"Yes Lexie, I know who Drake is."

Pictured: Dad creating a budget for me on a napkin.

Not pictured: me freaking out about credit cards.

(I think they're a scam.)

This one has been out just around 6 months now. He's on the far side in a city named Oradea, near Hungary.
People ask if there has been any sort of disruption because of the political upheaval in Ukraine, but they haven't noticed anything.

In his last email, he asked me to send him piano sheet music. Imagine that, the boy who never practiced!
I have no idea what to send him, as most of my music is classical and he cannot stand that. He says classical music gives him a headache and I say: how are we related?

Also, this goob spent his first birthday in Romania yesterday.

I know I'm lucky, but sometimes emails don't feel like enough.

Yesterday...well, I should back up. On thursday night, I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I have so many feelings, which will probably be found on another blog post. But I knew I couldn't watch that movie and just sit at home the next day. I couldn't.

So I planned a hiking day, and my mom threw in the trip to La Jolla, since it wasn't very far from where we hiked.
We went to Torrey Pines State Reservation, and I would totally go again. It was beautiful and there were several different hikes. We did two of them- Guy Fleming was my favorite. While we were on that one, we saw two dolphins swimming down the coast headed to Mexico. They were riding the waves in and it was so cute. Real live Sea World.

Then we went down to La Jolla and played in the cove there and watched the sea lions push each other off rocks. (Again, real live Sea World.) My gosh though, I don't remember it smelling so bad in the past. That was the only unpleasant part of the day.

Now I'm back in Rexburg wearing flannel jim-jams, while there is snow on the ground. Life is funny.

But I'm glad my family are:
1. good sports for putting up with my volatile inclinations
2. the best

Last year for Christmas, my mom got a groupon deal for horseback riding, so I decided I would take Cooper. It was the first time he had ever ridden - I couldn't believe it!
My childhood was so great because our grandpa had a ranch, and I was able to go with him and ride the horses there. I haven't been in several years though.
It was a really beautiful day and it was a really nice ride with Coop.

 

One of the reasons I hurried home this break was to go to Disneyland:

A. One last time before our passes were blocked

B. To see the lights of course!!!

Coop, mom, and I finally made it after sitting in traffic for 3 hours (it had been raining and there were about 3-4 accidents) and stayed until closing time. It was a nice last time, though we didn't get to go on every ride that we planned on. 

However, we did manage one victory: we convinced Cooper to go on California Screaming (the big roller coaster) for the first time.

(Also, I realllllly need to work on night-time photography - so many of the pictures from this night were blurry.)

I know that the quality of this photo of a photo is terrible, but I wanted to share this picture - it's my favorite picture, because it's the only one I have of my whole family. It is my sister Elizabeth's birthday today, and she would have been 10 years old. It seems so strange to think it was that long ago, especially when I remember some of the details of her short life so vividly.
A lot of people don't know that I have a sister, or that she passed away. When I was young, I kept it to myself because the ones who did know treated me differently, and I didn't want that; I didn't want people to feel sorry for me.

It took several years to come to terms with what happened, and I'm ok. My family - we're ok. I don't doubt where she is, I don't wonder about what happened to her. It still hurts to think about losing the opportunity to grow up with a sister in this life, but it gives me a chance to remember the things that I know to be true.

I am so incredibly grateful for the gospel, and for the doctrine that we have. I am grateful that the Lord has provided a way for us to be sealed as a family. For those of you who don't know anything about my religion and what I believe, just know that Family is what matters. 
I know that I will get to be with my entire family again someday.

When I went down to SLC for Benn's farewell dinner, the Travellers came to see him off. My "Uncle" was adamant about joining them for Thanksgiving, so I went to their house to spend the holiday with them.
I say "Uncle" because these people are not related to me at all. But, I have known them my entire life - literally - and I think of their kids as my cousins. I see them more often than I see my real cousins, and I am really close with them.

It was a wonderful, yet casual week; we all worked on that crazy puzzle pictured above, we went on some walks, went to the movies, and talked.
I was really grateful to be at home with a family during Thanksgiving, even though it wasn't my own. I guess sometimes it could be strange to think about that, because siblings fight, and people get cranky with each other - It's just how families are. 

But still, there is just something about a group of people who know and love you.

Here's what you missed on this weeks episode of Skype Sunday...

Cooper manages to spare a few minutes from the xbox to talk,
Oliver, master and commander of the blank stare, shows his indifference to my existence,
& Mum shows me what could or could not be a broken toe.

I'm finally getting around to posting about taking Bennett to the MTC, which was 3 weeks ago tomorrow.

It was an incredibly short trip; I drove down with my grandparents and we were there less than 24 hours. It was a really fun time despite this, and I'm really glad I went down then.

The night we got there, we went to Cracker Barrel because that's where he wanted to have his last dinner. We met up with tons of our family, and about 30 of us were there terrorizing the place. Kids running everywhere, confused soda orders; there might have been a broken glass. I can't remember. It was so much fun though.

The next day, my dad gave him one last blessing and that was a nice experience for my family. We had breakfast at the hotel, and then did some last minute shopping for suitcases and whatnot. My uncle Blake met us at the Provo temple and took some pictures with his super nice fancy camera, and we said our goodbyes because they don't really let you do that at the MTC anymore. I hugged him and told him how surreal this all felt. It didn't hit me then either, like with Brianne.

My mom didn't even cry - Cooper did, funny enough. Even though those two fight like crazy, Cooper was bawling about how Bennett is one of his best friends, and what is he going to do now? I hugged him and told him it was going to be ok.

We've heard back from him twice and he seems to be doing well. He talks about how much fun they all have there, and that it's difficult to focus sometimes. He doesn't say too much, even in letters. Sometimes getting him to talk is like pulling teeth.

I miss him, but I know where he needs to be, and I think he knows that too.

When school ended, my family (minus dad) came up to get me and we took a temple trip on the way home. It was mostly for Bennett, but it was cool to go to so many different temples in such a short amount of time.

Wednesday 24th - My family came to my apartment and picked me up. We all went to the Rexburg temple, and Cooper and I were the first people that Bennett got to baptize/confirm. Grandma and mom watched. Tears were shed.

Later on that day, we drive to the Idaho Falls temple. Coop and I do baptisms.

25th - We say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and we drive to Logan to visit the Travellers. We can't go to the temple because of Pioneer Day, so we play with them and have a good time.

26th - We wake up early to go to the Logan temple. I like how it looks. Later on, we drive to Salt Lake City. As far as temples go, that was the most convoluted temple I had visited. It's really beautiful though.

27th - We wake up and catch the waffle truck at the Adobe building in Lehi. SO GOOD WOWOWOW. I felt sick but it was so worth it. Later on that afternoon, we make it to St. George and Cooper and I do baptisms there.

28th - We drive home and we're all pretty tired of traveling. 

Happy birthday to my mom! 

This is her at Farrell's Ice Cream on her 9th birthday.

Isn't she cute?

I know I haven't blogged for weeks. I haven't really had time to, and we can thank school for that.

But I'm posting now because my brother Bennett just got his mission call to Romania and Maldova and I'M FREAKING OUT about it!!!

He leaves October 16th, so luckily, I'll have the summer to spend some time with him.

Growing up is so strange. So many conflicting feelings.

The Travellers came over monday and stayed overnight to hang out with us all day yesterday. It's been a long time since we all lived in the same city, but it's always a joyous occasion when we reunite. 

You know those people that you can go a while without talking to, but every time you get together, it's like you were never separated? That's us. We've always called them our cousins - because you don't have to be blood to be family. I love them. I wish they could have stayed longer, but we all had a really fun time.

My body finally succumbed to the cold it had been fighting off for the past week, though I feel like it chose a poor time to do so. Too many Easter day festivities to prepare and execute, including; ward choir performance, ysa pianist duties, and the setting up and decor for dinner. And find some moments here and there to remember the Savior's marvelous gift for us and cry over Consider the Lilies. What a day.

I had a nice day though, despite illness. My mom is still kicking herself for forgetting the ham in the oven at home. It was great. I'm proud of her for not getting too upset about it.

After surveying the avacado grove, Papa had a thought. 

"I forgot that vampires live here."

Good night, everyone.