Aaaand we're back!!

Well, I obviously haven't posted anything on here for a long time. Half of it is that I've been pretty busy with homework, school, and other very important things dealing with family and friends, half of it is that I forgot about the whole world of blogging, and most of it is that I've just put it off every time I've had the chance to post something new. Soooo get ready for a mildly long post today! Just mildly long. All righty, here we go!

At the end of October, our Girls and Boys varsity teams went down to State in Soda Springs for XC. Even though our guys were disappointed that they didn't place first like they planned, they still did a spectacular job and got a whoppin' 3rd place! Our girls did great too and we had a really fun time all around.

Towards the beginning of November, our school had our annual Buff n Tuff boys volleyball tournament. I always have a good time cheering on friends with those of us who can't or choose not to participate in the games. This year, we had the coolest cheer leaders ever and the team we were rootin' for, Mormons -1, got 4th overall! (Correct me if I'm wrong :). ) It was a great night!

Then my family and I had my friend, Jessie, take our family photos. The Rhoads have this really cool barn in their backyard so we took them there and, even though it was super cold and everyone was kind of stressed, we got some good stuff. Thanks Jessie for taking them! And thanks Family for being awesome!

Then when the 7th Harry Potter movie came out, the Grimms had a party at their house. We were all assigned characters from the movies and I was given the glorious part of Colin Creevey. We had a super fun time feasting, playing games, talking and, of course, going to see the movie. (Top Left: Brook [Molly Weasley], Noelle [Cho Chang], Alyssa [Tonks] & Katie [Madam Pompfrey] eating deliciousness; Top Middle: Emmalee [Professor Trelawney] & Cole [Neville Longbottom] goofing off; Top Right: Noelle, Brianna [Colin Creevey] & Alyssa before the party; Right Middle: Garrett [Harry Potter], Cody [Professor Lupin] & Kendall [Ginny Weasley] waiting in line; Bottom Right: Noelle, Brook & Brianna playing Uno while waiting in line; Bottom Left: Courtney [Luna Lovegood], Noelle, Emmalee, Jennifer [Moaning Murtle], Mandy [Lavender Brown] & Alyssa just chillin')

The day after the party, we had Best of EFY!! I love stake dances anyways, so the EFY dance is even better. It's just so fun being around friends and going crazy! :) (Top Left: Ariel, Dan, Alora & Matt; Top Middle: Hayden, Kendall, David, Mitch, Amanda, Courtney, Mandy, Emmalee, Janessa & Allie; Top Right: Mandy, Courtney, Brianna & Jamin... and Alex's arms in the background; Bottom Left: Brianna, Autumn, Malia, Emmalee, Nicole & Mandy; Bottom Middle: Brianna & Brook acting normal... we try; Bottom Right: Alex, Mandy, Erin, Autumn, Noelle, Brook & Dakota)

For this month, Noelle and I kicked it off with a Christmas get-together with some friends. We had fun mostly playing Just Dance on the Wii. If you don't have this game, get it. Best game ever! A few of us also went caroling and we watched Elf and just ate and talked. It was fun and I'm glad that those who came made it! (Top Left: Brook, David, Brianna & Bonnie with their "BM" mustaches; Top Right: Ashlee, Abbey & Alyssa sittin' around, being awesome; Bottom Left: Jeff, Jamin & David; Bottom Center: Alex, David & Jeff bustin' a move!; Bottom Right: Kendall, Amanda, Brianna, Brook & Emmalee)

Each year, my family has the tradition of going on the North Pole Cruise and we usually join our friends the Priebes, Jeskes, Gunnersons, Caudles, Drydens... lots of people! This year, my parents went to Noelle's orchestra concert while I took the three younger ones and we still had a good time! Thanks to anyone who helped out with my siblings so I could take a few snap shots of everyone and mess around for a little bit. We all had a great time :) (Top Left: Mandy, Emmalee, Courtney & Brianna doing what we do best :); Top Right: Kaitlyn, Courtney, Emmalee, Mandy, Jamin, David, Alex & Brianna; Bottom Left: Emmalee & Brianna; Bottom Center: Steven, David & Cam waiting to get to the North Pole; Bottom Right: Courtney & Brianna)

And finally... other important stuff that's happened since my last post!!! First, Thanksgiving, of course!! This year my family joined the Smidts, my Nana & Pops, and the Thompsons up at Nana and Pops Smidt's house. The food was scrumptious! The next day we went to the holiday parade with the Thompsons, Nana & Pops and watched fireworks. Then I got my drivers license finally on the 16th... that was a relief! My mom also got her port removed last month so she is officially done with everything! That's her with her awesome doctor, Dr. Quinn. And in the middle there... those are just my little brothers being the goofballs that they are. I love those kids!!

Well, thanks for surviving this lengthy post!! Hopefully, I'll begin to keep on top of things again starting right this minute. Now go eat something.

Regionals Baby!!

Yesterday, our cross country team went to Lewiston for our Regionals meet. Let's just say that not only does Lewiston stink as in "Phew, that smells disgusting!" but they also weren't very prepared for this meet. But I'm not going to bash on them because we all still had a pretty good time!

Well, we started off our "journey" with a team dinner at Andrew Reagan's house the night before our races. We had the usual--spaghetti. Spaghetti never gets old though! That's one of the great things about cross country is that you get it every week :).

Gotta love meal-time photos! :)

 Noelle and Erin were sharing secrets, so Jake and Michael, thought it would be funny to imitate them... it was pretty funny.

And this really probably isn't significant to any of you, but this week, we had BLUE Gatorade! And it was scrumptious! We usually have yellow, but blue was a delicious change and everyone absolutely loved it!

Okay, onward! After that team dinner, we all went to bed, then woke up, some of us went to school (some of us skipped...), and loaded up on the bus at 9:30 am. And here's our adventure starting from then!

Everyone doing their thing before the races...

This was the JV Girls race... our team got 2nd! I think this is the best JV Girls have done in a long time, so good job, girls!

We have way too many JV Boys, which is a good thing, but I'm not going to put up a picture of every single guy... sorry, I know you all were dying to see all of them :). Our JV Boys got 1st and they had some fantastic races! Way to go, guys!

And our Varsity girls!! They did amazing!!! They got 1st place for the first time in around 6 years so that says something. I'm so stinkin' proud of you all :). Oh, and that's Malia in the bottom right corner. She's in Lakeland 1st ward and I had an empty space on this collage, so I plopped her in there... anyway, she's awesome too!

And then there are our Varsity Boys. They got 1st as a team too and an almost perfect score of 16! Our boys are amazing and that's pretty much all there is to say!

Sorry LCHS, but you got beaten. Badly. Muaha!

Everyone on our team just goofing off during the awards ceremony... gotta love 'em!

Aaaaand on our way back from the meet. That's Kendall, Courtney, Noelle and me with Malia, Courtney, Kendall, Alex and me at Burger King (we sneaked over there while everyone was buying dinner at Albertson's :) ), me eating a 16-layer Oreo cookie, and Cody with Jessie! Yeah, we had a good time!

And that's Regionals! Hope you enjoyed it!

SURPRISE!!!

I am now making this "blog-official". Before my grandparents left Coeur d'Alene to go back to San Diego, they had my sisters and me solve this little puzzle last week. We were given a box full of sand with a bunch of Scrabble letters in it and told to find all the letters and spell out what we thought they were supposed to say. 

We got a few letters and I jokingly spelled out "fiesta" but surprisingly that was one of the words... and the next word was "mexican".

So then they told us to say what we thought this meant. We wanted to say what we thought but we thought it was too good to be true. But it's not! They told us we're going...

on a cruise along the shore of Mexico in January!! We're all so excited and super thankful for this amazing surprise! It's going to be a blast!

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Post #6! Well, for this post, I'm choosing to do my five most favorite things about the "Halloween season." I don't know if I'll get around to doing it for the next two weeks so it's better now than never! Anyway, here it is:

#1 -- Candy!

I had to add this one! Even though I don't get to eat any candy until after State, it makes it all worth it even more. Then I'm twice as excited to eat all those sweets! :) Candy is what brings joy (and A LOT of energy) to little children each Halloween. If it wasn't for candy, Halloween wouldn't mean nearly as much to a lot of people! :)

#2 -- Pumpkins

Ah pumpkins! You can carve them, admire them, eat them I'm sure, if you really wanted to. It amazes me how many different shapes and sizes there are of pumpkins out there. Above is the Greenbluff pumpkin patch and they've got some good ones. And another cool thing is that anything pumpkin-flavored is delicious! Doughnuts, bread, ice cream (I had it when I was little at Baskin Robbins), cookies, cake, everything! What's interesting though, and something that I just looked up because I wanted to sound smart on one of these posts, is that pumpkins have a symbol behind them. Yep! It's true! :) According to a very informational website called Halloween Symbols, "On the British isles, the scary face of the jack-o-lantern was used to frighten away evil spirits and cast a 'spell of protection over the household.'  The Celts carved the frightening faces into gourds or turnips, not the American pumpkin." Well, there ya go! Now you can go around, sounding smart and telling everyone that cute little fact. Okay, onward!

#3 -- Costumes

This picture is from two years ago because surprisingly (which it is if you know me), I didn't have any photos of me dressed up from Halloween last year! Crazy, right?! Either way, costumes rock! I already did a post about how I love to dress up, so this just goes to prove that I guess? Costumes make Halloween worth celebrating... yes, more than candy does!

#4 -- Apple Dumplings

 First of all, I'm pretty sure that these dumplings aren't "World Famous," but nonetheless, they are super duper scrumdidlyumptious! If you have never had one, I would most definitely say to go try one. Even if you have to go to Greenbluff just for that, it's so worth it. Then again, I'm not the one paying for gas whenever we go there, so I wouldn't know for sure... anyway, they are like a little treat sent from heaven. I cannot fully describe the goodness of these things!

#5 -- Colorful Trees

This isn't the best photo to capture what I'm going for here, but it works. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that loves the colorful leaves... while they're still on the trees. They're still pretty on the ground, but then it takes forever to rake them all up. Which I'm fine with doing the first time. After that, it gets kind of tiring. But I guess the beautiful colors everywhere are pretty worth it!

"Lucky"

I've fallen in love with this version of the song! It probably has to do with the characters singing it too, but still, I just love it! It's so cute to see Quinn start to fall for him... I don't know. Whatever it is, this is a great video and song. Sorry to those of you who don't even know what I'm talking about. I just had to post this video! :)

"These are a few of my favorite things..." Explanation Here!

Okey dokey, so this week, I've been a little busy. So I'll either double up on this Saturday's post or just skip last Saturday's. I'll probably end up doing the second one so don't worry, this week I will most likely post my favorite things in time... that is, if you were worried :).

"Toxic" number by Val Chmerkovskiy & Mark Ballas

This season, I haven't really gotten into Dancing with the Stars like I usually do, but I was watching the results show for the first time the other night and there was this amazing duet done by two of the dancers. Mark Ballas was one of them and he's one of the pros on the show while his "ballroom rival" for the duet, Val Chmerkovskiy isn't, but his big brother, Maks, is. They did a number to "Toxic" and played the violin and guitar... it was really cool and made me smile. And the girls they danced with, Lacey and some other girl (I have no idea who it was, but she's super flexible!), are SUPER good! Sooo, here it is: (To see the actual thing, skip to 1:50)

I love the look that Val gives Mark when they're finished :)

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Here's my 5th edition of this post. Thanks for the comments to those who commented! :) I'm happy to see that people still read this haha!

#1 -- Penguin Bars

If you haven't ever had these chocolate bars full of deliciousness, get them during your next visit to Europe! They are SO scrumptious! My grandpa would always get them for my mom mostly whenever he would come back from England and I would always end up eating most of them. Then over the summer, I went to World Market in Boise and guess what was there? Penguin Bars!! So you don't really have to go all the way to England. They're in Boise too :) Oh and probably Spokane...

#2 -- My Scriptures

My scriptures are most definitely the best books I own. They're so nice to go to when I need to feel peace and inspiration. They're filled with so much knowledge and gospel doctrine. I'm sure that something important can be found in each verse, whether it's a principle or a cool story. I could study these scriptures for years and still not find every single important piece of doctrine or principle in them. That's how amazing they are!

#3 -- My Journal

Yes, I've only filled two whole journals so far, but I have written in other ones and ripped out the pages. I just recently started writing in my journal daily again and it's helped me so much to remember what I need to. I also find peace in writing down my thoughts and experiences. Sometimes they bring in memories that make me smile and others that make me sad, but it's nice to reflect on what goes on in my life. Not to mention that it's very entertaining to read back on old entries. :)

#4 -- The Look of Newton Running Shoes in My Cross Country Bag :)

Saturday night, I got back from Yakima and found a box of Newton running shoes on my bed. I was SO excited!! My dad got a great deal on a pair for me and a pair for him so I'm pretty stoked. These shoes are pretty much the best made out there and I'm lucky enough to own a pair. I can't wait to run in them!

#5 -- Hand-Written Letters

Hand-written letters are some of the most fun things to look back on. I have a whole box just full of them that I read through whenever I'm feeling down or have nothing to do. It's nice to read about friends and family that you never see. If I ever need a booster, I read the ones that have had a lot of care and love put into them. And the hand-written ones are ten times better because the people actually took the time to write them and personalize them instead of just choosing a cool font on the computer--which, I'll admit, I'm guilty of doing a lot of the time, but when I write letters, it's a lot cooler. :)

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Well, sorry about not posting this on Saturday!! Most of you guys probably don't even read these, but I enjoy posting them so I guess you'll just have to deal with them :) Anyways, here's post number 4!

#1 -- Stake Dances

After going to my first school dance last night, I've definitely gained a new appreciation for church dances. :) It's so fun to let loose with all my friends while still upholding our standards, even if the dances may be a little lame at times. But to me, it's all up to the person to choose whether or not they're having fun so I always try to go with a positive attitude. So I end up having fun no matter what!

This is just a picture of me with a few of my friends at the latest stake dance.

#2 -- Photography

I absolutely love photography. I always thought it was cool, but when I started my class last year, I fell in love with it! It's so amazing to capture things and people and special moments in the best way that you can and it's such a challenge. It's also kind of a way I can escape from frustration and focus on the beauty of this world. I'm so glad that I got into it and I never want to give it up. It's a wonderful thing to be involved with. Now I have a photography blog for my class so if you ever get tired of this blog and just want to look at pictures that are attempting to be perfect but aren't quite, check it out at www.briball.wordpress.com

#3 -- Mike Tompkins

I just discovered this amazing guy the other day on YouTube. I posted a video of one of his songs on here a few days ago so if you haven't seen that yet, I would definitely suggest watching it. Mike Tompkins is spectacular!!! I can't even describe him with the right words. I'm so fascinated by his talent (and his looks)! :) I really hope to meet him someday!

#4 -- Nana's Peach Pie

Well, I meant to take a picture of one yesterday, but I forgot and now all of the pie is devoured. My grandma's peach pie is the most delicious peach pie I've ever had and I'm sure those who have tasted it would agree. She makes the crust then just adds fresh peaches with glaze stuff and kaboom! The most scrumptious pie ever is created!

#5 -- Campfires

This isn't the best picture, but it was the only one on our computer I could find. I really do love campfires though! I think they're such a good way to get to know other people and have fun with friends. There's so much you can do with them too! Whether it's cooking food or being used for light, a campfire is a pretty awesome thing! I'll definitely make sure to have a fire pit when I get my own place :)

Mike Tompkins

So today I was watching a video on YouTube by Sam Tsui (a great a cappella singer) when I came across this guy Mike Tompkins. He's amazing!!! I watched his "Teenaged Dream/Just the Way You Are" video and he's one of the best a cappella singers I've ever seen. Check out his YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/pbpproductions or here's one of his videos for "Misery" originally by Maroon5:

Hope you enjoyed!

Bridget

Before David was born, we all thought that he was going to be a girl because my mom had had really strong feelings that her name would be Bridget. Of course, David wasn't a girl or else his name wouldn't be what it is... but today, we created that Bridget for our mom. This is what happens when big sisters don't have much to do on Sundays:

Isn't she beautiful?

Dating Summit

This last Saturday night, there was a "Dating Summit" in Spokane. We got to ask a few married couples about dating, did speed dating, and had a fun dance. Overall, it was really fun and enjoyable! Before the whole thing, I was kind of iffy about it to be honest, but afterwards, I was definitely glad I had gone. Besides, we got tacos afterwards!!! So it was totally worth it! :) Anyways, thanks for the ride and tacos, Bishop and Sister Priebe!

Upper left: Allie, Brook, David, Autumn, I don't know (sorry!), TeAnn and Alora; Upper Right: Scott, Kendall, Emmalee, Amanda, Jen, me and David; Lower Left: Autumn, I don't know again (this is going to bother me!), Brook and me; Lower Middle: David, Alex and Scott; Lower Right: Austin, Zach, Kendall, Emmalee, Jen and Amanda

Well, I met some awesome people and had a wonderful time. I hope we have another one of these things soon!

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Yay!! Today is Saturday and that means that I get to do my third "favorite things" post! So here we go!

#1 -- "So Close" by Jon McLaughlin

Okay, this is my most favorite song ever!! It's the song from Enchanted when Giselle is dancing with Robert at the King and Queen's Ball. I don't know what it is, but I never get tired of this song. It might be the enchanting music or the great singer, I'm not sure. Whatever it is makes me love this song more each time I hear it!

#2 -- Young Women's

Oh boy do I love these girls!!! It should say "church" up there just in general because there are so many great things about it and wonderful people in our ward and stake. We'll just say that that's all included in this though because it would take way too many pictures for all of it. :) Anyways, I love young women's. It's a wonderful group of girls to hang out with and I feel like I can go there to be at peace, forget all my worries, and have a good time. It's amazing! And the girls are spectacular along with our wonderful leaders. Let's just say, it's the place to be every Tuesday night! :)

#3 -- Dressing Up!!!

Yes, I still enjoy dressing up, but everyone does right? You don't have to be little to.... It's just fun to act like someone that you're not and look like someone you're not. I don't know... it's just super duper exciting! Dressing up for our music videos with the Fagan girls is especially fun. Anywho, dressing up is one of my favorite things to do and that's that!! Oh, and P.S. The Wannabes will be coming out with an all new music video shortly!

#4 -- Magazines

I really like magazines. I'm not subscribed to any except for a photography magazine called Rangefinder, 

but I like buying them at stores every once in a while and flipping through them now and then. It's fun to look at the older ones I've kept like that special edition of People about High School Musical 2 up there. It's also fun to look at the newer magazines like my Martha Stewart Weddings one. :) I just like to read and look at pictures, so what could be better?!

#5 -- Mexico

I've only been to Mexico a few times when I was little (which I don't remember very well) and once in 2006, but I've fallen in love with it. I went with my mom, Noelle, and our friends (Lisa, Andrew, and Meaghan Bare) to Guanajuato, Mexico City, San Miguel and Mazatlan. The culture, the language, the people, the food, the buildings -- everything is wonderful about it. My favorite parts were all the cool little trinkets (of course) and the happiness that surrounds all of the people there. They are so much less fortunate than us when it comes to material things, but when it comes to the things that really count, they have it all just because they are grateful and happy. I love that about them! Like my tourist look going on in that picture? :)

And that's the end of "These are a few of my favorite things..." Post Numero Tres... tune in for next week's!!

Wednesday -- Inspiring Quote/Poem/Story Day?

Well then, today is Wednesday... and like I'm doing that "favorite things" post every Saturday, I think I'm going to start posting something every Wednesday too now. Like it says in the post title, it might be an inspiring quote, poem, or story. Or maybe it's just a funny one or something. We'll see. And it might not be every Wednesday. It just depends how this all works out! So, here's just one simple little quote thingy... whatever you wish to call it:

"It has been said that no one knows what he is capable of doing unless he has tested his ability or capacity. The reason many people accomplish so little is not because they make attempts and fail, but because they fail to make attempts. In which group do you voluntarily place yourself?" --Story Beacons

So, this isn't the best quote that I'll be sharing whenever I do this, but I still think it's really important. I like how it says "voluntarily" in the last sentence. It really shows that our success in life is really up to us and we can either choose failure by not trying, or eventual success and experience by trying like crazy. 

I probably won't be doing this weekly, but this type of post will start showing up on here more often, so be prepared! :)

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Well, here's post numero dos for this category. I really enjoy making these posts even if people don't pay much attention to them. I guess it's just kind of my way of saying thank you and showing my gratitude for things that I mention in each post. Alrighty then, here we go!

#1 -- Zotz

These fizzy candies are awesome!!! Sheila gave everyone one of these things at their cabin the other day and it had been the first time I had ever tried one before (at least from what I can remember). You suck on them and slowly, little holes form and a bunch of fizzy stuff comes out from the center. They're amazing!

#2 -- Queen Latifah

Lately, I discovered that I really enjoy all of the movies that I've seen with Queen Latifah in them and the people she plays. Whether it's Last Holiday or Hairspray, I love her characters. She's just an all-around good actress!!

#3 -- My Kiss & Tell Book

Noelle would roll her eyes at this one and maybe a lot of you will, but I really do enjoy this book. :) It's about all these female celebrities' most memorable kisses. Whether it's the first kiss of her newborn baby, a slobbery kiss from the 5th grade, or a romantic little first kiss from her future husband or just a crush, I like almost all of them! It's just a cute book and I would suggest reading it (you can borrow it from me!) if you like this kind of stuff. A.k.a. If you're not Noelle or in the ABC Club :)

#4 -- Pride & Prejudice

This is another one of my favorite movies. I could watch it every single day!!! In fact, I've tried that once, but my family wouldn't let me because they were tired of it. But every time, it amazes me and makes me smile. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this movie!

#5 -- My "Inspire" Necklace from World Market

I got this necklace when we went down to Boise for my cousin's wedding at World Market. It was made in India and when I saw it, I instantly loved it. I also liked a "Dream" one and a "Wish" one or something like that, but I chose this necklace instead because I hardly ever see the word "Inspire" like this. I don't know what else it is about it, but I really love it!! Or as Kendall would say, "It makes me extremely happy!"