My BYU written prompt. Let me know what you think.....
1. Describe any special interests and/or passions and give examples of how you have developed knowledge and/or creativity in these areas.
For the last year and a half, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with a charity organization called Operation Smile. Operation Smile is a nationwide charity that goes to underprivileged countries and does cleft lip ,cleft pallet surgeries and other facial deformities on kids whose families cannot afford the operations, with no cost to them. As a student, I was very blessed with the chance to go to Guadalajara, Mexico , with my father, and Operation Smile to really be part of the whole experience. Seeing all these kids who have gone through so much in their short lives really motivated me to get involved and help make a difference in these kids lives. Since then, my whole perspective on life has changed. I have sense then started 2 high school chapters of Operation Smile, and 1 middle school chapter. I have gotten really involved with all of the fundraising and leading these clubs to success. It has been so much fun for me and I have learned so much about how to lead a team of my peers, who I am, what my purpose is. I am a much more confident, spiritual and motivated person because of my experience working with Operation Smile.
2. Describe a setback you have encountered in your life. Explain how you have handled the situation and what you have learned from it.
As a Junior in high school, I had my whole senior year figured out. I was already involved with a lot of school leadership teams, I had great , life-long friends, I loved my involvement with the school's theatre program, I had started my Operation Smile club that I was excited to continue with. And then, in one small discussion, my "pretty little picture" lifestyle came crumbling down. My dad had lost his job, and had found a new one in San Francisco California. I resisted the idea the entire way. I told my parents that there was no way I was about to leave. I had grandparents who were healthy and lived only a short distance away, I would make to commute. I lived my life like nothing was changing. I got myself on the Peer Leadership team, the Yearbook Staff, The Drama Presidency, in the Advanced Drama class, Advanced Choir class, and I was on track to graduate. Nothing could ever get me to leave. Until I made one small decision to give California a chance for the summer. So I made the journey, and there was just something inside me that knew I needed to stay. I started to worry because I knew that my heart was softening to the idea of staying in California. My head and my heart were each telling me different things. But when I took the time to look outside my little bubble, I knew that California was where I was supposed to be. I realized that I need to be more open to ideas. I needed to trust god more fully and I needed to learn to look for the light on the dark days. I learned that we don't always choose the hand we are dealt, but if we have a good attitude, and we just close our eyes and leap, then sometimes, you find yourself happier then you had yourself on track to be.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Remander of my summer.
I have done a pretty crummy job of keeping my blog updated, so i thought I should probably update everyone on how the rest of my summer went. Enjoy!
My summer REALLY began mid July. The Groom Family (From our ward in Utah) was in town (we spent the fourth of july with them if you recall.....) and one of the last days I spent in California, we went to Great America with Heather and her boys Andrew and Carter
This is us with COSMO from Fairly Odd Parents (Please notice my AWESOME aviator glasses..... R.I.P )
Another fun thing we did at great America was see a fun BMX show. They had some really cool bikers and skaters.
A few days later, me and lauren took a plane by ourselves to Utah. It was kinda scary, but we did really well. It was good to figure it out while I at least had lauren with me, rather that be ALL alone. Grandma and Grandpa Kenney picked me and lauren up at the airport, and we all drove up to rexburg to see Cindy and Alex.
Drive Up to Rexburg:
We stayed with Alex and Cindy in their cute little apartment. It was SO SUPER hot up there, So that night, Me, Lauren, Brianne, Alex and Cindy all went mini golfing. I didn't do half bad! Alex actually TAUGHT us how to play, which helped us a lot. I think we all enjoyed it a lot more when we weren't just blindly hitting the ball anymore.
While there, I also got my ONLY snowcone of MY ENTIRE summer. Which is sad. But MAN it was so yummy!
We decided to pay 10 bucks extra to get unlimited access to the fun bounce houses they had there. And I am so glad we did. It ended up being the best part of the night! It was so fun to bounce around like little kids again! It was actually a lot of exercise and we burned so many calories!
The next day was Sunday, so we all went to Alex and Cindy's ward, then we went to the Rexburg temple. It was such a beautiful, blue day. And the temple looked so pretty.
Monday we drove down and droped Lauren and Brianne off at Retreat for girls. While Lauren was at Retreat for Girls I got to spend a week with my friends! It was so great! It felt like nothing had changed. It ended up being perfect timing because I got to go to the opening night of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince with my friends! It was such a blast! We all had Harry Potter shirts, glasses and wands! Plus everyone in the theater was all dressed up! It was one of the most fun nights of my life!
Me and apple:
Jessica, Sara, Heidi, Kelsey, Erica, Apple
I spend most nights at my grandma kenneys house. Christina and David are living there for now, so I had so much fun playing with baby jasmine. She got so big in the 2 months I had been gone! She is sooooo BEAUTIFUL. I had a lot of fun playing with her.
Me and Kelsey and Apple also got to go to Thanksgiving Point Deli, which I had missed so much.
The next week I got to go to EFY at BYU PROVO with Lauren, Johnny, and Camden. None of us where in the same groups, but it was still a blast!
Me and one of my best EFY friends Christy.
Me and one of my Counselors Jenny
all the girls in my group, "Small and Simple"
We flew home that Saturday from EFY and left the next monday for girls camp. It was fun to become closer with the girls in my ward.
Lauren, Becca (the only other girl Laurens age) and Paige. (who is in a different ward, but good friends with Lauren)
At girls camp, I made good friends with a girl my age in my ward name Arianna. She and I get along well and I believe this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship!
Laurens aged groups went on a 3 day long hike. When she got back she was CAKED with mud
OUr theme for girls camp was SO CUTE. It was Dr. Suess Themed and the title was "I will seek him here or there, I will seek him everywhere." One of the leaders wrote this super cute rhyme about the gospel all in doctor suess rhymes
Arianna, and my new Bishop "Bishop Bromley". He is sooooo great. I love him so much already! He is so nice.
All the girls spend some free time to quilt each day, and for each 20 minute time periods they spend quilting they get to put their names in a drawing to win the quilts they quilt that day. By the end of their 6 years at girls camp, each girl has their quilt and everyone brings their quilts each year for camp fire and such. Most of them were rather..... interesting (for example, i wish i had a picture of mine, but mine was all CATS) but they were fun to have anyway because EVERYONES blankets were.... interesting.
For our Faith Experience we re-enacted the story of the Ten virgins. I was a foolish Virgin. (I know I know....)
Each "level" (Age of girls) had a flag and a Dr. Suess mascot. We were the oldest girls (YCL's) but instead they call us the Liahonas. and we were the Cat and the Hat. Our color was purple.
All the Liahonas on our end of the week trip to the river.
The NEXT week (I know..... i was crazy) I went to a leadership conference for Operation Smile in Virgina. ALL BY MYSELF. It was sooo scary.
We stayed at a beautiful campus.
I won an award for starting my club this last year. It was so exciting!
There were kids from all over. These are some of the students who came all the way from CHINA! they sold some really cool stuff at our cultural experiance.
Kids from Panama. (There were also many kids from Ireland, Mexico, Hundurias, and other countries)
One of the other presidents from Utah was also there. She is from Bountiful.
At the leadership conference we also got to go to Bushe Gardens. I had never been there before and it was SO CUTE. It was decorated very quaintly. Plus the crowds were down because it POURED the whole day.
(Ireland.... land.....) :
Some of the boys that had long hair, said if we could donate 2000 dollars from just the students at the conference they would shave their heads!
The NEXT week, we had a very fun week with Grandma, and Cousins and Gates counsins in Palm Desert at a very fancy Resort. There was a cute little Boat cruise that we all took together.
View from the Boat ride. A VERY beautiful place.
Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it very much because i got SO sick and I recovered from it JUST in time to start school (lucky me. ) . I will soon update all about school, but I want to get some pictures first!
P.S. Good job making it all the way through the post!
My summer REALLY began mid July. The Groom Family (From our ward in Utah) was in town (we spent the fourth of july with them if you recall.....) and one of the last days I spent in California, we went to Great America with Heather and her boys Andrew and Carter
This is us with COSMO from Fairly Odd Parents (Please notice my AWESOME aviator glasses..... R.I.P )
Another fun thing we did at great America was see a fun BMX show. They had some really cool bikers and skaters.
A few days later, me and lauren took a plane by ourselves to Utah. It was kinda scary, but we did really well. It was good to figure it out while I at least had lauren with me, rather that be ALL alone. Grandma and Grandpa Kenney picked me and lauren up at the airport, and we all drove up to rexburg to see Cindy and Alex.Drive Up to Rexburg:
We stayed with Alex and Cindy in their cute little apartment. It was SO SUPER hot up there, So that night, Me, Lauren, Brianne, Alex and Cindy all went mini golfing. I didn't do half bad! Alex actually TAUGHT us how to play, which helped us a lot. I think we all enjoyed it a lot more when we weren't just blindly hitting the ball anymore.
While there, I also got my ONLY snowcone of MY ENTIRE summer. Which is sad. But MAN it was so yummy!
We decided to pay 10 bucks extra to get unlimited access to the fun bounce houses they had there. And I am so glad we did. It ended up being the best part of the night! It was so fun to bounce around like little kids again! It was actually a lot of exercise and we burned so many calories!
The next day was Sunday, so we all went to Alex and Cindy's ward, then we went to the Rexburg temple. It was such a beautiful, blue day. And the temple looked so pretty.
Monday we drove down and droped Lauren and Brianne off at Retreat for girls. While Lauren was at Retreat for Girls I got to spend a week with my friends! It was so great! It felt like nothing had changed. It ended up being perfect timing because I got to go to the opening night of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince with my friends! It was such a blast! We all had Harry Potter shirts, glasses and wands! Plus everyone in the theater was all dressed up! It was one of the most fun nights of my life!Me and apple:
Jessica, Sara, Heidi, Kelsey, Erica, Apple
I spend most nights at my grandma kenneys house. Christina and David are living there for now, so I had so much fun playing with baby jasmine. She got so big in the 2 months I had been gone! She is sooooo BEAUTIFUL. I had a lot of fun playing with her.
Me and Kelsey and Apple also got to go to Thanksgiving Point Deli, which I had missed so much.
The next week I got to go to EFY at BYU PROVO with Lauren, Johnny, and Camden. None of us where in the same groups, but it was still a blast!Me and one of my best EFY friends Christy.
Me and one of my Counselors Jenny
all the girls in my group, "Small and Simple" 
We flew home that Saturday from EFY and left the next monday for girls camp. It was fun to become closer with the girls in my ward.Lauren, Becca (the only other girl Laurens age) and Paige. (who is in a different ward, but good friends with Lauren)
At girls camp, I made good friends with a girl my age in my ward name Arianna. She and I get along well and I believe this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship!
Laurens aged groups went on a 3 day long hike. When she got back she was CAKED with mud
OUr theme for girls camp was SO CUTE. It was Dr. Suess Themed and the title was "I will seek him here or there, I will seek him everywhere." One of the leaders wrote this super cute rhyme about the gospel all in doctor suess rhymes
Arianna, and my new Bishop "Bishop Bromley". He is sooooo great. I love him so much already! He is so nice.
All the girls spend some free time to quilt each day, and for each 20 minute time periods they spend quilting they get to put their names in a drawing to win the quilts they quilt that day. By the end of their 6 years at girls camp, each girl has their quilt and everyone brings their quilts each year for camp fire and such. Most of them were rather..... interesting (for example, i wish i had a picture of mine, but mine was all CATS) but they were fun to have anyway because EVERYONES blankets were.... interesting.
For our Faith Experience we re-enacted the story of the Ten virgins. I was a foolish Virgin. (I know I know....)
Each "level" (Age of girls) had a flag and a Dr. Suess mascot. We were the oldest girls (YCL's) but instead they call us the Liahonas. and we were the Cat and the Hat. Our color was purple.
All the Liahonas on our end of the week trip to the river.
The NEXT week (I know..... i was crazy) I went to a leadership conference for Operation Smile in Virgina. ALL BY MYSELF. It was sooo scary.We stayed at a beautiful campus.
I won an award for starting my club this last year. It was so exciting!
There were kids from all over. These are some of the students who came all the way from CHINA! they sold some really cool stuff at our cultural experiance.
Kids from Panama. (There were also many kids from Ireland, Mexico, Hundurias, and other countries)One of the other presidents from Utah was also there. She is from Bountiful.
At the leadership conference we also got to go to Bushe Gardens. I had never been there before and it was SO CUTE. It was decorated very quaintly. Plus the crowds were down because it POURED the whole day.(Ireland.... land.....) :
Some of the boys that had long hair, said if we could donate 2000 dollars from just the students at the conference they would shave their heads!
The NEXT week, we had a very fun week with Grandma, and Cousins and Gates counsins in Palm Desert at a very fancy Resort. There was a cute little Boat cruise that we all took together.
View from the Boat ride. A VERY beautiful place.
Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it very much because i got SO sick and I recovered from it JUST in time to start school (lucky me. ) . I will soon update all about school, but I want to get some pictures first!P.S. Good job making it all the way through the post!
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