Fed up

So once upon a time Madi had a good friend. These two girls had been friends since kindergarten (ya you know who you are). They've had some times when they weren't as close, but they always got back together and shared laughs. Now however, Madi's fed up. See this friend of hers always pushes Madi around, and now that Madi's gained some self confidence, she's done. Adios. The End

Las Fiestas

Once upon a time Madi was sitting in her class in Spain when someone told her that her year was in charge of organizing the school's festival that year. This included getting the food, the entertainment, the games, etc. ready for the little kids. To open up the festivals Madi's class performed a skit/dance that went along with that year's theme. This skit was called the pregón and Madi's class ended up practicing the whole thing over and over again. There were three dances in all...one of just the girls dancing to I'm a Barbie girl, one of just the boys dancing to They don't care about us by Michael Jackson, and one of couples dancing to a Phineas and Ferb Song. Well the girls were barbies in this skit and the boys were G.I. Joe's. The only problem with this whole thing was that all the girls had to wear a tutu and since Madi did not bring a tutu to Spain (weird right?) she had to make one. So after hours of hard labor Madi hand stitched (she also did not have a sewing machine) a very see-through tutu.

The pregón went well but Madi was completely uncomfortable the whole time. So as soon as it was over, Madi ran into the garage that had all her normal clothes and changed right there, not realizing that ALL of the boys from her class were in the garage too. Probably the most humiliating day of Madi's life.

The Barbies for the Pregón

As soon as Madi got home, she went for a run to get all of her frustrations out. On the path she past two girls that yelled after her in a snotty voice, "We liked your tutu (snickers)." Needless to say, Madi wanted to cry herself to sleep that night, but she couldn't because the festivities weren't over yet.

She then got ready for the night party that took place in a club in downtown Burgos. She had a blast dancing with drunk people and she taught them all how to really do the macarrena. But the day had taken a toll on her so she left at 3 in the morning instead of the usual 6 am.

Madi and some of her friends at the club

The moral of the story is don't, under any circumstances, dance in a see-through tutu in front of hundreds of people! The End.

Tomasso's

Once upon a time Madi was working at Tomasso's Italian Ice (or as Madi's phone likes to say...Tum-AHH-sso's). She was working with her brother when things started to slow down a lot and became horrifically boring. So Madi got on the internet and tried to entertain herself for a while. But it didn't work. So now she's thinking about how a nice day laying out in the sun and reading would feel....oh if only....

The End

Swimmer's Itch and Zions

Once upon a time Miguel, Madi's host brother while she lived in Spain, came to Utah to visit Madi and her family. Tuesday morning (the morning after Miguel arrived) they all left for St. George because Madi's family owns a house down there. When they finally got there it was 102 degrees which Madi thought was scorching, but that was nothing compared to Wednesday...106!!! So in the heat of the day the family headed down to Sand Hollow to practice swimming for their upcoming triathlon. When they got to the gate to pay there was a big sign that read "Swimmer's Itch is now Active." Doesn't that just sound lovely? So curious Madi asked the lady what Swimmer's itch exactly was. Apparently it's a nasty parasite that's natural to the lake that affects about 10% of the population. It gets into the skin and creates a rash that looks like chicken pox that lasts from a week to two weeks. Joy. So the entire day Madi was paranoid and kept scratching everywhere. However it's now been two days and there's no rash in sight.

The next day Madi, Miguel, and Madi's mom woke up early and went into Zions National Park. They didn't have enough time to hike Angel's Landing so they hiked Hidden Canyon instead. It was a blast and they had to scramble over several boulders once they got in the slot canyon which made it even more entertaining. Plus, they met a family from the Netherlands and they enjoyed listening to the family speaking Dutch. Overall it was a nice trip and Madi made it back in time to shower and get to work.

Here are some pictures of the hike:

The End

Ice Skating

Once upon a time Madi was hiking with her friend Annie (what else is new?) and they decided that the following week they wanted to go ice skating. So due to some complications in a flight schedule, Madi's Monday was freed up and she texted Annie. They both decided that Monday was the perfect day to go so Madi immediately started to text people to join them. After about four other people agreed to go, Madi looked at the time that the ice skating rink was going to be open. Unfortunately it was only open for an hour and a half in the morning. So then they decided to go hike Timp caves. Madi found the number and called the rangers up there to reserve tickets. The ranger said that they were only selling walk-in tickets, but she insisted that there would be no problems. By the time Madi, Annie, and their friends got up there, there were only two tickets left to purchase. Another failure.

Since they had already paid to get into the canyon, they decided to go on a different hike. So they hiked the Timpanooke trail up to Scout Falls. It was pretty and all, but Madi wanted to do something more adventurous, so she told the group that they should all cross the waterfall. Long story short, they were all numb within the first could of seconds of walking through the water, they only made it about 3/4 of the way, and Madi tripped and hurt her back. But it was an adventure!

Lesson learned: if you want to do something different in Utah... plan way in advance. If you're just looking for something memorable... hang out with Madi

Monday

So early Monday morning Madi took her dog, Izzy, up to Alpine to go hike with her sister, McKenzie. She was wearing her chacos because she thought they were only going to hike to a waterfall. Well they did end up hiking to a waterfall, just one that was an hour and 15 min. away. With the steepness of the hike combined with Madi's very rare, but yet still painful when they come cramps, Madi did not move very fast and I think McKenzie was a little disappointed. Oh well, she still took Madi out afterwards to a frozen yogurt place.

When Madi got home, she was feeling worse than ever. So she quickly downed 4 advils and hoped it would be over soon. At 1 her and her dad went out to Tucano's so celebrate a late birthday (a VERY late birthday). While there, they saw Max Hall, John Beck, and Dennis Pitta eating away. Her dad tried to take a picture, but he accidentally filmed the floor instead. Anyway, Madi was eating and she didn't feel full until one bite of chicken. She all of a sudden hit the wall (in the words of Adam Richman), but she couldn't leave without eating more pineapple, so she waited. While her dad was getting the check, she couldn't wait any longer to she ran outside and without taking five steps, she threw up a good portion of her meal (sorry for being gross). Kind of embarrassing.

So she got home and took a nap. Then for family home evening, her family went fishing. After about an hour of complaining Madi felt the bite. She jerked up on her line and reeled in a small fish. That's right. She was the first to catch a fish. Then about 15 minutes later her sister McKenzie thought she caught a fish and reeled in her line and actually her line was connected to Madi's line and on Madi's hook was a small catfish. Sorry McKenzie, maybe another day. Then Madi's dad caught a small fish and then after everyone had left, Madi caught her last fish. Since everyone was gone, she had to get the fish off the hook. She tried, but she failed miserably so the hispanic man next to her had to help her out and he kept the fish.

En fin, it was a fantastic ending to a semi good day. Definetely eventful. That's for sure.

The End

Coincidence? I think not.

Once upon a time Madi decided to go on a hike with her friend Annie. Both of them wanted to try a hike that neither of them had done, so they chose to go up slate canyon. Once they got there they ran into construction (yet again) and so they had to park far away and hike up to the trailhead. After only hiking for about 10 minutes after getting to the trailhead Madi was exhausted. She bent over to breathe out a long sigh when it happened. There was a voice hidden in the bush by the trail that mimicked Madi's sigh. Annie asked Madi if she heard and Madi originally thought that the sound was some sort of animal so they both stopped walking and listened. They heard the sound again and this time Madi's heart dropped because she knew it was a sound only a human could make. Annie told Madi in a shaky voice that they should probably turn back but Madi stayed put and considered her options....until it happened again and it was getting closer. So Madi quickly looked at Annie, took one step backwards and bolted down the mountain. Both Annie and Madi made it safely to Annie's car without getting hurt.

Now fast forward a couple of days. Madi was watching the news when a story about a naked man hiding in a bush scaring people up a canyon came on. Now, it was a different canyon, but Madi's pretty convinced that the person she heard was either this man, or this man's friend. The End.