dream big

unwritten

this is a picture of my 7-year-old self getting ready to dive into a fjord in norway. here i am 17 years later, and i'm still feeling a lot like i did in this picture. here i go, jumping into the unknown. the rest of my life is still unwritten...

wicked

my friend cody invited me to go to wicked with him and his family the night before i flew out to new york. we had so much fun! cody and i ate at cafe trio before the show. it was so ambianceful and yummy. if you ever need a great place to eat in slc, try it out!

i loved seeing wicked again. that show is brilliantly written. it's so clever and witty. it was really fun to see it with cody for his first time. defying gravity and for good really got me that night. maybe it had something to do with graduating and moving on with life!

thanks for such a fun night and for being such an inspiration to me, cody!!

codes and i at capitol theatre

the climb

i have a life philosophy that goes like this... the people in your life are what make life worth living. that thought has led me to learn a valuable lesson over the past few months. do you ever find yourself focusing on and looking forward to what's coming in the future so much that you don't take the time to really enjoy what's right in front of you?

the past 3 months have been some of my favorites because i've begun learning to live life in the now. i've found myself doing things i've always wanted to do and really taking the time to enjoy the experience as it is happening to me. not just that, but really enjoying the people in my life at the very moment that they are with me. it's helped me to recognize just how lucky i am to have the friends and loved ones that are in my life. i've found myself appreciating experiences and adventures, even heart-breaking experiences, for what they are- life experiences.

the truth is that we all have dreams and goals and we think that once they are reached, we will be truly happy. but when the day comes that they are reached, we'll think, "wow, that was cool. what's next?" the trick is to realize that dreams and goals are really about "the climb" that leads us to them. it's about the people who influence, inspire and cheer you along the way. it's about the lessons you learn and the ways that you change and grow in the journey. that's what makes the goals and the dreams all the sweeter to reach.

so reach. dream. achieve. but most importantly, live. live in the now.

here's a little shout out to a few of the friends that have been a part of the college portion of my "climb"...i love you all!

graduation!! ...thanks cecil

it's official, friends. i graduated!! outta here. finished. alumni. and the picture above doesn't even capture how excited i am about it!

it's the weirdest feeling. when my big brothers and sisters were my age, graduating from college, i thought they were so old and grown up. but i don't feel old and grown up. i just feel like me. i still feel really young. maybe it's because brooke and rob were married and had at least one child by the time they were my age. or maybe this is how everyone feels as they grow older.

i'm so excited for the adventures i'm going to have now that i'm graduated. i'm starting my first professional performing job on may 4 and then the sky's the limit! i'm dreaming big and loving every minute of the ride. so, see ya later byu. thanks for the good times. i'll always be grateful for what i've learned, the friends i've made and the ways that i have been changed for good.

my dearest friend laner

my boysies. cory and ben. a little ny foreshadowing.

best. dad. ever.

peej, gretch and my mommy

i feel so lucky to have shared graduation with so many great friends and people that i love

chef's table

tried it. l-o-v-e it!! this place is so ambianceful. it's been rated as one of the nicest, tastiest, fanciest (that's a lot of superlatives) restaurants in utah valley. and now i know why. i've always wanted to eat at the chef's table and i was really excited when my friend joe asked me go with him and his friends the warners to dinner there. joe used to work at the chef's table so he knew all of the best dishes on the menu. we had the marinated tomatoes & balsamic roasted artichoke hearts, the chef's table greens salad, the butternut squash soup and the new york strip steak. i haven't eaten food that amazing in quite a while. the butternut squash soup was my absolute favorite! wow. if there's gonna be soup served in heaven, i'm pretty sure it's gonna taste something like that.

joe and i with terry and susan warner

the circus of f.i.e.r.c.e

peej and i celebrated the last day of classes by going to the britney spears/pussycat dolls concert in salt lake city. we had so so much fun!!

a. because pj is one of my favorite people in the world and we have so much fun together.

b. because what more do you need in a night than b spears and pcd?

let me tell you, this concert was one of the more amazing places i have ever people watched. ever. everything from drag to the hoochiest girls you've ever seen in your life. and then there was peej and i.

we met up with/ran into a lot of fun friends there... jaremy, dani, ben, presty, jared, jamie, annie, corrine and jonathan.

pj said that the bathroom smelled so much like pot that he swore he came out of there high.

we sat next to a cute 14 year-old girl who wasn't allowed to come to the concert by herself, so she bought a ticket for her grandma who sat with earplugs in the whole time and didn't crack a smile. she was really nice though. what a good sport. the girl was really cute. she stood up to dance with peej and i the whole time.

it was pretty awesome to see the biggest, most talked about star of the 21st century live. and i forgot how many of the pussycat dolls songs i love! they have so many good songs and they were amazing live.

britney herself... in the flesh

nicole scherzinger. a-mazing.

we were pretty excited ...pj might have peed a little

classy britney in all her glory

pcd in all their glory. not gonna lie, i loved them just as much if not more than britney!

such a party!

the clan

la showcase

what's the one sound that a performer dreads to hear in place of applause? ...cricket ...cricket. well, that's what we heard at our showcase in la. not necessarily from the agents who attended, but from a more unsuspecting source. yes, ladies and gentleman, the picture posted above gives you a little taste of our classy backstage area. it strangely somehow resembled a wwii bomb shelter. it was a classy institution, as ben would say. but my favorite part about it was the resident cricket. i think i shall call him jiminy. apparently he was serious about the showcase and was competing for the agent's attention because he didn't stop all night.

i rode in a suburban with chelsea (mommy), ben (tsaddy), julie, debs, stash and cory. we had so much fun. maybe too much fun. we were ahead of the other burbs by the time we reached vegas, so we stopped here...