'Tis the Season

I love love LOVE the Christmas season! I love the lights, and the hot chocolate, and yes, heaven forbid, the Christmas music! One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Grown up Christmas List" by Michael Buble. It has the best lyrics-

"Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee.
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies.
Well, I'm all grown up now,
can you still help somehow?
I'm not a child, but my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish,
my grown up Christmas list
not for myself but for a world in need

no more lives torn apart,
that wars would never start
and time would heal all hearts

and every man would have a friend
that right would always win,
and love would never end.
This is my grown up Christmas list"


This year, I've kind of had a different outlook on Christmas. It's ironic how concerned people are with the shopping and the decorating, yet they fail to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Who says it better than the Grinch himself?

"And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice cold in the snow

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

It came without ribbons.

It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes, or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled, 'till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?

What if Christmas perhaps, meant a little bit more."

I know that this holiday is something that everyone really looks forward to all year, so the excitement of all the presents and fun is essential, but this year I want to do my part to remind everyone of what Christmas is really about! It's the celebration of the birth of Christ! Remember to spend lots of time with your loved ones, because as many of you have probably heard, love is actually spelt T-I-M-E, and be sure to be happy to give, more than receive. Have a Merry Christmas everyone :)

my senior lasts :'(

As everyone said it would, my senior year feels like it's slipping through my fingers. I want time to SLOW DOWN! It feels like it should be hitting me hard right about now, but these last couple months have gone by so quickly I can't even seem to catch my breath. Two weeks ago we had our very last football game against Coconino. Being our city rivals, this game was going to be one worth attending. Our football team has beaten Coco for the last (I want to say) 6 years or so. But this year, our team wasn't looking so great. Then again, neither was theirs so we weren't sure what to expect. In preparation for the big game, our school put together a powder puff football team, and being my senior year, I decided to participate. It took around two weeks of practice to get us all at least somewhat familiar with the plays. I, being small and underestimated, didn't get very much playing time in at all. It really bummed me out actually and as I am typing this, it still upsets me! But on the bright side, our senior team won (of course).

Two of my best friends, Cierra and Emily

The senior girls powder puff team. "Oh So Legit"

The football game was quite the riot. We did not perform a halftime because we had planned on competing at a regional competition the next morning, but at the last moment, we had to forfeit from the competition. Although, I did walk on the field at halftime with my parents for senior night. I felt tears start to form in my eyes as I looked up at the crowd like I have been for the past three Flag high football seasons. It was such a weird feeling thinking, I will never perform another halftime on this field again! My "last time" senior experiences are passing by all too quick! We took a picture of the seniors all together, but yet I still hadn't cried like I thought I would. This seems to be a sign to me that maybe I'm ready to say goodbye.

So.. As you probably can't tell in this picture, I am holding my phone because I was in the middle of a phone call during this picture. At the very beginning of the fourth quarter, my oh so charming boyfriend and two of his close friends planned to run on the football field in red "super fan suits" holding signs that said CHS, and had FHS on the other side with an X through it. I knew it would be funny, but I wasn't sure when to expect it. Sure enough, without any warning, the three of them were suddenly sprinting down the field. Alex ran towards me and picked me up and twirled me around in his arms. He then set me down and ran for the doors to exit the stadium. Supposedly, the administration all watched calmly UNTIL he picked me up. Then, my principal ran as fast as I've ever seen a grown mad run before, right towards those boys out the door. Around five minutes later, a police officer came over to the cheer lines and asked to speak to me. I didn't get to cheer the last quarter of my last football game because I was being questioned by the police about the whole ordeal. I myself found it a little bit ridiculous for them to be making such a huge deal about it, because it was just fun and games, but I guess the principal injured himself after he ran out the doors and jumped over a fence to catch one of the boys. Hopefully, Alex and his friends don't face any charges from NAU or either of the school administrations.

The things they do for fun....

To close up my post, the latest "last" I had was my last family christmas pictures (while still living at home). I will save the pictures for my mom to post on her blog. We drove down to Sedona to get a unique look for our pictures, and Alex did them for us. He is SO talented, it amazes me. My mom snapped a few of us and below is one of my favorites :)

So...

what have I been up to?? Well, we are nearing November and I have yet to begin applying to universities. I want to choose five, but I'm having a hard time on picking which five I'd like to apply to. For 17 years, I've had a pretty simple life. I am so used to being taken care of, and I don't think I am ready to be out on my own! I REALLY dont! Choosing a college is definitely one of the biggest choices (if not the biggest) I've ever faced in my life. I've been fed an overwhelming amount of opinions from family and friends, all sharing what they think is best for me. However, at the end of the day, I ultimately want to feel like it's my choice. Wherever I might end up next year, I want it to be because I chose to go there and not because I felt obligated to. The only definite decision I have made is that I want to major in political science, with maybe journalism tied in somewhere. I want to pick a school that has a good political science program, and also somewhere that I could cheer. I've cheered all throughout high school and I am not so sure that I'm ready for that journey to end yet. It will take a LOT of dedication and time if I want to tryout for a college team, but as of right now I am leaning towards doing so. What I really need to do is sit down and write down all the pros and cons of the choices of universities I'm looking at. But as of right now the colleges I expect to apply to are...

If I'm not sure where I want to attend, I can always transfer once I make up and mind and have adjusted a little bit to being on my own. They have a cheer team, I know the campus, and it's in state tution. BUT I don't really want to stay in Flagstaff. My dreams are way bigger than this town!

It's away from home, but not too far away. They have a good cheer team, and a good political science program. There's no snow to drive in, and it's in state tuition. BUT everything outside the campus is a little bit ghetto

It's in state. They have a nice honors program. It is close to family, and I've heard good things about their institute program. BUT they don't have a cheer team, and it's REALLY hot in Tempe!

They have a super clean campus. They have a good political science program, and a cheer team. BUT it's really far from home, and I just don't know if it's right for me.

Lastly, I know that college can often be what makes or breaks a person. I know that there are schools that are considered "party schools" and that the college scene is often associated with parties and what not. But I also know that no matter where you go to college, you can find parties, or you can avoid them. It is whether or not you choose to seek out the temptations of the world, or to find happiness in other college experiences. I know who I am, and I know that although I might not be ready to pay credit card bills just yet, I am capable of making my own choices. I am not sure where I will end up next year but I just want it to be what is best for me. It's a big decision, but I want it to be a school that has the best options for me, for my major, my hobbies, and my future. Ultimately, I want it to be my choice, and to be supported in whatever I choose

Way too long since my last update!!

It has been a month since a last blogged!! AH! Where do I start?!

Well my family went to Florida a couple weeks ago and it was SO fun! I was really glad to get to take another big trip again. We were there for a week and stayed at the Bonnet Creek Resort on Disney property. My dad, Natalie, Trenton, and I went to Universal Studios one night and it was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. It was an event called Halloween Horror Nights and it was SO COOL! I love horror movies and the adrenaline rush I get from being scared. We walked through eight haunted houses and it was definitely something I would do again. We also got to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the Islands of Adventure theme park, and it really looked exactly like the movies!

So now to the not so fun part... On October 6th (last Wednesday) around 5:15 am, Bellemont was hit by a level F2 tornado. Talk about SCARY! I woke to the sound of high winds and thunder. I sat up in bed and thought "What is going on?!" For about thirty seconds I contemplated what I should do, should I go back to sleep and hope that it's just a bad storm? Should I go wake my parents (if they weren't awake already)? What if this is an earth quake?! Heck, what am I supposed to do in an earthquake anyways?! When my window sounded as if it were going to break at any moment, I ran down the hallway to my parent's room where my dad was standing with a flashlight. Both my brothers were awake, and my sister followed me down the hall. The storm soon ended, but my siblings and I were still huddled together (Claire somehow slept through the whole thing). When the sun began to rise, we went into the backyard to see if there was any damage done. Roof shingles were scattered in our backyard, and as we looked into the horizon we could see homes that were completely destroyed. One house no longer had a roof and you could see the tops of the bedroom walls. We took a walk around the neighborhood and were horrified by what we found. A girl on my cheer squad, Jami Cox, had half of her house blown away in the tornado. A friend from church had a boat in their roof, cars were completely destroyed. It looked like a warzone. I have never seen ANYTHING like this in my life and I am still in shock that a tornado hit Bellemont, Arizona! The RV park across the freeway was completely trashed. Pieces of RV were strewn around the neighborhood. A TRAIN was torn off the tracks! Trucks were UPSIDE DOWN! Jami's house.. Or what is left of it

COMPLETELY DESTROYED

A friend from church's home. There were shards of glass impaled in the walls.

God was watching over us that morning. There were no deaths or serious injuries, and as you see the damage that was done, it is amazing that we all were protected from the tornado. According to the weather services, the tornado hit the RV park and rose into the air, hovering over Bellemont, and then touched down again right at the end of the street.

I was amazed at the sight of a natural disaster like this. You sometimes wonder, if my house was burning down, what would I grab as I ran out the door? But as my house was literally shaking as well as the other homes in Bellemont, my "stuff" was the last thing I was worried about. People are now staying in hotels because their homes are unable to be occupied, but no one is quite concerned for their things, just that we are all safe. It is pure love. Just as I said in a previous post of mine, if I were to define love I would say: "Love is when you sincerely care about someone more than you care about yourself."

First "official" football game!

This last Friday was our first "official" football game. Our LAST first football game! We just got our team of 24 or so girls put together last week and the past few days have been really stressful trying to teach everyone the cheers and learning a halftime. I am proud of us and I think we did well. We only have 4 football games left!

When it's in your heart, it shows in your spirit

SENIORS!

Spelling E-A-G-L-E-S!

Sadly, we have a pretty bad football team. We played Williams Field and lost 61-0. Although, I thought we'd lose to triple digits. Hopefully, we win at least one game. Though, I am not going to count on it!

I strongly dislike school

Often, I am excited before I go back to school. You get to see your friends that you haven't seen all summer. You get to meet new friends and take new classes. The biggest reason I should have been excited this year is that it's my senior year!

The week previous to school starting, I was not excited to go. I don't know quite what it was, but it just sounded UNBEARABLE! I don't want to wake up at 6 am and go go go until 6 everyday! I don't want to have hours of homework and stress piled on my plate. I don't want to use all my gas driving to and from school! Basically, I did NOT want to go!

Today was day three, and I still don't want to go. I don't like the separate lunches and the shorter classes. I miss all my friends that graduated. I got a horrible parking spot. I lost my ID card and parking permit. I can barely stay awake in my classes... School is just a piece of work!!

I compiled just a few "unique" things from the first three days of my senior year titled "You know you go to Flagstaff High School when..."

1. The hallways sound like a war zone with constant construction.

2. You haven't gotten homework yet because your teachers don't have time to assign any

3. A good percentage of the school insists they are Mustangs, and will never be Eagles

4. There are more freshman than any other class at FHS

5. Lunch is basically 10 minutes

6. The hall is a traffic jam and the students just stand there like cows

7. You aren't allowed to go anywhere in the school besides the commons at lunch

8. The counsellors change your schedule and put you in classes you didn't sign up for

9. The bell sounds like a cheesy jazz ringtone that comes as a default on an outdated phone

10. You feel like death is upon you by the end of the school day

I can only hope the year gets better and I adapt to all of the changes happening this year. Some things, I can't really change. But tomorrow is a new day!

Why?

People often ask me the following question.. "Why don't you like Obama?"

Instead of having to explain myself dozens of times, I thought I would just blog about it.. Seems easier to me!

So to start off my post, I just want to clarify that I don't "hate" Obama. People like to trash republicans (especially in Flagstaff) and go among some of these typical stereotypes- "Republicans are racist white trash. They are not concerned about the environment because they drive big SUVs... Oh, and they hate Obama."

If you know me, you would know that I am definitely not racist (or white trash. If it counts for anything, I'm actually not even white). I don't drive an SUV, my mother does, and just because she does, doesn't mean we don't care about the environment. I don't believe in global warming, and I most certainly don't believe that it is caused by man. Believe it or not, cows flatulence releases more CO2 than cars do. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) agriculture is responsible for 18% of the total release of greenhouse gases world-wide (which is more than the whole transportation sector). And lastly, I do not "hate" Barack Obama.

I can understand why people think this because I have a lot of t-shirts I made that insult him. It's all fun and games. But yes, he is not nearly my favorite person and I think he is nothing close to presidential material.

So why don't I like him you ask?

First of all, all of the "change" he said he would bring turned out to be bad change! He claimed he'd pull out of the war (which I don't agree with) and he's putting more funding towards it! (therefore not following through) He has added several trillion dollars of debt to this country and wastes tax payer's money. He created "obamacare" for the 15% of Americans who couldn't afford health care and the other 85% are paying for it. He is now filing a law suit against Arizona for its immigration policy. Because allowing illegals is the "American thing to do". We don't know much about him and it's scary. And pardon me but his middle name is Hussein, is that not kind of scary to anyone?! Has everyone forgotten about Obama's pastor who was saying screw America? That's our president folks...