high school dances...

High school dances were pretty much the best things ever! Since I grew up in good old Orem Utah we always asked in crazy ways. I got to go to quite a few dances and they were a ton of fun! All of our dances had theme songs and we would go cool places! I loved dances in high school!

The first dance I want to talk about is Sophomore Prom. I went with Dalin Parker. I may or may not have worn the same dress as when I went with Jarik to Preference... but my mom and grandma actually changed the ribbons on the dress, so it looked totally different haha anyways, one day after school I walked out to my car and it was trashed! It had ketchup, mustard, chocolate syrup, fish bait, etc. on it! Dalin had asked me to Prom! I was so excited but I knew that I was going to have to get him back when I answered him.

As you can see from the picture above... I got him back! I shredded billions of papers, newspapers, etc and ended up with about 4 huge black garbage bags full! Dalin drove a big maroon van and I was scared it wasn't even going to make a dent. So he always left it unlocked.... his bad in the first place. So one night my friend Lauren Craig and I went and dumped all of he shredded papers in his van! It rocked my socks, let me just tell you!

This is a picture of me and Dalin at Prom. The theme was "This Moment Forever". Prom was March 18, 2006... I believe! It was at the huge Wells Fargo building in Salt Lake! We drove up there in Dalin's nice truck. We were in a pretty big group and it was a blast!

Yay Sophomore Prom!

The next dance I wish to talk about is Junior Homecoming with Kyle Kocherhands. This dance had a lot of drama in the asking. I went to a play with my friend Evan Monson and when I got home there were two bowls in my room, both with notes. The first one was of fortune cookies and the second one had sour patches in them. I went and asked my mom what they were from because I was so confused... she said that I got asked to Homecoming twice... within 10 minutes of eachother mind you! So yeah, talk about drama.

I decided to choose by which one asked me first and that was Kyle. He asked me by sour patches he said, "I know we've had our sour patches but will you go to Homecoming with me." Me and Kyle had liked eachother for a while but we just never got the timing write... So I was SO excited that he asked me! I loved the kid!

This is a picture of me and Kyle before the dance. It was a blast! I even wore these awesome light up shoes. They were like crystal kind of... they were even high heals! I thought that they were the coolest thing ever haha and since Kyle is tall, I needed to wear high heals! Such a fun date and dance!

Yay Junior Homecoming!

Junior Prom was interesting...! I went with Nick Houston. He is hilarious! I don't remember much about this date but I do remember that we went paint-balling for the day date and I had welts all over my body for the dance haha. We went over to his friend Mitch's house and the guys had made dinner. It was really cute. Then we went to Prom in a limo and it was at the Provo Library.

This is a picture of my cute dress! I love this dress because it is red and also because it has polka-dots which I love! After the dance we went back over to Mitch's house and watched Finding Nemo on his driveway. Yes, in my Prom dress. I fell asleep and when I woke up it was 4 in the morning... I made Nick drive me home right away and he didn't even walk me to the door... kinda a bust of a Prom but oh well... life goes on.

Yay Junior Prom!

My very favorite dance in high school was Senior Homecoming with Eric Richins. He asked me by a "phone hunt" if you will. He came over with friends and sang a song and then gave me a sheet of paper with a number on it. I called that number and they gave me another number, they gave me another number, I ended up calling like 10 numbers haha and the last one made me guess! It was such a cute idea! He is such an awesome kid and it was a blast! I actually planned this dance because I was on Student Council. So my parents were there serving food and it was a ton of fun! It was held at a golf course on the other side of Utah Lake. It was really pretty!

This is a picture of my dad and me before the dance! I really liked this dance because I put a ton of work into it. It was my first dance I had ever planned and it took a lot of time. I also went with one of my best friends and there was no drama! We just had a ton of fun. We had an awesome group that was a lot of fun as well! Awesome date.

Yay Homecoming!

The last dance I went to in High School was Senior Preference with Chris Haines. So you guessed it... I did not get asked to Senior Prom which was kind of a bummer but oh well! So Preference was a ton of fun! I actually was on the committee for this dance as well! This meant it was free! So I knew I had to go! I decided to ask a really sweet guy in my home ward, the bishop's son actually! And we had an awesome time!

This is a picture of dad and me before the dance... dad blinked haha. This has to be my very FAVORITE picture of us! I just love it... So yeah Preference was a blast. We went to Carrabba's for dinner and it was delicious! We had a huge group because it was like all of Student Council girls in one big group! My parents also came to this dance which made it extra awesome! It was held out in Lehi at a golf course! It was really hard to find a place to hold it and this was the last place we found.. it was actually really small and we were so worried about it. But it actually made the dance so much better because we were all so cramped but we made the best of it and just had a huge party!

Yay Preference!

high school dances.

Marching Band.

The summer of 2007 is one to remember. I remember missing dance more then anything and just wishing I could do something. Then I got news that they were starting the very first marching band ever at Timpanogos High School. They came to me and asked me if I wanted to be a part of and help start the first Dance Guard. Of course I jumped on the band wagon!

Dance Guard was one of the strangest things I had ever done... but also a ton of fun. I remember learning how to twirl the flag and my favorite... the gun. It was awesome because I was learning a lot of things. There were only 4 of us and so it was pretty easy. We mostly danced and then used the props on the side. It was actually pretty hard because there were so many positions and we had to be in the exact right spot. It was a lot to remember but it was fun.

Our marching band was actually really good. We always took first in our competitions. We did compete in one A though because it was so small and was our first year as a marching band. It was cool to go to competitions and stuff. Above is a picture of one of our competitions... sorry it is so small... it is bad quality. But marching band was an adventure. My favorite memory is band camp... yes I went to band camp haha. We actually had it at an army base! We even got to stay in the barracks, which was awesome. I got into awesome shape because we ran all of the time!

Even though I get made fun of a lot for being in the band, I am so glad that I did it. I learned a lot. I learned about interacting with other people and I expanded my friend base by a lot. The people in the band were so nice! I also dated one of the drummers, Matt Wald. We held hands and cuddled a couple of times :) haha anyways, it was a lot of fun! And I was a part of Timpanogos' first marching band!

marching band.

Lake Powell.

Almost every single year since I was little my family has taken a summer trip to Lake Powell. I have always looked forward to and loved our family trips to Lake Powell. When I was little we would stay in a hotel and then make a day camp on a beach. It was a ton of fun! We would go down with different family's and would just have a blast! It was a fun way to get out of Orem and take a trip down south.

When I was in about 8th or 9th grade, my family decided to purchase a house boat. We went in on a share with the Blaylocks. The boat's name was $um-R-fun. It was a pretty big boat. We were given one week out of the year, which was the end of July, beginning of August. It was a ton of fun! Each of the kids could bring a friend and we would go park it on a beach. We would stay there all week long and sleep on top of the houseboat!

I have many memories of this boat. One of my favorites is jumping off the top of the house boat. We would do crazy tricks and have competitions. There was also a slide which was a lot of fun. Another memory I have is my brother Mike waking up at the crack of dawn and going wakeboarding when the water was glass. It was beautiful to be out on the lake and watch the sun rise over the red rocks. Another memory I have is tubing. The Baker's are champion tubers. If it was a sport, we would take state! My dad is amazing at pulling tubes behind the boat! I loved every moment of that!

This is a picture of Lake Powell one year. We went with the Babb's and they brought "The Molecule". It was awesome! It is a huge tube that you pull behind the boat, but we mainly used it to play king of the hill. It was a ton of fun! I have countless memories of Lake Powell. My family decided to sell our houseboat last year (2009) and I was so upset! I miss it. I will always remember all the family trips to...

Lake Powell.

Guitar Playin.

When I was little my mom put me in piano lessons... I hated it! So she didn't want to force me to do it and so I dropped out at about 4th grade. I have always regretted that choice, like she said I would. So when I got into high school I decided that I wanted to play the guitar! I had friends that played and I thought it sounded like a ton of fun! I also thought it looked pretty easy because my friends could just google a song

and then play it!

Right when I told my mom she enrolled me in guitar classes. My mom is a wonderful mom who wants her children to be culturally literate... or whatever the phrase is. So I went to guitar lessons and I loved it! I would practice all the time. What made it so great was that I could choose the songs that I wanted to learn, which made it a ton more interesting. After about 6 months, I had learned all of the chords. My teacher was really impressed because I was kinda a natural... if you will. So she asked me if I wanted to learn to read notes, and that made me think back to piano, and I immediately said no. So I quit. I had learned all I needed to know and that's all I wanted.

I played a lot for about a year after I quit lessons. It kind of wore off after a while. I still played at Girls Camp and at other things but not as much as I used to. I am so glad that I learned to play the guitar. It has become my new way to release emotion. Since I don't have dance anymore I use the guitar a lot. Music is amazing. It is such an amazing aspect of this world. I am so glad that I learned to play an instrument. I love the guitar.

guitar playin.

My First Job.

I remember turning 16 and being so excited about the fact that I could now get a job. After 4 weeks... I finally got one. I worked at Hogi Yogi, the corporate office in Provo. I had always had a love for Hogi Yogi and so I knew that this would be the perfect job for me!

I loved it! I honestly thought it was the best job ever! I remember going to work everyday and being so excited to go. I was earning money and working with awesome people! I also worked with some really cute guys... which I think helped a lot! I learned a lot from my new job! It was perfect for me! I thought I was a pretty good worker and I guess so did the Hoge because after about two months, I became a manager!

Becoming a manager at the age of 16 was kind of a challenge. I was over a lot of people that were older than me and they made my life difficult at times! I remember going to manager meetings and feeling so important! I loved working still. I really liked the lady over the managers and her name was Shannon. For some reason, she didn't really like her job so she quit and then they brought in... Jason.

I did not like Jason at all. First of all, I kinda ran the company by myself, with the help of one of my awesome friends Evan Monson. He was a manager as well and we would practically run the whole restaurant. The only thing we didn't do was make the schedule of who was working. Anyways, they brought in Jason and he changed everything around. He was not nice to us as workers and work was not fun anymore. I dreaded going to work every single day! I was only making $7 an hour and it just didn't seam worth it anymore.

So I did what I feel was right and what I felt I needed to do... I quit. Hogi Yogi was just not for me anymore but I am glad that I worked there. I earned a lot of money and I learned a lot about being in management! It was the perfect beginners job for me as an individual!

first job.

First Date.

My first date was with the awesome kid named Jarik Mudrow! And... I asked him! Which is kinda backwards but welcome to my life! Haha anyways, I had liked the kid a lot and preference was coming up in February, about a month after my 16th birthday, and so I decided that I would ask Jarik to go with me! Come to find out, it was his first date too! So that was really nice because neither of us knew what we were doing.

I was very creative in asking him to this dance! I put a bunch of starbursts all over his room and glow in the dark stars on his ceiling spelling my name! Then I made a poster saying,

Out of all the stars in the sky,

I choose you to be my guy!

Will you go to preference with me?

Creative I know!

I don't remember much about the date but I do remember that I had a blast! Jarik is such an awesome guy and he treated me like such a lady! We went in a huge group and I remember going to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Jarik didn't know like anyone in my group but he was still so nice and fun to be around! I remember thinking that it was going to be awkward because I asked and so it kinda makes things weird, but we turned it into a game! We kept track of who opened what doors and we would race to them to open them for each other! It was a ton of fun!

This is a picture of us before the dance! It is kinda distorted... oh well. I remember feeling so awkward standing in this position and Jarik cracking jokes haha! He is such a crazy funny guy! My first date was pretty much the best thing ever! I had a ton of fun and an incredible night!

first date.

Drivin stick-shift...

Learning to drive was one of the coolest things I had ever done. I remember my first time being behind the wheel and I felt so free. And then I remember glancing to my right and seeing my dad gripping his seat for his life and on the verge of tears! The hardest thing for me was keeping my attention. I used to look at the birds, trees, hot men... I wasn't used to not being able to look at these things while I drove... but I learned very quickly because my dad was very good at teaching... :)

Parking was the hardest thing for me at first! I could never get that dang car in between those two lines! We practiced and practiced and practiced! And believe it or not, I was actually pretty good at parallel parking... I am such a strange person, I know! Driving was a ton of fun and I passed my driving test on the first try! Little did I know... the worst was yet to come!

I remember wanting to drive my mom's cute black jetta! I thought it was the cutest car ever! But... it was a stick-shift! I was so deathly afraid of the stick shift! I remember going over to the church parking lot and trying to make that car go.... and failing about 25 times and then going home. And, to make matters worst, the car hated me! It literally hated me! Every time I would try and drive that car the 'check engine' light would go on! It didn't want me to drive it and I didn't want to learn to drive it!

A while later my mom's cousin Melissa and her family came over. Somehow, me not being able to drive the stupid stick shift came up. Seth (Melissa's husband) jumped to the cause. I tried to tell him that it was a worthless cause because the car hated me, but he wouldn't listen. He went over and go the Tinker Toys and started building something. I sat next to him and then he began to explain how the car works, what happens when you pull out the clutch, what happens when you put it into different gears, etc. He sat there and explained it to me and then... he made me get back into that retched car!

He drove down to the high school and made me get into the drivers seat. We sat there and he reminded me about everything that is going on inside of this poor car and why it hated me! I realized that maybe it was me and not the car... weird thought I know! So I tried it again, and guess what... IT WORKED! I drove that beautiful car and it was so much fun! Don't get me wrong... I was not a pro to begin with but it has definitely come overtime. Now I can drive a stick-shift with no problem! Driving rocks my socks!

stick-shift.