At the beginning of June, I went to Iowa to visit relatives with my brother and my mom. On the way to Iowa, we stopped at Winona, MN so my brother could see his friend from his freshman year of high school.
View of Winona, MN 1. The lake is called Winona Lake.
View of Winona, MN 2. I took this photo on what's called Sugarloaf.
So, I only stayed at Winona for a day or so, and then it was off to Northeast Iowa to visit my grandma. It takes about an hour and a half to get to NE IA from Winona. Once I got to NE IA, the first thing I did was chill with my cat and play card games with my grandma.
This is my cat Smokey. Not the best photo of him, but I love him so much.
I spent a couple weeks in NE IA before I went to Ames, IA. While I was in NE IA, I spent some time hanging out with my friend Monica and her boyfriend (who's one of my cousins). Hanging out with her is something I hardly get to do, and so I had a lot of fun with the time that I had with her. Another thing I did with my mom and brother, was eat at Don Jose's (it's a Mexican Cuisine restaurant) in Decorah, IA. The food was so delicious there, and it made me happy.
This is the chip and dip. The chips were very warm, and the salsa was pretty spicy, but they were both very good.
Burritios, spanish rice, and black beans. I couldn't eat it all, which meant that I would have some leftovers to eat later. I have a tiny appetite (so that's how it goes whenever I eat somewhere nice). Overall, I could tell that the chefs put time and effort into making something delicious for their customers to eat.
Throughout my time at NE IA, I worked on making a bead work piece. I ended up making a hair clip for my cousin Naomi.
This is the front of the hair clip. I started off doing kirigami, which is a form of origami. Next thing I did was use my skills that I learned in my bead work class the first semester I spent at Sitting Bull College.
Here's what the back of the clip looks like. Yay for my kit from beauty school (otherwise I wouldn't of been able to make this clip possible). It took me a long time to send it off to Japan (where my cousin lives), but I finally sent it off a few days ago.
On June 18, my cousin Ryan, his fiance at the time (now his lovely wife) Lindsey picked up my cousin Matt, Monica, and I to go to Ames, IA (a day before my mom and brother came on down). Being at Ames was a fun time. I got to see some of my other cousins. On the 20th, there was a rehearsal dinner for Ryan and Lindsey's wedding.
On June 21, my cousin Ryan and now cousin Lindsey, got married. It was a very beautiful wedding. I enjoyed being there for my cousin's big day. The wedding was an outdoor wedding, which was my first. This wedding was a bit different than all the weddings I went to in the past.
My uncle George, aunt Donna, the bride Lindsey, the groom Ryan, my dad Melvin, my mom Rita, my brother Cedric and I before the wedding ceremony.
On June 22nd, which was my 20th birthday, my mom and I went back to NE IA for my cousin Beth's baby shower. It was a fun day that day, filled with good memories. My dad would bring my brother to NE IA a day or so later.
On June 27th, my mom, brother, and I went back to North Dakota. Going back home, we took a pit stop for about an hour so I could see my friend Jazmyn and her daughter RaeLyn. It was a very good hour with her, one that doesn't happen very often as well.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, my family went to Yellowstone to visit my sister and my brother-in-law. That whole week was a very cold and rainy week, but it was a good week since it was a whole year since I last seen my sister and brother-in-law.
My sister Helen, brother-in-law Dallen, brother Cedric, my mom Rita, and I.
Today, I'm sitting in the computer lab, waiting for my day of school to start. This summer was mostly busy, and very fun.
