Surprise, I am still alive and posting

Amber is so funny. Just because she flew the coop and started her own blog she doesn't think I will continue on without her, Ha look at this!!!! I had a fabulous little trip to see landon and erica and tanner and marissa in Wisconsin last month. While there I got the card bug and made about 20. It stayed with me when I came home and i made 20 more. I felt so guilty (cause I didn't do much of anything else) but it was so fun. That creative bug just comes and goes and you gotta just run with it when it comes. Amber made me take pictures. Course I had a little help from Erica and Marissa. Fun times.






I put a little money pocket inside since most of my wedding cards hold money. Kinda fun.

Leaving the blog nest.

I've finally done it! i've finally created my OWN blog! I'm not longer piggy-backing off of my mother's blog. Lets face it...Pattio's place doesn't really sound very...amber jo ish. So if you want to see my blog you can go here goodbye. it's been fun. (since my mom hasn't posted on this thing for years, and i'm pretty sure she never will, this is good bye from pattio's place. :)

Sound of Music

Our school play, the sound of music, finished last month and it was a blast. Maria has always been one of my dream roles. I love Julie Andrews, and to be acting the same part as her has been SO fun. It was just a high school play, so there were some people who haven't really done plays before. Lets just put it this way: some songs/scenes were definitely funner/better than others. ha ha Here are some pictures.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music"

Being sent away to be a governess

meeting the children

"Doe a deer a female deer" (in the play they sing this right after meeting the children)

"i forgot the other boy. what's his name?...Well, God bless whats-his-name"


In the play, "my favorite things" is sung in Reverend Mother's office before maria leaves the Abbey. In this bedroom scene I sing "the Lonely Goatherd"
"One little girl in a pale, pink coat heard laydee-oo...."

Our curtain clothes
Telling the captain off for being a crappy father. This was a really fun part to do. It was fun to yell and someone and snap back. he he

"you're right, I don't know my own children" then we sing together, he gives me the whistle (symbolic, how tender!!) and we gaze into each others eyes for a bit. Precious!!

Dancing the LandlerThere were always cast members in the wings making faces at us to get us to break character or start laughing during our dance. It was good though, because it got the captain to smile a bit. lost in each others eyes. "i don't remember any more" abridged version: "he likes you" -"oh no! then i should go back to the Abbey" - "sweet! she's gone and i have him all to myself"
Climb every mountain. Our Mother Abbess was WAY better then the one on the movie. She gave me the chills almost every night!
I come back and they hear me singing from a far off. This part gave me chills every time. How romantic. :/I loved this dress! I felt so pretty in it."you are 16 going on 17" home from the honeymoon.
Captain's telegram that tells him he has to join the Nazi'screating a plan to escape. Dang i'm a genius!!

To be continued...

Life as a Senior!

I've always heard that Senior year is so much fun, but i never really thought much of it. I always thought that the year i was in was fun. Jr. year was so fun...how could one year make such a difference?
Well, i'm here to testify that IT DOES!! Just in the few months we've been in school it's been a blast. It's so fun to be the top of the school and know that people are looking up to you to be an example. I swear when I was a sophomore, the seniors were so old, they were basically adults. Now that I am one, I don't feel old enough to be one. Weird how that is.
Here is what has been happening since i last posted:

Of course the beginning of school means Homecoming. Sorry, if you get sick of only hearing about my dances every time, but it really is the only thing that breaks up the monotony of my life! They are always so much fun.
Kenrik Lopez, the kid who asked me, is one of my really good friends. He is an awesome person. (and it doesn't hurt that he is half hawaiian from his mom and his dad is from the Philippines, so he has very nice, dark skin. he he) He came to my house the day before school started with a beautiful yellow Gerber daisy (my favorite flower) and said something along the lines of: "Daisies are white, but sometimes are yellow. Homecoming would be great if you went with this fellow." It was so simple and cute! Plus, i didn't have to worry about answering him in a clever way, because i just said yes on the spot.

Amanda, the one who usually does my hair, was busy so I had to do my hair by myself. There wasn't much i could do with it, because it was so short.




Our group was so fun. All of us are good friends and we have so much fun with each other. I laughed so much that day!

I auditioned for the school play this year. I usually don't do school plays, for many reasons, but i couldn't resist with this one. It's the Sound of Music and I've always wanted to be Maria. I figured i'd at least try out and see if i could make it.

I was so pleasantly surprised when i made my dream role as Maria! The songs are so fun to sing, the Vonn trapp family kids are so fun to work with (one of them being one of my best friends), and the acting seems to come more naturally then any of the other parts i've played. Maybe because it's similar to how I really am. True, i have to memorize pretty much the whole play (because i'm in almost ever scene) and I sing almost every song, but i love it!!

I took the ACT in December last year and got a 24. the categories were: Science-25 math-24 English-24 reading-24. Which isn't bad, but I really wanted at least a 26. Last year i was enrolled in really hard classes. I was in 2 AP classes that were very difficult: English 1010 and American History. I learned SO much from them. Not just the subjects, but better study habits, how to take good notes, how to read with better understanding and comprehension, and how to test fast yet efficient. When i took the ACT last month I could tell the things i learned last year were being put to good use. When i got my scores back this year i was so nervous i couldn't find my composite score. My eyes first saw the categories: English-27 math-26 reading-33 science-26. i figured i had to have done better than last time. Then i found my composite score: 28!!

(sorry it's so blurry. i figured i'd add picture proof)

I was so happy. i was amazed at how much challenging myself and pushing myself paid off. I am a firm believer of doing difficult things and working hard to accomplish your goals. I love learning, and i appreciate hard work. Who would have thought that looking back on my crazy stressful, hard year last year i would be grateful?! but i really am. I grew so much from those hard times.

For UEA, we had our annual girl's week in park city. I always look forward to a weekend of hot tubbing, chick-flicks, and shopping with just me, ma, and Erin. We always have such a fun time.

Hair cut

It's been a year since my last hair cut. My highlights are barley noticeable and my ends are so dead. So, i decided to try something totally new for my hair this year. Instead of the A-line and blond highlights that i usually do, I did a more level cut with more layers. Then I added caramel, blond, and dark brown highlights to make my hair look more warm. I love it!!! I don't know why i didn't do it like this earlier. Look out Senior year...Here I Come!

Here's before...

Here's after!

I love all the layers. It makes my hair look like it has so much more body.

Here we go April recap

I know I say this everytime but it's been a while since i last posted. Sorry everyone, but our blog is the neglected-forever-then-eventually-caught-up type of blog. So, here we go.

APRILThe highlight of April was the birth of my first baby niece. Kyla is so dang cute. They came to visit and we all loved seeing them and meeting cute little Gus Gus. Here is Grandma in heaven, snuggling with Kyla Ann. I love seeing Landon with her. I just know she is going to grow up being a tom-boy-daddy's-girl, and Erica is such a good momma. cute little family!
Near the end of school we always have a talent show assembly. I didn't do it my Sophomore year so i figured I'd try out this year, and made it! I was singing and playing on the piano the song by A Fine Frenzy called "Almost Lover". The day of the assembly I was pretty nervous because i've never played the piano in front of people before and I play by memory. When I'm playing the piano and get nervous my mind goes blank and the keys look like random white and black squares. so i hoped i would remember all the piano parts. If i was just singing i wouldn't have been scared at all, because I've been doing that all my life. The the public pianoing was a totally new experience. By the time I got 3/4ths done I was shaking pretty bad. Luckily my voice didn't shake with it. But my foot on the pedal was going ballistic! I was so happy when i got through the whole song without any mess ups! It was fun sharing my talent to the school. I was shocked at how many people congratulated me and said they didn't even know i sang (which i think is funny, because I'm always singing. I even hum in the halls). I have it on the camcorder but I don't know how to put it on here. sorry.

Tanner and Marissa graduated from BYU-Idaho in april and moved back home for the summer. they brought home a fish tank from their apartment with a few fish in it that they keep in the basement. it's a pretty big tank. the dimensions are 20 ft by 10ft. they were in washington d.c. for a wedding in her family, so they left us in charge fo the fish. one sunday i was going out the door to our garage and i heard a weird sound coming from the basement. it was a hissing noise that sounded like high pressured air or something like that. i asked dad what that weird noise was and he said he opened the vents and that it was nothing to worry about. 3 hours later we cmoe home from chruch and i still hear it when i pass the basement door, but i figure dad has everything under control. a few minutes later dad comes rushing up from the basement and tells me in a panicked voice to go get towels and the Shop-vak vacuum. I went downstairs and saw the fish tank was about 4/5th empty. but where was all the water? one step into the room and my question was answered. water pooled up around my foot where the pressure sunk the carpet in. it felt like i was stepping on a giant, wet sponge. the tank had been draining gallons and gallons of water for hours. i vacuumed, by hand, the completely drenched area that was about 10 feet by 6 feet. no lasting damage was done but it was sure a pain, and i bet the fishies will never like cramped places ever agian. they were probably feeling pretty claustrophobic.

Tann

I got asked to Senior Cotillion (it's like Senior Prom, just a different name). My friend asked me in our choir class that has about 130 kids in it. He was the president and i was the secretary so i was always in front of the class taking roll. He got everyone quieted, his friends 'dimmed' the lights, and he started playing his Ukulele and singing a goofy song he made up. I wasn't even expecting him to ask me, so when he said my name halfway through the song and his friends spotlighted my face with flashlights, my jaw literally dropped and i just stared at him thinking i heard him wrong. 130 faces turned right to me in the front of the class. I was blushing and I had such bad butterflies I was slightly shaking. It was fun. :) I answered him back by putting two potted plants in a diaper, then sprinkled frozen peas on them. This is how it looked.

It was way fun. He is an awesome kid, and i loved my dress. It was so comfortable.

We added all the black accents, and I borrowed the jacket from my friend. After all, Modest is Hottest.My hair looked so pretty. Amanda in my ward did it. She is so good and so cute. I just told her to surprise me and i loved it.

This is a picture of a picture, so sorry that the quality is pretty bad.

EASTER

We had a peeps contest to see how many peeps we could shove in our mouths.

We were laughing SO hard. It was hard to laugh and not choke to death. it took a lot of concentration to not gag.
wow tanner that is a lot...
BUT NOT ENOUGH! MUAH HA! TOTAL ANNIHILATION! Right after this picture was taken I closed my mouth over the peeps. Kind of sad when the younger sister's mouth is bigger than her older brother's.
It may look like I'm crying in this one and that is because i am. I was laughing so hard. The sugar coating on the peeps sticks to your mouth and down your throat, so your mouth felt like sandpaper. it was awesome. It was a way fun tradition. I have a feeling we'll be doing this in future years.