This Seems To Happen A Lot To Me

Lately I have been feeling kind of out of place. I am only 17 I do realize that and for a really long time I didn't actually feel like I was going to be a Senior in High School. Well life has kind of changed for me. I am SO ready to get into my Senior year. I am SO ready to grow up. I know that I have my whole life to look forward to and that I shouldn't waste my teenage years but what is the use?? I feel that way already.

I am in the Young Single Adults class for Sunday School. Every week is a struggle to finish the lesson. I haven't really learned a whole lot this year to tell you the truth. Dad has tried to talk to the Bishop about it but nothing has changed. I used to be really talkative but one week I just thought to myself, 'I'm am not going to keep doing this anymore. I am wasting my time as well as my teachers and the other kids in my class.' I haven't really been disruptive for a really long time. We didn't have a teacher two weeks ago, and we didn't know where we were supposed to go, and Dad, being the Sunday School President, didn't know that they weren't going to be there. I finally decided this last week that I am going to start going to my old teachers class. He teaches the year younger than mine, and I learned so much from him last year.

This whole issue with my Sunday School class isn't just the teachers though, there are only 17-18 year olds in the class... so much for Young Single Adults.... Those that are supposed to be in the class are rather on missions (we have 11 out right now and one is comming home in less than two weeks so hopefully he will help if he comes to the class), in the Mission prep class... which is good because they need that, or they teach primary. I want to teach primary when I turn 18 instead of going to this class and Young Womens. There are two girls in my Sunday school class that just don't stay on topic. One of them just talks and talks and talks and it's almost always about guys. The other one brings up things that she thinks have a lot to do with the lesson and at first they do but then she keeps rambling on and at the end we are off the lesson subject. Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but I just can't do it right now. I realize how stupid and immature I was and still am.

I don't know why I feel like this but I just do. I have been feeling like this a lot lately.

On a really crazy note (and quite sad actually), I only have one more year to dance at Lifehouse Performing Arts Academy. I am the only Senior so far. We might have another one if Grace Newman does come back to dance with us like she has said in the past. I get to do a Senior Solo and I don't know if I want to do the song I had originally planed. The song I was starting to do it to was All These Things by Stephen Speaks. If anyone has an idea, tell me! I need an idea.... and yes, I am listening to Atlantic right now Jess. ;) Anyways, I will be doing a lot of numbers this next year. I want everyone that can, to be able to come to my shows this year.

OH GOSH!! We are doing the Nutcracker this year again... and I can actually do it!!! Senior... no teachers doing any parts.... I have a really good shot at getting a heck of a solo! Cross your fingers! I am getting new Pointe shoes within this next week (dance is more important than going to New York... some of you may say other wise but that is how I feel) and I am going to try to go to the dance studio once a week and condition by myself... I might see if Rachel, or Katie, or Kenna want to come with me some days but I mainly want to be by myself while I am doing this. My dance teacher Lindsey Chant called me and told me that I needed to get ready. We are having auditions for the Nutcracker the first couple of weeks of dance, so in other words, by the end of August I should have had Auditions and the week after that or so I should know.

I am so so so so SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO excited!!! I am ready to get out there! Watch out world! Here I come!

Personal Progress

I have to say, I am quite proud of myself. I finished my Personal Progress and received my Young Womanhood Recognition medallion yesterday. I honestly LOVE this program. It has meant so much to me. I learned things about myself, my Heavenly Father, my Savior Jesus Christ, and the Gospel in general from this.

The Value Experience that I remember the most would have to be Integrity number 2. I didn't gossip for two weeks and I remember the few weeks that I didn't even associate myself with those that gossiped. It was not fun at all. I remember my friend Sierra being so mad at me because I told her I didn't want to hear the things that she was saying about one of my other friends. I agreed with a lot of the comments made by her and others at our lunch table but I kept it to myself. It was hard but I know that at least one of my friends was on my side. They came and sat with me and told me they were grateful that I stood up. Integrity was a really good one for me to do. I became such a better person.

Another one that touched my life was all of Faith. My testimony grew so much, and I more fully understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ because of this. I don't know what I would do without it. I honestly would not have any chance at getting Exaltation that is for sure. I am not the most humble person and I DEFINITELY have faults, but with the Atonement I can always repent of my sins and become a more humble person through Christ. I always have someone to turn to when no one else knows what I am going through. I had a really hard and stressful time of my life the past little while. I need to make a really hard decision but I didn't know what to do. I could talk to my friends but only two knew what I was going through. For a while I could only talk to them about my stress but one night while talking to one of them, it hit me. I have the most important people behind me to help me get through this. I had been praying about it but wasn't getting much back. I am still kind of in the air about one thing but I turned to Prayer with the faith that I would be okay and said, "I'm tired of figuring this out alone. I need to you be my co-pilot right now. It's your plane, your turn to fly." Just saying that helped. Jesus knows what I am doing, and what I am going through. He has felt my pain, but also my joy. I wouldn't be able to do this without him.

I am so thankful for this program! For all of the young girls (my nieces, Sarah, Alyssa, Abby, Leah, Lauren, Eva, Ella, and those to come) I strongly hope you get your Young Womanhood Recognition. You will love it, just as I have.

All About Tour

I am really bad at this. I never have anything to say because not much happens in my life. I am only in high school and I don't have much really going on.... I just never know what to say and I don't have a whole lot of time to do this but here I am, getting things updated.....

Tour was so great!! I didn't have a camera so the pictures are all from my friends. I love Seattle so much! We did so well at competition too! Concert Choir got a Silver rating and Second Place in our devision. Singers got a Gold rating and First Place in our division. We also got an invitation to go to any of the Heritage festivals from now on because we are now a gold member (Gold Rating... 1st year program?? OH YEAH!!) So because we got an invitation we can go on tour no matter what the district says! NEW YORK NEXT YEAR!! Oh gosh I am so excited!

The first day was crazy on Tour because we met at the school at midnight.... we didn't leave until one-thirty though. He said to meet at twelve because then if we forgot something or if we were just running late we could have that extra hour and a half to be completely ready. We rehursed our songs while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. When it arrived we put luggage on and got settled down. After that we headed to Bonneville, Idaho for an exchange with a choir up there. Mr. Bills knows the Choir Director there and it was a great expirence to meet the kids up there. When we were done we went back on the bus and went to Butte, Montana.... we had lunch up there. With lunch over we were officially headed for Washington. We stopped in Spokane for a bathroom break and then Moses Lake for dinner. We arrived in Seattle at about 12:00 am. We were so tired and we knocked out that night.

The second day was filled with touring the area. We went to the shopping area (the mall) and had an hour to ourselves. We just walked around and had fun. After the hour was over we were to meet on the third floor of the mall over by the monorail entrey. We took the Monorail to the Space Needle. I, being freaked by heights, was so scared to go up. I was litterally shaking so bad that you could see my knees knocking together. It was quite funny though because I loved being able to see Seattle from the top of the Space Needle. It was a great expirence. I doubt that I would be scared to go up again. After the Space Needle. We had some time to chill and some kids from Singers started singing.... Mr. Bills heard them singing and had Singers sing to the people around. Jordan Johnson took his hat as a joke and put it behind Mr. Bills. We earned $20! Crazy huh? When the bus got to the area we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was okay but not the best. There is a joke in our choir about fat jokes. The manager at the Rainforest Cafe went to Mr. Bills and said, "When you walked in we saw the size of your kids, so we made five more salads." Wow, that is the worst fat joke ever! We were promised a cookie but we didn't get one so two of our chaperones took the $20 we made at the Space Needle and bought us some cookies!! Yay for cookies!!

The third day was our Festival and we did pretty well, as you read at the top. We went to Tillicome Village for the Awards Ceremony and had.... Ew.... Salmon... I didn't take any Salmon because I hate seafood, everyone said that it wasn't very good anyways so it's okay. That night was so long. We had the whole day to shop after our Festival so we went to Pikes Market. It was way cool! Throwing fish... that whole place that is famous... that was cool, way cool.

The next day was Sunday and we went to church. It was a cool expirience singing for the members in Seattle. I will always remember that feeling of unity that we have in the church, no matter where you are, it is always there. Whether in Branson, Seattle, Utah... it was a really cool expirience. After Church we went to the Music Expirience Museam and learned about the history of Music (mainly Rock and Roll). After that we went to the Seattle Aquarium. I am not goign to say much because it was an aquarium and yeah... let's just say that the Otters are dirty!!! hahaha!!! I can't even explain because it was bad, not like grimy dirty.... I am not even going to try to explain. That was a hard night for me. I wanted to go home so bad because I was sick of the drama that I felt. It wasn't even bad but it just made me want to be home.

The last day was a day of bus. It was pretty boring. I slept a lot. We watched movies and then stopped and then another one. It was a relief when when we saw Salt Lake City. We were so happy to be in Utah and so close to home. We got in Utah at about midnight and I got home at 1:30ish..... I was so dead tired. I had seminary at 7:00am the next morning so it was a pretty hard day at school.

Tour was a really good and fun expirience. I loved Seattle. I can't wait to go back someday.

GO BLUE GO GOLD GO SKYHAWKS FIGHT!!

WE ARE THE SALEM HILLS SKYHAWKS
PROWD TO BE SALEM HILLS SKYHAWKS
STANDING UNITED WE WILL LIFT SCHOOL SPIRT
SOARING HIGH WE'LL SCREAM OUR CRY FOR ALL TO HEAR IT
WE ARE THE SALEM HILLS SKYHAWKS
RISING UP THROUGH SISTORY
PRESSING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEARS WE WILL VANQUISH ALL YOUR FEARS
FOR THE BLUE AND GOLD OF THE SKYHAWKS!
(The school song)

I just want to rub it in everyones faces that the Varsity Boys Basketball team is going on to the second round of state!! We were the 3A Region 8 Champions!!! I love our boys!!

News, News, and more News

I just thought with a new semester comming up for me, I should probably post some good news.

I had auditioned for dance company at the end of last year and I had made it.... Now I see that it wasn't the best choice for me. I have dropped out of the class and am now in my third choir class. I got offered to be in Singers. There are only a few Junior kids in the class and they were all boys at first but now Celeste Lee and I are now the only Junior girls in it. We both got offered to be in it. I am so ecstatic!

Things have been kind of iffy here at the homestead. I can't wait for today to be over so I can go to school. I love my schedule this semester. By they way.... more news...

LITTLE WOMEN:

FEBRUARY 2-5, SHOWS START AT 7:00 PM.

FEBRUARY 6-7, SHOWS AT 7:00 PM AND MATT. ON BOTH DAYS AT 3:00 PM.

I am in the green cast so here are the days that I perform...

February 2, 4, 6 (night), and 7th (matt.).

I play the part of Amy. The show is at my high school for those that can come... I really want you to come!! It is staged like a theater in the round. It is really good! I want to you come if you can!

Well there is the end of my good post... actually I have a question.... Is this picture a good one for a head shot??

Temple Square

For choir we just went up to Temple Square. I have never been able to sing up there because I have never been old enough. Here is the story:

So earlier that day we went to Mt. Nebo Jr. High School to sing and to introduce the choir at the high school. It was an okay performance. We definitely gave Mr. Bills a scare on the first performance and the second performance was quite a bit better. After that gig we went back to school and went to our third and fourth periods. I had a play practice for Little Women till four o'clock. The only problem was that we had to be at the school ready to get on the buses to go up to Temple Square at four. Knowing that earlier I brought everything that I needed to school.

Four came around and we had a couple minutes to talk with Mr. Bills. One problem though, something had happened with the bus scheduling. It had been taken off of the list. We don't know how but it did. We had to REschedule buses and find two bus drivers to drive us up to Salt Lake. We were supposed to be on the buses on our way to Salt Lake at 4:15 pm but we didn't get on them until 4:45 pm.

We had to be under the Assembly Hall at 5:45 pm. There was obviously no way that we could be there to practice before we got on. We would just have to get there and get on and perform our 40 min. show. We would have made it on time if it hadn't been for terrible terrible traffic. There had been an accident on I-15 south bound and north bound. It took us forever to get to the Assembly Hall. We ran off of the buses and into the hall immediately. Instead of doing our full 40 min. show we could only do a 15 min. show.

Our songs included Sing We Now Of Christmas, Lux (I don't know the whole tittle), and The First Noel. We did amazing!!! The best by far that we had ever sang any song ever! Colton Simons, Sarah Clark, and Ginelle Jack all play the piano amazing! Colton plays the organ also. On The First Noel, Sarah and Ginelle played a duet on a Steinway piano! Most beautiful piano I have ever seen in my life. The two of them played piano while Colton played the organ. He comes in later on in the song. When we got to the part where he comes in you could just feel the room rumble. It was the most beautiful experience in my life. Many kids in the choir along with me were on the verge of tears. It was so spiritual.

After Concert Choir performed Singers went and got changed to perform in the south visitors center. It was a very good performance. I was looking out at the Temple during Away In The Manger. It was just beautiful!

The bus ride home was so much fun. I was laughing my head off the whole time. I am so happy that I am going back up there on the 15th but this time all day long. I loved this experience and I am so very grateful for it.

Time to say something

Wow... its been a long time. Well there isn't really much to say because my life isn't very happy right now. I swear, do I ever go more than three months with out getting hurt of some sort? I just recently broke my toe. No joke either.

I just am living my life day by day and it's not very exciting. The only really exciting thing I have to say is that I am in currently in the play Little Women. I play Amy, the brat... yeah don't go there. We started blocking the other day and I have all my music memorized. I love it and the cool thing about this is that it is during school. It's for one of my classes that I am in. There is the occasional after school rehursal and what not but that's okay.

My 17th birthday is on Monday and I don't really know what I want. I guess I just want a perfectly healthy body. I don't want to get hurt anymore. I want my life to be my religion, and dance pretty much. I made a decision that no matter what the circumstance is, I am going to dance my whole life. I don't care if I get cancer and they say that I will die I keep dancing, that still wouldn't stop me.

So this post is really random. Here is a picture of my recent hair cut. I like it a lot. It's only been a week and it has already grown.