Family Pictures!

Last week we went and got our family pictures taken. It was really fun lol!!! Have a looksy!!! It's nice to have one of everyone that's updated! But no I didn't get to take them. I refuse to take pictures of the entire family at once...haha they don't work well with me. Anyways Enjoy!

Kayden's Birthday!!

December 4th, is Kayden's birthday!! We had so much fun! We took him to Carls Jr. for lunch so he could play on the playground and then I took him to build a bear to make him a stuffed friend for his birthday. It was so much fun and he had a blast but he's crazy. He was running around the store, grabbing things, pushing things, which is why I had to buy him a stroller....he loses interest too fast if it's not so cool. He picked out a Turtle which he named Dia!! For some reason he's on this Dia kick, none of us can figure out where he got it from. But he had fun dressing him, and stuffing him, it was a lot of fun, and then of course he had a great time wheeling it out to my car. After that I took him to a pet store!! Haha, every childs disneyland. We looked at animals for a while and I really wanted to buy a turtle for him, but we settled for a fish and a frog. Now at first their names were Dia, naturally, but now the fish and frog have many names....Steve and Karl. Or Hopper and unknown he just feels so big with it, then of course we had his birthday party where he got hooked up with all the latest Elmo toys!!! He's 2!!! Yay....and they have one on the way...I'm going to be an aunt again...hope it's a girl!!!

Festival of Trees!

So this year I got the wonderful oppurtunity to go up to sandy with my mom, and volunteer at the festival of trees. It was kind of fun for me, because I have never been to one. I got to sit there and paint little girls finger nails to raise money for the primary childrens hospital. Me and my mom then walked around for a little bit and looked at some of the trees. I had no idea, why people did these, and my eyes were open. As much as sometimes I feel like there isn't enough good in our world, I don't think I gave the world as much credit as it deserves. There are still people out there, who serve, who care about others, and this proved to me how many actual people like that there are. I then decided I wanted to go up again later with a friend and walk around and support everybody who works so hard on that. It made me feel so good inside, and is just one of my many to come service oppurtunities i got to do.

One of my favorites...the Twilight Tree!!!

"The Glass Tree"

The Princess Tree!!!

Golf...very creative!

The Pez tree...so cute!

The Book of Mormon Tree

Thanksgiving!

So I've never been one to really love thanksgiving. I don't really like turkey and all the fun things that you eat on thanksgiving, and I hate the fact that it's one day to be grateful. We need to be grateful year round. But I did enjoy spending it with my family. I have so much to be grateful for, and this time of year, I guess it just is a reminder to me and everyone else to be thankful for everything. There are so many people in this world who have nothing and we need to keep them in mind this holiday season. Try to do something nice for someone else. Imagine if everyone in the world shared one thing they could offer to the world, or who could give someone who doesn't have much, something that we take for granted. Our world would be an amazing place to live. Think about it. Do all you can do!

FEARLESS!

Have you ever felt like an artist wrote a song just for you? Well that's how I feel about Taylor Swift's new song called Breathe. When I listened to it I totally felt like how did she know I felt that way? It stirred up so much emotion and feelings in me. I absoloutley love it. I'm going to post it on my page, it's called Breathe. That is what music is all about, you never know who your lyrics are going to touch. You never know how many people really need to hear what you have to say. This is why we need eachother to get us through life. We each have our own stories and life experiences, and by working together and helping people along the way, we are able to get through, and you may touch people in a way, that can actually save their lives. Help people, care about people, you never know when you are going to need somebody else's love, and help.

My Sassy Girl!

Ok so this is my number one all time favorite movie now! When I watched it for the first time I bawled. It is so good. I think you kind of have to be a deep person or in a deep mood to like it, but I just felt like, I related to the movie so much. You know those movies that just touch you, well that's what this one did!! It's awesome, watch it if you get a chance.

DANCE!!

One of my many passions is dance. I've ballroom danced for 13 years. I recently quit thinking I didn't love it anymore, but realized this past year, that I do love it, my priorities were just off. But a long with Ballroom I've always wanted to do modern, lyrical dance. So last week, I started an adult "advance" class. (Haha yes wish me luck) It was so fun though, I loved every minute of it, It cleared my head, I got to dance to what I was feeling. So I'm going to back tonight, heck yes, it's awesome! Along with that, I've got a little back into ballroom. I'm competing this weekend the open west coast swing, with Ben Harmon. If you come watch for us and cheer.

"Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”

The Dominican Republic!

May 23rd, 2008 I got the amazing oppurtunity to go down to the Dominican Republic to do service in a Haitian Refuge Village. I left my heart there so that I would have to go back someday to get it. The people touched me in the most amazing ways. They opened my eyes to the world, and to what I should be grateful for! I will never forget my trip and what I learned and I hope to touch the world with my story I brought back!

This is the first place I went when I got there. The Dump. This poor mom had just lost her baby. She was 8 months pregnant when it died. This her kitchen, pretty fancy kitchen yeah? I don't anyone would complain that their kitchen is too small ever again after seeing this. Her house isn't much bigger either.

Me and my baby Ta Ta! I grew so close to her. She is a 4-5 year old dwarf who lives with her deaf and mute mom. Her mom is known as a prostitute over there who doesn't take care of her children. Ta Ta wouldn't even smile or talk when I first got there, and by the time I left we were unseperable. All she needed was a little love to let her light shine.

Unknown Kid, Jepetta, Tilanda! Jepetta and Tilanda are brothers and sisters and they were so my favorites. They were so funny, and loved to play!
This is me and Jepetta, it was so sad, we aren't allowed to give them food because then the whole village will be begging, and so he was sitting there on the porch looking so sad and I asked him, Jepetta what's wrong...he just looked at me with his sad little face and said, I'm hungry. I hated that there was nothing I could do at the time. Most of the families are lucky if they get to eat once a day, usually it's about every other day. And their portions are not very big. :( It broke my heart.

This was taken at a disabled orphanage. It was a lot different then I expected and expected some upbeat kids running around, and while there was a few of those, there were more kids who just laid there out of it, who had to be fed, and totally taken care of. It broke my heart.

Me with one of the teenagers of the Village, Willy. They were so fun to be around and watch their faces in upcoming professional sporting events. They are amazing athletes.

This is a big sister and a little sister, from a house of 11 children with
a single mom. This single mom had 5 children of her own, when her next door neighbor who was her best friend died, and the dad left. She then took in the 6 children and has raised them as her own.

Ta Ta, and spit fire Natasha!

Natasha!!

More Natasha haha

This was called the milk ministry. It was a different village then our own. They were not as wealthy. For this ministry we took milk, cookies, and egg, and clothes to each of the children. As soon as we got there, all the little children came running towards us with their little broken cups in hand.

Me and a baby!

Me and Ta Ta the first day I got there!

Miguel, a Dominican Man who has diabetes. Everyday we would walk down to his house and clean his legs and cover them. His family abandoned him because he can't work anymore. He is the cutest man in the entire world. He called us his granddaughters and took care of us.

This is the story of Roberto. Roberto is seven years old. His dad walked out on him and his family so at 7 years old, he shines shoes to provide a living , for this family. He is at least lucky enough to be sponsored so he can go to school. When we were sitting in Miguels house, he came in... and there is a huge conflict between Haitians, and Dominicans so we were really worried this might cause a problem, especially because it had happened before when one of the volunteers was down there. So we asked Miguel if he wanted Roberto to leave and Miguel said.."Oh no, Roberto comes and sits with me every day before and after school." That brought tears to my eyes this little boy was so selfless and just wanted to bring happiness to others, he took a risk, and it made this man Miguel happy because it was like he had a family again!!

First Day

Summer 08'

Here is an update about my summer. Enjoy the pics!!! I love Miss Pleasant Grove!