THANK YOU!!

I have so many people that I need to Thank for this trip of a life time!

First and foremost I need to give full credit to our Great Lord for blessing me with such an awesome talent, that has allowed me this experience. Thank you for protecting me, helping me rest and healing my aching body! Thank you for keeping me grounded and helping me on my journey. I am truly grateful..

I do want to say a Huge Thank you to each and everyone of you. From ALL the kind donations you gave me, supporting our shows, buying sausages, raffle tickets, tea towels, bottles wine to even donating things for our garage sale...All to help me make it to Las Vegas! I thank you.

Thank you to Aunty Kate for being my very own personal Blogger! This was such an awesome idea and the fact that I will always have this awesome trip to look back on at the push of a button..all because of your hard work! And cropping all my silly photos and checking my grammar! You so Rock! ♡

Thank you to my Nana, Grandpa, Grandma and Poppa, all my Aunties, Uncles, Cousins for being there for me. I will be on dishes duty for the rest of my life to repay you all. We couldnt've done it without you...Thank you xx

Thank you to Mr Hall, Mrs Thumath, Mrs Togia and all of Henderson Intermediate. Thank you for allowing me the time off school to fulfill my dream of dancing. I hope you enjoyed the peace n quiet while Ive been away and now its time for me to catch up on all my school work :-(

Thank you to my Fresh Movement family for the Best experience ever! Bex, Vai, Hadz thank you for believing in me and pushing me everytime!

To the Lil Saintz girls...Thank you for putting up with me and being a part of this awesome journey with me! What an awesome group of girls! I love you guys x

Thank you to my wonderful family Mum, Dad, Kaitlyn and Cruz. Its been such a full on journey and I thank Kaitlyn and Cruz for letting me take up so much of their time with my trainings and gigs and sitting in the car or coming out late to pick me up late from trainings. Love you both x

Thank you Mum for everything..as hectic as it all gets for me, its always nice to come home to your hugs and reassurances. You are truly inspiring and your are the Best Mum in the world!

To my very own Security/Manager/Bank/Dad ♥♥..I was so privileged to have you accompany me on my trip. Thank you for putting up with my grumpiness and only pulling your "Rocks eyebrow" at me a couple of times.

We got to experience so many awesome things together and I thank you for always having my back Dad. I Love you xx

Thank you to all of you keeping updated with my blog. I hope you have all enjoyed my journey to worlds and look out for my next Blog!

Take care and God Bless

LANI xx

Finals // A Recap!

Sorry about the delay in posting from the big Finale day.

In between going back to school and my blogger Kate going on a well deserved holiday in Niue, I think everything is slowly back to normal now so let me take you back to the 5th Aug and lets revisit the day of the HIP HOP FINALS in Las Vegas.

FINALS DAY!

To kickstart our day I got woken up about 6.30am to have some breakfast, before heading downstairs to the ballroom for our training. We spent some time changing and polishing our set. We slowly prepare for another long day as we all head to the New Orleans arena where the Finals were held.

We get through our stage rehearsal then slowly get ready..

Wow what an emotional time. There wasnt a dry eye in the FRESH MOVEMENT circle and I felt so honoured to not only be representing NZ but to be a part of such a loving caring and supportive company and surrounded by all our friends and family. I was nervous, happy, tired, excited all at the same time! I thought to myself "this is it Lani, all those bruises, late nights and lectures - all add up to this very moment". It was almost time to get out there..and leave it all out on the stage!

"Give it up for Lil Saintz!...As we run up on stage I could hear the crowd ROARR and cheer for us. The music starts and we give it our ALL...before we know it we are in our final pose...panting and my heart is racing so fast! We finally did it!

We go backstage and watch the other crews perform on the screens before going in to the audience and sitting with the rest of the FM crew to enjoy the other divisions perform.

There were 5 Junior Crews, 5 Varsity, 5 Adult and 5 Megacrews.

There were a few guest performances in between while we waited for the results.

Before long...its time.

The results are in...

All the Junior crews held hands as the results were called out. We were so happy for all the crews that made it out on the podium. Unfortunately we may not have got the results that we had hoped for BUT I think we can proudly say that we are so happy to have come 4th in the WORLD! We made new friends with the other crews and we got to have the Bestest experience with a group of wonderful people! # TrulyBlessed.

And the results are in!

We got a great result with our adult crew that performed after us lastnight!
Placing 19th that means they're through to the semi finals as well! So proud of you Militia!

DAY 8

Mega Crew competition day!

7.30am kick start the morning with breakfast before heading off to training.
Good training session today. Kicked back and relaxed with Dad for abit.
Returning for a swim and rest before getting ready to head back to Red Rock to support FRESH NATION!

So many talented crews performing and its going to be such a hard competition! C'mon Fresh Nation! Lets do this!!

Before I head to bed we just got results back and FRESH NATION placed 10th!

So guess what that means! ALL 3 Fresh Movement crews have made it through to semi finals!

Time to get to bed now because I think this competition has just stepped it up a level..its time to put on our game faces ready for our semi final tomorrow morning 9am (Saturday NZT4am)

Thank you Lord for seeing our Fresh Movement family through a really intense couple of days. May we be well rested and ready to represent all over again tomorrow and show the world our talent of dance that you have blessed us with.."Stay humble, Stay True"..


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DAY 9

SEMI FINAL DAY!!!

Start my morning off with giving Thanks to our Lord for everything and for another beautiful day in Las Vegas!

Ring and speak to Mum in NZ (1am NZT). Was nice talking to her to help calm my nerves..its been hard being away from my family but always comforting to know how much Love and support I have back home. I Miss and Love you Mum.

Big shout out to my Dad who I was fortunate to have with me on my trip! Weve had such an awesome time and you have been so helpful making sure I have everything, doing all my washing, making sure Im fed and well rested and for my hugs, and lectures you give me before I go to bed..I LOVE YOU DAD..x

Right..back to business..

So today is Semi Final day and all 3 Fresh Movement crews have qualified.

6.30am were up and slowly getting ready.

Well the butterfly feeling was starting to kick in again as we stretch and get our hair and makeup all ready for our performance.

I think we did really well out there today and as the results have just come out it definitely shows how hard we worked!

We're through to the FINALS placing 4th!!

Our Adult Militia crew were due to perform shortly after us. Man they really gave it their all and we are all so proud of them!

Likewise with our Mega Crew FRESH NATION who were due to perform in the evening. I have seen how hard our Fresh Movement crews have worked and we have nothing but respect for each and everyone of them. All their hard work and determation definitely showed tonight.

Unfortunately the competition was too great for both divisions with neither crews advancing to finals.

We have a days break tomorrow with some training and abit of rest before our big finale on Sunday (Mon in NZ).

Signing out for now and I want to say a Hyuge Thank you to everyone for keeping up to date with my blog. I hope your enjoying it.

Lani :) xxx

Game Day!

Well the day has finally arrived...**Preliminary rounds**

Firstly I want to give a Massive shout to our Lord for bringing me through to this very moment. The day has come and I know I wouldnt be here with out you. Thank you.x

Dad woke me this morning to all my goodluck messages and prayers from everyone and I wanted to Thank each and everyone of you.

Really made me happy to read them all but also made me miss home abit.. :-(

Feeling abit anxious and nervous but mixed in with abit of excitement as the Fresh Movement camp are up bright and early to help get us ready.

Hair and makeup preparations as well as making sure everyone has their uniforms. Its all on!!!

The feeling before the performance was all a bit of a blur. I remember feeling nervous but I had to focus as it was game time and had to put all that aside and get ready to just do my best!

A feeling of relief, and excitment after the performance. We were really happy with that so anxiously awaiting results now.

After the results came through it was time for us to head back to camp, have lunch, rest up and early night for us as we have training tomorrow. 

The parents went down to watch our adult crew Militia perform! Good Luck Militia!

Sorry for the brief updates...I have to go bed incase I get in trouble.

But heres some photos of our Prelims....hope you enjoy them..

Lani :) xxx

It's Nearly Competition Time!

DAY 5 continued

We finally made it to LAS VEGAS after a very long bus ride...
Arrived to our Hotel, ready for debrief and straight into training!
No time to rest...straight down to the studio.

We hit the Strip in Vegas for a bit of a tiki tour!

Big day...(not to mention early start) tomorrow with Registrations .
Were getting closer and closer to the Big day.

And before my head hits the pillow..

Thank you Lord for guiding us safely to Las Vegas and please give us the rest that we need to get through tomorrow..

DAY 6

Registration Day today...

Up bright and early to make our way down to register and the Opening Ceremony.

Such and overwhelming feeling in amongst all the other NZ teams and so nice to come together as one as we all represent NEW ZEALAND!

The Haka performance was awesome!

After another long day we head out to our last training session before we head back to camp to rest up for our big day.

The Junior division have prelims tomorrow from 10am (NZT5am).

So before I Sign out I just wanted to Thank each and everyone of you for all your prayers and Goodluck wishes.

"Through God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26

Till next time....

Lil Saintz!! LETS DO THIS!!

Till next time xx take care
Lani :) xxx

We Saw Beyonce and Jay Z!

DAY 3

As they say time flies when your having fun! So we had a day of shopping and training down at the studio, and yet again... Finishing our night off with a swim to cool down and dinner with crew....

They even had fireworks at the Hotel!!

DAY 4

Got abit of a sleep in this morning before heading off to training.

Even snuck in abit of shopping...again...

Race back to the hotel, refreshen and doll up for...wait for it....

*** THE BEYONCE AND JAYZ CONCERT***

How exciting...I managed to take a few photos...not quite the same as being there but so you could see how much fun I had! What an experience!..

Thank you Lord for Blessing me with such Awesome experiences in my life and the wonderful people I get to experience it with...xx

DAY 5

AND we're off..!!

After a more relaxed start to our Tour and a whole heap of FUN we are all packed and ready for our road trip to L A S V E G A S!!!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be able to share my trip with you all

I really hope your enjoying all my updates (courtesy of my very own personal Blogger Lovingly, Kate)...Love you Aunty Kate xx

Its time for me to catch some ZZzzzz's on the bus now because once we touch down in Vegas I don't think I will have much time to rest..Meantime..Take care everyone and stay tuned...

Lani :) xxx

We're here!!

DAY ONE

28 hours later thanks to the delay in Sydney we finally arrive 7hours behind schedule...Thank you Lord for guiding us here safely xx

Finally arrive to our hotel room about 4.30pm. Get to unwind and unpack..

And then..what else is there to do in the 30degree heat! We hit the pools!!

Time to just kick back with my girls and relax after such a long trip was so awesome! I'll definitely be having a good sleep tonight!

Will catch up with you all in the morning because its going to be an early start!

DAY TWO

Kick start the day with a bit of a sleep in while the older crew get up nice and early for fitness.

We have training today down at the studio so it will be good to get back together again after 2days of no dancing ... I was beginning to have withdrawl symptoms...:-)

 

After our training session and run through we grab some lunch. Back to the rooms to refreshen and have a bit of a rest.

No time to waste...we're off for our team bonding tonight...lots of activities in store and I cant wait. Look out for some photos that I'll post up in the morning.

Meanwhile this is me and Emma chilling waiting for the rest of the crews to get ready before boarding the bus....

DAY TWO CONTINUED

"Oh what a night"!
Awesome night out last night at Disneyland!!
Had such a blast!!! More photos to come...has been a long night and Dads tired from all the queuing..haha.
Look at our Turkey legs!!!

Much Love from L.A....Lani xx