Lake Havasu City and Viva la Gente!!! Leon, Mexico!!

What an amazing last week i have had! It all started in the beautiful Lake Havasu City, Arizona! With a nice temp of 117degrees F! Whew....i couldnt stand outside for more than two minutes without getting sweaty!!!!! It was such an experience though, i had never been to Lake Havasu! My host parents were simply amazing!!! Dawn and Eric Larsen, i enjoyed them so much and i found that i got extremely close to them in our stay in LHC. They had an outdoor swimming pool so me and my roommate Lima spent a lot of time outside at night, it was so awesome! I loved every minute of it! One night they took us out on the lake with their boat! It was so beautful!!!! i cant wait to go back and visit them when i come home. Eric is a carpenter and i had the honor of getting to sleep in the bed that was in the wall!!! haha it was so cool!!! You just pulled it down and it made the bed, not to mention it was soooo comfy!! =) I was so sad to leave them, they treated me and Lima like their own daughters and i feel so extremely blessed to have crossed paths with them! Its a forever long friendship!!! We perfomed two shows in Lake Havasu, it was so much fun and also our last city/show of the US part of our tour so we had to make it extra special!!! I didnt feel too good on friday and saturday---the nights of our show, but i stuck it out and im all recovered now i just have a really weird congested cough. Its going away slowly!!! Anyway then we ended our time in Lake Havasu and headed for the Phoenix airport on Sunday morning at 6am!!! We arrived at the airport around 10 and boarded our plane at 3! We flew to Heramosia and from there we got off the plane and went through immigration and got Back Onto the plane and flew to Mexico City! we flew in at night and i have got to say that it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in my entire life. My breath was literally taken away whenever i opened my window of the plane and looked down at Mexico City! It was GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the lights!!!! I think it is classified as the largest city in the world with over 25million people there! It was nuts!!! So once we got off the airplane we went through customs and saw Armando and Seli waiting for us and cameras all around taking our pictures, we were welcomed by a huge banner that read VIVA LA GENTE!!! It was awesome! Out of all the excitement i ran to my bag to grab my camera and..........it was nowhere to be found! THEN i remembered that when i was on the plane i had my bag underneath the seat and when we were getting off my bag fell and i just picked it up and got off the plane. My camera must have fallen out under the seat and i never noticed!!!!Ahhh so i started to freak out! =( I tried going to lost and found but it was already closed so Armando stayed in Mexico City and is going back to the airport to find my camera (CROSS MY FINGERS THAT ITS THERE) i will be so heart broken if its not. So then after that chaos we loaded up the buses in Mexico City and rode for 7hours with a hour break to Leon Mexico! We arrived around 6am and when we got out of the buses we all went inside to this HUGE room and layed on the ground and fell asleep for three more hours! We were So Exhausted!!! It was freezing and everyone was cuddled up with chair coveres that were laying on the ground. it was HILARIOUS! Thank god i had my own pillow and blankie So i was good to go! Emil Shared my pillow and we were out like lights! We got up around 930, got ready and i went and washed up in the bathroom. We were at a college and i walked around a mess and everyone was curious watching us! Haha. Then we had a huge welcoming from the University. There were dancers that perfomed and some people that talked. It was so much fun getting to see a whole new culture! Then for lunch we ate outside with some mexicans and then all of a sudden we heard music and it was Mariachies!!!!! Haha, so cool! we danced and sang with them forever! it was a blast! We then had a cast meeting and waited for our host families. I was extremely nervous because i was worried about getting a host family that didnt speak any english. And 80% of the cast didnt have roommates so i was quite nervous! But i found out that i was rooming with Nao from Japan! she is AWESOME! i love her so much, and then we found our host family (the code word was musician, and they were holding a violin) The lady waitng for us wasnt our host mom though, it was the sister of her. So we met all of the family! And my host family is a mom, two girls ages 12 and 6!!! They hardly speak ANY ENGLISH! So it was funny we had to laugh because i took out a piece of paper that had a ton of phrases in english and spanish... We then went to the grandmas house to have dinner. We ate Sopas with beans and cheese and chili. It was so good!!!!!!!! We talked to them as much as we could then came home. It rained so much all day so it was so wet outside!!! Like flood status! haha. but earlier today my shoulders got burned because it was so hot. So the weather was funny today. Usually its really hot. I live in a cute little casita with the girls. Im staying in the bunk beds with Nao. The little girl is adorable she speaks spanish to me and i try to figure out what shes saying. The Mom has such a huge heart and is so giving! And Jemena the oldest daughter is so smart!!!!!!!!!!! She learns some english and Japanese and french! Shes awesome! I love them all so much! I cant wait to see what the week brings! As for now, i better get some REAL sleep in an Actual BED! NightyNight!

I missed an entire week!!! Sat-Sun 8/15--8/24

Haha, my bad. I have slacked off horribly with this blog! Yikes!so much has happened this past week and it stinks that im going to just have to sum it up to what i remember!!!! Our show in Aspen/Snowmass was kinda rough. It was FREEZING so we all were cold the entire time. I started to get really sick and losing my voice because the cold wind was going down my throat and my vocal chords couldn't stay warmed up. It was so hard to sing with the wind blowing in your mouth. And it was about 45degrees when we performed. I didnt talk most of show day because i knew i needed to save my voice. Mariah and Jada came to see me and so did my cousins Charlotte and Ashley! It was an awesome surprise to see them. They froze watching the show and i was so thankful to at least get to see them!!!! Then we had to Strike down and we all were bundled up, i helped with costumes because i felt so yucky!!! =( we finally got home at 1am and then my host parents woke me and Kristine up at 6:50AM. and i was so exhausted and my body was aching from the day before. I guess i was coughing all throughout the night and i didnt get much sleep. At one point Kristine said i was coughing so bad she woke up and stayed awake for like 10 minutes while i was coughing just to make sure i was still breathing it sounded so bad. =( it was so scary. So when Barbara and Jack woke us up, i couldnt get up. I needed to stay in bed so i wouldnt get any worse. So they left and went to a monastery without me. So i was able to sleep until about 10. Then i got up feeling a lot better than i had that morning so that was a good sign even though i was still coughing really badly. Then me and Barbara made a carrot cake because that was the recipe i got from her and we made it together. We then went sightseeing with them. They drove us to Independence Pass, it was Amazingly beautiful! Then we went to Maroon Bells and that was just as beautiful! When we got home we ate a good dinner!!!! Shrimp Alfredo and i dont remember what else. but the carrot cake was for dessert and it was Delish!!!! Monday we left at 7am heading to Durango! I was soooo stoked because that meant i got to see my family!!!!! =) The drive was long and i couldnt sleep because i was so excited! We stopped in Ouray and i talked to my mommy, it was so exciting to know i was going to see my parents so soon!!!! =) When we got to durango they briefed us on the city and what we were going to be doing while we were there and then the host families were waiting for us outside! It was so funny cause everyone was holding me and quita back because they knew our families were out there waiting for us. Then finally they said we could go and i jetted out and ran to my mom and dad and sister! IT WAS AWESOME! I cried like a baby cause i was sooo happy, and so did they!!! =) we picked up rico from football and then we went home. IT was so sweet, there was a huge welcome home sign in the den of my house so i was able to walk in and see it right away! SO AWESOME! It was sooo weird walking into my house and room, i felt like i hadnt been there in forever!! I kept asking, "what did you guys change? it feels different!" haha So then we ate my favoirte Thai food and i went to bed, I already had got a little emotional because i knew that my stay was going to be super short! I woke up in the morning and went back to durango. We had a community impact day and we worked on trails in the mountains! I got a little altitude sick so i wasnt able to make it all the way to the top! I was soooo sad! It was such an intense hike though and i had made it pretty far. So instead i went back downtown and helped with promotions for the shows. Then after my mommy came and picked me up. Aude from Quebec went with us too! That night my family came over for dinner and then wednesday i had the day off so it was nice getting to just hang around my house and town for a day. I went to my little brother Rico's school and ate lunch with him and met his teacher. It was so cute!!! I miss my family so much! Doing the little things like that are what i miss the most. Thursday was our first show day and i was so excited because it was the first time my family was going to get to see what i have been doing for the past month! The day went by so slow because i was so anxious!!! Then i saw my family after i got ready for the show and there were so many people there for me! I felt soooo special. The show went amazing and my parents bought me Red Roses! It was awesome!!!!!!! Then Friday was another show day and it was the night that all my family was going to be there! every time my picture came up on the screen they would scream, even when i finished my solo they screamed! It was hilarious! Everyone in the cast was making fun of me!! Bruce Erley (the father of our Marketing Manager) even asked me if i could take all my family to all my shows! It was so funny!!! Then after our strike on Friday night i stayed in a hotel with my parents, sister and little brother because we had to leave at like 7am. I cried leaving them the next morning but they were happy tears because i was just so thankful i was able to see them and spend time with them as much as i did!!! We were on our way to Chino Valley and then we stopped at the Grand Canyon on our way there! It was sooooo cool! I had never been to the Grand Canyon so it was exciting to get to see it for the first time! The only downfall was that it rained...and rained...and rained! We were SOOOO SOAKED by the end of our two hours there! It was fun though, we took a huge cast picture when it was pouring rain! Every single tourist was looking at us like we were CRAZY! Then when we got to Chino Valley we met our host families! I am roomies with Yui our show manager and we have a cute little family! Our host dad Jim was an UwP Alum and his wife Lynn was a professional dancer in Las Vegas. They did shows together and all kinds of cool stuff! They have two little kids named Owen (5) and Jordyn (2) They are the most adorable little kids i have ever met! They are so free spirited! I am sooooo happy i finally got to be around little kids! They are such a great passion of mine!!! That night we just hung out and visited with them! It was so nice to get to relax and sleep! On Sunday morning it was our host family day so we woke up at 9am and went to church at 11. I definitely was stoked to get to go to church! It is something i have been missing so much!!! The worship was absolutely remarkable and i felt so at home! =) Then we ate lunch and just hung out with the family! We took a walk, sat outside! They have a beautiful home and neighborhood! I loved getting to know them better and im so sad that i dont have more time to spend with them. But its cool that they are so close to my home so that when i come back i can just go right next door to Arizona and hang out with them! =) We went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant for Yui and then we got ice cream and walked around the little park around downtown! It was so fun!!! Me and Owen raced a lot around the park! And Jordie was adorable eating her cotton candy ice cream that was all over her face rather than in her mouth! =) We had a little fire outside and visited with our neighbors! Shelsea and Helen were staying next door to us! So we had a bonding time!!! now today we are at Chino Valley High School doing a show tonight and then tomorrow we leave for Lake Havasu City! And next week i will be in MEXICO! =) woo hoo!! I shall write again sooooon! XoXo

Wednesday-Friday!!!

These past few days have been quite a big blur so i will do my best to fill you guys in on everything!! I have been mostly writing in my personal journal since i havent found the time or energy to type!! Wednesday was one of the longest days so far...i know i have said that a couple times in the other posts, but this day definitely beats out all the rest!! It all started with the entire day being devoted to the show. We had to run through a lot of it because we were having some parts videotaped for advertising reasons, so there were some songs we would do over and over again to get them recorded. They had to be perfect. It was long....but having a video camera in your face was pretty cool actually! haha. Then we did a full run through with specialty costumes and then after that we had to get ready for the show!!! We only had an hour to eat dinner and be ready full makeup and hair for the show. So i ate fast and ran and changed and did hair and makeup. Good thing i already have big hair because it wasnt too hard for me to do!! So after that we have what is called Green Room right before a show and that is where we do some fun dancing and singing things just to get our energy up! But this green room was especially Special to us because it was our first official show!!! They had us enter and there was music playing..balloons flying...streamers EVERYWHERE...and the cast was jumping and screaming for us! It was hilarious and so much fun! We danced around and sang. Then they had us all get into a huge group and close our eyes. When we did they started reading the things we had wrote on facebook before we had arrived to denver....and before we had all met. Tears were already falling down my face because they read some of our goals and challenges we wrote, they read what we said to introduce ourselves...It was sooo emotional. Then they had us all sit in front of a screen and they played Because You Loved me from Celine Dion and then pictures started going across the screen from our families they held signs saying Good luck on your first show and all kinds of stuff...so then everyone was crying again!! I didnt see mine on the screen so i just cried for everyone else haha...then afterwards they had all the pictures taped to the wall and when i went over there Quita was standing there crying and i look up and i just start bawling because i see the pictures from my family!!! They were AWESOME! I will upload pictures to photobucket when i have time and i will show you the pictures they sent me! They made me laugh so hard but cry even harder. Then in the middle of crying i hear...5 minutes everyone...Places Places!! AND I have opening song! So my eyes were bloodshot red from crying so hard and then i ran to the bathroom, grabbed tissue..wiped my face and then took a million deep breaths. I thanked God over and over for the fact that nobody would be able to see my red eyes while i was on stage because they were so far away!! haha IT was awesome but still very emotional. The show went SOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I was so happy!!! At the end i ran to change my clothes so i could go into admissions and then Michael, my vocal teacher came to find me and told me i needed to do him a favor, and that there was a little girl in the lobby that wanted to meet me the girl that sang and to get my autograph. It was so cute! She was 10 years old named Gabi. She was absolutely Stunning!!!! I felt so honored to get to meet her and talk with her for a bit. Hopefully when she gets older she will shine her light and show the world what she can do!!! =) it made my night and that little girl is someone i will never forget!!! I then went and did admissions and just hung out with everyone enjoyed peoples company and we were able to head home around midnight after striking the stage and everything. It was going to be such a long night because i had not packed yet and we left for aspen at 8am!! So me and Quita went home and stayed up ALLLLLL NIGHT packing! haha i think i layed down around 5am when Quita got into the shower and i slept for about 45minutes. i finished getting ready...got all my bags and took them upstairs for Paul to load up in the car. We left the house and when we got to the Pepsi center every ones luggage was lined up and it made me so excited but also so sad because i didnt want to leave maryjo and paul. When i said goodbye to her i cried so hard, she kept holding me and i kept on crying. I cried till we drove away and i was crying waving goodbye.... So sad. Well my first bus date was Emil and he was so awesome, he is from Sweden and we fell asleep for the first half of the trip and then we talked the rest of the time. We mostly talked about our families and told funny stories from our past experiences. It was so much fun, he tried to teach me how to rap and beatbox and we tried making a music video but it totally DIDNT work! haha I am not good at that kind of stuff! It was very fun and entertaining. When we got to Aspen finally we had a huge introduction to the city and we rode Gondolas to the top of the mountain of Snowmass Village and we hungout and did some meeting stuff. Then we got back on the bus and went to meet our host families! Me and my friend Kristine from Norway are roommates and we have an older couple for our host parents. Their names are Jack and Barbra. They are the sweetest people! They are so free spirited and we like them a lot! Kristine is such a blessing too, i know she is going to be one of my closest friends, we talk about everything together it is AWESOME! So we ate dinner with them and talked about traveling and all kinds of fun stuff! Then Friday we got up early and had our Community Impact Project day, We were split into groups and my group went to a place called woodcreek and did some trail work. Like fixing the trails and cleaning up the vegetation around them. It was fun but it had rained all night so it was very wet, and it rained on us as we were working but it wasnt too bad. after doing that from 9am till 3 we went back to rejoin the cast as a whole and we did some education activities, then came home and ate dinner and now i am ready for bed! Tomorrow is Show day and Mariah and Jada are coming to see me so i am so excited to get to see a familiar face!!! =) wooo hoo! i love family! and my niece is the most beautiful little girl so i cant wait to see her! It is actually pouring down rain right now and lightening and thundering so hopefully tomorrow there is good weather because the show is outdoors and the audience sits on a hill!!! I hope everything goes good!!!! XoXo!

Sunday-Tuesday!!!

Wow i got a little behind! Sorry!!! Ill start off with Sunday and the finishing touch to my eventful weekend...NOT...I was sick with food poisoning so it was nice to relax and not be so sick on sunday. I slept in, just hung out at the house and didnt do too much. Me and Quita drove to Boulder around 6 to have some dinner and see a few of her friends. I had a lot of fun, i definitely needed to get out of the house i felt like a bear in hibernation because i stay in the basement and i didnt really feel up to moving around too much at home. The night ended well though! Thank goodness my entire weekend wasnt ruined!
Monday---VERY weird day! It was up and down most of the day but i survived and that is ALL that matters!!! We had some separate vocal and dance workshops again, then just set up the stage and everything that was needed for that. I danced and did a vocal workshop so i didnt help with setting up. Then after lunch i really really didnt feel good. We had Pasta and i probably shouldnt have ate because my stomach has went through so much over the weekend that i needed to stick with Light foods and nothing heavy. So i got really sick and made a dash to the bathroom...=( It was Miserable! I called my mom because i was wondering why i was throwing up so much and i cried to her...it was really rough especially because i needed to be working on the show and focusing on that and i was over here sick to my stomach with a fever and just feeling YUCKY! My mommy made me feel so much better though. Its crazy even just how tender a mothers voice is and you feel like everything is just okay no matter what! I LOVE it! Family is awesome!!!! I am sooooo blessed to have such a great one. Anywho, back to my story...After i got off the phone with my mom i sat outside and got fresh air and i started to slowly feel so much better. Naquita came outside and prayed with me and over my body so it helped a lot. I ended up drinking lots and lots of water and eating some saltine crackers to help my stomach and it DID! I was feeling so good by around 230! So After that we did a run through of a few songs and then the day was over! But me and Quita had tickets to go to the Colorado Rockies game! They played the Chicago Cubs! And WON! woo hoo! we had an AMAZING time and it was the perfect thing i needed! Fresh Air...and Baseball!!! Good time...with good people!!!
Tuesday---So today we had a guest speaker named Caroline Lee. She was AWESOME! She has been talking to casts of Up with People since the 70s and she gave us a speech on how to not waste the time we have right now and enjoy and get the most out of this trip and to TRY everything and that these experiences will affect us for the rest of our lives! IT was an awesome speech and definitely made me so stoked for UwP and the fact that our tour is about to begin in just a couple days!!!! An Alum named Faith talked to us also she was amazing as well!!! then we did one last full run through and ate dinner and got ready for the show for all of our host families and friends. I was a bit nervous but so excited that it was finally a real audience! =) It went GREAT...a bit intense but SOOOOO MUCH FUN! i am so stoked that we get to perform this show all over the world! ahhhhhh it is amazing how it all came together in a month! It was also a sad night because all of our staging staff is not traveling with us. So we get tomorrow with them and that is it! I AM SOOOOO SAD! i cried quite a bit, it was very emotional! I had to laugh i remember at the beginning of staging my friend Drew told me...Rachel did you know that you joined the group Up with Emotions! hahaha i thought about it tonight because after i was all dressed with hair and makeup done i started CRYING! and ugh! it was so sad! But i have already made some amazing friends and they will be everlasting friends Forever!!!! MaryJo and Paul along with two of their friends went to watch our show and tomorrow night i am having quite a few people come and watch so i am so excited! I better get to bed because i have such a long day ahead of me!!! XoXo!!!

Thursday-Saturday!!!

Thursday we woke up so late!! Quita shut off the alarm and MaryJo came in and woke us up at 835! We were supposed to have left the house at 730! She had to take Jade (her daughter) to the airport so she had just got home. So we didnt get to practice until 945! We were doing Full Run through and i was the opening song so Michael kept callin me seeing where i was at because they were waiting for me! So i got there and we finished our full run through and it was the last time we are running it until Monday. After lunch i had a workshop for voice with Michael, he is such an awesome vocal coach. He taught me ways to sing With One Heart better! And after that i had a dance workshop for the Love Medley because i am learning the part of Love Girl, so that shall be interesting. I feel like my brain has had so much info its almost like i cant learn anything else! haha but i AM and it is going to be fun when everything is learned for the show and i can look back and see how hard i worked!!! It rained really hard while everyone was striking the set and they all got wet and rained on! It was hilarious there was a few of us inside the huge ballroom and we saw everyone coming in from outside and they were soaking wet!!! there were so many of them that had a water fight outside. Then all of a sudden you hear a huge loud scream and they ALL STARTED SCREAMING and running around like chickens with their heads cut off! I was freaking out and covered my ears cause the screaming was so loud...then they all fell down to the ground and were silent...and i yelled.."you guys are FREAKS" and then they all started vibrating on the ground and making noise like if they were dead fish or something. It was HILARIOUS! Then they all got up and walked out and around Silent..like nothing had happened! It was so hilarious i wish i had it recorded i was so freaked out at first! Us Up with People kids do weird things like that all the time and i need to get used to it! hahaha! Then we all said Goodbye to the Sherman center because it was our last time there!!! It was a beautiful building and i am gonna miss it! =( a lot!!!

Friday---We met at a church down the street of the Sherman center and we were split up because it was a community impact day (CI day) and some of us had to stay at the church and do dance workshops to clean up and review some of our dances and then the rest of the students were shuttled to the Foodbank of the rockies. and they helped and packaged food there all day. I was one of the students that had to stay at the church and do two dance workshops then when i wasnt dancing i was doing community service for the church we were at...in the morning me and Shelsea pulled weeds around the Church and a homeless guy was walking and he saw us pulling weeds and he offered to help us because he was waiting for someone to pick him up and they were running late. He was really really nice..his name was Jack and he helped us a lot! Then we painted some hallways and rooms in the church that needed to be repainted. we all brought sack lunches and maryjo made me and quita lunches it was so sweet. We all ate outside and it was a fun lunch time!! The entire cast came back around 330 and we did an admissions workshop learning how to give interviews at the end of shows for anyone that was interested in joining up with people. it was fun but we all were so exhausted by the end of the day and were ready to go home!!! It was such a hot day the sun definitely took it all out of me! Then when we were driving home me and quita made a bet that mary jo had made dinner and i said she Didnt and that we were going out to eat. so we bet on a free starbucks. And i ended up winning!!! we walked in the door and usualy we can smell the food and i didnt smell anything so i started jumping up and down singing I am the champion of the world! haha And When we came downstairs maryjo told us we were going out! We ate at this awesome restaurant and brewery. And me and Quita shared the sampler appetizer plate. Well after that we went for a walk around the lil pavilion thing it was awesome and BEAUTIFUL there were fountains coming out of the ground and me and quita ran through it!!! and we walked to the Hockey place and watched some teams play hockey for awhile. It was a nice lil place to walk around. We were with maryjo and pauls friends Sherry and Tony. They are their good friends and always go dancing together. They went with us to WestCoast swing competition. Then we came home and i talked to my mommy on the phone and missed her a lot! We talked about our moms at dinner a lot so i called her to tell her i loved her. Then when i got home i talked to my sister and my mom again. I had to do a presentation on New Mexico so i was looking up fun facts and stuff while i was on the phone with my mom and then i started to not feel so good. Well after i got off the phone i just figured i was tired and needed to go to bed. Well i went to the bathroom because i felt really sick to my stomach and i ended up throwing up, so i slept on the couch with a trash can next to me and i woke up every hour super sweaty and hot throwing up. It was MISERABLE! i had a bit of a fever and i was just sick as a dog! So i went into the room and told quita and i slept with the window open cause i was so hot! And quita had to get up at 7 and i couldn't even move because i still felt so sick! So i had to stay home from our other CI project today and i was sooooo sad! Maryjo took care of me and got me ginger ale and toast. So i mostly slept and stayed curled up in a ball with my pillow all day. Around 5 i got up took a shower and went to the grocery store with maryjo because i was feeling a bit better and needed to get out of the house and move around. So when we got home i sat outside for about an hour and just hung out. I ate soup for dinner and i am definitely feeling a lot better but i am still very lethargic and tired. Whew...what a long night and day! MaryJo is pretty sure i got sick from the Guacamole i ate last night because since me and quita shared food i was the only one that ate the Guacamole and mj said it is the highest thing to get food poisoning from! =( sad!!!! So im glad i get tomorrow off also so i can still recover! Then Monday we start over and we leave denver on Thursday. I am sad to leave MaryJo and Paul. I got so close to them and i am prolly gonna cry when i leave =( They are amazing people and i am so blessed i got to spend all this time with them and get to know them as well as i did!!! Well im off to bed! Nighty night! XOXO

Tuesday-Wednesday!

Man it has already been such a long week and it is only wednesday!!! This is the week that everything is totally broke down and we get down to business with the show. Our first performance is on August 11 for our host families then for the public on Aug. 12th So it has definitely been a bit stressful the past few days. All we do everyday is go back over the things we have learned and put it together so we can have a good lookin show. =) it is going to be awesome when we all finally finish prepping for it. And i cannot tell you how happy i am that staging is almost over and we can finally get busy with our tour and Community Service projects. Tuesday we had Full run through with our specialty costumes...It went really well but it is just rough getting used to the sequence of songs and which ones come after which...Plus everyone that has to change is running around like chickens with their heads cut off! haha it is always so hectic!!! I sang With One Heart so many times that my vocal chords started to get a little bit swollen so i have to take it easy on the talking until the show and not strain my voice. It is so hard to NOT talk so we will see how i do with it. Also i am on a water binge..haha thats all i drink and i drink a lot of it, so it will help my vocal chords too! For some reason i got extremely Homesick and when i called home i heard my moms voice and just started crying. It was crazy....to be so busy and stressed and then to hear the comfort back home...i miss it so much. =( Things definitely are so much more intense this week and they warned us that it would be a long long week. So i was just exhausted and talking to my mom helped me a lot! Also i talked to Shane and he let me vent so it was nice. Other than that i slept well and woke up this morning ready to do it all again!
So Wednesday---we had to stay late tonight, Got home around 815 and i was so tired.... We have to make these 'Me' pages and i still havent made mine. i will probably make it tomorrow during lunch or something im too tired to do it tonight...and i got a text from my michelle saying i needed to keep up with my blog and i figured that if i waited till tomorrow i would forget everything that happened yesterday haha! So thanks lady...keepin me in line! So today all we did was full run through alllllll day long! then i had a workshop to watch Aulde...She is the lead role for a part of the show called the Love Medley, it is so many songs all compiled into one event...it is awesome! But i have to shadow her because i will workshop and learn the lead roll also. So it shall be interesting. I had to laugh at myself today because i totally felt like my brain was hitting MAXIMUM CAPACITY! haha like the number of people that are allowed to be in a restaurant....well my brain is full....i feel like i cant take anymore in at the moment! haha so i just recorded her doing it and i will study it sometime next week! Oooo we also did a cool little thing today where we had to dance to some fun 60's music to get our energy up. Up with People are known for energy in the show so it is sooooo important that we learn how we need to be. We watched and critiqued everyone so it was interesting and helped so much! Well i am done typing...my fingers are getting stiff i better go to sleeeeep! GOODNIGHT! =)

Sunday Funday----LONG Monday

SUNDAY-----Was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, i had the best time!!! We slept in and then we ate breakfast and started our adventure to Elitch Gardens. (amusement park) I cant even begin to tell you how stoked i was to get to ride a rollercoaster! Woo hoo!! We met up with a whole bunch of our cast mates there so we called it an Uppie Fest! =) We started out with a few rollercoasters and then did some water rides. We got SOAKED! But it was so nice, it was such a hot hot day! Glad it was also a water park! We hung out, laughed a lot....and i mean A LOT! I remember going into a hat store and trying every single funny hat on and taking pictures, Good times!!! I will have to post up some pictures of it on here...Then Me and Quita skipped out on lunch because we werent really hungry! We met up with another big crew up UwP peeps and just finished the day off with one last water ride. We all had a blast! It definitely was the day i have been longing for since all this mayhem has started!!! A nice FUN Rollercoaster day!!! I wish my family was here though, things would be a million times better if they were! So once i got home, i was exhausted! I sat on the couch and ended up passing out with my bathing suit still on! Haha, thats how wore out i was...i couldnt even make it to my bed!!! I finally woke up though and successfully made it to the room!!! Little did i know, this week was going to be SO BUSY and LONG!
MONDAY------So Monday, whew...what a long long day! It is officially our Last full week of staging and i cant believe it is week FOUR! My gosh, where does time go!? Anywho, we have a show to do in exactly ONE week so we are just busy bee's practicing and doing run through of the entire show to prep us for next week!!! We had a guest speaker Bruce Erley and he is Matthews dad (staff member and marketing manager) He talked to us about Life in a fishbowl. Meaning everything we do is visible to everyone else...It was really interesting and im sure was well needed before we started our tour so it was cool, he is also super funny!!! Then i had 2dance workshops to review my dance for Oye Boom and Jai Ho. They were fun and i was so glad we had review days so i can refresh my memory!!! After lunch we started our run through process of the show. It was a long day after lunch but i enjoyed getting the feel for how the show was going to be back in my blood for this week. I sang Power With, With One Heart and i danced to Oye Boom and Jai Ho. It was so stressful and i was so hot and sweaty because i had to change into different outfits for each of them...and in between two of my numbers i only had a min to change because there was a Poem that was being read! By the time i Ran across stage i was sweating and breathing hard! haha but i seemed to do fine....It was fun though! Everyone is so talented i have an amazing cast!!! Then i came home and ate dinner and i am so exhausted i need to go to bed! AFTER i practice my lyrics AGAIN! haha NightyNight!

Wednesday-Saturday!!!

I know i haven't wrote in such a long time and i apologize in advance because this entry is going to be quite lengthy! But my daddy told me i better not get too behind so i better get my act together so i can have short everyday entries...so i will just highlight all the cool and important things that have happened the rest of my week!!! On Wednesday we just had our workshops like usual, dance and vocal. I Practiced a couple songs and then since i am in background vocals we had our own workshop for that too. It is kind of overwhelming because i am learning and filling my brain with So much every single day! But i am working my butt off so i know in the end i will look back at this time and be so proud of myself. I already AM to the point of being so proud of myself! =) Then in the afternoon we got a Specialty Costume workshop, to walk us through the specialty costumes and what to do if we had to change and stuff, Because for the songs we have certain outfits to wear (the soloists and the dancers) so they just showed us all of that stuff. It was definitely exciting to see all the costumes. Then we ate dinner and had to stay till like 730 because we had an educational workshop to do. It was interesting. We split up into groups and were given an item....we had to talk about the global issue that we thought was represented by the item then we had a discussion about it. My group got a bag of Rice. We basically had it represent World Hunger. Because there is more than enough food produced in the world to have each and every person to be well nourished...But yet we have starving people all over the world. So we discussed that. Then we had to all sit in a circle and relate what our item was to another groups item. So we related ours with another group that had a bag of dirt. Because we felt that it was related because of land and farms...And we had yarn that we held and threw the other end to them..and they did the same thing. So at the end we had a huge yarn mess that was criss-crossed in every direction. So the point of the game was that everything was connected in one way or another. We had some very good discussions! Then i went home and went to bed right away! i was soooo exhausted!
Thursday was our first official day that we had our Full Walk through of the show, Costumes, live songs and dances....It was awesome. It was definitely very time consuming but it made me feel so much better about this whole situation. I don't feel so blind anymore, getting to see people actually performing what they have been practicing was awesome! we have such amazing talent in our group! I sang three solos *With one Heart *Power With *Oye Boom then i was the back up singer for 3songs. It was so much fun to get to sing and perform. I got some amazing compliments and that made me feel super good!!! =) I am having such a blast with all these people i love how encouraging every single person is to everyone! The way they lift people up is so awesome! So thats all we did allllll day long! It was a long day but super fun! Then we had some vocal time at the end of the day and that was it! When we got home some of Pauls family was coming over for dinner, they were in from Chicago. It was fun getting to know them, but i was so tired from the day that it was a little too much for me, but i stuck it out and was able to talk to my family for awhile so that relieved me quite a bit!!! i Cant wait to seeee my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday! So i cannot even begin to tell you how happy i was that it was Friday! the week has been so long and busy busy....Time for some rest! We started our day out with picture day! We had to get our picture taken because if UwP needs to put our picture on the net or do something with all of us they can have an individual picture of each of us. So we had picture day, and got together with our home team groups and kind of just touched base. I love my home team group they are sooo awesome! there is about 12 of us with two team leaders Gabe and Anthony. We just hung out and chatted, it was nice being in a small group and getting to talk to everyone about things that have been going on in each of our lives. We went around our circle and told one Good and bad thing that has happened, and one thing we appreciate in our lives. It was a nice way to vent. Then i had vocal workshops for singing so i had to miss cast movement which made me sad because i LOVE to workout! and i need to!!! but i had to sing instead. then after lunch i had to sing again but this time for solos. I had to practice my Oye Boom song with Pieter, the guy i am singing it with. Its a fast fast Spanish song and we have to dance and look good. So we were practicing! We had so much fun! He Cracks me up soooo much. He was making us laugh so hard that my vocal teachers were crying and i almost pee'd my pants! it was so much fun!!!! Then we had to move buildings because there was going to be a wedding in the Sherman Event Center and we had to clean up all our stuff and take chairs certain places....then we had to walk down the street to a church to finish our day with a cast meeting. So we get all of our belongings and walk down the street. When we get there we jus all sit down and got into a huge circle and we each had to say ONE word about how we felt after these three weeks of staging....I said Blessed. for my word...Everyones words were so good...and i think i definitely feel a lot more than just blessed, but i think Blessed pretty much sums everything up because without God, i wouldnt be where i am or even WHO i am. So i am VERY VERY VERY Blessed and i continually feel Gods blessings on me each and everyday! He is so good!!!!!! I am here for one reason and that is to shine HIS light...Oh i am soooo stoked! =) Wooo hooo i could scream right now! haha! So back to the cast meeting....We all hungout and then the staff ran away and we were all confused then they all of a sudden open this huge door/window thing and they were all wearing chefs hats and all of a sudden Hans yells..."welcome to the Up with People, Ice cream Party!!!!!" and we all SCREAMED! there was sooooo much icecream waiting to be served to us! it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we spent an hour and a half eating ice cream and having a huge Dance party! it was such a nice way to relax and end our week! They said they wanted to reward us for all our hard work! It was awesome!!!!!!!!!
Saturday...i slept in finally!!! Till 11, went and got a manicure and a pedicure with Quita, then i drove to Littleton to see my cousins Cheryl and Alyse cause Alyse was singing in her church choir and then we went out to dinner and then i went back to their house and watched a movie with them! it was so nice getting to see them, they are sooooo amazing and sweet to me! Then i came home and got lost on the way back haha so i had a long night of getting home but i made it and now i am listening to Quita play bass, and i told her to stop because she was messing up...hahaha and she said for me to shut up and to blog about it...haha So i AM! =) Anyways, i am exhausted, better get to sleep because we are going to Elitch Gardens tomorrow! Wooo hooo! i cant wait to ride some rollercoasters!!! I shall tell you all about it tomorrow!!! XoXo