First Talk in the New Ward

Ladders are generally used to help you reach something that is higher up ... maybe on the top of a closet or the tallest cupboard in the kitchen.  I think that the plan Heavenly Father has for me works kind of like a ladder.  It was designed to help me get to live with Heavenly Father again.

Just like climbing a ladder, this plan has several important steps along the way.  I took the first steps up the ladder when I was baptized and confirmed.  Now I am preparing for the other steps up the ladder that will help me reach the Celestial Kingdom.

One of the most important steps is getting married in the temple.  Heavenly Father sent us down to earth to live in families so we could learn and grow.  When I have my own family, I will learn and grow even more. I can be sealed to my family in the temple. I know that starting my family in the temple will help us take this important step with the love and support of Heavenly Father.

I have never been inside the temple yet, but I have been to weddings.  When my Aunt Natalie married my uncle Tony, I stayed outside with all the kids.  I remember when they came out how super happy they both looked.  It made me feel good to know that they knew it was the right decision and that they got married in the right place.

I am grateful that Heavenly Father came up with a plan to help us return to live with Him.  I know that if I take the right steps, that I will be happy and that my family will always be together.

Father's Day -- Top 3 Things I Love Right Now

The three things I love about my dad are

1. That he's my pal. We always have a great time hanging out no matter what we're doing.  I love it when he swims or play games or just hangs out with me. I love our dinner dates to chili's or outback. I have the best time hanging out with him.

2. He is my movie buddy, we always go see movies together to see the new movies or chill at home to watch a movie that just came out in 3D either way we have a great time.

3. He is so funny and makes me laugh and he is such a good sport and can laugh at himself.

I think my dad is the best dad in the whole world. I love him so much and am so grateful to have him. He Rocks!

Disneyland 2013

We went to DisneyLand with Brad and Laura again this year. I always have a awesome time hanging out with them. At first I was really worried about if Boston and Charly remembered me or not and I thought they wouldn't know who I was but then Charly shouted "Megan" and gave me a huge hug so I got over that issue real quick. 

The first day we went to DisneyLand and rode some awesome rides. Mine is still Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but it was closed.We got ride tons of cool ones though like Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Star Tours and tons of others. We rode Ariel for Charly at least 7 times because she loves it. We went to Cars Land and rode all the cool cars rides. We did Luigi flying tires where you have to control this giant tire by leaning to bump into people. We rode this one ride where you are on a spinning track and you switch tracks and stuff and then the big car ride where you see all the cars and race people. I rode the ferris wheel for the first time and it was kinda scary being up that high but it was actually kind of cool.World of color was amazing and they added a cool Brave section. I love that show.California Adventure is a cool park. An interesting fact about a building in California Adventure is that on a building the word "Eureka" is printed. Eureka is a greek term started by the famous mathematician Archimedes meaning to have uncovered or discovered something you hadn't known before. On the building it is supposedly a lumber company. We also had a cool lunch in Ariels grotto. I like seeing all the princesses. I saw a window with all the once upon a time costumes in it. Once upon a time is one of my favorite shows right now. 

We also had a great time in the Disney Land park.We saw tons of characters and rode rides.We got to see Merida and Riel and Aurora. We also got to see my favorite show Fantasmic where Mickey has to fight bad guys for the power of his imagination and the princess and Pinnochio all come out. Every night I slept over with Charly and we would hang out. We took the kids to Build A Bear too. We made Bos a Spiderman monkey and Charly and I got the same polka dot Minnie Mouse bear which we put cute dresses on. Their names were Spiderman (Boston), Drisella (Charly), and Vera polka dot (me). It was super fun. 

We also went to the beach where we made sand castles and mermaids, caught sand crabs and played in the waves. It was awesome. Dad took me out super far. Afterward we went to Ruby's and ate great food. Ruby's has great shakes. I got a Hersheys chocolate mixed with a Reeses peanut butter cup. It was delicious. 

The last day was really sad. Charly kept hugging me and we were both crying. I liked being the favorite cousin who everybody liked. I was sad but am ok now. I can't wait to see them in November.

DSOD Recital 2013

  

  

This year I had my recital with a different studio ...  I switched to Dana's Studio of Dance.  I had two performances, ballet and jazz. For ballet, I danced to "Clocks" the orchestra version with a pink and gold dress on. I think I did good because I didn't mess up at all. 

For jazz I danced to "Americano" by Lady Gaga. It was a Spanish kind of jazz dance.  I Had a red dress with a black sparkly with huge red ruffles around the neck. I think I did good on both of and I had a great time dancing on stage. I was kinda nervous but once I got on stage and started dancing I felt way better. I am proud of my myself and love dancing. Can't wait for next year!!

Last Day of School Party

On the last day of school I walked home with my three best friends Bailey (on the right), Gracie (on the top) and Mia (on the left). We walked to Gracie's house and then ate lunch at Taco Bueno. After lunch we headed to Mia's for a end of school sleepover. We turned on some blaring music and were dancing around the room. We then did a water balloon fight in the street. We threw the balloons but they wouldn't pop so we had to run around and try to squeeze them over each others heads. We barely got wet at all. 

We had some wings for dinner and ate a giant chocolate bundt cake.  We all had super cute pajamas on. Mine had sweets on them, Bailey's had smiley faces, Gracie had soccer balls and Mia had smiley faces as well. We watched some movies like She's the Man ... we kept squealing and screaming every time Channing Tatum came on screen sometimes without his shirt off. He is totally hot and we thought he and Amanda Bynes were the the cutest couple ever. Afterward we looked up pictures of cute guys including Channing Tatum. 

We played volleyball games with a giant pink rubber ball. We ate a bag of Dum Dums, chocolate, jolly ranchers chewy and hard. We ate tons of sweets.  After that, we tried to smother each other with bean bags and finally went to sleep at like 2:30. In the Morning we went to the Trophy Club Pool and swam. It was AWESOME!!  I had the best time ever and I love hanging with my best friends.

Mothers Day 2013 -- Top 3 Things I Love Right Now

The three things I love about my mom right now ...

1. How she is always looking out for us. She always make sure the things we need to have done are done even if she is sick or has things of her own to get done. She always has our best interests at heart.

2. She is my TV bud. We watch HGTV and dance shows and Disney channel stuff and hang out in her bed. I love hanging out with her.

3. She hangs out with me all the time. We have awesome shopping dates, and when we go out to get dinner and when we stay home and watch shows and eat popcorn.

My mom is amazing and is the best mom in the universe. She is so nice and crafty and sweet. I love her and I don't know what I would do without her. She is AWESOME!!

Bye Bye 5th Grade

  

Today was my awards ceremony for 5th grade at Samuel Beck Elementary. It was formal so I got all dressed up in a super cute outfit. I wore this adorable blue tank top dress with a skinny white belt. I didn't want to wear dressy shoes so instead I wore bright red Converse sneakers which I matched with a red polka dot bow in my hair. I loved my outfit and got tons of compliments.

The awards I earned were Honor Roll for the entire year, Presidential Academic Excellence signed by congress and Barack Obama, and Outstanding Student in Science. The science award was a total surprise to me. I am going to miss fifth grade but all of my friends will be going to Medlin Middle School with me so I hope we will be in the same pre-AP classes. This was a good year at Beck!

My AWESOME New Room

My new room is AMAZING!!!!! It is so adorable. We have this wall of teal curtains and in front of that is my bed. I have a black comforter with sequin stripes. Its covered in awesome pillows. I have a lip pillow, one with a mustache on it , a Paris one and a super cute smiley face pillow with a bow.

I have a book shelf filled with all my favorite books with cute little accessories. Over in my reading nook area I have a chaise lounger with a pink soft blanket draped over it with some pillows. I am working on putting up a wall of Playbills from by favorite plays next to the lounger. I have a zebra message board filled with pictures of everything I love.

My theme is Paris and shopping so I have giant fashion and Paris paintings everywhere. I love it. My first room I have ever gotten to decorate the way I want it and it is perfection.

The Living Museum: Sally Ride

At my school we do this thing called The Living Museum. You pick a person in history's name out of a jar. I picked Sally Ride, the youngest American and first American woman ever in space. 

I had to write a speech about Sally Ride and her accomplishments in life.  The speech had to be memorized!  Then me and my partner painted a background that represented our person.  We also had to find or build an artifact that also had to do with your person. We built a rocket for my artifact. We took a poster tube and covered it in duct tape then added U.S.A in big letters with an American flag and the NASA symbol. We painted a view of a rocket and earth and the moon in outer space.

We had to pick a pose and hold it until it was our turn.  I stood on the podium frozen in my pose until it was my turn.  My pose was with the helmet on and then when the tour guide pushed my button, I "came to life" and removed the helmet and said my speech.

I also had to dress like an astronaut.  The school had one NASA suit available, but it was an adult size.  Me and my teacher were trying to figure out how to use ponytail holders to make it fit, but then one day I came home and my mom surprised me with a NASA suit that fit me perfectly!

I had a lot of fun posing and saying my speech. It was a really cool project and I didn't mess up on my speech at all. It was awesome!

Piano and Voice Recital

   

This week I had my recital for piano and voice. My piano song was pretty good. I played "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. This year had a super cool twist. We picked a video that represents our song -- the video played up on a screen while we played our song.  I had some Les Mis trailers playing. It was pretty cool! I played pretty great if I do say so myself. 

Along with the piano recital, we also had my voice recital. I was with the older girls choir. We sang two songs together and then we had a solo song. Together we sang "Crazy Dreams" and "Rise Above". I had a solo in "Crazy Dreams" and people told me that it went great. I was pretty proud of that solo. 

Next I had my solo song -- "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift. This song didn't really go as I planned. I started singing and I was really nervous. I made it through a little bit of the song until I burst into tears on stage. I couldn't go on but thankfully Beth jumped up and started to sing with me.  Then she got everyone else to sing with us too.  At first I was completely upset. I felt ashamed that I just collapsed under the pressure. But later on I realized that I was just proud that I had the courage to get up there in the first place. That it may not have been easy the first time but every time I do perform it will get easier. 

People were really nice and comforted me. I just need to keep trying and not give up and I did. I got right back onstage and sang "Rise Above". So sure, I didn't sing a perfect solo but maybe next time or the time after I will build up that courage. This recital didn't go as planned but I still learned to keep trying and eventually you'll achieve your goal.

Choir Concert

To end the school year, we had my choir concert at school. It was movie themed so we sang a bunch of different songs from movies or TV shows. 

We sang ...

 Lights, Camera, Action

The Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song

Beyond the Sea from Nemo

Hot Chocolate from the Polar Express

The Candy Man from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

The Best Years of Our Life from Shrek

After the performances Lex, Dad and Rach all gave me hugs and flowers to congratulate me. I also got a little special dinner at Chili's. It was a great night.

My Birthday Dinner

   

We went to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner. Everyone was there, Brooke and the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Rawe. They gave me money and birthday cards and the Smith's gave me a chocolate bar.   

We got to eat dinner and get chocolate cake and brownies for dessert. I got to talk to all my relatives and have a lot of fun. It was great!

It's My Birthday

   

My birthday started with a super cute birthday outfit and a special birthday donut cake for breakfast. Talk about awesome! 

I got to give my class cupcakes from Suzy's Sweet Boutique. The best cupcake place ever. It was awesome because my Aunt Natalie was there to celebrate my birthday. 

I got to put up tons of stuff in my new room.  Later that weekend my family took me out for a birthday shopping trip. I got some cute clothes from Justice ... pink sparkly Sperry's ... different colored shoelaces in every color possible ... and some new headphones. My birthday was awesome!!

Disney on Ice

One day we were telling stories about when my sisters were younger ... and we figured out that I have never been to Disney on Ice!  Lucky for me, the show was scheduled to be in Dallas in about a month, so we got tickets!!

It was super fun. It was a mashup of all my favorite princesses. They had Rapunzel (one of my two favorites), Merida (my other favorite), Ariel and Belle. They would show all different scenes from the movies. The skaters did all these really cool tricks and it was super fun to watch. We got ice cream and spectacular seats. We were extremely close to the ice and had a perfect view. I had a great time.

Happy Easter

   

For Easter we went over to the Sands house and had an Easter party. We had lunch and then had an Easter egg hunt. I got tons of eggs and helped the younger kids like Everly and Ashton find eggs. We got a whole bunch of candy. It was fun watching the little kids get so excited every time you help them open an egg. 

I love having Easter with the little Sands kids!

Sleepover With Grandma Janice

My parents were out of town so I got to stay at grandma's on Saturday. They took me out to Panda Express for lunch! 

After we got back to their house, Grandma and I baked these smores cookie bars which are my new favorite dessert. We watched cooking channels and hung out. We went over to Brooke's house and played. We made a bed of stuffed animals and pillows and blankets and watched movies. It was super fun. The next day we went to conference and then Brooke came over to Grandma's and hung out. It was super fun. 

We played and watched a movie. We made sugar cookies with pink and teal icing. I love hanging out with Grandma and Brooke. It was the best!

Valentines Day

  

  

Today was the valentines day party at school. I dressed up super cute. I wore my pink jeans and my brand new light blue sparkly love crop top. I also had mom paint my nails black and pink with silver and white hearts. She braided my hair so that it looked like a heart. I looked super valentinesy. 

I also had cute little gifts for my friends. They were jars of gummy bears with a note that said "I'm beary glad you're my friend". My friends loved them! 

I took my mustache valentine box to school too.  I got tons of valentines. I gave out ones with airheads in them. The PTA passed out these HUGE red velvet cupcakes with frosting in the shape of a heart and root beer floats. They were delicious! A bunch of kids took pictures of my hair for the yearbook. Overall it was fun.

My Valentines Box

  

  

This year my mom and I made a moustache valentine box. It was awesome!!! It said "I moustache you to be my valentine".  My entire box was covered in moustache stickers, moustache rhinestones, fake furry moustaches and moustache bottlecaps. It also had cheetah flowers and heart stickers. 

It is my favorite valentine box so far.  A bunch of kids took pictures of it for the yearbook. I can't wait to see what we will come up with next year

Operation Santa

Operation Santa was a project with some of the girls at church.  They had people donate clothes and toys and food. The plan was to give a Christmas to one family ... but we got so much stuff that we did two families!

We sorted all the stuff into bags for the families.  One family had two boys and one girl. The other family had five girls.  Both families got tons of clothes and food. The kids got some toys. It felt great doing this good thing. The kids expressions were so happy. It made me feel so good inside to see that I helped these people. It made me understand the real meaning of Christmas. I want to help even more people next Christmas.

PBJ's

  

We are doing a project where you make 30 PBJ sandwiches on Sunday, and then this family takes them to downtown Dallas and gives them out to the homeless.  This week, dad and Rachel, and the other family assigned this month with us were all out of town .. so me and mom made 60 sandwiches!! 

It feels good to know that you are helping people in need. I feel happy to help other people. I want to do more things that benefit others so I can get that feeling again. I hope to help some more people along the way. So I cannot wait till its our turn to make the sandwiches again.