Anticipation

 Sometime I think I have a serious problem with anticipating things.

Just to name a few..

- High School Graduation

- Getting Married/ having kids

-Summer

- Movie releases

- Sometimes even school projects. (But let me explain this one so my mom doesn't go off

about why I procrastinate them if i'm excited about them. I procrastinate them because

the only reason why I am excited about them in the first place

is because I have a grand plan about all the ways 

that I could make the project really awesome. But the key word is GRAND.

My grand plans for projects are generally to difficult to do them. Or I simply loose interest. Ha ha)

- Vacations

- Results of some sort (Choir, Musical, jobs, etc)

- Holidays such as mine, a friend, or a loved one's birthday, Christmas, etc.

- And believe it or not, mom and dad, occasionally books

So what I think I am trying to get at, is that we all anticipate things. It comes naturally,

and is pretty difficult not to.

 So, currently some things are coming up in my life, 

that I am definitely anticipating!

Just like it says above,

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION! Now don't get me wrong, I have had plenty

of great times in high school, like dances, and choir, and theatre, etc.

BUT I have been going to the same school since 6th grade.

With the same people.

It's gotten pretty old, especially having the background of a military brat,

moving every few years or so.

Had my parents let me, I probably would have switched on over

to Pine Creek High School where Carissa graduated from.

Although I say that, and at the same time, I think of all the memories that I have

at DCC. It's a hard thing to think about. Because I do have great friends and have been blessed with some pretty great opportunities while at DCC.

Which leads me to my next anticipation vacation.

Four days from now, I will be in New York City.

Where I will have the opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall with Chamber Choir.

And let me tell ya! I. AM. STOKED!

We have all been looking forward to this for so long, 

that it almost seems so surreal that it is finally here. It's almost like it feels even farther away.

We even made T-shirts to wear on our travel days! :)

It's great because even though the pretty much all say the same thing, 

they are all so different.

Everyday since we've had 10 days left we have counted down on our fingers,

cause Sarah realized we had 10 fingers! Which is just a hilarious joke we have with her now.

So my best friend Anna sent this one to each of us.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I about died laughing so hard!!

FOUR DAYS!! :)

I am currently reading the Hunger Games, 

I have like maybe 80 pages left of the second book, Catching Fire.

I definitely would recommend these books. 

I have never felt so many emotions while reading one book.

Suzanne Collins is a fantastic writer!

Hunger Games the movie comes out on March 23, 2012.

I want to go at midnight SO badly! 

This was the first trailer that came out.

And this is the second one, that I just found.

Doesn't it look fantastic?

OH and the music is phenomenal!

Read the books, they are so worth it!!

I'll have to let you know if I make it to the midnight showing or not. Ha ha

Another thing I frequently anticipate are results.

Of any kind really.

I waited to find out that I am in the spring musical.

We are doing Oklahoma. It is going to be a great show!

And even though I am just an extra, I still think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

In the fall, I auditioned for The Colorado Allstate Honor Choirs,

which I clearly didn't get into. But hopefully my senior year I will!

This was my score card.

I didn't do so hot overall but i got a 47 on my solo!!

I am so proud of myself for that. The audition is out of a 100 points and I got 66 total. Ha ha. 

I completely blanked on my intervals because of nerves.

But I am just bad at sight singing. Ha ha I am not gonna hide it. Ha ha.

But its finally starting to click with me and I am finally starting to understand,

which I am really grateful for.

I had two goals going into the audition. 

1. Get an 85 or higher overall

and

2. Get a 45 or higher on my solo.

So even though I didnt get the 85, I got the 45 and I am so proud

 of that score because I worked so hard on it.

So now it's time to focus on the hard stuff. 

Bummer. Ha ha.

Also coming up towards the beginning of March are auditions for

next years choirs at school.

We have:

Men's and Womens Choirs (Non-Audition)
Stormsingers (Audition Show Choir)
Prism (Audition Acappella)
Chambers (Audition Large Group)
and coming next year, an audition Jazz Acappella choir!
Don't worry though, i'll let you know which ones I get into.
Right now, I am currently in, Stormsingers and Chambers.
And that is ideally what I would like to be in again next year as well.

And of course I look forward to the Summer.
Hopefully I will have a job since I am only going to girls camp and probably Idaho.

I hope everybody has a great Valentines Day,
Even though I am not a huge fan of the day because I think that you should tell that special someone or whoever you love for that matter, that you love them every single day and not just once a year.

But Valentines Day just happens to be one of my best friend, Bailey's, 18th Birthday!
So Happy Birthday Bailey! It was so fun to celebrate with you last night! I love you girl! :)

Have a great week everybody! :)

Where has the time gone?

The days really are going by so fast!

Juust as a fair warning, this is going to be a very long post!

So my parents headed to Utah on January 21, and I headed to Krista's.

I stayed at krista's for 10 days, 

it was a blast, and im so grateful for their hospitality.

While staying at her house,

we celebrated Mama Reed's Birthday!

She turned 29 again.

Thanks for letting me celebrate with you Mama Reed!

We also celebrate Allison's 17th Birthday.

 Allison was looking out the window, because she suspected the surprise!

I mean really, who does that? Haha

But we still had a lot of fun!

 Her yummy cake that we brought her,

We ended the night in the hot tub,

followed by a movie called,

Midnight in Paris.

If you were to ask me, i would say

don't watch it!! 

It was SO boring!

Krista, Shyloh, and I all fell asleep,

and I don't fall asleep watching movies.

It's a bummer though because the preview made it look

really cute! But its not.

Oh, also on the morning of the 21st,

Krista, Shyloh, Sarah, and I 

all went to a spinning class up on base.

And it was much more fun the second time around,

because my bones weren't sore afterwards!

After the class, we decided to go grab some breakfast at

one my favorite places ever,

CHICK FIL A :)

Thanks for coming girls! It was so much fun.

Which also reminds me,

after breakfast we went to Walmart just up the road, 

and bought a window marker,

planning on decorating Allison's car

because she was at musical rehearsal 

all day.

So we buy the marker,

ask Matt if he knew if Allison drove to to school or not,

so you know what he does? 

He just asks her. 

Like its no big deal.

ha ha so once again, Allison was just looking out the front windows of the school

when we drove up.

We tried to cover up what we were doing, buut who knows how well that woked.

A few days later, one of my favorite people and cousins

in the entire world entered the MTC on January 25, 2012.

Ethan will be serving a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter-Day Saints in Benin, Africa.

I am so beyond happy for him! :)

So good luck Ethan!

I sure do love ya! 

To see what Ethan is up to on the mish,

you can read his blog which are letters he sends to him mom,

and she them puts them up on the blog for 

everyone to read.

http://togotobenin.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

That following weekend,

The Fierce-some four performed in the school's talent show,

Thundapalooza.

We sang in an a cappella quartet and sang

our own arranged medley of 

Ain't no mountain high enough and Where you lead

It was so much fun, and we did great!

This is what you get when we spend 2-3 hours a day

in a practice room everyday after school.

But we get the work done, and pull through successfully :)

I think we might get a few more songs down and see if we can

perform them at our next choir concert.

I don't know though, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

The paper chain hanging up behind in the last picture,

is the countdown until we leave for NEW YORK CITY!!

NBD. But we go to New York in 13 days!

These three fabulous girls are my roommates, and I seriously cannot wait,

as it is going to be the trip of a lifetime for sure!

 We are going to New York to sing in Carnegie Hall.

I mean, how many people can say that they have sung in Carnegie Hall??

While there, we will definitely be doing our fair share of sightseeing! 

We are going to the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, and the Metropolitan Opera

for a backstage tour, and of course going to see A musical on Broadway, just to name a few.

13 DAYS, AND OUR CONCERT IS SOLD OUT.

NBD.

On another exciting note,

CARISSA IS PREGNANT!!!

She is due on August 25, 2012.

I am so beyond happy for her!
(I am secretly hoping its a girl!)

So congrats Carissa and Kyle to starting your cute little family!

I can't wait to meet that precious little child of God. <3

Going back to the weekend of the talent show,

Krista, Bailey, Emily, and I all had a slumbover at Krista's house and

 we even built a fort like we did when we were all kids! 

It was so much fun.

 It was so much fun to hand out with these girls!

We thumb tacked all the sheets to the ceiling. Haha

I'd say that we earn creativity points!

Even though it looks kind of ghetto.. 

it was fun to make we thought it was awesome!

So at DCC, as a sophomore, you have to do this thing called a Personal Project.

(I didn't end up doing one.. ha ha)

But at the beginning of my Sophomore year in high school,

they introduced us to what a personal project is and all the fun stuff. 

I really wanted to do a quilt, about me. That may sound conceded,

but i didn't do it for that. I did it almost as a genealogy project (because I think everyone knows that I am horrible at keeping a blog!). That way my posterity can see

who I was, what some of my interests were, and what was important to me while i was in high school.

Over a year later,

I am still not finished. Here is my rough plan of what I want it to look like:

- There are 9 squares

- Inbetween each square, my background are music notes

- Each square (except for the pink) is a Young Woman Value (faith, divine nature, etc.)
- When i'm done, each square will say what value they are down the side. :)

 BUT i do have a few squares done!

This was the first square that I did.

I cross stitched the 2010 Mutral Theme, in the Fall of 2010.

This was the 2nd square that I did, in the Spring of 2011.

Each flower is a color of o Young Women Value, 

as well as a square on my quilt. :)

This was the third square that I did in the Spring of 2011.

I lettered in Choir my Freshman, Sophmore, and hopefully will my Junior, and Senior years.

Finally, I did this one yesterday on our snow day.

I painted the Salt Lake City Temple, I had a pattern that i found online,

but it was still fairly difficult.

I will keep you updated on what I get done. I think I am actually going to switch my

Choir letter to purple and do my handcart from the trek on the white.

I'm not quite sure though, just brain storming here.

And last but not least,

Yesterday we had a snow day!!

This was yesterday...

And this was today! 

 Sometimes it would be so nice to have a 4 or 5 car garage...

 Poor gladys..

 32" drifts!

Bahaha today we saw this guy just cross country skiing like it was an everyday thing!

It was so funny!

 There he goes!

Anyways, thats what has been happening on this side of the mountains!

I hope you are warm wherever are. 

OH! And enjoy the super bowl tomorrow! 

May the Patriots win! :)

Cycling

OKay, so this is gonna be just a quick little post,

but this morning mom, dad, krista, and I

all went up to the gym

and did a cycling class,

and honestly,

it was so much fun!

Krista and I went into it thinking that it was gonna be so hard,

but really its all about how hard you make it,

what you put your resistense to,

how fast you go, etc.

Each class is just under and hour,

and i definitely got tired,

but you feel so great afterwards!

In a way, you feel accomplished.

One thing I did NOT like about cycling,

was the seat. OH my gosh, its so uncomfortable!

But other than that, it's a lot of fun!

Everybody should try a spinning class at least

once. Just for fun!

Also, at first i did not like the heart monitor either.

It is a band that goes around your body right below,

your heart.

After a few minutes it didnt really bother me anymore.

BUT both Krista and I had trouble

keeping it up because it kept sliding down! Haha

It was funny, mine wasnt taight enough

and Krista's was as tight as it could go,

and it was still too big!

Crazy..

It definitely helped that I didnt go by myself.

I was glad that Krista did it with me.

So thanks for coming with me Krista!

Happy Martin Luther King Junior Day everyone! :)

Five Little Fingers

Can you believe that

January is already half way over?!

Seriously, it has gone by so quickly!

ANYWAYS!

Earlier this week, I was driving somewhere,
I dont remember where to exactly,
(It could have been to voice).

But sometimes while driving,
I get frustrated with other drivers that
cut me off, or dont let me over..
Im sure you all have had the same feeling at one point or another.

But I was kind of having a rough day,
 with school back in full swing,
my nights of sleep were cut in half again,
you know the drill.

Anyways, I wasf having an off day,
nothing had really gone wrong or was bad,
but nothing was really great either.
It was the kind of day where your kinda.. Oh, whats the word??
I guess your just in the "Meh" kind of mood.
Where you dont really care about the rest of the day,
Where your ready for tomorrow to come.
Ever have those days?
Yeah, I hate them.

So, back to my story,
I was behind probably four or five other cars,
(actually there was quite a bit of traffic)
and a car was trying to get over into my lane,
so that he could turn at the light.

I watched as his blinker his blinker flipped on,
and he would start to merge before he would be quickly be cut off
as the car in my lane would speed up and not let him in.
I watched that happen a few more times.
Once he got me, I let him in, as he barely had time to get to the far lane,
and turn right at the light.

But right before he got into the far lane,
he waved as a thank you for letting him over.
Im sure this sounds dumb
and you're probably wondering what the point of this story is,
but that man completely made my day..
I didnt know him,
he didnt give me anything special or big.
But it was the simplicity of it.

I think that sometimes when we get in our cars,
and we just try to get to where were going,
and we get caught up in all the hustle-n-bustle
of everything going on around us that we tend to forget simple things
that could potentilly make someone's day.
Like a smile, a hug, or even just a wave.
I dont know if any of this even makes sense,
but I am so grateful for those five little fingers
(Okay so his fingers werent real small seeing as he was a grown man, but still)
that waved a quick thank you, and made my day.
And i doubt that he has any idea what kind of an impact he had on my day.
But after that, the rest of my day
was so much brighter.



 We got a new bishopbric!

Bishop Hart is our new bishop,

Brother Maughan in our 1st counselor

(he stayed, just got moved to first counselor),

and Brother Cochran is our new 2nd counselor.

I am really excited, they are gonna be such a great bishopbric!

I am so grateful to Bishop Spearle and Brother Chambers

for their service too.

With Bishop Hart being called,

Sister Hart was released from being the Young Womens President.

Sad huh?

BUT we have a great new presidency!

Sister Bailey is our new President,

Sister Hansen is 1st counselor,

and Sister Johnson is 2nd counselor.

And I am extremely excited about our

new Presidency.

They are going to be great! 

On another note, 

I added the 2012 Mutral Theme Song.

I love this song. It's so great.

I encourage all of you watch this,

even if you aren't in YW's or YM's.

Watch it, love it, and LIVE it.

Make it a personal goal to,

Arise, and let YOUR light shine forth!
(I hope that's not too cheesy for you! Haha)

I hope you liked it!

Anyways, I think I smell a warm homemade roll,

that has my name on it! Haha

So I hope that everyone has a great and safe Holiday tomorrow,

(and enjoy the time off work and school while you can!)

Have a great week, and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Glass Half Full

Okay so first off, here's the story behind this cup.
We were driving home from Pageant this last summer,
and we had reached Nebraska.

So almost home right?
Wrong!
Half way through Nebraska,
Something broke on the trailer.
And as if the drive is not long enough,
everybody was pretty frustrated.
So, while the trailer was in the shop,
we got a hotel room.
We went out to grab some dinner,
and on this was on my Arby's cup!
We thought it was pretty funny after the day that we just had.

But the next afternoon, the trailer was fixed and we were back on the road in about 24,
which was a huge blessing.

But what a great reminder,
to always find the positive,
even in a frustrating situation, I promise it's possible.
 In that situation, the cup actually brightened my day,
just because it was kind of ironic after everything that had happend.

So, school starts back up tomorrow, and at first,
I was completely dreading it!
I absolutely hate High School.
But I told myself to look for the positive things happening this semester.
And it got pretty dang excited to go back!

This semester, I am in the spring musical OKLAHOMA,
AND
I am going to NEW YORK CITY to SING in CARNEGIE HALL
with Chamber Choir.
I hope you can tell that I am SO beyond excited for New York City.
This truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!

I am so grateful to a wonderful family in my ward,
who has so more than generous
to help me earn the money and allow
me to have this amazing opportunity!

I will never forget how they so quickly
volunteered to help me out.
To this family,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
I am just so grateful!


On another note,
my family and I have made the New Years Resolution to lose weight!
I know that everybody seems to make that a resolution,
BUT we are really going to stick with it.
We started when the Biggest Loser Season 13
started yesterday.
When I work out i'm going to picture Bob Harper,
yelling right into my face.

Besides,
who doesnt secretly love Bob Harper??

Seriously. He is so attractive!
It is definitely on my bucket list, to meet him.

Given the choice of meeting any celebrity,
it would be Bob Harper.

To anyone who would needs to lose some weight,
now is the time to do it.
Get off the couch and get moving!!
Good luck. :)

Just like a journal..

When I think about my blog,

I picture a journal. 

(With better hand-writing, and pictures of course.)

So that is exactly how i'm going to use it. 

Just like a journal.

So here's whats been going on around here the past few days:

Brielle, Jared, Parker, Carissa and Kyle all headed home for Idaho on Wednesday.

They all got home safely and are back to working before school starts back up next week.

Just before they all left, Parker finally learned how to down the stairs and not just up!

OH. For anyone who has not played the Wii Fit, get off the couch and play!

I never thought a game could make me so sore!

The past two days I have played for a few hours at a time with my best friend,

and her family.

We probably spent a good two hours just trying

beat this obstacle course,

Which by the way, we still havent been able to finish the last course!

Mama Reed was so funny to watch, but she was good!

Also, we got a new car for Christmas! 

Its a 2004 Kia Optima! 

The most exciting part is that I will probably be driving it the most,

because Pepe the Exploder,

has a leak, and gets absolutely horrible gas mileage!

We named her Gladys.

I don't think my dad is too fond of the name, so he calls her Lightning. 

I think Gladys fits it prefectly!

I few nights ago, 

Krista and I suprised our friend Emily for a quick visit,

it was only 10:30pm. ;)
  

That is one of the difficult things about the Holidays,

you hardly get to see you friends,

but I am so grateful for them!

Speaking of friends,

Yesterday, The SEAKS (stacey, emily, allison, krista, and shyloh) squad was reunited,

and had a slumbover.

 I am so grateful for my wonderful friends,

for their constant love and support through everything

over the years!

 Yesterday was my Young Women's President,
Sister Hart's Birthday.
We all suprised her with a fun birthday lunch and cake.
Happy Birthday Sister Hart!

So this post was probably pretty boring, but I figure that's gonna happen eventually!
Happy New Years Eve Everyone!!

Oh What a Year!!

2011 has been such a crazy, busy, but great year! 

I've been able to do so many things, learn so much, and grow one year older and wiser.. well maybe not the wiser part buut we can pretend! ;)

In the past year I...

• Went to Walt Disney World for 5 days with my choir Storm-singers to preform.

My Mama even got to come as a chaperone!

(But note to self, 5 days is definitely NOT long enough to see, do, and ride everything!

I would go back and stay like maybe 10 or 12 days!)

• Drove across Wyoming 11 times.
  
• Grampa Allred passed away.
  June 3, 1929 - 9:55pm April 27, 2011. LOVE and miss you Granpa.. Forever and Always - I will treasure my last hug and kiss from you...

• 

  Participated as a cast member in The Hill Cumorah Pageant.
  
  
  I went with my cousins, Robin, Ethan, Cameron, Aunt Laurie, and Uncle Clark
  (Thanks again!!)
  
  
  Got set apart in the Rochester, New York Mission for the duration of Pageant 2011
  
  
  Met so many new friends.
  
  
  Saw BYU's all male Acappella group Vocal Point!
  
  
  Stopped in Nauvoo, and Kirtland along the way!
  
  
  Gained an even greater testimony of the gospel,
   The Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith.

(I'm in the top right corner)

My great Cast Team, Y6! 

• Went to Daughters of Virtue (Girls Camp) as a 3rd year YCL.

All of Gleneagle Ward's YW - Building Zion

"Gleenealge! Can we Build it?

Gleeneagle! Yes we can!"

• Got into Adams State Mixed Honor Choir!

• I got my License!
  
• Slid Pepe into a ditch!

Hit a mailbox,

AND backed up into my best friend Tiffany Platt.. 

Right in the seminary parking lot!

• Saw my first midnight movie premiere Breaking Dawn and loved it!
  
  
• Turned 17
  
  
• Auditioned for Colorado's Allstate Choirs, and didn't get in.. but there is always next year!
  
  
• Of course went to the Lundstrom Cousin Campout!
  
  
• Brielle, Jared, Parker, Carissa and Kyle all lived with us in the Spring time,
  And Kyson moved in the Summer.
  
  
• Went on my first date.
  
  
• Went to Sadies with John Brady sophomore year...
  and Homecoming Junior year with him too!

Saides/MORP

Homecoming 

Got it on on the first try!

My dress even had pockets!

• Played Powder Puff Junior year- which was a blast! 

• Lost our Auggie Boy..

April 1997- March 14, 2011
Allmost 14 years old, Auggie passed away while i was in Disney World..
love and miss you Auggie!

• And we had everyone home for Christmas! 

Of course, these events aren't in order, 

and not the only things that happend.

But i'm especially grateful for these events because,

they have allowed me to grow in one way or another.

Here's to a New Year!

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT!