we did it first!

apparently this song is super popular... even though i never even heard of it until i was on tour this summer with living legends. here's ours...

and here's the us olympic swim team's...

haha! so. much. fun. :)

catching up #5

APRIL


WELCOME TO THE WORLD, JULIA KAILANA!!! :) i told josue to call me even if baby is born at 3 in the morning. the next morning, april 4, i get a call a little after 3am. it was josue, and he said, "aunty rach, julia says good morning!" i was able to go to see cam in the hospital and meet little juju.

i have a few friends who were getting married. one of my friends, felicia, had her bridal shower, and i made a honeymoon basket for her. i was quite happy with how it turned out! :) see? there's candles, champagne glasses, roses, apple cider, and fancy chocolate. hehe.

it's become somewhat of a tradition of mines and my friend, ellen's, to go to coldstone on reading days. so we went. it was fun to catch up with her, and this time, she actually took a picture WITH me. :)

one of the couples who met in living legends, jerad and lauren, got married. i went to their reception, and it was exciting to see them finally married.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! :) thank you so much for everything you do and provide and help me with. i love you forever, dad! :)

because it was the last month of the semester, for visiting teaching, i did a "finals survival" kit for my visiting teachees. one of them isn't in school, so i did a "just because you're great" kit. i was happy with those too.

my really good friends in apt 44 all decided to move out of cinnamon tree. even though i was sad (because they became some really, really good friends) i understood their want to move out. so i told them that i'd make them a dinner to say goodbye and to thank them for being such good friends. i felt so domestic, and i was so proud of myself for making it. :) because they picture is blurry, it might be hard to see, but i made roast, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and i bought juice to drink. let's just say, it was good.

one of my friends from my math class,allie, went on a mission. because she was about to leave, all of us math table got together one last time, and ate at cafe rio. it was yummy and so much fun, and i'm sure she'll be a wonderful missionary. :)

during finals week, i got together with margo (my roommate from freshman year). she got back from new zealand where she was on a study abroad for eled. it was fun to catch up with her, to hear her stories, to see her pictures, and to look forward to some of our freshman year ward friends coming home from their missions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEAGS!!! :) meags had a little party at a park near cam's house, and it was a fun barbecue. i enjoyed it, and it was fun to celebrate a birthday OUTSIDE.

catching up #3

FEBRUARY

i went on tour for a week with living legends to california. i left in the end of january, and came back the beginning of february. we drove, stayed with host families, did an fhe, went to the beach, went to the newport beach temple, went to downtown disney, had some outreaches, went to a theme park, had a fireside at the LA temple, stopped by the mormon battalion sight, and of course, performed our shows. it was a really good week, and a even better tour than the last one (even though it was harder to get out of school for than the last one).

we performed one of our biggest shows for living legends in the de jong. the family, and my roommates were able to come and that made it even more fun and exciting!

valentines this year was especially exciting. why? because i was a lot more bold, and i had a first date, and more specifically, i had a valentine! :P i'm assuming that those of you reading this already know about TJ, so here's the valentine that i gave him (the rest of his apartment are my friends, and they also got candy valentines, but TJ's was loaded... hehe). and also, the answer that he sent me.

i also got some valentines from robin, kaleb, sarah, and a friend from my ward, cammie. it made me happy to see them.

  

we were finally able to do grandpa wright's temple work. and i was able to be there for the baptisms. it was definitely a happy and exciting day!

congratulations to ryanne and her HUSBAND nate. i was able to go to her wedding in california and it was cool to be in a different part of california (it even feels different) and it was a good break from school.

 

my roommate, robin, saw this in the little caesars in springville and told me she thought of me. then she took a picture so that i could see it too. i thought it was great! haha.

catching up #2

i decided that i'm gonna do my updates my months. so here's january...

JANUARY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :) it's another year, another chance, another opportunity to be better.

sometimes we have fun in fhe, we paired up, got a block of butter, and were told to make something. this is what me and my friend, ian soane, made. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!! :) hope it was a happy day! i'm glad i was able to celebrate it with you, and i hope it was a happy day! :)

it was my roommate, robin's, birthday on the 18th. so i got her a belated christmas/birthday present. she really likes a british tv show called doctor who. so when i saw a shirt that had that on it, i knew it was a good present. she really liked it.

one day my roommate, becky, had a really bad day. one of her ex-boyfriends was really rude, work was bad, school was hard, and basically.... it was a terrible day. so i made her a sucky day survival kit. i was actually pretty proud of how it turned out. ;)

living legends went on tour to wyoming. it was the first show that we did since being back from christmas and it was by far the worst show we ever had. but it was good to get the big doozie out of the way before the d jong shows! hehe. here's the polys in the bus ride there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY-WALLY!!! :) hope it was a happy 18th! ;)

i went to go play tennis with my friends trey and scott, from apt 44. i won, they were good sports about it (they're not tennis players... although they are ping pong players), and it was fun! the only down side was that  when we were playing a game, as we were switching sides, i walked into the side of the net and got a huge ugly bruise. it was really sore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM!! :) me and nell got her an electric pan like mom has. cam had a cute and fun birthday party, and i enjoyed it.

soccer weekend

this weekend i spent at ellen's house. :) she invited me to see the real salt lake play in the rio tinto stadium, so i slept over last night. what i didn't realize was that it would be a weekend of soccer! and even though soccer is one of my least favorite sports to watch... i actually had lots of fun! haha... who knew? :)

this morning, ellen's little brother (jacob) had his high school state championship game. even though he's only a freshman, jacob was a potential sub for the varsity team, and suited up for this game as well. waterford - his high school - won the game with two goals scored in the last 5 minutes... epic win! :) here are some pictures from afterward...

the scoreboard says 2-1! they won! :)

waterford team... jacob is the one in the orange! :)

after the win (jacob's still in orange)... showing sportsmanship

of course it's not a real win without soaking the coach!

waterford team after the trophy ceremony

later tonight, i went to the real salt lake game against the houston dynamo (professional soccer) with ellen, robin, jacob (ellen's brother... who surprising reminds me a ton of bubs, haha!), and two of her other friends. ellen got us way good seats, so we were only FIVE rows up from the field on the south side of the stadium near the goal posts. so we were close enough to see the players FACES (some of which are very attractive, by the way... :P)! the game was actually pretty funny... some people are way intense about soccer, and the fans are super interesting to watch (any time i needed a break from watching the game, i could always watch the fans.. haha)!

there was a section of latinos who were drumming and cheering the ENTIRE game. they had confetti, balloons, smoke, variety of flags, and lots of dancing. it was great to watch! :) another group had their own little band, and they were cheering for a lot of the time too. people had streamers and would throw it on the field at the houston team. another group sitting near us were drinking beers (reminded me of naholoholo parties) and screaming vulgar things, which reminded me that not all of utah is like provo! :P

when i wasn't watching the fans, i was learning a little bit about the rules of soccer. for example, i learned that offsides was that you get behind the last defender with the ball. i also learned that the professional players are whiners! haha, for every hit they wanted a foul... but i guess if you're good enough to get paid to play soccer, you're good enough to complain when you get hit. overall, i had a lot of fun! the score was 0-0 by the end of the 90 minutes, but i enjoyed it. i must say, professional soccer is MUCH better to watch in person! here are a few pictures...

robin and i were sitting together so we took a picture. can you see how close the field is?

the goalie for the houston team reminded me so much of beau j acoba! it was cute... :)

thanks ellen for the great weekend! :)

cooking experiments

since cam guys aren't home, yesterday i ate cereal and cream of wheat. but today, i wanted to eat real food... so i made SHEPHERD'S PIE!!! :) i called mom and asked her how she makes it, went to the store to pick up some things cam didn't have, and made it for the first time! :) it was sooooo ono (not because i'm a good cook... but because it hit the spot)! i was trying to make a little for me, but it ended up filling up an entire 9x13 pan! haha... oh well... looks like i need to invite friends over to help me eat it! :)