My beautiful and wonderful family!

My beautiful and wonderful family!

Monday, February 23, 2009

A Very Good Weekend!

WOW! This last weekend was full of so many different things! I had a blast! I started out the weekend with a Mary Kay Party with some of my girly friends. It was fun! We had a great time! I was able to catch up with some people I hadn't seen in a while and it was just a fun time to be a silly girl!

Then I worked all day Friday, from 10-7, but I was able to learn some new things at the store to help out on the front end and stuff. I had fun learning how to do U-Scan (self-checkouts) and I was able to help out the cashiers and courtesy clerks. I definitely miss being up in the front of the store helping customers! I loved being a cashier when I was in Thatcher! I just love being able to talk to people and interact with the people I work with. In the Cub House I am in a little glass box and I can't really leave and interact with anyone besides the kids. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job and I love being with the kids I work with! It is so rewarding and lots of fun, but I have to admit that I do miss the adult conversation sometimes. So it was a nice break for me to be able to work the front end on Friday.

Then on Saturday I was super busy! I woke up at 6:30 and got ready to go to a service project that our Relief Society was doing for our enrichment night. It was awesome! We went to a domestic violence shelter and helped for about 2 hours and cleaned things up a bit. It was very rewarding and I am so glad that I did it! I was in the kitchen helping out and we were all supposed to sign up for specific jobs and no one wanted to clean the oven, so I took it. I was happy to do it though. Cleaning a stove, and the grill and degreasing everything is kind of important for sanitation and stuff! Let me tell you though, this was a BIG job! It was huge!! Two ovens, a 6 burner stove, and then a grill that covered the whole top of one over sized oven. All of it was cast iron. WOW! It was a lot of work but so worth it! It took me the entire 2 hours to clean all of that up but I felt so good after doing it! After I was all done the supervisor over our group came up to me and told me how much she appreciated me taking the initiative and doing that because it needed to be done so badly. I was just happy to be there. I have needed to get outside myself for a long time and I was just so glad for the opportunity to do something like that for these people who needed it so badly.

After I was down there I had to go home and get ready to go to Ben's Regional Choir Concert. It was so good! My choir director at the college was his director for regionals so that was pretty cool! They did a FANTASTIC job! Ben has decided that he is definitely going to take choir at the college the semester before he goes on his mission so that is pretty cool! I'm excited for him! I have loved being part of that choir!

After the concert I went with my family to my cousin's birthday party which was a blast! She turned 9 years old! I can't believe how old my cousins are getting! All of the girls in that family are absolutely adorable! I just love them to pieces!

We left around 7:30 and I had to get ready to go to a Young Single Adults Activity that started at 9. I was so tired, but I knew that I should go and meet some new people. I am trying to be better about getting involved in my single's ward and going to the activities that are going on! I definitely need to be more social! So anyway, I went to the activity and it was really fun! We went to Polar Ice and I went ice skating for the first time! It was exciting! I think that I will like it even better the next time I go because I was just trying to get used to it this time, but I really did enjoy myself! And another cool thing was that I was able to see alot of people from my hometown and that was fun too! I really enjoyed being able to catch up with people and meeting some new people too! There were 750 people there! Insane! I was pretty proud of myself for going and it ended up being alot better than I expected it to be! Plus, I go to do something I have never done before which is always exciting and fun! :)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Newlyweds

I haven't been able to post anything about Ricky and Sorena's wedding yet! I was waiting til I could get some good pics on here first though. The wedding was awesome! Sorena and Ricky looked fantastic and everything went really well!

We spent the night before the wedding getting everything ready for the reception which was fun! It was definitely a lot of work but it was great for all of us to be there together getting everything set up! It was so pretty! Sorena's colors were green and white. They had tons of plants with a garden scene, a gazebo that the cake went under, a trellis for their line backdrop, and they had a drop ceiling done as well! It was just so pretty! I really liked it!

The day of the wedding was fun! My mom was asked to take their wedding pics and so we went around the temple taking a gazillion pictures after the wedding which was really a lot of fun! I enjoyed helping out and coming up with poses, carrying Sorena's dress every time we moved around somewhere :), it was just really cool to be with both of them. They were so excited and happy!

Anyway, here are a few pics that I just really loved of them!


This pic (above) was taken by my Uncle Brett, but all the rest are ones my mom took. She did a fabulous job!






The reception was a blast as well! My goodness! It was a party! That's all I gotta say! Tons of dancing and food and fun! It was just a great time!




Sunday, February 8, 2009

ASU Music School Audition

Well, yesterday was my audition day. As you could probably tell from my earlier post I was pretty nervous about it! I had good reason to be!!!

On Thursday I had my last voice lesson before the audition and it went HORRIBLE! I'm not just saying that because I had high expectations, it really wasn't good at all and I walked out of that lesson feeling very very frustrated and discouraged! I had had a previous lesson on Tuesday and it was AMAZING! I felt so excited after it and felt pretty confident but my feelings of confidence were dashed to bits after Thursday. I was driving home from my voice lesson and was just really getting down on myself. The rest of the day seemed to not be so good and on top of that I was not feeling well at all! I slept for a little while and it seemed to help but I was still pretty nervous about what was going to happen on Saturday. I was chilling out with my family that night and I got a phone call from one of my really good friends. He was on tour with the EAC choir and he called me from Provo after a performance they had done. He was so excited and I was excited to hear from him. After he told me where he was at, he told me that he didn't have a lot of time to talk because he had to get to the buses, but he said, "I know that your audition is this Saturday. How are you feeling about it?" First of all, I couldn't believe he remembered, second of all I couldn't believe he was taking the time to talk to me about it since he was obviously very busy, and third, I was just so grateful to be able to talk to someone that cared and was willing to listen for a minute while I vented. After I gave a condensed version of my day and how i was feeling he told me I didn't need to worry, that everything was going to be fine. He told me how talented I was and that I had a wonderful gift. His words meant the world to me. I needed them at that moment. I immediately just felt something lift from my shoulders and I felt so much relief. He was right. I asked him about some of the things they were doing on choir tour and he just cheered me up with his excitement and encouragement. Then before we got off the phone he told me that he was praying for me and that everything was going to be ok. I was about in tears at this point. Heavenly Father really knows us so well! I was so grateful for that simple phone call. In all, we didn't even talk for 5 minutes before he had to leave, but that simple act meant more to me than anything. I am grateful that he took that time.

Friday I spent my day running through my songs and practicing a piano piece I had to have ready as well. I felt ok, but still nervous. I got a blessing from my dad that night and I went to bed early and I was feeling ok about things. I slept really well (which I was very grateful for!) and woke up at 5:30 and got ready and did vocal exercises and practiced my songs a little bit. Then my dad and I were off to the audition! My dad talked to me the whole way there but my brain was just reeling with a gazillion thoughts about the day and all the "what if's" and so I didn't really say a whole lot. I was so grateful that my dad was there though!! He proved to be priceless for me all day! He was like my personal assistant, there for me through everything I had to do and making sure that all the logistical things were taken care of for me. I really really appreciated that! So anyway, I checked in and then we went and found all the rooms I would be using throughout the day for the various tests and interviews and such that I had. After that I had about 20 minutes to run through my songs a couple times and do some more vocal exercises. Then I was off to the audition!

I was the second performer of the day! Advantage: my judges had fresh ears! I met my accompanist and we went over a few things that I needed from him. There was another girl that was also trying out for the music therapy program who had him as her accompanist as well and she didn't have anything prepared for him! It was a disaster! We were supposed to have everything in a notebook for him and just ready to go for him to play. She had copied pages only. No notebook, and he was a little frustrated. Then she said well I you can use my book, but her book was one that would not stay open easily and he began getting pretty annoyed with the situation. The performer before me had just finished her audition...I had to go in. Before the performer walked out he told the girl after me that he needed to run to his office to get his own spiral bound book for her songs. He ran down the hall, and got back just before they called my name to come into the recital hall! WOW! As we were walking in he thanked me for being so well prepared and that it really made all the difference. I was glad! I was even more glad that I wasn't the one who got him so upset! Not fun! Anyway, I then began my performance and I did really well! I was pleased with it! I messed up a few measures in my first song but i pulled out of it and corrected myself pretty well which I could tell the judges were pleased with. After I was done I walked out of the room with my accompanist who told me I did very well and my dad was outside the door. He had watched me through a little window in the door. He gave me a big hug and I was so relieved I was done!

After my audition I had sight singing to do. Outside the door there was a list of directions for what I needed to do once inside. It was intense! It started out by saying that the score of your audition and the score of your sight singing would determine if you qualify for any scholarship money. No pressure!! I was pretty scared at this point. Scholarships would be VERY helpful and sight singing is definitely NOT my strong point! It was my turn and I walked in and I had to sit at a piano. I was to read at least 3 examples, each two lines long, maybe 4 depending on how well you were doing. After I sat down I had to look at each example, tell the judge what key it was in, and the only note I had to go off of was the tonic pitch. No triad, no nothing other than tonic. WOW! that was different than what I was used to. The first two examples were both major and were pretty simple. The third example was in minor! Yikes! I don't like those! It made me laugh when he acted so surprised about me getting the key right. It was in B minor. He told that close to no one ever gets the minor keys right and that he was so glad I was able to recognize when it was a minor key. That was happy! So I got through that one a lot better than I thought I would. He then asked me to turn the page and go to the 4th example. Good sign! I was doing pretty good! Only this time, it was in triple meter and it was four lines long and it had a ton of accidentals! Oh boy! So I started it and I actually didn't do too bad! I was pretty pumped by how well I did! I walked out pretty confident.

After sight singing I had my music therapy interview. It went amazing!! When I first saw her I realized that she had been there for my audition! I was so glad that she had gone to watch me perform! We sat in her office and she asked me a bunch of questions, like what kind of music I liked, what instruments I played, she asked if I would sing a jazz song for her, why I wanted to be a music therapist. After some questions and talking she wanted me to sing a song for her while she played the piano. I had to choose a song from a huge book she had. I chose "Amazing Grace." Easy enough! Then she told me that she was just going to start playing and that I had to come in whenever I felt like it on whatever note I thought would be a good starting pitch (obviously going along with what she was playing). So I did that, nothing too hard, and then she had me improv some vocal stuff, just singing pitches that I thought would sound good with what she was playing on the piano. That was interesting but went well. Then she wanted me to play the piano for her. She wanted me to sight read a song, only the melody line, so I did that which was super super simple. I almost couldn't believe she was really asking me to do it. Then she asked me if I could read chord symbols. I told her I could, so then I played the melody and applied the chords in my left hand. That went really well too! She was impressed that I was able to do that. Good sign I guess! Then she asked me a few more questions and we were done. Before I left she told me that she felt I was perfect for the program, that I had all the skills I needed to be able to do well. I was so pleased! I couldn't have asked for a better interview! Another really cool thing she told me was that after I had performed at my audition she talked with the judges and they told her I would no longer need to take voice lessons at a college level. If I get in, I will not have that to worry about which I feel for me is a huge blessing! Some of my biggest stress as a music major are my voice lessons and all the time that it requires! I was so grateful for that!

After my interview I had a little bit of a break, so my dad took me out to lunch and we talked about how everything had gone so far. I was so happy! I was just thrilled with how everything had gone up to that point and the hugest part of my stress for that day was gone! After lunch I went back to the school and found a practice room for me to go over my piano song a few times before my piano diagnostic test. After I was done I went up to the room with my dad and we waited for a little while. But no one was around! It was weird! All day there had been signs on the places where we needed to be and there wasn't really anything on this particular room. My time for my test came and went. My dad decided to go downstairs to the check in desk to see if the room had been moved. I stayed there but my dad soon came to tell me that the woman who had sent me the e-mail with all of my rooms for that day had actually told me the wrong room number. I was supposed to be in a completely different building! AH! Being late to something like that is not good! So my dad asked her if she would go to the room and explain the cause for my tardiness so that I wouldn't get in trouble or anything which I definitely appreciated! As I got to the room the woman who had made the mistake was waiting outside the correct room and the person in charge of my test came out and she apologized for the mistake and everything was fine. I actually found it kind of funny. I wasn't that worried about it, and this was the last thing I needed to do that day and it was definitely the least stressful! I had already looked at the requirements for the piano classes and I had figured with what I knew already I would be put in the second semester piano class. Once I walked into the room my judge asked what I had been told about the piano diagnostic. I said that all I knew was that I needed to prepare a song for him. He said ok and told me to sit at the piano and play what I had prepared. I was pretty confident during my entire test which I think he was a little taken back by. He asked me to do a Major and a minor scale which wasn't difficult at all, and then he had me sightread an etude, which was ridiculously easy! Then I had to transpose the song down a fifth which wasn't that bad. After that he asked if I had ever played a melody with the roman numeral symbols underneath. (Ha! Ha! Kinda the same thing I had to do in my interview) I told him that I did and so he told me that he would play the melody for me and all I had to do was drop in the chord when it came up. Easy enough! So I did that and he told me he was pretty impressed that I was able to do that! I was excited! It was good! So I was put into 2nd semester piano as I thought I would be so I was happy about that! He asked me before I left if I still had my audition to do and I looked at him and told him that I was completely done and that I was so happy! He congratulated me and laughed at my over exuberance. I couldn't help it though! I was so happy to be done and I was even happier that I felt so good about how I had done! I was sky high!

So I should know in three weeks if I made the program! Yay! I am definitely anxious! No matter how good I feel about how I did, there were a ton of people trying out and there is still a chance I didn't make it, but we shall see! I find out three weeks after that, so towards the end of March, if I qualified for any scholarships as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

I am so grateful that things went well and that I felt I was able to do everything to the best of my ability! It made everything go so much smoother! I was definitely blessed! I can't deny that! The Lord was really looking out for me and helping me to be at peace about everything I had to do. I am so so so grateful for that!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

25 Random Things About Me


I just wrote this on Facebook and I thought it would be fun to put it on my blog too! It took forever for me to think of things to put on here!

1. I love zucchini cooked with caramelized onions!!

2. I want to be a music therapist and work with kids with mental disabilities

3. I got my ears pierced when I was 18, my mom thought that would be a nice present to me for my birthday. (Ummm...I was scared out of my mind!) She had to hold my hand while they did it and two people actually pierced my ears at the same time because I knew that if it wasn't all done at the same time, I would never let them do the second one!

4. I play the violin, and the piano

5. I love kiddy books!! Picture books rock!

6. I have had an interview on the news before!

7. I know you would never believe this, but I had to turn my "card" to yellow one time in the 4th grade for talking during a math lesson! I was mortified and had an emotional breakdown! My teacher felt so horrible for making me do it and she kept apologizing to me. Kinda funny now that I think about it!

8. I have written a couple of songs

9. Someday I want to make a recording of songs that I love and possibly some songs that I have written.

10. I have eaten cow tongue. Not too bad once you get past the "I'm seriously eating cow tongue" part!

11. I collect Phantom of the Opera music boxes. Phantom has been my favorite musical since I was like 8 years old! I want to see it on Broadway so bad!

12. I have been in an accident with a bear! Totaled our suburban!

13. I love the mountains more than any place on earth

14. I am scared of needles! Bad experiences! :/

15. My favorite restaurant is Mattas!

16. Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Robin Williams, Will Smith, Megan Follows, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, and then the old greats like Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Danny Kay, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Gene Kelly (Oh man! my secret crush!) are some of my favorites to watch!

17. I have seen at least 7 Broadway shows on stage

18. The kids I work with in the Cub House at Bashas think I'm pretty cool! (who woulda thought?!) They give me lots of artwork and I like to keep it and put it on the door to my bedroom

19. I am in love with vocal jazz music!! Whether it be solo or ensemble, man...that stuff just gets me goin! I love the soul in it!!!

20. I used to play softball on a city league. My favorite position was left field.

21. I hate people looking at my feet! There's nothing wrong with them, but it is just weirds me out a little! Exception: getting pedicures! Now that is amazing!

22. My secret passion is interior decorating! I would really love to take a class on it to get more knowledge under my belt, but it is just so neat! I want my house when I get older to have different themed rooms. Like one southern style, one victorian/antiquey, one very lavish and elegant, one ethnic, one bold and bright colors...I don't know... a little strange but I want my house to be a canvas! I want to play!

23. I like to paint with watercolors

24. When I'm stressed out I color. I have an "Ice Age" coloring book right now that I use and I have to use crayons when I color. No markers!

25. I love when people give me nice notes! I used to tape all the notes people would give me on the back of my door and they make me happy! It's amazing how much a simple compliment or thanks can do for you!

So there you go! Kinda fun to think about what some people may not know about me yet! I pretty much divulge my life to the public, but hopefully there was something in there you didn't know.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Scary Audition!! =/

Well everyone! I am finally having my ASU Music School Audition! Crazy! I can't believe it's already time for me to be doing this! I am so excited to be (hopefully) moving on, but at the same time, this is very nerve racking! It is nerve racking because this is the only school and only music therapy program I have applied to, so it's important for me to do well, and I also just have so much I need to have ready! I need two audition pieces to sing, which of course I have already prepared, and I also have a piano diagnostic which I'm not entirely thrilled about doing, and then I have an interview with a music therapy staff member from ASU. I know that everything will be fine. I have been practicing, I like my songs I'm doing, and I don't get really nervous when I perform, and I love talking to people, especially about something I love so much, but I guess the most nerve racking part is if I am not able to make it into the program. What if I don't quite have the skill they're looking for? Then what?! Oh my! Things are crazy! Pray for me! I'm gonna need all the help I can get this week!

Super Bowl Sunday

I am probably one of the few people who doesn't watch the Super Bowl. It's ok, really! There's nothing wrong with me! :) My entire growing up life we have never been a family to watch TV on Sundays and if it is on at all, it's because there is a church video on, or the BYU channel. Since I grew up with that, it kind of bothers me to be in places on Sunday that are rowdy and where regular TV programs are on.

Today in Sacrament Meeting our bishop talked about how it's amazing that the whole world seems to be focused on the "Super Bowl" today. How one event gets so much hype and that everything seems to revolve around it. Think about it! Our schedules revolve around it, grocery ads, even our weekly Sunday Social we have every week after church was canceled because of the Super Bowl. It kind of made me laugh because I could really care less, but it is such a big deal to everybody else.

As I mentioned earlier my family doesn't watch TV on Sundays and we have never watched the Super Bowl. Well seeming how it is the Arizona Cardinals, "our team", going to the Super Bowl this year everything seems to have changed in regards to watching it. WOW! My dad and my brothers are watching it downstairs and they even have my grandma watching it, who I thought would be the last to crack! Kinda funny. I'm not down there though. I don't really want to start watching it, besides the fact that I really could care less anyway, I know nothing about football!

But I had a really good Sunday today at church which I think is another reason I'm a little reluctant to be in the rowdiness downstairs today. Have you ever had those meetings where you just really needed to hear what was being said, and you didn't realize how much you needed it until you were there listening? That was my day today.

I hate to say it but Fast Sundays in a Single's Ward are the hardest for me to sit through. I have always loved testimony meeting, but since I have been in the single's ward there have been some pretty interesting "testimonies" shared that kinda make me feel uncomfortable. My dad has been in a couple of bishoprics while I was growing up and he is a "By-the-booker", meaning that the church handbook is his best friend and that if something is not following those guidelines he fixes it right then and there. So growing up I have always heard stories about things being appropriate or inappropriate for sacrament meeting and so when certain things happen that I know are wrong, it tends to make me feel really uncomfortable. I know I'm weird!

Today's testimony meeting was not that way at all though. It was so full of the spirit and there were some testimonies shared today that I really needed to hear. I was very grateful for all my meetings today. I needed that spiritual boost this week! I really appreciated the things that were shared.

I just don't want to lose that spirit too quickly today. It was much needed. As our Bishop said today, it has been a "Super Sunday!"

Playlist!

So I am excited and wanted to say that I finally figured out how to do a playlist on my blog!! Well I was excited about that! And I'm excited about my fun songs!! All are upbeat and all have stories behind them as to why I love them! Anyway, just thought I'd share!! Look at my playlist! It makes me happy! :P