An Observation

Just for the heck of it I like to look at my stats sometimes. Ya know, see you all is reading my blog and all that good stuff. I have made a few observations:

#1
Oddly enough, my most read post is about my toes. Why? I posted this thing in November and even this week have had 4 people look at it. Are my toes really that interesting?! Also, said post has no comments. Again, I ask Why? If so many people are reading it, why aren't any of them writing about it? hmmm....

#2
Another observation I made from looking at my stats is that people in Alaska are reading my blog or have read my blog. That's pretty cool. Who are you? Can we please be friends? Are we already friends?

#3
Not only are people in Alaska looking at and reading my blog, but at least one person from the following countries have looked at my blog. This is pretty crazy!
United Kingdom
Germany
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Poland
Spain
Japan
I think it is way cool that people from these countries have looked at my blog! Even if it probably was just a google search. Whatevs.

Well it's nice to see that people around the world are reading about my life, or just passing by on a search for something.

Where do your readers come from? And what do others think is most interesting in your life??

New Blog

Check out my new blog! I'll still keep up with this one for happenings in my life. But the new one has a real purpose! Each week I will dedicate the post to someone who has influenced my life for the good.

So go on, check it out. It could be you that I admire.

Walking with Christ

I'm on the institute council here at EAC and every Monday at our meeting we receive a challenge to do for the week. Last week we had a challenge to imagine that one day of the following week we had Christ walking right beside us the whole day. I got busy that week and simply forgot. I was reminded this week at the meeting and decided that I would definitely do it this week. Today was the day I decided to do it. It was a very neat experience. It really effected my thoughts about other people. I tried harder to see the greatness in everybody and to not to speak ill of anybody (I kind of have a problem with them). It also effected me in the car with the music I was listening to. It was an eye opener for me to see all the things that I could change about myself if I knew that Christ was walking right beside me all day.

On the other hand, there were some real highlights to my day because of this. Like in choir we are singing "My Song in the Night," a song of prayer to our Heavenly Father for help in the midst of darkness and trial. Imagining Christ standing next to me while singing this made it more real and made me more passionate about it. Also, tonight I was singing through some solos preparing for The Messiah that EAC does every year. These songs are all about Christ and his life, hence it is called "The Messiah." It was a touching experience even though I was just practicing these songs to be singing about a man who I had imagined to be with me in person all day.

I know that Christ is always with me and can see ALL my actions and read ALL my thoughts, but sometimes that is forgotten in the busyness of life. Today was a great reminder of what everyday should be like. If you would like to do the same, I challenge you to do so. It is a great way to evaluate your life. I hope that you will be better than me and not have to change much to accommodate the special guest. I also hope that you will have as sweet an experience with it as I did.

All caught up and no where to go!

I'm a nerd. You all should know this. But it is a good thing and I am dealing with the fact quite well if I may say so myself. The most recent evidence of this is that everyday when I go to work (cleaning my dad's office), rather than listening to music like I used to do, as of about a month or more ago I've been listening to MormonRadio. I love it! There are so many amazing programs on it created to uplift - not to mention all the talks and Music and the Spoken Word they play. It makes my work experience 100% better for sure! Anyway, I bring this up because last night as I was cleaning the office, one of my favorite programs came on. It is called "Everything Creative" and talks about everything! Things you wouldn't have even thought would be considered creative. The very first episode I heard was a panel of non-profit organization starters or CEO's. It was so neat to hear their stories and what they go through in the process of making the world a better place for everyone, specifically the less fortunate. Back to the point - Last night's episode was a panel of bloggers. It was so inspiring to hear why they write their blogs and the release it gives them. It made me want to come back to my blog and really write about something meaningful.

So I logged on tonight (which I hadn't done probably since May) and proceeded to catch up on all the blogs I love to follow. That inspired me even more! But really I feel like I don't have much to say that other people would be interested in reading. I need a theme. I've decided that my blog is not going too be worth anything if there is nothing consistent about it.

So here is my plea: Help me come up with a theme for my blog. I'll be thinking of one as well but would love your input! I promise I will include pictures on every blog because I know i enjoy reading blogs with pictures more than I enjoy reading blogs without pictures.

To Thee Best Mom in the World! (aka: my best friend)

I have really lucked out here on this earth. I got the best mom in the world! She was the best even before I came to this earth! She (and my dad) opened every door for Heavenly Father to send me to them. It took a while, but I finally came and I have not regretted coming ever. She loved me and took care of me from the start! I remember going everywhere with her before I was old enough to go to school, and even after I was in school I would go everywhere with her after school. I just loved hanging out with her!

Then I grew up and became a teenager and oddly enough, still loved hanging out with my mom. She became my very best friend. When other friends would come and go, depending only on if you were in a class with them, my mom was a constant friend. High school came and went and she was still my best friend. I would tell her absolutely everything. Every time I would like a new guy, she'd know. Every time I decided to skip class, she would know, because I would tell her. I had no secrets from my mom.

Then I grew up some more and went to college, moving out. Good thing we had choir together everyday! I liked living on my own, but I missed having my mom there to just talk to whenever we both happen to be sitting at the kitchen table. That year we ended up having lunch together every Monday and Friday right before choir. It was my favorite thing! We were able to just catch up and I was able to talk to her and tell her what was going on in my life and even vent to her sometimes.


This last year I moved back home to save money and I could not have picked a better time. My parents got their time to be "empty nesters" and I had had my time to be "on my own" but I was glad to be back home. My mom and I are still best friends and are even closer now that we live under the same roof. We even took some real classes together this year and had fun with that.

My dad just got put in as the new Branch President for the singles branch I attend, meaning my mom will be in there every Sunday with me. I'm very excited to share this new adventure with them this next year.

My mom is so talented and always so willing to serve and help in anyway she possibly can. I hope I grow up to be half the mom she is.

Mom- I love you so much! Thanks for everything!

Graduation!!

So guess what everyone!

I'M GRADUATING FROM EAC IN 2 YEARS with an Associate of Arts (Music)!!!!
(It takes most people 3 years)

Awesome, RIGHT?! I'm so proud of myself. I told myself I would do it and I did it. Graduation is next Friday, May 14, and I can hardly wait! It seems like it was just last year, if even that, that I graduated from high school. Crazy that I already have another graduation so soon. But so exciting at the same time.

I wish I could say along with that great news that I would be moving on with my life and going to a fabulous University where I would be continuing my education and getting my Bachelor of Music Education and graduating with that in 2 or 3 more years, but I cannot.

I told myself all my life that I would not be one of those people that end up at EAC for eternity or 3 years, but yet, here I am... I will be back next year, but at least I'll already have my associates! My plans originally (like since before I graduated high school) was to spend 2 years at EAC and then go on to get my bachelors at NAU like my sister Angela. Well apparently that isn't what was supposed to happen, at least not right now. I was accepted into NAU but not into their School of Music (which, not to toot my own horn, but shocked me and everyone who knows me).

I thought and thought about what I was going to do next year because I didn't apply to any other school because I didn't want to go to any other school. I mean, I have already put $400 into NAU alone and didn't get in, I didn't want to have to spend that kind of money on other schools that I didn't even want to get accepted into. So as I contemplated and talked with my parents, the only answer that came clear was to come back to EAC for one more year and stay with music and institute. So that is what I will be doing. Taking choir, orchestra, and a few institute classes, all the while preparing for a mission! I will also be auditioning for the BYU School of Music (a VERY VERY hard music school to get into, but I figure why not try??)

Who knows what will happen in the next year, but whatever is in store for me, I know that it is the Lord's plan and that all will work out the way it is supposed to.

Go Dodgers!!!

Ok... So I've never really been a super fan of baseball. Like it was the only sport I understood so I liked it, but I never went to a game or anything. Well I got to go to a spring training game a couple weeks ago between the Dodgers and the Angels. I had no idea who to cheer for so I decided to cheer for the Dodgers because we were sitting on their side. Turns out... THEY WON!! 4-0! It was so much fun and I would love to go to more baseball games! I'm an official fan now. :)

The Crew!

Seeeesters!... basically!

Snow!

So let me just start this post by saying that I am loving having my nephews from Florida here. They are adorable and are so much fun and most of all sooo entertaining. Well we took them up the mountain yesterday for them to see snow for the first time in their short little lives and let me tell you... they LOVED it!! If it hadn't started raining/hailing/snowing on us at the end, I am convinced they would have stayed out there longer. Here are some pictures and short video of them and their first snow adventures. And yes, I AM bragging!

They had so much fun making snow angels!

They also were very proud of their snowman!!!

I promise my nephews really do love me! They were just scared from the thunder that was starting. It was the end of the day and it had started raining/snowing/hailing on us.

Celeb

So for all of you who are following me and actually reading my blog, I thank you! I have decided to keep my blog and what better way to start back up than with some GREAT news?!

So I live in the small community and we have this contest called "Gila Valley Idol" - it's kinda like American Idol... but much more selective and soooooooo much harder to get in the finals. OK.. So I may be exagerating just a tad, but still it's kind of a big deal around these parts. Actually it isn't kind of a big deal... it IS a big deal! Well They've been doing it for like 5 or 6 years and I've done it the past 3. I never made it past the preliminaries because of dumb reasons... until this year. Last night actually! I was first to sing and first to get called as a finalist!! I was like freaking out and soo sooo happy. If you want to hear me sing my song you can go HERE. I was in the Pollocks Western Outfitters preliminaries. Just thought I'd share the good news. :)

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Calling All Readers

Ok... Here's the deal everyone. This blog is kind of pointless if I have no readers. I am a faithful reader to all of you so if you read my blog at all please comment on this post. If I don't get any response, say goodbye to this young blog. I will miss it, but really, I only do it for the comments, which seem to be in short supply ALWAYS.

That is all.

Infants

I feel so terrible! I have left my little infant blog alone for quite sometime. It's not healthy! It needs me. So here I am, back to feed it with my posts. :)

First of all - Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year! I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. I sure did... and then some! I'm a music nerd and so I asked for a keyboard midi to hook up to my computer for a music notation program, Finale. I got it. It made me very happy. But also I've got THEE coolest parents ever! They got each of their kids their very own ice cream maker!!! It can be either electric or crank and looks kinda old fashioned. It's a 6 quart so it will make plenty of ice cream. :) I will make some ice cream this week and it will be delicious and it will all be because my parents are just rad like that! I searched and searched for a picture of it online so I could show you all, but alas, I don't know where they got it and none on google like quite as cool as mine, so I will be sure to take a picture of it for all of you to see while it's in action making me either some lemon or strawberry ice cream. I'm very excited.

Not much else is going on here. Saturday was a big Christmas party for my mom's family. It was crazy and fun, but what else would I expect for the Goodmans? My sister set up a studio type thing in one of the rooms of the church for silly pictures for all my cousins. It was a HIT! I was naturally the assistant and even got some pictures of my own. So fun. When I get them I'll post them for all of you to laugh at. And you will laugh.

So I'll try to take better care of my infant blog from now on.

Merry Christmas!

Cat Suicide!

Yes, this is my cat, Sobe, trying to suffocate herself. I'm not sure why, but as she was laying there peacefully on my bed she decided to put her face right into the blanket and try to kill herself. Maybe it's my music, I'm not sure. Or maybe she was just sick of our family. But she's only 4. Not old enough to be sick of us yet, RIGHT?! Right. Luckily, about 5 minutes after she tried smothering herself, she repositioned her head OUT of the blanket. She lives on!

Moving on.

I love Thanksgiving weekend! The whole thing! The fooooood, the shopping deals, the family, the laziness, and the fact that it means you are close close close to Christmas Vaca! So I'm going to tell you about mine!

Wednesday: All my classes were canceled so my mom and I went SHOPPING in Tucson!! Most of the stores were having their black Friday sales all weekend, so I got some great deals without the mean crowds. I even got me some BOOTS! I'm very excited about these. They are sooo soft on the inside to keep my legs nice and toasty.

Thursday: I must admit I hit the snooze button a couple times before I decided to get up and help my mom with dinner. When I finally decided it was basically my duty to get up already and pitch in with dinner, I went upstairs and sure enough, as soon as all my cereal had been eaten I was put to work making the stuffing (which, by the by, turned out just absolutely delicious!!) After that was all made and cooking my mom sent me back downstairs to stop smelling (aka: shower) So I did and got all purty for dinner and just as I was finishing, my sister, RiKenna the photographer, called me with an emergency. She was doing a family photo shoot with 80 people outside in the wind! Wind and expensive photography equipment (tall lights with umbrellas and such) - NOT a good combo. So I was called over to hold the light stand. The wind had already blown one of her lights over the day before and busted it pretty bad and when it happened again to her other light she knew she had to call me. Lots of complications and lots of minutes later we ended up with one light plus her camera flash. Not ideal, but of course my wonderful sister made it work because she's amazing! I ended up holding the ladder she was standing on instead. After that adventure we were an hour and half late for dinner, but it was still delicious!!!! I sat down to eat and of course my sister needed me again for another photo shoot with my parents before the sun went down. So off we went. You see my parents got a new car and wanted pictures in it. These pictures aren't the ones my sister took, but this is the car. It's beautiful and soooo amazing to drive!


Friday: Black Friday. I went to Tucson with a couple of friends and it was crazy. We didn't even get there early. Like really, we got there around 12:30. Our first stop was Kohls and after we saw the line for the cash register wound around the entire store, we left! We went to the mall and it wasn't so bad. Did some shopping then came home.

Saturday: Helped my sister with another photo shoot for our cousin's senior portraits. I help her with everything. I'm basically her unofficial lighting expert. Maybe I should just quit school and work for a photography place. Hmm... for some reason, I don't think that would get me quite as far as music. Ehhh... guess we'll never know since I'm not quitting school, no matter how much I would like to.

Sunday: Just church and a fireside. It was weird though today for dinner. It was just me and my parents. No one else. It was quiet. Usually there is a mass of people every week and this week it was just the fam. It was a nice break for the chaos, but honestly, I'll be glad for the chaos again next week. Love my parents and all, but sometimes quiet dinners are just plain boring.

Well I think thats it.

Oh, one more thing, I cut my bangs! You like????

ummm... ignore the face.

Toes

Today was probably the funnest day I've had in a very long time. Aural perception was actually fun because I was getting it, then just playing in the piano lab, and texting Dani and my mom all day. It was definitely a great day even tho my mom and my best friend are on a road trip together... without me. :(

But moving on from the sad, onto the GLAD! Today my piano class was cancelled due to Trish not being in town. -Can I just say the I LOVE college for this reason. When a teacher is out of town or can't make it to class for one reason or another... CLASS IS CANCELED! No subs, no nothin, NO CLASS! and now again... moving on- So because Trishy Trish wasn't there, a small group of us girlys went to the Beauty School and got some fabulous pedi's!! I had to rush mine because they were busy and couldn't get in till 2:30 and I had class at 3... but it was still fabulous!! The girls that did them were so much fun and we just had a blast eating candy cane things and just chillin like girlys do sometimes.

Final product: cute... not crusty feet! Seeeeeeeeeee?

To those girlys that went with me-
I love you all and we def need to do stuff like this more often. I love laughing with you all! And being girly. :D

And to everyone else-
Sorry... I'm not addicted to blogging. Bad addiction? I think not!! Form of journal writing, like everyone wants me to do? I think YES!!

Stake Conference

Saturday night and Sunday was stake conference for the Safford, AZ stake. It was an amazing experience to hear from all the wonderful speakers that came. They really helped strengthen my testimony of the gospel and especially of temples. So I would just like to take this moment to say how much I love the gospel and love what it does for me in my life. It really gives me a sure knowledge of what my purpose is here on earth. I love knowing that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to return to him someday. I love know that I have a Savior who was willing to die for me and my stupid sins, so that I can be made whole again. I love temples and all they represent and all of the work we can do inside of them. I love that Joseph Smith was willing to take a chance on spreading the gospel. I'm so glad he did so that I can have it today.

I got me some SOUL

So tonight was one of the many end-of-the-semester recitals for the music department at EAC and I was singing in it. I decided that I would sing one of my English pieces because I've only ever sang boring Italian at these recitals. Well I totally switched things up with this English piece. You see... It's a kind of a gospel song. It's called "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" and it's very simple, but if done right, it can be very powerful. It's a slave talking about how she feels so alone and so far from everything. Lately when I've been practicing it for the recital, I've tried to put more feeling into it... like imagine myself as a little black girl in the pre-civil war times, but tonight when I sang it, I just poured my SOUL into it. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I don't know that I've ever put so much heart and thought into a solo piece. Like sure I've had this kind of experience when singing with a choir because of all the memories attached to the song, but never on a solo. It has made me want to do this with every song I sing. To really understand the text and everything about the song.

Tonight I was not just Jaron Lines. Tonight I was the performer Jaron Lines.

It was a good reminder of why I love music and performing. Performing lends itself to so much opportunity. Anything is possible when you are performing!

Baby

I used to think myspace was for middle/high school, facebook was for high school/college, and blogs were for people with babies. Well my world has been turned upside down with all the blogging going on around me. Most of it done by people who DON'T have babies. I loved reading all the witty posts and from then on my mind was consumed with possible witty posts. So now it is time for all those witty posts I have been thinking of to come to a life of their own.

So welcome to the world, my little baby witty posts.