Christmas in July!

Guess what?! My best friend in the entire world showed up in Utah two days ago! Inky is here! In addition to having my best friend visit, she brought gifts! She was so sad that she missed Christmas and my birthday last year she wanted to make up for it, and make up she did!

Having my best friend her is like the best present, but she also brought along all of these items:
1. Ugly doll toy! He is not plush like my other one. He's so cute!
2. Mama horse and baby horse toy. I love these!
3. T-shirt with girl at the pool (it is soooo cute, the girl looks like me!)
4. T-shirt with my favorite animal - owls!
5. AND...... Rebecca doll!!! Can you believe it? American Girl dolls are expensive and such a treat! The last time I got one was 1.5 years ago, I got Kaya for my birthday. Well I've been saving and saving for Rebecca. With some of the money I've been saving I'll have to buy Inky a present. Rebecca is so beautiful.

Doll party!

On Saturday all the friends Mama has met on the doll boards decided to meet up for a party. I was so excited to go because lots of my friends were going to be there, even my traveling friend Sophie! Sophie speaks beautiful French and looks a little bit like me, so I was excited to meet her.

The party was held at such a pretty garden! All the girls and I explored everywhere! It was so fun to explore and play in the garden with all my friends, even Suzie came! Inside there was food and drinks and lots of fun things to see. Mostly I was just happy to be with Mama on a girl's outing.

Sophie and I found a swing that was just perfect for us!
Isn't the garden lovely?
All the roses were in bloom, even hundreds of pink ones!
I found a wonderful spot in the shade. Doesn't it look magical here? (Also, can you see my cute hair do?)

Weekend with Mari

Do you remember Mari? She is my friend that I went to Thanksgiving Point with last fall. She is so silly and we have such a fun time together. This weekend Mari and I went with our Mama's up to a friend's cabin! It was so rainy, but I taught Mari that you can still have fun in the mountains in the rain. Mostly we played inside over the weekend, but finally the sky cleared up a little bit and we took a hike.

Mari and I love the woods in Utah! We like to pretend we are little squirrels and live outside even in the rain. But little squirrels also have dens, and they are warm and cozy!
We even spotted a squirrel on our walk, but he ran away to quickly to take a picture. We had to be extra quiet from then on...
Also the woods were FULL of wildflowers! Mari and I decided to pick some to share with Mama in the house. Aren't our bouquets beautiful?
Guess what else? Mari is working on growing her hair long! Can you tell it is longer than last fall? She says she wants it to be as long as mine, maybe even longer!

Cabin in the rain

Mama and I took a girls trip up the cabin today with all the girls in my family! We got there and took a nice walk and cleaned up a little. When we were making lunch it started to rain, and rain, and rain. Grandma's doggy Willow could hear the thunder and started getting really scared and was shaking. I was trying to tell Willow it was okay, he's so funny.

After we had hot chocolate the rain cleared up just a little. I explored near the meadow and looked at all the yellow wildflowers covered in raindrops. And then it started to rain again! We all decided we were too cold and we came home. Now I'm warm in my PJs in my room, and of course it is raining outside!
There is even snow still up at the cabin in places. Isn't that amazing?

Grand Canyon & Inky

Mama has been talking to Colette a lot lately. Daddy is out of town and so is Jen, so Colette and Mama are so bored they've been talking on the phone a lot! Inky says she is really sorry about my Christmas and birthday presents, but they are coming soon!

Anyway, Mama told Colette that we were going to the Grand Canyon in July, and she invited Inky along! Can you believe that??? I'll have my best friend back in Utah for a visit, and not only that, we'll go on an awesome trip together.

Inky even says she *might* get me a bigger present from her favorite store in NYC, but I don't know what it is, and Mama won't say. I can't wait!

Weekend at the farmhouse with Lei Mei

Mama was in a really good mood on Friday, so I decided to ask her if I could bring a friend with me to the farmhouse. Usually I don't get to invite a friend because my cousins are there, but I asked Mama if Lei Mei could come with us.

Lei Mei is one of my best friends and she lives only three houses from me! She is only seven years old. Even though I'm 11, I don't mind playing with Lei Mei, because she is really cute and funny. Lei Mei moved here from China only two years ago, so sometimes she helps me learn Chinese and I help her learn English.

Annnyyyyywwwwaayyy, Mama said it would be okay to bring her. Lei Mei's been to the farmhouse a few times before, and she LOVES it, just like me! We brought our dolls and played outside when the weather was good. We took lots of walks, explored a lot, and even enjoyed the lilacs that were in bloom. It was a very fun weekend.

Lei Mei and I climbed on top of the fence to play dolls for a little while. Nobody could get us, we were too high!
And then I showed her my secret fort that I showed Anna Lee last winter, remember?
Mama said we were looking so cute, she wanted a photo of us together. "Cheese!"
The next day we went on a walk to see the lilacs.
Soooo pretty!
And they come in purple! This bunch matches my outfit.

Road trip to Eureka

Yesterday the weather was really good so Mama, Daddy and I decided to take a family road trip to some ghost towns. We packed a lunch and left around 11. It took a really long time to get to Eureka but the drive was really pretty. When we were almost there Mama said we should take a different road and we found a really neat ghost town called Mammoth. Mammoth was an old mining town that now has only a few people living there. Eureka wasn't much of a ghost town anymore, though, because the mine has re-opened and lots of people have moved into town again.

But, on the way back we stopped near Warm Water Springs and looked at the old Tintic Refinery. The springs fill a big field and birds and fish live there, we even saw a blue heron. Across the field we saw a big refinery that was abandoned! It was so neat. Once we came home we did some research on the location, and I learned a lot about mining in Utah. They were able to refine metal there in the 1920s! Wow!

Can you see the refinery behind me? Up on the mountain? It looks like a castle!
See? It is really big.
And there was an abandoned train track there, which was neat to explore.