A Really Long List of Things I've Done Recently

Well...I hope you're ready for an overload of information! I've done ALOT the past few weeks and I'm about to share ALL of it! You thought I had alot of pictures from California? ... You were wrong! :) So, as a new chapter of my life begins, I wanted to start by reviewing the last few pages.

My mom is incredible! I love her so much. Before I left she made cookies and asked me to remember her as the mom who always made delicious cookies. So, in retaliation, I brought her Jamba Juice to her work one day. Then, I asked her to remember me as the daughter who always visits her at work, bringing gift. haha. I love my mom so much and I miss her!

One of the weirdest experiences I had before I left was working my LAST DAY EVER at Arizona's Bridal Warehouse. (On Broadway about 2 blocks east of the 101 Freeway) When people ask me what my number is, I'm still tempted to say, "Our number is 480.517.0027, and I hope to hear from you soon!" Obviously...that wouldn't work out too well....although, I guess I could always give it to a guy I really don't want having my number. :) hehehe. Anyway, I loved working at the Bridal store! Some of my favorite memories come from there and all of the girls were amazing!! I miss them soo much too!!

One of my best friends through out high school was Alicia Sampson! I was always guaranteed a good time when I hung out with her. I think i have more inside jokes with her than I do anyone else! Right, Detective? :) Alicia is over at NAU now, and I know that she'll be amazing at no matter what she does!

Katie Wilson! Truly one of the greatest friends I could ever have! I've always LOVED spending time with her and just chatting about whatever's on our minds. It's always been such a relief to know that there is someone amazing who really cares about me and loves to spend time with me! In this picture below, we're making a "model pose". It's a Lyndsie/Katie thing. :) I think that Katie is the next person in line I have the most inside jokes with! Everytime we got a camera, we'd do a model pose. Did it ever turn out? No...not really. But was it absolutely fun and silly? 100% Yes!

Katie's going to NAU aswell this year. She'll be studying music via the violin. I KNOW she'll be amazing at it! She always was the greatest violinist in my eyes! In this picture we were thinking of cute boys...what else? In particular...we were thinking of a certain boy. Yes...I know. It's CLEARLY obvious who we're thinking of. ... Draco Malfoy. *sigh* I would miss Katie...but I still talk to her on a regular basis, which I'm so grateful for! She truly is one of the best friends a girl could have and I sincerely hope we never loose touch with one another!

Every time I get together with Madison Moffitt, we have so much fun! I've alwaysloved hanging out with her. She stayed back down in Mesa, and I'm sure she's dating boys like crazy! ;) haha just kidding Mads! (But, really....a gorgeous girl like you will be married in no time! So, send me the invitation please!) ..... hehehe. She's such a sweet girl and inpiration to me!

as you can tell...most of the time, I don't take completely normal pictures....Is that such a bad thing? Abby Wells is such a doll! Through out the summer,we found ourselves hanging out with each other much much more. Unfortunately, I should've gone to work out with her more than what I did...(they weren't kidding when they said freshman 15!) She up at BYU Provo right now. She was another great friend and I'm really glad that she was there for me through out the summer!

Before I left Mesa, I had to go out and do as many fun things as I could! Hanging out with a whole bunch of girls and taking goofy pictures was one of them! Another thing I did was go see Beauty and the Beast. We got to get a picture with them afterwards, cause they were like related to Maddi or something.....I don't know. But, it was waaay fun!

The single-greatest thing I had the opportunity to do before I went was to go to the temple with two of my best friends: Aaron Webb and Bradley Bishop. As I've mentioned before, both of them have gotten their mission calls. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had and I wouldn't trade itfor ANYTHING in the entire world!

If there's one thing in Mesa I miss the most, its the Mesa Temple. There's just something about it that I've always loved. I know I'll see it again, but there's just a place in my heart that will always go out towards that temple.

Well, finally, we're getting to me leaving for UT. I'm currently going to the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. The drive up was so much fun, but really long! I got to drive up in "my" car with my sister Jaimee. Since she's been home, me and Jaimee have grown so close! I really miss her being with me. We've had so much fun together!

All the way up, we took pictures of ourselves...cause what else was there to do? It wasn't while I was driving of course!! She's such a great person,and I'm really glad that she was there for me this summer!

The total time it took to get from my house to Salt Lake was about 13 hours. We drove about 12.5 hours one day, got a hotel for a night, then went into Salt Lake to move me in the next day. I really miss Arizona and it's "mountains". It so weird living here...but, it seems pretty natural so far.

Well...I know that there's one thing that you've all been waiting for! So...drumroll please!

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I have a bathroom!! Woot woot! I had a picture of it...but I accidently deleted itfrom this blog...and I don't want to take the time to put it back up....Oops. Anyway, here's my dorm room! It's so much fun living here! I live in the Plaza Hotel across the street from the Salt Lake Temple. (No joke!)

The one person I grew really close with over the past few years was my dad! If there's anyone I miss hanging out with its him! (Sorry everyone else) My dad was my buddy. Through out all my highschool years we spent so much time together! He was truly the most amazing dad any girl could ever have! I miss him soo much!

This is the outside of where I live. I wasn't kidding when I said I lived in a hotel!

Luckily, some of my family don't live too far from me. I lvoe both of my grandparents so much and I can't wait until this Sunday when I can see them again! They're so loving and amazing!

One of the perks of living in Salt Lake is I get to go to Temple Square almost every day! (I've been there every day except for ONE!!) It is such an amazing temple and you can reallyfeel the spirit strong there! (Although...it's not QUITE as strong as the Mesa temple!)

For orientation of the school, we had the opportunity to hike Ensign Peak. It was such a beauiful sight! This is me and my roomate, Suzanne on the top! She's such an amazing roomate. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better one. (I personally think I've been kind of a sucky roomate lately, but I'm changing that!) She's so patient with me and such a great friend!

Sillouette picture on ensign peak. :)

Well, that's how its been for me so far! It's been quite an adventure. I've learned alot about myself lately and hopefully, I'll continue to grow!

My Missionaries!!

My three best guys friends all got their mission calls this summer! I'm so excited for them! It'll be a great experience for all of them and I know they'll be AMAZING missionaries!!

Here's me with the three missionaries! You've got Bradley Bishop on the far left. He got called to mississippi and such :). He'll be speaking spanish! Next is Elder Ryan Merkley! He got called to the Orlando, Florida Mission speaking Haitain Creole. Crazy...right?! Next is Aaron Webb. He's going to the Santiago, Chile mission speaking spanish! (Then next is me of course!) I'm so proud of all three of them!

Brad leaves begining of September and Aaron is going to leave Mid October. But, Elder Merkley left for the MTC this morning! I know he's going to have such a great time and he'll be a huge blessing to all of his people in Forida!

Camp & A Trip To Kayles

This year I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp...again. This is my sixth year of going and now I can fully guarantee that I will not be going back next year! (and hopefully, for quite a few years!!) I've always had so much fun at girls camp and this year was no different. Originally I was going to go because I thought I'd be working...but lo and behold: Something magical happened...(actually it wasn't really magical, it kinda sucked in all honesty...) anyway, to make a long story short I wasn't working for 3 out of the 4 days that girls camp was actually going on! So, a week before, I decided to go! Whee! Anyway, I really did have a fun time and I'm glad that I went. The theme of camp this year was "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and Hear No Evil", with monkeys as our mascot. At first I thought, "Monkeys?!" but, as the trip went on, I found myself LOVING this cute theme. Everything was planned so well, and I'm grateful I could be apart of it!

Me and Tiff were up there together this year and I'm glad we could spend this last little time together!! She's been one of my best friends these past few months and I'm going to miss her. (Which may seem odd if you KNOW me and Tiff...and especially if you know our background and history together....AH, hatred! :) hehe) Tiffany is going to BYU ID this fall and I'm going to the LDS Business College. So, we may only be a few hours apart (we googled it), but I still doubt we'll see each other very often...sorry Tiff!

This year I went up as Jr. Staff. Jr. Staff is better than YCLs, but unfortunately, we're not quite staff yet...we're just kind of...there. No, really. Although we did have a flippin blast! All we do is sit there and watch everyone else work...really! Oh, and I guess we run the store. This year it was called the "Banana Cabana". The picture above shows all the Jr. Staffers. (Starting left to right) There's Yasmine, Tiffany, Kayla, Alexis, Brianna, Rhonda, and ME!! There were so many fun things that we got to do. There was one time, when our two leaders (Sis. Shnepf and Sis. Houston) decided that they wanted Sonic. So, they left camp to get them and all of jr. staff sonic, while we went and taught their Music class. haha. It was sooo worth it too! (I got a strawberry limeade! Mmm!) But, we also did have some sucky moments. Now, that we have "staff" in our title...girls seem to think that we'll solve their problems for them! On one of the days, we were all just chilling in front of the store and a whole ward came up to us complaining about their YCLs and having to clean the bathrooms...BLAH BLAH BLAH (I kinda stopped listening)...anyway, I will admit, we may have been a bit rude to them at first, but we couldn't figure out what the problem was. I told them to just suck it up and do it. Anyway, basically, we ended up giving them a huge lecture and their YCLs a lecture. Then we forced them into a group hug. (Tiffany's idea...not mine!) But, for the most part, it was a really fun experience!

One of the other things we did was a Stimulation Hike. Basically, you take a ward out on a "hike" and find perilous things along the way. These trials we run into, just happen to be all the things that they've certified in! Fancy that! :) One of the events involved me having to get bit by a rattlesnake and Tiffany having a broken leg and blood spewing from her arm! ............... I'm not kidding! This is a picture of us with our battle wounds.

One of the things we do up there is skits. The skits are so much fun and all the girls LOVE it! My ward (Cooper Ward) did a skit based off of the story "Little Red Riding Hood". Thanks to me and Tiffany...we turned it into "Little Red in the Hood"! Hence forth...gangsta! Woot Woot! The girls were sooo good! (Starting left and going right) We had Alex and Karly who were the bad gangsters (Mandy Wolf) and tried to lead Little Red astray. Then there was Bonnie who was the sweet old rapping grandma. Next is Kiera, Little Red, and the star of the show! Finally, there was Sierra, Hillary, and Kennedee. These girls were the angels who watched over Red as she traveled to her grandma's house! My sister and Mom wrote the cutest script ever...but it only worked out because the girls did sooooo good! I'm way proud of them!!

Jr. Staff did a little music video in between each of the skits. Our first one was to "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. We all wore hoodies at first and creeped onto the stage in the dark, then when the chorus came on, we took our hoodies off to show our white shirts and turned on a black light. Then we danced to thriller. The music wasn't as loud as we needed it to be...so, it wasn't as cool as what we wanted it to be. But, it was still fun! The next one we did was "Fabulous" from High School Musical. We all wore feather boas and just acted like we were fabulous. Whee. Next was "SOS" by the Jonas Brothers. We had Rhonda, Kayla, and Brianna as the Jonas Sisters and the rest of us were there fans. The was one point when Rhonda threw her "sweat rag" to me and Tiffany tackled me down to get it. I still have bruises from that. Next was "Let's Get Physical". He He. We did a work out video: starring Moi! I was the crazy intense teacher and all my students got kicked, hit, or fell out by the end. I had so many people tell me that that was their favorite one! It was waaay fun to do! Our fifth one was to "Popular" from Wicked. We had Yasmine in the middle and the rest of us danced around her and dolled her up so she could be popular like us. Finally, the last one we did was "Hoedown Throwdown" from Hannah Montana. We'd planned to do this one and learned the dance for it and when we got up there, we learned that they had a class for the girls to learn it too! So, at the very end, everyone got up and danced together. The girls loved it and we all had so much fun! Maybe I'll tape myself doing it sometime and I'll put it on here...that could be fun! :)

Now, camp wasn't just all fun and games (believe it or not). We did have some spiritual times too! There was a Values Walk that was amazing! We went on this walk as a ward around to different people. Each person would focus on a different value, starting with Faith. Divine Nature. Individual Worth (which was one of my personal favorites). Knowledge. Choice and Accountablilty. Good Works. Integrity. Then we ended up at a cabin with our Stake Presidency: President Speakman, President Guthrie, and President Rogers, who talked to us about Virtue. It was such a good spiritual experience and I'm glad I was able to be apart of that. We also had an amazing testimony meeting. Some of the girls who got up I hadn't expected too...and our Bishop had the opportunity to really teach us that we all do have a testimony, even if we don't think we do. Then, he taught us how to bear that testimony. It was one of the most amazing testimony meetings I've ever been too.

Well, after girls camp, I decided to go and visit my sister and her family. My sister has three adorable kids: Spencer, Landon, and Theresa. I had so much fun hanging out with them and I'm going to miss them all when I leave.

This is with me and Landon. It was the only good picture that I could get! haha. This is one of the cutest kids EVER! When he sees me, he puts his hand in the air and yells, "LOOUUU!" It's soo cute!!

I'm way excited for all these great experiences I've had so far this summer and i'm excited for the few I know that are coming up! It's been a great summer. :)

Cal-i-forn-I-A

I figured I should probably put the pictures from my California trip on here...(finally!) haha. Well, out of the 1,000 pictures we took (and I'm not joking...we took like 945 pictures or something really close to that) I took 16 that I thought we're either my favorite or showed off at least what we did on our trip! :)

First, we started our weekly long trip in Hollywood. We saw a sign for a "look-out point" for the Hollywood sign, so of course we went to check it out. After hiking up a vicious mountain (okay...it wasn't that bad...but none of us were prepared to hike) we got to the look-out point and saw the picture I have above. If you squint really hard you can see the Hollywood Sign in the background really small. Well, it was cool...but not cool enough for the Lenkersdorfer family! So, we took our brand new GPS system and punched in the Hollywood Sign. And, we ended up here:

Basically right beneath it. Now, that was much much cooler than the other look-out. And of course, even with the GPS system we still got lost at some points (who would've guessed that the Lenkersdorfer Family got lost!) But the drive was way fun and being that close to it was amazing!

We also went down into Hollywood and walked around. We found Hugh Jackman's square in the Chinese Theater with his hand prints AND footprints. It was a magical moment! He had just gotten it in April 2009, so I was waaay excited to see it! I never could find his star though...nor Will Smith's. Which was very disappointing. Anyway, I also saw Denzel Washington's handprints, Johnny Depp's, and many others. That was super cool. I also saw Michael Jackson's star (it was super crowded and had a million of things on it!) I didn't put a picture on here...but I did get one. It's so weird to think that the "King of Pop" is dead. But, atleast we know that Thriller will never ever die! :)


Next, we went to the Wax Museum. They had Rambo just chilling outside, so, naturally, I got a picture with him! What else would you have expected me to do?!


Then, I saw HUGH JACKMAN!! In the wax! :) Yep, they have a wax stature of Hugh. It wasn't as glorious as if I would've seen him in the flesh...but it was still special. I just SWOON at the thought of him!! I also saw the Men In Black (and got a picture with them) and I saw Spiderman (and got a picture with him). There were alot of really cool wax statues...and some of them looked SOOO real!!!


Right across the street from the wax museum is the Museum of Records or the Ripley's Believe it or Not or...something like that! Anyway, I got to see what I would look like as a fat kid. Personally, I don't think I look all that bad. But, I would get kind of hot in the summer I think...so, just in case, I may lay off on that extra brownie.


Once I was inside, Elvis was just waiting for me! So, I went straight into his arms and we sung a duet. I was amazing! (anyone who has heard me sing can testify how great of a singer I am) Elvis on the other hand...not so great. He was just a little...rusty. (hehe) Anyway, I think we make a GREAT team!


Over the next couple of days we spent our time in Universal Studios. We had alot of fun there (excluding the House of Horrors, in which the Butcher made me start crying and I accidently (I Swear it was an accident!!) hit the poor guy in front of me. It was all very embarassing and I vow never to go into a House of Horrors again!) Anyway, here we are just right in front of the World. My two favorite things was the Simpsons Ride and the Studio Tours. It was really cool seeing a whole bunch of different sets including War of Worlds, Psycho, Jaws, Desperate Housewives, The Grinch, and even a section where part of Pirates of the Carribean was filmed! But, the best ride was definitely The Simpsons Ride!


Speaking of The Simpsons...we actually got a picture with Bart and Lisa! It was a special moment for me. Especially since I LOVE The Simpsons! Later we saw Marge and Homer, but we didn't have time to get a picture with them.


Right next to Unviversal Studios is the Warner Brother Studios. So, on a whim, we decided to take a tour. It was one of the best parts of the trips! We got to see sets for movies and TV shows like Gilmore Girls and Spiderman (we saw where they did the famous upside-down kiss! Really interesting fact about that: In order for raindrops to show on film, they had the be three times as big. So, when they were filming that scene from Spiderman, Tobey Maguire (the actor) kept yelling CUT, because water was going up his nose and literally drowning him. So, they took cotton swabs and covered them in vaseline, then stuck them up his nose, so he wouldn't drown while doing the romantic kissing scene. [VERY romantic...right?!] Anyway, we actually got to go on the set for Two and A Half Men (staring Charlie Sheen) and we got to see Central Perk from FRIENDS! Now, the coolest part: That couch were sitting on in the picture above, it the actual couch from FRIENDS!! Yeah! Waaay cool, right?! I'm sitting where Rachel or Phoebe usually sits. Even Chandler has sat there before! :) Special, right? After that, we also got to see a museum, where they had Batman's costume, the Joker's Costume (I'm still sad that Heath Ledger is gone!), many other things I don't remember...and all upstairs of the museum was Harry Potter stuff!! Woot Woot! Harry Potter! It was so cool! I saw the petrified Hermione from Chamber of Secrets and Aragog (the spider). I saw the clothing from the Yule Ball and the Marauder's Map (which was special for me since I LOVE the Marauders!!). There was a whole bunch of Quidditch stuff...the Cupboard under the stairs! Harry's Hogwart's Letter was there. And the Sorting Hat! I got Sorted by the Sorting Hat! I was put into.....*drumroll*.....GRYFFINDOR! Both my parents were put into Hufflepuff and my sister was put into Slytherin. (I always knew there was some kind of secret agenda going on behind her motives!) Anyway, I'm getting a little too excited just remembering everything! So...I'm going to move on...


After Universal Studios, we went to Malibu and Beverly Hills ((that's where I want to be!)) They weren't as impressive as thought they would be...or maybe I just didn't see the glamorous parts of them. But, we did find this cool sign! So, me and my sister did a jumping picture! Whee!


Then, we saw the Whomping Willow!! (Yep, more Harry Potter) I cast a Freeze Spell on it so I could take a picture with it! :) The funny thing is, I had gotten a shirt from the Warner Brothers Studios that I was wearing that day. On the front it said: "I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good" and on the back it says: "Mischief Managed". It was awesome that I was wearing it when I got to see the "Whomping Willow". It was like I was an actual Marauder and I was just preparing myself to go on an escapade with my four friends to help one of them who was a werewolf. I took a Facebook Quiz and it said my animagus form would be an eagle...I could live with that!


On Sunday we went down to Catalina Island! It was a fun place. The boat ride over was nice (the boat ride home...not so nice! It was super cold!!)


We rented a golf cart for an hour and explored the island. This is me and my sister in the golfcart. We hiked a little, spent some time on the beach...it was a relaxful, yet fun day!


The next big thing for our trip was Sea World! I loved Sea World! (And would totally go again in a heartbeat!) The animals and shows were waay fun! My favorite were the Sea Lions and Otters. They're soo cute! The shark tank was really cool too! Oh, and the Penguins!! I loved it all! :)

We were standing at the Dolphin tank when the Dolphin was right there next to us!! I wanted to touch it sooo bad, but there were a million signs saying we couldn't! But, suddenly, a voice from above *coughINTERCOMcough* spoke up and said it was okay to touch the dolphins. So, I wasn't going to pass up this oppourtunity!! I reached my hand over and stroked the dolphin that was just chilling right next to us. The Dolphin may have freaked out a bit...I think it was just surprised. So, my mom decides to reach over, and try again. And, naturally, the dolphin had the same reaction! Another guy tried to touch it, but a worker came over and said that we probably weren't in the best spot to touch a dolphin! haha. So, me and my mom got a picture with this dolphin showing that we touched the dolphin!

Anyway, that was the basics of our trip. There was so much more that we did, but I've already spent over an hour just writing about all this stuff....and I don't even want to know how long it took you to read all this! If you actually read it...most of you probably saw how long it was, read one or two captions (three at the MOST) but just skimmed through the pictures. You'd have no idea that I was just rambling on and on about things that most of you probably just don't care about! (But, you have to admit...the fact about Spiderman is awesome! And for everyone who actually read that...I sincerely hope that I've ruined that scene for you from now on! Because everytime you watch that movie you get to the most romantic kiss EVER, you're going to think: "HA! You have Petrolium Jelly up your nose!" (hehehe)

And THAT, my friends, was the point of this blog!