Christmas Spirit

Merry Christmas everyone! I actually had a very nice, quiet Christmas. I never go anywhere exotic or do anything super special like some people. But that's ok. I enjoy spending time with my family.

A lot of times everyone gets caught up in the cookie baking, present wrapping, shopping part of Christmas. Christmas can be very stressful so sometimes it's nice that it's over. But I don't know about any of my readers out there, (is anyone out there?) but it didn't feel like Christmas at all this year until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we got a very beautiful snow. It was so magical and pretty and it finally felt like Christmas. But now Christmas is over and I've kind of lost my chance of being in the Christmas spirit.

Or have I? Of course, Christmas spirit isn't all about the cookies, present wrapping, and shopping right?  I was taught that Christmas spirit is believing Jesus was born on Christmas Day. I really do believe that, so maybe I haven't lost my chance. Jesus is with me everyday. So I guess I really do have Christmas spirit everyday.

We almost didn't make it to church on Christmas Eve. It was kind of hectic. We have to drive over a mountain to get to our church. Mountains and snow don't really mix. Especially when barley any plows have gone through. It's also a bit of a problem when you're already running behind and the road is closed and you have to go a different and longer way. To top it all off, your family has the music that everyone is suppose to sing in about 2 minutes and you're still inching your way along the snowy road. But anyway, we made it and everyone sang and everything turned out just fine!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Hurricane Sandy

Remember that crazy storm that happened about a month ago? Well I'm going to talk about it now :)
The day before the weekend of the storm, all of my teachers and classmates were talking about how terrible the storm would be, and how they had to prepare, bla bla bla. Well it turns out that that same weekend I had a lot of fun plans going on. So I refused to believe that anything, even a hurricane, would ruin my plans. I thought everyone was just over reacting and we would only get a little bit of rain and maybe some heavier winds than usual. Boy was I wrong.
Though only 1 of my plans were ruined (our towns annual halloween parade), the storm was much worse than I expected. Our area got hit worse than the other areas around us though. I probably jinxed it...
On Sunday night the school called and cancelled school for Monday and Tuesday. Monday during the day, nothing really happened. It just rained. But Monday night is when the craziness started. The lights in our house started flickering, the wind got crazy, and the radio was going beserk with bad weather announcements. So of course, my 7-year-old brother was scared and slept with me that night. The next morning when I woke up, our Internet and phone had been knocked out, but we still had power. We were actually one of the only houses on our street to keep power.
To cut to the chase, school was canceled almost all week because most of the schools were without power. I have to say, 4 days without Internet or phone are very boring, but at least we kept power. Most of our town had to go live with relatives or friends with power for the week. But school continued on Friday and everyone here is safe. I'm praying for all of the people who's homes and areas were devastated by the hurricane.

**the following pictures are: A) a tree that fell on my neighbors porch.
B) while we were off school, mom had to get us out of the house so we went to party city and Brady noticed this Justin Bieber display and looked at me and said "really..."
C) while we were on our adventure, mom took us to sweet frog! Our fret time since the beach. Yum :)

September/October 2012

I haven't blogged in ages. It always seems like that's how all my posts start out. So what has everyone been up to? I've been super busy! Everything started all at once and now I have no time for anything! So here's what I've been up to recently:
Breanna celebrated her 12th birthday! My little sister is growing up! She's a middle schooler now. We ride the same bus, get up at the same time, come home together everyday, etc. She's a really great kid, though. I love her so much.

Next, my best friends and I went to our freshman homecoming. It was SO MUCH FUN! I had a great time with my amazing friends. We danced, laughed, got all dressed up, and had the best time. We all can't wait until the winter formal!

We went to see my favorite singer ever!! I watched him all throughout American Idol and knew he would win! I finally got to see him and it was an amazing experience. Scotty McCreery! He is so talented and has such a great personality.

Ashley celebrated her 10th birthday! My baby sister is in the double digits! That's a big deal! She's still super tiny and petite, but she's growing up to have a great (but particular, much like her grandmother) personality. She will go far, I can tell. Love her <3

We spontaneously bought an apple tree! Dad, Brady, and I all got in the truck one day and picked out an apple tree. Our little tree is happily growing in the backyard.

Last, we all went trick or treating. I decided to dress as Mary Poppins and my three best friends were Katniss Everdeen (from The Hunger Games), The Mad Hatter, and Superman. Brady was a cowboy, Ashley was an old man, and Breanna was thing 1 (my cousin was thing 2)

I hope everyone had a great September/October and an even better November!

Summer Closure

It's the third day of school and I'm already longing for summer again. I'm frustrated with my homework and can feel a hard working year ahead. But I also think it's going to be one of the best years I've had. I missed all my friends and those classes where someone does something hilarious and the whole class just bursts into laughter. But anyway, here's what I did the last few days of summer...

My friends and I went tubing down the creek for the first time (notice the 3 large tubes in the back?) It was a very interesting experience, involving cow manure, but anyway, it was still a blast!

My baby cousin, Denae Brielle was born. She's so tiny! I can't believe how small she is! But isn't she sweet?

Breanna came up to me one day and said, "Water is so much more fun in a mug!" Haha, I died.

And lastly, I got 3 new pairs of shoes! Moccasins, sneakers, and my personal favorite, cowboy boots!

Note: Sorry for the bad quality pictures. iPod's aren't exactly pro material.

Summer Days Gone Away

*Sigh* I can't believe summer is over in 2 weeks! Exactly 2 weeks from now I'll be sitting in a classroom as a freshman. So I'll spend these last 2 weeks to have fun and forget about math equations.
This month of August has absolutely flown by! Same as the entire summer! Here's a little update on what I've been up to this summer.

My best friends, Rachel and Violet and I have been getting together a lot! Lots of swimming at Rachel's house. I love Rachel's face in this picture!

My 11th dance recital was this summer! I had such a blast! I love these girls :)

I spent a lot of time with my adorable cousins Blake and Ava! I can never get enough of these little cuties :) Blake wearing my goggles, and Ava in my shades!

I became completely obsessed with this amazing band, One Direction. I know it's very teenage girlish of me, but hey, I am a teenage girl after all.

I went to the beach for the first time in 7 years! This is the back bay at our beautiful house.

Here's our gorgeous patio and pool!

We spent many days at the beach! It was my favorite part! The water was amazing! As you can tell, Blake loved it :)

Ferris wheel at the beach!

My favorite! Blake, Brady, and Ava!

And lastly, our US women's soccer team won the gold!! We were watching every second of it!!

Home

I'm really into writing poetry and short passages these days. Here's another I wrote today!

Home

Many people have different definitions of the word "home."
For one person, home is where they sleep every night.
Where they cook theirmeals and take a shower.
The place they can call their own.
For another person, home is where they grew up.
Where they learned to ride a bike, or swim, or do a cartwheel.
The place they can run to.
Maybe home is just a place where you feel like you belong.
Or maybe home is a foreign word.
The single thing you've been longing for.
Some people don't realize that the place they now call home is only temporary.
There is a place above the clouds, stars, and atmosphere.
Far away from our earthly lives.
It's not a house, or apartment, or shack.
In fact, no one really knows what it's like.
But I know it's a place where you don't need to sleep, eat, or shower.
A place where there is neverending love.
No hate, no tears.
A place where you always belong.
A place called Heaven.

Simplicity: A Poem

as we get older, life becomes so complicated. it's so easy to take everything for granted. those simple, childish things we used to love have been put away in the attic along with many of our childish thoughts. but sometimes I like to go back. back to when things weren't so complicated. back to when everything was easy. you didn't have to look perfect all the time because nobody cared. mom and dad were your heroes. stupid was a bad word. when you were hurt, it could be fixed with a band aid and a kiss. studying was a foreign word. you didn't care what people thought about you. but most of all, no one held grudges, or started pointless drama, or or broke your heart. life was simple. sometimes I just like to remember the days when we were nothing but happy. 

Recently...

I haven't blogged in FOREVER! Whoops... Well anyhow, here's what's been going on in my life. Enjoy these 5 recent photo's.
Random side note: I just realized that my blog title "Friends.Family.Everything." is spelled wrong. I forgot the "Y" in "Everything". I'll try to figure out how to fix that!

I just had my last dance competition of the season; bittersweet. I love competing and being with my dance girls, but I like to have a break. At my comp. this weekend, I won three 2nd places. In the picture above, I won Gold, High Gold, and Platinum!! Triple Yay!!

My dad took me to a Kerri Roberts concert for my birthday (which is May 16th..oh and ignore the picture quality). Kerri Roberts is a Christian artist and she signed myCD! She's an absolutely amazing singer! Exciting!

 Good times at dance...Lindsay and Alexis decided that we needed to keep hydrated, so they bought a trillion drinks. (:

This is my friend, Michelle, and I at dance.

To end it all, I edited this picture of Ava playing in the sand. She's cute (:

Questions

life begins with questions. 
it begins the moment we can talk. 
why?
one simple word that opens so many doors. 
questions are the key. 
they turn a blurry world crystal clear. 
some questions can be answered simply. 
where is my jacket?
what's 16+25?
how did you do that?
but as we grow, so do our minds. 
the questions get more complicated. 
we have bigger decisions to make. 
more obstacles in front of us. 
the paths get more misleading. 
the questions are no longer simply answered. 
should I go to that party?
should I tell that person how I really feel?
should I try drugs?
what college do I go to?
will you marry me?
life never stops challenging us. 
it begins and ends with questions.  

This is a poem I wrote. Just thought I'd share.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

National Anthem update: The local baseball team office called today! I'm in! They're going to give me a date soon. I'm very excited! I sang the anthem for this team 2 years ago and it was very fun and scary. You have to go in the middle of the field. The one time I sang there were 5,000 people!! One of their busiest nights of the season! But when I get nervous, I just tell myself that celebrities do this all the time and that I shouldn't be afraid. Just thought I'd give an update! If you want to see my interview from my last post, click here !

Only The Beginning

A very exciting thing in my future career happened this weekend! I heard on the radio that they were having try-outs to sing the National Anthem for a local baseball team. I've done this in the past and enjoyed it so I decided to try again. The try-outs were held at the mall by one of the popular country stations in this area. When I got there, there weren't very many people there because I was one of the last to arrive (surprise, surprise). I wasn't really that nervous.
I was so excited because I saw the morning DJ's for the radio station! I listen to them all the time and there they were! It was very exciting. They announced my name and  I sang. I think I couldn've done better, but I did pretty well. But the exciting part came after. I was getting ready to leave, when a lady came over and told me that she was from a local newspaper and wanted to interview me! It was so cool! But some of my answers weren't that great because I do bad under pressure haha. But when she asked what kind of music I listened to, I said country and she said that she could tell because I had a country vibe in my voice! That's the biggest compliment anyone could give me because I've always wanted to be a country singer! Hopefully this won't be my last interview and it's only the beginning.

What's Up?

What's up everyone? I've noticed not many people have been posting blogs. Do you have the same excuse as me? Well if you do, your excuse must be not enough interesting things happening in your life. I hate to bore all of you with the ordinary life of Lauren, but Sara so badly wants a blog. So here it goes.
My week consists of...
Monday- waking up early (I hate Mondays), school, homework, computer, outside if a nice day, and The Voice at 8pm. :)
Tuesday- same thing, but Dance Moms and American Idol instead of The Voice..haha.
Wednesday- gets slightly more interesting. school, showstoppers (show choir) after school, modern class, then American Idol.
Thursday- most interesting day. school, dance from 4:30-7:30, American Idol
Friday- school, sometimes with my friends for the weekend, or nothing.
Saturday- up early for dance team (don't I deserve a day to sleep in?)
Sunday- church and Sunday school.
Sounds interesting doesn't it? If you haven't noticed, I'm obsessed with the performing reality TV shows, mostly American Idol. I so badly want to try out for American Idol. But recently, my friend told me that if you make top 24, you can never try out again! Did anyone else not know this? That totally ruined my day.
Does anyone have any ideas of how to spice up my life? Jumping out of airplanes? Eating sushi? Let me know! See you next time in The Great Ordinary Life of Lauren!

Passion

Everyone has a passion for something. Whether it's soccer, art, taking pictures, or writing, everyone has something they just love to do, whether your good at it, or not. Well mine is dance. I just realized that I rarely talk about dance on this blog. Well dance is my passion.
I've been dancing since I was 3 years old. Ballet, just like every little girl does. Ever since then, I've just loved to dance. I'm going on my 11th year of dance! I currently take jazz, modern, and am on the dance team.
Usually every Saturday, we have dance team practices. I'm doing a duet, trio, and the production number. This year, we have a large dance team. Well, I shoud say we have a large dance team at one of our studios. In our one studio, we have about 10-15 girls, varrying in age from 5-15. But at my studio, we have 6 dance team members.
There's just something about dancing that you can't put into words. It makes you feel so alive and so free and I'm very happy to share my passion with my few readers. :)