Who Knew?

Only a few times have I invited people to my house. VERY few times. Lovingly, I like to take them into my backyard because it's fun to play on the tramp and in the playhouse and it's good fun to think that I actually kind of still fit up there in that thing. It's old (almost 13 years old to be precise) and so it's old and rickety but still fantabulously fun to play in and cram in. The slide is a little out of the question considering the fact that I'm about as tall as it is long, but hey, no biggie :) Well, who knew how much fun you could have watching your cousins play on the tramp with an empty beer bottle. (I swear that it was empty and rinsed out before we started playing with it.)

 Awesome picture on the tramp, don't ya think? Yeah, I like it a lot :)

The Best Part About Spending the Afternoon by Yourself

By far, the best thing EVER! (right next to food that is), is spending the afternoon by yourself. No one home, it's just you, yourself, and the love of music and the jamming speakers. I think you have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with this. Well, when you're home alone for an afternoon, you can jam  AS LOUD AS YOU WANT! It's beautiful. You can sing and no one is listening, dance like no one is listening, and laugh as if there is no tomorrow (although you don't have to be alone to do that :) ). Either way, you're in charge of the volume and no body can tell you turn it down. (except when the bass scares you into thinking that someone's beating down the door, it just happened to me while jamming to "Haven't Met You Yet". But that's what I'm talking about!!!) So now that I'm listening to Mr. Bublé sing "L-O-V-E" to me, I'd better go attempt to dance with myself.

The Beauties of Study Hall

The beautiful thing about study hall is Fridays. My friends, we play silly games, listen to music, hang out and just have a good time. Today some of the jocks came in because of their low grades. Unfortunately, we have to be quiet today, even though we're not really doing it. We're still jamming out to our iPods and just hanging out while I update this blog of mine! Anyways, we do so many great things and it's really helped me catch up and stay caught up... unless that is... I don't feel like doing anything. Today, mainly because I'm glad that we're doing random things because it's gotten my mind off of what's to come after school. Thank goodness for that. When I do my homework, it gives me too much time to think, that's for sure. Well, while Styx is ringing in my ears, I'm enjoying the sweet sound of the low chatter in the room. For once in my life, I'm thankful for a distraction.

Here's Craig doing a funny pose and completely holding it. It was sweet, so I took a picture of it. Sorry it's sideways. Haha, this computer is wack!

The All-Famous, Wonderful, Dashing, Clyde Family Vehicle (aka Clown Car)

As a result of the beautiful thing that we are, we are all friends and let me tell you, we do NOT have bubbles with each other. I know, it's so hard to tell. Some of us have thinner bubbles than others, but either way, all of ours are abnormally thin to say the least. Therefore, we cram in a car (aka clown carring it) and head over to Mountain View to see the beautimous one acts that they had to share with us. It was awesome and fun to see lots of people that I know. Good times, good times. Too bad I didn't see many people that I actually wanted to see and catch up with at least a bit. 

Here are some pictures from clown carring:

Service Project Mutual Night

Having a great time serving others, Kristen, Kaitlyn and I went over to Kaitlyn's house to help out in their yard. Didn't get many pictures taken because of the fact that we were busy working, but it was still a good time and we had a really great time helping out and working together to get the job done.

Sorry the second one is upside down. LOL, didn't want to take the time to fix it and reload it. Hahaha :) Service is good for you! DO IT!

Come Sail Away

I realized that if I don't get my act together soon, my BCF will have me beat at blogging. Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen. I shall be blogging queen!!! Mwahahaha! Anyways... just sayin'...

Well, tonight's been pretty emotional. Crazy to say the least. Watched a great movie (at least part of it that I need to finish the rest of) and then went to the choir concert. Not really much to say except that it was a good time. Here's some photos.

I like this picture a lot because we're singing "Come Sail Away". Hands down, one of the best songs ever written.

Here are the lyrics to one of our songs that we sang, that I absolutely love dearly.

"Come Sail Away"

~Styx

I'm sailing away
Set an open course for the Virgin Sea
'Cause I've got to be free
Free to face the life that's ahead of me

On board, I'm the captain
So climb aboard
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea
Reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had

We lived happily forever
So the story goes
But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of Angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said

They said, "Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me baby
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me"

I thought that they were Angels, but to my surprise
We climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies

Singing, come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me

Orange is the Color of an Orange

There are many things that I could choose to blog about right now, but I don't have one in particular, so I must choose only one for now, and another for later. (Possibly later tonight, when I'm still bored and don't want to go to bed.)

Well, the first topic for tonight is ORANGE. Not red, not blue, not pink, not yellow; ORANGE. 


Orange isn't a color that you see people wear around often. But I'm proudly knowing that my friends and I DO connect telepathically. Especially in the morning when we are deciding what to wear. Don't ask where we get these special powers or why we have them or for what reason, for the fact is, we don't know... it doesn't have any magical feeling of triumph while happening, only when noticed. Here are some pictures of course. :)

Yeah, cause we're just that cool :)

I Cut BreAnna's Bangs = Success!

Ladies and gentlemen, I did the unbelievable. I cut my sister's bangs, by myself, without killing her hair (even though I did poke her in the eye with the scissors...). Yes, my friends, I am so awesome. They didn't turn out how I pictured (I pictured them a bit longer) but otherwise they turned out really cute and successful because she likes them. Let's just hope that she can take care of them now... So I took her outside and of course took some pictures. It's a beautiful day outside and she looks absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to see what Mom and Dad think. Let me know what you think!

(My Favorite)

My BCF and I

As I was pondering what to blog about, many subjects came to mind. But the one thing that came to mind was my BCF. Also, as I was thinking of different subjects, this was the only one that really sparked any interest in my mind. Kallie and I have definitely been through a lot together and we have had SOOO many good memories, I just have to share with the world!!!

The picture up above is a collage that she made. Some of the pictures that are on this will probably show up later in the blog.

This next one is a definite favorite. It's very recent and totally awesome. This just shows off her fantastic smile and my soon to be amazing smile :)

We first met in seventh grade homeroom but didn't become friends until 9th grade when we were student directors together in Hansel and Gretal. These ones were edited by yours truly!

English Project

Can you tell me which one you like best? And can you tell what's in the background? Do you like the angle?

PS this is for my english project. 

Snow Trees

Here are some pretty pictures from the snow storm last night! Mom took them and I absolutely love them! They're awesome!

I love this last one the best! I just wish that show weren't so beautiful at times... I'm trying hate it... it's hard.

Pippin

Beautiful Pippen,how I miss you so. Your lights, costumes, sets, magic...

Okay, let's be honest here... I only miss it a little and besides, I have my life back now. Psh! But here are some beautiful pictures of backstage and the fun and craziness of everything! Ya gotta love it!

Well, the pictures are fun and that's because we had A LOT of fun. I love you all!

Backstage is Dangerous...

Being backstage is so dangerous. I'm the third person (as far as I know) that has had their toe jammed by the door. Yes, it hurt and yes, it's grody so don't look at the picture is you've got a weak stomach! Okay, it's not that gross. It's worse in person, haha. James, I promise I'm okay. No need to worry.

 

Pretty wicked right? Well, that's the risk I make for about 50 bajillion apologetic hugs from James, a rad wound and a McDonalds cheeseburger which I hate to admit as probably the healthiest thing I'm eaten all day... Pretty sad right?

Four More Nights of This...

One thing that I can definitely say that I absolutely NEVER get tired of in showbiz is the friendships that are made and/or strengthened. It's a great feeling and I'm glad that everybody's been warming up to each other. Some of the kids in Productions are still learning my name *cough* James and Amanda *cough* but I pretty much told them they could call me whatever they wanted (within limits). Either way it's a great feeling to know that you're actually starting to belong!

Tonight was our last dress rehearsal for Pippin! We open tomorrow night! It's so exciting!!! I seriously can't wait now that everything's finally pulling together. Obviously we're not perfect yet, but we're almost there. Really, the only downside to tonight was 2 things: 1) I was at school for 15 hours straight and 2) stage make-up... Seriously, I got home, looked in the mirror and thought I was dead or something. It looked good, but it was weird... REALLY weird. I kind of got used to it, but had to get the retarded flowers off of my face. Ugh... 4 more nights of this... Fantastic...

Oh, how it just keeps getting better... *do you hint the sarcasm?*

This morning as my alarm went off and I extended my arm to tap the snooze button again, something occurred to me... maybe I should stay home today... I haven't had a day off in a long time. Even though I knew that if I stayed home I would have to get something academic done, I knew it would be worth it and the 3-4 hours extra sleep. So I called Mom at work and told her that I was staying home and went back to bed. Soon did I realize that I probably should go to rehearsal but the only time that Grandpa could get me there was 12:30 because he had a lunch date with Grandma. That was during lunch, so I just had to go to 4th period. So when I woke up at 11:00, (yes you should be jealous), I started last weeks new episode of NCIS: LA and then started getting ready. So I packed up my stuff (my scriptures... lol) and went off to school. After school, Kallie told me that we didn't have rehearsal. Well, I was excited because I didn't have to be at school for another 3 hours, but that also meant that I had already wasted time on being able to catch the bus and so I had to wander around for a bit. It was quite useful though. I was able to make up the quiz that I had missed in PreCalc that morning and such, so it wasn't totally worthless and is gonna save me a lot of time in the long run. Then I went home and acted as though it had been a completely normal day and did ma homework.. a pain? Yeah... But life goes on *shrugs* Being sick just doesn't help the whole exhaustion problem, but it had to come sooner or later right? Now I just wish that I could be better already...

Chocolate from Mom always makes life easier...

Well, for being sick on Valentine's Day, it wasn't such a bad day. I didn't have to see any guys or feel bad about not getting anything pink, red or purple and let me tell you, it was a pretty good day. This weekend has been good. Not over done whatsoever, but not COMPLETELY boring (we can thank it for landing on a Sunday this year). I got very few gifts but what were given were simple and sentimental and pretty much some of the best blessings you can get, I can definitely tell you that.

1. A nice relaxing day.

2. Gratitude from Izak for the card I made him. 

3. A spiritual inspiration for Amber and her card that I also made.

4. Reeses Cups from Mom (chocolate from Mom always makes life that much easier)

5. A phone call from Alex.

Now all of these five things, let me tell you, aren't the most romantic things you'll ever hear on a V-day, but they were good enough for me and I feel blessed that I can see them and realize the many blessings I have in my life both mentally, physically and being able to be spiritually in tune. That's good enough for me for now :)

...Especially for V-day...

Today I have officially declared that I just might be suffering from chronic sleep deprivation and on top of that, well, stress... gotta love it... (not) Running on only about 4 hours of sleep, I still have homework to do and mutual in between that. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to fit in American Idol tonight. Well, let's see... how have I seen the Lord in my life today? Well, my friends make me happy and I always see His hand in mine through my friends and their gifts to make me happy. Contrary to this is anything that has to do with theater is NOT making me happy right now. Valentine's Day is growing on me this year, yet I'm still refusing to wear red and pink together. Okay, maybe I'm giving in tomorrow because I'm bored... and maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to get enough sleep tonight. Muchly appreciated is the one and only Brandon Bringhurst for the ride home from rehearsal today. He's one of the few people I can stand to be around in that group, none the less probably one of the few that have gotten to know me at all and can stand to be around me. Geez... life's a mess...

Scripture reading is going great and I've got PreCalc and Chemistry homework to do. It's a good feeling. Now I wish I could hang out with Alex, Izak, Kallie, Kaden etc. (those people which I hope you know who I'm referring to... I'm in deep agonizing pain to be with the ones that I love... especially for v-day... but it's not gonna happen) Well, I'm off to do something else that doesn't involve... well... I don't know... I'm just off to start on some homework.

Single Appreciation Day

Today has definitely been a good day. Trying to get in my "journal" entry before homework and then watching American Idol tonight! First week of Hollywood! Fantastic isn't it?

(sudden change) I have the lucky opportunity to have seminary 4th period every other day. I count this as a blessing in my life because it's something that I get to look forward to all the time! Not many people get that feeling of being excited for seminary. Brother Huff is an amazing teacher and the environment is always so fun and spiritual. We definitely have a good time in that class. Today we were talking about how the Lord blesses us in so many ways and how He always has his hands held out to those that need it, we just have to grasp on. All we have to do is believe and have faith that He will help us and He will!

In Alma 19:35-36 it says:  

35 And it came to pass that there were many that did ^abelieve in their words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them.

  

36 And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his ^aSpirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to ^ball people who will repent and believe on his name. 

So it's pretty much self explanatory.

The best part about today's lesson is that I've realized that I can see His hand in my life every single day that I can remember. He does it through people, friends, family; what we usually don't realize is that it's Him all along and most people fail to see that. 

Since I'm a quote lover, I'm gonna start adding quotes to this thing every time I hear a good one! It's a good thing and this is my Valentine's quote for the year:

Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine!  ~Thomas Hood

What I love about this quote and NOT about Valentine's Day is that every day we should be telling the people that we love, that we love them. It's something that we shouldn't wait for a specific time and place to tell somebody. It's one of those things that sometimes NEEDS to be heard whether you're in the mood or not because usually when you get the inspiration to say it, it needs to be said. Even just in friendships, you should always tell your friends how much you appreciate them and how they have blessed your life. I know I do. I wish I could do it a bit more often because I know it always makes me feel special when someone that I'm really close to, tells me that they appreciate and really do need me around. I'm very grateful for that gift that I have to express love for people close to me. AND to add to that, you're not just grateful for somebody's love on that one specific day with all the hearts and pink chocolates and red roses. You're thankful for the love and happiness all the time. (and if not...well,  you've got issues) It's something that we, as human beings, thrive on. We can't survive without knowing that we are loved and needed and wanted by others. So tell somebody that you love them all the time, not just when the pink and red hearts are being flown around by cupid (another stupid symbol: I mean, seriously? A baby with just a diaper on and wings, flying around shooting darts at people? Come on people...!)

Another thing that I have against Valentine's Day is that it shares with SAD (aka: Single's Awareness Day). People who don't have a boy/girlfriend (which I hate both of those words) go around moping that they don't have anybody to love and they're basically sapping around because they don't have somebody to hold hands with or cuddle (eww...). (I'm mainly talking about teenagers here. When you're in your, oh, say, mid-20s then I give you full credit to be sad because I would be too :( ) You have friends all around you to tell you that they love you and they care about you! Personally I would rather have a 20 people tell me how much they care about me, rather than one... Anyways, back on track: kids that are between the ages of 13-19 shouldn't be worried about a so-called "relationship". Now this may just be my religion kicking in here, but I don't know... I'm thankful to be single because I get to meet lots of new people (especially guys :) ) and not feel bad about making friends with somebody and then having somebody that I'm supposedly "with" feel bad because I'm a social person. It's like being trapped from the rest of the world except for one person. I mean, how boring is that? SO I have officially declared February 14th (starting this Sunday) as SAD: Single Appreciation Day. I am thankful to be single and free from that kind of bondage to a person. I mean, I've got really close guy friends, but I won't be tyin' any knots anytime soon so I don't see the purpose, ya know? Hmm... but why does it have to be "SAD". This also bothers me... Teenagers should be ECSTATIC to be single. Why is that so hard to believe? I wonder if we could make anything out of HAPPY or GLAD... Any ideas?

Definition of valentine:  a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day.

Why have to choose one person to love? Why not have many??? If I had to choose one (and only one) person to love for the rest of my life... I wouldn't be able to decide. And love, as in you care about them and their well-being.

Boys, just a hint of advice, if you want to give me a flower, don't give it to me on a special day (e.g. Valentine's Day, my birthday, Christmas, etc.) I'll still be grateful, but if you really TRULY want brownie points you'll do it some other time when I'm having a bad day or you just want to appreciate me or something lovely like that. And if you do that, I'll also suspect some reading of my blog which is more additional brownie points. Man, this thing is like the key to my heart!

Well, anyways, Happy Single Appreciation Day to you all!

Mornings Like These...

This morning was the perfect and ideal morning of wishing that I went to Mountain View. I mean, I love Timp with all my heart, but when you live so far away from your school, it starts to cause complications when your alarm doesn't go off in the morning. It sucks (to put it so bluntly). Well, after I got to school, I had a better day and I FINALLY finished my actor's homework. (thank goodness) And then I've only got a bit of homework left to do before bed. Fabulous isn't it? Now just to finish memorizing my monologue... (blech)

This week I'm also staying away from reds, pinks and purples mixing... it'll be hard, but I can do it. Resist the temptations!

(insert team here)

Well, it's the start of a brand new week tomorrow and I still have yet to finish my actors' homework. It's terrible and it will have been almost two weeks late and it's hanging over my head. I hate it. I absolutely hate it... HATE is a strong word and it's one of the words at the top of my "Words I Hate" list (yes I noticed the irony in that too) but this is one of the few things that I will not manage, and that is having responsibilities that hang over my head. Normally it's just homework and projects, but sometimes something else comes along (church, extra curricular, and other various responsibilities)

(http://www.usd314.k12.ks.us/5and6/six/levi/Colts.jpg)
Sunday is supposed to be a day of relaxful peace and steadiness, but not in a high schooler's life. It consists of going to church, coming home and jamming homework in that is supposed to be due the following Monday. Also to add to things here, it's Super Bowl Sunday and everybody's bustling around trying to get all the snacks and food ready for kick-off at 4. Shawna just said herself that it's not about football, it's about hanging out with the family. LOL no, it's about the competitive fun and arguing over whether the (insert team here) or the (insert another team here) are gonna win. In this case it would be the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orlean Saints. I'll be cheering for the Colts just in case anybody's wondering and also, only because Maddi is rooting for them and I honestly didn't care until she got me excited for it. It's pretty great stuff. Is anybody else kind of upset with the new Facebook layout? I mean, they change it so often and it pisses me off. It's a pain to find everything and they've moved everything around. It's terrible. Gah! It frustrates me. And just for the record I chose the worst day possible to miss my ward's church block session thingy. It sucked. (Amber, I love you by the way. Hope everything's alright!) Also I missed the Young's baby blessing. Wasn't expecting anything because he was born last Monday! Never have I witnessed somebody blessing their baby the week after they're born! And just watch, Brayden probably went to church with Josh today too... I wouldn't be surprised...

I've also decided that I wasn't in love with "Dear John". I've decided that there were a few parts that gave me warm fuzzies but overall I wasn't too impressed. On a happy note, this week... Well, okay, no, nothing exciting happening this week. My life is dull at the current time. No rehearsals, no fun plans to hang out with friends or anything! Just an epic fail of a week...

Dear Amber...

Dear Amber,
I absolutely love you. Let's hang out more often yes? Go see more movies, talk about how stupid men are, and laugh when we realize that we wouldn't be able to survive without them; sound like a plan? Sounds good enough to me. Thanks for going to the movie with me today too. That's why the title of this blog is "Dear Amber" cause we went and saw "Dear John". Haha get it? Although I'm still unsure about how I felt about the movie itself I still loved going with you. It gave me warn fuzzies that you would even consider hanging out with a 15 year old like me :) Well, today was fun.

Tomorrow should be interesting...

**hint hint**

Man, I hate starting new blog posts. I just want them to be there, if you know what I mean. I don't mind reading them over once they're on there, but hey, there isn't any other way to get them on here unfortunately.

Yesterday was such a fun day. Drama is still as annoying as when somebody stands in front of the TV when you're trying to watch it and it's like a really intense part and they won't move, so you get mad and throw things at them and they laugh in your face... yeah... that's how bad it is.

I have been emotionally and physically draining myself to the core. I'm really and seriously about to die. Not only did I fall asleep (and sleep for the whole time) after I finished the last section of the UBSCT (thank GOODNESS it's OVER) but I haven't felt very good all day. My friends keep me happy though, but I wasn't with them until like... lunch, so, the first half of my day was crappy.

(Okay, so going back to yesterday)
After school we needed to somehow get to Alex's house to do some last minute touch-ups for our solos and  yeah, that was a good time. I've pretty much warmed the hearts of his little brothers by pretending to be interested in the things they were talking about and listening to what they have to say. They're quite entertaining actually. Little Aaron is my favorite though. He's such a stud. He's a good whistler too AND he plays the piano by ear, which I think is the greatest thing ever! He's awesome. I found out that Alex collected Pokémon cards when he was in the second grade (nerd...) and they were fun to look at. Adam went off about videogames while Aaron went off on his tangents. It was crazy stuff. Then we got to the practicing. Haha, anyways, we were laughing, singing and having a good time. I changed into my skirt and then we were off to the school. It was so awesome. I could seriously be with those guys 24/7 and I wouldn't have a problem with it. Hanging out at the school was fun and I could definitely see Alex coming to Timpanogos **hint hint**

Anyways, my solo went great and so did everybody elses and Alex did a great job, even though he messed up a few times.

Tonight we went and saw Kayla in April Ann at the Hale. It was SOOO cute! It was such a good play and I loved absolutely everything about it! Kaden and Kallie helped make it more fun and we had a great time! All the characters were amazing and lovable and it was just a fantastic time. Can't wait to see the next one!!! Luckily tomorrow we don't have school, so Amber and I (and I don't know who else) are going to go and see "Dear John". Wanted to read the book first but, psh, who has time to read anymore? I'll get to it eventually... LOL.