KC Celebration-Part 2

Practice, practice, practice. That's what we have been doing for over two months now. Dancing and singing at every spare moment possible. And yet, now that it is less than two weeks away, I feel anything but ready. The dances could always be more polished and sometimes I still forget the steps and trip over my partner. I know the lyrics to the songs...for the most part. But I'm also in the specialty choir so I clearly have to work on learning my part better. Our first choir rehearsal was on Sunday and it sounded pretty good. That said, there were still quite a few train wrecks and singing with 250 people in a choir setting is, well, a bit different than I'm used to. Additionally we were rehearsing with the orchestra and I've never sung with an orchestra before. (The song "Arise" is going to sound really, really, really cool by the way. The instrumental part is astounding!)

Here are some pictures from the last tri-stake rehearsal that was back on the 7th. This time we were split up into classes.

Priest/Laural group

The Priests and Laurals will be doing a techno dance that is simple but I think it'll look pretty cool. Unfortunately I will be two weeks too young to do it. A little frustrating but oh well. 

 Teacher/Mia Maid group

Because we have a large deaf community in the area, it was decided that we will sign the chorus of "We Believe" as we sing it.

The amazing Sister Dyck! She is one of the main music directors and wrote the song "One Heart in the Heartland" which will be the one of the last songs in the show.

 Cotton Eye Joe. Here we go!

(Can you find me? It can't be hard since I'm wearing bright orange shorts.)

 Deacon/Beehive group

 

And we've practicing in our wards on youth activity night.

Then last week we had a practice with just our stake.

OK maybe that's enough pictures for one day, huh? Well stay tuned because there will probably be a really special post within three weeks hopefully. The excitement is building! Well I guess I'll go back to more practicing now...

kctempleevents.org

Mini Stories From My iPod-March

A little late but..the latest edition from my iPod:
First of all: I got the app Instagram. If you have an Apple or Android you should totally get it! Its a photo editing and sharing app/account. It has kind of become my instant blogging with my life being busier. Check out my profile here:

Many of my pictures will be edited by IG.

 Domino day at the library!

 Rock and Mineral show at the KCI expo center. There were gems, minerals, fossils and rocks everywhere. Although I didn't buy anything, it was very interesting!

 We got to go to the special sneak peek of the exhibit "Science on a Sphere" at Science City. There are many locations world wide where you can find similar exhibits. If you live near one (you can find a list of locations on the website) be sure to check it out!

 For YW one Sunday, sister Beatty made us these "emergency" purses to go with the lesson. It was based off of the story of The Lost Purse as told my Elder Cook.

My little sister being cute as always!

Temple Open House

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!