I can relate......

one a day

Men That I love, Yet will probably never see in the flesh.

I honestly have a boring blog. I do. I wish I was more talented at writting and being witty enough to have people rush to read my blog posts every day, but HECK, I can't even write on my blog weekly. In fact, I have a HUGE, LONG blog post waiting in my "Save drafts" about Retreat for girls, that I am just waiting to get the motivation to finish. It will come one day.

But I thought I would take a break from my normal routine of just talking about what's going on in my life. I am not usually the "Swooning fan girl" type, but I had this sudden urge to publish a list of all the celebrity men I tend to love. Don't ask me why, because I don't have a good answer.

Men that I love: (In no order)

1. Justin Long-

Movie that I loved him most:He's just not that into in which his character is quite adorable.

Movies of his I want to see: He has a new movie with Drew Barrymore called "Going the Distance" (Which I wish desperately wasn't rated R).

Apparently he is also in Alvin and the Chipmunks the squeakuel. (No desire... sorry bud)

2. James McAvoy

Movies that I loved him most: Penelope and Becoming Jane (Which could quite possibly be my two favorite movies of all time)

Movies of his I want to see: Atonement (Also Rate R.... Phooey)

He also plays Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

3. (My Embarrassing guilty pleasure) Zac Efron

Movies that I love him in: Obvious CLASSIC High school musical , Hairspray , 17 again

Movies of his I want to see: Charlie St. Cloud , Which has an awesome trailor:

4. Hugh Dancy

Movies that I love him in: Ella Enchanted and Confessions of a Shopaholic and This photo shoot in Glamour magazine that I drooled over for weeks, ripped out and put on my wall:

Here is a teaser:

5. Joseph Gorden-Levitt

Movies I love him in: 500 Days of summer and 3rd Rock from the Sun

Movies I want to see him in: Inception and rumored to be in Batman 3

I think he is one of the most under appreciated actors but I bet he gets really big when he is in Batman 3. Let it be known NOW that I thought he was talented before everyone else.

I can't think of anymore right now. This whole blog post is very uncharacteristic of me. I don't usually get googly eyed over celebrities. But there ya have it. Hopefully more Likes and Dislikes blog posts in the future! (Do you like this idea? or would you rather just hear about my day's? Leave a comment to let me know)

Retreat for Girls Session 1

Graduation

It began with me waking my self up with this quote in my head:

"Morning....Oh! It's Morning everyone! TODAY'S THE DAY! The sun is SHINING! The tank is CLEAN! and we are getting out of here..... *gasp!* the tank is clean.... THE TANK IS CLEAN!"

Over and over and OVER.

At 9 A.M. we had grad practice. Hot. Tedious.

Then that night it was time!

It comes to the point.

Graduation.

Senior year is coming to a close. Only a few more weeks, and high school is over. It's weird- Last year, I would have done ANYTHING to graduate. And this year, it feels like I am not.

Maybe its because I feel as though I HAVE graduated. I feel like my Utah/ Lehi High school life was my "High School" years. I feel like I have moved on along with all the "last years (09) graduates". Like many of the College kids, my life gone in a different direction than the kids at Lehi.

I got the chance to visit for a few days, I was amazed how many of my good friends were caught up in the same old "high school'' drama. I might sound like schmuck for saying this, but : I AM SO OVER IT.

Its nice, to be over it.

Today, all my childhood friends and adolescent peers Graduated from high school. My head reels a little bit. I mean, they are DONE.

My philosophy this year has been to try and live with no regrets. Be here now.
I began wishing I was right next to them in their purple and white graduation gowns, and had to remind myself: You only have 2 more weeks.

2 weeks to enjoy the people you have been blessed to spend (if only) 1 year with.

I need to make the best of it.

And so, the countdown begins.

Adult.

Well, it's finally happened. On April 22nd I officially turned 18 years old.

Wow.

18 seems big, doesn't it?

On my birthday me and my 100 person choir embarked on a tour to Santa Monica, CA (about six/ seven hours south of where I am now). We did so many fun things:

First thing we did was do an exchange (They sing for us, we sing for them) on Friday Monday with John Burroughs High School

If you are smart enough to click on the link, you will realize that we were a LITTLE intimidated.

Olivera street:



Where I bought myself my new best friend:
PONCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!




Warner Brothers Studios:



The set of F.R.I.E.N.D.S Ford Anglea from Harry Potter 2


THE tower


My Pod. "pod pod pod pod!"






We got to see Chicago:



The Universal Studios City Walk:





Beach, Church, Avatar, My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding, and much much more!

This week my parents are in Hawaii for their 20th Wedding Anniversery. (Which is so super awesome). so I have become the Mama Hen at the Patterson nest for the week.

I also recently found out I got the job at Retreat for Girls for this summer, which I am so super excited about. I have been dreaming about being a counselor since I was a participant, and this is my first year I have been old enough to apply. My DREAM job. Anyone who has a mormon daughter 12-15 NEEDS to send their daughter to retreat for girls this summer. So I have training in Utah in like a week and a half, A few weeks later is Graduation.

I can't believe It has come so close.

Full circle

For those of you who don't know, I am currently doing a play at the high school called "Twelve Angry Women" (12 Angry Men- but with women--- I know. I just BLEW your mind!) Its been really crazy, but really fun. I have been so super busy.

Now last night was the opening night of our show. Before the show we like have a little quality "bonding/feel good time". We all sad around in a circle and said one compliment about on of the girls in the cast. It was all very tender.

As we were going around the circle, a strange thought came to mind.

It had been one year.



Almost exactly one year ago, (The first week of April) Was the week that my school was doing Children of Eden.


Children of Eden has a very tender spot in my heart. First of all- It was one of my most favorite plays I have ever been apart of. The message of the story was touching and there were so many inspirational lines of the play (including the one at the top of my blog "every moment of our lives is the beginning")

At the time, a specific line was prevalent to my life. In the Garden of Eden, God makes Adam choose between staying in the garden with him, or being cast out with Eve. Later on in the play Cane makes Abel choose between running away with his brother or staying behind with his parents. The line "Oh father, please don't make me choose, either way, it's more than I can bare to loose. Either way its ripping out my heart. This choice is tearing me apart."

The line honestly could have been my motto at the time.

The week we preformed Children of Eden, my parents, Lauren, and Ricky came to Danville to look around and try to figure out where we should move. I guess the move to California had been on my mind a lot because for the first time, I founding myself questioning whither I would stay in Utah for my Senior year.

I was already quite aware that my parents were making the move, but up to that point I was DETERMINED to stay behind.
I was happy. I loved everything about living in Utah. I had good friends. And I loved the theater department in Utah.

The opening night of Children of eden we did a acting excersize where our director asked us to connect with all those that we interact with (In an 80 person cast) during the play. At the end of the excersize I found my best friend, who I actually didn't interact with all the much in the play. But she stopped me to hug me. As we were hugging we both began to cry. I was having a hard time getting a hold of myself because all I could think was "What if I don't come back in the fall? How could I leave? I have a LIFE here. I can't just pick up and LEAVE."

I had a family. A theater family. That actually meant a LOT to me. I loved every member of that cast. "How could I be done?" I asked myself. "If i move away I could never have what I have here. I could never do theater with anybody else. "

They were my first thoughts of doubt.

As you all know, I didn't come back. I stayed in California. And leaving my theater family behind was one of the hardest choices I made.

It was a hard move. really hard.
But life went on. I kept saying "I don't want to do theater. It won't be the same, and it will only make me sad to not do it with my theater family."

But after 3 weeks at a new school I caved. I couldn't do it. The stage was calling my name. So one day after school I went to talk to the Drama teacher at my new school and basically BEGGED him to let me audition for his advanced drama class.
And something amazing happened.
I got in.

It felt like a sadness weight had been lifted off my chest. For the first time since the move i felt at home. I finally felt like I could get used to california.

I loved it. The people were fun and exciting and new. In fact. they were hilarious and super talented.

And now- almost a year after children of eden - I am back to opening night. Im on the stage. And I found my way home. A new home- yes. But still home.

and If there is anything that the 2008-2009 Musical Dance Theater Class taught me, was that "Home is where the heart is."

So a year ago, I left my family on stage.
and now- a year later I have found a new family.
A family I have learn to love in as many ways as I loved my old one.
And exactly a year later. I return to the stage.

In English this week....

In my English class, we just finished reading and annotating "Catcher in the Rye". It was a pretty good book, but I thought it was a little overated. The ending was too abrupt, and the story line didn't really GO anywhere. I can't really figure out why its to popular, but whatever. I am not in charge of what should be famous and what shouldn't be.

Moving on.

We are not watching a movie in english that is rated "R". (Welcome to California)Our teacher explained that it was mainly for language but we still needed to get a sign parents permission form. I was torn, because I knew my teacher wouldn't show us a movie TOO out of control, and that there HAD to be a reason she was showing it in class, but at the same time, I had friends in my class that knew I was mormon and if the subject of watching inappropriate movies came up agian, I didn't want to have to go through the neverending process of explaining why THIS movie was okay, but not the NEW movie. So I decieded against it.

I am pretty happy with my choice. I don't really feel like I am missing anything. The only really negative thing to say about the situation, it that right this moment, i am locked by myself in the teacher louge, (Which luckily i have computer access) and I can think of about fifty eleven things I COULD be doing, if I had spare time at home. But no, I am stuck here at school. Waste of time..... barg barg barg (The Senioritis sets in)

One thing I wanted to share with you guys it this fun new website I found.
www.bookmooch.com
Its so fun for readers. Trade books FOR FREE (except of the price of shipping) I have gotten addicted. I have already sent two books to new owners (Books that i didn't really care about) and I have two coming in the mail. And for those two books I paid a little over 5 bucks to send. Its awesome.
Hope everyone is well.!

What i just wasn't understanding.

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." -Alexander Graham Bell

First Semester of Senior year closes

Wow! I can't believe I am half way done with my Senior Year!!! Its been a crazy whirl-wind of new experiences, and new friends. I have been really bad about updating this blog, but I AM going to try to be better at it.
List of things that has happened in the last few months:

1)Visited Utah (twice!) for Thanksgiving (I got the chance to see my good friends preform AIDA at our school. It worked out well because lots of the Mormon families from California migrate to Utah for thanksgiving, and I got to hitch a free ride!) Over thanks giving me and a friend got to go to the awesome BYU vs. UTAH game! The picture to the left is when BYU fans stormed the field after we won in overtime!

The second time was with my family for Christmas.




Me and Lauren got to spend a lot of quality time with Camden and Sydney. It was a great christmas break and we had a lot of fun! We went to Dana's Wedding in Manti/ Ephrim we had a fun Cousins retreat, and me and camden went on a fun double date!
















While I was in Utah for Christmas I found out that I got into the Student Written Play called "Out of Focus". It was Written by students and directed by students. It was a really great experience, but we put it on in TWO weeks!! (The week we preformed was FINALS week) It was great because it was the first supporting lead I have ever gotten in a high school play. My character was so fun and quirky! I had a great time doing it!








































This last weekend, my young women leader took all the laurels to her beach house in Monterey! It was so nice to have a nice weekend with not homework, finals done, and for me no more play to worry about! So relaxing!

BIDEOS!!!

A year and a half ago, all my friends went on a school trip to NYC. I couldn't afford to go, and was really bummed about it. But I told my friends to video every moment of their trip.
At the beginning of each video, they would all yell "BIDEOOOOOOOO" and then proceed with the video. It was quite amusing. so here are some of my Bideos I want to you all, so you can get a little taste of my life.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jxdTOQnqY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjjL2ZnXdE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv6BhRcGPFY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJZIK3NAHM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnZGvhHKp1s

Do You know what I love?

Apple.:)

My BYU application

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.

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!