Jr. Year (so far!)

Jr. year has begun.

Technically, it began a little while ago. Term one is now almost finished. I haven’t been able to post for a while, so here's my catch-up post for the first 2 months of school-

Special Needs Mutual started back up. Rita's a lot more emotional this year, but I still love going every week! It's weird to have so many youth councilors in my grade, but I'm enjoying that too. I love SN Mutual!

Jazz Band for the 3rd year in a row.

Making the Shakespeare Team. Adding 6 am rehearsals to Jazz rehearsals? Bring it on.

Football Games. Good times-especially with good friends.

Fall Leadership for FCCLA. So much fun! Great speakers and workshops and lots of good times to be had with my fellow officers. (Love you guys!)

Shakespeare Competition. What an awesome experience. Our school did very well, (Chior-1st, Anna's monologue-1st, Keaton's and Ian's scene-2nd, Ensemble-3rd, Sweepstakes (overall)-1st), Le Mis was AMAZING, Hamlet was BRILLIANT, our ensemble scene was great (the gun actually went off!! There was a silent breakdancing party back stage after we exited), the rounds I watched were great, the judges of those rounds (all of the judges I listened to, actually) had mind-blowing things to say, and we got to hear from the Shakespeare Festival's founder. I had such a great time! I learned a lot of new things about acting. I made lots of new friends, and strengthened bonds with some old friends. And the best part of the Competition....

General Conference! I was lucky enough to watch both Saturday sessions at the SUU institute building with the Chamber Choir and some other friends of mine. I was able to be with them when the Pres. Monson gave the Missionary Announcement. The spirit was so strong that day, I'm glad I was able to watch it!

Conference in General in Seminary. Wow. I love seminary.

My sister and I worked on the Service Project we started together.

Fall Break: Goodbye Wisdom Teeth! According to my mom, I was hilarious right before they put me under. I felt pretty sane during the whole ordeal, but looking back the next day, I was crazy. It was great! (If you want specific stories, feel free to either ask me or my mother).

What's coming up next?

·         The rest of Fall Break.

·         Sadies!

·         The FCCLA service project.

·         The school-wide service project.

·         The zombie run with Kevin.

·         Halloween.

Bring it on!

Special Needs Mutual

Special Needs Mutual has been one of the most spiritual experiences of my life, and I have loved every minute of it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the program, SN Mutual is for those with special needs to come together with the buddy (the youth counselors) and participate in activity.  The SN program combines 21 stakes and there are around 70-80 SN kids that come every Thursday night.  We as the youth counselors are buddied  up at (usually) a 1:1 ratio and come every week to be with our buddies during those activities.  We also hold a special sacrament meeting program every month for one of the wards in any one of the 21 stakes.  We don't replace their home mutual, we just provide a place for them to come where they can feel completely safe and have fun.

I was called at the beginning of this school year to be one of the SN Youth Counselors.  Since you normally have to be at least a Jr. to be a counselor, I was shocked and ecstatic.  I first learned about the program when the SN Mutual came to my ward for their special sacrament program.  The spirit was so strong in that room, and I was determined from that point on to become one of the counselors once I was a Jr.  I guess my dream came true a year early.

At one of the first activities I went to I was paired up with my buddy, Rita.  She is such a sweet heart.  She loves singing, dancing, Justin Bieber, bearing her testimony, her friends, Jesus Christ, chocolate and giving hugs.  She has become one of my best friends and I feel privileged to be her youth counselor.

As we were told time and time again, "We are here to help the physically, but they are here to help us spiritually."  I have learned so much from Rita, her older sister Becca, Becca's buddies Hanna and Cheiko, our leaders, and all my other friends from SN mutual.  Rita especially has taught me so much about unconditional love, friendship, happiness, and faith.  I couldn't tell you how many times I would go to SN Mutual stressed about something then leave feeling incredibly happy.

It didn't really hit me how fast this school year is coming to a close until I went to the SN M testimony meeting with the other youth counselors and leaders today.  As I listened to others bear their testimony about their experience about this year, I began to think about all the amazing times Rita and I have had together.

Some of these would include;

Watching her dance with the Polynesian dancers, The Living Legends, that can to perform one Thursday night.

Making homemade ice cream as we helped out in a service project.

The prom that my home ward happened to be the visiting ward for.  Rita loved being able to dance, wear a pretty dress, and dance with her "cute boy" (McKay Waters).

Rita being able to sing into a microphone whenever she could get her hands on one.

Class lessons we would have with our gold class.  She would always want to say the closing prayer, and whenever she did she would bear her testimony and would always get emotional.

The talent show, (her and Becca sand/danced to I Am a Child of God).  After the talent show we made picture frames and looked at the prom pictures with her new friend Talina Morris.


These are just a few of the many amazing Thursday night activities I was able to participate in.  I'm going to miss my SN Mutual family over the summer, and I can't wait to serve again for the next two years to come.

 The picture from Rita, Talina and I made.

 Rita being escorted by her "cute boy."

Rita's on my right and Becca's on my left, (obviously not biological sisters).  They're such sweet girls, I'm going to miss them!

Need a Laugh?

In my opinion, there are two different kinds of March Madness. 
March Madness #1- The basketball kind. The good kind. The fun kind.
March Madness #2- The bad kind.  The stressful kind.  The teachers-throw-everying-at-you-all-at-once-becuase-it's-end-of-term-three kind. 

Personally I prefer #1, but sadly, #2 for high school students is inescapable. However, there are ways to help overcome madness of March, and one of those ways is laughter. 

It's proven that laughter relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, and even helps you live longer.  Cool huh?

What makes us laugh? Things that are funny.  Why are things funny?  Because they are, I don't really know why.  Maybe someone else knows, then you can ask them.  Or instead, you can just laugh at the funny things people say (or hear):

Random Girl in Hall- "Where's my phone? Oh yeah, it's in the fridge."

Random Girl in Hall- "You guys are so mean to me!"
Random Guy in Hall- "What do you expect?  We're a bunch of guys!"

"Get a haircut, grow a beard, do something productive!"
     -Eman Ashtawy

Carly- "No pickles? That ain't nice."
Me- "Hey, that ain't proper grammar! ...Oh wait."

What Caleb said- "I made a butterfly in school today!"
What Carly heard- "I made a bubblefart in school today!"

What Caleb said- "We're having a beach party at school today!"
What I heard- "We're playing beer pong at school today!"

What Caleb meant to say- "Look mom, I'm a statue!"
What he actually said- "I'm stoned."
What my mom said- "You better never actually be stoned or I'll ground you for life!"

Caleb- "What's that smell... It smells like summer sausage!  Oh wait, it's poo.  Nope, it's summer sausage."  (Oh brother.. haha )

What Mom said- "Carly do you like Lucky Charms?"
What I heard- "Carly do you like to lick your arms?"

Sage- "My mom's alarm clock sound like a fire truck, and it always makes Brycen fall out of bed.  So I like to get up really early in the morning so I can watch him fall out of bed."

My Great Grandma says to my Mom (when she was 16)- "You're such a pretty girl, we sure worried about you for a while."

A very tired Carly on a road trip- "Slug blug boo!"

Random Person from the Internet- "The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."

Sage- "It seems like everyone has one of those ripstick things."
Mom- "I don't know why, they're kinda weird."
Sage- "No kidding, they're just a bunch of exercise!"


Andrew's mom- "Are you going to be ok alone?  What if you pass out?"
Andrew- "Don't worry mom I have my phone, you know, just in case I pass out and need to call you."


Brycen was asked- "Where did you get that sore?"
Brycen- "I don't know, but it doesn't hurt when I put it in orange juice."



So, when life begins to feel like this,

Simplify your life and give it a good laugh so you can again feel like this,

I love to see the Temple

1. I love to see the temple.

I’m going there someday

To feel the Holy Spirit,

To listen and to pray.

For the temple is a house of God,

A place of love and beauty.

I’ll prepare myself while I am young;

This is my sacred duty.

2. I love to see the temple.

I’ll go inside someday.

I’ll cov’nant with my Father;

I’ll promise to obey.

For the temple is a holy place

Where we are sealed together.

As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:

A fam’ly is forever.

This was always one of my favorite primary songs as a kid, and it still is. It's a great song, and the message is sweet and simple.  I especially love hearing little kids sing this song, it's awesome!  

When I would sing it as a small primary child, I would always imagine what my first trip to the temple would be like, and what a beautiful day dreaming moment it was.  Since those days, I haven't been able to go inside the temple as described to the song, but I have been able to participate in the sacred work that us youngin's get to do; baptisms for the dead.  And I love it!

Last Saturday I got the opportunity to go with some family and friends to the temple and do baptisms for the dead.  Needless to say, it made it one of the best weekends I've had in a while.  And at the end of the night, we had 45 of my family members baptized and confirmed, a closer feeling to the Spirit, and wet hair. haha

And if you missed the fun this weekend, don't worry, I'm planning on doing it again soon.  

The next day, (Sunday), was Stake conference.  Ironically enough, the first two talks were about Temples.  It was awesome!  However, there was one statement that stuck out to me the most, which went something like this; "When time seems scarce and life gets hectic, that is when we need to visit the temple the most."  This is not a direct word-for-word quote, but the message is still powerful.  So when your life's getting crazy and you just need a time-out, give me a call, I'll be happy go with ya'. 

And one other thing I love about the Temple, are pictures of them.  Take a gander;

Mt. Timpanogos, UT (the one we went to Saturday).  

Mesa, Arizona (my favorite)

Denver, Colorado

 Anchorage, Alaska (Eman's favorite)

 Freiburg, Germany

 Fukuoka, Japan

 Salt Lake, Utah

 Logan, Utah

 London, England

 London, England

 Lubbock, Texas

 Merida, Mexico

 Mesa, Arizona

 Salt Lake, Utah

 Orlando, Florida

 Rexburg, Idaho

 Salt Lake, Utah (yes, again)

 San Diego, California

 Laie, Hawaii

What's your favorite Temple? 

 (comments always welcome)