The Elk

Here is a drawing that I just did tonight of an elk. He was done with watercolor pencils. This is only my second attempt ever at using these pencils (the first time was the red turtle I did), so don't judge me too harshly. You'd think I'd be able to master both color and shapes, but I can't seem to quite peg both. This guy is a little misshapen, but it was a learning experience. And he's not the worst I've done, so . . . whatever. Here he is:

If I feel up to it tomorrow I may try to fix him. If not, then that's as good as he'll get. Haha.

The Tiny Little Frog

Okay . . . tell me this isn't just too cute!

I found that little guy yesterday morning over by the tennis courts on my way back from my morning walk. I was so stoked about finding him that I didn't even stop to consider that it may or may not be a good idea to pick him up (who knows what is and isn't poisonous around here). Fortunately for me, he wasn't poisonous. :) Look how TINY he is! He is sitting on the tip of my pointer finger there. He had a brother hopping around, but I didn't bother to catch him.

Adorable. <3
 

Until We Could Go No Farther . . .

I guess my morning walks with Levi are going to consistently be just over 4 miles now. We used to go only 3, but I like adding that extra mile in there. I always wear flip flops. so I'm getting some nice little blisters. Ha. Oh well. They'll go away eventually.

I have a ton of homework to get to, so I won't be able to spend much time blogging this morning. Mostly I just wanted to share a few pictures from my walk this morning.

 

My favorite palm trees:

 

The tide was waaaay out this morning:

 

 

The end of the line for Levi and I. We walked until we could go no farther. (2.15 miles down the beach):

 

I think I'll knock out this homework, try to get a little sun/pool time in, see about sneaking in a little kickboxing, and spend the rest of the day with a good book. I think S will be out shooting a new gun he got (shooting some sort of gun, anyway), so I doubt I'll be texting much (which is why I'll actually get to read a book!! Haha.) Just over three weeks until he gets here. Yessssss.

A Few Pictures . . .

Do you all want to see the sunrise that greeted me yesterday morning? Check this out:

Is that an epic sunrise, or what? And that was taken with an iPhone, no less. No color edits, nothing. It was absolutely beautiful.

This was the sunrise a few mornings ago . . .

Not as pretty as that first one, in my opinion, but a stunner nonetheless, eh?

I have my dog with me here again this trip. Look how small and cute and cuddly he is:

That was us spooning. :)

I have some really awesome videos that I wish I could upload, but it just takes too long and I don't have the time to wait. I've got homework up the wazoo and it's stressing me out because I have this overwhelming desire to procrastinate. I really need to stop doing that. Ugh. Time to get back to it. More pictures to come later. After S gets here I'll actually be able to post some pictures where I am in them!

Oh, also, I'd like to share this because I thought it was hilarious and brilliant. ;)

Aubrey's Senior Photo

I just have to put a little update on here real quickly. Earlier I mentioned that S was taking Aubrey's senior photos. Well . . . he sent me one of them tonight and it is absolutely GORGEOUS! Mostly because my little sister is gorgeous, but also because S is a brilliant, talented photographer. He's just an all-around good guy, if you ask me. :) Anyway, here is the photo he sent:

Wow. She is stunning. <3

Waiting for the sun to rise . . .

It's almost time for my morning walk, but not quite. I woke up about 5 minute ago and figured that there is no sense in falling back asleep, so I guess I'll do a little blogging instead.

I was feeling super homesick yesterday. I NEVER thought I'd come to Florida and wish to be anywhere else, but . . . home is where the heart is, I guess. And right now my heart is definitely in Idaho. S was in the valley taking pictures of my little sister for her senior pic last night. He sent me a picture of some of the pictures while it was all going down (because he's thoughtful like that), but it wasn't the same as actually being there! And I really wanted to be there! :( Oh, well.

I think I've got a pretty good idea in my head of what S and I will be doing once he gets to Florida. I'm thinking we'll spend one day hitting up the tourist attractions (parasailing, town square, the shell factory, etc), another day renting kayaks and kayaking down the bay, another day (or two) at the Everglades (his idea, but I like it), and one day taking a boat ride down to Key West. That's all I've got so far, but that should occupy most of the week he is here for.

I'm so torn. I don't know whether to follow him home in November or stay out the winter like I originally planned. On one hand, I have my job at Targhee waiting for me if I want it, and I do really want to ski this season, but on the other hand . . . this is FLORIDA! But on the other hand, S is in Idaho. Yeah . . . the end. I'm going back to Idaho. I know I'll miss him too bloody much if I stay. Eff.

Oh, let me show you one of the pictures S sent me of Beibs's photo shoot. (He just took a picture of his camera screen, but you can still get the idea.)

There were a few others that he sent too (that's not even the best one, it's just the first one so I uploaded it).

I wish my front camera on my phone was that good of quality. You want to see how good my camera on the front of my phone does?

I'm just kidding. That picture is just grainy because it was taken in low light and it's majorly zoomed in. My camera actually does excellent. I just wanted to post this picture of my legs! ;)

Alrighty. I think it's finally just light enough that I can hit up the beach and tackle my morning walk. Have a great day, everyone!!

Let's Play Catchup.

I have developed an extraordinary talent for not blogging for long periods of time. My last blog talked about a BBQ I was dreading going to. Just for the record: It was actually a ton of fun!

I'm obviously back home in Idaho now (since it's now JUNE! Holy crap, where does the time go??). I came back at the perfect time (May 10th). I haven't seen snow one time. :) It has, however, been raining. A lot. But it's not snow, so I'll take it!

I'll quickly get you up to date on what's happened in the past month or so. First of all, the rest of my trip to Florida was awesome and a ton of fun. I got plenty of sun; I saw Iron Man 3 in 3D at the Beach Theatre (by myself); I saw a manatee, a baby sting ray, heard rumors of sharks and sea turtles at the beach (though I never saw any myself); I read quite a few books once I made it through Huck Finn (a total of 7, I think); I did a few drawings and I even did another painting (shocker!); and I made a new friend on the plane ride home.

That story: I was traveling with a broken tailbone (or whatever is wrong with it) and it was killing  me. Fortunately, for the 5 hour plane ride I had the entire row to myself, so I was able to lay across the row and give my tailbone (and myself) a rest. Naturally (after only 3 hrs of sleep the night before) I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I'm waking up to the sound of a guy and a girl talking about small dogs somewhere behind me. That's when I looked down and realized Levi wasn't in his bag. Apparently he had just barely crawled out and went immediately to the girl in the row behind me, which led to us having a lengthy conversation (we talked for almost 2 straight hours). It turns out that she and I have very much in common; both in the way we think and the experiences we've had in our lives. It was fun to meet her.

Anyway, since I've been home not much new has happened. My little brother comes home in something like 6 weeks. That blows my mind. I can't believe that much time has passed.

I've gone on a number of dates, but there's been no major chemistry with any of them so far. Next weekend I'm supposed to be going zip lining with a date, so hopefully that will be fun. I'm sure it will be. (Why wouldn't it?)

Oh! I also am redoing the bedroom in my parents house that I occupied for a while. I'm super excited! I'm putting new carpet in, stripping the wallpaper off and repainting (right now the entire room is purple), and I bought super cute bedding and some wall decals to go with. All I need now are curtains and that room will be pretty freakin' adorable! And the best part is I will have spent less than $600 on it by the time it's done! Not too shabby!

School is going great. Straight A's so far (that shouldn't be changing anytime soon). My favorite class this semester is Anthropology. I'm really digging it. The professor has lectures for us to listen to kind of like a podcast, and I think it's great! He's got a lot of character in his voice, so the lectures are almost never dry. I'm almost sad that I crammed this class into a summer semester because the class only lasts for 8 weeks instead of 16. I need to take Math during the summer and get that shiz over with. Haha.

I got my temple recommend renewed (finally!). I'm headed out tomorrow, actually. I'm really excited. It's been far too long. I think I sorta jumped the tracks there last year for a bit. I guess I just wanted some "freedom". It's funny how much closer to God those times of "freedom" can bring you, isn't it? Not only was last year's experience a testimony builder, but I discovered sushi (the real stuff) and folf. I'd say 2012 wasn't too shabby of a year; even if I was off course there for a bit. Hopefully I can keep things on course for the year 2013 and have another great year! (And same goes for all of you!)

Here are a few pics in closing:

A few more pics from Florida:

 

 

A turtle I drew with watercolor pencils and the painting I did of a dolphin:

 

 

Pics with my sisters on Mother's Day (You may notice my hair is dark. This was completely by accident. My sister colored it for me and it turned out BLACK. It wasn't her fault, it was mine, and it was AWFUL! I cried for like an hour. But it faded to this really pretty dark brown and now I LOVE it!):

 

 

And Aubrey and I having some fun with Photobooth: