General Conference Sunday Events

I went to Brother Garlock's house for General Conference this October 2009. Brother Garlock is a member of the Bishopbric in Canyon Road Singles ward. It was really cool. There were a lot of singles there to eat breakfast and watch conference. In between the sessions the choir had practice. I'm not in the choir, but they let me stay and practice with them and invited me to join. I really want to, but they have choir practice at 12:30, and I conduct the music in Sacrament Meeting at home in St. Helens. That's from 11-12. So I would never be able to make it to practice. It takes a good forty-five minutes to get to Beverton. I'd have to lose my calling for that to work out. They are singing some really good songs.
I met a lot of really cool people between sessions. I met Daniel Child, A guy named Trevor, A girl named Amy, and her Fiance who is also the choir director. For some reason I cannot remember his name. I'm sure I met more people, but Names tend to escape my memory.
After Conference Matt and I went to the Fred Meyer parking lot and read our books until we could go to a birthday party for members of the ward. It was also a housewarming for Freia. Freia is really nice. I like her a lot. She was one of the first people to welcome me to the Relief Society in that ward. I met more people there too. I met Freia's siblings: a sister Hannah age 16, a brother Hatcher (I think) age 18 Hey he's my age. lol. He wasn't very talkative though. I only got he name, age, and he said he didn't play any sports to which his sister replyed that yes he did, he plays tennis. I didn't get much more out of him. There was also a guy named Tyler. He reminded me of Ty in the T.V. show Hearland. Just his looks I guess. I didn't talk to him much either. And a guy named Micheal Zink (or something like that). I talked to him when I was talking to John Zimmer, and Nathan Doyle. John was really excited about Micheal's last name because it was later in alphabetical order than his name. It was kinda funny to watch. We were outside, and it was kinda cold. Micheal was the first to get cold, so he went in first. Then John left to go talk to someone else. So I was just talking to Nathan.
Nathan was actually the first guy I met going to single's ward. He's Matthew's Home Teacher. I met him going to College night dances at dance studio's in Portland. Matt used to take me to those, but Matt has given up dancing, so I don't get to dance very much anymore. Well at one point Nathan and I were the only ones outside, except for a couple really cute kids that Friea's roommate was Babysitting. We were keeping an eye on them so they wouldn't get hurt playing.
Nathan asked me to go to a formal dance this Saturday!!!! I'm really excited because I haven't gone to a dance since Amanda came down to visit early this summer. And Nathan is a good dancer, and He likes to dance, so I'm sure I'll get to dance at this dance. And the best part is I didn't have to ask him. Every time before that I've gone to a dance with a Mormon boy, I had to do the asking. So this is a really nice change for me. I love Single's Ward! Okay, I spent a lot of time on this, so I need to go work in my Online Course.

Keirin Anderson and me pictures

I think we look really good in these pictures. Keirin is really fun to dance with. I'm going to miss youth dances.

Large Group Pictures

Here are some of the Large Group pictures I was in during the Bi- Stake Youth Dance.

Kierin Anderson

Jessica Bell, Emily Ferrin, Unknown Girl, Renae Bell

Anthony Pappas, Unknown Boy

Jessica Bell, Emily Ferrin, Renae Bell, Unknown Boy

Unknown Girl, Jessica Bell, Emily Ferrin, Renae Bell, Keirin Anderson, Unknown Boy

Emily and Anthony Pictures

These are pictures of Anthony Pappas, and me Swing dancing Country style at the Bi-Stake Youth dance in Longview. This was a lot of fun. I think that taking these Live action shots could not have been easy for the Photographer, because we were moving pretty fast. As seen by hair in face of first picture.

The Emily Pictures

Emily Ball, Emily ?, Emily Fields, Emily Bishop
Emily Ferrin
Emily Higgins

These are from the Bi-Stake Youth Dance. All of these girls are named Emily. Only 2 of them (The first 2) are NOT from St. Helens. Crazy huh?

Slug-bugin' to dance

Yesterday on the way to an Amazing Bi-Stake dance with Longview, I was in the Car with Sister Bonnie Smith driving, Tiffany Shot-gun, in the middle seat was Emily Bishop, Megan Waite, and Teresa Stone, And I was in the back seat with my invited non-member, but ever so amazing friend Emily Higgins. I don't know how the subject came up, but we started talking about cars. We were deciding what we would want our car to be. We all (well at least Emily Higgins, Megan Waite and me) decided that slug-bugs are really cute cars and were really fun. Then we talked about how we would paint our slug-bugs. I liked red with black dots (Lady Bug). Emily Higgins thought of a Yellow one with Black stripes (Bee). And Megan Waite said that she would make the windshield into eyes. We were having a lot of fun talking about cars.

The Dance was a lot of fun. I Danced with Anthony Pappas and he gave me an invitation to his Birthday Party which is the day before Youth Conference. I'll be staying the couple of nights at his house. Don't worry they have to different buildings to separate the girls and boys and there will be chaperones. He lives in Seaside, and there will be surry rides around down-town. I'm really excited. That night there will be a bonfire too. It's his Sixteenth B-Day. I can't believe how OLD I am. Most of my friends are ages fifteen to seventeen. How crazy is that?

At the Dance I also danced with Kierin Anderson. He is awsome and a lot of fun. We danced to a Micheal Jackson song called "Beat It" (at least I think that's what It's called) "So Beat It, just beat it...but you want to be bad, just beat it." It was a lot of fun. It's not a slow song, but we danced anyways. He would do a cool dance move, and then I would do one. It could be like a dance off, except we were working off of what the other was doing and dancing together. It was pretty fun. He's 16 yrs. old though. And I'm already 18 this is getting wierd. I got pictures with both Anthony and Kierin. I was also a part of an all Emily Picture. The Emily Picture has only Emily's in it and I think it includes all the Emily's that attended the dance. It is so cool. They didn't have prints at the dance, but the photographer said he would upload the pictures to his website, and then I could have access to them. I hope they get uploaded soon. I'm a little impatient. I'll put them up if I think to when they come.

Oh by the way, I learned how to Country Swing at the Dance too. So now I know West, East and Country Swing, Plus a little of that, is it eighties swing or sixties swing? I don't know, but I just call it regular swing because I've never heard a special name for it. I feel like a bit of a dancer! Well that's my update for now

Old enough for college?

Today my little brother Brian finds out that both Matthew and I are applying for colleges. Brian comes and stands right in front of me. He looks at me for a moment and then says, "Are you really old enough for college?"
"Yes, Brian, I'm graduating from high school this year." I said all mater-of -factly.
"Really? You look too young to be that old!" he says to me, then to my mother he says: "mom, is Emily really old enough to go to college?"

**Note** (my mom and I went to parent teacher conferences today... and they were interesting)

My mom's answer to this was "Physically she is."
So being the nice, sweet, not so confident TEENAGER that I am I say, "Physically?"
Then mom has a moment of realization of how badly that could be taken, and in trying to fix it says "I didn't realize how bad that sounded until I said it. I only was thinking about how I would handle it."
And I being the teenager that came out of a bad parent teacher conference, thought: 'UhHuh...sure.'

College

I just applied online to EAC (Eastern Arizona College). There will probably be more steps later. But it was so easy that I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier. I hope I get accepted for the spring term. I also hope that I know soon enough to put this school on my scholarship application. I am goingto try to get the Tom Brumbaugh Scholarship. It's a music scholarship from the band department worth $1,000.oo. It is a band scholarship, but because I have a broken hand Ms. Hamblin said I can sing for it. I think that my only hope for winning this scholarship, is if I'm the only one that applies for it. The reason I think this is because I don't fill out practice records, or turn them in. oops (::( I also haven't been taking any private lessons for any of my instruments except piano, and that one isn't very impressive. I hope this all works out in the end...

Mormon Prom

I went to our Annual Mormon Prom in Longview this year. It was really fun even though I didn't have a date. I danced with several boys.
The theme was A Night at the Oscars. And I wona an Oscar!!!!!! I won "Best Picture" and my prize was the movie "Twilight". It's awsome to not have to buy it. I like picking the scenes that were filmed in St. Helens. Especially the High School.

long time

It's been a long time since I wrote anything. February was an eventful month and I have had some fun! Oh and January was good too. And March will be fun as well.

JANUARY:
Winterball
I went with Alex White from the Scappoose Ward. He was a gentleman of course, and I had fun. I wore a pink dress with diamond accents and a sheer flowy... thing... overtop.

FEBRUARY:
I donated blood for the first time.
It was a horrible experience. I'll have to give more detail another time.

I went to a youth activity the day after the blood drive.
I had a lot of fun, but I was having a hard time keeping my energy up. I blame the blood drive. The dance that night was a formal, and I really enjoyed myself all day and night.
MARCH:
Coming up...
Choir Concert: Duet in "New York State of Mind" (Vocal Jazz)
Solo in "When I Fall in Love" (Vocal Jazz)
Alternate for small group in "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" (A Cappella)
Band Concert
A Cappella Jazz Festival in Albany
Duet in "New York State of Mind"
Solo in "When I Fall in Love"

Tomorrow the Vocal Jazz is going to perform in the Commons before School. I'm really excited! Hopefully we will be making a habit of this, and it will become a tradition. It would be like what On The Rocks does at UofO (or is it OSU?... I forgot) But it will still be REALLY cool and really fun! Now I need to go to bed so I can survive tomorrow.

Oh and Saturday I'm going to a party with my brother Matthew. I will probably only know about 3-5 people including my brother. Fun way to meet new people. The crazy thing is it was Matt's Home Teacher that invited me. Not my brother. But Matt is cool with me going, so it's okay. I'm excited. I just have to make sure I don't fall asleep in church. hahaha I don't think I'm in too much trouble though.

I'm going to take my drivers test on Monday the 23rd of March. I'm really excited. I'm finally just going to go and do it. I hope I pass the first time. When I do get my licence, I'll only have to wait a little over a month before I can drive other people around. How cool is that? It's because I'll be turning 18 on May 3rd!!! That's a sunday this year. and May 2nd is Prom!!! I need to make a dress (or buy or trade one) and get a date! I'm so excited for everything going on. Details about some things will just have to come some other time.

The Daffodil

Today was beautiful and sunny. It got up to about 52 degrees F. It felt amazing to have the sun out again. Being trapped in school almost felt painful. I simply avoided the 6th grade band today after having to grade their papers. I wish more of them had taken piano lessons, the the grading might not have been so bad.

Thank goodness for Jubilee Endicot though. We couldn't go outside, but she went to Safeway, and brought in the sunshine. She bought all of us a daffodil. They were bright and sunny and beautiful. It felt like the sun had come inside. Everyone started smiling and laughing and we were all much happier. After a day like this you wonder if spring just might be coming, or even already here. Today was a beautiful day.

Jerome sent this picture to me through email. Isn't it cool? I had no clue the photographer was taking a picture of me, and it looks really good in greyscale. (You can't see the major sunburn I had). I had to show off this picture because I love it! Weddings are a fun way to spend a birthday.

Sorry the picture is really small, but this is a picture of me while performing my duet in the St. Helens 2008 Marching Band Show, Continuous Momentum. The duet was really hard, because I had to keep in perfect time with a flute on the other side of the field. I also had to make sure that either I didn't cover her up and that she didn't cover me up. It took a lot of practice getting the crescendo's and decrescendo's right. But it was totally awsome to hear once we got it right. This picture was taken at Autsen Stadium, U of O Ducks! By Jolesh Photography.

Christmas and the Hook Book

I got Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr by Christopher Paolini for Christmas this year. I think its Amazing! I actually got Brisinger on Christmas Eve. Jerome had bought it for me for the gift exchange. At that point I turned to Matthew, and told him he was going to help me buy the rest of the series. He just rolled his eyes and said yeah, right and pretty much said I'd have to buy them on my own. I was thinking, that you have to have the full series, espescially if you have the last book. What's the point of buying only the last book? Well the next morning, I opened up a present, and It had both Eragon and Eldest in it. I was really excited. I read Brisinger first even though it's the last book. I had read the others before. I finished Brisingr really fast, and now I'm going to go back and read the whole series in order to refresh my memory. I love these books.

Oh, and in case you were wondering... That thing that lets me read Brisingr with out holding it, is the Hook Book that Matthew has made. I think it is awesome. I'm impressed that it is strong enough to hold a book as heavy as Brisingr. We attached the Hook Book to my bunk bed, the only problem is that there isn't much room to roll over at night. I can't leave it up and go to sleep. I have to take it down each night, or I knock the book off. Who knew I was so violent???

proof of the snow

Here is picture proof of all that snow I was talking about. That van you can't see... yeah, it's really big. That picture was after a little bit of melting time too.