Past and Present

Recently my family and I got the opportunity to go and see "The Lion King" up at Capitol Theater. It was AMAZING! One of my new favorite musicals. I personally am a HUGE musical geek. So to have this one be one of my favorites is saying a lot haha. Who all went was me, my mom, Kodei, Alex, Dixie, and my Grandma. It was so much fun getting all dressed up and spending the night listening to great singing and watching amazing dancing. Here are some pictures.























































Then my little cousin Kodei posted some pictures on Facebook from when we were kids, I thought I would share them.

9/11/01 Where were you?

Today we remember the day when our country was changed forever. On 9/11/01 I was in 5th grade at Rees Elementary in Spanish Fork, Utah. I had walked to school that morning and had heard the bell to line up for your class. As I was standing in line, Skyler Hardman came up to me and my friends from class and told us that he just heard the Twin Towers had been hit by two planes. At that time I was so young I didn't know what the Twin Towers were, but I was very scared. We all went into our class rooms and Mr. Ballard (my teacher) taught us of what the Twin Towers were. The rest of day we sat in our chairs watching the news. They kept showing the towers falling over and over again. I remember sitting in that little chair just crying, because I knew many innocent lives were lost. That night our president at that time George W. Bush had declared war. I went to bed sobbing, so scared for our country. Nine years later and we are still fighting over seas. I'm so grateful for those men and women who sacrifice their lives each and everyday for our wonderful country. 9/11 was a terrible day, but the good that came out of it was our country was brought closer together. I am so thankful for America and to live in this beautiful country. GOD BLESS!!

Happy Labor Day

I Needed This Today

First Day of School

Today Kodei, Chyanne, and Bailly started school. Kodei started his 9th grade year and last year of Jr. High. I can't believe how old he is getting. In just a few months he will be able to get his drivers permit. It makes me feel so old. Chyanne started her first day of first grade. She was so excited to be going to all day long and yet starting another year of school. Mr. Bailly started kindergarten. It's just crazy how old these kids are getting. Tomorrow I start my sophomore year of College and I am so excited to be back in school. Tomorrow night the Fine Arts Committee is throwing a concert in the courtyard with The Brobecks. I will be working the popcorn machine so come in and see me.

I received my grant for school, which means that since I got that, I get my scholarship that matches my grant dollar for dollar. Last semester I went through some major depression and then a medical condition that bounded me to the bed for a long time. Because of these, I pretty much failed all of my classes and got medically withdrawn from some other ones. I'm very happy to say that I am happy and excited for school to start back up. With me receiving this grant and scholarship it just makes this semester so much better!!

Vacation

Vacation this summer was much needed and was amazing! I miss California and wish I could go back. Here are some pictures from the trip.

2 Days

I can't believe that in just two days I will be leaving for California. In three days I will be relaxing on the beach having a ton of fun! I'm so excited.

California in

6 Days!!!!

California in just

8 days!!!!! SO EXCITED!

Anxious

I'm getting so very anxious for my long over due vacation to Huntington Beach, California. I'm so very grateful to have a loving aunt who lives there and opens up her home to us whenever we come out to visit. She lives about a mile away from the beach. It's the most amazing place on earth. I love it there. The last time I was there was June 2009. That's over a year now, and I need my vacation before I go insane. School starts in less than a month and I need to get away before life happens again. Although I am very excited for school, I need my time away from Utah. 11 more days and I will be laying out on the beach.



This is me last summer at Huntington Beach, while my family and I were having a bonfire. Such a great night.

Summer

Wow, this summer has just be amazing. I have been working a lot more which means I have been able to save up money for school. I also have been able to go on some amazing camping trips and get closer to friends and get to know them better. We are going to Arizona in September and going camping down there as well, which should be super fun! Thankfully I have hung out with my amazing cousin Alex a lot more lately which has been needed. She is my best friend and I love her so much. Today my mom, myself, Marva and her family, minus Kodei, were able to go have a BBQ with a friend whom I haven't seen in years; and that was fun to catch up and just relax. In the next few weeks I'm going to be working and getting ready for my summer vacation to California. We will be leaving August 5th and while there we will shopping, laying at the beach, going to Disneyland, going to see the musical "In the Heights," and just relaxing, then on our way back on the 13th we will be stopping in Las Vegas and staying at the Plaza hotel there. They have a rooftop pool that I am way excited about. We will then travel to St. George and go see "Cats the Musical" one of my favorites and then come back to Utah Valley. After coming home from California, I will be getting ready to start my Sophmore year of college. In September the family and I will be going to the Capitol to see "The Lion King" and I am super excited for that. Also we will be going to Arizona for one last camping trip. What an amazing summer this year! I couldn't be more grateful for my friends and family always being there for me.

Camping-WHOOP WHOOP!

I just love camping. This past weekend my mom, Alex, and myself went up to Weber Campground for camp vention, an NA (Narcotics Anonymous) vention. All I can say that it was full of high and low moments. Someone lost their life to the disease of drugs. His campsite was right by ours and it was very hard to be there with all of the cops, his family, and still keep a positive attitude and have fun. THANKFULLY we had the Bray family. The most amazing family next to mine. Everyone in their family is amazing in their own way. I know that they have changed my life and my moms, my moms especially. All and all, this camp vention was so much fun and we were able to get closer to our friends. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

This is the amazing man-made reservoir by the campground.


This is me and my cousin Alex at the reservoir.

4th of July Weekend

This past weekend was full of fun and work. Saturday I was able to go to the Stadium of fire with my family. It was so much fun sitting there with all of the little kids and enjoy some time together. Sunday I worked for 8 hours til about 12:30 in the morning, then waking up at 7:30 the next morning to go to the Provo Parade. I have always loved going to the parade. Never missed a year, and I'm not planning on missing any in the future. I was fortunate to see some friends in the parade and you all looked amazing. After the parade my ENTIRE family had a 4th of July celebration bbq. It was fun seeing family members I haven't seen in awhile. I was able to sit down and talk to my cousin Jamie, who I haven't talked to you one on one in months. We had little ones running around everywhere and had some amazing food.

I have work these next few days and then on Thursday my mom, me and Alex will be heading up to Ogden to go camping til Sunday. I'm super stoked to get away from work and my phone and just relax. Can't wait for Thursday! Camp Vention here we come!!!

Waterfall

Yesterday we had a fun filled day. It started out with me, my mom, Marva and her husband and 3 kids and my cousin Hayden all going to the Payson Waterfall. It was so much fun. Then we went to my works softball game. We lost but it was a good game. After that we went to the drive-in with Hayden and saw Toy Story 3, which I cried in, and The Prince of Persia, which I fell asleep in ha. Here are some pictures from yesterday. I will soon have pictures up from this 4th of July weekend! HAPPY 4TH!

Eclipse

Okay, I know all these little girls get way to excited for the Twilight movies to come out. Every year, since they started coming out into theathers, my family gets tickets for the midnight showing for that movie. It's always been fun and I enjoy the experience of hanging with my family and watching these movies. Last night I got off work and went to the theater in Orem and met up with family members. It was way exciting this year because we has assigned seats and didn't have to worry about the hustle and bustle of trying to get a good seat. It was relaxing in taking our time to walk to our line to go to our theater and meeting up with the family. Once we were inside, our family went and got popcorn (kettle corn at the Orem theater is AMAZING) and then sat in our seats talking and having fun.

The movie was so good. It was the best out of the three. I personally thought at some parts it was just slow, but I was excited for the action scene because it's my favorite part in the book. I thought they did the fight scenes extremely well in this movie. The effects were so good.

I know a lot of people don't like the Twilight books or movies, but I do. I am very happy with this new movie and excited for it to come out on DVD and watch them some more.

ALSO in November Harry Potter pt 1 is coming out and I am SOOO excited for that movie to come out. Me and Kodei (my little cousin) are going to get midnight showing tickets! So excited for those last two movies to come out. Pt 2 is coming out July 2011, I believe.

Pretty much, I am excited for this next year of movies!

Favorite Song

So I've been watching the new show on ABC Family, Pretty Little Liars. I really like it, but my favorite part of the show is the theme song for it. So I decided to look in iTunes and try and find it..and I did. The song is called Secret by The Pierces. You have to check it out. It's a pretty awesome song. I downloaded a bunch of their songs because they have such a unique sound to them. I love it!!!!

Secret By: The Pierces

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it, in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret
If one of the m is dead…

Why do you smile
Like you have told a secret
Now you're telling lies
Cause you're the one to keep it
But no one keeps a secret
No one keeps a secret
Why when we do our darkest deeds
Do we tell?
They burn in our brains
Become a living hell
Cause everyone tells
Everyone tells…

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it, in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret
If one of the m is dead…

Look into my eyes
Now you're getting sleepy
Are you hypnotized
By secrets that you're keeping?
I know what you're keeping
I know what you're keeping

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it, in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret
If one of the m is dead…

[spoken]
Alison?
Yes, Katherine.
I have something I want to tell you, but
you have to promise to never tell anyone.
I promise
Do you swear on your life?
I swear on my life

[end spoken]

You swore you'd never tell…
You swore you'd never tell…

You swore you'd never tell…
You swore you'd never tell…

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it, in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret
If one of the m is dead…
(chorus x 3)

Yes two can keep a secret
If one of us is…. Dead.

Happy Fathers Day, Mom!

I'm lucky to have a mom who is so amazing that she plays the role of the father. My mom is always there for me. She is my biggest supporter. So I just wanted to say how much I love my mom and Happy Fathers Day, Mom!!!

I'm Home!

I finally have gotten all of my stuff back to my moms house. I can't even express the exciting running through my body now that I am back home. I was having so many anxiety attacks and depression going on at my apartment. Once my roommate Erin told me she was officially going back to California, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay in that apartment with two girls who don't speak English. As I lay in my bed, I think back on how much I have learned in just a few months of living on my own. It was such a great learning experience for me to get away and branch out. It was both a great and stressful. I had laughs and I had tears. Through and through, I AM HOME! I can clean the kitchen and it actually stay clean for more than 5 minutes, I can watch T.V. and not have guys coming in and out of my house, I can sleep at night w/o having someone coming in and out of my room. Ah the feeling of my own room and not being around annoying roommates. Yay!!!

As a wise girl once said, "There's no place like home!"

So Sad

Yesterday around 3 p.m. a girl who lives in my apartment complex was raped and beating within an inch of her life. It literally happened right behind my apartment. I have not been able to stop thinking about this. When those terrible things were going on, I was sitting in my apartment, watching T.V. and having fun. If only I could have heard anything I might have been able to stop it. It just frustrates me that people can be so disgusting and do such things to young and talented young women. I couldn't stop thinking about this so I thought maybe if I came to my moms and get away from the crime scene and all of the cops asking questions, maybe I wouldn't think about it so much. It's not working out the way I wanted it to. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and her family. She is a true hero for fighting for her life.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=11117274

The Hunger Games Series

Once again I have finished reading The Hunger Games Series. Whenever I find myself not wanting to read, I pick up these books. Once I start reading, I can't put them back down. I always try and picture myself as Katniss and think to myself how in certain situations I would do somethings different, but I know that whatever she does, she does for a reason. One thing in particular really bugs me is how she treats her mother sometimes. I understand that she is mad at her mom for the way she treated her and Prim after their father died, but come on, you are holding a grudge for way to long there. Personally, I love both Peeta AND Gale. I think they are both great and amazing characters. I do think that Gale is the right guy for Katniss. I'm Team Gale, if you would say haha. If you haven't read these books yet, here's some advice... GO and read them. They are so intriguing and you will be hooked from page one. My favorite books of all time..

I have heard that they are making a movie of this as well. They are going to be making a decision of a director this sumer and start filming in January 2011. The movie would be released later in 2011.

The first book is The Hunger Games and the second is Catching Fire. The third book Mockingjay will be out in August (and yes I already have it pre-ordered ha).