Diary of an Idahoanite Teenager

Thanksgiving Break!

2011-11-27T18:31:00.014-07:00

This Thanksgiving we had a bunch of cousins from my dad's side over. I have to say, it was one of the best Thanksgivings of my life. One of my cousins, Devyn, I haven't seen in about 3 years. He came over and it was a ton of fun! Also, his brother, Derek was here. They are both attending college in Utah. My cousins Kaylee and Kaleb were here too. Kaylee is going to a college here in Idaho on a volleyball scholarship. Kaleb is my age and lives in a small town in eastern Idaho. And finally, my aunt Lorna Kay (Kaylee and Kaleb's mom) and her boyfriend Dan were here.

While everybody was here, we played this game called Telestrations. It is kind of like the game telephone, but it is with paper( or a drawing pad) and pencil(or expo markers). It is a very funny game, especially with people that are really bad drawers haha.

Here are some of the results:

These are from the first round.

So it went from Pluto to 3 Musketeers haha we laughed really hard about this one.

These are from the second round(there was two really funny ones in this round so we just took a picture of both).

Oh man, I love my family!:)

I laughed the hardest I have ever laughed in my life. It was so fun. But when we weren't playing Telestrations, we were either playing Super Smash Bros. on the Wii....

or watching video's on Youtube

or playing on our electronic devices....

or playing with the puppies....

or just plain hangin' out! haha:P

I think my memories of this week will last forever! Thank you cousins that made my week so memorable!:)

Fall! (A Little Late Though)

2011-11-13T10:11:00.003-07:00

Well, its fall!! It actually feels more like winter! But what can I say? Its November! haha I love the fall. It is one of my favorite seasons, the other being spring. I just love that feeling where its not so cold that you have to wear a coat, but just before that. I love watching all the leaves fall off the trees and then in the spring watching them grow back. It just amazes me that the Lord could create something so beautiful.

Since I haven't posted in a long time, I will tell a little about my self. I love to sing, dance, play the piano and play soccer. I am taking a sign language class in school and that has been really fun. I think I want to be an interpreter for the deaf when I'm older. I am participating in the Treasure Valley Honor Choir (TVHC) this year. This is a choir that you have to try out for and Joseph and Jesse are in it with me. Josh was also in it before he graduated. This has been a really good experience for me. I get to sing with the best people my age in the whole Treasure Valley!! Our concert is on Wednesday, I am very excited!:)

When my family was called into the Spanish Branch to serve for two years I came to appreciate and love the missionaries. Before this, whenever the missionaries came over it was just "oh the missionaries are here" you know? Well, when I was in the Spanish Branch we had some amazing missionaries (one of which is now my cousin-in-law, but that's another story). You see, most of them were Zone Leaders, so they knew what they were doing. They just had this spirit around them that is hard to explain. And then we came back to our original ward and the missionaries were good and everything, but I didn't find that same spirit until I met this one missionary. Elder Navarrette (sorry if I spelled it wrong). I found that spirit again. And then came his companion, Elder Ware. Those two missionaries really brought that spirit back, and then Elder Navarrette left, which was very sad, but then came this new greenie named Elder Crosby. He was one of my favorite missionaries. He was always smiling and would take down anything we gave him (which is also another funny story). Then Elder Ware was transferred. The companionship that had brought the spirit of missionary work was now gone. But let me tell you, Elder Crosby definitely made up for that. I could still feel that spirit there. And then one of my favorite missionaries came. Elder Waller. He is an amazing missionary with that definite spirit around him. Then Elder Crosby was transferred. I still miss this guy. He was an amazing missionary. Then Elder Welch came along. He was a greenie, this was his first area. He was quiet at first, but then he warmed up to us. Those two are the current missionaries. But tomorrow Elder Waller is transferring. I am really gonna miss this guy. He is a phenomenal missionary. But, of course, I am excited to meet the new missionary.

Summer!

2011-06-23T23:27:00.011-06:00

Well, summer is here!! I am so excited! The past few days have made it seem like summer, the last month has been cold and not summer like. It has been fun to have a couple of days of warmth.

Last night we had a summer thunder storm and it was really cool to watch. We had all of the lights out and all of the electronics unplugged, so it was dark and every few seconds there would be a really big flash of light and we would all be like "Whoa!" haha We had a lot of fun.

Good news! I am getting my Patriarchal Blessing on Sunday! I am really excited and have been looking forward to it for the past two weeks. Well, actually more like the past month as I have been preparing to get it. I has been a really good experience for me!

Two weeks ago I went to girls camp and Jesse and Joseph went down to Provo for their BYU camps. Jesse went to a piano camp and had a ton of fun and Joseph went to a soccer camp and also had a lot of fun. Joseph tripled the record for the most juggles without the ball hitting the ground at BYU. The previous record was 3,000 juggles. He got 10,001. He went for two hours and about 5 minutes. He won a signed ball from the soccer team and season tickets to some of the games. They both had a really fun time.

The rest of the summer is going to be a lot of fun!!!!

Spring!

2011-04-23T16:44:00.002-06:00

Wow, that was a long time ago! Sorry that I haven't posted in so long! Anyways, I am so glad that spring is here. It is my favorite season. Everything is just so alive! Today we were out working on shoveling poo! haha I know it sounds gross, but it was hard work.

I broke my big toe on my left foot the other day. It hurt the first two days, but now I can walk pretty well. The story is pretty embarrassing. I was in P.E and we were playing around with hool-lo-hoops (if that's how you spell it). I dropped mine and dove for it. Well, I landed wrong and I could barely walk. Luckily my mom was substitute teaching that day at our school. I went to her and she put PanAway, Peppermint, and Wintergreen on it. Now I am not in pain!

I'm going babysitting today for our neighbors, Greg and Rachelle H. I love babysitting for them, it is always a blast! Yesterday I babysat for them and we dyed Easter eggs. It was a ton of fun. They kept telling my about how the Easter Bunny is going to come tomorrow. It was especially cute because they have a 2 year old boy named Lincoln and he is just adorable. Anyways, he wanted me to read them a story before they dyed the eggs. So he gave me this book about the Easter Bunny that was fairly long. He sat there, through the whole thing, every now and then pointing out something about the pictures, it was so cute. I just love those kids.

I am excited for stake conference tomorrow. I always love hearing our stake presidency speak, they are just so powerful. I got to go to the temple on Wednesday with my ward. People always say that they feel a wonderful spirit in the temple. Before this trip I never really felt that, but this trip was different. I really felt it, and I think it was because I went there ready to feel it. The other times I just kind of went expecting to, but I think that we need to be open to the spirit to have it. I was ready to receive revelation, and I got it. I also think that this was a result of the scripture mastery that I have been memorizing. It has really helped my draw closer to God. I am grateful that we have the scriptures to read.

Trammy Wammy

2010-03-02T21:04:00.032-07:00

On Friday night Darrin and Nathan L. slept over at our house and hung out with us the whole day on Saturday. It was overcast, and there wasn't much to do. Wondering what we did? Warning: might be crazy and overly awesome, may be dangerous for the brain. haha

Don't ask.

This was so much fun. Afterwords there was no more boredom, of course it was all Joseph's idea. He choreographed it for us all, THANK YOU JOSEPH!!!!

Lyrics

2010-02-22T16:36:00.004-07:00

These are the lyrics of a really good song that I heard on the radio. Go to youtube to listen to it. Make sure that you read the lyrics while you listen to it, pay attention to them.

What Faith Can Do

LYRICS:

Everybody falls sometimes
You gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think its more than you can take
But you’re stronger, stronger than you know

And don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

(Chorus)

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
Its just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
You may decide to take that step
Out on the water
But it’ll be all right
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

(Chorus)

Overcome the odds
When you don’t have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It will tell you that you can

(Repeat Chorus)

Even if you fall sometimes

You will have the strength to rise

Curled!!!

2010-02-15T11:45:00.011-07:00

Here is my hair curled, I love it! It's so cute!!

I especially like this one.

Jesse curled it and then took the pictures. She did a really good job. I told her that I wanted her to curl my hair so she did and it didn't take very long, especially since she used our straightener. I think it looks really cute in the back. This is my favorite shirt too.

Before & After

2010-02-14T17:55:00.008-07:00

Guess what??? I got a hair cut!!! Here are the before & after pictures

Before:

After:

It is so short now! My mom did all of this. (With help from Jesse) And they also cut my bangs and "fixed them up." My dad thought this all was great! (as you can see) Jesse wanted to curl it so bad but I said, "No I want to enjoy it how it is for a while, but you can do it later." She kept asking to and finally I gave in to a crimp, but that didn't work out very well so we just left it how it was. I'll make a later post and show a picture of my curled hair.

A Bunch Quotes That I Found and Liked

2010-01-29T19:15:00.008-07:00

Here are a bunch of quotes that I found and really liked.

"When life’s problems seem

overwhelming, look around

and see what other people

are coping with. You may

consider yourself fortunate."

- Ann Landers

"Do not let what you can't do

interfere with what you can

do." - John Wooden

"The indispensable first step

to getting the things you

want out of life is this:

decide what you want."

- Ben Stein

"Never give up, never,

never give up."

- Winston Churchill

"Many of life’s failures

are people who did not

realize how close they

were to success when

they gave up."

- Thomas Edison

"The heights men reached

and kept, were not attained

by sudden flight, but they,

while there companions slept,

were toiling upward in the night."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"One important key to success is

self-confidence. An important key

to self-confidence is preparation."

- Arthur Ashe

"What lies behind us, and what lies
before us are small matters
compared to what lies within us."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The belief in a thing makes it happen."
- Frank Lloyd Wright

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you
run into a wall, don't turn around and
give up. Figure out how to climb it,
go through it, or work around it."
- Michael Jordan

"Come to the edge, he said. They said:
We are afraid. Come to the edge, he
said. They came. He pushed them,
and they flew..."
- Guillaume Apollinaire

"A journey of a thousand miles must
begin with a single step."
- Chinese Proverb

Traditions

2009-12-24T08:50:00.003-07:00

I love the traditions that we do in my family for Christmas and Christmas Eve. So for dinner in Christmas Eve, we have this soup from Mexico called Pozole. Then after we eat the soup, we open one present from Santa and it is always pajamas. We wear them to bed and all the kids pick a room that we want to build our fort in and we get all the blankets in the house and put them in a pile and sleep on it. On Christmas morning we go wake up our parents and we line up in their bedroom, youngest to oldest and walk down the stairs. Santa always leaves our presents out unwrapped so that we can just walk down and see them. And after we have looked at our presents from Santa, we move on to the presents from our family. We used to buy a gift for everybody for five dollars but it got hard to do that because we're older now and its hard to buy under five dollars. And so now we just buy gifts for the three people that were younger than you for ten dollars. Anyways, we open one at a time from oldest to youngest. And once we are all done, we just do what ever we want the whole day, besides play with friends. We don't even get a big breakfast, Santa brings us our favorite kind of cereal and we just eat that. I don't think we even have a dinner, but that's all right because we are having to much fun to come and eat dinner!

Setting up the Christmas Tree and Yearly Measuring

2009-12-04T15:56:00.010-07:00

Christmas is coming! I can't believe that it's December! So this is what we do at the beginning of the Christmas month.

Set up the tree!

And at times get a little wild....

Do I need to explain?

And then we break out the "measuring tools". My dad calls these a level (to make sure it is just right so that no one is taller than him) and also a ruler.

And here is our little dance for you!

Friends

2009-11-24T19:02:00.005-07:00

It's always nice to have good friends, especially if they are true friends. I have these friendship quotes that I email to all of my friends and one of my favorites is by Albert Camus, a journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957: Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; don't walk behind me, I may not lead; just walk beside me and be my friend. Another one that I think is really cute is by Winne the Pooh: If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred, minus one day, so I never have to live without you. I could go on and on, listing the ones that I like, but I'll spare you the time.

Success!

2009-10-23T10:00:00.005-06:00

The Cider Festival was indeed a great success! I was only there for part of it, but the part I was at was sure fun. I was at my soccer game, that we won for the first time of the season seven to one and I scored, and didn't get back until about 4:30. I came back to my house and went on a couple hay rides, talked to a couple friends, ate a couple donuts, and then rushed off to a Halloween party with my friends. I would have some pictures to show but my mom didn't take any. It was very fun and the cider was really good. The donuts were also very delicious.

My soccer game was a success also, as you can see, and I scored! Usually I'm a defender, but my coach put me up in the midfield. It was the first win of the season for my team and the score was seven to one! In the other games the turn out was quite different, the average was about six to zero, us being on the lower side. So this was very exiting for us. That morning my coach had held a team breakfast and that really helped us. Two things in one day, success!

Cider Festival

2009-09-28T15:38:00.009-06:00

Guess what? We are having the Cider Festival that we have every year, but didn't have last year! It is going to be on the 17th of October from 4pm to 6pm.
Here are some pictures of the festival from years past.

2006

2005

2003

Soccer

2009-09-13T16:54:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I refereed my first games. They were U6 and U8 games. I was only supposed to ref. one game, but the girl that was supposed to do the other game wasn't there so I got to do it for her. It was a lot of fun. I got a new watch and I absolutely love it. Anyways, I also played my own game and we lost six to three but it was an awsome game. I don't know why it was awsome but it was.

Referee Clinic

2009-08-23T12:05:00.002-06:00

Hello, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was the referee clinic. Thursday and Friday were from 6:00 pm to 10. Saturday was from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Me and this girl named Paige, who was also taking the clinic, carpooled. I met this girl who went to Nampa that was my age and her name was Jessi. Well anyways Thursday and Friday we learned about the Laws of the Game. Saturday we learned a little of more on the Laws of the Game and then we took the test. It was 100 questions and it took about an hour. To become a referee you had to get 75% or higher. The instructor said he would give the person that got the highest score a really cool referee flipping coin. The person that got the highest score was this high schooler from Boise, he got 84%. That is really high. A few years back, my mom took the test with Josh and she got 83% and she is a really good test taker, so for this guy to get that score was amazing. Anyways I would like to introduce the newest referee in my family. Yes! I passed the test! I got 77% and I am an official referee. I have a badge and everything. I hope to make a lot of money off of this!

Temple

2009-08-14T08:59:00.004-06:00

The temple that our stake goes to said that the youth can get temple recommends from one of the bishopric members and go do Baptisms for the Dead whenever they want to. So when I turned of age I got a recommend and we started going to the temple weekly. Sometimes my brothers and sister would miss a week. Well I didn't miss one. I kept going every week for six weeks and one of those weeks just me and my mom went. She went and did initiatory while I did Baptisms. There were alot of people there. Usually there is just about forty people but this time there was more like 100. Me and my mom were a little late so there was standing room only. And at this point I hadn't had any breakfast. So I was standing there and I felt like I had to sit down or else I was going to throw up or something. And then I thought, what if I faint? And all of the sudden I just started to get black spots in my vision and I thought, I'm going to faint. And then suddenly I was on the ground. It felt like I had just lied down on the floor and went to sleep and I was thinking, am I on the ground, wow this is embarrassing. and then one of the girls that were there said" Mary, you just fainted." And they sat me up and started asking me all kinds of questions. And they gave me some orange juice. Jesse's friend, Kali and her mom were there, and also our other friends, Zoey, Raigen, Brighton G. and Kimi F. Well they took me out to the hall and lied me down on some benches and left me with a really nice lady. When my mom came by to come pick me up she saw me on the benches, she said," Oh, your waiting out here?" and the lady told her that I fainted. So she took me home and also took me to McDonald's. I did get confirmed before we left but not baptized. They figured I fainted because I hadn't had any breakfast and I had locked my knees. These last two weeks the temple has been closed and I had to break my streak but it was a really fun experience and I will start it up again soon.

Teachers

2009-08-13T09:44:00.005-06:00

Well, I got the teacher that I wanted. We are going school shopping on Saturday. I was going to be a Library Aide but there was a form that you had to turn in and they didn't get mine and so they didn't put me on the schedule. The only spot was during choir and I didn't want to give choir up so I gave up being a Library Aide with all of my friends. But my friend, Terrika, has almost the same schedule as me. I am so exited!

School

2009-08-12T08:10:00.002-06:00

Oh my gosh! Summer has gone by so fast!! Today is registration and I get to find out who my teachers are! I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I can't wait to see if any of my friends are in my classes. And my friend Bailey is going to be in 6th grade so Me and her friend, Allie, get to tell her that she is a little 6th grader! haha Well that was done to me a lot by my sister and other people. Its only two weeks until the first day of school and we haven't even gone school shopping. I just can't wait! I really hope to get a teacher that Jesse and Joseph have all ready gotten. Jesse got him twice because he was in sixth grade at the time and Jesse and him moved up to seventh at the same time. They both really liked him. I really hope at least some of my friends are in my class!

Failure Daddy Daughter Pack Trip

2009-08-09T17:00:00.003-06:00

Last week we had a Daddy Daughter Pack Trip. This is where Jesse and I get some of our friends and their dad's and we go on a llama pack trip. This year we invited Kami and Alesha C. and their dad. We also invited Sarah K., her dad, Savannah, Kenzie, Annie M., and their dad. We planned to go to a place called Boulder Lake. Then when we woke up the day that we where going to leave, it was really rainy and we decided that we didn't want to go if it was going to be like this the whole time. So we just set up a tent upstairs and had a sleepover, bu before that we went to a movie. The next morning we woke up and we felt like we could stand one night in the rain and we packed up and went to a different place southwest of here. Well, we were driving and we had barely gotten thirty miles away and the Suburban broke down. So we called Sarah's mom and she came and got us. When we were halfway home, her car ran out of gas and Kami's mom had to come and give us gas. So we got home and we didn't have a car to go in because the truck's brakes were bad. Instead we went to opening night of Night at the Museum 2 and after that we went to Carl's Jr. and played on the toy there. It was very fun and we had a good time. It wasn't a total failure. In fact it wasn't a failure at all.

2009-07-24T09:24:00.013-06:00

Fair was this week and I showed my lamb.

I named her Bonny and Peter also had a lamb, he named it George, it was obviously a boy.

I've done this for three years and this is Peter's first year so I had to help him a lot. These are pictures of us showing Market. Market is where the judge places your lamb and the Fair Board puts it on a list and gives it to the buyers. The higher you are on the list the more money you get from your lamb. And Peter got first in his class and 27th out of about 150 lambs. And I got third in my class. So Peter was in the ring when they chose the Grand Champion.

The next day we did showmanship.

Showmanship is where the judge judges you and your lamb. you have to set it up right, keep your eye on the judge at all times, wipe off your lamb after he touches it and answer all the questions he asks you. My first year I got Reserved Grand Champion in the novice portion and I also got to go to round robin and you have to learn how to do all the animals in a couple of days. and then show them. And in my second year I didn't even get to show my lamb because it got really sick and they wouldn't let me in. So this year I thought I was going to get Grand Champion, I mean I was positive. Oh how I was wrong. I got dead last in my class. I was doing everything they had taught me to do and the only flaw was that I wasn't bracing enough. Oh well there's always next year.

On Saturday I get to sell it, and showmaniship doesn't have anything to do with selling, so that's lucky.

David Archuleta

2009-07-21T18:25:00.005-06:00

I'm officially obsessed with David Archuleta. My friend Bailey got a CD of him for her birthday, we listened to it and I immediately fell in love with it. I put a bunch of his songs on my play list and my family is going to be sick of these songs by the end of the week.

Warm Weather!

2009-04-19T16:45:00.000-06:00

I just love warm weather! I would way prefer being hot than cold because being hot is just uncomfortable but being cold hurts. Today we were planning to have a picnic in our back yard after church, but it didn't work out because my mom was sick and my dad was in the shower. I packed it and everything so Josh, Joseph, Jesse, Peter, and Libby came, but half of them didn't eat all of their food. Oh well, I guess things don't always work out, especially in this family. It's very warm day and I want to do something outside. Maybe we could go for a walk.

2009-04-18T10:34:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long its just that I've been so busy! If you go onto my mom's blog there is this really cool video. Jon Schmidt made this video for his daughter that is seven years old and her favorite song is Taylor Swift's Love Story and so he made this song for and he says that he just felt that it should go into Coldplay's Viva la Vida. By the way I also like Love Story and Viva la Vida so I liked this song a lot. I just love the cello guy how he just looks so happy when he plays. I was sick the day that my mom first found this video and while she was playing it I asked her "'What is this song?'" because I heard the Viva la Vida and the Love Story and I was really confused. I watched the video for Love Story on YouTube and I love the look on her face when she first sees him coming back at the end. It is just so cute!

Empty Milk Jug Dance

2008-11-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

Me and my friend Bailey made up a dance with empty milk jugs while pressing apple cider. We even sing to it! Bailey lives right next to me and is one of my best friends ever, she is like my half - sister she comes over to my house almost every day. She's in fifth grade so besides at home I only see her on the bus.Guess what I got moved up a class in math!

My Life!

2008-10-18T09:04:00.000-06:00

Hey. This is my first post so it might be a little scratchy. My name is Mary and I like to ride horses, play soccer (my team was undefeated this year), clog, and lots of other things. My mom has a blog and that inspired me to make my own. I like school my teachers are great, except one, I'm in the lowest math class because there wasn't enough room in the other class, one person was moved down and they still won't move me up so that's retarded. I'm in band, I play the saxophone. I was going to do AAU but my mom said that after soccer we need a brake. The tryouts were today, so that sucks too. Life is good!