Day 1 of Mission Prep..

Waking up with a headache is a feeling that no one deserves to have.

Going to work on top of that was not enjoyable.

Luckily work if getting better and I'm enjoying more!

I did, however, have a hard time getting things done on time with a migraine. 

I came home to lay down and got a text from Aub asking if I could come grab her from school.

I did and it was really good to see her and talk about our days.

I remembered that I had mission prep tonight and had absolutely no desire to go.

Only because I was EXHAUSTED and this migraine was killing me. 

But I knew without a doubt that going to mission prep was the best medicine. 

So I got dressed and dragged myself down to my car with scriptures and a notebook in hand.

I said a little prayer that I would find satisfaction in going with this awful migraine. 

I was a little late but hey...better late than never.

I will have to say....I enjoyed myself!

I love my teacher.

It's a small class and there may be a girl who does a lot of talking but oh well!

I'm so happy I went. 

Yes...I am still EXHAUSTED and my migraine still exists. 

BUT I learned a lot tonight.

Some things that I came to the realization is that this church is Christ's church. 

It is a church full of forgiveness, mercy and love.

These lyrics came to my mind when my teacher told us that statement.

"I have died everyday, waiting for you.

Darlin' don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years.

I'll love you for a thousand more."

It just made me realize that He'll love us forever no matter what.

I love that song. 

I loved class tonight. 

And now I love the fact that it's not even 10:00 and I'm ready to go to bed.

Every Story...

So a few months ago, I was on facebook talking to my friend Brad.
We were in Joseph together last summer.
He mentioned something about Sandy Amphitheater holding audition for "Aida".
I picked up my phone and called my friend Trent.
I knew Aida was one of his favorite shows and the main male lead, "Radames" was his dream role.
I told him about auditions and well...he auditioned.
He made it and I was so proud of him.
I was excited for him to play a dream role of his.
Well 2 months later and I found myself at the Sandy Amphitheater...
Waiting for my best friend to go on stage.
I went a few times with family and friends and the show just got better and better.
I could tell his dream had come true.
I had plans to go with some old friends from Joseph on closing night but those plans fell through.
So my cousin Kim and her friend Ray came with me to the closing night show.
We had a blast watching the show together.
I was so proud of my best friend and all of his hard work to make one of his dreams come true.

Liebster?

I have no idea was Liebster is but I was tagged in my dear friend Elsa Marin's blog. Els said so herself that it makes her feel like it's a 5th grade email chain. I will say something about those....I followed those chain rules religiously. The whole, "send this to 10 people within 5 minutes and your crush will show up on your driveway." I'd send the email to 10 people and go outside and wait for my crush to come....he never came. Yes I know...I'm was pathetic. Okay so here are the rules:

...Each people must post 11 things about themselvses.
...Answer the questions that the tagger set for you. PLUS create 11 questions for the people you have tagged to answer.
...Choose 11 people and link them to your post.
...Go to their page and tell them.

Here I go!

11 things that make me who I am:

1. I can't drink a drink out of a cup unless I have a straw. If I don't have a straw....I usually spill my diet coke or water everywhere. I guess I get this weird quirk from my mother.

2. If I am eating harvest cheddar sun chips, I can only wash it down with a Dr. Pepper. And if I am eating baked lays, I like to wash is down with some rootbeer....try it. It's yummy!

3. I hate stepping on cracks in the sidewalk....it'll break my mom's back!!

4. All of my dollar bills have to be facing the same ways in my wallet or in my catering till at work. I'm not OCD...I'm just weird.

5. When I am throwing a piece of paper away, I ALWAYS tear it in half. No matter what.

6. I only chew on half pieces of gum. Those who know me very well know this to be an Annie quirk.

7. Whenever I use a public bathroom, I ALWAYS use the stall closest to the door....I honestly don't know why I do. Maybe it's because it's the stall that usually gets skipped...therefore...it's more clean! Again....I'm not OCD. Just me.

8. I always play a game of sudoku on my phone before I go to bed. 2 reasons....1. I think I dominate at them. and 2. It helps my eyes get tired and so I fall asleep quickly. Again....those who know me very well will know that sudoku is my thang.

9. I'm a sucker for guitar players. I can play like 2 and a half chords. So my hat is off to those who can play anything.

10. Whenever I fill up my car with gas, the total has to be even. None of this $46.78 crap. I'll pay an extra .22 cents to get that $47.00 even total.

11. This is a confession....I am slowly...again....SLOWLY people....warming up to the idea of shopping. My close friends know that shopping is the devil for me. I get tired and really impatient. I honestly go to the mall for the food court...I mean...who doesn't? But yes....I have shopped more this year than I have in my entire life.

Elsa Marin's Questions:

1. Tell us about your blogging life. Why do you blog? What do you prefer to blog about? Those kinds of things...
--- I started blogging when I moved down to Orem. I am really bad at writing in journals but I love journaling. I felt that blogging would be the best way. I love blogging about my day. Like I said....I love journaling. I do have a private blog that only me, myself and I can see. That blog is where I let EVERYTHING out. It has really helped to get my true feelings out and only I read about it.

2. If you had to choose only one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
---- It's hard to pick ONE movie... but I would pick The Prestige. I love C. Bale. And I know he loves me. The Prestige or Dark Knight...ooohhh.. no.....Newsies! Shoot! Such a hard but good question.

3. Guilty pleasure? What is yours? ;)
--- CHOCOLATE... need I say more? Thought so.

4. What is your current favorite color of nail polish?
--- I love nail polish on my nails when they actually have some length to them....I'm a nail biter. BUT....I have loved painting my nails red! Makes me feel classy.

5. Favorite place to eat at?
--- Cafe Rio. They never let me down.

6. Who is your role model and why?
--- My 2 sisters and older cousins: Kim, Missy and Steph are my role models. I have looked up to them for as long as I can remember. They are my best friends. They are my angels. I don't know what I would do with out them. I have gotten closer with them as I've gotten older. They are my go-to gals! And they always will be.

7. What is your favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor?
--- Honestly? I don't eat Ben and Jerry's....I am a Haagen Daaz girl...coffee flavor please!

8. Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years?
--- Hopefully back from a mission, married, done with school. I would love to be teaching. Maybe have a kid! We'll see! I just want to be 100% sure will all of my big life decisions.

9. If you could go to any concert, what would it be?
--- Another Billy Joel concert. The dude is getting old and it makes me sad. I went to his concert when I was a sophomore in high school and I will never forget it.

10. Biggest celebrity crush. Go.
--- Ryan Gosling. We are married and have 4 children in my mind. He's the best husband ever. It gets hard at times when my sister Jessica tries to steal him from me though. We both have an obsession over him.

11. What are your upcoming expectations for this fall?
--- I will be working my can off. I just got promoted and so I will be making a lot more money. I am also hoping to have made my decision for school for Jan. 2013.

I know I'm breaking the last few rules... I blogged about this because it's fun thinking of all of the weird quirks and habits I have. I loved Elsa's questions. This blog post took me back to 5th grade. And I loved it all!

The Orphanage....

Experience #2: The Orphanage...

It's really hard for me to put into words what I experienced this day. All I can say is that on July 15, 2012, my life was forever changed. To start off this incredible day, we sang at an LDS church in Cuenca. After sacrament meeting, the bishop asked us to sing at a funeral that was starting right after church. How appropriate was it that we were there right at that moment? We sang Prayer of the Children and I Wonder When He Comes Again. Kim put together an arrangement of I Wonder When He Comes Again not really knowing why he was supposed to do that. We all found out why that was the song he chose as we sang it at the funeral of a 12 year old girl. Some of us were in tears...me being one of those people. It was an amazing experience and that is a reason as to why Ecuador was the place we were supposed to go to for Synergy tour. To continue on this incredible Sunday, we arrived at our performance at an orphanage. I have been to an orphanage before but this place was different. We walked in the court yard and found a basketball court, laundry hung up to dry, chalk on the cement and little girls playing off to the side. I walked around with Stephanie Dana and this little girl came running over to us. She sat down with us and just smiled. Steph doesn't know too much spanish so I was able to ask this little angel what her name was. Gizelle. She was 6. She was small. She was special. She had a pink shirt on with jeans that had pink flowers on them. Her white tennis shoes had pink butterflies. The hair ties holding her cute little buns up on her head were pink as well. She loved pink. We just sat with me and Steph and we admired her clothes and cute face. It was time to set up for the show and get dressed. Kim reminded us at the beginning of the show to not worry about perfection. Weird...it's what we aim for. He told us that we were there to give a gift. A gift of love. A gift of hope. A gift of peace. I could tell that every single member of Synergy wanted to give that gift. So badly. And we did. The audience was full of little girls and senior women. The show went amazing. I've never performed with such a big smile on my face. They had no idea what we were singing, but they all sure loved the show. At the end of the show, one of the nuns began speaking to us while Ricky translated. She couldn't stop thanking us for our gift. We learned that these little girls are either found on the streets or taken away from their families. They are educated and taken care of in this orphanage. The senior women are there due to the fact that their families will no longer take care of them. I couldn't help but let the tears stream down my face as I looked into the eyes of these innocent girls and women. As the nun went on thanking us for our joy, someone from the audience said, "Because of your joy and energy, we will be able to live for another hundred years!!" They were all so gracious. So loving. So humble. So perfect. As soon as the nun finished her amazing speech, we were all off and free to play with the children and greet the women. I found Gizelle. She ran over to me and threw her arms around me. She didn't even know my name. Who cares? I think that we both knew that there was a connection between the two of us. I asked a nun what Gizelle's story was. Where did she come from? How did you find her? Story is that she was just found on the streets with no family. They aren't able to find her parents because they don't know her last name. She is 6 but has the body of a 4 year old. This is due to lack of nutrition. So the nuns are doing everything they can to get her to a healthy weight. Gizelle and I just played and played. I would throw her up in the air and she would just giggle. She wouldn't let go of me. As much as I wanted to go play with every single little girl, my heart was stolen by Gizelle. And forever it will be hers. I began walking to the hallway where we got dressed. She took my hand and followed me there. She sat down as I changed out of my costume and into my sunday dress. She would help me by handing me the hanger and the costume. I took out my make up bag and played around with her by pretending to put blush on her face with my blush brush. She just giggled and giggled. I found a hair elastic in there and something told me that it belonged to her. Or at least...it should now belong to her. I put it on her wrist and her eyes lit up. I had one on my wrist and she grabbed my hand. Friendship bracelets? Okay! I almost like to think of them as promise bracelets. Promising that there is hope for her to be found by her parents. Promising that her life will be filled with happiness. Promising her that I will see her again. She doesn't know that I feel this way about our bracelets. It was a gift for her that I hope she will keep. I wear one on my wrist everyday. I think of her when I see it. I know I will see her again. Just like I will see Elle. It will be a perfect reunion. We went back outside to the courtyard. Synergy members were still playing the kids and some were loading the bus. I played with Gizelle until Kim came over to me saying we had to go. I hugged her oh so very tightly and told her I loved her. It was one of the hardest goodbyes for me. But the with the knowledge that I have, I know I will see her again and I will be able to speak with her. I cannot wait. 

She loved kisses!

  

And sticking out her tongue...she thought it was the funniest thing ever!

"I promise..."

She is my angel and I love her so much...

Looking Forward...

I have come to a lot of realizations in the past 6 minutes or so.
I have a lot of things that I am looking forward to!
Here they are:

Watching more Olympics....we have watched them every night as a family. I love this year's Olympics!! GO TEAM USA!

Synergy's post tour concert...not only to perform again, but to be reunited with my second family!

Seeing my best friend again and heck! Have her move back in with me!!!

Freaky Fridays rehearsals to start! It will be a good show!

To see my best friend in his upcoming show, Aida. So proud of him of getting his dream role! 

Yep...life is wonderful!

Elle.

I was trying to figure out how I was going to share with you my experiences of Ecuador.
Day by day?
One big post?
None of the them sounded very appealing to me.
Would anyone read them?
I felt like maybe writing posts about certain life changing experiences that I had over there would be the best way to express to you how amazing my journey was.

Experience #1: The Iguana Park...

I'm going to be honest...our first night in Ecuador was interesting for me. I didn't feel like I was on tour and for some reason...I was already homesick. I don't know why I was. I mean...I had my old roommate and best friend in my room, I have done a Synergy tour before, I was with an amazing group who was my second family, and I was safe. I fell asleep and woke up excited for the day. We visited the LDS temple in Guayaquil and sang for the temple presidents. Tour was feeling more like tour. For some reason, I was waiting for more. We went to an iguana park in the middle of the city. Silly huh? Iguana park? Let me tell ya...it was awesome! Just iguanas roaming around freely, eating lettuce and enjoying the company of humans. We were getting strange looks from people in the park. They were all confused as to why a big group of white Americans were invading their city. I would be confused too. There was a big band full of older men playing all sorts of songs. They let us sing for them and then they played "New York, New York" for us. I knew right then and there that these people of this beautiful country were special. Then we sang "A Mi Lindo" for them. The crowd went nuts. Tour. Was here. I had a big smile on my face as I came to the realization that I was in Ecuador, performing for complete strangers and being the happiest I have been in a long time. A little girl caught my eye. She looked about 13. She had the biggest smile on her face. She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was down syndrome. I couldn't help but glue my eyes to hers while we sang a'capella for the crowd. **For those of you who know me, I have a special place in my heart for kids with special needs. I am going into special education and I was an aide for a special needs singing and dancing group for 5 years. I have a special connection with these children.** After we sang I ran right over to her and she threw her arms around me. Again...tour was here. I was in Ecuador. Ready to change the world and be changed. I just didn't expect it to happen this quickly. I was able to communicate with her with the little spanish I knew. Her name was Elle. She couldn't stop hugging me and smiling. I made a new friend. A best friend. I wish I was fluent in spanish so I could ask her about life. What her favorite color was. What she did for fun. What she loved about life. What her favorite Disney movie was. I wanted to know EVERYTHING about Elle. This language barrier was going to take some time to get used to. But all I really knew was that I had a connection with her and that she was special. She was my friend. I had a thought that I WILL see her again. And she WILL remember me. It will be a beautiful reunion and I cannot wait.

Viva Ecuador!

Soo....HELLO!
It's been a long long...looong time since my last blog post.
Pardon me for traveling the world and changing lives and being changed myself.
For those of you who know...I was in Ecuador for 2 weeks,
With my second family.
Doing service.
Performing my brains out.
Puking my brains out.
Playing with children.
Changing my life.
This year's tour was something else.
It's hard to put into words how incredible it was.
I decided to put a list together of things that I learned throughout these past 2 weeks.

1). Chicken is not known as a meat. It's either "chicken or meat?" for lunch/dinner.
2). Ecuadorians will hear that a show starts at 7... and will show up at 8:30-9.
3). They don't care about waking you up at 4:00 in the AM with a marching band coming down the street.
4). DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!....nuff said.
5). The doctors there like to give you hugs and kisses after treating you with meds. Made me feel a little better.
6). After being told not to perform for 2 shows because of illness is miserable...BUT performing after missing 2 shows is the most incredible and overwhelming feeling.
7). The children there love the hold hands, kiss your cheek and have you hold them.
8). It doesn't rain in Limone...it POURS.
9). There aren't a lot of monkeys in Ecuadors...in fact...I didn't see one....but there are llamas!
10.) In Guayaquil, there is a hillside that takes you up to the lighthouse. There are not 268 steps....there are 444. Thanks Jose.
11). The Ecuadorian people are the most gracious, loving, humble and incredible people I have ever met. I've never felt so much love from a group of people than I felt with the Ecuadorians.
12). I WANT TO GO BACK!!

I've never had such a hard time leaving a country.
I've never hugged someone so hard than I hugged our wonderful guide Jose.
I've never been so close with the people in my performing group.
I've never been so sick in my life as I was sick for those 4 days.
I've never experienced such love from children.
I've never not missed my phone. I didn't want to turn it on when I got home.
I've never been so homesick.....but then again...I felt like I was home being over there.
I've never held a child so tightly as I did with them over there.
I've never been the same since I've been home.
....and I don't plan on going back to my old ways.