Christmas Eve

Yesterday the whole family got together and went up to Payson to enjoy some snow and go sledding it was a lot of fun, and it was so cool to go sledding again! There are some pictures on the family blog so take a look: http://mclaws1981.blogspot.com/.
Merry Christmas!

Elf On the Shelf

Last year around this time I was babysitting at someone house in my ward. It was really close to Christmas time, I'm not exactly sure what we were doing, when the 2 year old little girl comes crawling up to me. She get really close to me and whispers "He's watching us!" Naturally I flipped out and asked her who was watching us. I was so creeped out at this point and was afraid to hear what she was going to say. She quickly pointed to a shelf were a little elf was sitting perfectly. I let out a sigh of relief, but was still terrified because the elf looked really, really creepy. I have decided I will never have an elf in my home who watches my children and then flies to the North Pole at night to tell Santa if they have been good or bad. I think if my parents had done that when I was little I would have had nightmares about it and been afraid of Christmas time. Luckily, they didn't do that when I was little and I won't do it to my children. Hopefully, you will think carefully before you put a creepy elf on your shelf, because they really, truly are terrifying!

Zoo Lights + Family = Christmas Time

Last night for family night we all met infront of the zoo to see the zoo lights together. I was so happy to see Barbara and John after not seeing them for a long time. It was so much fun to be together as a family and have a good time. Every sibling was there, I am so thankful that we all live lose to eachother and that we are a close family. I still look back at all the good memories I have from when we all lived at home. I love them all so much and I am so glad they are my family!

Christmas is Coming

The Scarlet Pimpernel rehearsals are going great! And to top it off, I found out yesterday that my bestest friend Haeley was put in the cast because someone dropped out. Yesterday was her first rehearsal and it was so much fun! In a week from today is CHRISTMAS! I am not ready for this folks. I still have to make/buy a ton of presents and I am absolutely broke. (I think I have 1 dollar!) I'm also pretty nervous because I have to finish 3 personal progress projects by the end of December! Ahhhhhh! It's coming so quickly, but I am getting excited. Maybe this will happen to Santa:

Then I would have some more time!

Christmas

My family had this Christmas tradition: every year we pick out of a hat, which has a slip of paper for each sibling, and it has their name on it. The name that is on the paper that you pick is the sibling you get a 20 dollar gift for. This year my brother Steven picked me, and he got me exactly what I wanted. You're probably wondering why I opened my Christmas present since Christmas is still 12 days away (ONLY 12 DAYS PEOPLE!) Well, it's something I needed early so I could wear it through December! Here are some pictures:



It is my favorite hat EVER. I wish I could wear it everyday. I wore it to Walmart the other day and 3 old guys came up to me and told me they liked my hat, it was pretty awesome. Hopefully you will see me wearing this hat soon. At least you know if you go somewhere with me you won't lose me! :)

Family Night

Last night for Family Home Evening, my mom, dad, sister, and I sat out by a fire in our fire pit. Can you believe it's that time of year where it's cold enough to sit by a fire? Unbelievable. My sister Faith and I roasted marsh mellows over the fire. We decided it would be fun to try to roast small marsh mellows...so we did! Here are some pics.

Yummy!

Faith looks a little like a fox, don't you agree?

Thanksgiving Day

Well, Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful. We just hung around the house (since we had our Thanksgiving Day feast the day before.) We (Dad, Mom, Cheryl, J.R., Esther, Faith, Barbara, John, and I) went to a park for Thanksgiving left overs and to play and hang out with each other. After that we went back to Mom and Dad's house and met Steven and Kristin. They joined us for the McLaws Annual B.U.T tradition. B. blow U. up T. turkey. For the past three years we have blown up rotten turkeys. It is lots of fun, and we enjoy being together as family. Here are pictures from out Thanksgiving celebrations.

I Am Thankful (part 2)

Sorry I didn't have time to post yesterday. It was quite busy. So, I will say what I was thankful for yesterday and today. First, I am thankful for cars so that I don't have to walk everywhere. I know that makes me sound like a couch potato, but think about it. I go to show choir rehearsal every Thursday and it's like a 20 minute drive to get there, how long would it take me to walk there. Anyway, I am mumbling now so on to the next. Second, I am very thankful for my family. I have 2 sisters, and 2 brothers, 2 sisters-in-law, a niece, and a nephew. I love them all so much, anytime we are together I always have a good time. They can make me laugh and smile anytime, even if I am in a really crappy mood. I am so thankful that we are a close family and that we have been able to share so many great experiences together. I am also thankful for my parents. They are such great examples to me of how good a relationship can be even after 30 years. They love me and all of my siblings and it really does show how much they care for us. I am very thankful that they have rules and standards that I am expected to keep because without them I don't know where I would be. Stayed tuned for my Thanksgiving Day post.

I Am Thankful

In celebration of Thanksgiving, I am doing a little post on some things I am thankful for. Have you not figured out that music and theater are my life? If not, apparently you haven't been reading very long! Today I have listened to music nonstop. I am sooooo thankful for music, music is the only thing that can get me through anything. And by anything I mean ANYTHING! It's incredible what positive upbeat music can do to you. I am also very thankful that I have been introduced to AYT and that I have an oppurtuity to be in one of their productions. I am having such a fun time and everyone is really nice and they are all amazing actors, what else could you ask for? (besides food). One more thing I am thankful for is...BOOKS. I love them so much. Right now I am reading like 10 books, and they are all amazing. And I am thankful for you! Anyone who reads my blog is most likely someone who is very close to me. You are all amazing and I love you! Check back tomorrow for more.

Hunger Games

Who is excited to see Hunger Games? ME! I know I don't watch PG-13 movies, but I might have to watch this one, It looks amazing and I really, really want to watch it. f you want to watch the trailer for it it is on www.imdb.com so you can go watch it on there! Can't wait. Tell me what you think of the trailer.

Can You Sing With Garlic In Your Ear?

Last night I got a really bad ear ache. My mom said that garlic works kinda like putting tomatoes on your eyes when you have pink eye. So, SHE TAPED A PIECE OF GARLIC IN MY EAR, MY EAR! It was the wierdest thing ever and I was getting nasues from the smell...it was disgusting. Well the title of my post came because I wanted to practice a song that I am auditioning for in Show Choir and mom looked at me and said "Can you sing with garlic in your ear?" Needless to say, last night was really weird and I smelled really bad.

When You Smile

This is my new favorite song. It's called "When You Smile" by: Carlton Forrester. I hope you enjoy.

Disney

I found this picture while searching for sheet music to a Disney song. It is my new favorite picture and thought I should share it with all of you:

My first rehersal for The Scarlet Pimpernel is tomorrow. I am super excited and can't wait! :)

School

Well lately I have been having a lot of issues with my stomach. I wake up in the morning and my stomach is just in pain and I don't want to eat anything and it's just horrible! So we withdrew me from school so I don't have to wake up at 5:30 every morning and I just go to seminary with my sister and I am going to study for my GED. Getting your GED is the equivalent of getting a High School diploma, you have to be 16 to take it so I will study this year and take it when I turn 16 this summer. And next fall I will be going to college with my sister. It's hard, and I know it has been especially hard on some of my friends, but I feel like it is the right decision. I am excited too, to be done with High School.

Never Chug Chocolate Almond Milk!

I have this new obsession with chocolate milk. My mom found some sugar free chocolate syrup at the store, so naturally I made chocolate milk with it. Since I can't have milk I drank some chocolate soy milk, which was rather fantastic! I told my sister she needed to try it so she made herself a glass. She, then, proceeded to tell me that it was the most disgusting thing she had tasted and quickly drank the rest, so as not to waste it. I didn't know what her problem was until the next day. Sadly, we were out of soy milk so I made some chocolate almond milk. I was really excited and quickly took my first sip. It took all of my strength not to throw up. I suddenly understood that my sister had made chocolate almond milk instead of chocolate soy milk. I didn't want to waste the chocolate milk so I chugged and entire glass full (naturally I made a huge glass because who doesn't like chocolate milk in big quantities?) That was a mistake, because I felt very sick afterwards and learned a new lesson in life: Never, ever chug chocolate almond milk!

Audition Results

I found out last night that...I am in the play! I auditioned for The Scarlet Pimpernel and I am Madame Blanche/ Wedding guest/ Ball guest. Geneal, Haeley's little sister made it in, but Haeley didn't. Rehearsals start on Nov. 5 and I am super excited :)

Anklets

Lately I have had this weird obsession with anklets. So, today I decided to make some "hemp" anklets. They are really cute and they have beads in between that look like pearls. I can't show you a picture because the anklet is already on my ankle and I don't really feel like taking pictures of my ankle so instead I will show you some cute anklet pictures :

Cute huh?

Cute and simple

Who would have thought you could make some string look so cute?

I like the multiple colors in this one.

So today some pretty exciting things happened. Not to me, but to my friends, so I still have the right to be excited about it, right? Okay, so first of all my friend Sarah turned 16 and may I just say that she makes a fabulous 16-year old. Haeley and I made a sign to put on her locker and a sign for her to wear that said "Date me! I'm sixteen!" And we heart attacked her locker. She is now off to Cali. with some of my friends. They are spending the day at the beach tomorrow. The second piece of exciting news is that Haeley asked someone to winter formal tonight, her mystery man. She turns 16 on January 12 and winter formal is January 20. Just in time. I am so excited for both of them!

P.S. Auditions for The Scarlet Pimpernel are tomorrow. I'm freakin' out!

Updates

-On Friday I am auditioning for the AYT production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I am auditioning with my best friend Haeley and 2 of her sisters. I am excited and really nervous.
-Tomorrow my friend Sarah Johnson turns 16 and Haeley and I are going to decorate her locker.
-Haeley is asking someone to winter formal (I am so excited for her).
-Faith and Cheryl are still in Hawaii and as far as I am concerned they are still having an awesome time.
-I got a 100% on a big essay in Economics.

Life is going good and I am as happy as ever! :)

Dressed In Black

Although the title of this post may seem like I went to a funeral, I will tell you right now that I did not. My bestest friend, Haeley, invited me to go with her to her mom's best friends family tradition of "Spooky Supper". She said every year she is the oldest one to go and she wanted me to tag along so we could hang out and talk. We decided to go as Goth's, which turned out to be kinda a bad idea, only because her mom's best friend's step sister is a little goth - like for real. So I went to Haeley's house before the party and I arrived wearing my black skinny jeans, black shirt and hoody, and ready to have her help me with my make-up. We put major black eye shadow and eye liner on and we poofed my hair up. Oh! And did I mention the black lip stick. It was a pretty incredible sight, maybe you have to see it to believe it. Take a look...if you dare.

BOOKS

I love books. They are amazing and I absolutely LOVE them. This morning I finished a book I started last night, I think I am insane (so does my family). I love how a book can take you to a world that doesn't actually exists. You can feel the emotions of the characters and feel the actual physical aspect of it. I think I especially love reading because it carries me to a place were all my worries and pains that I feel in life don't exists. I am someone else: a princess in a tower, a girl falling in love, a run away child, anything really. Reading stories feels like time traveling to me, nothing/no one else is around and I have gone to a different dimension. I love it and I hope I always will, it is a great experience. One of the greatest satisfactions you can get in life is from turning the last page in a book and acknowledging yourself for finishing it.

Horrible Days

Today was pretty much the worst day of my life...I will tell you why. 1. I woke up to do my homework and my pen decided to explode on me, so I put it back in my pencil case not thinking anything about it 2. I ate way to many green apples yesterday along with sugar free candy and junk food so I had a major stomach ache all day, and I still have it, and will probably have it for a while because it is most likely a stomach ulcer 3. I got a test back in English and discovered I got and F (my first F at this school people!)4. On my way to math my friend Ryan came to give me a hug because he knew that I was having a horrible day, and in the process stepped on my foot taking 1/4 of my toenail off. That was one of the most painful things that has happened to me. 5. In math I opened my pencil case to find pen ink over every single pencil, pen, and eraser I had in there. It was also on my lip gloss. I just hate bad days and wished more than anything that this day would end faster. I thank all of my friends for making me laugh even though I was probably a big grumpus to all of them. But, this way I know the rest of my week can't get any worse...hopefully...knock on wood! :)