Safe and Sound :)

We are safe and sound. Our house was not damaged by the tornadoes on Wednesday. The only problem is the power outage, and the possibility of water running out. We left Thursday for Georgia, and will be here, as of right now, until Sunday or Monday. We will see. I will post more later of our lovely adventures in Georgia. :)

Please pray for Alabama.

Temple Open House and Stone Mountain - April 22 and April 23

This weekend my family packed up the car and drove on down to Atlanta, GA for the temple's open house, as well as to Stone Mountain. The ride up started out long and boring. I read a lame book for school, L watched movies, H M and S napped, Dad drove, and Mom talked to Dad. After a while of driving though, I decided to pull and my camera and take some pictures, since I need to get better at that. :) We took SO many pictures, and had SO much fun. We had dance parties in the car, and then once we got to the hotel we danced and danced some more. :) For dinner we stopped at IHOP which was in super stealth mode. :) Or at least it was according to my dad. I had seen it, and wanted to stop there, but I didn't know we were stopping, and I didn't want to bug my dad, so we kept driving. All of the sudden we were driving in circles, and I asked what we were looking for. When my dad said IHOP, I laughed, and told him it was the first thing we passed, right before Chillis. :) We turned around and found it. By this point it had become even darker outside, and so it was hiding even more because the big sign was not lit up at all. :) We ate until we couldn't eat anymore and kept driving. :) When we finally arrived at the hotel, after much driving in more circles :), we checked in and went up to our rooms. We first dropped off stuff in Mom Dad and L's room, and then went to my H S and M's room. :) We put our stuff down, and I went to help get stuff from the other room. Mom and I realized that it looked a little odd - the covers folded down, a glass of water on the desk, pillows on the floor, a room key on the desk, towels wadded up on the floor in the bathroom. After much inspection, mom and I decided to bring everything into the "girls" room and wait until dad came up to figure it out. Dad went and talked to the people at the desk, and for our trouble gave us free ice cream. :) So we had a dance party with ice cream! :) It was AWESOME!!!

The next morning we woke up, at breakfast, and drove to the temple. :) The temple was so beautiful, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to see it all. I love to see the temple. :) With all the weddings happening this year - my sister, my best friend, a friend from church - wedding's have been on my mind a lot. Being in the temple, and more specifically the sealing and celestial rooms, made me want to be married in the temple someday. I've always wanted to be married in the temple, to a worthy man with all those qualities you write down starting at the age of twelve :) but being in the temple made it that much more real for me. :) The spirit was strong even though the temple was not yet dedicated, and anyone could go through. I just felt so happy. Sometimes when I feel the spirit, I get those warm fuzzy feelings, but other times, I just feel so happy. That's how the temple makes me feel, SO happy. :) I know that the temple is the Lord's house, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to take a family trip so that we could be a part of the wonderful open house. :)

After the temple we went to Stone Mountain. :) It was SO much fun! We got to do a giant ropes course thing, and ride a duck. :) But not a real duck, just a boat that started as a car, and then turned into a boat. It was awesome. :) And I got a cool duck quacker. We also rode a tram up to the top of the mountain. It was really pretty with a super awesome view. :) After our fun day at the park we drove home to enjoy the rest of our weekend :) (about 1 hour of it). Haha.

:) Overall it was an awesome family trip filled with lots of fun and memories.

To blog or not to blog?

I've decided to write a few reasons why I made a blog. (Even though we really know the real reason is because you really want to know all about my life.) :) Haha.


1. I have always wanted to be a blogger. - Okay okay... I know that may sound a little strange, but I love the thought of consistently writing in a journal... however I never quite succeed. I've always thought that maybe, if I make a blog than I will feel more obligated to write, knowing that others are counting on me and are interested in my life, which brings me to my second reason.


2. I am going to be moving to Hawaii in September for college, and I will be FAR FAR FAR away from home. I am going to miss it so much, and I know that my family will want to see and hear all about my adventures in "Paradise."


3. Having a blog will hopefully help to encourage me to take pictures. I am not a good picture taker, I never have been. I mean the pictures I do take most always end up good, I just never am good at the actually taking of the pictures. I never feel the need to pull out my camera just to take a picture of something. I love pictures, so I'm not sure why taking them is such a hassle for me, but it is, so once again hopefully this blog will encourage me to take pictures. After all, I have a wonderful camera that I got for my birthday, and it needs to be put to good use. :)


I'm sure there are more reasons as to why I made this blog. But now I guess I should explain how I came to choose such a name as "Southern Belle in Paradise." At mutual one week, we created skits about first aid. The skits were rather funny, and if I can figure it out, I will attempt to post the videos so that you can see. The main reason these videos shocked me though was the sound of my voice. Now keep in mind that I was aware of my accent. I knew that words like "ice" and "eye" sounded really southern, but I thought that was it. I didn't realize just how bad it was... Then I watched the videos... I have a really STRONG southern accent! How did I not know this??? Anyways... with this new found knowledge, I have embraced the fact that I was born and raised (with a few detours along the way - California, New Mexico, Japan) in Alabama. I am a southern girl, hence the beginning of the title "Southern Belle." The last part "in Paradise" merely comes from the fact that I will be living in paradise in just a few months. :) I'm sure I will stand out with my southern accent, and I am okay with that. :) I am so looking forward to college and the adventure that it will take me on. I am ready to be done with high school and to move on with my life. :)


Well, now that I have taken the time to explain myself, it has become rather late, and with school in the morning, I should probably start getting ready to hit the sheets. :) Good night.