Erin Banks

Snowboarding

2012-02-04T21:00:00.005-07:00

I went Snowboarding with my Dad February 1 to February 4, 2012. The first day we went to Park City to board free for the day I had a good day, my boots were hurting my feet so I rented some boots and what a difference! I was still pretty sore from my climbing adventure last weekend so I wasn't at my best.

This is in from of Snowbasin, one of my favorite ski lodges. So comfy and pretty, I LOVE it! And they have this crazy moose out front so I wanted a picture last year & forgot to get it so I was sure to get it this year. You can maybe see the little snow flakes that were blowing across. Utah is cold.

Here I am at Park City and that was a Cold day, very windy and cold. I wore my Dad's "turtle fur" thing which helped so much. And there are some nice scenic pictures from the top of the mountain.

Here I am bored while waiting for my Dad to be done with his Dental Conference at the Deer Valley Resort. That resort is cold, small & loud.

Some pictures of our hotel lobby, the picture doesn't do it justice but it was very pretty. The chandelier was so elegant and coloring was beautiful. We stayed at The Little America, very nice but they threw away my contact solution & contact lens case as well as Dad's Root Beer. We were both pretty sad.

More Wind Cave Pictures!

2012-01-30T19:38:00.003-07:00

Kayla emailed me some of the pictures she took. Her landscape picture looks a little more vibrant than mine did.

This is Kayla & I by the wind cave just after climbing to the very top.

Me on top of the mountain!!!!!!

Now that it is a few days later I am SO sore, thankfully I can walk, but going down the stairs hurts. This week I am going snowboarding up in Utah, so hopefully I get healed up fast because I need to be in working order by Wednesday!

The Wind Cave Hike/Climb

2012-01-29T15:15:00.006-07:00

My Friend Kayla & I went hiking Saturday morning to the wind cave at Usery Pass. This is the picture of the wind cave, or the area by the wind cave, it really was a super windy day.

When you hike with Kayla you don't just stop once you reach the wind cave, you go to the top, so this picture shows the none trail ahead which we took.

A picture of me by the sign that warns that the next "trail" isn't a trail and you proceed at your own risk. Thankfully there were these two boys that had the same idea but they found a different route than the once Kayla takes that didn't involve me scaling rocks :)

And the view . . .
It was SO beautiful up there, clear blue skies, still a steady wind but the sun was shining and it felt nice to get the top!

My friend Kayla enjoying the view too. She was great, she is very into the outdoors and has gotten me excited about rock climbing (Kayla is who I went rock climbing with before), and archery - so hopefully this spring and summer I get to try them out with her.

Me trying to get a picture of myself, it looks a little silly but I think you can see the sense of accomplishment.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T16:16:00.004-07:00

Christmas Eve we had Kyle & Tara with baby McKenna come visit along with Aunt Jolene, Chris & Brooke with their kids and MaryJo & Eric with their kids. Busy house!

Everybody was very excited for the food to be ready, we had Honey Ham, Mormon Potatoes, Butterhorn Rolls, my awesome Deviled Eggs with a relish dish.

Abigail & Aunt Jolene all smiles :)

Everyone together to exchange gifts between the families. This has become a recent family tradition.

Christmas Day!
Brian woke everyone up about 7:30 a.m. for Christmas Presents. It is Sunday today so we all have church meetings so I guess it is good we started early

Brian at the end with all his goodies, he got a laptop, lots of Legos along with candy and giftcards.

Me on Christmas Day, I got a laptop too.

Plus a camera.

We had a great Christmas together. Mom got an Ipod & a Kitchen set. Dad didn't get anything specific but said he is sure he got something this year. We got to skype with Kylene and her kids in the morning before I left for church which was awesome. All our church meetings were just Sacrament so we got to come home and just chill the rest of the day.

My First In-Door Rock Climbing Trip :)

2011-11-11T17:21:00.005-07:00

Kayla Patridge took me on my first In-Door Rock Climbing trip, emphasis on in-door. She pushed the no-dirt factor and she had a purple harness that she promised is pretty. There are only pictures of me bouldering, you cannot really take pictures when you are on the wall because the one person is climbing and the other person is belaying so no free hands between the two of us.

This is me trying the more exciting boulder trails where it does not go just straight up but curves, you can see how awkward it looked to me at first. . .

I got up, the idea is pretty simple: follow the tape on the different holds.

I smiled for the camera :)

I tried to get up higher on the climb but my holds are wrong, my bottom right foot should be higher on the marked purple tape hold.

This hold is better, at least I think it is. I pretty much fell every time I got to this point.

On the wall I was able to complete all my trails, we did four actual marked paths after we practiced on the free wall. Also, did NOT know you repel down, I kind of figured you just climb down. Thankfully it was not the repelling I remember from as a kid so it was fine. I really enjoyed belaying, it is really fun to watch people on the wall, to see their concentration, their thought process and to be there and make sure they do not fall.

Remodeling . . .

2011-10-29T20:47:00.004-07:00

My dad is remodeling this house & he just finished redoing the tile in the entrance hallway and stairs down to the kitchen. Just today he started ripping up the carpet in the family room & tile in the kitchen to where the counter is. Brian & I got to help jackhammer & buff the concrete. It was pretty fun.

First two are me using the buffer, Dad said that there is an actual Diamond underneath it and that is what makes it work so well.

Brian jack-hammering.

Erin jack-hammering. I was doing fine but after a while it starts to get kind of heavy and the noise gets to me. It was really cool to do though, I actually ripped up tile today & then buffered out concrete. Cannot say that everyday.

Alabama/Tennessee Trip

2011-10-29T20:17:00.006-07:00

I went to Birmingham, AL to visit Josh Bowman. We camped & hiked in Stone Door, TN which was beautiful & toured Auburn, AL, didn't get any pictures in Auburn.
Josh took all the pictures but one, so some are little silly. . .

These were so pretty the way the sun hit the leaves, it really brought out the beautiful colors.

I really like this picture with the light by my face, especially because I am looking up. Makes me look kind of angelic.

This is Josh & I at the Stone Door, which is what the hike is named after. It was so cool, I love Rock structures and it always amazes me the beauty of nature and how lucky I am.

These next pictures are over-looking a really beautiful look out point. The colors in the trees was breath-taking. I truly could have stayed there for hours and just looked out. It was a cold day at first, but as the day went on even I got a little warm.

These two pictures are actually where we started our hike, it was a little loop that took us to this little water fall. That is why I am in my jacket & Josh's jacket, I was cold in the shade. But it was fun little loop that was literally less than 1/4 of a mile.

It was a great trip, I loved all the trees and grass & thankful for the beauty of the Earth. Autumn is my absolute favorite season and as great as Arizona is, there isn't much or any leaf color changes. So I was very sad to say goodbye to Alabama and it's beautiful season.

Trip to UT for General Conference

2011-10-29T19:58:00.004-07:00

I went to Utah for General Conference with my friend Andy & best friend Dave. I get really restless so we had to make a few pit stops along the way. Here are the boys in front of John Wayne.

We were in some small western town & the boys were in heaven, I tried to be a good sport, but this is as far as I really took it.

There was this rock formation that looked really cool & it had been a little over 2 hours the last time we stopped so I asked that we check it out. We ended up going a mini hike up the rock formations. It was pretty cool.

Our Last big stop was to see the Manti Temple. It was so beautiful & the grounds were amazing! I loved it there.

This is me in front of the SLC Temple, just before we went into the Saturday Morning Session. It was crazy how many people were there.

We looked forever to find me pretty fall leaves, while the guys were at Priesthood Session I went with my Aunts & Grandma to the Canyons by there house in Mapleton & found Beautiful Fall Foliage!

Camping Trip Two

2011-10-29T18:53:00.004-07:00

These happen once a month, usually the Friday & Saturday before I teach on Sunday for Relief Society. This time I got to invite two of my girlfriends to come along, Raila Hansen & Kayla Patridge - who technically works with Dave and was his friend first but I count her as my guest.

This is around the campfire that took Dave over an hour to build, it was pretty funny how mad he was getting about it. But he was stubborn and got it going in the end. And Madeleine the blanket is the one you picked out for me, I take it everywhere, thank-you!

There is usually some kind of hammock shot, we hiked to a lake and Dave took a nap for most of the afternoon while us girls played around the lake.

We went on our own exploration and found some cool paths and had fun :)

In the lake there were some pretty big crawdads, Kayla even caught a few, this was one of the smaller ones. She got cut on one she caught, she is very adventurous.

Raila & I on a rock we bravely jumped to, by-the-way the water was really cold.

Okay, this is big, I slept in a tent. I generally refuse to sleep in a tent, but Raila told me that was her condition if she came camping. She slept like the dead, I did less well.

The end of the hike back from the lake, it was so much fun, I have some seriously great friends!

My Camping Trips this Summer: One

2011-10-29T17:11:00.003-07:00

My Best Friend Dave & I went up to Flagstaff, AZ to camp & hike at Christopher Creek.
This is me on Dave's hammock, to be honest they are not that comfortable, completely couldn't sleep on one, and I refuse to sleep in tents so I slept on a tarp with my sleeping bag.

This is during the hike, it was very pretty, and the weather was gorgeous. Sure beat the crazy hot heat in Mesa.

The end of the hike, oh my gosh I am out of shape, I was so sad how hard it was to go up the mountain. Going down was fine, a little slow because I didn't want to fall but going up sucked!!! Dave was pretty concerned which annoyed me even more but it was good to finish it, that felt good.

It had rained the night before so Dave made sure to drive through all the mud puddles to get my car good and dirty. I may never wash my car again.

SEDONA!!!!!

2011-04-03T20:23:00.004-07:00

For my time off work in March I went to Sedona :) It is so beautiful here with the Red Rocks and blue sky, and bright stars at night.

This is me beside a rock formation, probably the only picture with me in it to prove that I did go.

This is a picture of an Eagle carved into a mountain. I never could see the eagle, I thought it looked like an ugly hippo. It is suppose to watch and protect the church that was built inside the rock. Pretty cool, but weird that a church had a gift shop on the lower level.

These pictures I thought were just amazing showing the different rock layers, geology is FUN!

This picture I also really like, not because of the colors but the depth that is inbetween each mountain structure.

The creeks were maybe my favorite, the mountains were pretty but standing next to a flowing creek was so peaceful.

PALM TREES

2011-02-12T21:20:00.005-07:00

My Dad has become something of an enthusiast of Palm Trees.

This is the view from the back deck looking down.

These are the smaller ones on the back deck, these are ones my Dad cross-pollinated himself.

These are more my Dad cross-pollinated on the other side deck.

More by the pool, I didn't get a picture of all of them, but imagine palm trees going around the entire pool, some potted, some planted. Easily 20 mid-sized queen palms around the pool deck.

The garden of Mexican Fan Palms, these are not cross-pollinated palms (that I am aware of) and they range from tiny baby Mexican Palms to the big ones you see. There is about 30+ in that fenced garden.

And these are the ones my Dad bought from Costco just the other day which was what inspired this post. 12 new Queen Palms my Dad bought and is now planting along the opposite side of the pool fence. I helped him dig today and my shoulders hurt, and I think I will get some gloves.

Anyway, I don't have a grand total but last time I counted before was like 76 so I am sure he is closer to 90 now.

Salt Lake City Temple Lights

2010-12-12T21:23:00.003-07:00

So I have absolutely have no pictures of the snowboarding trip but I did manage to get some pictures at the Salt Lake City Temple. It was raining that night, but it was still crazy crowded.

This is the huge light tree, it was so tall and so amazing. I Loved it.

I have always loved the Salt Lake City Temple and this picture I think it turned out great.

Brian and I both got our picture taken by the pond with a Joseph, Mary & Baby Jesus figuerines in the background. They had little see-through balls lit with LED lights, the affect was really cool.

I didn't get any pictures of the nativity, but that was way amazing too. I think Mesa Temple has more lights, but SLC has a beautiful Nativity.

Horses!

2010-07-01T16:45:00.003-07:00

My friend Raila and her family have recently leased 2 horses out in Lehi and invited me to come visit this past Wednesday. I have been on vacation so I was able to go in the morning with her to see what a typical morning routine is like.

This is me next to their giant mule, Mona. When Raila told me about her I totally didn't believe how big she was but, WOW, she is huge.

This is Raila and I posing with her horse, Dusty. I optioned to not ride him, but Raila rode him very well. In the end I did help brush him and lead him back to his fenced area.

Last picture, me posing in front of Dusty. They have a second horse they are leasing, James, but he stayed by Sonny, aka Son of a Gun and another horse Pistol. I neglected to get a picture by King Edward, he is a loud donkey.

Really fun morning, even a nice breeze to not make it too hot.

I Changed My Own Oil!

2010-06-13T21:18:00.004-07:00

My oil life warning has been going on for over a month now. Dad had time on Saturday to help me change my oil and rotate my tires. I was so proud of myself, I got so filthy but I was able to change my oil, oil filter and rotate all of my tires. I didn't know what to expect so I went into the garage wearing a shirt, board shorts and flip-flops. You cannot tell in the pictures but my arms and legs are dirty from the tires and my hands are covered in oil, even some splashed onto my face.

Dad was so awesome and didn't make me feel too bad about how little I knew about car maintenance. He was even the one who ran to grab a camera to take a picture, I told him it was too bad he missed me rotating my tires because no one would believe that either without a picture to prove it.

Fun Photo Shoot

2010-06-10T20:29:00.004-07:00

I had pictures taken a couple of weeks ago down at Freestone Park by Leslie Smith who took pictures last year for me at Tempe Town Lake.
I picked a few of the ones I liked the best, she gave me like 19 but these are my favorites.

The sun is in my eyes pretty bad in this one but I like the shot, a different angle or something about it I like.

This one I like a lot too, just the sun and the light kind of streak across my face.

These last 2 are my favorites. I think they turned out the best. Next year I will wear a better shirt, I loved the color but the style kind of makes me look pregnant with the looseness. Which is too bad because I think it is a super cute and comfortable shirt.

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T21:15:00.004-07:00

Happy Valentines Day!

I love fun days where everyone is themed and coordinated. At church today it was a sea of pink and red and white - absolutely amazing. I had a fun day, Mom got me a basket full of treats and a balloon that was part of a fundraiser for the young women in her ward to go to camp.

This next picture depicts Brenlie on my bed (wet). I LOVE her so much.

We spent our Valentines Day watching the Olympics and I watched some silly romantic comedies most of the night. Dad and the dogs went hiking so it was pretty quiet here.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-18T09:37:00.005-07:00

Well it is better late than never. I finally downloaded the Christmas pictures from Mom's camera, there are maybe three on there. She didn't remember to take pictures until after everything was over and I asked, "did you get any pictures?" when she gasps,grabs her camera and takes some last minute ones.

This is Behr, he refuses to use his dog door when he sees that there are people in the family room. If we are not quick enough to see him out there he barks and barks until he is let in, so Dad snapped a picture of typical Behr.

This is Brian with his two DS games, they are different, it was supposed to be the big joke of Christmas but Brian didn't play into and so Dad didn't get the reaction he was going after. Brian thought he got a snowboard (which he isn't into anymore), then the wrong DS a little bit later, and then finally the DS he wanted very last. It is all on video - which is hilarious btw, if I knew how to upload video I totally would post it because as far as our family goes it is pretty funny.

This is Dad putting together the mount for my TV, it will save so much space in my room, except that my old TV is just sitting on my floor. It is pretty awesome though, it has high-def clarity, etc. . . makes for watching my new Tinkerbell DVD's pretty exciting.

Me, obviously, and what a great day. Christmas is a fun day to be with family and I think we spent the majority of the morning fairly harmoniously (for us) and then we had to take naps.

Merry Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

2009-12-20T17:19:00.007-07:00

I spent the better part of my Saturday evening putting the top Christmas tree lights on and ornaments and then the following Saturday finished. Dad did all the outside lights and decided this year to put white lights on the two cactus outside but not the huge saguaro cactus. Mom's wreath turned out really nice, she opted for bows this year instead of plastic ornaments.

I don't remember how many light strands Mom had to buy but we went through a ton of lights. This tree I thought was pretty hard to get lights on, the branches were so intertwined that it was annoying to make sure every strand got lights.

Here is the completed picture, I think it turned out really well personally.

This is a picture of our family room, Dad still has the Nordic track out, but I love seeing the fireplace with boughs on top and the stocking hung up. Sorry Kylene, but your stocking is technically the dogs stocking now even though it still has your name on it. You can see Behr on the couch, that is pretty typical of him, that's where Dad sits so whenver he isn't there the dogs are there waiting.

This is just outside our front door where we keep the family Christmas cards we are given and where we keep candy for carolers.

The outside lights, you can see the front of my new car too, but it is dirty from the rain we have had lately. The cactus turned out really nice I think, it all goes together well with the wreath, the cactus, and the house lights.

Here is the dining room, on the table is the Christmas table cloth Kylene made Mom a couple of years ago. I know Kylene wanted pictures of the new dining set so here is the dining room table and the next picture is of the china hutch.

It all looks very pretty, but I just cannot help think that in a month we will be taking it all down and how much more work that will be. But it is worth it.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Chopping 2009

2009-11-27T21:18:00.005-07:00

Today was a great day! Per tradition, the day after Thanksgiving we went to chop down our Christmas tree up past Payson, AZ in the few forests that are still giving out permits. Dad bought an awesome Polaris Ranger ATV, it helps so much, it means less hiking, and carrying logs and trees. Last year Dad rented one, and so this year he found a good deal and bought one brand new. On the way up Behr was so funny about where he would sit, the below picture is one of the places Behr choice to be. He looked so goofy I took a picture.

We had a hard time finding trees we liked this year, usually we have to make ourselves look at more because we love the first one we see. This time it took over an hour before we saw one we kind of liked. Dad bought 2 permits this year, so we have 2 trees which meant twice as much time looking, chopping it, loading it, etc. . .

It was such a fun time though, the weather was amazing - no snow this year which made me kind of sad but it was still beautiful. It even got a little chilly toward the end of the day. We didn't leave until 5:30 p.m. which got us home before 8 p.m. which was nice.

These are some pictures of us in the Ranger. The top one while up in the mountains and the bottom one is when we got home taking it for a last spin.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T22:13:00.004-07:00

So the pictures turned out pretty bad, Mom's camera battery was practically dead. But basically Brian was Harry Potter again, but I was a fairy princess - I wore an old prom dress with a tiara and wings. Oh, and there was TONS of glitter or as I liked to call it, fairy dust or pixie dust.

Brian did end of going trick or treating with one of his young men leaders and his kids - then they came back and played with some toys mom got out of the attic. Dad and the dogs had gone hiking so beyond that the house was pretty quiet.

I worked that day, but Bashas was participating in a trick or treat and so the bank got to be a part of it too. We had kids coming all day, it was a ton of fun. Plus at home we had an okay turn out - mostly I spent the night watching the World Series game though.

Need Some Motivation

2009-09-30T21:34:00.003-07:00

So right now I am in serious need of motivation, there are TONS of things I can be doing that I just don't do. For instance, I am looking to go to graduate school and have been off and on studying for my GRE exam and the whole process. Also, I have had a hard time finding a new full-time job which has been an added stressor. I need some serious motivation, I am in a little rut right now.

But on the positive side things have been great besides that, my calling at church is amazing and I am loving life. I have made a personal commitment to read the whole bible and to read everyday - that has been a hard goal but so far I am over three weeks strong and am in Deuteronomy now which is the farthest I have made it to. General Conference is this weekend and I am major excited about it, I will even be able to catch most of it, will just miss Saturday morning session because of work. My institute class is going well, we learned about John Taylor this week and if I knew my prophets better I could tell who is next - but I can't. Well by next Wednesday I will be able to.

Just want to give a shout out to Kylene, I hope she has her baby soon and that everyone is healthy. I am so excited to be an aunt all over again, I love my neice and nephews.

Hopefully I will have some pictures next time, probably Halloween will be the best bet.

The Owl

2009-08-27T20:50:00.004-07:00

This is for Michael, Grandma had talked to him about an owl that was sitting on our house. Well here are some pictures of him sitting on the house, and up in a tree in our backyard - our trees are kind of different from yours but I guess owls aren't picky.

First two pictures are the owl in the palm tree in our backyard, this was about a month ago and Brian thought it was so amazing that we had an owl.

These last three pictures show the owl right outside mine and Mom's balcony, Dad came upstairs to tell me there was an owl and when I went out I couldn't see him. Mom came too and had to show me, he was pretty cool, just sat there and would occassionally glance at us.

Dogs Haircut

2009-08-06T19:46:00.005-07:00

So, this actually happened in May over Memorial Day - which was a weekend when Mom and Brian were in Maryland and Dad and I were home together. He decides that it is a great time to give the dogs haircuts. I will not dispute that they needed it, but I did not want to spend my day off to do it.

Behr has a ton of hair! I wish I took pictures of the hair we buzzed off, it was layers and layers of hair in our backyard. Here are some pictures I found of the dogs before their trimming.

This one is my personal favorite of Behr - it was taken in the winter so he does have a winter coat - but still - this dog has lots of fur!

Here is the after photos - this is actually 2 trims after. Dad and I took off an inch the first time, but then 2 weeks later Mom, and I took off another 1/2 inch. They look pretty goofy in the pictures, but the hair has darkened to a nice red again.

The hair has also evened quite a bit too.

Brenlie was a little coward when it came down to the cut, she had way less hair than Behr and took a fraction of the time to do.

I really love my dogs, because that was definitely a labor of love.

Mom's 50th Birthday

2009-08-05T21:36:00.002-07:00

Mom celebrated her 50th Birthday on Thursday, unfortunately she had to work that day and so only in the evening could we head to Olive Garden for a nice family dinner. MaryJo took her to breakfast on Wednesday morning and made her chicken salad complete with croissant rolls and Nicole made her a home-made cheesecake with fresh raspberries.

I took Mom out to get her first pedicure ever! The only reason she agreed was because we went to a patient of Dad's and so Mom decided that she could maybe handle Tuyen Kim touching her feet. Well she claims that she liked it and admits that they are not as terrible as she thought they would be. Below are pictures of mom's and mine pedicure.

Grandma Banks had a dozen pink roses delivered to the house, and it was such a special suprise for Mom to get on Friday.

Dad got mom a printer/copier/fax machine, and I am also grateful because now she doesn't have to rely on mine. I didn't take a picture of that, but it is nice, it is a wireless printer - Dad wouldn't help try and figure out the "wireless" portion of it so as of right now that feature is not working.

My Church Calling

2009-07-02T14:49:00.004-07:00

I am very excited right now, I have been in my Singles Branch for a little over 6 months and I finally got my call. I am the Branch Service Committee Member! There are maybe 3 people in the committee including the chairman and there is also one honorary member. Our first service will be feeding the homeless in some shelter in Phoenix - sometime next month I believe. It is going to be amazing, I love my singles Branch.

Beyond that there is nothing super new right now, I am working at the bank as a teller still and posting out for full-time job at least once a day now. Mom and Brian are going to Utah tomorrow for the Fourth of July and should come back with some fun pictures, and I still have to post their pictures from Maryland. I did get my diploma in the mail yesterday and it looks pretty plain - but how can you really make a paper look that exciting?

So no pictures this time, sorry.

More Graduation Pictures

2009-06-09T14:01:00.005-07:00

Brian is not the only one who had a photoshoot. I wanted to get some nice photos in my cap gown wearing gold ballet flats - I couldn't find any so I ended up wearing the ones I wore to my cousin Whitney's wedding.

I also wanted some pictures with my glasses - I hoped they would make me look smarter or sophisticated.

But I also got some pictures with the contacts. This is at Red Mountain Park with the itchy grass and people walking their dogs that we had to avoid in our shots.

This one is my favorite - the pose of relief!

The next two pictures were taken at Las Sendas, there was a pretty rainfall and I think these two turned out amazing. Sister Smith did such a wonderful job.

Mine and Brian's were one of the last free photoshoots she did, beginning June she officially starts. It was a lot of fun, I had done a previous shoot with her at Tempe Town Lake that I loved, and the pictures were great.

Brian's Photoshoot

2009-06-09T13:39:00.007-07:00

Brian had photoshoots done by a lady in our ward who is starting a photography business. Mom wanted some different pictures pictures of Brian smiling. Most of the shots were taken at Red Mountain Park which gave a great background of Red Mountain and by the river.

Brian had a hard time smiling naturally on cue, sometimes he looked pretty silly but they turned out really nice. He doesn't like to smile with his teeth, Mom told Sister Smith to be sure to get a toothy smile no matter how unnatural it looked.

She wanted Brian to be doing something other than just smiling, a more "natural" pose for him. So Brian whips out his DS and starts playing it, and I'm pretty sure this is the photo Brian liked the best.

Great Job Sister Smith, they look great. MUCH better than Brian's yearbook pictures.

ASU 2009 Graduation

2009-05-16T21:19:00.010-07:00

I am officially done with school for at least a year! Today I attended my convocation at the Wells Fargo Arena at 1 p.m. and I had an okay time. My parents had to rearrange their work schedule in order to come to the ceremony and support me. I am thankful that the ceremony took place in doors because it was warm today, at least 103 degrees, and in the cap and gown I was dieing trying to find them outside.

This is me walking to my seat, I am the short one, I was so angry that the girl behind me was some amazon woman - plus the seats were tiny and she was all over my space.

This is a photo mom took of me, I guess they saw me instantly when I walked in - I was the fifth person and sat down close to where they were sitting. So although they were high up I had a pretty clear view of them, I think you can see my hand waving at them in the photo below. I sat by a friend of mine, it was so nice to know someone there and could keep each other company.

We wanted to take a picture behind something that said ASU but for as many people as there were, and for how hot it was I figured the palm was good enough. This is me right after I found mom and dad in the outside lobby - they made all the graduates exit which made finding everyone difficult.

Brian was kind enough to take a picture of mom and dad and me, he had to come with me in my car to save seats for them. So he was there over an hour early too - thankfully convocation did not take as long as I thought it would and lasted from 1p.m. to a little before 3 p.m. Mom was really excited that I decided to walk, I was really against it, but like she said - it only happens once so here we are.

This one is my favorite, I am so glad that my family came and supported me for this step in my life. After this picture we went to a late lunch, watched the Diamondbacks win a game and then later in the evening went to Nielson's for frozen custard. It was a great time.

I should get my diploma in 10 to 12 weeks, it is kind of sad to think that my school career is almost over - now I have to work for the rest of my life. Awesome. Seriously though, I am excited, college has been a great experience and I have a year to think about going on to a masters program.

Easter

2009-04-19T21:01:00.008-07:00

Easter Sunday

We did not have our traditional Easter Sunday with finding our Easter baskets in the morning and our special treats. Mom and Brian's church starts at 8:00 a.m. whereas my Singles ward does not start until 10:30 a.m. so I opted to sleep in and enjoy my Easter morning in my bed. I always love Easter Church, the choir numbers are especially my favorite, and the Easter message is also very special.

This is me right after church coming home to my basket, it was a lot of fun, felt like a kid again.

Brian actually did get an egg hunt on Friday with the Valora and Levie cousins at Usery Pass. He did really well.

Mom wanted to see my reaction with a movie she got me, You've Got Mail, I've wanted it for a while but never found it locally. I love it!

Kylene, tell Michael this is the best I could do as far as pretty dresses go. I only wear that dress for Easter.

Happy Easter!

Snowboarding in April

2009-04-07T18:25:00.003-07:00

Dad and I left for our plane to Salt Lake City about 5:15 a.m. and we arrived in Utah about 9:30 a.m. and were on the slopes in Park City about 10:30 a.m. It was such a shock to see snow on the ground, and to actually be in snow falling which was cold but fun. Park City had great fresh snow and beautiful slopes and it was not that crowded which was nice.

I wanted to work on my toe edge this trip, because after this weekend I cannot go back for about 9 months for the next season so this was my last chance. I did okay on my first day, I stayed mostly on their beginning slope which is really smooth and not very steep.

I did have a pretty bad fall at the end of Friday, we went on a more intermediate slope where the snow was much looser and for beginners like me made control harder. Well, I was going kind of fast and did a total face plant - hit my chest, ribs, and face pretty hard in the snow. It knocked the wind out of me but I was able to get up and finish my way down the mountain - which is a good feeling. Right now my legs are not sore and even my neck does not hurt like they usually do after snowboarding trips, but my ribs kill - I think I bruised them or something.

This is Saturday, the second and final day of snowboarding and we went to Solitude, Utah which also got fresh snow - I think the report was anywhere from 10-20 something inches of snow depending on location. I was pretty sore and so I did not do a full day like Dad did, I called it quits around 2 p.m. and Dad came back around 4 p.m.

It was such a beautiful time up there, the mountains and snow were so different than Arizona. I left 80 degree weather clear skies with some strong winds to snowy and windy with a high of 40 something degree weather.

I was sad that I did not get any pictures with Grandma Banks, but Dad and I spent Friday, Saturday night with her and Sunday morning before our flight with her too. We had a lot of fun with her and went to some of their favorite places like Purple Turtle, China Bowl restaurant, and we drove by BYU, Orem Jr. High School, and SunDance. It was such a fun and busy weekend, but it was also nice to come home.

My 22nd Birthday

2009-03-22T20:27:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday, but it was too jammed packed that I decided to have my family celebration on Sunday when things were less crazy. On my birthday, Saturday, I had to take a defensive driving class in the morning - had to take work off to go, registration started at 7:15 a.m. and class went till a little before 1 p.m. so not too bad. Afterwards Mom and I went shopping and I got some great work clothes, and a nice spring skirt to wear for church- not the one I am wearing in the pictures although that one is kind of new too. Twilight came out on DVD for my birthday so I got that to watch, Mom and I made caramel popcorn to eat with the movie. I went to my boyfriend Jeff's apartment and made him watch Twilight with me and I beat him in a game of boggle - with a new boggle set that he got me for my birthday!

On Sunday I went to my singles ward at 10:30, had a great time, and came home to find that Dad had fixed my light fixture! It has been broken for a couple of months now, but official died 3 days ago and it has been horrible having no ceiling light or fan. However, Dad fixed it by taking one of the controls in his and Mom's room so now one of their ceiling lights/fan does not work. Mom made an amazing birthday dinner for me, steak, fresh fruit, and for dessert a marscapone cheesecake I picked out. Everything was delicious!

Dad was the one who took charge of my birthday presents this year, because of my new hobby snowboarding he got me my own board which was so cute, a pretty cream on one side and a beautiful lavender on the other. He also bought me a Spyder snow jacket, and snowboarding pants which fit perfectly and was really warm. He even got me my boot harness for my board, the only thing left is boots, but that would have been too tricky to get because of size variations. It was amazing!

The board is a great length, Dad had to base all the lengths from boards we had rented in the past, I never got the same size so it was a challenge but I think my board is perfect.

Behr and Brenlie were excited by all the boxes and commotion. They wanted in on the action and so Behr had to come investigate my board and make sure that everything was okay before he could lie back down again.

I know I look kind of silly now, but the boots will make a huge difference, mostly we were just trying to see where the harnesses were going to be placed. I still have not figured out if I ride the board normal or goofy, I am terribly inconsistent in that regard and it is really frustrating. I am determined in two weeks to make stick with one direction, I cannot wait for Park City now!

Grandpa Banks Birthday

2009-03-11T14:59:00.005-07:00

For Dad's Birthday this year we went to his choice of restaurant, On the Border, which even Brian found something he could mostly eat. Mom and Dad had to work so we went Thursday night after work and once Dad had called Grandma Banks.

Mom and I spent most of the morning in the mall trying to find snowboard brands in shirts that we thought dad would maybe like. Mom settled on a blue quiksilver shirt, and I got him a brown hurley shirt, we wanted a burton shirt but we couldn't find any.

This year I think our gifts were a little more exciting than last years. The previous year we got him supplies for his camper: plastic spoons, bowls, cups, napkins, hot chocolate. Basically silly stuff that we knew he took from the house to go hiking with, this way he has his own and won't take ours. The shirts this year I think are more exciting - I would personally prefer to have something to wear over something to eat anyday.

Brian's Ordination

2009-01-19T15:54:00.003-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma Sumner had come down from Utah to be here for Brian's ordination in the Priest Quorum. Brian had specifically asked Grandpa to perform the ordination himself and it was very special and perfect. This picture is of Me, Mom, and Brian waiting for Grandpa to change back into his nice church clothes.

This picture we got everyone to pose but the coordination took too long and Grandpa's glasses darkened already so they look kind of goofy. Brian was supposed to have a hair cut the Friday before the ordination but it had to be postponed so his hair couldn't be helped.

We decided to move the picture posing indoors so that we could see Grandpa's eyes without a darkened tint from the sun. At this point I opted out of the scene to go change out of my church clothes and into my lounge/comfortable clothes.

The cake was Mom's idea, she thought it was the best way to meet everyone's taste, I think I was the only person who didn't eat it. However I heard it was good, there was only one piece left which we took home to my Dad. It was a great day, the following week Brian was able to bless the sacrament (which he did an awesome job) and give a talk on honoring the priesthood (which he also rocked).

Brian's Sixteenth Birthday

2009-01-18T20:01:00.005-07:00

Brian's Birthday was December 30th which in 2008 was on a Tuesday. We went to Landmark with the family that evening, which has always been a tradition for us. However, this year we realized that the experience is not as awesome as it used to be, and Brian has the challenge to find a new venue for his Birthday dinner for 2009. This picture was taken by Mother of us eating in the restaurant perhaps for the last time.

Brian is on of the few people in our family who likes cakes so Mother makes sure to get him a buttercream white cake. This year Brian even got to help light the candles, however the picture of him blowing them out is too blurring so I opted not to post it.

I don't know if you can tell but his presents consist entirely of Bionocle sets. Whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys" I could not tell you, but Brian seemed pleased.

These pictures I decided to add for fun, these are Brian and I playing Guitar Hero World Tour together. Brian plays "expert" level on the base and I play "easy" level on guitar. Mother thought the moment was too special not to get on picture and so here you are: Brian and I playing together without needing a mediator.

Brian has been playing this game with his friend for the past 2 years and has achieved some levels of skill that I do not have, yet. He is often patient with me but sometimes struggles when I complain that my part is too hard. However, I only just started playing after Christmas when he got it, we play for about an hour on Sundays and that is it. We have to sit on opposite ends of the couch but at least we can play the same game together.

Christmas Day!

2009-01-02T18:57:00.004-07:00

So Christmas Day at the Banks house starts around 7 a.m. when Brian and the dogs wake everyone else up. I admittedly am the last person to get up and ready for Christmas, Brian hates that I insist on brushing my hair, putting contacts and make-up on. I personally wish Brian would be less worried about going downstairs to the Christmas tree area, and more interested in looking pretty for the pictures.

Brian's Christmas was pretty exciting, he got an awesome television from Santa Claus and Guitar Hero World Tour, tons of Bionacles, and Wii games. I didn't find his presents as interesting as he did, but I imagine he felt the same about mine.

The dogs were really good sports in the beginning but once we started unwrapping presents that got pretty rambunctious. Dad decided it was time to get their stocking down and let them pick out their own treat. They were good dogs.

My Christmas was very fun, I got two of my cross-stitches custom framed which turned out beautifully. I was even there picking out the matte colors, frames, and even the detailed matte cut and I was still so surprised how amazing they looked. From Santa Claus I got a GPS that I absolutely love, Dad had shown me how his worked the other day and even then I thought I should get myself a GPS. The one he got is great, the picture is great, the sound is audible, I should never get lost again!

Our Christmas was amazing if you cannot tell, we had a fun day together figuring out the GPS Mom and I got, and setting up Brian's Guitar Hero. It was a perfect day!

Snowboarding Christmas Eve

2009-01-01T18:33:00.004-07:00

For Christmas Eve Dad gave Brian and I the opportunity to go Snowboarding with him up in Sunrise, Arizona. We had to rent the boards, boots, and snow-gear for it the night before so we could just leave without worrying about getting to the shops early. It was a little less than 4 hours to get there so we left about 5:30 a.m. and got there a little after 9 a.m.

The whole area was not busy, we were able to walk right into the building and register for morning and afternoon lessons for Brian and I. It was nice it was so slow because our group lessons became private lessons, Dallas our instructor, worked it out so that he was our instructor not only for the morning session but also the afternoon too. I needed more one-on-one assistance than Brian did, but he had already gone once with Dad and had a lesson then. Dallas was great, in the picture he is strapping my boot into the board because I had no idea how to.

The whole morning session we stayed on the "bunny hill" learning balance on the board and different turn styles. I learned that it doesn't matter which way I want to go I will inevitably fall down anyway. It was amazing though, the weather was perfect, the snow was soft and beautiful, and even falling down didn't hurt that much. By the afternoon session Dallas took us down the "mid-way hill" which is the next level after the "bunny hill" which I loved. But I had a lot of fun down Mid-Way, probably the most fun I had was going down Mid-Way because I could tell how much I had improved since that morning. I could go sets without falling down, Brian unfortunately had a bad fall on this hill and hurt his wrist.

We had to leave by 3:30 p.m. to make it home for the family Christmas Eve dinner, but it was so much fun. I cannot wait to go again, it was a great experience. Hopefully next time I will not be so sore though, waking up Christmas morning was painful, everything hurt!

More Payson Pictures

2008-11-29T23:22:00.004-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our family trip to Payson.

First is Dad and his infamous Tote-Gote, he has made some changes to it in the last couple of years, resewed the seat, added a new motor engine to it and also finished it with a glossy red paint. Dad admitted that it is well over 30 years old, he has spent a lot of time getting it ready for this trip. Mostly I was suprised how well he has fixed it up, he can pick up some really good speed on it.

At this point Dad just wanted to take it for a quick spin before we had to head back home, he even tried to get Brian and I to drive on it, you can guess how we responded.

While Dad was driving around in the snow, wearing shorts if you cannot tell, Brenlie and I look on from the comfort of the camper.

Brenlie and Behr were so funny the whole trip, for as much as they loved the snow, and played in it they would always head back to the camper and sit there until someone got their interest. During one of our rides Brenlie refused to budge from the front seat of the 4-Wheeler and so Dad had to stand in the back because Brenlie could not be moved. I wish we had a picture of that to show.

One really cool thing about this trip was that it was my first experience with falling snow. I have been in snow before, but I have never actually seen it fall and it was so pretty and amazing. Mom thought I was dumb, but I was just so awestruck by how pretty it looked, I wish we could have stayed longer. We however were not expecting snow and were not dressed accordingly, and so we were all were pretty cold at this point.

Christmas Tree Chopping

2008-11-29T23:00:00.006-07:00

It has been a while since I was able to go Christmas Tree Chopping with my family up in Payson. This year it was amazing, a great experience. In order to get the day after Thanksgiving off I went Black Friday shopping with my manager which meant standing in line at Best Buy at 3:00 a.m. It really was not too bad, plus by 7:00 a.m. she knew I had plans and let me leave early.

Dad rented a 4-Wheeler to take with us up to the mountains to make hiking a lot easier. It was SO much fun to ride in it through the forest looking at the beautiful trees and snow. We covered a lot of ground, Dad even gave Brian and I a chance to drive it which was amazing, it was tons of fun. However we were not expecting snow so I was not dressed appropriately and my hands got too cold too fast to drive for very long.

This is for Kylene, sorry but Dad got the chainsaw working too fast, and we could not get a great picture like you used to of dad bending over trying to get it to work. Maybe next year. This is Dad sawing the tree down however, and it dropped down in a matter of seconds, and no branches snapped this time - a miracle.

Brian and I with the dogs Brenlie and Behr. You can see in the background all the trees covered in snow, it was a really beautiful sight.

The dogs were so funny in the snow, we have tons of pictures of them just rolling around in and being silly. Brenlie especially loved to play in the snow, as soon as we got out of the truck she was face first in the snow.

Another bonus to the 4-Wheeler, it did all the carrying. We were able to just lift the tree on the back, and drive it back to the truck which saved us a lot of back pains.

The Newest Addition To Our Home:

2008-11-24T21:51:00.002-07:00

This is for Michael, I know that he does not get to see the dogs or Grandpa that often so I will try to get them on my blog whenever a photo opportunity presents itself.

Dad recently bought a Nordic Track that currently lives in our family room, getting it there left me bruised for two weeks so I am in no hurry to move it soon. Dad usually runs on it at night after he gets home from work, the dogs Behr and Brenlie cannot stand the noise it makes and so they stand around and bark at it.

This picture shows the track going super slow in hopes of getting the dogs on it and not afraid. That lasted about 5 seconds, as you can see Dad is trying to pull a resistent Behr back on, and Brenlie is very safely off and cowering. Brian is pretty winded from Behr almost falling on him.

Behr is too big of a dog for even Dad to physically make him obey, and Behr slipped off and started barking again. It lasted about 4 more trials until we gave up, Behr and Brenlie can be very stubborn dogs, you can say that they fit right in with the family.

Brunette Again

2008-11-24T21:37:00.003-07:00

I have wanted to dye my hair dark for a bit now and decided to go even darker than I did last year. There is still a little blonde that shines through but I love it, the color and the cut. Kylene and I are almost twins except that I got a side bang cut to mix things up so she cannot say I copied her.

In the background you can see that while I am doing homework (by homework I mean browsing through family photos - which I tend to do instead of homework) that I am watching Lingo which is my favorite Game Show Network word game. My cluttered desk in the background is just a bonus, Mom took the photo on purpose with Lingo in the background. She may have got my dirty desk to perhaps embarrass me, I'll never know.

Primary Program

2008-11-16T20:22:00.002-07:00

Today was my Primary Program and it went amazing! I have been the CTR 8 Instructor for the past two years and so this is only my second Children's Program that I have been since I was in Primary myself. We have been practicing all year some of my favorite Primary songs and even some that I have never heard of before. Our Primary Chorister organized some great duets and groups to sing verses while the rest of the primary sang the chorus. It was fun to have kids who normally are shy stand up in front of our whole congregation and sing into a microphone with one or more kids. I could be biased but my CTR 8 kids I thought were particularily talented and put forth the best performance. There was a great deal of support from family members that came to watch the children, our overflow was almost completely full. It was a very spiritual experience, I am sure I looked very silly sitting up there smiling and beaming at all the children. However, it was a very special time and I tried hard to remember that during lesson and sharing time later because the kids were very high-strung and hard to keep reverent. We have the 3 - 6 p.m. church and now that the weather has changed so drastically it makes coming out of church at 6 p.m. very difficult because it is so dark and cold. I wish we could have recorded it because I would love to watch it over and over again, but I guess I will have to wait until next year.

Tag

2008-11-06T14:21:00.002-07:00

Where is your cell phone? backpack
Where is your sig. other? n/a :(
Your hair color? brown/blonde
Your mother? amazing
Your father? original
Your favorite thing? family
Your dream last night? limited
Your dream/goal? limitless
The room you're in? bedroom
Your hobby? cross-stitching
Your fear? failing
Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
Where were you last night? class
What you're not? coordinated
One of your wish list items? framing
Where you grew up? Arizona
Last thing you ate? trailmix
What are you wearing? lounge-wear
Your TV? off
Your pet? Brenlie/Behr
Your computer? on
Your mood? exhausted
Missing someone? family
Your car? dirty
Something you're not wearing? jacket
Favorite store? The Attic
Your summer? Long
Love someone? Family
Favorite color? purple
When was the last time you laughed? today
When was the last time you cried? yesterday

Thanks Kylene, some of ours were pretty similar. I think I will tag Jolene. She is more articulate than I am. One-word responses are a beast.

Harry Potter Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T23:01:00.008-07:00

We decided this year to dress ourselves around the theme of the Harry Potter book series. Mom was Professor McGonagall, I was Hermione Granger, and Brian was Harry Potter.

Brian is showing off his wand that he made literally that day with the help of Dad he was able to make a pretty authentic looking wand. The stain was a nice touch.

Mom's costume was really pretty, the green hat and cloak were perfect. She even had her Harry Potter theme sound track from The Sorcerer's Stone playing in the background while we waited for trick-or-treaters. It was a pretty slow night, out there from 6 p.m. to about 10 p.m. but we also visited neighbors. We even brought out the UNO cards to play a few games while waiting, it was a fun night.

My wand had been done since Wednesday night, Dad helped me with the lathe first. The stain was not added until an hour before we needed to head outside. This year was amazing, I only wish we had more trick-or-treaters. I love seeing the little kids costumes, we had some really cute ones this year.

Happy Halloween!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This an amazing dress, the stitching and detailing is breath taking. My neice would absolutely love it, she is a beautiful dear who would really love this dress. Thanks!

Fall Semester 2008

2008-10-06T21:52:00.002-07:00

My fall semester has been very busy. I am taking 15 credit hours instead my usual 12 credit hours which accounts for many late nights. It is my senior year and cannot wait for graduation, although I sometimes fear that it will never come. Right now I am anxiously trying to find an internship that will meet all the university requirement before November. If you cannot tell I still am working for Wells Fargo, but I would like to try an internship with a different company for a change of pace. I have been there almost 2 years now and love it now more than ever, my new branch at Higley and Brown is amazing. I love it there.

Summer 2008

2008-08-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Summer has been a busy time for me, I transferred locations for work and completed summer sessions for June and July. Recently I have been enjoying some time off school to work, and enjoy baseball season, and catch up on my hobby of cross-stitching.

The picture was taken recently, my mother needed more present pictures of me to take to Utah for her family reunion. They were creating a scrapbook, and so we quickly took several pictures in various clothing and poses to make it look like they were taken at different times throughout the year. It was fun, and the result was good, we had casual ones with everyone in jeans, more formal ones like the one posted in dresses, and also some pictures of accomplishments we had. Mine was a cross-stitch that I had completed and has professionally framed.