Bucket list

1. Have a pillow fight with down pillows and have the stuffing fall out
2. camp in all 50 states.. and atleast 5 countries in south America
3. Visit each continent.
4. Go to Canada
5. Be able to go to a city and know enough history of it to be able to give a city tour.
6. be in 4 places at once!
7. Read the Book of Mormon twice a year starting in 2013
8. Learn to swim
9. Do everything on a bulletin board on Pintrest.
10. Learn photography
11. have a picture of mine in a newspaper or magazine
12. be able to make gourmet cupcakes!
13. Eat a dish from every country.
14. collect currency from every country.
15. Have an American Coin Collection of every important year in my life.
16. send a wedding invitation to the white house
17. One day be able to say " I made that" refering to clothese.
18. make my own cook book
19. try a new dish once a week for a year.

Barbie Cake.

So you know those cakes that were SUPER huge in the 80's with the barbie?  After several online tutorials and much much wishing for one, I finally made one.. for my nice.. I think she turned like 5 or 6 this year. It took 3 days and a lot of patience to finish it. I think If I didn't get frustrated, and had the whole day to work on it, I could have easily finished it in one day. 

I think all of the effort, time and frustration payed off with her face when she saw the cake. IT was PRICELESS. She was completely speechless and I think  she even cried. 

 

 After I saw what "talent" I had, I decided to make one for my school's auction. It didn't look as well but it pulled in $55 for my graduating class. It was the cake that was worth the most. I didn't go that day.. I think I had something to do, but the next day everybody wanted to place an order for a cake like this.  I haven't made one like this since, but one day I will.. and its going to be AWESOME!

Sea side sunrise and sae turtle hatching.

 

Many people go their whole life, sometimes they go through their savings just to see this.. and I did!! without having to wish for it very very hard noor did I spend my life savings on it.. 

 It happened the same day I got to see sea turtles hatch and go into the warm waters of the Gulf.

  I didn't do this alone, I did this with my best friend. It was awesome. We saw the sun go from below the horizon, to well above the horizon.. and on that same day we say it go down Below. .. it was MARVELOUS.

The Turtle count was 409.  Can you believe that ? 409 Sea turtles hatched THE SAME DAY and ran into the water at the same time! It was estimated by the Biologist on hand that maybe 1 would reach adult hood.. Right as he said that, a seagull swooped down and ate one of them. OF course us, the crowd, gasped in disbelief. 

It was a majestic sight these 409 sea turtles running. excited, and for some reason, no matter how you put them.. they found their way to the water.  Some of the biologists believed it was something having to do with the sun.. they hatched before the sun came up.. and as soon as it started to show.. they started running like nobody's business..

Sailing!

I believe this was called a Sun fish. It was a tiny sail boat. Aside  from us being novous sailers the winds weren't ideal. I believe these were the people who were knocked off about 9 times.. needless to say, they didn't get very far.

So a sail boat looks like a simple contraption, but no. it has many many components.. quite simple components but they work in a very balanced manner. you have the rutter.. and that is complicated itself to manuever. I can't remember well, but I believe that if you point it one direction, you go the other way.. or something like that.  I believe the rutters we used in this instance were made of wood and were quite delicate. ..
There is the sail with has a "boom"?? that likes to spin around violently with no warning .. and with these people.. knocked them off several times. I did get hit, and it was NOT fun. I cant imagine how much pain these guys were in. After the 4th time, they gave up and just wanted to get back to shore.. but that took a while..

So while these guys were on the boats ( one person at a time) the others ( us) were on shore looking at the wild life. We saw

Spanish dancers. Not sure how they work, but they were freaky looking.

Sea urchins. These are AWESOME! in each of those spikes, they have this neon orange goo that when broken off, the goo is injected. The goo numbs that part ( for humans) and for animals it paralyses then and the urchin is able to eat them protect themselves.

We even made an army of hermit crabs!!

We saw many many crabs and played around with them. I even held one for the first time!

During this time, I was able to get to know each one of these guys better. I found their weaknesses and fears.   This was the same day we went to Sea turtle inc and I wanted to study marine biology.  The more time I spent on shore and saw the greatness in biodiversity in the marine aspect.. I got a bit freaked out.

This was a GREAT day!

Sea Turtle Inc.

Sea Turtles.
These cute little animals that have adapted to many many conditions. They can be found in tropical climates, marine areas, dry, and even in cities as pets.  For many years they were wanted for their oils, their leathery skin, their eggs rich in proteins, and their shells for exotic decorations.  Soon, they became endangered and many even extinct. There was a lady Ila Fox Loetscher  who decided that enough was enough. She started up Sea Turtle Inc. in South Padre Island, Tx which is dedicated to rehabilitating and protecting Sea Turtles in the area.

Anyways, We had the opportunity go to and help out with these turtles. No, we didn't do some crazy rescue, and we didn't get to race them ( bummer), BUT we were able to feed them, clean their tanks, and even get in there with them!! Once again, it was something that not many people get to do.

We learned about what brought the turtles to where they are, as well as what we can do for them.. Also, they have this SWEEET SWEET SWEET mechanism in their brain that is like a compass. It tells them how to get back to where they came from so they can nest again!!  It was this day that I figured that I wanted to do something crazy fun wiht my life.. maybe marine biology ( it changed later on that day. )

Anyways, here are some pictures of that day.

I want to go back and work there some day.

Fun. fun. fun . in the sun!

So every summer, I need a little bit of fun in the sun.. wreckless fun..

ok.. it wasnt very wreckless.. but it was adrenaline pumping!!

.. maybe not a lot.. but it was FUN!

I went tubing with my best friends youth group. We went to a lake nearby and had some fun.

While we were on the tube( my best friend and I ) I came to realize that most of the crazy fun I have had, has been by his side.   Some of the things most people wish they had the chance to do, I have done with him. I have seen the sun rise over the ocean with him. I have seen it set over the ocean with him. I learned to surf along side him, as well as watch baby sea turtles hatch and run into the ocean.. next to him.. He was busy burying himself in the sand.. but he was there!! we went on a ghostship and he didnt let my hand go becuase I was TERREFIED.. We kyaked ( almost to mexico) together. We canoed for a whole weekend.. anyways,.. those (and many others) do for another post.

After I realized this, I realized I Was ok. even though I had been on a tube before, its alwas scarry getting back on.. through out the whole time he and I were remeniscing about the great times we had together.. and I think I started falling for him. we REALLY HAVE done EVERYTHING together. ...
anyways.. that was tubing..

we got some nice tans.. no major injuries.. and only one person was motion sick the whole time.. (yep, that was me.... )

2. Getting into college

I GOT INTO THE COLLEGE OF MY DREAMS!!! :D
Actuakky, i got into ALL The coleges I Applied to.. Except BYU.. but I didnt want to go there in the first place. I got into the college I kinda had my sights on for a while.. it was rather awesome. So we were in a little town in Texas for the night and I decided to check facebook.. but I had my email open just in case.. then I see that I got mail ( you know that little thing that pops up from Yahoo instant Messenger that tells you when you have mail?) . So I oppened it and found I GOT IN!!!  not only that, but I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP!!  This was December 28th,2010..  By January 13th, I had accepted and declared a major. By march14, I had my appartment and flight details. I like to think that I got in because of my extracurriculars.. but who knows?

ALL ABOARD!!

 YES!!! I'm taking the TRAIN!!! WOOOOOO!!! I never knew that passenger trains still existed! this has been a dream of mine since I first knew what a passenger train was.

I will spent 19 hours in a TRAIN!! in the most amazing Texas scenery. WHOA! It was GREAT!!

They were ver y resourceful ( of course you have to! you only have so many things on board). The food was expensive but IMPRESIVE! People on board were interesting. Everybody was so friendly. Everybody had a story to tell, and were excited to share that story. I met some preety cool people. People that said things that really stuck to me . like this one guy talking about drugs ( he looked like Leo from That 70's show. .. and acted like him too) He was telling me about the place, its history and its natives. From the stories he told, I think he spent time with them. Anyways, what stuck with me about him was that he said " you know when a mate cheats on you .. you know whay that hurts?? It hurst because you TRUSTED them and they betrayed that trust.. not because of the carnal act they commited, but becuase of that TRUST they betrayed" I am preety sure he was sobbing after this.

IT was raining while we crossed some AMAZING places you would only see in movies.. it was ABSOLUTELY Breath taking.

When we got to our destination, we found that the train station was established over 100 years ago. it had marble, and tons of hand decorations and carving. When I first walked in, I had a flashback to the first talking  scene where she is at the train station.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqlw3dRjsPI

 I started crying when I got it. it was a weenie move on my part..

I can;t wait to travel by train again.. it was AMAZING and I urge everybody to try it atleast once. 

1. Perform in Mexico

I always have loved the theatre. For some time I tried doing it myself. During that time I loved it so much I  had one goal: to perform back home, possibly for free. 
This opportunity finally presented its self a few years after I thought of it. I performed with about a thousand other youth at El Teatro de los Heroes in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. It was AWESOME!
 We did it as part of Youth conference/ EFY . The theme was " a travel through time" where every stake had a different decade. We has 50-60's. We danced " Iremos Juntos", California Dreaming, along with many other songs. 
It took many many many weeks of training. We rehersed atleast 4 hours a day for 5 days a week. It was exhausting and time consuming, and a lot of the time it was very frustrating but there was no better feeling than performing in front of hundreds of people ( over a thousand people)  and some of those being Area of the Seventies. it was AMAZING!

I think the night after the performance, we couldnt get any sleep because we were so hyped up about the chance we got.

Bucket list

I recently found out about a little girl names Avery who had MS in such a way that when she was diagnosed, it was thought she would have less than 18 months to live. Her parents started up a blog about her adventures. The blog is called Avery's Bucketlist. After trying to read the first few entries, I realized that I dont have to be dying in order to have a bucket list. In a way everybody is slowly dying. Every milisecond that passes by, we are dying. We are only put in this life for a certain amount of time. Everybody's is different. Everybody's journey is different. But everybody has one thing in common: the things we want to get done before we die. The things we want to experience and see, do, feel, smell taste.  I know that when the time comes I will look back and see how much I saw, heard, felt, and smelled.  I am very excited to docment these things I have done and will do.