My California Adventure

I'm home for the summer! I'm back in my own room! I don't have to buy my own food for a while! Yay!

Okay, hopefully I've got that out of my system enough to tell you a story.

Today my mom asked if I wanted to come to Michael's with her and Jared and Noah. We got in the car, hopped onto the freeway, and instead of getting off on Mountain like we were supposed to, we kept going. "Surprise! We're going to Disneyland!"

I had planned on surprising my brothers with a Disneyland trip sometime in the next few weeks, and I had no idea that they would do it to me!

We spent more time in California Adventure tonight than in Disneyland. It was a beautiful night and we had a blast. I was thinking about it on the way home, and I'd like for this summer to be my own "California Adventure." Every time I leave LA it's harder because I've come to love the area even more. I don't want to miss out on the treasures that I live so close to! So here for public consumption, is my Spring/Summer 2011 To-Do List:

• Visit the Getty Center
• Disneyland with friends!
• Go with friends to Downtown LA and/or Hollywood 
• Attend the LA temple as often as possible
• Go to the beach more than twice like I did last summer
• (All of the above can also be considered a To-Photograph List as well.)
• Get good at piano again (not LA related, necessarily, but still an appropriate to-do)
• Start making money with photography (You can help me out with that, but that's another post for another day.)

Lessons We Learn from Disney Princesses

Lessons based on a conversation with Beth, Noelle, Laura, Summer, and Amanda. Pictures by Annie Leibovitz for Disney.

Pocahontas:

 Listen to your grandma. The right path is not always the easy path. And stop being racist, doggone it!

Belle:

Beauty is on the inside. Read.

Ariel:

Learn from your mistakes.

Snow White:

Kindness is more important than beauty.

Aurora:

Prince Charming can be Prince Charming, no matter what his name. Also, don't be naive.

Jasmine:

Just be yourself. Women are not objects to be won.

Cinderella:

Hard work and kindness will always pay off.

Christmas Vacation 2010

 We started Christmas off right--by going to Disneyland and getting annual passes! My parents and I surprised Jared & Noah. It was pouring down rain and we left early, but it was still fun and we're looking forward to going again and again and again (in better weather.) We took this picture in the parking structure.

 Christmas Eve brought the annual California Taylor family Christmas Pageant. It's always tough to cast. No one wants to be a wise man. 

They want to be sheep.

 Or the donkey.

Or the hay in the manger.

 The most coveted part, is of course, the innkeeper.

 But we always end up with a Mary and a Joseph. It's a cute tradition.

 We always get jammies for Christmas. Yep. Those are black and white camo print footie pajamas. They're awesome. Mine are way too big. 

 We got an ice cream maker! I'm so looking forward to using it. All the experiments we did before I left were the best I've had in a long time. And I was working at Baskin-Robbins.

It's probably because we're not just relying on the recipes that came with the machine...

The older kids all got iTunes cards in our stockings, so I got Paul Anka's album Rock Swings. It's big hits from the 80s and 90s in a swing style. It includes one of the best covers of Wonderwall I'm going to find. (Thanks for the tip, Rachel!)



Other non-holiday activities of mine included work, spending the night with my good friend Jenny, a rediscovery of my cat allergy, shopping and dinner with my favorite Yalie, and accidentally seeing a rated-R movie. (I was sure it was PG-13 at the time, I promise!)

The Best Laid Plans of Mice, You Know...

Remember this list? This great list of things I wanted to do this summer? Out of the nine specifics, I've done three. Only three more are plausible. (Seriously, $15 just to PARK at Disneyland? No thanks.) But I believe I've done generally awesome things, too.

picture by jill rich

Like get to know these fabulous ladies better. You guys all know Seraphine by now, but her mom, Sabrina, has become a really close friend. We can get together and just talk for hours on end. I don't know how I would have survived the summer without her. 

Ohmygoodnessilovethepeopleinmywardtheyaresoawesome. 'Nough said.

Running a business almost on my own has been one of the hardest and most stressful things of my life. But I've learned a lot from it and it's paying for school.

In short, I have three weeks left of my summer. I'm going to make an adventure of it. 

Plans

Things I want to do this summer:

1. Explore the Village with just a camera (and maybe a good friend. Volunteers?)
2. BiF Prom
3. Lady BiF Tea Party
4. Make candied bacon ice cream. (Minus the rum.)
5. Learn to sew (Making your own clothes makes Modesty Quests much easier!)
6. Go to the beach
7. Disneyland
8. Do something fun for my 19th birthday
9. Finish reading Middlemarch
10. Awesome things in general. Any suggestions?

I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Los Angeles as seen from The Griffith Observatory

While I'm home, let's: 

1. Go to the beach!

2. Go to Disneyland!

3. Grab a Vanilla Crème at Starbucks!

4. See The Princess and the Frog!  

 

5. Get me street legal!

6. Have the Taylor Christmas Pageant at Bill and Carin's on Christmas Eve (as per tradition!)

7. Get some allergy medicine into me so that I can sleep in the same room as my beloved Minnie!

8. Have all the Morgans come down for Noah's baptism!

9. Shop at Target!

10. Not worry about school!

Grad Nite!

Me and Amaris

Jenny and Me

Andrew and Me

me and Desiray


round 2 vs. Amanda

round 1 vs. Jenny

round 3 vs. Graham


Disneyland at 5:30 am.

Senior Week, Diva Day, and More!!

The last week of January was "Senior Week."

Monday: College shirt day. I wore my BYU-Idaho shirt even though I wasn't at school. If you can't see, that's my ticket to Disneyland. The choir performed that day and there was much fun had.

Tuesday was "wear red" day, but I don't have a picture from that. Wednesday was crazy sock day. Andrea's wearing the pink socks, mine are red with the polka dots, and Ally's wearing the Muppet hide.

Thursday: Twin Day. Jade and I have been friends since fourth grade. We found out we both had this shirt on accident a few months back. When they announced twin day in the bulletin a few weeks beforehand, we didn't really discuss it, we just said "twinsies?" and it was done.

Friday was the Battle of the Sexes Rally. No pictures of that, either.

Diva Day is a festival the Harborlites Chorus puts on every year for high school girls. The Harborlites have been two-time champions with Sweet Adelines International, THE barbershop-for-women organization. Nine of us from Upland went, and it was amazing. We sang When I'm 64, All My Lovin', Lean on Me, and We Are Family. The Harborlites and quartets sang amazing little sets featuring songs like Dancing Queen, Unexpected Song, and Phantom of the Opera.

Okay, here's the nerd in me coming out. I love KFI, the local radio news station. My favorite host is the morning guy, Bill Handel. I sent him an e-mail and he read it on the air! I was so excited! For your reading pleasure, the letter.

Dear Bill,

I've been listening since I was in seventh grade, which make six-ish years now. As much as I love you and everyone else at KFI, I can't stand your commercials and I keep updated via podcast. I you have a great morning crew. I can relate to Rich's love for asians (just one boy in particular in my case), Gary's ridiculous laugh (I have one of my own), and Lara's having to deal with a bunch of immature men (I have four brothers).

Much to my mother's dismay, I don't mind most of the terrible, prejudiced, hilarious things you all say, but I did appreciate it when Michelle didn't post the picture of Mormon garments. (Yes, I'm Mormon.)

At seventeen, I'd always thought I was one of your youngest listeners. I would say THE youngest, but my fifteen-year-old brother loves you too. Then that Robert kid called in on Friday and I thought to myself "self, if kids like him end up as corrupted in thought as I did from listening to Bill, where will America be in twenty years?" Then I decided it was far too early to imagine such chaos.

Now to the reason I e-mailed in the first place: Thank you. Everyone at KFI, but you in particular, has sparked my interest in politics. Once upon a time, I thought I'd end up an English or humanities major, but thanks to you, I'll be studying policitcal science at either BYU-Idaho or BYU. Unlike most people my age, I realize how crappy things are in our government and want to fix it - so if you're still alive when I run for governor of Californina, you can totally take credit for getting me into it. (Oh my, what have I done??)

Sincerely,
Brooke

P.S. Tell Michelle congratulations for me. I'm sure she's gotten a million, but she deserves more. Anyone who deals with you all day should be honored when they stay a good enough person that they would be able to have a relationship, much less get engaged.

And lastly, the MOST important part. I got my denial letter from BYU, so I'm going to BYU-Idaho! I have my housing all reserved (Perkins Hall - Rachel, didn't we stay there during efy?) and my major declared (Polictical Science). Dang. I'm growing up. My poor mother.