Sister Mcdaniel/ my day and night

SOoOoOoO <<< doesn't that look kind of trippy?

anyways. Today was really good day and eye opening for me. I got to job shadow my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Malkin, and her first grade class and then the other half of the day i got to shadow the special education classes. Let's just say i have so much respect and admiration for these teachers and all their hard work and dedication. I think i still want to become a special education teacher, i just don't know what specialization quite yet. :/

Yesterday i had to go to an orthodontist appointment my mom forced me to go to. It wasn't too horrible because i found out that i DIDN'T HAVE TO GET BRACES AGAIN!!! this caused great joy in my life and i am SO thankful for this. however, i am not thankful that my mouth has hurt so bad all day long from my stupid retainer. :( (those are my sad/angry eyes). My food today consisted of a slim fast and baluka juice and then dinner i had some mashed potatoes. So i just love teeth right now. and orthodontists. and my lovely parents. :) sarrccaasssmmm! :)

oh and i loooovvvee Sister Mcdaniel. She is an amazing leader and i love her to death. I love hearing her sarcasm and cynical jokes all the time and she is amazing. "Shelby is what the heck!?" and mabye ill make a 20 before 20 because she cant anymore? haha im just kidding! you dont look a day past 17 ;) love you!

Playing catch up

So it's been a couple of days since i blogged and i wanted to recap all the things I've been thinking about and feeling because that's what I'm supposed to do on this thing, right?

Thanksgiving was really fun and we had a full house. About 35 people (cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, 2nd cousins, etc.) come over and eat and be joyous and full of thanks. I am so grateful for my big, loving family and all of our get-togethers and quirky things about them. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and the faith and beliefs i have in the Church. I love my family so much and i want them all to know that i would be lost without them.

So It's December now and you can even feel it in the air. It finally feels like winter, finally! I love how everyone is jolly and joyous at this time of year and singing Christmas carols and all the bonding-ness that goes on. I can't wait to put up the lights, tree, decorations, and all this weekend. My favorite part is the garland my mom hangs all along the stair banisters. To me the garland represents that Christmas is really here.I love December! Now all that needs to happen is for it to snow in my front yard :)


I am done. I finished the final touches on my last college applications and i feel like a big weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I feel like i looked like this picture (minus the asian part) trying to get everything done on time and being dead tired all the time. Even though i cant do anything now, im o nervous. The fate of my life is in someone else's hands now and they terrifies me :/

My family isn't crazy....right?

So, Saturday night i went to my sisters house to play games. We played Ticket to Ride, some WII mario Kart (which i completely fail at), and thennn we frosted some cookies. Now these were not your ordinary sugar cookies. Toby and Raechal had decided to beat our cousin, Kristin, at making the map of the United States. So we spent a substantial amount of time frosting and sprinkling each cookie state. And here is our master piece...

TWILIGHT

So pretty much Twilight is taking over my mind, my families mind (subtract the boys), all of my friends, and pretty much the world. But I'm not complaining :) I saw Twilight on opening night with Amy and Lauren at the Kaleidoscope after some dinner at Riptide. We also decided to see HSM 3 at 7:45 because we didn't want to wait in line (which was AMAZING by the way!). I'm not sure if its really that amazing or if we were just super giddy and tired all in one? I'm not sure...but that night it was amazing! Anyways, Twilight. Was. AMAZING! ha ha. i loved it. If you forget that its about a book, the movie is actually really good. I really liked it and if you haven't seen it yet you definitely should go do so! So, i was going to go to school the next day after getting home at 2:45 and having to wake up for seminary at 4:30, BUT i decided that just wasn't happening. So i stayed home Friday and i was actually pretty productive surprisingly. Then Saturday morning i went to see TWILIGHT again but this time with my mom, sisters Rachel and Raechal, and Lauren (Raechal's friend). THE SECOND TIME WAS EVEN BETTER! Me and my friend Megan Spear discussed that our favorite part was the first day Edward drives Bella to school and they get out of the car and he has his suglasses on...WOW he is soo cute! Favorite part of the movie by far! :) And my other favorite scene is when the Cullens play baseball. That scene was executed very well. SO yeah....GO SEE IT! :)

mommy and me

SO...if you couldnt tell we were a little bored that day i think? I dont know. Maybe it was just some WEIRD mother-daughter bonding experience. Who knows? All i know is that we have some interesting photos and video to prove it!

Oh. And i think i was just a little bored? haha... But hey- give me props, this is the first video i've made by myself! :)

Weekend full of fun? I think yes! :)

This past weekend we had a four day weekend because there was no school on either monday or tuesday for the celebration of some CA holiday and then Veterans day. So what better to do then go to Lake Arrowhead with 17 tennis girls to a 4-story cabin right on the lake? thats what i thought.
Here is what the amazing cabin looked like....

And then spent an amazing 2 days up in the mountains in about 40 degree weather :)

We also did some ice skating at the SCARIEST ice rink you will ever see! It had no walls on the sides so pretty much that meant a lot more bruises for some people....

So overall it was a fun weekend and i think we all had a blast!

Fiji Trip

So since i just started blogging i wanted to catch everyone up to date on my life. I went on service trip to Fiji with a group called Alliance for Youth Services (www.ays.org). Me, along with other students from all over the US, went to Fiji and made bathrooms in a village called Deuba. This trip meant a lot to me and i grew so much from it. I loved it there so much and if it didn't cost money, i would be back there in a heartbeat! Anyways, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip....

Gelato Virgin

This past week Lauren took Amy and I to this gelato place called "Gelato Plazzo" off of Alicia and P.D. Valencia. Me and Amy have never tried gelato before so we were a little skeptical. After 20 bazillion taste testers that the employees gave us, we devoured our gelatos! They were AMAZING! Definitely my new favorite ice cream! And hey-who knew it was better for you than regular ice cream? That's a sweet bonus :) My final decision on what flavor to get was half butter pecan and half banana nutella...mmm delicious!!!

I hate allergy season!

errrr! i want to never have allergies again! they are driving me and insane and i wish i never had them! :(