Is it summer yet?

This week felt like an entire school year! I've been running around getting school work done and setting up meetings and auditions for the show I'm stage managing. I've already had to read two whole text books and memorize a scene.
This will be an awesome year!!!

CDH BBQ Summer 2009

Today we had a spontanuous BBQ with our group called CDH -Criman's, Daniel's, and Hursts- My dad was so proud, because he started something that wasn't planned to the T.
After a yummy dinner of ribs and other fruits and veggies, the kids/teens started playing with a stick and playing on the swing set.
Next we pulled out the old parachute from our childhood. We did the traditional bubbles and then wrapping eachother up and trying to get out. Needless to say it was a great way to end the Summer!
Have a great school year every body!

Washington Lake

Wow I really need to get better at writing my blogs! Anyways! These last few weeks have been amazing! I survived Peter Pan and Ended them with an amazing end! I met this guy named Jon...I'm not going to try to spell his last name so, Jon Z. After a couple of dates after rearanging our schedules, he asked me to be his girl friend during strike and I said yes! :)
The next day I drove down to Utah to meet my family in the Uintahs; and when I say family I mean the Hurst's, Daniels, Allreds, Farrs, Wrights, Stewarts, Jones, Williams, and other families. It was so nice going from stuck in a theatre all day to outside all day! I loved it! We also taught a bunch of the teen/ kids how to play a card game that involves poker chips. We're not allowed to say the real name anymore, because in real life it's considered gambling ha ha ha I love Utah!
Now that I'm home home I've been cleaning house and running the boys this way and that!
As a suprise my parents decided to spontaniously take us up to Logan for the weekend and see Justin and Heather Allred and go four wheeling. It was so fun! I freakin' miss them! When we went for the four wheeler ride on Saturday my Mom and I got air twice, needless to say my Mom was not happy by the time we got back to the house. My favorite part was, as we were going up the mountain my mom was driving. Justin was leading and he turned, but my Mom did not. We stoped and she tried to go over this little hill to go to where Justin was. She guns it we go maybe a foot at most in the air. My mom is flipping out and goes right over a huge rasberry bush! We were riding on the back two tires while doing this and my mom is screaming, "WHAT DO I DO?!!! KRISTEN! WHAT DO I DO?!" I was laughing so hard by the time we got to where Justin was, watching this whole thing. To top it off my dad was following us and tried to do exactly what we did and tipped. No one got hurt, except Kevin's confidence in Dad's driving. We all just laughed, except my mom, who's still shacking death grip on the bike. Of course Justin had to top us and toppeled his bike down part of the mountain. Let's just say this was an exciting trip :)
I can't believe the summer is almost over! But the school year will just bring more adventures!

BLACK OUT!

Yesterday Dad and Kevin came to visit! We had alot of fun loading up set peices for Dad's up coming show, Little Shop... We then went to Old Chicago and ate lunch.
Last night they were supposed to watch Peter Pan, but we had a power outage. We had to cancel the show, so I got draged into the box office to switch peoples tickets. Fourty Five minutes later we got to the last customer and guess what happened? The power came back!
But it was fun hanging out with the boys :)
This morning they left, so now I'm waiting for Cinda and Chuck to show up :) I love visits!

The Crazy Life of a Theatre Student

So pretty much my life has been a crazy, insane, blur this past month and I haven't had a chance to blog, facebook, e-mail, or really even talk to my family. So now that I have a semi-life until 6:00 tonight, here's the low down.
Here at Casper College we are doing the production of Peter Pan, an awesome family show and great for the cast and crew, if you get along well with kids. This production is a show that needs alot of, props, costumes, flysystems, lights, sound FX, and crew members to run all of these lovely elements of theatre. So if you know anything about Casper College, you will realize that here in the theatre department they don't plan things out very well, nor communicate. So when they decided to have Peter Pan as their Summer show they realized just before tech week, that they didn't have enough crew members, so we have been juggling jobs, desperately calling people, and well I think you get the picture. So this is all of my jobs right now: Grip (Person who moves the set), Prop run(I make sure props are where they are supposed to be and find them after actors don't put them away), fly crew, backstage manager for the last scene, window opener for the last scene, and possibly an usher. Let's just say that the last two scenes I'm running from one side of the stage to the other about six times. I've also acquired the talent of being able to jump over little kids, skip five stairs, and I'm not so out of shape any more. :)
The theatre is my gym, I lift the youngest boy, who weighs nothing, help lift the girl who plays Wendy, weighing 150, and I bring in the three ten pound sand bags. Let's just say I've had to tighten my belt YAY!
A bunch of us want to start a techie t-shirt company and have one of the shirts say, "The theatre is my gym, I lift about three actors" (This phrase belongs to Bryce Ledbetter, Lance Robinson, and Kristen Criman, Please don't steal it)
Some might think my life is not exciting, but I'm having a blast! The kids are awesome, our Stage Manager/ Props Designer is amazing, although she gets super stressed, and I really think this show will be well worth it in the end!
Sorry I know this is kinda lame, but it's more for me to remember what to put in my resume :)
LOVE Y'ALL!
oh my goodness I've been in Wyoming way too long!

Missing Shakespeare

So I was just reading an article in the New York Times about the up coming production, of 'Twelfth Night,' in Shakespeare in the park. I realized how much I've been missing performing Shakespeare! I finshed my dream role as Regan in 'King Lear' this last March and loved it. When it ended I was so sad, though some what relieved that I didn't have to have such evil thoughts in my head every night, and people didn't have to be afriad of me when I looked at them. After all Regan helped tear apart a country and a family.
*Sigh* my dream is to be apart of a Shakespeare Company and share his great liturature with all sorts of audiences. Performing in the outdoors, speaking a beautiful language, creating life in a character that has existed for hundreds of years! Geez I'm a nerd, but ha ha ha how cool would that be! I can picture going around the country with my family, Dad as Capulet, Mom as Lady Capulet, Kevin as Mercutio, and Kyle as Benvolio or Tybolt... maybe not Tybolt, but... and this might sound big headed, but I would love to be Juliet, I've fallen in love with this character ever since I competed with Romeo and Juliet Act 3 Scene 5.
Or perhaps Tempest or- well all of them!
...I think I've delayed doing my homework long enough. Day dreaming is not helping :)

Can't Wait!

I can't wait to leave here and get my life started! I'm getting really frustrated with my shop forman. I swear he has mood swings or something, because we don't know if he is going to yell and cuss us out or if he is going to love our work. So far he has treated my best friend Michelle like scum, she is the stage manager and props designer for Peter Pan. He hasn't liked hardley anything she's designed. Everyday she walks into the shop, he finds something to point out what she's done wrong.
I thouht this was a school where we learn what we're doing wrong, not to be afraid to do anything else we do it wrong and get chewed out. Also this faculty needs to learn to work together or not at all. They all have different ideas of where this show is going and la de da.
I am so ready to move on and get my career going! I never thought I would be so excied to be a Drama teacher! :) gotta love God's sence of humor!

Tornado Warning

You would never guess what I'm doing right now! I'm sitting in my hallway waiting for a tornado warning to go away! I know right! My life is so exciting here in Casper! There has been thunder and lightning and hail and crazy wind and all sorts of awesome weather stuff! I think it is passing over us right now, not a tornado, but the heart of the storm! Yay us!

Crash

*Sigh* so this day kinda stunk hard core! I had to be at work today at eight this morning to make up hours, because I'm taking an English class so I can't get my thirty hours a week in regular work time. Anyway I was super tired and not gonna lie I was cranky. I started building and was totally fine and actually getting happy. Then there was confusion with with how to build things and it all went down hill.
I am trying to understand, is God trying to humble me, am I being self centered? Jeez I wish we could just know what is going on!

Institute Presidente!

So last night was pretty much awesome! I was debating over whether or not to go to institute and just stay in my room, lye in bed, and watch TV. I went so I could see my friends since I hadn't seen them in about four weeks. When I got there everyone was super inviting and smiley faces. Brother B started explaining that our old Institute President is in Utah for school and we need a new one. He asked who didn't have a calling in the Branch, because we don't have enough YSAs to have a ward in case you didn't get that... ANY WHO... A bunch of us raised our hands and he called me! I know it's just for our small class of no more than 20, but I feel like this will totally help me make it to class every week!
And to top off the first half of the week god has cealed his answer from sunday with the scripture 2 Cor 6:14 basically I need to date only guys that are members of the church, which is in my P. Blessing too. I've kinda felt stupid everytime I've dated someone who isn't, kinda like I'm betraying God. Well from now on I'm going to say, No Thanks!
Yay institute!

First Day of Summer School!

Today was the first official day of summer school! Yeah it was nice to have something to do :) I'm taking my last English class to get my Associates Degree. My teacher is super cool, she likes interactive discussions and class activities. She has the exact teaching style that I learn best from, which make me super stoked! This class will be hard because everything is going to be rushed with the small semester, but I think it will be easy cheesy lemon squeezy!
After class I went to work, which was awesome, because I could think straight! I have a theory that all my thoughts that I talked about yesterday were just distracting me from being able to think correctly. Thanks to the miraculous events yesterday I am able to work clear headed :p
Now I have a chance to relax and enjoy the evening!

And God said let the women cry and it was good

Today I had stake conference, and just to let you know they don't go by mormon standard time here in Wyoming, I was there promptly at nine O'clock, which is the time it started. The building was packed, but extremely organized; YSA sat up front, married couples after them, parents with older kids next, then younger in the back. Well by the time I got there all the seats were taken in the front and middle sections, so I got to sit in the back with the young chill'un. I listened as best I could, watching parents drag their screaming children outside, me getting bumped into from behind, and other wonderful children distractions. This reminded me so much of my home ward that I started getting home sick!

Our theme was from what I put together, Temple work and Missionary work. We got the privaledge to hear from President Gordon B. Hinckley's son Elder Hinckley of the seventy, who gave a wonderful talk on Temple Marrages and how his father married all his children and grandchildren. Elder Hinckley reminded me so much of his dad that I started getting teary eye, but I quickly put that to a stop :) After he concluded the meeting, we sang my favorite hymn "God Be with You Till We Meet Again" so you can imagine after all of that my emotions were a wreck!

Once I got home I started crying hysterically with confusion, loneliness, and what ever else I was feeling. I dropped to my knees and started talking to my Heavenly Father. I told him that I was confused with what he wanted me to do with my future, where he wanted me to go to school after Casper, what occupation I should have, and to give me comfort as I am missing home very badly. I then turned to my Patriarchal Blessing and started to feel comfort. After that I randomly chose a church magazine out of my pile and it was the New Era from last November, I turned to the Mormonad and it said, "Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice" I dug through my pile and found the Conference Magazine and found President Monson's talk "Be of Good Cheer" I read it and remembered when I listened to it for the first time and I started bawling! How could he possibly know that someday I needed this talk. No God knew I needed it. Then I turned to the May New Era and read "A Letter From My Father" it talks about how our Patriarchal Blessing is a letter from our Father in Heaven and other things, which is so good!

I now know for sure what I am going to do next year and with the rest of my life! God knows what I need to do and I just have to follow his guidance! I hope I never forget this experience, because it has increased my testimony of prayer, prophecy, patriarchal blessings, fasting, and modern day scriptures!

My Last Girls Camp

canooing at the lake

Hiking to the lake

The roping princess finally roped her hook! ha ha ha

Cammie and Megan hanging out

Jc's crowding on the bunks

Chevy and Julie making jewlery

Jenny

Heather and Laura

Sister Merril and Sister Hymas trying to figure out the schedule in our cabin

Mckell being the ropin princess!

Cammie, Halley, and someone else chillin in their corner

Best friends!

Cammo!

Arts and Crafts

One of the other wards singing their song

walkin and talkin, that's how we girls work!

The top of the mountain, SO COOL!

So cool and so tired

My last girls camp was my first stake girls camp. It wasn't my favorite, but it was still fun! We were at the Heber Camp, Margerie Hinckley camp site. The plants were beautiful!

We got to hike every where!

This was on our hike to no where! Actually we went on top of a mountain and saw a beautiful view! But this picture was before we thought our hike would take ten times longer than we thought ;)

SO GREEN!

All of the JC's. Of course we were all too cool to be like the others ha ha ha

My girls! Melissa Rider and I were JC's over Mckell, Heather, Cammie, Julie, Haley, Chevey, Laura, and Jessica

Rambo

So last night was pretty much awesome!!! A group of us met at the church house, this house which is owned by a community church who rents out to college students, to play Rambo. There was the kids who live at the church, the theatre kids who live in the dorms, and a group of foreign kids. We stood around the parking lot for the longest time waiting for everyone to show up and name the rules. After everything was finally sorted out and argued over who would drive and who would run, the race was on!
For those who don't know how to play Rambo, this is how you play: this is a night game, so it needs to get dark before you even start to play :) There are two home bases that need to be at least half a mile apart. Everybody meets at one of the home bases and decides who drives and who runs. The drivers try to catch the runners, as the runners try to make it to the other home base without getting caught, this is achieved by running through ally ways crawling under cars and trucks, dodging behind trees, jumping into bushes, or leaping behind huge dumpsters. The drivers are sneaking through the ally ways and back streets flashing their brights at the runners that weren't quick enough to hide. Pretty much this game is to help anyone improve their ninja skills or FBI tactics ha ha ha!
The first game we played last night I was running with Ally Pines and Michelle Jarvis. We totally kicked butt slinking through ally ways and jumping up ledges on campus. We became one with the shadows ha ha ha
The second round Michelle and I were drivers, well she drove and I shone flash lights at the people. The other drivers was Bryce and Lance, Bryce drove and Lance was the eyes. We waited the ten minutes to give the runners a head start. Michelle and I circled around the golf course next to campus to start off. We found a whole flock of them!!!! They thought they were sly lying in a dip in the grass, but not for my eagle eyes ha ha ha KAH CHOW!!! To use my Dad's phrase: to make a long story longer, we kept flashing and yelling at them to get in the car, even Lance and Bryce stopped by and started yelling at them. They decided that they weren't gonna lay down anymore and booked it. Gah! We kept yelling at them, finally recognizing them and calling their names. Then we sped to the other side of the golf course hoping to cut them off, but no dice, they got away. Anyway we drove down alleys and dark streets, but couldn't find anyone else. We went back to the home base saw that one guy was not back yet, so we made a few more circles, then went back and he was there. We parked and were prepared to tell the four people we caught whats what, and they got all in our face saying we didn't ID them before we got out of our cars, which is against the rules btw. We said that was never established in the rules and that we've never played that way, ect. any who it all blew over and a couple of us went to the gas station to get slurpies, the best way to end the game.
So that is why last night was pretty much awesome :)

Trying this out?

Today was an intense day! I woke up an hour and a half before I had to, got ready for the day, went to the financial office, found out that I really don't owe what they said, YAY! Next I went to the bank, then back to the dorms and ate breakfast. So this seems like an ok day right? I was on the ball and getting things done! Well it gets better :)
I start work and everything starts fine, cut metal and ground it to pieces, then Sean, my TD, has my friend and fellow worker start doing little jobs which I should be able to do easily. Well that hour and a half that I talked about hit me and I couldn't think straight. Started with fumbling with a stage flat and dropped it and knocked over a pile of metal beams. Then it got worse to not being able to load a staple gun and other misc things.
I didn't even ask questions when I usually do! GAH!!!
Thank heavens Sean is understanding and knows that I have a hard time when I'm tired!
Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow :)