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.