25 Mile Bike Ride

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a bike ride from Georgetown into Maryland as part of my 4th Year Adventure Activity for Girl's Camp. Typically, I've always heard of the fourth years doing a big hike, tenting overnight, cooking their own food, etc, so when I first heard that the fourth years were just taking a bike ride, I thought it was so lame, and that it would be really stupid, and just another one of those quick and easy activities that are so often planned.

However, when I decided to go, despite my initial impressions of the idea, I actually had a gReAt time! It was about 25 miles total, which was easier than I thought it would be. We completed the ride in two parts, each about 12-13 miles. First, we bike to the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor's Center, where we watched the "Joseph Smith: Restoration" movie, which was aMaZiNg, and such a testimony strengthener! We completed the last 12 miles, ending up at a park in Maryland, where we ate dinner! It was so much fun, and so worthwhile--even better than a hike! I had so much fun biking with Sarah, Kendra, and Lauren, my White Oak friends, since I was the ONLY Fredericksburg girl (and with no leader)... shocker...

Accomplished feet :)

FINISHED!!

Back sweat... gRoSs

Lauren and her bike

Family of Freaks

This summer one of my goals is actually to write on my blog, maybe actually continue writing and not have these huge, month long gaps in between posts. Who knows, it could happen.

This past weekend we had my mom's Mother (my grandma) in town visiting, as well as my dad's sister and her family. Having the big family that we do, it can get REALLY chaotic. For our extended family, it becomes very overwhelming. I suppose it is just the ten people, the noise, the yelling, the mess--basically everything our family of ten live with and do on a daily basis. On top of that, our family acts differently than most. Having kids that range from age 17 to 3, the little ones often obtain a wide, teenage vocabulary and learn to do things such as play gameboys at one year old. Many people are taken back at our family, even my Grandma.

I suppose you could say we are an eccentric family--a family of freaks, my mom would say. It's probably not what many people would deem as "acceptable behavior", but we go around our house calling each other freaks, stupid, crazy, retarded, gay, cool, dumb, smart, gorgeous--pretty much anything. However, it is always playful, and everyone knows it. On top of that, we are all nerds. All of us kids have been raised to put school as our top priority, and so we are very intelligent. Plus, our father is the biggest computer/video game nerd, and so we play lots of those. This is partly why our family shocks our relatives, who get in trouble for merely saying the word "stupid" and who love having spick-and-span homes. However, we're a family, a unique one, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Just as an example for you that happened this weekend: Ryan, the three year old, was taught to say, "you're gorgeous darling, gorgeous". Suzanne got home from school on the last day and when she walked in the house, Ryan told her she was "just gorgeous, darling". My grandma was in the room, and she asked Ryan if she was gorgeous, too, and he told her no, only Suzanne. What happened next seemed very dramatic to most of us, but I guess it comes back to the fact that we are a weird family. My grandma got up from the table in tears, because a three year old said she wasn't gorgeous. He doesn't even know what the word means. Later I asked him what it meant, and he said "very stupid", so in actuality, it was a compliment.

I love my family <3.