Popcorn Popping

It's spring time! I love spring, because everything is starting to grow again, and all of the trees have beautiful flowers, and the light green color of leaves is absolutely beautiful. If I was back home, I'd be looking at the two trees in the front yard, and seeing if "my tree" would grow its leaves and be beautiful again! (My tree is the one closest to my window and the first one that I see when I look outside.)

So there's a Primary Song called "Popcorn Popping". Anyway, it goes like this: "I looked out the window, and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree. Spring has brought me such a nice surprise. Blossoms popping right before my eyes. I can take an armful and make a treat. A popcorn ball that will smell so sweet! It wasn't really so, but it seemed to me! Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!" (Tune can be found here.)

The important part of this song is that it talks about popcorn! And to a five year old girl, you think it's real popcorn, and you ignore the lines that talk about the "blossoms" and how "It wasn't really so". And if you don't know it's real, then you'll be devastated. I speak from experience. When we lived in Florida, it was spring time, and one Sunday morning, I looked outside, and there was popcorn on some of trees outside, just like in the song! I was so excited, and I got ready for church quickly so I could go out an pick the popcorn before church. I ran up to the tree and was about to pick the popcorn, when I realized that it wasn't really popcorn, but they were flowers! I was so sad that popcorn doesn't grow on trees. An then I fully realized the meaning of how it wasn't really popcorn in the song. Now, every spring, whenever there are blossoms coming on the trees, I remember when I was a little girl and thought that there was actual popcorn that grew on trees.

Another reason why spring is awesome? It's general conference time! I'm so excited for general conference! General Conference is where the leaders of our church speak to all of the members of the church across the world. Click here for a short YouTube video about conference and what it's about.

Yet another reason why spring is awesome is because the best month in the whole year is in Spring! April is the best month each year because not only is it springtime, and thunderstorm time, but my birthday's in the vicinity as well. Yay for birthdays. In my family, birthdays are a big deal. We get our own birthday dinner an eat on our special birthday plate (mine is purple), and it's basically the best day of the whole year. It's awesome.

So basically I love spring time. Flowers are blooming, the trees have popcorn on them, and then eventually leaves, and there are Texas thunderstorms (which are amazing), and the weather is nice and mild, there's conference and my birthday, and it's the end of the school year! So have a happy spring everyone!

Look at how cute my siblings are! Aren't they just adorable. And look at how pretty those purple flowers are. Oh spring, you are awesome :)

Famblee

My family is really important to me, and they are also awesome. We do a lot of things together, and we have loads of fun. There are so many traditions that we have and fun activities that we do. I love each and every one of my siblings as well as my parents.

Dad: My dad is awesome. He's a professor, and it feels like he knows everything sometimes, which is awesome. I'm always asking him questions and he just knows the answer to them. Like why the weather does what it does, and why certain conflicts arise throughout the world. My dad and I are very similar in our personalities. We enjoy the same things and we talk the same way. My dad and I LOVE to analyze sports games. We can turn a Florida game on and just sit there and talk about the game, the coaching, the plays that are happening/should be happening. We don't shut up. I think it annoys the rest of my family, but it's awesome. This past Saturday, I wasn't able to watch the Florida basketball game, so I called my dad and he gave me the play by play.

Mom: My mom is one of the most amazing people I know. She is always so busy and trying to keep all of us kids happy. She's beautiful and brilliant. She came here to BYU knowing hardly any English, and not only survived, but did well. She knows how to help each and every one of us when we need it, and is so in tune with the Spirit that she discerns things that are bothering us before we even really know what's wrong. She's really patient and organized. She's a great teacher and a great listener. When my mom and I get going, we can talk for hours and hours. I hope that one day, I can be as fantastic as she is!

Me: I'm the oldest of my crazy family, and while it's hard sometimes, I love it! My maternal instincts are probably off the charts for someone who's never actually had their own child. The only kid I don't remember being born is the brother that is two years younger than me. I hope that I'm a good big sister to the rest of my siblings! I love watching sports with my family (especially when it's Florida and/or football), and even now that I'm away from home, I call them when there's a game going on (probably to the annoyance of my roommate). Nicknames: Sister/Sis, Moni

Benjamin: Benjamin is two years younger than me, and he's pretty cool. He and I are pretty close, and we talk a lot when we can. He also likes watching sports (namely football and basketball), although he's a lot more quiet about it than my dad and I are. We used to wrestle and stuff all the time, back before he was so much bigger than me. Now he's HUGE. He's like 6'3" or something now. And he's two years younger than me! Why is my life so unfair? Anyway, he doesn't like to talk a lot to people he doesn't know, but once you get to know him, man, he's hilarious! I literally just got off the phone with him, and we laughed so much. He can also memorize just about anything in no time flat. And he plays guitar, which is super cool. Nickname: Benj (my dad's name is also Benjamin, but everyone calls him Ben. So we just add the "j" to Benj's name so it's different)

Jacob: Jacob is a lot like me in the reading department...sometimes. We like a lot of the same books (although he refuses to read Harry Potter. Who knows why!) and we like the same TV shows. Whenever we talk, we talk about books, movies, or TV shows. Or I'm helping him with school work. Except not anymore, because I go to college now. Jacob likes sports, but not to the extent that Benj and I do. Also, he's now taller than me??? That's insane. This is not ok. Now I have to sit in the squished seat in the front! Nickname: Jakey/Jake (I'm the only one who calls him by these names.)

James: James is the start of the "younger kids". The way my family works is that there are three "older kids" and four "younger kids". The younger kids don't get the same privileges as us older kids do. Mostly it has to do with bedtime. Us older kids don't go to bed as early as the younger kids do. James is super fast and loves to play soccer. He's on the same team as Adam (don't worry, I'll get there), and their team is really good for a YMCA team. James is usually their leading scorer, although it depends on the season (they play both fall and spring) Nickname: James-y

Adam: Although Adam is two years younger than James, he plays with James' age group when it comes to soccer because it's easier than having to go to two soccer practices and two soccer games. Our life is crazy enough as it is, and we didn't need that kind of added craziness. Adam is also really good at soccer. He's one of the best players on his team, even though he's younger. Adam also had to have an ingrown toenail removed, and he told me all the disgusting details about it (he's a boy, what can you expect?). Adam and James are always together, and they're the closest in age. People often get them confused with each other (including us). Nickname: Jadam. This came because whenever we're calling for him to come downstairs, we  always say "Ja-Adam!" because we get confused with James. Oh well. Such is life.

**Brief intermission. First off, I'm not just a sister who's bragging about my brothers and their soccer team. Both of my brothers have had hat-tricks (3 points in a game) multiple times. The only team they lost to last fall was to a city-league. Since they've been on this team the past three-four years, they've lost only a handful of times.
**Side note: Count the boys. Then the girls. See how many boys there are so far? This is what I grew up with. And it's AWESOME. I love my brothers.

Emily: No, not my roommate. My sister. Yes, I finally have a sister, waaay down the line. She's a tough one, let me tell you. When you've got four older brothers, you have to be! She knows how to get what she wants. She's an avid reader, which is awesome. There is also no doubt that she's a girl. She doesn't really watch sports with the rest of us, although she cheers for Florida when they're on. She's also the first one out of all of us to have a broken a bone. Yeah, that's right. The girly-girl of the family fractured her bone just below her knee when she was three. Go figure. She calls me sister, and I call her Em sometimes. Or sweetie.

Andrew: Andrew is such an angel! He would have to be in order to be at the tail end of this group! He's just adorable. In every way. I really can't describe it much past that. He's also the definite baby of the family. In fact, that was his nickname for a long time. "Baby" or "Babe". And he'd totally respond to it. Until he started telling us that he was no longer a baby anymore. Now he doesn't have a nickname. Andrew likes playing soccer outside with my other brothers, and apparently he's a "pro" goalie for his young age. We'll see how that pans out in the years to come.

And that's my family! Aren't we a fun bunch? I love you guys!

It's the little things

Ya know, it's the little things in life that make me happy. The smell of fresh air or getting to see a beautiful bird (birds in general are pretty rare around here. It's quite odd), or even getting to wear jeans. Yep, that's right. Jeans. I love them, but Mondays through Thursdays, I don't wear them because of the dress code at the office. Which isn't too bad. I mean, I love that I get to look nice everyday. And it makes me try harder. However, when I get to wear jeans and a t-shirt at the office, then it makes me happy. I'm referencing to today of course. Which is Thursday. Our new director allowed us to wear jeans as long as we were wearing a BYU t-shirt to support BYU's basketball bid.

Another little thing that made me happy today: Cristi, one of the advisers, informed me that one the Brazilian students in the office at the time was checking me out. He asked her where I'm from and made up some weird excuse to talk to me. Like asking how I pronounce my name. Cristi almost just told him to ask me on date already, but she didn't. Anyway, I'm bringing this up because it just me feel good about myself. Even in a t-shirt and jeans, I look cute ;) But seriously, it was a little thing that made the day better.

Again, sticking with the office. Today was a busy day. As in, insanely busy. We were short-staffed because Emily had to leave for the weekend. I had a stack of things I needed to do, and I barely got them done in time. Even though it was busy, it was a good kind of busy. Because I knew what I was doing. I knew how to answer the questions people asked me and what to do with all of the paperwork. It was awesome. I'm really getting the hang of this job, and it's not nearly as stressful as it used to be. Even when I'm swamped, it felt great to know what was going on. Again, little thing in life.

I worked my Catering job as well today, and boy was that exhausting! The small thing that made me feel better about having to work clean-up is that I got to work with Michelle. Now Michelle absolutely loves me, which is awesome. Even more awesome? I got a radio. Now, radios mean power. I was basically the second in command, which is cool. I mean, she trusted me enough to get everything done that she wanted of me, and I was in charge of the dishroom for a time too. It was nice, even though the shift was exhausting.

See, finding the little things in life made what could've been a terrible day of long work hours and a heavy workload into an enjoyable day. And that's why I always like to look for the little things that make life better. Because if we don't focus on them, then life doesn't look as good!

Madness

As in, March Madness. The time when everyone fills out a bracket, pools together some money (or anything else that's valuable), and hope and pray that the teams that they picked win out so that way they can victory over others.

Now, some people try to fill out their brackets by looking at all the stats and picking the better team. Some people do it on the flip of a coin. If this year's tournament is anything like last year's tournament, then that might actually be the better method. Me? Well, I'm loyal to Florida, so of course I think they can go all the way end! Which is what I did :) But honestly, I think Kentucky's gonna win it all. They were the only ones during regular season that proved that they could sustain a steady winning streak, and they've also got a strong program right now. (Which is good. Those poor Kentucky fans need something to be proud of, and let me tell you, it ain't their football program!) Syracuse had a chance, but now their top player is suspended from the rest of the tournament. While they have depth, it's going to be hard to replace his presence on the court. Mizzou is fresh off a conference championship, so they're pretty solid as well. UNC... I don't know as much about them. Florida State (much as I hate to admit) has a fairly decent chance. I mean, they beat Duke twice, and they beat UNC twice. HOWEVER, the crazy thing about March is that it's Madness time, and anything can happen. As in anything. And who knows? Maybe BYU will play Florida again. Now that would pretty fun. Like last year's game? That was pretty intense. I only bring it up because Florida won. Oh happy day. I love it when Florida wins. There's just this awesome feeling that it brings to me. But I digress.

March is a wonderful month, not only because of March Madness, but because it's when the weather changes. I mean, it's been beautiful the past few days, and I really, really hope that it stays this way! Although I'm going to die when I get back home. I mean, I'm starting to think that this is rather warm and borderline hot. 50 degrees is a nice day now. I was talking to my brother, about how it was 55 and we were all playing outside and the like. He just laughed and said that it was in the 50s in the morning and he wore a jacket. That's how I used to be when I came out here. By the time I get back home, it's going to be so hot and feel so humid, and I'm going to die. Or go mad.

Do you know why else I'm going to go mad? Because it's March! And this week is usually Spring Break time, except not for me or my BYU compadres. Because BYU doesn't believe in giving us spring break, which is such a bummer! I mean, I would love just one whole week off from life! No work, no school, just relaxing, maybe getting to actually go off campus and stay somewhere else. Who knows? But it's not going to happen. The weeks here feel so long, and like they last forever! Which I guess I shouldn't be complaining about too much, because I'm going to be so sad when we all leave. Although I can't wait to see my familia again! I miss them. I wonder how they're doing... I should probably call them. Anyway, back to the spring break thing. It's hard to know that everyone back home is off not worrying about anything, while I have a Physical Science test and a paper due this week. And something else next week. Maybe another test? I don't even know. That's too far in the future. I like to take things a few days at a time. Unless it's plans for the weekend. Those can always be prepared in advance.

Good luck with the Madness! May the College Basketball force be with you. Unless you picked against Florida. Then I hope the force leaves you and your bracket for such blasphemy. If you ain't a Gator, then you're GATOR BAIT!

Not a Typical Friday

Today was a day filled with fun adventures! I got to meet the people who write the Vocal Point blog that I follow religiously. I don't think I've explained who they are. Well, remember my obsession with Vocal Point (because they're AMAZING!)? There are these two sisters who love VP as much as I do, and they started blogging about them and doing performance reviews and making random guesses on their personalities and things like that. Well, members of Vocal Point got wind that this blog existed and started commenting and adding their own feedback and then shared the link to the blog on their Facebook page, and it's really taken off from there. Anyway, so these two sisters (who don't live in Provo), made it out here for the Vocal Point concerts this weekend, and so I emailed them and asked if they would like a tour of campus. They agreed, so I got to meet them today! They are wonderful people and a lot of fun to be with. I just gave them a quick tour, and we took some pictures with a creepy Uno poster found in the library and it was super duper fun. And they mentioned me (scroll down a little and you see my picture. I don't use my real name, but I promise it's me!) in their blog, which of course made me feel special!

Emily, Susan, and I went to Divine Comedy this weekend (with the help of my friend Alex who got Susan and me some tickets), and it was AMAZING of course! Divine Comedy is BYU's sketch comedy group that is absolutely hilarious. It's so hard to STOP laughing, and their show was wonderful. It was great to hang out with Susan and Emily as our little threesome again! It was also great to get in some girl time.

After the wonderful show, Emily and I walked south of campus (by ourselves in the dark late at night. Don't worry, we're safe!) to rent a movie from the Redbox down there. We ended up renting Abduction, which is the action movie with Taylor Lautner, the hottie. What a great and wonderful movie. I just love a good action movie, along with, ya know, some other incentives ;)

Tomorrow is when I get to see Vocal Point perform here in Provo! This will be the 3rd and a half time that I will see them live, and they are absolutely awesome. I'm so stoked. One of the new guys this semester is the brother to my head secretary, Emily (his name is Jon). Anyway, Jon came in the office the other and we were chattin' it up and I mentioned how I was going to the concert tomorrow and he told me to come say hi after the show. Which I will totally hit him up on! I like getting to meet the people that I feel are celebrities. It makes me feel so accomplished in life! Well, it's off to bed for me, because I've got a big day tomorrow!

Oh, one last thing: my friends created this amazing and hilarious web show called Between Two Arms. Here's the link to their blog and their Facebook page if you have the time to check it out. They're pretty legit as they have guest stars, and a tech guy, and a title sequence and everything. Also, they're my friends, so of course it's awesome!

Something I'm Passionate About

Band.

Alright. Get it out of your system. All those Band Nerd comments and how geeky band kids are have a place right here, right now. All good? Is it out of your system yet? No? How bout now? Good. Let me tell you why I love band.

Performing is the most exhilarating thing in the whole wide world. Ask anyone who's ever performed anything. You wonder why people keep coming back? Because it's wonderful. There's just something about finishing the final cord in the song and looking out at the audience to the cheering and screaming and marching off the field that makes the long hours and tedious practices worth it.

And I mean long hours. As in loooooong hours. I was in a Texas Marching Band, which meant that band was a religion. If we wanted to be in concert band, then we were in marching band. Period. End of story. How crazy is marching band? The season starts in May. That's right. May. Then there's Summer Band for a week in June. Then leadership training and getting things together at the end of July. And then there's August.

Come August, the first two weeks are two-a-days. It's called getting up at 6am to be at practice, ready to go at 7. Then we're outside on the field from 7-11 because we try to beat the heat. Which fails miserably because it's already up to at least 100 by 9am in the bad summers. Which is almost every summer. Then we get two blessed hours off for lunch, and then we come back for music instruction from 1-5. Thankfully it's inside. Unthankfully, it's not any less brutal. After two weeks of that, then it's one week of evening practice from 6pm-9pm. All of it outside. Did I mention that it was hot? Always hot. Even in the mornings, once school starts. Because we practiced every morning from 7-8:30, and that was on top of class time.

I know, the above paragraph sounds absolutely horrid. So why do I look so fondly on my band memories? Because of the many wonderful friends I made in band and the many wonderful times that I had. As a "pittie" (a member of the front ensemble), we had so many inside jokes. We always had loads of fun, even when practice was boring and we didn't play for an entire hour (which frequently happens as a member of the front ensemble). I always had friends in the pit.

I was in front ensemble the first two years of high school because I didn't think that I would enjoy marching. Boy was I ever wrong! Junior and Senior year, I marched on the cymbal line, and it was AWESOME. Seriously. Best moments of my life. It was so much less boring, and playing in the stands during football games was a blast. One time, it started pouring during our performance at a competition and it was one of the coolest things ever. I mean, the rain was falling, and every time I crashed my cymbals, the water flew off and looked so cool. Another time at a competition, there were these huge storms that came through and we were stuck in a building for HOURS. We had rolly chair races and played hockey and we had a pretty good time.

Another great thing about band is the amount of fun we had at football games. They were a blast. We got to goof off in the stands (until Williams got mad at us) and just have a great time. Being a part of drum line was literally the coolest thing ever because drum line is the best section on the field. No joke. Everyone respects the drum line. We had so many fun cadences that we got to play and we just rocked out to whatever we wanted. And after halftime performances, the whole band got a snack, which was super fun. And after competitions, we ate Chick Fil A. Best stuff ever.

Bus rides!! Bus rides are also amazing because you get to ride with your section (again, percussion is the best). We always had bus buddies that we liked to sit with. Sometimes we would play "Big Booty", which is amazing on a bus where everyone can keep the beat and rap and switch it up. Oh man, such fun times. One time, we got lost, and a tree entered the window. Another time it was crazy raining. And it was always nice whenever we got to ride on a charter bus, which are super fancy and a whole lot better than school buses. I've spent so many hours in a school bus, it's not even funny.

Marching band is really one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I've had great friendships and have always had a blast. Don't get me wrong, there were some bad times, but we always pulled through with our own inside jokes and ragging on Williams (our head band director. You never say "Mr." in front of it. It's always "Williams") and other such crazy shenanigans. Marching band was awesome. And that's why I loved it.



Me, Jessie, and Hannah B on a bus ride to... somewhere. Probably an away football game. This was my... Sophomore year?? Crazy.



Outstanding Front Ensemble my Sophomore Year! (Also, look how dark I am! I miss the sun.)



Drum line my Senior Year. Gotta love these guys!


"East Side" Cymbal Line


3rd quarter shenanigans


Some of my dearest friends during an extremely long 3rd quarter break

And these pictures are only a small glimpse as to why I love Marching Band!