Christmas has come and gone!

Boy, I have been so busy in Utah! People have asked me if I'm a big sister because they heard about a baby named James, and I have to say, no, I'm not a big sister. I'm an only child. That is the story Mama came up for me, and wants to keep it that way for awhile. :)

But, that said, there is a new baby in the house that is keeping everyone so busy that I haven't been able to blog much. I hope to improve that soon.

But, even with being busy with a baby, I had an awesome Christmas! I got everything I wanted! And guess what I really wanted and got? A Winter Wonderland Sleep-away trip for a Christmas/birthday present combo! What is that? It is a Girl Scout trip that they do every year where you go stay in a cabin, learn to snowshoe and ski, and play outdoors a lot. I spend an entire week there! Can't wait!

And, my birthday is only about a week away! I'll leave for camp soon after.

So what did I get? Only the best things ever!

Do you see my other main present?!
Snowshoes and a new snow outfit! PERFECT for my Winter Wonderland camp!
And my best friend Inky sent the neatest presents! A 2010 Olympic pin (Inky and I LOVE the Olympics) and a Cheburashka puzzle!
Daddy also got me a new camera! It is a digital and is really good.
Merry Christmas!

My new room

Mama and Daddy decided I was old enough to finally have a basement room, something I've been begging for for three years! Last weekend we moved all my things downstairs. I love my new room, it is a little smaller than my last one, but I have wood floors and it is so nice!

I decided to paint the back wall pink, and I LOVE it!

Fall day at the farmhouse

Last weekend was such perfect weather that Mama, Daddy and I decided to take a day trip to the farmhouse. I wanted to invite a friend, but Mama said it was a family day. Wish Inky was here...

Anyway, we drove down and stopped for lunch at my favorite spot, Little Acorn. I got a hamburger, fries, and root beer, which was a perfect start to the day. Once we got to the farmhouse it was so pretty! The sky was pure blue and almost all the leaves were either yellow, red or orange. We took a walk and visited the horses and saw some hawks.

Then after awhile we decided to take a drive and spotted a great horned owl in Spring City!!!! I wasn't even in my lucky owl shirt, but Mama spotted him, and he was so cute and big! I love owls so much, they are my favorite.

We took lots of photos, visited the goats down the road and headed home after picking pears and playing with Zoey, the neighbor dog. I am so happy I went down there, it was a really fun day!

ANOTHER National Park to check off the list!

Mama, Daddy and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend! We flew to Colorado for one of Mama's friend's weddings and were there long enough to see a little bit of Rocky Mountain National Park, but we weren't there long enough for me to get a Jr. Ranger badge, so I'll have to go back!

Guess what we saw? Tons and tons of elk! It was awesome. At one point we even saw a big boy elk chase away another boy. It is easy to tell which ones are boys and girls because the boys have HUGE antlers!

Guess what else? There was already snow on the ground in a lot of places! I was glad to have my hoodie, because it was quite chilly.

Here are my favorite photos, and I've been updating my National Park photo album, so make sure to see it!

Isn't it pretty? It looks a little bit like Banff and Jasper, not not quite.
The sky is blue, for now... It snowed later in the day!
Here is some snow in the shade. Brrr...

Fall day at the cabin

Sorry I haven't updated for three weeks. Mama said that I really needed to get serious with school work, now that it is September. This year I'm in the fifth grade, and I'm home schooled. I have three big reports this year, a science report (I'm going to research geology), a state report, and an animal report. All are very big tasks!

But yesterday I didn't study too much because I went to the cabin instead! It was such a pretty day there, the sky was deep blue and all the underbrush was changing to yellow and red already. Can you believe it? It is already fall!

After lunch I decided to take a walk and look for all the signs of fall.

Isn't it amazing that in the mountains the leaves have already started to change?
It is a perfect day, no clouds in sight!
Isn't this plant pretty? It is turning red.
I walk down to the pond to look for frogs, but it seems like they've already left.
But there are a lot of water skeeters!
This flower is called "Bread and butter", isn't that the neatest name?

I am back from Banff and Jasper

I got back just a few days ago from my family's annual summer vacation! This year we decided to go to the Canadian Rockies, Banff and Jasper National Parks. I had such a good time! The mountains, rivers, lakes and streams were so pretty, but the best part was looking for animals.

Here is a list of what we saw:

• Grizzly Bear (yes, I know, exciting!)
• 6 Big Horn Sheep
• 3 Elk
• Lots of deer
• Pika
• Cute birds
• Coyote
• LOTS of fat squirrels
  

I have been working on an album of all my favorite photos from my trip. Here it is! I hope you like it.

Here are some of my favorite photos, all taken along the Icefields Parkway, which is the highway that connects Banff National Park with Jasper National Park.

Inky has gone home

Inky and I have been so busy over the last two weeks! We've gone to the farmhouse, played lots and lots of games and yesterday we got snow cones. Today was a super sad day because Inky left for home. I miss her already.

Mama says I can't be on the computer too long tonight, because I've already spend an hour finishing my Inky visits album!

Here is a link to the album (you must see the entire thing, it is so cool!).

Here are a few of the photos from the last two weeks!

Inky and I play with our favorite toys at the farmhouse.
Yesterday we walked around the block to get snow cones. Look at all the flavors!
I decided on Sour Grape, my favorite color!
The snow cone guy thought we were so funny! He was even willing to pose for a photo with us.

It is hot in Utah! Even the moose are swiming!

Oh my gosh, it is so hot here in Utah! Inky and I are having such a good day together, we've been playing space most of the day, because 40 years ago man walked on the moon. Neat!

Over the weekend Inky and I took a little hike up East Canyon in Utah. Along the way we saw a tiny speck of brown off in a lake. Guess what it was? Yes! A Moose! He was so hot he decided to take a nice swim across the lake, then and long drink. After, he didn't get out. He just sat there cooling off. It was funny!

Here is the road up part of East Canyon, isn't it pretty?
Finally we get to our destination and start our hike. Yikes it's hot!
Do you see that tiny brown dot?
He's a moose!

Grand Canyon on the North Rim!

Inky and I wrote this together, here it is:

Daddy and Mama booked a cabin on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this summer. They asked me if I'd like to bring a friend because they knew it is hard being an only child and I said "yes! Inky!" Luckily Inky got to come and I was so excited! She arrived a few days before we left, and she was super excited too.

Both Inky and I are pro Junior Rangers, we've become Jr. Rangers at all the parks we've visited together, and that's a lot of parks!

On Friday we left Utah and and entered Arizona! I hadn't been to Arizona yet, so it was so fun to mark that off the list, plus exploring a new state is totally awesome. Pretty soon we entered the prettiest forests, there were HUGE meadows everywhere and pine trees all around. Then we slowed down to enter the park. Inky and I wanted a sign near the park entrance, like always!
Once we got to the North Rim we checked in. Yea! Mama and Daddy rented a little cabin on the rim! It was so perfect for us because it was close enough to a lot of the trails. We could even hike alone! Plus the Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge was so so pretty. Inky and I loved all the old radios, the sculpture of Brighty the mule and the patios with really neat canyon views.

Over the weekend we went on a lot of really neat hikes. On one hike we even saw mules on the trail! One mule was really funny and had his tongue sticking out like he was really tired. He was so cute!

Don't we look awesome on our hikes? And check out the view.
We are close to the edge, but are being careful.

When Daddy and Mama wanted to relax at the cabin Inky and I worked on our Jr. Ranger booklet. This was a fun booklet because in once activity we had to be animal detectives. We saw lots of animals down there, mostly fat squirrels hanging around our cabin.

On the last day we said goodbye to our little cabin on the rim and said goodbye to the lodge. Before leaving though, we got our Jr. Ranger badges!

Isn't our cabin neat? Can you see Daddy on the porch?
We got our badges!
We have lots more photos from our trip that we'll upload into an album soon! Until then, you'll have to wait!

Inky and I are back!

Inky and I just walked in from the Grand Canyon - it was so fun! We want to do a full joint post, but it will have to wait, I'm tired. Until then, here we are-

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!