HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had an amazing year because I know I sure did! I decided to hop on the bandwagon and take a look back at 2013. It was fun to go through all my photos and see what an great year 2013 was! Here are some of the highlights.

January

+ ODC half times

+ Watched the vibe show "Floored" at the Scera.

+ Hit my first 100 likes on Instagram

February

+ Had a Valentine for the first time

+ Lost my best friend, Sydney, to suicide

March

+ 18th birthday

+ California with Davis for ten days

+ Watched a lot of basketball

April

+ cuddled lots. (that's everyday)

+ Keys to Success assembly

+ Fun double dates to Nicklecade 

May

+ Graduated high school

+ ODC Spring concert-performed my first solo ever

+ Took Senior pictures

+ One Year Anniversary with Davis

June

+ Went to Lagoon

+ Davis got his diploma

+ Summerfest

+ Cooper's Run parade

+ Started teaching dance class at Dance Showcase Company

July

+ Davis' birthday

+ Laci's birthday

+ Went to the Hogle Zoo

+ Spent the Fourth of July at the Johnson Mill

August

+ Swiss Days

+ Made Davis get over his fear of snakes

September

+ cut my hair

+ BYU vs UT game

+ Louisa left on her mission

+ more Swiss Days fun

October

+ Halloween

+ My nephew Thomas was born

November

+ Thanksgiving with Davis' family

+ started to nanny for my cousin Tiffany

+ Jake left on his mission

+ My niece Ceni was born

December 

+ Christmas

+ New Years

+ Temple Square

+ Saw White Christmas with Davis' family

+ Hung out at the Johnson Mill

+ Winter cruises

+ my best friend Ellie left on her mission. 

2013 was definitely a year I won't forget, but I'm excited to see what 2014 has in store for me. 

ELDER THOMSON

On Tuesday I said goodbye to my dear friend Jake. He will be serving an LDS mission in Monterrey, Mexico for the next two years. Jake has always been an amazing friend to me. He is one of the very few that I still talk to from high school, so it's sad to see him leave.

Jake took me to a dance our Senior year. It was one of the most fun dances I went to. Jake was an amazing date. It meant the world to me that he asked me because I was only asked to TWO boys choice dances through out all of high school. He knew that, and made sure to show me a great time. 

Jake and I at Winter Jam 2012

I am so happy that I have a friend like Jake. I am proud of him! 

Go get 'em Elder Thomson!

THROWBACK THURSDAY-THRILLER

Last year around Halloween time I had the opportunity to dance in Thriller (if you have never seen Thriller, I recommend you go see it next year) with two of best friends from high school, Liz and Ellie. Liz's dad owns a dance company called Odyssey Dance Theater so we all decided it would be fun to try out together and luckily, we all made it! 

When I was younger, I would go see Thriller with my family. I used to be so afraid of the zombies that would wander around outside. It's crazy that last year I finally got to be one of those zombies I was always so afraid of. It was such a fun opportunity and I am so happy that I was apart of the show. 

Happy Halloween & TBT! 

THROWBACK THURSDAY - SENIOR PICTURES

Today, I was looking back through my Senior pictures. Since school started this week for all the kids at Orem High, I figured this would be an appropriate throwback. My cousin Shaylee did an amazing job with these pictures and I want to do another shoot with her STAT. 

shirt: f21// pants: f21// shoes: forever young shoes// 

shirt: f21// cardigan: cotton on// hat: my cousin shaylee's// skirt: f21// shoes: forever young shoes

shirt: pac sun// jacket: f21// shorts: gap// shoes: wet seal

FLASHBACK FRIDAY - ODC FOREVER

Orem Dance Company 2012

Today I watched the Orem Dance Company concert from my Junior year and I decided that I wanted to share a few of the pieces I was lucky enough to choreograph for my company. The first video was one of the first things I had EVER choreographed. I taught that piece my junior year. It's crazy to think that, that was my first real taste of teaching dance.

The second piece I choreographed about a year ago. It was a half time for dance company just this last year. It's crazy to me to see how far I've come. Even without dancing at a studio this past year, I have grown as a dancer. I have been able to teach and spread my knowledge of dance to young dancers and it feels amazing. I can't wait to see what else I can do with everything I've learned.

The third video is my Senior Solo. I've already posted this before, but since I'm showing off my work I thought it'd be appropriate to post again. One of my favorite moments performing on a stage is when I performed my solo. I was so nervous to perform this and after I did I felt so proud of myself. I will never forget when my hero and director Hollie texted me seconds after performing my solo saying, "That was the greatest I've ever seen you dance." I love Hollie. She is my role model. 

Hollie and I

I miss dancing so much. It was and still is such a huge part of my life that I will never give up. Yes, I quit dancing at a studio, but it doesn't mean that my love for dance changed at all. Dancing at a studio is hard and time consuming. It is a huge commitment that I just couldn't handle anymore. I don't regret quitting one bit, but I miss it like crazy. I need to get my butt into a dance class ASAP.

The girls of ODC 2013

I'M NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL ANYMORE....WHAT?!

It's so crazy to me that I won't be going to Orem High this year. It's still doesn't feel like my high school life is over and that I graduated back in May. Orem Dance Company started practices yesterday and that makes me sad. I'm sad that I won't be performing at half times and assemblies. I'm sad that I won't get to see the crazy and amazing Hollie every other day. I'm sad I won't be able to have gossip hour in her office while we make the younger kids do that hard work. I'm sad I won't have to scramble to make up choreography the night before I have to teach. I'm sad that I won't have to figure out how to get out of going to ARC or how to get out for pride lunch. I'm sad that I won't have to do stupid student council stuff everyday of my freaking life. I'm sad that I won't have to try getting away with parking in faculty parking all the time. GOSH, it makes me sad that I'm not in high school anymore... Okay, that's a lie. I am BEYOND grateful that I don't have to go back, but it makes me sad that all my high school experiences are just memories now. I don't get to go back and try to make this year better than the last. I had my chance, high school is over... Dance company is something that I will miss for the rest of my life! It was the absolute BEST part of my high school experience. It literally kept me sane. 

Now, I have to grow up. Growing up is scary. I made the decision to not attend college until the Spring and I am honestly very happy with my choice. I'm excited to see what life is going to throw at me. I'm excited to get a job...NOT, but I seriously need to. Life is moving along too fast. My friends are all moving, going to college, going on missions. The kids I used to see and talk to everyday I don't even see anymore. Life after high school is nuts. To all you high school kids out there about to start school, PLEASE (I beg you) enjoy every minute of it. I know it's hard and you don't want to be there, (TRUST ME, I know. One hundred and fifty absences my senior year...Yeah that's me) but it will be over before you know it. Enjoy every ARC you have to go to. Enjoy every stupid packet you have to finish before graduation. ENJOY EVERYTHING. If you are attending Orem High, you're some of the luckiest kids out there.

MY SENIOR SOLO

change the quality to 480p before watching for better quality

after over a month of having our whole orem dance company concert on dvd, i finally figured out how to rip the dvd to my computer and trim the whole thing down to just my solo. i'm proud of myself for figuring out something like that without having to run to davis for help.

i had soo much fun performing this solo. i took some of the choreography from a dance i did at vibe (choreographed by the brilliant erica sobol) but most of the choreo is my own... actually almost all of it. i would have to say that this is some of the best choreography i have even done. good thing it was my best work, because all my friends from school and now you readers and seeing it. my director hollie told me that when i performed my solo, it was the best she had ever seen my dance so i really hope you all enjoy it. it took a lot of hard work and perfecting to get it to look just the way i wanted it to and i am so happy with the way it turned out. most of the time, i watch dance videos of myself and just point out everything i did wrong, but for once it was different. i was so surprised at how well i looked. i'm not trying to sounds cocky or anything, but i think i looked great and i am so happy that i was able to perform this solo as one of my last dances on the orem high stage. 

sorry these photos are blurry. i didn't have pictures from the actually performance so i just screen shotted these from the video!

PART ONE

 part one: a graduation.

may 30, 2013: part one of my memorable day starts with high school graduation. I DID IT! i never thought this day would come. before i could even blink, it was already over. i got up this morning soo excited. i put on my new shoes and dress {which i was soooo stoked to wear} and was ready to rumble. my graduation was at 9am but the earliness and lack of sleep didn't slow me down one bit. 

as i waited in the tunnel, i was getting butterflies. this was MY graduation. my once and a life time experience was right before my eyes. how do you not get butterflies when you think, "i'm about to graduate high school"? i was also thinking, "please don't trip in these huge heels..." {i didn't by the way. go me!} i walked out to my seat in my cap and gown and this is when it really felt real. i said yesterday in my post that when i got my cap and gown, that's when it felt real... nope, this was the real moment. the ceremony began and of course it flew by. everything lately has been going way faster than i want it to. i got my chance to walk through the "o" and i received this..

i am officially a high school graduate! it still doesn't seem real. i've said to davis more times today then i can remember, "babe, your girlfriend just graduated high school!!" i'm sure he's sick of hearing it but hey... i'm just too excited. i want to go to the top of the mountains and yell to the world "I JUST GRADUATED!!!"

afterwords, we took the typical graduation pictures. it was bittersweet. that's probably the best way to describe it all. it was sad seeing everyone leave the uccu center. that was the last time i will see almost everyone in my class, or any of the other ohs student for that matter! we're all about to move on with life and go onto do amazing things. it's crazy to think that 10 years down the road we'll all be grown up and going back for our 10 year high school reunion. we're going to start college and families and god only knows that else. a lot of the boys in my class already have their mission calls. some of them will be leaving in just a few short weeks. how did time fly so fast? we're so old... 

i loved orem high and will ALWAYS be an orem high tiger. #tigerpride

grad night:

IT'S FINALLY HERE...

today was officially my last day of high school EVER!! 24 hours from now i will be an orem high school. graduate, class of 2013. umm... wait, WHAT!? i'm already graduating? how is this real?

this morning i had to be to school bright and early {6:30 am} for the senior send-off assembly practice. it was hard getting up this morning, but it was bittersweet. it was the last time i would ever have to get up to go rehearse for an assembly. shucks, it was my last assembly ever as an orem high student {tear}. i was lucky because i was able to perform with the seniors of odc one last time on the orem high stage. it wasn't our best performance, but it felt good to move and perform. i don't get the opportunity to dance as much as i used to. i have always enjoyed being able to dance in front of my peers in assemblies and at half times. it was fun to show off what i could do one last time before saying goodbye. i had miss hunter film our last dance and i want to share it... {don't kill me girls!} like i said, it wasn't our greatest performance. the dance looks a little messy. {okay, it looks really messy...} we hadn't even thought about it since our concert which was at the beginning of the month. i'm proud of these girls. i'm so happy to have them as sisters. even though it was messy it was totally us. like liz said on our last day of dance company,  "we are one dysfunctional family". the messiness fit us perfectly.

after the assembly i got my last yearbook. for not being at school a lot this year, i was in the book more than i had planned so that was pretty cool. since i didn't have a ton of friends this year, and only a few close ones, i didn't have many people sign my yearbook. i got the people who i cared about to, and then went to get my cap and gown...

ignore my closet behind me...

as i went up to the library to get my graduation attire, this is when things started to feel real. i can't believe that my years of high school are over. i am finally graduating! when i was little, graduation seemed so far away. even when i was a sophomore, it seemed like it couldn't come fast enough, but it did. it's already all over. i wish i would have realized how fast it was going to fly past me. i have mixed emotions about the whole graduation thing. i'm so excited to finally be out of there. no more of that lame "school" stuff. i'll miss the fun parts high school: dances, odc, student council, football games, assemblies... the list goes on and on. i will for sure miss high school even though all i talked about all year was how much i hated it. there are some things i regret and wish i could go back redo, but for the most part i loved high school. i love orem high. i wouldn't give up the experience i had there for the world. that place will always feel like a second home.

tomorrow i get to walk with my class and receive my diploma. i finally get to step through the "o" and have my name read aloud in front of the whole audience. having my name read is a pretty huge accomplishment. when they read your name to everyone, they are pretty much saying, "you did it." it's like the icing on the cake. it's taken some hard work to make it through high school. some rough times and some amazing times. i'm so happy that i made it and never gave up.

CLASS OF 2013, WE DID IT!!!!

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END...

i am dreading tomorrow...

tomorrow is my last day of orem dance company, aka the only thing that kept me sane this school year.

i'm so sad that i have to leave this group of people. i'm going to miss everyone so much! i am going to miss dancing at half times and on the orem high stage. i am going to miss never going to school but always making sure i was there, just for dance company. i could always be myself in dance company. i could let loose and have no cares. it was always so much fun to go and dance with all my friends almost everyday. i'm going to miss being on presidency. ellie, maddie, naomi, liz, and i rocked it this year. 

i am going to miss my amazing director, hollie, the most. i'll miss her craziness. i'll miss the yells that we would constantly hear from her. {out of love of course}  she has taught me so many life lessons. she is always for me if i need someone to talk to. i could call her up at any time of day and she would stop what she was doing to help me or give me some advice. i'll miss sitting in her office and having "gossip hour". hollie is my second mom. she is such an amazing woman that i look up to more than anything.

dance company was the only thing i looked forward to all throughout my senior year. i'm crushed that it finally has to end. i knew it was coming, but i didn't know it would be this hard to say, "see you later".

 i will be back for gossip hour you can count on that. 

I LOVE HOLLIE & ODC!!