Wahington D.C. Here We Come!!!!!

Over the past few weeks we have had some very sudden changes come into our lives. First off... Morgan and I both felt that he needed to go to school full time. But by doing so he would be unable to keep working the job he is currently working as the hours are not very "school friendly". Which left us with a stupor of thought and not knowing what to do... So after lots of prayer and thought we have decided that come May we will be moving our family to Washington D.C. for the summer to sell pest control. By doing so it will let us save up money to be able to live comfortably throughout the school year.

I'm not going to lie.... this makes me nervous beyond belief. To just pick up and leave everything to go somewhere new and unknown is a scary thought. But when you know its the right thing to do you have to move forward with faith and trust that everything will work out. Which is exactly what we are doing.

Morgan on Monday gave his 2 weeks notice. So when work is done we will spend time with both families and make our journey to D.C. While scary and unknown.. I am excited for the journey and experiences that Morgan and I will experience together as we will have to learn to completely cleave unto each other.

Ready or not... D.C Here We COME!!!!!!!!!!!!

The New Me

WOW!! It has officially been forever and a half since I have posted! And tons of things in my life has changed! First off... I am no longer Tess McGee. That's right!! I got married and officially a Black ;) Or as my husband would say, "I have come to the dark side". Married life rocks!! I love it so much. I feel so much happier then I have ever been in my life before. Who knew that in single life you were missing out on so much fun?! I sure didn't. I love being married to my best friend. My husband is seriously the best guy around... and ladies don't even try to argue with me because it's true. He is so thoughtful and going out of his way for me. I love him so much!

So for a little update:
I still have no job... :/ so I usually am at home all day... by myself. So if you have any craft ideas of any kind that would be great. Ya I don't know, there isn't much to update on because my life is basically the same every single day. BUT.... I am going to try to get back in the habit of blogging as life changes will hopefully be coming shortly.

So what have I learned you may ask? I have learned that being married rocks. And as long as you and your spouse communicate with one another about how the other is feeling, then everything works out and keeps spinning.

Update on life :)

Well here I am again catching everyone up on my life and what I have done lately...

I have been home from school for a month now!!! Time has just flown by its so crazy! Since being home I have gone to my sister in law Brittany's baby shower, my sister Alli's graduation, and started working. Its so crazy how much things change after graduating high school and becoming involved in the so called "real world". It was almost a year ago that I graduated from High School. To me that is so weird to think about! One year ago I was so excited to graduate and move on with my life. I couldnt wait to be an adult and go to college. But now one year later I am wishing that time would slow down. It goes so fast. And everything is so different. But over the year of being on my own, 8 1/2 hours away from home, I have learned how to be independent and matured. And for that I am so grateful!!

I wouldn't ever want to go back to High School. That is now just a memory of the past. But I am excited for my friends who will be graduating next week. They are beginning on their new path in life. For many they think it will be easy and they are in for a rude awakening. But even though its not always easy, it is still fun and a huge growing experience that helps shape the rest of your life.

Life is going good. I cant complain really. And its all thanks to my awesome family and a Heavenly Father who loves me and watches out for me every second of every day!!

A couple weeks in review...

It has been a while since I have posted. Life has just been so crazy with different things going on and finals coming up soon. But I knew if I didnt post now, that I wouldnt for even longer. So I will just start at the beginning and work my way to the present :)

Ok so a couple weeks ago on Friday 23, Me and my roommate Savannah made a fort because we felt like going back to our child hood except this fort was way more awesome then any fort we built when we were little! It was massive with all of our couches under it. Once it was made we then made nacho's and pistachio milkshakes, climbed into the fort, watched a movie, and slept in the fort. It was a blast!! I forgot how much fun it was to be a carefree child.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went for a run. We ran along the Provo River Trial, and for those of you that dont know, it is a beautiful scene. We got done with our run and got ready to go to the festival of colors. This is a Hindu celebration that is open to the public. What you do is you buy a bag of colorful chalk and then when the time comes you throw it up in the air. This was such a blast!! Although it was hard to breath at times, it was an experience I will never forget.

So last week was conference. I went to both sessions on Saturday, and man were they awesome!! I felt as though all of the talks given that day were geared directly for me. It gave me such comfort hearing the apostles speech these words and I knew it was the Lords answers to me. I have decided that I am going to stay here at BYU. I have grown so much here and I really do love it. It was just hard for me to be so far away from family. But I know I have all eternity to be with them, and although the trials here have been great, I know I have become a much stronger person because of them. I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me here at BYU.

Sorry I realize this is a long post... and honestly the only people still reading this are those who truly care about me :) Or atleast I would hope so.

Ok so this weekend was awesome!!!! Me and my roommates decided a while ago that we wanted to celebrate Christ's birth in a way that would be appropriate since at Christmas time he seems to be forgotten. So as we know Friday was His birthday. At 6:30 we woke up and kneeled together and prayed, then all ate breakfast together. Once we were done eating we read the story of Christs birth. We all went our own ways after that because after all we still had school.

 When we were all back we kneeled and prayed again, ate lunch together, and then watched all of the new bible video's that the church has produced. After that we all went to the temple together and did baptisms for the dead. It was here that the spirit was so strong!! It was almost over whelming. I was reading in 3 Nephi 11 and I just knew then that all the Stories of Christ ARE true!! The things that happened in the Book of Mormon really did happen!! I sat there pondering, waiting to do baptisms for a good 40 minutes. And although I could not see Christ in that moment, I could feel Him sitting right next to me. That is a time I will never forget.

After we had done baptisms we went back home and kneeled and prayed once again. We then ate soup and homemade bread together. Once finished eating we watch the movie The Testimates. When it was finished we went into our rooms and wrote a letter to Christ thanking Him and just telling Him the things of our hearts.

This was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. The whole day was filled with the spirit. I had always believed that Christ lives and atoned for our sins, but I now KNOW that Christ is my Reedemer, Savior, Brother, and Friend. He loves me so much and wants me to repent and come to my Heavenly Father. I KNOW that Christ atoned for my sins and suffered so much for me. His life was so hard and yet perfect. I KNOW that Christ will come again and I cannot wait for that day!! I cant help but think of the Nephite people when Christ came after he had been resurrected and how they fell at His feet. It will be such a joyous day!!!

I hope all of you had a great Easter weekend and thought of the Savior and His life and how important everything was that happened for us and our salvation. I have learned so much the past couple of weeks and have grown so much because of that knowledge.  I am happy with where my life is at right now and know that everything happens for a reason. Life may seem hard and stressful at times, but you can always get through it with the Saviors help.

One week down.... 4 more to go...

Another week has come and gone. Time just seems to be flying by. There are only 4 more weeks left at school for me at BYU. Its kinda crazy to think about. It's sad to think about not living with my roommates Lauren and Savannah anymore. I just love them and could not have asked for better roommates!!! But I am excited to see what life has to offer somewhere else.


Well this week has been a pretty chill week for the most part. So on...what day was it... I want to say it was Monday, me and and my roommates were playing volleyball in the sand volleyball court right across from our apartment. Well one of the times I jumped up to get the ball and when I landed, I landed on a rock... It hurt so bad. When I hobbled over to a bench and took a look at my foot, I realized that a huge chunk of my second toe was taken out. It looked pretty gross to say the least. I had to hopped on one foot across the street and up 3 flights of stairs. So that hurt most of the week. But its finally doing better now and doesnt hurt anymore :)

So then on Wednesday, the car shop called me and said that my car was finished and I could come pick it up. I was so excited!! So we went and got it and it looks brand new. All I can say is that I am glad to have my car back, and have it look new again. Here are pictures of it before getting fixed and after.

This is what my car looked like after the girl hit it...

And then it got fixed :) YAY!!!

Thursday then came around and my ward went to the temple. That was a good time and I enjoyed it a lot. But I realized how much I really like the Snowflake temple!!! Its just nicer to me and its a more personal experience and its nice. Dont get me wrong... the Provo temple is great too, but something about the Snowflake temple is just special.

Friday night me and my roommates stayed up super late making a silly music video. It was a lot of fun to make.... but it is a little embarassing and everything...

So then Saturday me and Savannah hung out all day by ourselves. We made a ton of green food for Saint Pattricks day. We made steamed broccoli with cheese melted on it, spinach fritters, butter beer from Harry Potter, and a pistachio milk shake. All of which was super yummy! Then later that night we watch P.S. I Love You. Which is a super good movie but also very sad!!

This week has definitely been a pretty good week I would say! Lots of good memories have come from it that is for sure. It just reassured me how when we have lots of trials in our lives and you feel like its never going to end, the Lord will bless you. He just waits tell after the trial of your faith, and you show your trust in Him before he blesses you. So keep persevering even when life gets tough!! It will be worth it in the end. I promise :)

One Crazy Week!!!

So who ever said that weather doesnt effect ones mood is totally smoking something! This week started out so warm, 65 to be exact, then by Wednesday it was snowing... To say the least a good mood quickly turned into a blah mood.There comes a time when you are just ready for warmer, nicer, sunny weather. And that is exactly the point I am at right now. 

Any who... let me tell you about my week :)

Ok, so my week started off on Sunday on a very spiritual note. An answer I have been searching for and pondering out in my mind and my heart, was answered during Fast Sunday. By receiving this answer I am finally able to start making different decisions about my future and what to do. This answer couldnt have come at a better time, and was what I needed at that time.

Monday I took my car to the shop to start getting it fixed!!! YAY!! I cannot wait to get my car back and have it look brand new again. I do not like driving a messed up car I learned these past few weeks.

The rest of the week is not all that exciting until the weekend roled around. Friday night my roommate Lauren sister came to visit. We went out to eat at Olive Garden and just had a great time visiting. Later that night while on Facebook talking with Rex, an old friend started messaging me complaining about how his roommates left him home a lone and how bored he was. So out of sympathy I kindly invited him over but not really saying, "I would invite you to come chill with us, but we arent doing anything except sitting around talking." Surely to me this meant that he would see that I felt bad but really coming over to my place would not change his situation... WRONG!!! He came over and we all talked and then he invited me to go watch a movie at his place, assuring me that his roommates should be home now.... WRONG again. They werent home. First red flag. He then went on to try to pick a movie, constantly suggesting R rated movies, which I would just kindly say every time "I do not watch R rated movies" Thinking that he would have felt the same I mean after all this is BYU (AKA we all should have the same standards...but apparently WRONG once again). We finally chose Zoo Keeper. The whole movie he kept trying to cuddle with me and I would try to simply pull away. This happened probably at least 15 times no joke. He wouldnt get a hint. The whole night he was constantly insulting me because of my standards and who I am (which for those guys out there... insulting a girl IS NOT going to make her like you. Its only going to make her think you are the biggest JERK ever!! So dont do it).  Finally curfew rolled around and I went home. But that was seriously one of the most awkward nights of my life.

Saturday was a beautiful day!! So me and Savannah (one of my other roommates) decided to go on a picnik along the provo river trail. We packed a lunch and went. It was so wonderful. I love spring time. Then later when Lauren got back home we went to Sub Zero and got ice cream, then went and played baseball with some people in our ward. That night we invited 5 other girls over that we didnt know too well and we just had a fun night playing games, talking, and eating snacks.

So this week was just kinda a crazy week. But one thing I learned from everything. Is one, dont let others try to change your standards. Be who you are and if they dont love it, then they are dumb and a waste of time. Dont try to change who you are, because those who truly care and love you will like you just the way you are. And two, just have fun. Make the best of every moment, never letting anything pass you by. That is my lesson learned this week. 

Physically Exhausted, But Spiritually Fit.

Lately I have been finding my self second guess everything and letting fear rule my life. There is so much unknown things in my life right now, that I find myself getting scared and wanting to step back and get away, but this is not good! I have always had a tendancy in my life that when something is good, that I start to push it away. And I find myself doing that now and I need to stop! I have been second guessing myself and different spiritual experiences I have had and personal revelation giving to me wondering if my Heavenly Father really did give me those feelings, or if its all been in my head the entire time, because after all the mind is a very powerful thing!

So with all these things running through my head, I went to a ward activity Friday night, a Book of Mormon read-a-thon, hoping that I would get some sort of peaceful feeling or know what is right and settle these feelings going on with in me that I had only told my mom about. We met at 6:30pm to start this activity. They fed us dinner and then we were separated into groups to start our reading. The goal was to finish the whole Book of Mormon that night. We start reading and not too far into reading someone read Helaman 5:26. This verse stuck out to me more then any other verse. It said, "... Fear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing..." When that scripture was read I knew that what I had been questioning and fearing I shouldn't be and that it those spiritual experiences I had had were from God and I hadn't made them up in my mind because its what I wanted. That scripture is exactly what I needed to hear at this time in my life.

We went on with the read-a-thon all night long. Reading for a couple of hours and then taking a break. We did this until 6:40am. I was SOO tired and was having a hard time still reading the last hour of this experience, but I was determined to get the most out of it as I could. I did not get to bed until 7am, but it was well worth it. The whole night was such a spiritual uplifting experience and something that I was in great need of. And although I was physically exhausted, I was spiritually fit and felt as though I could face anything thrown my way. I will never forget this experience and the feeling that was felt. I know that the Lord will answer the questions of your heart. He did for me, so He will for you too! He loves us and doesn't want us to question things happening in our lives. We just have to trust in him, because He knows what is going to happen in our lives and what we need.

One rough week...

This past week was a very rough week. It seemed like one thing after another kept popping up into my life. But I got through it. Here is what went down:

Ok so I was on an amazing high from the weekend before, and I knew this week was going to be stressful with 2 mid term exams, and some major assignments due in my classes, but I was in such a happy, loving, life state that I thought I could get through this. No big deal. Well that was until tuesday night rolled around.

So my ward had scheduled a temple trip that night to go and do baptisms. I was so excited because I had not yet been to the Provo temple! So it comes time to go meet up with the ward and I come skipping down the stairs as I see a girl on the phone standing next to my car. As I look closer I see that something is not quite right. ..

When I go over to my car, the door and part of the frame was all dented in and scraped up. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there and eventually said, "Um.. this is my car." The girl came over and "said" she had left her car in neutral not realizing it and ran back in to get an address she had written down and that her car had just "rolled" and hit my car (only problem is this is not possible. Where she is parked, when your car is in neutral, it rolls forward into the curb, not backward. And definitely wouldn't do all the damage it did to my car. We tested it). I was very calm and told her it was ok and just a car that could get fixed (or hopefully will and look brand new again).

For those of you who know me know that I LOVE my car. I do everything possible to make sure that nothing happens to it. I will park way out in the boonies at parking lots so nobody will park next to me and ding my door. So although I acted calm towards her inside I kept thinking "OH MY GOSH!!! Thats my car! Thats my car! Its just a car... ya thats right just a car... but its MY car."

I went to the temple still even though I was debating not going anymore with this happening, but decided I should still go and that Satan was just doing his best to have me not go.

So the rest of the week was pretty stressful. I studied my butt of and did a ton of assignments.  I talked with my mom a ton and she helped me get through it. I also talked with Rex, and he did a GREAT job at helping me take my mind off of everything, especially tuesday night when everything started feeling like the world was crashing down.  :)

So what did I learn this week? Well I will tell ya. I learned that sometimes in life you just have to remember that everything that happens in your life happens for a reason, even if you don't know what that reason is for yet. Our Heavenly Father loves us, and is mindful of us, and is always there waiting and ready to comfort us if we just pray and ask for his comfort. Don't ever forget that!!

A much needed weekend!

This weekend was a very needed weekend! And a great one at that! So much happened that I cant say it all or I would majorly bore you to death! This still might even be too long and you may or may not lose focus and just stop reading all together :) Well .. . here it goes.

Me and my roommates had decided after getting back from Christmas break that we would go to my home town Presidents Day weekend, for one because thats halfway through the semester and a break would be needed, and two Rex had gotten home from his mission and I really wanted to see him :)

So we left Friday morning on our 8 1/2 hour trek to Happy Holbrook! The whole way home we sang songs, never repeating a single one! Lets just say by the time we got there, our throats hurt just a little. .. :) But hey, it was fun :)

As soon as we unloaded my car, me, my roommates, and my parents went out to each at El Rancho (You have to have mexican food when you go home, because lets face it, Utah does not have real mexican food). So we ate some yummy food and had some fried ice cream to top it off! Rex texted me when we were almost done, and the plan was to pick him up when he got home, little did I know that I wasn't really going to be picking him up..

So I go home to brush my teeth and get my car to go pick up Rex, but when I start walking around to the  side, someone popped out and screamed! It scared the crap out of me and I yelled! It ended up being Rex so it was ok :) We hugged and it was good, but I was very close to hitting him before I found out it was him.

Man this is going to be a long post . . . Oh well! :)

So that night we hung out and played basketball at the church! It was there when I once again realized that I am not good at basketball. I would just grab people so they couldn't shoot.  And I am pretty sure I only made maybe like 4 shots. But thats ok because it was fun. We then returned to my house and played with quarters, and watched 17 Miracles (a great movie that all should watch).

Saturday morning we met up at Rex's barn to go ride horses. I learned how to sattle a horse and all of that good stuff. His dad gave me his favorite horse, babe, and that made me feel special. We ended up riding for around 5 miles which was a lot of fun and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was sad when it came to an end though, because that meant I would have to say goodbye.

I have learned since going to college that I do not particularly like "goodbyes". They are just sad and not cool! I always have to remind myself that its not for forever and I will see them again, even if its not as soon as I would like it to be. But its sad and hard non the less. So me and Rex said our goodbye and left.

To sum up the rest of the weekend, we got Dairy Queen, sat on my roof looking at stars, went to church, went and looked at the Snowflake temple, and just hung out. It was a great weekend that I didn't want to come to an end!

But the lesson learned from this trip is that friends and family make everything seem great! When you are with them, nothing seems to matter. You can be yourself around them and just have a good time. But leaving is never easy. One might think that eventually you would get to the point that leaving and saying your goodbye's would get easier the longer you have been away, but this is not the case for me. Even when being away from home for almost a year now, I still get emotional when it comes time to leave. I just have to remind myself that I will get to spend eternity with them so this is just a small moment in time. I can do this!

PS. Pictures will come soon :)

I am a major slacker... :/

Ok go ahead and say it. . . I am a slacker when it comes to writing my blog! I know! But I hope to get better hopefully and get better about posting what happens weekly throughout my life. I started this blog hoping to update it weekly to keep people updated on my life at college. And as you can see that has not really happened all too well :) But thats ok. Right?
So, a lot has happened since July when I last posted. I don't even know where to start! Life has been a major roller coaster that is for sure, but you know, I would not change a thing that has happened to me this past few semesters. All have been a major learning experience in my life and helped me mature and grow up. So for that I am grateful. I will spare you the boring details, because I know you would fall asleep or say, "Ya. Ya. Ya. We got it. Life sucks sometimes who cares!" All you need to know is that I am alive and doing well :) haha.
But can I just tell you that trying to find an apartment to live in for Fall semester which is like what, 6 months away, is SUPER stressful and dumb! I mean come on! Who in their right mind signs contracts that soon! Oh thats right, all the over achievers at BYU!!! Goodness! So now I am stuck trying to find some where to live with the uncertainty of whether or not I will even be at BYU next Fall. Its just lame! But oh well.
Its moments like these that I just have to take a step back and say to myself, "God knows the path which I should go down, He will lead me to where I need to be. And He will always be with me through all these stressful times." So why do I worry sometimes so bad when I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and is watching over me? I just need to put my trust in Him at all times and know that things will work out the way that He wants them to.

. . .

This past week has not been the best week ever. It started out good. . . but quickly came to an end. While at self defense monday morning, I was practicing my mad skills I have learned so far when the other persons knee jabbed into my ribs. I just laid on the ground crying and unable to breath or make any sudden movements, because if I did the sharpest pain would shoot through me. Come to find out I cracked my ribs.  And let me tell you, cracked ribs suck! They hurt so bad and just make things so not fun!

So after cracking my ribs I still had things that had to be done that week. I had a research paper I had to do and a ton of other homework. The pain was so bad I never even wanted to do any of it because I could never focus on my work. I eventually got it all done, but it took way longer then it should have.

Thats basically how my whole week was. But yesterday (sunday), I decided to make my aunt Melanie's homemade tortellini. I slaved away in the kitchen for a while preparing it all. My roommate, Sarah, would help out a little every once in a while, but I am weird when it comes to baking and like to do it myself so I know that it gets done right. But it turned out amazing!!! All the work of doing it was well worth it! I have almost decided that I really just want to bake. I love doing it! Plus I have always had that in the back of my mind, but lately more and more that is what I am leaning towards doing. The only problem is that BYU doesn't offer any type of cooking classes or anything really, so I need to go and talk to the a guidance aid and see what there is I can do. So we will see :)

BYU life :)

So it has officially been forever and a half since I have posted anything up on here. I was planning on posting my saluditorian speech after graduation and as you can tell, that never happened :) Then after my parents and I went to Hawaii I was going to post . . and again, never happened. Then once I got up here to BYU I decided that I really for sure I was going to post, and as you can see its just barely happening. So i'm slackin a little bit . . . but its ok :) Here is a small update on SOME of the things I have done while being up here so far.

I have been at BYU now for a month almost exactly, and I am still trying to adjust to college life. Its a lot harder then you think it would be. At first I thought I was going to take it all in. I hiked up to the Y and 12:30am and didn't get home tell close to 3:30am which probably wasn't the best of choices, but it was very memorable and the view from the top of the Y is AMAZING!!!!

I went on a lunch date with a guy who I thought was super sweet and very cute (well he still is cute). We had talked quite a few times and hung out and what not but never exchanged numbers so he showed up at my dorm on a sunday after noon to get my number. It was so sweet! The next day is when he called me after class to go get lunch, which I thought was so awesome! But like most guys I find myself associated with, he ended up being not as sweet as I thought. It ended up that he has had a girl friend for a few months or so. And the worst part is I didn't even find it out from him, I found it out through my roommates and my friends. Ya he was a player. Who would have thought that even at BYU there would still be those type of guys around? Not me!!

Other then being super stressed with having mid terms this past week, trying to find new friends that I mesh with, and adjusting to living on my own, college has been a great experience! And hopefully it will continue to get better and better! I swear I am going to be better about posting on here! Or at least that is the plan :)

Simple things can effect a lot!!

So last weekend we moved my sister into a new house. She lived in a 2 story house and most of the house was on the 2nd story, which as you could imagine, wasnt the most convenient for her husband who has had multiple stokes. But her new house is AMAZING and beautiful! Its all one story and open. So now her husband can go anywhere he wishes.

For those of you that dont know, moving isnt the funnest thing in the world. It gets very old very fast! We started at 7 in the morning and loaded everything up (well everyone else did, I was busy trying to entertain a 19 month old).  To make a long story short . . . We moved her :) But the neat thing was when we had basically moved everything in, her husband Roy started crying. Not knowing what was wrong, we asked him if he was ok and he replied with a simple smile and a nod of the head. He was so happy to have some more independence and not have to rely on others to help him do everything!

In life we take the simple things for granite like tying your shoes, getting out of bed by yourself, walking, talking, and so much more that when you see someone who was so independent become someone who heavily relies on you for everything, it makes you stop and think of how blessed we truly are. Something so simple as being able to get places by himself made him cry. We need to take a step back when we think life is tough and say to ourselves, "It could be so much worse".

Life is so sacred and we should take advantage of everything we have, never taking anything for granite, because you never know when your life may end or drastically change.

PROM!!! :)

This past weekend was prom and man was it AMAZING!!! I swear it looked like it came out of a movie! But before I get ahead of myself (which I tend to do sometime), let me tell you about the whole day, because really the whole day was great!

Ok so for those of you that don't know, James Self asked me to prom. Funny little fact: I have now gone to prom with 2 Self boys and one of their cousins. Pretty funny huh? Well anyways ... So James came and picked me up at my house around 1:40 and I had no idea what we were doing for our date! All he would tell me was wear an old swim suit (which thankfully I did!). So on this date their was me, James, Alyssa, Drew, Jennifer, Riley, Mariah, and Caleb. Needless to say it was an awesome group! We ended up riding quads down to the river where we played in the knee deep mud. It was so much fun! We seriously looked like mud monsters! Then they took us home so we could shower, and I'm not joking, I had to wash my hair 4 times to finally get all the mud out!

Before . . .

During. . .

After :)



So we got ready for prom and went to McClellans house for dinner (I hope I spelled that right). It was so yummy! We had stuffed shells :) Then we loaded up in a minnie van, yes a minnie van because were cool like that, and headed off to prom. We arrived and man was it amazing!!! It seriously could have come out of a movie! There was a fake cieling and walls, a photo booth, a great DJ, and amazing food!! We danced the night away and before we knew it, it was over. But it was so much fun and something I will remember for a long time!

Prom

The group. We clean up nice huh?

Chelsea and I

 

The Girls

Better late than never . . . right?? :)

From left to right: Allison, Garrett, myself all striking a pose

The McGee family

The McGee girls showing off our shoes :)

Dad with all of his girls

So a little while ago my brother Garrett got married. Well I guess it was more a LONG time ago. But still at least I am talking about it now right?

Ok... so my brother ended up getting hitched on March 18, 2011 and let me tell you that was a very weird day for me!! Garrett and I have been very close ever since he got back from his mission (thats right not before his mission! He was very mean before believe it or not). We would hang out all the time and be able to talk about anything. Of course we still messed with eachother, I mean after all we are brother and sister. I was afraid that by him getting married I would lose him. Deveney (the girl he married) is so awesome though! But still. Sitting outside the Snowflake temple with all the little kids, I sat for a while just thinking. Thinking about how it would be between him and I now. Would we still be close? Would we be just brother and sister and not friends? Was I getting replaced? Silly things to think about I know, but what can I say, I am a girl :)

 As it turned out I had nothing to worry about. Of course! We are still super close and nothing could change the relationship we have! All those little worries were for nothing! I have learned something about myself through this experiance, and that is sometimes I over think things and I need to just sit back and not worry. There is no point to stress over the little things. Everything will work out the way it is supposed to be. End of story :)

Lesson Learned!

April showers bring May flowers . . . except not really!

Right when I start to think that winter is over and spring is finally here, I have to get proved wrong! Lately it has been around the high 70's to low 80's so you would think that snow would be out of the picture. Well aparently not!!

 I wake up Saturday morning to it snowing out side! Yes . . SNOW!! The day before this I was at a track meet in Safford where it was nice and warm and I got a nice little tan. I guess you can never really pridict the weather. It's going to do whatever it wants. But still. . .

I wasn't in the best mood Saturday because for one, I wasn't feeling all that great (I had gotten a super bad cramp at the track meet and it still hadn't gone away), and second I was planning on a nice warm day so that I could go and wash my car, but with snow. . . that wasn't really going to happen. So here I was feeling sorry for myself when my dad walks in with a letter from someone. I got so excited! I forgot about not feeling good and being in a bad mood, because of one simple letter from someone! Its crazy how something so small can change how you are feeling! So my lesson learned? Don't let small things you can't controll, ruin your day! It's not worth it! Just go out and have fun! After all . . the only person who can change your attitude, is you!

♥ SPRING BREAK!!!!!! ♥

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E!!

So if you couldnt tell, I went to Disney Land for spring break with both Jazz and Show choir, and let me tell ya, it was a blast!! It was one of those times where you just have fun with your friends. We left on Wednesday at 4 in the FREAKING morning and didnt get home until 8 Sunday night! And of course we got hardly no sleep while we were there so it makes for a long first day back at school! But it was worth it!

The all time highlight of this trip happened when we were backstage getting ready for our show (and backstage of Disney Land isn't all that great or majical. It's just . . . well. . .ugly! :)   ).  We had just gotten done getting into our costume when me and Chelsea decide to take our bags back to the trailer. While walking to the trailer, a girl who was between 12 and 15, asked us if we were princess's!!! We were so excited that someone actually thought that we were princess's at Disney Land! Sadly we had to tell her no, but isn't that just awesome that someone would think that?! I think so :)

One other great experience that I will never forget happend in the car ride home. In this car there was me (of course), Drew, James, Josh, Kevin, Robert, Riley, and Beth (our driver). And those of you who don't know Drew, he is one of those people who likes to pull pranks and stuff like that. So he decided that he was going to fill his mouth up with water and spit it on me (which was gross by the way!) But that just lead to one huge water fight in our car, and it was so much fun! After that we had a really spiritual disscussion (after all, we are all LDS, and it was Sunday) and it was so good! Definantly a great experience!

After going on this trip it has made my "senior-itis" so much worse!! I can't wait know to graduate and experience new fun and exciting things! And a piece of advice, don't go to Disney Land during spring break, its packed!!

Looking through a different perspective!

It's times like now where I can honestly say that I am glad to live where I live! We don't have to worry about hurricanes, tornado's, tsunamis, earthquakes, or any other natural disaster. Yes we do have to deal with the occational winds, but I would take that anyday over other things! Sometimes we take for granite the little things. We think that our town is just a little "dump" town with nothing to do. When really living in a little town is awesome! It makes you be more creative about ways you have fun. How often do you here of someone living in the valley playing hide and seek with cars, or having a chocolate pudding slip-n-slide? Not very often I can tell you that. We are so lucky to live where we live! As I keep getting closer to leaving home, I have started thinking about how lucky I was to grow up in a little town! I have had so many life learning experiences that I dont believe I would have had growing up in a city.

I feel bad right now for all those in Japan who have been affected by the different natural disasters. I can't imagine having something like that happen where you literally loose everything! Whether that is your home, something special to you, or a loved one, it would suck! I wish there was something that I could do to help them out, because I really am blessed. I have a loving family, a roof over my head, food, and much more. And in Japan right now, many have nothing and don't even know if some of their loved ones are a live or dead. It's just sad. So we have wind, suck it up and deal with it! At least we aren't having to go through what the people in Japan are going through!

We all need to remember, never take anything for granite!! You never know when something may be taken away from you. Things can happen SO fast! Be grateful for what you have and when life seems hard, just look at those around who have it so much worse. It will change your attitude, trust me!

Life is GREAT!!! :)

It has been a little while since I have posted and a lot has happened since then! So I will just start from the beginning (because the beggining are the most boring ones)    :)

So a few weeks ago I went to the State Student Council convention, AASC.  I went into it a little unsure about what to expect, because after all the only "camps" I have been to are church camps (which are the best by the way!). Student council people are such dorks, me inlcuded! But the fun part is, we don't even really care what people are thinking about how we act or are dressed for that day, because everyone is doing it so it doesn't even matter! I think people in general should be like that and not judge others by what they may look like in the inside, because after all you don't know who they truly are or what they have been thru. At this convention there was a TON of motivational speakers! And I mean a TON!!! But they were all super good and made you stop and think! I am definantly glad that I went and gained a new experience! Oh and the video is of me and Randall at AASC racing on this big blow up thing where you have a bungy cord attached to you that pulls you back once you get to a certain point (Hopefully its not blurry).

Then Thursday I found out I got accepted to BYU!!!! Which I am super excited about, a little scared also considering it is so far away, but still excited!

Ok now that we are done with the boring part (even though I am pretty excited about getting into BYU!) . . . its on to the good part!! :)   As most of you know, our boys basketball team took State this past weekend for the first time since 1971, and I am proud to say that I was there at that game! Anyways I better start at the beggining. So here is how it all went down. . .

Thursday morning my sister sent me a text asking me if I wanted to come down to the valley and watch my niece Marlee (who is the cutest little girl in the history of the world!) on Saturday while she went to clinicls. I was planning on riding the pep bus down to the game on Friday, but I figured I would still be able to go to the game since I would be down there anyways. So friday afternoon me, my Dad, and Jennifer loaded up in my car and made our way down to the valley. Ok this is taking too long . . . so I will make a long story short :)

We went to the game Friday against Winslow and we won!! We were so excited because that was one step closer to becoming State Champs!! That night we didn't get much sleep, we were too excited. Marlee the next morning woke up nice and early at 7:45am. . . not cool, but we dealt with it (not much you can do about it after all). We ended up taking Marlee to the game with us that night. And let me give you a little advice . . . babies get a little cranky when they only get one of their 2 naps and cant run around and play :) But the game was so exciting!!! It could be made into a movie! We won that game 49-43! Its definantly a night in history, and a night I will never forget!

SLOW DOWN!!!

"Go faster daddy! Go faster (face is all chubby)!! Slow down daddy! Slow down (face gets all slicked back)!!"

This is a little thing my best friend Chelsea, my brother Garrett, any myself use to do when we were younger. At the time it was something silly and fun to do, but now I think of it in a totally different way! When I think of this saying now, I think about how at the beggining of this year I couldn't wait for it to be over! I thought about how much fun it would be to be out of the house and on my own. But now I am the little kid yelling, "Slow down daddy! Slow down!" Life is going to be changing here before I know it. And I'm not going to lie, that scares me a little bit! While yes going out and having new experience sounds fun, but all the responsibility that comes a long with it . . . well that part isn't quite as fun. If you think about it you have to pay the bills all by yourself (there isn't the parents there to do it), you have have money to buy your own food so you won't starve, plus you have to have money also to get "sanatary" needs! And the list goes on! All of this can seem a little over welming! At least it is to me right now considering how there are only a few months until I graduate!

While it is scary to think about going out on my own, especially since I will be at least 8 hours away from home depending on which school I decide to go to, I am still excited! This is coming up in the time in my life where I will get to experience new things, have fun adventures, and let my true colors shine! I look forward to that. I guess I have learned that I over think things to much and sych myself out. But at least I know that about myself so I can change it :) With these last few months left in high school I'm going to not think about what will be happening in my life in 5 months, I am just going to worry about having a BLAST and making the most out of every moment!

Advice to those youngsters out there . . . it goes by super fast, so make the best of it! And let nothing pass you by :)