D.C., Here I Come!

Well... I'm off! In approximately 9 hours and 14 minutes, I will be in a plane, taking off and headed for Washington, D.C.! I was lucky enough to get a direct flight both ways, so lets hope I'm lucky enough NOT to get the fat, smelly guy that takes up 1 1/2 seats next to me. I'm not taking my computer, but I'll try to still write about some of the things I'm doing while I'm there and add pictures when I get home.

See you in 6 days!

Finding Neverland

A few months ago, I had the magical experience of being in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. I won't get into details, but the main concept or theme behind our show was that of rediscovering your inner child and letting that part of you play a role in your life. Throughout our rehearsal process and the actual production, the whole cast planned and participated in "inner child activities" where we indulged in fun playtimes of our past. The experience was definitely a fun one, but not entirely unique. It was unique in the fact that I was getting to do it every day with a wonderful group of people who I love dearly, but unoriginal in the sense that I've always held on to that aspect of myself. I've never been afraid to allow myself to be a child-- to play silly games, color with crayons, carry around coloring books and play-doh, and use my imagination.

Through my experiences with Peter Pan, I was reminded of how to find Neverland, but the best adventures I have there are when Neverland finds me. Let me explain.

Yesterday when I came home from work, I ended up in the backyard with my two little sisters-- Graci who is almost 4 and Makenna who is 2 1/2. I pushed them in the swings for a while and sat in the grass, but pretty soon I found myself chasing hyenas and dinosaurs, fighting pirates, and flying through the sky as Graci's imagination worked freely and quickly. We were Peter Pan, Wendy, and Michael for one minute, then pirates or Indians the next. A soccer net quickly became a cave when we were being chased by rampaging hippopotamuses, and the grass transformed into the ocean as we flipped our mermaid tails and sang "Part of Your World." We fought off monsters and beasts of every variety, and even had a brief Spiderman sighting. I was saved my magic drops of potion more than once, with Graci as Peter Pan (or sometimes Wendy) leading the way. The adventures went on and on, and only paused when it was time for dinner.

It didn't take an organized activity to take me away to far off places. Instead, all it took was my little playmate allowing me to have a peek into her constantly moving, creative mind. Thank you, Graci, for always bringing me back to Neverland.

-hiding in the cave-

-killed by pirates-

-fighting the dinosaurs-

-being a lion-

-flying through Neverland-

Quotes of the Day

Rachel: Hey Graci! Can I take a picture of your pretty hair?
Graci: Yeah. I wanna make a silly face!!
(Pulls sides of mouth with fingers and rolls her eyes)
Graci: ...Those were my crazy eyes.

Makenna: RAAAAACHEL!!!

Graci: What, Kenna?

Makenna: I want Rachel!

Graci: I AM Rachel!!

The Future Mr. and Mrs. Bishop

On Monday, my cousin, Jenny, and her fiance were nice enough to let me hike up Ensign peak with them and take some pictures. They hired a real photographer to do their engagements, but wanted some pictures of them where they got engaged. It was a blast! I am definitely not the best photographer in the world, but they turned out all right. It was kind of weird to see my cousin kissing a boy, but it was great to be able to spend some time with Jenny and Tyler (and my dad who came along to help!) and to get to know my future cousin-in-law a little better. Here are a few of my favorites (I have a really hard time just picking a couple. Obviously.):

Like I said... I couldn't pick just one or two. Even this was hard!

I absolutely love taking pictures, and I kind of like my cousin (Just kidding, Jen. I love you!) so it was pretty much a heavenly experience for me. The one thing we did have to work around was the fact that none of us were smart enough to realize that Monday is probably the most crowded day at Ensign Peak, but we managed to work around the masses pretty well. We did have to ask a couple of girls if they could sit somewhere else for a minute so we could take pictures by the monument, but I made my dad do the dirty work so that wasn't bad. Jenny and Tyler are both a lot of fun, and Tyler was a good sport and even reenacted his proposal for the sake of the camera. Just going to Ensign Peak was fun too because I had never been there before. I liked being able to go with my dad so he could tell me all about it. It was a fun day!