I'm Learning to Fly

this is me, last saturday, getting on a plane that came straight out of Hatchet. and what did i plan to do when i got in that plane? jump out of it, of course! was it everything i'd hoped for? i don't know. was it incredible? yes. here's the whole shabang only in still form because i don't know how to work this video whosiwatsit technology. enjoy!

a smile, two waves and a thumbs up. i think we're ready.

goggles? check.

12,000 feet. oh, hello world.

op, i guess we're going then!

upside down? uh, ok!

too much rock for one hand. thank you, stick it.

parachute up! (pulled the rip cord myself, thank you)

nice slide in on the buttocks. mission accomplished.

Hero x 26.2 and Then Some

Oh, this was just the beginning.

(isn't she cute?)

jamie has always said that she wanted to run a marathon someday and today she did! and she did it in 4 hours and 4 minutes! i'm SO proud of her!

it's really not surprising that she did it, though. jamie is one of the most dedicated people i know. when she decides she's going to do something, she does it and she does a great job at it. she puts forth all the necessary time and effort needed to achieve any goal she has. i'm so lucky to have jamie in my life because she's always a good example of a hard worker, and so many other great things. i just want her to know that i love her and i'm so excited for her that she finally accomplished her goal! she's definitely one of my favorite heroes!

Dean Park = Disneyland

last night i got myself all registered to go to a new england young single adult conference in connecticut that happened today. there were speakers (Pres. Eyring included!), a service project, lunch and dinner and a dance! fun, right? it started at 10 in the a.m.. i slept through it. oops! i didn't actually sleep through the entire thing, but it takes two hours to get there and by the time i woke up it just wasn't going to work out. i've been feeling bad about it. not only because it would've been a really spiritually uplifting, charitable, wonderful thing to attend, but also because i suddenly had absolutely nothing to do on my saturday off. great, just great. the problem with having nothing planned is that i usually end up at the mall or wal-mart just spending pennies left and right on things that i really don't need. so, to make up for my lack of participation in more righteous activities, i decided to be responsible! good idea, haley. i took my first trip to rockies ace hardware (not nearly as wonderful as allred's ace hardware, just saying) to get a copy of my car key made. and then that was about as responsible as it got for one day. except, i did do the cross word in the newspaper, which isn't really that responsible, but it's a grown up thing to do and they kinda fit in the same category.

ok, this story is getting too long. eventually, i had been in the house for too long and i was starting to go crazy so i went to dean park thinking i would walk around or something, but as i was going to park i spotted a sign that said "fountain music-97.1" WHAT!? turns out, there's a reason the fountains are always doing funny things. they dance to the music! and when it gets dark enough, there are colorful lights that shine on them! i just couldn't believe it. so, i quickly turned on the radio and playing was a wonderful disney medley! if i tuned out the fact that i was alone in my car, without an ice cream cone in my hand, it actually kinda felt like i was in disneyland!

oh! (this is just a side note) another grown up thing i did was read the newspaper. just the horoscope, but i think it still counts. the first line said "stick to your plans". well, that didn't happen, obviously.

anyway, that was just a really long way of letting you know that i love dean park. it never fails me.

What do you think?

my mom says i look good in red.

Massachusetts in a Week.

welp, this last week my mom, dad and brother ben came to visit me. we did all sorts of things and it was so fun. so fun that i don't even really know how to write about everything we did! they came on sunday and stayed at the nixon's house with me until wednesday. we hung out with the nixon's on those days and then on thursday i got to go with my family to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the week! so many days off. ahh. so i guess i'll just put pictures up from the highlights because we really did way too much stuff for me to write about it all. i'll expound where necessary.

we started off on monday with a tour of a cemetary. sounds weird but it was actually really amazing. we could've spent hours there.

this is us at havahd yahd. that's john harvard in the background. i touched his shoe.

mark took us on a guided tour of concord, lexington and cambridge. this is at the minute men monument. can you tell that ben was really interested? haha

we went to walden pond at the end of the day and put our feet in. (this is one of only three photos that dad is actually in. i promise he was there.)

on wednesday we started at 6:30! in the morning and did some of the freedom trail. i loved it, but i can't wait to go back and see more.

this is us at the top of the green monster during batting practice. it was way cool except i was afraid for my life the entire time! i'm pretty sure they were aiming for me! haha not really.. none of them actually got that close to me, but i was still scared. ben, on the other hand, was just laughing at my mom and i screaming and clinging to one another.

before a game, there is this street with all these fun things to do. ben had the youth record for a while! but i'm pretty sure he threw faster than a lot of the adults we saw, too. oh, and he got that cool hat that he left in my room. oops.

this is ben at his first red sox game! (that's not really where are seats were-he's a cheater)

he's good at baseball, but no good at pre-18th century games. this is the plymouth plantation where all the people dress up in period clothing and speak in funny accents and pretend they don't know what t.v.'s are.

this guy was way cool. it was amazing how they could keep their character and answer so many different questions about the time.

welcome to p-town. yikes. we thought it would be cool to drive all the way to the end of the cape... nope. turns out, provincetown is a gay community. SURPRISE! it was kind of the most frightening experience i've had in a while. i don't know who this gem of a woman is, but we took a picture of her.

here's another scary sighting of the day. don't worry, there was a furry pink tail on the back to top it off.

it was actually a really pretty place. a very scary, pretty place.

it probably wouldn't have been so bad had we known what we were getting ourselves into. but we didn't. the closer we got to town, the more suspicious we became and then suddenly it hit us! we walked up and down the street for a while because the architecture was really nice. but, after walking into a few "antique/collectibles" shops and having to cover ben's eyes, we decided it was time to go. oh, also, just to make things awkward, my mom and i were wearing matching sweatshirts! isn't that cute? i didn't walk next to her haha.

this, however, is newport, RI. and it is pretty. we went on a cliff walk next to the ocean and all along were these huge "summer cottages" what? they were mansions. and they were everywhere. it was really incredible.

this was day one at the beach! we actually went here after our little mishap on p-town. we needed a refresher haha. we even saw two sea lions, otis and spunkmeyer.

day two at the beach! we body surfed for a while, but i've watched a little too much discovery channel lately because i was REALLY afraid of sharks.

on the way home, we stopped at some places from my grandma eldredge's childhood. she grew up in the town next to where i live right now so that's way cool.

this is where she went to sixth grade.

and this is where she lived! it was white then and not as big. and cuter, if you ask me. it was neat to see where she grew up and read the stories she sent for us. i really look up to her and admire her for keeping so many records of her experiences. it helps me get to know her better and makes me want to record my experiences for my grandchildren. she's an amazing person.

to top of the week, we went to church. that was fun, but i was sad because after church i was going to have to leave them and i really REALLY wanted to stay with them. my dad gave me a blessing, though, and i'm so grateful for a wonderful daddy who is always worthy to help me through anything. i love my family so much and i'm certain they are the best family in the world. they always support me and make me feel loved. i'm sad i don't get to be with them right now, but i'm happy because eventually i'll come home and then we get to be together for eternity! all in all, it was a great week!