I GOT A CAR

Do you know how to spell freedom? No? I'll tell you. C A R. And I have now aced that spelling test. That's right, I just bought a car! Woo!

Basically, I've been saving up for my mission and a car since I got my job. And don't worry, I'm still saving up for a mission! And I had enough to get a loan (because credit is important or something like that) and now I have a car. And I love it. 

                        For those of you who are car people, it's an
                '04 Toyota Corolla. I barely know what
                that is and that's about all I know about it.

It's name is Tucker. Cute, huh?! 

And of course, thank you to my parents! Thank you mom for picking me up after work everyday so I wouldn't have to take the bus, and thank you dad for helping me buy it and learn about cars (even though all of it went right over my head). And thank you both for being so supportive of me. I really do have the best parents!

I Climbed Through A Window

I had the honor of climbing through a window. At work. Yes, you heard right. I climbed through a window AT WORK. And I wasn't even doing it to get in trouble. Someone needed to get into a room and the lock on the door was jammed. So, she made me climb though the window. I know you are probably thinking that there is no way that I can reach a window, but I can. With the help of a little fence that just happened to be right next to the window. I like to think that it was from all those years of gymnastics that I was able to stand on the chain link fence and maneuver my way into the window, but it was probably just luck. ;)

At work, almost no one can get my name right. I've started keeping track of all the names I've been called. Kristen, Christine, Christina, Kursten, Krista, Crystal, and my personal favorite, Houston. Like Houston, Texas. And it hasn't been just one person who thought that's what I said once. Several residents have thought my name was Houston several times. So I basically answer to whatever. In fact, for a few residents who cannot, for the life of them, hear Kirsten right, I just introduce myself as Kristen. It mostly makes things easier, except for the fact that there is a nurse there named Kristen so then they confuse me with her. I just can't win. ;)

Basically, work is crazy but I like it. :) 

College, Work, And Pretending To Be An Adult

Europe was amazing, but unfortunately that wonderful thing had to come to a sad end. And then began the rest of my life...pretty much. 

I started college last week. But don't get all excited, I am only in two classes. And since I know you are dying to ask, it's a math class and an institute class. Math stinks, but my teacher is pretty awesome. She has this really awesome Russian accent and explains things well. It's my institute class that I have been excited for for, well, ever since I registered for it. I go to math four times a week for 50 minutes, which only left one day for institute. Lucky for me, there happened to be a class on my only free day. So there you have it, my college update. Now I can just point people to my blog instead of repeating myself ten times a day. ;)

Not only did I start school last week Wednesday, but I also had my first day of my new job. My very first job. Unless you count babysitting, then I've had a lot of work experience. I work at a nursing home, and I really like it. I work full time, Tuesday through Saturday from 2-10pm. It's exhausting. ;) So far I've averaged walking about 5 miles each day at work. And since I know you are dying to know, I'll tell you what I do there. I am a CNA, so I feed people, get them ready for bed, transfer them from their bed to their wheelchair and to the toilet and such, I change their briefs (adult diapers), get them things they need, and more. And for some strange reason I really do like it. 

Being back has made me have to pretend to be an adult. I've done my laundry, gone to my college class, got a job, had lunch with a friend like people do when they don't see them 24/7 at school, and I've filled out a bunch of paperwork for work that I have no idea what it means. Oh, and I cut my hair to donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. 

And don't worry, I still make to play my flute, read, exercise and spend time with my fantastic family.

GERMANY

Rothenburg. "A charming bit of Yesterday."  And it is totally true. I love this city. Like absolutely, no doubt about it, in love with this city. 

As unpleasant as our trip to Camp Dachau was, I wouldn't change it. It was such a learning a great experience. Walking around where it actually happened, knowing that innocent people died there was really hard but at the same time it is a good way to remember them and I feel that was one of the most important parts of our whole trip.

I loved walking around the city! I loved their streets and all the beautiful buildings! Like I really loved it! I could not keep a smile off my face that first night as we wandered the city. 

The first night, Megan and I went on the Night Watchman's Tour. It was awesome! And hilarious! There was the biggest crowd there that that guy had ever seen! We had to wiggle and gently push and run our way to the front every time he moved so we could hear. And one of the best parts was the way he talked! Our chaperone's husband did an absolutely perfect impersonation of it! I would highly recommend going on this tour if you ever find your self in Rothenburg.

The famous night watchman, who came to our concert!

The keys to get into our hotel rooms were super cool, they were actual skeleton keys! Fun story: On the day of the concert my roommate, who was in the choir, left our room to go to her concert before I got back from my concert, so I was locked out. Or was I? I used Megan's key, who's room was right next to ours. It took a little wiggling but I eventually unlocked ours with their key. Later that night, Megan's roommate had the key and was off doing something so Megan couldn't get into her room, so she tried our key. The reason her key worked for our room but not vice versa was because our key hold was bigger than theirs. Our key was too big to even fit in their, but their key was just small enough that we could still use it to get mine unlocked.

I thought our room key was so cool that I just had to take a picture

This concert was definitely one of the most fun. The people were super into it and we got several encores. The audience was super energetic and clapped a ton during our songs. And the town square where we were performing was COMPLETELY full! It was the biggest crowed they'd ever had for a performance! And then the choir performance was perfect, as usual! Another fun story: Megan, Bena and I brought our fans because we figured in a chapel with a ton of people it would be hot. And it was. Before the concert started we were sitting down and fanning ourselves when the girl next to me turns to us and asks us where we got our fans. She looked sad when we said Italy. ;)

There is a wall that goes around the city of Rothenburg that you can walk around. It's pretty awesome. The ground is pretty uneven and in some places it is really narrow, but it was still cool! We were walking on a place where people had fought from and protected their city, how cool is that! The stairs were terrifying though! They were step and not wide and just plain little. You could fall easily and break your neck!

This is inside the wall...well the part where we were walking on.

The last night of our trip we had a party. Each coach was supposed to come up with a skit about the trip to present on stage. Everyone's was HILARIOUS! Except ours. ;) Our coach went last too, so we got to see everyone else's and, at least I did, groan when you realize they are all funnier than ours. Don't get me wrong, I liked ours and it was cute and clever, it just wasn't the funniest. ;) We did a slideshow. We had a slide of London where we were all waiting for a taxi, a slide for Italy where there was a human gondola and people looking very hot, there was a slide about our iPod Idol games, a slide with all of us in it talking a selfie, a Paris slide with the Eiffel Tower, an Switzerland slide with a human ski lift, and a Germany slide with the night watchman impersonator. And, of course, as we left the stage our coach did our cheer of our blehs and euus.

Flight home. So so so sad. And holy moly was I ever tired! We had to wake up at 3 that day, and then just got a little nap on our way to the airport where we had to stay awake until our next flight. Our eight hour flight. I only took a little nap because I didn't want to be super horribly jet lagged if I could help it. I watched three movies on that flight. Unfortunately there were no movies on the next flight. Which was ten billion times harder to stay awake on. I wrote in my journal for a while on that flight, but then I was getting so tired that I wasn't making any sense. So Maddie and I played War the whole rest of the flight. It was hilarious! We were so tired that sometimes one of us would put down a card and then pick it back up without realizing that the other person didn't put any down. Or we would just grab both cards without thinking of who won. And then there was the time that I put a card down and literally a second later got really confused because I didn't realize that I had put that card down. It was pretty funny! And then going down the escalator at the Salt Lake Airport and seeing my parents waiting there for me was special! I missed them so much! They gave me a couple of balloons, one of which is still floating at my ceiling in my bedroom over a month later! 

I miss Europe and can't wait until I can one day go back! It was definitely the best 16 days of my life! I am so so so grateful to my parents for paying for it and I don't think I will ever be able to say thank you enough. Thank you Mom and Dad! I wish you guys could have been there with me! It was an AMAZING experience and everything that I learned there will definitely stay with me the rest of my life. I wish I was back in Europe! :) Thanks for  reading about my adventure! Go to Europe someday, it is incredible! 

LIECHTENSTEIN AUSTRIA ITALY

I know that three countries for one post might seem like a bit much, but two of those we spent less than a day in.

Liechtenstein. A small country with a population of 37,000. We went through this country on our way from Switzerland to Austria. I slept the whole way there, woke up for our one rest stop, and then slept the whole rest of the way out of the country. Hi Lichtenstein. Bye Lichtenstein. It was really that small!

All through Europe I had this thing where I counted all the dogs that I saw. Don't ask why, it's a long story. On our first night in Austria we saw a TON of dogs and I mentioned to my friends how I wished that I spoke German so that I could ask some of the people if I could pet their dog. So someone looked it up and I wrote it on my hand so that I could ask the next person I saw with a dog. I may or may not have chickened out for a little while but on our walk back to the hotel I decided to do it. Of course, the people who I chose to ask spoke English. But they spoke German too so we told them the story and they laughed. ;) One of the people in that group was from Sweden so she told us how to say it in her language and then we told her how to say it in ours. It was a great threshold experience! It was really funny too because she couldn't figure out how to put the "t" on the end of "pet". But those dogs were adorable and loved us!

Our concert was pretty fun. Except the audience was like dead. They would clap when we ended a song but they weren't into the music. I decided that was because it was sprinkling a little bit and they didn't like the weather instead of not liking our music. The cloud cover was nice while we were playing because then it wasn't horrible hot, but it was also frightening because it looked like it would start pouring rain any second and getting woodwind instruments wet ruins them. Thanks to prayers, it only started lightly sprinkling during our last three songs. But the second that everyone's instruments were put away it started pouring like no other! It was such a miracle! Although we did all have to help put the chairs away for a minute and then we all had to walk back to our hotels, which ours was about a 15 minute walk. So Megan and I and our chaperone walked in the rain getting drenched. And then, once we got back to our hotel, we decided to ditch our shoes in our room and go dancing in the rain. It was so so so much fun! It didn't last very long though. Literally. We were out there for about thirty seconds before the owner of the hotel told us to come in because the lightning was really close. But it was still a bunch of fun! Bena and I had a ton of fun taking pictures of the wet flowers and leaves too that were on our balcony.

I went into the bathroom one night to shower and I saw this huge spider on the door. And since we were a room full of girls we all screamed and Bena threw her shoe at it but we couldn't tell if it was dead or not so we went and got our chaperones husband and got him to kill it for us. It was horrible! ;)

It took 5 hours to get to Venice. Where we had 5 hours before we had to make the 5 hour trip back to our hotels. But it was definitely a memorable day! The boat ride to get across the Adriatic Sea was absolutely awful! Those boats were not meant for people who get motion sick. I literally had to sit and pray the entire half hour so I wouldn't throw up! Venice was hot. Like really, super duper, mega hot. We had our little tour around the city very first so we couldn't go get fans or ice cream or anything to cool us off. It was miserable! After eating gelato to cool us down, Megan and I and another friend went in search of our fans. And after walking around the entire square and buying a few other things, we found the perfect ones. Mine is blue, bet you would have never guessed that. ;) After we got our fans we ran into some other UAM people, there were over three hundred of us all dressed the same so it was hard not to, who told us to go eat from this super delicious gelato place and since we were so so hot we decided to. It was AMAZING! And way better than the first place we went to! It definitely helped us cool down! Unfortunately, after having 300 teenagers spend hours in a hot, humid city where we were just walking around, we stunk really bad. Thank goodness one of our chaperones thought to bring a Febreze bottle onto the coach and sprayed us all as we got on. It helped. A little. But the next morning when you walked on the bus it was like a massive wave of stench.

In Venice, we also got to go to this place and watch how they do glass blowing. It was soo cool! And then we went into another room and they showed us all the stuff they make and just how awesome it all is. Some of the glasses would just roll back up when you pushed them over, and some changed color under certain light. Did I mention how ultra expensive they were? Well, they were like an arm and a leg just for one glass. But they were so pretty!

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland is basically the perfect country. I'd be lying if I said that every time I look at our beloved Utah mountains I didn't think of the Alps and wish I was still there.

Before I went on this trip I was talking to my band teacher, who also went on it, and he was telling Megan and me this one awesome thing to do in Switzerland that we just had to do. So we did it. And it was AMAZING! We took this ski lift thing up to the top of a mountain and you had this absolutely gorgeous panoramic view. I can't even begin to describe the beauty of it! I'm pretty sure that at least half of all my pictures from this country were taken that morning.

That may or may not be my finger ruining my favorite picture

Who could forget the legendary party on the last night in Switzerland! Definitely a night I will always remember! My favorite part of the night was definitely getting kissed. By FIVE guys. Don't worry, it was only on the cheek. At the party they always have a cheese fondue and the tradition is that if you drop your bread in the cheese then you have to go around on your table and kiss all the people of the opposite gender on the cheek. And these tables are huge! There were 30 something girls on our table and only about 7 guys. Luckily I'm lactose intolerant and so I didn't eat any bread or cheese but I was considering pretending to drop my bread anyway. ;) After we ate, some Swiss people danced for us and played music. And there were these two sisters who were in their upper 80's who played the accordions for us, and then one of them played a bicycle pump, and then later used a whisk and a box to make more music. It was so much fun!

The Matterhorn at Disneyland has nothing on the real thing! It was huge and so pretty! While we were up there Megan and I stopped at this cute little bakery and ordered some soft pretzels to eat when we were at the top of the mountain thing to see the Matterhorn. Those were the absolute best soft pretzels I have ever had! They were amazing! In fact, we liked them so much that we went back and got another one to eat for dinner! I don't think any other one I ever get will be as good.

The people of Switzerland are amazing also! They are so kind and beautiful and lovely. Megan and I were walking back from the little grocery store they had there and there was this guy walking his dog. Naturally we were staring at the cute thing as we walked past and gushing over him from a few feet away when the guy turned to us and asked, in English, if we wanted to pet his dog. It was the sweetest thing! He barely spoke English and didn't understand us at first when we asked him the dog's name and we had to repeat it, but his name was Barney. I loved petting that dog so much, it reminded me of my dogs.

Did I mention that I got to go inside of a castle!? It was soo cool! It was super old so no one lives there anymore but it was still fun!

I just can't get over all the beauty in Switzerland! It was so gorgeous I can't even begin to tell you about it. I can't wait until I can one day go back. I so wish I could live there, but unfortunately for me you can't live there unless you have Swiss blood. :'( It's gorgeous, stunning, astonishing, and every other word possible to describe it and more! I loved loved loved Switzerland!

PARIS

Ah Paris, the city of love! Don't worry, I didn't come home with any French boyfriends. ;) Probably my least favorite city, but I am still missing it!

I'm pretty sure you can't go to Paris, without going up the famous Eiffel Tower. The tower was at first meant to be for some huge celebration thing but important history stuff happened and it's still standing today. It was like 660 something steps just to get to the second level and my legs were dying when we got there. The view was gorgeous though and it was totally worth it!

We took selfies everywhere!

View from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower

Basically Megan is my best friend and it's the two of us in all my pictures

I was only slightly disappointed when no boys would come

Did I mention that Megan and I got a selfie with Mona Lisa? That was pretty much the only thing we did in the Louvre, except almost die from heat exhaustion because it was a billion and a half degrees in there! And I would say that the line for the Mona Lisa was crazy, but that's not true. It was absolute chaos and there was absolutely no line, just one huge mass of sticky, hot, tall people.

Super bad quality because it was taken on an old iPod

Cathedrals. I love them. They are gorgeous and I especially love it when the choir got to sing in them! Megan and I got these crepes after we went through the cathedral and were just sitting on a wall people watching after. It was one of the best parts of the trip! Since all 300+ of the UAM people were wearing the same shirt some people recognized us. While we were people watching there was this one guy who was riding his bike down the street and he nodded at  us and waved, and then there was this lady who recognized the shirts and asked us when the choir was singing. Unfortunately we had to tell her we weren't, but it was lovely to know that she wanted to come! And then there were these two old dudes who came to talk to us as we were leaning against a gate. They asked us questions on where we had been and were going and such and then the one started telling us this story about one of the statues of the cathedral. A little after he started his story two adults from our coach came and stood by us reading a sign that was near us. And then another lady from UAM stopped and talked to them. By that time the guy that wasn't telling the story told the other guy they should go before we thought they were weird, to which the other guy responded that he was weird! Once they were gone the three ladies came and talked to us and told them they didn't feel comfortable leaving us alone with those old dudes, and it was so sweet to know that they were looking out for us! I felt like we had a little family within our coach already. (Hopefully you understood that story. If not, just know that I know what it means and that's all that matters ;) )

Notre Dame Cathedral

Who knew that the crepes that are sold in Jordan Commons (sorry for you who don't understand this because you aren't from the best city in Utah) were so un-delicious. All I had were plain sugar crepes, and I thought I was going to die because France knows how to make crepes. Just close your eyes and imagine the most perfect crepe. Now add about ten times that amount of perfection and you have the crepe I ate. And it was from this cute little crepe shop on the corner of a street. This shop was so little that you just ordered outside and there was no place to go in and sit down. And you had to be pressed against the wall because cars decided to go down that tiny little street. 

Apparently there is such a thing as the most popular street in the world. I had no idea, and I still have no idea what it's called. But it was pretty cool! We had to go under the street to cross it.....And as females, Megan and I couldn't pass up a sale! We ended up going into Gap and each buying a shirt. Megan's at least had the word Paris on it, mine didn't. ;)

This is apparently the most famous street in the world that we are looking at.

LONDON

As you may or may not know, just got back from a two week trip......to EUROPE! It was definitely the most wonderful, life-changing, amazing thing that I've ever done and will probably ever do. And it is all thanks to my fabulous parents that I was able to go. I don't think there can ever be enough thanks in the world to tell them how grateful to them I am. 

I obviously can't write about the whole trip in one post because it would be ridiculously long and boring and no one would ever want to read that, so I shall do it in countries. Ish. Lichtenstein will be in with Austria because that country is so itty bitty.

The plane ride to Minneapolis and then to London were sooo much fun! Just kidding, I slept the whole time. But I did get to sit by the same two fabulous people on both flights. When we arrived at the airport in London I was so so so grateful that it was an English speaking country, because I already had no idea what to do and would be dead if I couldn't understand them. But I almost died anyway because, of their amazing (I'm going to be using a lot of amazing and fabulous and fantastic in these posts so you better get used to it now) accents! 

Wicked. Oh my was that ever amazing!! Their acting was beyond amazing and I loved the story! I will never think about The Wizard of Oz in the same way again. I got the chills so many times! I wish I could have recorded it so I could watch it again!

Our performance in the Embankment gardens was, well it sucked, but it was fun! I loved watching the audience when we were performing! There was the one old guy who goes to every Ambassadors of Music performance but only ever wears boxer shorts things who was sitting in the front row. And then there was the guy who had the American flag and the British flag and would wave them all the time. It was pretty windy that day so keeping our music on our stands was a struggle, as was the super small stage.

The London Eye a.k.a. the greatest view ever! It was slightly terrifying but totally worth it! 

That awkward spot on the left side is on the lens

I didn't notice it until I got home, so it's on most the pictures

Who knew that an art museum could be so fun! Megan, Bena, and I had the time of our lives. At first it was boring, and mega hot, but then we found the kids section of art. Talk about adorable! Then we decided to bench hop from room to room, because we had been on our feet all day for several days and we had to take the opportunity to sit when we could because there weren't many. And then the real fun began, we found a room with a big cushioned bench, with a big air conditioning vent underneath. So we sat there for  a long time making up stories for each of the paintings. It was hilarious, especially since none of them came close to the actual meaning. 

On our last day in London Megan and I made a quick late night (we made it back in time for curfew, don't worry) snack run to a little store just around the corner from our hotel. When we walked in there was this older British gentleman who asked us where we were from and got super excited when we said Utah. He introduced us to his granddaughter and then got excited when we told him how old we were. We could hear him talking to her after that and he kept telling her in a really happy voice that we were Americans. It totally made my night!

Oh man, did I have the best roommates! Megan and Bena are so much fun to be around! We all got along super well and all have stomach issues! I was super surprised on how quickly we clicked. We had some crazy awesome times in that hotel. ;)

Not to brag or anything, but our bus (excuse me, coach) was definitely the best! They let us sleep, and the chaperones would tell us when to wake up so we didn't miss anything awesome, which was nice because some of the other buses tried to keep their kids awake the whole time. We also had dance parties (but only in the front because the back slept). During one of those one of the chaperones decided that he was going to crowd surf down the isle between the seats. He only made it half way though, because like I said, everyone in the back was sleeping. ;) We played iPod idol, which was hilarious to watch but thankfully didn't have to actually participate in. We played a game where the two sides of the coach raced a neck pillow down to see who could get there the fastest. And every morning they played a song called Good Morning Beautiful. It's now one of my favorite songs! (It's by Steve Holy if you wanted to go listen to it)

One of my favorite things about London, actually about Europe in general, is their buildings. I love how old they are and how they are designed! They are just so beautiful! I wish we had buildings like that in America! And then there was our guide around the city. She had the best Scottish accent and when she would say "ble" we had to say "uuu" (it's like a cross between ooooo and eh) and I have no idea how to spell that but it basically became our coach cheer thing. I miss this wonderful, beautiful city so much! I love how the people don't really use the walk signs, they just walk across when cars aren't really coming. I love their accent. I love the moments I had there with the wonderful people I was able to meet. I loved every moment of it and wouldn't change it for the world!

Music People Are My Favorite People

Life has been a whirlwind of crazy lately. And as it turns out, people can be really nice and just lovely. So, it's story time. 

*Warning: This contains musical lingo and I will not be explaining it because I have done too much of that lately, so just google anything you don't understand.

A week and a half ago, as I was practicing for my Europe trip, I noticed a leak in my piccolo. So, after my freakishly long (it was almost 6 hours) orientation for SLCC I took it over to Summerhays. I basically told the guy I had to have it fixed to day because of my trip, and he did it. It was wonderful to have it working properly again. Fast forward to Friday, the third and final day of our practices, also the day of our Bon Voyage concert. 

All practice Friday I could tell something was wrong with my picc. Every few lines or so a note would come out wrong because one of my keys was sticking. And me being me, slightly freaked out Friday. Why? Because Summerhays was closed the next day because it was independence day and the day after that was Sunday and then I left the day after that. Saturday my dad would not let it go, thank goodness, and ended up putting it up on this 24/7 yard sale thing on Facebook to see if anyone had a piccolo we could buy from them. Who would have guessed that someone on that page knew the manager, THE FREAKING MANAGER, of the Summerhays we go to! So they gave my dad his phone number and he called him.

This manager deserves a freaking award or something because he had us go in, on a Sunday which they are closed on, of a holiday weekend so that he could look at my picc. He wasn't able to fix it right then so he gave us a loaner piccolo. And now I'm sitting here taking a break from my practice of getting used to this piccolo to type this. They are going to fix my picc while I'm in Europe and then when I get back we'll basically swap. And he gave us his number and told us to call him if there is anything wrong with this picc and he would make sure that they were able to have a new one or have my old one fixed before tomorrow morning when I go to the airport. I LOVE SUMMERHAYS! 

So, if you are ever renting or buying an instrument-GO TO SUMMERHAYS! 

For some reason, I tend to have instruments break on me just a few days before my performances. Oh, well! They make funny stories later! And you get to find out just how great people can be.

The Power of Prayer

I went to institute for the first time yesterday, although it is a special class just for graduated seniors it still counts. And WOAH! The spirit was SO strong there! 

One thing that our teacher made us commit to doing was reading one general conference talk every day. He even made us make this pinky promise with the people near us. He made us promise that if we didn't do it we would never get a kiss. And let me tell you, I take pinky promises very seriously. So last night, I (half because I promised I would and half because I was interested in seeing what blessings I would get, because our teacher promised blessings to us) listened to a talk last night. I didn't notice any super awesome blessings right away, but holy cow was it a huge blessing when it came! 

So I'm listening to another talk tonight as I was getting ready for bed and as I was putting aloe vera on, I burn easily so what, the speaker talked about Alice in Wonderland. He referred to the part where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way to go and he says it depends on where you want to get to. That was a direct answer to my prayers. For over a year I've been praying about if going up to USU for college will be the right decision to make. I've heard that you shouldn't necessarily ask Heavenly Father what to do, instead you should ask Him if your decision is right. So I tried that. And when I heard this quote I knew it was. I want to, in addition to being a pediatric nurse, be a music therapist. And USU is one of the best, and only, colleges that has that program. I didn't know if that was the right thing I should be doing with my life but when I heard that quote it was like an immediate yes. 

I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I know that deciding to go to institute was the right decision, if only because I got the challenge to read one conference talk a day. I will not ever just read one every day just to fulfill my promise. I will do it because I want to hear what the prophets have to say and because I know that I need to listen and apply what they are saying into my life. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the knowledge that my prayers will ALWAYS be answered. 

Here's the web address of the conference talk, I strongly encourage you to read it! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/if-you-will-be-responsible?lang=eng

Gradiation and All That Jazz

Once again, whoops! I write blog posts in my mind, but for the last few weeks have been to busy (kind of, I've also been too lazy) to actually write them out. So, life lately has been, well, a little crazy.

I GRADUATED! That's right! I can now check the box that says high school diploma on all of my future job applications. 

Added this pic just 'cause

The last few weeks of high school were pointless. Really. I took naps, watched movies, Facebook-ed, and read. But I did it! Woooo!!

So what's next in life for me you ask? Practicing my flute for June, getting ready for my trip to.............EUROPE! I'm going to seven different countries on a band tour with Utah Ambassadors of Music. I am so stinkin' excited! I play the piccolo part. The band is HUGE. I'm talking 96 people total! ELEVEN flutes. And SIX tubas. (Every time I think of the glorious low brass section, actually all the brass, I sigh. I LOVE low brass!) It's glorious. Megan and I decided we have to come home with boyfriends ;) 

Hey look! I got my letter saying I'm a real CNA.

After Europe, I hope to get a job working as a CNA. Did I mention that I'm a CNA? No? Oh, well I took the CNA class at the tech center during my senior year of high school. That sounds so weird to say it like that! I love working as one and it makes me SO SO SO SO much more excited to someday work as a nurse! I love health and taking care of people! After a year or two at SLCC I want to go on a mission. I'm hoping for Ireland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, or some other place like that. But anywhere would really be fantastic. And then, for now, I want to go to USU and get my nursing degree and also hopefully be a music therapist too. But that's not set in stone yet. Well, the nurse part is but where and what else and all that isn't. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was 12 and visited my baby cousin in PCH when she was visiting from Canada. 

So, that's my recent past, present, and future-ish.  

PROM PRIM PRAM PROM

Do you know how fantastic friends are? Way more than fantastic. So fantastic in fact that they practically make you go to prom stag since we are obviously way to cool to get asked. Who needs boys anyways? Not us, that's for sure! But really, that was one of the best days I have lived through. 

Where to begin? The beginning, I guess. I woke up early, we're talking 6:30 early, to go running so I could shower before my brothers friends came over. And then my favorite mother and I went to the place where we rented my dress from and picked it up. Then it was time to frantically clean before everyone came over to bake sugar cookies at mi casa. And then was the superbly fun part of doing my hair and make up, which I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. And then came making a huge mess in the kitchen (a.k.a. making sugar cookies) which involved a lot of eating the dough and laughing. Next, my best friend let me do her hair! I love doing other people's hair and once again I was thoroughly satisfied with how it turned out. 

Spaghetti Factory deserves it's own paragraph. We got there, feeling like princesses. And as we were waiting for a table a family walked in and a little girl, no older than 3 or 4, said something along the lines of "Look, Princesses!" Needless to say I have been hung up on that line since then. It gave me chills. It was like the greatest thing of my life. Next came the fabulous people working there. There was a busboy who, hopefully, thought we were gorgeous because he cleaned the same table three times and no one had sat there in between! It was hilarious! And then our waiter was super kind, he gave me a free salad, even though I'm pretty sure they don't let people just order side salads there, he let me! And for our desert when I said I couldn't eat it he assured me that he had something in mind that I could eat. He came back out with one of those little popsicle things that they serve in like elementary school. It was the sweetest thing. And then there was our hostess, who was the greatest lady. We saw her again in the restroom and asked her to take our picture, so she clocked out and came outside to take it! She was so kind and lovely.

Did I mention that I seriously felt like a freaking princess? Because I did and you should know that.

We got lost on the way to the dance, and ended up at a cemetery. If it wasn't raining so hard I'm pretty sure we would have gotten out and danced there. It probably would have given those old bones quite a hoot. The actual dance was hot. Like Nevada in the middle of July hot. Plus wearing a dress that had like a billion layers. I thought I was going to die. But oh my goodness, everyone there was so gorgeous!! It was wonderful! I twirled quite a bit, but who can blame me, the dress twirled wonderfully! 

After the dance, we were all tired and so we went back to my house and played a game of Apples to Apples. And then we went home. All of us dead tired. 

And of course, I wore my dress to church the next day. And it was darling and all the little 8 year olds were enchanted. I wish I could stay feeling like that forever, but I guess that makes me even more excited for my future wedding, because I know that's the kind of dress I want to wear. Even as I write this I think about that dress. *Sigh* And that adorable girl who called us princesses. That pretty much made my life. Unfortunately, as all good things, it had to come to an end. But I couldn't have asked for a better day with better people. Except maybe if all of us had actual dates, that would have been nice ;)

 

Edit: This post was supposed to be posted like 2 weeks ago but spacey me apparently pressed save instead of publish. Whoops! Oh, well! 

The Magic of Chocolate (And a Good Book)

We all know how magical chocolate is, healing us from practically every ailment known to man. But did you know, in combination with a good book and a homemade mani you have the best cure for anything? 

Well it's true. I can personally attest to that. 
After a particularly gruesome morning with a four hour long AP test, I went home, gave myself a mani, and grabbed a fantastic book with a chocolate bar. Nothing to cheer you up like this combination! (But seriously, who the heck would ever come up with such a horrible idea as to make this horribly hard test from a class that was hard enough just taking it day by day?!) Furthermore, everyone knows that tests on Mondays are the worst day possible to take a test. So why on earth would you schedule an AP test for Monday morning at 8 o'clock!?!

In case you are wondering, I took the AP Music Theory test....I would say that I bombed it. It was probably more of a failure than the success of sliced bread. But that's okay, it's the journey that counts, right? I'm sure if I keep telling myself that it'll come true some day. 

A word of advice: If you ever make the horrible, slightly smart, decision to take an AP class, and then go through with the AP test, I would absolutely say take the rest of the day off and go give yourself a mani and read and eat chocolate while your nails dry. Actually, if you ever need a pick me up for any reason this is a lovely choice. Isn't the word lovely, just, well lovely? I'm in love with it and I'm sorry if I use it excessively.

Drop Zone is part of one of my favorite series called the Saint Squad Series and I recommend it to everyone. It's more of a romtion (like romance and action, get it?).  The author is Traci Hunter Abramson, in case you couldn't tell. ;) Also, I like to pretend I came up with this nail design all by myself....actually I think I really did, although someone somewhere has probably done this same thing.

My Blog. MY blog. My blog?

For AGES I've wanted a blog, and now I have one. The only problem? WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES ONE DO WITH A BLOG?! Do I tell you all the awkward, embarrassing stories of my life, or give you advice that I should probably follow? Do I just let my fingers fly across the keys and hope something good comes from it? Do I sit and plan out every single word of my post or just put a picture or two, after all, a picture is worth a thousand words, or so they say. How often do I post? How much is too much? I guess we'll just have to see what happens. I suppose I should also apologize now for anything that might happen in the future, just to cover my bases. So, I'm sorry if I offend you, or make fun of you, or anything else. And I'm sorry if my posts are the weirdest, most random things on the planet, get used to it. Lastly, I have absolutely no idea how to do this, bear with me.