Week 4: Every Heart.

Tonight was the last HOT hangout of the year! We all ate dinner at 9ers Grill and then headed to the Angel's last performance of Angelica. It was incredible! The Angel's dance team continues to amaze me every year with how many talented girls we have at Austin High School. The first song "Every Heart" brought tears to my eyes, touched my heart, and was by far one of my favorite dances of the night. The show was filled with lyrical, hip-hop, modern, and military dances. They had class dances and I loved watching my senior guys get down with all of my senior gals! The Justin Bieber Music Mix was classic and the "Goodbye" song made me cry like a little baby. They had a few interesting comedy skits... to say the least. I was amazed by each and every girl out on that stage. All of their hard work and dedication throughout this past year paid off. Their smiles radiated throughout the auditorium and every audience member was in awe of their talent. A few of the Angel's from the class of 2010 came to support, along with tons of parents, friends, and family. Angelica 2011 = AMAZING!

Week 4: The Storm

On May 12, 2011, it finally rained in Sugar Land! We have been in a drought since January, and we were desperate for this storm. It's interesting because the scriptures talk a lot about rain and the fullness of storms. Jesus claims there are two types of people; those who build their home on sand (someone who chooses to reject his teachings) and those who build their home on rock (someone who chooses to build their life on Jesus' teaching). They used the metaphor of a storm to demonstrate that those whose house is built on rock will stand. Jesus says, "When the rains come." It's not like they might come, they do come. This past semester has been filled with a handful of incredible memories, but it certainly didn’t lack its fair share of storms. It rained quite a bit, metaphorically speaking. When the physical rain finally came to Texas on Thursday, I knew the storms in my life were finally coming to an end. All of the intense rain symbolized everything regrettable from this past semester washing away. This morning I woke up, and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day! The storms were gone and the sun was radiating throughout the sky. I have gained incredible strength through different trials and I have learned so much about myself. When I was soaking wet, the creator of the universe wrapped his eternal love around me and whispered…
“We’re gonna make it.”

Week 4: Banquet

Baseball Banquet 2011

Last night was the Spring Sports Banquet at Safari Texas. Savannah and I attended as the baseball managers and it was a great way to end this season. We sat with all of the varsity players and they were completely uninterested in whatever the person on the microphone had to say. With that said... their distracted conversations and immature acts at the dinner table easily caused me to miss almost every part of the ceremony. They announced all of the players, managers, and Collin Cobb. They handed each of us a framed picture with a message from Coach Ursery. As for the graduating seniors, they stood on stage alongside their families, were handed a bat with their name engraved, and listened to a sweet letter written from their parents to them. It was amazing to hear how far these boys have come from their little league baseball teams to pursuing their baseball career in college! I still cannot believe how swiftly this season passed and how close we are getting to graduation! Less than 4 weeks remaining!!!

Week 4: Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Originally I wasn't planning on being home to celebrate Mother's Day due to after-prom plans, but since they got adjusted at the very last minute... I got to spend the day with my family! It was perfect and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I didn't sleep at all last night, not even a little bit. Prom night will be considered my first real "all-nighter," and trust me... it left me exhausted today! I went to early church service with my family, because I know how important it is to my Mom to get a free group picture under the tents at River Pointe Church on Mother's Day. I smiled through pictures and sang during worship, but I fell asleep on my mother's shoulder during the entire sermon. I was completely knocked out in church... it was certainly a first for me. Of course, I could always count on my mother's comforting shoulder to be there for me (even on her special day)! After church, we headed to the Taste of Texas to celebrate this day for my very deserving mother. She's the greatest! She gives us a thousand percent of her time, energy, love, and devotion for 364 days out of the year and this is our one day to give it all back to her. I appreciate her more than she will ever understand. She does a million little things that mean the world to me. She is selfless, compassionate, generous, understanding, and always ready for several good laughs. She is a dancing machine and she loves to have a good time! She is hard-working, smart, and incredibly organized. My Mom is one of the best people that I've ever met. I couldn't have asked God to hand-craft a better mother for me. I treasure our relationship and I know she will be my best friend for the rest of my life.

Week 5: Senior Prom

Prom has been the most stressful, dramatic, overly anticipated, and exciting event that I have ever planned or participated in. I should have known from the beginning that things would not go according to plan when I went to 32 stores to find a prom dress. I traveled all around the Houston area with my patient mother on multiple days and ended up finding my dress in Charlotte, North Carolina. After trying on over 150 dresses, I do believe I found the perfect prom dress for me. At the start of the semester, I was in an original prom group. Then, a few of my best friends and I decided to create our own smaller group. Our new group quickly began to expand as most of the baseball boys, several PALs, and other random friends joined. We have had multiple prom meetings since February and our group has definitely had more than enough drama. From over complicated prom asking stories, finding adult chaperones, the mixing up of dates for different reasons, people wanting to drop out and add new people the week of prom, changing our picture location an hour before show time due to a crawfish boil in Pecan Park, being forced to change our after-prom party plans the day before prom due to extremely unfortunate circumstances... the list goes on and on. This semester has been one long and exhausting journey filled with too much PRAMA for me and the rest of my prom planning crew. Although everything didn't work out according to plan, my prom night was incredible. My best guy friend, Taylor Cobb, was my date to the dance and I entered alongside most of my closest girlfriends. We took a zillion pictures in Tel-Fair and they turned out to be beautiful. We all hopped on the party bus and headed to dinner at Katy Lowery's house. Her amazing parents decorated the entire house and made all of the table settings very cute and festive for our dinner! Our group was served salad, steaks, chicken, pasta, bread, baked potatoes, and dessert! After dinner, we partied on the huge party bus and saw plenty of Ira's "sexy dances". Our Prom's theme was A Night At The Ballpark and the actual dance was in a ballroom at Minute Maid Park. My best friend, Katy Lowery, and I were voted on prom court. Standing alongside her and three other beautiful girls was such a huge honor and a very neat experience. When Katy was crowned Prom Queen, I couldn't have been happier! She is by far the most beautiful, thoughtful, and well-rounded person that I know. I am blessed to have her as a part of my life... and she totally rocked the crown last night! My little queen, I love you and I was so proud of you!!! It was a blast getting down on the dance floor and dancing the night away at prom. One my of my favorite parts of the night was by far the ride home in the party bus! We were all dancing and celebrating the end of our high school years and our last moments of our senior prom. Our group ended up going different directions after prom, but it all turned out for the best. After all was said and done, my prom night turned out to be an amazing night spent with my best friends. I wouldn't change one single thing about it. All I can say is I am glad it is finally over and we can now press forward towards graduation!

Week 5: The AP

This morning I took my AP Calculus test. My mom made me breakfast tacos and left me a little encouraging note on the counter to start my day off on the right foot. She is seriously the cutest mom ever! The test started at 7:30 am and we weren't released until 12:15 pm. That is a LONG morning of calculus. The test consisted of four parts; two multiple choice sections and two free response sections. This AP was like a calculus marathon and when it was finally over, I couldn't think straight. My brain was entirely fried. The past several weeks we have been preparing for this test and I have killed myself with studying the past few days. Now that it is finally over, I can breathe and begin to shift my focus towards prom! Thank goodness the morning of May 4th is done and I can cross "Calculus AP Test" off my to-do list!

Week 5: Twisty.

Monday was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. The morning started off rough when I forgot my lunch inside the house. I ran back into the kitchen, with my car running in the middle of the street, and accidently left the side door to the house open as I ran out. I was nearly late to school with my cold hair still dripping wet from the shower. Come second period, I went to put my hair into a pony tail and what do you know.... my twisty tie broke. Possibly one of the worst things that could happen to a girl. I threw it on the floor in a bathroom full of random high school girls, and yelled, "Well, that pretty much explains my whole damn morning!!" The day didn't seem to get any better, with prom planning bringing out the worst in people and my Calculus AP test within days. My stress level was at an all time high and I was unintentionally rude to people. During PALS, I told my dramatic stories to my closest friends. After my long and elaborate story was over, Ashkahn explained, "The worst part of your day was BY FAR when the twisty tie broke." We all laughed hysterically. The sad part was... the day didn't get much better. I went to lunch and didn't even open my brown paper sack. I forgot to eat lunch. I walked back into my 5th period class and made this realization with my lunch still in hand. It was totally embarrassing. I looked at Mr. Seed, and exclaimed, "It's just been one of those days." On Tuesday, I had a completely new attitude with hopes of having a better day. I apologized to some people about my words from the previous day and the prom drama, or PRAMA as we like to call it, was finally eliminated. In PALS class, Ashkahn called me over to his car and told me that he had something for me. He handed me a pack of 50 perfect twisty ties and said, "This is so you never have any more bad days!" It was honestly the sweetest and most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. This completely made my day and I will never forget this unexpected gift. It may be simple and meaningless to most people, but it was one of the greatest things I've ever received. Ashkahn, you are one of my best guy friends and I couldn't have gotten through this week without you. Thank you for always being there for me and continually brightening my days. I will never have to worry about a broken twisty tie ruining my day ever again!