Plans

I think sometimes we lose sight of whats really important. Sometimes we forget what we are really supposed to be doing. There are plans floating all around us, but in the end, only one matters. There is only one that will lead us back to where we all want to be. This is Heavenly Fathers plan. He has the only perfect plan. He has thought it all through, even our little choices in Jr. High and High School. He has also thought through the huge, life changing ones as well. He doesn't give us a complete map, but he does give us pieces. He tells us to get baptized, go to the temple, go to church, etc. He also gives us the Holy Ghost who gives us the details along the way. Sometimes, I want to follow Allies plan. Of course I keep going on the big map, and I do listen for my details, but I forget everything works out like its supposed to. Sometimes I forget my map or plan has already been planned. I forget God already thought everything through for me. Sometimes I want good things that aren't on my map. That doesn't make them bad, they are still good things. It just doesn't make them good for me. I read this great little book called "He Loves Us, and We Love Him. You've memorized it. Now live it." It picks apart all the values in the YW theme. It really put meaning to the theme for me. I highly suggest reading it. (Even the boys. Just insert son where it says daughter :) Just remember He has a plan, and if we live it, everything will work out like its supposed to in the end.

Santa

I have a new appreciation for the jolly old man! :) I just finished wrapping the gifts for Christmas morning with my mom. Its 2:09 am. We have been wrapping since 10 pm. I'm exhausted! Luckily for me, "Horton Hears a Who" is a bazillion times more funny at 1 in the morning. Merry Christmas!

10 things I learned today

1. Italian ice cream is to die for.
2. Forever Young is a great store.
3. Most stores mannequins wear my size.
4. My mom does not like to spend more than 10 minutes in one place.
5. My sister likes to pretend she is my age sometimes and has some interesting tastes in clothing. :)
6. I can't reach anything.
7. Down East is my favorite store in the whole wide world.
8. People working at stores hate me. Please refer to number 3 and number 6.
9. I can't ever make a decision.
10. My Christmas dress is amazing. Its not everyday you stumble upon the perfect dress :)

Musical Review

This was during our Drama II "Broadway musical review." We are dancing to the song, "As Long as You're Mine," from "Wicked." I am dancing with my partner Parker (middle), Audrey is dancing with Jonny (left), and Maddie is dancing with Taylor (right).

Need a good laugh?

http://www.wimp.com/animalvoiceovers/

Seussical the Musical

"Oh the thinks you can think, when you think about seuss!" Really, there are some strange "thinks." The whole play is about a bird and elephant being in love. Weird, right? Except I am so excited to be part of this world of make believe for the next three months! I was cast as a lioness. There are three of us and we are the feature dancers in the show! I get to dance a duet during "Alone in the Universe."Its going to be a blast! My costume is amazing! I have been all sorts of characters, ranging from a very old cranky abess, to a shimering mysterious fairy, to a terrified police officer. I thought I had done almost every different kind of role the theatre had to offer, but I have not yet been an animal! Here is my chance! I am so excited! This show is going to be an adventure!

Wicked

Drama II... I love that class, a lot! It is my all time favorite class. It was made even better after auditions for the musical review. I was given the lead part in "As long as your mine." It is an all dancing piece, so we don't have to sing. Because we don't have to sing, we can throw some pretty awesome moves and lifts in. I'm especially lucky because I have a solo in the beginning, and a duet at the end! There is only one downside to this. The bruises. Parker Skousen is my partner, and I have to give him credit, he is a really good dancer. He makes my job really easy. All I have to do on the lifts is swing my arms and legs and keep the tension. He has the hard part. Unfortunately for me, I do have the painful part. He really does try to be gentle, I think the pain is just the nature of the lifts. All I know is I have bruises all over my arms, waist, knees, legs, wrists, and rug burn under my arms and on my wrists. I also think I'm going to dislocate my elbow by the end of this. He really doesn't beat me, but being thrown around, yanked, dragged, and other various lift activities can really ware one out. On the bright side, the dance is already amazing, and we still have three weeks to make it even better!

Yellow

Lehi Jr. High school has little room for imagination. It feels like a prison sometimes. There are no colors, it is just a brown brick wall. There are two places in the school that give me room to stretch my mind. The school auditorium for obvious reasons, and then there is the lunchroom. You may not understand this one as much. The lunchroom is still a brick wall with boring brown tables, but my friends are not boring, and they are there. It is in the lunchroom I spend thirty minutes of my day picking at who knows what that the school calls food. The food is obviously not what makes the room so great, it is how dorky my friends are. We do make fools of ourselves, but the beautiful thing is we don't care. Therefore, no one else does. We laugh about things like carrots in ranch that "was not stored at the correct temperature." We make the funniest joke about passing out, and somehow relate it to the ranch. We burst out laughing in the middle of history because we are still thinking about the ranch. We pour water on a kid who fell asleep in history and it reminds us of this joke from three days ago. Today however, we ran around punching each other because of this lovely little game called "yellow." We went to history once again, laughing, even though our arms no longer had feeling in them. The lunchroom is great. Yet once the bell rings, we are thrown back into a brick wall cell, and all room for imagination is gone once again.

I Do Believe!

I was trying to find something to post about that doesn't have to do with Peter Pan, but nothing came to mind. This is because Peter Pan has been the complete story of my life for the past three months. When I close my eyes and try to think of something else, all that comes to my mind is that little boy and his adventures. All I can think about is how to improve my actors to make them more realistic. I'm a tad bit obsessed. It turns out all my hard work has paid off! Peter Pan has been a complete and total success. All the shows (except the darn matinee...) were fabulous. The actors truly bring the story to life. Even though I have seen the show in all the ups and downs, without costumes when Trevor is still Trevor, Taylor is still Taylor, and Sarah is still Sarah, the show has truly come to life. I have seen this show probably over 20 times fully run, and even more times through bits and pieces, yet when I watch, Trevor magically becomes Captain James Hook, and I can't see Trevor anymore. Taylor becomes Peter Pan, and I forget he is really Taylor in the ninth grade hall at school. I forget Sarah has a life outside the nursery and Neverland. They are real people to me, but they are not Sarah, Trevor, and Taylor. When they are on stage, they are Hook, Wendy, and Peter. The characters become real. They transform before my eyes. I truly believe! Imagination is beautiful! I almost forgot how to imagine, but this show has brought it all back to me, and I made a promise to never forget the beautiful world of an Allison Wonderland, my neverland, because you see, every child's is different, and "It's very nearly real."

Crack Down Time

Crack down time. Yep, that is actually an official term in Lehi Jr. High Schools drama department. Crack down time usually refers to 2-3 weeks before the show opens when everything should be perfect, but its not. This happens every show. We shouldn't be surprised every time, yet, it always shocks us when "crack down time" becomes necessary. Crack down time is not a happy time for actors. The directors are fierce, and they are never satisfied. Ms. Boren no longer believes in "fun, light rehearsals," but hard, disappointing, stressful rehearsals instead. I never liked this time as an actor. Little did I know, its even worse for the directors. This is my first time on the flip side of the coin. As the director, the whole show rests on your shoulders. Crack down time is stressful and irritating. The actors should be memorized. They should be completely off book. Yet, most of them still rely on the stage manager who they can easily call "line" to anytime they want to. The actors should be able to enunciate and project, yet can they? no! The directors give the same note thousands of times, and the actors can't seem to fix it. The directors have to try to finish the set. Painting still has to happen, and we have to find a dog! Don't the actors realize we have more things to think about than the note we have given to them 30 times? We counted one note we gave, and we gave it 31 times to the same actor. Ridiculous! No wonder the directors were always so hard to work with this close to the end! We want to pull our hair out! We want to pull their hair out! I know it sounds violent, but don't worry, this happens with every show. Final dress rehearsal will come, and everything will pull together and be absolutely amazing and we will wonder why we were so horrible. Its the same pattern every year, yet, why am I so worried still?
(Sorry guys, this is just another one of those rants no one understands except those who have experienced "crack down time")

STRESS

Here is a new acrostic poem for you...
S chool
T erm ending
R ehearsal
E verything happens all at once
S leep... or lack of it
S o much homework to do

Homework, Homework, Homework. That is what I will be doing all break.

Practically Almost Sisters!

My friends are the best in the world! We can be anyone or anything and act anyway and we still love each other! This is particularly important because we are in no way shape or form what people would call "cool." In fact, we are pretty much dorks. We are losers at heart! We are probably the most immature people on this planet! We talk about anything that happens to pop into our mind when we are together. We talk about boys, and school, but we also talk about letters, sitting on power boxes at the elementary school, and of course, STRETCHY PANTS!!! Yes, we are not normal, and its ok because we are almost practically sisters.
The most recent event of the sisters happened this weekend. For all you sisters who I deeply love, here are the highlights:
1. Pulling moves over oranges.
2. Eating soup out of bread bowels.
3. Secret talks in secret passage ways.
4. Wondering what normal people were doing at the time of.... never mind.
5. Writing immature letters to immature boys.
6. Hitting marshmallows against the rocks to get the fire out so we can eat them.
7.Singing non-stop! (sorry guys!)
8.Do you feel awkward? Yes I feel awkward!
9. STRETCHY PANTS!
10. How do you say stretchy pants in french?
11. Fashion modeling the clothing articles behind the couch. (Thanks guys, I'm glad we did that :)
12. Setting Goals
13. Secret Oaths.
14. I swear on my big toe!
15. He has really ugly muscles!
16. They're back! Lets go inside!
17. Locking people out of the house. (sorry dear! I'm glad your bag was still inside)
18. Little sisters. "I'm sorry your boyfriend did that to you!" "What boyfriend?I don't have one!"
19. Notes from the summer..... lets bury them!
20. "Your going to marry my brother, right?" "No, shes marrying my brother!"
Thanks guys! This weekend really made my whole life complete! I love you guys!

Izzie Shall Be Cursed

Abbie and Izzie have very similar interests. Izzie likes to be the baby of the family, Abbie likes to be the baby of the family. Abbie likes to be my constant companion, Izzie likes to be my constant companion. Izzie likes Abbies chicken nuggets, Abbie likes Abbies chicken nuggets. Izzie likes to wake me up, Abbie likes to wake me up. Abbie loves Abbies toys, and Izzie loves Abbies toys. The toys were the cause of the contention today. Abbie walked into the living room where I was sitting on the couch with Izzie asleep on my lap. I looked up to see Abbie with a compleate look of horror on her face. With trembling fingers she slowly picked up a littlest pet shop off the floor. She examined it then shot the dirtiest death glare I have ever seen at Izzie. She looked at me and declared, "Izzie has chewed the tail of my bunny!" She promptly turned around and mumbled under her breath as she walked down the hall, "Izzie shall be cursed!"

I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish, I wish tonight

I am a little girl at heart. The night sky is beautiful and enchanting. I feel almost like a princess as I look up into the never ending night sky. I could look at the stars for hours and never get bored. Tonight was my lucky night! There was a real meteor shower tonight and I was lucky enough to get to watch it with my family. This was a particularly special meteor shower because tonight happened to be my very first one! I gazed into the stars and made wish after wish as the beautiful meteors flashed through the night sky. I will be forever grateful for the gorgeous night sky.

SYTYCD!!!

Ah, how I love So You Think You Can Dance! Braiden and I like it.... a lot.... ok, so its a small obsession, but that's ok, right? I don't know why it always works this way, but we tend to watch it every Thursday night around midnight. It just works that way. It has become somewhat of a habit. Every Thursday night I lay on the couch with my fuzzy green blanket and become a dance expert. I watch for the extension of legs, how high the jumps are, the way they carry themselves and of course how well they dance the style they are thrown into. I do really watch for that stuff, but I also secretly squeal every time Kent Boyd comes on stage. Ok, not always secretly, sometimes one comes out, but Braiden likes to sigh when Lauren comes on so its ok. I was completely ecstatic when I learned Kent made it to the finals. There was in fact quite a bit of squealing. For all you sytycd watchers out there, we know the finale is a big deal. You can count on this Thursday night, Braiden and I will be downstairs watching and I will be practically screaming when Kent wins. Good luck to you Kent!

efy!!!

     How I love efy! Its like living outside the world. I had the chance to go to efy two weeks ago with my dear friend Madison Amelia. You can truly feel the spirits of all the righteous youth surrounding you. I had no idea there were that many good youth in the world. The spirit is so strong there and if you're listening you can learn so many new things and get important personal revelation. My company was the best! There were so many good kids and I made so many new friends. When I came home I felt so good and was ready to take on the world. I hope I can make it last and keep all the good new habits I learned there.

The adventure of a life time

The adventure began last Thursday. I traded in the comfort of my home and bed for a tent and a wet sleeping bag, the hot sunshine for pouring rain and 80mph winds, my Lehi home for a prairie in Wyoming, a luxurious car for a handcart on wheels, and yes, my most comfortable T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers for a full pioneer dress, bonnet, and raincoat. What does all this trading equal? The best week of my life at the Lehi Gateway stakes Trek!

When I began my adventure, I was not sure what to expect. I thought, "sure, its going to be a great experience, but I already know a lot about the pioneers, what more do I have to learn?" It turns out a lot! I thought I already knew about the suffering they went through and the hardships they faced on their perilous journey, but it turns out, I had no idea! I never knew how much it hurt to have soaking wet shoes and socks for an entire two days. Or how much pain is involved to watch your tent collapse when the never ending 80mph winds rip and shred your tent right before your eyes, as everything inside including your only dry pair of clothes, your sleeping bag, and any other possessions allotted in your 17 pound bucket are completely soaked, with no hope of anything drying out because the rain never stops. Or how emotional it is to be in Martins cove, where you can almost hear the wolves tearing and eating the dead loved ones of the courageous Martin handcart company.

I don't know how the Martin and Willy handcart companies did it. Its a complete mystery to me how anyone could have that much courage, or that much faith. The theme of our trek was "fresh courage take." It turns out we needed a lot of courage as lightning flashed right outside our tents, and as our small campsite was torn apart by the raging wind. Or even as we had to keep telling ourselves, just take one more step, even though as we took that step, we could hear the water squish out of our shoes, just to be filled with more water in the next step. Or for me, to lead my family through the wind and rain as the big sister (or youth leader) everyone looked to for advice as to know what to do next. Then again when I had to play "prayer of a walking child" in martins cove, when I was crying so hard and filled with such strong emotion that I could not see my challenging music. Then again and again as we saw a hill ahead we would have to pull our handcart over, knowing it would take all our strength.

I think it took the most courage of all to hear President Ogden bring us the news, that we would have to leave a day early. Even though we were all soaked to the bone, and the missionaries told us there would be a foot of snow in the morning, no one wanted to leave. Yet, we once again pulled all our courage and faith we had left, and ran into the raging, never ending storm to our tattered ripped apart campsite and loaded the handcarts one last time to pull them to the buses. I had never before in my life, and probably never will see again so much determination and fire in so many young teenagers eyes. Over the course of the trip, the spirit was so strong. The veil was so thin, and everyone felt so close to God. Many people saw visions of the pioneers, and we could feel their presence among us, walking with us, and daring us to take one more step, and giving us the courage to do so. The young men weren't just young men anymore. They were like the Valley boys who rescued the Martin handcart company. They were lifelines again and again to the young women. I am not sure how many times I was offered the only dry clothes they had left, or how many boys surrounded my tent holding it up through the storm so I would have somewhere sheltered to sleep that night. No one wanted to leave the place where so many miracles happened, but we gathered our courage, and helped each other load the buses, and come back to the comfort of our homes, back to the sunshine of Lehi, back to our real families, back to dry clothes and shoes, back to home. I found even though we were no longer in the incredible place, we still had the lasting friendships, the lasting memories, the lasting courage, and the lasting faith we had gained there.

We're Here!

Finally! We are here! Summer has arrived! I do not have to go back to school until August. Hallelujah. This year has been really great, but I'm sooooo glad its over! The last three days have been filled with nothing but fun, fun, and more fun! To sum it all up it consisted of burning homework, lighting things on fire, eating non stop, a long, scenic 7 mile walk all over Lehi, secret clubs, peach-os, stake dances, yearbooks, writing novels, fun inside jokes, picnics, sitting on power boxes, losing to Parker, Trevor, and Jason at eagle crest :(, tramps, picking out dieing spots, phone calls about dogs, me falling asleep while Parker tells us stories, and much much more! Please don't try to understand. My friends are great, and I love them!

Are we there yet?

I remember when I was little asking my parents "Are we there yet?" every five minutes in the car. In fact I still do that sometimes. But right now, I am not talking about a car ride. There is something much, much more tedious. I am talking about school. Oh school. I miss summer! I miss sleeping in everyday, I miss going boating and swimming. I miss being tan and wearing shorts. I miss not being stressed over tests. I miss girls camp, and youth conference, and flaming gorge, and all the other fun trips we get to take in the summer. I miss laying on a blanket in the grass reading a book all day long. I miss pulling all nighters on weekdays. In general, I miss summer. I have 1 1/2 more wretched weeks of school. I don't know if I can make it! All my classes have finals and the teachers are perfectly content on killing us off-one by one. So once again I ask- summer, are we there yet?

Izzie

There is a new addition to the family! We brought home a cute little Yorkie on Saturday! Her name is Izzie or Isabel when she is being naughty. She is sooooo adorable and so much fun to have around. She currently weighs 2 1/2 lbs. She is the runt in her litter and we connected. I know just how she feels :) When she is full grown, she will be about 5 lbs. She is my perfect dream lap dog. I can put bows in her hair and paint her toenails. Not only this, but she is very much my dog. Small dogs tend to bond to one member of the family and she knows just who her mom is :) The only down side to this is I can no longer be anywhere by myself. She feels the need to follow me around. Braiden calls her my second shadow. Oh well, what more can one ask for?

"Shoes" Allie!

Its that time of year again! Yes, student body elections at Lehi Jr. are just around the corner. This year, I am running for 9th grade president. For any of you who don't know, last year my campaign slogan was "Pick me, Allie!" I had pictures of picking my nose and it was pretty gross. I still get comments about it occasionally. So this year, I decided to take a step up from nose picking, and that step up would be shoes!

This weekend, Amanda and Maddie came over to my house and we had a "shoe party." We took pictures for my election posters. We also discovered three things at this event, feet are not very attractive to take pictures of, I have promise as a "foot model," and three girls put together have the grand total of 44 pairs of shoes all together. My brother and his friend Cameron almost passed out when they saw how many pairs of shoes there were. We took some pretty great pictures!

My slogan this year is "Shoes Allie!" I hope people think its as funny as my family does. We have to videotape a 30 second speech, but I'm doing a skit instead. There is, in fact, a song called "Shoes." It may be the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life. My skit will be to this song, and its going to be hysterical! I'll let you know how I do in the elections, but in the meantime, "Shoes Allie!" Every vote counts!

Just being Me!

I have been inspired! My best friend started a blog and she is an incredible writer! I decided I would like to pick up the talent so what is a better way to do it than to start a blog? As Maddie's traditional first post, here are 100 fun facts about me!
1. I have the bestest best friend in this whole wide world!
2. When Maddie and I are together, we speak in gibberish.
3. I love lotion.
4. I have a different lotion scent for every day of the week.
5. I won't drink milk unless its the chocolate kind.
6. I love the outdoors.
7. I love to water ski.
8. I love the summer.
9. Smiling is my hobby!
10. I am the 8th grade president at Lehi Jr. high.
11. I think being a pioneer is pretty great. Go pioneers!
12. Purple is my favorite color, and not because it is my school color.
13. I LOVE to laugh.
14. I love the smell of sunscreen.
15. Boating is my favorite thing to do.
16. You would never guess how great cheesy movie night is!
17. Big Bang theory is my favorite TV show!
18. Big Bang theory is the story of my life.
19. I love Taylor Swift!
20. I listen to Oldies quite frequently!
21. I have been in four plays.
22. Acting is my life!
23. I love to sing (that doesn't make me good at it.)
24. I sit in my sink when I do my make-up. Its not that weird, Maddie does it too!
25. I love soap.
26. I floss my teeth twice a day.
27. My name is Allison Elizabeth. (Not really, Maddie gave me my middle name because she thinks its pathetic that I don't have one.)
28. I love to dance!
29. I love ballroom dance!
30. I was an Edward fan until I saw Taylor Lautner in New Moon.
31. My closet is color coded.
32. I watch cheesy wedding shows when I am home alone and scared.
33. Say yes to the dress is my favorite cheesy wedding show.
34. Food Network is also great!
35. My biggest fear is getting kidnapped.
36. I forget what I'm talking about in the middle of sentences quite frequently.
37. I am absolutely terrible at grammar.
38. I could not spell to save my life!
39. I am in love with my bed.
40. Sleeping is what I do best.
41. I am terrible at directions. Braiden tells me I am like half a person when giving directions, Maddie is like half a person, and when you put us together, you get 1/8 of a person :) We have gotten him lost on more than one occasion....
42. A Midsummer Nights Dream is the best play I have ever been in!
43. I love fairies.
44. I love glitter!
45. I love sparkles.
46. I love clothes.
47. I love shoes.
48. I love princesses.
49. I love make-up.
50. I pretty much love being a girl.
51. If you lit a match in my bathroom, it would probably explode.
52. I love vanilla candles.
53. I have slept in until 1:00pm before.
54. I thought I would die when I was told I would have to wake up at 5:20am for ballroom practice every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
55. Disney is a brilliant man!
56. Ariel from The Little Mermaid was my childhood hero.
57. I did gymnastics for a really long, long, long, time.
58. I was a level 8 in gymnastics when I was 11.
59. When I did gymnastics I hated grips and I hated chalk.
60. I have run into screen glass doors before.
61. I am afraid of the fish in Utah lake.
62. My dad drives me over the dead fish in Utah lake when I am skiing, tubing, wake boarding, knee boarding, etc.
63. I am a die heart Utah fan! Go Utes!
64. I am more specifically a die heart red rocks fan! Go Utah gymnastics!
65. I am moving to Cancun with Maddie and we are going to be neighbors.
66. I am going to have a pond with a giant turtle named Stan in my backyard.
67. My pond is going to have a waterfall.
68. You will be able to swim in said pond.
69. "My friend," "My dear," "So you see," "Your a peach," and " Your my favorite!" are my favorite sayings.
70. I have the best parents in the entire universe!
71. My best friends name is Madison Amelia if you hadn't already figured that one out.
72. When Maddie and I go to the Utah gymnastics meets, we meet a lot of really cool old people.
73. Doughnut flippers are so stinkin' cool!
74. Maddie is probably laughing hysterically and no one else probably understands anything I have said.
75. I am extremely sarcastic.
76. Don't take anything I say personally, it was probably sarcasm.
77. I love the smell of burnt popcorn, but I don't like the taste.
78. I love fish.
79. I love crab.
80. My family has crab for Christmas dinner every year.
81. I am extremely ticklish!
82. I am 4' 11" and 1/4. I have to tack on the 1/4 because every 1/4 counts!
83. When I was little I wanted to wear glasses- not anymore.

84. I love hugs!

85. Chocolate is my favorite!

86. I am an honors student and its not nerdy so don't start talking!

87. My friends tell me I am paranoid about getting to class on time, its true but that's not a bad thing, is it?

88. When I am bored I do some really random things.

89. I love dogs, and cats, and I love puppies and kitties even more!

90. I didn't know there was this many things to tell about me.

91. I despise vacuuming!

92. I have only ever been to one haunted house and I will never go back!

93. I can't sleep with my closet door open.

94. I could be nocturnal.

95. I love sunglasses!

96. I am the queen of braking sunglasses!

97. I love little kids.

98. I have awful issues with vomit. I have stories if you ever want to hear them...

99. I could never be a doctor because of these issues.

100. I have the best family and friends and I love them all!

So there you have it! Me in a nutshell. I can't believe I made it clear to 100! I had no idea there were that many weird quirks about me. Oh well, I guess everyone else already knew I was really weird, so now you have it all laid out on paper!