Temple

Over the weekend, after WICKED, my parents drove us down to the church in which they got married. I love it. It's built into the mountain, and from the front it looks small, beautiful, and quaint, but in the back it has spacious lawns and is kind of medieval in my opinion. It was incredible.

 Thought this was a cool photo. The clouds break right above it.

 This is where the wall merges with the mountain.

 The front.

The side.

Okay...brace yourselves...WICKED!

Okay. This was the most completely AWESOME gift I have EVER received. I. Went. To. Wicked.
The Broadway musical.
Yes. It's true.
The complete and total utter AWESOMENESS of this experience cannot be stressed enough.
The music was incredible.
The singers were impeccable.
The dancing was breath-taking.
The effects were stunning.
The dialogue was amazing.
Do you want to picture the full awesomeness?
Follow these directions, then look at the pictures.
1. Get a thesaurus.
2. Look up every synonym for every word with a positive connotation on the PLANET.
3. Admit to yourself that even THAT can't come close to an accurate description.

I went with my cousin, B, (the same one who directs our family plays) and my sister. In the background is the-get ready-Oz Dust Gift Shop!

Me at intermission. I had only experienced HALF the awesomeness, and I was SHAKING.

My sister.

Go see this incredible amazingness!!!!!!!!!

Your life depends on it, because you haven't lived until you've seen Wicked!

Of Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas, Grandpas, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, and other relatives.

Most of this is going to be pictures, but I'll give all of you a little background information first.
Every summer, my ENTIRE family goes up to the mountains to spend a minimum of two weeks just plain having the time of our lives. We probably get around 100 people up there most of the time, to give you an idea of how big my family is. One week it's just the small groups (aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa, and 1st cousins) staying at a resort, and then we ALL (great aunts, great uncles, 2nd and 3rd cousins, etc.) meet up at a lake for another week.

So the below photos are of the first week.

On the way to the resort we stopped for some of the most amazing sandwiches on the planet.

2 of my cousins and my Grandma's arm. :)

My sister presents a small portion of our hydration stores. By the end of the week it was ALL gone.

My cousins and I are very outdoorsy...IF there are woods and a decent creek. One of my cousins and I fought our way through some trees along this creek, and found this before the creek went underground and we couldn't follow anymore. What you see above is two different colored water groups separated by a log.

(In order left to right.)
My sister, A; my cousin, S; my cousin, M; me; and my cousin, M in the woods. We are getting ready to build our fort for the boys against girls cousin competition. Our building site can be seen on the left in the background.

My aunt and cousin bringing in logs.

My kungfu superwoman of a cousin, D, was our champion log-finder and carrier. The stick she is carrying is HUGE. I didn't even try to fit it all in the picture.

 You can see some of the boys at their site in the background in this one. What you see is the construction of our archway. Don't worry, we made it taller than that.

 I like building forts. It's like a puzzle! With really heavy peices...
This wall is halfway done.

My sister and cousins.

Our "carpeted" floors.

Building...

 Cousins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of our cute toddler cousins, E, decided that he preferred to hang out with the girls. We all thought that this was VERY sweet.

So I was like, 'We need a barbeque grill/fire pit in our backyard!' and there was this perfectly good rock...

We have a roof for the first time in all the years we've done this!!!! Oh, look! A squirrel is in our roof! (Upper Left)

Birdseye view! I'm watching you grandma, M, and D.

E inspects the tree.

Hanging out at the park. It took a while to get that picture taken. My face is very red. :)

Having fun in our traditional ty-dye T-shirts.

Practicing for our "Annie" musical. These are my cousins and sister practicing "Let's Go to the Movies." In the background is "Punjab." My cousin, B, is very interested in theater and directs a play/musical each year. I think this was my last year in the production. I want to watch and be surprised next year. I'm not quite sure about my decision yet. A lot can happen in a year...

My ty-die shirt. And the camera responsible for this post. It's a handy little waterproof Kodak Sport. Greatest camera in the world.

 Standing on the edge of a cliff... :)

The last five pictures are trying to tell you something...I love being up high!

Who needs a bridge? I don't ever use a bridge! Really, why use a bridge when you can slog right through? Whoever thought of putting bridges over every single body of water on the planet needs to seriously rethink their life.

My cousin fell in so we decided it was our duty as family to not let him be the odd one out...we all got wet.

That isn't all of us. There was more, but I forgot to ask permission to put their picture up. Use your imagination!

Rock. Enough said.

Halfway through the week, my Uncle M from my mom's side of the family came up with my cousin L. It was fun to introduce them to the rest of the family.

Yeah. I drank it all. Don't worry. I got my parents' okay. I'm not crazy. :)

Okay, next post is the WEEKEND in between!!!

Excited about this one!!!

Finally!

Okay, now that school and everything has finally achieved some level of relative calmness, I can finally get my incredible vacation blogged about!
So here it comes!

Nostalgia/Amnesia

A friend I knew when I was 4 whom I haven't seen since she last visited when we were 7 was passing through our town.

You know what happened next.

We scheduled a visit.

We both were happy to see each other again and were chatting like best friends in about 30 seconds.  It was a lot of fun. I'm glad that she and her family could come over.

Guess who those two are.

Running like I know what in the world I'm doing

I just ran a 5K with my little brother.  He came in about 33 minutes and I came in 3 minutes after. (You do the math.) I think this is pretty good considering that he was training 3 mornings a week all summer while I was curled up on the couch with a notebook and earbuds 24/7.

Anyway, you probably want a picture. Fine. Here it is.

Okay, you know what to do. Comment away!

Naturally...

This summer we (my siblings and I) did workbooks that are supposed to prepare you for the next grade. (I know, I know. Hold your peace.) Of course, there was a motive.

$20 each.

Now, these books are supposed to take the whole summer to complete. So, naturally, I finished mine in under a month. So, naturally, my dad made a deal with me.

If I finished that book and a math textbook for the next grade by the 26th of July, He would pay me $40. If I did not finish both, he would only pay me $15. Ouch.

So, naturally, I took up the challenge.

And, naturally, I finished before the due date.

I finished today.

Naturally, I'm feeling rather excited about this.

Yes, I know I sound like a nerd. Question my summer activities all you want, I still have my $40.  :)

Happy Be-lated Fourth!

I know that this is a little late, but I still feel like less of an American citizen if I neglect to blog about the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, whatever you call it.

This is my littlest brother at the Fourth of July get-together at a family friend's house. I think he had a lot of fun, and so did everyone else. I love firework shows! This picture was taken after he participated in a pie-eating contest. He didn't eat the pie so much as wear it.

The Fourth of July was a great experience. Happy Independence Day!

Hobbies

I love to read. Books are my best friends. If you like to read too, here are some great authors:

-Shannon Hale (author of The Books of Bayern)

-Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series)

-Margaret Peterson Haddix (author of Double Identity, Among the Hidden, Game Changer, etc.)

-William Shakespeare (Yes, the William Shakespeare. I read Romeo and Juliet about 2 years ago and I am now working on Hamlet. No, this is not for school. Yes, I know I sound like a nerd.)

-Angie Sage (author of the Septimus Heap series)

I enjoy fantasy/adventure books, but I don't mind a little romance thrown into the mix as well when I'm reading. If your interests match mine you'll love these authors.

The Great Knot Race

This year at camp was the year of our first annual "knot race." We competed at tying knots and lashings in our levels, then the team that had the most "knotting" points competed in the finals for the trophy on the last day of camp. Here's our winning team.

They competed in the finals and won the trophy for our level. These guys are awesome!

This is the trophy that will stand by our level's campsite until it  is won from us. If it is won from us.
Our level was the only one at the "Olympics" as we called them with organized cheers. I guess cheering really does help your team.