My Moody Brother

My brothers are really interesting. They really are. Especially my older brother. He's seventeen now and is a senior at Layton High. Well, the reason why I think he's so interesting is because he kind of is a moody person. I know that sounds kind of girly but it's true. (If he reads that I'm probably going to get a beating from him sometime soon). But really, he changes his moods all the time. Like for instance one day he's totally my best friend and we'll laugh and have a great time. I mean sometimes he even gets so hyper it's like wow where did that come from. But other times he's a total jerk. Like seriously I bet i have like bruises all over me from him beating up on me. Not so much lately though, cause i've learned to fight him off Ü. Haha. But really he can make me like absolutely hate him sometimes. So tonight I was thinking what to write, and I was reading his blog and it totally reminded me of his so called 'mood swings', that sounds funny to say but I don't know what else to call it, so I thought I'd write about it. If you read his blog you'll know what I'm talking about. At first he starts off by saying "I think I'll just bash on my sister's gymnatics." Then later on he's sayin how good me and my sister are. Just read it you'll see...

blah blah blah
I don’t know what to right about this week so I will just ramble on about my sisters again. I think I will just start bashing on my sisters gymnastics. If you knew my sisters, you would know that they are in very deep in gymnastics. They have been flipping, dancing, spinning, rolling, bending, jumping and any other gymnastics term you can think of for most of there lives. I have two sisters (you would know them from my blog two weeks ago), Brittney is eleven and Mckenzie is eight. I can’t believe how determined and restless they are. My sisters spend at least twenty hours or more a week at the gym. That’s four hours a day at gym. Their whole lives are just home, school, and gym. They wake up, go to school, go to gym, go home, do homework, go to bed, wake up, go to school. And on and on and on and on….. This is what they do during the school year until they get off for the summer and can actually do something. Sometimes I think if they even have friends, it just seems that there is a chance that they don’t because they can’t play after school. Gymnastics is year round so in the summer they still don’t get that much free time. Besides all that time at the gym, my sister Brittney is really good right now. If you are into gymnastics, you would know that the Olympic and the U.S.A. Gymnasts are level tens. She is a level nine at eleven years old and she is only one level away from the twenty year old Gymnasts level. Once you are a level ten, you recruit a major trainer and then train the next five or so years. Then you try to get into the Olympics or go out for the U.S.A. team. I think we will make her stop at ten so we won’t have to move to another state just for her to get a well known trainer. Then my other sister Mckenzie is following in Brittney’s steps but she is only a level six right now. If you ever get the chance to go to a gymnastics meet, don’t go to one with levels six or lower gymnasts. I guarantee that you will end up sitting there for four hours or more listening to the same music being played over and over for the entire time. After the meet is done, you are praising the people that played the music because it finally stopped. But then, after you think you will never hear the song again. It just starts playing over and over in your mind like a routine. You will spend the rest of you life knowing the song until you get cancer and you lose your memory cells. This is just from my experience. If you ever want to do gymnastics, be ready to pull out your wallet. Because it is not a cheap sport. Thank you for your time.

So now you should know what I'm talking about. I guess you could just say it's his opinion about gymnastics. It's not so much of a mood swing but more like just him talking about what he thinks about gym, what he likes about it and what he doesn't. I don't know it just seems kinda "moody" to me. But one things for sure, he definately is a moody person when it comes to liking me. Like I said one day he loves, the next day I guess he just wakes up on the wrong side of the bed or something. So there ya go that's my blog about my "moody" brother. Ü

Ok, I guess I still have about 200 words to write. Well, I guess I just have to say that my brother is pretty cool, I guess. With all the things he said about gym and my sister and I. It's pretty cool to know that he does kinda care about us. Even though a lot of the time he's an absolute jerk. It's ok cause you know, he's my brother and we fight and stuff sometimes. So yeah, All in all, I love my brother when he's nice to me and actually wants to have fun with me. Other than that, he's just a moody boy that needs to be nice. haha. Well, that's what I think of my brother tonight, and I hope that's about a thousand words cause I missed last week's blog so i'm hoping this makes up for it.

Helping the Homeless

Yesterday, I went to a place in farmington called the Frodsham Farm. It's just this farm that's owned by this cute old couple. I had to wake up at 6:30 (that's early for a Saturday), because we had to be at this farm by 7:30. Well, your probably wondering why I got up that early to go see a bunch of farm animals. Ha ha, I didn't go see farm animals I promise. What we did was we held a huge ServiceProject for homeless people. We arrived at 7:30 to set up everything. We set up in the horse stalls(they got cleared out by the way) with stations. For example we had like five, they were each labeled different things like one was New presents, another was Toys, and the other three were like Food, Hygiene, and General Store. In the New presents station, we handed out wrapped presents to each of the families that came through so that they would have something to open for Christmas. In the food, We set out hundreds of canned foods, and bread, and all of this food that was donated from people so that the needy ones could take what they needed. In the Hygienee section there was just tons of things like toothbrushes, soap, deodarant, shampoo, conditioner, and just tons of stuff. And in the toys, there was just a ton of stuffed animals and different toys that people had donated. Also, in a different part of the farm, they had this field that we completely filled with donated new and used clothing. And then, in the field below that, we set up tables with hot soup, and hot chocolate, we set up place where santa was going to be, and we also set up a place where they had snow rides. By the time we had set all of this stuff up, it was about 11, and after that we just waited. Because at 12:00, the buses would start arriving and we would get ready to let them in. They bused in all these people from homeless shelters in salt lake, and some of them that weren't as homeless but were still needed, drove themselves and their famalies to wait in this huge line to get into this event. Well, when they arrived what we did is they paired up each homeless family with 2 or 3 volunteers. Then we took them around to all of the stations and let them pick out their christmas. It was really great to go and do this for these people, it really helped me realize how lucky I am and how grateful I am for everything I have in my life. Like, yesterday when this certain family came in,not one of them in their family had a pair of gloves. That's one of the main things they wanted too. So when one of my YW leaders came around asking us if we had seen any, knowing that we didn't have any to give them just made my heart sink. I knew that I had lots more at home, and to think that they might not even have so much as a real home to go home to just made me so sad. So I tried to give my gloves up, but my YW told me no, and that it was too cold cause we still have 2 or 3 hours left to be outside. Well, by the end of our little debate, I won. I had finally convinced her by telling her that I have so many more pairs at home and that I won't even be able to notice the cold because I knew I was doing the right thing. So she took my gloves and gave them to the family. It made me really happy to know that I had sacrificed something, even though it wasn't much, for someone who needed it more. So, that's my story for ya. It was really fun and if you ever get a chance to do a big service project, DO IT. It's totally worth it and you'll regret it if you don't!

Christmas Party

Last night was one of those nights that just go on FOREVER. I swear it was 12 hours long, but really it was only like 4. . Ok, so I have this aunt, well she's my grandma's sister. So I guess she's my great aunt or something. I don't know I'm not quite sure. But she is one of those people that gets really excited about christmas. Well, I guess we all get really excited for christmas, but she's just a little bit over the top. At least it seems to me. Like her house, it's completely decorated with christmas stuff. But that's just the outside. The inside is even worse. She has so many christmas decorations, it's crazy. But the thing is it's not all those cartooney santa clauses and stuff that a lot of us have. It's more like that really really fancy stuff. Like her tree, it's got silver and gold balls, and angels, and all these sparkely things hanging around it. And right next to the tree she's got some golden statues of reigndeer. And she's even got special golden rugs she puts out. I think there just for christmas, well if there not they sure do match. But the thing that she's really famous for is Nutcrackers. You know those little painted wood ones. I think she has over 500. And I'm not even joking either. She has SO many. There everywhere in her house. She has ones that are taller than me, and she's got some that are only as tall as a pencil maybe. It's seriousally amazing to see how many she has. So anyway, back to what I was planning on writing about. Yesterday was the christmas party that she has every single year. As long as I can remember. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Christmas party-- get to see all your cousins, get to eat good food, and get to just have a good time right? Well, not so much with this one. I guess I don't have to make it sound as bad as I am, but really, it's not too exciting. This is how it turned out, and has turned out for the past couple years. We show up at the house late, but really it's not that late at all. We're pretty much one of the first families there. After we get there, we go munch on the appetizers, and just sit there most of the time while my parents talk to all the other adults. After that (which takes like an hour or two) we all go downstairs and eat our main dinner. Which last nights wasn't too amazing. But it was ok. While were eating dinner of course, everyone's talking and stuff. Well, after dinner, everyone's still talking and what not. Oh, and when I say everyone I pretty much mean the adults. I'm pretty just with my sister on the couch. How exciting. I Know. Well, once one of those lady adults sees a camera it's pretty much a photo shoot for another hour. After that, we go back upstairs and sit on the couches up there. I"m telling ya, this party isn't much of an excitement at all. Oh, I almost forgot. So when were all eating dinner, this lady that's in love with nutcrackers gives all the families a present. Bet you can't guess what she gives us? Yeah, it's a nutcracker. So we get that, and then of course we take more pictures with the new nutcrackers we just got. This night just never ends. After that us kids finally convince our parents to go home. It seriously is one of the most boringest parties I have even been to. I don't even know if I could even consider it a party. And the worst part about this years was that normally I just hang out with my brother, but he had a school dance this time. So it was just me and my sister. But there's a girl my sisters age. So she was mainly with her. So, that was my real exciting saturday night for ya. I'm sure you guys loved reading about it. Sorry, if you did. I'm sure it will be better next week, promise!

Christmas Shoes

So, This is pretty much one of my favorite Christmas songs...

Christmas Shoes

by New Song

It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line

Tryin' to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood

Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously

Pacing 'round like little boys do, And in his hands he held a pair of shoes

His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe

And when it came his time to pay, I couldn't believe what I heard him say

[Chorus:]

Sir, I want to buy these shoes, for my mama please,

It's christmas eve and these shoes are just her size,

Could you hurry sir, Daddy said there's not much time

You see, she's been sick for quite a while,

And I know these shoes will make her smile,

And I want her to look beautiful

If mama meets Jesus tonight

He counted pennies for what seemed like years

Then the cashier said, "Son, there's not enough here"

He searched his pockets frantically, Then he turned and he looked at me

He said Mama made Christmas good at our house

Though most years she just did without

Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,

Somehow I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes

So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out

I'll never forget the look on his face when he said

Mama's gonna look so great

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please

It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size

Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time

You see she's been sick for quite a while

And I know these shoes would make her smile

And I want her to look beautiful

if Mama meets Jesus tonight

I knew I'd caught a glimpse of heaven's love

As he thanked me and ran out

I knew that God had sent that little boy

To remind me just what Christmas is all about

[Chorus]

Christmas!

Do you realize how close it is to christmas? I am so excited! I love Christmas it really is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all the happy things it brings. Like for instance Christmas lights. Don't you love it when you see christmas lights? Doesn't it almost put a smile on your face? It does to me. Especially when it's early into the holiday and there's not many out. That way it's just a normal day, driving around to where ever your going, but instead of seeing just a ton of ordinary houses, there's a few with bright lights and decorations all over them. I love it. I also love to go see the lights at the Latyon Park, or at Temple Square. Another thing I love about christmas is the music. I don't know if your like me or not but I love christmas music, even if it is during thanksgiving. It just always seems to put me in a happy mood. Yeah, there's a couple songs that just get really, really annoying. But most of them I could just listen to all the time. I love it when my mom puts christmas music on in our house, like on saturdays when were cleaning all day. It's pretty much just fun to listen to. Gifts of course are fun to get around christmas, but what I really like doing is giving the gifts. Especially anonymously. I love the feeling of when I'm making the brownie's to take around, or shopping for somebody else, that feeling of just... I don't even know how to explain it. It just makes me feel really good and happy. It's pretty much the same feeling as when your serving someone else. You know that feeling when you know your doing something good for someone else who really needs it? I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but that's ok. Another thing about Christmas is that everyone is just happy. Except for those few people who like to be screwges. Other than that, most people are more friendly than normal during the holdiday season. Like when your shopping and your checking out, the cashier normally says "Merry Christmas" and just has a big smile on their face. Normally it's more like "Thanks, come again." said as dully as possible. And everybody is so kind to eachother like with neighbor gifts and stuff. I just love Christmas all together and I hope you guys do too!

Don't Know What I'd Do Without 'Em!

Well, I didn't know what to write about until I saw my mom's drivers license laying on her desk. So here goes nothing.

Cars and all this other transportation really does a lot for us. I don't know how I'd live without it, it's definitely something I'm really thankful for. But to tell you the truth, I've never really realized how much I take it for granted until now. I mean, think about it. Ever since you were a little baby you've been driving in cars. It's like a natural thing. Most kids aren't afraid of getting into a vehicle to drive somewhere like they sometimes are to get on a roller coaster or something like that. It's pretty much a routine most of us have done everyday for our entire lives. Getting in a car to drive somewhere, it's just not that big of a deal. But think if cars, or trains, or any form of transportation were gone? Then what? I mean sure we've all been taught to walk when we were young, that's natural too. But is it natural for us to walk to school when normally riding a bus, or walking to dance class that's normally fifteen minutes away in a car? Is it the same to take a vacation to Disneyland or wherever when having to walk there instead of flying or driving? Think how long that would take? I know that I'm for sure grateful for all the technology and stuff smart people come up with, because without them think of how much our lives would be changed. I mean think of all the things transportation relates to, or even just cars. Without cars there would be no garages. There would be no roads or stop signs. There would be no driveways or freeways. There wouldn't be any gas stations, or better yet gas. There wouldn't be any parking lots, or car horns. There wouldn't be very many ways to the next town without walking. (I guess you could skip, but you get my point right?) I mean just think this list could go on forever. And then think about this. We said without cars there wouldn't be lot of things, well without one of those lots of things there wouldn't be lots more of things. There's just so many connections between so many things even if they are little. It just amazes me how much transportation plays a part in our lives, and that without it things would be so different. So next time your in your car just think of if it wasn't there, if it wasn't invented yet. See how much we really rely on cars to get us around to places.

Oh yeah, and another thing to think about. I'm almost fifteen, some of you guys already are, but that means we could get our permit. Our permit to drive. Isn't that kind of exciting, but scary at the same time. It is for me, Were not that far off from getting our license!

Don't know what you've got til it's gone...

Since Tuesday of this past week, my dad has been in Arizona. He went there with his brother and dad I think, to visit their cousin that lives down there. Well, while he was down there I never really realized how much he did around home. Ok, yeah I know he does a lot, but it didn't really occur to me exactly how much that was. My family doesn't really go on vacations much, and when we do it's all together. I mean occasionally my mom will go on trips for one or two days, but normally I'll see her in the morning and then she's there the next morning. So it's not too big of a deal really. But it's when there gone for a while that I really start to realize how much I depend on them. Like, for instance, this past weekend. Normally my dad takes me to school in the morning, but my dad was gone so my mom did. Normally my mom works late so my dad picks me up from gym at night, but since he was gone, we got a ride or my mom got off work early. Normally my dad makes dinner, but since he was gone my mom did. And nothing against her, but I got to say my dad does seem to have that cooking touch a little more than my mom. Ü. Haha, but I think that's only because she comes home later than my dad everyday, so I'm just used to his cooking. Anyway, back to the subject. This whole weekend was just out of proportion I guess you could say. It was just kind of wierd to see my mom do everything, including all of what my dad normally does plus her own. You could tell that it would be hard for our family without either of them. They both just really do a lot for my family. I don't know what I would do without them! So just take a minute to realize how much your family really does for you, cause when there gone, your definetly going to notice how much they really do.

Can You Say Party?

Ok, well last sunday was actually my sister's eleventh birthday. She was so excited to finally be eleven. Well, being eleven now, she definately had to have a party. She had it this last friday night, at about 7:30. On Friday after school, well during school, I went with some of my friends to the Layton football game. It was really fun, but it was sad that they lost. But oh well, they did better than they have in a LONG time. Anyway, when I got dropped off at home from the game, I convinced two of my friends to stay with me til about midnight. Because, as far as I knew, I was supposed to help my mom out with my sister's 7-8 friend party. Well, when my friends and I got home that friday night. We not only opened the door for 8 people, it was more like 30. Literally. My sister had invited 30 people to her eleventh birthday party. 30!!! It was crazy, and it only got worse, her party was a "sleepover". It was a long night I'll just leave it at that. I had to get at about 8 the next morning (and that's early for a saturday) and those girls were not helping me with my beauty sleep. Just kidding, but they were pretty loud. Well, that was my friday night for you, right there. A layton game, and a Party with 30 eleven-year olds. Fun stuff, let me tell ya.

Youth Conference 2007

This is the poem I wrote for reflections. It was based on what my ward did for youth conference this past summer. We went down to Ogden and fixed up about 18 or more houses that really needed some work done. It was a lot of fun and I know we touched a lot of people's lives.

A rotting porch, some ruined paint
Cracked windows all around,
This is how some houses are,
If you travel to down town.

They pray they will be able
To make it through the year,
Lots of them with hardships,
And lots of them with fear.

Fear of what their kids will see
while playing just outside,
Never knowing what those
Gangster kids will do when on a ride.

Also fearing all about their lives,
Hoping everything goes right,
They struggle sometimes with that hope,
But always put up a great fight.

They pray a lot, they really do,
For things they really need
Hoping one day they will find an answer,
So they really can succeed.

We prayed a lot of who to help
Not knowing where we’d go
We prayed for safety, health, and hope
For people we didn’t know

Our goal was to serve someone else,
Someone who was in need,
Our whole ward and stake
Was ready to help, yes they were indeed.

Our prayers were answered,
Both of ours, we now knew what to do
We were to help the Ogden homes,
And they were to help too.

They helped with everything they could,
But that wasn’t much at all,
We had so many helping hands,
They ranged from short to tall.

With all the youth and leaders there,
We really got stuff done,
We painted, roofed, and built a deck,
All under the hot sun.

No one complained a single bit,
We worked until we were sore,
Doing yard work, scraping, and other things,
We fixed about 18 houses or more.

We made this work by showing up,
No matter where we wanted to be,
We chose the right, and served our friends,
Even if we’d rather of watched TV.

But think if that, one by one,
Each found something else to do,
Like hanging out with friends, and such,
There probably would only be few

Few that actually took the time
to help someone in need
And trade their entertainment out,
With doing a good deed.

It turned out very many of us,
Chose the right thing to do,
And helped out all the needy ones,
That could barely make it through.

With all our help, they’re better off,
With getting through hard times,
They’re prayers were answered each of them,
And now they’re doing fine.

I know that I had made a difference,
In many people’s lives,
Even if I didn’t seem to do much
Just by looking with the eyes.

It all worked out well, for both of us,
Our prayers were answered, it was fate,
With faith in the lord, he blessed us well,
Houses were fixed, and we felt great.

Yellowstone

This last weekend, over UEA, my family and I caught up with some of our old friends and we went to yellowstone together. It's really fun to be around your friends and family on vacation. I had a great time. We left on Friday night at about 8 o'clock, and got there at about midnight. We stayed in a place called Island Park, which is full of lodges. We rented one that was called the "Old Faithful Lodge". It was really nice. On Saturday morning, we went to a museum that had all this stuff about Grizzly bears and wolves. On the outside of the museum they had a place that actually had live bears and wolves to look at, they were really entertaining. One of the bears we watched was itching its back on a tree, and ended up making the entire tree fall over. It was really funny. After we watched the bears for a while, we ended up going to see an IMAX movie about yellowstone. The family we were with, the Reeder's, were way fun to be with. We originally supposed to go on vacation with the Williamses but ended up changing at the last minute because the Williamses' dog couldn't be left alone, and because of some other reasons too. Anyway, back to what we did. After we went to the IMAX movie, we went back to the cabin and just hung out. A lot of the time when we just hung out at the cabin I ended up doing a lot of my home work. I did a TON of math, and I read a lot about Dantes's adventure in the Count of Monte Cristo. The Next couple of days we spent up there we just toured the park. It was really cool to see all the natural beauty and animals that were all around up there. I also really liked watching the geysers go off, especially Old Faithful. That was really cool to see. One of my friends that I was with was really funny. She has a really funny personality, and a funny laugh to go along with it. She was always making jokes, and if we ever heard a bang and then a laugh. We knew it was hers. She was always tripping on something. I think she tripped about 4 times just when we were at Old Faithful. She is definitely a klutz. Another time we were stopped on the road in a huge line, because some buffalo just decided that they were going to cross right in the middle of the road. So instead of moaning and groaning about the long wait they were causing, our car decided to make it fun. We took tons of pictures and made some jokes and just had a great time. It was really fun. One of the things that made me laugh that time, was when someone made a joke about how out of all the buffalo in the road you could definitely point out one that just seemed a little odd. Behind all the buffalos' big bodies, you could just see this one that seemed like it was dancing. It was really funny to watch. Another cool thing about Yellowstone was all the waterfalls and rivers it has within the park. There all really pretty. One of the days we went and fed the ducks at this bridge, but ended up feeding more of the muscrats than the actually ducks. I'm sure the 3 or 4 muscrats' stomachs were more than enough full of bread. There were a lot of people there, and they all were entertained just watching and feeding the muscrat. It was kind of weird to see so many people watch such a small animal for so long. Some of the parents could hardly get there children's attention, they had to drag them out of there to leave. I had a really fun time at Yellowstone, from learning how to play a lot of new games with my friends, to watching some huge buffalo cross a road, it was all really fun. I'm not sure if it entertained me enough to go back there for another family trip, maybe when I'm older and have my own kids. But for the most part, it was fun to be around my friends.

USU Gymnastics Camp

Well, I wasn't quite sure what to write about this week. So I kinda just gave up on thinking and went on with doing other stuff. While I was looking around for this cd I wanted to listen to, I found this dvd I totally forgot I had. It was a dvd I got at the summer camp I went to over the summer, it just had a video of a lot of the stuff we did there. So, yeah that's what I decided to write about this week.

Ok, so it started out during the competiting season of last year. At a couple of the meets we went to, they were advertising a gymnastics camp called Woodward. We thought it would be so cool, so we decided we were going to do it, we were gonna do a ton of fundraisers to get the money so that we could go. Well, it turns out that we didn't go to that camp. We didn't quite follow through with those fundraisers. But we did convince our parents to let us go to a camp up at Utah State. The camp was in the middle of July, and it was a ton of fun. (Oh, by the way, I'm talking about a gymnastics camp... I don't think I mentioned that yet. sorry). When we got there they got us all in the room with our parents and told us all the information we needed to know about the camp. Then they gave us our dorm room numbers and keys, and let us go. I told bye to my parents and booked it for my dorm. I was so excited. After a while, we went to dinner in the cafeteria. It wasn't to great, non of the food I had that week was. But it was definately worth it. Well, after dinner, we went and hung out with all the other gymnasts, and just kind of got settled for the night. For the next 4 days, we had to be awake at 7:30, breakfast was at eight and workout started at 9:00. We then had a lunch break at like 12:30 everyday, Than workout ended at like 5:00 or so. Well after all the gymnastics stuff, they always had a group activity every night. And a lot of the nights, me and a couple of the older girls snuck out to get Aggie Icecream. It was good :).

Well, by the end of the week, I had learned a lot from the different coaches, and I had definately made a ton of new friends. I had a great time and I hope I can make it a tradition and keep going every year. That would be great! If any of you have never been to some sort of a camp before, I suggest you go to one, it really is a blast, you'll have a great time, I know you will. Well that's all for this week. Bye!

Ninth Grade

Well, I totally forgot about the blog this week until I was actually in bed, trying to go to sleep. I remembered when I had my eyes close and I was just thinking about stuff, you know what I mean right? Well anyway, I'm glad I remembered. I guess this week's blog is going to have to be about, I don't know, how bout ninth grade in general. I guess, to me ninth grade is a little bit harder than the other grades. I definately have more homework, not to mention it's harder too. And it just seems like I have to do everything right this year, no mistakes, perfect grades, cause they always say this year counts. Well, me and my dad were talking about it the other day and we came up with that ninth grade really does seem harder. I mean he said he doesn't quite remember back in his day if it was hard or not, but he said that he always remembered my older brother doing way more homework, and he definately cared about his grades that year. He thinks that since they do put all that pressure on you by saying, "This year counts..." or "No more easy stuff, this stuff is for real now..." It does just kind of give that feeling like, oh no, what I do now will definately ruin my life if I mess up, well maybe not that exagerated but, you get my point. He just thinks that that's the reason why my brother was all stressed out in ninth grade and what not, he says that now, even when my brother's a senior, he cared more about his grades in ninth grade than he has ever since. So I kinda agree with my dad, and I hope he was right about it getting easier as I get older. It does make sense in a way but in another it doesn't to me. I mean yeah, they get you all worked up and what not for ninth grade because your really in high school and stuff starts to count for college. So people probably do take it as more difficult than it really is, with over doing stuff just to make sure everything goes right. And then as they proceed through school, they realize its really not as big of a deal as they thought. But then again, wouldn't it seem like what they tell you is true, like you do start highschool when your in ninth grade, and then everything "really" does start to count. So it should seem like every year it should get harder, because your getting closer to graduating and going to college. So it should be harder in a way, sort of like you have to work for what you want. I don't know, I kinda went off about that. Anyway, back to what I think of my ninth grade year so far. Lately yeah it is a lot of homework and it's harder, but I kind of like it. Not the part about the homework, but I mean, I've met a lot of cool new people, and I've learned a ton more this year, and it is kinda of cool to go around school knowing your the oldest. haha. So yeah, all in all, I kind of like ninth grade and I hope it's a good year all the way through. I also hope what my dad said was true about it all getting easier, cause that would just make it all the better.

Double Layout on Floor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USTwc5lD6s

Click here, to see a double layout on floor. I thought I'd show some of you guys what one of my tricks I'm working on since you guys always ask me about that kind of stuff, so here ya go. This isn't me doing it, obviously, but it's what I do.

Gymnastics

I might write about gym alot, just a heads up. It's all I ever do, I swear. Just kidding it's not all I do but's it's pretty dang close. I started when I was about four, and I'm almost fifteen now(well, i've got a couple months left...Ü) so that makes it almost 11 years I've been in gym. That's a long time, I've never thouht of that. Well anyway. There is ten levels in gymnastics, well kinda 11, but I won't get into that. You start to compete when you are in level four. I don't know why it's that number, but it is. So I guess when you start as a beginner your in level one. Anyway. I skipped level four when i was little and just went straight to level five. I was about seven when I was put in that class, and then I just moved up levels ever since then. So I was eight in level six, nine in level seven, ten in level eight, and eleven in level 9. I stayed level nine for three years, so I was eleven, twelve, and thirteen when I competed that level. Right now I'm fourteen and in level ten.

So about gymnastics. There is ten levels, I already told you that, but you only compete levels 4-10. Most people when there in level 10 are about 17 or 18. They are normally this age because after level 10, you will most likely go to college. But I'm only 14, so I've got a few years left to go. Levels 4-6 are called compulsory. This means that there are set routines you have to compete. Everybody in that level does the exact same routine (believe me, those meets got annoying). Levels 7 and up are called optionals. This means that you have certain requirements you have to follow, but are allowed to personalize your routines. For instance, you can have your own floor routine, that is totally different from anyone elses, not like the compulsory levels.

I compete all four events. The vault, bars, beam, and floor. These are just the woman's events. The men's events consists of six events: vault, high bar, rings, pommel horse, floor, and the parallel bars. I only do the woman's events. My competiting season starts in January, and ends in about April. The rest of the year I'm training for the next years season. I workout 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Thats 20 hours a week, if you didnt want to do the math. So that's why I don't have enough time to be a cheerleader like a lot of you ask me to. I told you I don't have time didn't I?... That's also the reason I don't hang out a lot with my friends, I try to as much as I can, but it's never really on weekdays because I go to gym, right after school until about 7.

So that's a little bit about gymnastics. I'll probably tell you a lot more later, I'm sure. It'll probably be the topic I talk most about when I can't think of anything to write. So yeah. Oh, for all of you who always ask me what my hardest trick is. I'll try to put a video up and show you, I don't know if it will work, but I'll try.

Funny Quotes

Well I didn't quite have 500 words yet this week, so I thought I'd share some funny quotes with you. Here they are:

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else."

- Margaret Mead

"When everythings coming your way -- Your in the wrong lane."

- Anonymous

"Life is like a sewer, what you put into it, is what you get out of it."

- Tom Lehrer

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today, it's already tomorrow in Austrailia

- Charles M. Schulz

"There is a light at the end of every tunnel, let's just hope it's not a train."

- Anonymous

"Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried to slam a revolving door!"

- Anonymous

"Everyday is a gift, that's why they call it the present."

- Anonymous

"If at frist you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you."

- Henry Youngman

Laundry...

I hate the laundry. I hate it so bad. It is one of the worst chores to do. It goes along with the dishes and vaccuuming and sweeping and moping. Believe me, that list could go on. Well, anyway, back to hating laundry. This is how it goes in our family. Someone puts a load in, someone else folds it. Does it happen that way? NO. It goes more like this: I put a load in, I fold it. My sister puts a load in. I fold it. My brother puts a load in. I fold it. Mom finds the laundry not done, I get yelled at and then have to go do it. Do you see why I hate the laundry. Half the time my sister is nice and helps me out, but the other half... it's all me. It really annoys me. I wish we could just invent something that washed, dried, and folded our laundry for us. Then it could put it away too. That way whenever I go into my closet all my clothes are there clean to choose from. Wouldn't that be nice? I would love that, if somebody ever invents something like that, i'm buying it. I don't care how much it costs. It would definately make life a whole lot of a heck easier. Well it will right now. But watch if it ever were to come out, i'll be a mother by then, and all the laundry will be done by my kids, so it still wouldn't help me out. Oh well. Maybe I could wish upon a star? haha just kidding.

My Hero

Here's a poem I wrote a while ago, I don't know if it would count for one of those poetry contests we have to enter for this class, but I'll find out. Well anyway, it's call MY HERO and I wrote it myself. So here it goes:

My Hero

This world has many heroes, some you know by name.

Some you've never heard of and some with lots of fame...

But out of all the heroes that this world has ever had.

There's not one I admire more than that guy that I call dad.

Perhaps he's not as famous as those other guys you know,

But he's everything and so much more than those ones the T.V. shows.

He keeps his word, it's good as gold. On him you can depend.

He's honest and he's loyal too. He's also a good friend.

So when you hear about a hero and the great things that they've done.

It reminds me of my father, he is my favorite one!

FLYING!

Well, my last blog didn't quite make up five hundred words, so i'm going to make up for it in this blog. So on thursday night, I had a ton of homework. But I didn't care that night. If you read my blog from last week I told you about how i went flying... well I went again on Thursday. It was a blast. My uncle has some way to get a deal so he called us up and we went. Yeah it wasn't too smart of an idea seeing how I had the most homework I've had all year that night but, hey, I thought it was worth it. This time since I had already been through the beginning stages, they started to teach me some tricks. I actually got it to where I could fly by myself, and I started to turn in circles and go up and down. It was way fun. The only bad part about it was, when the instructor guy was helping me, he acidentally cut my lip with his fingernail. It was pretty funny, but it kinda hurt at the same time.

When we were all done, I thought we were going home cause it was already 8 o'clock and i hadn't started any of my homework yet, but I came to find out we had to stop at the mall, which would be fine with me any other day, to get my brother a tie for his homecoming dance on saturday. Well long story short, on our way to the mall we took the wrong road so we had to turn around, then by the time we got there my brother talked forever with his friend that works at the mall, he actually bought me two shirts though, (I liked that part Ü) then finally we went home, we got there at about 9:30. And the rest is history, literally, and math and a little of english. I'm sure there was other subjects too, but I can't remember them. It's my fault for having so much homework but doing the iFLY thing was totally worth it!

Homecoming Dinner

Well I know what your all thinking... You went to homecoming? No I didn't, my older brother did. He went last night with this girl named Ashley, and that's basically all I know about her. But that's ok, she's cute and I'm sure my brother chose wisely. I hope. Anyway, my brother and he's friends decided instead of going to some fancy resturaunt and pay a lot of money, they decided to make our house a fancy resturaunt. And guess who got the job of being a waitress...me. Yes, me. At first I didn't think it'd be too fun, I mean giving up my friends on a saturday night for a serving people in tuxedos. Wasn't too excited to tell ya the truth. But as they night went on, it got better. Well, to get ready for this dinner we had to clean the house like CRAZY... it wasn't too fun, cleaning all day while the person your cleaning for is out having a great time. Didn't make me too happy, but what can i say? I'm a good sister. So when all the cleaning was done, we started cooking. We made mormon potatoes and Steak. They were delicious Ü. When my dad asked when he should start cooking the steaks, my brother said, "Don't worry about it, i'm sure they'll be late anyway." Boy, was he wrong about that. He left to go get his date at about Seven and about two minutes after he left, the other dates arrived. So we let them in and had pretty much an awkward conversation with 6 teenagers we had never met in our lives. But my brother did finally return with his date, only twenty minutes late may I add. Anyway, all in all, serving them was kinda fun. Listening to their conversations was even funnier. There was this one kid that just was very RANDOM. He was hilarious. It probably wasn't very good of me to easedrop but hey, I got a good laugh. Ü So I had a fun night, I guess, just in a different sort of way!

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you...

So yesterday, It was my mom's 40th birthday (she's getting old huh? just kidding) and so we spent the whole day with her. Well most of it, I mean, i did have to wake up at like 8 and go to gym until 1:00, but after that it was all pretty much all about her. We took her out to dinner to Texas Roadhouse because they shut down Tony Roma's. That was our favorite place to eat, especially for birthdays. So we tried Texas Roadhouse and all I've got to say is, Their bread and cinnamon butter is better than Tony's. But nobodies ribs can top Tony Roma's.Ü. So after trying the ribs at Texas Roadhouse, we went to the new complex place in Ogden. I think it's called "The Junction". I don't know for sure, but they've got a way nice theatre, a rock climbing wall, a surfing place, and this thing called iFLY. We told my mom that for her 40th birthday we were going to take her skydiving, she never believed us. But we did, we took her to that place and did the iFLY. It was so much fun, my mom, my brother and i all got to do it. It really felt like you were flying. Well you were.. just with a little help. It sure was expensive but I think it was worth it, and plus the more you do it the cheaper it gets. Ü. If you haven't done it, convince your parents to take you down there. It's definitely a thing I'd go and do again. Now that I've done the skydiving part, what i really want to do is go and try the indoor surfing thing, that looks way fun.

Well I hope that was 500 words, it sure looks like it, but then again, I'm not sure how much that is, so I don't know, I'm gonna go now.

Well, I guess I was just kidding about leaving. I just checked how many words it was and it was only like 319. Which makes me kinda mad, cause I kinda felt like being done with typing. But oh well. So anyway, back to the whole skydiving thing. To get ready for it, they made you go into a little room and watch a DVD about all the handsignals and stuff that you need to know for when your actually in the tunnel flying. Then they told about what your position should be, and all the things you should never do. They actually made us lay on one of those doctor table things and practice our body position. It kinda made me laugh. Then they took us back out to the place where they gave you all the equiptment you have to wear. They make you put on knee and elbow pads, and then this really really light swishy ( i don't know what the material is called) outfit thing that made you look really funny. Then you had to put earplugs in your ears, and stick a helmet on top of all your hair that's squished inside. Then you had to put your shoes on and tie them tight and you were ready to go. And that's all the stuff they make you do before you go into the tunnel. It was really pretty cool, we actually got a dvd of us flying, it's kinda funny to watch us fly everywhere out of control.

Well now i really think that that was 500 words. But i'll check right now just in case. I'm good now, I typed 592 words. Pretty good huh?

See ya,

Brittney

Hello World!