Have I ever told you how much I love museums?

First. I love Saturdays. I slept in, bummed around in my pj's for while and received my Saturday e-mail from Elder Poulsen. He reminded me that things get better and that I can do this! After watching a few episodes of Ghost Whisper and painting my nails Tiffany's blue I decided to go to the beach. So I changed my clothes, got all ready to go and stepped outside and decided it was too cold to sit on the beach. So I changed into cute clothes, got ready for the day and while trying to think of something fun to do I remember being told about a museum called the Getty (check it out!) I plugged the address into my GPS and was on my merry way. Please let the record note that I HATE driving in California. I am very capable of doing so, but I'm not a fan. The freeways are too busy and people cut right in front of you and don't even get me started on parking lots. ANYWAY... I arrived at The Getty and was amazed with how beautiful it was from the moment I pulled in. It's nestled right up against the mountain side and you ride a tram up to the actually museum and it looks over the city. It's beautiful!! I wandered around by myself for three hours and forget how much I love museums. I completely fell in love with their "Pair. Life and Luxury" exhibit and just about everything else there. The Pairs exhibit had different rooms that included waking and dressing, clothing, collecting art, the art of a good meal, and music and money. I wandered through those rooms falling in love with history again. The room about clothing had two different woman's dresses on manikins and I stood there and stared thinking "I was born in the wrong era!" Besides the Paris exhibit, the tapestries, golden candle stick holders, the beautiful paintings, and rooms had me....enchanted. This painting of a young man courting a young woman was one of my favorites. Can that be me please? I wandered the gardens and had my own little French lunch from the cafe that included Jambon and Gruyere on a French Baguette, a weird salad that I didn't eat, this amazing French cheese and fruit and a chocolate-dipped Madeleine. I wish I would of had someone to share this great Saturday with, but I had a delightful time nonetheless. It reminded me that I still need to make it to the Smithsonian and a number of other museums. I love learning! If you made it through this long post of me rambling about museums, congrats and thank you!

My family ROCKS

I'm back in good old Southern California. The weather is beautiful, the kids are fun and its good times all around. The day before I left though we celebrated the 24th of July at my grandma's house. We swam in the neighbors pool (it was CRAZY. So many small children) ate dinner, and had a white shirt and tie party for my cousin Nate to help him get ready for his mission. Oh and that morning I also went to the driving range with my dad and sisters. Later that evening my best friend Megan came by to say goodbye. After so much family time, it was not easy to leave. I love my family more then I can even describe. Sam wanted to ride home with us and all the way back to Bountiful he was telling me and my mom about "his Utah." That includes super cars and diamonds and scooters and I'm not even sure what else. Half the time we didn't know what he as talking about but sat and laughed and smiled and continued to ask questions about his imaginary land. Needless to say it wasn't easy to leave my family, I may or may not have cried in the airport and last night....I won't be coming back until Thanksgiving and I'm having my homesickness spell that just royally bites. But I remind myself that things will get better, this is what I want to be doing, my family will be here in nine days, and I can do hard things. When I got picked up from the airport, sitting there in the cup holder was a super long, incredible letter from Craig. It completely made my day.

Time to go back already?

My time at home went WAY to fast. I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for it to be over in fact. But then I remember that summer ends and my sisters and I will go back to school, everyone still has too work and life goes on. But I loved the drive in movies, painting Em's room, swimming with the family, watching fireworks, playing with my cousins, bringing Sam the eleven gummy worms he wanted, spending time with my best friend Megan who just understands me, and simply being at home. I head back to California on Tuesday and I'm excited to go back but sometimes a year seems like a long time to be away from home. But I remind myself that I can do it, I chose to do this and I love being there watching the kids and meeting new people! Life is what we choose to make it and I want my life to be an adventure that is full of wonderful memories and incredible experiences that I created for myself. I'll miss my sisters and my mom and Megan and the rest of my family like crazy, but I'll do what I was doing before, call them every day from the porch swing telling them about my day and focus on my current adventure. One thing I do have to look forward to, a letter from Elder Poulsen should be waiting for me upon my arrival. :)

"The dentist took my wisdom teeth." "That explains why you're acting so stupid!"

This morning I had my wisdom teeth taken out and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Although my teeth were impacted, it was pretty quick! Apparently after I was done though I kept telling people the same things and asking the same questions. I kept asking the assistant "did I do okay?" and because my bottom lip was swollen and numb I kept telling her and my mom "I can't kiss anyone with these lips. I can't feel my bottom lip!" But my mom kept reassuring me that I wasn't going to kiss anyone anytime soon, so it was okay. As soon as the meds really wore off I stopped asking the same questions over and over and stopped throwing up. I decided I was starving and so today I've eaten applesauce, mashed potatoes, tomato soup, and a small orange leaf (with no toppings :( ) I can't wait to chew again! But overall I'm not feeling super terrible and I'm sure each day will get better and better. And my lips aren't numb anymore, you know. Just in case ;)

Home Sweet Home

I love love love love love being home! It's so nice to be back to my own living room and laughing at the silliest things with my sister and being able to give my mom a big hug. Its also pretty awesome to be able to see my best friends who seem to understand me completely. Going to BBQ's, going out to dinner, over looking the city and talking for hours. But I did get sick, AGAIN! I got food poisoning and don't ever remember being so sick. Luckily I'm doing better today, you know after lots of sleep and having nothing but Gatorade and crackers, and watching TV. Thank goodness for Netflix. I'm looking forward to dates with friends, movies, orange leaf and just being with everyone here in sweet Bountiful. :)

Joyous Saturday

Tomorrow is Saturday and it's also the day I get to go home! I am so excited! Also because its the 4th of July weekend and I love the 4th with fireworks and bbqs and family parties. I don't know if we really have anything planned this year but it will be wonderful nonetheless. Today after I was done with the kids (around 4. Which has been the earliest this week!) I went to the beach to read for while and soak in some sun. I sat for over an hour and enjoyed every minute of it! Good bye to the beach for three weeks and HELLO UTAH!