The Passing of a Friend

A good friend of my family, Orelene Mikesell, passed away yesterday. She has been sick for a while and we knew this day was coming, but it is still very sad and difficult. Orlene was an amazing person who did a lot of good in this world. She was always very bubbly and happy despite whatever she may have been going through. I believe she was smiling even up to her very last breath. She was a great friend and always full of kindness towards others. In memory of her I want to share some of my favorite memories that I will keep with me forever.

Orelene was my piano teacher. I was like most young kids and didn’t really enjoy practicing the piano, but I did love going to my lessons. She made sure that there were always treats for us there. I recall sitting in her kitchen snacking away on donuts, cookies, cake, candy, and all sorts of drinks while my brother and sister were in getting their lesson. It was always a highlight to see what sort of treats were in store for us each day.

I recall times when she would come over to our house and we would all sit around with my parents and talk and tell stories and just laugh and laugh. She always brightened up a room with her cheerfulness and had a gift for making those around her smile.

One night my parents went out on a date and I was babysitting my brother and sister when I got a call from my friend that they were having a big party. I wanted so badly to go to the party. I knew my parents had plans to stop by Orelene’s house on their way home, so I called her and asked if I could drop the kids of at her house and go to the party and my parents could bring the kids home with them. She said that was fine and so I loaded up the kids and headed to her house. On the way I made a bad turn and we ended up in a ditch. By the time I arrived at Orelene’s house my parents were there waiting for me…needless to say I had a lot of explaining to do…I remember thinking I was grateful we were at Orelene’s house instead of at mine because I would probably have gotten in a lot more trouble at home, but Orelene helped my parents to just laugh about the whole situation and all ended well.

One of my favorite memories comes from just two years ago. Orelene was very sick and had been confined to a chair in her home. My family and I decided to make Thanksgiving dinner and take it over there and spend the day with her and her family. It turned out to be the best Thanksgiving ever!! After we initially called them and asked if we could do this for them they were so excited. They said they were not even looking forward to the holiday. It wasn't going to be any different for them than any other day of the year. The day went perfectly! We arrived at their home about ten and my mom and I started on the cooking. We then played a game while we waited for things to cook. Afterward we ate and visited and talked about all the things we had to be thankful for. Following dinner my mom, brother, and I cleaned everything up. Then we played more games, watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift, and visited more. At one point my mom pulled our friends husband aside and asked if we were staying too long and wearing her out to let us know and we would leave. His response was that we were fine to stay, and that he had not seen his wife this happy in a long time. Later, as we were leaving she stopped us and with tears in her eyes said, "If we were to list what we are thankful for now, I would say I am thankful for this day" It was tender!! On the way home my family and I discussed how much fun we had and how warm and fuzzy we all felt inside.

Orelene was an amazing friend. I am grateful to have known her. She has been a positive influence in my life. I know that she is happy and at peace where she is now. She will be greatly missed, but I know we will be able to see her again. I look forward to that day. LOVE YOU ORELENE!!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

First of all I want to thank my Aunt Lana for loving me so much that she gave up her ticket to a private premiere of the new Harry Potter movie so I could attend! Now, I have to say that I absolutely LOVED it!!! I think it followed the book pretty well. Obviously the book provides more details on certain things and there are parts that you may be a bit confused in if you haven't read the book, but either way it's a very good flick. I've heard people say they didn't like the ending...but if they read the book the movie ended exactly like the book ended! It does leave you hanging a bit, but it just increases the anticipation for the next one. The special effects were awesome! I don't want to spoil anything for any of you that may not have read the books, so I won't go into detail on my favorite parts or anything. Suffice it so say there are lots of funny parts regarding the love triangles and various other things. Then there are the parts that make you jump out of your seat, and the parts that make you cry. I thought it was done very well! It makes me want to go and read the books all over again, too bad I'm way too busy to have time to do that!

Weekend with the Girls!

This past weekend was lots of fun! My mom went fishing with my aunt and uncle so Tara came and stayed with me. Then on Friday I picked up Savannah and watched her for the weekend while her parents went to celebrate John's birthday. We had SO much fun! We went to dinner and then to see Ice Age 3. The movie was very funny and kept Savvy's attention pretty well. Sav did get scared of the big dinosaur though, when it came on screen she would jump into my lap and then after a minute would proclaim that she wasn't scared anymore and she would go back to her seat. It was cute! We also went to the park where we had a blast swinging, going down the slides, and even petting the horses!

Here are some pictures from our fun adventures:

4th of July

Ok, so one reason I have not been posting too much lately is becuase my camera has acting strangely and not working very well for me. Good news is that I got a new one over the weekend and so I hope to be posting more often and showing you pictures of all the goofy and fun things I do.

I'll start of by telling how much fun I had celebrating our Independance Day. I started off the day by going to the parade. It was lots of fun, but it could have used more floats..I think there might have been one in the entire thing! My friend and I told our bishop that we think our ward should do a float for next years parade so they will at least have two! :)

After the parade I spent the day doing various things... One- I went and bought my camera, Two-I went and walked around all the booths at Cherry Days. It was fun, but way too much temptation to buy little things I didn't need. Last, but not least I went up in the mid-afternoon to lay down our blanket and secure our spot for the fireworks. As I was walking along the field heading back down to the parking lot I was startled when a bee flew in my mouth! I tried spitting it out, but when I did the bee just flew further down my throat. I tried gagging it out, but in the process of doing that the bee stung me and out of instinct from the pain I swallowed! Pain is a very difficult thing to describe but if I were to use the rating system of Brian Regan I would give this level of pain two very enthusiastic thumbs up!! It burned!! I tried drinking water at first and it seemed to help to keep my throat wet, however the pain was still really bad. It hurt to even take a breath. I realized this was becuase the stinger was still stuck in my throat. I went home and ate a few pieces of bread and luckily the stinger loosened and went down with one of the pieces. I then ate a big bowl a rainbow sherbet to try and soothe the pain. This brought a bit of relief, but not enough. My throat still hurts today if I swallow something hard or talk too much. However, I can't help but laugh at the whole story...I mean really...who swallows a bee! Ugh!

Despite the pain in my throat I went to the fireworks with a few friends and we had a good time. As we waited for the fireworks my friends played games while I played with my new camera and sat on my blanket reading my book (I'm addicted to Fablehaven). As I was playing around with my camera I noticed it has a special setting just for fireworks. This made me very happy and I got really excited to try it out. You'll find some of my favorites below. The fireworks were great and all in all it was a good day.

Waiting for the fireworks

I love this picture!!

Look at the clarity of these photos!

I love my new camera!!

And finally the grand finale!

Enjoy!!