Belated...but all still true!

Two weekends ago my siblings and I, threw my mom the surprise party of the CENTURY!!! It was incredible! There are just not even words to describe the lies, and cunnings, and manipulations we went through to give my mom the best 50th birthday ever!!! Hopefully none of you have experienced this, because you should not lie to your mom, but when there are 6 of you that she talks to on a regular basis and you guys have not touched base with each other, a lot of different things can be said! It was hard work I tell ya, but it was worth it. She was completely, utterly and entirely SURPRISED!! All the kids were such a big help and really made everything come together. It was the first time the entire fam has been together since last August, so that was an incredibly good time, as it always is when we get together. Not to mention the amount of people that traveled to be there to support my mom. It was incredible! Thanks to Keri Haynie for making the best slideshow in the world of my mom and her life! It was absolutely beautiful! Brought many to tears, but definitely brought a whole lot more laughs...glasses as big as the face they are on, sailor outfits, rockin' bods in even more rockin' swim suits. Just a few of the many gems the slideshow captured. I will just post pictures, as a picture is worth a thousand words, and it will just be way better and much more entertaining that way!!

Helaman in the tree, just hanging up some lights!

Of course we had to first try on the decorations that would cover our backyard.

Centerpieces.


The finished product. It looked incredible! Not to mention gave me a really good feel for what I want my wedding reception to look like when the time comes! ;)..which is afar off, in case you were wondering!


How cute is she? Little AllieFairy


My adorable nephew Tyler rockin out on my dads drum set!

The food tables! Glorious.

How creative are we? Chips in the sand pail with a shovel to get them out! Cute eh? ;)

At about this point, I would go into a list of all the reasons (usually the amount that is equal to the age of the person) why I love my mom. But 50 reasons, although I could come up with them, is probably way more than you guys want to read! Just know, that my mom (as well as my dad) are the best people I have ever met! They are such amazing examples to me of becoming like Christ and always putting the Church and family first! They have flaws just like anyone else, but they are constantly striving to overcome them and become better. It's amazing.

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM,
I LOVE YOU!

P.S. We also had family pictures taken when we were all home...so be excited to see those results! :)

80's NiGhT!!

So, my old neighbors, and dearest friends, and some of the reasons I live, were in charge of a mutli ward activity this last weekend! It was a blast from the past night, and since we all know that I am totally an 80's girls... (come on, I was alive in the 80's for a whole 5 months!) we all decided to dress that blessed decade! As we were all getting ready, we all decided how great it would of been to live in that age. Nothing had to match. You could look in your closet and throw on whatever you wanted! HUGE cut down on getting ready time! Anyway, obviously there is no way to explain this dance party in words...which is why I just post pictures!!!!

I would have TOTALLY rocked the 80's...everyone would of wanted me I am certain! ;)

Profile pic.? Yes please. I love Lauren Smith!

Me and my girls!

Thanks for the invite girls...I miss and love you more than anything!!!!

Sports Camps

Well I decided I should hurry and do some updating before too many things start happening and I never want to update again...that is what happened with my journal writing...in 6th grade. So I know it has only been like 2 weeks, but doesn't everyone just feel like my existence in the blogging world has all but dissipated? Yeah, me too! Don't worry friends! I am back and writing again!

Soooo, sports camps started last week!!!! I had swimming girls (this week I have basketball, but more on them later!) I absolutely loved it! My roommate was Taryn, which was more than fitting considering that we met each other because we both had swimming last year. It was a great week! I absolutely fell in love with my girls, and they loved me back. Which is always a plus! They were 14 and older, which meant I got to go to the dances and they were awesome! I love staying caught up on all the 14 year old drama and what swimming boys are cute and who loves who... For some reason, it never gets old! Here are a few pics from the week!!!

Our "freezing faces" at 7 Peaks. Don't worry that it has rained and...winded? the past 2 weeks when we are supposed to be there! Dang Utah weather! If you want to know how I really feel about it, please refer to this...

Late night parties in the counselor's room after lights out? I would NEVER allow that!!

Art, in its true form!

My glamorous swimming girls before the Thursday night dance.

Loves of my life. Carly, Kendra, Taryn (the outcast), Kerra, Kayle

If you say it really fast... Carly, Kayle, Kerra and Kendra... It is hard.

So one of my favorite thing about Sports Camps (I have a whole lot of favorites so that is not really a reliable statement) is how close the girls become with you and with the rest of the group. On our way to our 4:00 meeting last Monday, Taryn and I were discussing how funny it is when at the end of the week all the girls arrange to 'come back this very same {insert sport here} camp. Everyone come the first week ok? And we will all be in the same group again!' They always confirm to doing it...and it rarely happens. So when I walked upstairs Monday afternoon to talk to my girls who were talking to Taryn's younger girls I could not help but start laughing hysterically when my girl Jordan said, "Ok, now we all have to promise that we are going to come back to camp next year, the first week! It will be so fun. Everyone promise?" And they all did. It had only been 5 hours since they met so obviously I found it incredibly humorous! They are just so quick to love and I admire that!

Now onto a little miracle that happened to me this last week. Three of my girls and I (ones pictured above) got extremely close. 2 of them are members, cousins actually, and one of them is not. When Friday afternoon came and it was time for them to leave, I found myself ridiculously depressed and melancholy about them leaving. I already missed them and was afraid for the choices they were going to make while at home under the influence of their peers and the world. I just wanted the best for them and from just knowing them for one short week I had grown to love them. As I began thinking about this more, I realized how well God knows us. How he has known us our whole life…spiritual life and physical life. I was so scared to let my girls go back home and be in constant battle with the world and everyone bashing their standards. That is just from knowing them a week. I can only imagine…and actually sometimes that is kind of hard…how much more God loves us. How hard it is for him to see his children not make correct choices, to not accept the Gospel or to not ever have that opportunity. It was an answer to a prayer, as I have been asking God to make me more charitable and help me to view people like he does and to be able to truly love others. Anyway, it was just amazing and I felt so blessed to be able to have such a realization. God is an awesome God! (For you Kris!)

So, now that this blog post has gone on forever... sorry about that... I am going to end it and post again! Be excited!

Sports Camps!

Well guess what?! Sports Camps start next week!!!! and I am stoked! We went to Spring Haven for a retreat/training sort of thing with all of our fellow counselors and soon to be best friends for the summer! Super Exciting! Not a whole lot of promising brown males for me to crush on...but I guess we will see! :) I did not take any pictures of it...well except one of Taryn on top of a tree stump lookin majestic. But she probably does not want that posted!

Next week I work Swimming Camp. One year ago I started working sports camps and had swimming. My roommate, that I met at registration that morning, was Taryn MacArthur. It was both of our first week and we had no idea what was going on. From photo shoots, to army crawling down the hallways, to cleaning up purple, toxic throw up of a ten year old, we bonded...and are still BFF's. In fact she is now my roommate...well she would be if she ever would get her stuff moved in! ;) So next week is our 1 year anniversary and I am going to treat her to dinner at the Cannon Center...slash, we have free meals all week so not really, but we WILL be eating together! Anyway, I am so excited for camps to start and I have already met so many amazing people!

I LOVE SPORTS CAMPS!!!

Stay tuned for many more entertaining and memorable stories!!

Taylor...

Well guess what friends? Yep, I went to Taylor Swift this last week and the final verdict on the concert: AMAZING. I have been to some pretty great concerts in my day (OK so really just like 4, but still...) and I have to say that Taylor's concert was the best. Now do not go assuming that I say this because she out sang Carrie or Rascal, but the whole show she put on was absolutely amazing.

Let's just put it this way, I was/am obsessed.

I am just going to give you a few highlights, and then to get the full effect, you are just going to have to see her live!

• She started off the show with "You Belong With Me", (if you have not seen this music video...please go watch it!) She came out in a marching band outfit. Complete with the tall ugly hat. It was hilarious.
• She was so chill about everything. I probably spent more time getting ready that day than she did. She looked amazing the whole time, but her hair was just frizzy (after coming out of a hat) and she could of cared less.
• At one point in the concert, after it had blacked out for a costume change, she came back on the screen to start singing and she was not on the stage. We were all so confused because we did not know where she had gone. We look over to one of the sections and there she is. Just singing at the top of the stairs in between 2 sections. She sings "Hey Stephen" (ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SONGS OF HERS, for reasons other than the fact that it is just amazing) finishes the song and there is just a little instrumental break and she walks down the stairs. Greeting fans. She probably gave out 200 hugs throughout the night. She hugged, shook hands, signed autographs, took pictures, it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. There was this boy, who looked to be about 15 who got a hug from Taylor. He was hyperventilating. Jumping up and down, screaming, it was the most hilarious thing I have ever seen! He was just cute. So she walks down the whole stair case, just letting people flock to her. It was so cool. She said she was sad that she would not be able to meet everyone in the audience who had come to support her that night. She is adorable.
• After she sang White Horse, a terribly sad song that she sounds absolutely amazing during, the Energy Solutions Arena was as loud as I had ever heard it. For ten minutes the cheering, screaming, clapping continued. It was the most incredible thing I had ever heard. Taylor (isn't that weird to just say Taylor...like she becomes someone completely different when you leave off the Swift..) did not say anything. Just looked out at the crowd with tears in her eyes and a huge grin on her face. After a while she said, "Salt Lake City, I promise I am never gonna forget that. Thank you, thank you." It was amazing. I almost wanted to start crying with her. You can just feel how humble she is just by being a mere fan in the audience. It was absolutely amazing.
  
• Oh, I was with the best people ever!!! Star, Annie, and Cali. It totally made the concert and I was very grateful for their presence.
• So basically writing everything I loved about Taylor Swift would take a lot longer than I had though it was going to...so now I am just going to stop and post some pictures and a video or two for your enjoyment!!!

I L-O-V-E them!

Mara Whittier.
Kyrie Ann Dangerfield.

We have all been friends since about...hmm 6th grade. Anyway, once we graduated from high school and stuff, just like with a lot of other things, it is hard to stay good friends and hang out a lot like you used to.
Mara moved to Logan and Kyrs moved to Provo with me. Anyway, we all live in Provo for the summer which is great and we got to all hang out last week! I say got to because Mara has a boyfriend and for some reason my friends sometimes have a hard time remembering the whole "Sisters before misters" saying ya know? ;) Anyway, we went to Olive Garden and drove to the park where we played and I tried to teach Mara how to do a head stand, but she just refused to learn! But it was so fun just relaxing outdoors, and being able to not freeze! I love Provo in May...most the time! Yea for good friends! :D

I told Kyrs NO butt shots...and what does she do? Rude.

Talk about skills! I have come a loooong way in a year! ;)

Meeker, Colorado Ladies and Gentlemen!

So, Memorial Day weekend was rapidly approaching and I had nothing going on. Cali had invited me to Lake Powell...with her, Nate, and 2 other couples. Woo hoo. As much as I love Lake Powell, I love being a 6th wheel a WHOLE lot less. So that was a no go. But I definitely appreciated the invite! France is in Costa Rica and those are all the roommates I have currently! So I went to my fantastic cousin Starla and asked if she would like to accompany me to the great town of Meeker, Colorado. She willingly accepted and plans were made. My sister and brother-in-law moved there in January and just recently moved into a new home (new to them...not really new) Anyway, they moved in and are doing some renovations! So, being the HARD WORKER I am, I volunteered to come up and help them paint! It was so fun! My niece and nephews are absolutely adorable and my cousin Mary just happens to live in Craig, which is just an hour away. So we also got to see her and her beautiful baby boy Trey! Janae loved having us there and made us feel so good about our decision to go to CO for the weekend! We partied, stayed up way later than parents should ;), painted the living room green, and ate a lot of food!

Here are just a few gems from the weekend!

Singing... I am not really sure what. But obviously I am feeling it a lot more than Star is.

Cutest kids of my life!


Nope, not at a beach. A parking lot actually.

Allie, Trent, Tyler, and Trey (2 out of 4 looking at the camera...not too bad.)

How adorable are they? These are their funny faces!

haha I love my little man!

Craisin fingers!! (She thought she was hilarious!)

This video is amazing! While we were in Craig shopping on Saturday there was a killer rain storm! This is us in the Safeway parking lot...there was so much water it was ridiculous! Don't mind my super annoying narrating voice!