Sierra's Dance Recital

Tonight I was invited to see Sierra in her dance recital. They started late and it was kind of long... and Sierra was only in one dance and it was towards the end. Some of the dances were cuter than others... but I know I'm bias... but Sierra's dance was THE BEST! She is SO adorable and she is quite the little dancer too. She is a natural. She did the dance perfectly and looked so cute doing it. I loved their little outfits and I loved the song that they danced to. I am SO glad that I went to see my cute niece Sierra. I am blessed with great family that I love.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 273

I have set my patio back up. It makes me happy. It also makes me happy that most of my flowers have grown back. Amazing how well plants can survive winter and grow back... even in pots. I can't wait to have patio dinner's out there. I am already loving the summer nights ... even though it has been raining lately... and it isn't even officially summer yet. I LOVE summer. I love the warm nights, laying out in the sun, hiking, camping, etc... SUMMER = FUN! I'm excited for it. I going to be SURE this summer is better than last summer. Last summer wasn't that great for me.

I finally have my voice back. That is nice. I felt bad I was supposed to sing with Wes in his ward but since I didn't have a voice I had to cancel. We have rescheduled though. End of June.

I have been watching a lot of Netflix. Lots of random movies and I watched a show called Twisted with MacKenzie. I have also started watching the Bachelorette with my roommates. Guilty pleasure. Don't judge me.

I have been doing well with my health plan... well... except for all of the extra sugar. I have an addiction to sugar. I wish I didn't. I really am trying though. I need to start using My Fitness Pal and tracking my calories and REALLY make sure I am getting in enough walking/ running everyday. I'm a work in progress. All I know... is I feel gross. I don't feel pretty and I'm mad at myself for letting myself gain some of the weight back that I worked so hard to lose. It makes me mad. I'm trying though.

I have so many projects I need to do... I should be doing them after work, but... when I get home, I don't feel like doing anything. I'm tired of cleaning up after other people and I look at my projects and think, I'll do that on the weekend but then the weekend comes and I would rather be outside and hiking and stuff. I'll get it together. One day I will get all caught up on everything. Is that possible? Maybe.

I guess that is all.

Photo of the Week 271

Such interesting culture in Bali.

RJ Studio's Family

Now that I have been a part of the "Shake It Off Disney Style" video ... it's like I have joined a little family. We are all friends... I'm a part of group texts and parties and different gatherings. It's nice. I like making new friends.  A lot of them are super young, but that's ok. A handful of us are all in the same ward. That is how I know RJ after all. Anyway... we decided to take a picture together.... with Stacey, because he wanted to advertise RJ's video on his Instagram since he has thousands of followers. I always feel super cool when Stacey and RJ tag me in their instagram photo's. They are so popular, so it makes me feel cool. Ha ha. Anyway... we are already in the works for another music video in a couple of weeks. It will be to Taylor Swifts "Bad Blood". It will be full of minion's and villains... and I told RJ to give me a bigger part. I hope he does. ha ha.

Ubud, Bali - Indonesia

Ubud, Bali is a BEAUTIFUL place. We decided to splurge and go through Air B&B instead of a hostel. It ended up being $40 a person per night which is WAY more than I am used to paying on these trips, but it was WORTH IT! We stayed in this amazing bungalow right on a rice field. We would see the workers go out and work in the field. We had the Bungalow to ourselves. Us girls had one room and the boys had the other. The bathroom to each room was outside... I actually loved showering outside. Don't ask why. It was refreshing. The bungalow had windows EVERYWHERE so it was light and a beautiful view no matter where you looked. The best part was that the place came with a driver on call and laundry service if we just left our clothes out, they would wash them AND when we wanted breakfast in the morning... all we had to do was open our door and then they would come in and ask what we wanted for breakfast and they would make it in our kitchen and then serve it to us on the patio with that beautiful view.

When we wanted to go into town, we could get a driver... or walk across the rice field to town. We did that once. It was nice. Beautiful. First night we went to a Balinese cultural show. It was awesome. I tried to keep up with the story they were dancing/singing but it was hard. Cool to watch regardless.

The next day we spent the day exploring around Ubud. We visited an awesome waterfall.

We visited some really beautiful Hindu Temples. Not only are the temples beautiful, but the grounds of the temples are equally as beautiful. We went to the sacred Elephant Cave.

People go to the Holy Water Temple for purification. I kind of wanted to jump into the experience and get all the way in, but I didn't want to walk around wet the rest of the day. So I just got into my knees and poured the water over my head. At all the temples we had to wear something around our waste to cover our legs. There were also offerings everywhere. I got made an offering at one of the temples and got blessed by one of the men there.

I love experience different cultures and religions. I had a wonderful time in Bali. I wouldn't hate going back one day. There is still so much I would have liked to see that I didn't.

Bali Beach Day

On our last day of the trip, we just wanted a day to relax on the beach all day and not do anything besides lay on a beach chair and take in the scenery while we sipped on cold beverages. We spent so much of the trip on the go. So... that is what we did. And it was great.

I also got up for my last sunrise on the trip. Glad I did. It was beautiful.

What a great place. I wouldn't mind going back one day.

Scuba Diving the USS Liberty - Bali, Indonesia

When we got to Bali, I knew that I wanted to go scuba diving. I hadn't researched the diving there, so we just figured we would go to a dive shop and see what our options were. We had the option of scuba diving with Manta Ray's which would have been awesome... OR a ship wreck dive... which would take a bit longer to get to, but it was cheaper than the other one. Plus, I had never done a ship wreck dive before, so we decided to dive at the ship wreck. I am SO glad we did. I had no idea, but the ship wreck was the USS Liberty.

USAT Liberty was a US Army cargo ship torpedoed by Japanese submarine on January 1942 and beached on the island of Bali. She had been built as a Design 1037 ship for the US shipping Board in World War I and had served in the US Navy in that war as animal transport USS Liberty. In 1963 a volcanic eruption moved the ship off the beach and Liberty's wreck is now a popular dive site. Here is what the ship looked like before it sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

This is what it looks like under the ocean to us divers. Although sadly I don't think I saw the gun.

Here are some pictures from our dive exploring the wreck. The pictures don't do it justice. It's so much cooler in person. There is so much life living in this wreck. There was so much to look at while we explored in and around the ship wreck. The biggest tropical fish I have ever seen, beautiful coral all while taking in the experience of swimming through and around a ship wreck. Hands down, this rates #1 on favorite dives.

We saw a Barracuda and these eels, which at first I thought were some kind of seaweed because the way they stick out of the sand.

Also spotted a sting ray.

I found this cute sea turtle and hung out with him for a little bit.

I just loved everything about this dive. I hope this will not be the last ship wreck dive that I do.