FREEDOM ACADEMY!!!

***ALL PICTURES ON NEXT POST***
so here is the thing.. i went to freedom academy this summer and it was the best week of my life.. why you ask? because it was and no one will never understand unless you have been there!
I did so many things that i would probably never do if it wouldnt have been for that week. so here is goes. first some stuff about the BLRG's our group consisted of well normally 4 boys and 4 girls, but later became 5 and 5 when we added our honoraries Irfan and Olivia! we were always front and center whether it was in big group pictures, for the concert, speakers, anything. we loved to play games, made up a harry potter song to a cup game, which made us pro., we were almost inseperable the whole time, all got along like best friends!
Sunday- got to camp williams and had mike schlappi as a guest speaker, got assigned to our groups, mine was the best BLGR bobcats! in my group was me, paige, megan, susannah, daniel, weston, erik and brayden, and then there was A-Train, the best counselor of all! it wasnt long before our group was a family. that night we had dinner in the chow hall and then we went to do ice breakers in another building. our group didnt really even need it but it was still fun. what do you know all of the sudden a drill sergeant yelling, giving us orders, i bet that is not even a taste of how it could have been. it was kinda fun though:)
Monday- first flag ceremony, and it was official! we had some speakers including 3 byu athletes, one of them was riley nelson from logan/byu. also senator garn talked to us. he was in the airforce i believe and he has been to space, now that is legit! after all of the speakers came the exciting part. we went to the state prison! we went to a part of the prison called con-quest. from what i understood it is a privelegde to beable to stay there. we sat in on a pannel of 4 prisoners each having commited a crime of some sort, (gangs, durg abuuse, abuse) they introduced them selves and delegates got to ask questions. it was actually pretty good getting to talk to them. we then went on a little tour i guess you could say and there was a guy in one of the rooms pulling this really funny face at us so daniel started doing the same face back and all the inmates would laugh then we would laugh and that went on for awhile. we went and had a swat presentation and then A-Train drove our bus back, lets just say she was better than my most recent bus driver for bball that ran a red light! we had a little presentation with the k-9 dogs and then went to the leadership reaction courses. i think we completed one successfully, the first one that we did. we may have cheated at first but we didnt know, we redid it though. the rest of the courses we did, were just funny, people falling into water, weston getting stuck on a pole.. oh boy! we had a litttle pool party bbq and danced the night away. me and erik were making our own moves, pretty much pro. me paige and a-train got a little excited with the giant marshmellow and chocolate fountain ( i will just put all pictures on the next post.) we have these awesome games we play, pretty much whenever we have the chance.. ninja warrior and some bunny game, but like i said awesome!
Tuesday- we went to the capital, to be told that august 2 is now a holiday, freedom academy day! we went in the senate and the house of representatives, took some pictures, played some games, and planked and creeped. when we got back we did 3 army activities. we rode in humvees and did a humvee roll simulator, i drove this big tractor thing, loaded a cannon, with fake amo, and shot and m-4 in a simulator. we had a speaker, skip morgan, that night which was reallly good. after skip we had a concert put on by vocalocity. we spent the rest of the night at the O' club having good conversations with the BLRG's and 1 of the honoraries, Olivia. found out some stuff about weston, like that we are all his children, he is now like my best friend!
Wednesday-we went to the airguard base that is by the airport. this is where a-train works and she took us in to show us where she works. it was probably one of the best overall days, me and paige went up in the cherry picker, put on these really hot yellow suits and gas mask, got to go inside the big and little planes, and we also did a firemans challenge, and yes the BLGR girls won. we marched and sang caidence, some of them were funny, phil led us, he was a funny guy:) we went to 2 news and had a tour, while we were waiting we saw a fight outside, i sat in dave fox chair took a pic to send to kelli, she was in chicago with him. this is where we learned perching. curtisy of matt gephart. it later became an addiction. we went the justice building (court) and i almost fell asleep. we went back to camp williams and ate chow, had a flag retirement ceremony and i was the person who carried the flag. then there was the speech contest, which i didnt do, but there were some really good ones. if you want to read something good read this http://hedgehogcentral.blogspot.com/2006/12/second-lieutenant-scott-lundell-rip.html after that all of the 'secret squirrels' met under the BLGR tree, we really had a tree, and wrote our letter to a-train. my camera died, but what do you know natalie had the charger for it, and also my camera was lost for like a day.
Thursday- today after we ate breakfast we got to go see a helicopter and take pictures with it, we were out there first and took many pictures, i think a-train had connections:) there was a speaker and then we did more army activities, i shot an M-16, who would have though that having only sot a gun once at camp loll this summer, that i would have been such a good shot, it was kinda fun. we also went repelling, i was the most scared for this. i first did the freefall repelling and brayden was my balayer it was actually quite fun! i then went and did the wall and that was pretty fun too! i wanted to go again, but i couldnt. i got interviewed by the provo paper here is the video==>http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/vmix_e411d032-bf15-11e0-becf-001cc4c002e0.html we went back and we had the talent show, we finally got our COIN SHAKE, it was highly anticipated!!!! the BLGRS did a little creep, and others did talents also. megan totally stole the show with here original song peter pan, she is probably going to be famous sometime in the future, Megan Hatt, remember that name. after the talent show we had our last little party, it was like an all night dance party! learned the beat it dance and the wobble. probably one of the best dances i have been to. there was pizza at midnight and all other types of food that you can imagine. that night we stayed up until 4 and it was a party in olivia's room. it was pretty fun, and paige convinced lauren that i had a twin growing out of my chest, totally believed me! i couldn't go to sleep that night because i knew the next day it would be over and i would have to go back to reality, which i didn't want to, especially because that meant volleyball.....
Friday-mixed emotions.. best week of my LIFE, but it had to end. we had our last breakfast/meal in the chow hall, last flag ceremony last time together. cleaning out my room was depressing. we had a guest speaker at the graduation, scott anderson, he was super good, and he showed some good videos my favorite was this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg went to the blgr tree afterward to take our pictures and say our last goodbyes. Daniel had to leave though so all the pictures are minus him. we all stayed there for awhile, i was the last delegate to leave, the only thing left in the o'club was my suitcase and a fish. sad day when i drove out of those gates. freedom academy was definantly a week to remember! met some of the best kids there, and i miss them all!
* the coin shake, it was a big deal, it was the 50Th anniversary of FA and so they had coins and they had given them to every speaker or volunteer and we would always cheer for the coin shake, even though we had never seen the coins
* for every meal pretty much there was some type of desert whether it was brownies for breakfast or ice cream, always ice cream