2012 Prom!

Last weekend I went to Prom with one of my close guy friends.

Let me say, it was a lot of fun!!!

(My dad, my mom, my sister, and a very sweet woman at the dance did the honors of being our photographers. )

My guy friend. He is just awesome.

After we finished with pictures, he drove me over to the library where my mom had been working all day with elections. We were going to meet up with my cousin and his date and then drive to Prom together. And apparently, they had a surprise waiting for us that they refused to tell us about.

We were standing in front of the library with my mom when I saw my mom’s head turn at the sound of an approaching vehicle. Confused, I turned around.

I gasped.

It wasn’t a car.

The boys had gotten us a limo.

I was stunned. I was standing there looking back and forth between my guy friend and the limo. He just stood there smiling at me.

As we climbed in, we found my cousin and his date inside. As we drove to dinner, I just sat there amazed. It was so sweet of the boys to get us a limo. I had never been in one before (I’ve looked inside one before, but never stepped in), so this really meant a lot for them to do that.

Even though we arrived later than expected (as the limo had taken time to get), dinner was amazing. I tried salmon for the first time in my life and LOVED it!

We arrived at the dance near the end (but that was okay ), but as we walked in I was blown away. The music was great. The decorations were INCREDIBLE! The time and effort put into every little detail blew me away. But the centerpiece was my favorite out of everything: a floor-to-ceiling Eiffel Tower. It was HUGE!

Can you see the Eiffel tower on the left? The centerpiece looked just like that, but on a floor-to-ceiling range. (And it wasn’t pink. )

We had only an hour left, but we took advantage of every second. Dancing, conversing with friends, etc. They also had picture portraits you could have done with your date or a group of friends.

Or a group of friends.

After the dance was over, we still had an hour left with the limo, so we took a ride around the city. This was my favorite part – where we just talking and laughing and enjoying the lights of the night as we drove by.

This will be a night I will never forget.

I Jumped Off A Pole And Barely Survived.

Hey my Pearls!

I really appreciate all of your wonderful support on my last post. I haven’t shared that with too many people, but it is reassuring that I’m not the only girl out there going through it. Thank you guys for always being there for me! I know I can share a very sensitive subject with you and you’ll be there. Thank you!

Gosh I’ve had a busy life this past two weeks or so. I know I promised you a recipe, but I haven’t finished typing up that post yet, so it’ll have to wait til my next post.

I just got home from a few weeks of back-to-back AMAZINGNESS. I went to Teen Conference with Kelz and some of our other friends; then the night we got home was Prom, and THEN right afterwards, we went on a trip to Illinois and Missouri for a week. I just got home at 11:30 Saturday night. When I checked my emails the following morning, let’s say about 700 UNREAD emails were piled in there…..that doesn’t even count the ones I’ve read and need to respond to and such. I’m catching up with you guys and your posts –  it just might take some time! But I will — I promise!

Here’s some of the things from Teen Conference!

Me and Kelz! (you can check out her post here)

Our theme was ALOHA — Anxiously Living Our Heavenly Attributes.

We had a BLAST! We had SO many activities, so we were always having a good time.

First off, we went Horse-back Riding!

My horse’s name was Karat, as in Karat Gold. At first, I thought it was spelled C-A-R-R-O-T, but I soon found out otherwise.

Can you believe that?! He stuck his tongue at me!!!!

After the horses, we had Archery!

Aim Kelsey! Aim!

FIRE Ana!!!!! Just like Robin Hood!!

Next we did high ropes.

When we got there, all the high rope challenges were REALLY high up — like, at least 30 feet above the ground.

There were three challenges: The Leap of Faith, the log you walk across, and the Hourglass (three ropes crisscrossed that you have to get across). The Hourglass was definitely the hardest physically, but the Leap of Faith was by far the hardest mentally. You had to jump and trust your harness to save you. I knew that if I didn’t do it first, I would never be able to do it.

The object of it is to climb to the top, stand up, and leap and try to grab hold of the trapeze bar dangling six feet in front of you.

After they harnessed me in, I began to climb. I was crying even before I started my way up. I guess crying is a way that I get my anxiety out. I did it when I went ice skating last year. I do it when they take blood. It’s not that it hurts. I just cry. I always have to tell people that I’m fine — I just cry. Nevertheless, I pushed myself to do it. I knew that this was an opportunity which if I didn’t take, I would regret it all my life.

So, I did it.

I climbed to the top. Everyone was cheering me on. I stood up one leg at a time and walked to the edge.

Can you see the look on my face? I count down from 3. (I knew if I started at 1 and went up, I would never jump on 3. So I counted down.

3. 2. 1. JUMP!!!

I grew that day. The Leap of Faith was more than just a leap. I had to step out of my comfort zone. Grabbing the bar wasn’t the hardest part. Jumping was. I had to overcome my fears and just do it. By jumping, I succeeded.  That leap changed me for the better. I missed, but I came down a different person. I accomplished something I thought I would never be able to do. I jumped.

Have you ever done something you never thought you would be able to?

xoxox,