A Crazy few days: Part 2

Hello blog readers! I am so glad that you have joined me for part two of my crazy bubble life. This is the best part of the crazy few days, so if you were depressed by part one, be ready to be not depressed.

Saturday started out with water polo until 1:30. The boys and girls ended up winning all of their games but one, feeling satisfied with the turn out. The boys lost to Tooele by four points and they were very happy with the end result. The girls beat Tooele, but lost to Cedar in overtime. Carri got herself a nice, very nice, black eye, and Katie was pushed under water and stepped on by a Cedar girl. I am happy about Carri's shiner, but not Katie being shoved under water. She has bruises on her hands and her back, and the refs didn't call it. Dumb, I know.

So after saying goodbye to all my buddies, I got in my car, drove home, and did my hair for two and a half hours. I have a little ADD, if you were wondering. My mommy was kind enough to buy cookies and make my part of our dinner.

I left my house at 4:27 for the 10 minute drive to Richards house. Let's just say that I was running behind schedule. So I sped to his house and we took a few pictures. We got in the car and he texted Abby (the girl that asked Matt) to tell her we were on our way to get her. As we were driving, Richard said something like, "This is so great!! We are such great friends, just sitting here talking, not worrying about what to say next!" And it is true. I chose the best date for this particular dance, and you will see a lot of that come through.

We picked up Abby, sped to Matt's house, took pictures in front of his TV, retrieved Katie Billington and Ryan Vorkink, and ended up being 15 minutes late and the second car out of our group at Park Discovery for pictures. Yeah, I felt accomplished.

I was super excited for these pictures. I knew they were going to be good. How can you go wrong with Mandii Mae as your photographer?

This was an occurring look on my face throughout the night.

Classic Richard face

This is Carlos and Athena. I love their faces.

Ryan and Katie Billington

Crystal and Riley

Man, how I love this picture. Joanie and Kei (like a key to a doorknob).

Matt looking oh so awkward and not like himself. Abby however looks stunning! (Matt, you know I am teasing you, but only slightly.)

We went inside the park and I decided that I wanted to slide. So I did! It was the best slide experience of my entire life, and it is documented! I went so fast in my five dollar dress. :-)

This is our giant group, minus Eric. I am not even going to try to name them all.

This is my favorite picture of them all. The three of us had been talking about getting pictures of the three of us, and it was the perfect time to get them. And I had bubbles, which helped me make huge improvements to this blog!

After listening to all the whining and complaining about the cold, we went to CMS to have our dinner. Since we had 26 people to feed, it was decided to have a potluck style dinner. It turned out nicely. I brought jeans with me so I could feel more free and ready to do things without worrying about my dress. Now, that was a legitimate worry because that dress has a train. As we were walking into the school, Matt, Richard, and Ryan all stepped on my dress.

I had some frustration and worry about things I cannot control. And since I was tired, still, my emotions were heightened. There was one point during the night that Matt and I both had to use the restroom at the same time, so we went to use the restroom. On the way there, we talked about my frustration and worries a little bit and he told me that I can't control them so I shouldn't worry. After that I felt better.

As we were walking back into the room where everyone was, Richard said, "Wait, where's my date?!" Then we walked in and Richard said, "Matt, you stole my date!" I felt awful at that moment. We just went to the bathroom, dang it! However, then Matt stole my date from me! Geez, that date stealer.

At one point, Richard decided that he needed to tell us a story. Riley made a game out of it and said that if you laughed at him, you were out and the last person to not laugh won. Matt and I were out within the first two seconds. Seth and Amanda stayed in for a long time, like half an hour, and Amanda ended up winning very vocally. He laughed and then she said very loudly, "HA! I WIN!"

Then we went to the dance. You may think that nothing all that exciting would happen there, but hold cow, brace yourselves!

We walked in and I could tell that the Talons were in charge of the dance. It was the best decorated dance I have been to. There was the red carpet, as usual, and balls of something hanging from the ceiling. At first I thought that they were going to be rosette's glued onto a Styrofoam ball, but as I looked closely, they were balls of yarn! I would have never guessed that yarn would make such a nice decoration.

Oh, it didn't end there! We walked into the main area of the dance and there were these awesome snowflake things (it sounds lame, but trust me, they are awesome) and paper lantern things hanging all over. The tables had nice table cloth's (sounds weird, but it makes a difference) with little flowery center pieces. I could see the table with drinks, and only thought that they would have drinks. But again, as I went to investigate with Richard, my whole life got brighter. They had swedish fish, red licorice, other gummy things in red, silver, or black, and Oreos. Yes, they had Oreos. There were two drink pitcher things. One had water, and the other had milk for your Oreos! I was ecstatic! My belly was full of the Oreos dipped in milk by the end of the night.

Richard is very energetic and is the person that stands in the middle of a circle during a dance and "dances." We were all very entertained by him.

And then at the same time, it was a little hard. See, it was Matt's first real date since Homecoming, and I know that it is a little difficult. Matt is a really great person and wants his date to be happy. She was the most comfortable with Amanda and Katie Billington, so she stayed close to them. Since I am the most comfortable with Matt and Richard, and Richard was dancing in the middle of the circle, I stood by Matt. He was feeling rather guilty for not being with his date. I could tell something was bothering him, but also knew that there was not going to be a way to talk about it. While Richard was getting his 10th cup of water, I discreetly asked Matt what was bothering him. But there was still no way he could actually talk about whatever it was.

They played lots of fast songs, and the slow songs were very much appreciated. After Richards 15th cup of water, they played the third slow song. It just happened to be Matt's favorite song. We had danced to it twice before then and the last time was New Year's Eve. We kinda gave each other a little knowing look, and the next thing we knew, Richard was asking Abby to dance.

Remember when I said that I chose the best date? That is a huge reason why.

See, Matt got to tell me what was bothering him, I got to help him with what was bothering him, and Richard got to be the best friend that he could ever be.

Once the 4 minutes were over, Richard and I went back to the refreshment table for his 18th cup of water. He put his arm around me and said, "I had to let Matt dance with you. That's why I did that." I put both of my arms around him and gave him the biggest hug that I could possibly come up with at the moment.

Richard is such a great person. I don't know if he saw the benefits of that simple action, but I sure did! It was easier for me to be crazy with Richard because I appreciated him just a little more. I am so grateful for him and for choosing him to ask to this dance. My joy cannot be expressed because I don't know how to! I am sitting here with so much gratitude in my heart. I have the best friends anyone could ever ask for.

After that ten minutes, I let loose and partied it up. All the worries that I had dissolved into just little observations. However, at 11:30, I was done. Richard was done. I knew Matt was done. So we waited for one more slow song, danced to it, and then left.

Now, again, you may think that this is the end of the story, but I was up for two more hours!

I drove Ryan and Katie home, and then dropped Matt off at his house. He didn't get a doorstep, and I was not very happy about that, mostly because doorsteps, to me, bring closure to all the little things that didn't quite go right during the date, and every date has them. When the person takes the time and effort to walk their date to the door, it shows that they care about them. So I was a little upset.

I had that thought in my head the whole way to Richards house. When I pulled into his driveway, I turned off the car and walked him to his door. I told him thank you for being such a great friend, gave him a big hug, and then left. Once I got in my car, I texted Matt to make sure he was okay.

The conversation lasted about an hour and a half and went from being so frustrated that neither one of us would have been able to sleep very well, to feeling even more gratitude for our dates. Abby must have been feeling the Holy Ghost or something, because she also texted him in this time and told him that she had had a good time. We talked a little bit about how amazing it was of Richard to ask Abby to dance during that particular song.

I feel so grateful for the chance I had to go to Preference and learn so much about myself. I woke up at 7:30 am and went to bed at 1:30 am thinking about the same things: happiness.