Cosmetology

I have been in cosmetology school for 5 weeks now. It is insane. I Love it. I have learned so much in the last 5 weeks. I am in OR a.k.a. Orientation which means we have been taking non-stop notes the whole time. It really is so much to handle but I am so excited for when i actually get to stop taking notes and get out on the floor and do hair. So far we've learned 3 main styles of hair cuts in three shapes. Round, square, and triangular; layers, graduated and one length. Cutting hair is so hard. You have to learn all the techniques and it is alot more complicated then you could ever imagine. Cutting is probably the hardest part for me. I have cut three peoples hair. My mom, MaKell, and Debbie. We've also learned pedicures, manicures, scalp treatments, how to wrap perms, how to weave color, updoes, curls, braids, color application, waxing and a bunch of other stuff. We have a guest artist every wednesday who is usually a nail artist or someone who owns a salon. But this week the extension lady from Foxi Hair came and gave everyone in the class one extension of whichever bright color they chose. Mine is hot pink. It is all so crazy but there are so many amazing things you can do. I can't wait to work on everyones hair, it is really going to be so much fun for me. So you all get ready to do something crazy! I'll keep you posted!

I learned how to post to my blog from my phone. This is so awesome! What is technology coming to? Its so crazy!

So a couple of weeks ago I was asked to

Prom! I came home from school to find a lifesize cardboard cut out of Belle waiting to greet me in my room. There was a carraige made out of cardboard that Dalt had put a picture of us in. There were "Beauty and the Beast" Mints, balloons with Belle on them, and tiaras all over. Dalt left big pink envelopes all over. Each one had one a card shaped like a crown inside it and each had one word. The last envelope was covered in Duct Tape and I had to cut it open to get the card out. The words said "Will You Go To Prom With Me Princess?" It was so cute. I am so excited to go on May 2nd!

Choir Tour!!

Around the middle of March I got to go on choir tour with the Pleasant Grove High Chamber Choir. We Went to California for 5 days. We stayed just outside Anaheim in a town called Downy at the Embassy Suites Hotel. It was so amazing. It had an indoor stream and waterfall, an awesome made to order breakfast every morning, and the People there were wonderful. We had such an awesome stay there. It was so nice. They day we got there we went to The Man's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater. It was so awesome. I found John Wayne's foot prints. We also got to go to Sea World and Disney Land while we were in California. I ALMOST got to kiss a seal! it was so awesome! He was so close! it was so cute. I also found the prettiest Clydesdale ever. He was pulling the trolley around Disney Land. I had so much fun in Cali. It was awesome and I can't wait to go back!

Comb Wash

This week I went on my dad’s annual work mule trip. Every year he and his partner take all their employees, customers, and friends on a weeklong mule ride to Comb Wash just outside of Blanding, Utah. This year there were more than 40 people there. Most had mules but there are a couple people who bring horses like my Uncle West. We always camp in the same spot. Our camp spot has corrals that are built out of old cedar wood that we put some of the animals in. This year there were so many that some people had to take panels and make their own pens.

At the beginning of each day, about 7:00 a.m., we meet at the food tent. We say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag posted atop the tent, and then we start breakfast, usually cold cereal and fruit. After breakfast, around 8:00 we saddle up and leave camp around 8:30. Since there are so many people, my dad takes half and his business partner takes the other half on different rides. We ride mostly in and around Fish Creek Canyon which also splits off into Owl Creek Canyon. The scenery is beautiful. It was 60-70 degrees the whole time we were there. It would have been 80 without the wind chill. Our favorite way to ride is to get ourselves ledged in somewhere at the top of the canyon and find a way to the bottom. That is our goal every day. We never follow the trails, we make our own. If we find a good jumping spot along the way, we stop for a while and take pictures (from several angles) of whoever wants to try. There are several of these a day. We stop for lunch somewhere around 1:00. We just find a nice sunny spot out of the wind and tie up to a cedar tree. We usually spend about an hour at the lunch spot visiting and eating. After lunch we ride a little further, and then we have to head back to camp. We never ride back the same we came if we can help it. We love to make loops so we don’t have to go the same way twice in one

day. We reach camp around 5:30. Once back to camp, we unsaddle, let the mules roll and get cleaned up. Baby wipes are a lifesaver from all the red dirt. In years passed my dad and his partner were the ones who made dinner after we got back, but this year we had camp cooks. They came just to cook for us so dinner was ready everyday when we got back. We had some awesome meals. Lasagna, Enchiladas, Beef and Pork roast, Stew, and Baked beans were on the menu this year all made in a Dutch oven. We always have tons of food always accompanied by dessert; Pie, Cream Cheese Brownies, Chocolate Cake, and Rice Crispie Treats. After everyone is done eating, we go and sit around the fire while someone plays songs on the guitar and sings, tells cowboy poetry, or just tells stories and talk. We sit in chairs real close to the fire or stand and spin like a rotisserie chicken to keep warm. Bed time is anywhere from 8:00-12:00 (whenever you decide to go). You can’t beat the night sky in Comb Wash; there’s not a cloud in it and you can see every star.

All in all we had a blast. It was awesome, the weather was nice and the people were great. We saw some cool ruins and had a really good time. I can’t wait until I get to go back and do it all again next year.

Valentines Day- 2 Years Together

Valentines Day this year was so amazing. Dalton and I have now been together over two years. I's so crazy! So much has happened in two years. So he came over and picked me up around 7 o clock. He looked so handsome. He surprised me and took me to Goodwood for dinner. When we pulled up outside the restraunt, He pulled out a bag from Argentos jewelry store in the mall. There were two little boxes in it, and inside the first box I pulled out was the most gorgeous ring. The next box I pulled out had a necklace with a beautiful pendant on it. They were so pretty! He spoils me way to much. So he helped me put on my necklace then we went in. The food was so good. Dalt got a steak and I got chicken strips. Everything we had there was really good. then after we got done there, we went back to my house, I gave Dalt his gifts and we watched a movie. We watched Nights in Rodanthe. It was very good. Valentines Day was so amazing and I had such a great time. Thanks Dalt!

Math 1050

So we found out a couple days ago that the math department at UVU is once again trying to ruin Dalt's college dream. Dalt's mom Debbie was checking online to make sure that her payment for his class went through when she noticed that she had one credit that was paid for but hadnt been used...She thought that was wierd so she called UVU and found out that they had dropped his Math 1050 class right out from under him! He was still going to the class and didn't even know that it had been dropped! Debbie had a yelling match with several different people from the math department for about 2 hours. She found out that Dalt's ACT score for math had expired! I didn't even know that was possible! So they just dropped his class without even telling him and he would have to take a test to get back in to the class. Debbie finally talked to the Chair of the Math Department and she said that because of "policy" Dalt couldn't take the class. But Debbie told her that it wasn't his fault his score expired and how if Dalt wasn't so strong willed he would have just given up. Then she went on to ask the lady "What about the not so strong willed kids? Do you want them to not graduate? Is it your goal to keep as many kids as possible from graduating?" So eventually the lady gave Debbie her email address and home phone number and said if he doesnt pass the test with a high enough score just call and let me know. Go Debbie! So Dalt has to go in and take the test tomorrow but it's supposed to be really easy so i'm sure he'll pass it. It's just dumb.

Congratulations Dalt!!

When Dalton started high school, he decided that he wanted to graduate not only with his high school diploma, but also an Associates Degree from UVSC. He took more than a dozen college classes while still taking his required high school classes. He even had to take some college classes before and after school to complete all the requirements to get the degree he wanted. While he was participating in concurrent enrollment and distance education classes from the college, he heard about a scholarship he might be interested in. The New Century Scholarship is a state funded scholarship awarded by the state's Office of Higher Education only to those students who graduate high school, along with their associates degree, with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. So Dalt decided that he would try his hardest to get this scholarship.

In 11th grade he started taking a class called Math 1050 which is college algebra. He decided that his class load was a little heavy so he dropped the class 2 weeks into the semester. Unfortunately, the math department at the college didn't process his paperwork until 4 weeks after the start of the semester. This meant that he would have to take a failing grade in the class and because of "policy" the department couldn't do anything about it. This took a hit on his scholarship goal. But he just kept pushing.

In 12th grade he continued as planned and registered again for the Math 1050 class. He took the class and struggled alot, but he didn't give up and passed the class. Unfortunately his grade was a little low and he felt that with this grade and the failing grade from the previous year he might not stand a chance at getting his degree let alone the scholarship he had been working so hard for. After some of the longest weeks of his life Final Grades were posted online and he learned that he had met the requirements to recieve his Associates Degree. UVSC had been in the process of developing University status. Its new name would soon be UVU, Utah Valley University. If Dalt waited an extra week for his actual printed degree to arive, he could be among one of the very first students to have the name Utah Valley University printed on his degree. So he did.

Life went on. He was among only a handful of students in his class who graduated with his Associates. He worked at Big O Tires until January, when he started school again at UVU. He wasn't sure if he had qualified for The New Century Scholarship but he decided to apply for it anyway. He sent the papers in and a week later (Wednesday of this week) in the mail he recieved a letter from the Utah Office of Higher Education saying that they were pleased to inform him that he had been awarded a scholarship that would pay 75% of 60 college credits. That is basically the equivalent of $45,000!!!! He did it! He has accomplished what he has been trying so hard to do the passed 3 years! I am so proud of him! He has done an amazing job and accomplished so much as a high school student! Congratulations Dalton!

Hunters Safety

So Monday was my hunter's safety test day! I took the actual class online so that I didn't have to go to the class everyday for 2 weeks. So on Monday we went in to the place and our instructor talked to us about a bunch of different things and we watched some movies on hunting safety then we took the shooting test and last was the written test. I was so nervous! We took our shooting test and we had to shoot at 3 different targets in 3 different positions. We shot laying down or prone, Sitting or kneeling, and standing. I got 28/30 on my shooting test!! The instructor said that I got the highest score he had seen!! Then we went upstairs and we had half an hour to complete the 50 question written test. I was one of the first ones done and then we had to wait for everyone to fininsh. Well when everyone got done we corrected our tests and I got 49/50!! I was so happy! I passed all 3 areas required to pass hunters safety! So they gave us a Hunters Safety Graduate patch and our temporary license. It was so awesome! I am so excited that I get to put in this year!

Ok so after we went and saw the petroglyphs, we went across the street and there were some deer in this field. They were right by an orchard. So there were 2 big bucks right next to each other! so we stopped and took some cool pictures. Well out where we were there are a bunch of orchards right next to each other. When the pilgrams first settled there they all wanted to have fruit. So they all planted fruit trees. So each orchard belongs to a different family but every family wanted different kinds of fruit. So they planted lots of different kinds of fruit trees in the same orchard. With all of these orchards being next to each other, there are over 3000 trees! Since these orchards are in a national park, no one can hunt there. So the deer stay in these orchards all year round and they are protected! So these deer will probably live to be old and die of natural causes! That is so cool to know that there is somewhere where deer can live like this. So these deer see people alot because there are always taking care of the trees. They are practically tame. People don't scare them at all! Well after we saw the deer we decided to drive around and see the rest of the orchards. so we drove all the way around and got to the back. When we got opposite of where we saw the deer we saw them again and they had come around to the back! So we stopped the car and sat for a while and just watched them. They just kept coming! There were about 30 of them and they almost came right to us! There was a 3 foot fence around the orchards and we were on one side and they were on the other side only about 10-20 feet away from us! It was so fun to watch. We got out of our car and stood next to the fence and they didn't even care! There were tiny babies that were only the size of dogs! They were still fuzzy and they were so cute! There were deer of every size. Then we saw the bucks. There were 3 of them as well as a couple little spikes. We stayed there for another hour. It was so amazing to watch them and be that close. We watched them cross the road and we even got to see a couople of them jump the fence! We had so much fun. Once they all got to the other side of the road we finally had to leave because it was getting dark. But it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I wish everyone could see that once in their life. It was awesome.