In Massachusetts

Mostly, we've been cleaning. Yesterday, we cleaned Keith's room for like 4 hours. It was a success! One corner of her room is now clean. *sigh*

Today we raked leaves, and Keith vacuumed, and now I kinda wanna just watch a movie. And eat stuff. Yum.

Bye bye!

I'm going to Massachusetts today for 3 weeks! I'm so excited. I'll be staying with Keith ("kaytch," a girl) and dancing in my old dance studio's recital, etc. I'm so, so, excited! Now I need to pack.

Bye, Cyrena!

I've been really terrible about blogging lately, so here's an update, finally.

Last week, we took Cyrena to the MTC. I got to go see her off and cried minimally. I'll miss her lots, but I'm really glad she's going on a mission. She'll help so many people! I've written to her already like... 6 times, or something like that. Well, here's a couple of pictures from the send-off.

Visiting Jake and Elly

One of the greatest benefits of having free time (finals are over!) is that I get to see more of my beautiful niece and adorable nephew! (Actually, I have two nephews, but I don't get to see Justin very much. He lives too far away.)

Here are some videos of my latest visit. One is an actual video and one is a slideshow. Enjoy!

More dancing

For my final, we danced all three dances (samba, rumba, and paso doble). Even though I've already posted the samba and rumba, I think these are slightly better videos because it's just me and Cameron, and my friend Steve walked around the room to video us. Plus, I've gotten better at the dances. So here they are!

Paso Doble! I did my best in this dance. I think my footwork was especially good. Also, Cameron looks angry because he's supposed to. It's the bullfighting dance, and he's the matador.

The samba! My timing is a little off at the beginning, but I think I've improved a LOT since the competition.

And the rumba. We always do well in the rumba.

My bird is really smart

Today, Mom was saying something about how Erica can be hard to deal with.


Samantha interrupted.
"Don't say that about Erica!
"Sometimes she just gets agh!
"Just say 'I love you, Erica!'"


I swear, that bird is smarter than all of us.

Dance galore!

So, I've got a lot of dance stuff to get out of the way. I've honestly been trying to update, and keep getting part way into the post, and then I have to go leave. So here it is!

1) About a month ago, I competed in a local competition in preparation for THE BIG ONE. The big one, by the way, is DanceSport, which is held at BYU. In the local competition I did surprisingly well, placing first with my fun partner Cameron in the silver-level waltz. I also recieved ribbons in the foxtrot and the paso doble, but that was pretty much by default, since not many couples entered. Still, though, a first place! Pretty ribbons:

2) I've recently become a part of a tap dance ensemble (performing team)! It's very, very exciting. To check the web site, go to http://www.footpoetry.com/ - but it's not nearly finished, so don't expect too much!

3) DANCESPORT!!!! It was so, so fun. I competed 3 events, and made it to quarter-finals in the rumba, which was the event for the level above us.

The Rumba, which I danced with Cameron, and made it to quarter-finals.

The Samba, which I danced with Cameron.

This video I didn't mean to upload, but surprise! These children can REALLY dance. I figured if I spent all that time uploading it, I may as well post it. These pre-teen kids are way better than I am. They're dancing the Paso Doble.

The waltz, which was the first dance of my Novice Standard event (the fancy, schmancy, paid for a coach, bought a dress, etc. etc. event) - I danced this with Jared.

The Quickstep, which was the second (and final) dance of my Novice Standard event. (Obviously, still with Jared, since it's all one event.) Note: this dance was kind of a disaster, but you can't really tell that much in the video.