Valentine's Day!! a few days later...

So Blogger is being dumb and wouldn't let me copy and paste the post I typed up into the posting box so I had to completely retype the whole thing then I forgot that it only puts the pictures at the top of the editing box and that the box is so small you can't move any of the pictures. So all my pictures are stuck here at the top of the post completely out of order. You might want to scroll down and read the post first before you look at the pictures. Regardless, I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately - life's been kind of crazy.

Birthday gift...a horseback ride with Dad! For Christmas, Dad started this whole Barbie-presents-the-present theme, so Mom also wrapped up a Barbie in a dress for the dress she gave me (which we are going shopping for this weekend).


My birthday cake...isn't he adorable!
Megan broke her arm at a basketball game, but she's handling the whole thing really well! Ironically, I was the first kid in our family to break a bone - my right arm right below the shoulder got fractured when I missed a trapeze bar and landed on a sprinkler head.

Another one of my birthday gifts - this little adapter has six headphone jacks. One is always attached to an iPod, and the others are open for headphones for everyone! You can also attach a second iPod and play two songs at the same time.

The immense icicle that was hanging precariously outside my bedroom window.

My hair is finally growing back - it's about an 1.5 inches long now.

Happy birthday to me!

The finished cake....

The cake in the works.

Nathan trying on my wig - doesn't he look cute!

Our new ping pong table!

Christmas day breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls and quieche. Yum!

One of my gifts was money to purchase a laptop when I go to college! Dad decided to wrap up a Barbie and the theme kind of stuck for my birthday presents, too.

Christmas morning!

My last CT scan was completely clear, and my last heart tests were perfectly fine. We're just working on adjusting some med levels. I caught laryngitis the day after finals and missed the first week of second semester, but my voice is back and I'm feeling great!

Christmas was wonderful - everyone was healthy and feeling good! I especially enjoyed the break from homework, makeup work, etc. We had so much food and treats and presents! It's always such a cheerful time of year. New Year's Eve was fun - Nathan got a ping pong table for Christmas so we played many games waiting for the ball to drop. Most of us slept under the Christmas tree.

Then we come to January 7th - My 17th birthday! I've now had my license for a year! We went to California Pizza Kitchen (my favorite - the Thai Chicken Pizza is delicious!) for dinner. Mom and Rachel (who stayed home sick that day) created an amazing horse head cake from two round chocolate cakes and one 9x13 funfetti cake. It was delicious and adorable! I got some fun presents including piano music, a dress, and a horseback ride with Dad!! Obviously we have to wait for some slightly warmer weather until that can happen. At least it's improving - today the sun was actually out as we walked home from school!

I finished off the first semester with a 4.0 GPA. We've started having college nights and I took my first ACT on February 6. I've been looking out for scholarships to pay my way through college. I actually found one for $1993 if you were born in 1993 - it's amazing the things they'll give out scholarships for. It's a little frightening to think at this time next year I'll know what school I'll be going to! Yikes!

Besides that, nothing much has happened. Mom went to Utah last Wednesday and was gone until the 16th (Tuesday night). Since they had to cancel my flight to Utah last summer, we had a free ticket that had to be used before April. So Mom went to help out my aunt and uncle and visit her family. This was probably my first Valentine's Day without her here! We managed all right at home...we had food to eat every night and didn't stay up TOO terribly late watching the Olympics.

Valentine's Day was exciting - another heart day for me to celebrate! I can't believe it was five years ago I received my second heart transplant!

This week has been pretty crazy! Monday we had school off so I went and saw the Tooth Fairy with a friend. It was hilarious and totally clean! I highly recommend the movie! On Tuesday Megan broke her arm at a basketball game so Dad had to take her to the ER while Nathan hung out with me at our Young Women's activity. He came in handy when he taught all of us laurels how to do the Hoedown Throwdown for our upcoming talent show! Wednesday I had the honor of staying at school for 13 hours while Megan was at home with her broken arm and Rachel was home feeling nauseous. Nathan even woke up with a sore throat, but somehow I managed to stay healthy - ironic, but YAY! I had a long yearbook night and then had to go to a two hour meeting to fill out paperwork for National Honors Society. We'll have to see if anything comes of it...

Hope you're all enjoying the last few weeks of winter and watch some Olympics this weekend! Spring is finally in the air. Remember to keep smiling!