Great Salt Lake

Yesterday I went to the Great Salt Lake for a report I am doing for home school. I had to pick one interesting thing about Utah and write a two page report, I picked the Great Salt Lake. It was a windy but clear day and Mama and Daddy said they would drive me for some "in person research". I've been to the Great Salt Lake before, when I was little. This time we looked at the salty sand and I found some cat prints in the mud. The lake has gone down a lot so we didn't walk all the way out to the water because the sand was too stinky. It was pretty though, in a really lonely way, maybe I'll write that in my report. Hopefully it will get warmer soon and we can go to other interesting Utah locations. My vote is Zion National Park in Southern Utah.

Heber with Jasmine

Last weekend Mama and Daddy helped Aunt Chelsea move a piece of furniture in Heber. Since we had to drive up there anyway, we decided to make a whole day of it. Uncle Joe cooked a really really yummy dinner and Jasmine and I even got to try a sip of wine (it was not good!). While the adults were talking inside the house Jasmine showed me around outside. It was so pretty and not very cold. Jasmine is lucky to get to spend this much time in Heber with Chelsea and Joe, and explore. She said I should come back in the summer time and we could play in the clubhouse near the river. And the clubhouse even has a boat doc! Lucky!

Here are two photos, isn't the view awesome! This is the view from Uncle Joe's living room. Lucky! Also, check out my new shirt! Harry Potter rocks.

Anna Lee left yesterday and I'm feeling a little sad

Anna Lee was here for over a month and I really got used to having my "Yosemite sister" so close. We had a sleep over every night, Anna Lee helped me with my home schooling (and Mama even gave her some assignments), and we've been playing fairies and winter princesses a lot. I'm really going to miss her now.

Anyway, while she was here we worked on a photo album. She wrote all the captions. I hope you like it!

Anna Lee Visits Utah

Love Violet

Happy Valentines!

Happy happy Valentine's my love! Who is my love? Ummm... the kitties, and Daddy and Mama. And my friends!

Anyway, Anna Lee is leaving tomorrow and so we decided to have a Valentine's Tea. Actually, Mama set it up for us and wouldn't allow us in the kitchen until everything was ready. Anna Lee and I both wore pink outfits with skirts. When we walked into the kitchen it was so pretty! The table had a lacy tablecloth and the white tea set was set up. We had cookies and chai with lots of sugar. Anna Lee and I had such a good afternoon. I'm going to miss her when she leaves tomorrow.

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year!

Oh my word, I am so late! Lunar New Year was weeks ago, and Lei Mei hosted such a wonderful party for Anna Lee and me. I feel just horrible about not posting photos yet.

Thank you Lei Mei for such a wonderful party, and bring on the year of the ox!

Lei Mei had such a pretty table set for us. Her Mama painted the walls red just this year! I told Mama I want my room red now!
Lei Mei knows how to brew tea and make rice perfectly. You always have a feast on New Years.
Happy New Year!

Back from the farmhouse, we had FUN!

Anna Lee is headed home soon, so I was so happy that she could join me at the farmhouse one more time. The weather was cold (but not as cold as last time) and the sky was blue. On Saturday we played Harry Potter UNO, colored in our coloring books and played outside. I wanted to show Anna Lee the barn down Gordon's Lane that is CREEPY!

On Sunday we went for a little drive and had fun looking for hawks and exploring the Spring City Cemetery. We found lots and lots of old graves. Some were really sad because they were kids, and some were from really old people. We hoped to see some bald eagles in the cemetery because they like to hang out there, but they were not there this time.

Anna Lee is excited to head back home because she has missed Katie and her sisters so much, but I'm going to really miss her here. I love having my Yosemite Sister so close by!

Isn't this hawk neat? Mama caught it on her camera right before it took off. She didn't realize she caught such a neat photo, she clicked the camera and the hawk was gone, she thought she'd missed him. She only realized later when she went back to look at the photos.
Here we are exploring the Spring City Cemetery. Notice the perfect blue sky! We saw this headstone and it looked really really old, and we were right! This person died in 1866.
Spring City Cemetery is one of the most pretty places near the farmhouse. We've gone there a lot of times in the summer but this was the first time in the winter. There were even a heard of deer that came and visited while we were there!

I have been just horrible about updating

Anna Lee is still here. We've done some much for the last two weeks, but I've been horrible about updating! We've had a New Year's Eve party with Lei Mei, we've played lots of games in my room, we've watched some movies and we celebrated the inauguration of President Obama! AND, guess what else? We are going to the farmhouse again tomorrow! Anna Lee is very excited because she knows what to expect. I will miss her when she heads back home next week.

Do you want to see our Obama ball? We watched the inauguration on TV and then danced and cheered for the rest of the night. We had such a fun time, and we dressed in beautiful outfits! Yea for Obama (and guess what else, Malia is almost exactly my age! Wouldn't it be fun to live in the White House and have your Mama or Daddy be president?)

We watched the entire inauguration in our ball gowns, it was so fun!
Yea yea yea for President Obama! Look at my new dresses, Anna Lee is borrowing a new gold dress Mama got me, and isn't my blue one beautiful?
And now that the inauguration is over, I've been working on a report about presidents in the USA for school (home school). I had to write about what having a new president means to me. It was a hard report. I wished Inky was here to help me, she is so smart when it comes to presidents and stuff.

Weekend in the mountains

Anna Lee and I spent last weekend in the mountains with my entire family. We had such a fun time! Anna Lee said she'd never ever seen so much snow in her entire life, and I told her that other years there is even more!

We played lots of games and ate lots of tasty food while up there. Anna Lee thinks my family is crazy, she says my Daddy is so funny. I agree. Plus Grandma brought up a little Yeti she made out of felt, and she kept making the funniest voices for him.

Yesterday it was really sunny and Anna Lee and I went on a walk. The snow that was in the sun melted a little and had formed ice crystals! They were huge and everywhere. Neither of us had seen anything so pretty so for the rest of the day we played that we were ice princesses and the forest was our kingdom. We even pretended that we never got cold in the woods even though it was really cold out.

Here I am showing Anna Lee around the cabin. Even though it is cold outside it is toasty warm inside!
And here we are, the two princesses of the woods! Anna Lee's princess name was Blue Snow and mine was Winter Ice.
AND.... look what I got from Katie in the mail before I left?! A new nightshirt with my favorite character from Rainbow Brite, Shy Violet. Thank you Katie! I wore it this weekend and it was perfect!
And tomorrow I told Anna Lee I want to through a ball for inauguration. I can't wait. And remember that Anna Lee has a blog. Here is the link: http://annaleemerced.livejournal.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Happy Birthday to me!!! On Tuesday it was my eleventh birthday, but I had my party today and it was so fun! Also, Anna Lee was here, so she got to come to my party. We had a spaghetti party and even made the spaghetti ourselves. Plus, I got the BEST presents! I'm working on an album that I want to share here, but I have to say I have the best parents and cousins and friends ever.

Here are some of the things I got-
1. Scrapbook paper set. I love to scrapbook all my travel photos, and I got an entire set for my crafts.
2. Under the bed organizer for all my toys
3. Note cards so I can write to all my friends
4. An aquarium!!! I've been begging Mama for a pet and Sophia and Abygale got my two fish and an aquarium. It is soooo neat!
5. A really pretty skirt I've been begging for
6. Fawn, a Pixie Hollow doll. She is my favorite, my second favorite is Silvermist. When you get a Pixie Hollow doll you can go online and check out their website, make houses, and of course watch parts of their movie.

Here are a few more photos to share, and make sure to check out my entire birthday album. Happy birthday to me!

Sophia and Jasmine helped make the spaghetti and fry the meatballs (I made the meatballs, getting my hands gooey in that meat was worth it though, the meatballs were good!)
Suzy made sure the bread was nice and hot!
The spaghetti tasted so yummy! Doesn't Anna Lee look like she is having a fun time?
Look at my new aquarium. I can't wait to name my fish. I think the yellow one will me Limone, which is the way you say Lemon in Italian.
And, if you don't know about Pixie Hollow you have to go to the website and watch the preview. The movie is so good!

Anna Lee Merced is here!

Guess what?!?! Anna Lee Merced is here all the way from Michigan. I met Anna Lee two years ago when I visited her house while traveling, and she loves to travel just as much as me! Guess what else? She loves the Merced river in Yosemite just as much as me! We've both been there and we've both played in it. We call ourselves the Yosemite sisters because we both really love Yosemite.

Anyway, Anna Lee came here to visit me for my birthday, which of course is in two days!! Yippee yipee yippeee! She said she had a very special birthday present to deliver, but her Mama's sewing machine broke right before she left. Poop. Anyway, she is very very excited for my party on Tuesday.

Right now I'm at the farmhouse with Anna Lee and it is COLD cold cold. Brrrr... We played outside with our animals a little earlier (she brought a bison that she bought in Yellowstone!) and I played with North. We soon got too cold, and now we are sitting near Old Betsy in the kitchen. Anna Lee asked why we named the coal stove Old Betsy, and I didn't know! I asked Daddy and he didn't know either, he said it has always been named Old Betsy, always.

Tonight we are going to stay up really really late and talk about our favorite National Parks. Anna Lee is just as crazy about National Parks as Inky and I! She's been to lots! Maybe more than me!

Here are some of my favorite photos we took today before our hands got too numb.

I showed Anna Lee the deer tracks in the yard. The deer love our yard and always sleep here!
And I showed Anna Lee where I always make forts under the trees. She agreed it was a very good fort location, and we decided to play with our toys here. (Anna Lee loves forts as much as I do!)
Isn't my hat neat? Auntie Jen made it for me last year, for my birthday. I love it and wear it almost all winter!
Buffy and North get to know each other. Buffy was more interested in munching on the tree than playing with North.
And guess who is coming down to the farmhouse later? Jasmine, Suzy and Abygale! Yea!

Oh, and before I forget, Anna Lee has a blog too, here is the link.