1 year

on this very day, one year ago, my best friend/big brother davis left on his mission to romania. our move to brasil really strengthened our relationship and we became really close. we would have so much fun!

when we moved to brasil, he learned portuguese in what literally seemed like two months. and on his mission, he's had to learn russian and romanian. he is a huge example to me in this way, and in so many more ways.

some fun things we would to together:
-laugh for hours
-listen to music all day & translate songs into portuguese while we sang them.
-mix portuguese and english when we talked
-when all the rest of the family would go and eat at subway, we'd walk down to the açaí shop. after all, it was and still is our favorite treat. :)
-bring a weeks worth amount of food along with us in the car when we had to run errands for my dad, even if it only took 15 minutes.
-when our parents would go to the temple, me, him, and mal would go to the gas station right down the road, buy a bunch of junk food and have a party.

the list is endless, but as you can see, we had a blast every single day. it was really hard at first and kind of seemed boring when he left, but i know the best thing he could be doing right now is serving a mission. like i said, he is a huge example to me and i miss him like crazy. but the good news is, he's over the hump! only one more year! :)
te amo, elder jones!

"without music, life would be a mistake."

i love john mayer.

his wonderful guitar skills and addictive voice.
i could listen to his songs all day every day.

some of his songs make me feel better, and some seem to talk about everything i'm going through...

this is one song in particular that i never get tired of. davis told me that it's one of his most favorite songs. and it's also one of mine.

what would life be without music?

i bet everyone can relate to at least one song that can completely change their day.

we can express ourselves so much through music, and it is a huge inspiration for not only me, but for everyone.

even sharing musical talents can define who you are and what you're feeling.

and i don't think there is anything more attractive than a handsome boy that can play the guitar. :)

são joão

i just got home after redoing a math test.. yeah, here if you get a bad grade on your final, you can redo your test. it's great! i thought the test i just did was gonna be way hard... but it ended up being one of the easiest tests i've ever done. but i still have to redo my geography and physics tests. yay! not.

yesterday was one of the biggest holidays here in brasil. são joão! i don't really know why they celebrate it, but i do know that it's a holiday in which includes: dressing up like hicks, line dancing, colorful decorations, and eating way too much corn.

the friday before last, my friend bianca went with us to this little barrio called "prazeres"to try and find são joão dresses to wear for a party at our school. it's so busy there but always so crowded... my mom had to be careful not to hit any buses or people while she was driving.

we walked through this huge feira and found the cutest dresses. here's mine:

me and mal line danced at the party at our school that saturday. it was so fun, but so hot outside. bianca came too of course. she's the life of the party :)

since yesterday was the real são joão holiday, there was also a festa junina at the church on saturday. it was way fun. we all dressed up in plaid and drew freckles, mustaches, goatees and sideburns on our faces. we also danced a bunch of forró and line dancing.

i mostly just danced with my friend joyce the whole time cause nobody really asked me to dance, but it was fun. :)

me and mariana

so next time i do a blog post about são joão, i should do my history.. cause like i said, i have no idea why it is celebrated. this year was my third são joão spent here and probably the best!

This week is finals week.
And i'm having to study 24/7.
And it's really exhausting!
So finding time to do a blog post is really difficult.
I am currently blogging on my iPod right now cause my sister is hogging the computer. Hard life.

In the meanwhile, here's a song i've been enjoying alot lately:

fortaleza

  right now i am just home alone sitting on the couch waiting for my popcorn chicken to get done cooking. i'm pretty sure i deserve it. cause i've spent pretty much the whole day studying for my finals next week. and i think everyone knows how much finals stink.

anyways....

last week was pretty awesome. my dad had a few business convention thingys to attend in a beautiful city called "fortaleza" and was planning on just taking my mom with him.

but the day after they got there, right when me and my sister were walking to school, my dad called me and asked if we wanted to fly to fortaleza that night to join them cause there was a spectacular water park right by the hotel they were staying at. me and malorie decided to just stay at home cause we had tests the next day and were freaking out that we had to fly by ourselves to get there.

but then we remembered that there was a vacation coming up... and that we could do our tests then.

so we agreed to go.

my dad's secretary took care of everything. she made authorization papers, got our ID cards together, and then drove us to the airport right after school got out. she is the best!

me and mal have had some experience flying internationally, so it wasn't that hard to find where we needed to go... we got there just fine and my parents were at the airport waiting for us. my dad even bought us THE BEST coconut ice cream i have ever had. :)

so here are some cool pictures of our trip:

the wonderful hotel breakfast. in every hotel you stay at here, they have the best fruit. and tapioca. it's great.

mom and mal laying out. me and mal got a little of a tan... but my mom on the other hand got straight up brown.

i am a great photographer :)

 

this guy kind of freaked us out.

my dad had to go to a convention... so he couldn't go to the park. he missed out. :(

this is the forty foot long "insano" 

and i convinced my mom and sister to go on it along with me.

it was awesome.

my mom tried and tried to take pictures of us on tubes in the whirl pool but it didn't work out too well. i was spinning around to much. 

 

just chillin in a hammock...

so as you can tell by the pictures, we had a very fun time. hopefully we can go there some other time with our whole family! we really missed them.

by the way.....

me and my popcorn chicken. i know, i'm a fatty. but like i said before, i deserve it. :)

versatile blogger award

yesterday night i was doing my regular blog creeping... and found out that my sister macey tagged me and nominated me with this:

each nominee should:

   1. nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the versatile blogger award 

(which i won't be doing)

    2. add an image of the versatile blogger award

    3. thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site

    4. share seven completely random facts about yourself

    5. include this set of rules

    6. inform each nominated blogger of their nomination

so.. thanks for tagging me to do this mace. even if i'm not very good at it. for those who want to read her blog, here it is. i enjoy reading it, cause i rrrrrreally miss my sis.

7 random facts:

1. i live in brasil. most of you probably know that, but i decided this should be one of my random facts.. the culture is very different but also very welcoming and kind. unlike the typical brasilian, i don't eat rice and beans every day... but i eat it once in a while. feijoada is great :)

2. i have seminary at 5:00 a.m. and since there aren't alot of members here, they have it early in the morning and at night. i chose morning, cause at night i do my homework and stuff. i also have school at 1:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. i know, it's the best. 

3. i am not very organized. i'm actually not organized at all. out of everything, cleaning is probably at the bottom of my list. usually when i clean my room, the next day the ground is completely covered in clothes and my bed's not made. i always say, "i'll clean it tomorrow!" but that doesn't ever happen. :)

4. i always eat with a knife in my right hand and fork in my left. 

{this is a brasilian culture adaptation. even though that's the way you're supposed to eat}

5. i absolutely HATE braces.... 

6. i'm currently taking chemistry & physics classes. and i'm pretty sure no 8th grader should ever have to do that.

7. i go running on the beach with my dad three times a week and i'm actually starting to like it. and finally starting to get in shape.

oh...

 and to all my family attending the coltrin memorial day celebration tomorrow, enjoy your shasta pops. 
bahaha