March

Our amazing Scorpion stunt with Marlies. She is more flexible now. This was
the first stunt of our routine. It's awesome!


This is called a herky, and yes, I make funny faces when I jump!


This was our Silent Weekend group, clockwise from top, Jacki, Jess, Ian, Hilary,
Shanda, Crapo, Marz, and Heather. It was a fun group!


We had to do cheers for part of our presentation, and the theme was
pirates. Our cheer was us being caught in a storm and we'd progressively
lose people off the ends. I was the captain of the ship, so I'd steer, then keep
everyone on time for the cheer. It was great fun!

Shanda and I had had way too much apple juice (makes us both hyper)
so we had zipped our jackets together. It was hard to walk! We got
some pretty funny looks, but it was funny!


March was full of nationals, college, spring break, and of course, Bryce. March 1st was the deadline for a college application and I misread the date, and missed it. I was distraught and just happen to be on a date at Crapo's when I found that I had missed the date. I broke down and was so frustrated and felt so stupid. I now have to find another college to go to..

Mom and dad came home the day before I left for Anaheim, California for our nationals competition. It was wild. I had so much fun! I promised myself I would not sleep through Disneyland, as I had done last year and Dani and I hit it up for everything we could! It was great to go on all the rides and hang out with some of the cheerleaders. We competed in the wrong category, so of course we didn't place. But that did mean more time to play. I thought that our routine went well because every one of my stunts hit, and so did my tumbling. So, I was very confused to come off the floor and everyone was furious. But, oh did they practice? Hmm, that explained a lot. Our stunts were freaking amazing and it was a blast to perform at the Anaheim convention center. I had a hard time dealing with the end of nationals because I am a senior and so it's my last time going down there. Luckily, I had Disneyland to make up for it. I was rooming with Marlies, Dani, and Jess. It was fabulous to have a mellow room and it was great to be with them (this is my stunt group actually..)

I went on a few more dates with Matt, but he ended up giving up on me. Things weren't working out and I never made time for him. If I had a spare moment I would squeeze in time to see Bryce, but never Matt. I felt really bad, but it really hadn't worked between us. I organized a surprise party for Crapo for her birthday. We had her called out of class and had made a cake and everything. She was so surprised and it was so much fun. She was very appreciative because there was no one else to throw her a party because Shanda had a dance on her birthday.

Shannon and I went down to Provo for a cousin's party with the Almond side. It was at a tumbling gym and it was such a blast to go and play! I practiced tumbling and Shannon got down some pretty impressive cartwheels! I have now figured things out with Vocational Rehab and they are going to buy me hearing aides. A lot of March was scheduling things out to get them. I am hoping to get them soon.

For Spring Break, Laura, Shane, and I all went down to California to look for housing and to look at our respective college campuses. It was fun to drive down with them and to see the gorgeous state. We took I-80 over instead of taking I-15, so it was all new scenery to us. We had a navigator ,which saved our hides many times. We visited the whole coast. Sacramento first, then over to San Francisco, down to Ventura, and on to San Diego. I learned a lot about Shane and Laura and am going to have to find out how to deal with Shane. It will be a learning process, but I'm sure I can work through it.

I had my first migraine and it lasted nearly 2 weeks. It was awful and it surly messed up my schedule. However, I worked through it. The last weekend in March I was able to attend Silent Weekend with some other students in my ASL classes. We took a vow of silence and signed the entire day, night, and next day. It was such a blast and I learned so much! We were split into groups and I didn't know anyone in mine. I loved getting to know new people and interacting in another language. I was happy that there were very few things that I couldn't relate in sign, and I found ways to communicate them over. I had that migraine the whole time though, but other than that it was fabulous! There were so many jokes and funny things and it's strange to think back on it and think back on conversations and it's like they were spoken, even though none of them were. I can think of how they would say it and how they would have sounded. With emphasis too.

March wasn't as exciting as February, but it was still an awesome month!

February

This is our single, too much dress, but it's cute anyway


And our awesome group picture! This one is more fun!



Well, I am very behind in my blog so I will do separate entries for each month so that it's easier to follow. February was filled with the end of basketball season and a whole lot of cheer practice. Cheer nationals were the first week in March, so we spent lots of time at practice. I am also doing a 4-girl stunt group, so we had that practice every Friday as well. It being the month of young love, I asked Bryce to the Sweetheart's Dance. He totally trashed my room to answer me, but it was really cute. We went country dancing the week before the dance and learned a bunch of really awesome moves. He's a football player, so he's buff, we did lots of lifts! At first he wouldn't lead and had loose arms, but soon learned that I wouldn't do anything if he didn't lead me into it first.

We had a lot of exciting dates, the first one being locked out of my car in 9 degree temperatures on South Mountain with only a small blanket. We laid on my trunk and looked out over Provo Valley. It was gorgeous, but it was FREEZING! I had to call Shannon to come rescue me, and we were out there for about 2 hours. I had to thaw my hands before I could start driving again. Another time, we had gone to a place lower on the mountain and succeeded in getting my car stuck in the snow. We got up the courage and went to ask some locals to help us. We found some very sweet people that helped push me free. Another time we had gone to a parking lot of a nearby school to set up a telescope and star gaze (one of our favorite activities for a date) and I got to see the rings on Saturn! Then, as we were leaving a cop showed up and said that someone had called in saying we were spying, it was a huge telescope and would not have done anything had we pointed it at a house..

I also went on a few 'dates' with a guy named Matt that Shannon set me up with. He is 20 and goes to SLCC for EMT and other such medical classes. He does parkour and tumbles. He's really quiet and the first few times it was awkward because he didn't say much. We went to the gym a few times and he taught me some of his tricks. It's so awesome. Parkour and free running are like running in a straight line and flipping or jumping over whatever is in your way. It's so cool to watch, and I learned a few tricks. The more we went, the less awkward it became, but I just don't act the same with him as I do when I'm with Bryce. Matt is cute, funny, and fun to talk to once you get him talking, but for some reason I just couldn't flirt really at all. It was very strange.

The weather also threw everyone for a loop because it was so inconsistent. It would snow two feet of snow over night. On Valentine's Day school was delayed two hours because a semi had jack knifed on the freeway and the snow was so awful. I got to school and found a rose and a valentine in my locker. It took be totally by surprise! Bryce was so adorable and wrote a cute poem in the card that was shaped like a heart that he had made himself. I totally made all the cheerleaders jealous because as soon as I got to school I already had a valentine. For Valentine's Day, I went on a double date with Bryce and my friend Laura and her boyfriend Spencer. We went to dinner and it was fun to be with another couple. Laura is Deaf, so we were signing at dinner because with her cochlear implant and hearing aide she couldn't hear us talking, it was funny to look around and see people staring at us. After dinner we went over to her house and watched the second Pirate's movie. I was exhausted and fell asleep with Bryce's arms around me. It was bliss and I was comfortable. This was the night of our first kiss and Bryce's heart was beating so hard that I could feel it when I hugged him. He was very red and very happy after that.

Sweethearts was on the 15th and I had a dance competition that day, so we were late to our day activity. Bryce came to my competition to watch and to make it easier because then we could just leave straight from there over to the activity. Our dances did well and it was a lot of fun to compete them for the first time! We played the newly date game at our activity and asked questions to see how well we knew our date. Bryce and I had talked a ton to get to know each other, so we knew a lot and we ended up tying with another couple for first place! We went home to get ready, then went to the Golden Corral for dinner. It was fun with a lot of people and we had lots of fun attaching flowers to each other. No worries, it only bled a little haha. At the dance we were doing some of our country dance moves in my big poofy dress. It was entertaining. After the dance all the cheerleaders went to Hunt's Gym to tumble and play. We practiced tumbling for nationals haha. Bryce and i were doing a bunch of tricks because I was in shorts and I was finally free to move. It was great to play in the pit and on the bouncy floors. Bryce had hurt his ankle that day, so he wasn't able to do much and I felt so bad for him.

February was my month of missionary farewells. I had three in a row. The first one was for my friend Dallin that used to come to the temple with us every weekend. He is going to Ventura, California. The second one was for my cousin Bryce that is my age and that I grew up with. He is going to Ventura, California too! My dad and I took a flash road trip to Hurricane for that. It was the day after Sweethearts and it was nice to go alone with dad and talk to him. We got to go horseback riding with Heidi and her horses. Dad hasn't rode in a long time, so he enjoyed it. The last one was for an acquaintance, it is Connor and Larissa's older brother. He is going to Russia.
We went to a party afterwards and dad got to see Blake's house. Mom was in Ohio with Rachel because she had her baby! That meant a lot of father daughter time, which i loved. It was nice to go to church with dad and to just talk to him. He is so amazing and it's fascinating. I learn something new every time we talk.

There was an aftershock of an earthquake that centered in Wells, Nevada and it was a big thing in school. I was lying on the floor so I could feel it. It was also the end of basketball season, finally! We did pre season too, so we started in December. The last week was packed with competition practice and trying to get everything together. Our stunt group is really good and we practice a lot, but I'm not so sure about the other girls. They talk a lot. I went to Parent Teacher Conferences alone because both of my parents were in Ohio. We did an exhibition and showed the parents our competition routine, but during warm up i was elbowed by Kristy and had a gash in my forehead. I had to take a trip to the emergency room and get glue on it. Shannon and Barlow came with me and comforted me. I had a minor concussion which made me very entertaining the rest of the night.

Well, that was a lot in one month! It's been crazy. Ah, and now on to March.

Wow, I Am Really Behind!

Well, I have not updated this blog in about a month.. Must mean January was busy (ha, not really). New Year's Eve I went to an all day and all night party in Riverton. It was so much fun! I hung out with all my Riverton friends and played games and watched movies.
The first Saturday in January we had our real qualifier for nationals. After getting to the school one of the girls got really sick and had to be taken to the hospital. Well, we were now short one person and had to compete in about an hour. We finally decided to pull up one of the backspots from JV to help us and to just jump in. We did really well and everything hit, one stunt was late because Sarah ( Pulled up) forgot the stunt. But she learned the counts for a whole routene in about twenty minutes. We were all really impressed. We waited around for about an hour for awards and then danced our hearts out. We took first place against the other team! It was very exciting.
School is back to being crazy and hard again. Yesterday was the end of the quarter, so of course this whole past week has been nothing but finals. They were crazy hard, but I managed to do well on all of them and managed to get 6 As and 2 A-. But they are in my AP Physics and Calculus classes, so i figured it was ok.
I have gone on a date nearly every weekend with this boy named Bryce. We went night sledding, stargazing, ice skating and tonight we are going to watch a movie. I am really excited. He is such a sweet boy and comes to all the home basketball games. He is so sweet and I am expecting tonight to be a blast.
Last night we played our rival Alta, and we beat them by one point (51-50). It was the first time we have beat them at Alta in seven years! It was such an exciting game and Bryce came and so did Shannon and Dad. We had our crowd up on their feet the entire game!
Last Thursday night I hung out with someone that Shannon set me up with named Matt. He does parkour and free running. So we went to Gymcats gym with a bunch of his friends and he taught me some of his tricks. It was so fun! I have not been to a real tumbling gym in so long. I learned how to jump and flip over things. Unfortunately, it also made me incredibly sore!
Well, that is all I can think of to update. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it more updated now that I realize that I never do.

Merry Christmas!

This last week has taken my whole world and turned it upside down. I'm a bit behind on keeping up with my blog, so I will do a brief overview. We had our first cheer competition and we did so freakin' good! Everything hit and it went better than we had expected it to. We did the Make A Wish fundraiser for school, and we raised 29,000 dollars!
Last Friday my dad called me while I was over at my friend's house and told me that my grandma was in the hospital with Strep Throat, and Pneumonia. We were all very worried and Saturday morning my parents went down to St. George, as did all of her other kids. Saturday morning she was in critical condition and moved to the ICU. Sunday morning I was very shaky and I asked for a blessing from my friend's bishop. Instead, I got the entire bishopric! It was an amazing blessing and I am so grateful that I asked for it. It helped a lot. Me, Shannon and Brandon went down Sunday morning and went to visit. It was a very scary experience to spend so much time in the hospital waiting for better conditions. After much fasting and prayers, she has improved. They are considering taking off her breathing tube tomorrow so that she will be able to be awake and talk. Unfortunately, only my dad is down there from my family. We all had to come back because of work and other things. I'm happy she's doing well and I hope she pulls through. We had a very brief Christmas, and then continued with our ritual of heading to the hospital again. I think this is the longest I've spent in a hospital waiting room..
Last Saturday I went on two dates. I saw I Am Legend with one of my friends from school. It was awesome and he was a lot of fun to hang out with. Then I went on another big group date with Shanda, Laura, and Heather, plus our dates. It was a lot of fun, but my date kinda ignored me. I tried to still smile and have fun.
Well, that is about it in a nutshell..

Winter Really Isn't Kidding

Wow is all I have to say. Last weekend and this weekend we have had two huge snowstorms. Last week we got seven inches in the valley and it seemed that this week it was trying to impress us by dumping more. Well nothing too exciting is happening around here, my dance classes are getting ready for the dance concert happening next week and I've been getting prepared for that. I'm very excited for Rachel and Logan to come to Utah on Tuesday! They get to stay for a little over a week and I'm so excited to see them!
Last Thursday I had the opportunity to shadow a nurse for a few hours. It was so interesting! The first hour I sat at a desk and talked to some of the nurses working in the ICU. I learned how to read the heart monitors they attach to you and was able to ask them lots of questions on education, what they liked and didn't like and just generally got to see what it was like to work there.
Then, for the next three hours I had the chance to shadow a nurse named Valerie. She was taking care of three or four patients that she kept visiting to check on and make sure they were ok and every so often to check their vitals. I learned so much about the work and what is required and she even let me do some stuff on my own. I got to see all the new equipment and meet lots of fun people. I was free to ask any questions that I had and at first I was kinda quiet and didn't say much, I just watched. Then after a bit I got more comfortable and began to open up and talk to the patients and to Val. I was happy to see that the blood didn't bother me, because this was my main concern. I had not ever had to deal with much of it so I was not sure I had the stomach for it. Now I am almost certain that I would like to go into nursing and premed, but I am still going to pray about it and make sure it really is right.
My original plan for shadowing a nurse was to see if I liked it, but I also wanted to see how I could incorporate American Sign Language into my work field. The first nurse I was with, her name was Marissa too, said that the first person she was with on her first day was Deaf and it would have helped a lot to have known some Sign Language so that she could communicate. He had to write everything down and when you are scared about coming to the hospital it makes it that much more difficult to write everything down and think about what you are saying.
Friday night I got to hang out with one of the girls that I met on Silent Weekend. Her name is Laura and she is profoundly Deaf. She has a cochlear implant that she got last March and wears a hearing aid in her other ear. We had a lot of fun and she was a funny girl. We had to sign while we talked and it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I love signing and have improved my skills a lot in the last two weeks. I prepared for Silent Weekend by thinking in my head of how to sign certain things so that I could when the time arose. Then this last week I have been talking to my friend Heather and signing non stop in class and when we hang out. I am so excited because I can understand full stories when they are said to me and I can also tell an entire experience in sign.
Saturday I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Salt Lake Temple for the second time and it was an amazing experience. After battling the horrific snow storm to get there safely and almost not going at all, I was happy that I got to go. I went with my normal group, but I was the only one that had ever been before. I had only been once and I wasn't sure what all the protocol was so it was interesting to do things so differently from the normal Jordan River Temple. It was fascinating and I loved that experience.
Last night Shanda and I went to see Enchanted and we wore big poofy formals. It was so much fun and we got so many funny looks. The movie was hilarious and we were laughing a lot. As we were walking out for some reason all the workers were lined up along both sides of the path leading out the door. Since we had seen a late movie, we were the only ones leaving and all of the workers that had been talking just stopped and stared. I couldn't help it but I started to giggle about halfway down because it was so quiet and so funny. I got to the door and said, 'it's like walking down the red carpet.' Then turned around and looked down and said, "except this one is blue." It was the funniest part of the night.
Today I went to a missionary farewell for a good friend of mine Jon Thomas who is going to the Paraguay mission. There were lots of Riverton friends and it was so much fun to visit and see them all.

The Holiday Season Has Finally Arrived!

Well this last week sure has been interesting. We had our first basketball game and for being the first one it didn't go too bad. Now, if it had been our last one it would have been considered a disaster.. We did lots of stunting and tumbling though, so at least that part went well.. Friday right after school I was supposed to leave on my way up to Aspen Grove for Silent Weekend.. we made it about five miles and a few thousand verticle feet below the site, but were stopped by a horrible snow storm. The director going up in his car slid back down and a bus would have made things messy. I am not one that likes buses and I got very ill on the way back down because it was a windy canyon and we were sliding so the way that I thought we were headed ended up changing slightly on me. I spent the whole way back down and all the way back down to Jordan with my head on my pillow in Crapo's lap staring out the front window. I was sad because I really wanted to meet other people and be social, but those ideas were quickly dashed :(. The director told us to go home and that no one was coming up or going down. It is a good thing we turned around because in that one snow storm (that didn't stop until about noon the next day) we got seven inches in the valley and up to twenty in the mountains! Had we gone up there we would have been stranded and not allowed to come back.
Because of how sick I was coming home from the bus ride I fell asleep and unfortunately slept right through the basketball game that I should have gone to because Silent Weekend fell through.
I went to the temple Saturday morning as usual and had a date with my friend Tyler last night. We went ice skating with the youth ages 18 - 30 in Shanda's stake. It was such a blast! Tyler is so much fun and we had a good time trying to stay up and not run over anyone. Shanda was there also with her friend Brennen so we had more company. I'm very sore today and I have a small bruise where I hit my shin with the blade of my skate as I fell (intentionally of course, with Tyler holding my hand and coming down with me..). After not falling the entire time we decided we had to fall just to say that we had to we basically jsut sat down and slid a few feet. Then proceeded to go forward about twenty feet wehre I was tripped by a friend and fell flat on my butt. Only to get up and about ten feet later fall again, this time with Shanda by my side.
Right on schedule on December 1 we got the first real snow fall. It's as if the world has decided to actually start winter and make sure that everyone knows. I dont' think anyone missed the memo.. Though it snowed so much it makes for some pretty pictures and for some amazing sunsets.
Last weekend I went to two parties with Shanda and at the first one I met a boy named Kai that looks so much like Rufio that it's scary haha. We've been talking the last week and he's a sweet kid. We're a lot alike and he's fun to talk to. Unfortunately, he is somewhat bitter right now because he thought that I was leading in for some major relationship, but I don't really want one right now and that kinda tore him down. Hopefully he'll get over it, but we'll see how things turn out. Saturday night was a blast and I watched Hairspray with a bunch of theatre friends from Riverton High School. We talked and laughed and had a fun time. I love spending time with them because I can truly be myself around them and enjoy their company.
Well that pretty much wraps up my last two weeks, now I'm off to make cookies for our neighbor that came over and helped us clear our driveway of the snow yesterday so that we did not have to shovel it..

Plays, Practice and Crazy Days

I found out that I did not win the scholarship nomination, but I am ok with that because the girl that I was up against has been dancing since she was only 2! And I have only been dancing for two years, big difference. Last week I attended two musicals, our school's, Aida, and Riverton's, Anything Goes. They were so much fun to go to and support my friends that I knew at each performance. There was outstanding singing and I was floored at the talent that I didn't even know of at my school! I supported my friends, which I discovered that I knew a lot of the cast memebers and it was a blast to see everyone and tell them that they are amazing.
I've been practicing a lot for cheer because we have our first qualifier competition on December 15th. With Thanksgiving being, well today, the long preparation for the meal and for shopping tomorrow has been crazy. I'm taking Laura to the airport tomorrow so that she can go up to Washington and visit Shane, and I'm also going shopping with about three million other people.. It will be exciting haha. I'm going to go up to Park City with mom becuase I promised her that I would go up with her and look through all the art museums up there. It has been something that she has wanted to do for a long time, but can never find any company to go with. I love art and I love to help when I can. I'm actually excited..
I've decided to do a service project for someone in need. You may not know, but my friend is getting a divorce and it is very hard on her, so I have decided to help where I can and I'm going over with my dad to fix a hole that has decided to set itself into her roof. With the cold times just around the corner I decided it would be nice of me to fix it for her. So while she is out of town for Thanksgiving, we are going to go over and sneak onto her roof and make the leak no longer a problem. When it rains outside, it rains inside too..
I hope that everything is going well with everyone and that you all had a happy Thanksgiving!