The 24th of July

Last Saturday was Pioneer Day and also the day we celebrated Jamie Lyn's birthday so we did lots of things to celebrate! I loved it!
First we woke up really early to participate in a 10 K (6.2 mi) run. Although Camille, my mom, and I walked, Jamie Lyn and my dad ran almost the entire way. I think Jamie Lyn did run the whole way actually. I was impressed! It was nice just to walk and talk with Camille and my mom though. I enjoyed it.

After that we went and saw "Inception" which I really really liked. It was pretty crazy but I didn't feel bored at all through the entire thing and I was able to keep up pretty well with what was going on... for the most part anyway. I would recommend it!

That night we went and watched the fireworks which we don't do too often so it was pretty fun and here are my pictures... I was trying to figure out how to take them in the dark...

 

And it came out much better in video.

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you.

 

Via My Cherry Gum

 So this past week two of my favorite people have had birthdays. Both of their names are Jamie even! But I'd like to write this post about them both and wish them both happy (kinda late) birthdays.

My older sister, Jamie Lyn, had her birthday today actually. We celebrated it over the weekend though (more about that later). Our whole family loves when she comes home on the weekends though because we have a lot of fun when she is around. Sometimes she, Camille, and I can be pretty silly and we laugh a lot. It's awesome. :) She's really intelligent and I wish I could be that smart haha... She is really witty and comes up with puns and such all of the time. She has good taste in music and also isn't ashamed to sing along to music in the car with Camille and I with our water bottles functioning as microphones. (Though sometimes I sleep through it and apparently they start singing about me sleeping... hmm..). Jamie Lyn has green eyes... and let's face it--green eyes are just awesome and everyone secretly wishes they had them. She's knows just when to be ridiculously silly and when to be serious. Both Camille and I look up to her and she definitely makes our family more interesting and cooler.

The other birthday is that of my friend Jamie Roan. She is one of those great friends who stay your friend no matter how little you're able to hang out or talk. We live kind of far away and are both busy so we don't get to see each other a whole lot but we are still good friends. I think that's really great! A lot of people kind of forget their friends when they don't see them as often. I'm glad Jamie and I still are friends. Since becoming friends we have endured walkabouts, gone on school trips, dealt with crazy drama, giggled during Eric's classes, made friends with nerdy boys, teased Carl, rode sleeping bags down the stairs, made smoothies out of random ingredients and so much more. Basically we have lots of fun and I can't wait to see the kinds of adventures we come up with when we live at BYU. She is a loyal and awesome friend and one of those people you know you can trust.

Both of these Jamies are pretty fantastic and I love them! Happy Birthday to both of you. :)

P.S. sorry this was badly written but I am sleepy. :) Bedtime.

Beirut Concert.

Yesterday, I went to the Beirut concert up in Salt Lake for the Twilight Concert Series (which has absolutely nothing to do with vampires... thank goodness.) I didn't like the first band that played which was called The Twin Sisters... they were just really boring. But Beirut was really good! They sound better live than they do recorded even.

Tess has awesome Panda Shoes.

Haha I love Jess.

You can't see him... but that's Jordan.

They were sick of listening to the opening band.

This was my favorite song they played.
I had to upload this to youtube first because blogger fails sometimes... just sayin. :D Of course they sounded a lot better live than on the camera... but oh well.

Scenic World:

Then yesterday my mom and my sisters and I went down to Cedar City to see "Pride and Prejudice" at the Shakespeare Festival. It was pretty good. The BBC six hour version will always be my favorite though. :)

Shakespeare Festival

Moving on.

Once a week, every week, for ten years I have set aside time for a piano lesson. I remember plunking out simple melodies like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with all the notes labeled and only in the treble clef. I've played in lots of recitals, competitions, church events, and talent shows. Honestly, there were times when I practiced and I would get so frustrated with my lack of skills that I would just bang around on random keys angrily and wanted to quit learning altogether haha. There were times Camille and I had to walk to our lessons in extreme heat or freezing cold (yeah I'm being dramatic but it's fun haha...). I have learned so much about music theory, performance skills, sight-reading, etc. I've had two amazing teachers and I am so grateful to them for everything. I guess I didn't really realize how learning piano has been such a huge part of my life so far until I had my last lesson on Tuesday.
My current teacher, Loni Wilson, has taught me so much about music theory and has really gotten me to be excited about it. I'm not a natural musician like some people but I am glad I can at least read music and understand what is going on within the piece.
Also Loni Wilson has been my friend as well as a teacher. There were a lot of times (and Camille says this happens to her too) when I am having a really bad day and I don't want to do anything else so I dread my piano lesson. But as soon as I would get there I would feel a lot more relaxed and actually enjoy the lesson and go home happier. My last lesson my teacher and I didn't even play the piano we just talked about random things and also about how important music theory is, and how math relates to music, and how I'm glad I didn't give up on piano. It was actually more sad to me than I expected haha. I guess when you do something for that long it just becomes a normal part of life and when it ends it's a little surprising.
I don't regret taking piano for a second though. I hope to be able to keep learning and using it even though my lessons are over and I hope to start guitar up during the fall. :) Music is amazing and I think it's really really cool we can create it. I am so glad my parents put me in piano and I really appreciate them paying for it even though I didn't practice as regularly as I should have... And I especially want to say thank you to Loni Wilson and Laurie Dallon for teaching me and being patient with me... even though they probably won't read this. And I admire them both for their amazing talent and vast knowledge on the subject haha.
Aaanyway... so yeah this was really cheesy. But whether you understand or not, moving on from piano lessons seems like a big deal for me. It's kind of like a step into adulthood (which is why I am quitting... I am moving out soon). I will miss it a lot. I'll miss my teacher. I'll miss performing duets with my sister in the fall. But hopefully I am off to other exciting things that I will learn just as much from. And yeah... that's all. :D

Timpanogos Cave

Last Saturday me, Jamie Lyn, one of my uncles and some of cousins hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. It was hard going uphill but I thought the cave was really cool and I had fun. I hiked up there a long time ago but I don't even remember it so it was cool to go again. :)

I love these two. They're great!

Clarisa likes to play in the dirt...

Also, my cousin Chris came out from Tennessee this week and so me and Camille just got back from seeing How to Train Your Dragon with him and his friend. I liked that movie. :) I want a dragon like that now haha. It was also fun to see Chris again. I'm glad we've gotten to spend time with some of the family members we don't get to see very often like my Aunt Karon and her family and Chris. :D

I go to the barn because I like the... Band of Horses.

I am obsessed with this song:

I also love The Funeral and No One's Gonna Love You. The other songs I've heard by them are good too but those three are my favorite. :)

The Cocoa Bean Cafe

My family has found a new favorite place to find sugary deliciousness. It's called The Cocoa Bean Cafe and they make cupcakes and coffee drinks like frappes that don't actually have any coffee beans in them though so they aren't actually coffee, instead they have cocoa beans (hence the name of the place) so all of their frappes and such have chocolate in them! Even the fruit flavors have white chocolate. They also have smoothies and frozen lemonades but I have yet to try them.

The frappes are our favorite. I love the strawberry flavor. ------>
But the other ones are delicious too.
Their cupcakes are really really good but very rich and filling.
I would recommend that you try at least a frappe!

If you do want to try it then here's the address:

1774 North University Parkway#20
Provo, Utah

Everyone. I am now a math atheist.

Really though, I am taking my first college math class and it is hard. I am just not a big fan of math. I have my first midterm tomorrow and I am really really scared. But in preparation for my test I found some Calvin and Hobbes comics that pretty much describe how I feel about math. They made me smile. :D

Oh Calvin and Hobbes... I love them. Sorry the comics are so small. You can click on them to see them a little bigger. :) Anyway... I'm off to study!

The Fourth of July

Sunday and Monday I got to hang out with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. It was more fun than I thought it would be actually. I like my family. :) It was fun to see some of the people we don't get the chance to see very often and also it was good to see the ones we do see often haha. My grandparents live in the mountains so we got to hike a little bit and I liked that a lot. (Surprise, surprise.) So here are some pictures of my awesome family. (Mostly the kids because me and Camille still like to play with them).

 This is what the adults were doing...

While we were swinging from trees. Cassie looks classy in her sunglasses. :D

I have some pretty cute little cousins. 

Especially this one... She is very popular haha.

Clarisa is awesome.

So since I am always with Camille I took tons of pictures of her... and in every single one she looks this pretty. I am jealous. :P Haha.

My Aunt Karon came out and it was really fun to see her and her family :D

Um... Adorable? I think so.

Brooke. :)

His name is Jonas.... He's really cute.

Yep, that's a few of my family members. It was a fun couple of days. Why oh why did school and work have to start again?

Hike to Escalante Cross

So.. this weekend has been pretty awesome. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow... but alas that is life. Oh well. But let me tell you about my fourth of July weekend. So on Saturday me, Stephanie, and Tate got up at about 6:15 (about... there were some complications) to hike up to Escalante Cross. It was so fun!! I thought I would regret waking up so early on a Saturday but actually I had a lot more fun hiking than I would have had sleeping. (And if you know me very well then you know that I enjoy sleeping a LOT). But it was great. I always sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays and I always go to work on the other days so I never see the sun rise. We watched it come up over the mountain while we sat underneath the cross. It was so beautiful! We were all amazed. It was really fun and we hope to do it again and have Camille join us next time. :D Here are some pictures: (because I can't seem to blog without pictures....)

             This is looking out on Spanish Fork.   

                            

This is Escalante Cross.

 Spanish Fork Reservoir.

I'll post the rest of the weekend stuff later. Bedtime now. :)