Well, back in June sometime, I had a wonderful get-away with my siblings and a couple cousins. We had some fun adventures, cleaning out the house, yard, putting in a new pump, moving cows, racing, building forts, laughing, watching movies, swimming in the ponds, building fence...everything fun a ranch has to offer! I loved it!
go home because my younger brother Jay, was graduating from Dear ole' Melba High! I had a fantastic trip at home and was able to do everything I wanted...the only thing I didn't do was go for a horse ride. Thursday I went on a bear hunt, we treed a bear, but I decided he was too little to shoot. I helped my dad irrigate, went on a 4 mile run with Natalie, water-skiing with Uncle Mike, Singles Ward Rodeo, where I basically won every event that I was in (thanks to my teammates), rode the mechanical bull, got knocked down by a steer, and had cow dung all over me...totally worth it! (PS, if you ever go to one of those, you have got to participate, it makes is so much more fun! Most of the people at that rodeo were by-standers lame! 
I went swimming with my family, cousins, aunt, & uncle who were in town for a baby blessing. Monday night my family went on a great 4-wheeler and motorcycle trip into the Owyhees, we gathered dead sage brush, built a fire & roasted hotdogs! It was so fun! I also watched Eli play baseball, and strike everyone out--the kid is a natural! It was such a fantastic trip home. I love my family, and miss them. Sometimes I think I should move back to the Boise area...but it just doesn't feel right yet. We'll see what the future brings. Well, my next trip will be to Moab this week, man I have a great, 
adventurous life, and I am so blessed!
Tea party with the girls
Jay with friends & family...he had lots of support and gave a fabulous speech, he was a great Student Body President!
One of my favorite things was just standing in the streets of the city and looking around, especially Times Square at night. Below are some of the highlights of the trip:
So Thursday morning Aunt Gayle was our tour guide and helped us learn the subway. We covered Lower Manhattan: Ground Zero, St. Paul's Church, Trinity Church, Wall Street, the Federal Building, Pier 17, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and headed up to Times Square. We bought tickets to see "Mary Poppins" that night, Friday we saw "In the Heights" which was probably my favorite! Then Saturday we saw "Blythe's Spirit". Friday we hit the streets again: 5th avenue, eating at 
great deli's (Carnegie...mmmmmm, meat :) and I met up with my friend Jed, who also had some other friends. So we soon all became friends...I love people! Friday night after the show Whitney and I went to the top of the Empire State Building, caught our first cab, then walked from the Empire State Building on 34th St down to 8th Street where Jayni, Jed, & 
Julie were...ya that was a long walk. We then got on the subway and realized that our train the "R" didn't run after midnight...it was an adventure getting home, a little scary with the creepy drunk people in the subway, we got home at 3am. We discovered that being in Times Square late at night is cool...I could look for hours and hours, but once you get away from all of the people it can be a little scary! Saturday we slept in a little then went to Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Natural History & spent time with our friends again. Sunday we walked all over Central Park again, and it was beautiful. We saw the Manhattan Temple and headed back to Cory & Gayle's ward. It was wonderful to be there and 
meet all of the wonderful people. Uncle Cory took us to see a sweet "Panorama" of the entire City. He pointed out where were and where all of the significant places are & what we had seen & where we had been. It was so neat, and he new everything and could answer all of our questions! Aunt Gayle had a wonderful dinner ready for us when we got home. It was so fun to be with them. Monday was our last day, and we spent it seeing the Statue of Liberty, and saw Airforce One circling for the photo-op...only we didn't know why, nor were we concerned. 
We shopped on Canal Street and I bought some cute things for myself, I love knock-off brands and a good deal! 
It was a fantastic trip, and I want to go back! But there are other places in the world I want to see too...so next, MELBA, then the big trip will be Germany! I'm excited to be an AUNT!
