Thursday, January 24, 2008

Signs, and a Paid Trip for Giselle!

Well, as I've continued to sit and stew about this whole SYTYCD thing, a couple realizations have come to me. Mostly, the fact of the matter is, while I do want to do this audition thing for myself, I mostly want to do it because someone who I look down on as a dancer did it, and I feel the need to prove myself as better than her. I don't think this is a positive rationalization for doing anything. Secondly, I have received some very strong signs in the past hour to further steer me away from thinking I should audition.

1-I was accepted to the NCUR (National Council of Undergraduate Research) held in Maryland the 2nd week of April. I had already been accepted for UCUR (Utah's...) which is an accomplishment in itself, but now I am committed to not only the trip, but the necessary preparation to present at such a conference. I actually got accepted for two different research submissions, one in Dance History, and one in Dance Kinesiology. If I were to make it through to Vegas, I would have to reschedule my finals to take them early, but now I won't be able to reschedule them due to my (school paid) trip to Maryland.

2-My partner for my auditions informed me that he wouldn't be able to miss school in order to try out with me. I could do something besides Ballroom, but honestly, I'm rusty, and even at my peak I would have a hard time competing with all the studio babies in Utah. There are 10 year olds that dance for Center Stage, Vibe, Winner School, etc that could kick my trash, let alone those recently graduated seniors who are dying to go professional. My jazz, contemporary, and tumbling need to be the back-up to my ballroom, but none are strong enough to stand alone for my audition.

I realize these posts aren't fun...but I figure rather than having this conversation 12 times with every member of my family and circle of friends, I can just put my thoughts here, and you can comment or ignore me until I post something exciting...

Love you all...I'm eager to hear your input.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Fun in the Sun!

This weekend we headed down to St George with Nate, Celeste, Justin, and Ali. We stayed in the World Mark Resort and spent a few days relaxing in a little bit warmer weather. We went miniature golfing, and I didn't lose!

The highlight of the trip for me was the "Short and Scary" hike through the crack in DIXIE rock. Crack is correct! All but the girls had to get down and scoot on their sides to make it past the most narrow part, but eventually we were able to work our way sideways up the crack until we found a cool cave on the side and climbed straight up and out the top. It was SO fun!

We spend another couple of hours hanging out on the rocks, climbing and hiking...it really was the highlight of our weekend. It was a beautiful, warm day and we were grateful to be in the sunshine for the weekend.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Christmas Break

Christmas break was, of course, fun and full of exciting things to do...Noah and I went snowboarding twice during the break with the Rasheta family at Sundance, as well as sledding in Provo. My entire McNeil family visited my parents in Woodland, and on the Rasheta side, Nik and Anissa and kids came for a couple weeks, Dak and Tara popped in after Christmas, Tere's brother Frank and his kids Roberto and Ana Patricia came, and Noah's best friend Jorge and his wife Anel came to stay with us! It was quite the marathon event!

Sadly, I did a poor job of keeping our camera with us, but we did get a few shots on Christmas Eve and during DDR at our house.Noah with Olivia (this was the biggest smile I could get out of her!! :)


Tere carrying on the Mexican tradition of rocking the baby Jesus with a song before putting him in the manger. Of course Nik and Noah were busting a gut because they couldn't remember the song!


Olivia putting the baby Jesus figurine in the manger...


Anissa and I in our matching p.j.s from Lary and Tere...

Nik and Kevin competing at Dance Dance Revolution at our house...
We were happy to hang out and play DDR and cards with Nik, Anissa, Kevin, Jorge, Anel, Roberto, Ana, and Patrick all night.

Stay tuned for New Year's Resolutions!