Unexpected Statistics

A few weeks ago, I published my post, "Memories of the 2011 Vacation to Mexico." On Facebook, I posted a link to it and tagged the sixteen members of my family who were with me during that trip. So I was definitely surprised when my blog had at least three times that many views at the peak of its popularity for that post. I concluded that a lot more people than are admitting it stalk me...and I have no way of telling who they are, but I know they're out there. Since then I've had a fairly steady flow of a few page views per day, despite the fact that I don't write all that often.

Then today, I checked some of my blog statistics that I have never looked at before, and was shocked to learn about some of the places where my blog has been viewed. These are the stats for the total number of page views my blog has received at this point.

United States: 995
Russia: 175
Netherlands: 142
Latvia: 72
Germany: 69
Slovenia: 32
Poland: 29
United Kingdom: 27
Canada: 26
China: 26

Russia? Who the heck in Russia is so interested in my life? And the Netherlands, and a couple other places I'm not even sure I could identify on a map...it really came as a huge surprise to me. And those aren't even all the places my blog has been viewed from - here are the statistics for the past month.

United States: 72
Russia: 9
Spain: 5
Germany: 4
Slovakia: 2
Ukraine: 2
Switzerland: 1
Japan: 1
South Korea: 1
Mexico: 1

I'd love to receive comments from some of these foreign readers. But maybe they'll just remain quiet, as most of my unknown readers have for the past 4 and 1/2 years, since the beginning of my little blog. Anyway, just thought these unexpected statistics were interesting - you never know who may be curious about what goes on in your life.

Memories of the 2011 Vacation to Mexico

50 Memories of my Extended Family's Vacation in Mexico (in no particular order)

1. Arriving at the Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts and being amazed at the size of it
2. Being served free fruity drinks everywhere
3. Swimming almost every day in the big, warm pools
4. Taking underwater photos in the pool 
5. Taking underwater photos of the fish in the Salt Pool (it was fun to snorkel there)
6. Playing on the beach and in the ocean
7. Enjoying the warm, humid air
8. Snorkeling in the warm Caribbean waters
9. Visiting the city of Cancun
10. Buying a really pretty sundress (blue with rainbow threaded patterns)
11. Unlimited food at the all-you-can-eat-buffet; that was fantastic. Having unlimited nutella and all sorts of other delicious food, begging to be eaten. At any time, all the time.
12. Taking full advantage of the free ice cream machines (free ice cream!!! Who knew?)
13. While in Cancun, being rained on as if the sky was crying waterfalls - buckets of rain were pouring down while my mom and I ate fajitas at a little local restaurant.
14. Watching this guy make these beautiful pictures by finger-painting (wish I had bought one...)
15. Eating at a certain Japanese restaurant while sitting down on the floor, with our legs crossed underneath the table. Not something I've done anywhere else.
16. Swimming up to the bar at the edge of the pool to get free fruity drinks (and sitting on the stools in the water while sipping them)
17. Going on late-night excursions to the beach with the girls - I miss that sooooo much. The ocean and the sky were so dark and mysterious, and being out there in the salty night air was just enchanting.
18. Being poured on while returning to our rooms from those excursions
19. Having crazy, frizzy hair all the time and not caring one bit
20. Running barefoot everywhere
21. Seeing interesting animals (mostly big lizards and such) on the sides of the roads, and also flamingos in a little pond
22. Attending a little dance performance that was based off of Disney movies, if I remember correctly - there were fun costumes and music and such.
23. Shooting with a bow and arrow at the little archery place
24. Wishing we (kids) could go to the spa
25. Swimming in a Cenote (underground pool - it was really, really cool)
26. Visiting Coba (a Mayan village)
27. Climbing the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula - it was in Coba, and hiking up the 118 steep steps was very exciting.
28. Touring the ruins of Tulum
29. Staying up late playing card games and talking (well, I didn't play cards much back then - but I began being taught how to play Oh Heck while we were there)
30. Having a hot tub in our hotel room
31. Being sung to and played instruments for by two guys while we were waiting for a table at one restaurant
32. Getting to ask someone at a restaurant, "¿Dónde está el baño?" (one of the few Spanish phrases I knew at the time)
33. Having a girls' night to paint nails and such
34. Bartering with people selling things
35. Walking around on the smooth marble walkways between the main buildings and pools
36. Intending to write in my journal every day about things that happened, but never getting around to it
37. Spending some time on rainy days lazing around in our room, playing Plants vs. Zombies (and beating it)
38. On the bus ride to the resort, taking pictures of each other's eyes (they're really quite interesting to study and compare)
39. Having a random dance party up on a stage somewhere in the resort
40. Burning our bare feet on the hot ground and then relieving them in the cool water of the pools
41. Passing crabs scuttling around the place when going to the beach
42. Riding around the resort in golf cart-type vehicles and mini trains
43. Being exposed to more poverty in that one trip than I have seen anywhere in America
44. Having a lesson together on Sunday about gifts (we made a long list of them)
45. Getting up whenever we wanted, eating whenever we wanted, swimming however much we wanted, eating as much ice cream as we wanted as long as we were willing to walk to machine to get it
46. Not bothering to try to look good - at all. Ever. I brushed my hair maybe once the whole week.
47. Soaking in the exotic smells, sights, and sounds - it was so damp and so GREEN there
48. Taking a big family photo of everyone - not looking our best, dressed in clashing colors, having done nothing with our hair or anything else whatsoever to better our appearance - but looking bright-eyed, relaxed, and happy to be together.
49. Half-wondering on occasion if the experience was real, or just a dream
50. Just being with each other in one big, happy family reunion

We love Mexico!

Underwater photo

Fruity drinks at the swim-up bar

Snorkeling in the pool (not much to see, but it's fun to swim with flippers and a mask)

This is the list of gifts we have that we made on Sunday.

Climbing the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula

Swimming!

Under one of the bridges spanning the pool

Another underwater picture

I wish I could eat as much as Dave can...

Fish in the Saltwater Pool

Flamingos

The random dance party up on stage

Dinner

One of the ruins in Coba

Our big family photo. :)

Orchestra, Lunch, Bowling, Summer...Update on a Few Months

This is the start of a post I began a few months back - I'm just adding to it now. I figure I might as well post it. :)

A while ago: I've had a fun, busy week. On Thursday we had our orchestra festival, during which a bunch of Jr. High school orchestras gather at one school and perform for each other and for judges. Some are decent, some some are, frankly, terrible (to put it bluntly). But we all gather together and perform about two songs each, and our performances are rated. We went last - we like to think it's because no one wants to go after us (and they want to save the best for last :) - and we stole the show. We got perfect scores, and very little criticism; though of course, we had some. There are always things to change and do better. But overall, we performed magnificently - and I'm not giving myself credit. I take about a fiftieth of the credit. :) So that was fun, and then we went out to get lunch. The bus dropped us off at a parking lot near a variety of restaurants, but most people raced for Café Rio. Including me. So my friends and I ate there, and then we went to get frozen yogurt at the popular fro-yo shop nearby. Then we got back on the bus in time to sit through one last class at school.

(Adding on to that): On Friday, a bunch of the ninth graders on the High Honor Roll list went to FatCats to bowl. I was very proud of myself when I got several strikes, and it was fun to spend time with a bunch of my friends. I also tried play-dough ice cream for the first time, which was yummy.

On the way home, my friend Charlotte and I took pictures of ourselves making goofy faces. Some of them were so terrible or funny, we laughed ourselves to tears - we had a good time. :')

By the way, here is the scoreboard at one point - and notice the beautiful X's at the top of the screen. ;)

Present day: I've had a crazy summer. That took place a couple months ago, but since summer started, I've scarcely been at home. Before school got out, my family went on a trip to Zion National Park, which was awesome. There were some amazing views, and I plan on adding more to that later. After school got out, my mom took my brother and I on a trip to New York and then Vermont, where I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends. Then I had EFY as soon as we got back, which was absolutely wonderful. I encourage anyone who hasn't been to go; it's a fabulous camp. The day after that ended I attended an all-day Teen Writers Conference. Tomorrow I have Youth Conference, and next week I'll have my cousins over and we'll be heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We'll be going on our annual trip to Bear Lake while we're up there - and then soon after that we'll be going out to Hawaii. So...it's been crazy. I feel terrible for not writing much, but there is only so much you can do when you're constantly heading out, creating memories, and going somewhere else before you have a chance to record them. I suppose it would help to just write shorter posts rather than going into great detail. But anyway, I won't be done with this blog for a long time. It's tough to write on a blog or journal consistently during the wild years of high school, but I'll do my best. Which is good enough.

End of March Update

I missed February, but I am not missing March. So here is a little update on stuff that has been going on:

• Spring has sprung! And being on Spring Break feels better than I can ever remember.
• General Conference began today, and I enjoyed all four hours of it.
• I saw the Hunger Games yesterday, and loved it - I'm going to start reading the books tonight. Yes, I know: everyone has read the books already. I just stink at making time to do these kinds of things. Anyway, I went with a bunch of friends, and afterwards we got ice cream at a Dairy Queen and then went to someone's house and played Reverse Charades. It was a blast - we were all cracking up while doing some impressions. I love my friends.
• Last weekend I went on a trip to Goblin Valley and Moab with a bunch of people in the Concert Band and Orchestra at our school - it was SO much fun, and I think everyone had a great time.
• I've been spending a lot more time practicing piano since my mom started this system...if I practice less than 1 1/2 hours during the week, I have to pay for my lesson. But if I practice more than 3 hours a week, I get paid $8 an hour for each hour I do above 3. I haven't made that much money, but I have accomplished a lot more than I used to with that instrument. Also, next year I am taking a release-time class, or electronic high school class, during which I will go home and practice piano. I want to get a lot better at it. Somewhat sadly, I am quitting viola next year - but it has been fun while it lasted. Being in an ensemble is great, and don't regret starting in the first place. I'm just ready to move on from that.
• I picked up the ukulele! It's just a little hobby, and I'm not all that great at it, but it's really fun and I enjoy playing it. My reasons for quitting the viola have nothing to do with the uke, in case you were wondering. It's just a fun hobby, like I said.
• School has been pretty stressful, but I have managed to get no lower than an A- in any class. I only got one of those, in algebra 2, and it could have been prevented so easily...but whatever. I'm mostly over it. An A minus in an advanced math class isn't going to keep me out of college. Right now it's my science grade I am most concerned with - but only because I practically failed one test and it's the first thing on our grades. I think I'll be able to bring it back up.
• I went to my friend's Quinceñera a few weeks ago, and it was amazing. It was a little like the dance I had for my birthday, but kind of an even bigger deal...
• Back in February, we had a school dance and a stake dance. Both were pretty fun. At the school dance, I was dancing with this guy and then a whole bunch of people made a ring around us and were whistling or whatever when he spun me. It was really funny, although it was a little embarrassing. It's weird how everyone makes a huge deal about dancing couples at school dances, but not at stake ones - but whatever. The stake dance was great, as usual. I won't go into more detail about that.
• Other than that...I can't really think of anything. Life is pretty good right now, although my days are up and down. As can be expected of a 15-year-old girl. :)

Hello Again...

I promise I'm not done posting on this blog. It surprises me how hard it is to take time to write on here, but I think I'll have a goal to write at LEAST once a month. Hopefully I can get into it enough again to write more, but for now, I'm sorry for the long break I've taken. I have regretted it thoroughly. So much has happened - I really will write about all of it at some point. Soon. But for now I just want to say I'm still around. :)

Oh, and I plan on putting a lot more pictures in the future. It will liven things up and take up space. :P