So... hi. It's been forever since I've posted, forgive my laziness :P

I have valid excuses though! I've been on vacation for the past 3 weeks; right now I'm at my aunts house on the beach. You heard me, on. the. beach. Well, like a 3 minute walk from the beach. I'm pretty much in heaven though, it's fantastic. I'm considering ditching school and staying here forever.

As a side note, I think I'm having noise withdrawals, the rest of the family already went home. So while they're stuffing 7 people in a half- broken down mini van, I'm in California. And I get to fly to Utah. But it's so quiet, I don't know what to do with myself...

Also, my cousin gave me her old camera last month. so EXCITING! She got it when we graduated (she's married with kids now) so it's like 10 years old, but it's a really nice camera. PLUS, it uses film, I love that. I loved it a bit less when I found out that film costs like $10 to get developed though... seriously, don't things usually get cheaper once people stop using them. When I got it I naively believed my mom, "pssh, Ariena don't worry about it, it costs like 5 bucks, maybe less." Imagine my surprise when I found out it wasn't :P As soon as I can get to Walgreens I'm going to get it developed, so pictures'll come soon :)

This morning I spent a good 10 minutes frantically looking for my shoes. After asking everyone in the house I thought to myself, "...Oh yeah, I put them where they go!"

No wonder I couldn't find them.

A Day in the Life

Right, so as my time at home is coming to an end, I find myself reflecting on the things I love (and hate) the most, and soaking in as much of it all as I can. For some odd reason by the time November rolls around I start missing even the most obnoxious things! (Except humidity, I don't miss that til the week after Christmas). Take today for instance- Genevra's decided she want's to eat everything I am ("Ahrena I just want one bite of your rice, pleease?" "Ahrena you share your goji berries with me."); I guess the only nice thing is she's really good at sharing all her food, and she keeps the slobbering down to a minimum compared to most toddlers. Brennan's shot me in the head with a plastic gun every 5 minutes the entire day; I'm just glad he's not old enough to have a real gun yet, he already has enough homemade weapons lying around to keep us all on our toes. Rylan stole my ipod and speakers and is blasting Aerosmith's Dream On and Grace Potter (I think he's decided they're the only two songs on it... rest assured after today i'm considering deleting them, I never want to hear either again). The last thing I'll mention is Brystons vendetta against me today. I'm not sure why, but he's decided to claim everywhere I sit as his chair- luckily he's still small enough for me to push him off, but it's getting annoying :P Also, I've been burning discs with pictures and the slideshow of girls camp, Claire just decided it'd be funny to spread all the discs, blank and burned, around the living room. How cute.

As much as I rag about the minnis, once you adjust to the noise level almost everything becomes funny, in an obnoxious, crazy way... in a month or two I'll think of Brennan's mischievous smirk and miss it!  (No matter the prank that follows)

And as a really big side note, we might be going to California :] I might be working... but really, if you had to pick one, you'd choose Cali too, right? Easiest decision in the world.

You'll never guess where I finally went on Saturday! The zoo! It was the perfect day for it too- scalding temperatures, extreme humidity, and packed crowds for the holiday weekend :P We had a blast!

So, I love the zoo and all, but I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand it lets people see and experience things they otherwise wouldn't be able to, but on the other hand it's depressing seeing all the animals cooped up, it makes me want to jump up and do something about it! Haha Slappy and the Stinkers, anyone?

I've decided I need to quit looking at all the pictures from last year, I'm missing it even more now! Especially when I look at pictures and scheme up plans with Bre for next fall... it's ok though, I just need to get my fill of humidity and the fam, maybe kidnap a few of the minnis and hide them in my closet... I'll take them out when I start missing home. Or become a millionaire and fly home on long weekends, either would work :P

One other item of extreme excitement: Girls camp is in exactly one week. I know. I'm dying inside. I can't stinking wait! I'm going back as a leader this year- I get to be photographer. It's pretty much going to be one of the best weeks of the summer :]

Home is where the Noise is

It's so good to be home!

Honestly, the first thing I think of when home and my family come to mind is Noise. Lots and lots of it. People say they have loud families, but they haven't seen anything, I guarantee. There may only be 7 of us kids running around, but think Cheaper By the Dozen. Contrary to the yelling I sometimes let out, I absolutely love it! Today alone we've had everything from yelling Pink's 'Raise Your Glass' to (I'm ashamed to admit) fighting over a pencil... actually I think there were several pencil's involved, we never seem to have enough of them here, they're like socks. Haha there's always something going on here, it keeps me from getting too lazy. In fact, when it gets to quiet we start getting suspicious, usually the boys are plotting.

Loud as it may be, I'm starting to miss being in school- I need to find myself a project or something. It's only been a week and a half! This is definitely NOT acceptable. I want at least a month of laziness before I shape up, I'm ashamed of myself. So, until next time, I'll be gettin' my lazy on :)

My Soundtrack

You know those days when you're happy for no apparent reason? The days where you feel like you have your own personal soundtrack playing, weaving your success in front of your eyes? Where you feel as light as a feather- nothing can bring you down! 

That's today :]

That's been the past week actually. I blame it on the GORGEOUS weather we've had lately--today might be a bit gloomy, but I think I stockpiled enough warmth in my many sunburns to last through at least a week of rain.
Seriously though, I can't wait to get to the point of life where the majority of my time is spent in constant happiness and figurative sunshine (I wouldn't complain about literal sunshine either- tropical beach house, anyone?). You know what I think it comes down to? Love. I'm not talking about mushy romantics here, I'm talking about genuinly caring and wishing good for everything. When we develop this and leave negative thoughts in the dust I think our own personal soundtrack of harmony and success will be able to play constantly without being drowned out by the distractions of life.


It's definitely something to work for :]

Good fun, good company, and good food

Spring is finally starting to creep in on us, and in case anyone hasn't realized it yet, schools almost out! Do you want to know what I'm most excited about? I'll tell you. The zoo! and not just a regular zoo trip, see my little brother and I have this plan (one that's most definitely going to happen) to take a trip to the zoo when I get back. Actually it'll probably end up being a family thing, but the more the merrier right? Shall I walk you through one of our trips?


We start with the hour long drive usually involving large amounts of noise (imagine hyper older kids, and crazy minni's all vying for the honor of being the loudest). We get to the zoo, take pictures, compare the similarities  between Brennan and the monkeys, and have an all-around good time. Once we either tire of the zoo or it closes we head to Whole Foods and grab a pizza- it's the only place I know where we can special order it vegan style. Honestly, wandering Whole Foods and eating the pizza is almost as fun as the zoo... almost.
The eating of the pizza followed by the trip home ends the day, and we're left to write ridiculous blog posts about it and dream about the experience.


So maybe you see why I'm so excited about it! Good fun, good company, good food... can a day get any better? I don't think so.