The Brooklyn Bridge

Dear God, thank you for mommy and daddy thank you for a dis day please bless that I can have a little brover amen. Dear God, Thank you for mommy and daddy and baby sitser please bless that we will all have good dreams and be happy and know whats right, amen. Dear God, Thank you that I am so beautiful. Please bless that my sister wouldn't bug me so much and bless people who are poor. Please bless that it will be cheesy breadsticks at lunch tomorrow. Amen. Dear God, Thank you for this day and for the food. Bless me not to be so ugly anymore and not trip in dance so much. Please bless that McKenna and Rosie will let me play with them at recess tomorrow and bless mom that she won't be so bossy. Amen. Dear God, Thank you that I get to go to work with my dad like every day and have so much fun. What do you want me to be when I'm like older? A magician? A writer? A mom? I think I want to be a mom. Like the best mom ever who even knows how to sew. Amen. Dear God, Th...

Every girl needs to tell her cheesy story while flailing her hands around and squealing, so here's the transcript of how Jon and I decided to get married and stuff if you'd like to read it.  July 2015 - First Met As a missionary for the LDS church in the Japan, I first met Elder Tanner (code name: Jon Tanner) at a conference in Fukutoku, Japan, where we were welcomed our new mission president. We shook hands and ate delicious lunch with 145 other missionaries! For six weeks, Jon and I both worked in the Matsumoto Branch in November 2015. We were good friends there (riiiight, "friends" ;) [no really, just friends who both had not great haircuts] uh huh, sure), and it was a little sad to say Goodbye to him, just like every elder and sister who goes home. However, I did not expect to see him again. The following January, as a junior at BYU, he emailed me with a couple updates about "real" life, and how much better it is to be in missionary life. We ...

Returning missionaries compare going home from the field to death, which is rather dramatic. We have built this new life, and sometimes a new person based on that little white book and big-deal of a blue book. We are on a now-familiar, stringent 16-hour work schedule and most of us have come to really enjoy it. We are blessed with plenty of time to study the gospel and many opportunities to bear testimony. You are doing all that one day, and then tomorrow comes and you step off an airplane into another world, different from the new environment and loved ones you have grown in and close to. It's all snatched away at once. It's kind of like...going on a mission in the first place! Ahahaha, everything is an interesting eternal round. I didn't quite feel like I died  coming home, but it was very strange. The mission seems like a short, wonderful, weird dream I had.  The good news is, it was real! Real, just like real life; the mission was exciting, beautiful, very diffi...

Me, Teagan, Alyssa. Two of my best friends, the day Teag got her mission call. This weekend I was doing a show at a seven-year-old's birthday party, and as I was setting up, I noticed the middle of a scene. Two of the party guests seem to have a minor quarrel, which ended in "Fine!" from the first girl and "FINE!" from the one talking with her. I'm not sure what happened, but that second grade drama is serious stuff, as many of you know. As the show went on, they laughed and had a good time but did not sit by or talk to one another. At the end, all the kids sit in a circle to meet and pet the rabbit. Bitter Girl tried picking up the rabbit and stumbled with how to hold it. Ex-friend immediately (out of habit, I infer)  helped her and showed her how. They paused and (no longer) Bitter Girl said "Do you want to be friends again?" And Helper/Healer Girl said, "Yeah, let's do it." And bam. Besties again. How easy was it for these ...

Sometimes I go lovely places and marvel at a geographically different portion of the sky we live under. The trees are majestic and the mountains are big show offs and the air feels lighter. When the environment changes sometimes the thoughts get cleaner and deeper and extremely analytical. So I feel like I've learned another tiny piece about something  I want to be good at and am a long way from doing so. But I forgot my journal, so here's another 212 words into the sea of internet oblivion. It's not about loving each other despite our weaknesses, it's about loving each other because of them. When they have a weakness and they're willing to show it to you, that is a rather high level of trust. They don't want the weakness, maybe they haven't even recognized it yet. But there is a good chance they are trying their best. With the trust, you have the opportunity to help them improve their character and yours by demonstrating patience, understanding, suppor...

So there's that moment. When you have to use the bathroom at your guy friends' apartment, and you're like ew. Just ewwww.*Shiver* No Brooklyn, it's okay, they're boys. Boys just do, they don't analyze spaces. Boys are messy. No big deal. But then you realize, oh my goodness. I'm marrying one of these someday. And that means live in the same proximity thereof. So conclusion: Boys (or messy people): ask your mother if you're rather messy, and if so, enhance your bonus points enormously by working on it in the name of love. Girls (or fellow anxiously OCD people): take a deep breath and calculate priorities. Messy rooms are not rebellious backlashes of evil laughter. They are humane occurences. Wishing you peaceful, strong, responsible and passionate love, Brooklyn

Scrape Day finally came! If for some bizarre reason anyone isn't sure what Scrape Day is, it's the first day after summer has ended in which you must scrape frost off your car. And if that bizarre reason is that I've made up the holiday, that's acceptable. Anyway, despite the sudden requirement for early-morning exercise, it's one of my favorite days of the entire year. It means my favorite period of the season has alas arrived. That cold, dark, chillingly breezy, dreary, cloud-invaded day that might be suddenly sprinkled or snowed upon. I know you wish I were writing saracastically, but truly. I think it's beautiful. Right at the beginning of a wonderful period of the year, so much promise, joy, and work to come. I really am glad warm weather is so popular, and it makes me happy that if it makes you happy, and I am sorry if the cold bothers you. But thanks for letting me have my favorite moment. :)

        YAWN. My lips stretch over my entire face as the invisible Exhaustion Monster creeps up my throat and out of my mouth. I accidentally glance at my daddy and the Monster bites him too. We each finish our yawns as we stumble into the theatre, another early morning session after a very late evening. Here we are at MagicLive!, a week-long, complete submersion of learning, buying, talking about, and showing off magic. Lectures in the morning, workshops in the afternoon, shows in the evening, and endless brainstorming, chatting, and rehearsing all night. Not to mention a big change of heart, speedily on its way to me and my career.   This convention is, without a doubt, the best four days of my whole summer. As we find our seats in the theatre, we’re weary but very anxious to know who takes the stage to bring their very professional, experience-oriented, and possibly invaluable wisdom. I open my official, laminated, designer MagicLive! binder and flip ...

This is definitely me at the present moment.

"This is it, I have found it. I am in hell." This journey is an absolute gem. It has all my favorite feels in it. Steel Magnolias is the story of six friends who give their story to the audience through visits to Truvy's salon. Shelby is about to be married, her mother M'Lynn is like any mother-of-the bride, widow of the mayor Clairee enjoys watching all of it unfold, Annelle is a brand new stylist and scared to death, and Ms. Ouiser Boudreaux is just about every cranky loud grandma you've ever met, combined and magnified by 18. As their lives and love change, we see the beautiful strength in these women. This is one of the plays I am most grateful for. I hold an overwhelming appreciation to my director for trusting me with the gift of Ouiser. She's a nut, like me, but I can't believe he actually believed in me that much, and for that and many other lessons he taught me, I'll be indebted to him in my entire life. I had so much fun in this wonderful...

A day I never thought much about coming came. Today was wonderful! I am so happy. High school was truly an amazing adventure.  I love it and am proud to be a Spartan. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you to every remarkable soul in my life, especially my family, and my friends just like family. I love you! In the high school, we are supposed to learn a thing or two, so hopefully, you would agree with me that we did! Mrs. Hanson and Mr. Drake taught me to write cautiously and bravely. Ms. Spackman and Mr. Georgelas taught me to decide to have always have energy. From Mr. Wood, I learned that if at first you don't succeed, just succeed in being a bad example. From Ms. Chappell, I learned that with hard work and smile you can basically accomplish anything. However, I think the most valuable lesson, among many, I have learned comes from Mr. Saxton (if you all weren’t sure, I’m kind of into the theatre-drama stuff). He taught us that STORY IS KING. Any production can be ...

Life is like a book, there is a beginning we are exuberant to start, but an end we fear will come all too quickly. Every page comes with its own surprises, and we are eager to turn each one. Every book is unique, has a protagonist and an antagonist, and has a different ending; happily ever after or not. Every chapter’s title gives us the slightest taste of what’s approaching, but we never really know what’s going to happen until we are brave enough to read each word. Sometimes we may not know what some of the words mean, or the writing style we are given is confusing, but we must be patient and evaluate on what’s happened. Who knows? Maybe everything will fall into place later on. In the electrifying, astonishing novel of my life, I am on an unknown journey to conquer an unknown enemy, and return to an unknown place; a utopia. As I proceed on my journey, I explore new things and enjoy each page as it comes. I sample different experiences, some pleasurable and congenial, others excruc...