Thanksgiving in the desert

so........... there once lived a girl named Miriam Elaina Castle and she was a freshman in high school. in spite of starting 6 weeks late because of an extended vacation in Japan, life was going great. there were cute boys, football games, good friends........nothing was better. then, when 2nd term started, all of that changed. all her teachers would be giving her credit from that point on. and that's when all the homework started piling up like crazy. not just in academic classes, but electives as well. the dance concert (which is tomorrow and saturday in the THS auditorium at 7, please come!) was approaching quickly, so after school rehearsals added to the stress. in addition to all this, piano practicing (which sadly, she has neglected on the most part) was taking up a majority of the time. so, in the rare free time, it was spent resting and sleeping and being with friends. so, that's what's happened to the blogger here. but hey, she's back for a little while!

somewhere in the middle of all this stressful business came thanksgiving break. so, the Castle crew packed their bags with......... 3 outfits because this wasn't tokyo where you had to pack 1/2 your closet, snacks, CDs, and the eldest girl was forced to bring the Utah Drivers Handbook (at the rate this is going, I'm not going to get my permit until I'm out of the house. most boring book in the world!), a 100 pound math book, the Japanese Vocabulary notebook, and other stuff that she didn't accomplish over the break, and we headed down to Phoenix to see our cousins! sure, there was a 12 hour drive, but we were too busy sleeping and blasting the new One Direction CD! (The first one is way better.) I'm not saying that we had fun in the car. I, for one, get a little queasy when it comes to long drives. my brothers get restless and either try to kill each other, or try to kill me. and I can never fall asleep in a moving vehicle unless it's a train. but where are you going to find a shinkansen (bullet train) in the desert? see, that's the question. (I want to go back to Tokyo i think right about now.) but we arrived in Phoenix without too many problems.

we stayed with my dad's sister Emily, her husband Cody, and their 2 beautiful boys, Jackson and Tyson! it was our first time meeting 8 month old Tyson, and we hadn't seen Jackson ever since he was 18 months, and now he's almost 3. how do these kiddos grow up so fast? that's the question. Tyson is adorable and was so close to crawling! once, we were both laying on our bellies and I decided to try to get him to crawl. he was trying to imitate me, pulling himself into position and kicking his feet, but he never made it to crawling. but he was so close and it was darling watching him imitate me! Jackson.......what can I say? he's crazy and energetic and never gets tired. as soon as I came in, he said, "Hey Hey! You're my cousin right? Guess what? I have all these toys! This is my car! Oh, and you guys are sleeping in my bedroom! Look at my bed! Look at this, look at this!" he has the cutest laugh, and gives the sweetest hugs and kisses. I miss them so much already!

on thursday, we went up to Uncle Cody's brother's house in Queen Creek. our grandparents drove up from Sierra Vista, Arizona to come see us. but the only people I really knew were my Mullenaux cousins, my grandparents, and my family. everyone else was related to my cousins, but not me, so they were my cousins cousins. they already knew each other, so it kinda felt a bit awkward, but I made some new friends and we had a great time stuffing ourselves, playing soccer, and having Wesley kick the ball over the fence! and it was our first time seeing Grandma and Grandpa Castle since before we left for Japan, so we had a lot to tell them! and the food was amazing. after settling down, at around 10:30 pm, I was hungry again so...... more turkey!

 me, tyson, and justin. ya i know, i don't look my best in the mornings!

 grandma castle and me

 our closest attempt to a family picture..... my brothers don't know how to smile.

 tyson and me!

 Jackson and me!

wesley and Kennedy, his new girlfriend who happens to be 4 years younger...... ;)

Friday, the girls went shopping and the boys (besides Tyson) went hiking. Tyson came along with Mom, Grandma, Emily, and me. we didn't wake up early, so our Black Friday shopping started at 11 am. at Kohls, we had to wait in line for at least an hour just to get to the cash register! after that, we needed a break so Mom met some of her cousins at Pita Jungle. not really my type of restaurant, but it was fine. when we finally got full, we headed down to the Arizona Mills mall in Tempe. I got a lot of stuff there, but I didn't have any money, so they're all Christmas presents! finally at around 6, we pretty much shopped til we dropped, so we headed back to the Mullenauxs to eat turkey sandwiches, play games and bond with the cousins.

unfortunately, on Saturday, we had to leave sunny Phoenix and go back to freezing cold Provo! our cousins were probably really confused when we left, and we will all miss those cute boys! I am so thankful that we were able to see them. and to end this post, I will now state things I am thankful for.

family... all of them. my mommy, my daddy, Wes, and Justin, and my cousins and grandparents!
every single one of my lovely friends!
music
shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
clothes!
crazy socks
my house
my school (because all my friends are there)
dance
tennis
the church
our adventure in Japan
FOOD!
sumo wrestling
One Direction (even though their old style is better)
my iPod
my phone that I wish was an iPhone
everything