I'm still here.

so i went in and talked to Mr. Stewart and got my schedule worked out for this year. it will please all you siblings of mine to know that i'm having early morning seminary. bah. well i guess that's what i get for having seminary as a class period for 3 years, band for 2, and X-Press for two... i so messed up my senior year schedule. haha well here it is, just for funsies.

-1st: (that's negative first period): Early morning seminary.--Brother Jenson
1st: Math 1010 EdNet
2nd: College Prep English--Ben Luce
3rd: Health--Bucky Orton
4th: X-Press--Merilee Terry
5th: Chemistry--Kim Titus
6th: PE--Holly Robison
7th: Financial Literacy--Heather Glover

i gotta say, i'm not too jazzed about like any of those classes. basically, i'm just looking forward to X-Press and English. i'm really, really nervous about Chemistry, because my friends that took it last year said it was way way hard. but it was either that or Medical Anatomy and Physiology Science (MAPS), which is even harder. much as i love Ms. Warner, i just can't handle an anatomy class. and i hate the fact that i have to take PE my senior year, but whatever.

so anyways, that's just me catching you up on the year. by the way, i still have a post for Freedom Academy on its way... i am just so dang lazy. haha

What a weekend!

indeed, it has been so. i'll start off with:

Thursday afternoon, around 2:05, which is 5 minutes after we closed at work. i was putting away the pastry case, when my friend Dustin called me and said "what are you doing around 7:30?" he then proceeded to ask me if i wanted to go see the new Transformers movie with him and some friends at the IMAX in Springdale. duh! so we made arrangements for that, and i was all excited. in fact, i was telling Alex, a girl that i work with, about the whole thing when a couple in their early 50's walked into the store. i started to tell them that we were closed, but then they whipped out some literature and started attempting to save my soul. they were Jehovah's Witnesses, coming to my workplace to proselyte to me while i was working on the clock. Kourt, my boss's grandson and assistant manager, was pissed. he came up front and was like "excuse me, but you can't proseletize in here. please leave." that was my first experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses, so i decided i'd share that with you.

later, i met up with Dustin, Skyler Huntington, and Cody Barber at Junction so we could head off to the movie. i actually had planned on driving my car partway to the theater and leaving it at the end of the road that i have to take home, so that i wouldn't have to drive clear to Kanab with all them. so Dustin rode with me until i dropped my car off, then we hopped into Skyler's truck with him and Cody and we were off! the movie itself was pretty great, but it was extremely intense. almost too intense. and long. but still, i had a way good time! i honestly couldn't tell you if it was a date or not... see, Dustin paid for the tickets and food, he opened doors for me, etc. but there were two other boys there, so i'm not sure. haha oh well, at least i had fun and that's what matters. :)

after the movie, when we were driving back to my car (it took like an hour to get there from the theater, because we had to go through Zion), Dustin happened to mention that he had an extra ticket to the Secondhand Serenade concert in St. George the next day. unfortunately, he and his sisters were leaving for St. George in the morning, and i had to work that day. but he told me if i could get a ride to St. George, i could have the extra ticket and go with them.

Friday morning, i came into town early for X-Country practice, but no one was there. so i just changed and got ready for work, then left a note on Chelsea's car asking if i could get a ride with her to St. George, since i knew she was going to the concert. for some reason, Kourt decided not to come to work that day, so it was just me, Alex, other Alex (yeah, we have two), and Linda. at like 11 though, one of the Alexes had to go to drama practice, so that left three of us. at like 12:20, Chelsea called me and was like "hey yeah you can come with us, but we're leaving in like 10 minutes." she called me during a rush, and Linda was having a bad day already, so i didn't want to be like "hey, i'm peacin' outta here." instead, i asked if i could leave at 1. she wasn't exactly happy about it, but she didn't have a freakout, which was nice. i still feel bad though, because we drove by later at like 1:30, and she had closed early because they just couldn't handle the business with only two people. :(

i rode to St. George in Chanelle's massive van with her, Shay, Chelsea, Carley, and Keith Howells. somewhere along the way, i developed the nickname Yeah Yeah... like from Sandlot, because i repeat things sometimes. so we got to St. George at like 3-ish (between forgetting things that we needed from Chanelle's house and waiting for Shay to get out of the shower and finding out that Carley didn't have to work and she could actually come, we were delayed forever, which made me feel even worse about leaving work early), then had time to kill before the gates opened at 5. we went to the mall for a while, then went and got some food.

as it got closer to showtime, i tried calling Dustin so i could get up with him and get my ticket. Chelsea's brother Luke is in the National Guard and was working security at the concert, so they all got their tickets for free (except Keith... they didn't have enough for me and him, so he went ahead and bought one). unfortunately, Dustin never called me back. so i was prepared to just buy a ticket, but as we were walking towards the ticket booth, we saw Luke and his National Guard buddy watching the back gate. Luke asked us if we all had tickets, but i said no. him and his friend were like "ah, don't worry about it. we already decided that if we didn't get enough tickets for our friends, we'd just let them in anyways." so i got in for free, and Keith was not happy about that. Dustin ended up calling me back at like 6, because i'd left him several voicemails, one of which said "by the way, the concert starts at 7. not 8." so he got there, and him and his sisters sat with us on our little blanket. here are some pictures of the concert. sorry they're not very good, but the batteries in my camera died, so these are all off of my phone.

Me and Dustin before the concert... we had a long wait and were trying to entertain ourselves. haha

This was just the setup they had for the concert. No one's up there yet.

Most of Parachute.

Kit French on the freaking tenor saxophone. He is my hero!

Kit French (saxophone and keyboard) and Alex Hargrave (bass) of Parachute signed my shirt!

Me with Nate McFarland (guitars) and Kit French.

Secondhand Serenade!

in all reality, i'm not the biggest fan of Secondhand Serenade, and this was mainly their concert. there were two bands that went before them as kind of an opening act, and they're called Single File (two thumbs down. didn't like them at all) and Parachute. i've decided that they are officially my new favorite band! they are just so good, Will Anderson (lead vocals) has an amazing voice, and Kit French plays the tenor saxophone in a rock band... how sweet is that? after their set, they were up by the merchandise taking pictures and doing autographs and stuff. Dustin, Chelsea, Stephanie (a friend of Luke's that we picked up in St. George to come with us) and i went up, but we only saw Single File. Dustin left, but then Chelsea saw a friend from Girls State and went over to talk to her. when we were there, we realized that Parachute was actually by the concession stand, not merchandise. i think we actually came in on the wrong end of the line, because we just walked right up to the band and asked them for pictures and autographs. Chelsea got her shoes signed, and Stephanie only had a piece of paper. i just got my shirt signed, because i'm really not that emotionally attatched to it. well, i wasn't. now it's amond my most prized possessions. :) haha

after we got our stuff signed, we went back to our spot, and i found Dustin waiting for me to see if i wanted to go with him and his sisters to stand up front for Secondhand Serenade. i figured... why not? so i did, and it was CRAZY! so many bodies, and it was in St. George, so i was sweatin up a storm. like i said, i don't really like Secondhand Serenade, and the lead singer didn't help with that. i think there was one time when he referred to the band as "we." the rest of the time, it was "i'm going to play you a song that i just wrote for my new album that i haven't quite finished yet. i don't know how to play it very well, but i hope you'll forgive me." just that kind of stuff, and it really bothered me. the bass player is sweet, though... he's like a cross between Chris Daughtry and a UFC fighter. haha oh, and i don't know if i mentioned this or not, but that was the first concert i've ever been to. it was a pretty good one, i suppose.

Saturday almost killed me. i'd already had 2 late nights, and i had to work some more. not only that, but it was the day of the Pioneer Day parade in Kanab, and parade days are always insane at my work, since we're right in the middle of the action. we made SIX Frappaduccis! (that is a made up drink that we invented at work... it's blended chai, espresso, milk, and Creme de Cacao. it's currently the special of the month, and we only put it up on the menu to see how many people would actually say "i'd like a 16 oz. Frappeducci with whipped cream, please." say it out loud... it's funny, huh?) that's as many as have been ordered before this day, and i was shocked. i ended up making $19.82 in tips (which is incredible, considering my tips are just what people feel like putting in the tip jar on the counter, and i have to split it with whoever else i'm working with).

when i got off work, i went to Subway, got a sandwich for me and mom, then we went home. well basically, she dropped me off before she went to St. George, because there was no way i was up to shopping for hours on end. instead, i slept for a couple hours, then killed time until she got back with the car so i could go to the bi-stake dance that was in Kanab at 9. that was fun, i just hung out with some friends and made a new friend from Huntington Beach that was visiting his brother at ALA. this last picture is one of a present that my good friend Taylor Armstrong gave to me. he is usually referred to as Starms or Starmy, due to a really stupid thing that Bryce Hafen said back when Taylor was probably in like 7th or 8th grade. so anyways, Starms and i were teasing back and forth, and he said "alright, i'm going to offer you a token of peace." and he pulls this thing out of his pocket...

"Taylor," i said. "Is this a Stormtrooper?" "No," he answered. "It's a Starmtrooper."

Enjoy the rest of your day. :)

Whoo

i realize that i said i was going to blog more often, and then i kind of fizzled out, but here's the deal. i kind of had limited internet access for a little while there, but it's all good now. basically for the past couple of weeks, i've just been working and running (practicing for Cross Country, in case you didn't know), and i was in New Mexico for a couple of days. Cross Country is going alright... i was having fun at first, but i am slowly realizing that i have never been built as a runner, so i'm honestly not sure how much longer this will last. I like running, but i don't like feeling like i'm not good enough to keep up with everyone, and i definitely don't like thinking about like competing and going other places for meets... that's just too much for me. i'm really not big into competing, you know?

in other news... there really is not so much. so far, i am still LOVING my job (i'm still working on doing a post about that, just so you can hear something about that), i'm still making payments to the cruise that i'm going on next June, and i'm still 100% jazzed about that. also, i now have FIVE missionaries to write to these days! i've got Elders Garett Madril, TJ Reidhead, Sam Pace, and Matt Schmutz, and Sister Kimberly Anderson. in October, my dear good friend Chasen (soon to be Elder Chamberlain) will be leaving for Brazil on his mission, and my friend Mike Garcia is getting his papers in October. so many missionaries!

well, i suppose that's all i've really got to say for now. enjoy the rest of your day! :)

Youth Conference 2009!

well, i just got home today from Youth Conference, which was probably the funnest session i have ever been to. :) we had it at Dixie State College in St. George, and we even got to stay in the dorms there. ironically, i literally had the exact same dorm room that Kimberly had when she very first started at Dixie. what are the odds, right? last year (or was it the year before?), we had it in Alton, and all the girls had to sleep in the gym of the Alton church... i did not love that. this was much better! i roomed with a girl in my ward named Tara, but she ended up having to leave Friday morning, unfortunately.

when we got to Dixie at like 2 ish on Thursday, we checked in, then we all went to dinner at the "Red Rock Cafe", which is the Dixie cafeteria. i can't really recall what we did in between then and when we left for Tuacahn at 7 besides eat, but that's not the point. we got to Tuacahn around 7:30, which is when the "pre-show" started. it was actually a mechanical bull thing set up out in the plaza area, and you were supposed to pay $5 to ride it, which a surprisingly large amount of people did.

at 8, they started letting people in. we went to see "Footloose", which was--in a word-- mind-blowing. (that is one word, because it was hyphenated. ha.) the guy who played Ren was in, among other things, High School Musical 2, American Mall, and "So You Think You Can Dance?", which did not surprise me at all. this guy was incredible to the max. plus he was a cutie. ;) the rest of the people in the play were fantastic, too. i really dug the guy who played Willard, he just did a really exceptional job.

after the play got over (at like 11:00, no lie), we all headed back to the dorms and went to bed. i was so out.

BenMc and Starmfaund chillin before the show.




Me and Tara just trying to kill time.




Ol' Taylor and me... what a cute kid, right?

Me and Tara with the actors that played Ren and Ariel in "Footloose."

day two was Friday, and we began the day by going to breakfast in our Sunday clothes, because we had a temple session to get to! everyone went to the St. George temple, and the girls did baptisms for the dead while the boys went to the visitor's center and watched the "Joseph Smith" movie. it took a really long time for all of the girls to get through the baptisms because there were so many of us (and we had to get ready afterwards, of course), but even when we got over to the visitor's center, the boys were still in the movie. eventually though, they did come out to go do baptisms while we watched the movie. and it was SO good! i cried a lot, but in a good way.

we didn't get out of the movie until like 1:30. we then went straight to lunch, and our leaders told us to change out clothes and meet back at the general spot at like 3. from there, we went on to the Staheli Family Farm (which is also where i went to the "Field of Screams" at Halloween, if you recall that) where we then experienced a series of team-building things. first, they had us go through the bottom part of a barn one by one, which had me worried at first, because... no one was coming down. soon though, it was my turn. i went in the door and saw that there were mirrors mounted on 3 of the support beams in the barn, and a leader standing by each one. the very first one was Kim Blake, and you may or may not know this, but i love her. she is Kelsie's step-mom, so that's how i know her, and she's still like one of my favorite people of all time. anyways, i saw her standing by this mirror and i heard the spiritual music that they were playing, and i was tearing up before i even got to the mirror. but basically the idea was that at each mirror, there was a piece of paper that said some words that you were supposed to tell yourself in the mirror. the first one was "I am a child of God." the second, "I know my Heavenly Father loves me." and the third, "I am an example of the believer." after the first one, Kim gave me a hug and i was just bawling. what can i say? i'm related to my mom. :)

after the mirrors, i was escorted up to the top part of the barn, where we were soon placed into random groups of like 14 or 15. and believe me, that was the short, short, short version. we then went on to go through kind of an obstacle course with our groups that required team efforts. but here's the real kicker: we weren't allowed to talk. like at all. we were allowed to communicate like with sign language and such, but no words. our first thing was a little rough, our second task took us probably like an hour and a half to do, and the last one was like nothing compared to the second. the whole farm experience in general a really, really great thing. the lady who ran it gave us a talk beforehand and was like "this will be a life-altering experience for you" and i was like yeah okay... but she was right. it blew me away how much of a difference it really made.

after we left Staheli Farm, we went back to Dixie, ate dinner, changed into our swimsuits, then headed for the St. George city pool. fun fun fun! that thing has a water slide like you wouldn't believe! gosh it was so rad. i went probably like 17 times. but somehow, even though there was a lifeguard at the beginning to keep people from going one right after the other, i was caught up to FOUR TIMES! seriously. i'm just going down the slide, and all of the sudden, i hear Starms hollering when he's coming down the slide, so i look behind me, and he's like right behind me. he didn't hit me the first time, but the second time it happened, he tried to slow himself down... but really, he just flipped around backwards and his head hit the back of mine, and his shoulder hit my back, which left bruises. the next time i went up, i told the lifeguard to not let Starms go behind me for like 15 seconds. anyways, Matt Vaughn and Daniel Bowman both caught up to me. i don't know how the heck i am such a slow slider!

so we all came back, then the leaders let us all hang out until like midnight. so i went to bed and stayed there. the whole time. at like 1 am, some leaders came to my room and told me i was in trouble, but i was so baffled! it turned out that some of the girls from Orderville 1st ward were like sneaking out to go i don't even know where, but they thought it was Orderville 2nd ward, which is me. that was a little bit scary, but it all worked out. and since i didn't have a roommate, my very own teacher Mrs. Terry (well... "Sister" Terry, since we were at a church thing. haha) helped me carry my mattress to another room where some friends were staying, so i didn't have to be alone. that was nice of her, i believe. :)

now for today. once again, everybody went to breakfast in their church clothes. right after that, we went to some workshops where we had three speakers. my favorite was Brother Gallagher... i personally think he should probably be an EFY speaker, he is so good! after his little lesson thing, we had our testimony meeting. that's always special. :) finally, we had lunch, packed up our stuff, i moved my mattress back to its original home, and then we embarked on our journey homeward.

moral of the story: youth conference was fun, and this is a ridiculously and almost painfully long post. good for me!

Chi Bro Whip!

i am SO much bored... so i am taking some of these little quiz dealies from Cassidie and Demi on MySpace and putting them on here. haha

Be honest, do you like people in general?
Uhh it's a toss-up. I like people i know, but i hate foreign people.

Did you hug or kiss anyone today?
I think i hugged my mom maybe, but not other than that.

Are you a jealous person?
It can happen.

Have you ever had a best friend who was of the opposite sex?
Heck to the yeah! You know who you are. :)

Has anyone said they love you in the last week?
It's true!

Is there a lot of stress in your life?
No, not really.

Do you enjoy late night phone conversations?
Yeah... makes me feel special.

Do you get along more with girls or guys?Why?
I get along with everyone!

Are you single/taken/heartbroken/confused?
Single as they come, homestar!

What are you looking forward to in the next week?
I'm excited for Youth Conference!

Excited for anything?
Youth Conference, 4th of July, seeing Aaron and Sarah and the kids, going to New Mexico.

Do you like taking walks?
Yes! I love it.

Last 2 things you had to drink?
Hmm a personally made Cream Soda (that's right... i can do it!) and a personally made chocolate milk. I make good drinks at my work. :)

How was your night last night?
Well i really did not do anything last night except blog, but the night before was fun. It consisted of crashing a pool party, escaping the authorities*, and driving a clown car.

Could you go the rest of your life without doing any drugs?
"Oh i can, i am, and i will!"--"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

When is your birthday?
dec.21

Where do you wish you were right now?
Swimming sounds nice.

Last person who told you things were going to be okay?
I think Will, because he was having a meltdown about Alex and Kourt horsin' around in the shop.

Do you have any plans for the weekend?
Youth Conference at Dixie!

Has anyone ever broken a promise to you?
Well yeah, it happens.

Have you ever crawled through a window?
Bahahaha yeah! Me and Nikiah got locked out of her house, so i had to climb in through her little sister's window.

Do you know anyone named Joshua?
I do indeed.

What color is your hair?
Uhh i honestly have no idea. Dirty blonde? Strawberry blonde? Light brown? Hazel? haha

Is your hair curly or straight?
My hair is naturally retarded.

Who did you last go out to eat with?
Hmm i think it was Ashton? Though i did technically order Junction and eat it at Starms's house, if that counts.

Are you currently jealous?
Of what?

What jewelery are you currently wearing?
Class ring, turquoise triangle earrings, old school jelly bracelet things that i got at Girls State. i haven't taken them off since i left.

What were you doing at 10 pm Friday night?
Just coming home from Starms's house.

What are you doing tomorow?
Working, maybe hangin out. Who knows?

Have you ever had your heart broken?
Pshh no.

Have you ever broken someones heart?
Not that i'm aware of. I don't swing that way.

Could you go the rest of your life without smoking a cigarette?
An asthmetic Mormon smoker... that'd be the day.

Name something you dislike about the day you're having?
I wish i wouldn't have had to spend my whole $7 that i made in tips on gas.

When and what was the last reason you went to the doctor for?
I'm not entirely sure. I think it might have been for labyrinthitis, but that was in like January of 2008.

Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now?
Uhh i'm 98% doubtful.

Have you ever in any way, been betrayed by someone you trust?
Uh yeah, it's true.

How late did you stay up last night and why?
Like 12:45, because i lost track of time and just played around on the internet until i realized that i needed to get ready for bed.

What do you prefer: Pizza Hut or Domino’s?
Pizza Hut

Did anyone see you kiss the last person you kissed?
Everyone has seen me kissing nobody. haha

Do you have a lot of posters on your wall?
I have SO many things on my wall! I'm actually going to re-do my pictures on my wall and stuff.

Have you ever kissed someone who was over 17?
Negative.

Are you missing someone right now?
Hmm yeah, i miss my family. Such as my siblings and my niece and nephews!

When was the last time you wanted to punch someone in their face?
Saturday! When i just wanted to fight Carter every single time i looked at his face. haha

What's the last thing you put in your mouth?
My homemade cream soda!

What is wrong with you right now?
What is wrong with you?!

Who is the last person that made you laugh?
Kramer on "Seinfeld."

Are you an observant person?
It depends. If i'm like on my way to class and someone waves at me, then i usually don't notice. But i tend to notice little things about people if i'm like already paying attention to them. haha i don't know if that makes any kind of sense or not.

Are you going through any type of pain at this exact moment?
Yeah, my knee hurts way bad.

Did you drink any coffee today?
Could have, but didn't.

What is the heaviest thing you carried today?
Probably just my purse... haven't done much heavy lifting.

Do you believe what goes around comes around?
I do indeed.

Which celebrity do you want to marry?
JARED LETO.

If your enemy came over, would you let them in?
I don't really have any enemies. But if i did, i probably would, just so i could find out why they were coming over to my house.

What did you do this afternoon?
Worked until 2:20, picked up the mail, put gas in the car, returned Carter's towel to his truck, drove to Valley to pick up my mama, came home.

What are you doing tonight?
Nothing at all.

Who slept in a bed with you last?
Uhh i think it was Ashton, when we were falling asleep while watching "The Princess Bride" together.

Whose bed did you sleep in last besides your own?
Ashley's on the night of graduation.

Who was your last call from?
It was Saturday night, so i can't remember if it was Chelsea, Carter, or T-Dub.

Do you know a guy named David?
Yes! He is like my best friend!

Do you like someone?
No, not really.

Who was the last person to look at you like you were crazy? Why?
Kourt, because i marked on the little sandwich order paper that this girl wanted a chicken salad sandwich, but i didn't mark any kind of bread. So he was like "Uhh does this girl want this on any kind of bread, or does she just want me to slap a glob of chicken salad on her hand like a lunch lady?"

How long does it take for you to get ready?
Depends... it takes me longer, now that i have way short hair.

Do you eat whip cream straight out of the can?
When i can, heck to the yeah!

How many hours did you sleep last night?
Like 5 1/2. haha

Where did you get your last bruise from?
Well, me and Carter were wrastlin' in the pool on Saturday, and our knees whacked together, and that resulted in a huge goose egg/bruise on my knee. Then today at work, Kourt somehow managed to nail that exact spot with a wrapped butter chip. Ouch.

Do you have unlimited texting?
NO i do NOT! And it makes things so much more difficult than you would think. But in reality, if everyone in the world has texting except for you, then that kind of ostracizes you from certain things. Such as cheer practice, sharing pictures, telling funny jokes, etc. (Yes, that is absolutely an argument for my mama and padre.)

Do you have any Jordans in your cell phone?
I have a Jordan and a Jordi. haha

What was the reason you got in trouble last?
My mom thought i was like 15 minutes late for curfew, but in reality, her clock is 15 minutes fast. I was perfectly on time, thank you very much.

Do you feel uncomfortable around the opposite sex? If so, why?
No, i'm pretty chill.

*not actual police officers. just Carley, Chelsea, and Denton in the game of Fugitive, where they were the cops. calm down Mama, it'll be okay.

Love you, miss you.

where is everybody? ever since the summer started, i've been completely clueless as to how everyone is doing and what's going on. please oh please, fill me in. i'd truly appreciate it. :) in the meantime, i'll try to be more diligent in posting, and i'll even try to take pictures of my activities so they won't be so dry. essentially, i'll try and be more like my big sister, Sarah, bless her heart. :)

speaking of summer, i thought i might post some pictures of this past graduation, where i "got" to participate in the Candle Lighting Ceremony... thing. it's where the graduating seniors, as they're leaving the gym, carry candles and pass them on to the upcoming seniors. it's kind of corny, but it's traditional, so i won't complain. very much.

Ashley and i before graduation.

El Presidente (also known as T-Dub) and i afterwards.

Me & Dem-Dawg... she's so cute. :)

Me and Dustin! What a guy, right?

And finally...

Me and Thomas, aka King Tom. Gosh i love that kid... :)

happy senior year to the class of
2010!

LONG post!

well folks, this is a long overdue post consisting of 3 different subjects, of which you will now read. please. so start off...

GIRLS STATE!

for those of you that are unaware of what Girls State is (which, honestly, is probably most of you), it's basically a week of politics and government for girls only. the American Legion Auxiliary is an organization of old folks who hold veterans in the highest regard and do everything they can to celebrate them. so anyways, they pick a certain few girls from high schools all over the state, and i was lucky enough to be one of the six from my school. with me were Jamie Croteau, Megan Robinson, Chelsea Vreeken, Carley Barber, and Kira Robinson.

Kanab girls, minus Jamie and Chelsea. (They were gone too fast after graduation to get in the picture)

anywho, i was assigned to the city of RAMPTON! within the first like hour of being at Girls State, i was named our city hobo. yeeeeeah... that was strange. and also, i somehow ended up with a pet spider named Rambo.

we had a banquet on Friday night in the Great Hall of SUU (aka the "Harry Potter room"), and we all got to dress up extra nice (even though, we had to dress up ever single day) and have a nice, catered dinner. also, we all got these little poppies that were handmade by American veterans.


For graduation, we all got to wear our prom dresses. Unfortunately, this picture was taken as i was saying "Crap, my shoes are sinking." I was wearing heels that were sinking into the ground.

Girls State also consisted of many, many, MANY meetings. in some cases, each city was assigned a city room where we went to vote. however, once we were done voting, the judges of election and our counselor had to leave the room to count votes while the rest of us just kind of... hung out. this is a picture of my friend Jessica as we were both sleeping on the back counter of our city room.

We had the opportunity to watch a flag burning ceremony, and that was real neat. everyone was very silent and respectful, and definitely reverent. Neat fact: the stars don't burn. Seriously, the stars stay intact and they usually fish them out and give them to veterans.

Rampton city girls at the banquet.

Our motto thing was "Rock the Vote" and "Empower Yourself"

Me and Jess! See, here's a funny story. As i'm sure you know, Kanab and Beaver are like... HUGE rivals. That being said, can you guess where Jessica is from? That's right... she is a Beaver Beaver. Somewhere during the week, she became Bessie (like "Beaver Jessie" combined) and i became Kenny (like "Kanab Jenny"), even though i never called her Jessie, and she never called me Jenny. The point is, we got to be pretty dang food friends, even though we're from rival schools. What are the odds, right?

This is just me in my ridiculously uncomfortable dorm.

on to the next subject...

Ashton's visit!

Sadly, we didn't think to take like ANY pictures until her very last night here. while she was here we played Fugitive with a bunch of people, went to church, took a trip to Hurricane for Wal Mart, went to the shooting range and shot some guns with my friends Starms and Chandler, explored the tunnel, and generally had a good time. her last night here, we attempted to have a movie night with treats and "The Princess Bride"... however, we were both exhausted and we only got to the part where Buttercup throws herself down the hillside after Wesley.

we love Take 5...

third subject...

HAIRCUT!

it is SO short...

anyways, that is the end of my very long, overdue post. i'm real sorry about that! but you know, i'm doing what i can, right? :)