As a future math teacher I am always looking for real-world example I can give my students when they ask me the question "how will this apply to me in the future?" Personally, I think that is a dumb question. You are in the class so you obviously need to know it. However, this weekend I found a wonderful example.

On Saturday I spent 11 hours (it was my day off Lin's and heaven forbid I actually get a day off) creating patterns to use for our samba dresses. Keep in mind these dresses have to be done by Wednesday and we have to make 12. We didn't have a pattern so I had to create a pattern. I followed the instructions of the costume design major in charge of the project, but once I was done she realized that people have a larger hip measurement in the back than in the front (go figure). After running into many problems with the asymmetrical hem and other things, I spent another few hours designing another pattern. This one was perfect. Perfect in a geometric, math-nerd sort of way. Even though this pattern was very difficult to come up with out of thin air, it would have worked. Then we asked our lovely costume design major/ballroom dancer (Chelsea) how much fabric we had. 13 yards. 13 yards of fabric to make 12 dresses. Is she insane? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes.

Then Alli and I went home and spent a few hours looking at the old dresses that we were trying to recreate. After measuring and studying them, we came up with a new pattern (Alli did the top and I did the bottom). This pattern is simple, easy to use, doesn't use a lot of fabric, and is also geometrically perfect. Chelsea hates it. Why? Because there is a seam down the back to allow for darts so the dresses will actually fit girls. Heaven forbid we put a seam down the back of the dress right?

I don't care though. I'm proud of myself for being able to create 4 patterns in one day. I think it was the combination of math skills and having my mother's genes. She is great at sewing. She was proud of my pattern-making skills as well. :)

Ok so lately ballroom has been crazy, hectic, and full of drama. I've spent most of my time helping plan events and running the team. While I have been dancing, I forgot for a while why I'm doing ballroom. Then my dear friend the samba came around. My team was supposed to do a west coast swing, a tango, and a night club two step, but due to a change in personnel, we aren't doing the night club two step and we are now doing a samba!!

When I had first found out this year what dances we were doing I was so disappointed because I really just wanted to do a Latin dance. Now, Latin is back! I missed it so much!

This is our samba from last year:


it rocked...

We learned the choreography last night and then had a practice this morning to clean the dance and it felt so good to do an upbeat dance again and move my hips!! If you are ever in a bad mood and just feel like dancing (I don't know why you would unless you are me), I would definitely recommend the samba...it can make everything good. Yay for samba...it reminded me why I love dancing!!

There are lots of things that I need to post about from the last week. It seems like months ago that I went home because so much has gone on since then. Lots of crazy things are happening...but I'll post about those later.

I just wanted to post about Lauren. She is reporting to the MTC tomorrow before going to California for her mission. I'm so proud of her. She is going to be an amazing missionary. I can't believe we have been friends for 15 years!! That seems like so long and I'm so blessed to have such an amazing friend in my life for so long! Even though I'm going to miss her, I'm so glad she gets this opportunity to serve the Lord for 18 months. I love you Lauren!!

After a very long, intense, stressful week I got to go home this weekend. The reason for this trip was mainly to see my family since I can't go home for Thanksgiving and to see Lauren before she goes on her mission. It also ended up that one of my really good friends, Bryan, got home from his mission on Saturday, so I got to see him too which was great!

My trip started off with a 3.5 hour drive to Salt Lake and then a flight home. I was SO tired when I got off the plane that I tried to go down on the up escalator. Yeah...it was pretty embarrassing. Saturday I spent the morning shopping with my mom and then I met Lauren and Rach for a while at Starbucks to talk and catch up. I then went home and ate my dad's world famous tacos and spent some more time with my parents before meeting Bryan and Cameron at the Stake Center. Bryan was his normal self but had just gotten released from being a missionary, so he was in a little bit of a culture shock when Lauren and I went to hug him.

Sunday, I went to church to hear Lauren speak and then had brunch with Lauren and Rach. It was so fun to spend time together like we used to, but it was really hard to say goodbye knowing that I wouldn't see Lauren again until I'm graduated from college. We haven't gone that long without seeing eachother since we met (we met when we were 5!). I'm so excited for her to go on a mission though!! Then I hung out with my parents some more and they took me to the airport. It was really hard for me to leave because I felt like I hadn't been home for long enough and I just wish I could come home for Thanksgiving. I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to handle being in Cedar for such a big holiday.

My flight was delayed in Denver so I had to sit in the airport FOREVER next to this guy who I'm pretty sure was high. He kept telling me about all the drugs he invents and how he can't go a day without drugs (I didn't say anything, I was just thinking wow this guy is gross). My ipod was dead but I put in my headphones to pretend I was listening to it so he would stop talking to me...he didn't but at least I had a better reason to ignore him now other than just that's he was creepy. After finally getting to Salt Lake I headed back to Cedar and didn't get in until 11:30, but I was surprisingly awake on the drive.

I'm so glad I got to go home. It was just the boost I needed to keep me motivated in school and everything else going on in my life. I love the comforts of home and being with my parents and my kitties. I love eating tacos and spending time with friends. I just love Colorado. I can't wait to go back on December 19!!

Randomly tonight Alli and I decided to make a list of all of our favorite things starting with each letter of the alphabet. It is much harder than you would think...but it's so much fun!! We are going to get pictures of all of them and make a scrapbook so that we always have something to cheer us up! Here is my list:

A: Aeropostale
B: BMWs


C: chapstick (light blue is the only real kind!)
D: dancing

E: earrings
F: family and friends

G: Gilmore Girls
H: hugs
I: ipod
J: July
K: kitties

L: laundry
M: math
N: nests (this is the name we gave to those pillows with armrests...)
O: oreos
P: Dr. Pepper
Q: quotes (we have a quote wall)
R: road trips

S: shoes
T: tacos
U: underwear
V: very hot men (Twitch Boss comes to mind)

W: white cheddar popcorn
X: xtra polka dots (this was a stretch, but I love polka dots and what really starts with x?)
Y: yummy food

Z: zip-up hoodies

So there is my list from A to Z of all my favorite things. What are your favorite things??

Ok, so I haven't posted in a long time again, but I've been so busy with the various activities going on in my life that I'm going to attempt to catch up right now! This first post will mainly be about my trip to California, but I'll try to post on other things as well.

I got to go to Newport Beach, California for a ballroom competition with the tour team, since my competition partner is on tour team and it was so much fun!! I stayed in a huge beautiful house and the owner of the house owned a BEAUTIFUL BMW, which has been my dream car for forever! We spent time dancing and hanging out on the beach in between the competition, so we had tons of fun. My partner and I danced well (other than completely messing up our cha cha...but that's ok because our rumba was HOT!).

This is me and Chelsea on Newport Beach. This was my proof that I actually went in the ocean, which was needed because I hate being wet. So yes, everyone, I went in the ocean!


This is Colt, me, and Charles hanging out at the beach. Colt is my dance partner, and I was basically with these two the entire trip!


We all decided that we are going to buy a beach house together so we can live there because it's so beautiful. These are the beach houses we were looking at! If only I really could do that...


This is me and Jose at the competition. That is my amazing bright blue samba dress that I wore to compete in. He is an amazing dancer and he and his partner got 2nd and 3rd in their events...so this was us celebrating!

That was basically my trip...lots of sitting in vans, not eating, dancing, not sleeping, dancing some more, playing on the beach, driving...good times!!

I absolutely love conference weekend!! General Conference always seems to come right when I need it. There were so many messages of hope and happiness in this conference, which was definitely what I needed to hear. I have been so discouraged with school and other things lately, but now I feel refreshed and ready to tackle this semester! General Conference is so amazing!!

I also love that it finally feels like fall. I love the smell of fall and the crisp, cold air! Last night some friends and I curled up under blankets and drank hot chocolate and ate the fresh batch of caramel popcorn that I made and watched a movie and it was perfect. I'm so excited to wear sweaters and hoodies and see the leaves change again!! Fall is such a great season!

On top of that, Alli and I decorated for Halloween today. We put up my Halloween Mr. Potato heads and the pumpkin lights my mom sent me. My roommates family came over today and I think they thought we were crazy because we were so excited but I don't care because I absolutely love decorating and it makes me feel like I'm at home again :)

Speaking of home I get to go home in 19 days and counting! What a great weekend!