Two Hundred

I've started a couple posts recently, but haven't uploaded them because my last post was my 199th published post and I wanted 200 to be something special. I finally decided to write something and get it over with. So without further adieu, I give you my

For those of you who've been reading since the beginning, I thank you. We've been through a lot together here on the blog. You were with me when I used to talk about boys and how stupid they were. When I went on my trip to Australia you eagerly anticipated the days when I'd post pictures. Hey, remember when I created my 101 things to do in 1001 days? It's over now and I think I may have gotten like, half of them done...  And oh my gosh! You were there when I went on my first date with Joe (!) back when I called him Johnny.

There are so many memorable moments. I'm just going to put a bunch of labels at the bottom of this blog post and you can feel free to browse through them at your own leisure. 

Thanks for reading everyone! And here's to another

I don't plan on ending this thing any time soon, so I'm sure we'll get to 400 :) Who's with me?

Reminiscing

I know I said this in my first April post but I'll say it again: I can't believe it's been a year since our big Australia trip! A year ago today our trip was winding down as we spent the last few days of it with family in Tonga. Do you remember how I tried to upload a video of it to youtube last year, but it wouldn't because it was too long? Well it's up now!

Here, have a look:



If you want, you can also take a look at some of my posts from April of last year to check out some awesome vacation photos.

Dub^3 Aussie Style

It's back! This time with a new twist.

For those of you who are new, Dub^3 is short for WWW which is short for the Wonderful Words of Wednesday. This is the segment in which I talk about talking. Since I've recently returned from Australia, I though it'd be appropriate to show you guys some of the Aussie words I picked up.

Even though they speak English in Australia, sometimes I felt like thay were speaking a whole different language. For example, the word, "jumper". When I was younger, my gramma used to make me little dresses that we called jumpers. So when one of my cousins told me to grab a jumper for my mom, I wondered why on earth they thought my mother would need a dress. It turns out that in Australia, a jumper is a hoodie!

The word I heard the most down there was "heaps". They use it in place of "lots" or "a lot". In fact, I don't think I ever heard them say "a lot" or "lots". For example, instead of saying, "I miss you lots!" an Aussie says, "I miss you heaps!". Or instead of asking, "Do you get a lot of snow in Canada?" an Aussie asks, "Do you get heaps of snow in Canada?". I can't tell you how many times I was asked about snow in Canada, all I know is that I got that question heaps of times.

Another word that got me confused was "football". My cousins asked me if I played football and I wasn't sure how to respond; I didn't know if they were talking about the kind of football played in the States or the kind of football the English play that North Americans refer to as soccer. When I asked them which one they meant, they told me they meant neither. When an Aussie uses the word "football" they are talking about rugby. To them, American football is called "grid iron" and English football is called soccer.

I also noticed that the Australians love to make all of their words cuter by shortening them and adding an -ie or -y ending.
"Football" = "footy"
"breakfast" = "brekky"
"barbeque" = "barby"
"television" = "telly"
"lollipop" = "lollie"
"umbrella" = "brelly"
Need I say more? One word that they didn't shorten, however, was "truck", but they still gave it an -ie ending to create "truckie". I would hate to be a truck driver in Australia. Nothing says instant demanification better than admitting that you drive truckies for a living.

Happy First of May!

Since I've been home, I have been working a lot on a video with photos and videos from our vacation. I've just put the final touches on it and am in the process of putting it on dvd to show the family. After that I want to upload to youtube and then embed the video onto my blog for all of you to see. Except, I can't quite figure out how to embed videos here.

So if anyone knows how do this, some advice or instruction would be greatly appreciated!

I kind of feel bad for not saying anything interesting in this entry, so I will leave you with something nice to look at:This is Jarryd Hayne: fullback for the Parramatta Eels and one of the best footballers in the NRL.

He is also best friends with my cousin's husband and he got us tickets to see one of his games while we were there. We also got to meet him after the game. He and I are pretty much besties now.

Better Late Than Never

As promised, here are the pictures from the remainder of the trip... Or at least, most of the remainder...

Day 19 - April 19th: Brisbane to Kempsey
We were driving again, so no photos to show. But we stopped at Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay on our way. My favorite stop was at Byron Bay because it's just like Crawford Bay and Nelson, BC - hippies were everywhere! My brothers and I went shopping together, but I think they regretted it because I took forever in the shops.

Day 20 - April 20th: Kempsey to Sydney
We were still driving, so still no photos. As we were coming in to Sydney, we stopped at the Sydney Temple and walked around the grounds to stretch our legs. When we got back to the house, some of our cousins came by to visit and TiJ finally got to meet his Australian lookalike. When I went to Australia by myself in 2001, I met my cousin David and thought he looked like TiJ. When we came to Australia as a family, everyone that met TiJ said he looked like David, but we hadn't had the chance to meet him. And when we finally did get to see David, TiJ said he couldn't see the resemblance - of course.

Day 21 - April 21st: Shopping, Take 2
My batteries died. So no photos (I know! I really suck at this!). Me and the boys caught the train all by ourselves and went to Parramatta for one last shopping trip. We were at the same mall as before. That was when I met the clerk guy that I mentioned before.

Day 22 - April 22nd: One Last Hurrah
Yay! Photos again!
We went to see the Olympic Stadium from the 2000 Summer Olympics and it was so cool! They had poles all over out front and some of them had information about different parts of the games. One pole had the Sydney Olympic torch in it and another had bands on it to show the heights of the high jumping and pole vaulting records. I left wondering what Vancouver will do to memorialize the Olympics there.

When we got back, the boys played one last game of footy with our cousins and broke into shirts and skins for the teams. The little ones wanted to get in on the action too.

Day 23 - April 23rd: You Say Goodbye, And I Say Hello
Another day of travel, so another lack of photo. Can you blame me? As I predicted, the goodbyes were tough. It was so sad to see Gramma Mele say goodbye to my Dad. It would be nice to see her again, but with her being 86 and on the other side of the world, the odds are against us. We had an evening flight, so when we arrived in Tonga, it was 2am. Although it was the middle of the night, it was a balmy 27 degrees celsius. Our Uncle Misi met us at the airport and brought us to his home; the place where dad grew up. It was pretty cool to see it after he's been telling us about it all our lives.

Day 24 - April 24th: A Whole New World
I awoke to the crow of a rooster and mosquitoes in my ear and I knew I wasn't in Sydney anymore - let alone Kansas. There were chickens and children and dogs running around the yard, people spoke very little english and I knew I was in for a culture shock. We went to the beach that morning and collected seashells and the boys went spearfishing for the first time. In the evening we went to the plantation where we were shown how to prepare banana leaves to be used for cooking and how to husk a coconut. After my first day in Tonga, I could tell I would like it.
On the beach by our hotel (or beside the beach if you want to get technical)

TiJ the spearfisherman.

Heating the banana leaves.

Husking a coconut.

Day 25 - April 25th: Checking Out The Island
It was a beautiful day and we would have swam - except it was Sunday. So we drove around the island instead and saw the sights after church. First we went to the blowholes. In Hawaii they have a couple blowholes, but in Tonga there is a whole coastline of blowholes. The waves crash up against them and it really makes you respect the power of the ocean. After the blowholes we went to the Temple in Nuku'alofa and snapped a few photos. Me and mom snuck off to meet the temple president, Elder Eric Shumway. Mom knew him back from when she was a student at BYU and he was the president. Then when she came to visit Tonga in 1986, the Shumways were there as he served as Mission President and she stayed with them. When Mom heard that he was there again this time as the Temple President, she had to go say hello. Elder Shumway was really cool and you could feel the love he has for the Tongan people. When we finished meeting with the Shumways, the family got going again and we made one last stop at the Ha'amonga; the Tongan equivalent of Stonehenge. It was really cool. TiJ even climbed to the top of it.
Beside the blowholes.

With the Shumways.

Before the Ha'amonga.

Atop the Ha'amonga.

Day 26 - April 26th: Rain, Rain, Go Away!
It rained all day. But luckily we were in Tonga and not Canada, so it was still warm while it poured. The boys had camped on the beach the night before and got drenched. They'd originally planned to stay another night, but changed their minds. I went out to see them on their beach and my cousins showed me all the different mollusks along the shore that could be eaten. I even tried a few of them. Once we got sick of being rained on, we went to the fale (house) and played cards for most of the evening. And ate. We also ate.
Playing cards.

Chewing on some sugar cane.

Fishing in the rain.

Day 27 - April 27: The Final Goodbye
The rain finally let up in the morning and the day turned out to be sunshiney and beautiful. So naturally, we hit the beach. Mom and I finally got to go snorkelling and the boys went spear fishing one last time. We saw a lot of beautiful fish and we even found Nemo! TiJ and Keanu speared a few fish and Keanu got an octopus too; it was really cool. Since our flight didn't leave until 9, we had lots of time to to stay at the beach and soak up some final rays.
Poor Maile, she didn't get to swim the entire trip.

Keanu and his kill.

TiJ and his dinner.

More victims.

Goodbyes at the airport.

April 27th, 8pm
Our plane landed in Calgary and Canada greeted us with 8 degree weather. I was in a skirt and flip flops.

April 28th
It rained all day and the highest it got was 4 degrees. Our tans are fading.

Today, April 29th
Still raining and still cold. There's even been some snow. FML.

Even The Best Things Come To An End

Well folks, I made it safely home and boy am I pooped! And jet lagged.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the awesome experiences I had on this trip of a lifetime. We got to meet and bond with our awesome cousins on the other side of the family tree. Tonga was so much fun! It was totally laid back and relaxed. Our cousins gave us whatever they could to make our stay more enjoyable. They apologized that it wasn't much; but honestly, they didn't need to do much to make us happy. I am so glad that we got to know them and see the place my dad has told us so much about. It was where he grew up!

I haven't had a chance to upload pictures yet as we got home late in the night, but when I do, you will be in for a treat.

If any family is reading, thank you so much for all you did for us! We will never forget you and we are so grateful for everything. Malo aupito! Ofa lahi atu!

Time Flies

Boo! :(

Why does that have to be true? My awesome vacation is nearly at an end, but I still feel as though we've just got here (except for the fact that I am noticeably browner). We leave for Tonga in two days and then four days after that we leave for Canada. I have missed my friends, but I'd much rather be here missing them than home missing my family. Not that I'm not used to goodbyes by now. We had to say goodbye to our family in New Zealand when we left there and we had to say goodbye to our family in Brisbane when we came back to Sydney. It's just really gonna suck when we have to say goodbye to the Sydney clan. But let's get off this depressing note so I can tell you what I did today...

I went shopping :) It was just me and the bros. I never thought that I'd go on a shopping trip with my brothers, but I guess anything is possible in the land down under. Dad gave us 50$ to add to what we already had before we left and we spent it all at the mall. Yay. In one shop I was chatting with the clerk and when he found out I was Canadian, he got all jealous and said, "I bet you go skiing and snowboarding all the time!". I got a little embarrassed and told him that I've never been. The only winter sport I've done is toboganning - if that counts. He couldn't believe that I live in Canada and I have never been skiing or snowboarding. And that got me thinking: why haven't I ever hit the slopes? It's just like some of the people around here. Me and my family have been out sightseeing and doing things that the locals have never done. I suppose it's because they live here and can do it whenever they want. That's the same mentality a lot of people have, isn't it?

So with that being said, I would like to make a goal for myself. While I am still young and my body is still healthy, I would like to go skiing. Or snowboarding. Either! I had the opportunity to go with some buddies back in December but I didn't take it because I thought I'd kill myself. If I ever get the chance to go again, I'm taking it. You only live once after all.

Day 18: A Photo To-Go

Sunday, April 18, 3:23pm

I'm in a parking lot. And I'm blogging. I love this mini laptop.

We went to watch my cousin Vita play his rugby match.
He's the one with the ball being awesome. It runs in the family.

Saturday, April 17, 11:09pm

Day 17 - Australia Zoo

When they say it's interactive, they really mean it.

The zoo was awesome. It was rainy but I didn't really care; I love the rain. I brought my sketchbook along and drew as many animals as I could. I loved the crocodile demonstrations and the koalas and kangaroos were so cute that I had to resist the urge to pick them up and run. I wish I could have Steve Irwin's job. Maybe I can become besties with Bindi someday...

Late Night for Me, Early Morning for You

Friday, April 16, 11:28pm

I didn't think I'd be able to give you guys some more pictures so soon, but it seems that I have luck on my side. We're staying in a hotel in Brisbane tonight and my cousin Mele has lent me her mini-laptop for the night. It's so cute I want it, but I can't tell her that or else she might give it to me - seriously. In Tonga, everyone is so generous; they are always willing to help their fellow man and it is awesome. But sometimes it can get out of hand. They will literally give you the shirt off their back if you say that you like it. But anyway, let's cut to the chase, shall we?

Day 13 - April 13: Shopping!

Waiting for our train after hitting the shops

Day 14 - April 14: Bondi

Kalo and I explored a part of the beach that I've never been to before. Check out the sweet mural action. They have awesome murals all over Australia and I am so jealous!

Day 15 - April 15: Hit the Road

Not much happened because we spent most of it driving. I also felt like crap because I'd eaten so much the night before so I didn't take many photos. Here's the hotel we stayed in that night.

Day 16 - April 16: More Driving

We arrived in Brisbane safe and sound after a long day of driving. It takes 12 hours to drive there from Sydney. We made a few pit stops along the way and here is a funny van we found when we went to Sandy Beach. Classy, eh?

So the plan for tomorrow is to go to Australia Zoo. That's the one that Steve Irwin made. Or worked in. I'm too lazy to get my facts straight right now. Either way, I'm super stoked. We're such huge fans of the Crocodile Hunter that we even named our dog, Bindi, after his daughter.

Another Bundle

Tuesday, April 13, 9:36pm

Howdy! Boy I've missed you guys. I'm still having an awesome time in Australia and I am now tanned enough that if we were to suddenly cut our trip short, I would be fine with it. Sort of. Much has happened since my last post and can only be described with photos. So here you are:

Day 6 - April 6: Hospitals and Downtown

We visited Maile in the hospital before starting our adventures. She was released later that night.

On our way home from Bondi Beach we stopped at the Sydney Football Stadium.We found a statue to play with.

Day 7 - April 7: Chillin
I spent most of the day at my cousin Kalo's house. She has the cutest siblings.

Day 8 - April 8: Sydney Harbour

We took the train out to Sydney Harbour and spent the day there. It was sweet. Here's me at the Opera House.

The Harbour Bridge just before we left.

Day 9 - April 9: Fun in the Sun

We went to Coogee beach with the cousins and had lots of fun. Here's about one tenth (maybe less) of my cousins on the Tongan side.

Day 10 - April 10: Woolongong

This day I was a total failure. I took one picture this day and it was a very unflattering photo of yours truly. So I will just tell you about this day instead. We went to a city/town/suburb called Woolongong where my cousin Mina and Uncle Pila treated us to lunch. Afterward we went to the Woolongong beach and I got tossed by some of the roughest waves I've ever met. My mom got photos that day so I might be able to show you once we get them off her camera later.

Day 11 - April 11: Kiama

Another fail. Sorry folks, I forgot to pack my camera around that day. But I took some pictures with my mom's camera which you'll be able to see once we get them off it. We had stayed the night at out cousin Mina's and that afternoon we drove south to the town of Kiama. I really liked it there and thought it had lots of character. We finally had our first fish and chips there and they were delicious!

Day 12 - April 12: A Cruise and a Rugby Match All in One Day

We met up with my Auntie Mina at Sydney Harbour and she took us on a mini-cruise where we had a buffet lunch along with a tour of the harbour. Here are a few of us that were there. And if you look closely you can see my tanlines! :D

That evening we went to a rugby Match to watch the Parramatta Eels play the Canberra Raiders. Here's my family enjoying the game. (The eels lost but it was still lots of fun.)

I haven't had a chance to upload the photos I took today, but I went shopping with my cousin Kalo and Hulu and my brother TiJ. It was lots of fun and I found some awesome bargains. Woot woot! We also saw Clash of the Titans and it was really good (it better have been because we paid $80 for admission! D=)

The plan for tomorrow is that we're going back to Bondi beach and there's a rumour that we might go see the Easter show in the evening. Apparently it's lots of fun. From what I've heard from my cousins, it's kind of like going to Whoop Up Days or the Calgary Stampede. Either way, we'll have a good day. Til next time, take care!

What You've Been Waiting For

Tuesday, April 6, 11:16pm

I can finally upload some pictures! You have no idea how excited I am to share these with you. I'm sleeping over at my cousin's house tonight and she has a usb port with working internet - hallelujah!

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Day 1 - March 31: traveling


My sister and I at the Vancouver airport


My mom at the Vancouver airport. They had some awesome totem poles.

Day 2 - April 2: Let's meet the family (we skip a day because we lost one while we were in the air for 17 hours)


Keanu with our cousins, Junior and Misi (AKA: the Loonie and the Toonie).


A game of touch rugby at the beach.


Me, mom and Maile.

Day 3 - April 3: Shopping and Sightseeing


Dad and the boys at swap meet. Can you spot them?


All of us at One Tree Hill.

Day 4 - April 4: I Love to See the Temple


Inside the visitor's center

Day 5 - April 5: Last Day in Aukland


Some funky seed pods.


At the bakery. The Kiwis have as many bakeries as we do Tim Horton's.

And that is all I have for now. I didn't get a chance to upload my photos from today, so those will come later. Ta for now.

PS - Maile broke her arm! She was climbing the tree at my uncle's house on Monday and she fell. She's alright though. She was released from the hospital this evening.

Sing Praises

Sunday, April 4th, 8:34 pm

I went to church today with the Tongans and it was awesome! My favorite part about being in a Tongan ward is the singing. If you ever get the chance to go to a Tongan ward for church, do it! A Tongan ward is the Mormon version of the black Baptist choirs. They sing with such power and soul that you can't help but feel the spirit when you listen.

My family wasn't originally planning on staying for the whole block, but my cousins talked me into staying for Sunday school. Granted, it didn't take much convincing once they told me they had a YSA class. The only reason I went was for the boys; however, I was met by disappointment. They were nice to look at, but had no interest in getting to know me, even after they found out I was from Canada. It wasn't a total loss though, because I later found out that I'm related to half of them (of course!).

Anyway, the rest of my day was lovely as we had a big dinner with the family and then went to the temple in Hamilton to spend the evening. I still haven't been able to upload pictures, but no worries, I've been taking lots!

Safe and Sound

Hey all! Just a quick post to let you know that I made it. I can't upload any pictures yet though - be patient. New Zealand is beautiful and I've enjoyed my first day here. The flight was long and sleepless as expected, but I got to watch Singin' in the Rain. I've met some new cousins and we went to the beach. It's been fun watching my dad try to get used to driving on the left side of the road - only a few close shaves, haha.

Anyway, I'll hopefully be able to get some pictures up soon. If not, then you will get a nice big bundle of them when I get home.

Kiss Me and Smile For Me

Well aren't you a lucky bunch? Today you are getting 3 posts-in-one from yours truly. Why the excessive blogging, you ask? I shall tell you.

1. Today is Wednesday. That means another installment of the Wonderful Words of Wednesday.

b) Today is also the last day of March. That means you get a recap of my month.

iii. Today is also the day I leave. For Australia that is! So of course I must say goodbye to you lovelies.

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First thing's first. Dub^3!

For those of you who are new, Dub^3 is short for WWW which is short for the Wonderful Words Wednesday. This is the segment where I talk about words that I like and you smile and nod and pretend to be interested. (Yes, I can see you smiling and nodding through the computer)

On friday, I learned a new phrase: Kitty Corner. I've heard it before and I know what context to use it in, but I've never been entirely sure of what it means to be "kitty corner" from something. When giving directions, if the place you are referring to is diagonally across from another place of reference it is said to be kitty corner from it. For example, "My house is easy to find. It's just kitty corner from the school over there."

But seriously, kitty corner? I hate cats, why do we have to bring their offspring into this? It turns out, the original word that was used used to be "catercorner", but people had trouble remembering "cater" so over time it got replaced with "catty" and it has now become the "kitty" that we hear today.

reference!

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H'okay, moving on...

It's time to recap my resolutions for March.

1. Write a journal entry once a week.
It's fairly obvious to see that I'm doing well with this one. I've recently bought a new notebook to serve as my journal. It is red and I love it.

2. Find a job.
Found one. Still have it. I watch Tim's kids.

3. Get my license
Boo yah! I got it. I can't remember what I did back in the days when I didn't have it.

4. Work out 2-3 times a week.
Just when you thought I'd given up, I surprise you. I've surprised myself. I've been running and biking all month. I love getting my endorphins in the morning. Toby tells me that only two props are returning to the Pronghorns this year, so if I can get my fitness levels up and my knee up to snuff, I will have a spot on the team come fall!

5. Stop gossiping.
Oh goodness, every month I hide my face in shame when I come to this goal. This is the only one that I've made no progress on :( but maybe now that I've gotten the other ones out of the way, I can focus on this. (yeah right...) I should make a T shirt that says "No gossip zone" . . . =O OMG! That's a good idea!

So as you can see, March was my month of progress. I can cross my license goal off my list entirely and my workout goal has now taken effect. Rugby has made its way back into my life this month, I got some vaccinations, Elder Bednar came to Lethrbidge and gave an awesome firside, I made a buttload of shirts, I created a weekly blog-segment, I babysat a lot, I hung out with Plausible, I told Pirate Steve (and you) about Plausible, I played in the Kiwanis with my orchestra, I donated blood, Selina came to Lethbridge on Saturday (we've been together every day since she's been here) and I finally got to play Beatles Rockband - it was everything I imagined and more. Oh, also - this Monday for FHE we had a scripture study night. I was so pleased with how it turned out! People actually showed up with scriptures in hand, ready to participate. I am so grateful it was a good night, I think we should have another one before the end of the year.

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Ack! I can't believe it! I'm leaving for Australia soon! Depending on when you're reading this I could be on my way right now. Please don't miss me too much, friends. I will be home soon. I am going to try my hardest not to miss you so that I can enjoy every moment. I still have no idea what the computer/internet situation will be like down there, but I do know that I won't be bringing my lap top. As I promised, I will try to take a picture everyday specifically for this blog. I can't say I'll be able to upload everyday (if at all), but you will see them eventually.

If you happened to notice what time I'm posting this, you are quite the observant person. It's so late/early because I've been up packing all night. My friend, Star was pestering me over a week ago to start packing and I just laughed. Sorry pal, that's not how I roll. With every single trip I've been on, I have never started packing more than 2 days before I leave. I don't put anything in my suitcase until the night before. I've been using this system for years and I don't plan on changing it :P

Anyways, enjoy the next month without me! I hope I'll be able to give you at least a couple updates to share the fun I'll be having. I also hope to find me a hot Tongan to bring home. Fingers crossed.

Oh Em Gee!! =O

I have just found the most amazing blog EVER. This girl is so clever! She wanted to make sure that she posts something on her blog everyday, so what she is doing is uploading one picture everyday. I love her photos. I love her! And I am going to do the exact same thing!

Except I won't start immediately. And I'll only do it for a month - while I'm on vacation. So starting next week (cause that's when I leave, suckahs!), I will try to upload a picture everyday of my adventures. Now, I say try because I have no idea what the internet situation will be like down there, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for some sort of wifi for me.

Brotherly (and Sisterly) Love

I have an announcement to make, Ahem:

Me and my brothers are idiots.

Usually I reserve the title of idiot for my brothers only, but I am now including myself in that category. I pity my mother when she has to take us out in public.

Allow me to introduce the bros:

The oldest of the two is TiJ. 17, moody, easily bored, sarcastic beyond belief. He is usually the instigator and also the scapegoat. He's a good kid though.

The younger is called Keanu. 14, goofy, mischievous, lots of energy. Like my father, you can't believe a single word he says. He's a good kid though.

When we are teamed together, someone usually gets hurt. Or we break something. The usual target of our antics is our youngest sister, Maile. If we weren't able to get such good reactions out of her, we would probably never bother her.

Maile is the most dramatic 9 year old you will ever meet. She's also a reeeaaaalllly good actress. All of her teachers and leaders love her to bits saying that she's such a good little girl. I have no idea how she can switch from psycho, demon-child to sweet little girl, but she does. I bet she's got a potion like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and we're all stuck with Hyde-Maile at home while everybody else gets to meet Jekyll-Maile.

Even though my siblings are all a bunch of misfits, I must say I love them. They definitely make life interesting. And just think, in 17 day's time, we will be spending 24/7 together in a foreign country with relatives crazier than we are. Let's hope Australia has insurance...

I've Been Suffering Withdrawals

ACK I missed you!!

I know. I'm lame. It's been 6 days since my last blogging sesh and I'm freaking out. However, my blog-fast was not intentional. There have been many blog worthy moments that have happened (like Cora drinking a slurpee), I just never wrote them right away and then next thing I know, BAM! I can't get onto the internet.

But worry no more, my lovely followers. I have returned with many a story to tell...

I've started running!! Hooray! I am no longer getting fat sitting around my house all day. Everyday this week I have ridden (or driven. Because I can!) out to the rugby club and ran my butt of around the field. I hurt, but I hurt so good.

Along with running, I've also started going out to Churchill's rugby practices to help coach. I guess you could say that that was my motivation to start running. I freaking love those girls! Some of them are wicked athletes that make me jealous and some of them aren't as confident in their abilities. It's that second group of girls that I love to help. I love giving everyone a chance so it's going to be sad when Toby has to make the final cuts.

On Friday night I watched A Hard Day's Night at Denise's house. Did you know that the Beatles made some movies back in the day??? I only just found out last Sunday, so I was quite excited when Denise extended the invitation for me to watch it with her. I rather enjoyed it. They were so funny! The way they acted reminded me of another band from England, McFLY. I don't know what it is about those Brits, but they sure like to goof off!

Guess what I'll be doing three weeks from now. Just guess. Alright, I'll give you a hint. That one song by Chantal Kreviazuk is a pretty good hint. . . If you guessed that I'd be leaving on a jet plane, you'd be right! My Australian vacation begins on the 31st of this month. We will stop in New Zealand for the weekend on our way down, spend three weeks in Australia and then on our way home, we stop in Tonga for four days. Are you jealous? If you are, don't be because we've had to get a bunch of vaccinations to prevent us from picking up some tropical virus while we're in Tonga. Trust me, we aren't going to have any fun... Okay, we might have some fun, I was just trying to make you feel better.

So Much Time and So Little To Do...

As I've mentioned before, I am currently taking a semester off school. I'm doing it for several reasons actually,

The main reason being that my family and I are going on a trip to Australia in April, which is the same time that my finals would have been written. Since I didn't want to have to put up with rearranging my schedule so I could write my tests before or after the trip(which would have sucked!), I decided to just skip school altogether.

School is expensive. And travelling is expensive. If I plan on travelling and going to school later on, I will need money. If I want money, that means I have to suck it up, be a big girl and work. I didn't work during the school year because I was majoring in biochemistry. Do you remember the high school days when science was your least favorite subject and that hour long class felt like an eternity? Try taking nothing but science classes. No wait, science and math classes. Sure I used to like science and I used to like math, but after doing it for a year and a half in university, I want to shoot myself in the head at the mention of words like conjugation, molecular orbitals and partial fractions.

Which brings me to my next reason for taking a break: school wore me out. Last semester I was crazy enough to take 5 classes: genetics, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, calculus II and english. Those were some pretty hefty courses on their own, but I also had some new responsibilties at church as the Superma for FHE which meant that I, along with my Superpa counterpart, was (and currently, still am) in charge of planning weekly activities for the ward to enjoy every Monday night. It's a tough job to keep people entertained and happy, but I like it.

I had a very busy schedule last semester. So it's been a challenge to try and keep myself busy with all this time on my hands. It's so easy to fall into a routine of watching TV all day and facebooking, blogging and other online whatnot, but I'm trying to avoid that. I was blog-surfing today (wasting time, I know) when I came across a blog by a guy in my ward. He wrote an entry talking about finding a good use of our time. I thought it was well written and that he'd made some good points in it. If you've got some time to spare, check it out!

I've got some spare time, but I've already read the blog. So I'll go do something productive like solve world hunger or something... Peace out.