our desert adventure

so it's been a month. I have been doing so much end-of-year homework. holy crap, can I just say, most stressful time of year. so then summer starts, and I'm supposed to feel relieved. nope. on fridays, I practice tennis with Timpview for about 2 1/2 hours, and on other weekdays, I do the provo city league tennis for an hour. on saturdays, I have 1 hour with a private tennis coach who actually used to be the BYU tennis captain, and sometime in there, i play with my mom or with friends. so tennis takes up a lot of time. to earn money, I will be teaching piano lessons to little kids in my ward. and I still have to do some summer work. so I'm actually pretty busy this summer.

because we went to Japan last year, we decided to just have a chill summer and never leave the state of Utah. we spent an enjoyable 4 days in Moab this week to start off the vacation.

we drove away Tuesday morning after I went to my first Timpview tennis practice for an hour and a half. I am a walk on, so I don't really know anyone on the team so I just practiced hitting with the new freshman. anyways, we stopped off at Canyonlands National Park, did a little hike, drive around to some viewpoints, and took several pictures. it was really hot and we got tired quickly. we made it to our condo in Moab around dinnertime, and just chilled there.

Wednesday we hiked the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. since I hate hiking, I wasn't very excited for this hike. we were told it would take 3 hours, and there are no bathrooms anywhere, and we can't just poop on the trail, as Wesley brilliantly suggested. I braced myself for the worst, but it was pretty easy. we had a guide who stopped every 5 seconds pretty much to talk to us about the beauty of nature. it was more like a chill, extra long, intense nature walk with some rock climbing in the desert. after the hike, we went to some other arch, but it was really hot and we were all getting grumpy and tired. I don't remember exactly what happened, but my mom decided she had enough of me and spat a ton of her water in my face. I got back at her, and then she did it again, but this time she practically showered me with her water. at this point, we decided to leave, go back to the condo, take naps, and watch Elf. i know, you are thinking that we're insane, watching Elf in June. but that was the only movie they had at the condo, and it's hilarious, so why the heck wouldn't we watch it?

 Thursday we went river rafting! we left early in the morning, got in a van with some guy from Wisconsin and our guide, and drove along this really bumpy road for a looooooong time before we finally got to the river, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. we finally got on the raft, and it was just our family and Jake the river guide. poor Jake had to drive us, row our boat, and put up with us all day! the night before, the boys and i made plans to see who would get thrown out of the boat first and how long it would take. but we didn't do anything on our list. we were pretty good, I guess. by the end of the day, Jake knew pretty much everything about our whole family and could probably fit right in! the raft was fun, and I admit I did freak out when the rapids came and was terrified of flipping out of the boat. but we were all safe, got soaked, no one fell out of the boat, and had a great time. and no one got sunburnt. that's a great accomplishment.

friday or today, we packed up all our things and drove home! but first, we stopped at Goblin Valley to play around in the hoodoos and eat lunch. mom and Wesley had gone camping there last year with my grandpa and cousins and they said they had an amazing time, so Dad, Justin, and I were the only ones who had never seen it in our lives. all I knew about it was 1. rednecks like to go camping there, and 2. the music video for Human by The Killers was filmed there. it was a really fun place to just run around and check out everything and climb on the hoodoos. we found some pretty cool caves. but of course, Justin and Wesley wandered off, got lectured, Justin had a meltdown because he wanted to stay longer, it got really hot because we're in a desert in the middle of nowhere, I ran out of water, and my parents realized we had to eat ASAP. we all needed to refill our water bottles, but the water was yellow and questionable, so we asked a ranger, who said it was fine, just full of sand. yeeeeeeh. so we ate some sandwiches, drank some sandy water, and drove home.

I had a pretty fun time, even though I would've much rather been in London, New York, or San Francisco. or Tokyo again. someday, I want to travel the world.

social awkwardness (but people still love me anyway, right?)

I am a very friendly person. I am very outgoing, and I love being with people. I can't stop talking.
I don't consider myself to be in any groups or cliques, simply because I don't really like it that way. while I do have some friends that I am really close to, I don't really like to say that I have one specific "best friend." I don't want to pick favorites. I like all my friends, for different reasons.
sometimes I can be a horrible friend. sometimes I don't keep all my promises and back out. but we all do that. but yeah... if I've ever been that jerk friend to any of you, I'm really sorry.
and sometimes I am really socially awkward. I say the wrong things at the wrong times. I do something embarrassing in public.

I had a lovely night with my friends this weekend, in case you were wondering. I went to the Edgemont Elementary school extravaganza with Raquel. (I didn't go to that school, but she and a lot of my friends did.) we got cotton candy and got really sticky, played the games, and had a great time! and we saw so many other people there too from our school, not just elementary school kids! so I got to see a lot of my other friends there too.
 my friends Ashley and Jackson were in charge of this soccer game, and I was wearing these sandals that are impossible to do anything in. so, I couldn't kick the ball anywhere. I was given 4 shots, and I wanted to make my 4th one count. so I said, "Jackson, this one's for you!" I kicked it as hard as I could in my stupid sandals. the ball went sailing in the wrong direction, and I slipped on the grass. how embarrassing for me. Raquel even told me she was embarrassed for me.
me (to Jackson): Well......that wasn't what I expected. I can do better than that.
Jackson (laughing at me so hard he's probably dying): no, that was great! best thing I've seen!
me: I played soccer for 2 years. see why I quit?
Jackson (still laughing at me): yeah..... I can see that. but still.... those were some pretty good kicks.

and of course, him being a boy, kicks a perfect goal for me. I should either work on my kicks, or wear different shoes. perhaps I should do both.

that just shows my social awkwardness. I do embarrassing things. even my closest friends agree that I do embarrassing things. I'm pretty sure I embarrassed Raquel some more by failing miserably at other games. but we had a good time. then she left to eat dinner, and I stayed and talked with Jackson, who kept on teasing me about my "soccer skills." I told him that Raquel was actually embarrassed just watching me, and he said, "she shouldn't be. that was the greatest kick I've ever seen." then he did something almost as bad as my kick: at that one bowling game where you throw a baseball at aluminum cans, he hit a little girl in the face. he felt really bad and was super nice to the girl and her parents. but funny how both of us played games that didn't go the way we planned? then, he drove me home and we listened to The Killers, which we both love.

speaking of which, my playlist is back. if you hate it, you can turn it off.

 my cotton candy, which fell apart after Raquel took this picture. and those shoes I am wearing, are impossible to kick a soccer ball in!

me and Raquel, pretending we are 4 years old.

I love my Brookie.

this beautiful girl right here is Brooke Christen. she has got to be one of my best friends in the world, if you couldn't tell from the picture. matching pants, matching tops (well same color), and our shoes aren't even matching but they're pretty sweet.... and we didn't even PLAN that. and believe it or not, we're both 15, even though she's like a head taller than me. speaking of 15....

she turned 15 on Sunday! but we had a celebration on Saturday. my other friend, Brooke Olsen, threw her a surprise party at her house. and boy, was she surprised! her reaction was priceless. she was so happy to see all of us there, celebrating her. and she deserved all the celebration she could get. Brooke is one of the sweetest girls I know. She is always just so happy and is always smiling. she's a good person to talk to about anything, whether it be complaining about school, venting, or boys- she always listens. and she is just very talented at everything she does. guys, if you don't know Brooke, you are missing out! and Brooke, you probably aren't aware of this blogs existance, but it exists. and I love you. so much.

oh, and I am officially a member of the iPhone Club. it took almost 2 years of begging, getting grounded, and disappointment, but I am finally the proud owner of an iPhone 4. I have no idea how my parents gave in. but they did.

life is good right now.

~easter weekend.

so......... a much needed spring break has started. it seems to have come at the perfect time. On Saturday, the weather was lovely. I started out the morning playing tennis with Mom. I mostly did conditioning and practiced my serve, and I can feel myself getting better each time. then, we went home, showered, and got ready to go to Salt Lake for the General Young Women Conference with Haley and Alyssa! their mom, Elizabeth, drove us all up there, and we all did some shopping at City Creek.

 me and Mom

 Alyssa, Haley, and me

us 3 girls went shopping and had a really great time! while the Spackman girls were in Gap trying stuff on, my mom and I hit H&M because she knows I take forever in there. sometime while I was taking forever in the fitting room, we met up with Haley and Alyssa again and we got some really cute things, including a new Easter dress for me. then, it was time to go down to the Conference Center, which is only 1 block away from City Creek. you have to walk through Temple Square to get there. it was so pretty and the weather was gorgeous. the last time I went up there with the Spackmans, it was freezing cold and it was in December, so this was a nice change. as soon as the Prophet entered the conference center, everything was quiet. the meeting was really nice. the theme was "stand in holy places, and be not moved." all the talks were really good. my favorite was Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk. I don't know what it is, but he is always my favorite speaker.
after the meeting, we took tons of pictures. and I ran into my lovely friend Kate, who I hadn't see since 8th grade! we talked and talked and it was so awesome to catch up with her again! I've missed her soooo much this year. I'm also really good friends with Jackson, her brother who's a year older than me. she's a year younger than me. so next year, we're all gonna be at Timpview together and it's gonna be a PARTY!!!! 

Kate me, and the photobomb.

 the cute Spackmans

then we all ate at Kneaders and shopped some more. we finally left the mall at 9:30 PM. I had such a great day with my best friends, filled with shopping, good food, and spiritual-ness. after I got home, i had to hide all the eggs for the boys to find. (they don't even believe, yet they still have to hunt for eggs.) they wake up really early to find all the eggs and eat all the candy. Since I don't wake up early, my parents always give me extra candy in my basket so I don't have to hunt for the eggs at 6am. for breakfast, we had crepes with strawberries and whipped cream. then, we had church. Easter is probably my favorite Sunday of the year, because everyone either has a new dress, or if they don't, they still look really springy and it's fun to see how cute everyone looks. after church, we went over to my grandparents to have dinner and did another easter egg hunt.

so, here's the more spiritual part. we had a really good Young Womens lesson, and at the end, we could bear our testimonies. recently, I have been thinking more about the Atonement and all the Savior has done for me. and it's really amazing to know that he did everything for us. I'm not a very spiritual person and I don't usually think about stuff like this, but we have been talking a lot about it in church and Seminary, and it has helped me a lot to know that He is always there, and that He died for us, and that someday, we can see Him again. It is truly amazing to know how lucky we are, to have this knowledge, to know that He lives. 

oh, and happy April fools. Wesley woke me up, panicking. he said, "Miriam, Mom's in the hospital! She was running and she fell and broke her ankle!" and I totally fell for it and started panicking. and then Justin said, "Miriam, it's APRIL FOOLS!" gosh. I feel so dumb. he scared the crap out of me!