back to life:

• im flying to Orlando tomorrow
• i get to see sam and all of my FL friends
• becky is coming to spend the night and say goodbye :)
• i got my new lappy just in time :)
• all of my items fit in a small suitcase and backpack-
• i have been in nephi with the fam for aprox. 42 days
• once i get back to orlando i have 4 days before heather,mom&dad come -
• resumes/applications will be passed out within the first 3 days of my arrival
• [hopefully] i will get a good paying job quick then i can look for apartments
• i am looking forward to "Sam&Rachael's Nothing Day"
• heather and i get to spend a week at WDW -
• i get a Year Pass to WDW -
• in Feb i get to spend a lot of time with the Olson fam in cali :) hooray

right now.......these are things that make me happy

the.end

Chicago 2008!

Chicago was wonderful! it was a bit chilly, but tolerable. we had such a great time there!

me
dad
omni
mom
bryan
celeste
heather

bryan already blogged Chicago, and did a wonderful job! so take a look at his for more detail.
im so glad i didnt get sick this year, my skin did start to rash up a bit though... either the sheets in the hotel room, or coldness, or mixture of both... anyway, now that im back home, my skin is back to normal(normal for me anyway!) we got to stay in Chicago one more day than bryan did, so my family decided to take a trip to the navy pier. it was pretty good! the view of the citys sky line was amazing! its good to be home though! we have a lot to do before everyone comes for Thanksgiving!!!

Christmas=

Christmas started this year with my family going to WDW- how fun!!!

we got back on the 18th, and had a bit of a smooshy christmas: mom and dad took yet another mini-vacation to Vegas for the BYU game, my grandpa is a huge fan; it was his christmas!

on their way back to nephi, they picked up Bryan in St.George! he was able to spend christmas with our family!!!

::Mickelson Family Christmas Traditions::[see pictures below!!!]

Christmas Eve:

• Neighbor gifts(this year i made some cherry chocolate cupcakes to go along with our cherry merry christmas cards and cherry sprite!)
  
• Ginger Bread House decorating(not just candy and frosting, we have to think about things like.."will this piece of candy blow up?" ... "will it make a loud sound?" ... "how many fire crackers can i stuff in this thing before someone gets hurt?")
  
• Fancy Dinner(see fancy pictures below)
• Opening one present!(its always PJs!!!)
  
• Christmas Lights around town(this year was kind of a dud, we didnt have a vehicle big enough for 8)
  
• all the kids sleep in one room(silly, but we all look forward to it, and LOVE it!)
  

Christmas Day:

• Dad comes and wakes us up, usually around 8AM-(sometimes he is more excited than we are..hehe)
• we each open our Christmas Stockings
• then take the first couple of gifts going one at a time, then realise how long it will really take if we do that..then we all go present CRAZY!!!!
• after the gifts are all open, we eat cinnamon rolls and yummy icing
• now we get to watch movies, or play family games, or whatever we want!!!

______________________________________________

i really had a good christmas this year- i was able to spend it with the ones i love!

!!!WDW.WOW!!!

i was able to spend December 11th - 18th in Florida with my family this year!

we had a really great time, i love being at disney world, and especially with my family! i couldnt have had a better time!

Heather, Celeste and I had a lot of fun 'Pin Trading'! we got new lanyards and everything! the family was really good to me: they let me plan everything out! even though we changed a lot of things, we still used our itinerary like a bible!

my family loves eating good food, and Disney is FULL of good food(hehe)

the family even let me watch the Parades, and sing to Wishes, and Dance with Mickey in Fantasmic....

Disney World really is a perfect vacation for the Mickelson Family!

we had to wake up early a lot of the time, the last day was the worst though.....

• 7:15AM = Plane Departing
  
• 5:15AM = Arrive at Airport
  
• 4:00AM = Wake up/ Breakfast/ Loading Car
  

very early! then put that to UTAH TIME, we had to wake up at 2AM!!! so unfair!!

but it was really worth it--

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Top 10 favorite Attractions this trip:

1. Carousel of Progress (MK)
   
2. Soarin' (EPCOT)
   
3. Festival of the Lion King (DAK)
4. Kali River Rapids (DAK)
5. Lights, Motors, Action! (MGM)
6. Rockin Roller Coaster (MGM)
7. Monsters Inc, Laugh Floor (MK)
8. Maelstrom, Norway (EPCOT)
9. Mad Tea Party (MK)
10. SpaceShip Earth (EPCOT) [sneek peak of the newly remodeled version!!]
    

Top 5 Favorite places to eat this trip:

1. Flame Tree BBQ (DAK)
2. Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Resort)
3. Kona Cafe (Polynesian Resort)
4. Cosmic Rays (MK)
5. San Angle Inn (EPCOT, Mexico Pavilion)

Top 7 Things which might have made me cry

1. Wishes (MK)
2. Walking Through Magic Kingdom
3. Riding the Resort Monarail to the Grand Floridian
4. Walking through the TTC to the monorails
5. Wishes(MK, the second time too!)
6. dancing with Mickey during Fantasmic(MGM).. i miss Fankie, Shayne, and Trevor!!! (Fantasmic just isnt the same without Maritcio!)
7. Leaving WDW the last day!
   

Top 1 thing that make me want to go back!!!

1. SEE ALL ABOVE!!!!!

Big Tex[as]

mom, dad, michael and i went to texas!
we were in texas from the 19th - 25th!







we were helping out with a display for the State Fair of Texas!

our friend Paul (i call him Uncle Paul)does Garden/Train Displays. so this year his company Applied Imagination did a display around 'Big Tex'!!! right in the center of the state fair!








mom, michael and i helped fix up the small houses! they didnt get too much damage, just a little ware and tare from the trip from kentucky-- so we worked with the glue guns mostly.








for our lunch breaks we went to the South Dallas Cafe-- defiantly our favorite!!! we went most every day for lunch! it was right by the fair park- we had some really good southern cookin-










here i am with 'Big Tex' before they put him up--- he is HUGE!!!










here is a pic of 'Big Tex' he stands 52 feet high!! he has real Dickies denim jeans, and a 75 gallon cowboy hat!

with our display around him, it looked like it was his little toy trains! it was really cool!!








we usually finished work about 3ish or so, and we would have time to go back and shower, take a small rest, go to dinner and some sightseeing!

here are some pics that i liked the most of our display:


ENJOY!!!

Aspen Grove 2007

Aspen Grove June 16-22 2007!!!


we had a total of 32 of our Mickelson family members at this years reunion.

we each got our own T-shirt, gran of course being the first in the family got a #1 on her shirt, and then down the list... i am # 12 in the family!

Aspen Grove is a family camp filled with a lot of different activities for everyone!


Bad mitten, Shuffleboard, tennis, ping pong, swimming, crafts, fishing, hiking, rope coarses and loads more that i cant think of right now!





This year our family decided to take part in the talent show, we did our many versions of 'Pop-corn popping' [see picture of us on stage]! as a group we all sang popcorn once, then each took part of the verse to complete our 'special versions'. the olson fam, did a 'rap' version, very unique and hillarious! next celeste and i went, i did a poetry reading, celeste accompanied me on her 'bongos'. next aunt lorie and stephanie did their best 'opera' voices and took over the stage with their voices. then christine finished up with her computer programing of popcorn. it was a lot of fun, and turned out real well. if i ever figure out how, i will download the video and post it, im sure its great!










it really was a lot of fun, we took so many great pictures, it was hard to choose which ones to share!!


a few of my favorite activities are: end of program Family Dance, Aspen Follies(all the familys get to compete in silly competitions and games), Frontier Night(getting a balloon, a snow cone, and riding the 'kid train' with aunt lorie and stephanie). and a new edition to this years reunion is... Water Coloring!

a Magic Moment that started this year was: being with the whole family letting gran know our special memories of her.


Aspen Grove is so much fun, i know that we all look forward to it each year!!! and as lame as it sounds, i cant wait till next year!!!!!