River Rafting...

Last weekend was AMAZING! I went up to Riggins with Michelle and Tyler for the annual YSA river trip. I haven't been river rafting in 4 years so I was super excited about this trip. We got up to Riggins and listened to the last part of a fireside that was going on and then went to camp for the night. The boys and girls were supposed to be camping in different places but we didn't know that, so Michelle told Tyler just to sleep by us. Then a girl saw him and yelled (as she pointed), "It's a BOY!" Then Michelle said, "No, it's not." Tyler said that he didn't know which was worse...being called an "it" or Michelle saying that he wasn't a boy. He ended up sleeping in the car.

The next morning (after sleeping out under the stars where I had dreams of bugs and snakes attacking me all night) we got up much too early (6:15 AM to be exact...sick!) to go rafting. I was so super excited because I hate getting thrown out of the boat by other people and our guide said that the water was too high and moving too fast for anyone to go swimming or change boats. YAY! That didn't mean that I didn't go swimming though. The first rapid that we came too was super awesome until our boat almost capsized and everyone except one person and our guide fell out. I have never been so terrified in my life. Once I was out the boat and in the middle of the biggest rapid we would see that day I felt like I was drowning. Then when I finally got through the rapids I was sucked under the water from the undertow. It just sucked me under with no warning. Then I started floating towards shore where the boats couldn't rescue me. Finally people from another boat rescued me. I will be forever grateful to the two guys who pulled me out of the river. I think I said, "Thank you" about 20 times in 2 minutes. 

The rest of the day wasn't quite as dramatic. I even got my shoes back after they fell out of the boat when I fell out. A very nice kayaker man gave them back to me about 20-30 minutes after I fell out. Yay for the kayaker man!

Drum Circle...

Today I went to a Healing Circle at the International Rescue Committee. This is a group where women who are refugees can come and relax and learn stress reduction. I was asked to come to their last session and lead a drum circle as well as some chants. I was super nervous because I've only led a few drum circles and the women spoke very little English.

I don't know why I was worried. Everything went great! I love how music can unify people young and old and from all different backgrounds. Music is also an equalizer. Everyone was just having fun and playing their instruments. When we were done with the drum circle the women in the group taught me some of the songs that they've been singing in the group. It was a great experience and I'm excited to go back! I just need to learn some more chants...so if anyone has any suggestions let me know!

Rock It...

I have a new motto in my life: "Rock it 'til you make it." Everyone always says "Fake it 'til you make it." This is a good thing to do, but I think you should not just fake it but ROCK IT! Throughout my life I have had people tell me that I have a great amount of confidence. I'm always shocked when someone says that. I don't feel very confident about anything that I do, even things that I have been doing for years, such as playing the piano and organ. I still feel very NOT confident. Apparently I'm a good faker. 

Throughout my training to become a music therapist and now as I begin my professional life many people have told me to "fake it 'til you make it." This has been great advice, but faking is not nearly as convincing and rocking something. In order to "rock it" you have to "exude confidence" (as someone once told me) This is just a heightened way of faking something, but it's much more convincing.

Last night was a perfect example of this. I LOVE dance parties. I'm not a super fantastic dancer, but I love to dance. I probably look like a spaz but it's still fun. When I was younger I never really danced that much in public. If I did dance it was very small movements. I don't think you would ever know that now. Anyway...whenever I dance I always want people to join me because it's just awkward if you are the only one dancing (which hasn't stopped me from doing it, it's just more awkward). Among other people I asked my cousins Kara and Kristen to dance with me but they were very adamant that they could not and would not dance, but eventually I convinced them. I think it was my speech about my being a music therapist and a music together teacher, so it's my life goal to have everyone make, listen, and move to music. I know that my speech definitely convinced Kara :) Anyway...dancing was super fantastic and Kara and Kristen definitely rocked it!

Piano Lessons...

I'm now teaching Brenna and Makayla piano lessons.  I LOVE IT! Makayla has been taking piano lessons for a year or two, but Brenna is brand new to lessons. They are both doing great! I'm teaching Brenna from a book that I've never used before-The Mayron-Cole Method. I really like this method. The method is very kid friendly. Brenna will practice by herself sometimes for up to an hour. She has always amazed me with her musical ability since she was very small. The other night she even made up her own song. It was quite fantastic!

Weeding...

This week I went home to make some extra money and visit my family. On Tuesday night Brenna, Savanna, and I went out and weeded part of the field by our house. For the first half hour or so Brenna was a weeding machine. I've never seen someone work so hard to get all the weeds out. She didn't have much help with her little hoe though. 

She even fell flat on her back sometimes trying to get the big weeds out.

Soon she began to tire out and constantly ask when we were going to go home. Then we found these...

and she was all excited about life again. She asked me to take a picture of them. Then she asked me to send it to my mom because she wanted the picture on my mom's phone instead of mine. She also had to go back to this row and find the eggs every time we went past them. 

Towards the end of our weeding Brenna asked me if I wanted to know how to say hello in Chinese. Then she did this...

I asked her how that was Chinese and she said, "It's not Chinese! It's Hawaiian!" 

Old Friends...

Today I was sitting in the chapel of my brand new ward. I knew approximately 5 people in the ward, but was sitting by none of them. I was all alone. Then I heard "SAM!" and saw a friend from college walking quickly toward me! This was possibly the best moment of my entire month. I haven't seen this friend in over a year. It was great to talk to her about her life. This meeting was completely random because this friend is now married and lives in Utah. She happened to be in my ward today because her sister-in-law was speaking. It's weird how I haven't seen her in a very long time but our friendship hasn't changed at all. I LOVE IT! To make this moment even better two cute boys came and sat by us. :)

I gutted a fish...

This weekend my family and I went fishing. I really like fishing, but if nothing is biting and I'm not catching anything I get bored really fast. I was quite proud of myself that I stuck with it as long as I did because NOTHING was happening and then I was reeling in my line and THERE WAS A FISH ON THE HOOK! I got super excited and finished reeling it in. Everyone else caught a few more than one, but I was perfectly happy with my one. I didn't have enough patience to try for another one.

We had lunch and then my dad told me that I had to gut all the fish that my family caught for him. I had to gut all the fish? I only caught one! Earlier in the day I told Kristin that I liked doing this job. Apparently I forgot everything that is inside a fish because it was SICK nasty. The fish was super slimy, and then when I was washing it in the lake it slipped right out of my hands. It was quite the experience to get it out of the water but I finally did it. After I did the first one I ended up doing several more and then helped my cousins and sister learn how to do it too. Savanna said that if she is expected to clean the fish she is never fishing ever again. This was a big deal for her to say because she loves fishing, but she HATES cleaning it. Apparently she has some tactile issues.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Making my super awesome cast :)

Justin, Joshua, and I got our lines crossed...whoops!

One of the fish caught!

Cutting the fish...I wasn't smiling on the inside.

Pulling out the guts...sick!

Savanna REALLY didn't like this part.

Finally...washing the fish. It's not as easy as it looks. That fish was so slimy and slippery!

I ended the day with one of the worst sunburns I have ever had. At least I'm not white anymore!