I made it....

And I think I will stick to quilting for awhile! :]

Fall Leaves

Noah, Taya, and I went to the park earlier this week and played in TONS of leaves! I thought I had missed out on my chance to check that item off my bucket list because the leaves are basically all gone in Utah, but amazingly there were some glorious piles of leaves at this park! As we were leaving the park Noah and Taya said that they love fall! Haha....too bad it's WINTER and December! But we will take any "fall" we can get here in Arizona. We had lots of fun playing and I had to kind of drag Noah and Taya home. It gave us something fun [and free] to do over break! :]

2 in 1!

One of my bucket list items was to see the Nutcracker. I looked into seeing a cheap one put on by a dance studio for when I would be home in Arizona, but most of them would no longer be showing when I would be home. So I started looking into seeing the Nutcracker up here in Utah. I took a history of Dance class last year, and my professor was always talking about Utah's professional ballet company - Ballet West. And lo and behold Ballet West was putting on the Nutcracker in Salt Lake City the entire month of December! So last night I went up to SLC and 1) saw the Nutcracker and 2) saw a professional ballet! All in one! And it was phenomenal! The principle dancers weren't even performing - it was their night off - and it was still superb! Not gonna lie, I got emotional during the Grand Pas de Deux cause it was just so beautiful and amazing! The ballerina's feet and legs were gorgeous! The whole thing was fantastic - I need to start going every year.

1 down - 19 to go

It is true. I have officially seen all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. Holy cow - those are LONG movies!! Especially the last one - it just kept going and going. I found the last half hour unnecessary but I guess I can truly sleep now without a doubt in my mind that everyone ended up happy in those movies. Overall they were really good and I am glad I finally saw them, so now when people reference those movies I will have some idea of what they are talking about (for example the scene in 17 again with the principal and friend is so much funnier to me now!) Maybe sometime in the future I will watch the extended editions of these movies, but for now I enjoyed myself and can mark one thing off my "bucket list!"

As a side note - So You Think You Can Dance auditions will be in Salt Lake on Feb 2 and so I will for sure be auditioning for that!

Carpe Diem

The other day at work [I stand in the same spot for 4 hours and have a lot of time to think] I was thinking about life. I was thinking about how I am currently 19 years old and on my next birthday I will be 20. I will no longer be a teenager. I will most likely graduate from college when I am 20 and then I will have to face the real world, get a real job. I am not ready for that at all! So I was thinking about this and then I started thinking about the movie The Dead Poet's Society. If you have not seen this movie, go and watch it right now. I think this is a fantastic movie. Anyways, in this movie Robin Williams' character is talking to his students and he says:

They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

I want to make my life extraordinary. And so to prepare for my twenties, I am going to do some extraordinary things. I have taken the last several days to really think about life and things that I want to accomplish in life. I have thought about things that I have always wanted to do but have never taken the time to do or have been too scared to do. And now I am going to do them. Before my 20th birthday, I am going to do these 20 things (in no particular order):

1. Skydive

2. Eat Sushi

3. Audition for So You Think You Can Dance – or Cougarettes

4. Travel – Visit [at least] 2 states I have not been to before

5. Read the Bible – both Old and New Testament

6. Drive [or maybe walk] across the Golden Gate Bridge

7. Learn words to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

8. Run ½ Marathon

9. Go to the circus (or Cirque du Soleil if the circus does not present itself available)

10. Eat a giant piece of Pollyanna-like cake

11. Hike the Y

12. Watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies

13. Read Jane Eyre – I have tried this once and got nothing out of it, so I am going to enjoy it this time around!

14. Make myself a dress – a cute dress that I will wear!

15. Attend a professional ballet

16. See the Nutcracker

17. Play in a pile of leaves

18. Visit 7 Temples I have not visited before

19. Ice Skate in an Outdoor ice skating rink

20. Better express my emotions

This blog is now dedicated to the documentation of my "bucket list" so to speak. And now wish me luck as I begin my journey of making my life extraordinary as I prepare to exit my teens and turn the big 20!

Cougartails

My family came up from Arizona for a couple of days while everyone was on Fall Break. It was so much fun to have them all here and eventually I will post pics and talk about what all we did, but I don't have all the pics yet - so for now here is what Wyatt and Noah were super excited for in Utah:

COUGARTAILS! That's right....my dad, grandpa, and brothers came to the BYU Homecoming Football game with me and we got some cougartails. Last year I told the boys about these delicious BYU delicacies and of course they were dying to have one. So we bought 3. One for Wyatt, one for me and Noah, and one for my Dad and Grandpa. It was the [almost] best part of the game.

For those of you unfamiliar with this BYU treat, here it is. A maple covered long john that is longer than Wyatt is wide. Oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Look at Noah enjoy that thing! He loved every minute of being at the game.

I think they enjoyed it too - even if they thought it was a bit too sweet :]

It ended up being a really good game even though BYU has been failing miserably this season [really, did we have to lose to USAFA??] We actually won this game! Which made it even more fun! The best part [even better than the cougartails] was probably after the game. We were walking outside of the stadium to the car and guess who is standing in the street - Elder L. Tom Perry with his wife! That's right. We all stood there for a minute just staring at him, but lots of people were shaking his hand and taking pictures with him, so we joined in the crowd. All 5 of us were able to shake his hand. It was so awesome! He is a very tall man too. As my grandpa said, he had a very firm grip, but his hands were so warm even though it was cold outside. You gotta love BYU and the many opportunities you have to meet/see various apostles and general authorities!

That's What You Get For Waking Up In Vegas...

I am smack in the middle of midterms week. But am I studying right now? No. I am facebook and blog stalking. I am tired of studying. So I will take a break from it and document my trip to Vegas last weekend!

My roommates boyfriend left on his mission this past week and so we all headed down to Vegas for his farewell! We went down Friday after classes, spent all day Saturday there, and then headed home Sunday evening - getting home close to midnight. It was a fantabulous trip! It was definately needed as a last fun event before midterms began. We stayed with a family that my roommate knows from her trips to Vegas and let me tell ya, we were treated like royalty! We were taken such good care of. Saturday we went to Lake Mead and spent the whole day on the lake wakeboarding, wake surfing, tubing, and just swimming. It was so nice to be in the sun! I actually got some tanness too - people at work commented on me looking tan! Haha but it was a well worth it trip!

Me and Kenzie and Saudalia as we left the Provo area!

The four roommates in front of the house we stayed at!

He will be such an awesome missionary!

Stopping at the chair in Beaver again on our way home from Vegas!

Now it is back to studying I suppose....only 3 more midterms, 1 paper, 4 days, and then my family will be here to play with me! :]