The Ball of Volley.

Yes, t'is the beginning of the year, which means VOLLEYBALL.

All Day. Every Day.

But this year is sooo much different from last year! I am absolutely IN LOVE with my team this year. Everything we do together is an absolute blast. And not to mention that we play like BEASTS out on the court! My closest friends are all on the team with me, which is probably why I love it so much. We've been doing very well, and having a lot of fun while we're doing it. At the beginning of the season, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to try-out or not. But I'm so glad that I did! I know I was meant to! The Lord knew better than I did!

Go Deer Valley!

The big story in my volleyball life this year is my fantastic BLACK EYE.

Yes! You read correctly! I got an AMAZING black eye from practice one day when my middle blocker elbowed me hardcore right in the eye. It left the most amazing battle scar that I've ever had in my life! I was so happy! She felt bad, but I loved it! It made me look way intense. :D

We actually call our team the cursed team. I DEFINITELY was not the only one to get hurt. One of our middle blockers got two sprained ankles (one at different times, each one once), We got a cracked jaw, a broken thumb, a slightly sprained ankle, tendinitis in the shoulder, disconnected knees, jammed fingers, COUNTLESS bruises/scratches (mainly from diving), and many smacks from the volleyballs. 

Just because we're in spandex doesn't mean we don't get nasty.

I still think it's beautiful. :)

Random News.

School started. That was fun. Except for the school part. The big tenth grader this year. Jason a Senior, which is weird. and Haley is a big fifth grader!

Matt and Lori visited and that was PHENOMENAL. As always.

Having fun this year, not much going on. But I'm planning on auditioning for the musical! Yayy!

UTAH!

Which means - Birthday, BYU Volleyball Camp, Family Reunion, and EFY!!!

So basically,

Birthday.

I'd say one of the most fabulous of birthdays I've ever had. I celebrated my big 1-5! Whoo! It started the day before at Grandma's house celebrating with the family. That was fabulous! A dinner with my family and then present-opening downstairs with Mummy, Papa, and Siblers! My official birthday, however, was spent at BYU Volleyball Camp, alone in my dorm room throwing up with what we believed was a virus going around. Gee whiz. But it was so much fun with my friends! Even though I was sick! I loved it! :D

Birthday with my friends at the mall!

Birthday with the cousins at Grandma's!

Next, 

BYU Volleyball Camp.

Throw up. Sleep. Random pictures. Dorm-room. That's about all that came up with that. I got sick the very first day, and was in bed until the very last day. It was a blast! LUCKILY my room just happened to be the one closest to the bathroom. What are the odds? But I still had so much fun! And a special thanks to Kara (my roommate) for putting up with my sickness the whole week! Whoo!

Before the illness struck...

... After the illness struck.

Then,

Family Reunion.

T'was beyond fantastic for what I was there for! I missed the first day due to BYU Volleyball Camp, but I think all they did was go to dinner or something. Seeing everybody was AMAZING! Not to mention how incredible going to the Alpine Slides basically every day, and staying in the absolute most fabulous house that I've ever stayed in my entire life. I would live there without a moment's hesitation. My little cousins were the most fun to hang out with! They all fell in love with my hats and glasses and such and took MANY pictures with them! They were quite entertaining indeed. :D I wish I could post all the videos I took with those little ones! Jason and I also got a caricature done. That was fun! All of it was!

And lastly,

EFY.

Phenomenal. Inexplicably phenomenal. Nay! Phenomenal is an UNDERSTATEMENT! If it was possible to truly have heaven on Earth, it was this week. Something too great to express into any string of English words imaginable. The people, the session director, the friends, the compliments, the fun, and, my favorite, THE SPIRIT! Holy dang! Going to two EFY's this year was something too great for words. I believe I had the greatest group in the history of the world. With the greatest counselors and all! Every single little thing about that week was too great to even describe. I wish I could describe it! But I just can't! Just know that it truly was the greatest week of my life. I'm too blessed. I love the Lord more than anything else!

The guys and I with CYDIE! (My ever loved apple cider bottle)

The greatest EFY group known to man. GLORY OF THE MOON!

Golly Gee It's been a long time.

I'm so sorry! It's been just about forever and a day since the last time that I made a post! But I'm finally getting to it, so I'm going to catch up on super high speed right now! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make them as in depth, and I'm going to clump most of them together, but something is better than nothing! So here I go! :D

Memory Lane! Whoo!

Memory Lane... the tag that gets everyone involved. Got this from a few friends and I thought I would play the game. Here's how you play

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together. it doesn't mater if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory of you. it's actually pretty funny to the responses. if you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to tag your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave me memory of you in my comments.

EFY!!!!

Before I begin, I will say that I know I skipped Girls Camp, but I don't have pictures from that yet, so I will wait. But right now...

EFY HAWAII!!! Oh my goodness. It was everything I could have ever wanted and more. It was absolutely flawless. I met the most incredible people, felt the most incredible spirit, and had the most incredible time! And I owe every good time I had to my absolutely beyond inexplicably phenomenal counselor Meg. :D I just get so happy thinking about her! She did so much for me it's crazy. I wouldn't even be able to explain it all on here. Just know that I love her oh so much and she's nothing less than an answered prayer and a miracle in my life! We took sooo many pictures together because we just couldn't find "the right one." Hahaha. We had these three random guys take so many pictures of us and we were laughing that they were probably really scared of us. Hahah. But we finally ended up on our favorite one! Which is the one below. :) But yeah, Meg is just like such a role model to me. I mean, you have not lived a complete life until you've met her. She's just too great for words!

Our picture! We finally both love it! Haha.

But yeah, so the whole experience was insanely spiritual. I got closer to Heavenly Father than I think I ever have before. It's absolutely fantastic. All of it. I'm so sad it's over! It went by way too fast. But now I'm so lucky that I get to go to EFY again in three weeks in Provo! Man, I can't wait. And with Allison, too! I just wish Meg could go... :( Then it would be perfect. :)

EFY was just too great of an experience to actually write about. I covered the basics. Just know that it was the greatest experience I've ever had. I didn't know if it could top last year, yet it did. I'm so grateful I got to go! Man I'm so blessed I can't even believe it.

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

Our signature cell phone picture

Ahh Rachel. My favorite little bundle of light. You always make me happy, whether you're aware of it or not. Just seeing you're adorable smile makes ME smile! So I'm just so grateful to have best friends like you. You continue to amaze me all the time. You're so freaking talented at everything you do, it blows me away! Well now that you're 15, I'm the last of the bunch that's still 14, but oh well. Gosh we have had some of the most fun times that I've ever had in my entire life. What from sleeping on the trampoline to BYU volleyball camp. And not to mention the freaking greatest plane ride that I've ever been on! And we have our Build-A-Bears that are so great. Hahaha. I can't wait for this summer! I mean, we get to have Girls Camp together, BYU volleyball camp (again) together, and Deer Valley volleyball camp. And even though we won't have EFY together again, we'll be hanging out plenty much throughout the summer. And that's a statement, not a question. So we've been through a lot together, and our conversations and such have been the greatest of all time! Haha. P.E. this year was phenomenal all because of you. I seriously don't know what I would've done if you didn't have that class with me... *shutters* oh I don't even want to think about that. It was my favorite class because of you! We're just so much alike Rachel and I love talking to you because you always understand and we have such of the same opinions on just about everything. (Except the beach and the snow, but whatever) I feel so comfortable around you. Like, I'm really myself. And I love that feeling! Haha. Well you're amazing and I love you more than words can describe! I hope you had an amazing birthday!! :D

Ahh the beach.

The beachers. :) (Birthday girl on the far left)

Yes so Kara's birthday is today and today is Sunday, so Kara had her birthday party yesterday. And to all of our joy, she decided she wanted to go to the beach. And all the people in the picture was the whole crew. Two more were invited but couldn't make it. It was wonderfully small, because I hate big parties. And yes, one guy with six girls. :)

 It was an absolutely amazing day. Beyond. I got really close to the two people that were invited 

that  I didn't know well. We got there and ate lunch, played volleyball (we all play :]), chilled with the tides (we never went all the way in), went on a beach side walk, played frisbee, soccer, more volleyball, cooked hotdogs for dinner over a fire, took amazing pictures, and had cupcakes for dessert. Even the ride home was super fun and freaking amazing. 

The weather was absolutely phenomenal. It wasn't hot or cold. As you can see, I wore a long sleeve shirt. I wore that all day! And everybody else had on their bathing suits, and none of us were either cold or hot. It did get pretty cold at night, but I loved it. I didn't want the day to end it was so fun! It's times like these that I love living in California. :)

(And P.S. I totally took that amazing surf board picture. :D)

Happy Birthday Kara!!

Everybody's birthday is this time of year! In fact in may, my friends Courtney, Kalene, Kara, and Kjersten. Haha how awesome is that? But anyway, it really is Kara's birthday today, I'm not late with her. Isn't that crazy that her birthday is on Mother's Day this year? Hehe. 

Well Kara here is amazing. I haven't known her as long as I've known Courtney, but that really doesn't matter. She's one of my best friends and I am so excited to room with her at volleyball camp this year! We're going to party non stop. The craziest thing and the thing that I love most about Kara is that we have the EXACT same taste in guys. Now I know that's kind of weird, but honestly, we have not found one difference yet. We like the exact same guys, the exact same things about those guys, and we like the guys the same amount. It's insane!! But I love it. We have always said that we're going to marry

 identical twins when we grow up. :) 

Anyway, Kara is so much fun to hang out with. We always hang out before school because we are the only ones with a first period. :) For my 

Medallion Night this Sunday, Kara and Gina are going to be singing my favorite hymn in the world. Kara is such an amazing singer. It takes my breath away every time! Which is why I absolutely cannot wait to hear her and Gina sing. They're both amazing. I've told Kara many times that I could easily fall asleep every night to her singing.

Kara is known for her crazy laugh. Everybody stops and stares when she cracks up just because it's that intense. But I love it. She's known for her height as well. 5'9 I believe? She's a beastly middle blocker in volleyball.

 I don't even know what else to say about her! I love her so much!!

Happy Birthday Courtney!!!

Well, Courtney is the first one out of our group of best friends to turn 15. Which means one more year until the big 16! It was great fun on Courtney's actual birthday. Rachel, Kara, and I went over to her house with the 3 layer cake that Rachel and I made and some food from her favorite restaurant for lunch. She had just gotten out of the shower and she didn't have any makeup on, which if you know Courtney, is something she would never be seen in. And to my great astonishment and happiness, Courtney didn't say a thing about it and even took pictures! It was great. 

So Courtney. You are so amazing. If there is one person in this world that I can honestly say is the closest thing to a sister without actually being one it would be you. Without a doubt in my mind. We've been through it all together, good and bad, but we've always come out on top. We've done pretty much everything together ever since I met you, which would include soccer, softball, volleyball, piano, church, school, seminary, EFY, Girls Camp, camping, etc., etc. I do remember in sixth grade the one season when you played school soccer and I played school volleyball. It was weird. Haha. I was even the one to accompany you on your very first plane ride, which I must say I am quite honored to admit. I love you so much Courtney and I wish you the happiest birthday ever!!! 

Courtney is so amazing. She's gorgeous, and she deserves it because she works hard at that. Even to seminary, she wears her make up with her pajamas and wet hair. She's known for her weirdness. She really is just so weird, which is why she fits right in with our group. :) She's so smart and has a 4.0! She's freaking an amazing left side hitter in volleyball and I must say that she is one of my favorite people to set. :) And you know what the best part is? I'm the reason she does volleyball! Me! It's great. Courtney has an amazing style and always looks her best at all times, which I really admire. You're amazing Courtney Lauren Brown and I love you!!