Pioneer Day.

Unless you are from Utah I don't think you fully appreciate the Pioneer Day Holiday.  It is a big deal here, its like the Fourth of July all over again.  I took the liberty of the long weekend to go and see my family, and of course as always there is never a dull moment when all the kids are home.
The GOOD

• Saturday we went swimming for about three hours, and then played badminton for two.  It was a lot for one day but so much fun!
• Sunday was actually pioneer day, so after going to church we decided we would have an old fashioned pioneer dinner.  We had biscuits, potatoes and gravy and chicken. I tried to get everyone to do some square dancing after dinner, but my idea was shot down pretty fast.
• I love the new Utah firework laws, it makes the whole sky light up on the fourth of July and Pioneer Day! Fireworks suddenly become a public good  for everyone (Applying knowledge from American Heritage YEAH)!

The BAD

• One of our beehives died, so on Sunday night moved around hives between my grandparent's house and ours. My mom got a bee in her hair and she got stung.
• Adriann broke her arm last Wednesday, so she had to be careful.  She was really upset when we were swimming Saturday.  She made a big fit, but she eventually got over it she sat on the first step of the pool and splashed everyone. 

The Ugly

• Indian Pudding.   The name just doesn't sound good. I made it to go along with our pioneer dinner... it wasn't the highlight of the meal.

Beekeepings

A couple years ago, my Dad and I started a crazy hobby, BEEKEEPING. This is one of those things that I never thought I could get into to, but I did and I love it.  My dad started keeping bees when he was in high school and before his mission for the church he sold his hives and was able to pay for his mission with it.  We started off with just 2 hives at my grandparent's house and now we have close to 8 hives.  It has been a lot of fun to share this special hobby with my dad and grandpa.

My dad, grandpa and I bringing home our bees.

Here is me in my fancy bee suit, doesn't it look great on me!

Painting the hive boxes!

The first time we brought our bees home we really were not prepared.  We brought our bees home, and still had to put together the hives boxes and paint them.  The only bee suit we had was my dad's old one from when he was a teenager, and I was the only one that could fit in it.  I was responsible for putting the bees in the hive.  My dad coaching me as I shook the bees into the hive box.  Bees were all over me and they were buzzing in my ears.  It was a different experience at first, but it was fun. 

At first everyone helped me out..

But soon one by one they left me

It was up to me to shake all the bees into their new home!

This is our mess of honey, we were all pretty sticky afterwords!

Of course the best part of beekeeping is the sweet rewards...HONEY! Honey harvest day is always a day to look forward throughout the year.  It is also a very busy day.  First we take off the honey supers and bring them into the garage.  Then we take this heated knife and take off the wax. Then put the frames into this big extractor and then turn to make the honey spin out. After all the honey is out of the frames we take the honey heat it up on the stove and then strain it to get all the wax out.  To be honest this is a super exhausting day.  It takes all day but in the end it is worth it.  We end up with more honey than we could ever eat in a year.  

Workaholic???...Me?...NO WAY!!

Often people (meaning my co-workers and friends) consider me to be a workaholic.  I am always lost to where this idea would come from.  Well maybe it may be that I have three jobs or something.  One job though wasn't enough nor was two I ended up working 3 jobs currently. My jobs aren't the most glorious jobs, but I find then very enjoyable.  I clean dorms after messy EFY kids in the morning and then I serve the same EFY kids dinner at night.  And when have a second to spare I to accounting for my dad's company.  These are definitely not signs of a workaholic(right?). I am the type of person that always likes to be busy.  I hate it when I don't have something productive to do.  So while I don't have school for the summer, I have to stay busy somehow.  So while it may appear that I am seriously working myself to death, I enjoy it.  And of course I always make time to spend with my wonderful friends and family.  Life is so great right now and I am loving it!

About ME

Hello, I finally decided that it was time to start a blog.  I am really new to this and so I will start by introducing myself.  I am a student at BYU studying business finance. I was born and raised in Utah, which is a wonderful place.  The two most important things in my life are my family, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am the second in my family.  I have an older sister, a younger brother, and a younger sister.  I love to play board games, especially when I win! A couple years ago, my Dad and I starting beekeeping as a hobby, which has turned out to be really enjoyable.  Life is sometimes crazy as a college student, but life is really great!

This my adorable family who I love so much.