College Prep and Birthday

I feel slightly like a terrible person since I haven't posted in about a month, and I have spent more time updating the look of my blog than writing. Yes, it is the same quirky blog, but it looks different. I thought for the past few weeks that I didn't have anything to write about since I had spent all of my time getting ready for college and hadn't done anything "special" or "fun". Then all of a sudden, I had a super eventful week and realized at the same time that I could have just written about getting ready for school.

To get ready for school, I have spent time packing and all that other boring stuff, but I have also utilized my creative outlet and made canvas signs to decorate Emily's and my bedroom in the apartment. It has taken a while, but I am thrilled to have them. I used a Cricut cutter to cut each word out of card stock, then I modge-podged them onto painted canvases and modge-podged over everything to secure it. The signs all have something that will motivate me to keep moving forward and to enjoy life.

While making these signs, I had some fun and felt a little like Jackson Pollock while painting the canvases when I would initially put the paint on before spreading it around the canvas.

I am so glad that these signs are almost done! They have been lots of fun to work on, but I am ready, and my mom is REALLY ready to have the mess cleaned up.

Last Friday I had the chance to ride the famous Hiawatha Trail with Nathan and his family. This 50 mile bike trail truly displays the natural beauty of the inland northwest. Here is a picture of one of the tunnels on the beautiful trail that I found at the Hiawatha Trail website.

This picture was taken at the end of the first tunnel on the trail. That tunnel is almost two miles long, so it's pretty dark inside. I can now say that I know what "tunnel vision" is after riding through that tunnel with only a headlamp to guide me. It was absolutely stunning, and we had a wonderful time spending the day in this beautiful world.

Last thing, today is my 18th birthday. It's weird being an official adult. I got fancy notifications from Facebook telling me that they wouldn't automatically keep my things private, but I have them all set that way anyway, and I have to fill out my own paperwork for my orthodontist appointment tomorrow, and it just feels strange. I have had lots of wonderful birthday wishes and gifts from family and friends, and I got the best present from the sister missionaries that are serving in our congregation right now. I have spent a TON of time with them the last few months, and they have become some of my good friends. They left me this adorable heart-attack in my bedroom today while I was gone and left me a yummy bottle of lotion and some gum. I seriously love them and hope the best for them as they serve the Lord and live their lives both on and after their missions. I feel so blessed that I have had the opportunity to get to know both Sister Knowlton and Sister Clark. They have blessed my life so much more than they could ever imagine.

Guardian Angel

I have several people in my life that have passed on that I now consider to be "guardian angels" of sorts. This week, as well as many other people in my community, gained another guardian angel that none of us expected to get. On Tuesday, Jansen Badinger drowned while swimming in the Spokane river. Jansen had just graduated from CV with me in June, and he really was the last person that anyone would have expected to loose that soon.

Jansen was one of the most amazing guys that I ever knew. He was everyone's best friend, and he truly understood the worth of each individual person. I am so grateful that I knew him and that I had the wonderful chance to be blessed by his life just like so many around me. He was not only known for his love, but also the way that he showed his love and support. Jansen has now been nicknamed "Mr. Spirit" and was voted "Bear for Life" in the Senior Bests in the yearbook. He showed his love and support by attending every sporting event (for every sport) in full face paint and other spirit wear. He was a super-fan that everyone could recognize at any game.

Jansen also did the incredible thing and greeted every student as they would come through the doors of the school every morning. He would always say "good morning Victoria!" in his bright and enthusiastic voice along with his beaming smile every morning as I walked through those doors. I know he always brightened my day, and I also know that I wasn't the only one that was positively affected by his cheerful attitude each morning.

There has been a lot of talk of replacing the cement outside this door with new cement with Jansen's name and footprints where he stood as a memorial to him. What he did at these doors will never be forgotten. I remember getting to school 45 minutes early one day to work on things for the yearbook and Jansen was already standing at the door to greet people. I asked him if he always came that early and he told me that he got to school at seven every morning just to be there to greet the students. That's the kind of guy Jansen was. THAT is what a true CV Bear is. That is why we believe. From the cheer that states "I believe that we will win", we believe. We believe that we can carry on the legacy of a smile, that we can change a person's day simply by saying "hi", and that random acts of kindness don't go unnoticed. Because I saw what a difference one person can make, it has motivated me to try a little harder to do a little better. To carry on the legacy of an amazing person, and to live my life to make others proud of me, and more importantly themselves. Those things are what change other's lives.

One person touched so many lives. This really shows the difference that one person can make. One smile, one "hello" or "good morning". They make a difference, I promise. Miss you Jansen! You will forever be in our hearts!

We all learned what a difference you made, and we want the whole world to remember you for the amazing person you are. We will, for you Jansen, "Keep Calm and Smile On" as we try to live your legacy of unconditional kindness for all who you saw around you.

Endings and Beginnings

It has been far too long (like two months instead of a week) since I posted, and in that time, a lot of things have happened. I went to St. Georges prom, graduated from high school, had a few visitors, and celebrated the Fourth of July. I will try to summarize all of this, since I don't want this post to go on for seven million years, or some other ridiculous length. I'll start with prom.

Really quick before I go into prom itself, I'll just let you know how I answered MaKormick. I decked-out his bedroom with streamers and confetti, and left him a sign saying "yes" with a bag of skittles, since my brother said that he likes skittles. Since there was so much teasing going on in asking and the whole "I actually can't go with you" stuff, I decided to play along too. I decorated his room while he was at work, and once I was done, I sent him a text saying that I was so sorry that I couldn't actually go since my grandma had passed away that very day and her funeral was planned for the same day as prom (she lives in Arizona). He freaked out, and called my mom WHILE AT WORK just to ask her if it was true. He was panicking so much, and it was so stinking hilarious! My mom just told him, while giggling, that he would have to wait until he got home to find out. It was so mean, but totally worth it!

Prom was a blast! It was a cruise prom on lake Coeur d'Alene, and it was wonderful being out on the water all night. It was strange though that only one of the eight people in our group went to St. Georges (Emily) and the rest of us went to CV. MaKormick was a very fun date, and we all had a fun time all night, from pictures to swimming and hot-tubbing after.


McKay, Karis, Amanda, Alex, Emily, Derek, (me), MaKormick

 Pictures were hilarious, and everyone was just being goofy. On the ride into Coeur d'Alene in the limo, we played "mafia" and even continued the game into dinner for a little bit. We had a delicious Italian dinner, and barely made it to the boat after dinner. We got on the boat after going to the wrong dock by the resort, and they had been told (on the boat) that there was one more group coming. They were actually waiting for another group, not us. As soon as we got onto the boat, it left the dock, then had to return back to the dock since they realized that there were actually two more groups. Once the next group came, we had everyone, and we embarked on a fun journey. After the dance, we went back to Emily's house and went hot-tubbing and swimming. I don't think I will ever forget that night!

The photobooth was pretty fun, and I certainly have some crazy pictures from it! It made me even more excited to room with Emily next year.

A week after this prom, I graduated from high school as a CV Bear! It was strange to be at this point of my life. I feel like I have worked up to this my entire life, and it was just suddenly here. I had Senior Sunset, Senior Mother Tea, and the graduation itself.

Remember the random amazing streak of good luck that I had at the beginning of the school year  with getting an awesome picture of Nathan at Senior Sunrise? Well since that photo was in the yearbook, it has been pretty well known and everyone was asking me to take pictures of them like that, and of course I had to take another one of Nathan like that. It was a bitter-sweet night for sure.

Two days after Senior Sunset, I graduated from Central Valley High School, and can now claim to be a bear alumni. I guess you could say it was exciting to graduate, but for me it was just more of a weird feeling because it was something that you look forward to your whole life, and it was suddenly there.

We also had several visitors lately, and have enjoyed all of the cousins and the fun things we get to do with them.

And for all those super hero fans, I did take my brother and his friends to see Man of Steel  (in IMAX 3D) for my brother's 16th birthday.



 Last thing for today: my super-late coverage of the Fourth of July. My family spent the day in Coeur d'Alene at the lake cabin of some of our friends. It was lots of fun, and the fireworks were of course, stunning. I am sad though that I only had my iphone for pictures, so they aren't the highest quality.

Ahhhhhhhh...the End is in Sight

With less than a month left of school, I am DYING to be done. If I can make it to May 24th, then I can survive it all. The reason? I have my AP Government and Politics test this Wednesday (ahh!), my piano competition for Musicfest this Tuesday, my senior project presentation next Tuesday and Yearbook distribution next Thursday on May 23rd. These next two weeks will be some of the craziest ever, but when it's all done, they will have been some of the most important weeks of my high school career.

After all that mess (I guess yearbook distribution isn't bad), I am super excited to say that I will be going to St. George's prom. After quite the three-ring circus, MaKormick asked me to prom. Yes I am fully aware that neither of us go to St. George's, but my wonderfully amazing friend Emily does. It is her senior prom, and we are going as her guests.

 

He was so funny! He called me before to make sure I could "disappear" while he came with "his friend" to ask me because he "couldn't take me like he was going to." How many  quotation marks can I put in one sentence! But for real, it was hilarious! I just have to answer him…and I am still trying to figure out our group pictures from CV's prom. 

Prom 2013!

Yes, the milestone event of my senior prom has come and gone as of last Saturday. It was however, the most amazing night ever! Shout-out to my WONDERFULLY PERFECT AND AMAZING date Nathan, who made it a night that I will never forget.

 He was truly the best date that anyone could have ever asked for! He was lots of fun, and it was the best thing in the world to go with such a good friend that I was so comfortable being myself with. I know that I can say I had a good time, and that it was truly the best prom in the history of the world. It was so funny putting each other's flowers on since Jordan kept on trying to photo bomb us. We would get back at him and his date Clarisa later on though.

 My mom of course had to get a picture of my hands so she could have a picture of my nails and my gorgeous corsage. My nails had a French tip with a thin gold line just below the tip.

Nathan and my brother Sam are really good friends too, so Nathan insisted on having Sam in one of our pictures. He of course had no problem with this, and it is a fun picture to have. You can tell that Sam is just beaming because he got the chance to be in one of the pictures.

 After we took some pictures at my house, we went over to his house for some more pictures. This is where the photo bombing started again.

One of the biggest struggles of the night was getting in the car each time we went somewhere since my dress was so huge and puffy. Nathan was a sport though and we got it down to a science pretty quickly.

Isn't he the best? He honestly made my night by putting up with my dress that actually made me slip and step on his foot a few times when we were dancing, but he was a sport and we got through that crazy thing! Once we left his house, we went to Dylan's house for a delicious dinner and then down to Liberty Lake (the lake, not just the town around the lake) for pictures. After pictures, we headed down to the dance. We had to stop at Nathan and Jordan's house on the way though because Jordan forgot his and Clarisa's tickets. While they took almost fiveteen minutes getting the tickets, we took some funny pictures on his iPod.

The dance was a blast once we got there, and we had fun taking pictures in the photo booth that was there. Those pictures from the booth crack me up, and they definitely make a great facebook profile picture as well as the lock screen for my phone.



After the dance, we went and played laser tag, and I am sorry to say that I got last place out of the twenty six people in our game. It was so fun though that I didn't care. Pictures of our group will come later, but for now, all this will have to do.