okay, so i've just spent the last hour perusing around looking at all the family's blogs and can now see that everybody has linked to my blog. I am still trying to decide if this is a good or a bad thing. Seeing that i don't want to receive a blog-intervention from Aunt Denise i have decided that i have to find something to write. 

I absolutely love my family. I spend hours reading through blogs and getting glimpses into everybody's life. It makes me feel really included and makes me feel so blessed to have the amazing family that I do.

I've been on a pioneer handcart trek for the last week and we were all grouped with families. I got to know these kids so well and so much fun with them that they really feel like they have become part of my family. But even though I was having so much fun with my new "family" it really made me miss my family and I was so excited to get home. I just wanted to run in the door and give my mom and dad a big hug and tell them thank you for all that they do for me. When we finally arrived home at 7:30 though, I couldn't find my parents anywhere. While I hopped into the shower I made Nate call them each twice, but they wouldn't pick up, so then I called them from my phone and the home phone, but still no answer. Come to find out a little later that they had gone to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir/Osmonds concert :). I finally got to have my little chat with my parents when they got home, but there is just something about waiting to say what you want to say. I didn't give them my big bear hug or tell them how much I loved them and thank them for all that they do. So as I am thinking about moving out and having so many things change around me I just thought that I should tell my mom and dad how much I love them and how I am so thankful for all that they do for me. 

Family Camping Trip!

The vacation to Zions was soooo much fun. Here are a few of my favorites from our little camping trip:

~ It was so great to see Valerie and to get one of her hugs that makes me feel like she wasn't even gone.

~ We finally got to meet Dan who'd been hearing so much about.

~Dutch oven Salmon, Rice & Peas-- mmm. it was soooo delicious.

~ Misty was able to come & brought her boys. We missed you Nate, but thanks for lending us Misty & boys for the week. :)

~ Having electricity at the campground. We were able to run the air conditioner as long as we wanted to and it felt so awesome.

~ Hiking through the river with Val and talking about makeup and clothes (all the important things), even though Dan kept making fun of us.

~ Playing Phase 10 - it's my new favorite game.

~ Swimming at the motel Dan & Val stayed at the last night.-- even if it was only for like 10 minutes.

~ Going on the Riverside walk and throwing rocks into the river with Gavin. He was being so cute, I would help him throw in these huge rocks and so he kept leaning down and trying to pick up all of these rocks even though they were obviously way to big for him to pick up. So I would help him pick up the rock and then we'd throw it in. We'd get a big splash and Gavin would get all wet, but he just kept wanting to do it again and again.

~ Hiking the Navajo Loop when we got to Bryce Canyon. The view was amazing and I got a little camera happy! I also got to see how freakin' amazing Misty is, she carried Owen in her front carrier for the entire hike. She almost died doing it, but she wasn't going to give up-- i guess Gavin gets that characteristic from his Mom.

~Getting up to watch to sunrise, even though it was really early it was definitely worth it.
Everything about the trip was amazing and it was definitely great to get away for a little while, but my favorite thing that happened on the trip was when Gavin tried driving off with the van-- I guess he just wants to be like his favorite Uncle Nate:)

Gavin was giving kisses to the steering wheel. He absolutely refuses to give me kisses, but he'll kiss the steering wheel? Go Figure.

Hello!

Okay, so I wrote this post probably 2 weeks ago, but my Mac wouldn't paste the text into the post box. I hate when things won't work on my Mac, it just frustrates me, but i guess that's something i have to deal with because I don't really want a PC (especially the one i am using right now- no offense to my mom, but her computer is the slowest computer I have ever used.)

Sooo... here is my first blog just a little late :)

I don’t know why, but writing down my thoughts has always been a struggle for me. I always worry that nobody will really understand what I’m saying. I see that way that some people are able to express their feelings and have always felt so much less able, but I guess that everybody has different ways of expressing themselves. Some people express their feelings wonderfully through writing while others can have a long conversation on the phone or in person and are able to convey their true feelings. Then there are people that even though they share and communicate, the just bottle everything up inside thinking that nobody would really understand because they just don’t know how to explain it-- this last one would be the way i feel a lot of the time.
Right now I have all these crazy thoughts and ideas just jumbling around in my brain and I don’t really even understand them myself, but as I sit here writing my thoughts with the intent of posting them for others to read they somehow are making more sense, and I am realizing that people are more alike than I think. I may feel insecure about talking about what is going on in my life or may feel uncomfortable with calling somebody on the phone and just having a conversation, but then they may feel the same way. All of my family and friends know that I have difficulty communicating and conveying my feelings. I just want to please everybody, so in the struggle of worrying so much about others feelings, sometimes I lose the way I really feel. So this blog is a really new thing for me. Writing about my life, my experiences, and my feelings and trying to get people to see things the way I do, or for people to understand who I am. I guess that I have never really given very many people an opportunity to understand or to get to know the real me, so here goes. What I write may not always make sense to those who read it, and may not always sound the best, but its me, its Erica and I’m realizing that that’s okay. I can let people see the real me, let people see who Erica really is.