Trip That Lasts A Lifetime.

Today I had old pictures scattered out on my bed because I wanted to look through them all. I came upon many pictures that I had completely forgotten about, embarrassing ones, or pictures that mean so much to me that I never get to look at anymore. It was really a good thing of me to look through them because it sparked so many memories back... My favorite one of all was definitely the trip out west that I took with my dad and older sister Hayley whenever I was only in fourth grade. He wanted to take us on a little trip with just us to have some bonding time, and it ended up being one of my favorite trips that I have ever had. We went to the west and not only visited one place, but we stayed at the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion National Park, and Las Vegas. My favorite for some reason was the Las Vegas stay just because so much was going on there, and I enjoyed the shows that we watched at night. Whenever we stayed at Bryce and Zion though, we stayed at ranches and it was quite the experience. We made so many memories on the most pointless things, and one picture brought me back to that. One night, we were so bored that we sat on the bed and put marbles out in front of us. The purpose of the game was for one person to think of a marble in their head, and then the other two people had to guess which one it was. It was such a pointless game that it was so funny, and we laughed so hard during the entire time. It is a trip that I would most definitely go on again and maybe will one day. Sometimes just looking at pictures can spark back all the memories and completely bring you back to one day.

Fall Fun.

Of all seasons, Fall is easily my favorite. With the carved pumpkins, spooky decorations, colorful leaves, and the smell of warm candles, nothing can beat it for me. But of one thing that is my favorite is pumpkin pie. It is one of my favorite desserts, so this weekend I was tempted to make one. I did it with my sister, Hayley, because we always used to do it together. We went out and bought all of the stuff and used our favorite recipe for it. We were looking forward to it for so long, so finally when she came home this weekend we did it Saturday night. It brought back a lot of memories from whenever we were younger and I loved it. The house smelled and felt all cozy, and once we started to bake it the whole aroma of the house was of the pumpkin pie. I really liked getting to do things like this with my sister because she is always away at school and I never see her too much anymore. Anyways, once the pie was done baking my stomach was craving a piece right away. However, we had to wait two hours for it to cool down so we saved it for a dessert after our dinner date we had set up. Making pumpkin pie is only something that is enjoyable around Fall, or at least for me it is.

Missing Old Things.

This weekend I had some free time on Monday, and since it was such a nice fall day outside I decided to go out on the trampoline with my sister like I used to. She was playing a game that she has always played where she pretends that she is on a gymnastics team and does tricks. Gymnastics used to be my thing I have done since I was little until I had to quit because of my knees. It's something that I miss all the time and have the urge to want to do all the time, so whenever I was playing with her I did some old tricks that I used to have on the ground. I started off easy with back handsprings and then moved onto different kinds of back flips. The last time I did gymnastics on the floor was when I tried to get back into it with cheerleading. I was at the game and I landed on my ankle twisted from a back flip and sprained it, so of course I lost all incentive to do it again. However, I was really feeling the want to do it on the ground again just to try and get the mindset of pushing myself to do it so I did just that. I was all warmed up and stretched from being on the trampoline so I went straight to the ground to try it. I must say I was really nervous, but I went for it anyways because the rush of being able to do it was the best. Next thing I know I landed my back tuck perfectly. It was one of my favorite feelings and I wanted to do it over and over again. It made me miss gymnastics even more though, and made me remember going to class during the week and the feeling of progressing onto new tricks. I always wonder how good I could be at it if I never quit and I wished so bad that I didn't have to hurt my knees. I guess you just have to move on and think of the long run and the strain it would put on my knees with my problem. At least I knew for myself I had a talent for it, and it is just like riding a bike... Once you have it you pick right back up on it like you never stopped.

all about yoga.

If you knew me, you would know how much I love yoga. I used to think the same thing everyone else probably thinks at first... it sounds stupid at first and not something interesting, but once I got started it became a quick addiction. My older sister started to go to the heat yoga in Murrysville called Yoga Flow with her friends, but I never had an interest in going. Finally, I gave in and listened to her whenever she told me that I would love it and went to one class. I loved it right away. It was one thousand times harder than I thought it would be, but that it what swept me in was the challenge. I wanted to keep going and keep getting better at all of it. No one really understands the challenge of it until they go to a class for themselves, but if you keep going it only gets easier and a lot more natural. Now, even whenever I am in a bad mood or having a stressful day, I go to yoga and come out feeling ten times better. It gives me a time to forget about absolutely everything going on around me for the 75 minutes that you have, and only focus on concentrating basically. Leaving the class, you feel like a different person. Again, it sounds a little far fetched, and maybe not everyone has the same interest for it, but it was one of the best things I have ever gotten myself into. I don't know what I would do without it because now it is something that makes me mentally feel better if I am having an off day... basically a quick fix to feeling a lot better. Everyone has their something that they love, and yoga is most definitely mine.

work over friends.

I've started the trend with my blogs to be just about life in general... so I decided to write today about my babysitting job and how it affects my life. Today, I had to babysit for the same three kids that I always babysit twice a week but soon to be four days. It's really not my favorite thing to do, but the job has grown on me. However, I do babysit on Fridays so it is a bit of a pain whenever I am done at 645, and my friends have something planned for earlier and it ruins my plans in general. But I need the money so I prefer to put work first even whenever things come up. For instance, today I was invited to a Pens game while I was babysitting. Of course I wanted to go so bad, but I would have had to have someone fill in for me so I could leave early. This messes with my whole schedule and the Mom that I babysit for would not really think I was responsible for leaving for my friends so I decided against it. No, I was not pleased, but sometimes everyone has to make compromises in order to do the right thing. I'd rather excel in my job than slack, and that is how I want to be in the future as well so might as well get used to it now. Everything turns out right in the end whenever you make the right choice. Yes, I was upset I had to miss the Pens game but I did feel good about not leaving my job and making my friend fill in. I am sure that most people around my age especially can relate to this. I know many of my friends that have to sacrifice plans for their job and they hate it as well. It's a part of life, and we all have to learn to get used to it now or else we never will.

a change in relationships.

Yesterday after school, I was doing my homework whenever I heard my little sister dart through the door downstairs from after school. I am usually not home when she arrives home from school, so I when I heard her come upstairs to her room, I went in to say hi and ask how her day was. Instead of a normal response of "it was good" I got a "get away!" This shocked me at first. My relationship with my little sister, Tatum, has always been close and tight, and I make sure that I am always there for her when she needs me to be. I wasn't sure what I did to deserve this answer, but it didn't feel good. The day before was her birthday and I gave her a special card and made sure I said it to her as soon as I saw her. However, I couldn't make it to her birthday dinner so I knew this gave her some kind of resentment towards me. I for some reason really hated when she was mad at me the most out of my siblings, probably because I want her to come to me and not remember me when she is older as pushing her away. I asked her what was wrong and she gave me rude remarks, so I left her alone. Instead of bothering her I felt it was better to leave her alone. She is getting older, considering that she just turned eight and is already in the third grade since she is the youngest. I remember going through that stage in my life and caring about friends more than anyone else so I understand where she is coming from. But I hate the change. I think the best way to deal with it is waiting for her to come around to me for another couple of days, and if not then I talk to her. But in general I feel like a lot of people have the same issue and it's not a good feeling whenever you don't want to be pushed away.

aupairs.

Everyone's house consists of a different number of people, and everyone has different situations. Whether it is divorced, single mom, single dad, step-mom, or step-dad... or maybe you are a lucky one with a normal functioning family. But no matter what, there are always going to people with a situation that is not always considered "normal," and everyone has to adjust to change... just some more drastic than others. My family is quite different than it used to be. I have my two younger siblings and my older sister, and we are all taken care of by the hands of my dad, and my dad only. This was never the case until I lost my mom to breast cancer three years ago. It's something I am not comfortable opening up to with anyone, but, however, everyone is aware of the factors that go along with this situation such as my aupairs. My dad is in a family business and works five days a week from morning until night, and with my sister and I engaged in school this was going to be a problem. My dad had looked into aupairs online which is someone from a different country around the age of eighteen to mid twenties that stays with you and your family for a year to have someone there to take care of things. The first one came my freshman year, and her name was Pinja from Finland. It was a little weird at first and very hard to accept. She was only eighteen and it blows my mind that she came to a different country with a different family at such a young age, I know I could never. I still keep in touch with her till this day, she became like another big sister. My next one came the year after, and her name was Maria from Denmark. She was very energetic and only twenty when she came. I keep in touch with her as well still over skype and facebook, and her too I was extremely close with and my little brother and sister made a good bond with her. My newest one had just left this week after her one year and her name is Emma from Sweden. I did not have that close of a bond with her, but my little brother really connected with her and was very upset about her leaving. My dad just found our new one, she came this week from Sweden and her name is Paula. She seems very nice and my little sister has already quickly adjusted. It is hard for them to be close with someone and then have them leave them, but it is one of my dads only options and it is more of an experience for all of us. There are many ups and downs to having an aupair, but all in all it is a huge experience and I have met people that I will have a relationship with for the rest of my life.