It's Halloween! It's Halloween!

Well, the night first started with a Monkey.........? actually, the night first started with Me finishing up my costume and amanda turning on Psycho. Then in the middle of it we headed over to Brian's. Elijah got dressed in his costume and then we told him to jump around like a monkey. Eventually all of us were jumping around, "yelling", and "searching" eachother for bugs like monkeys. Soon afterward we all piled into Brian's car and headed up on the hill (that's where all the "loot" is *wink*) and we took Elijah around trick- or- treating for about an hour and a half. It was lots of fun. I'm sure we got some weird thoughts towards us, "three adults for one child?". Then we headed over to Quianna's great Aunt's place so we could see her costume which was a whitch! She looked very cute.

Amanda I went home around 8:30 to finish psycho and get ready for the dance. We had lots of fun getting ready, I did her makeup because she had no ideas on how she wanted to do it. We had some fun girl time :-)

TO THE DANCE!!!!

It was fun, we got to see everyone dressed up! I ran into Christina and Ariel Johnson! Christina said that she got her mission call to Chile and was going to the temple on saturday (which was a couple days ago). I saw Amy Liestad, who is our old relief society president. Doesn't she look great! Check out the roller skates... She danced in those! Quite awesomly I might add...

And we saw the other Amy (Wagner) Who I use to go to church with my first year at Cheney but then she moved out to spokane, so now I'm in her ward!!!

We also saw Tyler who was an awesome Peter Pan.

And for the moment you've all been waiting for..... OUR COSTUMES!!!!!!!

Camping Trip

I know it was a long time ago, but I've been meaning to write about my camping trip but I've been busy.

This was where we camped.  It was just above CDA.  It was an ok spot for a late night camping trip.  We got there at about 7:30 and everybody was hungry so we just decided to stay.  If I had my PERFECT camping trip I would have probably kept searching for a place with more trees around the site so you couldn't see the tents next to you.  But it was cool.  It was right next to "Beauty Creek"- which was a dip in the ground with rocks. I'm guessing there was water there once.  This was the "creek".

The night went pretty well. Brian started barbecuing the hamburgers and hot dogs while Amy, Tyler, Amanda and I set up the tents and the kids explored looking for "firewood". 

During dinner I thought I had done a pretty good job at planning my first camping trip, I thought everything was going smoothly... until I got thirsty.   "hey, did anyone bring the cooler?"  "the red one?" said Tyler... "No, the Water Cooler".  We talked about it for a while, "which car did it make it in?... I set had Brian set it next to Amy's van."  amy said, "We didn't load a water cooler."  so I started freaking out.  "Did we leave my parents water cooler on the side of the road?  oh shoot".... so i then started frantically looking in both cars where no water cooler was to be found.  a couple minutes later amy said, "is that why some man was shouting at us?... He was saying igloo, and i thought 'it's in the middle of the summer' "  So then I said, "no, that's the brand of the cooler"  oops.... So then Brian calmed me down by saying, "if it was one of my neighbors in my complex they would bring it inside, and if not then I'm sure you're parents wouldn't mind getting a brand new one from us."   Which was all fine and dandy, but that means our cold water-gone.  Luckily that was the only other glich in the trip.     And thankfully, Tom, Brian's neighbor who lives in #3 found it and put it downstairs in the basement for us. 

After dinner, we had a fire built- not with the wood that Quianna and Elijah brought, Amanda and I went a bought some from the head camp site. We roasted marshmallows and had smores and cookies... on yeah, and strawberry marshmallows, which are really good but you can't really taste the flavor when they are roasted over the fire.  Then it was time for bed.  So the boys went in one tent and the girls in the other (the bigger one ).   Well, as always the boys were pretty quiet, but the girls- well that was a different story.  Amanda, Amy, and I were giggling up a storm for some reason... well we're camping, and it's like a slumber party, so what do you expect?  but it wasn't about anything really, just random stuff that I can't even remember.  It was funny though because I looked at Quianna and said, "how you doin?"  and she said, "confused"  which the girls and I laughed at more.... So about 5 minutes later Quianna said, "Let's all play the quiet game..."  which we thought was hilarious because normally it's the adults who say that to the children.  Infact we laughed so hard that amanda said, "I can't breathe!"  it was funny, so we finally quietned down... but then i had to cough, and then amanda had to cough, and then me, and then her.... until then amanda was like, "stop copying me".  and I said, "i had to cough first!" and amanda and i started laughing to which quianna said, "Kim and amanda are loosing, Amy's the one winning".  It was funny.

The next morning Amy got up early (she was the pyro of the group) and  built us a fire.  Then We pulled out Amanda's stove and started making breakfast.  It was fun because we only had one pan so we had to cook everything in stages.  First the Hashbrowns, Second the eggs, 3rd the Bacon, and 4th the sausage- I think that was how it was, I 'm not sure.  but here's the stack of food. 

 

 

Here's Amy putting the bacon on the grill.

Tyler cooking... uh, I can't remember, I think it was the bacon.

 

 

 

Amanda and her apple cider. Doesn't this look look evil?

This is the creek that was next to the site.

 

This is the bacon grease... we had to do something to it. so we put it on a plate and then put it in the fire.

There was a bee in the tent when we were trying to fold it up, so Amy and Brian put it in the bottle. Brian was fascinated by it.

 

After we had everything packed up we went to CDA lake, and swam in it.  It was lots of fun.  Tyler borrowed a pair shorts from me.... he fit in them- should I be worried?  (just kidding)   Amanda and Amy taught Quianna how to tread water.  We swam for a bout an hour and watched a water plane land on the lake it was really close to us. 

When we got home, a missionary that we knew was being transfered so we invited him over to the house for some BBQ chicken- which was amazing.  Brian is an excellent BBQ-er.  It was fun because Tyler was able to see the missionary who baptized him since he was the companion who was being transferred.

and THAT was our camping trip!  It was lots of fun!

Bigger than Big Spider...

...IN MY ROOM!!!! I pulled up the one (1) pair of pants on my floor to put them away and all of a sudden a big spider ran out from under neath it... It was freaky. Erin and I captured it in a glass for Phil to look at it when we get home... Here are the pictures... It's bigger than a silver dollar!



It's "guynormous" as Callie put it.

My Room

I think somebody misses me...

Amanda sent me a bunch of post-it notes and i put them all over my room... just like she would do at home!

Rock Climbing

Linden, She's really cool. She was a great help when I was having a mental break down.

Me and Shana.

Shana made it before I did. I had fell a couple of times, and wanted to rest a little bit.

Me still climbing... this time I was working hard to make it!

Trent and Linden watching me.

That was such an awesome feeling, and a beautiful view!

Jason and Shana Climbing. Jason is creating a route.

I'm climbing the route that Jason just made.

That was such a fun route. So much easier the second time around

So amazing!

Doug leading the 9. It was cool to watch them lead the routes

Linden is such a stud!

This was an intense route... it made me tired just watching Jason and Linden climb it.

Feeling Misunderstood

I want to come home. Not now, but I want to come home sooner than I expected. I have this amazing opportunity to work at the summer Jazz camp. Something that I thought I never would be good for, at least right now, but Rob told me I would be perfect for the job. I want to give it a shot, see if I like it. also, I get $200 out of it. :-)

I know what I want, I think I've been around enough that I should be able to know what I want, and I have questioned it enough that I know that I have it.
I have a job at home. I have opportunities at Eastern. Opportunities that I wouldn't have anywhere else at this time in my life.

Yes, I want to come home because I miss Brian, but it's so much more than that. I miss Amanda, I miss feeling a purpose, I miss feeling needed for something that only I can do. I've been reading so many books this last month, and I know that this is the path for me- at least right now. Even more important, I know that Heavenly Father will tell me if I need to redirect that path, and right now He has clearly told me that I'm doing ok. This wonderful peace, i just want to keep it in my heart, but with so many sounds and voices going into my head, it's so hard. I don't want to let anybody down, especially my loved ones, but I've gotta be happy, truly happy.
I have loved it here, it has been great, but there's a time when you've got to stop playing and figure out what you really want and need, do it, and then go back to playing. This is my time to make my decisions.

I'm just tired of people looking down on me because I'm not choosing the life that they think I should have. I understand concern and love, but if someone loves you, shouldn't they think about your wants and goals?

Girl's Night

 

FHE was canceled tonight since there was only 15 people at church on Sunday.  So Amanda and I decided to get dressed up and go out for the night.  We went to Ichiban and had a wonderful dinner, it was great music along with it!  Afterwards we went to Safeway and got some club soda so we can make Italian Sodas.  I think the most fun about tonight was the getting ready together. We looked through each other's closets to find what we were going to where.  I cut Amanda's hair and that was fun, then we did our make up  and headed off.  We've had a lot of fun! And now, I am headed to bed.

 

pretty freakin aweosme nails!

Erin did my nails tonight. I have sculpted acrylic nails with a two toned holographic effect. They are pretty fun. A bit hard to type, but it's fun for the vacation.

Happy Easter Island - Candy Blog

Happy Easter!

These are some fun greetings that you can copy and send to your friends!

 

Happy Easter Island - Candy Blog

The other cool thing that I'm excited about is that I just found out about a Windows Live Writer that enables you to write a blog from your Internet browser.  When you're at a website you can push the button "Blog It" and it'll start a blog with a link to that website (that's how I did this one).  It opens up in kind of a word processor and so it has easy Insert Buttons and also format buttons.  It's pretty cool.  PLUS a  spell checker, better than the one on firefox.  :-)

Valentine's Day and President's Weekend Recap

The night before, the girls and I had a chocolate night. Amanda and I made a dozen chocolate Covered Strawberry Roses and put them in a vase, and Bea made Oreo Truffles for her boyfriend.
For Valentine's Day I gave Amanda a box of chocolates that said "For my Best Friend". I also decorated her room with red streamers and posted a sign that said "Happy V-Day" and "I (heart) You!"... apparently that wasn't enough because the next day we were sitting on the couch and she had said, "That box you gave me, it only had 4 pieces of chocolate in it"... it didn't matter though, because I had a wonderful valentine's day. Brian surprised me and gave me a bag full of gummy bears, peanut butter m&m's, a symphony bar and a Hershey's Peanut butter chocolate bar.... it was amazing. I guess that was his way of saying thank you for everything with his baptism and the business.


For his kids he gave them bags full of candy and also bought the game twister...We opened it up on Friday (because of the three day weekend, nothing at the institute was going on and everybody went home)... it was fun. Here are some pictures...

Elijah would get twisted up- no matter what was called. His arms were always crossed and his feet would be sprawled out, it was a pretty funny/cute sight.

After a couple of rounds, the kids challenged each other so I had them take a "vs." picture where they struck *Strong poses*.

oh wow! I look huge in this picture compared to the kids.



Brian had a gig playing with the Harry James Orchestra in Kennewick this weekend, and since I don't have a working car yet, I took the opportunity of driving home with him on Saturday. It was really great to be home. The Singles Branch was lots of fun! It was great to see all of my old friends, and the old cliques have broken up, or have at least become less prominent. Jennifer's the relief society president, which is cool! I'm excited for her. I realized this weekend that I need to get more involved in my calling and take it as my own, after my struggle of 10:30 coming around and knowing that there wasn't a piano player in Cheney and I was 2 hours away. I had the program done and everything but I tried getting a hold of my music committe all weekend and nobody answered, so I had to call somebody last minute who also didn't answer, but then graciously at around 10:42 called back and said she would play the piano... I need to start figuring out other people who can play, or maybe even as music chairperson (my co- left me!) I should learn the piano and play for sacrament meeting... or! I can have the people in my committee learn one song each week and they can take turns for each song... we are so desperate for piano players now... i think we have one? plus a sister missionary who doesn't always come. Anyways, had some really good meditating time on Sunday. It was great to have silence and not choir practice to rush off to after church.
Oh yeah! so the weekend. I think i have come to a more finalized decision (that is, it fits together, for the day...it'll probably change tomorrow!) for the summer. I think I'll come home and find a job (i don't think the ARC) and spend time with Jennifer, and Elizabeth, and then maybe I'll take 2 weeks and take a road trip (maybe with Jen) to go visit Phil and Erin in Provo. I had thought about going down to BYU for Summer term, but then I realized i would be missing all the fun time i can be having at home with Jennifer and at the singles branch home.
I'm realizing that you can have fun any where you go. Of course I know that, but I've been in this slump and not wanting to go to activities because I have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone. I guess it might come from not really having close friends (i'm starting to!) and not living at the institute building like everybody else. But I called up Tyler and went to FHE tonight and it was great! We had a great lesson, and then we had a dance class. We learned the fox trot, the tango, and the waltz. All of which I learned in my dance class last year, but it was great to be laughing and having fun with the singles ward here. fun in cheney!?! Whoda thought?!?! :-)
Well, I should wrap this up, it's pretty long. Tomorrow I start a busy week. I have until the 25th to get 25 hours of community service done AND a paper on it for my communications class, PLUS a speech analysis to get done for monday for my comm class... YAY for communications! (i really don't like my teacher, but! I'll be done with it in about a month!)
Thanks for reading if you have got this far :-) Love you all!
-Kimberly