It is weird... that i'm jealous?

TAKE ME THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Welcome Home" by Radical Head

Kinda my favorite song for the day.

dear magic 8 ball,

i wished you actually worked.

"See ya in 2"

I’m so proud that teenage boys are willing and wanting to sacrifice two years of their life’s to fulfill a church mission. I’m so grateful that I know SO many boys that are looking forward to wearing church clothes for a solid 720 days. Seventeen thousand two hundred and eighty hours of nonstop church… and you thought 3 hours a week was bad!

This week I said “See ya in 2” to yet another one of my friends. I went to his farewell on Sunday, and holy crap. He made everybody laugh SO hard! Nothing compares to when a 19 year old boy stands up and says… “Last time I introduced myself on this pulpit I was an S.O.B., but this time, I’m not an S.O.B., frankly because I’m not the Son of a Bishop- since my dad was recently released.”

He pulled so many funny jokes throughout his 25 minute talk. He thanked his two-year-old niece for teaching him “Swiper no swiping!” and told his little brother, “maybe you’ll grow up to be half the man I am.” Not to mention he bore his testimony in “my native mission language”- English. Maybe you just have to know him, but this kid is hilarious. In fact, he use to do standup comedy at the school talent shows. haha!

My friend had gone through a lot of hardships, and I truly believe he will be one of the best missionaries in the world!

After his “final speech to the masses,” I walked up to him and gave him a hug. While he was still being “the funny guy,” I said my goodbyes.

On Tuesday night, I was taking a well needed nap, since I had been at Seven Peaks all day. Apparently while I was snoozing away, my friend had stopped by. My mom pulled into the driveway right as he was walking away from my un-answered door. My mom let him in the house, and he woke me up by coming into my room. “Ciera! I’ve got a half hour until I’m set apart!”

We talked and talked- about all missionary stuff. I’m glad he’s going to serve the people is California! I can tell he already has SUCH a special place in his heart for them.

Levi: you are one my very best friends. Thank you for your testimony and for staying strong in the gospel through all of your hardships. You are one of the people I can talk to about anything- and I’m sure you’ll hear all about it on the postcards you will soon he getting in the mail. Have fun, and see you in two. (but really it’s one million, thirty six thousand, and eight hundred minutes til I actually see you again.)

april 5th, 2011

april 5, 2011.

if there has ever been a day- out of my 17 years of life- that I could go back and erase…. it would be April 5th, 2011.

Homecoming dance of my sophomore year, Garrett asked me to the dance. I wasn’t 16 yet, but I figured if his mom was my YW president… and my mom was the 1st counselor… I’ll break the rules. I didn’t personally know anybody that was to be in the group, but I had most certainly heard of them. (they were the “popular seniors” of WX.) Saturday morning we were scheduled to go laser tagging. Garrett comes to my front door, picks me up.. and I get in the car. in the back seat was the very well known Katie and gates- a “cheerleader/ football” dating couple. trust me… every single girl at wx… knew who gates was. little did I know.. but gates would end up becoming one of my very true friends. swim season started before football season stopped, so he was late joining our team. did I mention… he was both the star of the football team… AND OF THE SWIM TEAM?

once he started coming to swim practice… we got to know each other a lot better.

the first day of second semester of my sophomore year, was like any other first day of a second semester. I walked into my math class and took a seat. five minutes after the tardy bell rang… gates walks in looking like a Abercrombie model. feeling like an idiot, I look around… all the seats are empty next to me. “well…. if he didn’t think I was a loser already… take a look at how many empty desks are around me..” I thought. without another thought I say “gates! come sit over here!” I’m SO grateful for that day and the fact that he was in my math class. from that point on.. every math day was unforgettably fun. - notes passed back and forth with knock knock jokes on them -COUNTLESS times of throwing goldfish in the air and then catching it in our mouths. J - little drawings of stupid and funny things -so much talking that I’m surprised I didn’t get a U in that class. in fact, if you have ever met me, you know that I wear a silver locket around my neck..EVERYDAY! there was never anything in it… so gates decided to draw a TINY picture of me and him. it’s two stick figures that says gates + Ciera = forever. and on the back he had wrote to never take it out of the locket. it had all just been a joke. we were flirtatiously just friends. nothing more. the fun didn’t just stay at the school though. every other night I was up at gates’s mansion of a house. math nights. I took my notebooks, calculator.. and pencil every time. I averaged being up there for about 4 hours every other night. roughly 17 hours a week? out of those 17 hours… probably 1 hour was spent doing math. the rest consisted of talking and laughing and… ping pong. I became familiar with his parents- Brian and Cheri. and his little sisters and brother- Gentry, Reese, and Avery. they were the perfect family. His dad was a retired NFL player from the Seattle Seahawks. his mom was a retired employee from Delta. (just like my mom! me and gates planned on traveling together but never ended up doing anything about it.) his little sister was a cheerleader, and gates basically had EVERYTHING going for him.

Gates was 18 his entire senior year. technically, he should have been the first one of his friends to leave on a mission. his parents were avid Utah state fans and convinced him to stay home from a mission until he had completed a semester at Utah state. no big deal! right? he put in his papers as soon as the semester was over and got called to baton rouge Louisiana – Spanish speaking mission. the Saturday before his farewell, gates went skydiving.

on march 27th, was gates’s farewell. luckily I got there early with a row of the WX swim team. there were probably 60-70 of his fellow friends there. so many- that some were required to sit up in the stands and stand in the back. It was incredible to see how so many people cared for this kid. garret was asked to sing a solo to gates’s favorite hymn “if you could hike to kolob.” it brought the spirit very strongly. then gates got up, with tears streaming down his face.. and thanked his best friend for singing that hymn for him.

gates’s bore his testimony of the church, and it was very tenderhearted. after sacrament meeting, I walked up to gates- gave him a huh- told him I loved him- and said “make the next two years memorable.” how I wish that that was the ending of my story. missionaries always leave on a Wednesday to enter the MTC. the Wednesday directly after that Sunday- was not his departure date. instead, he was to leave the Wednesday after the general conference Sunday.

the Tuesday before he were to leave, him and his best friend headed up the mountain to snowboard for gates’s last time for two years. they had figured “go big..or go home.” they built a jump over a river awaiting bellow. gates went first. he didn’t make it and ended up landing on his head in the river below.

garrett became a hero that day. getting off the cliff an into the river, garrett grabbed gates carefully and tried gently to get him out of the river. luckily garrett has had many experiences in lifeguarding to know that a spinal injury was possible. suffering from hypothermia, rescue came quickly. a miracle occurred by gates’s phone not being touched by the river of water they were just in. garret called 911 and requested for life flight. his unconscious best friends fait was in his hands.

with my busy life, I of course was on a airplane while this story had made breaking news to the local news casting stations. Margaret called my mom as soon as we had landed for our trip to California. we were still on the plane, and my mom answered the phone. my mom grabbed her chest and I could immediately tell something was wrong. gates had been in a life changing accident- the day before he was to go to the mtc!

unbelief. upset. confused. frustration. sadness. love. helplessness. = just a few of my emotions.

gates had been paralyzed.

after letting the news settle in for about an hour. (which it STILL hasn’t settled in, fyi.) I called a few of my close friends- who I had doubted heard the news. when I explained what happened- the other side of the line went blank. I never want to give bad news like that again. the next day, thanks to facebook- everybody fasted and prayed. many people didn’t have the intense amount of information that I had- given that it was told to us by the mother of the son that had saved gates’s life… that night I didn’t sleep. tossing and turning and thinking back on all the memories.

about this time- last year- gates and garrett were going to a basketball game. garrett was driving- with a suspended license. something happened had they ended up getting in a car crash- although it was not their fault. garrett was knocked unconscious and gates pulled garrett out of the drivers seat and into the passenger seat. it might not have been the legal thing to do- but gates took blame for driving that night.

I can earnestly say that I have never fasted and prayed so hard in one day. back in bountiful (I was in California) there was a mass prayer at a friend’s house- which nearly 60 people had participated in. his name was entered into the temple- so complete strangers could pray for him. my aunt and uncle- who live in Iowa- entered his name into the temple. and they don’t even know gates! they just know that he was a friend of mine- and I’m so grateful for my families support through this all.

this is about as much as I can manage to write today. please read the blog posted below- it’ll make you cry. there lies the absolute miracles of the whole ordeal. http://gateshopeandmiracles.blogspot.com/

gates: stay strong. I love you! you can pull through this and the whole world is confident in you. every single one of your friends hasn’t stopped thinking of you. we’re all here for you and will stay here for the rest of your life.

it's ok... you can feel bad for me too. (i'm a sore loser.)

I have ran for SBO officer since 6th grade. ok, I haven’t ran EVERY year, just the years that would be significant. (I don’t know how to explain it.)
Next year, I will be a senior.
I ran for VP of Productions two weeks ago. What the VP of Productions does… is plan out and carry through with assemblies. They organize EVERYTHING and all of the responsibility goes to them. In order to win this office, you had to be elected. I had posters and tshirts- the whole shebang. I also had to write an essay explaining why I would be an excellent officer, and I had to have an interview with 10 of this year’s senior class officers. In addition, I had to have each teacher of mine feel out a teacher recommendation sheet. (There were 4 possible offices you could run for: President, VP Productions, VP Activities, and VP service.)

all in all, I thought I had a great job with how everything had gone. we had primary elections on Monday through Wednesday. Then on Wednesday afternoon we each got called out of class to find out if we had made it to final elections. Out of the 6 candidates running for Productions, there would be 2 chosen. I wasn’t chosen.
so… when I get pushed down I stand up and move onto the next thing. which was to run for appointed office. There were a total of 6 offices that were appointed: Artist, Promotions, Publicity, Historian, spirit and photographer. you could run for more than one office- so I ran for promotions, publicity and spirit. I was required to have teacher recommendations, and essay, a portfolio for each office, and another essay for each office. plus: another interview.
everything was going smoothly. I turned in my essay and portfolio in on time, and I scheduled a great time for my interview. the interview went very well! they asked a lot of the same questions from my elected office interview, and I had come up with even better answers. There was a very real connection I had with the officers.

many of my friends had run for appointed offices as well. one was running for historian- which she had a different person make up her portfolio. how does that count for honesty?
there was another girl who was running for office because “she wanted in on her college resume… and might as well get the officer jacket with it as well! But in all seriousness, all of the offices did not look interesting AT ALL!”

I also had one of my best friends running for spirit- she had told me she was too scared to run for elected because she “couldn’t face her student body.”

well.. as Friday rolled around, we each got called out of class once again. Senior officers had been talking to me all day and informing me that I had such a great chance- they had put down really good scores for me- and they believed I would be such a great officer for next year. my confidence increased, and I was ready to find out. although I was confident- I WAS NOT COCKY, AND I DID NOT LET IT SHOW.
each of the offers read off the names for who would be officers and for what position next year. my name was never read. it was upsetting though, because, without saying names, these are who made office:
artist: a kid who cheats on every single math test. (he’s a great artist, but completely not honest.)

photographer: A GREAT GIRL! she is one of the best people I know! although, she has been an officer for twice in past years.

spirit: the girl who “was too scared to face her student body.” how can you be a spirit officer while being too scared to face your student body? you have to be outgoing and be able to put yourself out there!

promotions: another great kid, who has been an officer twice before since 6th grade.

publicity: another great girl who has also been an officer since 6th grade.

historian: the girl who had somebody else make her portfolio for her. Completely dishonest.

I was upset. it is going to be a really hard year next year to look at these people as my senior class officers. They have either cheated their way into it, or have been an officer several of times before. I, on the other hand, had been completely honest about my work. I was excited to face my student body. I had new ideas that our school has never seen before! I have ran since 6th grade!

Next week is the meeting to run for senior class officers. There are three people there who will make it. Unfortunately, all those people are in charge of is seniors week, and planning the high school reunions for the rest of your life. I am not running to be an officer “just to be an officer.” I’m not there “just because you get the jacket.” and personally, I do not want the life sentence to be in charge of class reunions. I will not be running for senior class officers- because from my point of view- that’s all they are.

it has been an hurtful week. I know- that I could’ve committed myself to be such a great officer, and this was my last chance. I have planned my senior year schedule around me being an officer. I had such great ideas! I’ve tried for 6 years! I just wish I could’ve known where I went wrong, and what I could’ve improved on.

well. that’s it. I’m a sore loser I guess. but this is just one of those days where my feelings have overtaken the keyboard.
to anybody who read this: thanks for letting me vent.

WX dance company

Last year, during the month of May, I auditioned for my high school dance company. WX has the cheerleaders, and a drill team. But none of them add up to the dance company.

My older sister had been both a cheerleader and a member of the dance company, so that is literally what gave me the courage. If it hadn’t been for her example, I’d have been wayy too scared to addition.

Long story short, I auditioned. This was a really big deal to me, and I was fortunate enough to have made the team. It has been a long year, as me +18 other girls + 1 boy, have prepared for our March Concert.

We work hard, everyday, to become better dancers and to showcase our hard work at this March Concert. Well, today is March 6th. When is the concert, you ask? March 21 and 22. it all comes down to those two days! I’m getting so nervous, and so excited to show our hard work.

This year, our concert will be called DANCEOLOGY. To sum up what we have been working on, we have taken subjects, and STUDIED them. For instance, hands. There is a whole dance committed to the study of hands- handology. We have a dance about, Hearts (cardiology), birds, kids (genealogy), dreams & nightmares, monsters & demons, time, dolls, animals (zoology), language, and finally, a dance about dance. There has been so much hard work put in!
I will be dancing in a total of nine dances.

If you know me, and want to support me, I’d really appreciate it. Please buy concert tickets from me.

Students: $5
Adults: $6
Family Pass: $20

The concert is on March 21 and 22 (Monday and Tuesday) at the high school auditorium. The show starts at 7:00 both nights.

thank you thank you!

REGION CHAMPIONS. 'nough said.

On August 23, in my 4th period swim conditioning class- we made goals. “Drop a second on my 50, be able to do a bucket turn, get my 100 back down to a 1:15, etc.” But a goal that every single girl said was to “become region champions. We want a banner!”

The woods cross girls have never won region before. Boys have, back in the 80s and 90s- but girls have NEVER had won. This year, we had the best team that woods cross ever had! There was another high school, Olympus, who was also EXTREMELY good. These people have been our rivalrys all year. (when we swam them- we actually tied. ha! besides that- wx girls were undeafeated.) We all dropped times, and we all worked super hard. On Friday, 21st, was the region champion meet.

side note. We had an assembly on Thursday, and all of the officers talked about the WX vs. BOUNTIFUL basketball game that was on Friday. but since we were going to be at the meet all day on Friday, all of the swimmers dressed in their Sunday best for Thursday. get it? well- the officers didn’t even announce that we had region the next day. when we asked them why they didn’t- they replied that swimming was “a stupid sport.” that shows how much recognition the swim team gets at our high school. (hahah, and then at the basketball game.. wx lost. ironic.)

On Thursday night- we all got together for our traditional swim dinner at the Millwards house. Boys- who were daring enough (considering that the Prom is today) - shaved their heads. (It’s been custom FOREVER to shave heads the night before region.) We all ate a bunch of pasta, and we got a motivational speech from our coach- Dale. He pulled all of the girls aside and gave us a piece of paper and told us he wanted us to write down our goal times for tomorrows meet. We each did, then put the papers in our sweat pockets. We were to sleep with these papers and to think about our times consistently until the meet was over.

The next morning we woke up at meet at the rec center by 8am. Tension was high. I literally had shaky hands from the second I woke up. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO TODAY! we got in the pool and did our 1,300 yard warm-up in the pool. When time was up, we got out- put on our deck coats- and walked upstairs to stretch. Dale walked in and required that it be completely silent for the next half hour as we stretched and visualized. he turned off the lights and we all got mentally prepared for this meet. it was a big deal- trust me. Then gave us another motivational speech, and I’ve never been more excited/nervous to swim before in my whole life. The pressure was on!!

we walked down to the competition pool and I got ready for the 200 medley relay. my next event was the 200 Individual medley.
during the 50 free, one of my best friends, Kaitie Jowers, broke the school record. She had broken it last year at the state meet, by .01 of a second. last year the record hadn’t been broken for 13 years. she hadn’t been able to get her time down to a 26.01 for awhile- but lo and behold- she broke her own record again! 25.55 seconds! I’m sure the fast skin technical suit worked in her favor though as well. What was her goal time- you ask? 25.83. she blew it out of the water! Then we had the 100 Backstroke record broke for the second time this year by my Coaches daughter-
Alexis Ralph. Did I mention Alexis is a freshman and she broke a record that hasn’t been touched for 16 years? That’s longer than she’s even been alive!
We also broke the 200 Freestyle relay. Congrats to Avery Hansen, Lexi Stader, Alexis Ralph, and Kaitie Jowers. it was broken by nearly 2 seconds. which is a lot when you in the “competitive swimming” word.

Between Olympus and Woods Cross- our points were about even the whole time. but towards the end- they weren’t telling us who was in the lead. All we knew, was that we had to swim hard and fast. I had the pressure on my 200 free relay and in my 100 breast. I had a good 100 breast and I got us some points.

After the meet ended, everybody was crazy estatic! we had to of won! we still didn’t know what the points ended up being- but how could we have lost to Olympus? We had just won every single on of the last 7 events! all of the girls went down on the deck- waiting with anticipation. we told dale to take out his phone from his pocket, and we all got ready for a victory lap if we ended up winning.
the announcer came on and started announcing points. (out of 7 high schools) 2nd place: olympus high school girls with 396 points. 1st place: woods cross high school girls wth 492 points. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we hadn’t just won- but we won my almost 100 points!!!!!!!

all of the girls jumped in the water, dragging Coach Dale in with us. it was amazing. and pretty emotional. our hard work had finally paid off! the number one goal that all of the girls had worked for all year long- was completed. woods cross high school girls swim team was region champions. for the first time. ever.

Now, we finally get a banners! not just one, but two. One in the rec center hanging in the compition pool right above the woods cross record board. and one in the woods cross gym with all of the other sports that have become region champions. 2 brand new- never been hung- banners.

finally. some recognition from our school.

Mr. Park-our new principal this year, who has come to every single meet, came over and congradualted us. we thanked him with a group hug and he was soon covered in chlorine water. we received our trophy, and Mr. Park asked if it would be ok if he presented it to us at the wx/bountiful basketball game that night. YAYY!! that also brought emotions flairing. we would get some limelight for our hard work at the biggest basketball game in the state!

after a victory celebration at Chuck-a-rama, (it’s tradition) and an eventful basketball game- all of the girls gathered over at Kaitie Jowers house for a sleepover.

overall- a very successful swim season. I didn’t qualify for state in any of my events, even though I was very close in my 100 back and my 100 breast.

I love woods cross swim team.

especially the girls

celebrity crushes

TRAVIS PASTRANA. AND JIMMY FALLON.
who are these handsome young fellas, you might ask?





travis. one manly man. he's a motor sport competitor. (motocross, supercross, freestyle motocross and rally racing.) he's a beast. he's dumb. but boyyy is he handsome.


-7 broken wrists
-8 knee surgery's (right side)
-7 knee surgery's (left side)
-broken left and right foot
-torn ACL, PCL and LCL
-broken growth plates
-broken pelvic bone
-hip fractures
-dislocated spinal column (one of the four in the entire WORLD!)

but that's just the thing. The reason i think Travis is so dang cute, is because he lives for the "moment!" he might not live to see another day, but he's going to die doing what he loves! which is stupid things. aka, jumping out of a plane with no parachute, and just a red bull in his hand. his last departing words? "I hope this stuff works!" (meaning, i sure hope 'red bull gives you wings!!')


next on the celebrity crush list..

Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy boy, as i like to call him.
Jimmy fallon is a late night talk show host. and i just think he is adorable. look at that smile! not to mention he is freakin hilarious!
(go and youtube the JIMMY FALLON AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE RAP.)

and that's my spill on celebrity crushes.

(oh. and...

taylor lautner, andy samberg, and sean white.) :)

what do you want to do before you die?

it's a tv show. and it's on mtv. and it involves 4 hot guys from canada. and it's about living your life to it's fullest. literally, it's the best thing.. since sliced bread!

if you dont know what i'm talking about, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSYFTZrABMg&feature=related

yes. i'm talking about the show called "The buried life."

This is a group of boys who have a bucket list of 100 things they would like to do before they die. not only do they accompish these tasks regularly, but they also help people along the way. for each item that they cross off on there list, they help somebody in need. one for one.

question: why do they call it the "buried life?"

answer: because it's from a poem titled The Buried Life written by mathey arnold. It's a long poem, but this is were it comes from.....

But often, in the world's most crowded streets,

But often, in the din of strife,

There rises an unspeakable desire

After the knowledge of our buried life;

and the rest is history. They ended up making a tv show, and letting the world know about their story. It has inspired me, and million others.

so.. what's on MY list?

1. get a picture like the beatles, on abby road.

2. get my patriartical blessing

3. bungee jump over water

4. study abroad

5. Get a college degree

6. marry in the temple

7. own a jeep wrangler

8. Serve for my country.. somehow & somway

9. learn to snowboard

10. be arrested

11. help out/volunteer with the olymics

12. adopt a child

13. learn karate

14. got to a baptist church

15. ride an elephant

16. humanitarian project in a 3rd world country

17. bear my testimony to my dad

18. trathalon. olympic size

19. go to the macys thanksgiving parade.

20. successfully do the gallon challenge.

21. serve an LDS mission

22. watch all TV episodes of Boy meets world and of Seinfeld

23. buy a homeless man a bigmac

24. order a pizza while in class.

25. Stay overnight at the WXHS

26. make a dinohoodie

27. roadtrip for a week

28. swim illegally. (have a picture of NO SWIMMING, with me swimming in the background.. hahah)

29. kiss a stranger on new years

30. become scuba certified

31. swim in australia

32. see the northern lights

33. ride in a hot air balloon

34. coach a little leage soccer team

35. own a cute, durable, wooden swing at my home (eventually)

36. train a guide dog
37. memorize the "marching bands of manhattan" lyrics.

38. kiss at the top of the effill tower

What do you want to do before you die?

just try.. and never grow up.

k. this is embarassing. but i'll just get it out there.

I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT!! she's possibly my favorite person. in the universe.

So.. she had a new album come out this week, and that's ALL i've been able to listen to. it's kind of overwelming to realize how good her lyrics are. infact, on tuesday (the day after the album came out,) i had to get up in class and explain a scripture mastery that we had been studying this term. i had D&C 25:12. which says; For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea. the song of the rightous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.

i stood up. and i talked about taylor swift. and i talked about how the spirit doesnt have to be there with just hymns, but it can be there with other popular, upbeat songs.. that are EVEN SOLD ON ITUNES! but in the end.. i got teary eyed. (yes.. still talking about taylor swift.) which this was my FIRST time crying this year in seminary. please... give me a pat on the back.

anyways.. this is one of my favorite songs. it is also one that makes me teary eyed. if you listen to it, i'm sure you'll figure out what it's talking about. but pretty much i can sum up:
1. i hate growing up. i still wanna be in elementary.
2. i love my mom.
3. i cant wait to turn on my nightlight tonight when i go to bed.
but anyways. here it is.



(thanks tswift)

a short list of my day.

-early morning seminary. (every morning)
-ballet west nutcracker practise
-high school swim team, practise 5 hours a day.
-USA state swim team. another 2 hours of practise. (yes.. my skin get's verry soggy.)
-2 CE classes. (i go to bountiful high school and viewmont high school every other day. these 2 classes add up to 8 credit hours of college by the time the semester is done. and holy heck there's a lot of homework. darn you chemistry and u.s. history!)
-NHS officer. (it doesnt sound bad, but i might as well be the president- consider how much work i do!)
-high school dance company. (it's brutal.. but it's fun)
-oh. dont forget all of the other classes.. considering i'm in high school and all.
-high school dances + football games.

but i'm not complaining. and if i DO complain.. just hit me upside the head and say "ciera.. this is what you asked for!"

on a unrelated note. i love blink 182. neon trees. the script. and snow patrol a lot lately.


(my birthday is next monday. hense: get me some new music. pleasee! i'm listening to all of the old stuff.)

(smile)

BIGG BROTHERRR!

yes. i am addicted to this show.
for any of you who know anything about this,
i'm TEAM LANE.
and TEAM HAYDEN.
i love those boys so much. :)

"Ya'll are so dumb! You are really dumb. For real."

Helping out the Easter Bunny

So, this week has been my Spring Break! Which… seems weird since there is about a foot of snow outside and it still hasn’t stopped snowing. But anyways.
We headed to St. George this past week to spend Easter with my grandparents. My cousin Jessie drove down too with her 3 kids. We went to Easter Egg Hunts, and to the yearly Arts Festival. All tradition! Not to mention we had our “bunny cake” that we eat each year.


At one point, Bella (cousin) and I were outside jumping on Grannies trampoline. Then a CUTE little boy, who was staying in a trailer next door to Grannies house at the shop, asked if he could come over to jump with us. He was adorable! So I said yes! He came over and explained to me that he was 4 years old and his name was Jonah. And that him and his family were staying there.. (but… I didn’t know why or for how long.) Anyways- I just fell in love with Jonah! (hmm, and isn’t it ironic that that’s the little boys name from “The Last Song” book that I just read?)
Well then for the next day, I just saw Jonah outside and trying to come up with “boy adventures.” He’s be walking around with a stick, or even begging for his older sister to come outside and play. Unfortunately, I figured that the family was rather poor. SO that’s why the night before the Easter Bunny was coming, I had a great idea!
Mom, Granny, and me headed to the Walmart down the street to pick up some fun Easter eggs and treats. We ended up picking up some cute little Easter eggs that were previously filled with candy. We also picked up some bubbles that I hoped the kids could enjoy.
Then later that night, Granny and I snuck over. We hid the eggs and put a little note with chocolates and the bubbles sitting on their stairs. Then next morning, I of course slept in. But Granny was up bright and early. She got to see them picking up the eggs, and she got pictures! I thought it was adorable!! I’m so glad I could’ve helped out these cute little kids.

Also, while I’m at it- I might as well wrap up my swim season. This year I decided to join my High School Swim team! And I loved it! I met so many great new friends, and enjoyed working with them for hours every single day. Every day, besides Sunday, I was in the pool for about an average of 4 hours. The events I enjoyed swimming most are: 100 Fly, 100 Breast, 50 Free, 200 Medley Relay, and 200 Free relay. For it being my first year swimming, I didn’t do too bad. My 50 free time was 29 seconds, and my 100 Fly time was 1 minute, 20 seconds. I hope that next year I can concert more and hopefully make it to State.
But honestly, so many memories were made this year with the team. Unfortunately- most of them will be leaving. The seniors will all be gone next year, and so with both of my coaches. But I’m hoping that that will only make me focus even more on the times that I want to improve.

King of Pop, Gone? R.I.P.

I use to idol Michael Jackson! And it all started with my best friend, Natalie Brockbank, in about 2nd or 3rd grade. Natalie had a dvd with all his music videos. And we would just go into her basement and watch all the videos in her huge theater. We would laugh until we peed our pants when we watched “Childhood,” and I was always too scared to watch “Thriller,” it would give me nightmares! I had all his music on my bedroom computer, and Natalie and I would dance around my room for what seemed to be hours!

So, that probably all happened about the summer before my 3rd grade year. Then in Ms. Rogers class, Natalie and I wrote about a 2 page story about how much we loved Michael Jackson. (Hahaha, we were REALLY obsessed!!) But I totally remember the story! We had this vision of Michael Jackson coming to our Adelaide Elementary school and picking us up in a limo. Then we would drive to Arbys with him, and eat Arbys sauce right out of the packet! (we ate those all the time together. Haha eww!) After that we would go to his “Wonderland” theme park.

I totally remember Ms. Rogers telling us to stop singing his songs all the time in class too.

Another memory was staying up late on a Sunday night watching some kind of award show. Everyone had gone to bed except mom, dad, and me. I got to stay up because MJ would be performing, and I really had to see it! Then when he came on, I seriously remember jumping around on the couch and singing along.

How did I find out about MJ dying? My sister had text me and asked if he had died. And I thought that was totally out of the blue! So I googled it, and there was only one news report. It had said that he was just sent to the hospital, and that more information would be coming. Haha, then I refreshed the page and WALA! Disaster strikes. I started crying, and immediately called Natalie. We had a laughing/crying conversation of all the memories we had, and how closer of friend we had become because of his wonderful music.

Then I had to talk to my mom about it. And surprise surprise, she didn’t answer her phone. But I kept on calling, and she eventually picked up. I told her the bad news, and I could tell she was in complete shock. She then told me that she was exactly my age when Elvis died! That’s so crazy! Michael Jackson will definitely be remembered by all the good he did in his life.

R.I.P. King of Pop. The tears don’t stop coming.

music.

It seems my life revolves around music. And I’m pretty sure a lot of other peoples does too. Music is everywhere. It’s on the radio when you’re in the car. It’s on your ipod when you wake up in the morning. It’s in the elevator when you’re going to the doctors office. It’s on the played on the streets when you’re walking down the middle of the Gateway mall. Then when you're at church, the hymns you sing bring the spirit! Music is one of the most influential things a teenager has. I've played violin for many years, and I'm starting guitar this summer. (and I WANT to play piano...)

Last week, music wouldn’t leave me alone. I had 2 “dorkestra” performances. One was a concert, and the other was a “festival.” At the concert, Aaron Ashton was there! He is an AMAZING violinist. But he loves fiddling! So, after he did a little performance, my mom ran into him in the back of the WX auditorium. She decided to talk to him, and explain that I was one of the students in his fiddle camp last year- and that we were going to Ireland in a few weeks. Aaron got excited! He told my mom all the great places to fiddle at in Ireland. Including all the pubs, and incredible teachers. So now I’m excited! But that means I have to take a violin over to Europe now. :)

I’ve always loved concerts. Jack Johnson, Angels & Airwaves, and Big A$$ Show, are all some bands I’ve seen. This summer I’m planning on going to: The Fray, Jacks Maniquin, Warped Tour, the Cab, Big A$$ Show, and maybe Rocket Summer. Concerts are just remarkable, because it’s the music coming to life! Plus lyrics are so important to me, and just being surrounded by them is astonishing.

Last week, was the MAE CONCERT!!! Totally one of the best bands in the WORLD!! My sister fell in love with them a few years ago, and not they’re my favorite!! So here’s my story.--I was pumped to go, but I didn’t know anyone else who listened to them. So I asked EVERYONE! And I finally got a few girls from my math class to go. So we bought our tickets, and were all getting excited. Then on Saturday I get a call, saying 2 out of the 3 couldn’t go. Therefore, it would only be 2 teenager girls instead of 4 at a crazy concert. Then Kassidy (the only girl I would be going with) and I tried calling EVERYONE to see if they wanted to go. But Woodscross’s Woodstock concert was that night. So they were all going to that. But Kass and I were determined to have fun.
So we get there and are in line to go into the Avalon. And I saw an old friend, Josh, in line for the show. He was with a bunch of friends and we playing hacky sack. (and off to the corner were 2 guys playing Frisbee.) Then I see one of the guys go up and tap Josh on the back. Josh turned around and the lead singer of Mae was asking if he could join in their game. (Josh was sorta REALLY freaking out. This was his 7th Mae concert. Crazy!)Then bla bla bla. Just concert. But kassidy and I were about 3 feet away from the singer, Dave, and we were REALLY squished. But we had a blast. I was singing along with every song, same with everyone else in the crowd. I even got the drumstick that the drummer threw at the end of the show! Not to mention there was a cool encore! We had too much fun!

That was all last week. But this week hasn’t seemed much different. Just today I was at Rose Wagner Theatre. My mom and I went to watch Ballet West’s “Innovations.” This is a huge thing that BW puts on every year. Last year we weren’t able to go, but I STILL remember going to it the year earlier. But at this production, it’s not your typical ballet. The first performance was all from a mix tape. No orchestra here! And the dancers were all dancing in a “modern ballet” style. I had to hold back tears a few times it was SO beautiful. Then the 2nd performance officially made me cry. The choreographer was named Jason, and he listens to some pretty cool music. So he arranged for a local SLC band to come and play for his dance number. He choreographed all about his dad dying last year, and how hard it was for him- and his mother. This band called “I hear Sirens” just sat down in the orchestra pit. Drums, guitars, and an amazing pianist. Plus the dancers were full of so much emotion! What an incredible production! I can only wish I could be as an unbelievable dancer as they are. And as they say; “Dance is music made visible.”

So there you have it. music.

Yayy for MAMMAS!!

^^ mom and me bein GANGSTA'S!!

^^Grannie and mom

^^Grannie Great and me a few years ago! :)

^^ Mommy and me!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!

I love my Mom more than anything!!

Grannie- you are possible the best Grandma is the UNIVERSE!!

And without GREAT Grandma, none of us would be here. Not to mention my Grannie-Great will be 101 this month. AND SHE'S STILL HEALTHY!!

I love all my Aunts, and all my leaders in church. You all help me out soo much.

Cousins, Teachers, and Friends.

Thank you so much, you complete my life.

love you!

Spring Break BABY!!

What exactly did I do for spring break? I LIVED IT UP!! I had soo much fun! To start off with, we watched general conference on Saturday and Sunday! It was great because an old missionary that use to serve in our area, came down from Canada! He’s been home for almost 2 years now, but he was our close buddy when he served in our area. (A.K.A. Elder Wilmont… we go ahead and just call him Wilmont. I believe we always forget he actually has a first name- Lyle.) So I loved that! We just ate breakfast, watched conference, and caught up on old times. (that was for Saturdays morning session.) Then on Sunday, we had Elder Warner come by! Warner is still actually on his mission, but goes home next week. He was in our area at the beginning of his mission, and it was great to see how much he has learned and grown. It was great to watch conference with our favorite elders!
So, that was on Saturday-Sunday weekend. Then on Monday- Mom, Bridger, and I ended up packin a few swimin suits and headed to the airport. We didn’t exactly know where we were going to end up, but we were hoping for Hawaii! And Maui was the winner! Not to mention we even got 1st class. I love that my blessed family can have SUCH amazing flight benefits. Traveling is such an important part of my life.
Maui was beautiful! This was my first time to this island, and I can now say I have been to every Hawaii Island AT LEAST once. (EXCEPT the one’s you can only go to by boat.) So… we got a rental car… found a cheap hotel… and just lived “Hawaii style.”A.K.A.- CHEAP! We just beached it a lot and ate only the food we packed in our bags. It was fun though!
Hawaii was great, and a TON of my friends were over there. Not necessarily on Maui, but somewhere over there. We even ran into a new SDJ cheerleader. Small world.
Next was flying home… sucky night flights! Thus, when we got home, we slept all day.
Then we were off to St. George and Easter weekend with my grandparents. I’ve can’t remember ever NOT having my grandparents. We use to always have Easter at my grandparents cabin. That use to be how it always was! I often looked forward to going to the cabin for Easter rather than staying home on Christmas. The cabin was beautiful, and full of our family we loved so much. Dying Easter eggs in the glass cups with the horses on it was always so much fun! Then me and Bridger would sleep in the little cubby thing upstairs. I honestly don’t even know what the space was ever used for! But before we would ever go up to the cabin, we had a park in St. George we would go on a Easter Egg hunt too. After getting A TON of candy, we ate it on our way up to Pine Valley. When I found out my grandparents were selling there cabin, I didn’t know any other way to celebrate Easter. So the next year was weird and awkward when the Easter Bunny came to just our Bountiful home.
BUT ANYWAYS!! Easter was in St. George this year, just at Grannie and Papa’s house. No Easter Egg hunts, but we still dyed eggs. And the Easter Bunny even visited.
Later that Sunday, we went 4wheeling and had a picnic. What a great time. I EVEN got a LITTLE sun!!!!