Remember When I Used to Post on This Blog???

Forgive me friends for I have sinned.

It is October 3rd. My last post was August 27th.

*sigh*

But it's never too late to start over right?

So here I am being penetant.

Life is a funny thing, is it not?

It comes so fast, but goes by so slow...

At least that's how it feels in high school.

Things haven't changed too much since I last posted.

I'm still keepin' busy, lovin' life for the most part.

But Snoopy fell through, so that's kind of sad.

The school I was doing with is have a hard time with money so they cancelled it.

But no worries, that just means a little less stress for me!! So Homecoming came SUPER early this year. For the last month or so everyone in Stuco has been working like mad-people to pull it off and it didn't turn out too shabby! I was in charge of the Half-Time show which was super stressful but also way fun! Our Homecoming theme was The Happiest Place on Earth so I decided to incorporate the theme into Half-Time so instead of the announcer just announcing all the stuff....it was a FAIRY TALE!!! Complete with "Once Upon a Time." LOVED IT.

Alright, I'll admit. I DID NOT want to go to Homecoming this year. Dances aren't really my thing and I didn't think there was anyone I could tolerate for an entire night of torture....but since when does anyone listen to me??? Well I'm glad they didn't because my good ol' childhood buddy AJ ended up asking me and we had a great time!
One night I'm lying in bed asleep and my mom comes in and is like "Natalie something's here for you!" So I go out there and its a cereal box full of hershey kisses and a DVD that says play me. So I put it in and the Disneyland castle shows up. Then it says "Natalie now that I've showered you with kisses..." And a picture of Prince Phillip riding his steed fighting shows up but AJ's face is covering Phillips! "Will you go to Homecoming with me?" It was SO CUTE. So then a couple days later I get my three darling neices and take them to his house to be the three good fairies and tell AJ that Sleeping Beauty is awake and that she'll go to Homecoming with him.

For our day activity we played 007 the weekend before the dance. (It's where everyone gets dropped off at point a and has to make it to point b without getting spotlighted by the car.) And we had a great time! Wandering around Lehi, having our first real conversation since Jr. High. It was awesome!

The day of the dance we went and took pictures then had dinner at this clubhouse the boys rented out.

The dance was surprisingly bearable. But I give that credit to our Homecoming King Dillon. He's this amazingly sweet wonderful kid with cerebal palsy. He's also the most spirited, supportive kid at Westwood and I am SO GLAD he won! It really brought the student body together and proved that we do have a heart!

This is off topic, but General Conference this weekend was phenomanal. We are so blessed to have prophets and apostles on the earth to give us revelation from God. I feel so full!

Have a fabulous week!

Life is Good Today

This picture-though taken in the summer, describes my life right now. Interpret it as you will.

Sorry it's been forever and a day.

Life is good.

But tiring.

I got to school at 6:40.

Come home at 5:40.

Shower.

Eat.

Do homework.

Sleep.

It's a pretty good deal....

Oh! There is something exciting to mention.....

I, RatalieNose was lucky enough to be casted in Snoopy! The Musical, in the role of Peppermint Patty!!!

I am SO.STOKED.

My good friend Steven got the role of Charlie

and I just know we're gonna have a great time!

The shows in December so I"ll let ya'll know

the exact dates and such when it gets closer.

First football game of the season tonight.

A big group of us girls are driving out there even though it's away.

It's kinda weird....this'll be my last first high school football game.

Crazy huh?

Anywho, that's the latest and greatest of Ratalie.

Love you all!

High School Happiness Part Two

Yes, oddly enough, going back to school, starting my senior year, falls under "happiness" not "horrors." An interesting twist to my usual school starting attitude.... You might remember my post from a year ago, informing you of all the horrors that Junior year was going to bring me. Well, it didn't disappoint. Last year was one of the hardest my very short life, so I decided to give myself a little break-have a little fun with school.

Here's my schedule:

A-Cantori/Show Choir

1-Seminary

2-English 101/102

3-AP Gov

(with the best teacher known to mankind!)

4-Student Council

(Director of Staff and Student Recognition)

5-Honor Choir

6-Sports

but swim isn't till after school so I actually just sit around for an hour-LOVE it!

Holler at your right-brained girl!!!!!

Just thinking about my schedule makes me smile-no math, no science!

I mean, I'll probably pay dearly for this once I get to college...but for now, for once in my life, I'm living in the moment and trying not to get to far ahead of myself!

Goals for My Senior Year

1. Straight A's

2. Swim my 50 free under 39 seconds

3. Sail past Superman

4. Be a friend to everyone-especially people who are having a rough time

5. Finish the Book of Mormon

My Theme Song for the Year: Dynamite by Taio Cruz

"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes.

Saying ay-oh, gotta let go.

I wanna celebrate and live my life.

Saying ay-oh, baby let's go."

This is my year-and nothings going to hold me back.

Cowboy Take Me Away

So this years girls camp theme was Cowgirl Up.

So each cabin needed to come up with a ranch name and a brand to represent them.

So the YCL2'S (Youth Camp Leaders-17 year olds) decided to be the

Ditsy Chicks-Cowboy Take Me Away

Pictured below is our main cabin decorations:

Just some cowboys from our hood. Here are 6 of the 8 YCL2's on our way into Lomia.

We are so blessed to have this beautiful camp to stay at every year.

I love everything about this place!

It's so gorgeous and you just feel good as you walk around it.

Definately one of my happy places!

So like I said, my camera broke on the first day of camp so I just have a few pics from that day.

Me and Jess were just a little excited!!!
I was so blessed to get to work with one of my BFF's for my camp calling this year.
Jess and I were responsible for planning all the firesides at camp!
(A fireside is a basically a meeting at night where we all gather and have a good time.)
It was a huge job, but Jess and I make a great team and things went really really well!

The first night there's generally an onstage game show. So since this year was all about courage we decided to do Couples Fear Factor. Each of the YCL2's picked a character and teamed up to do 3 stunts. We had:
Barbie and Jessie
John Wayne and Calamity Jane
Sammy and Niesha (The young women always win!)
And....
Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift
Me and Jess LOVED being those two!!!


The first stunt was one that we filmed in Mesa before we left. One partner jumped off the high dive holding a bucket and swam over to the other partner who then had to save 5 birds from the bottom the pool. Whoever did it the fastest won the stunt. And the slowest couple was eliminated.

The second stunt was the infamous food stunt.

The remaining contestants each had to eat a quail egg.

For the third stunt, one partner was suspended in the air (sitting in a hammock hanging from the rafters) and shooting a marshmallow gun into a bucket held by the other partner. The team that had the most mallows in in 45 seconds won.

Oh and also for the first night...a special treat for the estrogen charged girls....a boy video featuring all the hotties from our hood. Giving them advice, telling what they want in their dream cowgirls, and of course...dancing. I think I may have gone a little deaf as they watched it.

The second night was skit night. Every ward performs a 3-4 minute skit that has something to do with their ranch and the camp theme.

But we decided to spice up the night a bit so we did the CMT Awards.

(Camp's Magnificent Talents)

They were hosted by the Taylors, who in turn introduced lots of famous guest stars who presented each ward with a belt buckle for their skit.

Some presenters:

Brad Paisley

Garth Brooks

Carrie Underwood

Miranda Lambert

Lady Antebellum

Rascal Flatts

It was such fun night!

Then for our final night, it was Bishops night. All the Bishops come up to spend time with their girls. So we had a Bishops Rodeo. First we showed a video featuring all the bishops telling us about their secret strengths, why they were going to win. Then they competed in 4 events. Roping their wives, oily pig relay (vaseline watermelon), pin the flower on the pony, and a hokey pokey dance-off.

Then each word performed a song for their bishop written especially for him.

It was a great night!

But it's not just the fun stuff that makes camp so great! Every night after the fun part of the fireside we do something spiritual. The first night we went on a scavenger hunt to find a Cowgirls' Happily Ever After. It was based off of President Ucthdorf's talk from the YW conference and was so great!

Night two- we started the night by singing a song about standing as a witness of Christ.

"Like Esther in her courage, like Joseph in his faith, like Ruth in her devotion, like Nephi in his strength. I will stand for truth and righteousness reflecting heaven's light. And my life will be like a beacon in the night. For I will stand as a witness of Christ."

Then we walked out into the woods where we sat and each of the people from the song came and spoke to us. Telling their stories and admonishing us to stand as a witness of Christ. The last person to speak to us was Nephi who was being portrayed by our stake president, my dad. After he told his story he asked us to make a commitment to stand for truth and righteousness. Anyone who was willing to make the commitment was asked to sign two picture frames which I'm told are going to have a picture of Christ in them and will hang in our Young Womens room.

For the last night we were taken through the life of Christ through beautiful artwork. One at a time a member of the priesthood would come out with a picture of an event from Christ's life and talk about it. The spirit was so strong.

In addition to the firesides, during the day we go to classes and workshops. Their was one workshop that touched me especially. It was called When Life Gives You Lemons and it was all about trials and how to deal with them and why we have them etc. It was just what I needed. So so great.

Yes, my fiancee Taylor Lautner was our cabin's brand. We put a hat on him and took him to flag every morning.

In addition to firesides, I got to teach certification for the second year girls. One of the things they needed to learn to pass onto the next level was fires, so we made EDIBLE CAMPFIRES!!!

Very fun and very yummy!!!

All in all, camp this year was beyond amazing. I'm so blessed to be a Young Woman and have experiences like this!! I can't wait till next year, but sadly it'll be my last one!

Getting older is sometimes not fun!

11 DAYS TILL MY SENIOR YEAR!!!!!

Returned

Home.

Happy.

Got 12 hours of sleep last night.

Really happy.

Camera broke at camp.

Will post all about the week once I can yoink some pictures from people's Facebook.

Have a great weekend!

Agent Rat Checking in With a Status Report

I know I've been MIA recently.

So here's the Status Report:

Ears: Happy Because of the song from this scene.

My Love by Sia.

Yes I've listened to it at least 500 times.

Eyes: Very pleased.


Because of this movie: Hilarious, clean and darling.

And of course this one: yes I saw it for the third time this week.

Legs: Scratched up from chopping down corn stalks with swords and machetes in the dark.

Yes it was awesome.

Brain: Full and aching just a bit from all the thinking and planning I've been doing for Girls Camp. Jessica and I were given the calling of planning ALL the fun firesides for camp. It's been a ton of work but also SO MUCH FUN! We go this Tuesday and we're almost all ready! It's gonna be great!

Heart: Mending. Slowly but surely.

Everyone have a great weekend! After camp I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures and stories for your viewing pleasure! In the meantime...Cowgirl Up!!!!

I'm Grateful

Well this week has been...uh....one of a kind.

I guess you could say I've got a lot on my mind.

But its when things are hardest that you remember what's most important.

My family-no matter what happens, they are always there for me. Trying to help in whatever way they can.

My friends- sit and listen to me whine for hours on end...and they still want to hang out with me. These are the girls that I laugh with, I cry with and drool over boys with.

The scriptures- when you have no idea what you're doing- they're the road map that will lead you through your life.

Priesthood blessings- I'm BEYOND blessed to have a father whose a worthy priesthood holder who is willing to give me a blessing whenever I need it. Direct inspiration from the Lord is such a comfort when you don't know what the heck you're doing!

The power of fasting- Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when He gave us this precious gift. A small sacrifice on your part can lead to more blessings than you could ever imagine.

The power of prayer- even when you're at your worst, feeling alone, you're not. Your Father in Heaven is always right there, just waiting for you to come to Him. And prayer is the way you do that. I can't even count the number of times I've muttered a prayer and immediately felt a difference.

I'm grateful for trials.

We given them for a reason.

They are how we grow, progress, and realize what's really important.

High School Happiness

Believe it or not, there is such a thing!!

Thank goodness.

In fact, this year, the happiness has been equal to or MORE than the horrors, which is amazing! I think it's because even if you have less happy than horror, the happy means more, thus creating equilibrium.

Wow big word.

Okay moving on to the point.

Picture this with me. It's Tuesday, the last full day of the school year. Wednesday and Thursday are both final days which means half day. So Tuesday was the last day I would see EVERYONE. So how did I want to be remembered? Just look at the pictures. Bo Lao Shi-the most patient, longsuffering, and otherwise awesome Chinese teacher ever!
Brother Sell-greatest seminary teacher known to mankind.

The 3 Stooges

Now here comes the story:

It's Tuesday circa 6:45 am.

Last day of A-hour seminary.

But we weren't having a lesson, just chillin' signing yearbooks etc.

Me, Ed (Steph), and Hannah are sitting there wondering aloud where in the world Karla is because she PROMISED she'd come.

So I comandeer Hannah's phone so I can give Karla a piece of my mind.

And she claims to be landing her mother ship at seminary in approximately 15 minutes.

So I say, "let's jump on her when she gets here."

And Hannah, being BRILLIANT, says

"I still have those dress-ups in my car from the anti-prom party."

(Another post soon to come.)

"We should get dressed up and jump on her!"

So we got dressed and waited.

Ready to pounce.

And pounce we did!

I think we almost gave poor Karla a heart attack, but it sure was fun!

Anywho, we promptly got Karla into a stupid outfit.

Then we all made a pact to wear the clothes for the.entire.day.

YES!!!!

And we decided to keep our motives a secret.

If someone asked Stephanie why she was wearing her outfit, she said "Ask Karla"

If Karla was asked, she said "Ask Natalie"

If I was asked, I said, "Ask Hannah"

And if Hannah was asked, she said "Ask Stephanie"

It took everyone till about third hour to get that it was all a huge loop.

It was seriously one of the greatest days of the entire year.

Bless dress-ups forever and ever.

Amen.

A Parade, My Decor, Oh and I'm a G

Yeah I've been MIA this week....life has gotten crazy!!!!

Between school, blood drive, Les Mis rehearsal and being a normal human being....there's not alot of time left over. But heres a little somethin somethin to hold you all over. On Monday, Westwood Stuco was in our towns MLK parade.

Isn't our "banner" awesome?

Love it!

Barely awake.

Me and my Bethany!


Oh Steven! We love him.


So alot of bloggers out there post pictures of your cute houses and your decorating jobs yadda yadda yadda. Well....there is only one room in my house that reflects me.
The Woman Cave.
AKA my bedroom.
So I thought I'd just give you a little taste of my room.
This little lovelie houses all my purses belts and junk.

From left to right:

*The N book was my 12th birthday present from my amazing sister Bekah! It's completely homemade and is 12 year old Natalie in a nut shell!

*The awesome Natalie sign in the background was my Christmas present from Brina, again homemade! Love it!

*The picture of me and Tyler....

Remember my post about Winter Formal and how me and Ty were dancing by ourselves at dinner and my friends were taking pictures of us?...yeah. Kair took that picture, Jessica printed it out, put it in my frame and gave it to me for Christmas. Hahaha!
*The super cute white frame was my birthday present from the awesome Ann! Yes I am such a slacker and haven't put a picture in it yet....but the frame is so cute that it's worth displaying, pictureless and all!! I will get a picture in there soon!!!!!

*In the very front is a little picture of the whole Stuco family at Winter Formal.

*And the Knight in Shining Armor......is a story for another time.

So sometimes I like to pretend I'm a gangsta.

Peace out yo!

Dancing in the Moonlight 09'

Well friends, Winter Formal has come and gone and it was

F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday night we went to the basketball game.

(Westwood won! Holler!)

Then to Haley's house for s'mores.

On Saturday we played Bigger or Better.

We split into two teams, and each team was given a paper clip. Then we went from house to house asking our neighbors if they had something bigger or better that they would like to trade us. The team with the Biggest or Best thing wins!

The other team won with a rockin horse and as punishment, we had to go back to the house they got it from and dance around the horse singing:

"Ride ride ride that pony.

Get up on that big fat pony.

Ride ride ride that pony,

This is how we do it."

While someone rode the horse.

That was...uh special.

Anywho, we dropped off the boys and went home and got ready.
Then we picked them up again and went to take pictures at the Wright House. My amazing sister Emily, obliged to being our photographer!
Once we finished smiling till our faces hurt we headed into dinner which was also at the Wright House.
(Thank you Skipper, for making it happen, you're the best!)
Everyone brought part of the meal and our main dish was Tortilini made my Kair's parents!
YUMMMMM!!!!
Story:
While we were waiting for our food, there was music playing and our tables didn't take up much space so there was quite a bit of dance floor. I knew there wouldn't be very many slow dances at the actual dance, so Ty and I had our own!
All alone on our own little dance floor...until they started taking pictures of us because we looked
"adorable."

After dinner, we went to the Christmas lights at the temple to kill time.
(We refuse to be on time for dances.)
Since it was so cold we spent the majority of the time inside the visitors center watching videos, talking to missionaries etc.
Finally, around nine, we headed over to the dance and partied like it was 1999.

Afterwards, we went to Mary's and ate snacks and played games.

Basically, it was the best night of my life!!!!

I L-O-V-E gazebos!!!!

All the girls!!!

Skipper, Mary, Jessica, Kairleigh, Haley, Yours Truly

K I promise that I did not put myself in the front of this picture!!

Emily told me to stand there!!!

Our handsome fellas!!!

Kenneth, Ty, Taylor, Sam, Painter, Spencer

While we were watching them get their pictures taken I turned to my friends and said

"You guys, we seriously have the cutest group of guys at Westwood!! Good work!!"

Kair and Taylor

Alyssa and Painter

Haley and Sam

(Yes that is a black eye, he got it from wrestling.)

Jessica and Spencer

Ken and Mary

Emily told us to look at each other and we started laughing.

Here is my ensemble that I was so excited about!!!!

Dress: Free from my sister's boss!!!

Shoes: Borrowed from Emily

Head band: Borrowed from Emily

Tights: $5 from Forever 21

Cardigan: $15 from Forever 21

Hair Flower: Gift from Sarah

Total: $20!!!!

This = My Favorite Picture Ever!!!!

This makes me laugh!!!

So yes, Winter Formal was a TOTAL success!!!!!

I've got two dates lined up for this week so stay tuned!!!

Alyssa Painter