Waz up?

Ok, so basically, I stink at blogging.. I forget to do it and I fall behind.  So, therefore, I hereby promise to try to do better in the future.  I'll try, I said.  :D  If I fail, I fail. Oh well. Right now, my body is SO SORE from P90X, which my youth minister talked me into doing tonight for the first time. I don't think there is a part of my body that feels normal.  Maybe my ears... Idk.  I'll have to ponder on it....

Airplanes, Mountains, Mooses OH MY!

So... I am finally able to draw my own conclusion about airplanes. Over three days, I rode a total of 8 airplanes.  Yeah.  I dare anyone to even TRY to beat that.  The first plane left Gainesville at 5:35 am on Thursday. It was pitch black, I hadn't slept at all that night, and Christopher was sitting by me in a plane 4 seats across. VERY SMALL AIRPLANE. So, we taxi... and taxi... and taxi some more, and then all of a sudden, the pilot revs the engine and starts going 150 mph on the freaking runway.  I'm freaking out and I'm clutching Christopher's arm like it's my lifesaver and I'm drowning.  He's laughing the whole way up.  I can't even look out the window b/c I'm so scared.  Let me explain WHY I was scared.  First of all, it was my first plane ride EVER, which brings up the point that I've never been off of the ground.  Not even on a rollercoaster. So, I was unfamiliar with the sensation of LEAVING the ground behind completely and watching it fall away as we are gaining altitude at a very awkward tilt.  After I got over the initial fright of it, I was able to be fascinated by the ground so very far beneath me... until we started our decent.  Oh yes.  Actually, before we started our descent, I decided I wanted to take a picture.  On the airplane. While it's dark outside. So I make sure my flash is off, and I take one of Christopher.  Ok, well. That didn't work. So I switch settings and snap again, not knowing that i just turned the flash on again.  Yikes.  That was embarrassing.  I pretended it wasn't me, but that didn't work b/c Christopher was laughing his head off.  lol. It was funny.  Anyways, we landed and ran to our next plane... Everytime we landed, we were in a different time zone, so we were losing an hour everytime we landed.  It was awkward. And I learned you have to turn everything electronic OFF when you're in descent or takeoff.  I don't really know why.  Anyways, we got in at Jackson Hole, WY after stopping in Atlanta, New Orleans, Denver and finally our destination at about 12:30 pm (which was really like 3:30) and we got our sweet Cadillac Escalade.  W00T! It was phenomenal.  There is nothing like getting off of a small plane and realizing you just landed at the base of the TETONS! Holy Toledo.  It was crazy to see them mountains there.  We went to the hotel, got our room, Robert crashed on the bed (he hadn't slept in two nights, I hadn't slept the night before, but i was invigorated) and we went sight seeing around town.  Saw some bison, some droll sheep, some elk, some Canada Geese, some statues, some antlers, some stores, and SNOW. Well, not a lot of snow... yet. :D

When we went to dinner at Bubba's (he started with Sonny's in Gainesville, but moved to Jackson Hole. It was basically a Sonny's w/o Sweet Tea, my dad's worst nightmare) and ate some yummins.  There was this mountain that looked like it was across the street, and it was!  It was just a lot farther than I thought it was.  So after dinner, it had started to sprinkle and I thought it was snowing, but the mountain had snow on it (it was really more of a hill) and i was like, "Hey Christopher, will you run over to that mountain across the street w/ me real quick?" and everybody laughed and that became the running joke of the trip.  "Hey Sally! Go run over to that mountain, we'll come pick you up tomorrow sometime".  Apparently, mountains play distance judgment tricks on you.  It was really about 2 miles away, not just across the street. oops.  lol

OK, so the next day, we get up at 7 am to drive to Yellowstone National Park.  I was really hoping to see some snow, which we did, but not until we got far enough into the mountains.  We stopped at this cool village where I had my first frolic in the snow.  Made some freezing cold snowballs, threw a lot of them, and watched my dad wipe out on a patch of ice.  I felt really bad for him.  :(  Anyways, I was excited about the snow.  We drove on and saw this frozen lake that was GORGEOUS. I cannot even describe this lake to you.  It had the Tetons in the back ground and this reflection was perfect.  The water was so blue!  It looked like a painting.  I got some pics I'll have to post eventually. (Duh, of COURSE I got pics.)  There was a dam on the other side, which was the bridge we drove over.  It was pretty amazing.  Christopher made the discovery that the dam controls were NOT under lock and key, and anyone could turn the dam on or off... Bad idea people.  I got a picture of him "pushing" the button.  (Not really)  Then, we got into Yellowstone.  The pass opened 30 minutes before we got there.  This is after we got an upgrade on the car we wanted.  It just gets better from here.  We got into Yellowstone and the snow just kept getting deeper and deeper (it wasn't actively snowing, this was on the ground).  At some places, the wall of snow around the two lane road we were taking was 7-8 feet high.  Talk about fantastic.  I was ready to stop at every pullover, but my dad wanted to get to Old Faithful.  Once we got there, she was just finishing her latest blow, so we ran on into the Lodge to get some grub.  This restaurant is famous world wide for their food.  We found out after we ate our salmon and bison chili that we were the 4th party to eat there THAT YEAR.  They had just opened up that very day, like 5 minutes before we got there.  We did not plan any of this people.  It was nuts.  The Lodge was 8 stories high, and made completely of wood.  Like the logs you read about in Little House on the Prairie.  It was fantastic.  

Old Faithful is amazing.  She blows every 90 minutes or so, and reaches pretty dang high.  I can't remember just how high, but she's not the highest.  Then we drove to the Hot Pools.  These are not the type of pools you can leisurely enjoy, they will dissolve you pretty much.  The warning sign outside of the lot showed a very graphic picture of a kid being disintegrated because he jumped in.  Motivation to watch you step, let me tell you.  Well we saw Morning Glory, she was beautiful... and stinky.  That place smells like thousands of rotten eggs.  I kid you not.  While we were at Morning Glory, we saw bison on the other side of the pool. We're talking nothing is separating us from these buffalo. So Christopher gets wise and starts his mating call.  Oh yes.  Several of them start sauntering over.  "Hey Baby, what's shaking?"  Not really, they didn't get too close, but close enough to make me nervous.  Lol.  We saw a crow in the parking lot the size of Big Bird.  He was terrorizing some lady in her vehicle.  She wouldn't get out of her car b/c he was sitting on her car.  Lol, It was funny.  

Next, we tried to go to the Paint Pots, but the sows were feeding and they had cubs, so we didnt' want to get eaten and we drove on.  On the way back, we stopped at several turn offs to play in the snow!  Once, Michael had this bright idea of making an imprint of somebody in the side of the wall and so he's shoving Christopher in the side as Christopher's yelping in pain.  I think all he got was a shoulder print.  lol. That was the one where we used Robert's computer case as a sled and slid down the hill.  It was FUN. SO fun.  We made a snowman by the lake (the frozen one afore mentioned), we threw numerous snowballs at each other, and my dad got his fair share. ;)  We visited a boardwalk that overhung a ledge where a water fall was dumping it's contents into a river, which reminded me of Narnia b/c of the rock cliff we were on. I got snow shoved down my pants there.  I was making a hoard of snowballs to fire and Robert ran at me and tackled me and shoved me into the snow and gave me a wet wedgie.  We had to climb up a four foot snow bank to get ON the boardwalk.  It was scary because if you veered left or right before you hit the boardwalk, you'd walk off the edge of the cliff that was probably a 80 foot drop.  Scary stuff.

We stopped at the Yellowstone sign coming out of the park.  We were getting lots of pictures and didn't notice that Robert was walking out to the edge of the cliff, looking down into the steeply declining valley below us.  He realized he was too far out when he looked down and saw fir branches sticking up out of the snow and looking back at the fence line 2 feet behind him.  He didn't fall, the snow was pretty tightly packed, but it was so weird.  "I'm standing on top of trees!"  Nice.  We were on nice icy snow, the perfect snow ball combination, so I got wise and decided to tackle Robert.  It would have been perfect if he hadn't twisted going down and shoved my face into the snow.  It left a perfect face print.  You could see my ear, my glasses, my nose, and my TEETH (I went down screaming).  Needless to say, it was a hit, pardon the pun.  Christopher insisted on getting a picture to document this amazing miracle of a funny.

Next, we stopped to see a water fall that was simply gorgeous!  I had my SLR camera around my shoulders crossways on my back and I decided to sabotage Christopher with a snowball. So, I grab some snow and begin forming it, walking very quickly toward him, who is at this time, is coming up behind me.  He sees what I'm doing and stops to get some snow.  So... I start running.  We're on a bridge, near a waterfall, there is snow everywhere but this is not registering.  So as i begin to run, Michael yells, "Watch out for the ice!" as my feet fly up in front of me.  To save the camera on my back, I twist in a very awkward way, land on my hip, but I save the camera!  I try to get up and literally cannot walk.  Another snowball opportunity gone.  My knee still hurts from that fall.  I think I got it worse than my dad did when he fell.  lol.  Christopher has to carry me back to the car.  I felt so bad, like i was in immense pain.  It was funny because of how stupid I looked when i was falling, but the pain didn't start to wear off until later that night.  

We drove back to Jackson Hole, saw a total of 8 moose, including babies, and we ate a the Gun Barrel.  it was SO GOOD.  I saw the fur coat the someone famous wore during a movie. I can't remember who it was, or what movie it was, but it was cool. :)  When we left the next morning at 6:30, it was 21º.  In English, that is COLD.  very very cold.  We had a nice leisurely trip back home, with three hour layovers at every airport.  Denver was cool.  Birmingham was stinky, we ate at the only restaurant in the entire airport.  Atlanta is BY FAR the coolest airport we were in.  It is two miles long, at least, and has TRAINS.  I rode them a lot.  :) Oh, and it has a mall in it.  I didn't by anything, but I'm so glad that i took a suitcase that rolled.  It saved my arm.  We ate at Popeye's in Atlanta.  My dad was so elated about the sweet tea, he was ready jump over the counter and embrace the employees.  lol.  This was the airport where I lost my hat going over the first time, so Christopher decides 1 1/2 hours before our plane leaves to walk the two miles to Lost and Found to file a claim... Without his boarding pass.  Smartness just oozes out of this man.  So... He's stuck and can't get back in.  Michael decides to go after him and won't take my phone b/c his is dead.  "He's just at the baggage claim!"  Wrong.  Michael doesn't have a phone and runs off with Christopher's boarding pass.  Robert then goes after him to find Michael now, and takes my phone.  I was getting VERY VERY nervous b/c this was the last flight to Gainesville that day.  Our plane was delayed 15 minutes by God so that Robert, Michael and Christopher could get back in time.  If the plane hadn't been delayed that long, we would have missed our flight home.  God was with us.

I was so happy to touch down in Gainesville, but I couldn't help but leave a part of me in Wyoming.  It's a part that needs to be reunited one day, so I'm sure I'll be going back to visit.  This time, longer than a day and a half.  lol.  It was fantastic and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.  

P.S.  I have to say something about our flight from New Orleans to Denver.  It was a 2 1/2 hour flight and I wasn't seated with my family.  So, I'm in the middle seat and this guy comes to sit in the aisle seat.  He sits down and is like "Heeeey", while he's looking me from bottom to top. Awkward.  "You going to Denver?"  Oh. My. Goodness.  "I'm going to Denver too."  I was like, "No kidding!"  I was actually getting scared and thinking "what would I do if he made a move on me???? Do I hit him? Do i yell at him?  Dear Jesus keep me safe".  He hit on me the whole way over and didn't shut up one time.  That was the rockiest descent of the whole trip and throughout the 15 minute descent, he talked and talked and talked, and I'm getting ready to throw up on him.  Then the lady across the aisle is throwing up into her baggie and this dude starts freaking out and looking rather ill himself.  I'm talking about the plane dropping, not touching my seat at times, being thrown into his lap, him being thrown into mine.  The bad thing about airplanes is you can't ask them to pull over and let you off.  Needless to say, I was SUPER glad to get out of that plane.  I do NOT like being that close to perverts for two and a half hours.  Actually, I don't like being that close to perverts at all.  lol. 

Are You My Friend?

So here's the deal... One of the attributes I'm working on these days is friendliness.  Like, not tell my brother that he look like a giant, walking praying mantis when I feel like lashing out at someone, like smiling at some random person just because it's Wednesday, or like thanking my Dad for toting me all across town cause I don't have my license yet.  It's called LIFE.  We interact everyday with people, so we need to have people skills.  I used to not know what that really meant.  Instead of just existing and getting by with whatever curve ball is thrown your way, make the most of it.  Make people smile, laugh, giggle, and most of all, feel loved.  That all ties in with Friendliness.  Being someone's friend means more than just talking at them... telling them your sorrows, your pain, but rather listening to theirs, or simply sending an I LOVE YOU their way.  It means more than you could possibly know.  Believe me, I've been on the receiving side and it makes a world of difference.

Then there's the problem of being too friendly.  Like that guy who wanted to "study".  "Yeah, just put your # in my phone, we'll study sometime".  Guess what.  We haven't studied.  But he's txted me plenty.  

SURPRISE!

Yeah, I have to learn to say 'NO, not a chance bub'.  *sigh* But you see, I'm into extremes.  Extreme friendliness, or extreme UNfriendliness.  It's hard for me to find an inbetween.  But alas, I MUST.  There is no other way.  I have to learn to stand my ground while keeping a peaceful, light, funny, attractive appearance.  

Yeah right.  Let me fly to the moon first.   

Anywho,  

Wow, I just had a really cool thought.  My mom has two vases of roses on our buffet.  One vase holds dying roses, the other really pretty live roses.  Does this mean something?  Like, can I apply that concept to my life?  Is it painting a picture, stating a fact, drawing attention to something that I can't see?  I don't know.  But it's 11:30 pm and I have to get some sleep.  I'll ponder on it and let you know later.