Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan.... D&C 10:5

Holy crow! I haven't posted since, like, last month. Woah.
I just got back from vacation; we visited family in Colorado Springs. The first few days we spent camping but we took a break from the pine trees to go to Water World. Nathan, Ben and I waged war against a whole bunch of other kids and basically annihalated(?) them. Then we went down some slides. We were either deathly cold or drastically hot, depending on where we were and how long it'd been since water had been dumped on our heads. I got burnt terribly, and Nathan teased me. My cousin Nathan and my brother Ben, by the way.
In church on Sunday I got stuck in a Sunday school full of nitwits. They didn't like the teacher, and so they talked about the stupidest stuff instead of paying attention until I wanted to scream, "YES, YOU IMBECILE, YOU SPELLED MUTANT WRONG. GET OVER IT" but that wouldn't have been a very good example, so instead I sweetly leaned forward and asked the teacher to repeat the 1kings reference we were all supposed to be looking up. Then I preceeded to glare at the continuing defenders in the back. They were boys, and cute boys at that, so they we very shocked to see a girl glaring instead of fawning. Or whatever those nitwit girls usually do.
 
We hiked up to Barr Camp on Pike's Peak Monday. Along with Dad, Ben, Beth, and me, Dad also invited Nathan and Amaya along. Nathan 1)lives in Colorado and so is used to the air 2) is a runner. Amaya 1)asks too many questions 2)follows your answer with what? and then asks another question. Mountains are very large. But, there was a BOOKSHELF at Barr Camp! Hallelujah! I got mostly through Shade's Children by Garth Nix. Good book, if not a little creepy.  Tuesday we continued on to the top, followed by more questions and jibes from the loveable Miller bunch.
     When we reached the summit we all dropped and did 20 pushups ( I did 6. So shoot me.) and then got our picture taken in front of the summit sign. Then Dad raced us (with our bags still on) over to the lookout, where a monument is dedicated to America the Beautiful. I guess the author was inspired by the view. After catching our breath we sang the first verse in 3-part harmony (no tenor. Nathan still sqeaks~giggle~) and then went inside to order some food while the dimwits who had driven up the mountain stared after us. We stayed up there for a while, and every once in a while the train shows up, drops off 50 people, and then goes back down. These people go to the bathroom, buy a souvenir, buy some hot chocolate, and then get back on the train. They don't even look off the side of the mountain! AHH! What is wrong with these people?

          I'm really sorry you have to sit through all of this, but there really is funny stuff left. So hang on.

       Tuesday night I stayed the night at my cousin Jade's house; her cousin(other side) Brooke was there from Texas. Nice accent, might I add. Erik, Jade's 18 year-old friend, was also over there, but he went to work at 1. In our boredom we decided to play Raptor Tag, which is hide-and-seek on the entire street. Erik and I were on one team, and Jade and Brooke can neither hide nor tag, so we one all but once. Brooke knocked Erik over and he ate cement. It simply wasn't fair. Erik and I were tired and sore, but Brooke and Jade refused to stop playing, so we hid in Jade's kitchen and chatted for an hour before Jade finally texted Erik a "where r u?" He couldn't answer because of low battery or something, but we went outside to give it up anyway.
          We slept outside on the trampoline, but at 6 in the morning the neighborhood dogs all startedto howl. At the same time. I just groaned and turned over, but Brooke stood up and let out a string of 'colorful metaphors', as Spock would call them.
       Wednesday we had planned to take Jade's sister Emily swimming, but that plan sank. Aunt Jen had left some money behind, so we walked the mile to Walgreens and got ourselves some junk food. On the way back Jen called to remind Jade to not spend her money anywhere except the pool. Oops.
       Luckily, or so we thought, Austin lives a few doors down. We hadn't spent the bulk of it, we only needed 5 more bucks than Brooke and I could cough up. Austin's dad was at work and Austin had gone camping, leaving his room locked. But does that stop the fearless Jade? Surely not! Even though it was raining (thunder and lightning, very very frightening oh! Galileo....I'm done.) we got the ladder off the shed by Jade climbing on the motorcycle and pushing it off. I raised it and Jade went up and in after popping the screen out. While she dug for money (and some of her 'borrowed' cd's) Brooke and I had to put the ladder back up. We ended up accepting the neighbor's help. I wish I was  3 inches taller.
          The triumphant team walked home in the rain with 3 dollars and 8 quarters. It works.

We left today with a promise from Jade to yell at Erik for not seeing me off. It was probably better- Dad didn't approve of the eye makeup and large pants. Things are not always what they seem, no, not always what they seem......