Little Chelsea Stayed the Weekend

My niece Chelsea is THE cutest little girl EVER (I may have been cuter, but I will pretend I wasn't for the sake of this post). She will be two in December and she has grown into being quite the cutie. This past weekend Chelsea and her parents went up to Vail to stay for a few days. My dad, brothers and I joined them for a day and we rode the gondola, went on a walk, took some cool pictures and ate lunch. When we were getting ready to leave Chelsea's dad suggested that we take her home with us, and I agreed. So, after convincing her mom it would be ok, we packed up her things and she came home with us for the next two days. She was such a sweetheart while she was here and I loved having her. She fell right to sleep at night and slept through (most of) the night. She found a new movie that she likes, aside from Nemo, and that is Over the Hedge. She loves all the animals in the movie, particularly the turtle. Anyway, the point of this post is to talk up my niece so that you all get jealous of how perfect she is and to post pictures from the past weekend with her. I love Chelsea and can't wait to have another sleepover soon! (hint hint Nat and Joe)

Pictures of the Sweet Little Babe

Going to Atlanta Where the Playas Play

Well this past week has been crazy! Last week, on Sunday I flew out to Atlanta, Georgia to see my friend Ashley and help her move back out to Colorado. It was neat going to the south for the first time and seeing lots of places that I have never seen before.

On Monday, while I was there, we went to the Coca-Cola Factory, which was really cool. We also saw the Olympic Park from the '96 Olympics that were there and went to the Underground Mall. That was an interesting experience. haha It was cool to see Atlanta. The following Wednesday we left for Colorado! We drove 16 hours and one day, which was CRaZy but went by so fast.

We drove through Tennessee, where I saw Nashville for the first time! Then we drove through Kentucky and then Illinois, where I saw Metropolis, home of Superman! After Illinois was Missouri, where I saw the St Louis Arch. It was much larger than I expected and you get to drive right next to it on the freeway. After Missouri we were in Kansas, the most boring of all the states. We stayed the night in Kansas before finishing our trip to CO. The second day went by SO SLOW and we were only in the car for about 6 hours. But we finally made it home and were able to take a rest before heading to Mt Rushmore with some friends for the weekend.

Mt Rushmore was fun. We went camping at Horsetheif Lake, which was so beautiful! We had delicious camping food and got to do all the fun stuff like sitting by the fire, walking around the lake and sleeping in a tent. haha Just your usual camping. We saw Mt Rushmore A LOT but it was fun. I was expecting it to be MUCH MUCH MUCH larger. It was still neat once we actually walked up to it. But from the freeway, it looked pretty small. There is also this view of George Washington's profile that is really cool. My friends got some pretty sweet pictures of me with George, so once I get them I will put them up on here. For now you will just have to deal with the pics that I have already put up.

Atlanta, Georgia



Coca-Cola Factory



Mt Rushmore

We're going to the chapel....

Well, what a weekend I had last weekend!! It was so crazy but pretty much just fun! I love weddings and loved being so involved in one, once again for the most part! Lots happened throughout the whole planning of the wedding, there were a few fights, a lot of parties and lots of time spent together. But overall the wedding turned out very nice! Janae looked amazing but more importantly,Brianne and I were able to fit in our dresses. It was a fun weekend full of excitement and her is the run down on everything.

Thursday:
Us girls went to the spa and got our toes done, all matching with vibrant colors and yellow flowers! While we were doing that, the boys went wakeboarding, which I was totally jealous of them. After those activities we went to Red Robin for dinner followed by Dave and Busters. We had a lot of fun playing games and billiards and it was really nice after a long day of working on the set up, that we still weren't done with.


Friday:
Woke up early and got to Janae's to set up more more more. This was our busy day for set up and it was a lot of work. We did decorations and centerpieces and much more. After setting up and getting all the big things done, we had the rehearsal followed by the rehearsal dinner. It was a fun night and we got done early enough to have a mellow night before the big day!

Saturday:
It was finally here. After months and even years of all Janae's plannings the big day had finally come! I got up and showered and heading over to her house for some last minute set up. Then I started on Brianne's hair, which I did up for the wedding. Doing her hair always makes me so nervous since she is so good at doing those things as well. But I think it turned out very cute. I wish I had some pictures of it but I don't...yet. Anyway, we helped Janae and Brian as they got their pictures done before we finished getting ready. Then it was time to put the dresses on and get out to the ceremony. It was a short and sweet ceremony (as I said) and very cute! After was the dinner with DELICIOUS lasagna and salad! After that was the reception and it turned into quite the party for me and Brianne. I think we got a sugar high from all the sweets and became a little slap-happy. It was overall a fun night and it was good to see the newlyweds off, as that meant that I was allowed to go home and pass out after such a long and fun weekend!!!

Staying in the Great Salt Lake!

This last weekend my family and I traveled to Utah! We left Wednesday morning at 9:15am (an hour later than what we were told we were going to, thanks mom) and got back Monday around 7:00pm (just in time for volleyball). We had a pretty chill trip and didn't do too much but were able to see a lot of family that we NEVER see. Here is a play by play of our trip.

Wednesday:

• Drove the eight hour drive. During this time Sean and I spent most our ride watching movies such as Jurassic Park III, The Lizze McGuire Movie and The Sound of Music. Derek and Michael slept or just listened to music most of the time.
• We stopped at Taco Bell in Rowlins for lunch, as usually and then were back on our way.
• We later arrived at our Hotel, Hyatt Place right by Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City. This being around 5:00pm.
• We walked down Gateway Mall and ate at this place called The Counter. It is this hamburger place that is actually pretty good but my hamburger was SO HUGE that I ended up eating it with a fork and knife.
• Michael, Sean and I went swimming.
  
• We then spent the rest of the night in our hotel room playing games and resting.

Thursday:

• We woke up in time to go downstairs and eat our continental breakfast.
• Michael, Sean and I went swimming and it was perfect weather for it. Derek would have come, if he didn't forget his swimming suit.
• I perfected my handstand at the pool and even did it without plugging my nose.
  
• After we showered Michael, Sean and my dad went to Roy so that they could try this place called The Burger Bar that they had seen on the FoodNetwork. I had enough hamburger on Wednesday night to go try it but they say it was pretty good.
• My mom, Derek and I went to Sbarro Pizza for lunch just down in Gateway, it was delish.
• After lunch, Lisa came to our hotel to just hang out and see us. We waited around for about a half hour playing games.
• We then went to my aunt's house where we saw all my mom's siblings and their spouses and ate more hamburgers for dinner! haha
• We didn't end up leaving my aunt's house until midnight and by the time we got back to our hotel we were pooped.
  

Friday:

• Well, by the time I got out of bed it was time for lunch, so we walked down to the food court in Gateway again and I had me some delicious Panda Express.
• After lunch we went and got some sweatshirts from Old Navy for our family's Annual Chidester Camp Out.
• We went to go pick up salad for dinner and walked around Temple Square for a little while.
  
• We then got ready and went up in the mountains by three where Lisa later met us.
  
• This was the reason for going to Utah. It was so good to see family that we NEVER see.
  
• We ate the most delicious ribs and potatoes and some delicious salad from Olive Garden that we picked up on the way.
• Some of the younger kids went on a Snipe Hunt with me and Lisa and it was pretty funny. One of my cousins kids got too scared so I took him back to his mom. He then discussed with me all these different things but the best was when he (being five years old) was convinced that the stars followed him everywhere he went. He was almost in tears telling about it.
  

Saturday:

• We got up and showered and ten headed out to the cemetery, where all but one of my grandparents are barried. Lisa met us there and it was just a short and sweet little visit.
• Then we went to my aunt's restaurant in Sandy, UT. It is called Simply Thai and it the best Thai restaurant ever. We had some Drunken Noodles, Yellow Curry (not my favorite) and some Pad Thai, all followed by some coconut ice cream.
• Then while my parents and Sean went to my grandpa's house, Lisa, Mike, Derek and I went to Zupas to eat with my good friend Blake. It was so good seeing him.
• Following that we went back to my aunt's house where we just hung out.
  

Sunday:

• My parents along with Michael and Sean went to "Music and the Spoken Word" at the conference center.
  
• We then went to lunch at Arby's and went back to our hotel room to rest and take naps. Lisa came us and met us there.
• Following naps we went to my Uncle Gene's house. We don't see them very often but it was so fun. We ate a delicious dinner followed by some amazing chocolate cake and competitive ping pong. I didn't realize how much I like ping pong and now I need a table. I love it I love it!!!
• We then sat around and talked about missions for like two hours. It was good seeing my aunt and uncle and my cousins, especially my cousin Matthew. He is so funny and I've never really talked to him until this last trip but it was fun gettign to know him.

Monday:

• We finally get to go home.
  
• I drove the second half of the way, and spent the entire time singing, causing me to lose my voice later that night.
• We made it home safe and sound and we were ready for a break from each other.

Well, what a fun trip we had. Like I said, we didn't seem to do much but it was still so fun. haha

My Life Would Suck Without You

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The summer is winding down which means my summer friends must all leave. :( I have had a lot of fun this summer and I am totally bummed that it has to end. My friends are all going back to school and my brother, Derek, is getting ready to go on a mission soon so I will be ALL alone! Here are some things I will especially miss from this summer!

• Tanning at the pool with KenMac
• Seeing KenMac everyday
• Playing volleyball every Monday, even if the bad players come
• Hanging out at "the boys" apartment (Chad and Tyler) and watching some pretty random movies
• Staying up until 4 in the morning with Kennedy
• Drinking LOTS of Dr Pepper with my bestie
• Making jokes about my sister, Lisa, with Derek haha
• Wakeboarding with the bestie
• Sports night
• And much much much more...

I love everyone who I have hung out with this summer and will miss you all!! My life will probably suck without you!!!


Possibly Upcoming Posts To Look Forward To:

• Summary From My Trip to Utah
• Janae's Wedding
• Georgia Trip
• Derek's Mission Call
• And MORE MORE MORE!!!!

Things I NEED to Try!

So I have recently been thinking a lot about all the things that I want to try at some point in my life. Wake boarding fun and I love it and it has really made me want to try new things since I picked that up so quickly. Some things I would just like to experience once or twice but other things I would really like to get good at. Here are the things I have come up with (so far and in no particular order).

1. Cliff Diving- My sister used to go cliff diving and I have always been so jealous that I have never done that. I need to go before the summer is over!! I should probably find out where a good place to go is and try it!!!

2. Dirt Biking- So a couple years ago I had this friend that had dirt bikes and we were going to go out on them one time but never did and I am so disappointed. I just want to try this out to see what it is like, it seems like it would be fun to try.

3. Bungee Jumping- Now this is one thing that I would LOVE to try but probably won't ever get the guts to do. It would be so exciting and I would probably only be able to do it once, if at all.



4. Snowboarding- I have tried snowboarding a couple of times and I liked it but it is frustrating to me. The last time I went I did pretty good towards the end but then had no want to go up and try it again. I just decided today (while watching really sweet snowboarding videos on tv with my brother) that I want to go a lot this winter and get so I have control and don't fall so much. This is probably one of the more realistic things that I have put on this list and the one that I have thought the most about. Plus, don't you think it's kind of lame that I have lived in Colorado my entire life and don't know how to ski or snowboard? I do.

5. Scuba Diving- So my friend Brianne went on a beautiful tropical vaca to Hawaii and I was looking at her pictures today and thought to myself "I really need to go somewhere cool like that so I can go scuba diving." How cool would that be? Like when I think about fish I think "how lame are they, they are small and just swim." But that is probably because I don't see the really cool fish that are in the ocean. I need to go see them and see what these creatures are all about. I bet they are way cooler, bigger and better in the ocean and I just need to find out!

Well there is my list of things I need to try! These things probably won't all happen in the near future but hopefully they will happen at some time in my life.

Wakeboarding Again!!

So I haven't been wakeboarding a ton in my life but I'm pretty excited because I'm getting better and better each time that I go. Last time I went I started learning how to jump back into the wake! I am so excited to go again and try to jump higher but here is another video. Compared to the last video you will see the progress I have made.

Wakeboarding at Sunrise

This morning I did something I don't usually do... I woke up at 4:15am. I had a reason though, of course. I went wakeboarding!! I haven't been in a really long time, like Memorial Day last year!! I was expecting to do so bad and didn't think I would be able to get up on my first try. But guess what... I DID!! I am pretty much amazing!! haha I get right up out of the water and have a lot more control, which is amazing!! The thing I was working on today was getting back in the wake once I am out of it. I figured out how to keep my balance best and made it back in the wake several times!! One time I even got some air, though not on purpose, and landed it! I'm really disappointed though because I accidentally deleted the video of me doing cool stuff and instead just have this lame clip of me that follows. Also, my friend Kennedy is in the video and I just want you all to know that I haven't gone as often as Ken, so that's my excuse as to why she is better than me. haha Enjoy the video I made, it has a song and everything.

Ring RIng!!

Recently my dad decided that we (my family) needed to switch cell phone services. We used to have Verizon but, as of last Friday, we are part of the AT&T family. I was a little hesitant at first but now I am so happy we switched because I got a new phone and I love it. It's the Samsung Propel and it is one sleek babay!! Here are some picture:

Current Music Obsession

Well anyone who knows me knows that my usual music obsessions include Hip Hop or Rap music but recently I've been into some very different stuff. Just about every day for the last week or so I have only listened to Kate Voegele. She isn't very well known and is probably most popular from her role on the best show ever, "One Tree Hill." On the show she plays this musician that Peyton and Haley discover and makes it big in Tree Hill as a talented artist named Mia. She isn't my favorite character on the show but she does date Chase on the show, played by Stephen Colletti who dated Lauren Conrad at one point, so I guess Kate Voegele deserves some "cool points" with that one.

She is really good though and I love her songs. She is like Shakira meets Marie Digby which equals AMAZING songs that I listen to all day. I actually got her cd from my roommate Heather a while back but haven't fully appreciated it until now. Here are a list of my favorite songs (in no particular order):

• "Wish You Were"
• "No Good"
• "Kindly Unspoken"
• "It's Only Life"
• "Only Fooling Myself"
• "Chicago"

So that's almost the whole cd but it's so so so good. The album is called "Don't Look Away" by Kate Voegele and it is amazing. I would highly suggest it.

It's Been Confirmed!!

I have this fascinating obsession with Facebook and I am ALWAYS on there. Recently my 14 yr old brother, Michael, has gotten hooked and it is so funny. He is will sit there for hours chatting with his little friends, making my brother Derek (18 yrs old) very jealous of all his Facebook friends. Today Michael took one of those silly quizzes on there and sent an invitation to me to complete the quiz. Most of the time I just ignore these requests but when I saw the title of this one I HAD to do it. It was "How Black Are You?" and since I would consider myself to be pretty black, I thought I for sure needed to take this "very official" quiz to find out just how black I am. After answering a bunch of questions about rap music, KFC and KoolAid I got my results. They were as follows:

"Result: TUPAC
You are 100% Black, From the clothes you wear, music you listen to, and your characteristics. People fear you when you walk on the street."

I knew this all along but now it is confirmed... I am 100% black (minus the actual skin color). I love my life now!

Tweet Tweet

I was watching Jay Leno the other night and Ellen DeGeneres was the guest on it ans she kept talking about Twitter.com. I was interested in seeing what Twittering was since my dad had mentioned the website a week prior to watching this show. So I decided to sign up for a Twitter account. After all the good things I had heard about this website, I just didn't get it. I didn't get any of it, how it worked, what made it different from Facebook or MySpace, and especially why it was becoming such a big deal. I have yet to really figure out how Twittering works so I decided to look it up on Wikipedia - probably the most credited source there is - and see what I could find. There is a lot of information on the website but here is the basic sum up of what Twitter is.


"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and feedalizr. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees."

So if anyone Twitters and knows what they're doing let me know. And if I ever figure it out and I think it's worth knowing something about, I will let YOU know.

You can't be my friend unless you're married / getting married

Marriage - the formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife. AKA Something most people strive to have.


I have about a million friends married/getting married. It is getting out of hand. There must be something in the water or something. I'm excited for all my friends and all I just feel like I'm turning into Katherine Heigl's character in "27 Dresses". As of right now I only have four dresses, one of which I haven't worn yet and a possible fifth may be added by the end of this year. I am well on my way though.

My first wedding that I was in was actually about four years ago in July. My oldest sister, Natalie, was married to her crazy husband. Now they have an adorable daughter, who is easily my favorite niece. That's pretty much the only good thing that has come out of that marriage. haha jk Joe, we like you, we just tease. My dress was actually this really cute periwinkle skirt with a white shirt. I would still wear that skirt, if it fit my fat body.

Then, three years later, on July 26, my friend/roommate, Brianne was married to her long time boyfriend Brandon. After five years they tied the knot and I was so excited to be in her wedding. This was the moment I truly fell in love with weddings. haha I was there throughout most of the planning, the showers,the pictures, more pictures, the set up, the getting ready, the ceremony, even more pictures, and the reception. I had V.I.P. access to it all and I loved it!! My dress for this one was a black dress that was more casual, with a pink cami underneath. I still wear this dress to church a lot and I love it. Ooo, and I got some cute black shoes out of that wedding too. Nice!

Later in 2008 (November 1st), my good friend, Whitney was married. For this wedding I was up at school for most of the planning, which made me feel like the worst maid of honor ever! It was a fun day though. I woke up super early and drove from Fort Collins to Aurora and to get my hair done. The wedding was amazing and I love both sides of her and Adam's (the hubby) family. It was a good time. I loved her colors, they were brown and a pink. My dress was brown with a pink sash that tied around and I looked pretty dang good in it. It's a little fancier, so I don't think I'll ever wear it again but it looked cute.

The next wedding I will be in is for my really good friend, Miss Janae. She is marrying this guy, Brian, that we actually knew in high school but they never dated until a few months ago. She is getting married in August and already has SO much planned. It's quite impressive. The dress I'm getting for her wedding is cute, it will probably look better when I have a tan, and I might have to get a couple alterations done. It is yellow and dressy, like Whitney's and will have a white sash with a peek-a-boo white slip at the bottom. It will be cute. We still need to find some shoes but the look is coming together.

I have this other friend who getting married some time this year and I am so excited for her. She may or may not be having bridesmaids, but if she does, she has let me know, that i will be one of them. haha This is just getting crazy. But like I said I am so happy for all of them and good thing I like all of their husbands.

Being around all this wedding planning has made me think about my own wedding a lot, not that I am getting married any time soon (and I am PERFECTLY ok with that). We'll see what ends up happening when that time comes though.

Dozing off

For the last few weeks, while I've been laying down to sleep, I have been having the weirdest thoughts. It's almost as if I am dreaming before I actually fall asleep. Last night, before I went to bed, I had the Kanye West song "Heartless" stuck in my head. As I laid down to go to sleep I was sing/rapping (saying, the rap, that is) the song. It turned into me making up my own rap and thinking to myself, "Why do rappers make so much money? This is so easy, I'm so good at it." Well now I realize how bad/dumb my rap really was, imagine that. haha But this is like the seventh (just guessing) time this has happened. It's so weird but it's kind of annoying. It's annoying because it keeps me from soundly sleeping. Over the weekend I started planning my life while falling asleep. I decided that I was going to go to hair school and move to Utah to live with my sister and then I could build my clientele through my sister and her friends. haha This is funny to me now because, first of all, my sister would never let me live with her, and second, the only reason I was thinking this was because my sister (her name is Lisa) was stressing out about finding someone in Utah to do her hair. See how weird these things are? This is the ind of crap I have to go to bed to every night. Anyway, I might become a rapper or a hairstylist someday, you never know, I guess I can't totally bash the idea of these two things until I actually fail.

Urban Dictionary

So I was on Urban Dictionary looking up some words and decided to plug in my own name. I was pretty pleased with the results. My name, Melanie, means (according to Urban Dictionary) "An awesome girl who likes to be ghetto, and pulls it off even when white. Generally pretty."

Then I decided to look up Derek (my brother's name) and it was pretty funny too. The definition was "Someone you CANNOT get off your mind because he is always so funny and cute. A Derek is a hotty with a killer body." I wouldn't agree with that, he is my brother and that would be creepy.

Natalie (sister) has such a sweet definition, which is kind of true. "A very cool person. A Natalie is loved by everyone. She is too good for words to describe."

It was kind of a fun little activity to do. lol But be careful, some names pull up some really gross definitions.