Dodge Barrage Mirage 2010.

This post is about a month overdue. The magnificent event occurred on September 18, 2010. My big brother's 25th birthday.

Throughout the day my brother was known to proclaim, repeatedly, "THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"

And well, it should be.

Andrew and his friends organized a dodgeball team to compete at the Dodge Barrage, a tournament sponsored by Deron Williams and Kyle Korver for some unknown charity. It was a big tournament all day that culminated into the championship in the afternoon. Andrew's team made it into the top 8, which is pretty good, out of more than 64 teams. BUT, the championship game was played between an all-star lineup of:

Deron Williams
Kyle Korver
Al Jefferson
Ronnie Price
And lots of these four professional athletes' friends

(I have to add that the Jazz team wore light blue ghostbusters T-shirts, little red shorts, and red sweatbands around their heads. And tall tube socks with their sneakers. They were cool.)

And these guys:

 
Yep. This team of rag-and-tag 80's styled Dodgeball professionals, flown in from the exotic land of California. Their shirts literally say on them, "The Charles Bronson Make a Death Wish Foundation." And the back of their shirts say, "Dodgeball4life.com" Check it out.

But guess. who. won.

The latter.

That is probably my favorite thing that happened all day.

Oh, and also this thing:

Deron Williams. With the fam.

We went to dinner afterward for Andrew's birthday:

Andrew and Mallory have now been married for a year. Woohoo!

After dinner we all drove back to Provo. Andrew and Mal stayed at Stephanie's house, so me and Elise met everyone there. We watched "Dodgeball" (an appropriate choice after the day's festivities) and ate brownies and ice cream- more birthday celebration.

I just remember that all day, we all kept repeating, "this is SO MUCH FUN!" Cause seriously, one could not have predicted how much fun it is to watch a dodgeball game. It's really fun, okay?

My Aunt Judy, cousin Nicole, and Grandpa Don and Grandma Karen all joined us at different times during the day, and fun was had by all. AND, the Dew Tour was going on at Energy Solutions, and we were at the Salt Palace, so I was able to go and visit Rachelle and Brad at the Dew Tour just after they got engaged! 

It was a great day, and seriously, I a little bit love dodgeball now.

Can I be a Michael Jordan fan too? Cause this is awesome.

Me, a BYU grad?

Just moments ago, I applied for graduation from Brigham Young University.

I will walk on April 22, 2011. Convocation will be on April 21.

Literally 6 months from today, I will no longer be a student at the BYU.

It's tragic because I love this place so much, but it's kind of exciting.

And I'm freaking out a little bit.

"It's mine. I bought it."

Quoted: Justin Bieber

I share his sentiment. In this funnyordie.com video, he buys a club so he can do whatever he wants with it. That just happens to be turning it into a Chuckie Cheese. Noble decision.

So I realized today that it actually really bugs me when people take my candy. Well, not just people, but boys that already bother me and then they take my candy without asking. Why would I notice this trend? How is it possible that it would have happened to me enough times that this would register on the list of Audrey's pet peeves?

Well, it only had to happen twice.

1. In 9th grade, students were given a candy bar for their birthday in seminary. On my birthday, I was super stoked to receive a Snickers bar, my favorite favorite candy bar. I opened the package and took one delectable bite. Then, it was time for the prayer. I folded my arms, still holding the candy bar in my fist, bowed my head, and closed my eyes for the prayer. During said prayer, my candy bar was STOLEN out of my hand, bitten off of, and placed back in my fist. And this was all before the prayer was over. I looked behind me to see my nemesis: an unnamed rude boy and graduate from Dixie High School, class of 2006. A boy who when I think of him, still puts a bad taste in my mouth. I had to break off another large piece of my candy bar to get his cooties off it, and was left with less than half a candy bar. And I had only been able to take one bite. I was seriously annoyed. And angry.

2. Today I brought mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to my practicum class for part of the lesson I had to teach. I left the bag open on my desk when I went up to the front of the room to get something, and when I came back, the obnoxious, too-smart-for-everyone boy that sits in front of me was EATING A REESES! I actually gave him a stern, annoyed look, took the bag from off my desk and placed it in my backpack, away from stupid boy who thought it was okay to steal my candy. Not okay.

Unreasonable? I think not.

So annoying, candy stealer boys: Remember, the candy is mine. I bought it.

My current choice of study music:

Hot Space by Queen. 1982.

Favorite track: "Cool Cat"

I bought this album and kind of didn't like it. After about the 4th run-through I fell in love.

I listen to it in a loop while I study. It's fantastic.

PS, there is a boy in my ward who reminds me of Freddie Mercury so much that every time I see him I am tempted to tell him to grow a bushy mustache. I always refrain.

Season Opener.

November 12.

One month and one day.

And I will be at the Marriott Center, two hours early, anxiously awaiting the arrival of this man:

And the rest of the team of course.

I love BYU basketball. So much.

My lovely Sugarpop.

I call my little sister Moriah a mixture of names: Mojo, Baby Jo, Sugarpop, Sugardoll, Banjo...


Some recent things about Moriah that reminded me of how amazing she is:

1. For the past month, literally every night before she goes to bed, she texts each of her siblings and says something to the extent of: "Good night best sister in the world! Sleep so neat!" or "I love you so so so much! Sleep so nifty!" The girl is hilarious/awesome/sweet.
2. She just turned 15 and got her young womanhood recognition award. As a reward, the 5 or 6 girls in the stake who got their award at the same time got to go up for Saturday general conference in the Conference Center, AND they got to go to President Uchtdorf's office and meet him. What a dream, right? Needless to say, Moriah loved it.
3. She is an excellent student and is involved in several clubs at the middle school. She's on the GYC council and in NJHS, played tennis at the high school this past year, and goes to drama class up at the high school with Mr. Saxton every other day. She wants to be involved in everything.
4. On Friday when I was in St. George I saw Mr. Saxton and talked to him for a bit. He commented on Moriah and how great she is. He said, though, that he asked her to take a part in a short scene from "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Shakespeare festival competition because the girl who was going to take the part dropped out. Moriah had said she didn't think she could memorize the lines fast enough and told him no. So I said to Mr. Saxton, "you want me to tell her to do it? If I'll tell her, she'll do it." (I recognize my authority...) He nodded and said that was a great idea. So when I saw Moriah, I made my proposition and told her she should do it. It took some coaxing, but I convinced her that it wouldn't be that hard. Together, we identified the scene she was to learn, and the part, and printed off 2 copies of the script (it's a good thing I know that play so well. All Moriah had to do was tell me that Beatrice and Margaret were in the scene and that Margaret said something about "heels"). Then, between sessions of conference on Sunday, we went on a walk around the neighborhood and read lines. I prompted her and explained the scene to her, and together, we memorized the scene. It was a lot of fun. Later that day, she came to me and said, "Audrey, thanks for helping me remember that I'm not just a regular student. I'm an overachiever too."

Could anything be sweeter? Could I have done a better job on my little protege?

I love this sweet girl more than I can say. And I'm so proud to be her big sister.

And also, I just have to say, Moriah is the reason that I still love the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and Sonny With a Chance. Well, maybe not the only reason, but a big reason.

Footloose

Been listening to this soundtrack on a loop for the past couple days. I forgot how much I love Footloose. It was an 8th grade obsession of mine.

Also, I had a crush on Kevin Bacon as an 8-year-old watching Apollo 13. 

Below is the cover for the album version that I wish I was cool enough to have. 

And you know what's so great about this soundtrack? Classic songs. "Let's Hear it For the Boy" "Holding Out For A Hero" and "Footloose." Or my favorite, "I'm Free." Kenny Loggins. And seriously, this soundtrack is like a mix of Prince, Queen, Heart, and honestly, a little bit of Michael. Some funky stuff, some classic 80s rock with hot male voices or strong, deeper female voices, and some deep bass lines. And there's one song that reminds me of the Goofy movie song, "Stand Out." What could possibly be greater?

4 weeks into school.

(this is an old post-- I wrote it about two weeks ago and felt it wasn't complete quite yet, so I didn't post it. But now it's old and irrelevant. I'm posting it anyway)

This is my last semester and I feel like I have a million decisions to make.

Movies to watch:
1. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2. Me and Orson Welles (it should have come from Netflix TODAY!) I've been waiting for this for like 2 years. I can proudly admit that I have been watching Zac Efron's IMDB page for updates on all his movies, including this one. For two years.

My new favorite song: Just A Dream by Nelly. When I heard that song I gasped with happiness. I don't know, it just felt right to have him singing to me, like I was brought back to happy teenage days of Country Grammar, Ride Wit Me, Over and Over, and Dilemma. And yes, Grillz. Just keep singing, Nelly, and keep providing me with clean versions.

30Rock started yesterday. Paul, Rachelle, and Brad came over for the event.

Rachelle and Brad are now betrothed. They got engaged last weekend, and it's already on her blog, so I figured I could say something about it here. But I am SO happy about this. I couldn't have asked for a better man to give my Rachelle away to. And seriously, he has adorned her left ring finger with a solid, whole carat diamond. A girl can only be so lucky. I think lovingly back to the day of Senior Showoff when Rachelle glided down from the ceiling of the auditorium in a slinky green dress singing, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

A couple of weeks ago I was told by my good friend Christopher that he had met two new people in our ward who LOVED Michael Jackson. One boy and one girl. I knew from that moment that I had to find those people. First, because I could use that commonality to bond with them, and second, because I had to assess how big of fans they were. What exactly were they claiming, you know? Well, last night I met them. We were all three excited, and immediately the boy, Marcus, asked me what my favorite song was. I said that currently, but not of all-time, my favorites were "Keep the Faith" and "Speechless." He looked at me blankly. So did the girl. Neither of them knew those songs. I WON.

Don't worry, I'm still the master Michael fan in the ward, and I have yet to be threatened in the Provo area. (Except for that one Australian rugby player who knows more about MJ than I do. He's the champion. But he's also foreign so that doesn't really count).

So I have a question. Why do people claim to be big fans of someone or something if they haven't done the proper research? Preposterous.

Today.

• I successfully made it to school and back twice without slipping on the wet, rainy ground.
• I found out that in Hungarian, "agy," pronounced, "audge" means "brain." I hope that's significant.
• They used 42 piglets in the filming of Babe.
• I decided what I want to be for Halloween while sitting in my LDS Marriage and Family class today while listening to a lecture on "Dating vs. Hanging out."
• I worked EXTRA hours today, and I finished rehousing a collection that I have been working on since July. I still have to encode it and do the last minute processing things, but then I will be DONE. FINALLY. This current collection might be my least favorite ever. And guess what I get to work on next? The George Romney papers. He's practically Mormon American royalty.
• I reaffirmed my opinion of boots today. They are still ugly.
• Sarie made some delicious soup, and I think she is a miracle.
• We played "Don't Eat Pete" in FHE. It's my favorite game from my 7-year-old Primary class. We played it after the lesson when we were good primary kids.
• I watched an episode of Friends and laughed out loud probably 16 times.
• I woke up early to finish homework.
• I have checked my email a mere 6 times. That's unusually low.
• I didn't even complain when my shoes got soaked through while walking in the rain. 

Yesterday.

• Lene posted 4 new albums on Facebook (that makes her facebook album total 96. that girl is out of control. but I love it), and when I checked my email, I had notifications for 46 new pictures tagged of me. So. Check them out. Feel free to avoid the video she posted.
• I got back from St. George late last night after enjoying a weekend with my family, conference, and the 100 degree sun. It was heavenly. I even got to go to a Dixie High football game. (And can I just say, I don't remember high school boys being that small). 
• It was the first time that I had gone home for a St. George weekend and honestly did not want to go back to Provo. I was seriously in no rush to come back. I don't know. I might be getting over it a little bit-- which is good, because I'm graduating soon and I will probably not be staying in Provo for another year. Or maybe I just miss my summer ward. I loved those guys.

A mix.

A quick something.

JK Rowling was recently on Oprah. I meant to watch it (because I always know when she has an appearance coming up), but unfortunately, I forgot. But, I caught the recap. And with the help of my friend Liz, I found this out:

1. Quoted from a news report: "Fans, rejoice -- J.K. Rowling offered a bit of hope on Friday that, perhaps, the final Harry Potter story has yet to be told. "I could definitely write an eighth, ninth, tenth," the celebrated author, 45, told Oprah Winfrey during an interview scheduled to air Friday. "I'm not going to say I won't. I don't think I will ... I feel I am done, but you never know."

My reaction: You know I love Harry Potter. But. I don't think there should be more. However, if the brilliant Ms. Rowling things there should be more, well then, there should be. I trust the woman.

2. Quoted from the same article: "However, Rowling mentioned that she did turn down one opportunity -- when Michael Jackson said he wanted to make a musical based on the books."

My reaction: I'M SORRY. WHAT??!? I had heard the rumors about a musical, but it was never public knowledge until Friday that it was MICHAEL JACKSON'S IDEA!!!! Now, I'm not sure that those two things- Harry Potter and Michael Jackson- should EVER EVER mix, but STILL!! Imagine the possibilities. WORLDS COLLIDE!

Here's the article if ya wanna read it:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/10/01/more.harry.potter.ppl/index.html?eref=rss_showbiz&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_showbiz+%28RSS%3A+Entertainment%29

And another one about Michael's idea:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/J-K-Rowling-rejected-Michael-Jacksons-idea-of-Harry-Potter-musical/articleshow/6670974.cms

Neither are very informative, but it's the best we can do. Very little information available.


Adios.