it’s been said

It takes a village to raise a child. And I always had an inkling of what that meant, until recently when I saw how true that statement really is. There are so many people who have touched my life and have helped me grow. All of the teachers, all of the coaches, all of the church members, all of the neighbors, all of the friends and all of the family members. It all adds up to a rather impressive village. And I just wanted to thank all of the village people for the wonderful woman that you have helped create.

Thank you to all of the teachers who have helped me learn the importance of an education and for guiding me to what I will be studying in college and will be going to school to become “when I get older".

Thank you to all of the coaches who have helped me to learn the importance of hard work and dedication. Even if I kicked and screamed while I did it.

Thank you to all of the church members who have helped me gain a testimony of the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For giving me great Sunday School lessons and Young Women lessons that helped me gain such a strong testimony that can be boiled down to FIVE things:

• God lives and loves EACH and EVERYONE of us. Regardless of our misdoings.
• Jesus Christ suffered for us and the Atonement is real. Through Christ and His ultimate Atonement, we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Christ again.
• The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is what it says it is: Another Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Joseph Smith, Jr. was a divine prophet who truly saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and restored the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto the Earth that we may all have the Gospel again.
• Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet of God and runs His church on the Earth today. President Monson and his counselors help the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and guide us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you to all of the neighbors who really were my village. Thank you for all of your sincere concern and care for me. It truly means the world to have good neighbors.

Thank you to all of the friends who have created a tight bond and have become my surrogate family. Thank you for making me feel loved and making Tennessee a home away from home. (Although, now Tennessee really IS home.)

Thank you to all of the family members who were my closest friends. Thank you for the countless memories and love that you have showered me in. Words can not express my love for you.

 

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A GREAT VILLAGE.

do I stay or do I go?

so we had our mock meet today for swim team. and it was a lot of fun, minus having to swim my two least favorite strokes in a “race”. it was awful but whatever. I got a pretty satisfying freestyle time (like 38) and then had to swim the other three strokes (YUK!).  but I failed to set aside some water for myself. so after my backstroke I was starting to feel shaky because my sugars were starting to drop. (lovely) I definitely needed that water. then I remembered that I had a couple of dollars in my wallet and there was a drink machine right over there. hahaha problem solved lol

but once I got home I had a massive headache and my stomach hurt. so I thought maybe its just hunger. so I took some ibuprofen and then popped some popcorn. after I laid on the floor for a while, I went upstairs where I made it to the toilet before I got totally sick. I took a bath and a huge nap and I feel much better.

but the problem now is I am supposed to report to work at 3:30.

 

do I stay or do I go?

le finale swim meet

last night we swam against Beaver Brook Country Club in our final meet of the season. the best part, besides the score, was that i got to miss guard for it. YES!

their pool is even more awkward than Cherokee Country Club's because Beaver Brook's is 30 yards, instead of 25 yards. HOW WEIRD! a couple of us girls did the math, and then poor 200 IM-ers were doing 40 extra yards than they were used to. the blocks were bad also. they were tiny width wise, and it was difficult to do a backstroke start because the hand hold was a good two feet from the water's edge.

so i technically swam a 60 yard freestyle, the 60 yard breaststroke in the 240 yard medley relay, the 60 yard backstroke, and the last leg in the 240 yard free relay. killer right? well the good thing i guess is that we won against them (: 356-330 VH! woo hoo! i think we did awesome given that we were very short on swimmers, and im glad we ended the season with a bang.

catch up post/ GIRLS CAMP!! =)/ YOUTH CONFERENCE!

i know that it has been a while since ive posted! sorry!! i just got back from youth conference and ive been running around town trying to get things ready.

highlights of the past three weeks...

the fourth of july parade and those practices

well umm that is pretty self explanatory. the first night was a little interesting, because i got to catch up with all my alumni friends and talk with them. the colorguard had to teach the lovely alumni and the freshman anchors aweigh which is always a joy. the work is really easy, but the frustrating part is the silks we use on the flag are wayyy longer than they should be so the weight distribution is off, like wayyy off. so it was a little harder for the new and returning girls to get the work flowing.

the parade went really well. i was standing on the edge of the block that we march in. this was a great responsibility because i was in charge of keeping the line straight and it was kind of scary because i had to watch my line up with the band and then the other two girls in my line and then worry about the work. i had a great time though. let me see if i can name the people i saw... sextons, the usual clan of family, and the pulvers. and then of course all my friends parents from the band.

GIRLS CAMP!! =)

o my goodness. this is my favorite time of the year and im soo thankful for the opportunity that i had to go this year to STAKE camp. a chronology and details about it lol

we had to wake up super early to get everything ready on tuesday and be at the church at 7:45 AM! as to pack up the trailer that was taking our stuff up to camp and leave the church by 8 am. we were at the Girl's Scout Camp by 9:30. the first day is always a blast because you get to catch up with friends from the previous years and get acquainted again. the YCL's did a skit about this year's theme: SUPERHERO'S! and of course, their leaders FAVORITE song: pants on the ground. it was quite epic. the girls in my age group were: Lisa, Alex, me, Rachel, Katherine, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Amanda, Jessica, Ashlee, Allison, and Summer. we were all knew each other from last year, and so we were able to skip the awkward first day getting to know each other again. that day we played in the pool and played some games like ninja and tug of war, but the most prominent one is the camp favorite, LITTLE SALLY WALKER! i wasnt a party pooper, but i was really tired so i didnt really participate. that night we stayed up the latest because we were so excited to be there with each other even if we were exhausted from the heat and all the rigorous playing. HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: during certification, our YCLs, natalie, jessica, katie, and kristen, were showing my age group (consisting of 12 girls) how to start a fire without matches. one of the ways that Katie was showing us was using steel wool, pencil shavings and a 9 volt battery. u make a nest out of the steel wool, "insulate" the nest with pencil shavings, and then pulled out a battery. she wasnt sure if it was going to work or not, so she gently touched the battery on the steel wool and kaboom! instant fire. she kind of got scared and threw it and screamed, so the leaders freaked out, but she was stamping it out before anything ever happened and the leaders found anything out. it was great.

wednesday was the annual hike and it was a little bit of a disappointment because we kept having to stop for the elderly leaders to hurry up or take a break. we learned some pointless information about the animals that inhabit the area, but we had a lot of fun with snapshots. we got to go canoeing and paddle boating later that afternoon and we had a lot of fun playing around in the cove. wednesday was one of our leaders birthdays so her husband brought up a cake. a couple of the ycls decided that to do a cake eating contest and it was soo funny. it went a little AWOL and some of the girls ended up with cake in their hair. the leader's favorite game in Little Sally Walker, so we played it just for her. that night we also did skits and it was a lot of fun to see the creative juices of all us girls flow into a hilarious play. each year had the same lines, but everyone had a very different interpretation of what to do with those lines.

thursday was a lot of fun too we played around a little bit with some flour in a tissue and had a "flour war".  some of the girls applied first aid to our "injuried" bodies. lol it was a lot of fun to see the creative-ness as we had to become injured by a "tissue bomb". then we had an all out war and pretty much everybody ended up with flour in their hair and/or down their shirt. poor sara got it in her hair and she looked like a grandma. big smiles and everything. sooo adorable though. that night was the testimony meeting and the Spirit was so strong me and Hannah again spent the great part bawling. we ran over lights out, so we had to adjourn to our cabin. for the devotional, our leaders and ycls decided to do a testimony meeting for those girls who hadnt had the chance. the plan was to stay up all night, but everyone pretty much hit a brick wall around 3 or 4 AM... for me, it was around 230. i had a lot of fun playing cards and talking.

friday was the last day and we had the opportunity to give out awards and clean up after a great week at camp. i was awarded the momma bat award because i try to include everyone and get everyone excited, etc.

Swim Meet

my swim team had a swim meet against ccc this past week. i did the 200 METER im; the breast in the 200 METER medley with alyssa, lizzy, and kaitlyn; the 50 METER breast, and the 200 METER free relay with the same girls. we had a lot of fun, but unfortunately the fun didnt pay off. we didnt win, unfortunately we lost BIG time, 294-409.

 YOUTH CONFERENCE 2010 (yeah :) )

okay so a preface before i give you exciting details. my dad took me and my sister out for our birthday. while we were out, my sister got a call from an 801 number. i knew that immediately as a Utah number, so i was nervous for her. rachel answered, and come to find out, it was a member of the Young Men's General Board, Brother Egan. he wanted to ask her if she would participate in a short talk he would be giving sometime that weekend. so the lunch kind of turned into a congratulations lunch and a birthday lunch instead of just a birthday lunch.

this past weekend i was able to go to Youth Conference at close by college. thursday we had to check in and then we had a dance later that night. the dance was a lot of fun as most dances are. it was kind of awkward and hot seeing how there was a good 500 kids in a tiny gymnasium, but there was a lot of mingling, and a lot of laughter. a lot of the girls found their C.O.W.'s (crush of the weekend) and got up the courage to get numbers and a dance. i got to bed around 1230 AM and ended up sleeping in my dress i had worn because i was freezing.

friday was an early morning because a friend came and knocked on our door at 630 AM!! aah. not cool. i answered the door with a really retarded smile and then proceeded to crawl back into bed. breakfast that morning was a good biscuit, a crappy egg, and some crappy bacon. when they planned the camp they allowed us to have 2 hours for each meal, so we took our time getting there. that morning we did a service project of picking up some trash on our side of the campus, and writing our testimonies on cards to place in books of mormon. the group i was in was given the field next to the dorm i was staying in. unfortunately there wasnt a lot of trash, so the people in my group go the chance to talk. i met jordan, isaiah, and matt. you talk about some funny guys. matt has a nickname of chip bc he is apparently looked like a chipmunk when he was little. and isaiah looks like david archuleta, so matt and me started calling him david, which kind of got on his nerves i guess. i also had the chance to meet and talk to a set of guy twins that were visting their uncle here, thus resulting in them going to the conference, andrew and hamilton. they are really funny also and i could tell that a couple of my friends really did like the chance to talk to them. that night we had a formal dance and they gave us again about two hours to get ready. i can sadly say that i used all of those two and a half hours to get ready. in my defense, i helped five other girls in the process so it wasnt all spent on me. my friend emma and i gave two girls some styling and make up tips before we helped the other three finish their hair. i wore a white skirt with black accents with a green shirt and coincedentally, a friend wore the same outfit! aah soo cool. we meant to take a picture, but that never happened unfortunately. on our way over to the recreational center, we ran into President Elaine S. Dalton, the General Young Women's President. you talk about a real honor to talk to and introduce yourself to a General Authority. the dance that night was a lot more fun. i knew a lot more people, so it was easier to talk to and find guys to dance with. i had kind of developed a crush for this guy and i got the chance to dance with him a lot. hes a lot of fun to talk to. i danced with a lot of guys and had the oppurtunity to get to know A LOT more guys. lucky me i guess lol  President Dalton and Brother Egan gave our devotional that night about be strong and of a good courage which was the theme for the conference. after the dance, we all literally made it to the dorm rooms before we passed out and slept.

saturday was not so much an early morning because we were actually allowed to sleep in with out interruption. we had some workshops about different things and then had the oppurtunity to hear from President Dalton and Brother Egan again. this time about consequences for our actions. about picking up a stick and picking up the other end, like it or not. it was very cool and really interesting to interact with them. after the workshops we had lunch and had some time to pack up and chill out. then we had a very interesting testimony meeting. President Dalton, Brother Egan and Elder Cornish all bore their testimonies and then turned the time over to the youth to bare their testimonies. a lot of the testimonies were sweet and short, which is always good. i didnt end up bawling like i usually do until i bore my testimony, and thank goodness for that. i didnt want to look like a fool next people i barely knew. hahahaha

then the sad day came and we had to say goodbye. i got some more phone numbers to keep in touch with people and said the sad things of see you soon and thanks so much for the fun.

swim meet numbero uno of season

tuesday we had our first swim meet of the season and needless to say we did pretty well for only being in practice for a little over two weeks. the visting team beat us by only about 30 points: 320-349. it was a close meet and i congratulate both teams for their well deserved awesomeness.

for those who don't know, i work with the little kids, basically all the eight and unders, on the swim team, to help them learn and better the strokes. i was very proud of a particular little boy i work with, who did a 25 of butterfly (argueably the hardest stroke) using the petty memory he has of ever doing it, and did amazing. i have not gone over the stroke with those kids so for him to go and do the 25 in a relay, was amazing. i am soo proud of all the kids. some got over their fear of jumping in the water and swimming in front of such a massive crowd, others jumped of the brand new blocks having never done a swim meet in their entire life.

my pride could not be any higher, and i showed them that by awarding each and every one of the kids i work with a piece of candy for finishing the race and doing their best. i was soo proud and i cant wait to help them learn butterfly and properly learn breaststroke, seeing how i kind of crash coursed it on monday. (we didnt have an 8 and under boy breaststroker, so i had to crash course it to a swimmer who did the team last year, a new arrival who seemed to have the hang of it, and a boy who had learned the strokes a couple years back and has never applied them to anything). to all the girls and boys i work with: WELL DONE! i love you all and i wake up each morning so early just for you!!

swim team

the swim team has started back up and the first week has been brutal. im mean absolutely and completely exhausting. i have walked home every day with a sense of extreme exhaustion and the need for a nap. today was the only day that i got a nap, but it wasnt until late into the afternoon. the first day of practice was tuesday and to tell you the honest truth, it was the hardest first day ever. we did a pyramid that was (looking back now) easy, but on the first day, HARD! haha on wednesday, i played water polo with some friends, and it was fun, but yesterday i woke up feeling sore and weak. i only hope that this year i actually work up some muscle, and find a way to maintain that muscle, not completely lose it in the fall, and have to work it back up the first three weeks of practice. haha but enough of me complaining. it was a lot of fun, and im really looking forward to this season. we have a lot of new kids, but they are all doing sooo well, so by our first meet, we should be doing really really well.

this year i also get a new experience: helping with the littler kids. i am helping four little kids better their stroke and get better at swimming the length of the pool. they are all doing soo well, and im looking forward to seeing them really really improve over the season. haha good luck!

a new year

this year is going to be a lot of fun. we are half way through our house project and im starting the hardest year of my entire school career: honors biology, honors geometry, computer applications, and band. ok, so maybe not so much computer apps and band, but geometry and biology are going to be HARD once we get pasted the review stuff and start on the legitate work. ive already got my first project in sight and im kind of nervous about it. and i have no idea what it is. but its going to be interesting at least.

my resolutions for this years consist of collecting 200 dollars and getting a savings account, getting a drivers permit, and beating my PRs for freestyle and backstroke and getting those times a whole lot faster. and im going to try to get at least a double on a rifle and saber. assuming that i get a rifle and saber before the end of the year... :)

girl's camp and the final swim meet

first things first again. the final swim meet. *tear* not really. it was against West Side YMCA this time. They don't have as many boys as we do but they definitely have more tiny kids than we do. i enjoyed swimming only three things because the meet got cut short. See the thing is that WSY doesn't have lights that work at their pool, so once the lifeguards can't see the bottom the pool anymore, the meet gets called. the funny thing is that Hannah b., one of my friends, Sharon, and i all said that as soon as we got out of the water or up to the block that the meet was going to be called. guess what happened... as soon as we got onto the block, the announcer said, last event! so so so not fair! but get this: we were talking before we lined up about swimming butterfly and i jokingly said that i was going to drowned. the funny thing is, that Hannah b. jokingly said back: "who would you like to be your saving mouth?" i said seriously, "your man's brother." she gave me a funny look for a second, then understood. then the look got even weirder because she was thinking about it. see, Hannah g. has a crush on her man's brother. and Hannah b.'s man's brother has a crush on Hannah g. awkward for me! guess i got to find a new man... fast! the other events i swam that night were free, back, and i would have swam the 15-18 relay, but they called it before the meet was over. we ended up losing by 107 points! but they had a bunch of little kids and all of our eight and under boys were getting DQ'ed because they would flip onto their stomachs and finish their back there, instead of their backs. like they were supposed to. most of the team went to the Sonic right down the road from the pool, but seeing how me and Rachel had to be at the church at 6:45 AM the next day, Mom and Dad figured it not a good idea to push the time restraints.



so, moving on:





girls camp, ah! the fun time of the summer! the only time that i have to myself WITHOUT too many men around. this year it was stake, which means there were several girls there from our area, but just go to a different church building. we had to be at our church at 6:45 that morning because we needed to be at camp by 10 AM. its about a 2 hour drive to Pickett State Park where we stayed. so, by 9:30ish, we were at camp and checked in. So, this was Wednesday. That day we sang Little Sally Walker a ba-gillion times and then proceeded to sing other camp songs like Mormon Boy, Mormon Girl, Sippin' Cider, Three Starving Buzzards, and many more. Around 10:30 PM, we loaded up into cars to on a hike to see glow worm larvae. as we started our descent into the cave, one of the girls (Leslie) slipped, fell and ended up breaking her ankle. the amazing thing is, is that her twin sister, Leah, was in the front while Leslie was in the back. right before Leslie screamed in pain, Leah yelled her name and ran back to catch her, I guess. the leaders helped her up and took her back to camp. the rest of us continued on our hike to see these fluorescent insects. the funny thing was that you couldn't look straight at the larvae, you kind of had to use your peripheral vision. it was around 2 am before our cabin fell asleep that night, partially because we were all freaked out about Leslie and because it was the first night of camp, who isn't excited?

the rest of girls camp wasn't as exciting as that. allie got glow stick glass and glowy stuff in her eye, brooke twisted her ankle on the swing, and me and hannah b. practically cried our eyes out during testimony meeting. we had fun teaching the younger girls about gawking and staying up late with our YCL's talking in our cabin.



the next day continued, I guess, and 7:30 am when the leaders came into our cabin and declared that we needed to be in the mess hall in a half hour for breakfast.

swim meet #4

this swim meet was not as impressive as the others. although i was not late to the meet, only 3 of my 5 events counted for points. for the first time this season, i was in the freestyle. i got 2 of 3 people swimming. then i swam in the A Medley Relay team. hannah, lauren, gabby, and me were the lucky girlies swimming it. Lauren swam backstroke, I swam breast, Hannah swam butterfly, and Gabby of course swam free. We would have gotten first, but the girl swimming against Hannah had a really professional stroke. I swam the backstroke against Lauren. She got first in that event as well, but it was close. Breast stroke was a disaster. I was so close to getting second, but it didn't end up happening. I was past up during my flip turn. I was supposed to be done after that, but right before the relays, my coach asked me what heat i was in for my free. I told him second and he surprised me: "Do the 15-18 relay." I was not impressed, but i didn't really have a choice. We weren't supposed to have competition, but it ended up that they moved two girls up and had them swim with their 15-18 girls. Again we got second. In case of time, our 15-18 boys swam with us, and our coach was not happy with them. two of them did breast and Kristyn was not impressed with that.

but one of the funny things about the meet, was that one of the 15-18 boys is a total ball of fun, and asked me to cheer for him as princess, not by his name. so i called him princess, and i felt funny to be calling him a princess, but he got a kick out of it, and he would cheer for me as princess, so our little joke now is princess.... ahh!

another swim meet down

OK, let us start where we left off...

color guard is once a week, Thursday evenings. because our latest meet was yesterday (a Thursday, for those of us who don't keep track of the days), i missed the first part of the meet. i barely missed the 13-14 medley relay. i would have made it, had my dad picked me up on time. he was supposed to pick me up at 7:30, but i guess it spaced his mind, because i called him at 8 and asked him to kindly come pick me up. i swam in the breaststroke again, but unfortunately, i did not get first. i got second to a foreign exchange student from Thailand, very cool. I then proceeded to swim the butterfly. ugh... the worst stroke invented by far. although there are those who look amazing swimming that stroke, i am not one of those blessed few. i got third to fellow swimmer Hannah Becker and "Thailand", as she will be now be known as. I also got the chance to swim in the free relay. Our team was B again, but we improved our time tremendously. Kelsey Kah, Lauren Meek, Elisa Carrasco, and I swam an 2:23.81 . not quite as impressive as the 15-18 boys relay, but still well swam. I was first leg again, and got us in a pretty good spot, but unfortunately the other teams had some pretty fast swimmers. we placed 3rd, but that wasn't last! our team ended up winning the meet by 36 points: Beaver Brook Country Club: 338, View Harbour: 374. our coach was very impressed by our win, because apparently in the first half of the meet, there were careless DQ's made. all together though, i think we did quite well.



Just as an FYI: Farragut High School is marching in the Independence Day Parade on July 4th on Kingston Pike.

swim meets

swim meets are always fun. the screaming for your teammates. seeing friends swim their hearts out, and of course... the competition. we had a swim meet on the 9th: first one of the swimming season and we whooped the team's can. the final score was some 376 to 304. i swam the 200 medley relay with Lauren, Kelsey, and Elisa... i ended up swimming the butterfly not the breast :[ our relay placed 2nd to our "sisters" Relay A. then the 50 backstroke, 1st to my "sister" Kelsey... she's like almost 6 feet tall, so this was a major accomplishment! i swam the 50 breaststroke after back, and the amazing thing is, i didn't place last! i got 1st to someone else... i think it was Allie ??? then i swam in the free relay. 1st leg!! relay b, though. we placed 2nd though! yeah!! AJCC was such a small team and it was super easy to kick that can behind us.

now, last night we had a swim meet again against Northside YMCA. they are a little bit heavier in the older kid department, so they won by 71 points. i was supposed to swim the medley relay, back, breast, and the free relay. but one of our 13-14 girls (*cough* *Kelsey* *cough*) didn't show up, so we had to scratch our second 13-14 relay. so i only swam 2 events: back and breast. my breast i know was terrible and Allie's mom said it was hard to see who touched first... me or Allie? i guess we will see tomorrow. my backstroke wasn't the best, but i wasn't dead last!! more later about what ribbons i got!! :)

summer, summer, aah! summer!

summer is so amazing! no school, no homework, and you can do anything, anytime, anywhere all with a simple question: please? right?? well, my mother and father have taken the liberty this year of installing a chores list. and it is so laborious. i hate it! cleaning up a room until its spotless, vacuuming that room three times a week, playing the piano for 30 minutes a day, and then helping with meals. and if you don't do those chores, you get punishment jobs! ugh!! :( not really fair, but that is what my parents decided best for us to do this summer.

but i didn't write this post to complain. i wrote it to describe the relaxed life my summer is after i take care of my chores: swim team at a bright and early 9:45 am! then swim for an hour and 15 minutes. in that hour and 15 minutes, get yelled at to do a perfect stroke, then work at that stroke forever, trying to get to LOOK perfect. then climb the huge hill to our house and get dressed for the day. this is where i usually do my chores and have lunch. then i either veg in front of the TV, play on the computer, or go down to the pool and hangout with some friends from the neighborhood. then around 5, i help with dinner and get it in the oven. then i eat dinner, clean up the house, get the younger siblings ready for bed, send them to bed, then hangout with my parents until they kick me upstairs into my room. around this time, its like 8:45 at the earliest and i have recovered my sleepy self.