Christmas is Coming!

I usually don't get too excited about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I refuse to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but as soon as the Christmas merchandise came out, I couldn't stop myself from getting Christmas lights to put up in my room.
My sisters and I put them up in our room two years ago but we didn't last year and I really missed them. So this year I bought my own twinkling Christmas lights and hung them up in our room.
Check it out!

Here's what my bed looks like. Sorry my desk and nightstand are a disaster.

I can never quite clean my room and keep it clean for very long.

Here's the ceiling above my bed.

Over by the closet and about the door.

Once again, sorry about the mess :p

And then it goes over Bekah's bed and drapes around the dresser.

We really like it and I can't wait to spend more time in my room enjoying the twinkling Christmas lights.

And yes, our room really is quite small. We've learned to live with it. But the small amount of space is why it's always such a disaster!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!!!

Wow is life crazy busy or what? I wish I could spend time to blog but alas, I suppose other things are a bit more important. Road Trip! Part Two coming soon!

Road Trip! Part One.

This summer the Kaufmann's invited me to go on vacation with them. Of course I couldn't resist a road trip, so I went with them. It was a crazy trip, full of late night rides, sleeping in the car, running away from a hurricane, car problems, history lessons, meeting new people, and lots and lots of McDonalds.

Our trip started on Sunday, August 21st. We honestly didn't leave til after 9:00pm. I can't remember exactly, maybe it was later. I just know we were at the Kaufmann's for a while packing up the car. We were on our way to Vermont first so we crossed into Canada the first night to pass through into New York. Passing the border was scary but thankfully we were able to pass without any difficulties. We ended up driving through the night, which meant sleeping in the car and getting very little sleep. So in the morning we were at a rest stop and we changed and brushed our teeth.

Isaac had such a great night sleep.

On Monday we spent the day driving through New York. We stopped at the Welcome Center when we crossed from Canada back into the U.S. and for lunch we stopped at some roadside place. 

It was rather chilly so  Isaac and I were bundled up.

Then it started to rain but Mr. Kaufmann didn't see any problem with that.

We also stopped in Lake Placid where the Winter Olympics take place, or where the athletes train. We walked up to the ice arena first and when we got there it started to pour so we stayed in the ice arena for a while. When the rain let up, we went shopping in the little shops. I think I just got some postcards and a charm for my charm bracelet.

After Lake Placid, we continued on our way to Vermont. In order to get to Vermont we had to ride across Lake Champlain on a ferry boat. While we were waiting for the boat, we looked into the sky and there was a double rainbow!!

We almost look photoshopped into this picture.

And of course we had to get a Titanic picture.

We finally made it to our lodgings in Vermont. We had a nice little suite in a very nice motel. We ate delicious pizza for dinner, watched TV, I did homework, and eventually we fell asleep after a long day of driving. On Tuesday morning, Isaac and I took a walk on the bike path that was behind the motel. We didn't walk too far but it was nice to be out in the Vermont weather.

Isaac looks super adorable ten minutes after waking up :)

 Happy to be out of the car and enjoying Vermont!

For lunch we got some sort of pasta and Reeses Chocolate Pudding from a shop in town. 

The pudding was so amazing!

 After lunch we went shopping. Isaac and I really liked these snowshoe seats. 

They were very comfy!

This store had a bubble machine. It was really cool to see bubbles floating around everywhere.

On our way back to our motel, we stopped at another strip mall of stores and when we tried to leave, the car wouldn't start! It was quite a disappointment. The lady who owned one of the shops we were by was very nice. She helped drive us and all our stuff back to the motel. Mr. Kaufmann called a mechanic in town and he said he would come to the car to fix it. He wasn't able to fix it til the next day though. The lady who drove us to our motel also was kind enough to drive us to our friends house as well, and our friend would drive us home. We spent the evening at our friends house.

Some of the Kaufmann's and Maria von Trapp and Kukuli.

This is what Isaac surprised me with the next morning. He sang me "Two is Better Than One" and presented me with this promise ring. I love it :)

We spent Wednesday just hanging around in our rooms. Isaac, Esther and I took a long walk down the bike path. 

We were rather exhausted on our way back.

That evening we got our car back and then we went up to Maria's house again. On our way up the mountain, we had to stop to get pictures of the beautiful view.

 Panoramic view of the mountains.

 Isaac and I with the mountains :)

We spent the evening singing and talking with Maria and Kukuli. The next morning we packed up everything and then went up to the Von Trapp lodge to look around and take a walk.

 This is the lodge. I have a lot of pictures of the indoors but I didn't feel like uploading all of them.

 Isaac and I about to go inside.

 It was such a steep climb up to this chapel. It was especially hard in flip flops. 

But the chapel was really neat to see.

When we got back down, Isaac had to show off his modeling skills.

After spending a little time in the gift shop and exploring more of the grounds, we stopped at a place in town for lunch and then were on our way to our next stop. 

This is what the back of the van looked like all packed up.

We left Vermont and were on our way to Connecticut. However, that adventure will be told in a different post.

Not Just a Dog

Her name was Lacey.

When I was younger I always called her a Dalmatian since she was white with black spots. However, she was not a dalmatian. The correct breed that Lacey was from was a German Short-Haired Pointer Mix. I like to say that part of that mix is dalmatian. Lacey had a solid black head, as you can see in the picture. I loved her black head.
I have so many memories that involve Lacey. The story of Lacey really begins before I was born. My family got her before I was born, which means Lacey was about a year older than me. My family got Lacey for free because a family was trying to get rid of her. We soon found out the reason why. Lacey was quite the troublesome dog. She always ran away, she jumped over fences, she dug holes under the fence, she made the mailman hate her. She was trouble. But oh, she was so much fun.

Lacey was always there while growing up. She was someone to cuddle with, someone to play with, someone to talk to. She loved going up north to my Grandparents with us. My Grandparents live in a private cove and there is a gate that is maybe about a mile away or less from their house that you have to enter a code to get in. Whenever we got to that gate, we would let Lacey out of the car and she would race us to my Grandparents. She loved it up there. Exploring in the woods, swimming in the lake, running down the shore. Her favorite thing to do when we were younger was to chase rocks that we threw into the lake. We would throw a rock and she would run in after it and bring a rock back, whether it was the rock we threw or not. As Lacey got older, I remember her walking around my Grandparents house over and over again. It was like she was acting as a guard dog.
At our old house, we had this cable that ran across our yard, with another cable that could roll across the whole thing. We had to hook Lacey up to this cable so that she would stay in our yard. When Lacey was younger she could jump OVER the backyard fence. And if she wasn't jumping over the fence, she was digging holes under the fence to escape. I'm not really sure why Lacey always ran away. I know she loved us, so it's not like she was trying to get away from us. I think that she just liked the adventure and thrill it gave her. The neighbors hated Lacey and threatened the call the police every time she got out. The mailman hated Lacey and carried that spray stuff to keep her away from him. I remember him yelling at my Mom about Lacey one time. Though the mailman was always nice to us kids... Well that cord did it's job. It kept Lacey in the backyard most of the time, but one of my favorite memories was when Lacey dug a hole under the fence and crawled into our neighbors yard, WHILE she was still connected to the cable. It was really funny and we all laughed about it.
Even though Lacey ran away all the time, I think we usually had fun catching her. I remember one day trying to catch her. She looked at me and we're all like "Come here Lacey!!!" And she came running towards us! 'Wow, can it be this easy?' we thought. She was smiling as she came running towards us and right at the last minute, she turned around and ran the other way! So of course, we were after her again and trying to catch her. As Lacey grew older, she became more mature in a way. Of course, she was slowing down in her old age. She hardly ever ran off anymore and if she did, it was a lot easier to catch her. She spent a lot of her time just laying around on the couch.

We had to wrap her in a blanket a lot because she often got cold.

I loved Lacey. She had been in our family for so long it was hard to say goodbye. But it was time. She could barely eat, she could barely walk, she left messes in the house. She was old. So on September 27th, 2007, when she was 17 years old, we took her to the vet to put her down. I can't remember if any of the kids went with Mom to the vet, but I think most of us just said goodbye to her at our house. It was easier that way.

When I think about Lacey, I don't think about her being sick and old. I think of her smiling face, her adventuresome spirit and her constant mischief. I still miss Lacey. I always will. She was the first family dog that I ever had so it would be hard not to miss her. Lacey was not just a dog. To me, Lacey was my older sister. She was a friend. Someone I could confide in. I loved Lacey.

Rest in Peace Lacey. I miss you.

Yet Another Blog

I enjoy blogging. Maybe a bit too much. I have several blogs. I deleted all my other Blogspot blogs though because they just weren't getting the attention they deserved. However, I have started this blog. I plan on actually writing on here. I want to just talk about things in life. I have a Tumblr where I post pictures and quotes, and I have another Tumblr where I sometimes write long posts and sometimes just write short little messages about what I am feeling. Blogs are so great. I hope anyone who reads my blog will perhaps, just slightly, enjoy it :)