Monday, December 29, 2008

College!

The time has come for me to decide where I want to go to college. Well, BYU is still my first choice but I also have other options. I haven't gotten rejections or acceptances from BYU yet but I am anxiously awaiting them. However, I would like to let you know about the acceptances that I have received. I have received an acceptance letter from Northern Arizona University (NAU). I was accepted into their Elementary Education Program which is what I want to go into. They also rewarded me with a $22000 scholarship for academic intesity in High School. I was very excited about this. This amount of money will definitely help influence where I choose to attend. NAU is located in Flagstaff, Arizona so it is not always hot. it actually snows in the winter. I think it would be a very nice place to go. I also got accepted to University of Portland (UP). They haven't offered me a scholarship yet but, after January 1st, I am able to apply for scholarships to that school. Before I make my decision I am going to research my different options and the quality of their education program. I will keep you posted on my decision.

My Christmas Traditions

This Christmas my family stayed home. We often go to Utah for the holidays but this time we went for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas. So we just had a nice Christmas with just my mom, my dad, me, Zach, Josh and Jackson.

Every Christmas Eve I plan a special program that we have before we go to bed that night. This time our friends Mary and Sasha Guzman came over and they ate our Christmas Eve dinner with us and then participated in the program. We sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story in the Bible and played a game called "Christmas Cranium". Josh and I created this game together while we were stuck inside. We got 14 inches of snow (more snow than Washington has seen since 1861) so we stayed inside a lot of the time. Josh and I colored and created a game board and I created the cards. A lot of them weren't hard but it was still really fun and now mom says that it is going to be a new tradition from now on. Then, after the program we ate dessert and just hung out and talked with each other. Every Christmas Eve night my brothers and I sleep by the Christmas tree. We can do this because our Christmas tree is in the living room and our stockings are on the other side of the bottom floor in the family room.

On Christmas morning we woke up at 6:30 am. Mom decided to try out a new tradition and I don't think she really like it. She told us to get up at 6:30 in the morning and make her and my dad breakfast in bed. Then, we would take the breakfast up to them and they would eat while we opened our stockings. However, I don't think she liked it very much because who's hungry at 7:00 in the morning? So, after we opened our stockings we went downstairs and opened our presents. We always take turns opening presents and we only open one at a time (the order is: Jackson, Josh, Zach, Me, mom, and dad). This year I got a few cool presents. I got a Nintendo DS and games for it. I also got the Twilight Soundtrack and a $15 Itunes Gift card. WE also got a lot of board games and a couple Wii games including Are you smarter than a 5th grade (Thank you Aunt Linda!) It was a really good Christmas. Then, after we open all of our presents we are just lazy ALL day. We sit around and play with the presents we got and mom sets some munchies out on the counter that we eat throughout the day. I always look forward to our family traditions every year.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I've Been Tagged

I was tagged by my aunt Linda. Here goes:

8 TV shows I like to watch:
1- American Idol
2- Dancing with the Stars
3- Hannah Montana
4- Wizards of Waverly Place
5- Suite Life of Zack and Cody
6- Gilmore Girls
7- Sabrina The Teenage Witch
8- Sister, Sister

8 Restaurants I like to eat at:
1-Cheesecake Factory
2-Olive Garden
3-Quiznos
4-Taco Time
5-Applebees
6-King Buffet
7-Sonic
8-Johnny Rockets

8 things that happened today:
1-EMAIL
2-facebook
3-played games with my cousins
4-hung out at my aunt Linda's house
5-read Twilight
6-cleaned my room
7-watched TV
8-listened to music

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1-Thanksgiving
2-games with my family tomorrow
3-My aunts wedding
4-Christmas break
5-My 18th birthday!!!
6-Seeing my Grandma in February
7-Shopping on Friday
8-NOT driving home to Washington on Saturday

8 Things on my wish list:
1-get into BYU!!!
2-finishing my Chemistry homework on time
3-passing my chemistry final
4-finishing my 15 page paper for my english class
5-my 18th birthday to come!
6-Having a nice, quiet Christmas at our house
7-Survive the rest of the quarter before Christmas break
8-Go on a stress-free vacation.

8 people I'm tagging:
ANYBODY that reads this blog post!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Deception Pass Retreat

For our first day of school this year at ORCA we went to a retreat at Deception Pass. Last year we went to the retreat also but we didn't go on the very first day of school last year. When we first got there we just hung around and talked to all of our friends. We haven't seen them for a whole Summer!!! After awhile we had a meeting with our English teacher. We found out that we had to lead a book discussion for the new ORCA students. So we got into our subgroups. I don't remember all of the younger kids but the older ones (my age group) were: Paul, Anna, Erik-John, and Patrick...I think that's all of them. Anyways, I am usually the quietest one in class. I don't really talk. However, none of the other "older" kids would contribute to the discussion so I was really the only one leading the discussion. I was very proud of myself because I usually don't do that kind of thing.

After the book talk we got cabin assignments. I got a waterfront cabin with Maddy, Kaitlin and Cortnee. It was really fun. We just hung out for awhile and when he got dark we headed down to a part of the Puget Sound because when it gets dark you can see bioluminecents in the water. Builuminecents are little fish things that glow in the dark. They are really cool looking. A lot of the students get in their bathingsuits and go swimming to see them. However, I prefer to just watch because I was sick. After that we walked back to the cabins and had a campfire on the beach. We made s'mores. YUM!!! That night Kaitlin, Maddy, Cortnee, and I stayed up really late talking. When we finally decided to head off to bed it was 1 or 1:30...idk. However, Maddy and I decided to sleep outside that night. Since we are in a waterfront cabin we just wanted to listen to the waves crash up against the shore. It actually wasn't too cold either. I actually really liked it and there weren't really any bugs so it was kinda nice.

The next day we got up and ate breakfast. Some people went on a hike before breakfast but I didn't go on the hike because I forgot my sneakers at home. All I had was flip flops and those aren't really good for hiking....So, after breakfast we had a discussion with Ardi (the leader of ORCA) about applying to colleges...I can't believe that it's already time to apply for colleges...AHHH!!! After that discussion we had to go clean up our cabin and load it into the car so we could be ready to leave by 11 so we could make it to EvCC in time for our Chemistry class.

After we were done packing up our stuff we had a team building activity. It was actually really fun. What we did is we each got a red folder and we were seperated into 5 teams. The rules were that we had to get across the field but we couldn't touch the ground so you would have to use your folder and the help of your other team members to get to the other side. However, you couldn't cross the finish line until EVERYBODY got to the end. Also, if one person from any of the groups touched the ground we would have to go back. It was so frustrating because our group was the best and we would almost get to the end (farther than anybody else) and then somebody would fall and we would all have to go back. But it was still really fun. Right after the activity Maddy, Kara, and I (Kara drove us) had to run to the car so we could get going so we could get to Chemistry on time. That was a really fun start of school!!!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Labor Day In Seattle

Looking up from the bottom of the Space needle

View from the top

after we went up in the space needle

butterfly house

In The dinosaur exhibit

Giant checkers

They can also be used as hats...

Giant table



This Monday, September 1, 2008 we went to Seattle for the day. We started at the Science Center. We looked through all of the "normal" exhibits, the ones that are always there. After looking at the "normal" ones we walked down to McDonalds for lunch. After lunch we walked back to the Science Center. This specific week is Bumbershoot so the street were particularly crowded. Bumbershoot is a festival that happens in Seattle where bands come and perform and there are other things to do and buy. When we went back to the Science Center we went to the "special exhibit". Special exhibits are only there for short periods of time. Right now the special exhibit is "Speed: The exhibit". There were a lot of things for the kids to do. There were remote control cars to race and many other things. After we spent a little time in that exhibit we went to see an imax movie. We saw one about Mt. St. Helens' eruption. It was only 30 minutes long but it was still really interesting and informative.

After we watched that movie we left the park and headed to the space needle. It costs 80 dollars for my family to go up in the space needle but I think it was worth it. When you get in the elevator a lady is in there with you and she tells you all about the space needle. She is right in front of a wall of windows. It was so pretty. As we rose higher and higher we saw the beautiful city of Seattle shrink beneath us. Once we were up there we went outside and walked around the entired thing twice. It was so pretty. When we were done and we decided to go back down we got back into the elevator and it felt like we were flying into the city. We got closer and closer until we were back on the ground. It was so cool. After we were done with that we got back in the car and went to get ice cream at a malt shop in Pacific Place. When we were done with our ice cream my family took me up to the appartment that I'm living in right now. I'm living as a nanny in Seattle so we thought it would be easiest to drop me off that night instead of coming back Tuesday morning. We had a really fun time in Seattle.

Josh's Baptism

Josh

Dad and Josh before the baptism

Family picture

Grandma and Josh

Grandpa and Josh



Last week was a very busy time for us as we prepared for Josh's baptism. My grandma Pat and aunt Linda came in on Wednesday, August, 27, 2008. My grandpa Ron came in on Thursday, August, 28, 2008 and my grandpa Wiser came in on Friday, August 29, 2008. On Friday I had to work for a little while but while I was at work my family went to the grocery store to buy food for the baptism. My aunt is an amazing cook. My mom calls her the "kitchen Nazi". So, she's the one that decided what food we should have at the baptism and cooks it all. We had chicken salad sandwiched, fruit with dip, vegetables with dip, raspberry punch, and her homemade salsa and chips along with a cake from Costco. That night my grandpa Ron took Josh to an Aquasox game for his birthday. Aquasox is the Everett baseball team. However, they had to leave the game early due to the rain. That night my dad went out to dinner with Jackson and my grandpa Wiser. They went to Applebees. That left me, grandma Pat, aunt Linda, and my mom to stop by the church and put everything in the fridge and set up the tables. Then we drove to Lynnwood and went shopping and then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was really good. We spent the next day getting ready to leave for the baptism at 10:00 am. When 10 rolled around we all piled into the cars and drove to the baptism and started preparing everything. Once the baptism started it was great. However, half way through I realized that my mom didn't put my name on the program. I was supposed to play a musical number before he got confirmed and my mom didn't put me on the program. But she fixed that for me. They just announced me during the program. When we were all done we got to talk to everyone in the Young Womens room while we enjoyed the wonderful food that Linda prepared for us. It was a great experience. Everything about this was amazing. I'm excited that Joshua decided to get baptized and that he is living according to his standards.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Fall 2008 Class Schedule

I just got my class schedule for the Fall Quarter at Everett Community College. It's probably going to be a difficult quarter for me. Here is the list of my classes.

Political Science~ Josh Searle
Statistics~ Wendy Houston
Chemistry~ Mark Kontulis


In ORCA you keep the same teachers for the core classes so I've had Josh Searle and Wendy Houston before. They are both okay teachers. Wendy Houston is an annoying test grader though. My friend used "is" instead of "are" and she got marked down three points. I personally don't think that's right. She's not an English teacher she's a math teacher. Josh was a good english teacher...I don't know how he will be at teaching political science though. I haven't had Mark Kontulis as a teacher yet so I don't know how his class is going to be. The reason that I haven't had him as a teacher is because we only have two classes at the ORCA building and we have the option of taking a class at main campus so I decided to. If I decide to become a biologist then I will definitely need chemistry so I thought I would get it out of the way now...before I get into college. Luckily, some of my other friends from ORCA are taking this class too...so I won't be completely alone. I hate going into classes and not know anybody. Hopefully it will be a good year. I don't start school until September 22nd so I have awhile to relax before then...luckily. I will keep you posted on my new school year...when it starts...haha

Friday, August 15, 2008

Our SHREK-tacular adventure

This summer my mom's, cousin's friend came up from New York. She came up because she was in a production of Shrek the Musical at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle, WA. We were priveledged enough for her to give us 6 tickets to the show. So, on Wednesday we drove down to Seattle around 4:00. We ate dinner and then went down to the theater for the production...it started at 8:00 pm. It was so good. Everyone was great. Danette (my mom's, cousin's friend) played multiple parts. She was the magic mirror assistant, flutterbell (a fairy), one of the dancing toys and she had other dancing roles too. The only bad part of the production was that it was 3 hours long. Most of us were fine with the length of the play but Jackson started to get tired towards the end. The cool part was that we saw the production before anyone else did. So we probably saw a lot of stuff that won't be incorporated into the final production. We stayed in a hotel because the next day I was scheduled to go stay with Danette and work as her nanny for three days and then come back on September 1st.

So, the next day we drove down there and met Danette at about 10:00 am. She lives in an appartment in Seattle. I get my own room and bathroom. I have to babysit her daughter, Ellery, from about 12:30 pm until midnight. She has rehearsal from 1-6 and then a production every night from 8 until 11 and then they have notes after. The baby is really good though. Since Danette is in the production I've been able to meet some cool people. I met the wicked witch from the play and I met one of the "dressers" from the play when I walked up to the theater today. It was cool. Fiona from the play apparently lives here too but I haven't met her yet. Hopefully I will. I've only been here 1 1/2 days. I have 1 more day until I go home and then I come back on September 1st for about 2 weeks. I'm really excited that I have this job. And I start another job on Monday as a desk assistant at the school the my mom works at. This should be exciting. I'm really excited to have some money...FINALLY!!!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

I got my license!!!

I had my drive test today. I was so nervous. I could hardly sleep last night. My test didn't start until 10:30 but we decided to leave at about 9:15 (it only takes about 30 minutes to get there) and practice for a little while. Well, when it was finally 10:30 the instructor and I got in the car and began the test.

Here's what she had me do:
- parallel park (I failed it. It's really hard to parallel park a suburban if you aren't used to it)
- back around a corner (when do you ever have to back around a corner?)
- hand signals (left turn, right turn, and stop)
- park on a hill (I did this perfectly)
- and many, many more things

The test only lasted about 15 minutes...it was the longest 15 minutes of my life! Well, when we were done with my test she went over what I did wrong as I "listened". Then, they failed to tell us before the test that we had to take a number and wait to be called to sign up for a license and take the picture (my picture is horrible). So, we picked a number. Ours was 361 and they were on 343. This was going to take forever! We decided to take this opportunity to go to safeway (it's right next door) and buy stuff that we need for home. When we got back from Safeway they were only on 346 or something like that. I got done with my test at about 11:00 am. When we finally left the DMV it was about 12:30 pm. It was horrible. It probably wasn't a smart idea to make an appointment for a drive test on a Saturday. They are always busiest on Saturdays. However, I am really glad that I passed and that I now have my license...NO MORE TAKING THE BUS!!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Pioneer Day (July 24, 2008)


I always love being in Utah on July 24th. Why? It's pioneer day and it is only celebrated in Utah. It's kind of like the 4th of July. However, it's not as big. Pioneer day celebrates the day that Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. In Utah this day is celebrated with fireworks and big celebrations.

We left our house at around 4:00 pm and headed down towards Salt Lake City. We were going to meet Linda's family and then drive down to the Salt Lake City Cemetary. As we drove around the cemetary we saw graves of many important people of the LDS church including Gordon B. Hinckley, Spencer W. Kimball, Joseph Fielding Smith, Neal A. Maxwell and many other prominant figures of the LDS church. As we drove through the cemetary we took pictures and read many of the different tomb stones. It was really interesting.

After we were done at the cemetary we were going to drive to the Salt Lake City temple and walk around the grounds and watch the Joseph Smith movie. After we got there and were done walking around the temple we tried to get into the building. However, it was locked. It must've been closed because it was a holiday. However, we didn't think of that before. After we were done at the temple we went down to Texas Roadhouse and ate dinner. After dinner we went to Walmart and purchased some fireworks and then went to Linda's house to watch our mini fireworks show. It was a really fun Pioneer day!!

Thanks for reading my blog...I will hopefully be writing again soon.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Island Park Reunion



We left our house in Washington on July 9th. Our plan was to drive down to Butte, Montana all day and stay in a hotel for the night. In the morning we started out great. We weren't sick of each other...yet...and we were organized and comfortable. However, as many of you may know, it doesn't often stay that way. As the trip went on we got less and less organized and more and more irritable. Fortunately we managed to safely make it to Butte, Montana. We were finally able to relax, eat dinner and watch TV. Usually we get a hotel with a pool but we weren't able to do that this time. So, we stayed in a tiny room overlooking the baseball fields...lucky us. However, my brothers and my dad were able to go out to the baseball fields and stretch their legs and my mom and I stayed in a nice, quiet room...FINALLY!! We don't often get that in our house...if you can imagine.


The next day we took our time getting ready. It only takes about 2 hours to drive from Butte, Montana to Island Park, Idaho and we didn't have to be to our cabin until 4:00 in the afternoon. After we were all packed and loaded we made a "quick" stop at WalMart so we could pick up the things that we needed to eat while at the cabin. We finally piled back into our car and began to drive again. It went well at first. We started a movie that was 2 hours long (it should've been done as we pulled into the driveway of the cabin). However, we weren't that fortunate. My mom failed to look at the direction that my grandma sent to us so we got some off of mapquest. However, as many of you may know, mapquest is often not reliable. So, we spent about 3 hours driving down EVERY street in Island Park except the right one. At one point during our adventure we found a cabin that looked almost exactly like the one that we were supposed to be at. So, my mom got out of the car and started investigating...unfortunately, this wasn't the right one. Luckily, as we were driving down one of the street we passed my aunt Linda in her car. We were able to follow them up to our cabin. At this point my parents were very flustered. We had been lost for about 2 or 3 hours. They had to back up the boat (not an easy task) and turn around many times. We finally arrived at the cabin and unloaded all of our stuff.


Our Island Park Adventure:

30 people, 1 cabin, 3 nights...CHAOS (it actually wasn't as bad I imagined it would be)
Kevin...then Laura in the hottub
Scattegories and movies every night
Old Faithful
S'mores
Kayaking...FUN!!
"don't go in the lake, there's leeches in there!"
eating fish that the kids caught and my dad cooked...YUM!
going on walks around the cabin
and finally....growing together as a family



Saturday, July 5, 2008

Summertime!

The last week of school was a sad time for me. I've never felt like this about school before. I have made many friends through the ORCA program. This program is nice because we become so close. However, the last week of school was also a busy time for all of us. On a couple occasions during the last couple weeks of school I've had to survive on no sleep. On Monday our history papers were due (I didn't get any sleep the night before), on Tuesday we had our zoology final and on Wednesday we had our math final. On Wednesday, after our math final, we had a potluck. ORCA has one of these at the end of every quarter. Everyone brings a dish to share and we eat and play games all day. A group of about 10 of us played apples to apples. Others played frisbee and soccer.

On the last day of school (June 12th) ORCA went on a whale watching trip. We met at Everett Community College at 9:45 in the morning. Once everyone was there we boarded vans and the teachers drove us down to the boat. The cruise was so much fun. We played games (apples to apples) and just hung out while we scanned the ocean for whales. Fortunately it was a very good time to spot orcas. At about noon we spotted j-pod. J-pod is composed of about 25 orcas and we were fortunate enough to see many of them. We saw Ruffles, Granny, Oreo, Cookie, and many other orcas from j-pod. Granny is currently the oldest orca in the world. She is 97 years old. I was excited to see them. In class we always talk about Ruffles and how it is is easy to tell him apart from the rest of the group (the outside edge of his fluke looks like a ruffles potato chip), but it is more fun to actually experience this. The picture at the top of this blog is of the fluke of one of the orcas we saw. They also breeched (jumped out of the water) but they were too quick. I couldn't take the picture fast enough. We were in Canada when these whales were spotted. Once the first whale was spotted everyone moved to that side of the boat and it felt like we were going to flip over, but we didn't.

Our school has grown really close. We've already decided to have a lot of ORCA parties. The Saturday after school got out we went to my friend Andrew's house and we had a BBQ and hung out. Everyone brought food to share. After we were done eating we walked over to Forest Park and played capture the flag in the woods. My team won! A group of kids from my school are planning on going to the drive-in movie theater in Snohomish on Friday. However, I can't go because I have other plans. The party on Saturday was really fun...hopefully more parties are being planning for the Summer.

This weekend I am going to Youth Conference with my church. I am on the committee so I get to go up tonight (one day early) so we can set up before they get there. I am on the dance committee with 2 other youth and a leader. It should be fun. We went up to the camp a couple weeks ago to look at the lodge and it is really nice. We have a lot of ideas on how to decorate it. At youth conference there is going to be a dance, activities, a testimony meeting and a service project. I'm excited because I get to see some of my friends from the stake that I don't get to see on a normal basis.

On the Monday after we get back from youth conference I have to get two of my wisdom teeth out. I'm not looking forward to that. However, I want them out because they are coming in already and they hurt really bad. Then the next day I have to drive to the airport with my mom to get Tanya (she's coming up for a week). I am getting my haircut and my mom doesn't want to drive all the way home to get me...she just wants to go to the haircut on the way home from the airport.

In July my mom's side of the family is going to Island Park, Idaho. We are staying in a big house all together. It should be fun. I am really excited to see everybody. After we drive to Idaho, we are going to complete the drive to my grandma's house. We will stay at her house for a couple weeks and then drive back to our house in Lake Stevens, WA.

I think I have other things going on this summer but I will update on those things at a later date. Thanks for reading my blog.

I have a blog!

Welcome to my blog! I am going to start by introducing myself to you. My birthday is January 13, 1991. I am 17 years old. I have three brothers: Zachary, Joshua, and Jackson. All three of them play baseball. I am required to go to at least one of each of their games every season and they are required to attend my piano recitals. My brothers also enjoy riding scooters and playing basketball outside. Zach is currently finishing up his 9th grade year. He is going to be in high school next year! Josh is ready to go into 3nd grade. He just qualified for the Highly Capable class and he really likes the teacher he is going to have. Jackson is preparing to go into Kindergarten. He just finished his 3rd and final year at one of his preschools and he is going to finish up his first and last year at his other preschool. My mom is very creative. She figured out how to make her own website so now she sells her vinyl creations on line at iloveletterz.com. My dad is an engineer at Boeing he is very good at math so, on occasion, he helps me with math problems that I get stuck on.

I am currently working on completing my junior year at high school. I attended full-time running start for my junior year. I am in a program called Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA). We generally study marine based sciences but we also study terrestrial animals in our zoology class and we have regular english, history and math classes. My first year at ORCA has been a blast. I made some really great friends and I learned a lot from our four different teachers. We have the same teachers for two full years so you become really close to them. At the beginning of this school year we went on a retreat to Deception Pass. This was great because we were immediately thrown into a group with people we've never met before and we were "forced" to become friends. We also went on a retreat in the Spring. This time we went to Forks, WA (home of the vampires) and we investigated two different beaches, Tongue Point and Hole in the Wall. For our last day of school this year we are going on a whale watching trip. Hopefully we will get to see some whales. I am partially excited for Summer to start but once it does start that means I won't get to see my friends for a whole summer. I am planning on attending ORCA next year as well so I will be able to see my friends then. We have bonded and created friendships that will last forever.

However, ORCA can be challenging too. The teachers at ORCA give a lot of homework, much more than normal high school. This is to be expected since it is college, it just took some getting used to. This past week we have had major projects due. On Tuesday we had a paper due for a book that we read in English. Monday night I got 30 minutes of sleep. Friday we had a final English paper due. I didn't get any sleep on Thursday night. One of the hardest things I have encountered while attending ORCA was pacing yourself. You get the syllabus at the beginning of the quarter and you think you have "so much time". Then, you realize the paper is due tomorrow and you haven't even started researching for it. I'm not that bad but I do procrastinate.

Piano is one of my hobbies. I just recently had a piano recital. I played "The Phantom of the Opera" and "My Heart Will Go On". I think it went pretty well. Generally when I perform in front of people I freeze and forget the notes. I also forget to breathe which could be a problem. However, I think I did OK. My friend Maddy came to this recital and she said I did fine. My parents, my teacher and a lot of people at the recital said I did very well too. Now I am focusing on gathering songs to play at Josh's baptism at the end of August/ beginning of September. I will be playing two different instrumental church songs.

Thank you for reading my blog. I will try to write one at least once a week. Next Friday I will be done with school so I will be better at keeping you up to date.