Adventure is Out There!

I'm sitting here, being serenaded by the sounds of my snoring family, catching up on the blogging that I've been lax on updating. We have spent quite the eventful weekend in San Francisco and are headed home tomorrow. Part of me is extremely sad to leave this new, adventurous place but another big part of me is ready to go home.
I have a mere 10 days left before I'm a Sister missionary! Holy mackerel!

So I'll upload some pictures of the Cali trip when I'm back in utah but just a shout out for the benefit of those who read my blog to Shanae and Jerry Van Wagenen who did a smashingly great job of some family photos! Check them out and ooh and aaah at my ridiculously good looking family! I love them! (pictures and family) I would highly recommend these lovely people for any of your special event or photographing needs!

A week and a half ago, I was still in Juneau, Alaska. Here's the breakdown of the whirlwind which was the last week and a half of my life:

• Thursday Sept 23--
•  got up at the butt crack of dawn to get loaded up into Whiskey Russell and head out to catch the plane that would take Ericka Ruth, Laura, Sydney, Whitney and myself to Seattle!
• Landed in Seattle and after wrestling our luggage into Becca's car, made our way out to the Udistrict (I didn't ask but I assume it's called that because it's right by the University of Washington campus...) for some shopping! Which was phenomenal and desperately needed after 5 months of no malls or department stores.
• Drove out to Ferndale from whence Becca, Laura and Ericka hail for Ericka's mother, Terri's bridal shower. Hoot and a half! I met so many new people in very little time. :)
• Friday Sept 24--
• Um some more shopping and driving around Ferndale which is vying for top spot for most beautiful place I've seen yet! 
• Went to Bellingham to shop, REI was a must and lunch at the most delicious Pita place. Yum!
• Finger nail painting party! haha still haven't taken it off and I'm staring at it now :)
• Wedding rehearsal dinner where I was given a wedding job: VIDEOGRAPHER. Yup! Bob and Terri Rudy's wedding video was shot by yours truly. I'll have to start charging for it now.
• Saturday Sept 25--
• Breakfast at the Bagelry with Laura and Erik
• The Boulevard....Sooooo beautiful. Perfect weather.
• WEDDING!!! I am so glad I was there to participate and help in every way I could in Terri's big day. I feel like I was the Assistant Maid of Honor, only because anything Ericka had to do, I was right behind her. She handed me thing I'm not sure she realized she was giving me. So when I gave them back to her, she was relieved that she had indeed not lost her cell phone, sunglasses and camera. haha love Ericka.
• Dinner at On Rice. BEST Thai food to date. So amazing.
• Got all 80's for a dance party at the Silver Reef Casino on an Indian Reservation. haha we rocked it! Hillary, Becca, Ericka, Erik, Ericka, Kim, Jose and me! Good times. 
• Sunday Sept 26--
• another super early morning to head out for UTAH with Ericka! Left at 6:30. Went through Yakima to see Angelica and Maria! I love those girls.
• Saw cows in Washington....or was it Oregon?....maybe, Idaho...who knows where one begins and the other ends? There were still cows in the fields for a good 300 mile stretch.
• Passed the 45th parallel which the exact halfway point between the equator and the North Pole. I thought this was very cool.
• Through Southern Idaho.....slept or drove while taking out a large percentage of the bug population with the windshield. 
• MADE IT TO UTAH! 5 states in 4 days is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.
• Monday Sept 27--
• Home. Life is gooooood.
• Tuesday Sept 28--
• stabbed several times with needles by a friendly looking nurse who I trusted to not cause me pain...and yet?
• Wednesday Sept 29--
• Dinner at Brit and Evan's with Ericka, Randy and Camille
• The Incident With the Eye That We Don't Tell the Actual Story Because it's More Fun to Make It Up With Each Inquiry. Poor Ericka's face and the back of Evan's head.
• Thursday Sept 30--
• Breakfast at Kneader's in provo with Ericka and Brit. Saw Brian McEwen! Random.
• Yet another quick shopping stop. I only shop this much when I'm with Ericka....
• To the Timpanogos Temple for Stance and Jami!!!
• wedding luncheon
• Wedding reception for the happy couple. Alaskan reunion years '09 and '10
• Saturday Oct 2--
• Salt Lake City for the morning session of General Conference with Whitney, Sydney and Nathan. We were soooo close to making it into the conference center but no such luck. At least the little judgmental munchkin in front of us didn't make it in either. She was rude. And less than 4 feet tall. Hypocritical of me to mock someone for their height? Maybe.
• Home again for second session and ladies' night with Mom and Ruth.
• Made Important purchases at the Distribution Center. All set for October 8th.
• Dinner and Ice cream with the men in my life to hear about Priesthood Session
• Sunday Oct 3--
• More of the amazing words of the Prophets to fill my spirit to overflowing.

I have not updated since I got my mission call but Holy Moley has there been a lot to update you people who pretend to be too cool to call and talk to me so I must update the blog that informs many without me having to repeat everything bunches of times!
Between Skagway and everything else life since the end of July, I have a lot of pictures, stories and commentary about my life so be patient if this comes in 4 or 5 volumes of an update. Love love.

Hello followers that are few.
I suppose this is really just a blog for people who REALLY care about me anyway.
I received a big white envelope in the mail Friday, July 23 that contained a very important letter. An excerpt reads as follows:
"Dear Sister Gonzalez,
 You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the ARGENTINA BUENOS AIRES NORTH MISSION. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months...."(bold added)

So folks, here I go. So much to do....so little time.
T-minus 12 weeks

I'm going to just start having series of photos to update y'all on my life. :) There's a lot and not a lot of time. Well...there could be, but let's be honest, if it's a nice day I'm not going to spend my time inside on the computer. Much love to all.

There are moments in the day, usually immediately following a passenger exclaiming "Girl, what brought you all the way up here to Alaska from UTAH to drive a BUS?" when I stop and realize,
Hey...I'm a bus driver. Living in Alaska. How about that, eh, Pacha?
Anyway, there are some ridiculously awesome things that I get to do either because I am employed by HAP-Alaska or WHILE I'm working. For example, once upon a time, I was supposed to have last thursday off. My bestie did not have the day off so when dispatch asked me to cover Temsco helicopters transfers (not the greatest as far as transfers go. Not so fun, no tips) instead of sleeping or doing some much needed laundry, I ungrudgingly agreed because at least I'd be getting hours.
Then a magic fairy landed on my shoulder and whisked me away to the dog sled camp on top of the Mendenhall glacier!
Oh wait...in a nutshell what ACTUALLY happened was that one of my transfers was cancelled so a huge, shining window of opportunity glared in my face......I COULD JOIN MY GROUP ON THE HELICOPTER TOUR! They had room and I had nothing to do but wait for them to come down!
Oh my lucky stars, I got to go and fly in a helicopter, play with dogs and puppies and play in the snow in the middle of summer! Wicked awesome fun and oh yeah, I was getting paid all the while. :) I love my job.
{even if some days I wish that I could crawl up in the back of my coach and sleep until all the grumpy grumps were back on the cruise ships eating their own weight in bacon and ice cream.}

New CAMERA!!! I have been waiting for what feels like forever to have this hot little baby in my hands. Now I can share with my momma and daddy-o what in the world I've been doing up here for the past 2 months! :)
Beware: Mostly NOT in order haha too lazy for details like that.





Much love, my dear followers. Enjoy the pictures! Many more to come!