2 Semesters Down

Summertime and the living is easy. And summertime is the best way to end an awesome second semester at college. As you know I've been living in Thatcher Arizona, attending Eastern Arizona College. Its been another great semester full of fun times and crazy adventures. From random trips to Tucson, Duncan, New Mexico and Mt. Graham, to bonfires and game nights every weekend. One weekend we decided to try out a "real" college experience. We went to our first college house party just to say we had. The music was loud, the dancing was.... exotic, and the kids were cliché college party kids. When our heads finally were pounding to the beat of the music, we ditched out to go play glow in the dark Frisbee. While we have never been back to another house party since, we are glad we had the experience.

Game night

Because Thatcher is such a small town, we had to get fairly creative in the ways of entertaining ourselves. One weekend we bought glow sticks and golf balls, climbed to the top of Red Knolls and saw who could hit them the farthest at 10:00 at night. Another night we played a Mormon drinking game, which was essentially Beer Pong, but with energy drinks. That was an interesting caffeine buzz that night.

Random road trips to Duncan, AZ

This semester I also had the incredible opportunity to be a part of the choir at Eastern Arizona College. The theme of our Spring Sing concert was all about time. But our show choir also did a Disney themed set. Everyone in Thatcher that knows me is very aware of my slight Disney obsession. So because of the high nature of their set, the girls in the show choir had some really intense quick changes. The girl who played Princess Jasmine was a really good friend of mine, and she asked me to help her with her quick change. We had three minutes to turn her from blonde Karissa to Princess Jasmine. The first few times were super stressful, but eventually we got into such a good rhythm that we even had time to spare. The rest of the concert was absolutely beautiful and so much fun. I love being a part of the EAC choir and I'm so excited to return in the fall.

Karissa Self AKA Princess Jasmine

Yup, it's official. In the fall I will be returning to EAC. My best friends parents bought a house and so I am moving out of dorm and moving into the house.  Yay!

  I am on track to graduate with my Associates Degree in Education next May. I'm so excited to make all sorts of new friends and have all kinds of new experiences while in Thatcher for one more epic year.

Ready to go Diving!

We are getting ready to go to Hawaii!  We are diving with the "Reef Pirates" on Oahu, because they have a cool name, and we want cool dive T-shirts.  It's been a year since Megan, Ryan and Cameron dove in Puerto Vallarta, so they had a scuba refresher course.  Stan, at Bubbles Up Diving, did a refresher for them last year, so we called him again.  He's great.  The kids probably didn't need a refresher.  They did fine in the pool.  Cameron stood on her head most of the time (which is typical for her.)  She's not happy unless she's flipping and spinning and twirling.  Love her!   I'm going to try to get the kids to do entries this week, because it's been 6 months, but we'll see how that goes. 
Aloha!

Volleyball

Bonjour fellow blog readers, lately I have been into volleyball. I had the opportunity of playing in a beach volleyball tournament! It was the weekend of Thanksgiving. The team consisted of me, and three other friends. We had a ton of fun, and we should have won second place! But the director of the tournament wasn't very trustworthy and he kept changing the rules for the team he liked. Luckily, my amazing father who is great at arguing helped us lose fairly. I guess the only good thing of the tournament was that I got a t-shirt out of it!

Now I am on another team with my friends. We are pretty good, we have only had two games, but we have won one and lost the other. This season my dad isn't coaching, which is sad. This coach is good... but it's his first time so he is just learning how to coach. But I am having a great time, and learning a lot. By the time I am 16 I'll be in the Olympics. Just kidding ;)

Busy Ryan

Hey guys its Ryan here! Its been a while since I have blogged and as I have been busy with school work, sports and a new job.   

This fall I got a job at Sprouts, it's a farmers market and they've got some great deals! You should definately go check em out. I have to go get carts from the parking lot and bring them back to the store, I bag groceries, sweep the floor, help little old ladies out to their cars... oh  and I clean up barf too... That was a fun day.  Tons of fun. 

Anyways, school has been going good! I am talking some hard classes and earning some college credit.  It makes for lots of homework.  But, I guess it is better than watching TV or texting with girls (but I do that anyway). It's great that we are finally out for winter break. But enough about gross school and work, lets talk about dive.

This semester I was on the Desert Vista High School Dive Team. I joined at the beginning of the school year because my friend said it would be fun. I came in with no previous diving experience, just a can do attitude. This attitude kind of changed after my first splat. A splat is like a belly flop but it can be your chest that "flops" or your legs or your back. It is just a painful experience in general. I once had a very bad splat, on my thighs. I was trying to learn a backwards dive, where you jump off the board facing back towards the steps of the diving board, and you dive straight back into the water.  In diving, the entry into the water is the part of the dive that can determine if you have a big splash or not. My coach wanted me to work on my backwards entry so she had me get up to the top of the high dive and stand at the edge of the board with my back to the water. She had me stand with my hands clasped above my head and and she told me to not move at all and just fall into the water. She said if I stayed straight as a board I would be okay. Me being a little new diver I just hopped up there and tried it. Bad idea... I forgot to keep my body straight and my legs bent so they were parallel with the water when I landed. Essentially I did a "Thigh Flop". Very painful, and very loud! The whole swim team that was swimming in the other pool looked over to the divers wondering what the loud smack sound was. Yeah, It was painful but I swam a couple laps and I was fine. Coach told me that I forgot to stay straight so I hopped up there again, intently focused on staying straight. Once again I forgot to keep my body in line and I smacked again. Well by the 4th or 5th time I was losing interest in this drill so I took the rest of the day to work on some other dives. After getting out of the water I noticed that my thighs were bright red.

Normally after a splat or two, the redness will go away in a couple hours... my legs stayed like this for a week...But I'm all better now.

Anyways, it was nice catching up guys! I cant wait to see you all again.

First Semester of College

First semester of college? Done!  What a crazy four months it has been. Living away from my family and "on my own" was definetly a growing experience. I put "living on my own" in quotes because I was always surrounded by family in Thatcher, and my 13 other roommates. Can I just say, living with 13 girls at once can be the most frustrating, exciting, stressful, interesting experience of your life? Not bad per say, just interesting.... :) And it seems everyone in Thatcher is obsessed with marriage! I don't understand it at all! Let me set the record straight, I am NOT getting married now, or anytime soon (Despite my Pinterest boards.)  I am going to get my teaching degree, THEN maybe think about marriage.

Besides, I'm having too much fun dating. Those EAC boys plan some wild dates. I think the most random date we did was one my friend and I planned. We set up a scavenger hunt around campus, and had the boys find different supplies for a picnic. Then they met us at the park for the picnic. The plan was to fly kites and play games at the park, but it started pouring rain. So we no kite flying but we stayed out and just played in the rain.

All in all, I love college. I love Thatcher. It's been one big party, and a experience I would never trade for anything in the world.

College Girl

This is it people!  Megan has offically spread her wings and flown the nest! You know how most country songs are about how girls want to get out of the small town for the big city? My life went the exact opposite. Here I sit in little old Thatcher Arizona. Population, 4,865. Number of stoplights, 4. The "mall" is Wal Mart, and there are an infinite number of tractors. To say the least, it's a little different from home. But so far I love it! I've grown up always knowing that Thatcher was there, but in just one week I have learned a lot about the beauty it has to offer. For example, Mount Graham. Never have I ever seen a mountain and thought that it was beautiful, until I saw Mt. Grahm at Orientation. It sounds so stupid, but I honestly love waking up and getting to see it as I walk to class.

So far I've met a lot of nice people, but I have also met my share of weirdo's... I guess everything is an adventure!  Right now my plans consist of getting my Associates here, then joining the sister program with NAU to get my teachers certificate for elementary education. My week basically consists of the following. Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have class from 8 to 2 with a two hour break in the middle. Tuesdays and Thursday I have two classes at 9:30 and 1. The rest of my time I need to fill with sitting in with local teachers and watching them teach and then taking notes on the pro's and con's of their style of teaching for my "Intro to Education" class. I guess all I can say really is that I'm not dead yet, and Im really excited for what EAC has to offer for me and the people and opportunities that will be presented to me.

Ryan's summer fun

Hey there guys, this is Ryan.  It’s been a while since we last chatted. A lot has happened, I went on vacation, school started back up and my parents got a Jeep that they let me drive! First off, my summer vacation was amazing! I went on a week-long cruise to Cabo San Lucas Mexico and Puerto Vallarta -- too much fun! We went Scuba Diving and zip lining as well.  After we got back from the cruise I went on a Man-cation; basically a man adventure for a week. We went camping in Sedona, Arizona. As part of this Man-venture we went cliff jumping, paintballing, off roading, golfing and hiking.  My favorite part of the trip was by far paintballing.  We found a really cool paintballing arena already set up out in the desert.  We all got guns and had a blast shooting our church leaders.  They weren’t as good as we were so we had to switch teams halfway through just to make it fair.

After getting back from that vacation we started school the next day.   I am now a Junior in High School and this summer I got my drivers licence.  So, now I can drive to school, but there’s only one problem, no car.  I made a PowerPoint for my parents in an attempt to convince them to get a Jeep. I showed them all the used Jeeps in the local area. We looked around and found a yellow one not too far away.  They bought it and it made me so happy!!  I love it so much, it’s a stick shift. I had to learn how to drive stick, which was not too difficult but I did have my fair share of stalls. My record was stalling six times during one green light!  Hah beat that. Anyways, I miss you all! I hope to get together soon and party it up J

Cameron at Girl's Camp

Hi,  Cameron here, so this summer was a blast!  One of my highlights was Girls Camp. It was my first time going to camp. I had so much fun.  We did a lot at camp, like rotations which was really fun. For one rotation we went on the zip-line. It was great.  When we would fly by the group that was on the ground would shoot marshmallows at us. For another rotation we played capture the flag with a water balloon in the middle of the woods.  That was really fun, too.

Since I was a first year we had to go on a hike. The hike was supposed to be a thirty minute hike just up and down a mountain. Sadly, the leaders got lost. The thirty minute hike turned into a three hour trek. We got so lost we ended up in a whole different campsite!  I think my favorite part of camp was the food. The cooks were amazing. I am so glad I got the opportunity to go to camp this year and I am really looking forward to next year.

Jamaica, Land We Love

 

Link to Photos

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/107147437197684801004/Jamaica2012#

Mike and Trish enjoyed another week in Jamaica this summer. We have a group of friends that we meet there each year. Some like to scuba dive, and we all get a group rate. Here are some of the photos from this year’s trip.

One of the highlights was the really big shark that Mike found in a hole in the coral. He took several photos of it, until the flash made the shark mad, and Mike got out of that hole, quick! We are still amazed by all of the weird, beautiful creatures that we encounter under the sea. The coral, too was a nice surprise. At depth, there is very little light, and color goes away. However, when you light up the coral with a flash, you can see its real color. This brain coral was Green, Yellow, and Red. The colors of Jamaica. It was a fun surprise.

The only problem with this trip was that we took it BEFORE we took our family vacation. Next year we think we should take the family trip FIRST, and then we should take our all-inclusive relaxing vacation afterward, to rest and recoup.

Cruisin' the Mexican Riviera

The week before school started we went on a 7-day Carnival Cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We were aboard the Carnival Splendor. We left from Long Beach, CA. There were only 2 ports of call. The first was Cabo san Lucas. We’ve been to Cabo on a cruise before, but this time we were all scuba certified, so we tried diving. The dive site we visited was called “Pelican Rock” but it was not far enough away from civilization, so the visibility was terrible. There were small rays and some eels, and the fish we could see seemed to be very large, but if we got more than a couple of feet away from each other, we were pretty much lost. It was not anything like the Cayman Islands where we took the kids diving last year, so we declined a second dive, and hoped when we got to Puerto Vallarta it would be better.


We had 2 days in Cabo, so the second day we did the zip line tour that we’d done on a past trip. The company is Costa Azul, and the zip lines are over huge canyons. We also got to do some rappelling. We’d recommend Costa Azul to anyone going to Cabo! We did some shopping and had lunch at Sammy Hagar’s restaurant, Cabo Wabo. It was a Rockin’ Place! The food was good, too.

Puerto Vallarta was a new port for us. None of us have ever been that far down in Mexico before, and we were pleasantly surprised at the modern, clean city that it was. The dive company we used is called P.V. Sea Divers. They were all from England; young, fun, and very professional. We’d dive with them any time.

The first site we dove was called “The Arches.” The kids got to do a backward roll into the water, which was new and fun. The water was warm and clear. We were diving along the San Andreas Fault, which was pretty cool. The second dive site was where “Night of the Iguana” was filmed. There was a big pole with iguanas on it.

We saw eels, sea snakes, rays, and tons of puffer fish. There was a pretty big sea horse hanging out on some coral. None of us had ever seen a sea horse before. He was well camouflaged, and we had to have him pointed out for us. We saw octopuses and more puffer fish than we can count. The kids were getting pretty good at finding hidden sea life, and Cameron somersaulted, and flipped, and spun until she burned her tank of air and had to go back to the boat early with one of the dive masters on both dives. We didn’t mind though. If that’s her idea of a fun dive, we’re glad she had fun.

We had 2 days at sea to get back to L.A. Megan, Ryan and Cameron had fun hanging out with other kids on the ship. With unlimited food, room service, (and ice cream all day long) and the freedom to swim, golf, and socialize, without having to be right with their parents is one of the reasons a cruise is not a bad option. The last day was kind of cold and rainy, so they closed the glass roof on the pool area, and turned the Olympics on the big, big screen. It was fun to cheer our U.S. athletes in the midst of an international crowd. Here is the link to the album of photos from the trip. https://picasaweb.google.com/106563589911434999602/MexicanRivieraCruise2012#

 

Ryan Gardner - Eagle Scout

Culinary Creations by Cameron

Cameron was one of 3 winners of a recipe contest at her school (with over 1,000 students).  She created a healthy breakfast recipe that was a wrap, filled with Nutella, yogurt, granola, and fruit.  She got to make her recipe at the District contest.

 The Ahwatukee newspaper ran her photo during the contest.  SODEXO did a great job of making it a special occasion for the chefs!  She didn't win, but had a great experience. 

 

Taking Aim...

We went to a shooting range, to try out some guns.  Found out that Ryan is a pretty good shot, and so is Mike, but Trish might be better.  (Trish is the one writing this!)  Check out the hole in the head.  I shot 3 times... it's my claim that all 3 bullets went through the same hole.  Earlier, I was responsible for the hole in the X marking the center of the target!   We will definitely go shooting again.

Spring Break the Disney Way!

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure for Spring Break this year.  The first day was Disneyland.  It was a little bit overcast, and we got sprinkled on just a little bit, but mostly it kept the crowds small, and the lines short, and we had a GREAT time enjoying the park.

  The second day it was raining.  We went to Disneyland for a couple of hours before California Adventure opened, and it was raining quite steadily.  But by the time we were riding the high speed "California Screaming" roller coaster, the driving rain was coming in sideways.  Combined with our high rate of speed, the rain felt like needles stabbing our faces, eyes and hands.  It hurt so much, but it was quite a ride!  We were soaked and freezing most of the day, but still had a great time.  As Mike tells the kids "it's always an adventure!" 

Here is a link to all of the photos from the adventure:  https://picasaweb.google.com/106563589911434999602/DisneySpringBreak2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPPsz7icoeyBYQ&feat=directlink

Christmas in New York

Realizing that some of our friends do not Facebook, and haven't seen our photos from our trip to NYC, I am posting the link here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/106563589911434999602/NYCDecember2011#

We had a wonderful time.  New York City is quite a place.  Our hotel was right in Time Square, which made access to everything easy!  By taking advantage of the "New York  Pass," the "Hop on-Hop off" bus, the subway, and all of the free things NYC has to offer, the trip was a bargain as a replacement for Christmas gifts this year.  The weather was in the mid 50's.  No Snow!  I won't bore you with a narrative travel log, but here is a list of the fun things we did. 

Ellen's Stardust Deli (The Wait staff sings and dances)
Window displays along 5th Avenue were spectacular
Rockefeller Center - Tree at night is beautiful
NBC Studio Tour
Saw the Ball that will be dropped on New Year's Eve - Had photos with it
Pizza in Little Italy
Black and White cookie from the deli (Seinfeld)
Saw "How to Succeed in Business" starring Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter)  AMAZING!
Pizza after Show in Time Square.
Subway to Statten Island Ferry
Ferry past Statue of Liberty
China Town - Lunch at WoHop (Recommended to us, and well worth the walk)
Ground Zero - Memorial (Museum still under construction)
Subway to Empire State Building
Sky Ride attraction at Empire State Bldg.
Observation deck was crowded, but very cool!
Nathan's Hotdogs for dinner
Rockette's Christmas show at "Radio City Music Hall." 
Top of the Rock observatory - took night photos of the city.
Cheesecake for dessert
Sony Wonderlab
Trump Tower
Bike Riding through Central Park
LDS Temple - came across it quite by accident, but so glad we did
American Museum of Natural History (From the movie, Night at the Museum)
"Anything Goes" starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey - fun show
Toys R Us - in Time Square, has an indoor ferris wheel. 
Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve
Shopping at a 4-story "Forever 21" store in Time Square
FAO Schwarz toy store.  Kids danced on the "Big" Piano from the movie.
Tried to have Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3, but there was a 2 hour wait, so we went to Dylan's Candy Bar instead.  HUGE candy store. 
Carnegie Deli for lunch.  Sandwiches bigger than your head!
Milkshake at the Shake Shack

Eagle Project

Ryan again!
Recently I finished my Eagle Scout Project and it was a big success. My project was to create 24 lap quilts for the residents at Sunrise Senior Center. I made the lap quilts big and fluffy and enough for each resident. Almost my whole ward and some other good friends showed up to help so it went by very fast. By the time we really got moving, we could tie a quilt in about 20 minutes. Churning out 24 in a couple of hours became a piece of cake with 6 quilts going at once. We made them all on that one Saturday and I have typed up my project. So all that is left for me is to present it to the Board of Review for them to approve of what I have done. After that I will be able to drive. I passed my permit test but I am not allowed to use it until the project is all complete. We will check it over and once it is approved I will be tearing up the streets. Going the speed limit of course. haha I can't wait to get out there and get some real driving experience.

Volleyball Championship

Hey guys, it's Ryan here,

Recently I played in a YMCA volleyball season. I was the only boy on a team of girls and had lots of fun. We went undefeated the whole season and when it came down to the Championship we were just as successful. We were missing two people so we were down to playing with 4 people.  However, the other team had 4 people as well, so it was pretty even. We won the first game with a score of 25 to 17. Closer than we would have liked but we would take that win any day. The second game came along and mid-way through, the score was 23 to 9, we were losing. We took a timeout and got our heads back in the game. Then out of nowhere we went on a point spree and got the score all the way back up to 23 to 24, we were ahead. We served the ball and got a really good volley going. We got the ball and they set the ball up for me to spike it. I hit the ball but they blocked it and it slowly fell between three of us. That made me really angry so I threw the ball at the ground. The referee apparently didn't like that and gave me a yellow card.  If I got another I would've been kicked out of the game and we would lose for sure. I calmed down after that and we ended up winning the last game 15 to 9. It was pretty intense and I had a great time playing. My team was amazing and I can't wait to play in this next season's championship.

Christmas Carol and Spelling Bee

Bonjour, it is Cameron here. So recently I auditioned for "A Christmas Carol." I made it in.  I am a Caroler. My sister and I are both doing it this year and it is Megan's last year to do it.  Megan is Robert Marley and as such she plays a boy. Her friend who is also a girl plays a boy too, Jacob Marley. I am surprised I am enjoying it as much as I am.  I like to sing and it is fun to do this on stage in front of a lot of people. I also get a lot of attention - which my family will tell you is something I really like.  If you get to come see it, I promise you won't be disappointed.

I have also had the opportunity to make it into the school spelling bee. I am not the best speller so I was really nervous on the day of the spelling bee. I made it to the sixth round. I got out on the word *thurbred. I still don't even know how to spell it. :)  Perhaps that is why I got kicked out...

State Champs!

Football is one of America's greatest sports. Well, I didn't always think so, but I have learned. This is Megan.  This year,  Ryan's and my high school football team had the best season we have ever played. Every year we have the "Tukee Bowl" which is the football game against our arch rivals, Mountain Pointe High School. The night of the game the Desert Vista Choir and the MP Choir came together to sing the National Anthem. It was really special. Even through our diffences we were able to create a beaufiful sound and represent our schools in a classy way. I only stayed about 10 minutes, but this was a crazy game. Pretty much the entire school came out for this game (and that's a lot...). DV started off and we just kept scoring and scoring, but the weather was getting cloudier and rainier. At half-time they made everyone evacuate the stands, then changed their minds, then Mountain Pointe forfeited due to weather, which went down as a win for DV! That was a cool experience.

From there, DV went undefeated, until we played Hamilton High School. At the time, Hamilton had gone 49 games in a row without losing. There were Seniors on that team who had never lost a game. We wanted to win so bad, and we played well, but Hamilton came out superior. Now don't get discouraged, because this is not the end... :)

Except for that minor set back, DV won every other game. And not just won... we STOMPED other teams. In fact we stomped our way to the State Championship game. Again we had to face returning state champs Hamilton High School. They too had kept up their winning streak.  By now, they hadn't lost in 54 games.  The game would be at the Cardinals Stadium. We went as a family to support our school, but everyone knew we were going to lose. We mostly went just to experience it all. Well, long story short, Desert Vista came out on top. We actually stomped them! The final score was 45-19.  No one could really believe it had happened  - but it did! It felt like a Disney movie! We ended up killing their 4 year winning streak. The whole school was walking on air all week. I was proud to be a Desert Vista Thunder.