into the Routine!

Hey everybody, Nothing new here. I got back into the school routine yesterday, but decided not to do school today and spend our last day with Nana without school. But I did clean and rearrange my room today. Nothing interesting at all... Just thought I'd say "hello" to you all and God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Home!

Ahhhh, to be home again! After another 2 week vacation, I am so glad to be home again and just relax and get into the regular routine. We had 7 hours of traveling on our way home; 5 hours of actual flying and 2 hours at a lay over in Houston. It felt so good to get off that plane and see my parents, and just ride home in our own car, and go home. But then when we got home I had to unpack, the not so fun part. I still have not fully put everything in it's proper home, but give me a couple weeks and it'll be all nice and clean again.

Yesterday, I checked my e-mail, talked to a friend for a while, finished up on the computer, and we went to town. I had a chiropractor appointment (for those of you who didn't know, I have scoliosis (curvature of the spine)), and then we went to Hobby Lobby, and then my sister and I ate burritos at Twisters. Yum, it was so good!

Then we went over to the neighbors when we got home and played a bit of golf. Well my sister played golf with the neighbor and I went and fetched all the golf balls.

Not much anything that's new around here... Excpet that my parents made a few remodelings around the house and new items of furniture, etc.

Oh, yes, I can't forget to mention this part. It also felt so good when we got off the plane here in Albuquerque to have the temperature outside be in the 70s and like no humidity (in comparison to Florida). I like the weather here a whole lot better! And it's hard to believe it's in the 50s outside right now. It's going to be a cold and harsh winter this year.

Anyway, it just feels so good to be home once again; to just swing in the hammock under the treehouse and just relax outside without sweating to death in the heat.

I better go for now. I think I'm about out of time for internet. I think I'm going to go ride my bike and run with the dog. You all have an awesome day ang God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Home Sweet Home~Here I Come!

Hello everybody!

I'm leavning Florida today around noon and heading back home! I can't wait to get back home again! 4 weeks of vacation this year is quite a bit and enough for me! I don't have anything new to say, just thought I'd say "Hi" to ya'll. Prayers for a safe 7 hour flight! God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Orlando: Sea World!!!

Hey everybody! I'm back and I had the most awesome time ever! First I'll start off with where I last left off, which if I remember correctly would be Thursday...

On Friday we did mostly nothing, except finish up last minute things for our trip down South and, of course the regular routine, etc. So not much news that you missed out on there.

Sabbath morning... We got up kind of early and got ready to go. Nana and Papa went and took the dogs to the "kennels," where they stayed while we were down in Orlando. Finally after loading up, we hit the road. We drove for about 2 1/2 hours to Orlando, but the ride didn't seem that long at all. Maybe all that driving this summer up towards Idaho and Motana got me used to driving... I wonder...

Anyway, when we got to Orlando we just checked in at our "hotel" (well really I think you would call it a resort). We had a really nice suite. Nemo and I had seperate rooms from Nana and Papa, along with our own beds. Then also there was a living room (oh, and each bedroom and the living room and nice big tvs...) and also amazingly, a laundry room. Then there was the kitchen, fully equipped with utensils, dishes, a nice refrigerator, a stove, dishwasher... it was really nice! Some guy gave us like a 30 minute tour of the room and then showed us brochures, etc. of different places nearby (the attractions and restaurants, etc.).

Then after that we went and ate lunch at Pizza Hut. Afterwards on the way back to the hotel I called an awesome friend of mine back and we talked for quite a while.

That evening we were going to go play minature golf, but by the time we found the place they were closed... Oh well...

We went back to the hotel and swam in the pool for a little while.

Sunday mornin'... We got up early, showered, ate, and headed over to Sea World. It was already beginning to get hot and muggy out, but hey, it's Florida... We parked the truck and walked towards the entrance. The place was busy (but not quite packed), even though it's September and school is back in session. I would hate to see the crowds during the summer.

We watched 4 different performing shows that they had. It was awesome! We watched the pirate show with Clyde and Seamore (the seals); a pet show with dogs, cats, ducks, a pig, etc. We also watched the baby Shamu presentation. That one would have to be either the best or tied with the next one... Anyway... The one about Shamu was totally great. I absolutely loved it! Oh yeah, and a new killer whale ("Shamu") had been born just 6 days before! I didn't get any photos of the show itself, because I was video taping most of it... But my sister did get some really great ones of the dolphins and whales (etc) jumping in the air and into the water, etc. It's amazing how smart these animals are... It only proves who our Creator is! The last show that we watched was one of their newest shows: New Horizons. It is of dolphins and whales, encluding a trapeeze act to go along with it all. It was great! I love the way the people will dive (from way up) into the water and then come up standing on the nose of a dolphin or whale. If you guys haven't been there, you've got to go. This place is a must see.

Besides the shows we saw quite an array of animals: Dolphins, Sting Rays, Alligators, Manatees, Penguins, Sharks, and lots of others...

Nana, my sister, and I decided that we were going to go on the huge roller coaster, etc., and that before lunch would be a good idea... So we were going to ride "Journey to Atlantis" first (since it was a smaller one, as well as getting soaked) to try it out. I bet you we stood in line for 30-45 minutes to ride this one. And of course, the ride only lasts about 2-3 minutes. It was fun though! This ride takes you through a dark tunnel with scary images in the corners/along the sides that glow and are spoooky. Then it takes you up a hill and drops you down into a pool of water! Then you go back up and go into this completely pitch black tunnel and then suddenly it drops you at (almost 90 degree drop?) a very fast rate and then you stop and get out..

Then we got in line to ride "Kranken." (Pronounced "Crankin'") This is the HUGE (I mean HUGE) roller coaster that goes SUPER fast and turns you upside down at least half a dozen times! We waited in line for a minimum of 45 minutes for this and I wouldn't doubt it if it was over an hour. It was quite a long time. We were all scared and wanted to turn back, but we didn't. When we finally got on it, there was NO turning back! It took us up a steep incline, and then dropped us, taking us upside down twice, spinning downwards in a spiral upside down (my most favorite part!!!), and then doing lots of other stuff. It was fun, but I wouldn't do it again for a 2 minute ride with a 45 minute wait like that!

For the remainder of the afternoon we ate and viewed more animals. This was a totally amazing experience and guess what? We only saw about (if even) 2/3 of the park. That was a bummer, but hey I enjoyed it as much as I did and loved it!

Nearing closing time we rushed to see the sharks quickly and then Nana and I walked FAST to a shop that we had been in before to get me a t-shirt that I had seen and liked. Turns out I (unplanned) got the same t-shirt that my sister had picked out. I also bought some postcards, magnets, and a dolphin stuffed animal for my sister.

We then met Papa and my sister at the exit, bought some pictures of us that they had taken when we first entered the park, and went back to the hotel.

I talked to my mom on the phone and then Nana, my sister, and I walked to the little store inside the customer service and bought a couple more postcards and ice cream. Then we went to the pool and swam for a while. We had the pool all to ourselves! It was nice! My legs hurt so bad from walking like 5 miles... It hurt really bad to just stand... walking wasn't so bad, but swimming in the pool felt a whole lot better!

Then we ate ice cream and went to bed.

This morning my sister and I got up, showered, packed up all our clothes and stuff, ate breakfast, loaded up the truck, went to a souvenir shop, and came back "home."

Now we're here all unloaded, packed back up to go back home and I'm online here writing to you all. But you know what I think I've been on here long enough and I should close this up.

My sister has some great photos that she took of dolphins and maybe some other time I'll put them on here. I wish I had gotten some of the type that she did, but I got it on tape and I enjoy that a whole lot more than just photos (when it comes to re-experiencing your vacation).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the few photos and my adventures at Sea World! I can't wait to get back home on Wednesday. There is no place like home. God Bless you all very much, ~Butterfly~

St. John's River Sunrise

This morning Nana woke me up a little after 5:30 and I got dressed quickly. I ate yogurt and drank a little orange and apple juice. Then we got in the car and headed out. It was still pretty dark outside. We drove down a ways, over to a place right on the river.

The sun was just barely beginning to come up, just emitting hardly any light.

As the sun started "rising" higher and higher I got out my cameras.

I took about 40 photos. Here are a couple of my favorite ones: with palm "leaves" in front. Enjoy and God Bless you all, ~Butterfly~

Swimming and BORED!

Bored.. I'll update this more later.

Ok, So here I am... Bored as ever... Today I did mostly nothing, installed a web cam for Nana on both her computers.

After lunch we walked the 1.2 miles to the nearby pool and swam for an hour or so. Then we walked the 1.2 miles back. Nothing interesting the rest of the day. I chatted with a great friend, wrote a LONG e-mail and then chatted with another awesome friend. Then I went to bed. Wait I'm getting ahead of myself, I havent't gone to bed yet. Good night all, God Bless, ~Butterfly~

Amelia Island and more!

Hello once again! So where do I start... I guess I've forgotten to write yesterday and today. So I'll start with yesterday.

We got up semi early, did our regular routine, and then headed for the airport. We dropped off my parents.

Then we went to the base and went shopping. My guess is that we spent about 3 hours shopping, and then came home and ate lunch. We just hung around all day and did nothing. I checked my e-mail (and happened to forget about my site... how did I manage to do that?) and not much else interesting. We ate dinner and dessert and then I watched tv while checking my e-mail again. Then somehow the laptop got disconnected from the wireless network and we spent the rest of the evening trying to fix it. I even had to call my dad for help. Turns out that after I went to bed (I was so tired) Nana fixed it, and it was so simple. Press the on button...

This morning I kind of woke up late to begin with. When I woke up I watched "The Waltons" (I have a tv in my room) and then Papa finally came and told me that I better shower and get ready to go. So I got up, reluctantly, and showered, ate breakfast, and checked my e-mail.

Then Nana, my sister, and I, rode bikes and walked to the neighborhood park and played a little basketball, etc. Then we rode across the street to the pond and I photographed the ducks and birds there. Here are a couple photos of the ones I took.

When we left the house we were supposed to go some place, but missed the exit so we just kept headed North. If we would've gone too much farther I think we would've been in Georgia. So we finally took a turn and went towards Amelia Island. We stopped at one beach and I took some photos of the ocean once more and filmed some on the video camera. Here is a photo of seagulls on the beach in front of the Atlantic Ocean, along with a wave breaking in the background.

Then we drove somemore and rode across the St. John's River Ferry. That was cool and fun! I'd never been on a ferry before, but now I can say I have. Then we were going to go to a Marine Science Center, but never found it.

We are now home and oh, the smell of the cooking Minestrone is making me hungry! We haven't had lunch and of that smells so good. I can't wait until it's done. I think I should go for now. I need to upload Nana's photos onto her computer for her and then I don't know what I'm going to do. I need to go. Thanks and God Bless, ~Butterfly~