HAPPY MOTHER`S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is Mother`s day, so before I go into the weekly affairs, I wanted to do a little tribute to my beautiful mother =)
Here`s a poem I wrote last night for my mother -

***Words cannot describe what you mean to me,

Your love, your care, your overall beauty,

As a child, you held me close and chased away the monsters I feared,

As I got older you are still here for me, to keep me safe from every day cares,

I know I am not alone since I will always have you,

Your support, your kindness, through and through,

No one gives hugs quite like you.

I love you mom for all that you are,

For helping me see the beauty in the world,

For teaching me that love and kindness go a long way,

For teaching me charity, and of my Father in heaven,

For taking care of my heart and soul,

For believing in my child-like dreams,

For lifting me up, for encouraging me,

You are my role model, though you sometimes drive me insane,

I hope one day to be more like you,

More loving, more caring to all that I meet,

It drives me nuts that you worry so much, but I know you want to protect me when things get tough,

I know no matter what you are always there for me.

It means the world to me. You mean the world to me.

So thank you for being my mother, my friend, my teacher, my support team. You are amazing and I am

thankful that God blessed me with you as my mother. Its one of the reasons I know my Heavenly Father

 must love me. =)

For those of you who don`t know my mom, here are the top 10 things I love about her:

1) Her smile- always a real smile, it shows her inner and outer beauty

2) Her hugs- best I have ever received

3) Her kind words- my mom always has something nice to say about everyone

4) How much she adores her kids- we claim suffocation at times, but we all know she loves us

5) Her support- she shows interest in all of our activities and is always there as our cheerleader

6) Her testimony- she has always strengthened my faith by sharing hers

7) The way she gets embarrassed over the smallest things- cracks me up to no end

8) The way she talks about her mission in Japan- I love the stories she tells and wished she would tell them more often

9) The way she understands people- she can always figure out what is upsetting me or making me happy because she knows me so well

10) For encouraging me to be strong when life is rough- I can conquer it all because thanks to her I am tough.

So thank you mom for all that you have done, all that you do, and all you will do- youre amazing =)

So to begin where I left off- Friday was a great day- we got our butts kicked. I had the car and went to go get Brian around 10:20. He was finishing up some stuff when I arrived, but then we got onto the road and headed up to Hacienda Heights for our first lesson down here with Anna =) Amazing how distance wise, it is farther to Hacienda Heights than to work, but it took us less time to get there... thank you traffic...

We found the place pretty easily and it is in a super nice location. The building is beautiful and the inside is very nicely done. We stretched and warmed up a bit, then ran through our samba. Anna showed up right at noon. The lesson was super intense! One thing I love about how Roman and Anna both teach, is that they both drill  into you the concepts and put it into your muscle memory so that you don`t forget it. Anna was so nice about everything, but really worked us.

 She went through some basic steps and worked some technique

 that I have never had taught to me so well. Its stuff that we can

 implement through all of samba. I do not think I have ever had a

 coach go so in depth with it. It hurt like crazy, but its good cause

 its in my body now-I will not forget it. My back hurts so so so much!! I am very excited that we

 get to work with her every week- its quite the drive, and expensive 

but the information is priceless. She is amazing! 

After our lessons we drove home (hit traffic- one hour to get home!). We went back with the intent of finishing the amazing dress Brian is doing for me... It took a bit longer than expected... I am absolutely no help when it comes to sewing, so I took a nap...

We quickly got ready for the showcase tonight, then left for the studio. Brian and I ran over the pieces we will do tonight then I had my first lesson. Song and his wife want to learn swing so I got to teach them the basics and a few steps. They are so nice! I love working with them!! He signed up for 20 lessons so I will get to work with them a lot =) After the lesson,
Brian and I did a few more things, then began the group class tonight- which funny enough is swing lol. We had a large class and had a good time teaching them steps.

Then we danced a few dances with the students- there is a way higher ratio of women to men, so a lot of the time I danced as the guy- thank you teaching methods for teaching me how lol. My mom and dad came to watch =) 

The first dance we did was cha cha! We added this fun part where Brian acts like a geek and I am supposed to be this hot girl he`s got a date with. He is such a funny actor. He is great about getting into character.

Then we quickly changed into our red outfits for paso. We had a short intro

into this but then went right into the dance. We did all three crashes. It actually went pretty well. The floor was a bit slippery but we managed somehow not to fall all over =) hehe.

Then we got changed once again and did jive. This time in my silver dress. This one we made up the intro literally in five minutes and it actually worked... nice.

I slipped on this one, but thankfully it was minor... After we finished we dressed back into our normal clothes and went out to dance with our students (I went to talk to my parents first- so nice to have them come...). We stayed until almost eleven, then packed up all of our stuff. Successful night I`d say.

Then we went and grabbed Jack in the box, ate at the top of the hill where I am dropped off and picked up each day, and called it a night. I stayed up and talked to the Moriyama`s then went to bed.

Saturday- Today was SUPPOSED to be a beach day but decided to be overcast. boo. So I stayed home. I decided to pack myself a lunch and took the short 8-minute walk it takes to get to Hermosa beach from the house. I was a little warmer, but not that warm. I had my jacket on and just listened to music while watching the waves. I LOVE the beach... it is by far one of my favorite places ever! Then I headed back up. At 6:30 Brian came and got me and we met my parents at Olive Garden. They decided while they were here, that we should celebrate my birthday. No complaints here =) The food and service were great and we got a huge table. Thanks mom and dad =) I had seafood alfredo and dr. pepper and a triple chocolate cake for dessert...yum. It was a great dinner, full of laughs and jokes, and was fun to have Brian join in. I am so glad I got to see my family =) and I got to open n awesome b-day present from Kelsey (missed you babe). Then we said our goodbyes =( Brian took me to Target to get some groceries, then we came back to the Moriyama`s. They had pie and ice cream waiting for us. Delicious. They also bought me some cute headbands and sang happy birthday to me. Then we all watched an American in 

Paris (great movie except for the excessively long dance scene towards the end, and the blunt ending). Then we called it a night,

Today has been great. Our YSA ward is small- but that may be due to it being mother`s day- but it seems nice. Talks were good, all in honor of mother`s. The rest went by pretty quick. Now just resting up for the week to come- Brian has a ton of lessons and I have got a handful myself, plus two lessons this week. Here we go. Love you always!!