Flashback Friday: Graduation and Senior Trip 2006

So I was going to try and post my old pictures in order, but they are not in order on my computer and I wanted to post these pictures, so that is why they are not in order! Cassie is going to graduate from high school in THREE WEEKS and it has got me thinking about when I was a senior and graduated from high school. My mom took Cassie's senior pictures this weekend and they turned out amazing! I'll post them as soon as I get one! Here are a couple of my senior pictures:

This was probably the best picture I have ever had taken in my life. I have no idea how to replicate the way I did my hair or how natural this looks. I guess that's why you pay the photographer the big bucks.

These pictures were taken on the day of my graduation, June 1, 2006 (holy crap, it has been 7 years!)

Garrett, Trevor and Conrad

Grandma and Grandpa Norton

Grandma and Papa Decker and my aunt Sue and uncle John

I didn't take a lot of pictures with my cap and gown. I turned it in before I even saw my family after the ceremony because I wanted to leave!

For senior trip we went to Disney World in Florida! It was so much fun with 11 of my closest friends. We had three hotel rooms in a hotel on Disney property, and basically just ran around doing whatever we wanted for a whole week!

Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom on our first day

Animal Kingdom

Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom

Topiary at Epcot

Norway at Epcot

The Miss Piggy water feature at MGM

In front of Mickey's sorcerer hat at MGM

Lunch at Magic Kingdom

Extra magic hours! Because we were staying on Disney property, we got to stay in the parks for like two or three extra hours after they closed. It was amazing! There was no one there! We would run through the lines and get on rides with no wait! It even led to taking some pictures with characters that you never get to take pictures with!

We are all soaked from riding Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom

Famous Mickey and Walt Disney statue at Magic Kingdom

From left: me, Lauren, Natalie, Amie, Erika, Emeri, Taylor, Rachel
Below: Sarah, Lindsay
Not pictured: Kasi and Jenn

I was going to wait to post these pictures, but in the spirit of graduation, I had to post some of Matt! This year will be his 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of his high school graduation! (And I thought I was getting old!)

Fun fact: When Matt was graduating from high school, I was finishing my freshman year in middle school!

Gobble...gobble...?

Over the past few years, Matt has really gotten excited about turkey hunting. I'm not sure what brought it on, because he never did this before we got married (I'm trying to pretend that he isn't just trying to get away from me), but he is super excited about this now. This year was the first year he drew out for the early hunt, which means that while he was able to hunt the turkeys for the past two years, now it is better because he can go earlier....? Last week I was pretty sick and stayed home from work. Matt happened to have a couple days off and wanted to go scouting for turkeys. So we loaded up his stuff (I really need to stop buying him stuff), and went to look for turkeys.

I'm still not convinced that Matt knows what he's doing. Yes, we saw some turkeys, but they didn't really come near us or our decoys, and apparently this has been happening to Matt all week. Not to mention Matt hiking me all over a mountain looking and listening for turkeys. He said it was going to be an easy walk up a road... yeah, that ended up being like five miles uphill through the woods! He kept holding my hand while we were walking, pretending to just want to hold hands. He really was just trying to keep me from sitting down and waiting for him to finish his hike!

Matt even stole my camera so he could take pictures of turkeys. Are you kidding me? What a dumb thing to take pictures of, unless you just killed it.

He still has a few more days. What do you think? Will he get one?

Baby Animal Days

I have lived in Logan for a few years and have never been to baby animal days, which is a huge deal here. Every year I say that I'm going to go, but never do. So this year, baby animal days was over spring break and Jenny and I spent the morning at the park with the kids and then headed over to see the animals.

I am a city girl at heart, and don't love farm animals (okay, I barely tolerate dogs, so I better amend my statement to say that I don't love most animals), so the petting was not my favorite part. The kids sure liked petting all the animals though!

Harrison couldn't decide about the animals. He liked them more from a distance than at close range.

Case in point: He liked the bunny for about as long as it took to take this picture, then he was DONE.

See? He was done!

Matt met us after he got off work. He is the best uncle ever. Even though he was tired from work he still made sure to carry Harrison through the rest of the farm and play with the kids.

Harrison was pretty tired and hungry by this time, and we were trying so hard to get him to smile or laugh. He finally did when Matt took him to see the donkeys while we were waiting in line for the train.

They had a little exhibit of baby bears this year and were passing out these bear masks to all the kids. Matt taught Harrison to growl like a bear whenever he had his mask on! It was hilarious!

Overall, we had a fun time, and actually going right before it closed was a great idea! There weren't lines for anything and it wasn't way hot! I think the only thing I wish that I would have done differently is buy kettle corn!

Flashback Friday: EFY

I can't even begin to really say what happened on this trip. It was just one of a million crazy things we did back in those days. I am so lucky that I had such a good group of friends. This was the summer before sophomore year, so we were all 15, and we went up to BYU-Idaho for EFY.

The girl in the middle of this picture was just someone we met on the trip. You'll see her in several pictures. I'm not sure anyone really kept in touch with her after.

*Update on all these girls today...
From left: Jenn was married for three years and just recently got divorced and is graduating from college with her degree in interior design. Sarah has been married for four years, has a degree in elementary ed and is having her first baby like any day! Erika got her bachelor's degree, served a mission in the Philippines, and is living in Virginia. Amy has been married for almost five years and has a baby girl who is almost one! Kasi has her bachelor's degree and is now in medical school! How and when did we all grow up?

I have a lot of pictures like this from this trip. Jenn in a tree. Kasi and Jenn standing next to a bathroom sign. Amy, Jenn and Sarah sitting in some bushes. Erika and Kasi standing next to a drive through fast food place sign. I forgot what it was like to be 15. It's nice to be reminded that sometimes being a crazy person is okay.

See what I mean? Why did we need to take this picture? I don't even know! One thing I do remember... this was the trip that Kasi brought a mini TV in her suitcase. Like a heavy TV. With a built-in VCR. We watched Free Willey during our free time one day.

I bet these guys hated girls like us. Always trying to be cool, but never really succeeding.

Again, a picture of us in the bathroom on the bus. Was this really necessary?

Matt often asks me if I was one of those annoying teenage girls. I hope that I wasn't annoying, but I know I definitely did some stupid things with my friends. That is the best part of being a teenager- not really caring if you are acting stupid or not. I kind of miss that. I also miss being skinny! Gah!

Just Messing Around

Why is it so impossible to catch the cute things kids do on video?

Here is my attempt: