Spaghettios

Since my orthodontist appointment the day before yesterday the most solid foods I've been able to stomach are a bowl of cereal and a cup of noodles! My teeth haven't been particularly nice to me in response to the brace tightening. And so it was that yesterday when my mom went to the store I requested several cans of soup and yes, spaghettios! I'm not sure what started the spaghettio craze, I just happened to get home late that night the day after my braces had been tightened. I was very hungry so I began searching the cupboards for a good looking can of soup that wouldn't require much chewing on my teeth and would fill my eager stomach. What I found first, however, was a single can of spaghettios. In that moment nothing else looked as good or could even possibly compare with how much I wanted those spaghettios, so I opened the can and ate them cold the way they were. I'd heard they were good cold, (yes, yes Brenten, I STOLE your idea, can you hear my eyes rolling?) Just kidding, but I really did eat cold spaghettios and the next morning my mom laughed at me. "You ate spaghettios out of the can? Did you warm them up first? We have bowls, you know!" "Yeah, but I was tired! And they were good cold!" Somehow no one believed my story on them being good! Since then, though, I've eaten my fair share of both spaghettios and soup, which is ironic considering I usually sort of avoid soup and don't much like it. Soup's standing has definitely improved in my eyes!

One thing I wonder a lot about the kids in my generation is about their general unwillingness to read, and especially about their history and the classic books. What is so terrible about it? History is definitely important, as my older relatives often point out! My grandpa Butch, for one was a marine in the war. He's proud of his service and I certainly am proud of him too! He has the most amazing stories to tell of not only war, but of old times, life experiences. I've often heard the story of when four men (I believe he was one of them) came across a can of military ration sardines after going without food for several days. "You better believe we were careful with it! Have you ever SEEN a military ration can of sardines? They're TINY. But we split it evenly between the four of us, and they were all licking their fingers, and the can. They thought it was the best thing they'd ever tasted!" I heard him tell Sam once, after he'd exclaimed over how gross it was that grandpa was eating sardines. "If you hadn't eaten in several days they'd look pretty good to you too!" Then he went to his safe, found a can of ration sardines and handed it to Sam. It didn't even look big in HIS little hands! Grandpa Butch is a fiery, strong type of man. He's still got his buzz cut and takes a several mile walk most mornings. He raises hunting dogs, and hunts bears, or whatever season it is he'll be in on, for the busy fun or the training of his dogs. But he can tell a story a way I've never seen anyone else do. If kids were taught by someone like him I'm sure they'd sit up and listen with a bit more interest! But he's not the teaching type, and why couldn't kids build their own interest anyway? Can't they see how many people died to give them the opportunity to sit in a classroom and learn about all the things sacrificed for the country, and learn to be good, educated people? Some people just don't think about it that way, but others just don't care, the latter of which I have little patience for. In a place where their lives and careers can be anything they're willing to work hard enough for, where everyone's got a chance, why is everyone slacking off and not taking it? It's confusing to me that people wouldn't want to or understand classic literature. One can learn to understand it, and just because it was written in a much older time doesn't make it less valuable. The way that those authors could word things amazes me, and the way everyone thought still more! Things that people have trouble grasping these days was commonsense to them. Even the worst of them, most times, were morally and ethically inclined unlike today, where people can be drawn in on their convictions on a whim. What has happened? Maybe I'm looking at things with a slant (of course I am, being human I must look at things from my own view which gives it a slant. But still). I just wish youth would put forth more effort into things, thamselves, their friends, their community, country or world sometimes.

On Hair Braiding and Sore Teeth!

Life's been interesting lately, busy and crazy. My mom borrowed a Zumba Wii Fit from a friend and I got to try it. It's really hilarious, lots of hip movement definitely! Yesterday I had my first orthodontist appointment in a very long time. I sat in the lobby across from a girl dressed as a pirate and went in, taking a seat across from a jersey clad football player and sitting back nervously in the chair. I was soon attended by a lady who informed me that if I'd only been more consistent with my brace bands and appointments I could've had my braces off by that point. She then cut the wires, making them supertight and gave me brace bands for both sides to wear. I went from there to the Fillmores', where we spent the next bit of time unloading gymnastics mats, beams and other things from a trailer to a semi. We began a tour of the farm but I had to leave with Nicole early to go babysit for the Dahms. Bryan, Rabecka and I painted rocks, watched some of the new seventh season of Mythbusters and ate bowls of cereal for dinner. Mythbusters has a new girl, Jessie, because Carrie apparently had a baby and is off the show. We colored, and painted, and when I tried to eat a bowl of cereal my newly tightened braces hurt my teeth with every bite. Bryan went to bed and Simon, Becka and I sat out watching tv and me reading Pride and Prejiduce until Randy and Esther got home. It wasn't until a half hour later that Mr. and Mrs. Anderson got there to pick me up and take me back to the farm. We talked on the ride over about people who used the right side of their brain or the left more to think. We talked about Savannah, and the scavenger hunt. When I got in the car Mr. Anderson turned back to me, grinned and said "So what are we looking for?" I looked out the dark window, "Maybe we just shouldn't pull up to anyone in the dark and ask them if they're old!" He laughed, rolling down the window and shouting out "HEY!" as we drove down the street. I got there in time to see Christian, Savannah, Andrew V and Claire learning how to play some game from Mr. Fillmore. He asked as I walked up "Where've you been?" "Babysitting," I replied, shaking my head. At another table Brenten was attempting to explain to Madison and Lexie how to play some game. I hugged, Savannah, Claire, Maddi, and then went back to watch Claire, Christian, Savannah and Andrew learning to play Ticket to Ride. Brenten then tried to teach Lexie and I to play Bohnanza, which I failed at. Madison preferred to stand behind Brenten, braiding his red hair into a tiny braid and proudly displaying her work, pulling his head to the side to show me. "Ouch," he protested lightly, as she laughed and took a picture for facebook. I went to find my sister upstairs and bring her back. We waited around awhile, I talked to Christian, who seemed to be ready to go, and sort of bored by this point. They told me about their games, and what it'd been like. We went home soon after that and heard about how Derek and Brenten have begun to hug back, how hilarious the braiding was, and more. I sat on my bed eating a can of cold spaghettios, something that didn't require a lot of chewing on my sore teeth. Today Lexie went home with Madison, they said soemthing about wanting to learn how to do their hair in a way that would look good in a hair net! Guess we'll see how they do:).

There's A Party In My Tummy!!

So yummy! So yummy!

I've begun to make a habit of watching my baby sister Lily's favorite TV show, Yo Gabba Gabba with her. Okay "watching" is a loose term. I've begun to dance to Yo Gabba Gabba! I do Dancy Dances, Jumpy Jumps and more absurdly named whimsical things featured on the show. I pull Lily off the couch and we dance to Yo Gabba Gabba! And we love it, you know? I recently made all of my siblings with the exception of Lexie join us! Everyone at first is very nervous and feel humiliated, but as they begin to see me jumping and copying the colorful costumed characters on the screen they too join in. And we have fun! I personally am a DJ Lance fan. I got a very concerned look from Lexie the other day when upon finishing a Dancy Dance I turned to her smiling and slightly sweaty and announced "I need a DJ Lance hat!!" And I am convinced Yo Gabba Gabba is a valid workout video if you do it the right way ;). I don't mind acting young. I have the capability, believe it or not, to also act quite my age. I can be serious and responsible when the time calls for it, but I like to take every chance I get to have fun. I have 8 siblings, I'm not ashamed to admit I know the theme songs to several popular children's shows, Blue's Clues, Barney, Yo Gabba Gabba, etc. I like watching Tangled and getting into random discussions over inconsequentially hilarious things that will never happen! I have my childish side for sure and I am thankful for that! The point of this post, you may ask? I'm not sure, I was bored!

Birth and Death

I would like to start off this blog post by saying... Rest in peace, dear Bob. That being said, happy birthday Morgan!!! Today was Morgan's birthday party. We showed up at the O'Neills' house close to 10ish. They were in the backyard shoveling rocks, as Derek and Megan looked on. We immediately joined them, hugging and laughing. It wasn't long before we set off. The car trip was long, but we hardly noticed. When we arrived it didn't take long for everyone to get into the pool. I hadn't brought a swimsuit and hadn't planned on swimming, but I should have had enough foresight to realize that was NOT going to fly among my friends. Em and Zach and even Derek, Megan and Morgan were trying to get me. Obviously not by force, because I would have probably not survived such an experience, but trying, nontheless. Finally I jumped in in my shorts and tshirt. We had a blast, squirting, pushing, chasing each other around and playing. Lunch rolled around and we all said blessing and gathered to eat hot dogs and hamburgers. We huddled mostly in one huge group at a table, cracking up and drinking sodas. I sat between Megan and Morgan, but this didn't stop certain people from placing ice down the back of my shirt! I got back by pressing ice cubes to people's necks and sticking them in others' ears! We sang happy birthday to Morgan and I got a video of Derek eating Whoopie pie and saying "Whoopie!" Eventually we all ended up back in the pool for awhile. I was pushed in, dragged in, and made to jump in with a single look among many other methods, but we all had plenty of fun I'm sure! I ended up on a chair in the sun with Megan. Then we sat sprawled in a hammock. Now you may be asking yourself "Didn't she say it was hot?" and "Did she mention putting on sunscreen?" the answers are yes and no. The result? I was sunburned all down my legs and on my face, despite the towel I placed over my face. Morgan handed out goodie bags as some of her other friends left. They had many interesting things in them, including CDs similar to the ones I made for my birthday party! We took out our things and began messing with them. I pressed my rubbery frog first to the back of Em's neck, then Zach's. Em flipped. "I know, I know," I said. "I'm weird! But I had to try that, doesn't it feel weird?!" Zach shook his head, "Halie, for YOU that was not unusual! If you acted NORMAL we'd think it was weird!" Em then tried to sneak up and rub her own frog on me. In response I quickly slapped her with my sticky hand. To my surprise (and hers!) it actually slapped her right across the face! I laughed hyperly, jumping up and down. Then we broke out the colored bubbles for a little while, but I didn't want to stain the ground there or make them have to wash the ground so I put them away. Soon we were driving back to the O'Neills' house. We listened to Morgan's entire CD on the way home and sang along a lot. At one point all except for Zach were bouncing or dancing in some way (we should have had that on video!!) and we firmly concluded two things. We need a glee club. And we need to make music videos with the teen group. Megan and Derek left quickly when we got there and I got to say hi to my best most adorable friend. Jeni, of course!! Then Zach ran to the store for his mom and Lexie, Em and I had a colored bubble war on the lawn. I had green, Lex had blue and Em had orange and we all had splatters of color all up our arms and legs when we finished! My mom actually cut it short. We didn't finish, but we had to finish ;). Zach arrived just before we left, shaking his head at our colorful figures surprisedly and laughing. And good thing too! He'd forbidden us to leave before he got back! Mrs. O'Neill took pictures of us three colorful girls and the four of us as well. We hugged, rubbing more color off on each other and then Lex and I had to go, sadly. But although I wasn't very descriptive it was very fun and I had a blast!! I'm sorry, I'm tired. But today was bomb! Love you guys... Peace?

Last Night

I did not survive the camping experience without gaining a new nickname of sorts. Toby regularly referred to me as "minion". The second or third or fourth route we went on he began "Alright let us go, madame Halie... Or... wait, madame is for married people so..." "Miss Halie?" I asked. "Miss is for single. Miss Halie works... Or just Halie... Eh minion works. Minion is good!" "Alright! Minion, then." He was in charge of teaching me to do the job. When he said something about not getting along with kids and referring to them as brats oftentimes. "Hey!" I objected, "I consider myself a kid!" "Brat," he said jokingly, laughing. "Minion brat, eh? Am I a brat?" "No, you're not..." He said, "Well you don't behave like a brat." Although most of the camping experience was very fun, the last couple days sort of began to sink. My route partner Toby was unused to walking so much apparently and so after two days of hobbling around with the use of a large stick he went home early with his dad. Brenten would help me sometimes, but others I would go on my own, donning the bright blue plastic gloves and heading off. The last day I was there many people, the regular campers, left. The kitchen and porta potty crew etc stayed behind to clean up and everything. I was kept busy all day running around doing odd jobs until early evening when my aunt Nicole and uncle Samp-son showed up to visit with Jade. We ate lunch together and I pulled Lily around in the wagon as we followed mom on her route. I ended up sprawled out on the ground in some random grassy area of the camp, facedown and exhausted. Lexie took the wagon and kept following mom and I sort of fell half asleep. I don't know how much later it was that I heard a man's voice say "Hey... Hey, are you alright?" Groggily I lifted my head. A man stood over me in a green button up shirt. "Ohh... I'm fine." I croaked. "Oh good! I just saw a person laying on the ground, you know. Never want to assume about something like that!" I laugh-choked and sat up slowly, glancing around. A bunch of other pastors, as well as a guy my own age that I knew, Matthew had arrived to load up and take the nearby porta potties away. Matthew recognized me as I stood up, grinned and waved, "Hey Halie!!" I smiled and waved back as I walked away sheepishly so as not to concern them further to my health, "Heya Matthew." It wasn't until late that evening after dinner that I insisted on going swimming at the river, alone if I had to. I'd been saying the whole hot day that I wanted to go, and for several days I'd been talking about a river trip, but it always got put off. Tonight was the last chance, and I was determined. So Lexie agreed to go too and during dinner we asked all the family members if anyone would like to join us. Andy decided to come as well and so directly after dinner the three of us set off. We walked and walked and walked alongside the river and finally decided to try getting in. It all looked shallow and we wanted to find a spot where we couldn't touch the bottom, a feat we had not yet managed to complete. We got in, and swam. We found a couple of rope swings on one bank and took turns swinging off. Laughter and tickling and wrestling ensued all the way, we saw a shore in the distance and decided to make it our goal. It definitely got deeper, and the shore turned out to be quite a bit further than expected! We were tired by the time we hit the shore and Andy chased Lexie onto shore for throwing wet sand into his face oh so ungraciously. We chucked rocks forward and all three of us would dive forward trying to find the exact rock thrown first. Rocks, as it turns out, are a common object in the bottom on river beds so this proved difficult. "What we need," I suggested, "Is a bright orange rock." And sure enough as we left the shore area we'd worked so hard to reach, I found a large, bright orange rock. We repeated our pattern on the way back, struggling and laughing. Andy grabbed me around the waist and I struggled, flailing and kicking desperately at his strong grasp. The kicks were my worst apparently, for her clutched my ankles together with both hands trying to contain them. He dunked me under the water as I was laughing hysterically and brought me back to the surface in a few seconds. I was still laughing so hard that I didn't have time to catch a breath before he dunked me under again. He had both my ankles and I was already weak with no air and flailing desperately so he didn't notice the difference when my playful attempts to escape became necessary struggling. I had to inhale and as he brought me to the suface again I was coughing and spluttering, trying to eject the water from my mouth and throat. I had inhaled it and when he saw the change he immediately dropped my ankles and grabbed me up, pulling me upright and supporting me. For a minute he was holding me up above the water as I choked out water. No matter how many times I coughed I couldn't stop, it was uncontrollable, trying to dispell the water from the area it wasn't supposed to be. I couldn't get it all and for probably an hour or two after that it was still uncomfortable to breathe. :Are you okay?!" He asked, eyes wide. I kept coughing, unable to answer for awhile, then cracked a smile and waved him off, "It's okay..." was all I could scratch out of my throat. We kept swimming back, catching sight of some cows on the opposite bank as we walked back. The sky was darkening when we made our way back into the campground and then to our camp on foot, weaving through all the empty spaces people had left behind. I went straight to my tent, changed into dry pajamas and grabbed my notebook, a pen, my long dead phone and its charger. I sat up in front of the bathroom to charge my phone for an hour, writing my story in my notebook. One olderish man glanced at me funny as he passed, "Writing a letter hm? Or in a diary." I said decisively, walking away and obviously not expecting an answer. I sat there for an hour before I went back and straight to bed. I was cold, tired and thought I would die the second my head hit the pillow. And I certainly slept like it! But that night I woke up in the pitch dark feeling pain in my stomach, and scrabbling for a flashlight. I needed to use the bathroom. But I couldn't find the flashlight so I jumped out to look for flip flops that should have been right there. But only one sat there faithfully, so I abandoned that mission too, in my haste. I weaved between my family's tents and made it, barefoot and flashlightless to the empty camping spot next to our lots where the pain in my stomach became unbearable. I suddenly and unnexpectedly felt that strange and rare pressure on the inside of my throat. I knew the feeling. It was unnexpected. I was going to vomit. I threw up on the spot, in the grass in that empty lot. The taste was awful and I hurried even faster to the bathroom. I felt empty, hollow, sad, vulnerable, alone and barefooted as I stepped into the lit bathrooms, no porta potties would've done for me at that time. I needed the yellow light to reassure me. The bathroom was empty too, no signs of life except myself, but better than a dark porta potty. I used the bathrooms and stood, noticing my bare feet on the tile floor. I thought despairingly that I'd probably get athlete's foot, and spashed my face with water, staring at the sad, bedraggled reflection in the mirror. A tear stood underneath each eye from when I'd vomited. I looked horrid. I looked sick, like I'd just rolled out of a sleeping bag on the hard ground that gave me inumerable bruises and thrown up. I splashed my face again, turned off the faucet, dried my cold face and hands and ran through the now pitch black unseeable darkness back to my camp and crawled into my sleeping bag. This was where I spent several exhausting and exhausted hours, turning back and forth and lacking the ability to sleep. I thought of all my problems and prayed over and over and felt the pain in my stomach, continuous and unfaltering. Finally after a lengthy period of time, I don't remember when I fell asleep. The next morning I barely helped with breaking camp. I was weak and my stomach ached unbelievably. Every time I stood up I felt like I wouldn't be able to support my weight for long, and the pain would double in my inside. I helped a little, but mostly I was a giant baby and got in the car as soon as I could. I barely ate that day, and neither did most anyone else. Mainly everyone was sick. When we finally got home we all flooded in and laid down. It wouldn't be until the next day that I felt fully better. And of that I was truly thankful.

Camp Meeting 2011

The first day of camp was interesting, many life-altering things were decided such as who shared tents, who slept in sleeping bags and who got the air beds etc. Mom had our large orange circus type tent which she, dad and Lily slept in. Kate and Abb shared a much smaller one, and Bradley and Sam an even smaller. Lex and I shared a fair size tent, but I made it clear I didn't really care what I slept on. "She can HAVE the air matress!" I told them, "I'll be fine in the mummy bag!" The next day I began my job. For those of you who don't know, my job while at camp meeting was cleaning porta potties... Pretty much I had a route that I did three times a day, once after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I guess I won't give you the gruesome details:) but it was pretty interesting, lots of walking and lol! Mooorre. So the second day I met my route partner, Toby. He was tall and skinny with a long thin face. His dark ragged hair hung right over the tops of his ears and was often covered with a cap, which exposed his ears to a lot of sunburn! He was pale white and always wore a tshirt with sayings such as "Genius," "You Dumb. Me Not." "Shh! I'm hiding from the STUPID people." with his oversized brown hoodie. The first day he took me out on the route he showed me how to do everything. At camp my family has about 8 camping spots in a row that have scattered tents and kitchen areas on them. There stays me, my mom, my sibs, my grandma Barbara, grandpa Lowel, cousins Deana and Andy, aunt Kathy and uncle Larry, Toby, Jim, Sally, cousins Kristy, Eric, Sarah and great uncle Donny. Most days we ate up at the cafeteria. For the duration of the trip we went swimming in the river, walked an insane amount and tons of other things.

Blessed with the Best

It was while hanging out with my cousin Rachel and talking it out with her that I realized how blessed I was. I know I've been worried over my friend situation a lot in the past and recently, but all because I value my friends so much. Rachel had friends who lied to her, decieved her, were fake to her face and stabbed her in the back, hurt each other, kissed each others' boyfriends, lied about liking her and a whole slew of other terrible things. Her closest friends of course were closer to her than that and wouldn't do such things intentionally. But those are few and far between. It made me look at my own friend situation in a whole new light. My friends are honest with me, loyal, dependable, non backstabbing and retain countless other wonderful traits. When I look at this I wonder how I ever saw a flaw! Because while of course everyone has problems, everyone makes mistakes, my friends are dependable to the end. We've been through a lot, and I know they'd always be there for me with the same certainty that I know I'll always be there for them. There's genius Zach, loyal til the end. Hilarious Brenten, very brave. Dramatic Madison, squealy and there when it counts. Wild Emily, dangerously loving of the tackle. Honest Morgan, you always know where she stands. Friendly Andrew, who loves to chat. And many more! God has truly blessed me in my number of trustworthy and amazingly talented friends! I have friends whose talents range from hacking a computer to modeling. From hotwiring a car to chrocheting to playing drums to cartwheels - we've got quite a range of talents! I look back and have to be thankful and sort of ashamed at my typical ungratefulness. My friends are crazy and loony and evil and inumerable other adjectives I can't even pronounce. Thank you, God. I am truly blessed!

I Bowl Better In The Hallway

On Friday I went to Rachel's house. Her house was packed with teens, which she proceeded to introduce me to each of. "Of course I'm going to remember every face and name now," I told her grinning. There were kids eating at the table and laughing, and the other half of the group were in the living room playing Wii sports. After awhile we all sat down, squeezing into the couches (And one guy on the floor!) to watch a scary movie. It was one with Kristen Stewart in it when she was younger called "The Messengers". As usual it failed to frighten me, although once I accidentally gasped and didn't realize it was me until I heard the gasp!! Since I was late the numbers dwindled down fast after the movie ended and only Rachel's closer friends stuck around when we switched the Wii back on and began the tournament! It was Rachel, (who was the only one I knew there) Kiley, Rachel W., Sylvn and Aaron. Aaron kept running into the hallway to throw his bowling ball for the Wii each time, and every time he did it he got strikes! He was convinced his technique was the secret and insisted on doing it every time! We switched off playing bowling mostly until Sylvn and Aaron's mom picked them up. Kiley and Rachel Whiteley were the only ones staying the night aside from me! Kiley wanted to buy a pizza so she called Domino's, but the guy didn't tell her the prices until she asked after he'd already spouted off a bunch of other facts. She was so surprised when she heard the price she hung up on the poor pizza guy!! Then she called Pizza Hut. This guy talked a million miles a minute, she could barely get a word in edgewise, and had to try to keep from laughing as she also tried to talk and order. She had to have Rachel give him the adress as she collapsed in a fit of giggles! Then we had to call the guy back to ask him not to ring the doorbell since Rachel's parents had already gone to bed. We hung out and Rachel made a powerpoint for her sister. We watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The poor pizza guy had to knock on the door and stand out in the cold with the pizza while we came and paid him. And this was after he had driven an hour to deliver it! We all fell asleep around 2 AM eating several boxes of candy (We'd been expecting more girls to stay the night)! The next day Kiley and Rachel Whiteley left around noon and Rach and I hung out until her dad drove us to her sister Kirsten's. We all three went to Belair and got a couple sandwhiches to share and some drinks. We ate them at her house and went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. We went back to Kirsten's and she did an ab workout! Then we took her dog Honey, and her pit bull/white lab mix puppy, Maya for a walk. I took Maya from Rachel and tried running, until Kirsten took Maya and left us to drag Honey along, the smaller, less energetic dog. Rach and I stopped at some metal benches long enough to top our jokes about being attacked by hobos as it got darker. "Some hobos will probably sleep on these tonight," she said, sitting on a large metal bench and looking down at it. "Lay down on it and pretend to be a hobo sleeping on the bench!" I told her laughing and standing back with my camera phone on. She obliged and I took a dark, less than perfect but hilarious picture of "Rachel the Hobo". I hadn't seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 yet, so on the way back to Rachel's, Kirsten drove us to the 7Eleven to get it from Redbox so I could see it. 7Eleven didn't have a certain ice cream treat they wanted me to try to Kirsten said she'd drive to Walmart if Rachel bought. So we did:). Several aisles of makeup, an accidental spanish magazine and a box of ice cream through the self checkout later we left Walmart and went home. We ate ice cream on the way home, but by the time Rachel's parents finished their movie it was late. Kirsten and I ate bowls of cereal before she left and we started the movie. It was super early by the time it ended and we, half asleep, pried ourselves off the couch and went upstairs to roll into her bed and sleep like logs. I ended up going to church with her this morning. It was a lot of fun and I gave out a lot of ice cream gum (they all loved it for the record for all you mint chocolate chip ice cream gum haters!). Mom picked me up a little before the service ended though, and Rachel walked me out. Then it was off to the airport to pick up dad, then to the gas station to pick up Abbie and Lexie. For the first time in a long time our whole family is home at once, and now in a couple days we'll be leaving to go camping for two weeks! Wowza I am tired and I have a lot of packing and helping to do tomorrow so I better go wash the dishes and go to sleep!! So tired! Love you guys, peace out!

Hey, Remember Me... Halie?

Everyone hears the stories about friendships coming and going in high school. Nothing stays the same they say. When I was littler of course I heard my fair share, and it scared me. I would get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and think "You have to LET it go to lose a friendship!" I hated it when people would discuss how they'd lost friends and how it hurt, but it was meant to be. Not meant to be. Again the words would strike fear in me. I imagined losing a friend, and it hurt. But then I imagined losing a friend who was still around, that I ALLOWED to be around on a regular basis without acknowledging the history and camaraderie between us and it seemed unbearable. I shook my head at the people who allowed their friendship to be neglected and corroded and I knew I'd never allow such a thing to happen myself. My friends were too valuable to me. 5 or 6 years later and I'm in high school, the dreaded time by many. High school is reputed for many things: dirty minds, drama, obsessiveness, texting, and mood swings to name a few, and I've managed to avoid only a few. I don't have a dirty mind, am not obsessive... obsessively, and am not TOO terribly dramatic (I think?). But friends still mean a lot to me. And lately I miss two of my friends especially. Zach and Emily are undoubtedly my oldest friends. They're amazing, honest and good people. Lately, though, suckishly I haven't really talked to them much. We don't seem to get online at the same times, my facebook-phone connection is bad and let's face it - I don't get online as much as I used to. I can see the wear on the friendships show and it pains me. I love them, and last I checked they loved me too, so I know it has to be just a rough spot. It has to be! I don't want to lose them... I don't want it to be one of those friendships where you meet years after the friendship has slowed to nothing in some grocery store and they stumble over letters trying to remember your name. It reminds me of when I first remet Zach, he'll never live down his first "Do I KNOW you?" But in this case it would worse, will I have to hear those words again from my best friend? "Do I know you?". I dread the day I'd have to say to them "Hey remember me? Halie?" I love them so dearly, they're more family than friend now, and their youngest Jeni of course, she is adorable. I love the girl to death and her addition to their family makes them an incredible and unbelievable group. I pray that our friendship never errodes. It's a rough spot now, but my feelings and love for them are undiminished! I miss you guys. I love you, Zach and Em :D.

La La La La Looossseeeerrrrrrr

Tonight is the most boring night I've experienced in a long time... Maddi is camping in the yard with her siblings and a couple of mine. Brenten went to bed early. Zach and Em have a friend over. Everyone else: Derek, Megan, Trenton, Morgan, etc... None of them are online!! What is this terrible fate that I have to actually go read all the books I've been wanting to read but "haven't had time"?! It's one thing to choose to spend a quiet night reading, it's another entirely to be forced into it by the absence of one's friends' company. I suppose this is God's sense of humor coming to strike me. I haven't been getting online to talk to everyone and now the one night I do everyone's gone. Very funny. Well I suppose I'll go read then... Hopefully I can talk to everyone later! Love you guys,
Halie

Gold Sox and Mr. G

Oh gosh, Brenten managed to find my old blog that I made in 2009. Just in case anyone missed it 2009 was the beginning of 14 for me and for awhile at least, I became very girly, as some describe it. I was pink and Twilight obsessive and goodness I can't believe he found that. So to start off, BLAH. On a better note last night I got to go to a Marysville Gold Sox game!! I went with most of my siblings, my mom and my grandma Barbara and grandpa Lowel. It was so fun! Their mascot was a gecco and he was hilarious! He went and sat next to people randomly, high fived, hugged, autographed, danced, and even danced the YMCA on top of the Gold Sox dugout with all the players on the side dancing too! The players were really funny and joked with each other a lot you could see, one guy was partial to sticking styrofoam cups over both ears! The Big Horns started off batting since they were guest of course and their second batter broke the bat! These guys play only with wooden bats, to prepare them for the next level up but sure enough, the guy took a good swing, hit it, and set off running at the front part of his bat cracked off and flew into the air a good 2/3 of the way to the pitcher. The Gold Sox didn't let any of them on base, they worked efficiently and got three up three down. The rest of the game was pretty funny and great too, I loved it and can't wait to go back! The Gold Sox played them 9 innings and won solidly! I would love to see them play a more difficult team that's more of a match for them! The bleachers, admittedly are killer, we sat there eating crackerjacks and peanuts :D so next time we need a seat in the back! We got Mr. G, the mascot's autograph and there was even a Mrs. G, although it was a pathetic attempt sadly, they could've made Mrs. G with more effort! Anyways it was really awesome and great and I can't wait to go again! We were going to take the O'Neills but forgot they were out of town camping! It would've been nice, Lex and Abbie are out of town with Madison, but I would've loved to take all their time myself! Anyways, there'll be more baseball games! It was amazing.

Discombobulated

Just in case anyone was wondering, discombobulated really is a technical word, and not a made up one like "awesomeness" or "FLSBDFR," and here's the definition!

Discombobulated: out of order, cracked out, not working properly, contorting, blabbering nonsense, confused, dysfunctional, out of shape and out of mind.


This is my one hundredth blog post! This blog is an old.... Well... Suffice to say it's old! This post will be number one hundred of many other random, thoughtful, funny and sometimes just downright useless and unpredictable posts. Who here is excited?! I am! Just me? Oh... I have long put off the writing of this blog simply because it is my hundredth. I wanted it to be cool, special. But after much putting off, working up, forgetting etc I have finally decided, at midnight no less, oh what the heck? Why not just write the thing and get it over with? On Saturday I went to the first wedding I've been to in a VERY long time! We got dressed up and went, I rode there with my grandma Lorri because my grandma Barbara and mom went several hours prior as the cake makers to make the cake. It was a long windy trip and of course Lily got sick and threw up, causing us to stop by the side of the road and clean her off. This also meant we had to dress her in the parking area before walking up to the wedding! It was my cousin Kayla's wedding, and her new husband's name is Jaime. The pastor who married them, however was reading the name so he said "Do you, Kayla, take Jaime..." and pronounced the "J". But Kayla's husband's name was actually pronounced more like "Hi me," so when she repeated after the pastor she loudly said his name in the correct manner! At the end of the wedding they had a dunk tank and Jaime got in to be dunked, later joined by Kayla, his bride. On Sunday we were back home again and the O'Neills picked us up and took us to church. I'd never been to their church before, and it was honestly quite unlike any church I'd ever remembered going to before! Monday we picked up our friend Tanya from the airport. She'd flown down to visit us from Alaska! Mom picked her up and they came home loaded down with groceries. On Tuesday Brenten took me to see Mr. Popper's Penguins, it was a funny movie and we were cracking up laughing! Wednesday I ended up spur of the moment going to see the Pirates of the Carribean On Stranger Tides movie with the teens. Lexie and I ran in just before the movie started and made it just barely. We went to In N Out with Derek, Zach, and Emily and then home with Zach and Emily where we spent a lot of time just sitting on their front porch swing! Lexie and Em swam a lot and we walked to the 7Eleven for slurpees (Derek and Zach got Double Gulps, which they claimed was the better deal and Derek couldn't finish!). Lex and I, the unnexpected guests ended up tagging along to the O'Neills' bible study, which was very interesting, and I liked. We spent much of the next day with them too! On Saturday I helped the girls pick a present for their friend Aimee. We dropped them off and went to Walmart where we sat in the lawn furniture until a worker there started to look very annoyed at us so we got in line and bought only a single loaf of hot fresh bread which we tore and ate in the car! I babysat for the Dahms, and so got to play with Bryan, Simon and Beka! Bryan and I built a race track and ran cars along it, I videoed him on his scooter, we painted, made pipecleaner animals, played card games, baseball, basketball, and read books. We had a blast (Yes I had a blast with little Bryan!). I also managed to get the parents lost trying to direct them back to my own house and we had to turn around assisted by the GPS on a phone and find out way back! I fell into bed, exhausted and half asleep. Today was my mom's birthday. We went to my grandparents' house and hung out, I fell alseep on their lawn for the second time this week in the beautiful bright sun! (Why yes I am a bit sunburned, but not at all too bad...). I read, texted and wrote even. When I found a pen I realized my creative streak was back and I NEEDED to write! So I did. My character's name in my story is Sadie, the same as Zach and Emily's dog. I would say that I named my character that before they got their dog but that would be dishonest! Frankly I loved the name and so I stole it.... So I suppose they'll have to deal with that! What I would really love right now is a trip to the library. Well maybe not RIGHT now, in the early hours of the morning, but soon! I miss the library and I really think we should get in there soon, maybe I will... And I am so not adding anything to this post anymore, just rambling to make Zach impatient and try to prove my point that I am deadline incapable. Buuut it looks like I'll have to give in....

I See You

Today my family and I got ready to go and drove to the Fillmores'. They were really incredibly nice and allowed us to drive one of their cars and we filled two large cars with kids and moms from ours, the Fillmores', and the Laws' families. We drove to a ranch where we met up with Megan, Derek, Morgan and Heath for horse riding. They were already riding and we took turns riding the four or five horses there and eating a picnic on the grass. Brenten managed to get jelly on his shirt so that his white shirt, as we teased, was purple. I rode a horse for probably the first time, aside from simply sitting on one, on which occasion I had only been taking a picture with my aunt's Flat Stanley. Under threat of being carried over and forced onto the poor creature, I got on the horse. Afterwards I tiredly laid the blanket, employing the laps of the nearest people for my pillow. This consisted of Katlyn, Abigail and Bradley, who very tolerantly allowed me to lay with my head on their legs! We changed into bathing suits and after much trouble with sunscreen they tried to force me in. I wouldn't be forced in however of course! I pushed Lexie and Megan in a few times each and even Morgan and Kate, when the four of them and Brenten tried to get me in. Brenten wasn't so keen on force once I'd gotten the others all in and backed off roflol! Anyways the moment they stopped I allowed Kate to lead me up to the highest ledge and jumped off willingly. We played a lot of Marco Polo (or Marco "Polio" as Taylor kept saying!) and I mostly managed to keep on the opposite side of the pool and avoid being caught (Or maybe they just got sick of me wandering around the pool maddeningly with no sense of direction whenever I was it!). Although once when swimming across the pool with Kate on my back and making coughing drowning noises Brenten found me quite easily! I swam with little Lily, who absolutely loved it and was squealing, splashing and jumping excitedly, let me tell you she was much easier to swim across the pool with on my back!! I eventually got out and joined Taylor sitting at a metal table with metal chairs. Needless to say, thanks to the wonderfully bright and beautiful sun these metal chairs were HOT! Especially on my wet back! Brenten joined us too, bouncing up and down on the burning metal and Derek, still in dry clothes and having managed to stay out of the water, joined us as well. The time flew by, although it seemed like nothing! Soon we were gathering things up and getting back in the car. I got in shoeless, sockless, and with a quickly wettening backside! But it was a fun car ride back, although my right leg became soaked due to the fact that Brenten hadn't changed out of his swim shorts and wet the side of my leg! Andrew, on his other side, hadn't even been able to swim and yet faced the wetness of his jeans due to Brenten's wet shorts, creating the expression "I wet your pants". Taylor seemed safe enough from this, sitting in the middle row next to Lily, Bradley safely on the other side of the car seat. And I'm sure Lexie was safest of all in our car having sat in the front seat. Even so I wouldn't have given up my seat, it was a very fun, funny and lively ride! What a great day! And made all the better by the fact I got home and made hay stacks, I adore hay stacks, they rock!

Pity Smity

Sometimes I feel like I'm being excluded. That's not uncommon Halie! I can hear you saying it now. DUH! Who isn't at some point? Well what about when something is only done for you out of pity? You can see the giver of the motion simply felt bad and wanted to do something for your sake, sacrificing their own enjoyment for it. But who wants pity? Pity sucks. Why can't people reach out without it having to be about pity? Can't they see the people around them just waiting and silently begging for their lives to be touched? We get so wrapped up in our little cliches and groups of friends that we fail to notice or just don't have the time to go to the shy, less noticeable people who're desperately wishing the floor would swallow them up and save them from their humiliating lack of social status. Can't we break free and visit with other people? Why CAN'T the painfully shy girl in the corner be the most self assured, popular in the group? Because she hasn't been given the chance. She needs someone to reach out and realize, "Hey you're really amazing! You're a genius!" or "You have major skill!" Talent has to be recognized to grow. Confidence has to be discovered and encouraged to grow likewise. I love my friends. This group, "My friends" encompasses a massive range of beautiful amzing and talented people which is ever growing bigger! There are artsy types, fashion designers, architects, missionaries, cops, engineers, vets, doctors, nurses, lawyers, authors, teachers, beauticians, stay at home moms, mechanics, and inumerable others! Where will these people be without the right kind of support? They need us. And not only that! We need them! If you're reading this and you're my friend, or even if you're just an acquaintance, I want to talk to you! I want you to know that I never talk to people out of pity, I talk to people because I KNOW they and truly wonderful people and have potential as a child of God to be so much more than what they are now if they're hiding out in a corner berating themselves with low self esteem. I mean how can you not be great? You have natural talent, everyone does. You just have to find it. I'm told my natural talent is writin, which I love doing. But many people have several talents if they're willing to look and fine tune them, paying great care to the gifts bestowed upon them. Sometimes people don't talk to you for awhile and you think they're avoiding you. But are they? Is it your own assumption that's causing you pain? So many people are afraid to go to someone and adress something because they are afraid of disapproval or awkward moments or other things. But in the end would it not be worth it? I make it a habit of mine to regularly point out the obvious, whether bound to create awkwardness or not. I want to say things that no one else says, be someone no one else is, be a little weird. And I want to reach out and pull as many people down with me as I can! We can be fun and make complete fools of ourselves and not care. We can be free to practice whatever it is we want to, to do as we please and everything we hope for. But at the end of the day what are you going to remember? If you reached out and gained a new friend it would hopefully most definitely be that! What about winning every game, smiling like a champion and making every hilarious joke of the night? It's something to be proud of I must admit. But will you remember it in ten years? I can tell you you'll be much more thankful for the person standing by your side and defending you as a friend in the future than the memory of a few seconds of popularity earned by your corny joke. At least I would think so, if not then I suggest two simple remedies. ONE you could bang your head against a wall and yell "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!" or two, live a long lonely life... Ouch! Everyone has their benefits and good support, all they need is a return support and encouraging discovery. I just want all my friends and family to know now without a shadow of a doubt: I love you! Never be afraid to tell me anything, to come to me, or to ask for help. Because I love you pretty much unconditionally and for my teenage friends, I can take it. I certainly need you at times, and I know you're all there for me, which is why you are so pricelessly valuable to me. I love you

A Successful Author

I've wanted to be an author for several years now. I don't change my mind often on that sort of thing. When I was very young I wanted to be an artist up until about 6 or 7, which was when I began writing books. I decided I wanted to be an author. An author, wouldn't that be great? I still think that'd be an amazing job that I'd love to have. I've had flickerings of wanting to be a lawyer as well, which I also think would be great. So throughout my entire life I've only ever wanted to be three things: An artist (which I gave up on completely, I'm no artist and it's not a sensible enough job for me), a lawyer and an author. I like to write, so an author would be amazing. But has anyone looked up the requirements of an author lately? They have essentially no set pay, no set hours, and no set amount of education. Your pay depends upon how good the books are that you write. A good education isn't mandatory. Most people say "It's best if you graduate high school". That's it? Just have to graduate high school? That's not so challenging. Not for me, I want to make something of my life, I want to be well educated. And to be well educated why throw it all away to take a job I could do out of high school? Now don't get me wrong, I love writing. And it's really amazing what some people can do with a pen and some paper. And you can even take college classes that assist in becoming an author. So that's all well and good, but have you seen the hours and workplace of a writer? A writer can pretty much work wherever they go that catches their fancy. And they often work on their own free time simply because they love writing. I can understand that, I love writing in my free time, but to write for a job is different. It's the difference between doing something for fun, as a hobby, and HAVING to do something. HAVING to spend your free time working on something when you'd rather be relaxing, doing whatever other hobbies you have at home to do. It seems like writing almost consumes the life of an author. I'd love to be an author, but that's not ALL I want to do around the clock, a slave to my job. So maybe an author isn't my best career choice... Hmm. Just a thought. Maybe I should go for something else I'm interested in. I could be an editor, I'm good with grammar. And I love to do that kind of thing. I could be a lawyer, after all the appeal of the job never completely died out for me. Not saying I have to decide now, just saying I'm considering it, of course. What shall I be? Such a common question among those my age.

A Jelly Fish Sandwich

It's one of those days. One of those days when it seems to drag on and you sit on your couch signing in and out of facebook hoping someone will log on and engage in some kind of human conversation with you so you can stop staring at the TV screen and laughing to yourself over the silly sitcom situations you've seen a million times before. A day where you begin counting the days since you've left the piece of property you call home. A day when the stack of books on your night stand suddenly look boring and everyone's too busy to text you. It's also the last day of school. Those two days don't usually mix, but today they have, I spent my morning writing a speech on why everyone should read the book Wuthering Heights and spent the afternoon writing that speech out on notecards in between episodes of Bones. I've spent my evening so far discussing random things with my mom and yes, counting the days since I've left the house (6). Thank you 6, you're supposed to be my lucky number. And I guess you might be, seeing as I get to go out tomorrow. I get to go to my first ever behind the wheel drivers' class, after which I'll be able to drive. I get to go to my Maker meeting, which my friends were gracious enough to change the time of so I could make it. And then I get to go home with one of my teammates and very best friends, Zach and stay the night with he, Emily and Lexie. It ought to be fun, to be extremely blunt and understate. The next day we get to ride with our friends to the Maker fair, where some more of our friends will be meeting us. It's going to be great. But today, today all I have to do is finish the last of my school assignments, get dressed up and be video taped giving my speech so we can send it to my ES. I wrote the speech this morning, yes I procrastinated. But really, how can one day out of all the rest put this feeling in me. This feeling of extreme boredom, humidity and even claustrophobia from being here? Does it make sense? Some people are perfectly happy isolated in dry cabins in the middle of nowhere and here I am bored to death after only six days. How do they do it? How am I so wimpy? And more importantly what will I write now? What would be interesting to hear about? Hmmmmmmm.

A Wedding Toast

As a school assignment I had to write a toast as a writing exercise. The toast could be for an event and person of my choice, so just to get in the extra laughs I chose a wedding toast for Zach! So sorry Zach, although sadly not too much so obviously since I actually followed through with it! Here goes nothing from an inexperienced sixteen year old who's never toasted and doesn't recall having heard anyone toast another person!

"I would like to toast to the marriage of one of my best friends, Zach; someone I've been friends with nearly my entire life. I remember we used to sit next to each other in preschool story time: even back then he was hardly ever to be found without book in hand. It's been a long, difficult life's journey, and now I rejoice in this newest member of our tightly knit band of friends and family: a companion for Zach. I am unbelievably honored to be here, celebrating a marriage between two such wonderful people. They've been a great blessing in my life so far, and I hope they continue to grace me in this manner for many years to come. Best wishes to you and may your marriage thrive, Zach and _______. Good luck!"

Potluck and State

This Friday we had the first teen event in forever! It was a teen potluck and my mom and I went to pick up the Fillmore kids to take with us, Brenten, Brenna and Bryce. We drove to the park, and shortly after arrived Zach and Emily, Derek, Megan, Sarah, Taylor, Andrew L, Morgan, Andrew V, Maddy, Claire and Christian, who showed up barefoot! We played tag and I pushed some of the younger siblings on the tire swing. We ate lunch and I took the chance to teach both Morgan and Megan to play speed. Megan almost beat Brenten on her first game with him too! Christian showed some card tricks he knew and some of the group went off to play dodgeball. Maddy, Claire, Christian and I had other ideas, however, and broke out the plastic bat and whiffle balls and convinced the dodgeball players to join us for whiffle ball. It was wild and funny as we all ran around chasing the little plastic ball around tree bases. I even managed to obtain my usual injury by running "home," skidding bast the tree and flying onto the concrete, scraping my arms and legs. My "Ouch!" as I sat up was met by a burst of laughter and sarcastic remarks: "You didn't have to SLIDE into home, Halie!" But we quit after a while and while some wanted to return to their dodgeball game, I convinced first Derek and then the rest of the group to go back for dessert, I'd made dutch apple pie, Derek made a "hoho cake," Em made peanut butter cookies and there was more too :D. All too soon we had to go and my mom drove Brenten, Brenna, Bryce and I to their gym. We set in helping right away, getting the gym ready for state the next day. We strung barriers, cleaned chairs, and more. Brenten and Brenna showed me around, I jumped on THE bounciest tramplines I've even been on and we jumped into a couple foam pits. It was dark when we walked out into the parking lot after everyone else had left, tired and hungry. Brenten and I rode to In N Out and the pharmacy with Mrs. Fillmore and I got to try one of the grilled cheeses I've heard so much about. It was really good actually! When we got back Brenten, Brenna and I played nuts and speed at the kitchen table in the fifth wheel until late when Mr. Fillmore reminded us that Brenna and Brenten had to compete the next day and should get sleep. The next morning I woke up to the sound of people talking about breakfast burritos in the parking lot. I lay there, listening and wondering what time it was. Brenna soon showed up wearing her competition clothes. She was out the door and in the gym before I was out of bed. Brenten crawled out of bed much later, looking tired and uncomprehending and sat at the table, staring at the wall in front of him all the while I got my stuff together. But finally we woke up a little and made our way into the gym as well. As I went to brush my teeth I thought I heard someone shout "Halie!" but when I looked up and around I couldn't see anyone I knew so I went back to what I was doing. When I came walking back out of the bathroom from brushing my teeth, though, I found Jordan, much to my surprise, accompanied by Brenten and Nick whom I was promptly introduced to. We mostly wandered around, joking and talking, Jordan, Brenten and I mainly. We played Speed, texted each other from across the room and helped out some too. Jordan and Brenten each bought one of the breakfast burritos and said they were pretty awesome, but I didn't eat one, I'm just not hungry in the morning! We hung out in the parking lot for the sun and texted people and went on an "adventure" around the side of the building. Jordan prank called a couple people and we played a lot of Speed. I had to leave shortly after Brenten competed but not before I had to get ready for my recital. I walked into the gym wearing a black dress and looking about as out of place as I could get among all the gymnasts and judges. Jordan had to get in his teasing, he laughed, "Halie you're funny, you just walk in here in that and are all 'He-ey!'" We'd been saying "He-ey!" all day! The recital was pretty fun, too, Zach played both guitar and piano!

On Jealousy

Lately I've been thinking about jealousy. It's such an odd emotion! People are jealous for a wide variety of reasons, they're jealous of money, material posessions and the attentions of other people mostly. And one reason jealousy is so hated, I think, is not only because it's an unhappy emotion, but because it sneaks up on a person. You don't see jealousy coming, you just feel it in an oncoming burst when you're most vulnerable and upsetable. When you're most likely to be sucked in to the rocky bottom of the vortex and have your bare soul scraped and scarred. And the funny thing about jealousy is it wears many disguises and uses many methods. It can disguise itself as despair or anger, or even more pleasing emotions. It can wear a pleasant mask so you think you're doing something for justice or "the common good" when really it couldn't be more selfish. People become jealous of other peoples' material posessions and covet them unashamedly. People fight for other peoples' attention in as childlike a manner as a five year old whose mother has noticed another child's accomplishments. People even become jealous of their girlfriend, boyfriend, fiancee, husband, wife, relative or just friend's time. Why do we feel this way? Is it a controllable thing? I think so in some ways. In the case of time jealousy I think it would help a lot if we stopped to consider the situation in a reasonable light. For this is all too often the very beginning of jealousy: irrationality, fear and doubt. For if you examine the situation closely with an unbiased eye is it really that big of a deal if so and so has a nicer car than you? Will it matter in ten years how much coveted praise was poured on an undeserving target by someone close to you? And if your girlfriend really had interest in someone else and made this apparent in their actions are they really worth your time, worry and jealousy? If everyone was content with what they had, remembered they could fully trust a worthwhile friend and attention from anyone but God isn't something to be too coveted could we, then, eliminate jealousy? Probably not. But I think we could make things better. Who knows. But it's just an interesting thought. Why DO we have jealousy over stupid inconsequential things? Is it worth our anger? Our sadness, rejection, dispair, fury etc?

Hohos!!

Star testing was Thursday and Friday. Two days I got to sit in a classroom with people from grades 7-12, which means I sat there with most of my closest friends! There was Derek and Brenten and Trenton and Savannah and Raphael and even my own sister, Lexie. I was kinda annoyed, I'd already taken the High School Exit Exam about a month earlier and as I am unafraid to voice, I hate testing and, therefore, test badly. Anyways the first day I didn't say anything to any of my friends aside from a whispered "Hey!" to Derek as I sat next to him. The second day, though we were less controlled. They allowed us all to take a break since the weather wasn't insane like it had been the day before. We stood in the parking lot and talked for a few minutes until they took us back in. My friend Derek and I got out first. We went out to the curb un the parking lot to wait for our moms. We sat there on the wet curb, eating our lunches and laughing. His mom actually arrived before mine and he convinced her to go back home with him to get something he'd forgotten. We would all be meeting to go to Mendocino with the teen group as soon as they all got out of star testing. My mom was going to take me to get something for Brenten since it was his birthday that weekend. So Derek left with his mom, leaving me to sit on the curb alone. And that was how Brenten found me not too long after with headphones in and head bobbing slightly back and forth, only the sound of his laughing made me turn to see him walking over. "You're FINISHED?! Derek and I just finished eating our lunches! I was starving!" He joined me, we kidded around about people trying to run him over and he showed me the bagful of everything his mom had packed him for lunch, I highly doubted he was going to go hungry! The Ewens actually got back just after my mom arrived. As we drove away I shouted out the window to Brenten "You like My Little Pony, right?!" Well the errands we had to run didn't leave enough time to actually buy him anything, but I fully plan to, although of course I won't post what I have in mind on the off chance he actually reads this post! Anyways we all met up in the parking lot and Brenten, Taylor and Andrew rode with Mrs. Ewen in her car and Derek rode in the car with my mom, sister and I. The trip was long, especially for the others in the car as I was self appointed music handler! Brenten and I swapped CDs we'd each brought between our two cars as the trip progressed and so there was somewhat of a mix. Lily got car sick, but she loved riding with Derek, who she called "Dirk". This was a nickname that caught on fast and we carried it on faithfully. Finally, though, we arrived and began unpacking the cars. We played some airsoft, which was interrupted by Brenna, Katie, Abbie and even Jordan, who walked out onto the deck in attempt to gain cell phone reception without protection of any kind for their eyes. We went in when dinner was ready and afterwards began pulling out games. Several we started, trying to teach each other but ended up quitting, but finally Mr. Fillmore pulled out Five Crowns. In this game Brenten refused to participate but the rest of us did. I sat at one end of the table between Derek, who lay on the ground half asleep, blinking his eyes open every so often to lay down his cards in an unbelievably well laid out winning hand or to chant "Hohos!" and Brenten, who refused to participate but sat with us reading. The beginning of the random shouts of "Hohos!" was when Jordan brought a box of Hohos, and bragging of their stupendous awsomeness he had sucked us all into HAVING to try one. After that we just kept shouting "HOHO!" Five Crowns, as it turns out, is a very very long game, which is why Brenten disliked it so. But finally at some early hour in the morning when we no longer made any sense and just kept laughing at nothing at all we all went to bed. By the time I woke up the next morning everyone else was already up and in the kitchen, I entered, blinking sleep out of my eyes and smiled at the tired-looking group of teens before me, greeting "Good morning!" Derek, Lexie, Katie, Abbie, Brenna and some others sat at the kitchen table playing "Nuts," a card game we are attempting to get everyone addicted to. "Guess what, Halie? I just made MYSELF an Eggo waffle!" Derek announced proudly, laughing. "Don't brag just yet Derek, you've only just stuck it in the toaster! You could still burn it!" one of the moms wanred. I laughed and sat on the couch and helped in the building of several kites with Brenten and Taylor until I got to an interesting kite type toy called an Air-Yo which was hard to build! It took the combined efforts of the three of us to assemble the thing. We then took it to the back porch where Jordan and Lexie joined us as Taylor picked up Lily to keep her safe, Brenten swung the Air-Yo in wild circles trying to get it to work and tangling himself and I commenced reading of the instructions in an exaggerated, computer monitor-y voice. "Hold pole down towards ground like golf club," I continued, rereading and emphasizing parts in the computer voice as he failed at each part I'd already tried to explain. He finally managed to break it, or at least make it fall apart, I fixed it but when he again tried swinging it wildly and it fell apart again I threw my hands up, handing him the instructions to both flying and assembly. "Here," I said, "YOU fix it this time!" I walked inside exaggeratedly, standing inside the sliding glass door for a few minutes to watch their grins and laughs before reopening it and saying, "I'll watch!" We decided to give up on the Air-Yo... As I got myself a couple of Eggo waffles and spread butter on after helping carry in some wet suits the others began finding wet suits that fit them. One by one I would see people walk through clad in the tight fitting outfits or help each other get them on. Finally I went in and put one on myself, finding booties, a cap and gloves to go with it as well like the others. We piled into the cars, I rode with Jordan and a few others to the beach in the Ewens' car. We unloaded the surf boards and boogie boards and then ran out into the water. Derek, Andrew and I waded out and jumped waves for a while while Brenten surfed and Jordan boogie boarded. Then we swam over to the side and got out on the rocks to look for crabs. Several people found them and picked them up. "Hey Halie!" Brenten said holding one out and plopping it in my palm before I could react, grinning. I held still, but it swiftly crawled off the edge of my hand and fell onto my leg. I tried to grab it but it fell off into the rocks. "Oops..." They playfully competed for finding the "best" object, Derek held up a tiny plastic green cone, "Oh YEAH? Well look what I found!!" He said mockingly. "Oh boy, a green... cone... how will I ever catch up with THAT? I might as well quit now," Brenten replied grinning and rolling his eyes. We walked across the beach to the other side in the rocks and climbed around over there, Brenten, Derek and I. Derek threatened to climb the side of the cliff, but Brenten reminded him he'd probably be climbing right up into someone's back yard! I leaned over to pick up another object, grinnng. "A RED plastic cone! I got you Dirk!" I said, holding up the larger red cone. "Dang!" Derek said, snapping his fingers in fake defeat. We went back to the beach, finding some boogie boards and tried that out for a while. Jake, Jordan and Derek could actually get it, but even with Brenten's help and trying to get it right I only actually caught about two waves! It was so fun though and everyone helped. Jake actually got out a surf board and tried that out, he did pretty well! I kept trying to catch SOMETHING. Once I failed a wave so badly that I fell underneath and spun around in a full circle like a somersault, feeling the pull of the cord around my wrist where the boogie board was attached and trying to fly off. I came up laughing and coughing salt water out of my nose and mouth. I got out when my feet started to hurt from the cold. We got out and played ninja on the beach in our cold wet suits. I paused to try and pull off my cap, tearing and pulling once I began to get it off. "Um want some help with that?" Brenten asked as I tugged harder and harder. "Help her out!" Mrs. Fillmore shouted from higher up the beach. "Hey! Halie! Need some help?!" I kept tugging, it was over both my nose and mouth I suddenly realized, mumbling out "If you're going to help help FAST I can't BREATH!" But it was completely muffled and he thought I was saying "Hmmmm." I got it off with a final jarring, rattling yank. "I feel like Spiderman!" I shouted, rejoining the game. Eventually we went home, wet, numb and sandy. We were each sprayed off with the hose outside and then went in, lining up at the bathrooms to jump in the showers and get the salt off. We played Bang until it was lunch time and then ate pizza. As we began the game of Bang Jordan again threatened to shoot me. The first day we'd gotten there Jordan had been on my right and had announced, "I'm going to shoot you, Halie." right off the bat. "But... you don't know what she is," Brenten pointed. "Yeah... But I'm going to shoot her. She is going to die!" "Why do you HATE ME?!" I asked. "I don't HATE you! ... I dislike you with a passion!" I believe five minutes later, as he said, "Me and Halie are best friends!!" We hung out after lunch, relaxing in the living room, I got on the piano for a little with Lily. The others played a game in the living room. Then we decided to go to town and Glass Beach. I'd never been to Glass Beach before. It was so amazing, and by this time the sun had come out and it was beautiful there! We all sat, digging through the smooth glass washed up on the shore of Glass Beach for a while. Of course we had to also play ninja on Glass Beach, but I was wearing sandals and failed fairly badly! After a while Brenten, Andrew and I went for a walk around on the rocks. We also went to stand on this big boulder where we looked out into the waves and sun, they wer amazing! But we couldn't stay on that rock long as the tide began to come in. We spent quite a bit of time there, the other kids flew kites and finally we left, carrying kites and singing Weird Al all the way back to the cars. We went to a um.. Camo surplus store? And then a dive shop. It was interesting, we all kind of wandered aimlessly around. We went home again and played more games, Catch Phrase and Bang and Nuts (you name it). We even went outside and played Ultimate Frisbee, something I'd never played before. The game quickly became heated and competitive, however, and Taylor was the first to quit. When one team finally managed to score on the other (Lexie, Jordan and Brenten's) everyone became upset and fed up and the game broke up nonverbaly with everyone stomping off. As I watched them all go Andrew and I cleared the chairs and whatever we'd been using. "You know," Mr. Fillmore told me as I started to pass him, leaving the yard, he continued to describe the first and only time he'd gone skydiving. He pointed to the rainbow in the sky, telling me about the amazing 360 degree rainbow that'd been in the sky when he'd done it. His instructor had been yelling excitedly and everything! It had been raining slightly during our game and even then so the rainbow showed pretty clearly. I went to stand on the sidewalk next to Kate, who was standing under a rainbow umbrella and we stared up at the rainbow. Brenten showed up from in the house, sitting on the porch frustratedly. And the Andrew came out, standing next to Kate and I. We discussed the flawed game that had ended in overly competitiveness. The four of us ended up just standing there on the sidewalk staring up as the rainbow slowly disappeared. "Skittles!" I said waving my hands int he air and saying it in the whispery voice. "Taste the rainbow," finished Andrew. "Isn't there a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of the raindbow?" Kate asked kidding. "Nah," I said. "That always seemed weird to me," Andrew said, "A leprechaun at the end of a raindbow with a pot of gold?" "I'd rather have Skittles..." I agreed, "OOh a SKITTLES leprechaun! A leprechaun with a pot of Skittles! Now THAT would be awesome!" We went in for dinner, but first Brenten and then Andrew disappeared. I looked out the window, wondering it they were in the tree as I suspected. My suspicions were proved true as I saw the white shirted Brenten climb down through the branches of the tree to meet Andrew, who'd finally managed to find him. I turned to look at the two every so often, but I stayed put. Andrew, of all people would be the one who knew how to make him feel better, I knew. The rest of us inside watched the sunset on the water from the window. We watched carefully for a green flash as the sun hit the right part of the water, but only Jake and I caught it. Brenten and Andrew rejoined us after that, each in better spirits. We played more games. Eventually it ended up just Taylor, Andrew, Brenten, Jordan and I in the living room, after I beat Andrew and Brenten at "Settlers of Canaan" with a LOT of help from Mr. Fillmore, as I'd never played before. Then he joined the others in the kitchen playing Hearts. Brenten, Andrew, Taylor, Jordan, Jake and I just sat talking awhile. Until, that is, Jake fell asleep in his chair. This called for some funny pictures. We stuck dolls all over him, the plastic horse we'd named "Hannah" ended up with Dora the Explorer shoes on its ears. That horse and Jordan were inseparable! We had more fun with that thing than I have had in a long time with a children's toy. We stuck a bug seal on Jake wearing a beanie and the began tucking magazines with awkward headlines and pictures under his arms. Jordan snapped pictures on his ever present cell phone. Jordan always had that cell phone, he'd walk around and around the house or jus the room, waving his arm around until he'd get reception upon which he'd yell "I have one bar!! YES!!" I, on the other hand, ditched my phone altogether the whole weekend. I was the owner of a neglected phone. We took a TON of the insane Jake pictures before finally my mom came out of the kitchen, having just finished their game and put everyone to bed. The next day was our last day. We packed up all our things, putting away surf boards and wet suites, dumping out soaked booties and gloves. Derek went off tot he dump with Mrs. Fillmore in the morning and the rest of us, after eating the french toast the moms had made began playing games. Brenten and Taylor took forever to wake up! I walk past their beds snickering as it became lighter and lighter and even all the younger kids got up before them. Finally they slumped into the kitchen looking tired and only half comprehensive. I once again tried failingly to remember the notes to the piano song I've been learning. But then Derek walked in and announced, "Who wants to go to Mendocino to go shopping?" "Why?" Jake asked. "Just to like, walk around and shop." We agreed to go eagerly enough and got into the cars. In town we walked over to a science store first. We explored, checking out a lot of really neat things and I found a book full of spider pictures to frighten my mom with. Then we walked on, we passed some geese that Brenten swore hadn't moved from their spot since he'd last seen them. "They've been waiting for you," I replied laughing. We went to a toy store. It was really huge, it had some neat things. I picked up a puzzle type ball and pressed in a piece thinking that was the function of the puzzle, instead pieces flew all over the floor and I stood in the middle of the isle, shocked and scrambling for pieces, hastily attempting to reassemble the pieces into a ball. we found hats, one of which we all had to try on with a blond wig inside. I read a few supercreepy kids' stories and Brenten found a really weird ostrich puppet which he kept making bite me spastically until I really was creeped out by the little thing. Eventually we ended up in the cars, leaving again after much picking up and packing in. This time I rode in the Ewens' car in the back seat between Andrew and Brenten with Taylor in the front seat with Mrs. Ewen. We got all the way through my birthday playlist CD, the second CD Maddi gave me for my birthday and the second Weird Al CD in my disc set. That last CD was quite a strain on everyone else seeing as Brenten and I knew nearly all the words to the odd and sometimes slightly offending songs on the disc. Then again we had all known nearly all the songs word for word on the other discs. By the time we were two thirds of the way through the Weird Al disc Taylor began asking if we could get Air 1 in. Lucky for us we couldn't so I got my way, and we got to continue listening to Weird Al. It was a long trip, but we had such a great time that it didn't seem very long at all. We stopped at a fast food place on the way home and were exhausted that evening when we arrived home. That had to be one of the BEST TRIPS EVER!!!

My Report on My Uncle Bryan

And finally the report itself! I got a good grade, thanks to uncle Bryan, although my ES says I missed a few things, she says it would've been better had I detailed more about how awful the hotels were and why! LOL!


Bryan Paukovits

My uncle, Bryan Paukovits, is well on his way to becoming a professional baseball player on the Kansas City Royals. In accomplishing this he will have not only achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but someone for kids everywhere to look up to and model themselves after. It is when looking at his achievements that one realizes how hard he has worked, and how much of himself he has put into this. When meeting him, one might at first feel slightly intimidated if they didn’t previously know him; he is over 6 feet tall and in good shape for his job. But Bryan, should you take the time to get to know him, is really one of the nicest, most caring and genuine people I have ever known.

Bryan nearly always played baseball when he was a child, stopping only for a year or two at the ages of seven or eight. He always wanted to be a baseball player, and he always worked towards that goal. When he was younger he played on a baseball team every year. He played a few different positions, a lot on first base, but it wasn’t until halfway through Little League that he began pitching some for his teams. In Junior year of school, he quit playing any other position and stuck strictly to his pitching. He had now decided what, more specifically, he wanted to do as a career. He wanted to pitch.

Throughout his life, and especially when he was younger, his parents, Joseph and Holly Paukovits have been a big impact and inspiration on my uncle Bryan’s life. They encouraged and helped him push for this dream of his, taking him to the tons of baseball games for the teams he played on as a child and staying to cheer or push him on. When asked who he thought was inspiring to him, he replied: “My parents… they just always taught me to always give things a shot and never really give up.” To this day the two are always there for Bryan, and by now they’ve become proud of him for reaching and working for his dream.

He is very close with his family. Spending a lot of time in Arizona, on the road and in hotels for baseball Bryan is in this way kept from his family and hometown most of the year. When he returns home for a visit he enjoys spending the majority of his time there at home with his girlfriend, Nicole and with his parents and two sisters who also live there, Amanda and Stacy. They often get together in the evenings to play games as a family like Apples to Apples, Scattergories, etc. Also, they like to eat together. This is the way he likes to spend the main of his time visiting home. Being that he spends so much time away, by the time he comes for this rare visit he has come to miss his family a lot and just wants to spend a lot of time at home.

In 2008, Bryan had to have surgery on his elbow. This is what he describes as probably the most trying time of his life. He had broken his arm, and while there was a lot of physical pain in this, there was probably more mental for the baseball loving guy. He was forced to stay in Arizona to go through a lot of rehab. This meant he couldn’t be doing one of the things he loves best, playing baseball. It was hard for him not to be there, playing the game and to go down to the field every day, unable to do much more than lift the little five lb weights there in attempt to strengthen his shoulders and arms.

Also hard for him during this time was the fact that he had to stay in Arizona for rehab. He couldn’t see his family for an entire year. Bryan was unable to play his favorite game OR see his family, he was stuck spending most of his time in rehab or observing the precious game he could no longer be a part of at that time. His healing time from his surgery wasn’t exactly healing in any way other than physical. He worked to speed the physical healing as much as he could and just continued to work his way through.

When asked something he’d never forget, I could practically see my uncle’s evil grin as he replied bitterly, “Your mom used to put soap in my eyes.” Although the two are very close, especially now, my uncle always seems to remember and love to remind my mom, of only the mean things they did to each other when they were younger. He loves to tease her by saying things like that. He’ll tell her “Remember when you tricked me into eating that pepper when I was little?” five minutes after we walk in the door for a visit. Even though he loves to tease her, my mom and her little brother are really close now, and love seeing each other. And he wasn’t, I’ve heard, without a few mean tricks of his own.

Bryan says he was a straight A student all the way through middle school. When he hit high school he got all A’s and B’s. But after that his grades dropped. He now says he wishes he had done better in that area, “It’s not really good. I regret it now; I wish I had done better in school. It’s always good to do well in school,” he advised.

Hotels, he said were as difficult part of daily life for him. Getting a bad hotel is never fun, but when you have to live in one, as he does it’s even worse. Sometimes you’ll have a roommate. You can get a good roommate, which is good, but after six months together it’s still pretty bad. Six months of sharing a room is enough to make one tired of nearly anyone. If you get a bad roommate then it’s even worse, and the six months become a nearly unbearable period of time.

Finally I asked him about his diet. While most times I see him he eats fairly healthy, I asked if there was a specific diet he kept. I could hear him laugh when I said that. He told me there was not really any kind of specific diet he kept in season because it was so difficult to do so. “When you get out of a game you’re pretty much starving,” he said, “So you eat a lot of whatever they’re serving there, at the field, which a lot of times means peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stuff like that.” He described how hard it was to eat healthy in such a situation, “You can’t really cook because you live in a hotel room, so a lot of the time,” he said, “I just end up eating out. I try to eat healthy when I come home though. It’s just a lot more difficult to do when in season.”

Evaluation of My Own Interviewing Skills? Uh Oh...

I had to evaluate my own interview!!

In my interview with my uncle, Bryan Paukovits I think I did well in the way that I kept things moving fairly well. Although it was sort of awkward in the sense that I continually said the word “Um” which, I admit, was not a very good way to keep things light and easy. I kept my questions going at a steady pace, although gave the speaker plenty of time to elaborate on their answer. I think I took notes efficiently enough that he didn’t have to stop and re explain things. Although my notes were sparse and I doubt anyone else would have been able to read or understand their meaning. The interview took a little over fifteen minutes and I asked eleven questions, but the main reason for this time span was that the speaker, my uncle, was eager to provide me with more elaborate details, explain things, and tell short stories in order to better my understanding and keep me well informed on my questions’ answers. All in all I think the interview went very well, although it was diminished by my awkward averseness of the telephone and inexperienced interviewing skills. I think with practice these skills could be easily improved upon, however.

My Interview With My Uncle

I wrote and interview that I did with my totally awesome uncle Bryan for school, as well as an evualtion and report. I thought maybe you guys would like to see. Here is the interview:

1. At what age were you drafted by the Kansas City Royals?
“I was drafted at 17. I had what is called a draft follow in Jr. College, so I was redrafted at 18. Then I was at another Jr. College when I signed my contract when I turned 19.”

2. Did you always want to play baseball as a profession?
“Yeah. Well pretty much always, I’ve been playing my whole life since I turned five. I stopped playing for a year when I was about 7 but then I started again at 8 or 9. I’ve pretty much always wanted to play baseball as a career.”

3. Did you always play pitcher on your baseball teams when you were younger?
“I didn’t start pitching until about halfway through Little League. I started when I was about 9, when I started baseball again, but I used to play first base too. When I got into Junior year I started strictly pitching.”

4. Who is someone you think is inspiring?
“My parents, both my mom and my dad were always really inspiring. They put me through baseball and they just always taught me to always give things a shot and never really quit.”

5. What is your favorite place to eat when you go home?
“There’s this Mexican place called ‘Los Palomeno’s’ right next to where I used to go to college that I like, or In N Out is also really good too.”

6. What is your favorite thing to do while visiting home?
“I just like being at home, hanging out with my girlfriend, Nicole, or my family. You know when you spend the whole year traveling around and playing baseball you really start to miss them and so when I get home I just want to stay home a lot and hang out with them.”

7. Did you get good grades in school?
“I got pretty good grades through Middle school, all A’s. Then in High School I got A’s and B’s. From Sophomore on it was kind of mediocre, I became more of a C student. It’s not really good, now I regret it, I wish I had done better in school. It’s always good to do well in school.”

8. What is one event that made a large impact on your life?
“Well having surgery on my elbow. I had to have surgery on my elbow in 2008 when I broke my arm. There was physical pain, but then there was also the mental strain. I had to spend the whole year of 2008 up here in Arizona mostly in rehab. I couldn’t go home so I would just go down the field every day and lift the little 5 lb weights to try and strengthen my shoulders and arms. It was just a lot of mental and physical strain for me at that time.”

9. What are challenges you face a lot in daily life for your job?
“Well there are hotels. The hotels can sometimes be really bad. And sometimes you’ll get a good roommate, which is alright. But sometimes you’ll get a really bad roommate and that just sucks. It’s really hard to live with a roommate, and after about six months whether you have a good roommate or a bad one, you’re both really strained and it can be really crazy.”

10. What do you do to keep yourself in shape for your job?
“Oh, a lot. I lift some weights, but for pitchers it’s not really about that. There are plenty of guys who play baseball who have never lifted weights in their lives and they play fine. For a pitcher it’s good to have strong legs, so sprints are good.”

11. Is there a specific diet you follow for your job?
“Oh it’s hard to follow a strict diet while in season, you eat a lot of just whatever they have at the field! It’s just that when you get off you’re pretty much starving so you eat whatever they’re serving there, which means a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stuff like that. You can’t really cook, you know, when you’re living in a hotel, so I usually just end up eating out a lot. I try to eat healthy when I'm home though.”

Golden and Sunny

At the beginning of last week Lexie, my mom, baby Lily and I packed up the car and dropped the kids off at grandma Kathy's for a week they'd been looking forward to for a long time. They were spending the week. We, on the other hand, had much different plans as we drove off into the sunset heading for warm and sunny San Diego. It was with optimism we began the hours long drive, loaded down with water bottles, granola bars and CDs. For maybe the first half hour I read aloud from my Drivers' Handbook, etching into my brain all the things I'd only just finished going over in my Drivers' Ed class which had been completed the day before. When my mom could take no more driving rules I put the book away and we drove on, listening to some random radio station until I convinced her to listen to a Weird Al CD. I am actually quite amazed that we made it through the entire first CD, although I couldn't get her to put in the second. We stopped at the grapvine and were shocked at the progress that had been made there. I mean they had an Ikea for goodness' sake! They had a Chipotle, and an In N Out Burger too, which we took advantage of. My mom got a salad at Chipotle and my sister and I got burgers at In N Out. Then we continued on our way, I played my birthday playlist CD and the two Maddi made for me for my birthday and then we switched back to the radio and finally we made it. When we go there we walked in to find my uncle Bryan at the table, working on a project, aunt Amanda at work, aunt Stacy still asleep, grandma Holly helping Bryan and my grandpa off at work too. No one had been expecting us this early! "Where is everyone?" asked Bryan, getting up. "It's just us," replied mom, "Me and Halie and Lexie and Lil. We left everyone else at Kathy's." "Oh come one REALLY? You left the boys? I wanted to play with a BOY!" "OOOOOHHHHHH!!" I said, laughing and shaking my head with a mock glare. The rest of the day we just hung out together. Later after my uncle and his girlfriend, Nicole had gone we watched a movie my mom and brought and I texted Maddi and Brenten on his mom's phone until we went to bed. The second day we went to visit my great grandma Paukovits at her house. We picked her up at her house and went out to lunch at a place called Savannah Grill. It was nice and we were served by a really cool waiter who suggested we go climb the Helix "You can see all the way over into Mexico from there! It's beautiful!" We had a good time then went to her house. We sat in the living room talking and then I moved to the kitchen so I could sit and write and finally I ended up downstairs with Lexie and Lily. My grandma has a bathroom downstairs in her house, and it's a nice size room, but most of the walls either are or are covered in mirrors. It's super cool but also a little odd! When you walk in you see yourself from every angle, which is something I'm definitely not used to! We stayed for dinner, which she cooked us, and it was really good! Finally we went back to my grandma Holly's for the night and played Scattergories with the family. The third day we went out and took my aunt Amanda around to apply for several jobs around the area. My grandma Holly took us into Costco to buy candy and movie tickets for that evening. Amanda decided against going with us so Lex and I called my uncle Bryan on my grandma's cell. "Hii uncle Bryan! We want you to come to a movie with us!" I said. "We got you a ticket!" Lexie added. "No, you got AMANDA a ticket!" Bryan corrected, amused. "No, it was yours," Lexie lied sweetly. "Pleeeease?!" I said. "You guys! You're just trying to sucker me into going to the movies with you! Let me talk to grandma." Grandma finally convinced him to come, telling him we had lots of candy and really wanted him to come! So we met up with him there and watched "Just Go With It," or as we kept calling it, because the name kept escaping us, "The Adam Sandler One". It was really great to go with just my grandma and uncle, and we had a good time. We picked up some pizzas on the way home from Marechiaro's and came home where grandpa Joe had finally come home from where he was working away for several days and Bryan and Nicole were already waiting. It was some really great pizza! I loved it! (To be continued...)

Um If You Missed It

If anyone didn't realize it there is a post you may have missed because it posted it in the past month because I began the draft way back when and only just finished it. Anyways it's called "A Paper Dinosaur Fail" and if you missed it.. Search it and read it!!
<3 Halie

I Learn To Weld

So the other day a couple of my best friends, Zach and Emily, picked me up from my house and drove me to our Maker club meeting. Well technically Zach's and my Maker meeting, because Emily's group of Makers is focusing on their own project, an elaborate cake. Mine, consisting of my best friends Brenten, Derek, Zach and I are fixing a go cart and mounting an airsoft gun. Emily, however, was invited along because Zach, her brother, was already going and she had nothing better to do, and of course we love having her. Also she'd been invited by Brenten, whose house we're holding the meetings at, or at least we have been so far. Brenten was thoroughly teased by Zach for this due to the fact that it happened to be "Hug a Tall Person Day" and both Brenten and Zach are known for being awfully tall! But I just kind of blew off the made up Facebook holiday and didn't hug anyone. We arrived at the meeting after Derek. Firstly we cut this piece of metal with both an older cutter (wowza I forgot the name of it) and then the newer, more efficient plasma cutter. It was really fun! Then we took the pieces back and sanded them on electric sanders. Doing that was ineteresting because you have to get all the extra slag off, and as you press it to the sander sparks fly up. But they don't really hurt, even if they land on your face accidentally, they're incredibly mild. Then lastly we tried our hands at welding. Each of us had two pieces of metal and Derek went first. Then Zach, Brenten and lastly Em and I fought over who had to go first until Mr. Fillmore called her over and had her do it. "Now I want you to put a big 'E' right there," h demanded. She laughed, "Yeah right!" "No!" he replied, smiling, "I'm serious! put an 'E' on there!" "OOOOOOHH" teased Brenten. "That's what you get for going last." someone said. "I'm not last," reminded Emily, "Halie hasn't gone yet." "Oooooooohhh!! He's gonna make YOU sign your WHOLE name!" Brenten and Derek laughed. Emily put an E on the pieces of metal she'd just welded. Then I inevitably and nervously took my own turn, stepping forward and putting on the helmet and gloves. I welded it, but had to go for a second try to get it right - ish, and then Mr. Fillmore said "Alright now put an "H" on!" "In CURSIVE!" added Brenten malignantly. "I actually started writing in cursive..." I replied. "Really?" I pulled the mask down and tried, keeping my hand as steady as I could and giving it my signature curve at the beginning and not picking it up or stopping. Then I stopped and looked down at what I'd done. Everyone else pulled their masks off too. "And in CURSIVE too!" Mr. Fillmore laughed. They looked in, as we all had on everyone else's welds. "Hey! Nicely done, kid!" Brenten said. We took a look at the go cart after that, or mostly the others did and Em and I stood back being goofballs and repeating over and over, "You're warm.. I like that in a friend," because it was cold. Then as we were leaving I approached Brenten and held out my hand to hand him something. He couldn't see what it was because I held my initialed weld over it, but he held out his own hand anyway and I dropped in the infamous and dreaded clothespin before turning and running to the car. I slid in next to Em, past Derek, who we were taking home. Then Derek slid in next to me, all the while we kept throwing the pin out of the car and Brenten hastily launched it back in, determined not to be stuck with it. I thought we'd gotten him until we were halfway down the driveway and Emily triumphantly held up the clothespin. "EM!!" I scolded, "We were supposed to leave it!! If we'd just gotten it out of the car, he would've been stuck with it!!" We dropped Derek off at his house and then they drove me to my oh so interesting Drivers' Ed class and dropped me off. A very awesome Maker meeting!!

And.. This.

Over the past few days I've endured Drivers' Ed. I've sat through the gory crash videos, the cursing attendees, and the two redheaded guys I always end up sitting between who obsessively crack their knuckles throughout the five hour period. It's been an interesting class to be sure, I was even offered five bucks from the redhead on my right, Chad, to slap another guy in the class, Anthony. I didn't take up the offer, but Anthony's friends nearly took it themselves! One guy, who dislikes his name, Josh, insists laughingly that we call him "Joe-Bob". I've learned a lot though. And I've been doing a lot of thinking too. I love my life right now. I have been blessed so much, and my friends and family are all so supportive that I couldn't complain even if I wanted to! And... I am tired... So this should fulfill my promise right?? lol!! Zach? Right? I wrote? I wrote right?

My Life's Roller Coaster

Lately I've been through a lot in my life. I've been through friend drama, boy drama, and then there was just that happy reassurance from God that everything was going exactly according to plan and that I'd be fine, this was a test that I could and, as I decided determinedly, would survive. Two of my very best friends are Zach O'Neill and Brenten Fillmore, but lately they've been very tense. This kills me seeing my two best friends not getting along. Of course I understand the usual disagreement between friends, but lately they've just been not getting along well at all and while I understand both of them are very different, they can hardly be expected to agree on every point! Still it just stinks to see the twosome that used to get along better now in a near constant state of disagreement. Then there's the boy drama I mentioned, while what I just mentioned happened to be two boys I have not yet reached the extent of what I'd like to express. Boys have shown an interest in me lately, which is something I hadn't really expected. You know, I'd somehow always assumed I'd be somewhat of the older brother figure, watching out for my wonderfully beautiful younger siblings and keeping those boys in line. And I still do. Of course I expected that someday I'd meet someone, but I never expected to have interest like this, and certainly not from more than one guy. But at this point in my life I really am not ready for that! I am really close to some of my friends and I love them even, a lot. But I just know I'm not ready for that kind of thing, that kind of interest, and certainly not expressing it in return. So I've told them. I've let them know what I must, that I am not ready for that, that I'm only interested in the wonderful friendships we've built and are still building, and continuing in the project of building up. I've been honest, and I haven't tried to maneuver around anything, I do think I've handled it in the most correct way there is possible for me, although I think there's no way that's really THE right way. What I really hope is that I haven't hurt anyone It was never my intent to hurt anyone, only to give them what they deserve as the faithful and amazing friends they've been to me for years. The truth. Truly it tears me to even think I might've hurt any one of my friends, but I have to be true to who I am, and to do that I must be honest. My friends really are unusually supportive and wonderful. Not in a million years would I trade them, and not for a second would I even consider it. Each of them is incredibly important to me and an essential in the making of who I am now. I really love to spend time with them doing anything at all. We just get together for hours at a time with no particular plans in mind and end up having a blast. There's sensible, genius Zach, hilarious, unpredictable Brenten, enthusiastic, reasonable Derek, talkative, fun loving Madison, crazy, photographer Emily. There's friendly, easy to talk to Andrew, imaginative, quiet Taylor and many more. We all have crazy nicknames and when together hardly make any sense at all. But do we really have to? If you watch, the point is clear - happiness. We are happy together and if you can gain that you hardly need an excuse for any ethical means you use to attain it. This inexplicable feeling that we're filled with and can't be bought. I treasure it most highly of anything else, which is why I treasure and regard my friends so highly. They are loyal and a great light in my life. Which is why in return I want to be loyal, honest, and a joy to them as much as I can. And this, I suspect, is why our little tightly knit group had to be hit by some drama - we are simply too happy. It's just God reminding us "Hey! You're still on Earth. It's not your home, and you're not supposed to be completely blissful. That's Heaven. You're not there yet. Keep trying, here's a test!" But this cannot dampen my faith in our friendships, the strength we have between us. So maybe I had to tell some guys I wasn't ready for anything but friendship and wanted to just relax and enjoy life how it is right now. So maybe I hurt them, which I surely didn't want to. It's all part of the plan, and I have to just sit back and remember this is God's ride, not mine. I have no control, but I can ride if I want to. I can appreciate the thrill of the roller coaster if I'm willing to deal with the butterflies as it turns the unanticipated loops. I want to hold on for all I'm worth and cling to the great and wonderful people who are willing to sit there next to me and endure it too. Everyone who's going to sit there loyally, throwing their arms in the air and screaming with me, who'll help me through, who can wait and appreciate that I'm not ready to sit in the front row cart yet, who can just be there, I would love to return the favor and to be my best Halie. To wait on them, to appreciate them, to counsel them as best I can and to be totally honest and loyal pulling them through with me to the end where we meet the operator of the wonderful ride. I'm not ready to move up to the next cart yet. I just want to enjoy the one I'm in and thank God for every second he allows me to continue riding.