Festival of Craziness!

I get excited at the end of March. 1- because it is FINALLY spring (although right now it might as well still be January with the weather we have been having) 2- because it is time for the Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. Thankfully it was a nice day that day (we got a one day break from the snow).
This was my 3rd year going and I love it. There is something about getting dirty that is fun. Out of the 3 times that I have gone, this was the most crowded by far that I have ever seen it. There were thousands! So you can only imagine with that many people, what it would be like when they all started throwing color. Brent and I had both been before, so we learned from our past years and came prepared with goggles and dust masks! I can't tell you what a difference it made. It was awesome. It was also a lot of fun because our friends Nicole and Nate came with us. It was their first time, so they were excited and we gave them some tips and brought some masks for them. I wish I would have gotten some before pictures, but I will just tell you that my shirt used to be black. It takes a while to clean up, but it is worth it. Can't wait for next year!

Orchestra Concert

Last night, my roommate Ashlee invited Brent and I to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Orchestra Concert. We thought it was going to be in the Conference Center, but turns out it was in the Tabernacle. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful building with amazing sound... but the seats are so uncomfortable that it makes any performance you go to a long one. Besides being very uncomfortable during the concert and then walking to our car in freezing weather... it was a great show. The orchestra sounded amazing and did some awesome numbers. I love music. There was one number that was sung beautifully by a young woman called "Flowers" and although I can appreciate that it was difficult to sing and she did an awesome job singing it, it was long and in weird keys and deep and dark lyrics. Not my cup of tea. We were sitting in the balcony on the side. So we could see all the people below us in the audience.... another thing I found amusing was watching this older man conducting the orchestra along with the conductor from his seat... he got REALLY into it at some parts. Anyway... it is always nice to get out, dress up and go see a performance and appreciate the arts and I am so glad that Brent enjoys it also.

Greek Mythology

When I was a senior in High School, I took a Greek Mythology class. My sisters had taken the class from the same teacher and they really enjoyed it, so I took the class. I also enjoyed it. He had us do a few projects. The last project, we could do whatever we wanted as long as it was about Greek Mythology of course and would give examples. Mr. Petrini had been teaching for many many years and he said there was not a project idea that he had not seen before. So of course I challenged him that I would come up with something totally original and awesome. He just laughed at me. Because I have always loved photography and I had just learned to color black and white photo's with oil paints.. I had my idea! I would make a book about characters in Greek Mythology. For the pictures I teamed up with my friend Michelle (friends since pre-school) and we posed as the different characters and had black and white pictures taken. This girl was living with my family at the time that was going to Brooks photography school and she helped me out and I went to the dark room with her to develop the pictures by hand. It took so long... it was interesting to learn the whole process of developing film. After they were developed, I painted them and then put them together in a book. I presented it to the class and Mr. Petrini was blown away with a completely new project. I got an A+ and he asked if he could have a copy of my book for his collection. It was so fun. Of course I kept the book and it sits on my book shelf for me to look at now and again. Here are a few of the pictures from the book. P.S. We had fun making different outfits out of bed sheets.

Hades
He was one of the Olympian gods. He was the son of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He became known as Pluto, the god of wealth, because of the precious metals in the earth. It was rare for Hades to leave his realm to visit Earth or Olympus.


Poseidon
God of the sea, protection of all waters. Powerful violent, and vengeful, he carried the trident with which he caused earthquakes. The son of the Titans Cronus and Reha, and brother of Zues and Hades, Poseidon was the husband of Aphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton.

Aphrodite
Goddess of love and beauty, was born from the foam of the sea. She was married to Hephaestus, the god of fire and smithy to the gods. All gods were charmed with her beauty and each demanded her hand in marriage.


Medea
Medea, whose name means "the cunning one", was the daughter of the king of Colchis. She was a sorceress who was something between a witch and a goddess.

Pandora
In Greek mythology, there are two versions of the story of Pandora's box. In one, the box is a jar containing all kinds of misery and evil. When Pandora opens it, all the miseries and evils escape and fly all over the earth. In the other, the box contains all kinds of blessings which were subsequently lost to humans when she opened the box.

Medusa (people used to call me this when I would have my green pet snake in my hair)
One of the Gorgons, (Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. They live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld). She was the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone.

Echo and Narcissus (one of my favorite stories in Greek Mythology and one of my favorite pictures from this project)
Echo was in the wrong place at the wrong time, talking to Hera long enough for Zues to fool around again. Hera, who thought it was a put-up job, was so angry she deprived Echo of the power of speech except for the ability to repeat the last words of another. Echo fell in love with Narcissus who was pining away staring at his reflection. Echo, in despair at his indifference to her. faded away to nothing until only her voice remained. Narcissus was an exceptionally handsome youth. A prophecy was foretold that he would live a long life if he did not look upon his own features. He chanced to see his reflection and pined away till he died by the side of the spring. The narcissus flower supposedly grew at that spot.

Mini Golf

Part of the joy of being on the activities council is thinking of activities that you think the ward will not only show up to, but enjoy. Since it is my eternal calling and I have been on activities in this ward for about 3 years and then in my ward before this one I was the activities chair for a year, I have some ideas and I usually have a pretty good idea of what people will and will not like. The activity we did tonight was one that I did as activities chair in my last ward and turned out pretty well so I thought I would give it a shot in this ward and it turned out great. Everyone that came had an awesome time. (I actually got the idea from when I was in the El Camino Ward back in the day). Anyway... the activity was, everyone got into groups and made a part of the mini golf course using scraps. It is fun because it forces people to be creative and work together and everyone ends up laughing and having a good time to make sure you really can get the ball in the hole. At the end... you get to play the course. Pretty awesome huh? Sadly nobody joined Brent and I. So we were by ourselves, but I have to say, ours was one of the best. Lets be honest... it is because of Brent. I give a small idea and then he comes up with all of these amazing and creative ways to do it and makes it happen, and to perfection. And he gets so excited putting things together. It is cute to watch. Here is how it turned out. This first picture is the back of our course where the hole is. We marked ours as Par: 3. I don't think anyone else put pars on their.
P.S. The other one that was super awesome was my roommate Ashlee's group! Looks at the artistic skills that went into that Hollywood course!

Veda & Jen

This last Sunday Brent and drove up to Salt Lake with Veda to visit Jen and her cute family. It was so fun to see them both! It makes me feel more at home when I have people around me that I grew up with. Jen, Veda and I became good friends when we were Freshman in High School and have stayed in touch ever since. They are both beautiful and wonderful girls that really enjoy being around and really enjoy their friendship. Hopefully we will continue to see each other more often. The Black and White picture is from this last visit (I made it B&W because the lighting was weird) and the top one is another time Veda and I came to visit a couple of years ago. Crazy how the time goes. I posted them both because I saw that we were in the exact same spot two years later. I thought it was funny.

One Year!

Yesterday was my one year anniversary of my blog, so of course I have to blog about it. It is funny because for a long time I heard of the blogging world, but I was much to into facebook... why would I want a blog? Besides... everyone I knew that had blogs were married and had kids and that is what they blogged about. What would I write about and who would read it? Who would be interested in what was going on in my life? So last year when my good friend Cheryl and I went to Las Vegas for a weekend to visit our good friend Lolly (they both had blogs) they started telling me I should start one. I asked the same questions of who would read it and what would I write about because I'm single. Here is what they said to me, "Tracy, your blog would be even more interesting because you are single and have so many things that you do and adventures you go on, you should start one. We would read it!" I thought about that for a second and decided they were right and so when we got back from that trip, I started this blog. And they do both still read it a long with family and other friends... and turns out once I started a blog, I found many others (some of which are single) that also have a blog, so it has been a great way to see what my friends are all up to also. You find out a little more detail than on facebook, although I still love facebook.
I have also loved having my blog because I was very good about writing in a journal from 3rd grade until about 4 years ago... then I don't know what happened, but I stopped... and then I also stopped scrap booking.... so no record keeping was going on of my life. So this was the perfect solution! I love having a record of the things I do. When I record new things I learn and accomplishments that I have made and adventures I have gone on, it makes me feel great and that my life is not boring (which I feel sometimes sitting home a lone at night sometimes when Brent is busy with school and work). So... I thought that I would list the highlights of what has happened over the last year since I started my blog. I know people usually do this sort of thing at New Year's.... but I think I will start my own tradition of doing it on my blog anniversary. :o)
1. Started blog
3. Became a supervisor at Apx Alarm
4. Went to the Festival of Colors for the second year
5. Went on a cruise to Baja Mexico
6. Went home to my little brothers wedding
7. Going on a year with my Rock Band "Band Practice" (I know that is nerdy... get over it)
8. Went to Ben Folds Concert (Love him)
9. Planted a Garden with my cousin
10. I bought a Piano
11. Went to a lot of friends weddings
12. Went to a couple of Rodeo's
13. Started Sunday dinner group with Brent and Brian
14. Ran my first race (Freedom Run)
15. Was asked to be one of the singers in the band KACIA
16. Went to the American Idol Concert (I was in love with last season and the David's)
17. I auditioned for Sussical the Musical, I made call backs but didn't make the show, which ended up being great (I was way too busy)
18. Played on the Apx softball team in the city league (we made it pretty far)
19. Went camping a few times
20. Went fishing with Brent
21. My sister Kristy had her first baby boy! I helped out since her husband was still overseas. My other sister Lori had her first baby about a month later
22. I watched the Summer Olympics
23. Started spending all of my time with Brent
24. Started to like Brent
25. Became Ward Employment Specialist (along with still being on Activities)
26. Got to visit Lolly in Vegas again
27. Spend a week backpacking Guatemala
28. Met Brent's family
29. Brent came home with me and met my family and we went to Disneyland
30. Brent and I became official and have been happily dating ever since
31. Went to a Jason Mraz concert
32. Both our families came into town for Thanksgiving and we spent time with both
33. Went to the MoTab Christmas concert and saw the lights at temple square
34. Went home to Sing at Disneyland for the 12 year for Candlelight
35. My birthday (Dec. 18th) which Brent made so special
36. Went home for two weeks for Christmas
37. My sister Lori and her sweet family were sealed in the temple
38. Started going to a cooking class
39. Started going to a floral design class
40. Started going on LOTS of fun double dates (Brent and I are a fun couple to double with)
41. I learned how decorate cakes
42. Lost my job at Apx
43. Went to the Draper Open House
44. Brent and I went to San Francisco to visit Kirsten and Dallas over Valentines (I scrap booked a book of our story so far for his gift and he gave me a beautiful ring.... for my right hand)
45. I painted my first painting thanks to Brent for getting me all the painting stuff for Christmas
46. I was hired and started working at Novell which it was then I was happy Apx let me go, otherwise I wouldn't have this job making more money and closer to home, better benefits and my own office! YEA FOR NOVELL!!
47. My brother in law came home from Afghanistan after being there for a year with the National Guard. We are SO happy he is home.
48. Started crazy diet
49. After week 1 of diet I have lost 8 pounds
50. HAPPY BLOG ANNIVERSARY!!!

So... I feel like a lot has happened over the last year. I think it has been a pretty good year. Yes, I was unemployed for a little bit, but I got a job fast, AND it was better than my last one. So what a blessing that is. Other than that, I have a great job, a great man, a great family, I have had lots of fun and been able to travel. I feel blessed. Can't wait for the next year to come. :o)

Tap Dancing

When I was in first grade, I watched Annie for the first time and really wanted to learn to tap dance. So after begging my parents, there happened to be an after school tap class that I joined and took a year of tap. That was about as far as it went until my sister Jamie started taking lessons from Sister Tate in our home ward. I became jealous and my sister offered to teach me and so I bought 10 dollar tap shoes online and started to learn from my sister. I loved it. When I moved to Utah there were a couple of girls in my ward that told me they were going to be taking beginning tap, so I decided to join them. I did that for a semester and then my teacher at the studio told me that I was good enough to go to the advance class! So I did... and I loved it. I did that for two years and then quite because I was not learning anything new... so anyway this is one of dances I learned while I was in tap to the swing song "Rip it UP" that we performed at the ward talent show. Watching this makes me miss my tapping days. Maybe one day I will get back into it. I still bring the shoes out every once in a while and perform, but I continue to get more and more rusty. Anyway... here you go.





These are the girls that were in my tap class after we performed in a dance recital in 2005.

Favorite Pet

You wouldn't think so now, because I can't even take care of a tank of fish... but back when I was a youngster, I LOVED animals. I would always beg my parents to buy me a new pet for my birthday or any excuse that I could get. My first pet was when I was in grade school. I begged and begged for a pet but my parents wanted to make sure that I could really take care of one. So one year for my birthday,( it might have been when I was 8) my parents got me a box turtle as my first very own pet that I could take care of. They figured if I did well with a turtle than maybe we could move on to other pets. Although Snapper the turtle hardly came out of his shell while others were around, I loved and took care of that turtle. So I was allowed other pets. I had along with other family pets, rats, rabbits, lizards, guinea pigs, ducks, a dog, a snake, birds, etc... but I think one of my all time favorite pets was my iguana. People think that I am weird because I had reptiles as pets, but I loved them, they are just cool. My first iguana, Spike was the best. I raised him as a baby and he was so great with people, but he ran away (long story, but my dad came and got me from school to help look for him) but I loved having an iguana so much that I got another one, Brak. Brak was not as nice as Spike, but he was pretty good with me since I am the one that took care of him and raised him as a baby. He had such pretty colors too. Here are some pictures of my beloved pet Brak that I had for years and ended up selling when I moved out to Utah, knowing that I would not be able to have an iguana in my apartment out here.

Monica and Ben

This weekend we doubled with one of my very good friends Monica. She was one of my first friends when I moved to Utah, along with Abby. Monica and I were either roommates or neighbors for 4 years... so you can just imagine all the good times we had together, we did a lot of crazy things and went on a lot of awesome adventures. I might have to do a blog post of Tracy and Monica adventures. mm... that is a good idea. Stay tuned for that one. Anyway, she got married in November and we finally made time to double. Friday we went out to dinner and then roasted marshmallow's over Brent's fire place and made smore's with Reese's peanut butter cup. Then we invited them over to our Sunday dinner. They are such a fun couple. I think will do lots more with them in the future.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology - Family genealogy

New CD Holder

I wish I could say this is something that I made for my craft of the week, but I did not. One of my really good friends, Kristen had a license plate CD holder in her car of her old Washington plate. I thought it was awesome, so awesome that I had to find a way to get my California license plate (that I saved) made into one. Kirsten and I were both sad that our parents made us get Utah license plates... we felt like we were betraying our home state and made us feel like we were actual Utah residents instead of just a temporary living situation. So for some reason, being able to keep my plates in a useful way, makes me feel better. After thinking about it for a long time and trying to find a place online that did it, I found one and just got it back the other day. Here is how it turned out. My plate is now back in my car... just in a different location with a different purpose. :o)

Pictures

My roommate Ashlee came up to me the other day and said "Hey, Pam wants a new facebook profile picture and...." I didn't even let her finish before I said I would do her hair and make up and take her pictures. I told Ashlee I would for her too, if she wanted. They were excited, so I was happy to do it. So this last Saturday, that is what I spent my afternoon doing... make up, hair and taking pictures. I have photo shopped a few of my favorites of the pictures I took. And while I am doing the post... I thought I would put one of my favorites of my friend Monica's engagement pictures that I took this last Summer. P.S. I don't know why people come to me like I am a professional photographer and even know what I am doing. But I think it is fun to try it out. I would love to learn more about photography. And if I really get into it... I will invest in a more expensive camera. For now... these were just taken with my little Cannon Powershot. Not too bad. Monica & Ben Pam

Ashlee