Guess Where I Went..........................

Yes! I went to Wicked, the Broadway Production! It was simple awesome. It was Fabulous, Spectacular, Amazing, Magnificent, Wonderful, Incredible, Marvelous, Excellent, Great, Capitol and Unbelievable! I have wanted to go to it for a long time, and I finally got on the ball, and called my friend Emily to see if she and her mom would like to go with me and my mom. They said yes, and bought us tickets ( by bought us tickets, I mean they bought the tickets they we paid them back for ours, yeah, I bought my own I wanted it THAT BAD). We went on August 10th at the 8pm performance. I was so excited to be finally going! (I mean, who wouldn't? It's BROADWAY. Professional!!!! That's what I want to do when I grow up!!) Our tickets were for Limited view on Orchestra level, and weren't sure it would be good, but they turned out to be great seats. A little bit was cut off, but nothing important. The Set was absolutely AMAZING! The Orchestra was under the stage which I thought was pretty cool. Everything about the show was really cool. It was like a dream. NO seriously, I kept, thinking "Is this real? Am I actually sitting in Orpeum Theater in San Fransisco, waiting for a Broadway Musical hit to start? " I was!!!! I LOVED IT. The Music was awesome, Fabulous, Spectacular, Amazing, Magnificent, Wonderful, Incredible, Marvelous, Excellent, Great, Capitol and Unbelievable!! The costumes were awesome. Glinda was a dumb blonde, and absolutley hilarious! It was all so fun. Emily's mom drove us, and we had a GPS inthe car. The voice was so funny, it said San Fransisco, San Franthiskwah. And it had the funniest accent, it was great. Oh and San Jose was San Joswah. So funny. I LOVED going to Wicked, I had a blast. The story/plot was so creative. "Defying Gravity" & "For Good" Were the Best Songs, followed by "Popular", "The Wizard and I" , "What is this Feeling", and "Dancing Through Life". I am totally obsessed. I got the music for my iPod and sing it like everyday. And I tell you I am not bored of it yet. I LOVED going to Wicked, I had a blast. So I think you know have sufficent proof that I LOVE Wicked! Below are some pictures. To the left, is a playlist with all the awesome songs.

The Entrance to Orpheum in the Backround

Mom & I

My friend Emily and I

Youth Conference

So on August 13th I got to go to an amazing LDS homeschoolers Youth Conference. In Sacramento. Yep, I got up at 5, and then carpooled up with my co-op friends. It was great. We had some fun games, a Document Study (Joseph Smith, the Educator - Hyrum L. Andrus ), a stimulation, great speakers, and a concert.

Yep it was great......and that's it...................What? You more details, but I told you what we did.

Oh! Okay, I suppose. If you were did this to me I wouldn't like it. That's for sure.
I woke up, read my scriptures, and then I drove to my friends house for carpool (no my mom drove me). We missed our exit. Made a detour.

What now?.........................I am doing that! I'm telling you what I did!..........Oh! Sorry, I'll try one more time. Wish me luck!

So they split us up into groups when we registered. I was in the Red Group. We played some Get-To-Know You Games, and Teamwork Games etc... Then we did a document study. our group, didn't get past the 1st sentence. (We had like a 1/2 hour by the time we finished snacks, and we looked up like every other word.) Then we had a great speaker (Ben Bernards - a type of John Bytheway!) who talked about Prayer. Then the people there who were in my co-op choir with me ,sang one of our songs " I Know That My Redeemer Liveth ".

After we had lunch we did a stimulation. Before we went in, they took away our name tags and gave us numbers. ) was 9360. Then we were led into a room with lots of chairs facing a stand on which two ladies sat behind a table. They told us to find the chair with our corresponding number. There were some papers and some colored 3-by-5 cards. On the papers it said basically, "Thanks for Electing us as part of the new government. According to the Test results this job has been given to you this job suits you best." Then we could go up and talk about our jobs and education. The ladies, no matter your argument would reply," Well we will think and get back to you", or No, the tests scores said that, and "the great thing about this new government. " People got really angry and put out even they knew it was a stimulation, I did to. It really made you think about how important your agency is. And the other purpose was that if something ever happened like this we would know how to avoid the lies, and be prepared. But hopefully not. It was a neat experience and the first stimulation I have ever been on.

Then we had our Keynote speaker, Jon Schmidt! He is an LDS Piano player who has written and composed toms of fun music, that I love! Oh, he wrote Waterfall, the song I played at my recital, when he was 17. Yeah is really amazing and awesome. So he gave a nice talk, and we had our own mini concert.

Then was the pasta dinner, followed by the concert. Jon Schmidt is a great performer. The concert was VERY ENTERTAINING. We were laughing a lot. He did funny little facials and actions during songs, and on a couple gave some commentary. Once he even through out mini-balls for beating a record of the original artist. (Root Beer Rack by Billy Joel, he did it in 3:03min. J.S. did i tin 2:33min! At a crazy speed. ) Any way, It was really fun. Afterwards I got one of his CD's signed. He also signed my T-Shirt!!!!! It was really neat to meet him in person. He is really nice.

I had a blast at this conference. It was really fun. Sorry I don't have any pictures.

Summer Vacation

During the middle of July we went on a 2 week vacation to Colorado and Utah for family visits. On our way to Grand Junction, Colorado to visit my mom's family(who we haven't seen for like 3 yrs.) we stopped for the night in Las Vegas to visit our friends the Wardens. We had a really fun time with them. They had lived in San Jose for about 3 years, and then had moved to Las Vegas about 7 months ago.

The Girls & Charlotte

The Girls

Adam & Noah

Noelle & I

We spent about 5 days in Grand Junction with my mom's family. We had a fun time. We saw Toy Story 3(IT WAS REALLY FUNNY AND AWESOME!). Went to Bananas Fun Park, Cross Orchards Farm and a Dino Museum. Along with tons of family time and a 4oth anniversary party for my Grandparents we had a great visit. We also got to go swimming at our hotel and at Lincoln Park(fun place with slide and diving boards).

For those of you who don't know I am obsessed with Gerald N. Lund's church History, Historical Novels, Now you do! I was introduced to another series (Children of the Promise by Dean Hughes) during our stay in Grand Junction, which I am currently reading through. Children of the Promise is about a family during World War II. I'm really liking it so far. Learning alot as well. I highly recommend it.

Cross Orchards is a preserved farm. It was like originally a 15 acre Apple and Peach Orchard. They would sell their fruit. Anyway they preserved the main buildings. Truth be told I go NUTS with picture taking at places like this. This is only a sampling of stuff.

Stove

Ice Cream Maker

Family Logo/Sign

This is a look at the ceiling that was plastered with the papers put on the boxes and cans of shipments . There were 3 types.

The Taylor Family Reunion was in Joseph, Utah this year. Which is a change for once. We always usually had it somewhere in Arizona( because all Dad's family lives in Arizona, except for us and my Uncle John's family). Joseph it a small town right next to Richfield. We had a nice time there. The Teme was Love & unity. And we had some fun activities. During the whole time we did this thing we call Love Grams. We had a box and some cards, and you write love grams to others throughout the reunion. It was nice. My Uncle Corey likes to go shooting, and has a bunch or guns. So one of the days those who wanted to, got to go shooting. It was really awesome! We also got to go swimming and have lots of fun family time together. It was a wonderful trip.

On the way home we stopped in North Ogden to visit some friends who moved out of our ward last year. We arrived there Saturday afternoon(Pioneer Day) and stayed til Monday morning. The beehives invited me to an Open Air Movie(projected on one of the girls house) so I went to that and saw Mine Yours & Ours with the Beehives and Josh Myers(one of our friends). I had a really fun time.

Our Summer Vacation was long and very tiring so by the end of our trip we were so glad to be home.

So that's about it!

Who's On First

At Girls Camp, we have a Talent Night on Thursday. This year I performed 'Who's on first' (by Abbott & Costello)with Emily Stratford(one of my best friends!). Emily had learned the part of Abbott with her brother earlier, so I learned the part of Costello(FYI-I had begun learning that part with Adam, but it disolved). We practice nearly every week. And conquered all the hard parts. At Girls Camp we performed, and had so much fun! We performed at Abish Theater. There are two entryways. We both walked in a different door. I actually skipped in singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." It went really well. We had so much fun! It's a comedy and the crowd loved it. If you want to see a video of Abbott and Costello performing it, just google Who's On first, and you should see a few options. I had a blast. We are already thinking of what skit we will do for next year.

Girls Camp Pictures

YW in my ward singing "Be Strong"
Carissa, Meagan, Bianca, Dionna, Hannah, Alyssa, Me, Sharla, Brooke, Miranda & Maddie

My Tinfoil Armor

Bebe gun shooting

The Cute Journal I made in Crafts

playing the piano and singing with Bianca Teh & Maddie Johnson

Pics from our skit.

Powerpuff Girls

Everyone

Drums Alive

Drums Alive

Dishes!

Dinner Cookout
Me, Elaine, Makenzie

Pictures Coming Soon

You can look forward to seeing pictures of:

Girls Camp
Beach Boardwalk

Camping
& Our CO & UT Trip coming up soon



Love,
Hannah

Camping

The first weekend in July we went camping with some good friends, the VanDams. We went to Henry Cowell State Park. We went up on Thursday as stayed till Saturday. We sang lots of songs, ate tons of food played lots of games, and had tons of fun. We went for a hike on Friday and got so hot we wanted to go swimming. We had seen so many good swimming holes, but our mom told us not to bring our swim stuff. So we decided to go wading at a nice place . So we went wading in the San Lorenzo river, but we "accidentally" fell in a bit deeper, and did go swimming after all. We need to go back with wetsuits(really cold water) and more equipment, and could have SO MUCH FUN. There some great swimming holes there. We were soaked the whole way back. But it was fun. And as Mrs. Frizzle (from The Magic School Bus) always says, "Take chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy!" And isn't that what childhood about? Have fun, getting messy and driving your parents crazy? Well, it was a great camping trip with our friends. At the end of it all, I did this silly reenactment with Sarah, Madelyn and Emma VanDam of the whole trip, which was very funny and VERY EXAGGERATED. If I could sum it up into a sentence it would be:

It was fun!

Beach Boardwalk

While I was at Girls Camp, my Aunt Cheryl came out to visit. The Monday after I returned, we went down to Santa Cruz to the Beach Boardwalk! I was really excited because I have never been before. We spent a couple hours at the beach before heading to the rides. I went on everything. Well, not everything because we ran out of tickets. But everything I could go on, I went on. Of the Roller Coasters I liked The Giant Dipper the Best. Half of my family thought I was crazy to go on some of the rides I did. But I LOVE rides that spin you, shoot you up high, etc.... I rode:

Double Shot
Cyclone
Giant Dipper
Sea Swings
Hurricane
Tsunami
Cliff Hanger
Fire Ball
Loggers Revenge

Here are some tips I have for some rides( i learned all by experience):
Loggers Revenge-Sit in the Front! Best way to have fun and get wet!
Tsunami-If you don't want to be squashed sit on the inside
Hurricane-sit on the left seat, it's not as freaky
Double Shot-if you want a good view of Santa Cruz sit on the side(w/ 4 seats) facing Bumper Cars, if you want a view of the ocean sit of the side(w/4 seats) facing the ocean.

If you are wearing flips-flops(which I was), use the cubbies or take them off for: Double Shot, Sea Swings, Fire Ball, & Cliff Hanger.

Anyway, I had a blast at the Beach Boardwalk. It's really fun there. Can't wait to go back and do the rides I missed!