M-I-C-K-E-Y...

...M-O-U-S-E!! Oh how I love that mouse and the magic of his home. My family used to go to Disneyland literally every single year. I feel like it started out being at the end of April to celebrate the end of tax season but then it got to the point where we were going 6+ times a year. Yeah, I know. We were addicted. But in the last couple years we haven't gone nearly as often. In the last year and a half I have been for one day. I haven't gone on the new Star Tours or the new Little Mermaid ride nor seen the new show in California Adventures that is on the water. I still do not know when I will be able to make it back to Disneyland, but I do know this - come December 15th I am headed to Orlando, Florida and going to DisneyWORLD!!

Kaitlyn is working at Walt Disney World this semester as part of the college work program (check out her blog here to see what she is up to - although she very well may kill me for putting that link) and as of this afternoon I officially have a flight booked to spend 5 glorious days in Florida going to the parks! Not only will she be able to get me into the parks for free (and two people who will hopefully be coming with me) but we also get 50% off at the amazing resort she works at! Seriously, when will I ever get to do a trip like this again? It might be pricey for my poor college student budget, but it's FLORIDA and DISNEYWORLD and I am getting an amazing deal!

This is also our first time ever not living right there together though and not gonna lie it is kinda weird. I am super excited to go spend a week with her and have fun over on the other side of the country. Well, that's my big news. Oh and since I will have a layover in Denver, I can count this as going to two states that I have never been to before.

Now if only there was a way to make 31/2 months go faster...

Summer Reading

I have discussed my love and addiction before, so I will not bore you with another rant on that topic. Rather here is a photo of all the books I have purchased this summer - this does not include the many other books that I read.

Here is a list of the books pictured above with my opinion on them [keep in mind I am very easily entertained]

1. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - This wasn't my absolute favorite, but it was a good read. Explored a topic that I personally did not know very much about and had me near tears several times. Had some language to it but overall it was good.

2. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - LOVED this book! It was a fast read, clean book (which isn't the easiest to find), and it really makes you think about what is important in life and where your priorities should be.

3. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - This was another book that I absolutely loved! This is a nonfiction book about runners and why humans are designed to be runners. After reading this book I wanted to get a pair of barefoot running shoes...but I haven't been fully converted to that yet!

4. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - I haven't actually read this one yet (I just got it for my birthday) but I read another book by Gladwell earlier this summer and love his style so I am excited for this one.

5. One Day by David Nicholls - This was another book that I was just satisfied with and not overly enthused about. It had some language, but was a very unique book (each chapter was a year apart showing a single day in the friendship of two people). I was disappointed with the ending though, it was kind of depressing, which left me simply satisfied with it. Although I am planning on seeing the movie!

6. Room by Emma Donoghue - I started this book today and so far I love it. It is told from the point of view of a five-year old, so a very ugly situation is portrayed through an innocent mind. And from what I have heard about it, this will probably be a tear jerker.

7. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks - I have not read this one yet either - another birthday present - but it is Nicholas Sparks. I love his books. Granted they are predictable (stranger comes to small town, has a secret, falls in love with someone from the town, they secret comes out in inconvenient circumstances, but they get through it and live happily every after), but I love a good romance. I'm a sap.

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - SO GOOD!! I loved this book! Very interesting and gives you a different perspective on why people are successful and why some are not. I would recommend this book to any one. It is a sociological sort of book, but it is written in a very entertaining manner. This is probably my number one recommendation right now.

9. 127 Hours by Aron Ralston - This guy's story is incredible. I got this book because I had seen the movie and wanted to read the real story. The book is great, but while reading it I kept thinking he had it coming because he was always in life threatening situations. This one had language too, but then again he had his arm pinned to a wall for 127 hours too soooo, I don't blame him there.

10. Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood - Have you seen the movie? It's almost exactly the same. So I was kind of bored reading it since it was so similar, but it was good and there were some differences. I enjoyed it and I am sure I will read it again.

Teenage Dream

Welp. My teenage years are over. Just like that I have left behind my teen years and am entering the world of adulthood. Yikes. Haha, just kidding! I know this is super ridiculous but I already have fears of getting older. Hence the reason behind the 20 things to do before turning 20 - I needed something to get me excited about being 20. And let me just say it definitely helped because I am so ready for this 20th year and what it might bring!

There are a couple of things on my list that I wasn't able to finish but by the end of the year I should hopefully have them done. I am planning on going to Florida to see Kaitlyn at the end of this semester (she is going to be working at Walt Disney World and will be able to get me into the parks!) and then I am going to be driving across the Golden Gate bridge in just a couple of weeks because I am running a Ragnar Relay in San Francisco and part of the route sends us right over the bridge. I can play through Nearer My God To Thee but I am super slow with it so I won't pass it off just yet. Since starting this I visited the Las Vegas Temple and Draper Temple, but wasn't able to make it to any other ones that I hadn't already been to - but hopefully I will make it to a few more this semester! The last thing on my list was expressing emotions, which is something that is hard for me to do (I just keep everything in and then something dumb will happen and it will be the straw on the camel's back that makes me burst into tears and I end up sobbing uncontrollably - it drives my dad crazy) but I have definitely been getting better about it, though I am not crossing it off yet cause I just feel weird doing that! So yeah, I did everything else on my list and had an absolute blast doing it!

My summer break is just about over, but it has been a great summer! Just one year left to go and I will be a BYU graduate! Woohoo!!

Livin The Life

Or not so much. But either way I have been having fun and am happy to be home for a little while! As soon as I got home for the summer I started teaching dance again at Dance Element. I can't say enough how much I love this studio and how well they treat me. I missed the first two weeks of the summer session but they gave me 3 classes and plenty of subbing hours anyways. I got to teach Taya too which is always fun. She is getting to be a good little dancer, picks it up really fast and is going to be taking a lot more classes in the fall!

The last day of class my family literally picked me up from the studio and we headed off to California for some beach time with the Hatch family. We were bummed we didn't get to go with the Rogers crew this year, but next year we will be there!

This is Wyatt, our cousins Marlee (Wyatt's age) and Pyper, and Gideon (Wyatt's friend who has become an adopted cousin on that side).

The always needed game of bocce ball. And I bet Noah won that game even though he was the youngest one playing.

Hyrum and Jake - some of the cutest little boys you will ever meet!

Here is Taya in Kaitlyn's sunglasses and our dad's t-shirt that she got out of his closet and packed for herself without any of us knowing until we got down to the beach and she pulled it out as a cover up after having played all day.

After a week of reading some great books including One Day, Sarah's Key, and this wonderful treasure I discovered, getting some color into my new Utah sun deprived skin, and trying out a paddle board for the first time (and trying to dance while on it!) I am now home getting ready for a last few adventures before heading back to school. On the list:

• A weekend in Prescott with Kaitlyn and maybe some other siblings (if they are nice to us :)
• My 20th Birthday!
• A week in San Diego
• Finishing the SYTYCD season (I am rooting for Melanie!)

It has been a pretty good summer so I can't complain, although I am ready for some structure back in my life. I have a few things left on my list that I would like to accomplish and maybe this weekend I will knock one of those off by making this delicious Pollyanna-esque cake!

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!