Wow, I feel like I just walked into an old house with sheets covering the furniture, and there's cobwebs everywhere. I can't believe I can still access this thing! I don't even know what to write because when I have time, I post it all on Facebook.  But I will genuinely try to make an effort to write a little more. Just don't expect a miracle here, lol.

I guess what prompted me to write was thinking of a friend I had met about 10 years ago. This person was so fun and we just hit it off literally from the start. But time has changed that and they're gone. And I'm stuck here mourning the loss of this. It's like part of my heart is gone too and I will never get it back.
I know blogs these days are supposed to be well written and nicely put together, but I just needed a spot to write in plain, unedited words that I miss my friend and sometimes I bear that pain in silence because life must go on. You find the beauty in every day things, in your family, and in work even. But sometimes that's not enough and you just want one more conversation,  one more laugh, one more hug. Maybe that's why I came back here. I was writing on this blog when this person came into my life. And I came back to visit it, like an old locked up house hoping to recapture a memory. To read some of what I wrote, trying to remember the significance of each post. Our love of dance, music, shows...Justin Timberlake, lol. So, to my friend...I miss you much. I love you 'lotso'.

Some New Ones

Take Out Tuesday

I know, I haven't updated this in a while, but wanted to add a few songs that I'm liking these days!

- Can't get the video but you can look at it here ----> Angel

- Same with this one (It has a preview of Gavin Rossdale's song, but plays afterwards) ---> Broken

- They must've not shut this one down yet!



Will update soon...

Home

SYTYCD + ABDC

America's Best Dance Crew is back along with So You Think You Can Dance! I am so happy about this, no re-runs here!

I can't say who my favorite is on SYTYCD is YET, but on ABDC; I LOVE Super Crew and Supreme Soul. They are awesome!

I haven't had time to find any clips from the previous show, but they're on tonight. MTV
has the shows on their site if you've missed them. 10PM! Watch it!

Say

A good friend of mine once told me that when you have a good connection with someone ~ be it friendship, or something more, it's so easy to say what you want to say. And really, what's the worst that could happen? If you have that connection, they're going to accept you no matter what.

I've realized it's when you hide or don't fully express how you feel or think to that person that it actually makes the situation harder. If everything was just "out there" you could at least acknowledge it and go from there. Wherever that may be!

One Republic is becoming one of my favorite bands (not just because Ryan Tedder is SO lovely to watch) but also the fact that the whole band plays with this awesome emotion.
Heaven knows I can't sing anymore, but as a person who loves to dance, it's easy to transfer that emotion into motion. I have enjoyed using their songs in my dance classes.

I love this song (Say [All I Need]) because it reminds me of times that I wanted to say how I felt, and never did.

Of times where you know it would have gone differently, if you or your friend, brother, sister, mother, father, or significant other just said that ONE thing, or few things that would have made that situation go a different route.

Or to just realize not to wait for the moment to pass you by anymore.

Sophia

This is my niece Sophie. How could you NOT love this face?!! I have a lot to update, but I had to post this picture of her. My sister says that her and I are a lot alike in the sense....well, we won't get into the negative things...but the positive is that she says we were/are both adorable kids.


I don't know about that looking at my old pictures...but this girl is too much! Sheba calls me when she is out so I can talk to Sophie. It's sometimes the only way she can get things done! (I hear ya on that one Sheb) but I love our little conversations. Sophie totally makes me laugh!

I can't wait to see my family and my little nieces! Of course, they know who their favorite aunt is! :)

Brooklyn at the Beach

It was barely the start of Friday morning, and already I was frustrated. I took Jalen to school, had a meeting, then had Brooklyn in the car and didn't feel like going home.

You ever had days where things are consuming your mind so much you feel like you're going to go crazy? It wasn't anything bad either, just a million thoughts running through my head at once.
Part of it was frustration of things not going my way. I'm the type of person that, although mostly laid back, I have to have things go...the way I want them to!



SO....I took the turn right before our driveway and drove 2 blocks to the beach. Brooklyn said "We're going to see the ocean, Mommy?" I told her yes; she got so excited.

I love watching the waves and hearing them crash into the sand. It got so calm and it looked so beautiful. I tried taking pictures of B, but she wouldn't let me put her down! It started getting windy after a while so we left but it was so nice to have this scenery so close. I love the beach! And I love my girl!

I took all these with my phone-camera, so they're not so great.

Unloading the In-Box

Okay, I have been meaning to do some 'family' catching up, but haven't really been in the mood for it. Like my "in-box" is getting bigger and bigger of things to write about them, and I just keep walking right past it.

But I always say I am so happy when my sis. or friends post their pictures because I feel like I got to be apart of whatever was going on. So these following paragraphs are short descriptions of the past few months and all the pictures I threw on slide...that will hopefully be done downloading by the time I'm finished writing this!

My brother got his mission call last week and I was on the speaker-phone while he announced it at my mom's house...with EVERYONE there! It was SUCH an exciting experience!!! So where is he going???!!! Well, you'll just have to CLICK to find out! This link isn't the best, but you can surf on your own for better sites!!

I gotta get on with this blog!!! But I LOVE YOU JAKE!!!! I am so proud of all the accomplishments you've achieved and of all your hard work. You are gonna rock!!

Okay,I just found pictures way back from Halloween. So!...I'm going to start from there. Jalen was the Island Princess, Rosella; but she's our princess for sure! ;)
Brooklyn, our little Evil Knievel finally let us put her SO SO cute Ladybug costume that my sister Sheba sent her. Thanks, Sheb!!

Because the houses are a little apart here, or most of them are between vacation homes, the schools have a huge carnival night and the teachers decorate their rooms for the kids to go trick-or-treating. We did that the Sat. before Halloween, and then we decided to take the girls to the Senior Living Home instead of sticking around the neighborhood. The girls had a lot of fun and the members loved seeing all the kids! It was a lot of fun.

Oh no, wait, before Halloween there were a few outings so I will throw in a few pic's of those as well. We went to Busch Gardens, and some other places. Celebrated Brooklyn's 2nd birthday, and I HAD to get her a Carvel ice-cream cake...that's just tradition in our family when you're little!

Okay, then there was Christmas! We took the girls to see Santa at the Elizabethan Gardens here. It was so beautiful, and the girls had a BLAST with the fake snow! Brooklyn wasn't so sure about Santa, she ran to give him a hug because she saw Jalen do it, then as soon as she was up...she was outta there!! Then you know it's time to go when all you want it ONE GOOD family picture, and it ends up with one kid fussing, and the other asking when they can get down...etc., etc.

We spent Christmas here in the OBX, but had to leave a few days before the holiday to attend John's Grandfather's funeral in PA. He had a Military Honorable Funeral; it was a very beautiful and touching service. He was a very decorated soldier, and they had all of his medals (including a Purple Heart) and awards beautifully framed.
So many people turned out to pay their respects. As I was looking around, I felt so blessed to be apart of this family that truly stuck together and showed their love for each other.

Unfortunately, we had to leave on Christmas Eve to drive home, but it was nice to enjoy the holiday with our girls. The drive home went very well though, so I was grateful for that! The sky was totally gorgeous. I took a few pictures of that too.

I did not go to church for a while after we lost our baby, so when I did return, it was my week to teach R.S. and I wanted to do something nice to thank the ladies for their help. I made Lemon-Vanilla mini-cupcakes and they were sooo good! All of a sudden, after church, I had half the men coming in to steal one. Our bishop walked in while I was teaching to give an announcement, and he eyed me for one. I told him to take two and he was very happy with that!

A couple weeks ago my friend who is like a long-lost little sister, she is a dance major, came into town and we had a little get-together! We get wild and crazy...and totally silly! I love it. And it was very much due! We went dancing for the night and a bunch of us all ended up talking and laughing till 5 in the morning! I was seriously paying for that (since I couldn't sleep in) the next day!!!

I'm leaving so much out, but for those who know me well, KNOW this is a BIG accomplishment! This weekend, was absolutely awesome. From Jake getting his calling, to General Conference to John's baptism...it was one - AWESOME - weekend. I love my family to death! Each year has brought us closer and it's been so amazing. What a ride it has been!

I am so thankful for all who came down to spend this weekend with us! One of my best friends - Casey came and was so wonderful to help with the girls...who absolutely ADORE her! (Cool "Aunt Phoebe"!)I swear she is the only one that could get away with doing the things she does with our girls. I just can't ever get mad! Anyone else, I would kill without a doubt! I love her!

And my other good friends' dad, "Pop" came and it was SO great to have him here. Wish you were there too, Tera!!! And everyone else - especially my family, who couldn't be here, but my mom sent the sweetest letter to John and it totally brought me to tears. I am so grateful for the strong woman that she is. And when I think of strong women I also think of my aunt. She is fabulous in every way, and has been there for me and my family since day one. I am thankful for you all!

With the hope of not sounding ridiculously gushy (did I say that right?, you know what I mean!)....I am so grateful I found the love of my life. I don't know what I would do without John! When I was around 8 or 9, I wrote in my 'diary' what my husband was going to be like, looks and personality-wise. I have to say, I have truly found it all in him. He is so understanding with me and puts me in my place when I need it! I love that my heart still flutters when he comes home. Our road was not the conventional one taken, by any means....but I don't regret a thing!

Trying to take a family picture again!
These girls are crazy! :)

One of my Favorite Things

I love finding new sites for Dance, and all that. I found this site a while ago and love the style they bring to the industry.

No boring bags, sweats, or shirts here. These are some of my favorites from Sugar and Bruno. I think my girls will use these warmers in the Hip-Hop routine. They're cute! And I had to get these sweats for myself. I love pink. Check out their site!

Finale!

JabbawockeeZ WON!!!! I was so excited to see them win! My heart literally stopped beating until Mario announced them! I am so excited for them. They truly deserved it!

I loved the finale, it was awesome! They had all the crews back on stage and got paired up to where all the crews were from. (Mid-West, West-Coast, Dirty South, and East Coast!)

I found all their performances which is below, but don't know how long that will last....Viacom has been shutting all the copied videos down. If you can't see it, just go to America's Best Dance Crew on MTV and watch it there!

I really liked the East Coast performance because they chose 'Phenomenon' by LL Cool J and, yes, this lady LOVE Cool James! Really, they were all great!

Status Quo and JabbawockeeZ did a stepping routine that rocked!

Can't wait for season 2 starting this summer!

Tonight!!!!

Jabbawockeez are number 1!!!! Tonight is the finale of America's Best Dance Crew! Just a reminder to watch it! I hope they win, I have been voting like CRAZY!!!

And yes, I finally got on the bandwagon and read all the Twilight series books from Stephanie Meyer. After MONTHS of being bugged by Sheba, I picked it up to start reading one Sunday. And yes....I was intrigued....then hooked. I read all the books in a matter of days. I read Eclipse in a day.
I love to read, but never thought I would be interested in a vampire!

SoljaBob

Okay, the only reason why I'm posting this besides the fact it's 3AM, and I'm deliriously tired is that this clip (to me) is totally funny! Then again, it just may be funny at 3 in the morning and in that case...I'll be waiting for your comment Shebs.

For some reason this song has the remnants of Sir Mix A Lot's I like big...booties. You know the song.
If you listen to the words it's just a 'silly but true' song. Thanks to my girls, I know EVERY Spongebob cartoon and love this episode especially. So when I came across this, I LMAO!!! (Thanks Mandy for telling me what that finally meant, I feel old now)

Well, my friend who has a closet ghetto side....and I LOVE it!!!, got me liking this song. He is totally funny too.

For the record!...I can't STAND that Superman song this guy sings.