Desicions

So, I was sitting around sick today reading a book. The character was trying to decide which college to go to. I suddenly had a reality check. I haven't decided what college I want to go to. I've been pretty set on BYUI, but I haven't even really looked at it or the other two colleges I've been accepted to. I also tell everyone that I want to major in teaching English, but I really haven't thought much about that either. It feels natural when I say it, but I haven't really checked out what I'm getting myself into. I had some encouragement from my 9th grade English teacher. I went to visit her and found out she got her English major from BYUI and said she liked it better there than BYU provo. So I guess that helped some. I guess my worry is that I've made decisions without really thinking about them. The character in my book was constantly praying and asking what they should do. I really haven't done a lot of that. I mean, I know they're all great choices, but maybe I'm really supposed to go somewhere God wants me to at this time in my life. A lot of my girl friends are talking about wanting to serve missions too. They asked if I wanted to and I said I didn't know, that I hadn't really thought about it. I'm terrified to ask about that though, 'cause if the answer is yes I might freak out a little. I guess I haven't really thought about how big these decisions are that I'm facing at this point in my life. But they pretty much can determine the rest of my life. And don't worry, I'm not like, 'freaking out' and 'under too much pressure' right now, I just needed to get my thoughts down in writing. Anyway, if anyone has some advice it's very welcome. :)

The Olden Days

For Family Home Evening last night, we decided to get out some old family videos. We ended up watching them until about 10 o'clock. I really miss those days when things weren't so complicated and life was just good. My brothers and sisters were adorable and we all had fun together. Although, I did discover that Kate acts exactly like I did. That was quite strange and I'm still in denial about it. I think I'll be able to tolerate and understand her a little more easily though.

My dad revealed to us that when Colin was little, my dad thought he was giong to be retarded. We all got a huge laugh out of that and now Colin is using it to his advantage. Saying he doesn't have to do chores because he's retarded. We also started to worry a little bit about me and some of the strange things I did on film.

I loved seeing and remembering loved ones that have passed on and looking forward to the day when I'll see them again. It was funny to see some of my old friends who I'm still friends with now and how much they've changed.

Basically, we all had a great time sitting around, eating brownies, and watching ourselves. It felt good to spend time together. I got a little sad when I thought about how soon I'll be moving out and starting a life of my own. I hope I can create some awesome memories for my kids like my parents did for me.

Lacrosse

It's been a couple week since I posted and I'm sitting here not wanting to go to bed so I guess I'll give some lacrosse updates. Today was our first stick practice...we shoveled snow the whole time. Coach was like, "We'll practice on the tennis courts because we can shovel that and the field is covered in snow." Yeah, uh, there was at least a foot of snow on the courts too. So after about an hour all 20 of us had managed to clear off about a quarter of one court. Kind of pointless. But it was fun nonetheless. Kay and Smallz were being crazy as always and I made the dumb mistake of tackling Kay into the snow. I was freezing the rest of the evening. Anyway, it was some cool bonding with the newbs I think. Tomorrow the little 'uns are coming and I'm so excited! I miss those little cuties so much! They just make me happy all the time. I'm hoping the season will be a good one. We've got lots of new players but they all seem really dedicated and willing to work hard, so we should be pretty good after some intense practicing. Alyssa and I were reminiscing about our first year of lacrosse. Well, mostly we talked about our old assistant coach Heather, but it made me kind of sad that this would be my last year playing for Lehi. So far, I haven't been able to find anything about a lacrosse teame at SUU or BYUI, which are my two main considerations for college. I might just have to start a club when I get there, cause I don't know what I'll do without lacrosse. (Besides get lazy and fat)

Bored in Photography

Nothing like blogging while you're supposed to be working on a project due in two days. Don't worry parents who never read my blog anyway, it will get done. So yes, here I am in photography class bored out of my mind. (Don't get my wrong, it's a way cool class.) Today's been basically a drag. I got a text from coach telling me about conditioning starting tomorrow and strangely enough that was pretty much the highlight of my day.
Jake has a llama on his computer. There, that's my random moment of the day. Anyway, I'm really not sure what the point of this is. Ooh, good song.
Omg, so, super hott man on American Idol last night. ;) He's been in the cast of Wicked for about a year and a half, which, ya know, only adds to his really gorgeous eyes and smile. Anyway, he was a really good singer and he's probably one of my favs of the moment. Unfortunately, Salt Lake auditions won't be airing for like, another week. Tonight is Kentucky and I'm pretty sure there's a few more cities before S.L. so yeah. I'm not famous yet, :).
Other than those aspects of my exciting life, um...yeah. I got nothing. Except I still have an hour of this class left so...I'll just keep rambling on pointlessly.
Jake wants me to talk about how much I hate him...except I don't. Aw, for cute.
I don't want to work today. I mean, hooray for money but, ugh. I really want to go to young womens...did I really just say that? I guess so. Not that young womens is bad, but we just got a new presidency and I'm a little...wary? I'm not sure if that's the right word. Worried? Unsure? Something along those lines. *One more night, one more time!* Another good song. I think I'm working with Sandee tonight, and she always keeps things interesting so it shouldn't be too bad.
Well, if I have any hope of somebody actually reading this, I better stop right now. I could start trash talking people and it wouldn't matter because nobody will actually read to this point...no, I don't talk bad about people...

British Masterworks Concert

There are somethings high school singers can only dream about. Having the opportunity to work with a world renowned musician is one of those dreams. Guess what? I got to live it. For several months my Encore choir has been working on some intensely difficult songs (including the forty-something page Gloria!). Then, this past weekend, we got to have it all come together. My choir, along with the top choirs from other schools in the distric met at American Fork High School after school this past friday to meet our conductor. The famous Craig Jessop. Okay, so I realize you non-music fanatics probably won't recognize his name. He conducted the mormon tabernacle choir. Ring any bells? Anyway, he's awesome.
We worked on our three (I guess technically six, Gloria has three parts) songs from 3:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Stopping only once for a dinner break. I was amazed at how much improvement our choir of about 200 members was able to make in only a short amount of time. The knowledge and love Dr. Jessop had for music was contageous. Even the advice that only required changing one thing about how we sang made an audible difference. It was so incredible to be part of a choir who wanted to be there and wanted to sound better than anything.
Well, I finally got to go home with no voice. Then, after a night of "rest" and absolutely no speaking allowed I was up again at 7:30 the next morning. We met at A.F. Highschool again at about 9:30. We then sang until our break at noon. By this time, we were sounding pretty good. Ok, that's a lie. We sounded REALLY good. But once again, my voice was really suffering. (Didn't help that I had a monster cough. *grr*)
Molly and I decided to go chill at the mall for three hours instead of heading home. During our break Dr. Jessop was working with the orchestra, which consisted of and organ professor and the BYU brass orchestra. Molly and I had fun window-shopping, losing her jacket, finding her jacket, and eating pretzels and really good lemonade. We decided we'd better head to Provo because we really had no idea where the tabernacle was. Luckily, we found it on time and had about 2 hours to rehearse with the band. Everything was really coming together. I had no idea a high school choir could sound so (my dad hates this word) AMAZING! I mean, we sounded like the motab for crying out loud! Then we had a dinner break, which we didn't use for dinner. Instead, Molly and I went to her sister's dorm to change clothes, then we met up with Thomas, Stephen, Nate, and Brad at some random store they'd found.
It was almost concert time. We all piled into my car and drove back to the tabernacle. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at the audience turn-out. There really weren't a whole lot of people there. And I'm telling you, this concert should have cost money it was so good! With a bit of last minute instruction and instrument tunage, our songs began.
This was truly the greatest concert I have ever been a part of. I just got chills all over during the songs (especially when the boys sang ;) ). I deffinitely have a greater appreciation for music and especially for dedication. There wasn't one person who decided that they didn't want to give their all, that mediocracy was good enough for them. Everyone wanted to impress the audience, to make them go, "wait a second, who's this choir and how old are they?" and I really think we did!

...Yeah

Well, Christmas is obviously over so I figured I'd better get something else up on this thing...except I have nothing to write about. *sigh* Well, I'm really confused about some stuff right now, but no one wants to hear about that. I just feel like I'm being pushed way further than my maturity level can handle. Ah well, that's high school...I think. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, some exciting news. I got my first real college acceptance. SUU all the way. It's a cool school, my cousin really likes it, so if BYU doesn't work out I'll probably be partying it up down there. I'm real excited for college. Mostly I just kind of want to get way, not really away from anybody or from anywhere, mostly just myself. I want a fresh start, and college seems like a great place to do that. So let's hope I can survive the last few months!

Commercial Christmas?

Here we are again, that wonderful time of year. Christmas. Many people think that Christmas has become too commercial, that everyone is too caught up in gifts and shopping and decorations. But what defines Christmas as commercial? Everyone I know is all for giving at Christmas time. I don't know anybody (little kids aside) that is obsessed with what they will get and how much of it. There's the families that won't have a Christmas. So when others give freely of themselves and help them have a good Christmas, does that mean that poor family is greedy for wanting a Christmas with presents? Of course not! So those of us who are financially sound are guilty of being greedy because we get excited for Christmas?
Everyone also says that decorations are too elaborate and fake. Almost every sort of decoration we have is symbolic of that first Christmas long ago when our Savior was born. The Christmas tree, string lights, wreaths, etc. The Christmas spirit is in our hearts, true, but not everyone has an open heart. They need actions and sights to help soften their hatred for the world so that they too might feel the joy that comes with Christmas. Those that are obsessed with feeling the "true" Christmas spirit and trying to make it "not commercial" are the ones who are bitter all season and never do feel the Christmas spirit. Take it to someone who's mom puts on Christmas music all year round, all these "commercial" parts of Christmas are just ways people get into the real spirit.
Don't get me wrong. There are many people out there who ARE greedy and are unwilling to give to others because they always feel like THEY need more. They aren't truly happy. They think Christmas is about getting gifts and if Christmas is supposed to be happy then they must need more gifts to be happy. I love giving to others. I love service. I know I don't do it as often as I should, but when I do I feel happier than anything in the world. Am I a good person? I like to think so. Am I excited for presents? Of course I am! I'm human! Just because I like getting things, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to enjoy giving things. There just needs to be a balance.
Anyway, that's my rant. Granted a lot of people I know will probably be mad at me for this and start an argument. *sigh* Oh well, this is my opinion and it comes from my heart. I love Christmas!