The Sweet Escape: Tussle Edition

Winter formal this year was a blast!!!! I went with my buddy JC and we had the best time! Since the theme was Sweet Escape, I changed the words to the Gwen Stefani song and sang it during choir:

If I could escape I would but first of all let me say

I must apologize for asking you to formal so late

But I've been searchin and ponderin and prayin and tryin to get off the bed I've been layin but now you are back and here's what I'm sayin

If I could escape

And create an awesome senior year

With stories for my grandkids to hear

We could dance together

Now tell me JC wouldn't that be sweet?

And to answer, he and some friends wrote this original darling song and sang it in choir with me sitting on the stool front and center blushing like crazy.

For our day activity we did graham cracker houses, sugar cookies and paper snowflakes.

That night we did pictures in downtown Mesa then went to Target all fancy-like to get our presents for our gift exchange.
Some smart-alec lady goes "Are ya'll getting married in Target?"

We had dinner on Jessica's back porch and it was all elegant and fabulous!!

Then we took our paper snowflakes and put them in our old choir teachers yard, then off to the temple lights.

For the first time ever, the actual dance was fun and worth going to! JC and I goofed around and sang to each other while we slow danced.

After the dance we went to my house, did our gift exchange and played our usual game of keys. Then we watched The Grinch to get into the Christmas spirit.

I was so glad that this dance was so fun, considering its one of the last I'll go to.

Our Cheap dance is this weekend and guess who asked me?????No really, guess.

I'll let you know who was right in my next post.

Be excited.

I am.

And Lyssa Was Her Name-O

So at night while I'm trying to fall asleep, I make up stories. Most of which are about my future life with Prince Charming. (Sue me, I'm a 17 year old girl!) So I'm going through this awesome story in my mind but I keep hitting a stumbling block...HE HAS NO NAME!!! So I'm trying to come up with a good name but trip and fall. Few names sound good with Natalie!!! Then I realized it needed to be 3 syllables. So I start brainstorming those...HELLO there are none!!!!

So it's the next day, I'm in Cantori A-Hour and voice my concern. Five hours later...we're in honor choir and Alyssa gives me a list of 3 syllable names and they were just too good to not post.

1. Timothy

2. Atticus

3. Jericho

4. Dakota

5. Jeffery

6. Don Carlos

7. Julian

8. P Diddy (or Puff Daddy)

9. Lucifer

10. Eminem

11. Ludacris

12. Moroni, Gideon, Helamen

13. Elijah, Elisha, Elias, Isaiah, Abraham

14. Nathaniel

15. Francisco

16. Fredrico

17. Placido

18. Montana

19. Gerardo

20. Jeremy

21. Christopher

22. Jonathon

23. Roberto

24. Kanye West

25. Flo Rida

26. Sean Kingston

27. Vanilla Ice

28. Benjamin

29. Joshua

30. Rafael

31. Orlando

32. Cameron

33. Sebastian

34. Samuel

35. Nicholas

36. Severus

37. Percival

38. Gilderoy

39. Mundungus

40. Voldemort

41. Marion

42. Donovon

43. William

44. Jacobo (pronounced Ha-ko-bo)

45. Jim Halpert

and of course

46. Cilantro

So tell me...what's your favorite??????

The Many Adventures of RatalieNose

Yeah I know...I'm becoming a "once-a-month-poster,"

but it's the best I can do right now!

Okay so time to talk about the latest adventures in the life of RatalieNose.

Over October break I was lucky enough to get to go to Rocky Point Mexico with my pal Aubri! She turned 16 while we were there and it was so fun! We and another family stayed in an RV park RIGHT on the beach! It was my first time traveling in a trailer and DUDE I have been missing out! Getting to sleep on a BED while driving for hours??? YES.PLEASE.

Yes Prince Phillip is code for someone. But I'm not telling! *grins evilly*

Trust me, you don't want to know!

For Aubs birthday we rented quads. It was my first time and I LOVED it! Even though Papa Dub told me that I drive like an old granny. *sad face*

You know what's so great about the beach?? Even when you look"special" in a picture, the fact that you're on the beach makes it cute! YESHHH!

Me and Kennyl

So I got really excited.....

And ran to play in the puddles....

I LOVE Aubs!!!!! (Oh and I loathe Tank the dog.)

As for Adventure #2.....

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were driving home from babysitting for my sisters boss. We came to an intersection and my friend tried to stop but her brakes went out so we went through the intersection and were t-boned. Thankfully we were both safe! I just suffered some whiplash and have had pain in my neck, and my friend was burned by the air bag and is sore, but other than that we were fine! And the other car's passengers were totally fine!

This experience, while terrifying, really strengthened my testimony of the love Heavenly Father has for me. The day of the accident, something amazing happened. My friend Dolly has a step-dad whose not a member of our church but that day he randomly asked her if she'd like to have family prayer and she of course said yes. Step-dad said the prayer and in it he prayed that all of his step-daughters friends would be safe that night and if something were to happen that they'd walk away okay. A few hours later, I was in the accident.

Monday I was in pretty bad pain and in major need of a priesthood blessing. My two guy friends who go to ASU left school and came to help me out. The blessing didn't take away my pain but it completely changed my outlook about it. I felt at peace.

I am so thankful for a loving, listening God who never leaves me and answers prayers.

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.

Ratalie Reviews: Summer Movies

This has been a great summer for several reasons.

One of them being there have been so many great movies!

I've seen four in the last week alone, it was great!

So when I do things...I need structure. For these movie reviews, I will have structure, that's when my mind works best.

So I'll give the movie an emotion rating 1-5, depending on how strong of emotions the movie made me feel.

Then I'll say my favorite part or thing about the movie.

Then I'll sings the praises of my favorite actor/actress before I give it an overall rating 1-10 on movie excellence.

*WARNING*CONTAINS*SPOILERS*

Okay here we go:

Okay you all know what I thought about this one...(if you don't know, I LOVED it.)

I saw it for the fourth time on Saturday, it was just as good as the first!

Emotion:4-I cried, wanted to kill people and makeout with others. Tres magnifico!

Fave Part: I have two. Edward and Bella's bedroom/proposal scene and Jacob and Bella's makeout. Am I a teenage girl or what? Bahaha

Fave Actor: Riley. The dude is, first of all, HAWT, but he also behaved exactly like Book Riley would've! Loved him!

Overall Excellence: 8

SO SO SO CUTE!!! LOVED the first two, was super worried about this one but Pixar, once again did not let me down!

Emotion: 3.86- I was angry at Lotso for the majority of the movie and super sad when they all almost died in the furnace!

Fave Part: Again I have two- all of Ken and Barbie's scenes-HILARIOUS. When she was cutting up his clothes I think I almost peed my pants. Also the ending when Andy plays with his toys with Bonnie for the last time. Love.

Fave Actor: Ken. Hands down. HILARIOUS.

Overall Excellence: 9

Bahahaha I laugh just thinking about it!

Emotion: 3- Mostly I was just sad for the girls the whole time, oh and I was ticked at the old scientist dude.

Favorite Part: Watching Gru turn into a daddy!!! SO SO CUTE!

Fave Character(s): The Minions!! For sure!! SO entertaining!!! Love them!
Overall Excellence: 9

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. This one was built up too much for me. The previews looked AMAZING so I had high expectations, and....well it was just a little weird.....

Emotion: 3- I think I should've felt more than I did, afterall it was mostly about death! When Zac threw his little fit and was throwing things everywhere...I mean, it was HAWT definately...but that's about it.

Fave Part: The sailboat race at the very beginning-SO HAWT, plus you see the precious brotherly bond!!!! Oh and when Charlie saves Tess with his body heat. When he first started taking off her clothes I was like "What the???"

Fave Actor: Uh...Zac...duh...him shirtless on the sailboat made seeing the whole movie worth it.

Overall Excellence: 7

I have one word for you: ADORE.

Emotion: 5- I BAWLED. Yeah I'm a baby. But here's the thing, I've always been the Ramona of my family. I even look like her for crying out loud! Near the end of the movie when she gets yelled at by her dad, who had-till that point- always been on her side, I lost it. I really REALLY identified with Ramona, especially with her sadness and frustration of being left behind. The whole last half hour of the movie really hit home with me.

Fave Part: The whole thing! I doubt I could pick one specifc part. All of Ramona's faces are CLASSIC. SO SO funny! Oh! When she boings Susan's curls-I almost died. That part of the book has always been one of my favorites!

Fave Actress: Okay, so I admit, John Corbett was an awesome Mr. Quimby. But the little girl who played Ramona was PHE.NOM.ENAL. She was sooooooo darling and perfect for the part!! Wow I adore her!

Fave Quotes: "YOU have a LOVE life??"

"Who would love a girl named Beezus?"

*thinks*

"Jesus?"

Overall Excellence: 10

Now for the motherload: the cinematic experience of the century!!! DUDE. I have two words for you: BEYOND EPIC.

BLOODY GENIUS!

Emotion-5-so intense and emotionally draining! I left feeling exhausted! Love it!

Favorite Part: The"Give me a kiss."scene. Priceless. Plus all the cool dreams!
Fave Actors: Oh man I can't just choose one! We'll go top 3.

Leo-LOVE/ADORE/PRAISE him. The man is...indescribably fabulous!!!!!

Joseph Gordon Leavitt- Oh my holy crap. He is sexy and genius and sassy and versatile and I love him. From 500 Days of Summer to this? What the??

And lastly but not leastly- Ellen Freakin' Page. BR.IL.LI.AN.T. She slays me with her talent! The entire cast was downright genius!!!! Okay I lied, one more, the girl who played Mal, dude, she SCARED the CRAP out of me!! She's amazing!!!

Other Fave Thing: Once you get past all the crazy dreams, all the intensity and insanity, you have one of the most beautiful love stories ever written.

For reals.

It's gorgeous!!!!

Overall Excellence: 10!!!!

Go.See.These.Movies.Now.

7 Things You Never Wanted to Know About Ratalie

So despite my being an MIA Flakey Blogger....the ever-fabulous Chloe has bestowed this lovely award upon me!!!

I am now required to post 7 things about myself. Since this is the Versatile Blogger award, I will try to make the facts as such.

7 Versatile Facts About RatalieNose

1. Last night I threw a Taylor Lautner Lover's Party-yes it was amazing.

2. For the first fifteen years of my life, I was convinced that I was going to be on Broadway.

3. I once made a list of all the boys I've liked....there are over 3o names.

4. My dream life is to travel the world teaching underprivelaged children how to read.

5. I am in my third year of student council. My position is "Director of Staff and Student Recognition"

6. I'm really good at coming up with plans and schemes....not so good, however, at following through with them.

7. I don't believe in having one best friend.

Now for the matter of regifting this.....

Honestly....if you're reading this post, it means you're awesome and versatile.

So take the award!

Post it on your blog and do the 7 things, then pass it on.

Ratalie Loves You!

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!!!!!