"We are God's children, and if we Ever got that through our heads thouroughly and understood that competely, we would never do a small thing, we would never say a cross word. We would not use bad language. We would not criticize anybody. We would love everyone the way the Savior loves us."

-Marjorie Pay HInckley-

Friday, November 21, 2008

My Day in Tucson

BIOSPHERE 2

This is what the inside looks like. This is the structure and what it is made out of... it was an amazing place.

This is looking at the Rain Forest from above it.


These are the sprinklers that water the Rain Forest. They look like normal sprinklers but they are not! They poor rain like a real Rain Forest. We didn't get to see them work but OH MAN I can imagine what it would be like!!!


These trees look kinda sad! Well the reason some of them look dead and the others are alive is because they were conducting an experiment. The experiment lasted about 11 months. The idea was to see how long the trees could live w/ a certain amount of water or none at all. So the dead ones didn't receive any water at all or very little if any. They are testing them so that they know a general idea how trees can survive in different types of places.


This is just some of the vegetation that is in the Biosphere 2.


These pictures are taken just before we got to the desert.
Desert Area


The Beach Area... this was a cool area because it looked like a real beach w/ real waves, sand and trees. They had a wave maker making the waves.

These rock walls or "mountains" are not real... they are hollow all the way through. They are made out of cement and wire. the reason for this is to allow air to flow as shown in the next picture
These windows is so that the air can flow through the Biosphere.
This is how green the plans were on the beach. It was Amazing

The Rain Forest was amazing as well...It was very hot and humid...it was nasty feeling but amazing to see how things grow and how it felt in there.
The things on the wall are roots from a plant that are growing to the wall because of the moister it has. It is so moist in there that anything can and grow, its CRAZY!
These are huge tank that water is in and flows through the pipes all trough out the Biosphere!! There are about 4 of these tanks just in this area we were in.... Think that there are a lot more.
This is the BIGGEST RO (Reverse Osmosis) System that I have ever seen in my life!! It was COOL... and to think that this System cleans all millions of gallons of water in this place.
This is a cool door because I didn't have to duck but everyone else did.. it was great. And short people get made fun of all the time but look at that a door I didn't have to duck for!! YAY!!
I had to duck for this one...it was way short!! SO i had to take a picture w/ it because how often do I have to duck for things.........Not very often and its GREAT!!It was cool to see all the signs to know where... And Just think that just above us is the Desert!!! It was so coo!!

I took a picture of the Nemo fish in the under the ocean area... it was cool down there. Also there was coral and it was cool looking.


This is probably a weird looking picture to you but I thought that it was cool... This is the floor.. there were sea shells in the concrete floor. I thought it was neat so that's why I have a picture of it.
SHARK!!! AHHHHH!!!!!

Don't worry its not real!!! It hangs on the roof but it does look real.
This is the lung of the Biosphere 2... it is cool. It breathes just like we do.. it was weird but cool at the same time.
This piece it how it breathes... when the room fills up w/ heat it has to breathe but then it would shatter all the windows in this place. So as it heats up this rises to the top of the roof. and then when it cools down it lowers back down to the ground. it was AWESOME because we actually were able to watch it lower, it was neat!!
So I had an Awesome time here at the Biosphere 2. It was a great learning experience and would be cool to go again.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Ecology

So I am currently taking an Ecology class. It is an amazing class and I love it!! This section that we are learning about is Fire Ecology and it is amazing to me how nature works inorder to keep it healthy. In order for a forest to be healthy it can only have 25 trees w/in an acre and that is crazy. Also everyone thinks that fire is a bad thing for nature but in all reality it is a great thing. When something burns it helps the soil to be enriched w/ nutrients and then helps things grow better. When the trees burn and die they will be able to grow back bigger and stronger. It is so amazing to me how things work. I love it alot. Today in Ecology Lab we went up the Mountain here in the Gila Valley (Mt. Graham), it is a beautiful place. Anyways we went up there to look at the recovery status of the mountain after burning in 2004... we saw the trees that are dead and also all the new baby trees that are growing. We looked at all the trees that are changing color because its getting colder and there is no longer photosynthesis going on in the trees. Well at one point of the lab out professor had us sit and listen. It was a great thing to just reflect on life and nature. As I sat there I was listening to the wonderful sounds that the trees make while swaying in the wind, the sounds of birds chirping, and the little insects buzzing all around! It was so peaceful to be able to do this for class. How often do we actually have an assignment to sit and enjoy nature? Well none that I know of unless you are in Ecology. DO we really need to be assigned to stop and reflect on nature? I don't think so...we should just do it our selves and enjoy what we have been given. We don't truely appreciate all that nature has to offer us, but if we sit once in a while and really and truely enjoy it, it will surprise you what you will see and hear. You will learn to love it and wish you could be in it all the time and feel peace. Well during this time that I had to reflect on the nature around me I thought of my Grandpa and all that he taught me when I was young. I also thought of the wonderful place I live this summer where I was around nature all the time. It was a great experience that I had this morning in class. If you ever have an hour just to sit you should go somewhere quiet and enjoy nature....trust me you will love it!! :)

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Reading Update!

So on October 23,2008 Kari and I started reading Twilight and we are now done w/ it. It took us 10 days to read this book. We started the 2nd one today!! Mind you neither one of us like reading at all......this is the fastest I have ever read a book in my life. I'M HOOKED!!!! Its a great book and I will finish them all. Thanks mom for giving these books to me I LOVE THEM!!!

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!

So I'm not much of a Halloween person but this year was a BLAST!!! Kari and I had the best costumes EVER!!!! We were trying to decide what to be and Kari was like "You can be a trash can!" I was so excited and I loved that idea!!!! So here goes the process! Kari is cutting out the bottom of the trash can....It was not an easy process at all.

Now the bottom is finally cut out of my trash can and I'm getting more excited now!!

















I loved it so much that i had to look through it like a little kid!!!


Yes i admit it is silly but Hello have you met me....that is the story of my life.




Kari was looking for her Raccoon and thought at that it was under the bed. So she took all her stuffed animals out and was sad to realize he wasn't there....where was he? DUN DUN DUN!!!!!















Here he is.....he was in the closet all along!!! I laughed a little..HAHAHA!!!!



This is what it looked like finished.....

Here is my crazy roomie!!! She is awesome! She is becoming Mertyle Louise!











AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! What happend here!! IDK....Kari helped me out! It is the best hair do ever!!!





Here is another great picture of my AMAZING hair!! I love my hair........













And another.....















Its great isn't it!!!!?
I love the CAMO look!

Here is Mertyle Louis (Kari) she is great!! She pulls off the Hill Billy look well!!! She loves to be a Hill Billy and can do the accent very well!!!!!


















This is the great Complete Project!!! We had a great time!!! Here we are at the dance!!! We had a BLAST!!!!!

Everyone LOVED our costumes...idk how many people came up to us and asked "Can I take a picture of you?" So we let them take pictures of us!!









So I really wanted a cupcake and so Kari peeled off the paper and gave it to me....much to my surprise I couldn't get it to my mouth but I really wanted to eat it!! So my friend Marilee Jones helped me.....helped me TOOOOO much!!! SO for the rest of the night I Had chocolate all over my face as well as face paint!

So we were so tired from dancing that we needed to sit down...it wasn't easy. It was hard and it hurt so bad....we had to have help getting up because we were stuck!!















MAN WE LOOK GREAT!!!!








So now we got home from the dance and we were so tired and exhausted. We were getting ready for bed and I looked at my arms that were hurting so bad from the trash can! They had bruises on them and OH MAN they hurt!!! I guess this is what I get for playing in a trash can!!!
















ALL this was all worth it!! Kari and I had a BLAST!!!! I am glad that I have a crazy friend that loves to make things!! I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did!!