I Love to See the Temple!

Despite having a really crazy week with rehearsals and school, I was able to go to the temple twice this week! I love having the temple so close by here at school. Ive been lucky to always have a temple so close where ever I go. I wish i would have taken advantage of the on home in Mesa more because there is no greater feeling than being inside the temple!

So Tuesday morning after quartet me, Mikell and two of the girls from the quartet Kayley and Jessica went and did baptisms. It was really cool becuase while we were there, there was this girl how came in with about 80 family names! It was really cool becuase I knew that it was a girl who got baptized like a year ago!

Then on Thursday we were able to get a bigger group together since it was Veterens Day! It was so great being able to share it with alot of dear friends. It was really cool because I ran into a family friend in the temple so we were able to chat for a bit.

Pretty much I love the temple and Im so grateful that I get to go atleast once a week!

Our little group on Thursday!

I love that Mikell and I always go atleast once a week...ITS AMAZING!!!

Oops my bad...

So I kind of feel bad that I havent updated, but not really since there arent alot of people who read my blog. Its been what...4 months since I've updated, i guess i have sinned in the blogging world. In my defense my life has been to put it in a nice way...CRAZY!!!

I thought I was gonna have an enjoyable summer and by lazy the entire time, but then my wonderful sister decided to get engaged and 25 days later have a wedding. Oh that was an enjoyable experience! Don't get me wrong I'm so happy she got married, 25 DAYS?!?!? yeah I dont recommend that EVER!!! Lazy summer??? I think not!! Not only did my sister get married but 2 of my cousins did as well and since my family our the wedding decorators and such we played a huge part. Needless to say I was so happy that summer was over so that I could come back to wonderful T- TOWN!!! However, I did actually enjoy my summer even tho my sister Wendi doesnt believe me. I loved being around my family so much especially my little nieces and nephew (now nephews :) ), I also really loved my job! Being a lifeguard and swim coach through the city of Mesa is pretty much the best job ever! It pays well, my bosses are really awesome, I loved the kids I coach, and the people I work with are so cool! The pool was a great place for me to escape for awhile!

My beautiful sisters!!

These are just part of the kids I coached!

Now why am I back in T- TOWN?!?!? Well to be honest I had no idea when I came back. I just had a prompting that I should come back and everything fell into place, I got a scholarship and a place to live for a really good price. So...I came back and Im so grateful I did. I don't know why but this place has become another home to me. Besides if I didnt come back I would miss my best friends way to much! Here's the funny thing, I told myself that I was gonna take it easy and not do as much...yeah right that didn't happen. But oh well, I love it and I'm learning so much and I'm having so amazing experiences!

One of my best friends ever...she would be soo sad if I didnt come back! (jk)

This semester has been really crazy. We just finished our Annual Fall Sing and to be honest it was probably one of my favorite since I have been here. Probably becuase I was so happy to get it over since Dr. Bishop decided to scare all of us and end up in the hospital after the first night. Fortunately he was able to come back and direct even though we planned for the worse. It was a very emotionally draining weekend but as usual I loved it! It was a great way to end my last fall sing :)

JESSMMMM...love her. We had so much fun during Fall Sing

Another reason why I'm glad I came back to EA was the fact that I met the most amazing person and I'm so lucky that he is my boyfriend :) His name is Mikell Decker and we met in company. I did all these little things to get his attention and not be obvious about it and we became best friends and lucky enough it grew into somthing more :) Mikell is so amazing I feel so lucky to have him in my life. This past month I have really felt like a princess because the way he treats me and it is not even in the big stuff he does. It is in the little things and he never ceases to make me smile. Ps everyone he asked me to be his girlfriend on the ferris wheel, I mean come on can you get more romantic than that!!! Anyway, to make it short (since this post is so long) Mikell is soooo amazing!!!

While we were waiting for "Beauty and the Beast" to start :)

Wow, well I hope I didnt put you to sleep but now I feel so great that I have blogged :) I will do my best to update more!!

I Guess I Should Update Again!!

I guess it has been along time since my last update and surprisingly alot has happened! So i guess I should start in May!! So, the week after Spring Sing we had our Jazz Singers Show. It was alot of fun just being able to sing everything we have done this year. I don't know why, but performing means so much to me and the quartet just meant alot to me this year. Our quartet was amazing, our blend was amazing and our chemistry was great!! Not to mention we had the best vocal coach!! Patty is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. Not only was she an amazing coach, but she was like a mother to us.

LAGUAR! LEETAH! MIGER! TION!!

Patty and the girls!

As a Tradition in choir we have the usual "Cry Day Friday" and yes it was a cry day for me, mostly because I was saying goodbye to alot of people. It wasn't a "Goodbye Ill never see you again" , it was a "I'm really gonna miss performing with you". For me performing is everything and some of the people in choir I've been forforming with for 2 years, so it is gonna be werid not performing with them. That day Dr. B had us sing one of our songs "Grateful" and there is a line in where it says..."I've got a family of friends", as I looked around at everyone there and realized that the friends I had made were my family. I can honestly say that I have made my closest friends in choir.

Company 2009-10

I LOVE SHARLA!!

Moving on!! The week after that....I GRADUATED!!!! Yes, i feel so lucky that I finished my degree at EAC in 2 years. I dont know how I did, but I did!!! Its funny though, cuz apparently there is a reason why I need to head back in the Fall, I dont know what that is yet but I cant wait to find out. Anywho, graduation was really cool since this time I graduated I actually got to be with my friends instead of being seperated like we were in high school.

Disney...not so surprised :)

the fam

All Jones girls, all of whom went to EAC (besides mommy)

The group

Some freakin awesome girls

Another fun thing that happened...LACEY GOT MARRIED!!! Lacey and Pat got married and they looked sooo happy. A few of us to the road trip to see them. It was a very fun trip. So funny story, we get to St. Johns and saw a reception outside and thought "Hey we found it!" so we are walking in and I see the bride kiss the groom, but the groom wasnt Pat. We quickly realized that that wasnt their reception. Laceys was actually down the road alittle more...ooppsy :)

Well since the summer has started alot has been going on. Im currently the Head Swim Coach for the Stapley Night team and i LOVE IT!! Nothing beats getting a tan while doing something I love. However, the biggest surprise of the summer is Tiffany and Jeffs wedding!! Which is being pulled off in less then 4 weeks!!! yeah thats right...my family is CRAZY!!! But Im very happy for them, they are a very cute couple and I have never seen Tiff more happy :) That my friends is how things have been. It is crazy but GREAT!

My Crazy Life!!!

So I know its been ages since I have updated, I have been so busy with everything that I havent had the time to actually sit down and do stuff. I guess Ill give you and overview of this last month.

At the beginning of April, we had our usually Spring show and this year the show was "The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee". It was such a fun show to be apart of. My character was Loggaine Shcwartzandgrubbunier and she was so much fun to play. She is a girl with two gay fathers and she has sooo much energy bottled up in her little 10 year body and she doesnt know what to do with it. The easiest thing about her was having a lisp and acting awkward :) The cool thing about this show was the fact that we had audience volunteers every night and they spelled words with us. For the most part it was sooo much fun, except our last show our volunteers were HORRIBLE!!!! One of them gave me a headache becuase he pulled on my hair sooo hard. However, our last show was cool because my sister was one of the volunteers and she sat by me which made it soooo hard for me not to break. All in all the show was alot of fun, however i was soo happy when it was over.

A week and a half later was our Jazz Singers tour. It was a rather short tour, but it was alot of fun to go to Mesa with some of my closest friends and perform. However, it was pretty draining because we did 5 shows in less then 24hrs. It was a very entertaining tour including our blonde moment on "Blonde" ...."Shoe be ...do ....be???" oh priceless moments!!! I realized on this tour how much I gonna miss quartet, we have a great chemistry as a group and we have a blast together. Ive thought about doing it again but I dont think I will because...a) i hate waking up early and b) I dont think anyone can top this years group!!!

A week later we had Spring Sing!!! Oh my heck, I have never been in a more physically and emotionally draining show before. If I counted correctly, I sang 30 songs for this show. Yeah, my voice is sooooo dead right now, I woke up this morning with a really manly voice even more so than Im used to. Anywho, everything about this show was great!! Except for the fact that the girls quartet had to go right after company, and we were soo dead tired from company we barely had enough energy to pull off "Cuz I'm a Blonde" but somehow we did it!!! Our Company set was alot of fun, I have never danced sooo much im my entire life, I dont know how i pulled it off, Heck i dont know how all of company pulled it off but we did. I have to say my favorite song was "SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS", partly because Lauren ROCKED as Mary Poppins, I dont know why Bishop didnt have her do it before!!! Anywho, the company set was great except for our little sound mishap we had on Saturday but I think we covered it well. I think the hardest part of this show was realizing that this was gonna be the last time I perform with some of my dearest friends. Needless to say, I cried alot these last few days, it was kind of embarrassing. It was really a great experience to have all of my sisters sing "The Lord BLess You and Keep You" for the last night. Im gonna miss choir sooo much next year. Howvere, its not just the music that im gonna miss, it gonna be the friendships that i have made. I know that my plan is to come back next year but things could change so I decided that I would treat this as my last Spring Sing.

Here are all the Company girls, we had such a blast this year

These are some of my closest friends in choir

The one person that Im gonna miss the most is Lauren, she helped me through some of the hardest times in my life and has been a great example of always laughing at life even when it gets so hard. Im so grateful she decided to come back and do choir one more year. Singing the "Lord Bless You" was sooo hard, we both were crying the entire time.
Its gonna be werid to do it without her next year.

Its werid to think that Im graduating in 2 weeks, these last two years have gone by soo fast! I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life but I know im gonna enjoy life no matter what happens!!

White Mountain Tour!

What a great way to start spring break than to start it off with a tour!! Well, for the most part it was alot of fun. It is so exhausting doing so many shows in such a short time, but at the same time it was alot of fun, except for my knee acting stupid. Everything during the first day was going great until our night show in St. John. We were doing our company set dancing to "Rock Around the Clock", and there is a part where the girls have a lil dance break. I was having alot of fun and nailing the dance when my knee popped out of place. Yeah it hurt like no other, but the show must go on. Luckily, I have the best sister and friends in the world!! They took great care of me through the entire tour. Thanks you guys :) Anyway, the rest of the tour was kind of not as fun just because I was in pain the entire time.However, I realized something, I will do anything to keep performing, it's what I live for! Anywho, as always tour was fun but by the end of tour I was sooooo exhausted and ready to be home, 7 shows in 3 days will kill ya!

Our day started at 4am, we were DEAD!!

We got to play in the snow...I LOVE SNOW!!!!

My "mommy" taking care of me

We look like absolute dorks!!

I look sick!

Ms. Katie got engaged the night before we left on tour!! YAY!!!

Some of my favorite people :)

Yeah, we are pretty much gangsta!! haha I love Princess!!

It was kind of sad to think that this is probably one of my last tour, but all good things must come to an end! It was a blast while it lasted!! Now i just need to figure out what to do with my life...easy right?

Confessions of a Theater Nerd/ Music Dork!!

So my good ol friend Lauren tagged me for this. I guess i'm supposed to come up with 10 confessions about myself. Its kind of werid because Ive never thought about this kind of stuff before today and things the most poeple find "werid" i dont find as werid. So here it goes....

1. I make really werid noises...it really isnt uncommon for me to make some random noise. Sometimes im not aware that they come out, until my friends give me werid looks after the sound has been made.

2. I can impersonate guy voices. It all started when I was like 6. I fell in love with the movie Oklahoma, I watched it so many times that I could do a one man show. Well i started to sing like a man, and i guess it has just stuck with me cuz my voice is naturally low. Seriously tho, sometimes i catch myself singing the bass line in church.

3. I love Elvis Presley!! He was one I could personate really well, including the his hip movements. I loved his "Blue Swade shoes" and "hound dog"!! Oh and i can do his little lip thing too :)

4. I am the BIGGEST musical theater freak!!! I can tell you anything about a show, who was in it, if it won any awards, and when it opened. Its not uncommon for me to be sitting in the office having the broadway channel playing and i can tell you what show, whether not it is a revival cast , and who is singing.

5. Im a big choir/orchestra person. I can be sitting in a concert and I can probably sing along, or finger the bass part on my arm. Or I can tell you the composer of the song and a random fact about them.

6. I am deathly afraid of thunderstroms! It all started when i was like 6 and we were watching the Olympics. It was storming outside and all of a sudden our neighbors huge tree fell down. Ever since i get really jumpy and I plug my ears :(

7. I am the most insecure person. I have the hardest time being myself around people. I always think people are watching me and judging me. I think thats why im so awkward at times because im not confident and so it ends up being something awkward.

8. I have singing dreams. Its not uncommon for me to have my dreams that consists of nothing but music. Sometimes I wish my dreams would come true and that everything in my life would be music...oh wait it is almost that way.

9. Im scared about my future. Im finishing up my two years at EAC and i have no idea what to do with my life. it seems like everything i wanna do back fires and i end back in the same place...nowhere! I wish i had more answers

10. I am soooo clumbsy. As a kid i would run into things, or fall, or have things get dropped on me, thats why i have so many scares. Oh and my balance is horrible, sometimes i can just loose my balance when im standing, its funny cuz one minute im up and the next im down.



Well those are mine. Its now your turn!! I dont know who to tag, so feel free to do it. Actually I want you to do it, so do it!!!

SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!!

So last weekend my sister and I were lucky enough to go see "Mary Poppins", can I just tell you right now that ...I LOVE THAT SHOW!!! Everything about it was AMAZING!!! I was in awe the entire time because... A) I got to see\meet one of my favorite performers EVER!! B) The special effects were soooooo cool, its not everyday that you see someone tap upside down. C) I just LOVE musical theater!!! It was sooo great to take a weekend and have alot of fun, Ive been so stressed with school so it felt so great!

Me and Bert!

MARY POPPINS!!!

I now feel energized to finish off the semester!!!!!!

MY WONDERFUL ROOMMATES!!!

So this semester I'm soooo lucky to have some of the funnest roommates EVER!! Of course they do tend to keep me up at night but I do love them!! They are so much fun! This last weekend we decided to take some roommate pics just because we are cool like that. Here are some of the pics I had fun editing :)

I can't wait to see adventures we have this semester. Its gonna be a BLAST!!!

Christmas Break!

It is soooo werid to think that 2009 is now officially gone!! I cant believe how fast it went by, and I hope it goes by fast cuz I wanna be done with school!!! Anywho, my break was soooo much fun! I spent alot of time with family and my good ol friends back in Mesa. As always we had our Jones family party a few days before Christmas and boy was there ALOT of people there, we had so many that we needed to do it at a church building. We had around 80 people there I think, and that wasnt even all of my cousins. I swear my family is huge...and its still growing! The party was sooo much fun and of course my grandma had to do her traditional "Pancho Claus", I think it is one of my favorite Christmas Traditions :)

Christmas Eve is always the Riding family party, and this year everything felt back to normal. Our party last year was not the same because we had it in a Care center where Grandpa was. It felt great to be back at Grandma's house.

Here are some of the girls with Grandma :)

As you can tell...we love each other

One of our traditions is to have the younger cousins do the Nativity. I guess we dont have as many younger cousins as we used tooo so we older ones got help out.

We had a plethora of angels :)

Not to mention, baby Jesus was sooo cute. Oh I love my nephew!

Sadly these are pretty much all the pictures I have from the break because my Camera died while training on the flow rider. Yes I know its winter and the water is cold but come on I live in Mesa and it doesnt get that cold, besides it was "training" ...aka lets go play on the flow rider! So for those of you who will be in Mesa this summer I strongly suggest that you stop by Rhodes Jr High and ride the Flow Rider....its amazing!!

As for my New Years, I had a blast Ice Skating!! I had a great time seeing so many old friends, some of who I havent seen in years! I am proud to say that I only fell once...and it wasnt even my fault!!

Im sooooo excited to get started with this next semester, and what greater way to start it then with a tour :) It should be alot of fun!!