Things I am thankful for

#1 My family

I have been thinking a lot over the last few months about how incredibly lucky I am to have the family I have. Both of my brothers have made sure I'm taken care of and am happy during my whole life.

Just recently, I have been noticing that whenever my older brother Mike is around when it's just our family at my parents' house or at his house, he always takes care of me and makes sure I am included. If I am isolating myself, he invites me to come do things with our other family members. He also thinks of me when we're playing games. I wasn't always that big into playing our family game of Rook, so whenever we'd get ready to play a game, he always gave me other options of things that I would like to play. His wife, Michelle, is just as inclusive as he is. She really is like another sister to me and I love it when I get to visit them or they come see us. They also have a little girl named Rachel who is probably one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.

My younger brother Tyler tries to include me as well. He's always thinking of others and making sure they are taken care of. He and I have always had a great relationship as brother and sister. I wrote him almost every week he was out on his mission (actually, I did the same with Mike on his mission too). When we were kids, he was a little more aware of things going on with the kids our ages (he's two years younger than me) than I was and so he tried to warn me of things that I shouldn't do so I wouldn't get made fun of. Tyler is a great brother and I love him very much.

My older sister Jenn and I haven't really had that close of a relationship as sisters until the Fall of 2004 when we were taking a couple classes together at UVSC and she was pregnant with her second son. During those first couple of months, we became closer because I was watching my nephew a lot and I taped some of her classes while she was in the hospital. Although, how she got a 4.0 that semester and even missed two weeks of her classes because of her pregnancy, I will never know because I went to almost all my classes over those couple weeks and I still got C's in some of mine. But anyway, I have come to love my sister very much. We have started learning more about each other over the past couple years and it has been fun to learn more about her.

I could not ask for better parents. They are two of the most loving people I know. I have been so incredibly blessed with a mom and dad who love each other very much and have been married for 35+ years. I have been observing people I work with and even just people I know around town and I have realized how many people I know who are divorced. It makes me sad to see so many families with divorced parents, but it also makes me realize how incredibly lucky I am to have the family I have. I know people who don't get along very well at all with their siblings or their parents and it makes me sad for them. I am grateful for a family who loves each other and we support each
other in everything that we do, including negative and positive experiences in life.

#2 My Disney World Experience
Working in Disney World in 2008 had so many influences on my life for good. I learned a great deal of life lessons that I don't think I would have learned as well any other way.

I learned how to be a better roommate by observing two of my roommates who were a little... well, crazy and somewhat inconsiderate.

I made friends that I will probably keep for a lifetime because they are people like me who are totally obsessed with Disney.

I made a friend with a girl named Courtney who is as obsessed with meeting Disney characters in person and watching Disney movies as quoting them as me. I will probably consider her as one of my closest friends for the rest of my life.

I roomed with a girl from school named Celeste who I was friends with, but we didn't really know a whole lot about each other while we were at BYU-I. Those few months we lived together, we discovered a lot of things we had in common, like movies, the movie industry, and acting in general, as well as things we were opposites in, like the fact that I am a total girly girl and she is not. She's not really a tomboy, but she doesn't like the color pink or anything traditionally girly. Celeste and I also discovered that if I hadn't been able to switch apartments and live in her apartment like I did, she probably could have killed at least one of our roommates because of this girl's hypocritical ways and insanity.

#3 Music and Dance
If I didn't have music or dance, I would go insane. When I can't dance full out like I would like to do, listening to my favorite music makes me happy and keeps me sane.

#4 My many jobs

I am always fortunate to have a job at Days Market when I come home from school because in the past, I have come home during the months when everyone else is getting ready to go back to school and so I have a guaranteed job there. This next Fall, though, is when I will be student teaching, so I am just planning on being at the store from the middle of April when I finish my classes at BYU-Idaho and I prepare for student teaching.

I also substitute teach when I am home in the fall, and that's usually for my dad's TV classes. Thank you, Dad, for giving me a second job.

During the Christmas season, I work on the Polar Express. I help the elves get ready and I remind them that they work the following day.

#5 The gospel of Jesus Christ
Plain and simple, Jesus Christ is my Savior. Without him, I cannot do anything on my own. He atoned for my many sins and I can't pay Him back for all of them, but I can do my personal best to repent and become more like Him.

Happy and sad

So I've been waiting in anticipation for the last few weeks waiting to find out whether or not my two cousins Whitney and Karlee were going to be accepted into the Disney World College Program. Actually, Whitney found out a while ago that she made it (YAY!), but Karlee still hadn't found out last last week and she was supposed to hear by December 18 whether she made it or not.

Well, I found out on Saturday night that Karlee had not made it. I was so sad to find that out because Karlee was so excited to go down there with Whitney and room with her and do the program with her. It also made me sad because Karlee's older sister Dayna did the program before I did mine and I think their mom did it too. So I feel really bad for Karlee because her mom did the program, her sister did it, I did it, and now her cousin that she was going to do the program with got accepted into it and Karlee doesn't get to do it with her. :(:(:(


I wish there was something I could say or do to make her feel better, but there's really nothing that I can say. I wanted to send her a Disney gift basket, but that would probably just make it worse.

New obsession!!!

I've been looking forward to seeing this movie since last year when I kept seeing the movie still for it in Disney World at the Magic of Disney Animation. I've been seeing the progression of the movie over the past year and I finally got to see it last night. Here is the link to the trailer for it if you haven't seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCk7PNkoDw4&feature=channel

I saw it twice this weekend because I loved it so much last night when I saw it with my mom. It is SUCH a good movie! It's definitely one of my new favorite Disney movies. Tiana and Naveen are such a great couple!!!


I love the way Naveen would look at Tiana during the movie. Every time I'd see him give her one of the 'looks,' I'd sigh and think "I want that!!"

Tiana is an inspiration to all women. She has a dream in mind and she is willing to do anything to make it happen, including kissing a frog.


*sigh* I want to watch it again now.

At least I have pictures of when I met Naveen and Tiana when I was in Disneyland! That was DEFINITELY a highlight of my Disneyland visit. I was expecting to just meet Tiana, but when I saw Naveen too, I thought "oh my gosh.... he's as attractive as Prince Caspian!!"



I didn't know it at the time, but when the Photo Pass girl was getting pictures of me with Naveen and Tiana, she managed to get this shot of me and Naveen.

I was so thrilled when I saw it! Oh man he is handsome! And he even called me beautiful!!! *sigh*

Where did the Fall go?

In exactly one month, I will be going back to BYU-Idaho for my final semester there before I student teach next year. I just can't believe how fast the past few months have gone! I really didn't have much of a break at all between when I got home and when I auditioned for Annie Get Your Gun. I had five days between when my semester ended and when they held auditions, so I had just enough time to get settled back home and to get an audition song somewhat-ready (I forgot a few of the lyrics when I auditioned).










So I had rehearsals during August, September, and October and then we performed the first couple weekends in November. The morning after we closed the show, I flew out to California to go play in Disneyland with my friend Laura.



While I was there, I met the new princess (Tiana) and prince (Naveen) from the new Disney Animated movie "The Princess and the Frog."


And of course, I had to visit my favorite mice!


So since I've been home, I've been working on the Polar Express as well as my regular job at Days market and I'm also substitute teaching (mostly for my Dad's classes). The Polar Express ends on December 23 and the schools will have their Christmas break around the same time. So basically, I'm going to have about as much time to prepare myself to go back to school after Christmas as I had getting home from school in July. *sigh* Oh well, I've got to get myself mentally prepared for this coming semester because I can tell right now that this is going to be my hardest semester by far.

So in the meantime, I've to find time to spend with my friends that I've made while I've been home (in the singles ward). It's been nice to still see various members of the Annie Get Your Gun cast in Days pretty often, so it wasn't like I wasn't going to see some of my favorite people. :) Anyway, I hope I get everything done in the next 25ish days because come the end of December, I'll not only be saying goodbye to 2009, but I will be saying hello to 2010 and my last semester in my senior year. *inhales and exhales* I hope I can do this!

Annie Get Your Gun- Coming to Midway Town Hall November 5!

There's No Business Like Show Business, like no business I know!!! In a week and a half, the Timpanogas Valley Theater company will be opening our performance of Annie Get Your Gun. The dates of the show are November 5, 6, and 7, and the 12, 13, and 14. The first Thursday-Saturday shows are being included as one of the shows involved with Cowboy Poetry here in Heber. The following week will be a little less hectic because there won't be Cowboy Poetry stuff going on during our last performances.

I have to tell ya, I've been getting a little depressed lately because I know that we will be finishing the show soon and so I won't see my TVT friends nearly as often. This has happened every year when I've been in a show with TVT (this my third show with TVT). My TVT friends are some of my closest friends when I am home in Heber during the Fall months and I always realize about a week before opening the show that the beginning of the end of the show is drawing near. As a matter of fact, I was very upset last night. I didn't talk out loud very much and I was just kind of off in my own little world yesterday. I was trying to pinpoint why I was so depressed yesterday and it hit me last night that I am getting really sad that I won't see some of my closest Heber friends very much after November 14. In fact, I was wanting to have a good cry because I was so full of emotion last night and I couldn't think of another way to get it out.

What I like so much about this cast is that a lot of the principle actors are adults, which is the kind of cast I was first involved in with TVT (when I was in Blithe Spirit). I have known Justin since Blithe Spirit because like all the TVT productions, he's built the set for most of the shows. In 2007, I became friends with Lance when he was the lead in Pirated! and we've kept in touch really well because he teaches at the high school with my dad. I also have known all the directors (Ms. T, Duke, Josh, and Ann) for a long time before TVT even started. This year, I've gotten to know Becca, Beth, Laurie W and her daughter Erin, Ryan, Jason, Candee, Melissa G, Andy B, and a few of the younger kids.

It is the highlight of my week to go to rehearsals because I get to see my theater friends there. I don't have to worry about being 'normal' because in theater, being normal is overrated and we can all just be ourselves. I don't have a principle part in Annie Get Your Gun, but when Josh releases everyone but the principles, I enjoy just hanging out with them because they are the ones I most enjoy being around and I like watching them rehearse their scenes.

I am very sad to see the end of the Fall 09 Annie Get Your Gun show, but I am looking forward to doing Polar Express and a few other things before I head back to school.

I just hope I see Andy, Candee, Jason, and all my other cast members again after we finish because I think they shop at Smith's since the prices there are a little cheaper than Days Market. I've seen Ryan, Lance, Laurie W, Sue (Laurie's mom), Becca, and a few of the others in Days, but I never see the others and it makes me sad. :(

Busy, busy, busy!

I have been sooo busy lately. Since I have been home, I have worked
at least 32-35+ hours each week because I want to earn as much money as possible while I am home. I have also been going to my Annie Get Your Gun rehearsals each week to prepare for our shows in November.

It's been so interesting as I have just been reflecting about stuff while I am at work. I have had a lot of time to kill by just daydreaming until people come through my line at work and I keep thinking about how much I miss Walt Disney World. In fact, while I was looking for this picture to put on my blog,

I found this video that was taken last year in Disney World of the Miss America contestants with Mickey. It made me miss Mickey SOOOO much!!!



I just can't believe how much I miss it down there. And to think, when I started my official role in WDW, I hated it sooo much. I did everything in my power to switch out to a role in Hollywood Studios instead, but I didn't succeed in doing so. And now as I look back on my experience and I think about how much I loved going to the parks and the friends I made at the Mara, I realize that I miss it down there! I am making a trip down to Disneyland in November to go with a friend who lives 30 minutes away from Disneyland. She invited me to come stay with her so we can go together and she can see how I am with all the characters (translation- me transform into a 6-year-old around the characters :)). I am sooo excited to go. I am still in the process of earning a good deal of money to make up for the difference that I will be taking out of my school funds that I am earning while I am home. I already planned on this trip, though, and so that's why I am working so much. I haven't been to Disneyland since I was 7 or 8 and half the rides I went on as a kid scared me (Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain) but now that I'm completely obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean and I worked at Disney World, I want to see the difference between Disneyland and Disney World. I am very much looking forward to going down there.

I can't believe it has almost been a year....

I have been reflecting a lot the past few days about how a year ago, I was preparing to fly in an airplane all by myself for the first time to go across the country down to Florida where I would spend the Fall months in one of the happiest places on earth.

I can still remember my exact feelings about how I felt during those months. I felt excited, scared, and curious about what I was going to be doing. I don't think I could have predicted what my experience was like even if I had tried.

All those feelings are creeping back into my heart these days and it makes me want to do it again, even though I have a better idea of what it would be like (although, I probably wouldn't apply for Quick Service Food and Beverage again).

I made so many great friends while I was there. I really don't think there is another place in the world where you can have an experience like what I had- and I don't think ANYONE could have had an experience quite like what I had either. Oh boy. So many memories.

I learned SO many things while I was there. I absolutely loved it. I also think that the fact that I had NEVER been to Walt Disney World was probably a huge factor in why I enjoyed it so much. I spent quite a few of my days off going to the parks by myself or with some of my friends.

It was an incredible experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go down. I'm also grateful to my cousin for telling me about the program in the first place. Dayna, I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have done the program! Thank you so much!

By the way, Dayna, I don't think I ever showed you this and I think you'll like it:


And I guess it is only fair that I also include this in honor of my cousin (and Dayna's sister), Lindsay, whose idea it was to ambush Jack after his pirate training so I could get this picture with him. :D :D :D


I was hoping Jack would stay looking at me long enough so that Lindsay could have gotten a pic of us looking at each other, but he looked at the camera instead.


So Jack paused long enough to get a pic of the both of us looking at the camera. :)