*Relaxed, Refreshed, & Rejuvenated!*

First of all I want to say this-Every time I talk to each

and everyone of you either by

phone, chat, or in person you bring all these essential

elements to me (no, not the

Honda Element): Joy to my life, ease to my mind, rest

for my soul, encouragement

to my ears, peace to my faith, smile to my face, strength

to my bones, pleasantness

to my nose, laughter to my voice, tears to my eyes, and

warmth and love to my

heart! Had to share that with y'all, not because that's

what it brings to me, but that's

what you are to me!

From one set of 3 Rs, the ever needed Relaxation,

Refreshment, and Rejuvenation,

to another, the more well known and worn Reading,

Writing, and Arithmetic! We all

the need first 3 as a break in things, and this past

weekend was just that!

More to come later... But basically this weekend was

awesome! The food was

scrumptious, filling, fattening, and plentiful! I loved it

all! (not to mention the perfect

cell service I had)!

Only 3 weeks from today that I'll be heading up to CO

Springs for Thanksgiving! It's

going to be so great! And I get to meet my new

cousin for the first time! She'll be 4

months old! Just thought I'd share with you some of my

favorite things of

fall/thanksgiving. The color of the changing trees,

the rustling of the dead leaves in

the trees, a brook running dry, the sweet aroma of a

pumpkin crisping in the oven,

the sound of laughter coming from my aunts baking

and preparing the

Thanksgiving meal in the kitchen, sneaking egg nog

(shhh... don't tell anyone) in

the morning, my cousins screaming in sheer

excitement, staying up til

1 a.m. playing Apples to Apples or Monopoly, hearing

water go through the walls

of my Uncle and Aunt's house every time someone

flushes a toilet or takes a shower somewhere in the house, eating mashed

potatoes, asparagus and

noodles, salad, and bread for dinner, glass after glass of

sparkling apple cider, an

loading up on six slices of pie for dessert!, observing

the annual Thanksgiving race

from my cousins bedroom window cheering the runners

on, remembering getting

in trouble with the police in years past, watching that

annual movie in the

basement with me and my 5 cousins and sibling on the

floor with the adults

crowded on the two couches!, swinging on the swing-set

out back, staying up late

talking with my cousin, going to a park and playing baseball

as a family of 15!, the

hope of snow, and just plain spending time together! It's all

so memorable to me,

and I can honestly say that I enjoy every moment of it! It's

my absolute most

favorite time of the year! WONDERFUL would sum it all up

into one word! Perfect

could be another!

TTYL Butterfly

P.S. Hopefully more pictures to sometime soon! Oh and

unfortunately the

Rockies lost the World Series! But the Red Sox sure

deserved the win

because they played so extremely well!

Mom's Bday! Red Sox force a 7th game!

Hi Everyone! How is it all going?

Things are ok here... Just really crazy and busy, but what's new?So yesterday was Mom's birthday...! We didn't do anything special. Just went to church, a friends' home, a board meeting, and tracked the Red Sox/Indians game on my dad's phone!

I'm glad this past week is over! Oh my, how it was stressful. I just feel so worn out right now; it's almost torture to sit here and write. My brain feels like mush, my feet are asleep, and I'm just plain tired. And another week is gone, another week less of school, a week closer to graduating, a week closer to summer, a week closer to the 2nd Coming!

THE END!

PSAT and ALCS!

Hey everyone! I don't have much time but just had to say a quick hello. I'll be taking the PSAT (the practice SAT test) tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. MST. Could you please pray for me concerning that? It'd be greatly appreciated! I have to get up early (which is going to be a difficulty since I've been getting up after 8 a.m. here lately) and then drive all the way into town... Anywho... I just hope it all goes well. It'll be from 7:30 - 11:00 a.m. Such fun! And... Dad is in Seattle this week; he left this morning and will return Friday morning. And Nemo is at a friend's house tonight so she doesn't have to tag along in the morning and slow us down. It got down to 27.4F here this morning! Brrrr! Our lowest this fall/winter/season thus far! Hopefully it's not too cold tomorrow morning when we get up early! Today is my cousin's birthday! She's 13! Wow! A teenager! Happy Birthday to her! (Mom's bday is coming up on Sabbath too!) And here lately I've been watching the ALCS (American League Championship Series) on Fox in Cleveland (Ohio). (It's baseball for those of you who don't know)... Tonight is the 4th game and it's the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians who are playing. Cleveland leads 2-1 in the series. hmmm. I'm not sure who I'm going for... It is just a game afterall... I'm anxious to see who's gonna win the playoffs and bat in the 2008 World Series! Unfortunately my team (the St. Louis Cardinals) didn't make it to the NLCS, however the Rockies did! hmm... Only time will tell I guess! Right now the game is at the bottom of the eighth inning (the Indians are up) with no outs, zero balls, 1 strike. And the score is Red Sox 3 and Indians 7. :) Will it be the Rockies/Indians, Rockies/Red Sox, Diamandbacks/Indians, or Diamondbacks/Red Sox!?! in the World Series! *Patience my dear!* Anywho... I better get going. I have a couple things I need to do here before I go to bed. Hope you're all doing well. Sorry for those of you who haven't heard from me either via email or phone in quite some time. You can probably relate with me on a busy life and school though! Have a well rested evening and don't take time out to enjoy yourself once in a blue moon! God bless ~Butterfly~

Butterfly-Denver Butterfly Pavilion August 2007

One of my best pictures of a butterfly!

I HAVE HIGH SPEED INTERNET!

Hey everyone! I have high speed internet! This is so cool! I don't have much time... I still have to do some geography... *grudgingly* and then maybe this evening I'll sit down and write some more... and get more of Florida put up as well! Oh... have you read the post below this one yet...? It's about Epcot! If you haven't I suggest that you do! And if you could, please comment on it... I like to know what you think and who is reading it! Have a good day! ttyl ~Butterfly~

Around the World in 180 minutes!

Around the World in 180 minutes! no, it won't take you that long to read this... But that is how long it took me to do what you'll be reading about...! And that is...! ... travel the world at Walt Disney Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida! So go on, read on and enjoy!

5:23 P.M. MST Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hey y’all!

Ok. So r u ready to grab a cup a hot coco and just sit down ta relax from your days busyness? Well if ya’re not then ya better be soon! Because I’m about ready to burst from all that has occurred since we were in Norway! Lol :D yeah. Norway… if u look back ya’ll see what I mean. Gettin’ sick of me improper language…? Ok, I’ll be nice during the story and give ye a break from my weirdness… forgive me if I go to forgettin’ now… :D

So… Epcot… the 9^th of September… remember… we had gone on a boat in Mexico (un barco en Mexico) and a Viking ship in Norway (et Viking skip i Norge)…… (You can back up a few posts if you feel like you need to refresh your old, tired, worn, and weary brains of my “recent” adventures… (I know… I travel so much and have so much to say that it’s hard to keep up!). Well now if my young, coherent, and spry noodle would recollect correctly I believe it was to China that we journey next. Tis such an amazing thing to be able to travel 11 countries from all over different continents in just the matter of a wee few hours!

嗨！歡迎來到中國！Ching, Chong… Welcome to CHINA; where everything truly is “Made in China!” (No joke!) Here they had a 360 degree movie theater… made up of nine individual screens. You stand up (rather than your traditional cinema where you sit down in stagnant seats) and they have rails and you can walk in a complete revolution… It was so cool! Like when they were filming and you were on a boat! You could look back and see what was behind you (the ripples made in the water from the motor!) all around you and were your captain was taking you up front! And the Great Wall of China! Ahh! Such architecture! And a 360 degree screen! Awesomeness! And there were also of course… Chinese restaurants…! My parents stopped and got something… spring rolls or something of that sort I believe. Nemo and I shared a mango smoothie (not from real fruit unfortunately… but Chinese fruit! Lol… no… but seriously it wasn’t “natural” so to speak) that was like #1 really good! Fantastic! Delicious! Magnifique! Tasty! Scrumptious! Get the point? Because if you don’t I’m running out of adjectives! It was so good, but quite a bit on the sweet side! Wonderful none the less!

And off we ship you to Morocco, on the continent of Africa! I remember not an event from this little country. (The official language of Morocco is Arabic!) The official language of Morocco is Arabic! We just quickly trekked across to our next voyage!

(Il prossimo porto... Italia! Il che inclinando torre di Pisa!) Next port… Italliano! Italy! Such an amazing country! Unfortunately I don’t remember anything… hmmm… I think that would be because (I think) they didn’t have any rides or “attractions.” So nothing really stands out in my mind… but I think they had a candy shop! I would remember that, now wouldn’t I? :D

Yo, ‘sup? Come on over to our territory found in 1492 by Columbus… Ya guessed it… America! Land of the Free, Brave, and Beautiful! (Hence why I live here… beautiful… yea, I fit right in! :D lol) Ok... you may wonder… hm… we’re in America… why would they have an exhibit on it… Well, you’d be amazed at how many folks touring Epcot were aliens. So this was for those who don’t know much about our magnificent and spectacular country… (Notice how I didn’t say magnificent and spectacular government! Oh… not to get off track... but I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “I love my country, but fear my government…” hmmm… something to think about… and aren’t we supposed to be the voters who “dictate” who we want in office…). In the United States they had an early 19^th century (1800s) court house. It was cool! When we first arrived there… there was a singing group (of maybe 6-7 people) all dressed up in the proper attire for that era. They sang a hymn and then an old slave song and a couple others! It was nice! They stood in the middle of the room, right beneath the dome, and the acoustics were outstanding! Then we were all ushered into an old time theater where (it appeared this way anyway… I’m not for certain if it was real or not) they had an actual stage with levels that went up and down for each scene! It was neat! I really enjoyed it! It was about… hmmm… I think the Civil War. Because in my mind “Fredrick Douglas” stands out… So I think it’d be around that decade or so. But I’m not sure…

(Wie um wir springen im Ausland eine 21. Jahrhundert Passagier Düse und Fliege zu Deutschland! Gut ol‘ Deutschland!) How about we hop abroad a 21^st century passenger jet and fly to Deutschland! Good ol’ Germany! Lol they had a sweets shop there and they had German gummy bears, the same kind you could buy at Wal-Mart, but they cost a lot more at Epcot! :D We also took pictures there… for those of you who have the link to my album you can see them there… If you don’t have the link that just feel free to email me and ask for it. I’d be happy to give it to you!

(次　私たちがヨーロッパとアジア中旅をして、飛び乗るところである　1 上向きの太陽の国の私たちの探検への船で！) Next we’re going to trek across Europe and Asia and hop on a on ship to our expedition in the Land of the Rising Sun! Yep, Japan! I don’t remember much of this… I don’t recollect a “show” either of this unique country. Did you know that nearly every day there is some type of earthquake in Japan? It is because these some 3,000 islands lay on a strip of land (the same piece that California is on) that is prone to earthquakes. Anywho.

(Maintenant vous venir les dames et les messieurs… à la nation de France ! Bonjour !) Now come ye ladies and gents… to the nation of France! Bonjour! MMMMMMMM. Mmmmmmmmm. MMMMMMMMMMMM. The pastry shop there had some of the best delicacies I’ve ever savored! Heaven! A chocolate croissant and an éclair! Mmmm.mm.mmm. So good! They also had a show with another 360 degree screen! So cool! They took you to the countryside and then to, of course, tower d’ Eifel in the romantic city of Paris! It was quite something! Oh and they had some gift shops there and in one of them my parents got some really lovely smelling soaps! I love the “handmade” French soaps that smell so wonderful!

And off across the English Channel (unfortunately no Chunnel here; we had to walk across) to the U.K.-United Kingdom. England! We really didn’t see that much of it… we kind of rushed through it, but we did stop and all have our photos taken in a “traditional” red telephone booth! (Which, again, for those of you who have the link to my photo album, you can go there and see them.). It was nice!

(O › Canada ! Ceci, au delà de tout doute, aurait à être mon pays préféré !) O’ Canada! This, beyond all doubt, would have to be my favorite country! (Well I might have changed my mind if they had more African countries such as Kenya with wildlife). Oh my word… all the scenery in that country is soooooooo unbelievable! I was so amazed, astounded, and awed by the beauty that our Creator has made! Seeing this “video” in yet another 360 degree theater made me want to travel there so badly! It’s just stunningly gorgeous!

And that concludes our site-seeing at Epcot, but not the story… After we’d explored all the countries exhibited there, we journeyed back to China where Nemo bought a Chinese parasol (and had her name written on it in Chinese as well… lol for those of you who will get this… her name almost looks like E.B.K. :D! lol). (Have you noticed what font this is?... Epcot is related to Disney, which is what this font is… I thought I’d make it special for this story of Epcot!) (Oh and as a side note… Every country there that had a “show” or ride when you exited the exposition guess where it would lead you to…? THE GIFT SHOP! Of course… They want your money… so they make it to where you HAVE to walk through their gift shop so you’ll just have to buy a little souvenir from their country! Tricky aren’t they?!) After Nemo bought her parasol, Nana, Nemo and I stayed in China sitting on a bench (unfortunately not the great wall!) while my parents ran to Germany real quick to buy some pretzels. Then we went into a HUGE gift shop that had everything you could ever think to buy… I mean, they had the traditional T-Shirts, postcards, etc. but here they had Mickey Mouse ear hair clips and ice cube trays that formed Mickey Mouse ear ice cubes. I mean, com'on, what will they think of next?! While we were in there browsing around, at such enormous displays and arrays of merchandise, it had started to rain. Now it’d been slightly threatening to "rain" with lightning in the distance, but now it was coming down quite heavily! But thankfully it began this extrenuous downpour AFTER we had finished our tour of the countries! Well… We had got what we wanted to buy as momentos of memory from Epcot and were ready to go. But we wanted to ride Soarin’ again (well I didn’t really want to, even though it was my favorite ride, but because it had made me motion sick). So we made a mad dash through the now saturated air, with 100% humidity, to where Soarin’ was… Well, we made it to another shelter and saw a marquee that said there was a 45 minute wait to ride, so we just kind of huddled under this one dry area, protected by a roof, waiting for it to stop raining… Finally, it didn’t subside so we decided to take a chance and run for it! Daddy and Nemo ran ahead to go get the truck, while we would wait under a carport for them to come pick the other 3 of us up… So Nana, Mom, and I are sitting at the entrance and we wait, and we wait, and wait some more… Finally about 10 minutes later Daddy comes back with Nemo and they are soaked to the bone and dripping wet… It turns out that Daddy can’t find the truck… oh no… Not good. Then he pointed to a parking lot and said I just can’t find it over there… lol :D He was in the wrong parking lot but didn’t realize it… So I put down my backpack and decided to get drenched as well and help him find the vehicle. The parking lot was almost empty so I just ran straight through it which led me DIRECTLY to the truck… Thankfully we had a couple beach towels in the back, that we pulled out and dried off with and then sat on later on the way back to the hotel, to protect the leather seats. After locating the truck we went and got Mom and Nana and then went back to our comfy rooms! Anyway, that was our day at Epcot Center… Hope you enjoyed reading about it! And I’ve got to get started on my school work now and then will be back some other time to share with you about the next day… when we went to Congo River Golf!

Have a fantastic and amazing day!

Love and miss y’all!

ttyl

God Bless

~BuTtErFlY~

GYC-Generation of Youth for Christ!

www.GYCweb.org

Coming Soon! The REST of the Story!

7:28 P.M. MST Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote about Florida! I know… you’re probably checking back every so often just to see if I’ve posted anything recently… I’m sorry!

Anywho… I have a few minutes. So I thought… I’ll sit down and put on the track(s) of High School Musical (1) and write a little bit… But where to start? Lol… I have a short excerpt of something that I read today… that I’d like to share with y’all… It’s about not knowing where to start with writing a story… using a metaphoric technique. I do not know who the author is… but I give him credit… I did not write it myself!

“It may look as though I do not know how to begin my tale. Funny sight, the elderly gentleman who comes lumbering by in a valiant dash for the bus, which he eventually overtakes but is afraid to board in a motion and so, with a sheepish smile, drops back, still going to a trot. Is it that I dare not make the leap? It roars, gathers speed, [and] will presently vanish irrevocably around the corner, the bus, the motorbus, the mighty motorbus that is my tale. Rather bulky imagery, this. I am still running.” ~Unknown Author~

Anyway… I thought that described how I feel sometimes about writing my story/stories. I just am so overwhelmed by all that there is to write… that you just don’t know where to start or with what… (the beginning of course would make perfectly logically sense) and are timid to step out on the venture…

Anyway… I’d love to start about Florida and I hate to say this and put it off anymore than I already have… because I know in the back of my mind that I need to get this done and that you all might be waiting as well… But there is a TV show on that I’ve been waiting to watch all evening… So… sorry! But I’ll be back as soon as time allows! And maybe you never know, maybe the show won’t air and I’ll be back with y’all, my favorite people!

Ttyl

Thanks so graciously for your enduring patience!

God Bless

~BuTtErFlY~

Disasters...!

Hey everyone! Just a quick note about things that have been going on around here... As you might have guessed... it's been busy... hence the reason I haven't written in a while. :D ok, so obviously we're back from florida... if you've read the previous post, you already knew/know that. So my dad ordered new glasses (since his were lost in the ocean and he needs new nice ones besides the cheap replacement ones that he got to go a couple weeks before his NEW ones are ready!) and they should be ready here in the week. I started on school again, which has been going very smoothly, but very crazy as well. With hours on top of hours put in each second, minute, hour, day, week, month, semester, and eventually year, I have lots on my hands trying to get it all accomplished each and every day. So between school, chores, friends, pictures, and just life in general... it's been hectic... to put it nicely... and that's not to mention the "disaster" and mishaps that occurred. Not to go into detail, the speedometer and RPM needles on our van spun a 360 and we no longer resting on their pegs, but underneath the pegs... Got to get that fixed (which as of this morning it is back to working condition thanks to our mechanic friend!). Also my lens on my camera broke... something internal/external... I hadn't used it since we'd returned... and Sabbath morning I find out... but my parents took it into a shop this morning and it's on it's way to LA, CA and should be back in 2-3 weeks I guess. Anywho... I'm kind of really really bummed.. (ok, I am!) because... the trees are changing colors (the few deciduous trees we have down south of here) and I wanted to capture that essence! And the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta I wanted to go to and take pictures this next week or two! And the Harvest Festival at Los Golandrinas in Santa Fe... this next week.. SO I'll have to make do with my other small automatic camera... green mode.. uggh! oh well! Anywho! That's what my weeks' have been like! Just to cover the jist of it. But I've got to go for now I still haven't finished school for the day! ttyl God bless y'all! ~Butterfly~