when you're sick in the summer...

 

Who gets a cold in July??? That would be me. I’ve been struck with the cursed rhino virus, when ironically enough I was thinking to myself last week how I haven’t gotten sick in a long time. Dang karma.  The joy of the common cold is having nothing brighten your day more than being perfectly content to lie in a sea of snot ridden Kleenexes all day long. (Appetizing i know) Haha. When it's 98 degrees outside and 100 degrees around your congested noggin, there isn't much that makes you feel like getting your summer happy on. But, I have found a cure for the common feel like death and want to keel over virus. The answer is Stefon. This is my new favorite segment of SNL. This is the only clip i could find of him that was any good on YouTube, but there are much better ones on Hulu. Definitely check it out. And whether you are feeling under the weather or not. It's good for a laugh

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In a Nutshell:

Sooo...i have not been in much of a blogging mood lately, but it's high time for an update so here we go.  I am considering renaming my blog to, "Adventures of the Lone Ranger", because i keep adventuring even without my adventure buddy a.k.a. Phillip Brandley, but that title is a tad bit depressing, ergo my blog title remains the same.  Here are a few of the the adventures me, myself, and I have been on lately:



some of my most favorite people all in one, not so flattering
Photograph...who am i kidding they still look awesome.



Kaileb and me after our wild ride!
we were both a little rattled.

The 4th is my FAVORITE holiday! I love everything about it! For the past 5 years i have been going up to Hunstville to watch the fireworks, because they are awesome there! 4 out of the 5 times i have been there, i have gone with the Brandley's (wow!) This year was no exception.  I met up with them and had a blast! Kaileb (Phill's Youngest Brother) has always wanted to go on those crazy metal spinning rides...it must have a better name than that. Anyways, i went along for the ride. mistake. I had a seatbelt bruise on my stomach the next day. haha. But neither Kaileb or I threw up. bonus.

we just want to dance!

Every year that i know of Huntsville does a dance while you wait for the fireworks to start, this year there wasn't. No one was more upset than Sterling (Phill's second youngest brother) who wanted to do the Cha Cha Slide like nobody's business. About 20 minutes before the fireworks were supposed to start. Ster and I hear the Cha Cha Slide start up and we both take off from the other side of the park and danced our hearts out with the rest of Phill's family! They're so sweet to not mock my serious lack of dancing skills.

The Fireworks were amazing as always, and my 4th of July was a success!

So...

HAPPY LATE 4th OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!!





Uh...you're not Phillip???
(Kaileb needs to work on the personal space rule. haha.)



My next adventure consisted of my friend Shanda and I going up to Brigham City to see the Angel Moroni put on the temple! it was so exciting, and definitely a new experience.  When we got to Brigham it was pouring rain, and then came the wind, the statue was supposed to be placed around noon, but they didn't even get started until about 2. We had a lot of time to kill.  But i am so glad that we stuck it out, because when they started to place him on the temple it was so much fun to watch!  The Brigham City  temple is gorgeous! if you haven't seen it yet, take a little trip and check it out!

 

Shanda and me, fighting off the elements with our
snazzy umbrellas

And the Adventures continued as i ventured up to Idaho for Girl's Camp! I will tell you what, being a leader is sooo different from being one of the young women. Not in a bad way though.  We went up to Lava Hot Springs and had so much fun! The theme of the camp was "Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful" each ward was represented by different types of flowers. Our ward was the daisies.  So cute! There is such an amazing spirit that comes from the youth! I learned so much from each of them while i was at camp.  Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and i am so grateful for the calling i have to serve the Young Women.  I am so used to playing boy scouts that switching to working with girls has been an interesting experience, all my handouts have to be pretty (see figure 1) and my lessons presented with a little sugar coating, but i wouldn't trade it! "We are ALL daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love him!"  

Half of my giant head, and 2 of my favorite girls eva! Rachel and Dani,
hiking it up!
And the pretty little stream/canal we walked by on our hike. and people wonder
why i love Idaho. psh.



Figure 1: my fancy beehive cupcakes for my cute little beehives.
fancy!

Well, that in a nutshell is my life at this current moment in time. Isn't it grand?

Family Vacation

This year for our family trip we went to California to see Erick and Kira! We checked out Yosemite for a few days, it was beautiful, headed over to Santa Cruz to spend a day at the beach, it was the windiest day! We had piles of sand everywhere! Erick, Ben, and Kira did some surfing and boogie boarding, then we headed off to the City by the Bay. San Francisco! We visit the infamous Alcatraz prison, maybe I’m just a History nerd, but it was AWESOME! I loved it.  It's a tiny island just a mile and a half off shore, we took a boat and toured around the prison for a couple hours. It held famous criminals such like Alcapone. A little creepy, but interesting.  We had ice cream and Ghirardelli’s, YUM! And wandered around fisherman's wharf.  I love that my family still takes time to go on vacations together! We had such an amazing time!  

Puppy Love

Today we brought home our 8 week old German shepherd puppy Indy.  We drove up to Idaho to meet the breeder and Indy for the first time.  Indy was so calm and relaxed, she instantly won us over.  She was such a good puppy on the ride home! She slept for an hour and was awake and happy the next.  When we got her home the calm cool puppy personality shifted into typical puppy mania. Here's to potty training, crate training, behavior training, and getting the razor sharp puppy teeth away from people! We still love her though!

Indy loves her squeaky lion toy, she played with it for hours when we got home, and better the lion get bitten than us! She had so much fun exploring her new environment!

The next toy on Indy's agenda was the puppy Kong. 

At first she didn't know what to think.  She looked at it from all different angles.  She is such a smarty! She knew there was more than meets the eye. Ta-da she figured it out, treats! Sweet victory for Indy. After a day full of adventure Indy walked herself into her own little crate and clocked out. How we will ever get anything done anymore I’ll never know, but how can you resist a face like that.





Back on the Sauce

One day last June I decided to stop drinking carbonation.  The only reason for this was because i lack the will power to cut calories in any other area.  i love mountain dew, i got addicted to it when i was a camp counselor.  Every morning i had one and then pounded a few more during the day. I was a Dewaholic.  Anyways  i quit cold turkey and i made it an entire year with no carbonation whatsoever. 

 I had my first mountain dew from a bottle the other day (rookie mistake) it was no good. I thought to myself, who am i if i don't love mountain dew?!?  So i then tried it from a fountain...better.  And then today, I had myself a Dew from a can, hello heaven! Being back on the sauce never tasted so good. Haha