Spring Break

Get ready for your own personal trip of Seattle and Victoria, because you're gonna get an overdose of pictures! This year's choir trip was to Washington and Canada, and it happened to be over spring break. It was beyond fun and went by way too fast.

Pike's Place Market

Meeting with family 

Singing in amazing, gorgeous cathedrals. It sounded incredible. And when we'd sing Come Thou Fount with the organ... oh baby. It was awesome. 

Space Needle 

Incredible music workshop with Dr. Boers at Washington State University

Tour of Seattle with tour guide, Teresa 

{Seattle Temple}

{The locks}

Ferry ride to Tillicum Village 

Clams, Salmon dinner, and a show at Tillicum Village 

Ferry ride to Victoria, Canada 

Singing outside the Parliament building 

The Butchart Gardens 

Exploring Victoria 

Experience Music Project Science Fiction Museum 

Seattle Mariner's opening home baseball game 

This is my view on baseball... 

Funny story: Ever been chased by a hobo? Maybe two? Starbucks' headquarters is in Seattle. So naturally, we (my roommates-Annie, Brianne, and Rachael) wanted to go there to get some frappuccinos. We got up extra early the last morning to go to the nearest Starbucks (they're everywhere). While walking to the cross walk, a homeless man, who we are fairly certain was drugged, started talking to us. He was saying stuff like, "girls" and "I need to write something down." We turned the corner and quickly started walking down the block. We turned again to see that he was following us so we started jogging and then broke out in a sprint around the rest of the block. I was scared out of my mind, but once we realized he stopped following us, I couldn't stop laughing. Obviously, we didn't go to Starbucks, and returned to the hotel. While telling others at breakfast about our adventure, Mr. Smith said there was another Starbucks in the opposite direction of the hobo. Annie and I decided to go for it. While heading down the street, anxious to go to a Seattle Starbucks, Annie heard a voice. She looked across the street to see another hobo talking to us. Seriously? Why is it that guys would never have this problem. Even though he wasn't chasing us, we ran back to the hotel anyway. I guess we weren't meant to go to Starbucks. So on our way back home, we stopped in Oregon for lunch. And what would ya know, there was a Starbucks. Although it wasn't quite as authentic, we finally got our frappuccinos. And I'm happy to say, the 500+ calories of that strawberry cream, delectable drink was worth the entire hassle in obtaining one.

{Minutes after our first getaway & Victory at last}

Bus ride home

Although the ride was super long, I had this book by this woman to keep me entertained. I highly recommend it. You will laugh so hard you can't breath. Really. You will also fall in love and want so desperately to marry a cowboy in Wranglers, even if you think cows are stinky and are OCD about getting your hands dirty. This sunset and the Oregon/Idaho/Utah farmlands and never ending fields provided the perfect setting for my book.

Needless to say, it was an amazing spring break.

Spring Break

Spring Break started off wonderfully with General Conference. And with Sunday as Easter, it made Conference extra special. During Conference, Sammi even got her nails done! Hilarious.

We officially started Spring Break on Monday, and headed to St. George. It rained all day Monday so luckily we were traveling most of that day. When we arrived, we went to Cafe Rio, our traditional place to go in St. George.

The next day we relaxed while Dad inspected dams. We went shopping for a little while and for dinner we went to In-N-Out. We had never gone before, but had heard of how good the food tasted for a relatively cheap price. It was the first time I've eaten a hamburger with everything on it. I didn't take off one thing. It was delish!

 After dinner we met the Stangers at their uncle's awesome house. It was HUGE!

{I liked the spiral staircase outside}

{There was a big playroom painted like a fairy tale. Princess, Prince, and dragon included. This was one of the walls. Karissa is inside a little cove in the wall.}

{We decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean I in the theatre (for the sound/action of course). It was awesome. There were even posters of old movies, such as Singin' In the Rain, Gone with the Wind, and Breakfast at Tiffany's along the walls in the theatre room.}

The next day Savanna, Dad, and I went to the temple to do baptisms. While we were there, I learned that the Founding Fathers were baptized in the St. George temple. Pretty cool! Afterwards, we went to Pioneer Park, a park with a bunch of rocks to climb on and explore. There were lots of lizards zipping by, and dad was prepared with his homemade lizard catcher. It consisted of a stick, fishing line, and yarn. He kept it in his wallet so it could be whipped out at any second. I guess a lizard catcher is the closest thing to gadgets as you can get with a family of girls. Karissa and Rebecca loved it and succeeded in catching many lizards.

{Hunting for lizards}

{Overlook of St. George}

After exploring, we went back to the hotel so I could study for the ACT for a couple of hours. Then we went to the Pizza Factory for dinner. Next to the Factory was a cute little "Life is Good" store. :)

{Outside "Life is Good"}

The next day came to the close of our adventures. We packed up but before we left, we ate lunch across the street from the temple. Karissa happened to have her back to the temple while we were eating and when she turned around she said, "Hey! There's the temple!" We all started to laugh. That makes for a good object lesson.

We started our journey home, but had to make a stop at Cabela's, the home of dead animals. I must admit going into a sporting goods store isn't that exciting for 5 girls, but it's sure enough excitement for 1 dad! Us girls were probably in there for 20 minutes (trying on clothes and coon-skin hats, feeding fish, and of course, getting our sample slice of fudge), but we let Dad explore for a while longer while we went outside and enjoyed the fresh air.

The following Saturday I took the ACT. Not exactly the best way to end Spring Break. :P It was my first time taking it, so I was a little nervous, but I think I did okay. The Science part was the hardest. I guess I'll have to wait and see how I did when I get my results. Eek! Overall, Spring Break was wonderful and it was nice to get away from school for a while. Next comes summer! :D