Raptors!!

Because I'm bored and weird.... Here are some raptor pictures :) these aren't all of them.... but there's a few.

My newest goal!

So I find it interesting how life works out sometimes and how when you think life couldn't get harder and you don't understand the things that are going on the Lord steps in and shows you that you are not alone. The night of my last post.... well let's start a little earlier. Monday March 1st as has been previously stated I received a concussion. Then Tuesday night a close friend of mine was very kind and exercised his amazing Priesthood power and gave me a blessing. The blessing filled me with peace and comfort and I knew things would be okay. Then the next day he took me to the doctor. The doctor told me that I couldn't dance until all my symptoms were gone... and that those could last weeks he said. I was feeling discouraged and frustrated. Then Thursday night I was informed that I wouldn't be dancing any of the part of the dance that I so desperately wanted to be in. I was angry, discouraged, upset, and confused, as you could probably tell in my last post. I questioned God about many things that night in my prayers... and then I opened up my scriptures. I opened them to Alma chapter 26. This is the the chapter heading:

"....The faithful are strengthened by the Lord and are given knowledge... God has all power and comprehendeth all things."

I read that and just started to cry again. I knew that I had been unfair and that I needed to have faith in the Lord. He knows me and does care. The next day I was informed that I could do the third section of the dance. I was ecstatic and was reminded again of the Lord's love for me as an individual.
I've also noticed something else... I've been rather negative lately. If I truly believe that God is my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is my brother and loved me enough to die so that I could return to Them... and if I truly believe that they know me and everything I do and how I feel at all moments of my life.... shouldn't I be one of the happiest people ever? I know that we all have trials and that there are times when we feel so alone that we think we have been abandoned... But we are NEVER alone and They will never abandon us. It is we who abandon Them. I know that They know how I feel and with that knowledge I have decided to be a happier person. I have decided to look at the bright side of life, and to be more positive. Shouldn't I be? I want to smile and show my testimony through not just my words but through my attitude towards life. So my newest goal? Love life more and enjoy it to its fullest. Don't let the hard things get me down, I have too much to be grateful for!

Oh the Frustrations of Dance...

So this is going to be my pity-party blog..... It's sad really because lately I've been super annoyed by people who are attention hungry and pity seekers.... So know that I'm not searching for pity, I'm just venting. So as I stated in my last blog I recently received a concussion while rolling off the back of my dance partner, well all I've been doing since Monday is sleeping and making brownies. When I'm upset I make food... I would make my everything kitchen if possible, that's why I have roommates. Anyway, I had resigned myself to thinking that I wouldn't be able to dance in Reeds, which is the dance that I received my concussion doing, this weekend, but while we are on tour I would dance it. Well, today I was informed that I am no longer in the dance, another girl is taking my spot. I understand that the reason for doing this is so that I will not get hurt again, but just because I know the reason I'm no longer in the dance doesn't make it any easier to not be in it. It is a beautiful dance choreographed in honor of our amazing dance professor's son who died some years back. It is her last year and I really wanted to dance it.... and now I won't. Sometimes it makes me wonder why I was given the talent to dance. I'm not super good, but I can learn fast. I love to dance and feel like it is a way to get all of my frustrations out, but every time I'm given the opportunity to really dance and grow, I get hurt in some way. It's really frustrating and then I can't dance to let out all of the frustrations so it all builds up inside of me and then I have the desire to take all of them out on other people.... and that's not so good. I had been planning on minoring in dance and then I could teach dance in the future... however, now I'm not so sure. I want to, but I just get so frustrated... maybe I was never meant to really dance, and that's a hard pill to swallow. I guess we'll see what happens. This is kind of a bunch of random thoughts put together, but I had to get some of these frustrations out. Here's a link to a clip of what I'm supposed to be doing. http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=295204323778&subj=611947811

My most recent adventure :(

So my most recent adventure doesn't have any pictures, although I wish it did because the situation is going to be kind of hard to explain.... We are in the middle of preparing for our dance concert this week.... okay I guess we're really at the end of preparing because we open tonight, anyway I'm in two dances. The first one is called Reeds and is a beautiful piece. In it there is a moment that we call the dragonfly. The boy squats down with a flat back and arms out and the girl lays on their stomachs on the boys back. Well to get out of this lift, the girls are supposed to somersault off of the boys backs. I got stuck on Tim, my partner, and so to get me off pushed myself a little harder, rolled off, but didn't catch myself properly and so I slammed the back of my head onto the floor, giving myself a minor concussion..... awesome. So yesterday and today are my not go to class and sleep all day, kind of days. Even if I wanted to go to class my roommates and other friends won't let me. I'm lucky I got out of the apartment at all yesterday :), But that's why I love them. Well.... this was random but I just thought I'd write about it. But here's a random picture anyway that has nothing to do with this story :) My roommate Sierra and I made awesome rainbow cupcakes a couple weeks ago.... This is the inside of one :)

Getting Better?

So I really am going to try really hard to get better at this whole blogging thing.... I think I said that at the beginning of the year but I really do mean it this time.... I think :)

I'm not even really sure where to start after Joseph. Over Christmas I was able to go up to Idaho for New Years' Eve... and it was AWESOME! Here are some pictures from that.

However, this first picture is of the family and Jerold and Joni's family at Temple Square. It was lots of fun except on the way home I got stuck sitting by myself on the frontrunner next to a crazy old lady.... I'm pretty sure she smelled. Okay that's not true but it was super awkward. Oh and we like to be raptors.....






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It's been a long time.....

So once upon a time I was going to be really good at this whole blogging thing..... but then school happened so it's been a while. So much has happened these last couple of months. Let's see.....
I was cast in our production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as woman's ensemble which includes basically every girl part in the show minus narrator and Potipher's wife. I got to be dance captain and I learned a whole lot. It was so much fun! Demanding but worth it. Here are some crazy pictures :) The first picture is my roommates Sierra and Taylor as High Schoolers, then it's all of my roommates (Including Sarah) in our Pharaoh costumes, then Taylor and I in our Go Go and then Taylor, Tamera and I as Pharaoh's back up singers. Oh and this last one is of my roommates and I as wives.

Just some tragic yet hopeful thoughts.

So my computer freaked out in the middle of my other post. Oh well. I don't really remember anything else exciting and fun happening.
One thing that happened that was really sad was my Uncle and one of my cousin's little girl was killed. Not at the same time, they happened on a Monday and a Tuesday. Liberty (my cousin's daughter on my Dad's side) was 18 months. She got backed over by a sixteen year old. Can you imagine being that 16 year old girl and knowing you just ran over a little girl. It was a complete and total accident. I never want to go through that. It's made me realize how easily something like that could happen.
The next day we got a phone call from my mom's sister-in-law saying that my uncle had been killed in a head on collision with an 18 year old. I went to school with him, graduated with him, did theatre once or twice with him. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't my uncle's fault. It just happened. I can't even imagine nor do I want to imagine the pain of losing a Father. When my Dad had his double by-pass during Christmas time two years ago I thought about that often. What would I do if something went wrong in the surgery or what if he hadn't gone into the doctor in time. I could have lost him and just the thought was terrifying. I can't imagine it actually happening. Yet it does. To people all over the world.
Today I learned that a girl just older than me was killed in a wreck. She was young, vibrant, married and expecting their first child. It is devastating.
However, am I so glad that I know that families can be together forever. That once again we will be able to see our family members.
Well, I just wanted to share some thoughts that were on my mind.