Who Is Erika Anyway?

 May has been an incredibly busy month. I feel like it has just begun and here we are looking at Memorial Day weekend. I have felt so many blessings this month. Once again, I am astounded by how big of a support team I have. I am blessed with several close friends who cheer me on every step of the way with meaningful messages, phone calls at just the right moment, shopping days and coming and supporting me at my performances. My Mom and I after Tekoa;s show My graduating class (plus photobomber)  May started with my Senior Dance recital. Pirouette Dance Academy performed Peter Pan and it was a huge success. I worked through some personal challenges (hurt feet, nothing serious) and I had friends at family at both shows. St. Maries was the first one and both my parents game along with my Grandmother, her friend and two very sweet friends from band and co-op. Tekoa's show went amazingly well and it was bittersweet as I danced with Pirouette for the last time. My Aunt and...

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope you are doing special for your mom, whether you call her, spend the day with her, treat her with a small trinket of your affection or simply tell her how much she means to you. No matter how you chose to celebrate Mother's Day let her know she is special and you appreciate everything she has done for you.  I would give the argument that I have the best Mother in the world, but that would start a riot with many of you disagreeing with me, including my mom who would tell me she had the best mother. The truth is many of us would say we got the best Mom. In my case, of course, it's true :) My mom does so much for me big and small. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here writing this blog. She took on my education and has never given up on me. She loved me when I was unlovable, she has been an excellent role model every day of my life. My mom has never let me think a dream was out of reach. She has always let me become my own person. ...

 Huge weekend, everyone! I had the first of my last dance recitals and then I left immediately for Senior Prom. With my best friend since childhood. How did this homeschooled girl get so lucky as to go to a Senior Prom? Well, it starts with having an amazing guy. I have no idea what is with my face in this picture  When I was three years old we became friends with this amazing family. They had a son my age and we became close friends. We even did kindergarten together, we go camping every summer with them, we did band together and we took some senior pictures together. We keep in contact and hang out, but not as much as we used too, due to the changing seasons in each of ours lives and the busyness of being Seniors.  About a month ago, when I got back from Oklahoma. I came back from dance one night and Mom said I needed to call Brandon. I figured it had something to do with graduation and coordinating getting together or something along that line. So, I called ...

 Here is a quick little post simply because it's finally SUNNY and 79 degrees. Co-op classes were canceled today because of absences so sun day here we come. Mom and I decided to go for a hike up Tekoa mountain this morning because it was beautiful and why not when you live in the prettiest place on earth. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do a short post on ten things Erika has enjoyed about the sun and having a morning to relax. 1. Time with my mom where we weren't discussing schedules Enjoy this picture of me and my mom. I love her so much!!!!! 2. Coffee on a mountain in the sunshine 3. Laying in the sun and letting it hit my face 4. Taking a long shower and not worrying about a to-do list 5. Having an impromptu dance session while getting dressed 6. Wearing a tank top and sandals 7. Rolling down the windows on the truck and driving on dirt roads 8. Smoothies in the sunshine (are you seeing a theme?)  9. Spending time praising my Savior for remindi...

 Spring break is a wonderful time, warm weather, shenanigans, and time with friends. You hear the word spring break and you think Florida, California, the beach? But this girl headed to Oklahoma, why you ask? Because the most amazing girl lives there, for the fun of this blog her name is Honey Lemon. We had a wonderful week of adventure and laughter.  Honey Lemon and I met our Sophomore year of high school. I was the new, shy girl at NSHSC Co-op. I knew a few people from my band that went there, but they had not arrived yet. I sat in the corner of the lunch room watching the few early bird milled about organizing for the co-op day. This slender, beautiful girl with long blonde hair, striking blue eyes and a kind. friendly smile came over and introduced herself to me. She was bubbly and seemed like the sweetest, nicest girl alive. Turned out she was. However, shy Erika barely muttered full sentenced replies back. I felt like an idiot and later I l...

 My senior year seems to be on a high-speed chase. It is like it wants to see if it can get there before I get all my tasks done. Which, speaking of the to-do list for graduation keeps getting shorter and shorter. As I cross off each pressing item from the list the reality of graduation becomes stronger. I find myself saying things "I guess we are really doing this!" or I will look at my mom and say "Can you believe we are actually here?" It has been an incredible journey and I think it is easy to look at graduation as the end of the road, not like the beginning. However, in reality, I am only seventeen years old. As people are fond of saying, "I have my whole life before me," Truly, I am excited for the adventures that lay ahead of me.   One of the to-do items I have accomplished is my ceremony invites. Mom and I were deliberating over how and what we were going to do for invites for the ceremony. Were we going to go traditional or do a photo invite? Aft...

When I saw this question roll in I had to laugh, "How do you send your free time?" Between school work, graduation work, college work, life work, and extra curricular stuff my time becomes anything, but free. However, I have had sometime the last couple of weekends to lay back and breath. So hopefully, this post will help you get an idea of what I like to do.  Probably my favorite thing to do is READ. I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. I used to go to the library and choose a book based off of how big it was. I also tried to read "Gone With the Wind." For my 8th grade spring break book report. It was a failed attempt, however I did a report on a book about Paul Revere's daughter and loved it. As far a book genres go I am a sucker for the classics and have a list that I want to acquire for my constantly growing library. Some favorites authors are Lousia May Alcott, Emily or Charlotte Bronte, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and so many others tha...