The Ferris Wheel & Lagoon Trip

I have to say my favorite 2 rides at Lagoon are Samuri and Wicked. They are both very thrilling, and hard core. I think it helped to prep me for our trip to 6 Flags in August, which will be good, because it seems that when it comes to Rollercoaster, my Kristen is Fearless. I also used to have a fear of the Ferris Wheel, but this year I was able to actually ride it and not freak out! So we got some fun pictures of the 4 of us :)

Chauntay and Megan

Me and Kissy :)

We had a lot of fun at Lagoon. My work is very kind to throw lots of company parties, and luckily with Lagoon we were given free tickets! Kristen has a season pass, so I actually ended up with an extra ticket, but better to have to much than to little! We were also provided with a free dinner which came with refillable all you can drink Sodas! Very fun day! Especially since I hadn't been to Lagoon in seriously, Years! I love my girlies!

The Rocket

Me and Chauntay opted out of the Rocket... I don't know what it is but I think that as we get older we can't handle all the same rides we could as when we were younger... So me and Chauntay rode The Bat, which was a very nice and easy ride, and in the meantime Kristen and Megan were able to make it through the line of the Rocket, just in time for me to video and snap photos :) Apparently they also met up with Shaid and his group in the Rocket line, so you get the best of both worlds! As you can see below, Kristen and Megan get a little offended by the fact I go and record Shaid and his crew... But what can I say, they were a lot more exciting than K and M! ;)

Catapult

On Saturday at Lagoon we met up with my friend Shaid from work and his group that went with him. He started complaining that nobody would go on the sky coaster with him and that what he really wanted to do was go on the Catapult. So, I decided I would volunteer the lovely Kristen to ride the Catapult with him :) Because there was no way in HECK I was going on either of those rides with him, no matter how hard he begged. Kristen was willing to ride it though, because she to had also been wanting me to ride the sky coaster, and I felt this was a good compromise for the both of them ;) The result, a fun scary thrilling ride for the 2 of them, and funny video and picture for me, safely on the ground at all times.

Anxiously Waiting (I had a better one of just them smiling, but I don't know where it went... so this is what we get, and honestly, it reflects Shaid's personality better)

Nervousness is starting to arise as they realize that YES this is really happening and that they better hold on for dear life!

And last but not least, The video of the launch....

Seven Peaks

Mine and Kristens next stop was Seven Peaks. (Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the Boondocks work party, but just imagine in your heads that it was fun, the food was good, and I stayed for maybe an hour) It was the perfect day for a water park! It was nice and hot! It was also crowded, but not so unbearable that we were miserable... Well, at least not at the beginning. Towards the end we were getting a little restless and annoyed at all the pushing and shoving for the little kids. But, all in all it was a great time and some good BFF Bonding!Quick view of the slides... I had to snap a few quick photos before we left so that we had some proof that we did actually go!

Us, after a day full of water slides and tubing!

The Brown Family Pool

Over Father's Day weekend my mom wanted us to be able to go and do something so that we could keep our minds off of the fact that it was Father's Day Weekend. We brainstormed going to different amusement and water parks, but, Jeff being the good boy he is, declared that he did not feel right about going to a theme park on a Sunday. So, on Saturday when my mom came down to wake me up I proclaimed I was going out to buy a pool, and amazingly my mother agreed! So it became our Father's Day purchase.

Little did we know, that a 8800 galloon pool takes a LOT more than 8 hours to fill. Above is a picture of the completed and full pool, but below is a picture of where the water level was Father's Day night. So, instead of swimming in our own pool, we ended up heading on over to Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center for some wet fun. Disappointment was had, but we all eventually got over it :)
Melanie finally couldn't stand it any longer and got too restless, so she braved the cold and barely filled pool and got in to have herself a swim. Which she will claim was worth it, even though the water was only up to maybe a little bit below her knees.

Shortly after cute little Mel got in, Kyle decided he would get in as well. They swam for maybe all of 20 minutes before they decided the pool was not as fun as they thought it would be, considering it was about bath tub level.

The pool finally filled up late Monday night, which meant swimming was had all day and all night Tuesday. We have thoroughly enjoyed our pool. It is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me ;) I have been wanting a pool for FOR- ever! And now I finally have one :) I do not even mind all of the maintence and upkeep, it is all well worth it! (And although Jeff can take all of the credit for putting the pool and filter together, I can take credit for putting the ladder together! I am woman, hear me roar!)

Toy Story 3

These last few weeks me and Kristen have done a lot! We went to see Toy Story 3, I went to Boondocks with my work, the two of us went to Seven Peaks, and then We also went to my work Lagoon day with Chauntay and Megan! So, We are going to start with Toy Story!

I have to say that I did enjoy Toy Story 3. I enjoyed enough to actually go see it again with my family! One of the better Pixar movies. The best of all the Toy Stories, although, I don't have any complaints with any of the Toy Story Movies. It was sad, funny, exciting, and entertaining all in one! 2 Thumbs up disney!

Swimming at the pool

The last event of our day was swimming! It was a really busy day! But super fun! And a nice change, I was missing my girls!

This is us doing our most favorite thing... Riding down the slide backwards!

Claire Bear sucking her thumb... it had been a long day and she was starting to fade fast

Me and Carmel just relaxing... Her more so than me :)

This is us preparing to ride the slide down backwards

Playing in the water...

Sabrina

And this is just a cute video of Sabrina and Carmel I really like.

Picture Day!

After gymnastics and naps, we headed off to get our pictures taken! I had the 3 girls picture taken about a month ago, and then decided I would also enjoy one of the 3 of them with me. So, we booked another appointment at our good friend Sears and got all dolled up and headed out! don't have the final product yet, so these are more of just a "Pre-photo shoot."

Gymnastics!

On Tuesday I was able to go to Carmel and Claire's Gymnastics. I had Sabrina with me as well, and we just played the whole day. First we went to gymnastics, then went and had our pictures done, then we went to the pool!

Carmel and Claire following Coach Heather

Sabrina! I want you all to note that I was successful at getting multiple smiles out of this child this day! Absolute miracle!

Sabrina lovin' on me... You can definately tell she had done a hugging picture before! Gymnastics was very fun to watch the girls and Coach Heather actually let Lauren and Sabrina join in at the end of the class.

Baby Owen

I do not think that a lot of you have seen my cousin Ashlee's baby boy Owen. So, I decided to share my cute pictures of him with you :) These were also taken on my birthday.

Owen Justin Briggs

Trying to sleep! Such a sweet baby and the happiest newest addition to the Linnell Family!

Mare's 20th Birthday!

On June 14th, it was my birthday! Woo-hoo! Finally out of the teenage years and on to the 20's! It was a very nice birthday. I got lots of neat stuff! From Cailin, Granny Carmel, and Kristen I got a new Nikon Cool Pix Camera which I absolutely love and which is thanks to all the pictures and videos you are about to see! I also got the instyler from my mama, money from other family members, and the America's next top model game from Jeff, Kyle, and Melanie. This is "The Annual Birthday Picture". I took it real quick, so that's why it's not so great....

This is the cake that my mom made for me, Melanie, and Kyle for our Linnell Family Birthday party. I wanted ice cream sandwiches, and kyle wanted cake, and melanie only wanted ice cream... So, this was Julie Brown's compromise! I think she did a pretty swell job actually!

Above is me opening my presents :) You should all feel so priveledged that you get to share this moment with me!

All in all it was a pretty great birthday! I also went out to dinner with Kissy to Wingers and we also hit up the Red Robin. Unfortunately, it was also my first birthday that I have ever had to work. Lucky for me though, work remembered it was my birthday and gave me some balloons! I guess this is real life in the working world...

Happy 20th Birthday to Me!

Cybersource/Authorize.net

About a month ago I started a new job at Cybersource. Our family friend Jeff was able to help get me this job because he is the Director of the Customer Support. My job title is Customer Support Representative for Authorize.net. We are a payment gateway for companies and Merchant Service Providers. Basically, we are the middle man between small busniess owners, and the big guys. So far the job has been very good and I like it a lot. I have met a lot of new friends. It is a very nice and laid back enviornment. The company also takes very good care of their employees. Here are some of the benefits I get from working here:

• They have a free catered breakfast every Friday for all of us


• There is all you can drink free soda and juice


• They do fun little Customer Support Parties (The upcoming ones are a trip to Boondocks as a company and Lagoon Day)


• The pay is decent (more than I was making working at 9-1-1)


• They have full benefits

I have caught on to the job fairly fast. Last week I was at the top of my group in doing chats and emails. This week we started phones, but have not been given an update on where we rank. I hope to be a lasting employee for this company as it has so much to offer and seems to be something I like to do. Hooray for a new job!

Court Trial 6/8/2010

The trial for my Fathers court case of Negligent Homicide for the car accident was yesterday. The trail was supposed to last up to 2 days approximately 9am-4pm each day. Fortunately and Unfortunately it only lasted from 9am-about 130pm yesterday. The reason being that the boys Lawyer found a law that states you cannot draw blood on the scene of an accident without actual proof, or probable cause. So, since Jordan (the boy who hit my father) was not acting as if he was impaired or under any form of influence, the law states the officers were not able to take his blood. The judge passed this act, regardless of the fact that Jordan gave consent to have his blood drawn and since it was South Jordan's first death by accident case, the officers were just trying to cover all bases.
Since the judge passed this act, our case and trial was basically shot because all of our evidence came from the metabolite that was found in his blood from the blood test. We were given the option to dismiss court so our attorneys could do more research on this law and find more evidence to win the Negligent Homicide and come back in another 2-3 months for another trial. That was Option 1. Option 2 was to see if Jordan would plead guilty to the DUI and the improper look out charges. If he were to plea guilty, the trial would end, he would be sentenced, and we would be done. If he plead not guilt, another option was to carry on with the trial as planned, just without all of our evidence and winning points about the Negligent Homicide with the results from the drug test.
My mom and all of our family agreed that we all were ready to be done with it. We all were ready to be done with the legal proceedings of the case and were just ready to move on. So our attorneys went and gave Option 2 to Jordan. To all of our amazement, and an answer to our prayers, Jordan plead guilty to the DUI and Improper lookout. In doing so, he was sentenced to 102 hours of Community service, a psych test, and some form of counseling because the Judge was concerned about his safety and his psychological mind from the accident and from his continuation to do drugs. He needs to check up I beileve bik-weekly with his Probation officer for random drug testing and counseling. The Judge allowed him to use half of his community service hours, 52 hours, to be used for these meetings and for the check ups Jordan will have with the judge. The only 52 will have to be done directly to the community.
My grandma Brown, my mom, and I were all able to read our letters to Jordan. Must to my amazement, I found great closure in doing so. From the court case and experience yesterday, I feel like a weight has been lifted and that I am able to finally move on from that hurdle. I am grateful for all of the legal procedeeings to be done with. Now hopefully my family will be able to live our lives without Jordans name and the accident consantly on our minds.

Lagoon

On friday I went to Lagoon with the boys. It was a fun day and I finally got to
go on Wicked, which lives up to the hype. The rides still aren't as exciting as
Six Flags or even Knotts Berry Farm, but when you are here in Utah it is a great way to spend the day.
This is a few pictures of Brenton, Tom, Jesse and Branden playing the 3 point shoot out game. Jesse was the first to beat the high score of 9 by one point. After that Brenton and Tom couldn't let Jesse, who has a dislocated thumb, show them up! Brenton then tied the high score.

Next Shelbey, and the guys went on Sky Coaster which is like bungee jumping and hang gliding at the same time.