Crazy Christmas Break!!!

It has been forever since my last post! I've been busy enjoying my winter break! :) Friday night, I kicked off my break by having a ton of friends over at my house. It was me, Lauren, Lauren, Allison, Travis, Daniel, Scooter, Brett, Blake, Jaen Soc, Kevin and James and Matthew. We had a way fun night just hanging out in my basement and eating candy :). Christmas itself was way fun, too! I got a new ipod (A blue nano Chromatic!) A ticket to see Idols in Concert in sg, and money and clothes and stuff. It was pretty awesome!!! I've been spending lots of time putting pictures and music on my ipod! The day after Christmas, Lauren, Lauren, and me did our own little gift exchange. We drew names (random for 3 people, but we thought it was fun!) and Lauren Adamson gave me Pajama pants, a big chocolate bar and a travel sized thing of Febreeze (inside joke lol). Tomorrow I have Volleyball and a Stake Dance. The dance will be way fun because its all of the Layton stakes combined and we have a big Italian dinner right before. I'll tell you how that all goes later!

My Favorite Things About Christmas...

So continuing with my monthly theme, here are a few more of my favorite things about Christmas:

*Happiness. Some of the most unlikely people have a great Christmas spirit. I remember in SG our neighbor, Oscar the Grouch, lol, would but up the most beautiful, fancy lights on the block. It was surprising because you'd always thing that grouchy old man would be a Scrooge!

*Small Gifts. It's always fun when your neighbors bring around the small little gifts. Little things like a pack of Cocoa Mix can really help spread a little Christmas Cheer.

*Traditions. The small little traditions are always fun. Every year my parents tell us we won't get Pjs, but we always do. We always find new tree ornaments in our stockings, little things like that always give you something to look forward to!

*Stockings. Stockings are so fun to me! A cute, giant sock that you dig for presents in! It's genius!

*Candy Canes. Another genius, fun idea! I love all flavors of candy canes! They're a fun, tasty Christmas traditions that I love! It's like a sucker in a weird shape that is its own stick!

I guess that's all for today!

Back in the Swing of Things

Yesterday it was back to school after my extended break and it was not an easy thing to do! Mondays are usually hard enough, but yesterday was especially hard after such a LOONG weekend. It certainly feel long! Oh well, soon enough I'll have a nice, two and a half week break! Nothing too exciting happened these past two days. Today, my school made all of the new students go get hearing and vision screening. That wasn't too fun but it got me out of Science for a few minutes! In 2nd period we've been playing basketball. That is always fun, and my team, which is me and Lauren A. and our friends Scooter and Hunter, has always gotten a treat at the end for winning King of the Court. :) Orchestra is not my favorite class but we've been playing Christmas music, so that's exciting. 4th is Seminary and that is my all time favorite class. Lots of my friends are in that class, and we learn a lot in exciting ways. We're learning about the Christmas story, which is one of my favorites. Geometry is 5th, i have some friends it that class, but Geometry is just not my favorite subject.

Lunch is one of my favorite parts of the day. A bunch of my friends have started playing 4 square at lunch, just like when we were in elementary school, and we have so much fun with it! We always play for a long time but the last five minutes we usually just start kicking the ball around and just messing around. It's a lot of fun!

6th Period is Honors English. I like that class a lot. The whole class is pretty much friends, so we just mess around and have fun. I don't really like 7th period Geography, but I always seem to make it through. My teacher usually goes back into his office during the whole class, so we usually just talk and hangout!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

Hmm, I wonder how many blogs use that post title just after Thanksgiving!?! We finally got our Christmas decor out yesterday and it just makes me all the more excited for this holiday season! I'm always excited for Christmas but it just seems like there's something particularly special about this one!

Anyway, I decided to try something new on my Blog. Every month I am gonna choose a theme, like things that I love, and every Sunday I am gonna post a few things that go with that theme. Since it is Christmas season, my theme is gonna be "My Favorite Holiday Traditions/Memories, ect." Even though it isn't quite December yet, I am so excited for the season I'll start today! So.. My first few holiday memories, ect:

*Music. I love Christmas music. It makes everyone so happy, and when everyone is singing and humming Christmas tunes, the World just seems a little brighter.

*The City Lights. One thing I am definitely gonna miss this Christmas is the lights in St. George. I always loved looking at all the beautiful lights in the middle of each round-a-bout. Even before the round-a-bouts were there I distinctly remember the giant Lit-up Christmas tree. I remember when I was little I would always stare at it and imagine how in the world they got that star all the way up there!

*Hot Chocolate. Nothing heals a broken heart like hot chocolate. But then again, who can have a broken heart during Christmas?!? I love Hot Chocolate! What could be better than drinkable chocolate? It's even better with whipped cream and a candy cane.

*The Parties. I am really gonna miss the Christmas Eve's in Grandma and Grandpa Phillips' basement. I remember their little white cowboy tree in the basement and the big green and gold one in their front room. I always looked forward to the food on Christmas Eve as well. The Virgin Margaritas were to die for!

*Family. This also goes back to the Christmas Eves in the Basswood Basement. All of my crazy family stuffed in the basement. The chaos, the trash everywhere, and the excitement of all the little cousins opening their presents. It was all part of the fun. We were always so excited to open our fun little toys and we'd stay up as long as possible playing with our cars and barbie dolls. We were always sad to leave our cousins, but we were excited to go to sleep waiting for Santa, and we always knew we'd see our cousins in the morning at my house for crepes! :) *

*PJ's. I love getting cute pj's on Christmas eve! I was thinking of some of my favorite ones and I remembered my pink nightgown. I used to love that! I also loved my long sleeved, fuzzy purple nightgown with the silver princess lettering and the matching scrunchy! IN 3rd grade I remember loving my little shirt and pants that said Cheer all over them. Those were the days when I wanted to be a cheerleader! lol Hmm, maybe this year I'll get some Volleyball ones!

My First Black Friday!

My Thanksgiving turned out to be pretty fun. We went to a place called Madeline's and they did a big Thanksgiving Buffet. I had lots of fun, especially with the Chocolate Fountain included with my dessert. :) Yesterday, I finally filled the need I had for more school clothes. Aeropostale had a big sale for Black Friday and I decided I couldn't miss the only chance I'd have to get some cute, name brand clothes for way cheap. I bought a navy blue sweater, another white polo, some really cute khaki pants, and a blue henley. The lady at the checkout automatically asked if my school had uniforms. Oh well, next year I will have freedom to wear whatever I want! I went to a place called vanity and bought a really cute heart-chain necklace. I thought it was pretty fun to go to the mall on Black Friday. The place was totally crowded, the lines for the dressing rooms were forever long, and there were things thrown all over the place in clothing stores. But, Christmas music was playing the whole time, the competitive shopping made the whole thing more exciting, and I saved over $76 on my clothes! I am so excited for Christmas! I am totally looking forward to this year, I am even excited for the snow! After my shopping spree, Lauren and Lauren came over to my house again and we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. We came back to my house and watched it on my TV then just hung out for a few hours. Today I have some homework and violin practicing to catch up on, and then I'll probably just relax for the last time before Church tomorrow and back to school the next day!
P.S. I added some fun gadgets and stuff in my sidebar check them out!
P.S.S Keep checking my blog I am gonna keep it current from now on, and I'll try to have some pictures with my posts more often!

A Lot to Catch Up On!

I haven't posted in forever! I guess I have just been pretty busy with life in Layton lol. On Friday, Me, Lauren, and Lauren went over to Travis' house and hung out with him Scoot and Parker. We just kinda hung out in his basement and played Apples to Apples. Saturday I watched the big Holy War, it didn't make me too happy but the Cougs beat those dang Utes 3 times in a row in the past 3 years so I guess losing to them once isn't too bad, but I was still disappointed. After the game, Me, Lauren and Lauren went to Candace's house with her and Allison. We made "Team Edward" shirts then we went to the dollar store. We spent $25 on candy. We stuffed it all into our over sized purses and headed over to the movie theater. We saw Twilight. It was SO SO SO SO SO good!!!!! After the movie, we all went over to Scooter's house with Travis, Chloe, and Grant. We were totally stuffed from all that candy but Scoot's sister and mom insisted we have some sherbet floats. After we scarfed those down we played Catch Phrase. That was WAY fun lol. Anyway, we headed home later that night and I was so tired from the long weekend I went right asleep...kinda. We didn't have school today (Wednesday) so at 5:30 this morning we walked down to the new Maverick for its grand opening at 6 am. We saw like seven deer on the walk! That never would've happened in SG. Anyway, it was fun we were the first ones to use the soda fountain and to sit at the bench outside lol Our parents thought we were weird but we had fun! Today I had volleyball and all I can say is I love my new team and am SO stoked for the season!

I've Been Tagged

Hmm, I guess I have to play this game too. Okay...

8 Shows I watch Regularly:

1.Secret Life of the American Teenager
2. What I like about you
3. The Office
4. GEORGE LOPEZ!!!
5.Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
6.My Super Sweet Sixteen
7. College Football
8. Simpson's

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:

1.I went to Wal-Mart with Lauren A.
2.I hung out at my house with both Laurens.
3.I watched Zoolander.
4.I played Volleyball in PE
5.I went to Target.
6.I ate tons of candy.
7.I sorted through old pictures.
8. Lauren A. put on a pirate costume.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

1. Panda Express
2. Costa Vita
3. Fong's Garden
4. Bajio
5. Olive Garden
6. Chili's
7. Wienger's
8. Apple Bee's

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:

1.Christmas!
2.The BYU Vs. U of U Football Game
3. Trying Skiing/snowboarding
4. Getting my braces off
5. Volleyball Starting Again!!!!!!!!!!!
6. Twilight Movie
7. Turning 16
8.High School

8 Things On my Wish List:

1. The new iPod nano chromatic in shiny blue!
2. David Archuleta's new CD
3. Taylor Swift's new CD
4. Bath and Body Works Lip Gloss
5. Jewelry
6. My School to abolish the Uniform Policy
7. A great volleyball season
8. A haircut

Thanksgiving!!!!

I think I am going to do the same sort of thing as my mom, who decided to post things she is grateful for every week. I think I will try to do 10 each week! Here are my first twenty (These are in no particular order)

*Volleyball. Do I really need to say anything else? Pass, Set, Hit. I don't really care for setting, but Passing, Hitting, and Serving are amazing!!!! Not to mention Diving, Running, Falling, Blocking, Saving, Tipping, and winning an amazing rally!!!! That's not even half of it, but still, I love volleyball more than almost anything!

*Hiking. I mostly like the climbing. It feels so great to climb. It's like a giant puzzle that you use your body to solve. And, once you find the best way to get up, going into action feels great and it is a fun way to stay in shape!

*Running. Lots of people groan when they have to run, but I love it! When I go for long distances, I just go into my own little zone and it feels like I am flying. I don't notice anything other than the great feeling of being in action!

*Dirt Biking. It took me awhile to pick up on it, but I love the feeling of going fast and trying to keep your balance.

*My Friends. Friends are the best! You have someone to talk to that's your age and people that you can just goof off with. My friends know I am a big dork and they like it!

*Boys. Don't freak out Dad, not like that. I love hanging out with boys because it's always a drama free environment. You can just joke around and no one gets offended. It's always fun because they'll always do more fun things than sitting around and gossiping. All but two of the friends that I have made are guys, but I like it like that!

*Football. It may sound strange, but I love football. I have been a very devoted BYU fan, I've only missed one game this season! It's probably pretty weird that I am into football, I can get pretty into it sometimes!!! Did anyone watch the CSU game yesterday?!? I got way into it when it got intense in that last minute, I think I scared Jakob with my yelling lol

*My Huge Family. It's hard to explain to people what the Luau's are like. I don't think that any other family reunions include the Ex-wives and the son in law's entire extended family, the friends from far away, or anyone else that we seem to have around every year!

*Texting. I may sound like a typical teenager saying that, but it's true. I have gotten to know a lot of people better through texting, as strange as it may sound.

*Free Writing. I've always liked writing poems and stories. I think it's just so fun to mix and match different words!

Back on the Court

Thursday night I had try outs for a club team called Digzz. It felt SO good to be back on the court after two or three weeks off. My arm still hurt, the sprain hasn't completely healed, but I am glad I still went and tried out. I was pretty nervous about try outs, but last night they called and announced that I made the team. I was SO excited and I can't wait for practice!


Last night was Halloween, and it couldn't have been better! I dressed as a pirate, Travis dressed up as a Jamaican guy, Lauren was an fairy, and the other Lauren was kind of a cross between an angel and a fairy. We went trick or treating for a few hours (There's no such thing as too old), then met up with a bunch of our friends and played games at Lauren's house.

Waxing Disaster!

I guess I just look up to Aundrea so much that I wanted to have the same experiences as her. I, too bought an at home waxing kit. Mine was mainly for my eyebrows and you didn't have to heat it so I didn't burn myself like my aunt did. However, I did mess up my face. I usually like to keep my a little fuller, I think that just suits my face better since I am too make them look unnatural. Anyway, I decided I could take a little from the middle last night. I cut the strips. However, I misjudged the placement and when I ripped the strip off, my eyebrow was a little shorter than I wanted. Actually, it was a lot shorter! I didn't know what to do, so I ran to my mom for help. Of course, at this point all she could do is laugh and say to wait for it to grow back. I had to make the other one similar, so then I had two short eyebrows, not to mention I forgot to set the strip on an angle so they're totally straight. I was pretty upset, but for the most part I just laughed it off. When I woke up this morning, I realized it wasn't near as bad as I thought I actually kind of liked the look. Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait to have my natural eyebrows back. Lesson Learned: From now on I am getting my eyebrow done by a professional!

My First School Dance

Tiana, Lauren, Lauren, and Whitney (Back Behind) at Target After The Dance

Yesterday was my first dance at my new school. It was pretty fun, but it kind of turned into one of those "Hold up the Wall" dances. I only danced with two boys the whole afternoon, and that's more than most girls could say. I guess the fact that they only played two or three slow songs the whole night could also have something to do with it. :) After the dance, a big group of about Twenty of us walked over to Jamba Juice for smoothies. We tried to go to Toys R Us, but apparently the manager didn't like the idea of having 20 teenagers with smoothies and backpacks coming into the store. Since we weren't welcomed at the toy store, we went over to Target and hung out there for awhile. It was pretty fun. We divided all of our backpacks into two carts and then just walked around for a half hour. While we were waiting for a ride, the last of us sat on the grass outside of Target. I think by this point there were only 7 of us left. Anyway, while we were sitting on the grass we saw some of the druggy kids from our school skateboarding. One of then walked up to us and said something stupid. Apparently, him and his friends smoked pot outside of the school while the dance was going on and then came over here to skate. His friends kept giving him weird looks for talking to us. Anyway, finally my friend Lauren asked the kid if he would be in Seminary the next day. He gave us the scariest look ever and said he hated Seminary, and his friends all chimed in. Bryan, the boy who I was sitting by on the grass and who is in my Seminary class turned to me and said, "I love Seminary, don't you? It was such a good lesson today!" We all joined in on saying how much we loved the class and all the skaters left. Honestly, I am surprised we didn't get beat up, but it was still pretty funny to see their faces when we talked about how much we love Seminary! Lauren, Lauren, Tiana and I went back to Lauren's house and we were all telling our scariest stories for awhile. We told all the typical stories of teenage girls getting kidnapped or nightmarish babysitting stories or people breaking in when a group of teenage girls are all alone. We were all getting pretty worked up when something creaked in Lauren's house. We started screaming our heads off and we were all absolutely terrified. We ran out of the dark basement as fast as we could and while we were catching our breath, Lauren's dog came around the corner, making us all jump again. After we finally recovered, we met up with Brett and Daniel to go to a Haunted Forest thing. It was so much fun! After that, we went back to Lauren's and played an intense game of apples to apples. It was hilarious! It was a way fun night, and it really feels good to be hanging out with friends again! I never thought I'd make friends after the move, but I guess I was dead wrong. :)

More and More Volleyball

Wednesday was our last seasoned game, I was so sad! At the beginning of the game the coaches gave all the ninth graders flowers and the Student Body Officers gave us big Gatorades. The game itself was amazing, though. We got off to a really bad start. I had starting serve and I was so nervous that I bolted the ball WAY out of bounds! My passes were pretty off too. We ended up losing the first game 22-25, I think! The second game got really close. We were sure they had us when the score was 22-24, but we sidedout and, once again, I had to serve at the game's climax. I knew I had to make up for the serves I missed earlier, and I ended up getting all my serves in and we won 26-24. The third game was a tie breaker to 15, and it was also close, but we took the win 15-13. We are now in fourth, and we go into the play-offs on friday for the quarter-finals. It should be a pretty close game, since we are playing the same team we played wednesday. I really hope we do good! The longer we can stay in the tournament, the longer this season will last! I am so sad to see the season end, but at least it will give me a chance to catch up on homework and start running a little more until Club season starts.

dEtErMiNeD!!!!

My life still continues to be incredibly busy!!! Everyday I carry my overflowing backpack, large sports bag, and Violin with me to the bus stop. I can't believe I am involved in so many things! It's all worth though, even if my 6-foot tall locker won't hold it all lol. I literally have to kick it shut everyday it's insane! This week was as busy as ever, but it was a great week!!! Monday we had a home volleyball game against the Syracuse Sea Hawks, and we won it in 2 games. It was a fun game, but also very frustrating at the end! I almost had a perfect serving game until my last rotation I missed my second serve!!! I was so mad!!! Luckily, though, the away game on Wednesday was better. We also won this one in two, and I had my second perfect serving game of the season. I started the second game of serving and served 5 in a row. I was way excited to have gotten all my serves in, but what made it even better was that 3 of them were aces, I was so excited! It was kind of funny, though, on about my 3rd serve as I was doing my approach to the ball I slipped on a marker that someone dropped on the court! Amazingly, I still got my serve in. My coaches were laughing so hard when it happened, it really was pretty funny! Volleyball is my DEFINITELY my favorite thing about school,but my classes aren't terrible. Honors Science is really fun, and we do a lot of neat experiments. PE is one of my favorite classes. We do a lot of running, and I am always the fastest girl on the mile time and the last girl standing on the running tests. I have actually been the top girl on everything except the sit and reach, I may be somewhat fast and kinda strong, but I will never be flexible!!! Orchestra is pretty fun, I didn't audition for 1st chair this year because of Volleyball, but it is still pretty fun, I've never sat in the back before, it's pretty fun! Seminary is another class that I love. I have a lot of friends in that class, and we have lots of fun while learning a lot of interesting new things about the Scriptures. Geometry is one of my least favorite classes. I don't see why we have to learn Geometry, I see how we'll use Algebra in our daily lives, but I doubt that I will ever use the Postulates and other things I am learning in Geometry. And it's not like when I see a triangle the first thing I want to do is find its area and all that other stuff! Honors English is a really hard class, but it is pretty fun, too. We've been learning about Greek Mythology, which really interests me for some reason. Geography isn't overly exciting, but I miss it every other day for volleyball games anyway, so it's livable! Anyway, no matter how busy I am, I am determined to keep in up for the remainder of my High School Life, which is now 1/32 of the way over! See, I used Algebra, but no Geometry whatsoever!!!

Welcome to High School!!!

I know it has been forever since I wrote, but my life has been crazy thew last couple months, it seems like all I have time for is School and volleyball!!! I didn't think that being a freshman would be any different than being an eight grader, but it is such a big step up. I get back from volleyball at 5:30 or 6 everyday, and by the time I eat and do homework, it's 11 o clock! Then I just wake up at 5 the next morning and do it all again!!! I cannot believe it, but I think things will slow down when volleyball ends, but I really don't want it to!!! This season has been so amazing our team gets so much support from the kids at the school and our games are usually really close and it's just so much fun! Our record right now is 4-3, and we have 3 more games until play offs,so hopefully we can get our record up a little higher! Wednesday was one of my favorite games of the season. It was a home game and we won the first game, but the second game got really close. I had to serve when it was 25-24 (we were 25), and I was so nervous but I ended up acing the ball and we won. It was the greatest rush ever. I love volleyball so much!!! It is so sad to see the season coming close to an end, but I guess I can always look forward to playing for a club team in a few months!!!

VOLLEYBALL!!!

I haven't posted in forever because of Volleyball. I guess lots of you guys heard from my mom's blog that I made the team. It was a scary try-out, from 62 to 17 girls, CRAZY!!! Anyway, I made both cuts and am playing on the Varsity team. I have been starting as an outside hitter which is REALLY fun! Our first game was so fun! It's crazy how big sports are here! At the game lots of students came plus the Cheerleaders and the Student Officers. We all cheer together before we start. At the very beginning, they call out all the starters and we run through a line of the Cheerleaders and officers, which was really fun! Everything felt so official compared to what I am used to, but I really like it!!!! School is going great so far and I have made a few friends. It is still weird not to walk to school after doing it all these years. I turn 15 on the 20th, so I might get my permit pretty soon, I just have to start working on my Personal Progress Award for Young Womens!

The Wedding, Vacation, and Saying Goodbye

Mr. Martha's Moments

This past weekend, I went camping with the Finaus. It was so much fun! We did some Branch acvitivies Friday night, and then Kilisi, Maili, and I slept in the tent while the rest of their fam slept in the tent trailor. There was plenty of room in there for the three of us, but I guess tenting just sounded more fun. I don't know why, of course. The tent trailor has air conditioning, a microwave, sink, two queen sized beds and a full sized bed, plus a kitchen. Anyway, all day Saturday we went boating. It was so much fun! Uncle Brett's moments made it even all the more exciting! lol The first one occured while he was driving the boat and Tami, Kilisi, and I were on the tube. He was stopping at nothing in atempt to throw us off! The three of us were gripping the handles with all our might when Brett suddenly jerked the boat at full speed! Next thing we know, we're hearing a loud ripping noise as we fall into the freezing cold water! The material and handle part of the tube had been torn from the blow up part! It was SO funny! I am still curious as to who won that battle. Anyway, on top of that, while he was bringing the boat to us, Katie Munson, a pregnant family friend, was standing on the back of the boat when he took off, nearly knocking her over! We stayed with the Munsons while Tami and Brett went to go buy a tube. They came back and Munson's left, then we got back onto the boat. By now I had built up the courage to try kneeboarding (I'd made Tami go before lunch), and it ended up being totally fun! I loved it a lot, if my family gets a boat we're definately getting a kneeboard! Anyway, when Brett jumped into the water he realized he still had sun glasses and a hat on, so he tried to be smooth and slide the stuff of before he went under, and he ended up throwing them OVER the boat! It was so funny! It was even funnier when he came back onto the boat and a broken piece of Tami's glasses was attached to his jacket! There went another pair! They later took me on a tour of that part of the Missouri, and we headed back to the campsite, which is when things got VERY scary, but I'll save that for next time. Until then...

Can You Show me your Backdive?

Vacation in Pierre, (Peer, not Pee Air lol), South Dakota is great! The Finau's house is nice and has the best view of the Missouri River ever! Speaking of the Missouri, we went boating a few days ago and it was awesome! Tubing is way fun, and I can't wait to go camping this weekend so we can go all day. That's also when I will probably try kneeboarding. That should be very interesting, but I am excited nontheless! The kids have been way fun to hang with, too! Saturday, Kilisi, Keila, and I rode our bikes the the YMCA to swim. We had a BLAST! I spent most of my time on the diving board, which is how I learned my new trick...
I was frontflipping off the diving board and when I got off a little girl asked me to show her my backdive off the diving board. Well, I'd never really tried it, but who wants to let a poor little girl down, right? So, I strutted to the end of the board, turned around, and dove in backwards. It was such a cool feeling for someone like me who isn't exactly your best gymnast! I kept doing it, and soon enough I could do a full out back flip! It was so much fun! So naturally, I was showing off just a little, cuz how many girls can do a backflip, right? I keep flipping and all of the sudden I have a group of boys glued to me... not good! I figured they were harmless since Kilisi knew them and I'd seen them at church, so I just acted normal. Next thing I know, I get off of the diving board and one of them asks me out! I could have died, I was so embarassed and I felt terrible when I turned him down. Lesson Learned: Showing off, not always good!

Saying Goodbye

It's been a busy little while lately! Last Thursday, I got together with my friends for the last time at Sand Hollow (The Pool, not the Lake, lol). We had tons of fun hanging out by the diving boards and doing tricks! It was all pretty fun until Aaron grabbed my arm to pull me out of the pool and told me he had to go. We hugged goodbye and then McKade pretended to shake my hand and then hugged me, too. I hugged Skyler and they all headed out. I talked to my old volleyball coach (Skyler's mom) in the lobby and she gave me some advice for Try-outs in Layton. Luckily, Skyler had to go to an orthodontist appointment, so Aaron and McKade got to stay awhile longer, that's when I remembered my camera. I'll upload my pictures when I get home, I don't have the software here! Anyway, Aaron and McKade left for real right before Courtney's dad came to pick us up. We dropped my orchestra buddies Nicole and Ashley off, and I said goodbye to them. I went to Jandee's house after that. She just had jaw surgerey, so she couldn't come to the pool with us. Berkley's brother came and picked her up, and that's when it started to get really hard. I cried a little after Aaron and McKade left, but now I couldn't stop. We all just sat outside for awhile, and then I decided to go pack. When me and Emily were walking back to Jandee's we ran into a big group from my ward, so I said goodbye to them and then Parker Sheeran and Kyle Owens walked with us. Kyle hugged me goodbye and then I went across to Jandee's house. Shayla had already left, so I didn't get to say goodbye to her. Emily and I slept over at Courtney's house. We went swimming at about 1 or 2 am, and didn't get to sleep til three, not to mention we got up and six! Courtney made me a French Toast Breakfast (my favorite), Emily went to her family reunion, and Courtney and Jandee came to walk through my house one last time. I said goodbye to them and headed for the airport. It was hard, but I know I will come to visit!

More Not-So-Exciting-Tidbits

My Last Time Babysitting
I've babysat the too cute little kids in the picture for a long time now. Their mom was taking an aerobics class, so I got to babysit them twice a week while she went to her class. I had so much fun! Lindsay (the cute little girl) is now 5 and when I first started babysitting her it was just here and there, but she went around telling people I was her best friend. It was so cute! Ryker was born just a little while after I first started babysitting Lindsay, he was about 3 or 4 months old when she started taking the class. I was so glad to babysit them all the time! I babysat them for the last time a few days ago and I was so sad! With the Finau's in South Dakota, Lindsay and Ryker became like my little cousins! I am definately gonna miss them! The good thing is I get to go to South Dakota to see my real cousins Friday. Too bad Keoni isn't a little baby anymore! I am going to miss having a baby cousin. I guess now I just need to hope that Travis will give me a few! He'll just have to move up to Salt Lake :).

The Tale of GP
I finally got a new phone! My phone was pretty nice when I got it for my 13th Birthday almost two years ago, but after a year or so, my phone was nicknamed GHETTO PHONE by all my friends. Of course, it was pretty fun having a fat phone that was practically impossible to break, my friends and I always had something to play catch with when we got bored. Aaron and I also found it made a pretty good hockey puck. All my friends carved their initials into the back at school one day too. I love my new purple phone and I will definately treat it better than I did GP, but that old phone sure has a lot of good memories in it and I want to keep it handy for that fact, and it will be pretty fun to show it to my kids some day when phones are as thin as paper! :)

Random Tidbits of the Last Few Weeks

Courtney, my mom, and I went shopping for Girl's Camp stuff. We stopped at Pachanga's and ordered this HUGE plate of Nachos. I had to take a picture! We finished most of them, though. They taste even better than they look!
Girl's Camp was totally fun! The view was even prettier than in the picture, and the tent was even more crowded than you can tell in the picture :). We did horseback riding, obstacle courses, and played lots of pranks on the first years! :) The sad part was, we actually made one cry when we played "Annie".
Guess after camping I decided I liked not having a bed, because the night that I got back, Jandee and I slept over at Courtney's. Me and Courtney got pretty violent playing Tennis on the Wii, but in the picture, we were just messing around before starting How to Lost a Guy in Ten Days.

Jandee, Courtney, and I went to hang out at the hall, or, as Travis correctly calls it, The Hall. My mom says the Layton Hills Mall is big, so that will be a nice change when we move. Too bad I have to wear uniforms, though! We went to go see Get Smart at Cinema 6, it was hilarious! Here's Courtney surrounded by guys after the movie :). This wasn't even posed, guys just seem to like her :)

Honey you mean HUNKules!

Basketball Sunset
Aaron watching Hercules
McKay being McKay

I don't know what it is about me, my friends, and Disney movies, but there seems to be some sort of a connection. Last night, me, Jandee, Courtney, McKay, and Aaron watched Hercules at Jandee's house. It was so fun! Whenever all my friends hang out, it's like we're a bunch of little kids, it's hilarious! Most would find it weird to see a group of teenagers watching Disney, but we love the movies! My favorite is Mulan, but Hercules comes in second. My mom used to call me Megara when I was little. Anyway, before we watched the movie everyone shot hoops while I took some cool pictures with my new camera. (See Top)

Today Jandee and I gave talks about EFY in Sacrement Meeting. Courtney came to watch out talks. Jandee did an amazing job with her talk, we both started crying but all in all they turned out pretty good. It was almost impossible to walk out of the Sacrament with all the people congratulating us. Sister Johnson said that our talks were talked about in Sunday School, and Sister Canterbury even came to my house to congratulate me. Who knew two little talks could be such a big deal? Anyway, it was a fun day at Church and I cannot wait to leave for Girl's Camp!

Swim, Swim, Swim!

It seems I've been swimming a lot these past few days. We went to Aaron's house (Pool in picture) two days in a row, and swam in Courtney's little circle pool both days as well. I am getting a pretty distinct swim suit tan line :). Last night was probably the most exciting of my swimming so far. Jandee, Courtney, Aaron, McKade, and Skyler went swimming in Aaron's pool for awhile. Aaron and McKade always have little inventions they use for different things, and last night they showed us one of them. We put a table on Aaron's hot tub, wrapped a hose around the arm of a chair so that it was spraying the table, and then slid across the into the pool. It was way fun! Some of their other inventions include the fourwheeler skimboarding thing where we tied the rope to the quad and were pulled through the river by the fourwheeler while laying on a skimboard, or the "Spinning Machine" where they had tied a teeter totter to the monkey bars and we sat on in and spun around. These are just a few of their wacky ideas. Anyway, we also played some crazy games. We stood on a big step in the pool and played "King of the Square. It was SO fun! It was kind of funny to watch everyone throwing eachother off of the step. Aaron threw me sidways and my hand got stuck on one of Jandee's brackets for her braces. (Ow!) After swimming, we hung out in Aaron's room, then played fooseball and stuff. It was one fun night! :)

Lagoon!

I've spent the last week or so in Mount Pleasant. Brady and I had a fun time hanging out with Christine's son, Eric. We went to the Kawasaki shop, bought candy at Maverick, played basketball, went to the pool and jumped off the high dive, played soccer, played volleyball, went fourwheeling and went mini golfing. It was a packed week! On Friday, we met my mom at the Spanish Fork Macey's and then went to Salt Lake and swam at my dad's hotel. Saturday we drove past what may be our future house and went to Lagoon. The power went out so we had to leave early, so we went back to the hotel to swim some more, then had dinner at a Mexican Food place called COSTA VIDA, which was really good. Sunday we went back to the neighborhood where the house we made in offer on is and went for a walk in the Gulley. It was really pretty. We had lunch at Wendy's and Dinner at Chili's. We stayed in Mount Pleasant that night and came home Monday. After we got home, I helped my brother's pick up fallen apricots, exciting I know! :) After that, I went to Courtney's house where me, her, Emily, and Jandee, had a water balloon fight. We followed Courtney's parents to Vince's house, where Court's dad threw us in the pool. Today I went to see Iron Man with my brothers and went to Young Women's where we prepared for Girl's Camp. After, I went to Wal-Mart with Jandee and her mom and that's about it. :)

Angel's Landing

Travis, Aundrea, Brady, Dad, and I went hiking in Zion's today. We did Angel's Landing, which is supposed to be the hardest climb in the park. It was only a 5 mile round trip, but it was really hard at some parts. We went to Weeping Rock after, which was only a quarter mile each way, but was really cool to see. We came home and had a family barbeque. Tomorrow we have church, and that's about it.

A Walk in the Park

Nothin too exciting has been going on lately. I finally got the lazy day I'd hoped for, but it wasn't quite as good as I'd wished. :( I guess I am just one of those people who has to be busy to function. Travis and Aundrea got here last night, so we've just been doing stuff with them. This morning we went to Hidden Valley Park and played volleyball and tennis. Travis seemed to have fun getting everyone wet in the fountain. Luckily, I was wearing my white EFY shirt, so I got out of the torture :). Travis thought it would be funny to turn his shirt into a bikini top, I'm sure you'll see those pictures soon. :)

CRAZY! Days of Summer

Summer's been GREAT so far! After Mt. Pleasant, I went to EFY. It was such an exciting week and I learned SO much. I met lots of new friends who I hope I can keep in touch with. I got home Sunday. Yesterday, I hung out with Courtney all day and went swimming. Today, me and Courtney went to Aaron and Mckade's houses. They have a river behind their houses, so we went skimboarding. It was SO fun!!!!!!!!! We tied a rope to the Fourwheeler and someone would drive it through the river while one of they other guys layed on the skimboard and held the rope. We went to Aaron's house to swim after, and then I got home and played Guitar Hero. So far Summer has been GREAT! I hope I can continue to have fun with my friends before I have to leave. :(

Last Day at DHMS

Two days ago it was my last day of school. It was SO hard to say goodbye to everyone. We had a pancake breakfast in the morning, and then went to seventh period for awhile and then we went around signing yearbooks, which, by the way, I am happy to say turned out AWESOME! It was sad, everyone signed my yearbook saying don't move, it made me feel even worse when my friend, Maddi, texted me later that day saying she was bawling and she didn't want me to move. Mr. Winfree said I couldn't move, and everyone else said I had to keep in touch. My friend, Nate Meyers, apparently didn't know I was moving and started shouting, "WHAT?! YOU'RE MOVING?!? IF I WOULD'VE KNOWN THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" It was pretty funny. Aaron and McKade, who have been like brothers to me, gave me hugs before catching their busses, (i think I got Aaron't shoulder wet), and so did Berkley. Emily walked home with us and then we all hung out at my house. It was so hard to walk out those doors for the last time, but right now I am in Mount Pleasant with my three best friends, Jandee, Courtney, and Emily so it's a lot better having them with me. We leave for EFY tomorrow and we are so excited! So, if I don't post you'll know why!

Orchestra Concert

It was back to school this week and after my little volleyball break, I had no time to rest up I dove right into all of the regulars. I had lots of tests to make up and homework to get caught up on. It was a lot to have to make up for only missing two days, but I pulled through. I had my last orchestra concert yesterday, it was pretty fun. We had the percussion play with us, which was a nice twist. My teacher had me switch from the violin to the viola a couple weeks ago, so that has been fun to do. Now that the concert's over, though, I can't wait to get out my good old violin and play my native instrument again. As for the concert, it was fun. We pulled it off pretty well for as unprepared as we were. While the beginning orchestra was playing and we were waiting to go on, I looked over to see Jandee and Courtney walk through the door into the gym, and Emily was already there with her family (her sister was playing in the beginning orchestra), but I hadn't noticed til then. When we went on and took my seat, Jandee, Courtney and Emily were all waving and smiling and my dad was sitting with them too so he decided to join, it was pretty fun to have my own little fan club. It's so nice to ave such good friends here, hopefully I can find some almost as great in Salt Lake :)

Volleyball Tourney!!!

I know it's been forever since I've written, like I posted last, too much end of the year stress!!! Today was my last volleyball tournament, we took 18th out of 62 (I think it's 62!) so we didn't do too bad, but it definately wasn't our best tournament. I am in Salt Lake with my family right now, we don't get back until monday.

End of the year!

I cannot believe how quickly the last day of school it coming! Only four weeks of school left. Unfortunately, that also means I have SO much homework to deal with! Not to mention I have to prepare for my last volleyball tourney, learn a new song for my piano recital, practice my songs for my last orchestra concert, take end of level tests, babysit all the time, plan spirit week, the talent show, and the last day of school party for student council, put out the final newspaper for the school year, prepare for EFY, and go to young women's, and that's not even all of it! It's so crazy, and I am also doing so many different things with my friends, which is why I haven't written in a few days. Friday night, I slept over at Emily's with Jandee and Courtney, Saturday I went to the new St. George In and Out Burger with Courtney and Jandee. Today I went to church, ate lunch, and have been working on a research paper ever since. Not only is the end of year stressful, but it is so unexpected! I can't believe the year is almost over, it has gone by so fast. I have made so many new friends and learned so many different things this year. Since my school is brand new this year, we didn't get off to a quick start this year, which may be part of the reason why this year has gone so fast, but I think it is mostly because it has been so exciting!
~*~:);):)~*~

Another Boring Day

What a surprise, today was just yesterday all over again! Nothing too exciting. I went to school, came home from school, went to piano, babysat, and went to volleyball then came home and ate. Exciting I know

Back to School

It was back to school again today! In 1st period we had a test, so I didn't get to let back into school life easily. Orchestra was fun, we just worked on our songs. History was nothing special. Language Arts is kind of weird because my old teacher became the principal of an elementary school so we have a new permanent sub that I am still getting used to. We are finally finished with the yearbook so we just talked a little bit about next year in that class. Berkley, Emily, and I were on a roll with the insults and stuff so it was pretty fun. When I walked into the lunchroom I almost died! The arranged the tables differently and that's terrible. We've sat at the same table since the second day of school, so this was not a welcome shake up! Aaron, McKade, and Skyler came to our table a few times and were being really random, but that's them for you! We hung out at Courtney's locker for the rest of lunch. In P.E. we had a sub (we do every monday because our teacher has cancer and is too sick from the Chemo to come on mondays), and Aaron decided the class should all sit in different spots than normal, and the teacher wasn't happy so we had to do an extra lap. I had a student council meeting in 7th, and then I went and finished up as practice science test. I went to Target with my mom and Lukas and bought some shorts and headbands (a new style for me). I know my day is terribly exciting, but hopefully the week will go by fast! :)
~*~:);):)~*~

Sunday

Well, today wasn't particularly exciting :( I woke up and my family was all asleep, so i got ready for church and then the rest of the fam got up and started getting ready too and then we went to the last 2 meetings, which, for me, are Sunday School and YW. Jandee wasn't there today, so it was just me and 5 boys, plus Brother Harrison. We watched a movie about "putting off the natural man" and ate popcorn. It was pretty fun. I think Brother Harrison got kinda mad at us, but it was pretty funny. He asked something about who created air and Darian said the trees. So Brother Harrison asked who made the trees and Russ and I looked at eachother and said the seeds. Then Bro. H asked who made the seeds, and Spencer and Darian said the farmer (well he planted them). Who made the farmer? His parents. Who made all the parents? The Grandparents. Brother Harrison gave up and just told us. Luckily he thought it was funny. In Young Women's, we talked a lot about getting ready for Girl's Camp. The Stake Theme is STARS:
Standing
Together
As
Righteous
Sisters
All the ward mascots are after constellations, our constellation is Scorpeous, so our mascot is the Scorpion. They came up with "Scorpion is our sign, but our nature is Divine," which is kinda cute. Our Stake song is Gordon B. Hinckley-Constant as the North Star, and our ward song they took "Be a Star" from the movie "Life Size" and changed the wording, it's pretty funny and really cute. Hopefully I'll still live here for one last year of Girl's Camp. :)
~*~:) ;) :) ~*~

Try This Again!

Okay well I decided I would try blogging again. Hopefully this time it will work out! This week has been great because I got a 4 day break from school. So pretty much i have pulled my hair in a pony tail and thrown on basketball shorts everyday since Thursday. Wednesday night I went to a birthday party for my friend Brittany B. We got yelled at twice for being to loud. First at the mall when we crammed 8 teenage girls into a photo booth and second at Dairy Queen when we were singing happy birthday and a lady complained that it "hurt her eardrums." Nice to know I have such a lovely singing voice. Anyway, it was pretty fun. We got home at about 10 and then I went over to Courtney's for a sleepover with her and Emily. Obviously, I did not sleep well that night! The next morning, dad took me and the boys out for do-nuts and we helped him pack his office. It was pretty sad because I saw it as the first step towards officially moving. After all that, we went to Panda Express for lunch. Later that day, I was home when one of my friends from last year, Brenton Bushnell, texted me wanting to hang. I also got to see one of my other seventh grade friends, Matt Judd, and my pre-school friend, Tanner Lund. Court came along and we all met Emily at the park. It was way fun to catch up with my old friends. I went to volleyball practice after that. Volleyball was way fun, we worked mostly on hitting/spiking which is always fun. Friday, I went to lunch at Jimmy John's with dad and Luke then went to the Rec Center with Jandee, Courtney, Emily, Brenton, and Matt. While I was there I participated in the world's most violent air hockey game EVER! Brenton and I got vicious and the puck went flying. Don't worry, we only hit one person in the head. We walked to Frostop and spent an hour or so there entertaining ourselves with Glaciers and the Juke Box. I went to Del Taco with dad and the boys for dinner and then crashed while watching Pirates 3. Today, I went to Jake and Luke's soccer games. Court's brother was playing, too, so I spent much of the time sipping Snow Cones with her. We went to Lin's for lunch and I finally had my first "Dorothy Dog." It was delicious! Later today, Me and Courtney made little volcano cakes and then went to the Kite Festival with Emily and her family. We had a blast! We had fun being the oldest kids on the train ride. We had taken Emily's cousins along, and we were WAY too big. My legs were hanging off the edge the entire time! We went on this fun little ride where you lay down and get strapped in and just flip upside down forever. Julia (Emily's sister), Emily, Courtney, and I rode together and had fun. Emily was terrified, Julia was ammused, Court was dizzy, and I was laughing at them all! I am sure you could hear us across the park. After the ride we ate and ate. (Shocker I know! lol) We had a funnel cake, cotton candy, a snow cone, and ice cream, it was delicious! The ride home didn't feel too good, though, I am amazed we didn't throw up! I got home and have been talking with Jandee ever since. She had basketball all day today, and, even thought she said she lost, I know she kicked some serious butt out there. Well, that's all for today! Hopefully I'll write again!