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. 

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

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!

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!!

SENIOR SPRING FLING

saturday was my last high school dance ever, not that i've been to too many. we went as a dance company group and so i decided it would be fun to ask one of the boys who is on the company with me.

his name is erick and is was such a fun date. 

the night started at q's house. his dad is a photographer and he set up a mini studio in their garage.

{i don't have those pictures yet}

then we went to winger's roadhouse grill. erick and i both got sticky fingers which are my fav. 

after a yummy dinner, we headed to the school for the dance. we had fun dancing for a short time until the dj went sort of psycho. because kids weren't "jumping straight up and down" he stopped the music and ordered administration to escort some random kids out. this process took forever and before it was over our whole group decided to go out into the parking lot to start our own dance party. people followed our trend and before we knew it, everyone that was attending the dance was outside partying it up with us. mr. clinton, our assistant principal, was in a funk and in the end they called the cops. 

great...

when we all found out the cops were coming a flood of kids tried to get back into the dance, but they wouldn't have it. the dance was over at roughly around 10:15...yikes.

during all of this, a sophomore was on the phone with one of his "dj friends" and was planning another party.

once confirmed, a bunch of the groups from the dance headed to foothill park, where these dj's were setting up. 

this party was BUMPIN'.

literally ten times better than the dance at the school.

dances at school << dances at foothill.

the crowd doesn't look too huge, but boy it was fun.

 the music was crazy loud and we all knew the cops were going to get called. the party surprisingly lasted longer than any of us would have thought and of course, the po-po came. 

once the party got shut down, our group went to maddie's. i was only there for about ten minutes before calling it a night. 

this was honestly the most fun dance i have ever been to. it was a night that i'll always remember. 

shout out to my date, erick, for being so awesome and fun!