Helllloooo? Is this on?

Whats up guys! So I haven't actually written on this thing in a year minus a day... whoa! I feel like I was just updating this! Seriously, you think you're on top of something, then you realize, wow. I biffed that one. ;)
So what's new with me? Hmm. Well. I'm sure the list can go on and on with everything that has happened to me in the past year. Hey, what the heck?

• I finished my sophmore year
• I finally went to Utah (on a different trip lol)
• Drove to Kimmy's house! (In Wyoming...)
• Gained a nephew and a niece
• Participated in our stake Trek! Made new friends =)
• Danced in the "Deja Vu" dance show at school. Advanced class
• Started my Junior Year! (Advanced dance again, Chemistry, Math Analysis, AP Lit/ U.S. History)
• Got totally sick during Halloween...
• Had my seventeenth birthday! Had Red Velvet cheescake =D
• Participated in the "Opposited Attract" dance show at school. Choreographed and performed a small group number! (like a boss =P)
• Spent New Years in Tempe, crashed their stake dance. =)
• Got invited to go to D.C. and NYC over spring break!
• Started second semester of my junior year! (Pre-calculus, choir, PERFORMANCE dance, and AP Lit/US History)
• Started my first season of tennis. (Still totally suck. Haha!)
• Gained a new sister, Courtney Bourgeous!
• Had my entire family here for the first time in four years. One of my favorite weeks that I've had in four years. =)

Hmm, so I think that might be all. Well, that's not all that has happened, of course, but those are the big things. =) SOOOO! Today is friday, tecnically saturday, and I leave on a plane for DC on monday! Holy cow! I cannot believe how fast this came! It'll be super fun and I cannot wait to expand my horizons. Haha. It'll be a hoot. =)

Officially Mormon..... =)

"What kind of Mormon are you if you haven't been to Utah!?"

That's the response I ALWAYS get when I tell other members of the church that the closest I have ever been to Utah was the Grand Canyon... Fortunately, this is about to change!
As we allllll know, General Conference is coming up! And I will have the amazing opportunity to attend the Sunday morning session! Woooooo hooooo!!!!

As you can tell, I'm extremely excited. =)

So these are plans as far as I know. Leave either Thursday or Friday, drive 12 hours, get there, do a ton of site seeing for however many days we are there, go to conference on sunday, and leave directly afterwards. Yes, you can see I don't know the trip detail for detail, but it will definately be awesome!!!

I'm Addicted......

So, about a month, I ran out an important necessity that every girl needs.... and I had heard of this new product, so I though, eh, sure. I'm a sucker for stratigic marketing.....

Okay, so this stuff is like..... how do I put this........ AMAZING?! I was thoroughly surprised at how awesome Maybelline's Baby Lips turned out to be. I got the Peppermint babylips in the line-green tube, and I used it all up in about a month. It goes on like butter, and keeps your lips moisturized and awesome. I just bought my second tube today. I must say, I'm addicted.

Some insight?

So, BIG NEWS! Tomorrow, at exactly four o'clock, I go in to receive my patriarchal blessing! Whooooo hooooo!

I'm super duper excited, mostly because it will hopefully give me some insight to some of the things I'm gonna do with my life, which would be fantastic. I'm sorta confused a lil' about that one, but hey, at least SOMEONE knows whats up.

And tomorrow he's gonna let me in on some of it. =D

It Burns!!!

So, I have set a new goal for myself. In reality, no one reads this blog, but if you do, and you want to join in with me on this little goal of mine, feel free!

GOAL?!

Run! Run run run!

My personal goal for myself is to run a mile, just one, every day after school. Yes. Every week day. I excluded weekends just for fun. =D

And in case you are a nosy freak who has to know everything about me (JK!) I'll tell you what originally sparked this almost mental idea.

About a week ago (a week ago today, in fact!) we had to run the mile in P.E. I was so scared I almost cried. In fact, I think a tear or two ran down my cheek while no one was watching. Eeeek! I was petrified that because of my knees, hips, and sometimes weird ankles, I wouldn't be able to finish the "fitness test." And it wasn't without hesitation that I stepped up to the starting line on my high school's track. When she blew that whistle, it was that "Oh crap" moment that we all have sometimes. But I ran. I pushed and I pushed myself to keep going. But that only lasted about 15 seconds... It turned out that I had to jog the long sides of the track and walk off the excruciating cramps on the bends. Still, at exactly 11 minutes, I crossed the finish line. 4 laps around the track. There were still girls behind me, but I wanted to be able to do better.

Another reason to run a whole mile every day mon-fri is because I have Trek this summer! It will be so fun! Still, I understand that it was take a hard toll on me everyday physically, and because I have some extra strengthening to do in pretty much every joint in my body below the waist, I need to train NOW. I also need that strength in general, so that will be good. =)

Another plus? Nice legs man. Who doesn't want to have some of those? ;)

I have already been running. In fact, the other day, I nearly jogged a whole mile all the way through WITHOUT STOPPING. You have no clue how huge that is. =)

Unfortunately, my running will be put off until next week. I fell on my knee Ice Skating at our Priest Laurel activity, and then it started acting up. =( The chiropractor said I strained one of the ligaments, but he did something thats supposed to help, and he says that running will help with everything a whole lot!

Soooooooo. yeah. I'm gonna run. =D

Venting and Ranting.

2011 Was a hard year, a year for growing, and in the end, very rewarding. God has his mysterious ways of bending and twisting people from ordinary people to great men and women who will become amazing tools in his hands to bring to pass his works. Things happen, both good and bad, that change people and families, and teach us lessons. We have to learn to laugh together, as well as cry together and bear one another's burdens. We have friends who pick us up and carry us along in ways unimaginable. The Lord has put people in my own path who have helped me to grow in his ways even more so than I already have. He is certainly watching out for me, and for that, I am thankful. And while I witnessed many heartaches this year, I stuck with the Lord. I never lost faith that he knows exactly what he was doing, and that with him, nothing is impossible. If God told me to do something unimaginable, such as moving a mountain or draining the ocean, I know that I would be able to do it, because he would be right there to give me the power to do so. These last few years, I have felt like my body is failing me, falling apart like it should in my fifties, and I'm only sixteen! Bad knees, hips, back, neck, weak ankles, and who knows what the heck else. I am reminded of in the scriptures where it is talking about the word of wisdom, and the Lord says if we will abide by it, then "ye shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint." And maybe there is more to it than eating healthy for me, but I have been given a blessing that later in my life, I will not be affected by the condition of my knees now. I know that if I do my part and follow the Lord's counsel and the spirit for me personally, this won't give me problems later in life, and that is an extremely comforting feeling.
I feel like I have personally grown in many ways, but I have a long way to go before I am anything like Christ is. "There is still alot of work to do, but with the Lord, how can I fail?"

Swing Dancing =D

So recently, me and my awesome friend, Tom, have been practicing Swing Dancing! He taught me how to swing dance at one of the youth dances a few years back and I've been really liking it ever since. But we would only get to dance at the dances, so at the last dance about a month ago, Tom says "Hey, we should start practicing this and come to the next dance with something awesome!" Well, something along those lines. And that's exactly what we have been doing. At their house we pull the dinning table out of the kitchen and have this great big space to practice. It's been soooo fun. They posted a video on their blog and you can see that here: oursimpletreasures.blogspot.com

warning: this was the very beginning of our practicing, so we are a bit rusty. We've added some more stuff. And aslo in the video dancing with Tom is their Aunt who actually took lessons, so we were teaching her and she was teaching us, so that was way fun!