Thankful For The Rain

Dei and I have had some struggles lately. I'm thinking it has something to do with the 5 hours a day we spend together at school. It just seems like our friendship has been going at a downward slope. I was really bummed about it, and I was starting to think that she didn't want to go to Girls Camp this year, or EFY. It made me really sad. She's not allowed to go to church on Sundays or take the discussions, but her mom said that she was allowed to go to Wednesday activities. But, every since she's had a job at Softies, she hasn't been able to go. 

But, last night it rained. 

Softies isn't open in the rain.

I was so excited. She could finally come to a Junior leader meeting! And there was a fireside after. I'm so glad she came. She loved it and it reminded her how much she loves church. We decided that we are going to read the Book of Mormon together and finish right before EFY. :) 

Today at school, we were excited to see each other. 

I miss that. We used to laugh about everything and nothing together. We talked today and our conversation went something like this:

Me: "You know what I realized? We like each other a lot more when we don't spend every day together."

Dei: "I know!"

"I think we just like each other more when we don't see each other as often. We have more to talk about."

"Yeah!"

"You know what, I hope we don't have any classes together next year."

"Me too!"

ha ha Definitely a weird conversation, but it felt so good to get out. And I'm sure she thought the same thing. I hope that we can stay this good of friends forever, because she's not someone I want to lose. I'm thankful for the rain.

♫♪♫ I Sure Can Smell The Rain ♫♪♫

I love thunderstorms! Today was the first one of the year, but we had to go inside for track. Luckily, we played Duck, Duck, Goose, so it didn't turn out too bad. ;) I hope this is just the beginning, because I love sitting on the porch and watching the rain and the lightning. It's so peaceful. I remember in Honduras, there was the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen, and it was so close. We sat on their porch and tried to figure out how far away the lightning was. That was one of my favorite moments.

We took the ACT today. I think it ripped out a part of my inner child. I don't want to grow up. I want to be a kid forever. But, I'm glad I got it over with. And actually, it wasn't that bad. Much easier than I thought it would be. I was really confused about the English test, and then halfway through, I realized I was doing it wrong. So I tried to go back and fix as much as a could before time ran out. The science test was really hard, but the math and reading was so easy. I'm hoping I got a good score, because it could pay for college. :)

A New Chapter

It's official....we're moving! 

A sign and all to prove it! :) I'm so excited!

But, with the excitement, comes some sadness. I basically grew up in this house! I know we're moved a lot, but I've lived here since 5th grade. I've lived here through elementary school, middle school, and most of high school. That's a lot of memories and tears. There's going through elementary school, where life was happy and carefree. Then there's middle school, where being yourself just doesn't seem enough. Many tears where shed in my room as I tried to fit in and make friends, and learn to love myself again. And now there's high school, where, even in my bright and a little immature room, I have so many things that remind me of the past, and how much I want to be a kid forever. I love this house, and my room, but I feel that it's time to start over. It will be a new journey, and I'm ready for it. :) 

WeStopHate

In English we're looking at a website called 150 Fearless Women. We have to find two women that we are really interested in, and learn more about them. One that I liked is a high school student named Emily-Anne Rigal. She wanted to campaign against bullying, so she started a blog called WeStopHate.org. She also made another blog called LoveYourselfWSH.org, where you write yourself a letter about how wonderful and beautiful you are. You aren't allowed to say anything negative about yourself. She is advocating girls to love themselves and to not give in to how we think we should look or act. She sells T-shirts that say "Be You (tiful)." I think she is such a wonderful person, and I know that she can change the lives of the insecure women in the world. What an amazing person. :)

Got the best compliment ever! So a while ago, I was talking to Dei, and I said "You know how you see someone with something in common with you, and you feel connected? Like, when I see someone with a BYU shirt, I know they're LDS, and I feel like we're friends." She said "Yes" so I said "I think I feel that way about black people, then I remember that I'm not black, and we have absolutely nothing in common!" ha ha

So earlier this week, I told my friend Lizzy that story, and I told her that I must have been black in a former life or something, and she said "I can see that two ways. Either you were a fat black lady who could really sing and make the best friend chicken, or you were an old classy black man who knows everything and plays the banjo and the trumpet."

Awesome.

Honduras

We had an amazing trip in Honduras! I didn't want to leave! It was such an amazing experience. There is too much to write about it, so here's the link to the blog my mom made for the trip: http://jordensinhonduras.blogspot.com/

This week I saw a book on my mom's dresser: Heaven Is Here. I picked it up, and didn't put it down. What an incredible story. It's about an amazing LDS who was severely burned in a plane crash with her husband. The story is about her struggle to find the will to live, coping with the extreme pain, and living with the reality that her life would never be the same. It also talks about her beautiful relationship with her husband and her children, and shows her love for God and how she puts her life into His hands. I was deeply touched by it. I found her blog on the internet so I could keep up with her life and to see the wonderful accomplishments she is making. Her blog is nieniedialogues.com.

March Madness

I made it to All-Northwest again! It was so much fun. I went with a couple of people in my choir this year, but none of my West friends were allowed to try out this year. Our choir sounded incredible. During our final concert, we sang a song called The Famine Song. It was so deep and powerful. We did an interpretive dance to the song, and by the end, there was not a dry eye in the whole audience. We were only halfway through our concert, and we were given a standing ovation. It was an incredible experience. Next year, I'm going to try out for Nationals. :)

This was our accompanist. She was so friendly and nice. Everyone loved her!

This is the church we rehearsed in.

The next weekend was Tyler and Brooke's wedding! (Not to mention Prom and the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games) At first I was bummed that I missed out on Prom, but now I'm so glad I did! And I still got to see the premiere in Las Vegas. :) The wedding was so beautiful. I felted so honored to be a bridesmaid. I got to meet Brooke's hilarious family, and guess what! They love Nacho Libre as much as I do! I even figured out that Brooke's sister, Megan, has the Ramses mask! I have the Nacho Libre mask! It looks like Tyler and Brooke were destined to be.

The NEXT weekend, the Yanez family came! They arrived in Salt Lake on March 30th, which happens to also be my birthday. I had a good day at school, and Dei and Laykin took me out on a little picnic. :) After school, I got to spend the monumental day of my birth in a car for nine hours. :P It actually wasn't that bad, and it was so good to see the Yanez's. We spent most of the next week (Spring Break) with them in Salt Lake, visiting the temples, going to General Conference, going to the zoo, seeing the church sites, meeting up with family at Jump On It!

On Friday we got back to Billings, and went to Tyler and Brooke's Billings reception. We spent the weekend with the Yanez family, but there wasn't quite as much to do in Billings as Utah. But Jose still said that his favorite part of the trip was being with us in Billings. We were sad to see them go on Tuesday. :( We can't wait to see them again some day.

Valentine's Day Surprise

Earlier this year, our parents told us that we were going to New Orleans over the break. We were all excited, but we weren't sure why we would go to New Orleans, especially so close to Marti Gras. Well, on Valentine's Day we got to the airport, and our parents told us the surprise......we were going on a cruise to Mexico! :) We were so excited! We had a lot of fun exploring New Orleans for a couple of days, but there are a couple of experiences we would like to forget. We drove down Bourbon Street, and after a few blocks, our mom yelled out "Kids, close your eyes!" ha ha We left as soon as we could. Turns out New Orleans does not have the best of morals. The day final arrived to board the ship, and when we got there, someone told us that an oil truck had leaked all over people's luggage. People were outside for hours trying to clean up the mess and to salvage as much luggage as possible, but we didn't end up leaving until two in the morning. We got to Cozumel a little late, but not late enough to miss swimming with dolphins! It was the coolest experience of my life! I didn't want it to ever end!

My first kiss ;)

These were the friends I made in Club O2. :)

TWIRP!

TWIRP was a lot of fun! Leilani's family owns a huge storage unit, so we set up our own little restaurant in there. Dinner was served by the lovely Kari Jorden. The food was great! We took lots of pictures and played a few Minute to Win It games before we left for the dance. I prepared myself for the worse. For the most part, we all stayed as a group and danced together, so I hardly noticed everyone else. We only stayed about an hour, and then the limo came and picked us up. We drove around town and hung out, then the limo dropped us off at the storage unit, and we watched Cars 2. It was a great first dance. :)

This isn't a very good picture, but it's the only one I could find.

And what good is a party without Ocho?