Thanksgiving

Pedicures with the girls :)

Contrary to thought... this is not child abuse... just an innocent haircut :)

THE REAL DEAL!!!!

Maddy!  You are so pretty :)

Okay, yes, I am very guilty, but it's been super crazy!  I love Christmas Break, and I'm hoping I can catch up on the rest of the year's events, before December 31st.  Thanksgiving in Temecula was awesome!  We spent about a week staying at Shannon and Andrew's and we had a blast!  In a week's time, Maddy got baptized (holy cow, time passes too fast), we got to have Thanksgiving together, the girls did some shopping on Black Friday, and just about everybody got sick.  Some other highlights of the crazy trip included movie marathons, Rich got to play show and tell with his medal, Gavin's first haircut, and a crazy Turkey Bowl that left Dan and Andrew limping for the rest of the week.  The girls went for pedicures on Friday.  I asked the lady doing my feet to not file my feet.  (I need the callouses for dance)... she misunderstand, and it took me about 20 minutes into the callous REMOVAL treatment to figure out what she was doing.  ...And yes, I did get to pay extra for it, because she didn't understand my English.  haha I guess it's just one of those things you have to laugh off.  Wow!  Can't wait for Thanksgiving next year :)

Oh the Places You'll Go!

So, this last week, Cherry Creek Elementary has been doing a reading campaign throughout their school. They invited a bunch of SHS student athletes to come read their favorite picture books to the kids. Erica, Taren, Syd, Ashby, and I represented the Drill Team. Taren, Erica, and I read to Mrs. Boyer's 3rd grade class, and I chose, "Oh the Places You'll Go," by Dr. Suess. Some of my favorite "kid-like" comments of the day were, "My friend Braiden saw you guys at recess and said you were hot!" and later from Braiden himself, "Ah! The room over got the cheerleaders!" We had tons of fun, and I would totally do it again in a heartbeat!

Back to School Shopping :)

I can't believe that the year is already winding down, and I feel like I missed posting so much stuff this year. It's crazy! Here's a cute picture of Ryan. We were back to school shopping in Salt Lake, and I'm sure this wasn't our first dressing room. Guess he'd had his fill for it :)

UVU Dance Day!!!

So every year, UVU (formerly UVSC) invites a bunch of High School Dance Companies to take a workshop at the school... and yes try to sway you to coming into their dance program. Well, I decided to try a class that I've had very little experience with in my life. I took a modern class followed by an African dancing class. It was INCREDIBLE! Pretty sure also, that was the best time I've ever had dancing. We found ourselves laughing while we were dancing, just because it was so much fun. African was totally a contrast from the formal, quiet, respect the placement of things... modern class. Because in African you can shout things (ya ya!) while you dance, you try to just have a good time (and it's hard not to.) We learned a work dance and a celebration dance called the Bwanga from Congo. We seriously had a great time. After classes we got to go make up a little bit of movement, grab lunch, listen to college requirements, and see a performance of the companies. It was a blast! Oh, and by the way, we were totally spoiled and got live musicians to play the piano for modern and the drums for African :) Again, AMAZING :)

Scentsy :)

So, my mom and I have recently started selling Scentsy. Scentsy is a wickless, safer version of the traditional candle, and I LOVE IT! It's been nice to have a flexible semi-job to help pay for my drill bills and to have a yummy smelling house :) We held our first party last month, and got our shipment from the party a week and a half later. Here are some pictures from the shipment (Ah, our family room was covered!)

SQUAD!

So, for those of you who are drill boughs... or those of you who have become drill team boughs because of me will know the word squad. Because of injury, not making grades, sickness, and unexpected problems that come up with girls on Drill, Mrs. A has to choose a squad for at least Military and Dance. Each squad contains 12 girls, so that there are substitutes if something comes up. So, in short, you have to work hard for your initial spot in the dance to start out, otherwise you don't perform or compete in it when the time comes. This week, the pressure was on, it was squad week. We had to do fuettes (these crazy turns that I'm finally almost able to do), headstands with slaps (again, a lot of Drill jargon, but I think a few of you will get it :), and we had to show off our splits. Yesterday, after school, squad was posted in the locker room, and this year I was picked for BOTH!! The real pressure is on now in the next couple of weeks before our first competition. (Now, I have to get an arial....cartwheel with zero hands! Ah!)

Dancing Under the Stars!

Okay, this post is for all of you So You Think You Can Dance junkies. :) I know I'm really behind, but I am trying to catch up. Towards the end of the summer a couple of the girls in my family had tickets to a show called "Dancing Under the Stars." I'd heard of it, but didn't think that it was going to be anything huge. I didn't have any plans the night of, so I decided to go with. Well, much to my surprise (A VERY GOOD SURPRISE) Chelsea Hightower, Gev, Kelli Baker, and Matt Dorame were all dancing in the show. There was Mandy Moore choreography in the show as well as a bunch of other big names from shows like "Dancing with the Stars." Oh my gosh, I was amazed by Gev, Chelsea, and Matt. Chelsea and Gev even did one of my favorites from the show... "These Arms of Mine." My time at the show was split between holding my camera to get videos of the dances that wouldn't even do the dancers justice, wishing I could move it like everybody on the stage, and actually taking it all in. And, yes, as you can see from the picture, I wasn't too afraid to ask for an autograph, and picture at the end. Matt is so tall! I felt ridiculously small:) I guess it kind of makes up for ditching out on tickets to the SYTYCD tour this year :)

1 Whole Year

Snow Fun if ya know what I mean:) Don't ask...

Mom and I at Universal :)

Art City Days... It was late... again, don't ask :)

My girlies at EFY :)

Looking back I just realized that it's been about a year since I started this blog. I've loved it. It's been kind of a journal... just one I could share with everybody I know. Sometimes I can't believe how fast time passes and all the amazing things that could be crammed into one year.
Some of the highlights... and other random hilarious events have included:
-Meeting Benji Schwimmer
-Saying goodbye to Lauren :(
-Going to Newport... yes I still need to blog about this:)
-Everything and anything related to Drill
-Watching my own little sis at Stadium of Fire
-Singing in General Conference
-...and so much more!

A good laugh...

This is pretty funny, and according to the press, "Joe the Plumber" was said 22 times in the course of this McCain/Obama debate. Anyway, enjoy!

Wearing Grandpa's Tie:)

Last night Springville played Toelle and won!!! However, last night was really great for me as a drill-teamer especially. The dance we performed at half-time was a dance routine choreographed by the BYU Cougarettes. We decided it would be cute to wear over-sized dress shirts and ties with our dance pants. So, last night I got to wear Grandpa's tie. It was a little way to remember him, but it was a GREAT performance for us as a team, and I know that he was watching. Yeah, only grandpa would wear a tie that combined Tabasco and golf, but I loved it. It was definitely a performance that I won't forget any time soon!

The Heart of Autumn :)

I once had a quote that I loved that had to do with the heart of autumn bursting and creating all of the beautiful colors on the trees. I've always loved autumn, and I love driving to see the leaves. (It's one of my favorite parts of the season) So this last week we drove up to Hobble Creek on Sunday, and then up to Aspen Grove and Sundance for Family Night on Monday. Some of the pictures are behind car windows, but Lauren I just don't want you to forget how pretty it is here so you'll come back someday:) Here were some of my favorites:)

AH!!! Golden Birthday :)

So for years I've heard that the official term, for when you turn the same number as the date of your birthday, is called your "golden birthday". So this year when Emily and I said, "Oh hey, it's our golden birthdays." We all got the same response... "You guys aren't turning 50." Anyway, but I love the birthday week:) It's great to share something like that with my sisters, and it's a fun thing for the entire family to look forward to. This year mom made lunch for my friends and I to come home to. We had a lot of fun just chatting, and eating YUMMY food. We also had the family party on the Sunday before my birthday. Because I am so terrible at getting thank you notes out, I will both apologize and thank everybody who deserves one. Thank you guys for all of the sweet gifts, and just being there. I love you guys:)

Homecoming Week!!!

Okay, so here they come... the long awaited pictures of Homecoming Week! I love Homecoming (aside from the early mornings every day for Drill), and here were some of the highlights. :)Enjoy
By the way, the theme this year was "A Hero's Homecoming"
A lot of the captions are directed at Lauren, but just for explanation's sake...
This year the S was lit by sending a pitchfork down on a zip line thingy. It was really cool!
We won our football game against Provo 21-51! Crazy stuff!!! The game was great, and this year is Mrs. A's 25th year as Drill Advisor, so we got to celebrate with her which was a lot of fun:)
I didn't get any good pictures of Royalty. (Meggie Savage(4), Callie Gandolph(3), Taylor Steed(2), Emily Eager(1), and Queen: Emily Young) All of which I LOVE!
The dance was way fun... even though the pictures weren't organized so much and half of the date was spent in line for the pics. Oh well:) We had a blast!!!!
Go SHS!!

Just thought I'd let you know...

MY COUSIN WON A GOLD MEDAL ON SUNDAY!!! Yes, that's right, my cousin, and now that I look at it, there's at least three of you related to him too. haha Our whole family got together to watch Rich Lambourne lead the U.S. Men's Volleyball Team to their first gold in twenty years! It was so amazing to watch someone we all love reach the top of their game (literally.) We love you Rich and we're so proud of you! Here also is a really cool commercial Rich did for Johnson and Johnson thanking his mom. We love you Anne:)

NO TEMPTATION!

The Week of Accents:)

So one of our counselors at EFY, Derek, had this idea that there should be a funky accent for every day of the week. As he outlines in this video, there is Mexican Monday, British Tuesday, Indian Wednesday, The Tongue of Angels on Thursday, and France Friday. He kept us laughing, and made EFY so much fun! (No Temptation, No No, Temptation-tation:))

A Steal of a Deal!!!

So my mom found this great yard sale going on in our neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, and I must say, we found a true bargain!!! It turns out the wife of the family used to own a bridal and prom shop up in Idaho, and after getting rid of the shop, she was trying to get rid of her leftover inventory. The four dresses that we picked out are going to need jackets to cover the sleeveless-ness, but we figured that and altering will be a lot easier (and cheaper) than trying to round up a whole dress for a dance. We picked up the four dresses and jewelry to go with it for a grand total of: $25!
Now I guess I just have to find some guys to go with the dresses, right? ;)

Girl's Camp!

Okay, so basically I know I'm a month or two behind on events, but here is the long awaited slide show of Girl's Camp Pictures... I'll let the pictures tell the stories... It's better that way anyway.. Love you all, I'll try to get EFY pics and videos up soon:)

Cousins!

#1. Best Buddies:)
Ryan: "I miss Drew":)

#2. Saving the world from chaos...or creating it?

#3. Isn't he cute?

#4. Audrey was our little hairdresser:)

#5. Drew's first haircut:)

From the 4th of July up until this last week we've had our cousins in town! From sleepovers, to movies, to the Children's Museum, it's been a blast! It was so sad to see them go home, and we can't wait to see them again:) I wanted to post some of the things we did individually, because they are such funny stories, but here are some pictures we took throughout the week of different things.

Happy Independence Day! :)

The 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays. To me, it is a day to reflect on the Lord's hand in one of our greatest blessings- our country. This year was NO exception:) We went to the Parade in Provo... Parade: slightly lame, but hanging with family was GREAT:) After the parade, we headed back to Diana and Kip's house to have a BBQ. I seems like it's been a while since we've had so much family at a gathering. The one person missing though was Emily. She decided to dance in the Stadium of Fire for the second year in a row with some friends. (We got tickets through her studio and through intense mouse-clicking in the 8 minutes that they sold out:) So that night, we headed off to Stadium of Fire. We got there and it was a little debatable- freedom pageant or Hannah Montana concert. It was a great show. Some of our favorites were the Dancers (obviously) and the Blue Man Group. Of course, the high-pitched screams were LOUD reminders that thousands of little girls were really there for Miley Cyrus. Emily actually had a chance to meet her, and talk with her for about three minutes. Out of all of the things they could have talked about, they chose to discuss Dippin' Dots.... She still says somebody snapped a picture, so I'm waiting for that, and then I will definitely post it. Not to mention, the fireworks were ABSOLUTELY SPARKLING! I can't wait for the 4th next year:)