I'll Admit It...

I am obsessed. I have officially auditioned for the show and been in the studio audience twice. I have to watch the show every week and can spend hours watching old dances on Youtube. It's a problem.

Monday night I got an email saying I had tickets to So You Think You Can Dance again! This time I went with Wyatt, his friend Gideon, and our cousin Marlee. I had to teach dance Wednesday night though, so I got the tickets for Thursday night. We left about 4:30 am Thursday morning, drove to LA, stood in line for like 3 hours (and got sunburnt), and then finally got to see the show! We had great spots to stand - right next to the judges and right where the dancers came off the stage as they were told whether or not they were safe. And the judge we were closest to was the guest judge - Debbie Reynolds! I absolutely love her and was so happy to get to be so close to her. Anyways at the show we got to see LMFAO perform Rock Party Anthem with Quest dance crew dancing backup - but this was actually filmed and done aboout 40 minutes before the show started and not 40 minutes into the show like it is on TV. It was so much fun to go to the show again though, but if I get tickets again I want to go to the Wednesday night show cause it is super depressing to leave the studio after a bunch of dancers have gotten kicked off and all of the dancers are bawling their eyes out. So much fun though!

After the show we had to take Gideon down to Oceanside area of California to meet up with his family who had driven over there that day as well. But guess what is right between LA and Oceanside? San Clemente! So for dinner we stopped at Pedro's Tacos and then took it down to Calafia beach! It was like 9pm at this point though so we only stayed for about 15 minutes but it was wonderful to stand on the beach and put our feet in the water. And Pedro's. Mmm. Love that place. By the time we dropped Gideon with his family it was about 10pm and we still had to get to Yuma. Finally at about 1:30am I was able to go to bed - after having been up 22 hours and close to 12 of those hours were spent driving.

In total I was gone about 30 hours - 17 driving, 6 sleeping, 6 for SYTYCD stuff, and the rest eating/San Clemente. Exhausting trip - but for So You Think You Can Dance it was worth it.

Bellybutton. Breathe. Banana.

These are the directions we were given in how to jump out of an airplane. Lead out with your bellybutton, breathe through your teeth, and arch your body like a banana. Great instructions right?

Kenzie and I went up to Tooele, Utah - or near there - to skydive this morning! It was the one day we would both be in Provo and we wanted to do it before our birthdays and so off we went this morning! It was exhilarating! I absolutely loved it! On the ground, Kenzie and I were all smiles and super excited for this experience. We weren't nervous yet, but knew it would probably hit us on the plane ride up. When wefirst got there we had to watch a 20 min instruction video and told us if we died, we weren't allowed to sue them. And we had to sign something that said that too. Several different papers that said that. Basically we had to sign away our life and all desire to live. Comforting. Then we suited up in our awesome blue jumpsuits and headed to the planes!

The plane ride took about 10 minutes and we reached an altitude of 13,000 feet- about 2 miles above the surface of the earth. We started off all smiles on the plane and just enjoying the view. But then my instructor began strapping me onto him. I had to put on goggles. The door opened. My instructor told me to go towards the door. Kenzie was already out. I think my face below says it all.

Happy on the plane...

Scared out of my mind on the plane...

I had to go all the way to the edge of the door - with my toes over the edge. 2 miles above the earth. What if I wasn't hooked on right?! What if I fell out and my instructor didn't?! I had no chute on me! But next thing I know he's telling me to put my head on his shoulder and we are out the door! I am upside down looking at the ground! We did a full backflip and then we are free falling stomach down at speeds of up to 130 mph! It was amazing! We were going so fast - my cheeks were flailing, I could barely move my arms, I couldn't hear a thing, but it was fantastic!

After about a minute of free fall our chute opened and we were floating in the beautiful Utah sky! It was absolutely gorgeous. Using the cord things we did some fun spins and then my instructor and Kenzie's instructor steered us towards each other so we could yell to each other and talk. We had a great landing, I got all unhooked, and it was over! I was ready to go again. So much fun!

After Kenzie and I both got our picture CDs, we headed to the nearest food - McDonalds - and had a picnic in the grass. We pulled out my laptop and put each of our disks in laughing hysterically at our petrified expressions before we jumped out of the plane. This was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go again! I am so glad I had someone with me though that I know because it made it so much more fun to have someone to talk to about it that experienced it. We were talking about it while driving and decided that the adrenaline rush isn't when you are falling - but in the plane getting ready to fall. So fun though! Loved it.

13.1

My day today started out at 2:45am. Do you know how ridiculously early that is? It's like 3 hours of sleep early. After quickly getting dressed and eating some breakfast, my roommate dropped me off over at the Provo Towne Mall. I was lucky - or perhaps unlucky - enough to get on the first bus headed up the canyon. We headed about two miles north of Vivian Park which is a total of about 7 miles into the canyon. Upon our arrival we all exited the buses and there we were to stand for two hours. Why the buses run only from 3:30 to4:30am when the race doesn't even start until 6am is beyond me. So I got to the starting line a little more than two hours before the race even started. And I was already exhausted. Thank goodness they had fires going for us that we could stay warm next to - however the smoke coming from them soon became unbearable; going into our eyes and making us all smell just fantastic. Eventually I ventured away from the fire to go to the bathroom and wouldn't you know it, it was pitch black outside and no sort of light in the port a john. That was a great bathroom experience. At about 5:30am I headed down to the starting line to stretch and try to keep warm without the fire, and at 6am sharp the Provo mayor sent us on our way.

This was a beautiful run - very scenic and the weather was fantastic, but I need to saysomething here. I have a run a half marathon before. September of 2007 and it was in Disneyland. Disney goes above and beyond for everything - including its races. I think I definitely got spoiled on that race. Water and Powerade at every single mile, bathrooms at every mile, people cheering you on the whole way. It was a fantastic race and I felt kind of jipped while running this one. But alas, it wasn't scorching hot like the Disney one so I can get over only having water every other mile.

Before the race my goal had been simply to beat my previous half marathon time, which was 2:30, however I was hoping for somewhere in the 2 to 2:15 range. My goal was met! My end time was 2:01! Crossing that finish line felt so good - and my knees were screaming the hallelujah chorus. Somewhere in the middle of the race my knees started to ache, but once I stopped running my knees started to kill. I went and got a free massage at theend of the race and she worked around my knees, but the pain is bone not muscle. Hopefully in the next couple of days my knees will forgive me and let me go run again.

Speaking of running I have a couple of things I need to address. First of all, I am going to San Francisco and going across the Golden Gate Bridge - but it won't be until after my birthday in September. The reason for this being that I was running the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay! I am super excited for it and can't wait for the race. That being said, I know right now that there are a couple of things on my list that I won't be able to do before my 20th birthday because of costs. I will do what I can though and will keep the list and do the things I can't in the hopefully near future!