10/22

                                  OCTOBER 22, 2012

                               Taylor Swift's new album

                                  RED

                                         comes out!
                             mark your calenders people

her new single-we are never getting back together

the difference a week can make

Things happen in life that make you stronger...but I have a theory.

those things are hard, and they cause you to fall before they make you stronger..

This year is really making me think about where I am headed and what I need to do to prepare for that...

I want to leave a legacy that I will be proud of. I want to be able to tell my future daughters that their mother did all she could to be a good person to people...but sometimes I wonder-and know-that I fall short...

All summer I was thinking I just couldn't wait to be done with this year, and couldn't wait  to go to Idaho for school...

But just one week can make me change my mind. I have a wonderful life here. I want to enjoy it- every moment, because honestly...i'm going to miss it. 

I am just so happy to have the knowledge I have of Christ-that He can ease our heart aches and comfort us when no one else can. He know that I have a problem with only looking to the future and never taking time to enjoy the present and the blessings that I have RIGHT now that i'm not really paying attention to. 

I'm going to try and be better at that.

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today was rainy. I loved it. there is something about the rain that makes me feel clean and new.

today I discovered spotify-it is fantastic.

today I made shadow puppets against the garage door with a cute little girl I babysat

today I got a new phone!! It actually lets me make calls....which brings me to...

today I got a ticket for talking on my phone while driving.

today I watched Arturo

all in all- a pretty random day...but aside from the ticket, a good day. 

sorry I'm lame and never have pictures. I'm trying to get better at taking my camera everywhere like awesome bloggers do

adios amigos 

sEniOR

I am so lazy with pictures. sorry.

what a week
I started High School on Tuesday the 21st, and I have loved every minute of it.


my favorite part of the day is Seminary-a gospel study class for the youth of the church. This year we are studying the New Testament.  I get up at (on a good day) 5am, shower, get ready for the day and I'm out by 6:10 to get there by 6:20 when class starts. Seminary is just the perfect way to start the day with the right mindset. love it.

after seminary, I race to the school to get a parking spot-almost impossible the first week of school because everyone actually decides to be on time the first week.

Then Band-today I had a student leader mtg. super inspiring.

Then IPS- 2nd best class of the day after Seminary. IPS is a class where I help mentor students with disabilities. we play games, make posters, and just chat. Its only been 4 days and I'm already seeing it bless my life

after that, AP English-my one 'class'. I already have a book assignment and 2 poems to write. woo.

then I visit my family in Varsity choir <3

5th hour I am an aide for Mr. Ficke....Mr. Ficke was my sophomore adv. English teacher. That class was one of the hardest but most rewarding class I have ever completed.  I wanted to be his aide because he made me believe I could do something with my life if I tried hard enough...And I like to remember all the assignments I did as he gives them to the class that I am aiding for. haha. HOWEVER. I don't really do anything yet so today I took a long lunch and chilled with my gurls Summer and Allison. we went to summer's house and watched Mean Girls..it was super weird.

6th hour is chamber choir- we have boot camp this week which is just reading rhythms and sol fedge. ew.

last hour is JAZZ BAND. I'm the newby. I really enjoy it, but i'm not too awesome at jazz. hopefully it will get better.

This is my life now.
If you read all the way through that, thank you. you are my friend. <3

Have a lovely day.

name them one by one

you know what's cool?

babysitting for a makeup sales lady and her giving you free lip gloss and perfume along with your check

your little brother getting baptized 

having an awesome schedule for school

going to church

swimming with your friends

having lunch on the deck

finding things in the scriptures that totally relate to what you needed to hear at that moment. (for me its Romans 13:8)

napping

the new, nice weather

feeling absolutely cruddy, counting your blessings, and feeling a little better.

parker's prayer

Parker ran into my room this morning with absolute distress.

"CLAIRE! I cannot find Zane!!" (ninjago character he loves I think more than me.-just kidding...kinda)

after some petition, I sleepily rolled out of bed and proceed to help him look.

about 14 minutes go by and we cannot find this lego guy. (I did find two other "Zanes" in the process..but apparently they didn't have the special armor this one had....)

so after looking and not finding, I suggest Parker say a  prayer to help us find the missing Lego.

Parker just sits his bum down on the couch for a minute and says.." yeah...why didn't I think of that??"

after he said his heartfelt prayer, we began again to look for the missing little man.

not a minute later we found him under the couch.

prayer works.

I am so grateful the Lord waits for us to ask Him before he just hands us the answer to our problems. 

 He waits patiently and quietly.

But He is always there.

{please note Zane's special armor}

goals pt.2

So...I was informed by a super cool reader of my blog that I never kept this promise of posting my goals on this blog. lets fix that now.

1. endure with a positive attitude.  I already am facing the dis-want to do anything school related.  I kind of just want to get this year over with...which is super lame of me because its my SENIOR YEAR? who does that? so I will not only endure this year, but try to enjoy it..

2.  Get really close to my brother.  My brother has turrets, which is a chemical imbalance he has that makes him just a little different, which is fine. He is still my brother and I love him forever...but sometimes I see things differently than he does..I want to be able to help him in ways that he can handle. I wish my sister and I would have gotten closer before she left, so I want that for Parker and I before I leave for college.

3. run.  I hate it. I want to love it.

those are the 3 big ones, I have some more but I think those are good for now.

i love this song.

family and mosquito bites

for every birthday, holiday, anniversary and so on, my lovely family (including the aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins) that live somewhat nearby get together and have a festive gathering. 

there is always the same schedule with these parties

h'orderves

dinner

cake

presents

talking for a while 

departure 

after 17 years of this...you can imagine I have it in mind how it will go..

but tonight I noticed something different: 

my grandpa taking twice as long to eat his food, not telling his famous stories..even when my dad begs him..

I realized we might not be having these parties for very much longer..I kinda kept quiet when I thought that. 

I absolutely love my family..and I can't imagine them not in it, it would not be the same..

I am so grateful for the knowledge that families are forever...with out that...I'm not sure I could go on.

the kids with granny and grandpa <3

I love them

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last night, I had another little party with the Becoming Girls group. (Its a group where young girls come to learn about growing up and being a friend. I mentor the 5th soon to be 6th grade girls.)

we played night games at the adult leader's house. IT WAS SO FUN! 

capture the flag was made super intense.

the only bad news: I have about 28 mosquito bites all over my person..

no fun.

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Look for the METEOR SHOWER tonight!!! I know I will!

the beauty of unexpected things.

Back story time.

during my time in elementary school, the Manhattan High School Pops Choir would come and sing for us.  The first time I remember the pretty girls in the pink sparkly dresses was when I was 6 years old.  I remember thinking, "When I'm older, I am going to be one of those girls" ..It was a dream of mine from then out...

This is THE pops group I saw that struck that hope.

so when High School came around, I still had that dream. I saw the glamorous seniors dancing and singing, looking like they where having the time of their lives! I was so excited to audition when I was a senior!

So the time came my junior year to audition for the 2012-2013 MHS pops choir.

I practiced so hard.

I sand "My Country 'Tis of Thee" about a thousand times-that was the song we auditioned on.

I did several rhythm charts

I practiced my Sol Fedge everyday

I felt good about my audition and thought I was golden to make it..

Until I saw the list that my name was not on. 

I was devastated.  I did not want to  go to school, I cried almost everyday.  It seems like it shouldn't be a big deal to not make a class, but when your heart is so in something for so long..Its hard.

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Mr. Pape, my choir director told us something about 2 months before auditions. He told us that the 2012-2013 year would not only have Pops, but another specialty choir.  There would be no dancing, just singing. It would have a variety of age groups and be just as great.

However I did not believe it.

How could anything be just as great as POPS? especially because there was no dancing involved, and with younger singers.  I thought little about it because my sights were so set on pops.

after I didn't make it, I noticed my name was on that list for the other choir.

I tried to have a good attitude about it, and told myself it was worth doing, although deep inside every ounce of me wanted to just quit choir all together. 

This new choir was called Varsity Choir. 30 people, 15 guys and 15 girls got in.  I prayed about it and decided that this would be a good experience, and that I should not quit.

I am so glad.

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This week was Varsity and Pops camp. I went with an almost healed heart from the disappointment  of not making pops.  

 I made so many memories in those short 5 days.

from getting stuck in the middle of nowhere at 12:30am with the girls trying to place home made signs in the boys' yard, to sitting in a big circle with all the wonderful people I have shared High school with for so long and learning things about them that had never crossed my mind.  I had never taken the time to get to know some of these amazing students.

here are some of the pictures from this most incredible week:

my fun friend Allison 

GIRLS NIGHT! we made signs for the boys

OUR CONCERT

                                     

                          after the concert, the girls had a fun night at he old stadium. It was a blast!

I am so thankful for this opportunity.  I do admit when I heard pops practicing for the concert I had to leave the room and have a little tear. But after singing with all my new best friends, I realized that there is nowhere I would rather be than in varsity choir.

perspective

Today I skyped with my sister, just us. It was nice not to have everyone fighting for screen time with her.

I have been having a tough week and being able to talk with my sister made it not seem so bad.  I feel alone sometimes, but she assured me that it gets better and High school is just awkward...she also reminded me that we truly are never alone. Christ is always there to pick us up and brush us off when we fall.

I love my sister.

sister rings!

that 20's feel

 pearl earnings still make me feel pretty.

I wear them with anything. 

what makes you feel pretty?

senior pic preview

My sister rocks at taking pics. this is one of my favorites.

goals

Sometimes I set super high goals for myself that are totally unattainable. ....

actually they probably are attainable...I just get so down when I don't make them right away.

That's one of my biggest problems.  Patience. I have none. I want things RIGHT NOW likkkeeee....

I want to have my varsity choir music memorized.... right now
I want to lose 19 pounds....right now
I want this pair of shoes....right now (right here)
I want to be able to run 29 miles....right now

unfortunately...these things just don't happen.

So I have some goals that I would like to share with you for this upcoming senior year.
they are small and simple, but I know great things are to come from them.

They will be up tomorrow.

I was going to post them tonight but I realized...I really do need to have my choir music memorized by tomorrow...

till  then.

Toms

      

I feel classy in these shoes 

lesson

this is what I find frustrating: when you try to post a comment on another blog and the computer makes you decode a phrase to make sure you are not a robot and then you don't give the right answer because the letters are so distorted so you can't leave a comment.


I find a lot of things frustrating... but I suppose those things are there to help us gain patience and understanding...and I am thankful for that.

I am also thankful for my mom making choco chip cookies.

I'm praying for patience for those things that are annoying but necessary...

You know what I have realized? that when I think I am feeling a certain way (like frustrated) and I write down how I am feeling and find out that its so much deeper than that, and the Lord has ways of making us feel better that I find when I write. Its quite amazing. so I encourage YOU to write down how you feel and what you can do to fix (if its a not so good feeling) or enhance (if its an AMAZING feeling). It will come.
 Like When I had that experience about the phrase puzzle, I thought 'I'm going to go blog and complain about that" but then when I got here I wrote something totally different!! so cool. The Lord is awesome.

until next time.

spiritual enlightenment here

what a crazy week it has been

2 days after I came home from Utah, I had marching band camp.

I know...awesome.

I really do enjoy it, just not when its 190 degrees.
I am a section and Rank leader, which means I get to teach people and boss them around.. Just kidding.

The best part of band camp is probably the drill down. Its like a big game of simon says. Our director calls out a ton of marching commands, trying to confuse us, and if we make a mistake or stutter, we are eliminated until there is one winner.

(me in the blue and long shorts)

I was the champ last year but got thrown out early this year. Which is okay since I was super thirsty and was about to die of dehydration.

I do love band camp and I'm kinda sad now that its over..forever. but I am looking forward to this new senior year!

OH I also got my senior schedule.

I have 2 core classes and 5 fun electives, oh yes :)

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Monday I start Varsity Choir camp.

varsity choir is a new specialty choir at MHS. I'm super excited. we get cute preppy outfits and  red TOMS

:D

I'm going to order these puppies today.

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Yesterday I got to see my sister!

Weird I know since I just saw her, but she was in Kansas shooting a wedding. It was really cool how it worked out.  We went to Ihop and target. I didn't really want to go at first because I had just said goodbye to her and didn't really want to be sad again, but i'm really glad I went. It was just like a little treat rather than a big visit, so the goodbye wasn't too hard.

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OH! I never told about my plane ride.

It was a bit crazy.

After a teary goodbye with Anna and Kent, I proceeded through security.

It was my first plane ride by myself so I was a tad nervous.

needless to say I got on the right plane at the right time.  I had a 40 minute layover in Denver so I thought I had plenty of time between flights to find my right gate and such.

Whoops.

Turns out someone was being illegal on our plane. I'm not sure what really went down. I just know that the fire department came and had to escort him off the plane.

We took off 48 minutes late.

So when I got to Denver, my flight was boarding and almost ready to take off.
I ran through the crowds and just made it. 

After I caught my breath, I pulled out my Book of Mormon and started to read the man and his wife next to me started asking me questions about it.

Score!

  we talked the whole way-a lot about the church and the Book of Mormon. The guy used to be a member but fell away and we got to talking about how the church helps in so many aspects in our life. It was the coolest thing ever to share what I love!! 

I really want to be a missionary, and this has only increased my desire!

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Parker has his 8th birthday party today!! 

Spider man and twelve 7-9 year olds...should be fun.

have a happy Day!

Kansas

i'm back.

i had the most wonderful time in Utah.

i miss the mountains i would see out my window every day i would wake up

i miss watching Korean sitcoms with Kent's sister, Hollie

i miss always stalked apple juice

i miss plastic cups with my name written on them with sharpie

i miss efy

i miss being in a new place

i miss talking with my sister.

I miss a lot about Utah..but you know what I missED more?

i missed my family's goofy way of communicating

i missed the dry Kansas heat and the Olympic runs we have from building to building to capture the AC

i missed my friend's inside jokes and activities

i missed my dog sticking her face in the couch cousin 

i missed my brothers clever inventions- like the angry bird course I found when I came home

i missed the trees (no trees in Utah)

i missed my dad's hugs

i missed my own hard bed and mushy pillows

i missed the hills that I grew up driving up and down

i missed my mailbox and the excitement I get when the mailman came 

i missed my mom's advice.

I do love my Kansas.