I'm sorry I...

haven't been updating my blog lately. Truthfully, I hasn't even crossed my mind. I just finished taking my finals this past week. I think I did well on all of them... I hope. I'm now sitting at 5 A's and a B at the end of this semester. We're now on Christmas break for the next 2-3 weeks. I wish we had longer. I really DON'T want to go back, but that's not my decision of course. Yesterday, my friends Allie and Katie came over after school because we had a half day. We really didn't have anything to do so we went through old year books and showed each other our pictures from past years. It was really kinda funny to see how we've changed, even in this past year. We also took a few pictures that are... let's just say... goofy. My favorite is one of me and Katie with scarves on our head in ninja poses. I don't know what we were thinking. Ha! Afterwards, Allie went home and me and Katie went to Desert Sky for Drama. They're working on their play for January, A Midsummer's Nights Dream. I was totally into it! The acting has really grown since last year. I remember two years ago when me and Bryce Peterson had to do a love scene together and he totally didn't even want to hold my hand... and now he's hugging people and holding their hands in the play. I was offended! What's wrong with me! JK! It was great to see everyone again. I was going to take pictures, but whenever I got ready to take one, my camera would die... :( Oh! My birthday was also on the 5th. Whoa. I totally forgot to blog about that. I am now officially 15 years old. It really doesn't feel that different from 14 though and I can't say it's any different. Just another year. I also got a Facebook this past week. I never thought that I would get one. I always thought that it was a terrible, dark, evil place. And I can't say that it's the BEST program ever...it's really not that fun. All you can do it email and post pictures. But it's just good to keep in touch with friends. I'm even friends with some of my leaders from church! Whoa. I'm hoping that over the break I can spend some time with my friends. Otherwise, I'll just be sitting at home eating chips and soda and watching chick flicks all day. Maybe I'll be getting up once or twice to check my email and then realize that no one sent me anything and then repeat the process an hour later. Oh, well. Some social life, right? Ha! My other goal is finishing my Personal Progress before the new value of Virtue comes out. I know it sounds bad... but I don't want to do the extra work. I'm almost done. I only have Divine Nature and half of Faith left to go. Wish me luck!

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It was Ryan's birthday on the November 9th. He's now 6 years old! When we moved here he was about 1 or 2. Whoa... time flies.

Hero for a Class Period

I am now a hero! Well, just for my fourth period World History class. We got the grades of our essays back and I got a "D"!!! Can you believe it? Well, I didn't study that hard... so it's not that suprising. But ANYWAYS I got a "D"! 

So, I took it home and looked over my mistakes (just like any good student would). And I noticed that there was one tiny... no.... HUGE problem in how my teacher graded it. I don't really feel like explaining it right now... but let's just say she counted up the points wrong. I would have actually recieved a "B"!!!! OMG!!! This was a big moment!

I went in during class and I asked some of my friends what they got on their essays and if I could take a look at them. They said yes, and I showed them what was wrong. I told them their correct score and (of course) they were pretty excited. I then went and told Ms. Cassidy what happened and she announced to the class that everyone's test was graded wrong. I raised up everyone's score about 2 letter grades! Whoo!

I got a "B"!!!

bum, bum, bum....

So, the other week we found out that someone hit our car in the school parking lot. I was FURIOUS! It left a dent in the back, on the driver's seat. It left scratches along the side of the car and part of the rear light broke off. The security at the school says that they are going to try and find the person who did it, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. So, almost everyday before and after school, I look around for white cars (there was white paint on our car) that look like they might have a bit of brown paint on them. I haven't caught anybody yet... but just you wait. When I find them.... they'll pay big time!!! 

Updating!!!

Well, tons of people are bugging me to update my blog... so here we go..... 

Well, nothing is really going on with me. I've been busy the last few days just doing homework like any other good high school student. I have a big essay coming up in my honors World History class about church in the Middle Ages and its influence on then and now. It's supposed to be 750 to 1000 words long. That's about 6 or 7 paragraphs, I guess. I'm really not that concerned about it; on the last essay I wrote, I recieved a 94%! So, it should be fine.

One of my friends invited me to go to a concert in Pheonix called Phocson... (I really don't know how it's spelled) with her. But it just so happened to be on my birthday, DECEMBER 5TH!!! And my parents already bought tickets to see a play at the Gaslight Theatre, so, as much as I wanted to go, I said no. Truthfully, I'd rather spend the night watching a play with my parents and having a relaxing night, than going to a loud, crazy concert with friends. Not to offend them if they read this!!! Sorry guys!!! Hee hee!!!!

 I really can't think of anything else new at this exact moment. The only thing that I can think of is the fact that I really want to go back to my old middle school and visit all of my old friends. Oh, I miss them all so much! But, they're all coming to high school next year... so I only have to wait for a little bit longer. YAY!!!

See ya! Hopefully this was enough of an update for you guys!

Going to Utah....

This past weekend, Dad took us kids to Utah. While there we visited Grandma. As soon as we walked in the front door, she was jumping up and down in her chair with excitement! I thought that it was the sweetest thing ever.
Here's Dad and Grandma. Smile!!!

A few weeks ago (I think it was about two...) the Young Women in our ward went to the temple in Mesa. Here's a pic of the people who went. There are about 2-3 more young women who weren't able to come. It was really spiritual while we were there! We went to Arby's afterwards (a favorite of all of us!) and that was the REALLY FUN part. 
Afterwards, we had a little picture session in front of the temple. This was the only decent pic of me.... let's just say the wind was blowing A LOT....
Here's a picture of me and my mom outside of the temple.

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ANYWAYS!!!!!!!..........
I was looking through our pictures today and found these! They're pictures from Austin's 16th birthday party. During the party me, Julia, and Josh (some of our friends) snuck upstairs and did this to Austin's room. We toilet- papered his room, threw streamers around, put candy and flower pedals on the bed, and hung up signs. It was a ton of fun! Austin knew something was up when we came back downstairs... but we stayed cool. After the party he went and looked at his room, and I thought it was just hilarious!!!! Heee, heee!!!
This is Austin and mom at the Resturant by the Gaslight Theatre called.... ugh, I just forgot. Oh, well.

Random News

This past Saturday, I spent the day babysitting my brothers while my parents went to the temple. Or course Austin was there, but it was kind of like I was babysitting him too... Ha! This is Ryan eating some grapes. I asked the three boys to pose... and this is all they gave me. Oh well, it will have to do.
As some of you know, my dad has gotten his own motorcycle. I think it's hilarious when I tell people he got one and then they say, "Oh. Well, don't worry. It's probably just one of those mid-life crisis things..." Ha! Ha! Isn't that funny? Why can't a grown man own a motorcycle? Who knows what's going through their minds.
While babysitting, the boys wanted to do a race... okay, I didn't participate. BUT I did act as the ref. They were JUST FINE with that! Here's Reid in the lead at the very beginning.
Reid's showing off his... well, what used to be... grapes. He ate the last one before I could take his picture. The little stinker!
Oh! And last, but not least, here's Chase.... swallowing a grape....

Nothing new has really happened at school. I'm still adjusting to each teacher, but everything's fine. One thing that surprised me was when I was in World History today and my teacher asked for another copy of my research essay. I asked if something was wrong.... and she said that her dog got it and tore it up! Talk about a "dog eating your homework"!!! Now I have to print off another copy. Oh well, it's only life.

The First Few Weeks of High School...

Well, it's been about 3 weeks since school started. I'm really suprised that I'm actually finding school boring! Normally, I love school and I look forward to going back every Monday. Now I dread the days.... I also have p.e. every other day for the whole year and I NEVER look forward to that! Who would?!


On the plus side, seminary has started. I've been having a great time getting to know everyone. I'm doing a great job learning everyone's names (we never played any get-to-know you activities) and I'm very proud of myself. Hee! hee! Well, what came as a shock to me was when I talked to my bishop on Sunday. He said that my teacher wanted me to be the seminary class president for all of the freshman. I'm so excited! I've already made handouts for all of the other kids to fill out. I'm going to do a spotlight on them when it's their birthday, just so we can get to know them a little bit better. We haven't officially had a "real" seminary lesson yet, but I'm still excited!!!


Everyday when I come to school, I just feel like I need to cover my eyes and ears! Have you ever felt that way? It's crazy how much stuff goes on. My brother would always tell me about some things that would happen, but I thought that he was just exaggerating. I can see that he's not.... I guess that the older you are, the worse things get. "Maybe"... I'll just get immune to what's going on around me. By the end of the year, I'll be able to tune everything out.


I'm already getting overwhelmed with all of the homework! I'm taking 3 honors classes and they're really loading it on. Well, my honors Geometry class really isn't that bad because I have an awesome teacher. He said that he doesn't believe in homework! Yes!!! But, my honors english teacher and honors world history teacher are BEST FRIENDS and they always give homework. They grade the same too. So, if you have a bad grade in one of the classes, chances are you have a bad grade in the other one too.


During the first few days of school, we only had about 3 people (including me) sitting at our table. Now we have it up to about 6! I can't believe that I've made so many new friends. I thought that it was just going to be our regular group... but we've befriended a few people. One person that I'm really glad that I met had, apparently, moved here from North Carolina over the summer and didn't know anyone. I felt bad for not inviting her to sit with us at lunch earlier. I had seen her everyday, walking around by herself. So, I invited her to sit with us. She's really cool!



The bus is sooo crowded! People are sitting 3 to a seat and then there are still kids left over (without a seat)! So, EVERYDAY I'm always kicked off the bus because all of the seats are taken. Then I have to wait for one of the other buses to drive by and tell them I need a ride to the school. Ugh! I hate it! So, the other day, Austin said that he wanted to go get his license on Saturday morning. But apparently, they made this law that says: "you can't have more than one person that isn't related to you in the car until you've had your license for 6 months"... or something like that. i'd better go remind him to get his parking permit before they're all sold out.

Well, I'll talk to you later!

Braces Are Off!

A few weeks ago I got my braces off! Yay! At my orthodontist, they give you tokens for being on time, wearing the shirt they give you, etc. When you save up enough, you can turn them in for prizes. I hadn't used any of mine so I had a total of 87 tokens! That was enough for a 30 dollars worth of gift cards from Target. Shopping spree!!! Well, not really... how much can you get with 30 dollars? 2 shirts? hmmm.... But on the plus side, I can finally floss my teeth in less than 30 minutes! Ha! I keep catching myself licking my teeth in the middle of school. Oooo... it's so great!

High School!!!!

Hey everyone! Friday was my FIRST DAY of high school! I was looking through my pictures on the computer and saw these pictures of my friends that went to Disneyland with me. I realized that only three of them were going to the same school as me... and anothers were going to different schools or moving. Ohhhh..... how sad!!! But, I've realized what high school is all about. It's about making new friends. As I was sitting at home today, thinking about how my first day at school went, I realized that I was so terrible! Looking back, I can think of several people in my classes that didn't know anyone and were sitting alone. I could've introduced myself or something!

Other than that school was boring. The teachers were nice.... I guess. Lunch was boring, it was hot outside, and there was a lot of homework. It was a typical school day. Everyone is always saying that high school was the best time of their life. Well, from what I saw the other day, it's pretty boring. But, who knows, things could change once the school year begins.

Kidney Stones

When we were at Girls Camp this past week we got a message saying that my dad wouldn't be coming up for testimony meeting. They didn't say why, but we didn't think it was a big deal. Well, on the way home, my mom called my dad and got some shocking news. My dad had been in the ER that night because of kidney stones. They had just come up so suddenly! I didn't know what to say! He said that he didn't want us to miss our testimony meeting to come see him, so he didn't call. We wouldn't have cared!!! I would've come down in a heart beat. He called Brother Peterson from church and he took him to the hospital. We are so thankful that Bro. Peterson would do that. Well, my dad is doing better now. He's on his meds and off the sugar.... I find it so funny because when my dad said he had to lay off the sugar, this line followed: "It's gonna be a sad life..." HA HA!

Girls Camp!

Here are some of the girls from our ward and Valencia Ward just being silly!!! I was being smushed because of all the girls sitting on me!!! (ouch...)
Us showing off our muscles!!! (Well, at least I am...)
This is all of the 3rd years at camp. You can see me and Kellie (in the green shirt) doing our super hero poses.
That's me!!! You can see my mouth full of braces.... I should be getting them off in about 2 days!
My dad came and gave us a talk on Thursday afternoon. He brought pictures and chocolate!!! YUM! YUM! I loved his talk!

It rained the whole entire week... but we were lucky that it didn't rain during any of our activities. Girls Camp was a BLAST and I think it was my favorite year. But, my favorite part of camp was testimony meeting when all of the girls from our ward (and Valencia Ward... the ward we broke off from) bore their testimonies. It was really spiritual.

A Week In Gilbert

These past few days I've been spending the night at my friend Amy's house in Gilbert. They were kind enough to let me stay. We went to Sunsplash, a local water park, where I went on my first water slide!!! Whoo! At first I rebelled... but eventually they pushed me on and I had a blast. I ended up going three more times. It was a lot of fun but after 3 hours in the hot sun, we were wiped out. We went straight to bed.
The next day we went to their ward party for the Fourth of July. We were in the blazing hot sun for about two hours when we finally decided we would just walk home. I ended up taking a two hour nap after that. The sun was taking away all my energy.
That night Amy's family members came over to celebrate the holiday and they had a big barbecue. There was so much food they probably have enough left overs for a month!
Let me just say that I had sooo much fun there! I hope I can go back soon.

EFY (Especially For Youth)

It's hard to describe this expirience. Last week I had the opportunity to go to Especially for Youth in Flagstaff. It was so much fun to be able to go to a camp that had all LDS kids and councilors. Our councilors were the greatest!!! Their names were Sarah and Dan (we called him "Dan the Lady's Man".... because all the girl councilors LOVED him). They were hilarious and they helped everyone get the most they could out of EFY.
The dances were positively amazing! It was great because all of the kids were actually dancing! I was asked to dance about 6 times every dance (which doesn't normally happen). Everyone was so friendly and made easy conversation.
We were separated into companies (or groups) of about 20- 30 people. They also separated it by age (14-15... 16-18). My group was fantastic!!! I met so many new people and hopefully I'll see them again at future EFY sessions. One person that was an especially great friend was this guy named Brent. He would always put away our trays and push in our chairs. He would also make sure that everyone was included. It was great!
The expirience was also very spiritual. We had several classes everyday on any subject we wanted. The speakers were mostly church writers or seminary teachers. I learned so much and took so many notes.
There is so much more to talk about... but I just don't have the time to write it all down! If you really want a good spiritual and fun expirience I would seriously encourage you to go to EFY for yourself. It will be a life changing expirience for you. I know it was for me.

Amy!!!!

This is Amy and I at Bahama Bucks in Gilbert!!! YUM, YUM!!! Amy's on the left and I'm on the right (just in case you didn't know!!!).

This is me and my friend Amy from Gilbert, AZ!!! We're at a picnic and it was really cold outside! BRRR!!!! Amy and I felt like we were going to freeze to death!!! UGH!!! Amy's staying with us for a couple days and she's helping me make this blog.

Hola Amigos!!!

Hey! What's up everyone? Thanks for looking at my blog! Just to warn you... it may be a little boring. But, hey, you might like it.

This is an awesome pic of me at the broadway play "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". Look at my awesome trophy!!! JK, it was hooked to the desk with a cord.