Birthday WIshes

Thank-you all for all the birthday wishes and presents. It's amazing to think that I'm 18 now. Guess that means no more illegal stuff.... ;)

For my birthday I got a ton of things. Charla gave me a watch. Family gave me a shirt and sweater, jewlery, and lots of books. Carol gave me a Sound of Music barbie, Sound of Music collectors plates, a Sound of Music pop-up book, a DVD/Blueray/Book of Sound of Music, and my Y.W. leader Amy gave me some icing and the book A Christmas Bell for Anya. So I got a lot of great things. I bought myself a present. I got Wait Until Dark on DVD. Gotta love the classics!

Anna, I hope you birthday was as great as mine!!

Happy Birthday to all birthdays in December!!

Everything

Wow, time is just flying by. Sound of Music is over, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now I have to fill out scholarships and apply for school. Amazing how fast things have come and gone.
School is going well. I was so proud of myself. In me Chemistry 1010 class I passed with a B. Then in my FCHD(another college class) I passed with an A. It made my day when I was looking.
Choir is great. On the 18th of December we get to sing at the Capitol Theatre for a pre-show to The Nutcracker. I am so excited.
I finally found a movie for Christmas. Sorry all, I would tell but some people actually read this blog who will be playing the game.
Thanksgiving was great! It was so small. There was only Aunt Ann, Uncle Lee, Avan, Anna, Nathan and Marcy with their kids, Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd, and us. As most years the rolls were my favorite. Along with the desserts. Junction was fun. Found myself some things.
Sound of Music was fun! Those who missed it missed out, or so I'm told. I can't believe it's over. The last night I got a standing ovation. That made me feel good. I can honestly say I am very relieved it's over. If you would like to see some pics go on over to Carol's blog. She posts everything.
Hope all goes well for everyone in the next few weeks!!

The Sound Of Music

So I am quite terrible at writing on this blog. Especially when it comes to current things. Altamont High School is doing the play The Sound Of Music. I think you should all totally come and watch me. I have the part of Maria. It should be interesting. We put it on November 18-22.
Hope to see everyone there.

The Lion King

This past Wednesday I went and saw The Lion King at Capitol Theater in SLC. Oh my gosh it was the best and the most amazing show I have ever seen. The costumes were incredible. The scene changes were so fast. If I had all the money in the world I would totally go see it again. If you ever have the chance to go it is so worth all the money for the tickets!
I will have to say Zazo had some funny lines. They had closed the curtains and Zazo was on our side. This was right before the song I Just Can't Wait To Be King. Anyway he's all freaking out because he can't see or find Simba and Nala. He keeps saying their names like a hysterical lunatic. Then he says, "This wasn't in the cartoon." So funny. The other line that made me laugh hard was right after the curtain closed for the same song. Zazo is looking at the curtain and remarks, "This looks like a shower curtain from Target" (Ann the way he said it totally made me think of you).

Not much has happened since I last wrote. This past week I have been babysitting the Rust boys. They are very rambunctious. My cousin Kate once said that babysitting made great birth control. I believe her after this week.

The carpet people finally came to AES. It's about time. Hopefully they will get done soon so that the teachers can start putting their rooms back together.

Longhorn Days came and went. For most of it I wasn't even in town. I spent my time in Emery County painting my Grandparent's house. It looks a lot better. I also went to the Miss Cleavland Pageant to watch my cousin D'Lee. She won which was exciting. We also went to Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd's house. Their daughter Kate and her kids were out. We went on a zip line while we were there. It was awesome. When Mandy got up there to ride she said, "Oh shit." It was so funny. Later my cousin Duncan asked his mom Kate what Mandy had said. She said that Mandy said, "Oh poop." Anyway we made it back to Altamont Friday night. On Saturday I ran in the 5k (which I did terrible in), went to the breakfast for the very first time (and it was yummy), watched the parade (Mator was my favorite), made some food, and went and partied with Ken and Sue and their family. It was fun.

I sure hope that August will not go as fast as the rest of the summer went! I hope that everyone has a wonderful rest of the summer.

Please Life Be Calm and Peaceful

Wow summer has gone by pretty darn fast. Guess what, most of it has not been relaxing. No the first week of summer my uncle died. Then we got new bedroom furniture and played musical bedrooms. The next week I went to girls camp at Heber Valley. That Thursday, Meg came and got me early to go to a 5K that was in memory of my uncle. The next week I went to Logan to EFY witch was a ball. Then I went to my dad's house for father's day in Ogden. Then I came home. During that week I attended another funeral for Scott Toland. The only time I cried was when Meg got up and talked during the open mike. Then this past Saturday I went to Mona, Utah for a family reunion. Then last night I went to Price, Utah to see my grandma who is in the hospital. All was looking well. They said she would probably be able to come home today. Last but not least I was just challenged by the missionaries to talk to a friend about the church. Oh and then their is all the stuff to do with Sandra Swasey. Will this madness ever end?

Darrell Gardner

This article is for my Uncle Darrell. He left this life on May 31, 2010, Memorial Day. He was doing what he loved. He was farming. When cutting down a tree, with his backhoe, it fell on top of him and he died instantly. He left behind his wife Natalie, and his 3 kids: Jake 19, D'Lee 17, and Jax 14. He was only 51 years old by 5 days. He was a great dad, uncle friend, husband, coach, and person. He will be greatly missed. Later on through this tribute I will tell some memories and stories I have.

This was the sign they kept in front of their house.

I believe it is self-explanatory.

He use to teach a dance class at CEU and at Emery High School

This isn't my photo. But I guess once while he was camping with his family they made the swing. When he was doing something else he was found playing on it.

These next few photos were during the torch run for the 2002 Olympics. Yes he actually got to run with the torch.

In this photo my uncle is on the bottom row to the far right. The one holding the torch is my cousin Laura

My uncle was a cross country couch at Emery. I think the above picture is when Altamont went to a meet.

These 2 pics were taken at a meet I went to in 2009. The thing I really remember about this meet was during the 4x4. I was the second runner. My cousin D'Lee was too. D'Lee was about around the corner by the time I got the baton. All of a sudden Uncle Darrell was cheering for me. I didn't even here my couches. He told me to catch up to D'Lee and that I could do it. He kept cheering for me until I was out of ear shot. At the end of the leg I'm not sure who he was cheering for because D'Lee and I were neck and neck.

These pics were taken at my cousin D'Lee's prom. Darrell got to promenade with his daughter. The background story to that is Uncle Darrell wasn't able to attend his own prom. He got to sick and his friend had to take his date. In pics I saw they said, "Darrell finally gets to dance at his Prom."

Darrell Gardner will be missed by many. We will always remember all the things he did for us. May we never forget what an awesome man he was. May we all live our lives right so that we may be able to see him again. This is a quote from Sherrell Ward's talk. I believe this is something my uncle would say, "Pain is temporary, life is eternal," he wrote. "Shut up and live!"