Germans make the best playgrounds

Ever since I have been home for the break, I haven't done too much with my time. I sit around at home with my mom a lot while she works, but today I was going totally stir crazy. I got out of the house and went on my first great adventure!!!! It was so grand that I decided it was blog worthy...also, I am just bored.

My adventure started with a text message from my friend Randy Pinto, asking if I still wanted to hang out tonight. We had talked on the phone earlier in the day and I had mentioned I wanted to do something, so, he made that happen. I told him HECK to the YES and he came to and picked me up.

First we went to CVS and met up with Mikel and Lilly. Mikel had a 2 dollar coupon for CVS, so, naturally, she had to buy something right then and there. She ended up with candy. We then made our way to donut star - it's a must in any late night adventure in Irvine. You will always run into that one person you have been trying to avoid your entire trip. You know who I mean...that one person from high school you hoped to never see again...yeah, that's right. I enjoyed a chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting and a carton of fat free milk. It was super delicious. After sitting in d-star for some time, we moved our party to Ralph's. I know, quite the party hop. For those who are unaware, Ralph's is a grocery store.

Moving on, after Ralph's we decided to go to H Mart (or something). It's a Korean grocery store...I think. I was just super excited because I was able to buy some of my most favorite desserts ever!


Hey look! It's me! I am standing in the asian store with my bag of goodies. How cute.


Hey look! It's Randy! He is doing...something...


Hey look! It's Randy and me! We are smiling and stuff.

After our great adventure to this store, we took Mikel and Lilly back to their car. We said goodbye and off we went. We came back to my house so I could get my phone charger and so I could put my treats into the freezer. I didn't want them to melt. Duh! We left my house soon after so Randall could show me where his family moved. After seeing the new house we had to think of something to do. Here is where the evening gets a little crazy...and by crazy I actually mean totallyrockawesomesicktight.

I love living in Irvine - it's almost picture perfect. There is just one problem I have: At the hour of 9 everything goes dead. There is nothing to do besides sit around at donut star for hours - which we had already done. After assessing our situation we decided to go park hopping.

Park #1 was by far the best and therefore the most documented. Randy informed me that the park toys were made and designed in Germany. He kept raving about how they were from Germany. I didn't know Germany was so obsessed with children's parks, but now I have been informed.


Here I am on the teeter-totter. It is super lonely when no one will play with you.


Hey, Randy came to play with me! Look how much fun he is having.


Yeah, we did set up a self-timer and run back over to the teeter-totter.


Self-timer perfection.

Oh, but don't worry, park #1 is not over yet! we ran across the way to find some more toys! We found some sort of horsey thing? I am not sure, you can decide for yourself what it is. Also, there was this spinny thing. Out of all the spinny things I have ever been on this one was the fastest. It was INSANE! It was so fast and so smooth. I can't even describe how great and dangerous it was.


I am on spinny thing. Randy is on horsey thing.


I was going ridiculously fast. Randy was, well, still doing that horsey thing.


My turn? I didn't understand how to even begin to use this toy...


How about like this? I was going for the whole "I am a bull-fightin' rough and tough cowboy" look.

After this second section of toys, we ran over to the next contraption. This one had me most confused. Honsetly, what are these poor children supposed to do on a thing like this?


After spending a few seconds on these metal bars I think I really began to understand how to use it...




The last thing we went to play on was this big huge metal disc thing. It sat at an angle and had "death trap" written all over it. This was another one of those spinny things. I got thrown off of it a few times because it was going so fast. Randy was much better at using it than I was...I just tried to not die.






This was my attempt to look like a clock...just pretend I don't have legs.

Park #2 and #3 aren't even worth talking about...they were just that lame. After this all this crazy-ness we decided it was time for bed. So he dropped me off and I came straight upstairs.

That was the end of my adventure. I can't wait to see what these next 5 days have in store for me. Hopefully I will go on more totallyrockawesomesicktight adventures.

Waiting For Santa

If you have 34 minutes to kill one day, I suggest you watch this. It's a family tradition in my house to watch this every Christmas Eve before bed. Sadly, this tradition is despised by my mother - I guess she grew out of Barney 30 years ago.

Et tu, Brute!

I was sitting here watching a YouTube video and I decided it might be funny to read some of the comments that were left. Here are my findings...

MasterCranecoppa: Has anyone considered the fact that the man possibly could just be having a terrible caesar?
@MasterCranecoppa: seizure*


Really, MasterCranecoppa?

Josiah's Time

What Every Boy Needs To Know About Being A Man

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that love, true love, never dies... No matter if they're true or not, a man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in."
-Hub (Secondhand Lions)

Dear Diary,

"So many of our sisters are disheartened, even discouraged, and disillusioned. Others are in serious trouble because of the choices they make. Satan has unleashed a seductive campaign to undermine the sanctity of womanhood, to deceive the daughters of God and divert them from their divine destiny. He well knows women are the compassionate, self-sacrificing, loving power that binds together the human family. He would focus their interests solely on their physical attributes and rob them of their exalting roles as wives and mothers."
-Richard G. Scott

I cannot begin to describe the feelings and emotions I had as I read this quote today. These words hit me hard - straight to the heart.

If you are close with me at all, you may have noticed that these past 2-ish weeks I have not been acting myself in the least. I sit quietly in class, keeping to myself. Absorbed in my thoughts, I block out everything around me. I don't laugh at funny things that happen, I barely respond when talked to, and I find my mood to be less than cheerful most of the time. I am so tired of feeling this way, yet I can't seem to shake it.

I am consumed with the thoughts that I am not good enough for anything, let alone anyone.
I feel unbeautiful and unappreciated.
I feel inadequate.
I feel discouraged and hopeless.

I don't feel that I am a part of anything important. I just wander from day to day with no direct purpose or plan.

I am sick of feeling this from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. I talk myself down all the time and I don't even know why. I see the effects of Satan in my life daily and I am beginning to break. I am drifting further from the path I was once on and all I wish is that I might get back on course...preferably sooner than later.

I guess I just want to feel a part of something. I want to feel appreciated - that I am important to someone out there. I want to feel wanted. I want to feel beautiful. I want to feel loved.

The only thing keeping me together at this point is my testimony. I know I will never be abandoned. I was never called to bear this burden on my own. I know that my Savior knows my heart and my pains. I know that this load will be lifted; this trial overcome. I know this more than I know anything else.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
-Matthew 11:28-29

Show mommy how the piggies eat

Hannah: "I feel like this is an actual meal...for a pig."
Keri: "There's like a name for that."
Hannah: "Uhhhh...pig food?"
Keri: "Ya, ya! That's it. Pig food."


ALSO, watch this.

di-lə-jən(t)s

Stick to your task till it sticks to you.
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too—
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories after awhile

-Author Unknown

Meet The Robinsons

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious....and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

-Walt Disney