Christmas 2007 ♥ ♥ ♥

This Christmas was AWESOME!!! I got a ton of presents and gave a few too. Here's what I gave and got:

GAVE:

Clara: a box of lip gloss

Amanda: a box of lip gloss

Mommy & Daddy: a little picture frame and some papers I wrote at school about a "Christmas Memory," "What I'm giving for Christmas,"and "My Wish List"

Aunt Bonnie: Brandon and I make a picture every month (taking turns) and send it to her for the "picture of the month"

And I think that's all. I'm not sure.

I don't think I'll write everything I got, 'cause that would take forever. That's why this post has taken so long - I was planning to write everything I got. But really, that stuff isn't important. Merry Late Christmas!

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't written very much lately, it's just so busy with the holidays and all. But I'll write about Christmas after.

A Little Laugh...

Happy Holidays!!!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Pen Pals

I have a few pen pals I would like to contemplate: Brie, Vicky, Lutes, and (new) Hannah. I am so glad they love the world of writing, because I love it and it's good to have others to share it with.

Every time I am sent a letter, I'll read it as soon as I can and reply quickly too. Usually they are longish letters, so it may take a while to write, but it's worth it. I can glimpse what is going on in some of my friends' lives, and they can glimpse mine...so thank you all pen pals!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...ahh, a very nice time. A happy time. A giving time. A thankful time.

I went to my Grandparents' for it. Over half of our family was there. The other's don't live in Utah so they don't come usually. After all, back out east is quite far.
Last year we went to a nice restaurant with them. It wasn't as special, but still fun. This year we got food and desserts and stuff to the house and had a feast. We played with cousins before and after the time. Sometimes we don't get along very well, but usually we do. We made up a new game called "Pets." It's fun. And Brandon (my brother, just in case someone doesn't know) is part of it so it's easier to play without leaving him out. Serena, Monica and I can have quite a hard time when it comes to not leaving anyone out. But we have a fun game to play with him now.

The food was mostly good, and I tried the stuffing (yay me!), though I didn't like it very much. Aunt Kirsten also made some delicious "rainbow jello" (which really shouldn't be in quotation marks because it is rainbow).
I like Thanksgiving!

P.S.

Also, as my mom pointed out, my Brother was at the party. And he gave me a very pretty colorful Kleenex box that I have needed for a while. My parents also gave me a lot of stuff like every other year. Here's a list:

• an awesome party
• a ton of cute clothes (something on my list)
• a birthday bear (had gold clothes for my golden birthday)
• an awesome stereo (which is very good because my brother and I are always fighting over the old one, but now I've got my own better one!!!)
• a pack of gum (I was glad for that because my dad took a couple of pieces from my other one. He said he thought it was Mommy's...)

Anyway, it was all great!

My Golden Day

So, Sunday was my birthday. My golden birthday. THE most special B-day I will probably ever have.
Saturday was the party. We went to Fat Cats Bowling Alley. We means me, my mom, my dad, my Aunt Bonnie, her friend Bunker, and eleven other friends. Here are their names:

• Charlotte
  
• Amanda
  
• Amanda's sister, Sarah
  
• The other Sarah
• Brooke
  
• Elise
  
• Katie
  
• Annie
  
• Rachel
  
• Kathrine
• Shannon

I hope they all had fun...

Anyway, it was great. Oh, and here are the presents they gave me:

• Charlotte - a fairy set of Barbie's Fairytopia fairies: Laverna, Elina, and Azura.
• Amanda - a box of stuff, including: bubble bath (of which I used almost half in one bath), lace (a whole roll thingymabobber), a pack of golden and silver pine cones and icicles, and some bead things.
• Amanda's sister, Sarah - a little bracelet thing that you can put fuzzy kitties on (they are really cute!).
• The other Sarah (they are both Sarah L.'s, so I can't say who exactly they are. [Internet safety, I don't want to put my friends in danger]) - a craft kit called twirled paper, really cool! I looked at it a bunch afterwards.
• Brooke - the book "Fairyopolis", a very good journal book (whatever you call it). Amazing pictures and stuff.
• Elise - an ADORABLE colorful poke dotted bag, so cute...oh, and there was this garden stone making kit inside it, can't wait to start decoratin'...
• Katie - a GIANT BOX WITH 40 FLAVORS OF JELLY BELLIES INSIDE, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???!!!???!!! Oh, and also a pack of freakin' awesome magnetic stones (always wanted them...).
  
• Annie - a craft I really would like to do with her, I don't know exactly what it is, but I should find out soon.
• Rachel - an adorable fuzzy bear I named Truffle.
• Kathrine (a.k.a. Kit Kat, as I like to call her) - a webkinz, which I have wanted since I heard about them (about three weeks ago). It's a white "lil'l kinz bunny, and she's so cute! I named her Pearl. Also, Kit Kat gave me a Christmas Count Down, but I have to wait till December to start eating the chocolates. Once a day, as usual...
• Shannon (last but not least) - a bunch of little things, including: a headband, earings, a stuffed penguin, and a box o' butterfingers. Yum!

I got presents from other people too (boy, I still don't understand why I'm not a spoiled brat, I get so much...[maybe I am!])

• Alicia (our good friend Alicia...see back on "Vacation in CA" for more about her) - 11 dollars (man, she is so kind) for my 11th birthday (and my golden one as well), and a little stuffed bunny from McDonald's, but it's still cute, and a box of Lint Chocolates. Yum again!
• Aunt Kirsten - she took me shopping at the fashion place mall and got me a bunch of cute clothes. It was a while ago, but it was a great birthday gift!
• Aunt Bonnie - she gave me a gift as well as fly out to spend my birthday with me! I guess it's because it is my GOLDEN birthday...anyway, her gift was a real gold charm bracelet. If you look closely at the chain you'd see that there are hearts on it about half a centimeter away from each other. And there are also 2 charms on it, one that says Love and the other a heart. She got it for my Golden Dad especially.
  
• Grandma & Grandpa B. - a blue lunch box, a pack of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (which I won't eat), a state quarter (of which we already had, but oh well), and a lovely skirt. The skirt has a zebra pattern on one part of it, butterflies on another, and red on the rest. It's a very pretty skirt.
• Grandma & Grandpa Wright - 35 buckeroonies (love gettin' those; they are so useful in life)
• My cousins Serena, Monica, David, Sophie, Aunt Sunny and Uncle Nate - an adorable "fairy catching kit" that includes: glitter, an ADORABLE little cage, a sweet, puny net, a sweet, puny magnifying glass, and an information book. I haven't read it, but I will sometime...

Well, I think that's all. I'll update if I get anything else sometime (which I probably won't). Overall, it was a great Birthday!
P.S. Sorry, this post took quite a while to make!

BTW...

My B-day wish list is the same as the Christmas one!

My Golden B-day is So Soon...

Sunday is my Golden Birthday...I can't wait...it's gonna be freakin' fun...♥

5 Things

This was inspired by my Aunt Mish; who just started her blog. Congrats!
Well, I couldn't think of what to write on my blog. I know, that's kind of stupid, 'cause there's a million things I could write about, but I couldn't think of any...so she gave me some ideas. These are the light bulbs:

• 5 things I'm grateful for: My family, my friends, my belongings, my leaders and teachers, and all my other blessings.
• 5 things that embarrass me: Hmmm...hard to say...well, I guess saying wrong answers in class, forgetting my viola on days I have orchestra, thinking I'm right but being wrong, crying in front of other people besides my family, let's see...um, being rude (accidentally, never on purpose).
• 5 memories I want to remember forever: getting to state competition in creative pursuits in 4th grade, going to Hawaii, the fantastic trip to CA, 4th grade (wonderful; the best year and teacher I've ever had), all my B-days (they are fantastic!)
• 5 favorite things/toys: My fairy tree, my swan, my playmobil things, my pink baby blanket (blankey), and my art supplies

I'll add one more to make 5:

• My 5 favorite peoples: My family (including cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandparents), my friends (I love you all ♥!), President Hinckley (a wonderful man, I tell you), and my Savior. I love them all, and they are very special to me! ♥
  

My 2007 Christmas Wish List

Okay, there kind of is a lot, but I'll name some. Here goes:

• Anything to do with fairies (but must be modest if it's a picture, statue, etc.)
• I like crafts, but be warned: I have six drawers full of 'em, and don't have room for much else!
• Something special, like always
• Playmobil things, including: the rock temple (expensive, but beautiful! Want it...), crystal cage (would be very useful in games - believe me!), um...let me see...well, there are many I would like but those are the main ones...
• A webkin cat; don't ask me about them, I don't have any so I don't know anything, but my friends have told me they are really cute and I'm dying to get one
• Another special thing that I'd like; I ♥ surprises!
• Cute clothes; man, I need more of those!
• Cozy things, like blankets, super soft hats, pillows, etc.
• Anything you guys think I would like! ♥
  

2 Weeks and 2 Days...

Just two weeks and two days till my most special Birthday. . .

Dancing

So, yesterday we had our first dancing lesson at school. It was freakin' awesome, and very fun. My class warmed up with the chicken dance (which was weird and stupid) then reviewed square dance steps. I say "reviewed" because last year at the 4th grade rendezvous we learned them.
As I said before, it was seriously fun. I did have to dance with boys most of the time, but some of them weren't bad.
My favorite move is dosey doh (doe-see-doe) because it just feels cool. People always turn around when they want to go back, but it's kind of cool to do that, I don't really know why.

The boys I danced with were: Jake W., Hans, Jack (he was really good), Sam S., Klaliff (first l is silent), met up with Jake A. but then we moved on without dancing, um...one of the ladies teaching us, uh...Ben, and I can't think of anyone else.
Even though it was kind of embarrassing, it was great. I can't wait till next Wednesday!

Life Right Now

Well, life in Utah is great so far. Fourth grade was awesome and I had the best teacher on Earth. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but her name is Mrs. Jenson. I see her quite often, but still I can't help but miss her. She is soooooo nice. And she taught me soooooo much.

My current teacher, Mrs. Lambert, is nice, but not as fantastic as Mrs. Jenson. The thing I love about Mrs. Jenson is that she gave us soooooo many fun projects. Sure, it was pretty hard keeping up with it all, but it was so much more fun than fifth grade.
But, so far, fifth grade is good. I've got two A's in our math chapters, and 100% on every spelling test. And I do pretty well in my spelling packets too. So school is good.
At home, we pretty much do ordinary things:

• chores on Saturday and sometimes during the week
  
• computer games on Saturday and sometimes during the week
• sometimes watch Nature or/and NOVA (great science shows)
• do little projects (take me, for instance: I am drawing this big picture called "Foxglove Forest" and I also do other things just for fun)
• sleep
• eat
• drink
• hang out (with friends, family, ourselves)
• blah, blah, blah........

Life is good. And the little things we do for others are sometimes the things that count the most, and I'm trying to do those things. Trying to help others. Trying, trying - to be kinder to my brother, though that is really hard.
Utah has taught me a lot, and I'm thankful I moved here though I do miss all my friend in VT. I loved it there. The thing is, it's hard to choose which I like better. I guess my favorite state is Vertah or Utont. Don't care which word. They are equal to me........

How is life going for those of you who read my blog? Hope it's good. I know about some, because of this beautiful site called blogger. But for those I don't know much...comment? ♥

Missionary

Being a missionary has always been a scary idea to me, something I would never want to do. I thought that because my mom told me she had pig intestines once at someones house. I never ever wanted to eat that, and anyway the idea just seemed scary. Not seeing my mom or dad for ages, stuck in a foreign country where I probably won't know anyone. . .ugh! Not appealing. But, recently, I changed my mind.

I don't know exactly when or why, but I did change my mind. I decided that it would be fun to learn a different language, see different people, try new foods (but not something absolutely nasty!), and maybe meet some new friends. Or, if I was called to serve in America, I could make new friends (or, depending on where I am, see older friends), as usual give the message of the gospel to many people, and so much more. I see now that it would be a wonderful thing to help Heavenly Father spread his love and light across the Earth, and I can help. In fact, I've already started!

More ♥ ♥ ♥

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A Good Dream

Once, just once, I had a really good dream. It was seriously fantastic. Because I was flying. You don't dream that your actually flying very often, do you? Well, in this dream I felt it. I felt wonderful. It was almost like a fairytale, because first something bad happened, I forgot what, but then it's a happy ending. It had a happy ending, better than any in Cinderella or Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.
I was taking my turn, because my cousins Serena and Monica were there too. It was weird, 'cause I think I saw Winter, but they saw Spring and Summer or something. I forget. It was a while ago I had it.

I wish at some point we could all have wonderful dreams like that, where we can feel we're flying or something. It's fabulous, a once in a lifetime experience.

♥♥♥

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School has Finally Started!

School has finally started! My brain was going to blow up if I didn't start learning again. I had a great summer, though.
So far the year has not been as good as last year, but I have only been in fifth grade for a week. I bet it will get better. Here is what happened this past week:
Monday was pretty boring except for P.E. All we did in the morning was get organized into our desks and do math. I don't know what has gotten into me, because I keep making stupid mistakes in math. Probably just nervousness.
After lunch, (a hamburger and chocolate milk) we started reading "The Silver Crown." It is an interesting story. It's written in an unusual way, different from most books I've read. But nevertheless, it's pretty good. I am still dying to know what happens in the end.
After a while we had P.E. We played Capture the Flag, which is VERY fun. I'm eager for the next P.E., at which we will probably play Capture the Flag again. It's quite popular in our class.
So that was Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were like it, except no P.E.
Thursday we were gonna have another P.E. with Ms. G (I have NO clue who she is) but she never came. So we played some fun games with Mrs. Lambert (my fifth grade teacher. By the way, Mrs. Witt, a very nice woman who is in my ward is our Monday P.E. teacher. She's the best!).
Friday went the same way, which is pretty boring. I don't know why I was going to die in the Summer if school didn't start soon, but I think it was because I wanted to know what fifth grade is like. Now we have a four day Labor Day weekend off, and really it's kind of a relief. I just hope we get some big fun projects soon.
For those of you who read my blog, how is work and school?

More on Rainbows

Vacation In CA

A little while ago Brandon, my Mom and I went to Long Beach, CA. It was soooooooo fun! My Aunt Bonnie picked us up and we went to Rubys for dinner. Then we drove to our friend Alicia's house. There we went to bed for the night.

I forget all the details, but I'll tell you where we went.

At one point we went to Knotts Berry Farm, which is a VERY fun amusement park. We had a lot of fun. Alicia had two friends that were coming, and one of them, my mom, my brother (though it was kind of a last minute thought), and I went on the roller coaster Ghost Rider. We had to wait an hour in line, but it was worth it to me. We got to go in the gold carriage, the other one was silver. I was in the front with the guy who was with us, and my brother and my Mom were behind us. It was sooooooo exciting, but scary. The first drop was awesome. The carriage went slowly up, the BOOM!!! We were goin' down! We did that several more times, slowly up then BAM!!! Down!!!!! It was freakin' awesome! I was screaming my head off when that happened. There is a camera at the first drop, I think, and it takes a picture of us. My hair had flown over my face, but you could tell I was having a good time. The guy next to me had sunken in cheeks and a long head, which was very weird, but he liked it too. After all, he had been on many roller coasters and loved them. My mom looked perfect, a wide smile set in her face. But my brother looked horrible. He had the corners of his mouth turned down with a weird look. But that look looked worse when we got off. He kept saying he never wanted to go on a roller coaster again. I however, was dying to go on another one, especially by the time we got to Disneyland. I kept asking, "where are the roller coasters? I wanna go on one!" But that's at Disneyland. I'm not done with Knotts yet.

The other rides we went on at Knotts were the "Big Foot Rapids" and the mining one, the swing one, the bumper cars one, and the "Supreme Scream." My mom and I went on that one. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO scary! First you went s-l-o-w-l-y up then you wait at the top then BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You go down, seemingly to your death. I tried to scream, but couldn't. My stomach went 360 degrees around. Then it got slower, went up, went down, slower, went up, went down, s-l-o-w-e-r and stopped. It was freaky. I was worried I was going to throw up, but it just wasn't one of those things you throw up after. I also didn't think I would ever go on one again, but I was proved wrong. I ended up going on one in California Adventure, which really was a lot better.

We went to Disneyland first, but I don't care. I'm skipping around.
In CA Adventure I went on one called The Mali-Boomer. I personally think that's a pathetic name, but oh-well. This one was scary too, but better, because you strap up, wait for a minute, then BANG!!! You go up, down, up, down, up, down, until you stop. It's freaky too, but better.

We ended up going on twenty, yes twenty rides at Disneyland, including CA Adventure. It was awesome. I'll tell you the best ones: The Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo Submarine, Soarin' over California, and Star Tours. But every one we went on was fun.

We did and saw other things fun things also, including: Pirate Dinner Adventure, Long Beach Sand Sculpture Contest, hanging out with our Aunt Bonnie, being given gifts by our complete spoiler, Alicia, and many other things. If you want more info about parts we shared on our adventure, email me. I hope you enjoyed!

I was Tagged!

I was tagged by Katie Graham, as well as a few other people. Here goes nothing.....

Jobs I’ve had:
1. My jobs are mostly chores, but I have actually done some work for other people besides my family to earn money. For instance, right now I am watering our neighbors plants because they are on vacation. And tonight I'll also have to take out their trash, as well as just watering. It's really good pay, 10$ a day, and only half and hour to forty-five minutes of work.
2. I have babysat my little cousins before, but only to get them off my aunt and uncles hands for a while.
3. Outside: I've raked leaves, weeded, planted, and again, watered.
4. Garage: Twice I have gone in the garage and ripped boxes so they could be smaller and fit in our car. I've also swept out both of our garages before (our old one in Vermont and the one here at our newer house).
5. In my House: I have done many chores in my house before, including emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, swish and swiping the bathroom, wiping the front and back door, dusting, making beds, organizing the front closet (straightening shoes, coats, etc.), setting the table, loading the dishwasher, wiping the table, vacuuming, and many others.

Movies I can watch over and over again:
1. I could always watch the Harry Potter movies again, especially the ones I haven't seen in a while. Brings to mind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a fantastic book I just finished reading.
2. Really I don't watch movies over again very often, but once in a while Brandon will put on a Disney Classic and I get pulled into it. (It doesn't need to be a classic, it can be anything)


Guilty pleasures:
1. Eating candy (I just finished every last treat in my pumpkin, including sweets from Halloween, Valentines Day, Easter, Parties, and Random occasions).
2. Curling up in my bed all day, reading a good book when I could be doing a thousand other things;
3. Keeping my head down to the street, on the lookout for lost money.

Places I have lived:
1. Chicago Illinois (Born there, lived in Hyde Park till three years old)
2. Colchester Vermont (Lived there till I was nine, what a beautiful place!)
3. East Mill Creek, Salt Lake City, Utah (Moved in Summer 2006, it has been a great year!)

Shows I enjoy:
1. NOVA
2. Nature
3. Ocean Adventures (Sadly, it's not one I've seen for a while, I don't know if it even exists anymore.) :-(

Places I have been on Vacation:
1. Bermuda (When I was a baby, sadly.)
2. Montreal, Canada (Went with my Dad and Brother)
3. Oahu, Hawaii (Fun place!)
4. THE island Hawaii (Very beautiful, Mars in one area, tropical rain forest five minutes away!)
5. Very recently, Vermont; I will be writing about it soon.
6. When I lived in Vermont I visited Utah a lot.
7. Been to California several times; I will be going there again this week.
8. The Florida Keys (It was where I first snorkeled!)
9. Virginia (A gorgeous place, I tell you!)
10. Washington D.C. and many others!

Favorite foods:
1. Teriyaki Chicken!
2. Pork Burritos (I could go on and on about how good Cafe Rio's are, but I don't have time)
3. Frozen yogurt, pumpkin, and cold lemon pie with whipped cream on top. Yum!!!!!
Jeez, now I'm seriously hungry.

Websites I visit daily:
1. My Gmail
2. Google Earth (Fantastic photos, I don't know how those satellites do it!)
3. Katie Graham's blog
Really, I don't visit many websites often, but my mom has a new blog I expect she'll be writing on often. I suppose I'll be reading that!

Body parts I have injured:
1. Fell off my aunt's bed when I was a baby; broke my elbow.
2. My eardrum burst a couple years ago (I think that counts!)
3. I've cut myself enough to get stitched and glued a couple of times; I also bit through my tounge once. Ugghh!

Nicknames I have had:
This one is EASY PEASY!
1. Bonnie Bunchkinator (Bunchkin for short)
2. Dolly
3. BonBon (Common from my cousins)
I have more, but those are my main ones.

TAG, You are it:
My Aunt Kirsten (what an awesome aunt!)

Trip to Vermont

Two weeks ago I went on a trip to Vermont. It was fantastic! I got to see almost all of the friends I wanted to see; there was just three other people.

We were staying at a big house, owned by my moms' friend and fiance. Downstairs in the basement there are video games that you usually have to pay for, but since they own them it's free! It's fantastic. My favorite is called "Big Buck Hunter." How you play is, you pick a region, the north, south, east, midwest, or west. Then you start at one place and pick which site you want to do. There are four places, and each place has five sites. Each site has three bucks and obviously you try to shoot them. However, you try not to shoot the does. It is hard, but fun, even though it's not a good sport (unless you really need it for food and clothing to survive).

That was definitely not the best part of the trip, though. I am not sure what the best part of our vacation was, but part of it was seeing old friends.

The first day we saw our old friends Molly and Sam. Sam is Brandon's best friend. He was so glad to see him, and I was glad to see Molly too. We actually saw them several times during our trip, and did a bunch of activities with them. One of which included going to Borders to wait for the last Harry Potter book to come out. While we waited, we were both reading a cool book. It wasn't that bad, but only because we had those books. They were really interesting. Finally the book came out! But still we had to wait a couple hours to get our copies. I wasn't buying a copy, my mom was just picking it up for our friend. We were up till past two in the morning! I was really tired. But I didn't care. It was fun. They are really good friends to have.

I don't have any best friends in Vermont, or maybe I have a lot of best friends. Anyway, I love them all equally and feel the need to name every one I ever became close to. I will tell which ones I did see when I went there.

Madeleine (saw her!)

Molly (saw her!)

Clara (didn't see her, she was on vacation somewhere else.) :-(

Vicky (saw her!)

Hannah (saw her!)

Paige (saw her!)

Seirra (never got to play with her much; she always lived pretty far away from me. But she is still a good friend, and I got to see her!)

So, as you can see I got to see quite a few of the people I wanted to see! There were a couple other people, but oh well.

So, I repeat, I saw Molly the first day, again on the second day, then on Saturday we went to North Beach to see our old neighbors, Madeleine and Michael. We made this fantastic sand castle; I'll describe it. There were three pools, my pool, Madeleine and Michael's pool, and the main pool. When we first made it we poured water into the main pool and it trickled down to the other pools. But then I had an idea to make a big pile of sand and make it into a volcano. So we did. Madeleine and I dug it out and then poured water down the hole, into the main pit, then it went to the other pools. It was really cool.

After playing with Madeleine, my friend Paige was hosting a Harry Potter party. Since I was in town, they invited me over. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!! First we got sorted into either Griffindor or Slytherin. We played a couple good, long games of Quiddich, and by the end of it everyone was sweating their heads off. So we hopped in the pool. The pool was freezing! So I hung out shivering in the sun, eating chips till we went inside. I wasn't the only one who was cold, a bunch of the girls were, for it was a cool pool.
Slowly everyone went home, one by one. Soon I was the last one left. My mom picked me up really late because she was at a concert. But all the better. Paige and I had a good time. Her sister, Alana (I honestly don't know how to spell it) gave me this Harry Potter notebook that she never even wrote in. I really like it! It comes with all sorts of Harry Potterish Stickers. I have already written and drawn a lot in it.
So I had a great time there. But there was more!

On Sunday we woke up and went to church. We got there late, but it didn't really matter. I went in a class with some people I used to know, some that I like and some I don't really. Afterwords, I played around with my old friends a bit, and then we left. We wanted to play together more, but I had to leave. We had planned to visit some other people that afternoon.


On Monday, Brandon and I had planned play dates with our friends. First, I played with Hannah in the morning, then we went to the library. At the library, I saw one of our old really nice librarians. Her name is Pam. I wish I could have seen Hannah the librarian too, but she wasn't there. After that Hannah and I went to Vicky's. It was really fun. We played a fairy game that was really fun.

Vicky is my number one pen pal. She always answers my letters, and I always answer hers. But it was good to catch up with her without writing. I wish we could see each other more often, because she is a really good friend. I am very glad I could see her there.

Tuesday we went to my old singing lessons teachers house. They were playing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows on tape. I couldn't help but listen. I won't say anything about it except that it's a good story. Anyway, I have read the whole book now.

Wednesday we were trying to figure out what to do, and mostly just stayed at the house all day. But later we went to Airport Park to meet Madeleine and Michael again, and Madeleine and I went to the bog to pick blueberries. They were perfectly ripe. We got as much as we could carry then went back and gave them to the others. Went back with Brandon and Michael so they could help us. It was fun! We got a ton of berries. They are delicious.

I went swimming a lot when I was there. The house we were staying at had a jacuzzi and a pool, though the pool was very cold. That is how I got over my fear of cold water.
I made myself jump in and moved around a lot so I could stay warm. I know that's how almost all people do it, but I just couldn't make myself stay in before. I just hope that I can do the same for most pools, because obviously some are cooler than others. But for now I'll just say that I am proud of myself.

So, that was pretty much our whole trip. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

Secrets To Drawing Realistic Faces

When we went to the library yesterday I got a book called "Secrets To Drawing Realistic Faces." I wanted to learn how to draw really good faces, and what I found on the internet was just what I needed. It also said there were two copies in our library, which was just perfect. So we went to the library and I got it.

When I say it is just perfect, I mean it. It has everything I wanted to know and more. Not to brag, but I have dramatically improved. If I don't know what to do, I'll just sit down and practice. I have drawn several faces, and now I'm adding on bodies. The refrigerator will soon be covered, that's one thing I know. I sure am glad I got that book!

The Battle

Last night we had a party for all the old friends in town who lived near us in our old ward. It was AWESOME!!! When all the kids came it was really fun. First, a family with only boys and a baby girl came. Then after a while I met a new friend, Brynley. She is the second oldest in her family and my age. She also had a sister, Maddie. At first, we wanted to hang out without her, but after a while we wanted all the girls we could get.
Then Sage came. She was the first friend I ever "played" with when I was a tiny baby. She is a couple months older than me. We first started the little "club" thing, and I showed her this tree that is what I think a blue spruce, because the needles are blueish, very blueish. It is practicaly hollow inside, and the lower half of the tree has good climbing branches, even though it is sappy, and peek-holes to see outside of it.
Then I invited Brynley into the club, and each group, boys and girls, got lots more people. Then the Battle began.


The boys started it, of course. They began it by hitting our tree with light-sabers that my brother brought. We got mad, and started collecting pine cones, sticks, branches, and my favorite, pine needles. We had plenty of those. In fact, that was the most useful thing to throw because I was trying to clear a spot of them for a meeting place where we could sit. I could just grab handfuls and throw them out from in the tree. When I got a big spot cleared I started collecting mowed grass. There was tons and tons of clumps and lines of it all over the fields. When I collected a whole bunch, I would go back and spread it out over the patch of ground. When I was done, it was very satisfying. I told the girls,"I don't know about you guys, but I intend to live in comfort and style."
After the battle there was only about ten minutes before everyone left. I was sad because that was a lot of fun, but I hope I can see all those people again soon!

Fill The Ark

On Saturday was the big Fill The Ark race. There was a 5-K and a 1 mile. I did the 1 mile because I was recovering from the flu. Even though I have done a 5-K before, and I wasn't prepared for it, this one would have been way too hard because the 1 mile was hard enough. I was one of the top 30 people, so I got a certificate for Bob's Brainfreeze. I was #27.
Fill The Ark was a great success. It earned about $8,000! It was donating to Heifer International. I know that the money that was earned will help lots and lots of people. I am glad that I contributed to it!

Raging Waters

Last Saturday I went to Raging Waters. Both my brother and I got to pick a friend to bring with. I didn't pick my best friend, but only because all of her siblings would be jealous. So, I picked my newest friend, Shannon. She lives right down my street. So that means we can play very often. We had a great time. First, we went down a slide. When I stepped in, I learned that the water was very cold. Then, at the end, we had to swim to the edge. You see, I am very sensitive to cold. I get cold a lot easier than most people. I am extra sensitive to water. Most people might think a pool warm, but most pools are cold to me. But that water was seriously cold. Anyone would think it. I didn't go on another slide the rest of the time, in fact, practicly the whole time we were there Shannon and I just stayed in the wave-making machine. The water in that is warm. We also went into the jacuzzi for a little while. But the wave-making machine is by far the best thing there. It was so fun sitting in the tubes, dipping up! down. up! down. Trying to stay together, we had a lot of fun. Raging Waters is really awesome!

Mill Hollow

On Wednesday morning at 7:30 I drove to school, put my luggage on the bus, hugged my mom good-bye, and drove on the bus to Mill Hollow. It was a long ride, but it was worth it. I had a great time at Mill Hollow.

When we got there, everyone unpacked, which took quite a while, and then we had to go over the rules. That was boring, and anyone would know they shouldn't do this, or shouldn't do that. But finally we finished that and then got a tour of the camp. That was kind of boring too, but it was useful and worth it. If we didn't do that, I wouldn't know where to go and would sit somewhere freezing to death. It was snowing almost the whole day.
We had plenty of free time, but the cabins were locked. Only Giget, our counseler, and sometimes Mrs. Buck had the key.

So, we went to lunch, had free-time, went on a long, hard hike, did some stuff I can't remember because it was a week ago, had dinner, and finally, the most fun part of the first day, sang campfire songs in the cafeteria. We also did skits, the girls group first and after a few songs, the boys. We sang "We're goin' on a Bear Hunt", my favorite, and "Oh What a World it Would Be" another one I really love. At one point, the boy counselers, Pocco (yeah, man) and one other one did a skit about how they are the famous "Zuchini Brothers." And the this small (and invisible) friend, Mario. Mario could do any kind of trick, and so Pocco and the other guy called on people to tell Mario to do certain things. When they had a whole big thing for Mario to do, like a triple backflip in the air followed by an ariel or whatever, the got a pretend blanket out from their shirts and bounced Mario into the sky (or the ceiling) and looked. We all watched in awe as he did the tricks and went higher and higher and then....
"Mario? Oh, Mario!" and blah, blah, blah. End of part one. Part two came after more songs, and the funny part was when Pocco (sweet dude!) was like, "Ow, that was the worst spanking I ever received!" And so on. More songs. Finally, Mario came down on part three. It was awesome!
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Day two was warmer, and I went to the trading post and bought a bear claw necklace and a camera. The bear claw necklace is totally cheap; it is absolutely worthless. It doesn't have all the parts, it's missing a bear claw. It also has instructions on how to make it, and if you tie it from one end to the other it wouldn't even go halfway around a baby's neck. It has extra beads, but still it is totally cheap. I don't know about the camera, as I haven't tried it out yet. I sure hope it works, the camera I took with me was sooooooooo cheap. There wasn't one really good photo out of all of them. I even had taken some really good ones, like a few where a chipmunk was a yard away from me, and posed in the perfect position. I was really upset.
Over all, day two wasn't very exciting, but day three was.

After we had packed everything up, and were having our last free-time, the principle, or whatever we are supposed to call the top dude, called and told everyone to find shelter. As I was running into the Spruce Room, the room where lots of people hang out during free-time, I asked what was going on. A girl (who claimed that she was first to see it) told me that there was a bear right by camp. I ran out onto the deck, where a lot of people were looking for it. The top guy, Bob, I think, had gone out in a truck to scare it away from camp. Imagine my amazement when, in one second, I got my only chance to see the bear. I still can't believe I saw it running into the woods! I was a sight I will never forget. Everyone lingered around a while longer, trying to see it, when the time came we had to get our things and leave. When everyone going to my school got on the bus, the moment we had all (or almost all anyway) been waiting for came. The counselers told us their real names! Giget, the girls' cabin counselers name is Elisa. I like that name. And Jamba, a girl that always helped in the cafeteria, told us her name is Julie. Pocco (boo-yah!) said his name is Brandon. That's my brothers name! And, he was born in August, just like my brother. So it was really fun. I sure hope I can come back again next year!

Rainbows

Rainbows are beautiful!

Cheep!

We have a California quail family living in the back garden of our yard. I don't know when they came, but it must have been recent. If I got every one, and they were all there, I think there is exactly 15 chicks. They are adorable, with brown down and little black stripes on their backs. I was looking at them through binoculars.
Then, at one point they went out to get food or something, and one chick fell off the ledge. It landed in a bush, but it still couldn't get back up. The ledge is about a foot high, and the Mom and Dad couldn't get it. It went on for like 15 minutes, the chick running back and forth below the ledge. Finally, we did something about it. My mom went out with a box and got the chick to get in it. For just a moment, Brandon and I got to see it, scrabbling around in the box, and then we let it go in the bushes. I am glad we did that, I just wish we took a picture. I hope that the chicks grow safely, and learn to fly. I sure wouldn't want to fall off a big ledge when I was that tiny! (Though I did fall off my mom and dad's bed when I was a baby!)

Squirrels

Squirrels are awesome. Flying squirrels, brown squirrels, grey squirrels, red squirrels, all squirrels. All squirrels are cute and I love them. Squirrels rock!

Bunnies

Bunnies are cute. The wild ones, the tame ones, ones that are pets- all bunnies are cute, even if they are ferocious.
Bunnies like vegetables, at least the ones I know of. And bunnies come in different colors. They are usually white, black, brown or grey. And they sometimes have spots or something on their fur. At least, that is what I 've heard and seen of bunnies.
So it might not be true that all bunnies are white, black, brown, or grey. And it might not be true that all bunnies like vegetables. But I know one thing. All bunnies are cute.

The End of School is Almost Here!!!!!

I can't believe the end of school is almost here! 4th grade has been a blast. I have the best 4th grade teacher in the world, Mrs. Jenson. I sure am going to miss her. She has taught me so many things, like math, science, anatomy, vocabulary words like anomaly (my favorite one), how to play the harmonica, (and she made the parents get them for us, which rocks), reading comprehension, health, and art technics, especially painting. She taught us how to paint gorgeous trees, mountains, skies, and flowers. She taught us simple and complicated kinds of art, painting eggshells and pictures, and many other things.
Another thing she taught us when we were studying anatomy was the bones of the body. There are so many that we got to memorize just the main ones. I'm not sure I still remember all of them, because it was a while ago, but I do know some. We also studied the mouth. Mrs. Jenson taught us the kinds of teeth, the incisors,canines,molars, and premolars.
But the main part of science, and the one I like best, was when we studied Utah. We learned all twenty-nine counties, and we did county reports. I did mine on Cache County. I hadn't realized I have so much history in Utah. I found a lot out about my own history when I was searching for information on Cache County. So Mrs. Jenson got me to look at my own history.
Another thing we have studied about Utah is it's weather and climate. I think it is really interesting how weather in Salt Lake City is mainly made by the Great Salt Lake, which evaporates and makes all it's precipitation. We also studies the water cycle, another subject I love. It is interesting how it starts (well, their really isn't a start but I like to think of it that way) with evaporation, then it condenses around dust into droplets, but it needs cool air to do that. Then, it will fall out of the sky as some kind of precipitation, snow, rain, sleet, or hail. Run-off will drain down streams to rivers, oceans, etc. Or, it will evaporate again.
Anyway, this year has been very,very,very awesome!!!

More License Plates

Today I saw a bunch more license plates. I saw 2 from Idaho, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. And I saw 1 with Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, and Califoria. My dad says the main reason that there are so many different license plates in Utah because of the U of U. He says that people move here to go to medical school, but don't get new license plates. That seems really weird, but it makes sense.
Sometime, I hope to see a license plate from Vermont when we're driving. That would be the best license plate of all!

Living Traditions festival

Yesterday I went to the Living Traditions festival. It was awesome! I got to try foods from different countries and make cool crafts. I also played Bocce Ball, which is a fun game kind of like bowling. Someone throws the white ball (which is smaller than the others), and then the teams of the different colors take turns throwing their color ball as close to the white ball as they can. But if they throw it out of the lines then it is dead. When I played, once my ball came about two inches from the white ball! I couldn't believe it. I think it came closest out of all the balls to get near the white ball without touching it in that game.
Another awesome thing I did was try foods from different countries. I had some kind of meat on a stick, a little plate of noodles with some other stuff mixed in, mango juice, cooked spinich, and my favorite, cous cous. It feels like a cross between cream of wheat and corn, but I can't identify the taste. But I sure like it. I hope I can have some more some day.
The crafts that I made were a Japenese oragami crane,which was blue, and tissue paper flowers I think were from Mexico. The colors I chose for these were silver, gold, green, turquoise, and blue. They looked really pretty together. When I made the crane, I decided that the flower would be its nest. And Sky (I named my crane) looks really cute all snuggled up in the flower.
I had a really great time at the festival, and I hope I can go again soon!

License Plates

One reason I like to drive around Salt Lake City is because I like to look at license plates. Yesterday, I saw an Alaskan license plate, a California license plate, and a Wyoming license plate. I kept our old license plate from Vermont. I love the Vermont license plate because it is so pretty and green. It is on my bulletin board.
I have seen many license plates from different states in Utah, which just shows that Utah is a special place and people like to come and see it. I miss Vermont, but Utah is a great place to live!

Spring!

Finally Spring is here! Acually, it's almost Summer. I just haven't written anything on here for a long time. School has sure kept me busy.
It has been very hot. But I have been having lots of races lately. Last month, I ran my first 5-K. It was really hard, but I did it in 41 minutes and 47 seconds. And, last Friday, I ran the mile-long Millcreek Mile. That was hard too, but mainly because it turned out I had a fever that day, and I had raced my classmate in a race earlier. But it was also very hot. It was over 90 degrees. But my time was still good. It took me 9 minutes and 53.4 seconds. The other good part was that I was second place, even though there were only two other fourth-grade girls. I got a ribbon. I sure like ribbons. I now have five ribbons and one trophie. I like my collection. And guess what, they are all from fourth grade! I hope I can get a lot more in fifth and sixth grade. I want my shelf to be full!

Baby Bennett

I just got a new cousin! Bennett is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! He is the 15th cousin in my dads side of the family. He is adorable, I saw him at my grandparents Christmas party and he and his brothers, Porter & Mason, came over to our house just a while ago. He was just sleeping peacefully in our beanbag, all cozy with a blanket over him. I always wish I could just see for a moment how babies will look when they get older, when I've seen them as a baby. But with little cousins, I wish they would just stay how they are. Anyway, Bennett is great!