Ashley, 2009-10 Dancer Diaries

Hey Jazz Fans!!!

Well it’s Playoff time!!! The most exciting time of the year! Words can not describe the amazing feeling of dancing and cheering the Jazz on with such amazing energy in our building! With the season and school year coming to a close I was able to take a quick vacation before all of these big events. This past week I was able to go on a trip with my mom and her family to Hawaii! It felt so good to just relax before I have to cram for my finals!

The main reason for our trip to Hawaii was because my uncle retired from the Navy! So, our first stop before Hawaii was to California where we attended a ceremony to recognize my uncle and the 25 years of service that he gave. It was fun to go and see him dressed so nicely in his uniform along with all the other Navy men and woman as well. The ceremony was on the USS Hornet which was fun to be on an actual battle ship!

After the ceremony we were off to Hawaii for some relaxing sun bathing time! The trip was Amazing! I have never been to Hawaii before but it was as great as everyone said it would be or ever imagined! The weather there was perfect and the temperature was just right! The water and everything there was just so clean and beautiful, I absolutely loved it! For a couple of days all I did was sit on the beach and do absolutely nothing…ok well maybe I made a few sand castles…but that was it! To not have a care in the world felt so great! Being in Hawaii there was a 4 hour time difference so I actually would wake up super early there and go running on the beach which was super fun but if you have ever ran in the sand before it was killer! It was fun to get up early in the morning because that is the time that everyone goes surfing, so it was fun to watch all the legit surfers!

One day my family and I took a break from the beach and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was a full day’s event where you go and learn about all the different islands in Pacific. At night we attended a luau and watched some fire dancing! If you ever go to Hawaii I do recommend you make a stop here. For the most part we got lucky with having great weather. However, one day it did rain on his. So we took that opportunity to go see all the tourist things such as Pearl Harbor and we visited a Buddhist Temple which was pretty cool too! Pearl Harbor was a humbling experience to reflect back on that day when so many men and women lost their lives. It was great to be able to see all of this!

Now that I am back I am pumped and ready for Playoffs! I had such an amazing time with my family but it sure does feel good to be back! I loved Hawaii so much I think I just might have to go back there again this summer! Until then I will be cheering on our Jazz! I hope to see you all there supporting our team as well!

Go Jazz!!!! Beat the Nuggets!!!

Hey Jazz Fans,

Wow!!! So it has been a crazy couple of weeks that’s for sure. So I am going to make this blog a little different! With everything I have been doing I am just going to let the pictures tell the story of what has been going down in my life! Some of these pictures are priceless, so I hope you enjoy! Also, I just wanted to mention that I am super stoked for Playoffs! It is the best time of the year and I know our team will go far!

GO JAZZ!!!

Hey Jazz Fans!

It is official, I have full on Spring Fever! Summer can not get here soon enough and with all the nice weather we have been having I just absolutely love being outside! Running is one of my favorite hobbies, so when it is so nice outside you can be sure to catch me on a nice run! I have been trying to stay in shape because with summer right around the corner that means swimsuit season as well! I think it is kinda funny because you know everyone else is thinking the same thing when every day you see more and more people working out! But good for everyone I feel like this will be an epic summer for all! Go us!!!

With the nice weather it is hard not to think that summer means graduation for me as well! As many of you know I am attending the University of Utah and May 7th I will be graduating in Business Administration. I absolutely can not wait!!! It is interesting because often people ask, “So what do you do besides dance for the Jazz.” Our team is so talented and we are all involved with many different things. Some of us do go to school full time, teach dance, work at a chiropractor, take care of the elderly, or even some of us are full time moms as well. We are all so busy with many different things but it is so fun because we all bring such different qualities to our team.

Tonight at the Minnesota Timberwolves game, alumni Jazz Dancers will be coming back to perform at one of the time outs! I hope one day that I will still be in as great shape as they are and be able to come back and rock my thing too! It is so fun to be able to talk to some of the dancers that were on the team many years ago and see where their life has taken them today!

So I feel like this blog I don’t have that great of exciting news to share of what has happened yet but what is yet to come! I have Spring Break next week so hopefully I will have some exciting news to share with yall next time! However, I do feel like it is super important for everyone to keep up on their March Madness! I know I don’t have to really tell all the guys out there that but I encourage all the girls out there to fill out a bracket and try to win the thing! Lol

Last off, I just wanted to thank some boys that danced with us at our last halftime that we performed in. If any of you were at the game a while back we did a partner dance with some boys at halftime! I have some pictures to show all the fun we had! They were great sports to share their time to come and perform with us! So Thank You Boys! Also, some of us recently had the chance to go cheer on a basketball game up at Hill Air Force Base. Some of the guys played against each other and it was fun to see them being able to lay back and have some fun! Thanks to everyone that invites us to come out and get involved in the community! We always like to see and meet new faces!

Until next time…Happy March! Hope to see you all at the rest of the games, there is only a few left…Crazy!!!

Hey Jazz Fans!

Can you believe it … March is finally here! Time sure does fly when you are staying so busy and having so much fun! I am counting down the days until summer is here! It is crazy to think only a couple more months of basketball. When I think about how fast this year has gone it is crazy! It really makes me reflect back on the year and I truly have been so privileged to be a Nu Skin Jazz Dancer and to be apart of such a great organization, the Utah Jazz!

As usual the team has been busy with all different types of events. We recently hosted a dance clinic for dancers of all ages a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun to see all the young girls in the community that have such a strong desire and love to dance just as much as we do.

Growing up I always looked up to the Jazz Dancers … to me that was the best part about going to the games. So for me it was so much fun to meet and teach some dancers in the community that have some common goals as me! A fun appearance that we were able to take part of as well was at the VA Hospital.

One day a couple of the dancers had the opportunity to go around to the different patients rooms there and just thank the veterans for all that they have done for our country. Other people there included the bear, senators, and Miss Utah to name a few. When I see someone that is sick and that has done so much for our country I am truly grateful.

That leads to my next topic, the Olympics! It has been awesome to watch the Olympics these past couple of weeks and see the athletes of Team USA do so well. It is crazy to think that for four years an athlete trains for their event and then they finally get there and get one shot! I can not even imagine what an overwhelming feeling that must be.

On Sunday some of my friends and I went to Skybox to watch USA take on Canada in Hockey. It was fun to all get together and cheer on our team. The Hockey team should be very proud for taking silver, what an accomplishment!

So this last game we had I actually had the night off from the game. Even though I had it off I still went to watch the game and the dancers. It is definitely a different experience to be sitting in the stands as a fan than dancing and performing on the floor. I felt like I should be doing all the cheers and I wanted to go and dance every time the dancers took the floor! We also had an honorary dancer dance with the girls at one of the timeouts, she did really well! Good news is that I will be back in action at the next game! Haha!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful March with March Madness and everything that will be going on!

Until next time,
Go Jazz!!!!

Hey Jazz Fans!

I hope you all had a great weekend enjoying all the NBA All-Star events, Valentine's Day, and Presidents Day! I must say this weekend was pretty eventful and a perfect time to spend with my family and girlfriends!!! First off, just to update you all on how the dads dance was. It was a great success and the dads were able to get a little taste of what it's like to dance on the floor!

To start the weekend off right my mom and I took some time out to go get facials for Valentines! Can I just say that it was absolutely needed and was so relaxing! This past weekend was so much fun to spend with all my girlfriends as well! Friday night was a chill night with dinner and a movie! I don't know why but sometimes we like to torture ourselves by going to see love movies! We ended up going to see Dear John.

It was a great movie that made me cry the whole time! I'll make sure that next Valentines I'll go see a scary movie instead!!!

Haha, Well I guess it was fun and I'll do anything to hang out with my girls!

Saturday night was also a girl's night! It was one of our friends Arial's birthday! Any excuse we have to go out we will take it! Before going out my mom made me a wonderful Valentine's dinner! Listen up guys, if you want to know how to get to a girls heart make her some delicious food! Steak and crab legs are probably my all time favorite dinner with chocolate as dessert! I was in heaven!

Well Valentines came, not exactly the holiday people look forward to when you are single but I actually had a great day! No one can complain about sleeping in and getting your beauty sleep! Then I was able to go to brunch at the Grand America with my family. I can't complain about that and once again great food! Later that night I just hung out with my dad and watched the All-Star game. It was amazing to see so many people in one arena to watch a basketball game! Over 100,000 which is so crazy!

Anyways I really can't complain about the weekend I had. Facials, hanging out with my family and friends, and great food! I don't think it gets much better then that! So I hope everyone had a great weekend with whatever they did! I must say I'm a little sad the Jazz are on the road for a week! I can't wait until they are home next Monday! Hope to see you all at the next game!

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. I would have never thought things would have turned out the way they have been, good and bad! First, off I can't believe it is already February. Who needs Valentines Day when you have Presidents Day this month, I actually get a day off of school with that J

Anyways, I have had some fun lately by spending some time up in Park City.

This year the dancers have had different opportunities to go and try different things around the community like bull riding or racing cars at Miller Motor Park.

Nicole, Jocelyn, and I were able to go up to Brighton for some snowboarding lessons. Good thing we had an awesome instructor to teach us all the basics because I am horrible. I just do what I can so I can get down the mountain! We spent some time practicing on the bunny hill with the basics. Can I just say the worst part about snowboarding is getting off the dang ski lift. No matter what I do I look like a complete goof getting off. It was probably super funny to watch us girls, we had some good moments! After we felt a little bit more comfortable on the bunny hill we took our last run on one of the bigger mountains. Someone directed us toward it and said it was beginner level but I swear we took a wrong turn and ended up on a black diamond mountain! What a work out that was scooting on our butts to get out of everyone's way! Haha!

Snowboarding was super fun, however I like to get dressed up and go out with my girlfriends more! Sundance was just this past week and some of us made the trip up to Park City once again! I didn't run into any big stars like I was hoping to but it was still a fun time. There was tonz of people up there and was told multiple times that I had good teeth! I guess that's a good thing right?!?!

With all of the fun it has been even better that the Jazz our doing so well. On Wednesday we will be dancing at one of the time outs with our dads! It is always so much fun to do a daddy daughter dance. Our last couple of practices our dads have had to come and learn the dance. It is always so interesting to see everyone next to their dads. You can definitely tell who belongs to who. I'm excited to dance with my dad and that he can actually do something with me. He is always involved with my brothers' sports so I am glad for a couple of days he can get a little taste of my world! I know he loves the spotlight light just as much as me! Haha!

Hopefully we can keep this winning streak going! We have a couple of big games this week so hopefully we can stay strong, including going up against the Lakers! Hopefully you will all be there to see our dads dance as well … It will be great!

Until next time … GO JAZZ!!

Hey Jazz Fans,

2010 has definitely come in with a bang with its up and downs. It is hard to believe that we our already half way through January! It seemed just like yesterday that it was October and we were just barely starting the season. I also can't believe that I actually had my last first day of school! I finally started my last semester and I am super excited to be done. I have a feeling this will be a good semester for me as well; I have really interesting classes so hopefully I will be able to learn a lot from them!

Basketball season is pretty much in full effect now with only a couple more games of football left. I have had some time lately to go watch my brother, Cole, play basketball. My brother plays for the Kaysville Stars and they are all studs! My dad coaches them as well so it is fun to support the both of them.

I have been super stoked about the way our team has been playing. I can't go without mentioning the awesome game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. What a high I think that game put us all on. If you went to the game that night I hope you all stayed for the awesome ending. I know it was a late game but it was amazing and probably the best Jazz game I have ever been to! I still get so excited every time I watch the final shot of Sundiata Gaines! I definitely give props to him! It is games like that which make my job so great!

With so much going on in the New Year it is nice to see people take part in donating money to the relief fund for Haiti. What has happened in Haiti is truly a tragedy and my heart goes out to everyone. This past week some other dancers and I had the chance to go over to 2 News and help answer phones and take peoples donations. At a time like this it is so awesome to see people from all over the world come together to help people in need. At the Jazz games we were collecting money as well. Thank you to those of you that called and made donations or made donations at the game!

It will be nice to have a week off from games. I'm glad it has snowed a little bit as well, hopefully it will clear all the yuck out of the air! Hopefully I will be seeing you at the next game because you never know when Amazing things will happen again!!!

Hey Jazz Fans!

Can you believe it is already 2010? Wow! I hope you all had a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. It has been so nice to be home with my friends and family. I was lucky enough to receive an early Christmas present to New York. I was able to fly out there with a couple girls on the team. Brooke, Jocelyn, and Nicole made the trip out with me. If you remember during preseason the team had the opportunity to play over in Europe. There we met a girl, named Amanda, that dances for the New York Knicks. We were able to spend some time with her and that is when she invited us to come out to New York and visit her, so we did.

I have been to New York before for different occasions, but this trip was different. I have never been to New York for Christmas, so it was super fun so see everything decorated for the holidays. Our first night there we were able to go to the New York Knicks game and watch Amanda and the other dancers perform. It was fun to be at Madison Square Garden and to see how their game was run with marketing and everything compared to ours! Before the game we also got a sneak peak of the dancers practice. They are awesome and all so beautiful!

The second day we were able to venture out and see the city. I was so excited to see the big Christmas tree, but the ice rank was a little disappointing. I swear in the movies they make it look so much bigger then it really is. I wanted to ice skate but the line was just way to long! Macy's windows were also fun to see! They were all decorated so cute with Santa and his elves in them! After our sight seeing adventure we stopped at a restaurant called Serendipity's know for their famous frozen hot chocolate. (By far the best thing I had the whole trip) It was so popular that we had to wait 4 hours just to get in. So we put our name in and got in some shopping while we waited! After that is when the big snow storm hit back east, so we got snowed in the rest of the night. Even though we were stuck in Amanda's apartment it was fun to be snowed-in in New York City!

We were only there for the weekend. On Sunday we made it out to the New York Jets football game! It was fun to be at a professional football game, but it was freezing! Half time me and Nicole found a warm place with yummy food to watch the rest of the game in the stadium while Brooke and Jocelyn were troopers and finished the whole game freezing outside! It was super fun to get away with the girls before the holidays but I will say it was nice to come back to a warm home with my family and spend Christmas with them!

So with the New Year I hope you all were able to make some good New Years Resolutions! I have made a few and I hope we all can stick to them! I know 2010 will bring good things!

Merry Christmas!!!

I can't believe the Holidays are here! This is my favorite time of year and before everything gets to crazy I just want to wish everyone a fun and safe holiday!

So I did it…I got through all of my finals alive! YES! For a minute I did not think I was going to with all the games we were having and studying, it was not fun! Things sure have been crazy this month. The Jazz once again had retro night this month, which is always fun to bring back the old colors and jerseys! One thing I have to mention is that that night one of our dancers, Bec, she injured her hip with our first dance. So unfortunately she wasn't able to dance again the rest of the night! However, Crystal, our assistant coach (which many of you probably recognize from being on the team for many years) she was able to jump in Bec's spot and perform with us. I just wanted to say that it was great to dance with her on the floor again…it was super fun!!!

During this time of year we have many opportunities to get involved in the community with different appearances. At the beginning of the month we were able to visit Primary Children's Hospital and visit the kids. I teamed up with Ronnie Price and we had the chance to visit all the babies. What strong kids they are! I hope they all get feeling better and are able to return home soon!

Gift wrapping is not my specialty but a couple of us had the opportunity to do some gift wrapping at the Provo Towne Center. Some people would bring the craziest things for us to wrap! But we worked together and we accomplished it all. After that we had our Christmas game! All year long we get the most compliments on our outfits at this game…so thanks! All work and no play would not be fun this time of year. So it was great the other night the promotions department was able to get together to have a little Christmas party. It was great to see everybody outside of work with good food, pool, and darts!

Once again just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone hope you all have a fun and safe new years as well!!!

Hey Jazz Fans!!!

So I think I can speak for all of the dancers when I say it has been a crazy week! This past week we had games Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday with practice thrown in there on Wednesday! Yes, it has been crazy not only with games but we have been learning tonz of new choreography as well! All of us work so hard at practice and I must say that I am so happy when are team does well at the games but it is so funny because when there is a hot time out all of us dancers get upset that we can't perform our dance that we have been working on because it gets blown off. But Go Jazz, keep up the good work!

Thursday was a fun game since it was Thanksgiving! First time ever that there has been a Jazz game on Thanksgiving! I had a great day before the game! All of my family was able to get together and eat a wonderful meal and I was able to sneak in some pie before I left as well! Luckily it was a late game so I had a little bit more time to digest my food! Since it was Thanksgiving I must say that I am so grateful for my family, friends, and dance. They all have been such a big part of my life!

As most you know I am a huge Ute fan! These past two Saturdays I have been able to take off the games to go to the Utah games! It was great to be at the last Utah home game of the season! The Utes did great all season long and even though I will be graduating, I will continue to be at all of the games! I also took the journey down to Provo, interesting to say the least! So I just wanted to say congrats to all the Utes for a wonderful season and I look forward to the bowl game!

Hey Jazz Fans!!!

So a lot has been going on lately and even though the Jazz have been on the road this past week I have stayed super busy! First off I have been super busy with school. For those of you that don't know I am attending the University of Utah. I am finishing up my fourth and final year in school and I will be graduating in Business Administration! Yay! I can't wait, then I will be off traveling the world!!! (haha…if my parents will still support me and pay) Anyways, so when the Jazz are on the road it is a perfect time for me to catch up on all of my studying. It is hard to stay motivated with school now that I am getting so close to being done and with the holidays around the corner, but I try because I know that it will be so worth it in the end!

Since we have not had games this past week it gives the dancers a chance to do more appearances around the community. Last week several of us had the opportunity to do the morning show with FOX 13. It was super fun dancing and talking about some of the stuff we do at Jazz games even though we had to be there at 5:45 a.m. it was worth it! On Saturday some of us went to an appearance where we just helped with registration for a poker tournament. It was fun because all the proceeds were for a charity. It is always fun to help take part when everybody is trying to raise money for a good cause!

Even though I have stayed busy with school and different appearances when I have time to myself I love to workout! If I get the chance to go running I will do it! When I am running and working out it takes all my stress away. When I get the chance I try and workout with the Jazz Dancer Trainer Neil Anderson. Neil has been our trainer for two years now and he is an amazing guy. He always offers great workouts that can be used by anybody! If any of you fans are ever interest in some of our workouts check out www.fitzonenation.com and try it for your self!

So, my week has been full of school, appearances, and trying to workout. However, one thing I also love to do is to stay on top of all my sporting events. I LOVE SPORTS! This is my favorite time of year when both football and basketball are going on. I would have to say College Football is the best and even though my Utes lost this weekend to TCU, I am a huge fan and I am still looking forward to the BYU, UTAH game! Go Utes! Usually my Saturday's are filled with football. I have two younger brothers that both play football. I go watch their games every Saturday, one plays for Kaysville and one plays for Cyprus, and they both did amazing this year. I am sad that the football season is coming to an end, only a few more weeks left. Good thing I still have my Jazz to watch!

See you all at the next game!

WOW!!! Where to begin? First off I just wanted to say how excited I am to be on the dance team for a second year now. I am also excited to be one of your new bloggers!!! I look forward to an awesome year cheering the Jazz on and sharing all of the experiences with you Jazz fans!

Can you believe the season is already here. The summer was fun but it is great to be back in the groove of things. I can't go without mentioning our trip to Europe. This year for two preseason games the Jazz had the opportunity to play in two games overseas. One game was in London, England and the other game was in Madrid, Spain. Lucky for me and eight other dancers we had a chance to travel with the team and some off Jazz management to perform at the games there. Wow! Can I tell you what an experience that was! Our first stop was London and when we got there we all were exhausted from the flight.

The first day there was a little rough because we were always on the go, doing different appearances and practicing but we couldn't complain…we were in London! So after we got some rest and after some long practices we finally had the chance to do some sight seeing!!! Luckily we had an awesome tour guide that was able to take us on a quick tour of all the important things to see! The best part for me was when I got to see the "Big Ben," I was in awe! We walked right to it. I could not believe how big it was! Everything there is so old and the buildings are beautiful. After a long night of sight seeing we stopped for a treat. There was a big group of us and we all ordered waffles and ice cream….Oh my, the best dinner/dessert ever!

After the game in London we hopped on a plane and flew to Madrid! The whole trip was so fast paced. After the appearances we got to do some sight seeing there as well. It is crazy being in a different country where no one speaks your language. Taking taxis to go sight seeing our group got split up from one another. So we got a very quick tour of the city. By the end of the night we finally found everyone by dinner. We found the oldest restaurant in the world named "Botin" and ate dinner there. It was probably the only place in Spain where I liked the food, and it was so yummy. Game day came and then we were headed back to the states. Everything is very different in Europe but it was an amazing quick trip but I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to go!

Time flies and I can't believe regular season games are already here. Opening night was a blast. Our amazing captain this year, Nicole, does so much for us and she decorated our locker room…it makes the atmosphere so much more exciting, it was great. We also do secret sister gifts all year long, so to exchange gifts that night was fun too. The night was filled with fun activities all night! Thanks to all of you fans that came out in your Halloween costumes to the game. It was a blast to see every one I was very impressed! With a great win against the Clippers all the dancers went out and celebrated after at dinner. It was a great night to start what I know what will be a great season! Thanks to all of you that came I look forward to seeing everyone all season long! Oh yeah Happy Halloween hope everyone had a fun safe night with lots of candy!!!

Check out our first team wallpaper! CLICK HERE

Past Bloggers
Arial: 2007-08 | 2008-09
Jocelyn: 2007-08 | 2008-09