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!!!!!

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.

I Luffff My Life!!!!

So I haven't had time to post lately because Julie, my BFF is here from Texas!!! Already, we've had SO.MUCH.FUN. Lunch dates, boy dates, movies, swimming oh and uh having our car break down twice. Awesome. But truly!

So this'll just be a quick post but I HAD to say.....

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have NEVER left a Twilight movie happy!

I always leave cranky and annoyed.

But last night I left on Cloud 9!

This new director is brilliant!!!!

Things I loved:

*Jacob's Abs

*Jacob's Face

*Jacob

*EDWARD DIDN'T REPULSE ME LIKE HE USUALLY DOES

*Jasper and Rosalie's stories = YES!!!!!!

*More Emmet = YESS!!!!

*The Sex Talk scene = DYING LAUGHING!!!!

*New Victoria actually did a good job!

*Riley was fabulous!!

*Dakota Fanning is a boss!

*Bella gets prettier every movie.

*Ashley Greene (Alice) is fabulous. Flawless. Love her.

*I loved the inclusion of details from the Bree Tanner book. If you haven't read it, hurry and go to breetanner.com before they take it down. Read it. That's an order.

*I HATE Leah!!! Which means the actress did a great job. Bless her.

*Seth is a DOLL!!!

Okay so I liked alot of things. I was SO pleasantly surprised! I'm still overjoyed!

Have a great week!

More adventures later!

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.

Ratalie's Reveling Rhetoric

So this morning I needed some music to listen to so I went onto grooveshark and proceeded to make a small playlist that defines how I'm feeling about life at this point. Here's the list:

Lost by Micheal Buble

I'm Only Me When I'm With You by Taylor Swift

Invisible by Taylor Swift

Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy

Come in With the Rain by Taylor Swift

You've Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman

Need You Know by Lady Antebellum

Am I in need of some psychoanalysis or what?

In other news, I hung out with Charming today for the first time since our date last summer and umm...he's fabulous.

Just sayin'.

High School Horrors Part 10

So I know it's summer, but there are some Horrors that I feel are recap worthy.

So here we go:

As we all know, friends are debatably the most important part of a high schooler's existence, so when something happens that jeapordizes them, it becomes your very own living nightmare.

The Three Scariest Experiences of Ratalie's Junior Year

3. My BFF Suz was feeling awful during choir. So we were outside and I was doing my best to help her out. I turned away for one second and the next thing I know, her eyes are rolling back in her head and she's falling backwards and I hear her head hit the pavement with a thud. Terr.I.Fy.Ing.

2. This one got it's one post. The Rusty/Peanut Butter Episode. Go here to read all about it.

1. The number one most terrifying experience of this year...one night I was sitting at home and someone burst through our door. It was Edell, my friend Jake's mom. She was borderlining hysterical as she said "Jake's been in a motorcycle accident, can we leave our car here so Glen and I can drive together?" And with that she was gone. We had no idea how serious it was or what exactly happened. All night I was wreck. I even texted Jake thinking that if he was concious he'd have his phone on him: "Jake are you okay???" Not recieving an answer made it even worse. Finally, around 11 pm Edell came back to pick up the car. Becuase Jake had been wearing his helmet he had made it without any serious injuries and had walked out of the hospital. I don't think I'd ever been that relieved in my entire life. I booked it outside to jump on Jake and see with my own two eyes that he was okay. To this day, I am a HUGE advocate for wearing helmets on motorcycles, it saved my best friends life!

I'm so thankful that in all three of these scenarios, my friends were okay. I know without a doubt that all three of them were being watched over by a loving Heavenly Father. And that, with him on my side, I need never fear.