Update

It's been a while, I know, but the holidays are crazy...we spent time at my Grandparents' house as well as our own. I had fun with my cousins and aunts and uncles. One thing we did was go to see Avatar in theaters!!! It was totally awesome, except for all the horrible language...if they had just cut out or changed the swears, that movie would have been pretty much perfect.

Christmas was awesome, and I'm not going to say everything that I got, but I got a brand new dark blue camera!!! I love it, and I expect you'll be seeing more photos on here than usual. I also got candy, money, notebooks and other craft supplies, clothes, and more. Plus, soon we're getting a Wii!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!

School is back, and going pretty well...Junior High is a lot harder than Elementary School, but I'm doing all right with it. The new semester is starting soon, and I'll have a change in my classes, but I hope it's not too hard to deal with.

I got my braces off!!! At first it felt really slimy and weird, but it's starting to feel more normal. I'm getting a retainer this week, and it's going to be sparkly blue. My friends were (for the most part) excited for me, though some are having a hard time getting used to my new look. They'll get over it soon though. :)

Some of you might be wondering if I'm still into writing, and if I'm ever going to finish the novel I started. Well, haven't given up the dream of being an author, but lately I haven't made much time for writing. But I still enjoy it. Someday I would like to finish the book I started, and I've had inspiration from other books I've read (I just finished Legacy which was written by Cayla Kluver when she was only a couple years older than me), but I haven't really gotten started on it yet. I'll let you know if I do get somewhere with it. I have written in my journal every day for about two months now...and I continue to do so.

New Years Resolutions:

-Write at least once a week
-Blog at least twice a month
-Run or walk a little every day
-Brush and floss every day
-Be kinder to everyone
-Write a song at least every 2 months
-Write in my journal every day
-Read The Bible
-Do 2 sections of Personal Progress

Wishing you all a happy year of 2010!!!

In Just a Few Days...

...Christmas will be here! I'm so excited. My aunt and uncle are coming to join us for the holidays, and we're going to drive up to my Grandparent's on Christmas afternoon. On Christmas Eve I get to open one present (that's our tradition). I'm so excited!

I don't want very much stuff (and what I do want very much is way too expensive; an i-Pod Touch), and I used to want more...but I don't want it anymore. I wanted the Himalayan Cat Webkinz, but I looked at some customer reviews and figured out that it is a lot worse than I thought (like, WAY worse)...here's one photo of it: Himalayan Cat Webkinz (sadly, that's not one of a kind).

So, I don't want that anymore. I still want a Whimsey Dragon Webkinz, candy, clothes, and surprises - and that's about it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of my readers!

13!!!

I'm finally thirteen!!! I had a great birthday. First, I had breakfast with my friends at my house before school. Then I opened gifts which included a camera, toothpaste, razors, shampoo & conditioner, and tons of stickers from my parents, as well as a fifty dollar check from my grandparents, a home-made journal from one friend, a sketch notebook from another friend, and lots of candy.

Then we drove to school, where my friend paraded around the school pointing at me and shouting, "It's her birthday! It's her birthday!! Guess what guys, it's her BIRTHDAY!!!". My friends also decorated my locker with sweet/funny notes, and left more notes in my gym locker. Then during gym my friend stuck a package with an adorable card, stickers, a king size KitKat bar, and a king size Reseese Peanut Butter Cup in my gym locker. Two people in my algebra class gave me giant Skittles packs, my English and science classes sang happy birthday to me, my friends and a school counselor sang happy birthday to me during lunch, my school counselor chatted with me and gave me a pencil for my birthday, and about a million people congratulated me and gave me cards. It was awesome.

For dinner, my mom made my favorite: salmon!!! Also, I got another present - a container full of my absolute favorite food: raspberries!!! I LOVE raspberries. They are the sweetest, juiciest, yummiest things in the whole world...anyway, after dinner was the big birthday dessert - Double Cream Lemon Pie!!! That is my FAVORITE kind of pie. It was amazing.

Overall, I had a perfectly wonderful, fantabulous 13th birthday!!!

2nd Counselor!!!

Yay!!! I now have the privilege to be 2nd counselor in the Beehive Presidency!!! I've never been in the presidency, even though I'm almost thirteen. But now I'm 2nd counselor! I'm so excited! In case you are not familiar with the system, this is how it works in the Mormon church:

Young Woman's:

Beehives: 12-13 years old
Mia Maids: 14-15 years old
Laurels: 16-17 years old

In each group, there is a presidency, and I am now second counselor in the Beehive presidency. Whenever there is a change - say, the Beehive president turns 14 and becomes a Mia Maid - there is a change in the presidency. So recently, our president moved up so they had to shift things around. I've been waiting for almost a year now, so I'm so excited about being in the presidency at last! There isn't a ton I need to do, I just have to know when things are going on and join in the meetings to plan activities and stuff. But I'm still really excited!

Coming Up...

...My 13th Birthday! There are only about three weeks until the big day, but anyway, here's my wish list:


Bonnie’s 13th Birthday Wish List

1. Camera (digital)

2. Stickers (cute ones like hearts, stars, flowers, fairies, smileys, cute critters, etc.)

3. Two Webkinz - the Himalayan cat, and the Whimsey Dragon

4. A Digital Watch

5. A good-working jump-rope

6. The things I collect – cute notebooks, fuzzy/sparkly pencils, mechanical pencils, and fun erasers

7. Clothes!

8. Candy! (I love caramel and fruity candies especially)

9. Taylor Swift’s album “Beautiful Eyes” on my MP3 player

10. More French Vanilla hot chocolate mix!

11. Suprises!!!

Self-Discipline

I have a hard time disciplining myself to do my homework before going on the computer, practicing piano and viola every day, working on Personal Progress all the time, and other things. If I'm in a good mood, it's easier. But if I'm tired, had a bad day, or just plain grumpy, I just can not make myself do that. There have been several times when my mom has made me go and practice or something and I stomp off crying, but I do it because I don't want to lose privileges like the computer or something. I'm mad at times like that, but in the end it's usually not so bad. But I still hate it when that happens.

I hate myself for not being able to just force myself to practice every day. I wish I could be more like my dad in that area - he is really busy, but he makes himself study all the time and exercise every day, even if it causes him to lose sleep. I have my good days - like today, for example: when I got home, I did my homework, grabbed an apple and went to the computer, then practiced piano and viola afterward - but they are few and far in between most of the time. I have to be inspired to change. Sometimes I am inspired, but not enough to change me. I feel overwhelmed with everything I have going on as well as the thought of what will come later. Several people have asked me why I don't quit the piano or the viola or something, but I tell them that I can't do it. I love those instruments, and yet sometimes it kills me to think of practicing on them. I have goals for the future, yet I don't work toward them now. I'm overwhelmed, but I'm not doing anything about it.

Heavenly Father gave us weaknesses to keep us humble. I'd say this is one of them. But maybe, if I work toward that goal, being self-disciplined will be one of my strengths someday. Hm, just writing this post is inspiring me right now...

Night Games

I love having Night Games with my friends. It's so fun to run around in the dark playing games like soccer, Capture the Flag, and other favorites. I've hosted Night Games once, and even though not many people came, we still had a ton of fun.

Last night, my friend called me up at 8:30 wondering if I could come join her and some other kids for night games. I had been planning to go to bed, but my parents were okay with me having some fun with my friends for a couple hours. The only people there besides my friend were boys, and so she was grateful that I could join them. While we were playing soccer, someone kicked the soccer ball up into a pine tree. It was about 30 feet up, but while the others were lamenting the loss and getting ready to play Capture the Flag, I asked my friend if I could try climbing the tree and getting the ball. She said it was okay, and I'm pretty sure she doubted that I'd be able to get it. But I scrambled up that tree without anyone noticing and then I called out to ask which branch the ball was in. Everyone was astonished to see how I had climbed that tree. When I figured out which branch the ball was stuck it, I scooted out a little farther along the branch and started jumping up and down until the ball fell out. All the boys started chanting, "Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie!" and I felt really happy. I climbed down and even though we had the ball again, we decided to play Capture the Flag. I had a ton of fun the rest of the night.

Night Games are a great way to spend time with your friends. I love it when I'm invited to them. And they are very casual - usually when the friend that invited me last night has Night Games at her house, there are kids of all ages; she has older and younger siblings that invite friends as well. Boys and girls are welcome to come over and join the fun. Night games are awesome!