Happy 100 & The Return.

Happy 100th blog post! 
This calls for some sort of celebration. I'll let you know how it goes.

How fitting that what I was planning to post today was about how absolutely ecstatic I am about this girl returning to Utah this week:

Why is it fitting, you may ask? Well, because Alyse is a complete party at all times. So why not celebrate 100 posts by talking about her?

Guys, she has been in the DC area for the last 8 months. That is such a long time! I have missed her so much. I have seen her once in all of those months and it was not nearly enough. She was there for the Washington Seminar, which is an internship program through BYU, and I'm so happy that she was able to go! Life changing, if you ask me.
It was really difficult for me at first when she left because I wanted to be going with her. You see, we started talking about the Washington Seminar together last fall and we both applied to the program and we were so excited. We talked for hours about how much fun it would be if we were in DC together and how we would party all the time and go clubbing together. It was one of the best ideas we've ever had.
So when she got accepted, and I did not, well that was a rough patch in my life. But after a bit of frustration, I came to the realization that I was right where I needed to be and she was heading to where she needed to be at that point in our lives. I've learned things about myself and grown in ways that I personally could not have if I was anywhere else but in Provo, and I'm pretty sure she has had a similar experience about DC. I'm so happy she got to have that experience! And now I'm SO happy that she is finally coming back!
I love that girl with all of my heart and I just have never met anyone that makes me laugh as much as her or who can make any situation the most fun thing that has ever been done.

Here's the one time we dressed up as lumberjacks (though we do also look like Hurley and Sawyer from Lost):

And here's the one time we wore mustaches at a dance party and then I told Brandon Davies that we were aware that he has a prostate:

And here's the time we were tribal (apparently we dress up a lot together. I'm a fan):

So here's to Alyse and her return! And to growing experiences that take us across the country from each other! And for 100 blog posts!

Celebration.

22.
That's a palindrome.
It is also my age as of today.
Weird.

I'm glad I was born.

Parade people.

I know I say my family is the best a lot, but I only speak the truth.
We are a type of people that you might not have encountered in your life, at least not at our level.
We are parade people. Weird, I know. But that's what we do.

I've grown up always going to parades and I didn't realize that this wasn't normal until I was in high school. I also didn't realize that it wasn't normal to lose your voice every time you go to a parade. You see, we cheer for EVERYONE that passes by, whether or not they are interesting or even in the parade. I mean, we cheer our lungs out for the little kids pulling the wagons and selling popsicles just as much as we cheer for the scottish pipe band or the sweet floats.

And when I say my family, I mean my WHOLE family. This is a lot of people. It's not surprising when we have a solid 40 people there on the street with us at any given parade. Uncle Frank is always shouting in the back with his wooden noise-maker that makes us all deaf. There's some specific cousins that I can always rely on for witty, hilarious comments shouted at the floats, particularly those with the pretty girls on them. The youngest brother pulls some ridiculous dance moves in the middle of the street  in the long spaces between floats. It's just plain fun.

July is prime time for parades. The Pioneer Day/24th of July/Days of 47 Parade is the ultimate of all parades. For 35 years my family has been going to downtown Salt Lake on the night of the 23rd and setting up camp on the street to save our spot for the parade in the morning. Sleeping out for the parade is my favorite extended family tradition. Like, we legitimately sleep on the streets.

Lay the blankets out in the gutter, and then party all night. We play all sorts of games, we talk, we laugh our heads off, we walk about down town. And we don't sleep. Some people try to sleep, but aren't particularly successful.
This year was a strange one at the parade for me. For one, I was missing some brothers. Ryan is on a mission. And Kade was at scout camp. Also, just lot's of other relatives weren't there. On the positive side: I brought friends. This was a new experience for them and I was thrilled. Sadly, they thought it was a good idea to go to sleep at 2 or 3 in the morning. Luckily, my cousin, Jason and I remained stalwart and stayed up the entire night, talking about absolutely nothing and it was hilarious. We were unashamedly the only one's that did not sleep a wink, though Jason did sleep through the entire parade, but that was to be expected.
So this years' parade can be marked off as another supreme success. I got zero sleep, cheered my lungs out for all 120+ parade entries (particularly the BYU float which contained my good friend and future roommate, Jessica), and just had the time of my life.
I love being parade people.

We like to party.

Wednesday was the celebration of my birth. It was pretty normal day: work, class, funny friends, eat, try to nap. But then the night came and life got exciting.

Kendra and I bought tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance live tour back in July. This was my birthday gift to myself. It was a brilliant move on my part. The day had finally come and this is our excitement as we were leaving the apartment that night:

We have a tradition of eating Chinese food while watching SYTYCD, so naturally we ended up eating Vietnamese food while driving to the SYTYCD tour. We were in a hurry, so I had to eat on the road. Don't worry, we didn't die.

**Edit: in response to the many people that were freaked out by this picture, I must offer a word of reassurance. 1- I was only eating at red lights. 2- I put the food away once we got on the freeway. 3- hahahahaha! I promise I'm not a terrifyingly dangerous driver. End edit.

Then we finally arrived. This is our ecstatic faces right as we got to our seats. Note the SYTYCD sign directly behind us. Yeah, we had ballin seats.

Then they danced and I went crazy. It was AMAZING! This is when I splurged (again) and bought myself a sweet t-shirt:

These human beings are so incredibly talented. It just amazes me what they've trained themselves to do and I love the fact that they are sharing their talent with me. The show was amazing! I love my Kui, and I'm so happy that she went with me! This is when we met Mitchell (one of the amazing dancers) and he gave me a hug because I said he was adorable. It was great.

So basically. I lost my voice. I watched some dancing. My mind was blown. I laughed a lot. I danced a lot myself. And my birthday was FABULOUS!

And then that night when I got home, Kaylee and I decided to have our annual all-nighter. Here's a sneak peak picture just to spark your excitement and curiosity:

Week.

Within the next week:

Annual Epic All-nighter

Fam Pics

BYU football - most especially Riley Nelson's hair

Me 21st birthday (apparently I talk like a pirate now)

&& So You Think You Can Dance live tour!!!!

If only I had no homework. Then life would be perfect

Something else great about this week: I have teenage mutant ninja turtle finger nails.

They will eventually have eyes. And my thumb will say TMNT. It will be great.

Pool party, baby. It was a cool party. Cool pool party. Lalalala

Sometimes I have pool parties.



And they are fun. We dance. And chat.



We go to the dollar store and buy pointless things.



Like silly string. And sombreros. And monkey's named Enrique. And florescent plastic shot tubes/glasses. But not alcohol.



Then we party and it is fun.