Sometimes. . .

I want to take my phone and throw it across the room
Hide it in a drawer
Take out the battery
Smash the screen. . .

Anything

To keep me from checking it again

And Again

And Again

And Again

To find again

And Again

And Again

And Again

that

Sorry, hun--Get a life.

YOU
DON'T
HAVE
ANY
NEW
TEXTS
!!!






p.s.-- don't worry, Mom; I will resist the temptation.

And There It Was

To whoever has been leaving flowers taped to my door:

THANK YOU

. . . even though they're probably for my roommate

:)

Job Description #2:

Email Notification just came:

"Some of you will now be put on "nightstalker" duty. This essentially entails roaming the halls of the dorm, including the basement and creepy east wing.. and the surrounding outdoor areas to make sure no one has sneaked out... Is more fun than it sounds- just ask Josh, who could not be more excited."


Let me emphasize/repeat/reiterate:
Some of you will now be put on "NIGHTSTALKER" duty.


One Word:


Yes.

Job Description:

I have a job. I work at a camp. My duties change from day to day. Today the kiddos have some free time in the morning, thus my job description (yes, this is what it says) is as follows:

"Generally be a presence in the dorms and surrounding areas - just checking up to make sure kids don't get up to something or get pregnant"


Yeah. I think I like my boss.

Lately

I'm tempted to assert that the end was better than the ride..... let's call it a grand finale. And so grand it was.

1. Church Prom!
Sorta self-explanatory, right? Mormons from all over the southeast-ish part of Michigan put on fancy clothes and go to a dance where no grinding is permitted. It's a good time.

Madi, Marah, Lauren. They rock my world.

Kiddos from our ward.

The Girlies.

2. STATES
APs this year were irrelevant. Seven years of forensics culminating at states my senior year. I wanted it, I was ready. Last year was solid and I took seventh. This year I was dynamic and they were going to LISTEN to me.
I was in second place after prelims, shot up to first after semis, then finals round slipped. I was sloppy, and the judging was not quite up to par. Fell back to third. Legit. I'll take it. And I did.

Stealing sleep  between rounds....Happens.

Oratory Awards, Class A. NERVE-WRACKING.

THE EAST SIDE! From Left to Right:
Domestic Abuse, Scientific Illiteracy, Inter(dis)course, Hearing Loss, Mental Health Awareness in Schools  

THE EAST SIDE <3 Left to Right:
Marissa, Karen, Lauren, Maddie, Ari

Trophies. NBD.

Forensic Team 2011 Captains--The Girls--Faith, Olivia, Sarah, Lauren

3. PROM
Ok, so I can't call this one a highlight, but it was fun. And I know that I would have regretted it if I'd graduated high school never having gone to a high school prom. So I went. With a group of buddies. Dinner was good, dancing wasn't bad. HOWEVER, I have to say that I think my favorite part was hanging out in the car waiting for our hostess to arrive at her house to begin our post-prom partying. THAT was funny. And, yes, I did wear the same dress to my school's prom as I wore to church prom. I am a dress repeater. My apologies. 

The Group

The Girls

The reason I went to prom. They're such sweethearts.

My Prom Date! Well. Kinda....

Changin! No worries-- This was before Tyler got to the car.

Creepin?

That Post-Prom Partying begins!

Clearly, we just clean up well

Tyler gave us all roses. Sweet, right? Susan's gonna stab him with hers and Sydnee's creepin. BUT HEY I'M CUTE, RIGHT?

 4. MACKINAC
I wanted to go to Mackinac. Badly. Groves' Forensic Team hadn't been to this tournament at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in YEARS-- since before I was in high school. I was determined to go.  Many of the captains were in, and so was our coach. WE WENT! :) I'm so happy with the group of people that ended up coming along, and we had SO MUCH fun. Instead of judging (not so much fun), Faith and I competed in Duo Broadcast. GOOD DECISION. It really was a blast. Finished our script the night before (well, early morning the day of) competing and pulled through in fifth. Not too shabby, eh? 

Just arrived on the island. :)

You get to dress up for dinner. It's fun.

Another Fancy Night of Dining. :)

Yep. We took one of those Lame, Cheesy photos with the Finals Postings. Cuz our names are on it. Duh.

OH! and how could I forget?  Night of Champions! I have some sweet connections in the forensic community, and consequently got to perform for all the students, coaches, etc that came to Mackinac. That was so fun, owning the stage like that. Only messed up a little. I'm so, so glad I got to do that.

5. Graduation!

I graduated. It did happen. I know, it was questionable for a bit. But Commencement did come and I walked. I also got to speak. It was kind of amazing how many opportunities to speak popped up toward the end of the year. But being up there on the stage kept me entertained with only a couple minor mishaps.... Which I won't go into. :) I also spoke at Seminary graduation, but no photo ops for that one. 

With Komal at my Grad Par-tay! Next to the little children's toy. As is entirely appropriate.

** I did get to wear special yellow cords for being smart, but I forgot them... so my dad went back home and got them! They're just not in the pictures... :(

6. GIRL'S CAMP

Last year of gathering with my Mormon buddies from southeast Michigan for a week of having fun, keeping busy, and eating too much food. These girls make my life happier.  It was their idea to have a theme for dressing up each day of camp. 80s day was by FAR the best of them! :)

Madi, Me, Marah. Marah

Marah should have been an 80s child.

7. TREK.

The trek really can't be written with exclamatory punctuation. But it needs punctuation. Trek. As the cute little Mormons we are, we dressed up like our pioneering progenitors (to an extent) and pulled around our luggage and supplies for four days with very much rain (4.75" the first two days) and very little food. I most definitely ripped both of my dresses and spent much time muddy, wet, and cold. Wet shoes and bloomers were the WORST. And far too many mosquito bites. But when the sun came out that last day our wishes for heat were realized and reconsidered. It was quite the experience and I had the best family in the world (or at least the stake) experiencing this all with me. Lots of pictures f

We actually had the best brothers EVER. They made us fires and chairs and were just the best.

Trying to dry things out....

Apparently, I didn't make it to the Salt Lake Valley. I died on the trail. (So did everyone in this photo.) Each family had about 11 or 12 members. In some families no one died-- in some, five died.

My family's handcart! Check out that mud. And those smiles :)

Gathering.

My family.  A family that prays together stays together.

Sooo....it rained....

Most of my family. So wet and so happy.

OK, this is when I got really grumpy. Stayed dry in my pajamas through the night, but the rain was kind enough to come back to wake us up and serve as an alarm clock. Wet bloomers chafe and are just really unfortunate.  Me, two sisters, and Pa.

Before we started. So clean.

And all that pretty much gets us up to date! Summer's about half over... I'll try to keep up!

I Have A Cold.

One of these times I get a cold, I think I am going to find the average weight of a single tissue, weigh a garbage bag, and proceed to calculate the mass of all the snot leaving my body over the course of the cold. I have pondered this many times. I simply just do not understand how THAT MUCH can POSSIBLY be produced by my nose and FIT UP THERE. So. I shall ready my calculator and hunt down a scale. Next Time.

(This time around has been three tissue boxes and counting. Good Grief.)

My Hiking Boots Were Not In My Room

Me: Why are my hiking boots in here??

Rebekah: Because I used them for 7th grade camp

Me:... Why are my hiking boots STILL in here?

Rebekah: Because I'm Lazy and Forgetful!!

Rebekah: ......If you want me to be completely honest.....