TEMPLES

Lately I have been on a temple kick. This summer I had the privilege to go to a few temples and just hang around. The Oquirrh Mountain Temple was recently just finished and the whole summer was basically open house. So Cami (my co-worker and friend), her daughter Maelee, and myself took a trip to South Jordan to attend the open house one day. It was amazing! I have never experienced something so beautiful. It was awesome to be able to walk through this temple and see it on the inside. I had tons of fun. And Maelee and Cami seemed to enjoy it as well. I am glad that they came with me. After my Oquirrh Mountain Temple excursion, I decided to walk up to the Provo Temple and just hang around on the grounds. It really is a beautiful temple, even though it does look like a yummy cupcake. :) It was a wonderful evening and I had a good time walking around admiring the beauty.

Then in August, I went to Alburqerque with my parents. My Mom and I wanted to find the temple there, so we got directions and drove to the temple. It was an amazing temple especially at night. It was fun to just walk around and spend time with my Mom and share that experience with her.

Well, that is my temple excursions that I have been on this summer. I love the temple! I can't wait until I get the chance to attend. The temple is quite beautiful and I love the feeling that I get when attending. I forgot about that and I was reminded this summer how the temple is such an important factor in my life. But the Mesa Temple is still my favorite!!!

Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory

For three weeks, I lived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The most prettiest place! So green and gorgeous. I attended Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory that was held in this small town. For three weeks I practiced, rehearsed, hiked, attended and participated in recitals and masterclasses, and basically had the time of my life! I learned so much in those three weeks from my private teacher, Nancy Buck and my quintet coach, David Bjella. I consider myself a better musician and perfomer from this experience and will always remember it.

Fourth of July in Steamboat Springs is a big deal. They basically celebrate all week long. It was so exciting though to watch the fireworks. Since I am from AZ, I don't experience really awesome fireworks, but CO knows how to celebrate this wonderful holiday. It was so much fun!!!

We went on several hikes, this is part of the RMSC experience. And it was good to get out and be active. Everything was so green and beautiful, the hikes were tons of fun and a good way to enjoy nature. :)

This is my quintet for three weeks. We called ourselves the Bjella Berry and the Babes Quintet; from left to right: David Bjella (cello, also the quintet coach), Alyssa Saint (violin), Alexander "Zan" Berry (cello), ME! (viola), and Anne Sorenson (violin). We performed the first and third movements of Schubert's Cello Quintet in C. I have to say though, we were the best quintet and we had the best piece! I had so much fun performing with these amazing musicians. When it was time to head back to Provo, I didn't want to leave. I had an amazing time and learned so much! I am glad that I had the oppurtunity to attend RMSC this summer and will remember my experience there. Now back in Provo, I am working and just practicing and taking a break from school. (read the post below, this talks about my adventures in Utah. ha ha.) I will keep you all updated on my exciting life, until the next time: hope all is well and life is good!

Summer Adventures

Alright, alright... I know. I haven't posted anything in forever! I am so sorry. So now I am trying to redeem myself here. This will probably be a super long post, since a lot has happened since the end of winter semester. Ok... here I go.My lovely sister Jessica moved in with me for Spring semester. We had tons of fun together. I am glad that she lived with me for that short while, I probably would have died without her (a little exaggeration). ha ha. But we had many adventures together that I will always remember and love! Love you Jess and miss you!

Well, I did take classes for Spring semester. I took Humanities 202, Music History 304, and lessons with Dr. Bigelow. The classes for the most part were really laid back and I learned a lot about the history of dead composers from the romantic period (I actually really enjoyed this class). :) The violists that were staying put together a little recital where we all played duets or trios or quartets. I really enjoyed playing with my friends!

Of course we had to take advantage of the amazing weather! So Amy and I and some of her friends took a bike ride down Center St. to this little burger shack called Sammy's. It was way fun! The weather was perfect and the food wasn't too bad either.

Well, as you probably know, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out July 15th. So I had to go see it at midnight! And of course we dressed up for the occasion. Guess who I was?! That's right... Malfoy. ha ha. We waited for about 4 hours, and the movie was AWESOME!!! I absolutely loved it.

Then on July 24th, an actual holiday in Utah, some friends and I made corn dogs. Yes, we did make the batter and actually deep fried the stuff. And it was covered in yummy grease. ha ha. But we had a crazy good time just hanging out and eating corn dogs. Tasty... I did make a quick trip home just to get away and visit. I really needed it and it was so good to see the family and hang out. :) And that is pretty much what has been going on in my life. Took a couple of classes, kept on working (I still am), and of course practiced. Until next time...

Notable Events

Alright, so I know I have been slackin hard core on my bloggin. But here you go: So my cousins came down the other week, because my cousin Kobie is going to be attending BYU in the summer as a freshman. So we all went out to dinner at Brick Oven (sad day that my parents and siblings couldn't be there) but it was a wickedly awesome dinner. Soooo good! Jess & I split the noodles dish and Danica & Schae got a pizza. Then we got dessert which was two baked cookies with ice cream. Oh man, so delicious! The four of us basically devoured that thing.

Pretty sweet. Then I went to Brentano String Quartet! I was so excited! They are such an amazing quartet and I absolutely loved them. They had a great concert and afterwards, the whole viola studio went back stage to greet them and congratulate them. Misha Amory, the violist (my favorite), even remembered me! We met at ASU and at the viola congress over the summer, we were chattin about it and he looked at me and said "You got your hair cut?!" OH MY GOSH!!! He really did remember me (because I chopped my hair off when I moved up to Provo). Pretty crazy, it seriously made me so happy. Such an amazing quartet!

The beautiful hall they played in. Blake and I at the concert.This past Friday night, I had my final Philharmonic concert. It was sweet!!! We played Wagner's Tannhauser, Saint-Saens Violin Concerto, and Stravinsky's Firebird. It was such an amazing concert! We had so much fun playing and we sounded the best we ever had. After the concert, the viola section took our annual last concert family viola picture. Pretty fun stuff, it was hilarious trying to get us all to be serious. It was a good concert.Overall, school and work are still there. Keeping me busy. I am getting ready for the end of the school year and finals, studying like crazy. This weekend is general conference, so work will pick up. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Just hanging out...

Busy, Busy, Busy

Alright... so I know I have been slackin on the blogging. But, I have legit reasons. This past week or so and this week & next, have been/will be super busy. I have been occupied with music history tests, religion test, conducting test, chair audition, playing in studio, online course, summer music camp audition tapes, form and analysis paper, praciting, and working. WOW!!! So much to do, so little time. I pretty much practice, go to school, study, and work all the time. It is amazing. Ha Ha. I have spent a good many nights in the library studying and listening to my music. yeah...

I am just counting down the days until......

BRENTANO STRING QUARTET

Coming to Salt Lake on Tues, March 17th. Already have my ticket. woohoo!!! They are my favorite string quartet of all time. I have even had the privilege of studying with them at ASU. It was awesome and I will always remember my experience with Brentano. After that it should lighten up a little bit before finals and it gets all crazy again. Well, until next time. :)

The Fort of 326

Well, my roommates and I are so cool because we built a fort! woohoo! Friday night, Whitney and Holli decided to build an amazing fort that basically took up our whole living/sitting area. Pretty sweet. We broke it down though tonight. Just a weekend set-up. We thoroughly enjoyed the many adventures we had within this fort. And of course, we watched plenty of movies, especially High School Musical 3. yeah! Tons of fun!

So this was my weekend. I went to work for a ridiculously long time (or at least it seemed this way). Oh, and one of my best friends Erin Knudsen was down for a visit, so I got to see her. Yeah! Now I am just relaxing and doing theory. woohoo...

Las Vegas Baby!!!

Well, what better thing to do on President's Day weekend then a quick trip to Las Vegas?! Yeah... pretty awesome. Whitney invited Amy, Brittney, and me to stay with her at her aunt's house in St. George then spend Saturday in Vegas. It was way fun. We basically just shopped and walked along the strip. It actually was a beautiful day to walk up and down Las Vegas Blvd.

For lunch we decided to go to a buffet! While in Vegas!!! ha ha. We had lunch at the MGM Grand Buffet. And let me tell you, it was super grand! Probably the best buffet ever! I had about three plates full of yummy food. yeah...

Then on Sunday, we went to the St. George temple and had quick photo shoot. It was a very white temple. Very pretty!
And of course we had to stop at the Sinclair dinosaur and take some pictures with him! It's the coolest dinosaur in the world. Basically, we had a fun weekend. Lots of shopping, eating, and sleeping.
Now back in Provo, back to real life, back to work and school. Woohoo.

Birthday Weekend

So Saturday we had an awesome par-tay! It was a mock-tail party. We dressed up all nice and pretty and had a smashing dance party. We even had a little drink bar-thingy. And of course snacks to munch on. It was a blast! We had quite a few people attend, which made us happy. Here we are on the dance floor, dancing the night away.

Ready to start our party!

Then on Sunday, it was Whitney's birthday and Jessica's birthday was on Monday. So we kinda had a joint little celebration. I made an awesome German pancake dinner with bananas and bacon. YUM! And I made cake for Jess. Her she is all decked out in her birthday gear.
It was nice to spend a few hours with her and just hang out. She is 19! Oh my goodnes... She is growing up so fast. I think she had a wonderful birthday. We were both sad though that Dad, Mom, Tyler, or Sarah could not join us. But we know they love us! And we love them too!
Overall, it was a pretty awesome weekend. Full of partying and celebrating! Other than that, school and work are pretty much the same. I had a concert Tuesday night. We played Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn." Both way good pieces and we did so well! I love orchestra.. it is always so much fun. Hope all is well for everyone.

Peace and Love.

SUPERBOWL

Today was Superbowl Sunday. And guess who was playing?! Arizona Cardinals! Pretty exciting. My roommates and I all went over to Chad's apartment. We ate yummy mexican hotdogs (hotdogs wrapped in bacon), chips and dip, cookies, jello, texas sheet cake, and chippy dippy's. Oh my goodness, such amazing food. Basically I am dead now from all the food. We all had fun watching the game and rooting for the Cardinals. Unfortunately, they lost. Sad day. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The other part of my week and such consisted of studying, practicing, working, and just hanging out. Nothing exciting went down, pretty much an uneventful week. But one month down for school and three more months to go. Not bad! Well, until next time... I hope all is well with everyone. Miss you all!

Overview of the Past Week

Let's go back in time for a moment, to last Sunday. There was a CES Fireside at the Marriot Center. So all my roommates and I went to go hear President Monson speak! And do you see how close we were?! It was an awesome experience, it was the first time I have ever been in the presence of the prophet. It was pretty much amazing... Pres. Monson gave such a wonderful talk, he really is a prophet of God! And I was very privileged to be in his presence. Here is Amy, me, Holli, and Whit all waiting for the fireside to start. Then on Monday, for FHE we went to the Bean Museum. And no, it is not a museum of different beans, that is just the name of the guy who did something for it or whatever. But the museum is filled with tons of stuffed animals. It was so much fun! Here is my FHE family in front of this huge bear.
And then we saw lions. RAAAR!!!

Tuesday afternoon, Elder Holland gave the talk at the devotional. And holy cow, what a powerful speaker this man is. His talk was amazing. I absolutely loved it! Then on Tuesday night, I met up with Whitney after studio and we watched the men's BYU basketball game! Woohoo!!! It was sooo much fun! It was my first BYU sports game ever. I must admit though, it was pretty exciting. And we got "Lee Cummard" sweat bands. yeah... pretty cool.

ha ha...
The rest of the week was just the usual. School, work, and practicing. I did hang out with my cousins, Blaine and Ginger Pitney, last night. It was good to see them after not seeing them for so long. Other than that, nothing special. Overall, it was a good week for me. Not going to lie. So until next time...

SNOW... everywhere!!!

Alright... so it started snowing Monday around noon till late that evening. Then around 6:30 Tuesday morning, it was snowing again all the way till 8 or so that evening. So much snow. It was fun though. I drove in it. Kinda scary, not going to lie. And I walked in it. I slipped plenty of times, no worries... But I am still alive. Yeah! I have to admit though that the snow is way pretty (just not fun to drive in). Oh well...Me in the snow all decked out. Yeah! My car buried on Tuesday night after all the snow. My poor car.

The huge snowman that someone built in our courtyard.
The huge pile of snow that we climbed. ha ha...

Happy New Year!

Oh what a great time it will be in 2009! ha ha... I am so clever. Well, here I am back in P-Town, with the snow, and the cold. I miss AZ and all the warmth that the sun gives me. Most of all, I just want to be back with my family. Unfortunately, my time in Gilbert was short. I had tons of fun with my family though and friends as well. Soon hopefully I can return. Back in Provo, I have been working and school starts on Monday. Two weeks for winter break is just too short. Blah. I must admit that ASU spoiled me with a month long winter break. Oh well, I am quite excited to get back to orchestra and quartet. What can you do?! I am a MUSIC nerd. And proud of it. Well, hope everyone had a fantastic Holiday and all. Best of Luck in 2009!!!