Gobble, Gobble, Gobble. Fat Turkey's are We.

Thanksgiving came and went like a turkey on the table. :) But, man, was it fun or what? Austin and I went out to Oregon to spend the holiday with my family. If any of you know my family, you'll know it was one crazy, loud, and FUN holiday!

Thanksgiving Day!

Rissa, Hope, and Hannah (my little sisters)

Angie, Rissa, and Mama

Bailey (my niece) tripping around in one of the missionary's cowboy boots

Festival of the Lights in Ashland

The whole family waiting for the Christmas parade to start

The Gingerbread House competition

One Beautiful Fall Day....

Once upon a time... about a month ago... there was an unexpectedly beautiful, sunny day.  We couldn't think of a better way to spend that gorgeous day than canoeing on the Provo river.  SO, that's just what we did. :)

 

Senior Media-Music Recital

 The recital was SO MUCH FUN!  My family came all the way from Medford, Oregon to see me perform and we got to spend the whole weekend together. The recital hall seats 150 people and it was almost completely full! I couldn't believe it! Thanks to everyone who supported me. I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends!

I played all original songs with a live band. Some of the songs were repertoire from my upcoming album which will be on Amazon, iTunes, etc. under my artist name "MILLA". But, the rest of the program was a diverse mix of school and personal projects like a commercial jingle I wrote and recorded for Aspen Jewelry, another project I wrote, recorded and sang along to live, and a musical theatre song I wrote called "Single, White Female"which will be part of an entire musical I'm writing with a few friends (Jake Justice, Wes Nelson, and Bert and Charlie Fuller).

Anyway, here are the few pics I have from that night.

THE BAND:  Haili Gregson (back-up vocals), Jaxon Williams (guitar), Rob Qualls (bass),  Jay Tibbitts (drums), and  Matt Pace (Trumpet).

Singing "Remedy" which will be on my upcoming E.P. album.

Suzie, my best friend in the WHOLE world (besides Aust)!

Two of my closest school friends. Colin Hatch and Jake Justice. What would I do without 'em?

Hey, guess what?!!!  I'm practically DONE with school now! I'll be done with classes this semester. Next semester I'll be a studio intern at Counterpoint Recording Studios in Salt Lake City. YEAH! I can't wait to learn from professional engineers in a professional/commercial studio. It will be an amazing learning experience for someone who mostly uses home and school equipment. :)

In April Austin and I will both graduate (Austin as a double major in Geology and Russian and me with a BM in Media-Music), and then we'll be moving to Billings, Montana for a summer internship Austin will be doing with an oil company called SM Energy.

After the summer ends we'll be moving again to start Austin's PhD program in Geology. And where will that be you might be wondering?!!!  Well, we don't know for sure until next semester after he flies out for interviews... BUT... we're crossing our fingers for Columbia University in NEW YORK CITY!!!!  Austin found a really great professor there that he would love to work with. And I would absolutely LOVE living in such an exciting, cultured city where I could continue pursuing my personal music ambitions.

So, anyway, we're happy and healthy and still as in love as ever! We're celebrating our 2 year anniversary in about a week! We're going to spend a few days on the beautiful Oregon coast. I'll make sure to post pictures later. :)

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Today is a kaleidoscope of emotions.... sadness, peace, joy, regret, comfort.... I've been feeling it all.  Today would be David's 26th Birthday.  I did several things.

1) I made a blackberry and raspberry pie. David loved pie. He loved any pie really. Every year for his birthday I made him a pie including today.

2) I listened to every song that reminds me of David. John Williams soundtracks, EFY cd's, the music from Spiderman, etc. David also loved music!

3) I released balloons into the sky with messages in them as my other family members did the same. We had a total of 26 balloons between different family members that we let float out of our hands and far out of sight. Since Austin is out of town, my two best friends, Susan and Kim, joined me in the balloon release.

The wind was crazy!

You can see the messages we put inside the balloons for David.

On the phone with my Mama while watching the balloons disappear.

The berry juice looks a little like blood, huh? haha. Well, it tasted delicious! :)

The STATE FAIR!!!

Austin and I have been to the State Fair for 3 years in a row now and it NEVER gets old. I love fairs. I love the rides, the animal barns, the sea lion show (even though the show was identical to every year before.... line for line), the deep fried food... you name it. I probably love it.

The Utah State Fair!!!

I love little things.... little oranges, little candies, etc. So of course I about died over this brand new baby calf. She was like velvet. And, if she were mine, that's what I would name her: Velvet. :)

The Sea Lion Show.... classic. 

READING Rainbow

The Naurei Primary School has over 1600 students and only 10ish classrooms. Students either have to share desks or spread out all over the floors of the classrooms.There aren't enough books or supplies to go around, so we came up with a really cool solution:

A Teacher Resource Library

This library is for the teachers at the school to check out books and other materials like atlases, books. rulers, protractors and other supplies that don't run out. They can bring the materials to their classes and then return them to the library when they are finished.

Cool, huh? It was created to reach out to ALL the students without the risk of losing the materials.

Well, here are some of the pictures from the creation of the library:

Sorting through BOXES AND BOXES of discarded books at the Arusha Public Library

Tori cataloging all the books in the Naurei Library

We found some really cool books!

Austin the amazing handy-man. He can build anything!

Dorothy, a teacher at the school, and her daughter.

The school head-mistress and all the teachers were so excited to finally have a library, even if it is pretty small. :)

TANGA, TANZANIA!

After spending the week in Tanga... we decided we're going to buy a house there someday! :) It's a beautiful, sleepy town on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania with incredible beaches and lots of fun things to do. We spent the week riding bikes, exploring the Amboni Caves, eating loads of coconuts and mangoes, snorkeling through coral reefs, laying on the beach, and eating more coconuts and mangoes! Long story short... we had a really good time. Neither of us wanted the trip to end. But, with only 2 weeks left in Tanzania and several unfinished projects, we had to call it quits and head back to Arusha Town to get back to work!

The entrance to the Amboni Caves

It was pretty creepy inside. Bats everywhere... Austin on the loose in total darkeness.

There was so much to explore inside!

Austin climbed to the top of a coconut tree.... crazy guy!

Riding bikes into a coconut plantation

My favorite part of the trip was snorkeling and exploring the islands in the Indian Ocean!

My wounds from the stupid jelly fish... what a jerk.