The Snow is Melting!!!

Wow. And to think I was anxiously waiting for the first snowfall only two months ago.

After the snow falling constantly for about three days every other week, I declare I am officially tired of the snow.
For a while, anyway.

Snow, snow, go away, don't come back another day!

Sun, my old friend! How nice to see you for a complete TWO days!!! YES! The temperature has been at 50 degrees for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT!!!

Rain, how have you been? This is the first time I've seen you for what, a YEAR?

Are you two up to the job of cleaning up the constant 15+ inches of snow on our grass? Of locking the snow up and stopping it from ruining my spring fever completely?

Of stopping me from being COMPLETELY ANXIOUS for the first day of spring, which happens to be on my BIRTHDAY?

Maybe that's why I have such a spring fever this year- because my birthday falls on the first day of spring. That would explain why last year I was so happy when it kept dumping snow on us until the end of April, beginning of May- my birthday was on the last day of winter.

This is the first time I've ever envied the people living on the other side of the street- they get direct sunlight, so they can see most of their grass!

NOTE: Thanks for bearing with me as I vented my feelings, guys.

The Snow is Here!!!

The clouds swarm the sky. It looks like a big blanket is covering the Heavens. Big, cottony flakes lazily start drifting toward Earth. As the ground starts being covered with a feathery coating of white, the howling wind starts shrieking through tree branches. The flakes now head to Earth in great earnest, joining the ground at a chaotic speed. As they begin to gather on surfaces, children scream with joy. After all, there are only 12 days until Christmas. The snow is finally here to stay.

How many different internet tags are there?

Well, I just got tagged by my mom. She apparently thinks I'm quirky. :D
So... six quirky things about me...

1. I am very picky about the texture of foods- I may not like a food, even though I like the taste, because it's slimy, or sticky, or has a just plain WEIRD texture.
2. My joints pop a TON!!! I don't know why, but I can crack most my joints two times a day or more... and when they pop, it is LOUD!!! It sounds like I'm injuring my neck, or fingers, or my hips(or whatever other joint pops)!!!
   
3. Everything has to be perfect. If something isn't quite centered, for example, it bugs me SO much!!! (Ha ha, I just centered the keyboard :P)
   
4. I really enjoy little-kid's games. If a little girl wants to play Barbies, I'm up for it. If some kids want to play a game where we have magic powers and end up basically conquering the world, I'll gladly comply. Maybe that's why I love to babysit.
5. My right foot is half a shoe size bigger than my left foot.
6. I absolutely LOVE to read! My family has this little joke about me: If they can't find me anywhere, I must be in my room, or in a bathroom, or even outside, doing what.... reading a book. :D

Well, now that you all know some of my quirks, I get to tag six others. Let's see...
I tag: Celisa, Emily, Trina, Sammy, Aaron, and Christian.

Tag!

Well, this will be fun. Since Amy tagged me, I get to tell you more about me. This is called Google Tag. The rules are that you must google the answers to the questions and post your favorite picture (from the first three pages) that comes up. Here I go...

1. First Name: Jennifer

Jennifer Sey

2. Middle Name: Amali

Amali the Giraffe... Cool!

3. Last Name: Zimbelman

This is actually me and all of my siblings, and it came up on the first page when I googled Zimbelman!

4. Bad Habit: Procrastinating

5. What You are Doing Right Now: Practicing the Piano

6. Grandma's Name: Velda

Velda Inez

7. A Past Pet: Dog- Thunder

This actually looks just like Thunder!

8. My First Job: Babysitting

9. Where You Grew up: Utah

Hidden Pool Colorado Plateau, UT

10. A Past Love: Playing House

A house made out of paper and buttons... Awesome!

11. One of my Favorite Places: Niagara Falls

12. A Place I Would Love to Visit: Switzerland

13. My Favorite Color: Lime Green/ Turquoise... one or the other!

Favorite Food: Lasagna

I tag: Sammy, Emily, Aaron, Jordan, and Christian

The Capitol Reef Classic

On Thursday morning, the 17th of July, my dad, mom, and I headed for Capitol Reef. We arrived late afternoon, and checked into the Wonderland Inn. We stayed at the Inn for the rest of the day, except for dinner at the Inn's Restaurant with one of my dad's teammates.
Friday, the stage race began. That morning was the time trial race. My dad got sixth overall, and was first in his group (he rode the eight miles on his bike the fastest). After that, we went back to the Inn, and stayed there while my dad rested until his last race that day. As my mom and I left for his last race, (my dad rode his bike there) we saw a group of people with some signs. We didn't think much of it. We talked about it a little as we drove to my dad's last race today, but quickly forgot about it, as this was a 16 mile or so race, and we volunteered to be the wheel car for my dad's group(the wheel car follows the group it is 'assigned' to, in case someone gets a flat; it has the wheels of the people racing in it, and it gets to watch the whole race). My dad finished third in his group, and his teammate finished first! That afternoon, as my mom and I drove back to the Inn, we saw what the signs were for... the Inn had changed its name! Now, it was the Sandstone Inn! My mom and I talked about it, and told my dad about it when he got back to the hotel.
That night, my dad, about half of his team, my mom and I went to the Sandstone Inn's restaurant, and talked about strategy a little, people that were racing, and about the race. It was interesting to listen to.
Saturday morning, we headed off to the Start/Finish line of the very last race. This one was about 86 miles for my dad's group, and because it was so long, there was a feeding zone (where the cyclists can switch their water bottles for fresh ones, and get some food that's fine for races, like goo. It was by Fish Lake, which was where I got most of the pictures of the plants and all of the pictures of the lake. While we were driving there, we saw two storks.... in a tree! My mom pulled over so that I could take some pictures, and we decided the pictures would be best if I got out of the car. Once I opened my door, however, the storks flew off, and we didn't get ANY pictures of those two storks. I got pictures of other storks, though they were in the water when I took the pictures. It was a really great day for pictures, and I loved it! my dad's bike team, Bountiful Mazda, did well, and my dad won the Stage Race. His teammate got second, and the rest did well also. We drove home as soon as the race ended and my dad had his medal, and watched the temperature go from 87 degrees in Capitol Reef to 102 degrees to 99 degrees in Provo. It surprised me that it got hotter as we headed North.
The funniest thing for me is that we checked into the Wonderland Inn and checked out of the Sandstone Inn.
And, once again, I didn't realize how I missed our house and Provo until we were back. It feels so wonderful to be home again!

*The trees in that picture and some other trees were lined up in straight lines like soldiers, so I gave them the name of 'Soldier Trees'

June Lake, CA

CAUTION: THIS POST IS WRITTEN THE SAME WAY THE LAST POST WAS WRITTEN. USE CARE.

On Wednesday, June 28, at 9:00 AM, my dad, mom, brother Christian, and I embarked on a 9 1/2 hour journey from our hometown (Provo, UT) to our vacation spot (June Lake, CA) in our forest green Chevrolet Van. This is an account of the proceedings hereafter while in June Lake, CA, taken by Jennifer.


Saturday: We left this morning for June Lake, California. We stopped for gas in a little town called 'Tonopah,' and laughed at the saying under the word Tonopah.... it said 'Home of the Muckers'!!! Who would be fine with admitting that they're a mucker?! That was pretty funny!!!
We arrived in June Lake, California at about 5:20 PM California time (6:20 PM Utah time). There were lots of cool rock formations and plants, and the scenery in general was pretty cool. We checked into the Heidelberg Inn, walked around the small town, and looked at the nearby lakes, June Lake and Gull Lake.

Sunday: We went to church at 11:00 AM in a nearby town called Mammoth. We went to a branch (there were only about 50 people, including us), in a cool little building, with green carpet, mint green walls, greenish-blue curtains, a slanted ceiling (made the letter A) with brown beams, and popcorn textured ceilings. There were only about one or two other kids that looked like they could be my age, and I was really grateful for my ward in Provo.

Monday: This morning we saw a brown black bear outside! It was about 30-40 yards away from our room window, and it was trying to get something out of a bear-proof trash can. It eventually gave up and ran away, but it was really cool while it lasted!
In the afternoon, we went to Mammoth, and watched Wall E, which was fun. After that was over, we explored Lake Mary, saw Twin Lakes, and hiked up to TJ Lake, Lake Barrett, and Emerald Lake, where we sat around, talked, took pictures, and skipped rocks. It was a ton of fun!

Tuesday: Today we went to Yosemite National Park, a 2 hour drive to Yosemite Village. We went to Tuolumne Grove, where we saw some massive Giant Sequoias. Then, we hiked up Mist Trail, which took us to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls, about a 3 mile hike, steeply uphill. We hung around there for a while, then we went down to the Visitors' Center, walked around there, and saw a film about Yosemite. After that, we did an easy 1/2 mile hike up to Yosemite Falls. It was a really cool day!

Wednesday: Today was a day we used to rest from all the hikes we did. Christian, my mom, and I went boating on Silver Lake in the afternoon for a few hours, while my dad went on a bike ride. That evening, we explored Mono Lake's South Tufas, which were really cool! We arrived there at the perfect time, just as the sun was going down, so it was the perfect temperature, and the sunset reflected on the water, which was really pretty! I found some cool pieces of Tufa that had broken off, and it was altogether a wonderful day!

Thursday: Today was another laid-back day. We watched a weird movie, played Ping-pong in the Game Room, and altogether enjoyed ourselves. We ate dinner at a Restaurant in town, talked, and just had fun together.

Friday: Today we headed home. We stopped for gas in Tonopah, again, and laughed anew at the sign.
At about 8:00, we stopped and had dinner at a Taco Time we found. Yum, yum! After that, we drove straight home to Provo. It's crazy how tired one can get when riding in a car, or airplane, for a few hours (although we were in the car for about 9 1/2 hours)!

And now we're home! I never thought it would feel so nice to get HOME!!!

The Burton Family Reunion

Late afternoon Sunday, my family left for a family reunion in Snowbird.  I had TONS of fun! Here's what I did there:

Sunday: My cousins came to church with us, and we left for our family reunion around 4:00. We moved in, ate dinner, and walked around the 13 floors. My cousins Jacob and Andrea Pohlsander, Hannah, Emily, and Katie Brown and I watched Enchanted, talked and hung out until about 11:30 or so. Then I slept in the pull-out bed in Emily and Katie's room.

  

Monday: I slept in to start my day off. It felt good! Emily and Katie and I hung around our room, watched Barney :P, and just kind of laid in bed until about 10:00. Then we talked to some older cousins (Jacob, Andrea and Jacob's girlfriend, Justine) for a little while. At about 3:00, my aunt Jeanie, and cousins Rebecca, Rachel, Sarah, Maggie, and Jared Burton arrived. Then, Rebecca, Rachel, Maggie, Emily, Katie, Jacob and some of Emily and Katie's younger siblings (Jordan, Lauren, and Sydney) swam for about an hour. We had dinner, and had a lesson on one of our ancestors for FHE. After that, we talked for a while and went to bed.  That night, Emily, Katie and I all slept on a King size bed, with me in the middle. Good thing we all slept like rocks, or else I might have been a pancake in the morning! :)

Tuesday:  We got up at about 10:00, because all the grandkids ages 13 years+  were helping our grandparents have a carnival. We set up, decorated, chose the games we were going to run (I ran the game where you toss the beanbags to hit some shapes), mixed up all the prizes, and separated them into about five different boxes. I was glad only about 5-10 people came to my game, because then I went around, played some games, and won some prizes of my own, even raced my 7 year old cousin around on a toy horse that gallops and whinnies! That night, we played 'Family Jeopardy', and that was so fun! After that, Jacob, Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, Emily, Katie (my 'twin' cousin), and I watched 'Master of Disguise' (ha ha ha :D funny movie), talked, then went to bed.

Wednesday: It snowed! The majority of my cousins have never seen it snowing, so they were excited, watched it from the balconies and windows, went out while it was snowing, etc. The only family there that had seen snow (besides my family, of course) was my Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Glen's family, Rebecca, Rachel, Sarah, Maggie, and Jared, most of whom were as tired of the snow as we were. We just sat around and played games like Domino, and Rebecca, Rachel, Emily, Katie and I made some bags out of placemats (like I did in YW). We also checked out the game room, which was fun!

Thursday: Today, we went to the Gateway, in SLC. We wandered around, my mom and I bought 24 pairs of earrings, for about $19.50, ate some lunch, walked around the planetarium, and saw the 3-D movie, 'Deep Sea.' That was so fun! Then, we went back to Snowbird, checked out the game room, hung around there for a while, and swam. Fun, fun, fun!

Friday: Today, we packed up, helped others pack up their stuff, and headed home. I got to ride home in the same car as my sister, Amy, and her baby girl, Ruby. I sat in the back with Ruby, and got to play with her and keep her happy while we were heading home, we even got to listen to some static (it calms Ruby down really well)!!! And now we're back! It feels great to be home!! :D

The Beginning Steps to Remodeling our Backyard!!!

On Saturday, the 17th, my dear sweet mom decided to put in these garden boxes... and she was DETERMINED!!! 

This is place where we removed two gate panels to fit the Beutler's truck into our yard- that's how we got the dirt into the boxes.

Our new shed!!!

This is just a cool picture of our handy dandy shovel and our awesome neighbor's (the Woods) wheelbarrow... thanks for letting us use it!

P.S.

The three exclamation points on the title are just for you, Emily!!!:)