KC Temple Celebration-Part 1

As you may know, us Kansas Citians and even people outside of the metro are preparing for our new temple. And when we say "prepare"...we are far from joking. Many of us will volunteer at the open house in a few weeks. And a couple weeks after that is the Youth Cultural Temple Celebration. This means all the youth in the district ages 12-18 (Geez. That doesn't sound Hunger Game-ish at all...) will be able to sing and dance in a big production! I'm pretty much waaaay excited!

Well a few weeks ago was our first big rehearsal with 3 of the 12 stakes. Our stake center (KCMO Stake) was PACKED with over 500 people. The seats, stand and floor in the chapel and overflow were all occupied.

After an introduction and welcome by a few of the leaders, our stake and the PC stake moved on into the gym to practice dancing while the Lib stake stayed in the chapel for music. First thing to do was to partner up with someone in your ward.

When everyone had a partner, we began learning our groups main dance. Some parts are tricky but its fun!

After an hour of dancing we headed back to the chapel to learn some of the songs we will be singing.

Finally, we went back to the gym and learned a few more dances that all 12 stakes will (somehow) all do at the same time. These include the funky version of Popcorn Popping and Cotton Eye Joe.

By the end, we were all so excited! The excitement continued when, on Thursday (3/15), I got an email saying I had been accepted into the 250 person choir for the event! I soon found out a few of my friends will also be in the choir while others will be in the 50 piece orchestra and even a few as specialized dancers!

kctempleevents.org is where you can find even more info.

To be continued.....!

Mini Stories From My iPod-February

I haven't posted much lately because life just gets in the way of life sometimes. Wait. That didn't make sense. Well you know what I mean but, yes, priorities get in the way of things you actually want to be doing. i.e. School v. blogging. Anyway this post is so I can share some interesting pictures that have taken on my iPod in the last few weeks or so. I will also be posting other ones of my family on our family blog.

While sitting in the library parking lot, I saw this dalmatian sitting in the drivers seat of a car. Who knows why, but I found it quite amusing. I got out of the car I was in and started inching towards this dog to take the picture. I probably would have gone right up to the car but I thought it might be awkward if the owner came out and saw me. Oh and this older lady was also watching me from her car and had the funniest look on her face. So yeah, I basically chickened out and this was the closest I got.

This is little Oden, our neighbors Siamese cat. I was pet sitting last weekend and I just love this cat. He's so loveable and he loves you back...even if you're a stranger. (Yes. I know he's standing on the toilet. Just ignore that!)

For my English/writing/literature (I still don't exactly know what to call it) class we have been reading Pride and Prejudice. Oh so many mixed feelings about this book by everyone. I'd say about 90% of the class didn't really like it. Um, yeah, I'm one of those people.
SO anyway, during government class yesterday we were working on a class project and two of the girls, who are also in the writing class, were writing on the whiteboard for us and...got a little bored. This little cartoon of Mr. Darcy showed up and I loved it! We all protested when Mrs. V. had to erase little Fitzwilliam.

And last night for our YW activity we decorated cakes. Just for fun! For all you Kid History fans out there, it says: "Sweetooth. It means U want SOME!" I thought it was the perfect quote to put on a cake piled high with frosting.

Into the Archives 47-Human Exhibit

Another adventure while volunteering at the nature canter!

On this day in 2009 my friend and I were being exceptional nuts.

This large cage was looking lonely without a current occupant...

...so we took the job.

Into the Archives 46-Little Brother

ITA schedule change: Everyother Friday.

 Not being the only child anymore is a strange transition but I dealt with it with a smile (most of the time). I was so excited to have a little brother and tried my best to help!

 

Both these pictures are from the "old house". Many faint yet fun memories from there.

Into the Archives 45-New Year 2000

1/5/2012

Happy New Year 2000 from Chicago! Yes, that is how my family and I rang in the new year and century. We were there with dad who was working on a Michael Moschen show (Michael is a juggler).

 Even little KEW, who wasn't quite 1 yet, stayed up until midnight.

I remember very small snippets from this trip. I remember walking passed beautiful shop windows in down town at night. I think I remember the hotel but I could be mixing it up with other memories from when I spent a lot of time in hotels as a young girl.

We stayed in a big, fancy hotel!

I don't think I quite realized why this new year was so special but I still understood it was important for some reason. Now thinking back it was actually really quite amazing! 

Timeline-2011

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is a (not so) quick but quickest overview of my 2011. If you want to know it all, just read my entire blog. Good luck!

February 11th: (which happens to be my brothers birthday) was when I started this blog! A very important event I'd say.

March 19: (no post) Stake Cinderella Ball

March 3rd: The beginning of Into the Archives. Over there under "Labels" is a tag called ITA. Click on that.

April 11th: I got the ultimate haircut of the decade! Actually I'm serious. I might not get my hair cut that short for at least 10 years. It could happen though. I'll have to see...

Mid-Mayish: I got my goodreads account. Yup that was a great idea! I'd sugest you get one if you haven't already.

May: Passed my first year of early morning seminary. Well OK maybe I did more then just pass seeing as I got the Stake Presidents award and all.

February-March-April-May: I LOVED track yet again! (That's 3 years of running yo!)

May 23rd: I turned 15.

Very end of May: Track awards ceremony.

June 10 & 11th: Stake YW 4th year high adventure-thingy.

June 2-5th: Can you say Chicago?

June 20-24th: I rocked Stake YW girls camp as a 4th year...without a voice the entire time. More info if you read that post.

June 29: (no post) I went to the local amusement park for the first time (never having been on a roller coaster) and seriously had a blast! I had no idea how my body would react to roller coasters because my dad loves then and my mom doesn't so there was a 50/50 chance whether I'd survive through the day. Well...it stayed 50/50. I was feeling sick over half the time but I couldn't help it! I LOVED the big rides! My favorite was the Patriot. A crazy loop-de-loop-really-fast ride.

My least favorite? The Boomerang. After just once I was really sick and it happened to be right before lunch...which I didn't eat. After an hour of groaning and laying on a bench I got up and ate 2 cups of ice cream and was magically better! Who would have guessed?

During a break we had fun with everyone's phones:

 When it got dark it was almost better than day light! The place looked like Christmas in June.

We were seriously there all day. About 10am-10pm. Turns out that is about the right time. Sick enough to want to go home but still satisfied that I had gone on all the rides I wanted to.

July 7-9th: Rode on school buses. AKA had a nice stake youth conference.

August 5-6th: Partied in Nauvoo with my "other ward".

August 9: (No post) Stake Seminary kickoff. (Seminary already?) We didn't do much but play on the playground...which turned out to be really fun!

October 13th: I started a blog that I post on daily. Mostly videos...but a few other things too. helloyoutube.blogspot.com

October 31: (no post) Seminary Halloween costume party. Everyone dressed up as someone or something from the Old testament. A few of them were a little stretched...

Happy 11/11/11!

December 27: I got my YW Recognition Award

December 25: Christmas Day

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

2012 is going to be awesome! (unless we all die of course :D )

Video of the Year

Check out the new video I have been working on:

youtube.com/user/HalesterProductions

The Yeti Took Over

And...this picture pretty much sums up my Christmas!

 Well at least the presents...

Hope you had a great Christmas! I sure did. Well you've already seen (a couple posts ago) I was festive enough for church. If you would like to see how my day went just visit the family blog. But now, I will explain the above picture.

First the hat.

I was at a friends house about a month ago and fell in love with her sock monkey hat. I asked if I could borrow it for a week but she said no. So I borrowed her little sisters panda hat instead. (I promise, I did ask her sister and she said yes) I totally wore it the whole week and then gave it back mourningly. Then I asked Santa for a cool hat like that one. He asked me where to get it (since I guess they don't make them in the N. Pole) and so I looked up "Wool Pilot Animal Caps" on the internet. Bingo! I found the hat I wanted right away. Not a dog or an owl or even a moose. Nope! I needed a Yeti hat (though the cookie monster hat came in second...) Mr. Yeti and I have been inseparable since Sunday. No really. I'm serious! I've taken it off to take showers and during prayers. That's pretty much it.

(Now my YW president is threatening to pierce it's horns and give it bright pink earrings....ick!)

And then there is the iPod touch.

I didn't really get it on Christmas day and it wasn't exactly a Christmas present in the normal way. Christmas money from the grandparents does come in handy though. So I got an mp3 player but I decided to sell it (since I already have an mp3 player anyway) so I could use that money, my Christmas money and some of my own savings to buy an iPod that I knew I would use more. So I'd say it's a Christmas present from a few different people and I'm pretty happy with it.

Into the Archives 44-Activity Day Girls

12/29/2011

In Primary (children 3-11) there is a program for girls 8-11 called Activity Day Girls. In 2006 or 2007 my mom was called as the ADG leader. I can't remember what we were doing, but we were doing a project that involved taking pictures of each of us.

Although over half of these girls aren't in the ward anymore, they are all still part of our group. Here are the pictures from 2007 and a more recent one of them now that we are all in YW.

Me

Sadie

McKenzie

Jasmyne

Atlanta

Emma & Mary (Unfortunately I can't find a recent picture of Emma)

 

 Ainsley