I'll be anything you ask, and more...

The best thing you can be is..... yourself.

Crawledge.

Life is just going by SO fast! I can't believe it at all! People keep telling me that first quarter is almost over, and I just can't believe it. I'm just stunned at how quick life is passing by.

So many of my friends are in College, and they say that they love it! I am so excited, but I'm nervous at the same time! I cannot wait to get out there, but I'm scared too. I'm worried about scholarships, getting into college, being split up from my best friends, and my family.

Another thing... Holy Flip! What is up with this wedding bug? SO many people are getting married! I feel like someone new gets married every weekend! My cousin Teila, who I played with throughout all of my childhood years, is getting married on Oct. 29th! I am so excited for her, but it's so weird to think! I cannot believe that she's even old enough to get married!

I feel like everything that I've grown to know and love is coming to an end, and I'm really afraid. I'm really afraid, but I know that with every ending comes a new beginning...  and while I am nowhere near ready to leave High School, I know that whatever happens is going to be a great new experience.

You've begun to feel like home. ♥

I figured that I should probs make an actually actual post... you know, about life and stuff? All I ever do is post a picture and a quote, and that's it... and I'm getting bored of myself. So here's what's been goin' down. :)

Football games have been AMAZING this year. :) I have only gone to three or four, but they are so much fun! Our student section is louder than ever, and every game that I've been to, we have won! I love it so much! I don't think we've lost to any team in our region! Loveee it! Oh... and the Governor game to our last game, against Dixie, to do the coin toss. NBD at all.

Lately... scary movies have been my FAVORITE! Chandler and I watched two of the "Halloween"'s, and we basically make fun of them the whole time instead of actually get scared.... but it's still great. :) Today, when we were watching it, someone knocked on his door, and when we went to answer it, there was no one there... SO CREEPY! Turns out we just took 800 hours to get to the door, and they were walking away... hah. It was great.

My family is OBSESSED with this show. Every night around 9:00 we start watching it, until it's time to go to bed. It's called Top Gear, and it's a BBC Show. Richard Hammond, James May, and Jeremy... something, all star in it. It's SO hilarious! They try out all of these ridiculous vehicles, and it's just so funny to watch. They call American people "The colonists". It's seriously so funny... please watch it.

Caity and I asked our Sadies dates today. :) We had the best idea to cut up a soccer ball, and a basket ball, and fill them with Candy. It was so sick! Our posters said "It would be SWEET if you would KICK it with me at Sadies" and "It would be SWEET if you would take a SHOT and go with me to Sadies." So much fun! Loved it.

I got my 50 mm 1.8 lens! I love it SO SO SO SO much! it's amazing! It gives me so much more opportunity in my hobby! I love it SO much! The Bokeh in the background of the image is amazing! It's so stunning. LOVE it! I learned how to make light bokeh turn shapes in the background! The picture with all of the yellow hearts is actually an out-of-focus photo of a small tree with Christmas Lights on it! I learned how to make filters for my lens to turn light bokeh into shapes! Love it. :)

This one is just to show you how great my new lens is! No editing, and I don't think it looks to bad. :)

You win some, you lose most.

When you're not happy, pretend that you are.

Word of the week ::: Bokeh

This week I learned about Bokeh... 

Wiki defines it as... "the aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image"

If you've ever been in Photog. Class... you can relate it to aperture. The lower you go, the less amount of focus you will get in your photograph. I did a little bit of research... and I learned that "Bokeh" is a really popular, and artistic type of photography! and I do it! :)

I found a couple of websites that display some great Bokeh Photography.

70 Amazing Bokeh Photographs

40 beautiful examples of Bokeh Photography

The reason I'm super stoked about the Bokeh factor is.... I asked for a new lens for my Birthday. :) It's a 50mm 1.8 Canon lens, and one of my photographer friends told me about it. I'm sooo stoked to get it! :) She told me it has a great Bokeh effect... we'll see if she's right! :)

Traffic is perfectly still.

You can't please everyone.

So who do you choose?

Piggy Bankkk number 17. ♥

Me, myself and I give me all the... Cigarettes? - Parker Gerth
No... that word is glory. - Brother Jones

I heard there's some ish goin' down. What's the ish? -Parker Gerth

You've got to go with a broken heart and a contract spirit. - Parker Gerth

The rumors are true. I'm a big fat slut... - Jazzy Candland

She got a boob job. - Caity
Is that even legal in our church? -Nicole

You can dance if you want to. You can leave your friends behind cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance then they aren't no friends of mine. - Meghan Simonson
What the freak? - Nicole

I love gay jerks. - Cami Roper

Well behaved women rarely make history. - annonymous

Why don't you guys laugh? - Mr. Melessa

We were like strangers who knew each other very well. - Big Fish

They flashed me! - Nicole

I'm a tree! - Nicole

Mr. Malm works at Iceberg?! - Caity

If we die, I'm gonna kill you! - Nicole

Shirtless night run? Okay. - Chandler

Be VIBRANT ; your days are running short.

Analyzing Symbolism

(Thanks A.P. Lit for the gr8 idea.)

Tonight I bought a pair of sandals for $2.00.

• Summer is coming to an end. 

Colleges came to my school, and presented.... to my class.

• Graduation is coming quick.

I take into consideration the art program at any college I look at.

• I love photography even more than I thought.

I miss out on tons of experiences because i have a job.

• I'm growing up. 

I like having a job.

• Growing up isn't so bad after all... 

It still shocks me when I hear a swear word come out of the mouth of one of my peers.

• Innocence doesn't die. 

I read.... for fun.

• I'm going insane.

I hate it when I get old.

Can't I just stay little forever?

Come Fly With Me.

Homecoming 2011 = Boss.

Homecoming week, is OFFICIALLY over. Student Council is FREE! It really was SO much fun to do... but so stressful! I think I yelled at approximately EVERYONE that I came in contact with this week... (I apologize thoroughly... REALLY!) The game was SO amazing! Bud Pope, and Madi Sonju were crowned 2011 Homecoming King and Queen... oh yeah, and we had streakers run across the field. Awes. ;) The dance was a lot of fun too. :) The airport was definitely the perfect place to have the dance! Other than the broken air conditioning... everything was so great! The decorations were beautiful, we sold SO many tickets, and everyone seemed to have a bombin'. time. :) It was such a great night..... but I'm really glad it's over. :)

As Wallace would say.... We've had our baby, and the best thing is... we don't have to bring it home. :)

Watch the world around fly by us...

As of Late.

• Every song on "How to Save a Life" by The Fray correlates to my life in some way.
• I've realized the value of reading. Escape. 
• I've never listened to a song so many times in one sitting, as I have "Vienna" by The Fray. 
• I never thought I would say it, but I want out of St. George. 
• September is my least favorite month this year. 
• I'm more happy when I'm working, than when I'm not. 
• The truck burns up SO much gas.... yet somehow it's worth it to drive it vs. my car. 
• No one wants to settle for anything less than what they want, even if what they want is wrong.

There's really no way to reach me...

♥ This a thousand times.

... So you think you've had a walk in the park...

"And they have forgotten who they were, and let Satan tell them who he wants them to be." - Aubrey Snelson

Everyone has one... everyone is a part of one...

The Cheering Section

By Elder Paul H. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy

---

Have you ever noticed the difference a cheering section makes? Sometime ago I saw a college basketball game between two teams—one clearly considered the underdog in the match, the other a heavy favorite. The two teams had met each other earlier in season play, and the underdog had been soundly whipped. Everyone expected this particular game to be the same. Fan support was about evenly divided between the two teams until halftime, when an incident on the floor seemed to turn the crowd against the team that had been highly favored to win. Therefore, when the underdog team came onto the floor to begin the second half, the crowd was with them. Over 15,000 fans were on their feet. Every basket from the team brought a deafening roar. The noise was almost unbearable. Well, as you might have guessed, the underdog won that game and went into the finals.

A cheering section can make a difference in life. As you watch the world series, or the pro-football playoffs, or the NBA basketball finals, you can almost be assured that the home team will do well. Brazil has a soccer team that almost never loses when it is playing at home. The reason? Marcana Stadium in Brazil holds over 220,000 fans who scream their support at every game. And sports’ franchises are bought and sold according to the degree of home-town support.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have that kind of cheering section when you’re feeling a little like an underdog in life, to feel as though it really matters to somebody whether you win or lose, whether you shine in victory or retreat in life to lick your wounds?

I’d like to bear you my solemn witness that each one of us has a cheering section, both seen and unseen. There are those pulling for us to succeed. We may sometimes doubt it, but it is true nevertheless. There are those we see: parents, children, brothers, sisters, relatives, teachers, friends. But there are also those who are unseen who care and are rooting for us: heavenly parents, loved ones who have gone before us, those who are yet to come. They want us to succeed. Bob Richards tells a great story about a young man who learned this truth. Let me share it with you in his own words:

“A fine football team coached by Lou Little was on their way to the conference championship. One last game. Now, Lou had a boy on his squad who couldn’t quite make the team for four straight years. Three days before the big game, Lou was given a telegram to give to this boy saying that his father had just died. The boy looked at the telegram sadly and then said, ‘Coach, I’ll be back for Saturday’s game.’ Well, the morning of the game he came up to his coach and said, ‘Lou, I’m back and I want you to put me in this game. I know I haven’t made the first team yet, but let me in for this kick-off. I’ll prove to you that I’m worthy of it.’ Well, Lou could see he was emotionally disturbed and he made all kinds of excuses, but finally he thought, ‘Well, he can’t do much harm on the kick-off. I’ll put the boy in.’

“When the kick-off came, the opposing quarterback took the ball on the goal line, moved up, and on the seven-yard line was tackled. The boy who’d never made the team had dropped him in his tracks. On the next play Lou left the boy in. It was a good move. He made the next tackle and the next tackle. You couldn’t move him out of there. In fact, he made practically every tackle that day for a terrific record in downfield blocking. He was the reason why Columbia won the championship. Afterwards, all the guys were pounding him on the back. When they were all done, Lou Little went up to the boy and said, ‘Son, I don’t understand it. Today you were an all-American. I’ve never seen you play like this in four straight years. What—what happened?’ And the boy looked up at his coach and he said, ‘Coach, you knew my dad died, didn’t you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I handed you the telegram.’ The boy said, ‘You knew he was blind, didn’t you?’ Lou answered, ‘Yes, I’ve seen you walk him around the campus many times.’ Then the boy said, ‘Coach, today is the first football game my dad ever saw me play’” (“Life’s Higher Goals,” Guideposts, Sept. 1965).

There are those who continue to care, whether here or on the other side of this earthly veil. Of that I am sure! Even when you feel all alone, there are those who are rooting for you.

I remember a friend of mine who went to high school and college, then married and had a small family. One day a little-known acquaintance of his came up to him and said, “I know you don’t know me very well, but I am one of your greatest fans. I have always watched you and have tried to pattern my life after yours. I just thought you might like to know.”

There are people who care, even when we don’t know it. I wonder how many parents pray silently for their kids? How many sons and daughters must silently pull for their mom or dad? In how many crises do friends silently cheer for each other? I am convinced that they are almost innumerable. Of course, there’s only one thing better than rooting silently: that’s rooting silently and vocally; to let those around us know we really care.

But there are those who feel that they don’t get much support, silent or otherwise. To you in particular I want to give my assurance that there are those who cheer from on high. God created us and loves us. More than anything else, he desires our righteous success now and our safe return to him later. When we feel no other support, we can count on him. To David of old and to us he said, “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart” (Ps. 27:14).

To all of us who are trying to do the right things he has again promised: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).

And finally, if we can just remember those great promises, we will eventually be able to say, with Moses: “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God” (Ex. 15:2). When all else fails, he will not.

All of us have parents, friends, or other loved ones who have passed away. They too exercise faith in our behalf. Do parents stop caring because they die? Are friends no longer friends at death? Does caring stop at the grave? I want you to know it does not. Life is eternal.

And what of those yet unborn? Do they have an interest in your success? Your unborn children watch you from above with great interest and concern. They want the best for themselves and for you. You can be sure of it. Probably millions of spirits yet to be born cheer loudly for the millions of us who prepare the way for them. I believe it could be no other way.

My message to you is, hopefully, clear. Every person in this life has a cheering section. It is composed of those around us, those who have passed over to the other side, and those who are yet to come.

Above all, I bear you my witness that there is a Father in Heaven who put you here and wants you back. His support alone will do it. May we draw close to him so we can know it. May we then give it to those around us who need it, especially our own families. May the Spirit give you the same assurance that I have that our Father lives, that he loves us, and that he, together with many others, can bring us safely home.

Dear John, where have you been all of my life?

When you're dreaming with a broken heart,

waking up is the hardest part. ♥

Oh simple things, where have you gone?

Can September just be over already? Please? :(