Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy happy birthday mom!!! You mean so much to me! You are so beautiful and wonderful and smart and talented and kind and loving and supportive and adoring and pretty and perfect and just simply amazing!!! I love everything about you! I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me! Thank you for all your support through my whole life and through all the wedding plans! You are amazing!!! I love you so much mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! 

Today's Fabulous Work Day!

I write a lot about my job... BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Working in a daycare is so much fun! I love working with little kids because they are just so fun and fabulous and I love it!

Today is my mom's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!) so while I was sitting at the coloring table I started writing a birthday card for her. And one of my favorite little one year-olds, Beau, comes to sit on my lap (because he starts whining if I don't let him sit on my lap) and he just picks up a crayon and starts scribbling all over the birthday card for my wonderful, beautiful mom! But Beau is just so darn cute, and learned how to say dinosaur and it's adorable when he says dinosaur, so I didn't really care. Then McCall drew circles on the back of her card and folded it up... all... nicely??? I gave it to my mom anyways. I wrote on it Love, Kaylee... plus Beau and McCall. :) She loved it.

Also, while sitting at the table I watched this adorable three year-old start singing "I'm Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO... best thing ever. And he danced too. However he did edit the word "sexy" but I couldn't tell what word he was saying. Regardless, funny and wonderful moment.

Aw man I love my job!!

I also want to write a bit about my wonderful mother! I love my mom so much! She means so much to me. She does so much for me and has through my whole life! She's supported me through everything, through dance, school, college, and now my marriage. She's been a wonderful help with the wedding plans and I cannot tell her how much I appreciate it! She is so talented at so many things! She is beautiful and wonderful and I love her more than anything!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! 

100 Days

It's 100 days till our wedding! I am so super excited and happy! Even though we still have so much to do everything will be perfect because I'm marrying my best friend... and the most amazing person in the world. :)

I'm just so happy! I can't wait! And I hope that all my friends and family are happy as well to share the excitement of that day with us!

100 days! Be there! :)

--Kaylee

100 Days

HAPPY 100 DAYS TILL MY WEDDING TO YOU!!! 

So I'm super happy because marrying Chris seems like the most natural thing in the world and I just cannot wait to be married to such a wonderful person and my best friend! I'm so excited for my wedding! It's going to be the perfect wedding of my dreams!

But there is still so much to do!! I don't even have a cake place! Or a flower place! Or a photographer for my wedding day! And my dress isn't even in yet and it still needs to be altered, I won't get it till the end of March!

And, oh my gosh tomorrow is double digits till my wedding!! :) :) :)

I am so excited! Everything will be perfect! Christopher is perfect for me so everything will be perfect. :) I'm so happy! :)

The New Look!

So this blog has gotten a small makeover. This blog from now on is updates about me and my life, including my fiance and his life. :)

I'm so happy to start writing more on this blog!

Dance Moms Evaluation: 1/29/2013

Dear Abby Lee Miller,

Stop. Just stop. I'm so sick of listening to you verbally abuse these children and disrespect their mothers. You talk all the time about how the mothers never give you respect, well the same to you. These women are your customers. Every heard of always treating the customers with respect? Or the customer is always right? These women are PAYING you. You always complain about how you're all alone, the studio is your livelihood, you don't have a husband to pay your bills... no, but you have these women to pay all your bills. Yet you constantly yell at them and treat their children like... like a monster.

In today's episode you yelled at Maddie for "sitting in the parking lot" instead of coming to class. You told her "that was hurtful" that she would not come to class after all you have done for her. Because you favor her. And you can't even deny it anymore. But you won't favor her anymore because her mom stood up for what she believed in. I applaud Melissa and the other moms for what they did. They stood in the parking lot in a silent protest to stand up for Kelly and her kids because you won't. Melissa did something wonderful and set a wonderful example for her daughter. But you, Abby, won't let it be known as a good example, you want to use it to punish a 10 year old.

Stop picking on Mackenzie. She's a little girl. Stop comparing her to her sister (that you don't even seem to like anymore). Stop telling her she isn't good enough. She's a little girl, you can tell she is doing all she can. She loves and adores you yet you treat her terribly! You are verbally abusing this child! You're ruining her self image and causing her to never settle for anything less than perfect. Melissa repeated said in this episode "everyone makes mistakes" even YOU Abby. You make a terrible mistake by yelling at these children the way you do.

Also stop picking on Chloe. Chloe is incredibly talented! She's a national title holder, she won a special award at a recent competition for how wonderful she is at expressing herself through dancing and she's always sat back quietly and done whatever you tell her to do. If she can't do a standing back tuck, GIVE HER A BREAK! She ended up doing it very well!! But you don't care, you blame your 4th place on it.

"You go from a national win to 4th place!" ...correction. In order of sequence, they went from national win, to first, to first, to first, to fourth. Come on. Give these girls a break. I realize fourth isn't all that great. I was very disappointed in my ballroom team when we came in third. Fourth is disappointing, but it's not the girls fault if you put in tricks they can't do and TEACH THEM A FREAKIN DANCE IN LESS THAN A WEEK AND EXPECT THEM TO ALWAYS WIN!! I just... ugh... I don't have much more to say on the subject. Just know, I'm angry.

Lastly, Abby, as a future school teacher and (hopefully) dance teacher, I am mortified that you live out your dreams through these children. Here's my guess: your mom was your dance teacher, but you weren't good enough for her. So you started your own dance studio at fourteen because you couldn't dance. Now you're living your dance dreams through these children, and you won't settle for anything but perfection, even though you yourself were not a perfect dancer. It is a shame. You are a HORRIBLE teacher. Teachers are suppose to be an example, kind and always teaching. You just yell, yell, yell and treat these children like crap.

I don't know if I can watch this season anymore. Sorry producers, but adding in all this drama is stupid. I just like to watch the girls dance... but not when their being forced to dance by a selfish big idiot. Sorry, but I might be too angry to watch anymore.

Blogging 101

*NOTE: I do not consider myself an expert on blogging, I'm writing this for a presentation I'm doing.*

TOP BLOGGING WEBSITES (ALL FREE!!)

1. BLOGGER: One of the most popular! Is very user friendly!! It's owned by Google and is started through a Gmail account. (This is what I use)
2. WORDPRESS: Another major blogging website, easy to choose a theme and blog layout.
3. LIVE JOURNAL: This is also a social networking site where you can connect with other people through topics and schools. You can also participate in community discussions. 
4. BLOG.COM: This offers free blog hosting with unlimited bandwidth for free members. 
5. TUMBLR: This uses micro-blogging to post pictures, videos, or text onto your Tumblr page. 

There are many more blogging websites as well, you can read more about them here. 

Other websites to be aware of:

• WEEBLY: Create your own website for free! 
• LDS JOURNAL: An online, personal journal. 

Blogging is used for various reasons: journaling, photography, free-writing, crafts and DIY, fashion, news and personal writing. The above websites have special tools for every type of blog you would like to make, but some are more oriented to a single type. For example, Tumblr really focuses on pictures. It would be best for sharing photography of your own or photography that you find.

THE BEST WAY TO GET STARTED

The best way to get started on a blog is to do a little research on which blogging site to use. I've tried both Wordpress and Blogger. Blogger is my favorite because it's very user friendly and is very accessible to anyone on the internet. 

You also want to keep in mind what type of blog you want to create. People create fashion blogs, poetry blogs, business blogs, news blogs, craft/DIY blogs, and personal blogs/journal blogs. This blog is a personal/journal type, with a little big of everything else too. 

Once you have these two things figured out, it's just a matter of going online and starting your blog!

STEPS TO SETTING UP YOUR BLOG

Every blog site is different, but starting a blog is similar on every site. Most sites require that you use an email address to start your blog. Blogger is owned by Google, so you must have a Gmail account to start one. I am going to show the steps for setting up your blog through Blogger, but with all other sites it should be similar (I've also used Wordpress, and the steps to setting it up is the same).

The first step is the most simple, sign up! Each site has different requirements, but most need an email, your full name, birthday and then you create your own username, blog name, and domain name.

Start editing the details of your blog.

You can get to the above page on your blog by clicking on "Settings", and then "Basic". I'm pretty sure most blogging sites would have a similar setup. Wherever it is, "Settings" is the place to find most of the tools you need when first starting your blog.

I explored a lot with the tools on my blog to get it to look the way that it does. Starting it is so simple! All that's after that is pushing the "New Post" button and just start writing!

WHY BLOG?

I blog because I love to write. I feel blogging helps me express myself and my feelings while making me a better and more experienced writer. Blogging is a great way to also spread your knowledge to the world. My very cute friend Kalee has a fashion blog called Imprime Leopard. She uses her blog to spread her knowledge and passion for fashion with the rest of the world. (Check out my other favorite blogs by clicking on the link above, Favorite Blogs) 

USING BLOGS FOR JOURNALING

Blogging is wonderful for journaling as well. It's a great way to record your life. Everything is automatically dated and can be organized in different categories (or labels). You can also tell your friends and family to read your blog to share your life with them. My blog has journal aspects to it. I think it's a great way to share my life experiences with others. 

If you're simply looking for an online journal, I highly suggest checking out LDS Journal. I recently started an account with them (incredibly easy to start an account!) and I'm really liking it. What's nice about this is that it's totally private and password protected. You can access it anywhere there is internet. There are also options to buy a book version of your journal so you can keep it in your home. 

I've always loved writing in journals and my blog is a great way to keep writing. LDS Journal has also been a huge help to start a real consistent journal for me. I can type a lot faster than I can write, so writing a journal online is the best way for me to do it.


I love blogging! It has been hugely successful for me and I hope it can be helpful for you too! 

Today's Ice

Yep. I nearly died today walking to/from work. Thank goodness my neighbor decided to pick me up halfway on my way to work and my coworker found me struggling on the ice and gave me a ride home. I know such great people!

But nothing looks icy, that's the scary part. I stepped out my front door and it didn't look any different than my usual morning walk. Except it was warmer. If it's raining, not snowing, it means it's warmer. I liked that part. Except the rain froze once it hit the ground. Oh well. I survived. :)

Lindsey Brogdon Photography

I want to thank Lindsey Brogdon (of Lindsey Brogdon Photography) for taking my engagement photos last Saturday in single digit temperatures in the snow!

They turned out beautifully! Lindsey is so much fun to work with (I grew up with her, I can attest to her fun-ness) and very talented. Please check out her website (linked above) to learn more about her and her amazing photography! I do highly recommend her and hope you consider her for any of your picture taking needs. She's worth it. :)

THANK YOU LINDSEY!!!

(we've never had a picture of us kissing before and we very rarely kiss in front of other people, this was a new experience for us, but the pictures turned out great!)

Winter Bridal Extravaganza!

So starting at 10:00 AM today (sorry, we all missed it) there is a bridal fair at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City! I am going there today with my fiance (partly to get him to love the Grand America Hotel as much as I do so that we can stay there the night of our wedding). This fair goes until 6:00 PM.

Also in Salt Lake today we have the Salt Lake Premier Wedding Show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We might be stopping by that one as well. I am pre-registered for both.

I'm so excited that my fiance agreed to go with me! This will help him realize all the little things that we still need to do for our wedding. To repay him for going with me, I have two tickets to the Jazz game tonight! So after the fairs, we'll get some dinner and go to the game. See? I'm a great fiance. :)

I hope to see you at the bridal shows today!! 

My Favorite Spam Comments!!

So I very rarely get comments on this blog unless it's spam mail. Sad, but true. Most of them are ridiculous. It's as if they were written by a robot, with horrible grammar and an annoyingly large vocabulary. This is a simple blog. Keep it simple robots.  But anyways, I'm happy to share with you my spam. Because it's ridiculous.

"What's up mates, its impressive post about educationand entirely explained, keep it up all the time."

Okay, as a reference, that spelling error (combining two words) was not me, it was the Anonymous spammer. This lovey comment was place on Once Upon A Time... (Part 3). Now if the Anonymous spammer paid any attention to what they were writing on they would realize that that post is nothing educational, it's about how I met and first started dated my fiance. Hmm... next time you leave a comment like this, leave it on a post a bit more relevant.

"Hi, its fastidious paragraph about media print, we all be familiar with media is a enormous source of information." 

So... what? "We all be familiar"? Yeah, because that's correctly written. This comment was posted on Adding Ringtones to Dumb Phones. So yeah, definitely "about media print".

"Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it's truly informative. I'm going to watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. Many people will be benefited from your writing. cheers!"

Is anyone else confused? Because I am. While I appreciate the complement at the end, I have no idea what "I'm going to watch out for brussels" means. Brussels sprouts?  Brussels, Belgium? I don't understand. This comment was posted on Dance Moms: 1/1/2012 Evaluation which said nothing about any type of Brussels.

"bear grylls messer"

That's literally all the comment said. Thank you??? This comment was on my Overstock.com post, which actually is the home of most of my spam comments. Such as:

"I feel this is among the so much significant info for me. And i am glad stadying your article. But want to remark on some general things, The web site taste is great, the articles is really nice : D. Good task, cheers."

"Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of information on your blog. Im really impressed by it. Hi there, You've performed a fantastic job. I will certainly digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I'm sure they'll be benefited from this web site."

"Its like you learn my mind! You seem to grasp a lot about this, such as you wrote the book in it or something. I believe that you simply could do with a few percent to force the message home a bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. A fantastic read. I'll definitely be back."

"When some one searches for his required thing, so he/she wishes to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over here."

"What i do not realize is if truth be told how you're not actually much more well-favored than you may be now. you are very intelligent. You recognize therefore considerably relating to this topic, made me personally believe it from so many various angles. Its like men and women aren't interested unless it is one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your personal stuffs nice. At all times take care of it up!"

So... yeah... while my Overstock.com post is my most visited post, it's just so weirdos can post weirdo comments... that throw Lady Gaga in there...

Speaking of weirdos...

"This paragraph is actually a good one it helps new web users, who are wishing for blogging."

This comment was on a post entitled Just Updates, where I just listed boring updates from my personal life. I didn't mean for this post to help anyone, just to let anyone interested in my life know what's going on with me. But okay. If it helps. Someone also wrote on this post:

"Yes! Finally something about 5 different ways to make money."

Umm... no. I think maybe they were talking about themselves, that they wrote an article about 5 different ways to make money, but why put it on my Just Updates post? Seriously robot people, you're crazy.

"I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. the sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an shakiness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike." 

I don't really know what to say. This was on my post The Benefits of Vaseline. If anyone can explain the above comment to me and how it could possibly related to the linked post, I would greatly appreciate it.

I think I'm going to end things here, even though I have much more to quote. But I'll end with a very convenient comment to go with this post.

"Hello, I read your blog occasionally and I own a similar one and I was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? i get so much lately it's driving me insane so any support is very much appreciated."

Yes, why yes I do get lots of spam comments. And I love that the above comment on my post Product Review: Ulta Minerals Powder Foundation is considered a spam. I don't know how to avoid it or get rid of it, but I do have it set so I have to review every comment before it gets published on my page. So that keep the spam from going onto my blog. It's just kept for my own personal enjoyment. :)

Lindsey Brogdon Photography

Last Saturday I got my engagement photos done through Lindsey Brogdon Photography! Website found here: http://www.lindzena.com/photographyPage/mainHome/! Facebook page found here: http://www.facebook.com/lindseybrogdonphoto!

I grew up with Lindsey as a neighbor and she's lots of fun! I'm excited for her trying to start her own little business! She currently lives in Logan, Utah and she does a really great job with photography!

I highly recommend checking out all the photos on her website! She's very fun and kind and talented. And while I nearly froze to death at our photo shoot, she made it fun and enjoyable.

Cold

I love this video:

I live in Utah. Lately our weather has been a little like this:

I walk to work everyday so I look similar to this:

Except not, because my winter coat is adorable!!! It looks like this:

I also don't normal look like that. I was on lots and lot of cough and cold medicine because I was suffering from one of the worst colds of my life, I slightly look drunk in this picture but I promise I was not. Also, I don't normal look that fat. And I have lost weight since then. Because I have to in order to fit into my size 4 wedding dress.

BECAUSE I'M GETTING MARRIED!!! 

Anyways, my point of this post is the video at the top. I've been freezing, literally freezing. Our poor dog. Who, in warmer weather, looks like this:

Has had her water bowl LITERALLY freeze over everyday. And while she normally sleeps outside, we've had to take her in, because when it's like 2 degrees outside, that's really dangerous for her health.

IT'S BEEN FREEZING!

I went ice fishing on Saturday and walked across an entire frozen lake. I'm pretty sure (actually positive) that a lake cannot freeze over unless it's actually freezing outside. 

This reminds me of when my ballroom team would go to San Diego in March, when it's still pretty dang cold in Utah, and always still snowing. And we go to the beach and people think we're crazy. But hey, we're from Utah. Fifties are fantastic for us! 

So thank you Jimmy Kimmel for the laugh. I'm glad you guys think you're just as freezing as we are. :) 

The Benefits of Vaseline

I just bought a HUGE jar thing of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly because I use it for so many things! And I had this little jar thing of it that fits in small places because it's cute and little and it lasted me over a year despite its small size.

So my little one was running out so I decided today to put some from my huge jar into my little one, because I love how the cute little one is much more portable. So instead of being delicate about the process and melting it so it's easier to transfer the jelly... I just stuck my finger right in the big jar and started scooping it out.

IT WAS THE MOST FUN EVER!!! 

I know that makes me sound slightly crazy, but it really was so much fun!!! Apparently I just get easily excited and little things are my favorite... like moon sand! I found my moon sand today whilst cleaning some drawers out. Moon sand rocks. 

So because of this experience I'd like to share my favorite uses for petroleum jelly!

1. Chapped lips.

This is why I started using Vaseline in the first place! Every night I put Vaseline on my lips to help keep them very soft. Chris makes fun of me for the large amount of Vaseline I put on them, but it helps, so he really shouldn't complain. 

2. Cuts and burns

I love this because it's a cheap way to help heal your smaller injuries. It really has helped some cuts that I've had. It helps them heal faster and keeps it protected. 

3. Dry skin

Like with your lips, Vaseline helps a lot with dryness. I particularly use it for the back of my hands, but then I end up washing it off too soon sometimes. But it creates very smooth skin. It also does not clog pores, so don't worry about spreading it all over your face. 

4. Thicker eyelashes

I recently learned this trick, so now every night when I'm putting Vaseline on my lips, I also put some on my eye lids, and it really has made a difference in the way my eyelashes look. Sometimes if I want my mascara to really stand out, I'll put a little Vaseline on before applying mascara. It make a great difference. 

5. Keeping in the lines when applying nail polish

 A lot of members of my dad's side of the family have these tremors things which make our hands shake a lot. I don't have it as badly as some other people in my family, but my hands still get pretty shaky. Especially when I'm concentrating on doing something delicate with my hands (which kind of really sucks). So when I try to paint my nails, it gets all over my skin! But I learned to put some Vaseline around your nail before painting them so when it gets on your skin, it's so much easier to get off. Just don't get it on your nail because then it doesn't stay as well. 

6. Scent sticking

If you put on a little Vaseline in the areas you spray your perfume, it helps your scent to stick around longer. Which can be a very good thing. Keep in mind though that Vaseline makes your skin very shiny, so don't use a ton or it could look weird. Unless you want shiny skin. 

7. Makeup removal

This trick is fantastic because some makeup removal products seem to dry out my skin, but Vaseline specifically helps smooth your skin! It works really well in makeup removal, but I don't use it for that trick very much. 

8. Pumpkin carving

After your carve your Halloween pumpkins, rub some Vaseline around the edges, it helps keep it from rotting or getting dry. 

The above list is all things that I have tried before. But it has more uses found here. I am particularly interest in the "removal of eyelash glue" because in ballroom I wear fake eyelashes much too often and I hate taking them off. 

I hope this helps you! Vaseline always helps me in many ways. And as a fun tip, just sticking your finger in a big jar of it feels really cool. :) 

Carson Lueders

I want to congratulate this young boy, Carson Lueders, on being awesome! I always love seeing the amazing talents of young kids. This boy is very talented and seems very nice and sweet. So if you haven't yet heard of him, here he is singing For You by Keith Urban.

Very good job for a ten year old! :) His Youtube page is found here and I highly suggest looking at his other videos. He's very talented and great! :)

Just Updates

So I'm in Logan for the weekend. Having lots of fun hanging out with my fiance. The main reason I'm up here is because we got our engagement photos done today! (thank you again so much  Lindsey!) But we've done lots of other fun things as well.

I went ice fishing today for my first time. My fiance loves to fish. Which is why I gave him a fishing related Christmas presents. So he has lots of friends who also love to fish. Which is great. And I actually go fishing with him a lot. But we've learned I'm bad luck. See, every time we go fishing together, we never catch anything, but if Chris goes fishing without me, he always comes home successful. So, as tradition proves, we didn't catch anything this morning. But I did nearly freeze my toes off and we walked across the entire lake and heard the ice cracking below us. It was certainly an adventure!

We rented the third season of Friends and I've been watching all the episodes. I just love that show and we are trying to go through all the episodes. But it's difficult because there are very few movie rental places anymore and the one we do know of doesn't have the first two seasons, which is fairly important if your planning on watching a whole series. So...

Dear Netflix, 

I would greatly appreciate it if you would put all the seasons of Friends on your website. I would watch every episode multiple times like I have with How I Met Your Mother and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it would just be great! Thanks so much!

Kaylee

Getting our engagements done was great! Except it was freezing! It snowed all last night so we had a beautiful amount of glittery snow to work with and it was fantastic! But it was so cold! At one point I felt like I had been at the dentist and he had numbed my lips because it was really difficult to smile. I wonder what those pictures turned out like... I should be getting them back in one to three weeks. I'll keep you posted.

I played FIFA with Chris. I hate games, but I usually like video games. And while I have nothing against this one, I was just pushing buttons. I had no idea what I was doing. It was a struggle. And in normal soccer, the score doesn't usually end up 7 to 0. So... totally unrealistic game play.

We have gone out to eat for every meal. We've had Subway, Wendy's, Rumbi, Jimmy Johns, Einstein Bagels, and Cafe Rio. And the greatest milkshakes in the world. Seriously! I first had it on New Years, the first thing I had in 2013 and it was the greatest milkshake of my life, and I had it again on Thursday, still the greatest milkshake of my life. F'real. Find one and get it!!!

Adding Ringtones to Dumb Phones

I feel surrounded by smart phones. Everyone has one nowadays. Except me. And my family. Minus my dad, but his work gave him his iPhone.

I have a great passion for music and I've always wanted to show it through my ringtones. I hate the ringtones my phone gave me. So I learned a trick for getting my iTunes music onto my cellphone to use as a ringtone!! If you don't use iTunes, skip down to the last part, it might still be able to help you.

As a reference, I have the LG Rumor Touch which allows me to use a ringtone in my Photos & Videos file. So I used to always record a video with a song and make it my ringtone, but this method is simple and MUCH better quality.

Here are the quick and simple steps I use to create ringtones for my phone.

1. Pick out the song you want to use. I place it in a playlist so it's singled out more. (Yes the song I chose was Twilight Zone. Why? Because when it's an unknown number it's fun to have a creepy-ish song.)

2. Right click on your song then click on Get Info

When you click on Get Info, then click on the Options tab so your screen will look like this:

3. Check the Start Time and Stop Time and set them to what you want. This takes a lot of listening and re-listening to make sure it's right. The cool part is, once you set a Start Time and click Okay, when you play the song it will play the song from the Start Time. I usually keep my ringtones under 30 seconds.

4. When you've played your song and know it's what you want, right click on the song again and then click on Create AAC Version.

This will create another copy of your song but only with the time that you chose.

Don't forget to go back to the original copy of the song and undo the Start Time and Stop Time. Otherwise you might be very confused next time you try to play the song. Just un-check the boxes and hit Okay.

5. Now right click your song again and hit copy.

Paste the song into a folder on your computer. I put mine under Songs, then in a folder titled Ringtones.

6. Right click on your song in the folder and hit Rename.

This is the most important part!! Also, if you are not using iTunes, this part may be able to help you figure out what to do. Rename the file as a 3g2 file.

7. Once your file is renamed, simply put it on the SD Card of your phone in the DCIM folder and you're all set!

If you have any questions please let me know and I'll be happy to help! I realize most people don't have dumb phones anymore, so not many will need this tutorial, but this trick really helped me!

Bridal Fairs!

It's Bridal Fair season in Utah! I attended one this Saturday with my mom and sister and we had a lot of fun together. It was crazy when I was there because everyone would ask my date (May 11th) and then tell me "oh my gosh that's so soon!" Because it doesn't seem soon enough to me! But we still have lots to do and plan, so that's alright.

I sincerely apologize for not informing you of the bridal fair last Saturday. As the writer of this blog, that's like my job. So I am sorry. However, here's a list of many more bridal fairs coming up!

Saturday January 12th, 2013 is the Utah Wedding Expo at the Thanksgiving Point Show Barn in Lehi. From 10AM to 6PM. More information can be found here.

Saturday January 19th, 2013 is the Salt Lake Premier Wedding Show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Lion House in Salt Lake City. From 10AM to 4PM. Information found here.

Also Saturday January 19th, 2013 is the Winter Bridal Extravaganza at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Information found here.

Friday January 25th and Saturday January 26th, 2013 is the Bridal Showcase at the South Town Expo Center in Sandy. Information found here.

That covers January for bridal fairs in the Salt Lake valley. If you click on the links above, most of the shows have their brides pre-register to attend. It enters you into drawings for prizes and sometimes gives you a discounted ticket price! It's really simple to pre-register. Just click on the links above.

I hope this helps any future brides like me! Maybe I'll see you at these shows! :)

English Teaching

Yesterday I gave my little brother a five minute English lesson (that ended up lasting a bit more than five minutes). I had read over an essay he wrote on The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne that he wrote for his eleventh grade English class.

I'm in college to become I high school English teacher. I mostly want to teach 11th and 12th grade, so this was a fun opportunity for me. As much as I love my brother, his essay wasn't that fantastic (although he later told me that he had forgotten about it and wrote it in the library before class).

But he still got a good grade on his essay because his first year teacher apparently doesn't know grammar or know what a thesis is. Because, as much as I love my brother, he did not deserve 10 out of 10 on a "clear thesis" when his paper didn't even have one.

So I gave him a short lesson on thesis' and on writing a good essay. I told him I was here to help him anytime he wants because I have million of papers from high school and college that can be used to teach English.


So it got me thinking even further. Why not put my short English lessons on my blog? It will give me more practice in becoming a teacher and can maybe help out some people along the way! I think it's a genius idea.

So from now one I will have a tab at the top of my blog called English Teaching that will display all my teaching posts and materials (because I already have some, thank you college). As I continue with college and graduate, the tab will have much more goodies and be much more successful. But for now it's just the small lessons of a want-to-be English teacher. :)

Once Upon A Time... (Part 3)

With the date seeming cancelled, the girl went off with some friends for hot chocolates and visiting a haunted house (not one of those haunted houses with the people in costumes (because she hates those) it was a real house that was abandoned and just creepy).

But when she arrived back at her apartment, the boy was there. She saw the way his face lit up when she walked in. He grew excited to talk to her. So she sat down with him on the couch and they watched School of Rock together (because Jack Black is fantastic sometimes).

Without any doubts or second thoughts, they held hands and cuddled. And it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

TO BE CONTINUED

8 Best Taylor Swift Lyrics

I was bored and searching my Facebook and up comes a blog post of the 8 Most Annoying Taylor Swift Lyrics. Now I agree that the ones listed are pretty dumb and kind of annoying (except the Tuesday one, because I love Tuesdays) but I think it should really be called the 8 Most Annoying and Rude Comments About Taylor Swift's Annoying Song Lyrics. Seriously, I was sad for Taylor because that was just rude.

So, as my rebuttal, I'm making the list of my 8 favorite Taylor Swift Lyrics!! Because she needs some support somewhere, and I'm happy to give her some. (even if RED disappointed me)

SO HERE'S TO EVERYTHING COMING DOWN TO NOTHING. HERE'S TO SILENCE THAT CUTS ME TO THE CORE. WHERE IS THIS GOING? I THOUGHT I KNEW FOR A MINUTE BUT I DON'T ANYMORE.

Okay, I only really love these lyrics the way I do in the piano version. So here it is for your enjoyment:

See? Isn't that version so much better? I love it so much more than the real version because piano is my favorite instrument and it "cuts me to the core". When I was having major boy issues, I listened to this song/version constantly, and the line above is exactly how I felt. I thought I knew what was going on, and in a minute everything changed. I also love in this version the way she sings "Back up, baby back up, please back up!" Because it's so sadly-hauntingly beautiful.

DID SOME THINGS YOU CAN'T SPEAK OF, BUT AT NIGHT YOU LIVE IT ALL AGAIN. YOU WOULDN'T BE SHATTERED ON THE FLOOR NOW IF ONLY YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN WHAT YOU KNOW NOW THEN... WHO YOU ARE IS NOT WHAT YOU DID, YOU'RE STILL AN INNOCENT. 

This song was also criticized in the other article and I actually love this song. It's probably one of her most mature songs. It talks about how the mistakes you've made before do not make you who you are. This song was fantastic for me for some things that I went through and the above lines hit me pretty hard. "Who you are is not what you did." Just because I made mistakes, I am not my mistakes. I can be a better person regardless.

I KNOW, I KNOW, I JUST KNOW YOU'RE NOT GONE. YOU CAN'T BE GONE, NO.

This is another one where I only love the lyrics with a certain version of the song. Found here:

Yep... The way she sings the above lyrics in this version of the song gives me chills! This is actually my favorite Taylor Swift song, this version particularly. I like all the lyrics personally. Because I've been there. I've been in that relationship before and it's terrible and they really do haunt you forever.

YOU HAD ME CRAWLING FOR YOU HONEY AND IT NEVER WOULD HAVE GONE AWAY, NO. YOU USED TO SHINE SO BRIGHT BUT I WATCHED ALL OF IT FADE.

So... anyone who really knows me, knows that I am IN LOVE with sad and depressing song. Much like all the ones I've listed above. You're Not Sorry is a beautiful sad song and the lyrics are wonderful. I don't care what anyone else has to say.

DON'T YOU DARE LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW, DARLING EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE. THE WAR OUTSIDE OUR DOOR KEEPS RAGING ON. HOLD ON TO THIS LULLABY, EVEN WHEN THE MUSIC'S GONE. 

Ah! I love Hunger Games! This song (even though I got sick of it for a while) is a very hauntingly beautiful song. It was perfect for the movie (I personally am in love with the whole Hunger Games soundtrack). The above lyrics portray Katniss's fear and protection for her sister. I love it so much!

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE BREAK UP, FIX MY HEART, PUT ON MY MAKEUP, ANOTHER MESS I DIDN'T PLAN. AND I BET YOU THOUGHT YOU BEAT ME, WISH YOU COULD ONLY SEE I'VE GOT AN I HEART QUESTION MARK WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF MY HAND.

Okay, some of you may not know this song, I don't have a copy of this song, I've just heard it on Youtube. So if you haven't heard it, here it is:

This song is funny and cheesy, but I love cheesy. And the above lyrics aren't bad or annoying. They are just like "Hey, you can't beat me, I'll be fine, there's always another one." It's funny. Not annoying. And not depressing like all the other songs I listed. :)

THIS IS A STATE OF GRACE. THIS IS THE WORTHWHILE FIGHT. LOVE IS A RUTHLESS GAME UNLESS YOU PLAY IT GOOD AND RIGHT. THESE ARE THE HANDS OF FATE, YOU'RE MY ACHILLES HEEL. THIS IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF SOMETHING GOOD AND RIGHT AND REAL. 

This is my favorite song off Taylor's new album. And I like the acoustic version too, but it's really slow. The above lyrics, I think, are beautiful and true. They are filled with wisdom of what love really is. It is a "worthwhile fight". Everything I went through was worth it to find Chris. :)

AND WHEN YOUR FIFTEEN DON'T FORGET TO LOOK BEFORE YOU FALL. I FOUND TIME CAN HEAL MOST ANYTHING. YOU MIGHT JUST FIND WHO YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE. I DIDN'T KNOW WHO I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT FIFTEEN. 

I think that this song gives excellent advice to fifteen year-olds. Teenagers take everything way too seriously and make things more dramatic than it really is. They want to be popular and date all the cool boys, but that's not what's important in life. Just take in each moment and make it wonderful. You'll move on from your silly crushes and the stresses of high school. Life goes on. This song is wonderful.

Well, there you have it. A few of Taylor Swifts redeeming lyrics. But trust me, she has more. Yes she writes immature lyrics sometimes (We are never, ever, ever...) but really it's a joke. I don't think she's really serious about them. Watch an interview of her, she is sort of a ditzy blonde, but she's still pretty smart too. And very elegant. I have a special place in my heart for Taylor Swift because we're close to the same age, her lyrics relate to her growing up and I'm growing up right along with her. She does have weird and sometimes annoying lyrics, but it really bugged me that the other article had to be so mean about it.

So to the author of the article 8 Most Annoying Taylor Swift Lyrics, please don't be rude. I agree that the lyrics you posted are pretty annoying, but you don't have to be mean about it.

Dance Moms: 1/1/2013 Evaluation

I love Dance Moms! I watch it frequently, I've seen every episode (but one that no longer exists (the showgirls one)) and I think it's funny and has fantastic dancing. The dancing in that show is what I hope and pray my daughter is like (please, please, please let me have a daughter!!!).

But last night's episode made me sad, a little ashamed, and somewhat furious.

Let's begin with the pyramid. Abby, you can't call it a break if you still expect your dancers to be to tons of classes. That's not a break! It's a break from competitions, but not a break from dancing. And these girls seemed incredibly over worked all the time that they deserve a break for a little bit! I grew up dancing my whole life and the summer breaks kept me from being overwhelmed and stressed. Granted, a long break will cause dancers to lose flexibility and energy but they are little girls, they need some time to play! (so those hugs they all gave each other in the beginning, totally fake, there was no break)

Continuing, it terrible for Abby to get mad at Chloe for going on family vacations. Because, how dare an 11 year old girl go on a vacation with her family!! Sorry Abby, but let's be honest for a moment, family is more important than dance. There, I said it. On the subject of Chloe, she is my favorite dancer! She has such beautiful lines and technique, I sometimes think her arm placement is much better than Maddie's. Yet Abby constantly rips on Chloe, because giving little girls low self-esteems is what she does best. Chloe's solo was fantastic! She did amazing in the group number! Yet Abby still yelled at her because she changed a small part of the dance because she forgot. At 11 years old, I would give her props for the way she kept dancing and never let it show that she forgot. I love that about Chloe! She can improv! But apparently that deserves being yelled at by Abby. She was also yelled at because she didn't beat Maddie. But Abby would have gotten mad at Maddie if she didn't beat Chloe. They can't both win, but they don't deserve to be yelled at for it. (on a sidenote, I found it humorous that Chloe's solo was called "Nobody's Perfect" when Abby tells them they have to be (more on that later) and Abby doesn't want Chloe to get a big head from her national win (which is the opposite of what she inflicts on Maddie, she wants Maddie to have a big head))

It did make me a little sad to see Brooke and Paige gone. I truly believe they should still dance. Brooke is an incredible dancer and needs to keep it up! Paige is the sweetest little girl and is also amazing, but rarely gets to show it. Even if they don't want to go back to that competition team, they must still dance. Brooke has definitely lost her fire to compete, but I don't think she should give up dancing. Kelly... I don't care either way if she comes back. She makes me laugh sometimes, but even though the name of the show is Dance Moms, I watch it for the girls. But you could tell from the short segment they were featured in the episode last night, neither Paige or Brooke have a real desire to go back. And with the way Abby treats them, I think I understand.

Kendall is such a cute little girl even though she has, in the past, said somethings that are hurtful to the other girls. She is a good dancer and as they say constantly on the show, she has lots of potential. I am not a fan of Jill. She's getting much better than the way she used to act, but she's still not a favorite of mine. Kendall did a very good job with her solo. It did bother me that Abby kept saying "I'm done!" "You're done!" in their rehearsal, but Kendall got yelled at for leaving the rehearsal to cry? I feel that scenes were pieced together wrong to add more drama. But I hate the way Abby yells at kids for crying.

That being said, why would Abby nearly threaten an eight year old not to cry? Mackenzie only cries because she's terrified of what Abby might say if she messes up! It was adorable for Maddie to start a prayer for Mackenzie, she's such a good older sister. You could also see that when Mackenzie came back off stage. Maddie hugged her sister, told her she was amazing, and told her not to cry... because if she did she would get yelled at... and she did get yelled at. I was so mad that Abby told Mackenzie "You used to be a dumb little kid..." Why? Why would you say that to an 8 year old? Seriously Abby, why do you feel the need to give these girls a low self-esteem?? These girls are terrified to be any less than perfection, but that's not how life works! You can't be 100% perfect all the time! That's a better lesson to teach little girl than to not cry or you'll get yelled at. Thank you Mackenzie for saying "Ha ha, Abby, I won anyways!" You made me laugh and you deserved your win.

Maddie's solo was great, they always are. You can tell that Maddie loves to dance and is there because of her love to dance. But Abby is constantly shoving a competitiveness down her throat that will ultimately fail her. Maddie is having a harder time being humble because Abby puts her on a pedestal. I don't blame Maddie for what Abby has done to her. Abby is training Maddie to be a selfish dancing monster. She isn't one yet, but the current path she's on could definitely lead her there.

With everyone getting a solo, why would it be so hard to give Nia one? Nia is adorable and sweet and kind and a really good dancer! She's constantly improving. So why make her the only one without a solo? Secondly, on the subject of Nia, I was so mad at Abby for the things she was saying about Holly. Holly was fully justified in saying that it would be a waste to go to Denver for nothing. Abby, you can't force people to pay money to go to a dance competition and then take away their opportunity to dance. Abby was horribly rude to Holly and I hated it. Nia deserved to dance. She never did anything wrong, she almost never does. Stop punishing Nia for no reason! Let her dance!

Ally is a beautiful dancer! However, I am as angry as the moms were that Abby gave all the credit of their 1st place win to her. Abby also gave a lot of the credit to herself. Abby, you taught Ally for less than a week, you don't deserve ANY credit for the talent of Ally. Ally is incredibly talented and beautiful, but unlike the other girls on the team, you didn't make her, you didn't add to her talent. She came to you that way, and it is a shame to put all your stalk on an outside dancer when you constantly brag about how talented of a teacher you are and how you make stars. Ally is a star, but you didn't create her, and the dancers that you have "created" deserve just as much attention or else you don't deserve to brag about all the things you do anymore.

I'm not going to say much on Cathy except that I've never liked her. She's so over-the-top dramatic and downright cruel that I can't ever like her. But I would like to share another Dance Moms recap which casts Cathy as a comic book villain.

I loved the group dance! I really did! And I agree with Christi that the demons did just as good at the angel. The dance was amazing AS A WHOLE and Abby did not have to single out Ally.

Overall, the whole episode made me very angry at Abby. Abby is so much worse than she was before and I didn't think that was possible. She seemed constantly disappointed and irritated at the girls. They're little girls! Give them a break! But no, because she's Abby Lee Miller and she can't do that.

If anyone watched the silly "Smoke before the Fire" thing before the show, you may agree that Abby has snapped. The producer talked about meet and greets and Abby says they stabbed her in the back and that they were soliciting their kids. Abby, these women yell at you because they're trying to protect their kids! Besides, the girls are TV celebrities and having to pay for a meet and greet with them seems reasonable, especially if the money goes to guarding and protecting the girls. In the show it also looked like Christi had snapped. She wouldn't look at Abby and she wasn't able to talk to her without that look of fury in her eyes.  I always have been told that some of the fights are staged to add drama to the show, but as was seen in that interview, something else is going on. Abby has brought all the moms to their last nerve. Honestly, I would never want to work with someone like Abby, and I understand why the mothers are figuring that out as well.

I'm terrified of the future of this show. I'm literally angry with Abby. She's gone psycho and I'm really worried for those girls! They are all going to have low self-esteems, inflated egos, and a constant fear of failure or anything less than perfect. Last night's episode just made me angry. So here's hoping the rest of the season doesn't cause me to stop watching...