iSisi

Christmas Songs

2011-12-25T14:34:00.018-05:00

Soo, my previous plan of posting a video of me playing was definitely a fail. lol, it was mainly because it just takes so long to make/load a video. It's taken like all day for me to get these loaded. Everything is so darn slow!! Oh well.

The reason I went through the frustration of uploading not one, but TWO videos, is because it's Christmas, of course! I've been working on these songs a while now. The arrangements are from 'Fingerstyle Christmas' by Mark Hanson. I didn't do perfect on these, but rather than focusing on my mistakes, why don't you focus on how cute my new pjs are??

Walking in a Winter Wonderland:

This is a very difficult song, and I never got around to learning the verses. It's really fun to play - and really frustrating to learn! But worth it. :)

Silent Night:
This song reminds me of the Pampers commercial. x)

Let's Try Something New!

2011-10-03T15:34:00.016-04:00

I was thinking today about how I've been practicing guitar. Earlier this summer I was really good with practicing. I felt good about my playing, and I really enjoyed it! But then, when I had camp for two weeks in a row, I got out of the habit. My motivation sort of flopped, too. I didn't know much theory, and I felt like everything I was learning was useless because I didn't even know how to pick out what key a song was in. I'm still not great at learning by ear, but I got a theory book for my birthday! So now I need to start practicing more.

Well, I began thinking about how a tutor or instructor would help. I mean, for me, they'd mostly just be inspiration to work and stuff. He or she would get me practicing! I'd learn a lot too, I'm sure, but I've got just about all I need already. There are books-galore in my bedroom. Haha.

But I think I've thought of something good. I just need to stick to it. I have this little planner, and I'm going to try writing down what I want to have accomplished by the end of each week. I'll write it to myself like a teacher would. Such as: "You must have 'this and this' done by Friday." And I'll post a video of at least one of the things I'm going to practice here, on my blog. I'll do a before and after, so I can see how much I've improved! -Or didn't improve.

So here's my first week's schedule:

Practice both 'All Right Now' by Free, and 'Race with the Devil' by Gene Vincent

Memorize the notes E, A, D, B, and G on all six strings (below the 12th fret)

Practice pentatonic scales Cm, Am, and Em. If you do extra, that's great Do at least those.

And here's a video of me playing the song by Free, 'All Right Now'. I've been practicing this song for a few days now. It's not perfect, but if it was then why would it be on my practice list??

(I had some troubles getting this video up and running. If every video is this hard to get up, then I might not be able to do this every week. I'll keep you posted!)

Blah! Heat!

2011-07-25T18:57:00.003-04:00

The heat has finally subsided (somewhat) and today it was only 89 degrees outside! Wow, I can't believe I just said that. Huh.
Anyway, the past couple of days we've had blistering hot weather - especially for Michigan! It was 100 degrees last Thursday, and it felt even hotter thanks to the humidity. Saturday and Sunday weren't so bad temperature-wise, but it was still crazy humid! So it was still too hot to go outside much.
I miss camp. :( For almost two weeks in a row, I was at Somerset Beach. The first week was Sr. Teen camp, of course, and the second was family camp. Both were amazing, and it's so weird that I'm done camping at Somerset for the year! I'm already excited for next year. hah

Teen Camp!

2011-06-20T11:11:00.004-04:00

Next week is my new summer teen camp. I've never gone to it before, although it's the same place we do family camp every year. When I signed up, I was trying to get into the praise and worship activity. Unfortunately, it must was full. I'm doing soccer and volleyball instead. I haven't done soccer in a year and a half (and I'm not in great shape), and volleyball isn't exactly my best sport. So me and my mom went to Dunhams and bought a volleyball to practice with! Thank goodness I'm athletic: I picked it up pretty fast. But I'm still nervous about soccer. Me and my mom have also been trying to run every night. But I'm not sure it'll be enough, since I only have a week. Hopefully the kids there don't take it too seriously, so I can at least have fun with them - although I'm usually pretty competitive with soccer. Since I at least used to be a pretty good player, I'll be upset if I'm bested by very many people. Hah! I just need to stop thinking about it. It is just a game.
I'm trying to decide whether I should bring my guitar or not. I don't want to bother bringing it if I'm going to be too busy having fun to play it. I think I'd be able to at least practice it a little (I can hardly imagine going a week without practicing!), but I might be having too much fun swimming and hanging out. Well, I have until Sunday to decide!

Shipshewana

2011-06-10T11:06:00.003-04:00

Sorry for not posting for so long! All the girls in my family go to Shipshewana Indiana once a year to shop in the flea-market. I don't particularly enjoy the flea-market, but I love to spend time with everyone, so I enjoy going. (I also get out of school for two days :3)
This year it was insanely hot while we were shopping! It was at least 98 degrees all day. Blah, don't you hate the feeling of sweat running down your back? Yeah, so do I. But thankfully that didn't happen too much to me. My grandma, my cousin, Andrea, and I grabbed ice-cubes out of the coke (once the coke was gone) and rubbed them on our arms and neck. THAT really helped! But it was still sweltering. I practically passed out on our way back to the car.
Despite the heat, though, I really had fun. -And I got used to 100 degree weather!

Baby Birds

2011-06-03T11:40:00.003-04:00

For a couple of weeks, there was a bird's nest right above our porch by one of the gutters. And inside were baby birds!! They were so loud. Every time I was out there reading, they'd be chirping away, and Momma-bird would come and give them food every couple of minutes. But earlier this week, I was reading out there and noticed there were no chirping baby birds! We had just had a really hot day, and I was a little scared that maybe they're little brains had been fried. I'm pretty sure they must have been pushed out of the nest, though.
It's strange the way one day they were there, and the next they were gone. I was fortunate enough to have taken pictures of them on their last day home. I even got a video of Momma-bird feeding them. I'll try to put them up asap.
You know, the saddest part is I didn't even get to say goodbye. :'{

Summer Reading List?

2011-05-31T09:26:00.003-04:00

I've decided to challenge myself this summer. Although I don't have any summer reading lists for school, I'm going to make one for myself! I'm going to get the books from the library (if we can ever get there when it's open! :P). Some of the books I've decided to read are the same books listed in 'Do Hard Things' by Alex and Brett Harris. They tell a story at the beginning of their book, 'Do Hard Things', about how their dad gave them a crazy hard reading list for summer. Alex and Brett listed off a few of the books they had to read, and I'm going to try and find them at the library.
The books I know the library has are 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell, 'The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt' by Edmund Morris, 'The Fabric of the Cosmos' by Brian Greene, and 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman. I think I'll probably start with 'The World is Flat', and hopefully I'll keep on with the reading list! Wish me luck!

In Need of Inspiration!

2011-05-27T12:21:00.005-04:00

Lately I've been having a bit of trouble practicing guitar (I'm teaching myself). I just need more things to practice. Actually, no, I take that back. I have two Guitar Techniques magazines, and they're full of practice material. I bought the January and February 2011 issues from the local bookstore a while back. They've really, really helped me with electric guitar, but I'm kinda bored with them. Although there's a lot of material I haven't gone over yet, I'm having a hard time finding the inspiration to do really anything.
On the Guitar Techniques website, I found this free article from one of their past magazines: http://cdn.mos.musicradar.com/images/legacy/guitartechniques/GTC150.practice.pdf
It's actually about finding a good practice plan! Unfortunately, I need the laptop to get to the file (there's a bunch of practice exercises in the article). But oh well.
Lately I've been playing my acoustic more. I go through times when I'm more into playing my electric guitar - visions of rock-stardom always flashing through my head - and times when I prefer my acoustic - more of a Jimmy Needham\Jason Mraz outlook. I've been learning 'Firefly' by Jimmy Needham lately. It's a cute song, and I especially love the guitar parts. :)

Children's Worship?

2011-05-26T12:26:00.003-04:00

I love kids. They're so much fun! Lifeguards had a big fundraiser dinner in April, and occasionally I had to go to the 'dungeon' to help with the kids (we provided free childcare while the parents ate). I chased and tickled them a lot, and I finally got to know some of the kids at our new church. :)
Well, apparently the kids program on Sunday mornings isn't very good. A lot of kids sit with their parents during the service rather than go down to children's worship. That's something I'd hardly ever have done willingly when I was their age! But I've heard it was boring.
I remember when I was in elementary school, we were still going to the Free Methodist church and they did great with the kids! The youth pastor played guitar and we sang fun songs with fun motions. After we sang, we split up by grades and sat at a table and learned our Bible lesson.
I was thinking a few weeks ago about how much fun it would be to lead children's worship. There's this one song we used to do in middle school that I think would be really fun. It goes, 'Ain't no rock, gonna stand in my place, as long as I'm alive I'll glorify His holy Name. Ain't no-' and then you point to a kid and they yell an animal, like 'tiger!' And it continues as 'Ain't no tiger, RAWR! (make a clawing motion) gonna stand in my place, etc.' You make different motions for each animal the kids choose. It was a lot of fun in middle school, so I think elementary kids would have a blast with it.
But the problem is, I don't really want to miss the church service. And even though I think leading children's worship would be fun, I don't know if it could ever actually happen. I have a tendency to day-dream about something that would be fun - like this - but then don't ever do it. I guess we'll see.

Change is a-comin!

2011-05-25T15:48:00.004-04:00

Ugh, it seems like summer is so close, but so far away! It's stormy today again :P and it's totally getting me down, man!
Tomorrow is the seniors' last day of school, which includes my brother (although he still has to do his home-school work. hahahh!). But I won't ever get to go to Spanish class with him again. We always goof off in the hallways before class starts, and walking through the halls alone isn't half as fun. My younger brother, Hunter, is still in 7th grade, so he has a couple of year 'till he's in high school. I'll be a senior when he's a freshman! -and by then Connor will be a senior citizen! lol
It'll be weird going to lifeguards without Connor, too. If I don't have anyone to talk to, I can always talk to him and whoever he might be talking to. It'll be a lot different next year, but thankfully not too different since he's commuting to college. I dunno. It'll be so strange to be the only high schooler!!

Miss Elaini ous'

2011-05-24T15:35:00.003-04:00

http://misselainious.com/

^Great blog. This 23-year-old woman is wearing the same 2 dresses (they're two of the same dress) for 100 days to raise money for orphans. Each day she posts a picture of herself wearing the dress with different accessories and stuff. It's amazing what she can do with that black dress!!

Sweet Music!

2011-05-24T12:22:00.003-04:00

"And everything about you

"It takes my breath away

"Hallelujah"

(Santus Real - Everything About You)

What can I say, I love music! I think it's a great way to connect with God. Like I was just sitting here listening when I really began to 'feel' the words, if you know what I mean. Funny how those sort of things happen, huh?

I listen to music a lot while I'm posting on my blog. Since I am a currently unemployed teenager, I can't afford to buy much music online or at stores. So I almost always listen to free music on youtube or playlist.com. Hah!

On my playlist, I have a lot of Sanctus Real and Alter Bridge. I also love 'The Classic Crime', 'Remedy Drive', 'House of Heroes', and 'Grey Holiday'. They're a couple of lesser-known bands, but I really enjoy them. And they're all christian bands!

I always think it would be kinda fun to start a band. I'd play electric guitar (of course!) and maybe I'd be a background singer, too. I even think it would be a really cool career, but I know that's not really an option. A degree in music isn't exactly reliable. haha. Oh well, maybe when I'm older I can join a band just to play in clubs or wherever. As more of a hobby then job.

Good Weather

2011-05-23T12:14:00.009-04:00

The weather is finally nice out! We've had an extremely rainy spring. Not fun. But this past weekend we had nice warm weather and SUN! It's so awesome. Unfortunately, we're supposed to get rain again tomorrow. :p Hopefully the sun and warmth will come back quickly, though.

I took some pictures with the laptop camera! The clouds have already moved in, though, so it's not exactly super sunny outside anymore. :(

(Seconds after I finished this post, it started pouring rain for about two moments, and then stopped. 0_O)

Alter Bridge Band Review

2011-05-20T09:58:00.009-04:00

I've found, yet another, band - Alter Bridge! They're a rock\metal band, and they are awesome. The drummer, Scott Phillips, and lead guitarist, Mark Tremonti are formerly from Creed (another hard rock band that split up a couple of years ago). When Creed split up, they stayed together and found a new singer, Myles Kennedy. I personally like Kennedy's voice even better than Creed's singer, Scott Stapp's, voice, although I admire his faith driven lyrics and personality. Yet, that's another thing I'd like to point out about Alter Bridge; their lyrics are very similar to Creed's in meaning.

"So carry on if you must go your way,

"Though it breaks my heart,

"Your free will still remains.

"I save you from your fall when you were slipping

"Still you broke from me to run

"So how can you justify the life you're living?"

(Lyrics from 'Still Remains')

The lyrics seem to have a christian influence, though hidden slightly behind metaphors - much in the same way Creed did they're lyrics. So it didn't surprise me much when I found out Mark Tremonti from Creed writes most of the lyrics.

Over all, Alter Bridge is an amazing band with tons of rocking, yet still keeps their content clean. I totally recommend this band to anyone who likes metal.

Success!

2011-05-19T11:57:00.003-04:00

Brad's surprise party was a success! He didn't find out about it, which is kind of surprising with some of the kids in our youth group. There are two reasons why I think it was so successfully in surprising him: first of all, Emily M. is in Africa with her family for a couple of weeks. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if she'd let it slip on accident - but since she's a couple of countries away, we didn't have to worry. Second, Lisa Y. sent out the email telling us about it on Monday, after church. She said in the message, "sorry for the late notice, but I wanted to make sure no one had the chance to blab." (we don't usually see Brad on days other than Sunday and Wednesday).
It was a lot of fun. After we surprised him in the sanctuary, we had pizza and hung out before Lifeguards. It was an all-games lifeguards night, too. We played dodge ball, human-fussball, and another running game. It was very fun. :)

Surprise Party!

2011-05-18T10:54:00.004-04:00

Tonight Lifeguards is going to be throwing a surprise party for our youth pastor, Brad. He really does a lot for us. He plans all the events and has to come up with a mini sermon each week that will be good enough to get our attention. And yet I'm sure his salary isn't anything special. If anyone says a pastor's job is easy, they're lying!!
This birthday is especially special because he's turning thirty! So yeah, an official old man. ;) Tonight is youth group anyway, so we're going to go to the church early and hide our cars. Then we'll hide in the sanctuary and surprise him!! I'm supah stoked!
I'll tell you what happened tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned! ;)

Some old pictures...

2011-04-16T20:14:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been looking at some of our old baby pictures. Here are a few.

(back row from left-right) me, my cousin Andrea, Katrina, and my cousin Jeremy.

And that's Connor and Hunter in front. :) Aren't we so cute??

Me, my mom, and baby Hunter at Greenfield village

2010-12-28T09:03:00.000-05:00

Tobymac

2010-11-29T16:27:00.004-05:00

SO, I found a new awesome Christmas song! It's Tobymac's 'Christmas this Year'. I heard it on the radio, and loved it. :)
Anyway, I could only find it on one website, and it's not on playlist.com. So here's the link, which you should totally click on.

p.s. when you get to the site, click the 2nd video down. it's labeled 'Christmas this year'.

http://musicremedy.com/audio/index.cfm?fuseaction=showvideoplayer&audioid=49458&quality=11

So amazing!

2010-11-28T20:01:00.005-05:00

Music is truly amazing.

I can't explain it's wonderfulness, but it's awesome. It isn't something evolution can make. Something this touching couldn't have been made by accident.

♫ ♫ ♫♫ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♥

Duct-tape game

2010-10-14T11:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday at lifeguards we played a pretty rough game. There were two teams. Team one had duct-tape placed horizontally on their back, team two vertical. The object was to get all the tape off of the other team member's backs.
Okay, last time we played this game it didn't get too violent, but this time it did (for youth group, especially). The first round wasn't bad, because we were aloud to stand against the wall to block people from getting to our backs.
I had a pretty good strategy. When someone attacked one of my teammates, I'd jump on them and rip their tape off while their backs were turned. I got two of the best players out that way, Donny and Travis, and my tape was never taken off. But we weren't aloud to stand against the wall during the second round.
I wasn't doing too bad at first. Two girls attacked me, Liz and Colleen, but I fought tooth and nail to get away. I'm not the kind of person who goes down without a fight ;). I got away from them, but shortly afterwards, a bunch of the guys ganged up on me. Their strategy was one of them, my brother Connor, would go up and throw someone into their group, and the rest of the guys would rip their tape off. Before I knew it, I was being attacked by a bunch of senior boys! I laid down on the ground, because that would protect the tape on my back, and they grabbed my feet and began dragging me. I was kicking like mad, and I heard Jared say, "She's crazy!!" But then someone grabbed my arm, flipped me over, and tore my tape off.
Later in the Portable (the teen building), I realized my sweater had a huge hole in it. Turns out when the guys had ripped my tape off, it had torn my sweater. :( I guess my mom will just have to take me to get a new one. ;)

By Your Side -Tenth Avenue North

2010-10-11T23:03:00.002-04:00

I am in the process of learning another relatively challenging song on guitar: 'By Your Side,' by Tenth Avenue North. It's an amaazing song. The chords aren't actually that hard, but it involves finger-picking for the verses, and I've never used finger-picking in a song before. But I did learn how a couple of months ago, so it's not completely unfamiliar territory.
I just love learning new songs that involve things I've never used much before, like dynamics and finger-picking. 'My Savior My God' taught me a lot about dynamics and how I can add little things to songs. I can't WAIT 'till I master 'By Your Side'. :D

Pictures

2010-08-11T21:54:00.003-04:00

Hey, guyss! I found a cool website, picnik.com. lol, I just keep promoting websites, don't I. I should reaally start charging for it....
But anyway, today I was bored so I took some pics of my electric. Then I edited them on picnik.com. Here's how they came out!!!

2010-08-10T12:57:00.002-04:00

I loove to play this song on the acoustic guitar. It's got a lot of dynamics and it's fun to play. And, of course, it sounds really good. ;)

Oh, and to all the guitar players out there (especially electric and/or bass) check out guitarpraise.blogspot.com. I have the link over there --->

Check it outt!!!! I ♥♥♥♥♥love it!

Pittsburgh!

2010-07-23T17:40:00.004-04:00

At the beginning of the summer, lifeguards went to Pittsburgh on a missions trip. We worked with The Pittsburgh Project to help restore old, beat-up homes. Everyone was split up into groups, each group going to a different house. My group was all girls, so we only had to paint and replace a door, but some people had to fix plumbing, roofs, etc.

Our first day working on the house! That garden was crazzy.

Haha! Leah at breakfast.

We had one night to explore the city, and this is the menu at the diner we ate at. If you look closely, you'll see that everything has cheese besides the beverages. =P

the last day at the house! garden is weed wacked, porch is repainted, and the back door is replaced! (you can't see the back door in this pic)

after everyone was done on their houses on the last day, we played volleyball. of course, one team is 10-15 feet below us... but whatever ;)

Everyone lined up on the wall playing volleyball. :))

Finally Put the Pictures up ;)

2010-06-04T22:45:00.002-04:00

I LOVE palm trees :))

Connor and Katrina in the pool

The BEAUtiful pool

Wearing my new 'House of Blues' shirt

Katrina did a karate kick in the air. TOTAL NINJA!

Connor threw us all into the air.

2010-05-31T12:28:00.003-04:00

My family went to Florida last week!! it was AWEsome! i practically lived in the pool, and it was really fun :). I can't wait to go there again.

I'll post pics and stuff asap!

Hair Cut!

2010-04-30T21:36:00.002-04:00

I'm getting my hair cut! I'm getting it to my shoulders and with layers. here are some pictures of what i'm hoping for.

maybe and inch longer than this

Pictures of my Electric guitar!

2010-04-22T11:01:00.002-04:00

Part of my backyard. :) Idk why I took this picture, but when I looked out my window it just looked so nice out.

Okay, so I've finally got the pictures up! Sorry it took so long. Busy busy! Anyway, please pay no attention to the messy bed in the background (don't worry Katrina, your bed is fine ;).

Track Meet

2010-04-21T08:32:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been really busy. I'll try to post pictures of my guitar tonight, but for now I only have time for some updates in what's been going on!
Yesterday was my first official track meet. I did the long jump, 100 and 200 dash, and the 1600 relay. I got 13.5 feet in the long jump, which isn't terrible since this is my first track meet EVer. I got 1st place in the 100! I had a bad start, but I managed to still pass the girl ahead of me! 12.14 seconds was my time. I'm not sure what place I got in the 200, because there were two heats. But in my heat, I got 2nd place.
The 1600 relay was what I was dreading. Each runner has to run a full lap in that one. My coaches put some people on there just because they don't have all 4 of their events. It's basically just so they can have the lap of conditioning. When I passed the baton, I think I was in 3rd out of 4. So I guess I didn't do too terrible.
I'll try to make sure I post tonight, and if I don't, I will asap.

April 17, Lifeguards Dinner!

2010-04-17T22:29:00.006-04:00

Me, Connor, Sam, and Mara. All of us are wearing the 'dress code': white shirt and black pants.

The dress code was for our lifeguards fundraiser! It was so fun, even if it was a lot of work! Lifeguards is going to Pittsburgh this summer for a missions trip, and that's where the money's going to. They only have one HUGE fundraiser a year, but trust me, we rake in the cash for it. The tickets are $20 a piece, and there's a silent-auction and live-auction.

And guess what?? I GOT MY ELECTRIC GUITAR!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy! I got it right before I had to leave for lifeguards, and could only test it out for a few minutes. I didn't realize I had forgotten to take pictures of it until I had already loaded my camera pics onto blogger, so I'll be sure to post some tomorrow!

The night was VERY well organized. The juniors always plan the fundraiser night. There's also a theme. This year was the 'Roaring Twenties!' At the front (I wish I had taken pictures, but I was busy) was a front-desk thing. People were assigned tables, and one of the teens led them to it. Once everyone arrived, we served them salad bowls and provided entertainment. We got a band together, full of saxophones, trumpets, a bass guitar, and drums. It was very twenties-like. Above is a picture of Chad and Ian, two of the teens in lifeguards, playing trumpets.

The silent auction winners! Hosted by Chad (above) and Scottie.

Scottie was hilarious! He kept reading the last names wrong, because they're mostly Dutch. After a while, he'd just ask Chad how they were pronounced. They were really funny.

Anna cleaning dishes! Ha ha, love that expression!

Kate, looking all snazzy in her white shirt. ;)

The live auction went really well. Some people were spending over $200! Then Emily brought out a pie, covered it with whipped cream, and let people bid on hitting any of the lifeguard teens with it. The man who won went after Andrew with the pie. The picture is a little dark, but it's the best one I got of him.

Another pie! This one went at Chad!

That's his dad, by the way, about to hit him.

And now Chad's dad gets hit by his brother!

Andrew covered in whipped cream, and somehow Zach got some on him.

Chad's dad with pie in his face.

A little blurry, but that's basically what the room looked like.

One of the teens drew this on the black sheet we covered the wall with.

Cleaning up after the night's fun.

Alex putting away a table!

Sam taking the dirty dishes in.

Kitchen staff. ;)

I didn't manage to get a full picture of this, and Traver's head is in the way, but whatever. This is one of those things you take a picture of yourself in, your head sticking out of the hole above the bodies. We had it in front of the entrance and Emily took a picture of our 'customers' in it. Very creative :)

April 16th

2010-04-16T17:17:00.006-04:00

How do you like this picture? I took it myself! It was actually a mess-up, but when I saw it on the computer, I realized I could do a lot with it!

Today was another beautiful day. After track, I went next door to Ally's house. She was making 'water babies' out of rubber gloves. Hunter and I went over and played with them for a while. Here are a few pictures!

Me and Roman, Ally's little brother. He cuddled next to me and asked "Can you take a picture with me?"
"Okay, if you insist." ;)

Ally found a robin egg. Unfortunately it was cracked and broke even further when she picked it up. Still, she was pretty thrilled and wants to take it in for show-and-tell at school Monday. Even though I told her it would probably smell by then, she decided to keep it on her front porch.

Ally and her 'Precious'. (aka, the egg) It's that white-spot above her thumb.

Everything is so green! Our blossom tree will be blossoming soon. It has a ton of buds, the most we've ever had!

Ally with her water-baby. She made a home for it.

Riley, Courtney, and Jake had to leave almost as soon as I arrived. Jake is an abusive brother. - So I guess he's just an average one ;).

Ally, Roman, and Riley. I LOVE Roman's hair in this picture!

Hunter made up a game with our dodge-ball. It's a lot like basket ball.

Action shot!!

April 15th Pictures!!

2010-04-15T22:47:00.008-04:00

After doing my hair today, I took a couple of pictures just for fun. Then I returned it my hair to it's rightful place in a ponytail :).

Today was so beautiful outside, and the white trees across the street just called to me. ;) lol, not to be weird or anything. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. I hope it doesn't bore you too much, but I enjoyed doing it. :)

April 14, 2010

2010-04-14T21:40:00.004-04:00

I don't think I've ever told you guys what sport I'm in this spring! On the first week of February, track started. My friend Grace was doing it, and I decided to do it with her. Unfortunately, when we were split up into groups (long distance, mid-distance, sprinters, hurtles, and field events), I went to the sprinters and Grace went to the hurtles:(. I've gotten pretty close with the other sprinters, though, so it's not too bad. :)
(I'm also trying long jump and - hopefully - high jump.)

So, now that I've got the back round checked, I can begin with the start of my day.

My grandma came over around 9:30. She stopped by on her way to pick up my cousin, Jeremy, from the airport (we live 20min from the metro airport). My cousins went to Florida for two weeks; the week of spring break and the week after. My uncle owns a condo near Orlando, so they go down there a lot. (My family's going there in May! I am sooo excited!) Anyway, Jeremy came back by himself because of school. He's in physics, or something, and can't miss too many days of it.

One of the best things about having grandma over is that we can get out of doing school. :) She's also pretty awesome, so that's always fun ;).

After she left, I continued doing my biology. I learned about an earthworm's innards - complete with a picture. I have to memorize all of the organs and junk, as well as dissect a worm. :p Gross.

My mom took us out to Arbeys for lunch. I haven't really had much of an appetite lately, so I just got a small fry. BIG mistake!

First of all, that's almost all I had to eat before Spanish (other than half of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich). It had no nutritional value, and wouldn't give me enough energy for track (which is right after my class). But, of course, I didn't think about it.

After Spanish class, I went to my track-locker and changed into my sweat-clothes.

Okay, another back round check. Us sprinters had Mr. Brown as coach at the beginning of the season. He really didn't make us do much. He and Dawn, the field event coach, ended up switching jobs. So now we have a Dawn as our coach.

She makes us work a whole lot harder! MAN! Today we had to run a cross-country mile, 4 one hundred(yard) races, a 400 jog (one lap), 3 two hundreds, another 400 jog, and then a 400 timed race. And almost all I had to eat before was a small fry. I did fine during the cross-country mile, and even won 2 of the one hundreds, but then I was spent. My legs felt totally weak, and my vision even began to get a little hazy at times. I'm sure Dawn thinks I'm in terrible shape, but I'm really not! Urrg! It makes me so mad!

I had Lifeguards at 7:00. It was fun, as usual. We played kickball, and my team won :). But then, just before the worship time, I got the hiccups. I had them through all of the three songs and the prayer. As soon as the prayer ended, however, my hiccups went away. I was pretty peeved.

But, from a 1-10 scale, I give today a 6.

Electric Guitar... hopefully.

2010-04-10T22:22:00.007-04:00

Guitar has been going great lately. I'm getting much better and I'm learning a lot of new songs. And now I want to get an electric. I LOVE electric guitar! It's just so... rock&roll, I guess! It's got power, it's got a sound like no other, it's got LIFE! I mean, you can play a song, and then you can ROCK a song! You know what I'm saying? Don't get me wrong, the acoustic is great. I love it. It's better than the electric around a campfire or in a place without electricity (of course). But the electric guitar is just (let's face it) cooler than the acoustic.
I want to play electric guitar partly because Lifeguards totally needs one in their worship time. At Ignite, the worship music was AWESOME! It had a full set of drums, a base, acoustic, AND electric! And the electric (along with the drums) made the difference between an upbeat, rocking hymn and a slow, sorta boring hymn. Music, when it's the right kind, really speaks to me - and other teens as well. I'm sure it's that way for most people, though for some it's a different style of music. The electric guitar really, really moves me. It makes me want to dance and raise my hands to Jesus! And if we had that for Lifeguards... I'm telling you, there would be NO way I'd miss that every Wednesday! And I'd bet it's that way for other teens, as well.
So today I got my mom to take me to Guitar Center to look at their electrics. We found one that was AMAZING, but also over $400 - not including the amps. And that was the price of it used. So my mom went online to see what it's price is new. She also looked on craigslist (I think that's it). We found what looked like a good deal on there, but mom decided she should ask some of her friends who play guitar (my mom knows zilch about them) if the brand was good. So now we have to wait for them to respond, then decide what to do next. I'm willing to buy the guitar if it's cheep enough (the one we found was offered at $150, was almost untouched, and bought for $400 by the owners. It also comes with a hardcover case). My mom said she'd buy the amps for me.
I just love her to death :)

(Listen to my playlist song. I found it on e-chords.com and will be able to play it soon! See why I want an electric so bad? ;)

Goood Video :)

2010-03-21T21:41:00.001-04:00

Home again!

2010-03-14T08:06:00.004-04:00

Katrina's home! She came home for spring break on Friday, and we went out for dinner yesterday. Here are some pictures!

Okay, this is from last winter. But I don't think I ever put this one up, and it's good :)

At the restaurant!

Our famous pose... and Hunter's looking the wrong way.

a video of Hunter and Connor

2010-03-05T12:00:00.003-05:00

Hunter called Connor and I over to help him get into these two pillows. Don't ask why. He does strange things sometimes ;). We helped him, but then he was at our mercy. :) Here's some of what we did.

I play guitar in front of all of Oasis

2010-02-21T21:23:00.004-05:00

Okay, so lately I've really begun to enjoy the guitar. I totally love it now! So I was practicing a LOT, and the made a serious impact on my skills. I began to ace the songs and I can nail the F notes!! (most of the time, anyway).
About a month ago, a little before my 'love-boost' for the guitar, Adriel asked if I could play during youth group. I definitely wasn't ready. I was also pretty freaked out at the prospect of playing in front of people. So I declined the offer.
However, last week I began to want to play for people. The idea still made me a little nervous, but not nearly as badly as before. I facebooked Adriel and asked if she still wanted me to play at youth group.
She said, 'Sure! You wanna do it next Sunday?'
I said yes, and suggested we meet up forty-five minutes before Oasis to practice a little together. I needed to get a bit used to playing with someone singing.
So today I went to the church early for youth group. Adriel had to get something, so I walked down to the basement alone with my guitar.
Downstairs was a family from church eating dinner (they had stuff going on at the church during the whole day and their two girls, Hannah and Lindsay, go to the youth group, so they decided just to have dinner there). Mrs. S asked me if I wanted to have some of the spaghetti they were eating.
"No," I said. And I told them why I had my guitar with me.
"I'm really nervous," I said.
"I know! Why don't we pray that you'll do good?" Mrs. S suggested. She's really nice and a 'Super-Prayer', so I said sure.
After she prayed, Adriel came down the stairs. We decided to practice in the Teen room upstairs so we wouldn't disturb their dinner.
The practice went pretty good, and soon other teens were arriving for Oasis.
It wasn't until the end of youth group when I played my guitar. Because we were having a parent-teen meeting at 7:30, Oasis would be cut short.
But Adriel couldn't get this slide show-thing to work, so we had to do it in the SANCTUARY on the huge STAGE! Yeah, that didn't help my nerves at all! Plus, one of the sound guys put a microphone up to my guitar so that everyone could hear it better.
(Okay, just to clear something up, the reason we went to all the trouble of moving from downstairs to the sanctuary was because Adriel had a movie she wanted to show, so she needed a slide-show projector. And since the downstairs one wasn't working, we had to move to the one in the sanctuary. So she just decided to do it all there.)
Now, instead of a totally informal praise/worship time, I felt like I was doing a concert!
Thankfully I only had to do one song because the parent-teen meeting cut the time short.
So Adriel and I got up there (Adriel was singing, just to be clear). I played one note and heard an awful ring on the high E string.
Great. Right in front of everyone I had to tune my guitar. I wasn't quite sure if it was just the E string, so I decided to get my tuner. I opened my guitar case and... my tuner wasn't there.
CRAP! I thought. I'd forgotten it in the Teen room from when I tuned it earlier! Somehow that string got messed up - and I'm talking really badly off tune - so I had to run out of the sanctuary and get it.
I know, I know, I should have just tuned it by hand. But I was really pressured right there and kinda wanted to get off the stage for a few moments.
Anyway, I got the tuner and the string tuned. Now for my big moment.
I began playing and Adriel began singing. And it all went good, until I skipped a note. Thankfully it wasn't a very important one, so I could fix myself up okay without having to stop the whole song. And from then out, I did pretty good, if I do say so myself.
At the parent-teen meeting, I got a lot of compliments! Several parents had arrived while or right before I began playing, and had heard me. They said I did really good, and it was a total boost to my self-esteem.
So, I guess tonight went pretty good! I'm glad I got some of the experience points from playing in front of people, and I'll continue to do it next week. Hopefully I'll get more comfortable playing in front of people.
Actually, I wasn't as nervous as I made it sound. I was nervous, but somehow I managed to stay calm throughout the whole thing - calm enough to play good. I mean, sure I messed up that one time, but it really wasn't that bad, and I don't think anyone noticed by me and probably Adriel. Mrs. S' prayer worked wonders.
Thanks God. :)

SPRINGHILL!

2010-02-10T14:07:00.006-05:00

Last weekend Oasis went to Springhill! It was AMAZINGGG! This was my first year, and it was great! Check out these awesome pictures!

Connor's 'thing' that weekend was warpaint. Here's a picture of Connor with his warpaint-beard and Carson outside the chapel.

The theme this year was 'One God. One Faith. One Life.'

Collette (top bunk) and Lucienne (bottom) in our cabin! The blue-socks belong to Liz. ;)

This guy is a good dancer :))

At one point a bunch of teens were called to come onto the stage. LJ (the girl with the warpaint) was picked to go. They're dancing to that song that goes, 'to the right, to the right, to the left, to the left...'

Sara, LJ, and Joy during one of the sessions! (praise\worship, preaching)

Adriel at breakfast!

That's what Connor looks like in the morning. ;)

Starting from the left with the girl in the grey sweater, Marisa, Collette, Samara, Liz, LJ, and Sara

in the cabin!

Joy, Hannah, Adriel, Lucienne, and Samara getting back rubs.

Lucienne, Samara, and me! Everyone wore warpaint on Saturday for broom ball.

Connor's warpaint-job on Saturday. He was our chieftain, and did a good job of intimidating the other team

Connor and Brice. I think our chieftain went a little cookoo.

Lucienne looks VERY intimidating ;)

Book Review 2

2010-02-01T11:01:00.003-05:00

I've been reading the Percy Jackson series lately. It's about a sixth grade boy (Percy Jackson) who has been kicked out of six schools. He has ADHD and dyslexia, and bad things just always seem to happen to him. He's never met his birth-father before, but he's really close to his mom. One day, at the end of the school year, his class goes to a Greek museum for a field trip. The teacher chaperons happen to be his favorite teacher, Mr. Brunner, and his least favorite teacher, Mrs. Dodds. During the trip, Mrs. Dodds pulls Percy aside into an empty room. She suddenly turns into one of the Furies - a monster from the Greek myths - and attacks him. After a narrow escape, Percy discovers he is a 'half blood' or demigod. His dad is one of the 'gods'.
Percy is taken to Camp Half Blood, where other half bloods go for summer vacation. There are several cabins, one for each god. The children of those gods are put in their cabins, for example, a son or daughter of Ares would go into the Ares cabin, a child of Hermes would go into the Hermes cabin, etc. Because no one knows who Percy's dad is, he's placed in the Hermes cabin, where all kids go who don't know who their 'god' parent is.
However, during a game of capture the flag, Percy discovers the incredible power he has over water. It is then that he is claimed by his father, one of the three 'head' gods, Poseidon.
Percy is caught in the middle of a fight between his father and Zeus when Zeus' master bolt is stolen. Zeus blames Percy for stealing it, since he is the son of Poseidon. Percy sets of on a quest to find the master bolt with his two friends, Grover and Annabeth.

It's really good. :) The whole 'gods' thing bothered me when I heard about it, but it really isn't that bad. In the book, they aren't worshiped or anything, so it's more like they're really powerful people who are reeaally old. So it's good.

Funny things :)

2010-01-22T18:35:00.002-05:00

We're babysitting our cousin, Christian, today. He was eating a pop tart at the table when he announced, "Connor? Can I take my bath now?"
Connor said, "Sure."
Christian stood up from his chair and said as they walked to the bathroom, "Can I wash my armpits?"
Silly boy. Of course you may wash your armpits.

2010-01-22T13:05:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday at Oasis we played a game. One person was leading the other was blindfolded, and the leader had to guide the blindfolded person through a maze. Everyone else had to be the maze! In the picture, Ben has to make it through all of those arms and legs. :)

Connor, Joy, and Marisa are cheerleaders!

Me and Lucy :)

Me and Hunter.

Pic

2010-01-13T08:23:00.001-05:00

Here's the pic I promised! Sorry I didn't show you sooner.

Church Stuff

2010-01-12T19:35:00.004-05:00

Okay, so lately our church has been going through a lot of changes. About two years ago, our pastor left. His family was close with my family, the kids were involved in the youth group, and it was a pretty big deal that they were leaving. So for a year, our assistant pastor, Steve, temporarily took over the job. The church board thought about keeping him as the head pastor, but decided to hire another guy named Mike. Steve had to leave the church when the new pastor came. Another blow. And now, half a year later, Alex leaves.
So a lot happening! The new pastor's a good preacher and he's really nice, but he's changing a lot already. The church service times are changed, now, and stuff.
My family decided to try the lifeguard's church last Sunday. We really liked it! Even though we hardly knew anyone there, it really felt like a family, something our old church had began to lose. Everyone was really welcoming and nice, and the service was pretty good. I also loved the music! It was nice and loud! The only setback was the Sunday school. I'm used to a really great Sunday school. Alex was really good with that. He started discussions and let us talk a lot. We read out of the bible, of course, but then he would talk about what we read. Sunday school was the best part of church. But at the lifeguard's church, they had us go through a grown-up bible study thing with John Piper. We had to watch this movie and take notes on it and stuff. It felt kinda like school. John Piper is not my friend.
Over all, my family really liked the church. I think we'll probably go there next Sunday.

Braces/Hockey

2010-01-06T21:38:00.003-05:00

I got my braces off! I'm so happy! My teeth felt really slimy and weird after they were off, but it was worth it, of course. I got my retainer this afternoon and now I have those strange pieces of plastic (or whatever it's made of) in my mouth. But they're to make sure my teeth don't go back to crooked, so it's all good. :)
I had my second youth group, lifeguards, tonight. It was a lot of fun. Connor and I always dance in the car on our way. We turn up the music loud and turn on the radio to the best station. I dance the whole way, but Connor can only dance at red lights, since he drives us. It's so fun!! :)
At lifeguards we played hockey in the basement. It was soo much more fun than i thought it'd be! I've never played hockey before, so I figured i would do terrible. I did better than i thought i would, even if it still wasn't very good. I blocked Connor most of the time. There was definitely some sibling rivalry. A couple of times i was checked into the wall by either Connor or this one other guy, my mind is going blank on his name. Neither of them meant to body check me, but it was still fun. I didn't care - except for this one time when Connor hit me onto the side of a corner and hurt my leg. It wasn't too bad, but now it's hurting more. Hockey's a lot of fun :).

I'll post pics of my newly straight teeth soon.

Christmas Pics!

2009-12-28T12:32:00.004-05:00

Connor and Christian!

Andrea got a digital camera for Xmas too! Hers looks just like mine, except for a couple of differences - and it's also a Kodak. Mine is a canon.

Sorry I forgot to turn this pic. Christian started feeling a little sick on Christmas. :(

Katie and Hunter are getting ready to open their presents!

Katrina and Dad, dancin to my music!

Me and Andrea!

Christian started messing with Hunter's new HUGE Nerf gun!

In case you're wondering, Christian is about to say 'Bang!', so his lips look a little weird ;)

Grandpa sleeps a lOT

Katie got a ton of coloring stuff

My drawing!

Grandma making potato cakes! They were soo yummy.

breakfast

This is photographic proof that Connor actually read a book! Even if it's more like a comic book :)

Christian got even sicker on our last day :(

Grandmother's House

2009-12-27T15:35:00.005-05:00

Today I am writing from my grandma's house. On the floor next to the computer, Connor, Katrina, Grandma, and my cousin Andrea begin to play the card game 'spoons'.
It's quiet for a few seconds, and then I hear the clatter of metal on metal, and someone yells, "Ahh! Grandma, you took my spoon!" On the couch beside the floor where the gamers play, my mom is sitting, wrapped in a very warm blanket and reading a very thick book. Katie, another one of my cousins, walks into the room and sits on the edge of the couch, careful not to disturb my mom.
I reach into the large pocket of my hoodie and bring out my lovely new, spic-and-span red camera and take a picture of the moment.
Ahhhh. I do so love grandma's house.

:)

Christmas!

2009-12-25T11:09:00.004-05:00

I got a digital camera!!!!!! I was sooo surprised! It's a really nice one, too, and I'm soo excited! My mom said that I proved myself at Washington DC, because I took my parent's camera with me and kept it safe the whole week. I also told my mom that I wouldn't mind having fewer presents if I did get a camera, so she decided I was worth it ;). I'm so happy! Check out the pics I took with my present!

My first pic! We opened presents at, like, 7:45

My camera box! I can't take a picture of my camera very easily, so I just took a snap of the box! Isn't it beautiful?

My two picture things. You trace the lines with this sharp tool-thing to make a picture. It's really fun.

My new Cd's, Barlowgirl and Nevertheless.

I got goldfish! Hunter got cheezits, Connor got Checks mix (the best!), and Katrina got pop tarts. My mom gives us weird presents ;)

My new pjs! I couldn't turn on the flash of the camera to take this pic, because I was facing a mirror. Without the flash, the pictures get blurry easier, so it took several trys to get a good one (hence the frustrated look on my face)

Katrina! I'm actually looking at a mirror, and this is Katrina's reflection. But you can't really tell.

Hunter and Connor, excited about their new video games and stuff. (Hunter doesn't really know how to smile in front of a camera)

First Presents!

2009-12-22T19:24:00.002-05:00

Today me and my siblings opened our presents from each other! It was pretty fun. I got ALL Cd's. I got The Afters, Never Going Back to OK, Family Force Five, and Hawk Nelson, Live Like Loud. They're all awesome! Katrina also gave me a creative pic she took of a guitar :))
Today was pretty fun, and I'm so excited for Xmas! Tomorrow my family is going to a friends house to watch a movie (probably Night at the Museum 2, one of my FAVORITE movies! It's sooooo funny!), that's why we didn't open presents from each other then.

Parties!

2009-12-21T20:51:00.010-05:00

We had a surprise party for Alex today! It was really fun. It was kinda a last minute shabang with him, the VERY last one. :'( We volunteered to speak into the mik and say our favorite memory of him and/or what he meant to us. We had lots of pizza, chips, and cookies. At the end we had a cake eating contest, and my brother, Connor, won. :) Unfortunately I forgot the camera, so there aren't any pics of the occasion. But there are some of last night's Xmas party!

Hannah under the table, me laying on the table, Lucienne looking under the table

Me and Katrina! (Just so you know, I'm leaning down and am really taller than her ;)

April, me, and Lucienne

Lucienne!

Katrina, Sarah, and half of Evan's face, all wearing their sombreros

Lindsay, Hannah, and me

Camera

2009-12-20T14:53:00.003-05:00

Today was my last church day with Alex, cause next week I'll be at my grandparent's house for Xmas. :-( Tonight is Alex's last big thing with the youth group - the Christmas party! We're going to have a blast, and I'm definitely planning on blowing the roof of the church with our awesome christian rock songs. Maybe there will be some Christmas music among the rock ;)
For Xmas I asked for a digital camera. I know it's not going to happen (unless by some MIRACLE), but I still thought I'd ask for it. My parent's don't spend too much money on us during Christmas like some people do. But throughout the year my parent's buy us things. By that I mean that they'll buy us candy often, if we ask for a small treat they'll get it for us, that kind of thing. So since they do that, they can't spend so much money on presents. Another reason I'm not expecting a digital camera is because last summer my parents bought me a 600$ bike. It was my birthday present, and it's really nice. But it dashed my hopes of a camera, unfortunately. I'll just have to use my parent's digital camera, and that isn't too bad. ;)

Finally in the 'Spirit'

2009-12-19T08:49:00.003-05:00

I woke up today and walked out of my room to the biggest surprise. Snow!!! I was sooo surprised, and I'm soo happy! The only snow we've been getting is a couple of flurries, but never too much on the ground. Our weather keeps warming up and melting the little bit of snow we have, but now it's almost covering the grass! Please don't scorn at the tiny amount of snow that I'm thrilled about, because it's more than anything we've had so far, okay? ;)
So yeah, I'm pretty happy. The only problem is, now that we have snow on the ground, I keep expecting my dad to say, "Kids! Go shovel us and Nelda out!" (Nelda's an old lady down our street). But it's totally worth it, because what's Christmas without snow? I probably shouldn't have that kind of attitude, I mean Christmas is, after all, about Christ. But I reallly haven't been getting the 'spirit' of Christmas lately, and now I'm definitely pumped! Yay snow!

What to post.....

2009-12-18T17:43:00.003-05:00

Hmmm... I want to write something but quite honestly, I can't think of anything to say. Hmmm... Well, the long awaited Christmas break has begun! Yesss! I'm soooo glad! I needed a break so bad. I'm like brain dead after these past months of school! other than Thanksgiving break (which was about three days) and a day or two at the beginning of the school year, the only break we had were the weekends. I'm definitely ready for two weeks off.

Ahhh! No math! In case you haven't heard, I absolutely hate that subject. Sooo much freedom! Sweet bliss!

OKay, so I started reading the Ranger's Apprentice series, and it's really good! The first two books are my favorite so far, but I've only read three so far :). I wanted to go to the library today and get the 4th, but it was closed. :( Strangely enough, it's open on Saturdays, so I can get it tomorrow. Thank goodness! It left off on a bit of a cliff hanger, so I want the fourth pretty badly! I definitely recommend the Ranger's Apprentice to all fantasy lovers! And even to those who aren't incredibly into fantasy, because it doesn't have a whole lot of made-up creatures. In fact, after the first two books, it isn't very fantasyish.

SO I did come up with a few things to say! Hopefully just beginning to write will work next time! Enjoy my blog, enjoy life, and enjoy this ridicules conclusion of my 114th post (in case you were interested in how many posts I have ;).

:*-[

2009-12-13T20:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning my youth group found out our youth pastor, Alex, was leaving. I kinda went into "shock", as in I wasn't incredibly sad at first because I hardly believed it. But today was his last Oasis night, and it kinda hit me. I'm so depressed :(. His last Sunday is December 27, and his last shabang with us is the teen Xmas party. We'll have fun, for sure, but it's so weird! No more Oasis with Alex? That isn't right. He's the only youth pastor I've had, because our last one moved to China right before 6th grade. AH! This is so UNRIGHT. And I don't even care that 'unright' isn't a word.
I don't really know what will happen with the youth group. I mean, it's smallish, but we need some sort of youth director. My mom heard the pastor's daughter, Adrielle, might be leading us for a while. She's nice, so hopefully it'll be okay.

'Nevertheless'

2009-12-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

I've removed my Christmas music for a short time, because when I was listening to the radio a few minutes ago, I heard a great band, looked it up on playlist.com, and found several great songs of theirs! I love Nevertheless' music, and I hope you love it too!

November 24, 2008

2009-11-20T16:24:00.004-05:00

It's almost been a year since I've had a blog! My first post was on November 24, 2008. I'm assuming I wrote that on the first day I got it. ;) So Happy Almost Anniversary iSisi!!!

High School Spanish

2009-11-19T21:49:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted about school for a long time, so I figured this post should talk about it.
Okay, so high school is a lot different than middle school. The halls are WAY more crowded than the middle school's, and the kids are much much taller. I was one of the tallest people walking in the hall at the other school! My class is a lot different, probably because it's a Spanish class instead of an art one. My teacher is nice. She gives us our work (usually an easy worksheet) and then lets us talk! In the middle of my class - and probably the biggest difference - is lunch. It's the best time of my hour and a half I'm there, though. I sit with a kid named Alex, who I met at my second youth group, and some friends he brought to the table. They're all really nice, and it's a lot of fun!
Next Monday I have a presentation in front of the class! I have to say my name and list four of my characteristics (all in Spanish of course). Then I do the same with my best friend, and tell which class is my favorite. Lastly I tell what my favorite profesor(a) is. I'm not too worried, though. I've written my 'speech' and, after only reading it once, pretty much know it by heart.
Tomorrow I have a test, too. It's about describing words, ser, as my teacher calls it, which is 'you are' (tu eres) 'I am' (yo soy) 'we are' (nosotros somos) etc. etc., and adjectives (feminine and masculine).
I think I have everything down. All of what I said above was memorized, so I'm pretty confident about those.
Ah! My mom's cooking turkey in the oven and it smells sooo good!

Holidays

2009-11-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving is coming! That means it's time for me and my mom to start cooking and for all of us to start cleaning for the annual party at our house. My dad's side of the family always comes over for a Thanksgiving party, and it's almost always fun (keep in mind that on my dad's side, all of my cousins are much older than I. The youngest is seventeen, three years older than me). But every year my family has to clean the house really really well. And that's pretty boring and stress-filled for my mom.
I also go to my other grandparent's house. That party is usually a bit more fun because my cousins on that side are all near to my age. I also don't associate it to cleaning and cooking, like the other party.
Thanksgiving is like the open act of holidays, it's like the 'opening holiday'. Christmas is pretty much the whole month after it, because there are so many traditions spread out through it. Then comes New Year's Eve, which is more like a half-holiday, if you ask me. But Christmas is like a whole month long, like I said before. And if you aren't celebrating Christmas, maybe your celebrating Kwanzaa or Hanuka. I really don't know anything about those holidays, so I can't say anything about them. ;)
Christmas always makes me want to sing 'It's the most wonderful time of the year', because it is!

Bratty Soccer Player

2009-11-08T09:45:00.001-05:00

If you watch the girls in white, you can see that one elbowed the girl in red and the other grabbed her shorts, but the red girl has some anger-management issues!

Life living across the street from a school

2009-10-30T13:18:00.006-04:00

Okay, so I live across the street from a school, and since tomorrow is Halloween, there are some Halloween things going on there. Our street is lined with cars. My mom is on her way home from work, and so there is no car in the driveway. Hunter and I were talking at the table, when I see a car pull into our driveway. At first I assumed it was pulling in to turn around, but soon a lady walks out of it with her kids and walks across the street to the school!
I pointed it out to Hunter, and we both went to the window. I said, "Hey Hunter, we should totally walk out there and lean on the car" - which was also very nice and new-looking - "and wait for her to return. Then when the lady comes back we can say, 'why are you trying to get in our car?' and when she says it's hers, we can answer, 'but it's in our driveway!'"
Hunter thought it was a good idea, but wouldn't do it himself. I was wondering whether I should do it or not, when the woman returned. I think she saw us staring at her through the window, but I chickened out and didn't do anything. If that lady returns, nothings holding me back. ;)

Songs

2009-10-21T14:05:00.004-04:00

I found two songs my youth group listened to during the DC trip!! The first is Rebirth from Skillet, and it is so awesome!! Everyone in that bus had sore necks after this song because we were all banging our heads so hard!!! Love Addict is the second, and we literally shook the bus with that song!! First we would move the bus up and down, then side to side, with the people in the cars next to us watching. It was so awesome!!
Ah... good memories. :))

I don't know if I've already posted this video, but it's so funny, and really shows how (usually) the whole car acted when this song came on! Michael and Melanie knew this song the best, because it was their ipod we were listening to!

one more UNBELIEVABLE video

2009-10-06T18:06:00.001-04:00

The Afters - Myspace Girl

2009-10-04T21:49:00.000-04:00

More Tim Hawkins... except this is a little better organized and his voice sounds better :)

2009-09-12T13:38:00.000-04:00

Last Minute Vacation

2009-09-05T18:37:00.011-04:00

My sister, Katrina, has been hinting that next year she won't be coming home for her summer vacation. So my parents planned a last minute vacation, so we can spend some extra time with her before she leaves for college again. We went to west Michigan to spend a few nights at a hotel near Lake Michigan. It was a GREAT time, and all of us had a ton of fun, as I'm sure these pics with proof!!!

We went to the beach the first night to watch the sunset over the water. Above is one of our silly pics.

We thought we had better get some of our nice pics out of the way. ;)

Mom joined us...

Katrina attempting to tame Connor. :)

'YAY FOR THE BEACH!!' pic. It took several tries before we got a picture with everyone in the air.

We look upon our destination: the top of a large hill.

We run into battle!

Conquered!!

Nice pic on top of our hill.

Retreating back down the hill.

the lighthouse out on the water. verrry pretty.

Katrina's taking a photography class this year. she practiced during vacation.

the long walk to the lighthouse

nice pic on the beach.

a big boat sailed by while we were at the lighthouse.

Goodbye!!!

Connor was the bravest of us all. he got his feet wet in the freezing-cold lake-water.

We found this large log-thing on the beach.

Katrina walking on the log.

after the beach, we went out for ice cream. it was goooood.

Lake Michigan.

at the beach again! - except this is a different one.

The water wasn't as cold at noon, but it was still really cold.

The sand under the water was cool to step on. Me and the boys were brave enough to walk in the water a bit.

Katrina, however, sat on a log and pointed out to dad how crazy we were. :) Kinda funny how there was a log at every beach we went to.

Katrina and I in the car!

At the dune buggy place!

Connor flexing next to Katrina, who appears to be shaking her hips... and has gained weight. :))

Katrina wasn't prepared for the big hills in the sand dunes. She was terrified.

on the dune buggy

beautiful sand.

That water was sooo clear!!

Us kids on a large chair during one of our stops on the sand dunes.

Mom and dad.

Our signiture pose...

Getting ready to go down a very big hill!!! we were all excited except Katrina. :DD she made us laugh.

Connor on one of the larges lighthouses.

The second lighthouse we went to was HUGE!

Hunter!

On the rocks below the lighthouse. I was afraid someone would spitt on us. (long story ;DDDDD)

The trip was AWESOME, and we had sooo much fun!!

Good-bye Summer, Hello School

2009-08-24T15:49:00.005-04:00

Summer's almost over!! :'''C. I'm still a bit excited for school, though. I'll be taking Spanish and Hunter will be joining Connor and I in homeschooling (I'm not too excited about that ;)), so there will be some changes. My sister is also going back to college soon. I'm going to miss her so much!!! Man, this will be weird!!! Katrina had almost four months, I think, of summer vacation. I've gotten used to having her around. Hopefully when she leaves it won't be as hard as it was last year, when she was a freshman.
Well, I've got some new clothes for school - I love my jeans!!! (I am definitely a jean person) - and newly added side-bangs to go with them. I'll post pics of my new hair cut once I take some pictures :).
And, I almost forgot, I'm going to be a freshman in high school this year! Hopefully the high school won't smell like mold like my middle school did.

This is so funny!

2009-08-19T11:40:00.000-04:00

'Camp'

2009-08-11T16:19:00.005-04:00

I have soccer camp this whole week. Well, it's called a camp, but it's only from 10-12 every morning. It's really fun! Makki teaches us new moves and skills (he is crazy awesome at soccer!) and - since all of the girls in the camp are from my soccer team - we get to know each other.
I'm having a little trouble breaking into the group. I have some friends already, but almost all of the girls were on Makki's team last year, so they know each other better and are friends already.
It gets really hot on the field!! Since the camp is in the middle of the day, the sun is high and very hot! All of the girls are really tired and sweaty at 12:00. ;)

Pics from DC... Finally!

2009-08-06T16:49:00.011-04:00

Sorry I haven't done this sooner, but here are some of the many pics of my youth group's Washington DC trip. I also apologies that none of these pictures have to do with the missions part (aka, pics of the kids in the vbs and the poverty simulation). Long story short, I couldn't take pics of those parts of the trip.

Connor and Marcus, one of my first pics of the trip. And in case your wondering what Marcus is doing, people had been taking pictures in front of him, and the flashes hurt his eyes, so I decided to take one (with the flash on ;)).
Liz and LJ. LJ was really tired.

Sarah... half of Marcus' face behind her.

A real, live weenier vehicle!!

My first ever ride on a subway. Above is Joy with Marisa behind her.

The AWESOME escalators in the subway station. They were sweet. Too bad Arielle has a phobia of them.

DC people are so weird.

National Cathedral.

Easter Island dude. This made me think of 'Night at the Museum'.

LJ is shorter than an elephant leg!

Our sight-seeing day. I think this picture looks cool. (I love the color-accent option on our camera)

Lincoln memorial

Washington memorial... correct?

Connor, Marcus, and Melanie on the steps of the Lincoln mem.

Vietnam memorial. You really don't realize how moving it is until you're there.

After a long day of sight-seeing, it was nice to relax by have chicken fights in the hotel pool. :)

Sarah's surprise party!

Fort Washington.

Fort Washington...

on top of a huge hill in front of the visitor's center.

Visitor's center.

Look at that cannon! Next to it is Wayn, one of our shaperons.

Arielle and Liz by the river.

part of Fort Washington, seen through the branches of a tree.

Me and Liz with our sweet 'n awesome hats inside the visitor's center.

Michael, modeling his hat.

Joy in hers.

the whole group!

Marcus wearing a bonnet bought from the gift shop inside of the visitor's center
Everyone who had sunglasses wore them for this pic. We're waiting for the bus at the bus stop.

inside the bus

And finally, our tired trip home. (Although, at the end of the trip we went insane and did some pretty... crazy stuff.) ;)

Sneaking in a quick word...

2009-07-24T19:48:00.002-04:00

Right now I'm in DC. I'm at a brand new community center that was built just last year. It's a beautiful building, with a gym, many meeting rooms, and a computer lab (I'm sure you can guess where I am right now). Although we can play basket-ball in the gym and go onto the computers, my youth group and I have to sweep and mop the floors, too. But most of the time we are free to have fun.
The first day at Washington DC (after the 10 hour drive) we went to a church for the poverty simulation.
I'll say more later. I've got to go.

Somerset Beach

2009-07-16T17:44:00.002-04:00

Today my family and I came home from Somerset beach campground. It was a lot of fun! I was able to hang with my friends from church (because it's my church camp) and play pranks :).
One of the very best parts of camp this year, was that one of my friends' brother is a camp director. He's 19 years old and works there all summer until college starts again. His name's Even, and he sleeps in a small cabin with his friend, Jeff. On Sunday, I think, Nathan and Joy - Even's younger siblings - were passing by his cabin, when Jeff and him started throwing crab apples at them. They ran to their camp site and came up with a prank to pull on them. Joy and Nathan came to us for some help, and asked us if we wanted to assist them in TPing Jeff and Even's car. We didn't even hesitate, and joined their plot. :)
We came up with code names that all had the word 'bear' in it. Nathan's was 'bear-butt' (I didn't come up with it), Katrina's was 'gummy bear', mine was 'red bear-d', I think Joy's was 'little bear', or something, and Connor's was Charmin (in case you didn't know, Charmin is the toilet-paper brand with the bears).
But we ran into a problem. At 10:30 pm, Even and Jeff were having a camp fire right outside of their cabin with some girls, and their cars are across the street from it. At about 11:00 pm they were still there. So we snuck to their cars and, very carefully, soaped their windows and covered their car tires with tp. The windows said 'Gotcha!', and the guys never caught us.
The next morning we put Vaseline on their car handles, so their hands slipped when they grabbed it.
That afternoon, while we were at the beach, Joy - I mean, Little Bear - got a text saying, 'You're gonna get it now! Don't touch my car!!!'
Well, that was actually a mistake, because we figured that if Even was going to get us bad any way, we might as well make it worth it. So Joy and Nathan stole Even's bike tire and hid it, and then let the air out of his front tire.
Even and Jeff got back by stealing Joy's bike tire, and Nathan's bike seat, not that good of a prank if you ask me.
But we got them back anyway. While Jeff and Even were away from the campground, they left the doors unlocked to their cabin. We tped the inside of their cabin!!! It was SO fun! We also wrote on their windows 'Gotcha again!' and 'you lose! :)', because it was like a war.
It was really awesome. I LOVE pranking, especially when it involves my friends' siblings. ;)

July The 4th pics!

2009-07-05T13:19:00.007-04:00

Me and my family went to St. Clare for fireworks. It was really awesome. While we waited for the fireworks to start, my cousins and siblings and I played keep away with the football. It was the BEST keep away game I have ever played!! Here are some pictures I took of us while we waited, and of the fireworks!

Me and my cousin, Andrea, waiting for the fireworks!

Katrina and my cousin Katie

cousin Christian,

Katrina got tired and laid down for a bit, so I snapped this pic... :))

There were a LoT of people there! You can't really see much of them, other than my aunt Becky, Uncle Rob, and the creeper behind them, but it was packed.

Grandpa (aka, Papa)

Connor, who refused to smile for the camera

My dad, humiliatingly sitting in a pink chair. :)

Christian loves football!

Katrina and Katie again. Almost time for fireworks!!!

the beginning...

And the end...

There were also hearts, smiley faces, and star figures. They were very good.

High School

2009-07-02T10:51:00.003-04:00

Next year I'll be a freshman in high school, but I'll still be home schooled. I'm taking Spanish instead of art.
I'm wondering which sport to try out for in the spring. During the fall I have soccer, but Makki's team doesn't continue through the Spring. So I'm wondering which to do; soccer, (for the school) or track. If I join track, then I'll already know two of the girls on the team. But if I don't do soccer, then it'll be really weird because I've played every season since I was four.
(Okay, some back round info on how I know two of the girls on the track team. Connor has been going to a second youth group for a while. He puts our first youth group first, but attends lifeguards (the second youth group) on Wednesdays, which is only for high schoolers. Well, lifeguards has summer events every week and since I'm going into high school, I was allowed to join. So yesterday we went to a pool party - of course, it rained so it wasn't as fun. I met 2 girls who are going to go on the track team next year. Both are really nice, so I'm leaning more towards track now.)
Yeah, it's a little confusing, but I hope you all got it. Anyway, I am still wondering what I should do, but hopefully I'll take the best choice.

Twitter

2009-07-01T13:00:00.002-04:00

I've joined twitter! I have also found out how to link it to my blog, so if you look to your right...
---->>
then you can see my updates!! I'm pretty excited about it, even though I have only three friends so far. But it's something new and cool to do, and I'm sure I'll find more friends with an account.
Remember to check my twitter updates!!!!

50

2009-06-28T13:20:00.004-04:00

It's all over the news: Michael Jackson is dead at the age of fifty.
And now: Billy Mays is dead at the age of fifty.
I don't know what it is about that age, but apparently it isn't healthy. My family always made fun of Billy Mays. He yelled in his commercials and I would, personally, always say, "Mommy, the man on tv is yelling at me!!"
And with Michael Jackson, I just said he was all plastic.
I wonder what's going on in Hollywood... two men at the age of fifty have died suddenly and mysteriously... what are they doing over there?

Did God Creat Everything?

2009-06-19T15:34:00.004-04:00

There's a devotional I read, and it had a pretty good story. It's a little long, but I'm going to post it:

A university professor challenged his class with this question: "Did God create everything that exists?"
One student bravely answered, "Yes, he did."
The professor continued, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists. And according to the Principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil."
No one in the entire class spoke. The professor boasted to his class that he had proven once more that faith in God is only a myth.
Another student stood and said, "Of course it exists. Have you ever been cold?" The students laughed.
But the young man continued. "May I ask you a Question, Professor?" The professor agreed. "Does cold exist?" The student asked.
"What kind of question is that?" The professor said, "Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students laughed again.
But the young man continued. "The fact is, sir, that cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is, in reality, the absence of heat. Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is the total absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold doesn't exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."
The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does."
"Once again, you are wrong, sir. Darkness doesn't exist, either. Darkness is, in reality, the absence of light. We can study light, but we can't study darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the carious wave lengths of each color. You can't measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. Darkness is a term we use to describe what happens when there's no light present."
Then the student asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course. We see it every day. It's in the daily example of human injustices and abuse. It's in the rampant cases of crime and violence everywhere in the work. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."
To this the student said, "Evil doesn't exist, sir. Or at least, it doesn't exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It's just like darkness and cold - a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God didn't create evil. Evil isn't like faith or love that exist as light and heat do. Evil is the result of what happens when man doesn't have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there's no heat or the darkness that's a result of no light."

I Did It!

2009-06-17T13:46:00.005-04:00

I made the premiere team!! Makki asked me on Monday whether or not I was serious about the team, and if I would be coming to the second tryout. I said yes, and he told me that he might put me on his premiere team. Yesterday (Tuesday) Makki pulled me aside and, after asking me again whether I was really serious and dedicated, said I made it! He told me that he liked my speed and skills. So I'm really excited!
This Saturday at 11:00, Makki's having a scrimmage for his high school team and high school premiere team. It should be fun!

Soccer Tryouts

2009-06-15T11:00:00.004-04:00

I have soccer tryouts today! Well, it's actually only one tryout. It's for my old team's premiere team (higher than select). The premiere team's coach was in the Olympics, so he's pretty good. I did a short 3 day camp with him last summer, and he was a whole lot of fun. He is a very good coach.
His team is the only one I'm trying out for. If I don't make it on the premiere team or if I decide I don't really want to play on it, then I'll be playing for a team that is hand-picked. It's sort of complicated, but my old coach is breaking away from the Makkie (the premiere coach) system and forming a new team. His daughters are playing on it and some of their friends. So Brian - my old coach - is not having tryouts. He's just inviting girls to play for him.
It's confusing without all of the back round information being told, but that would take too long to write. So I'm just trying to decide between those two teams - but if I don't make Makkie's premiere team, then I'm joining Brian's team without a second thought.

14

2009-06-08T22:05:00.005-04:00

Sorry I haven't written for a while! There hasn't been much to write about for me, lately. Now I have a couple of things I can write about, but I've got to get some pictures from the camera first (the pics are on Katrina's camera, so I have to wait).

Okay, so this is sort of random, but have you ever had a favorite number? I never really had one until the start of the fall soccer season. My soccer coach said that we could chose which numbers we got on our uniform. I decided to have 14 - and now I love that number!

Maybe this is a sore excuse for a blog entry, but I felt like saying something. I'll be 14 next July, too!

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-26T13:41:00.004-04:00

Memorial weekend was sooo fun! I loved having the time off from school, and I totally can't wait for summer! I went to my Grandma's house on Saturday, where we celebrated two of my cousin's birthdays and Connor's. Yesterday (Monday) we had a barbecue at a friend-of-my-mom's-from-college's house. There were a couple of family's there, and we played volley ball. It was a lot of fun! We played kids vs. geezers (aka parents). We totally kicked butt.

I am so excited for summer!!

What I'm going through...

2009-05-17T08:14:00.004-04:00

In this post, I am going to be completely honest - not that I'm not in all of the others.
Okay, well I suppose I'll just start with:

One of my spiritual difficulties is sharing with someone what I've had trouble with.

I don't mean telling someone about God, I mean sharing with someone, like my mom or a friend, about what I myself am going through. So basically having a 'buddy' in my faith.

What I think I have the most trouble with is judgement. I'm just too afraid of what people will think if I tell them that I'm, say, 'having trouble putting my faith in the Lord.' What I'm afraid of is having people think I'm just saying this to look like a better Christian. Actually, I realize as I write this that that's really stupid. If I'm telling someone about things that I'm bad at, then that person probably won't think I'm trying to look like a great Christian.

But I'm still afraid of what they might think of me afterwards. If I tell them that I get jealous a lot (I don't actually have a big problem with jealousy), then will they think I'm just jealous of every person I don't like?

I suppose I just think about it too much. Even as I write this, I keep thinking, 'I'll just save this as a draft. I won't really post it.' But I think I probably should. I have more trouble telling someone in person than to just write it out on the computer, where I can edit what I say. And now everyone who reads my blog will understand me a little better. Besides, I've already realized that one of my fears of judgement is just plain stupid.

So I don't know if this post was completely boring to you, but I needed it. And maybe I'll post more of what I'm struggling with. But I might just tell my mom what's going on in my spiritual life, I'm not so afraid of what she might think as I am of others.

Summer!

2009-05-08T11:58:00.003-04:00

I haven't written in a while! I mean, I posted the link for a video, but that's pretty much it! I don't really know what to write....
Well, I suppose I'll just say that I am sooo glad it's the weekend, and am SOOO glad that it's almost summer!!! My youth group has a missions trip down in Washington DC in July. Unfortunately, the trip cuts into my church camp, but only, like, two days, maybe three. But it'll be fun! I can't wait!

2009-05-02T13:38:00.001-04:00

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=174062510356&ref=mf

Love this video!! Click on the link ^above^ and watch the whole vid. It starts off a bit slow, but it just keeps getting better and better!!!

Just Waiting...

2009-04-27T13:59:00.005-04:00

Well, I've read my science, done my math, practiced some on the guitar, and now I'm waiting for Connor to finish math so that my mom can read us one of Charles Dickens' books. I just needed something to do. So, even though this can hardly be called a blog post, I just decided to write something.

Sorry!

2009-04-23T13:34:00.002-04:00

I just realized, while I was looking at some of my posts, that I've been complaining about soccer a lot lately!!

Don't get me wrong, I do love soccer. I was practicing some tricks/moves and juggling in my backyard two weeks before soccer practice started! I really enjoy it, it's just that sometimes when I look at a schedule and realize that I have soccer everyday except one for the next week, my mind seems to panache. It's kinda stupid, but when I was younger I didn't like soccer much, so I wasn't always thrilled to go to practice. Now I'm used to thinking, 'oh great, I've got practice tonight,' so I sort of 'naturally' just think that.

But I see that I've been complaining WAY too much, and I'll try to stop. I did have fun at my two indoor soccer games, though the outdoor one was outside on Monday, when it was rainy and freezing, and I admit that it really wasn't that much fun. ;^) Tuesday's practice was canceled, due to a too wet field. Now I have practice today!! And it is soooo nice outside!! Yay! I'm pretty excited now!

Avoiding Math...

2009-04-22T13:54:00.004-04:00

Okay, I admit it, I'm just writing this blog entry to avoid my math. ;^) I know I've got to do it, but I was just correcting the lesson from yesterday, and one of the problems I got wrong is hard to figure out. I just can't see how they got their answer! I should probably ask my mom to help me with it, and I will after this post, but I'm somewhat frustrated. I figure that writing will help 'release' my frustration. So I suppose this is what I should be writing:

AGGGHHHHHHGGGHHHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG!!!!

Don't you just love how I grunted at the end?
I suppose it's better to do this on the computer than out loud. Although (in case you haven't noticed, math is my worst and most frustrating subject) I have yelled into a pillow before. I think that's what everyone should do when they're frustrated, it helps a lot.
I suppose you are probably thinking 'wow, that girl's got anger management issues', because, quite honestly, that's what I would be thinking too. But this isn't always the case. I'm not always this frustrated, but usually I get pretty mad at myself and my math book after redoing the problem over and over again. Of course, by then I've usually called my mom down to help me.
Besides, doesn't everyone have a school subject - or any subject - that just gets under their skin?

Soccer Week

2009-04-20T13:59:00.003-04:00

Well, this week I have soccer almost every single day. Last Saturday I had an indoor soccer game, yesterday I had another indoor game, today I have my first outdoor game, tomorrow I have practice, and then Wednesday I have a day without soccer. Thursday I have practice, Friday I have another outdoor game, and Saturday and Sunday are my last indoor soccer games.
I'm trying to stay positive, but that's a lot of soccer! My hamstring isn't too bad, but it still affects the way I feel. I prefer to kick with my left leg, now, (it's my right leg that has the injury) which isn't too bad since I kick just as well with my left. But now I can't run as fast without hurting it a little.
I'm trying to stretch it a lot. I think that will help with the running issue, at least. It isn't that bad, but it's annoying. Now I'll be playing on the larger, outdoor field, instead of an indoor one. So, I'm just hoping (and praying) that it won't be bad. And I don't think it will be!

What's going on.

2009-04-18T08:59:00.005-04:00

I am so glad that these past few days have been so nice outside!! I've been sitting on the porch while eating the ice cream my mom bought, and riding around on my bike, and having fun!
Thursday I had soccer practice. Only four girls showed up, including me! And it wasn't like it was rainy or anything, it was perfect weather. So the whole practice was spent playing two on two. It wasn't too bad, but it did get a little dull. But my coach, frustrated at the poor attendance, ended the practice a half hour early.
Today at 1:30, I think, I have an indoor soccer game. Then tomorrow I have a soccer game at 4:00, and on Monday I have my first outdoor game at 6:30! Tuesdays are, of course, practice days, too. So I am going to be packed with soccer!
Wish me luck!

1st Guitar Lesson

2009-04-15T21:43:00.006-04:00

I had a guitar lesson today! It was my first one, and I think it was pretty fun. I suppose I'm just excited to learn, so even though all I learned today was the very basics, (the names of the guitar's parts, some things that I shouldn't do concerning the neck, etc.) I had fun. Also, my youth pastor is my tutor. I'm a little more comfortable around him than some complete stranger, plus Alex is cool ;^).
At the end of the lesson, Alex showed me an exercise. I practiced it as soon as I got home, and I think I'm actually getting the hang of it. I watch him do it, and it seems totally impossible! I can do it without looking on the bottom strings (G, B, and E) which sounds pathetic, but I'm pretty proud of it.

Practice

2009-04-15T09:18:00.005-04:00

So I had soccer practice last night... yuck. The weather was bad (40 degrees and pouring rain) and my hamstring still isn't perfect. My dad gave me the advice to warm up with a jog, and then stretch the 'dickens' out of it. That's what my coach usually has us do anyway: a quick warm-up lap and then stretches.
But what was really annoying to me, was that a half hour into practice, my sweat pants - which are a little too big for me - began to get pretty wet, especially at the bottom where all the mud was slapped up. Soon they could be wrapped all the way around my foot. I had to hold them up with my hands, or else trip and fall into the mud. But once I took a girl on for the ball, I let go, and either I would trip over them or the other girl would step on one and cause me to trip.
AUGGHHH!! That just got me SOO annoyed!!!! I'm sure soccer practice wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for my pants. Oh well.
It was nice to come home and take a hot shower.

Happy Day-After-Easter!

2009-04-13T22:02:00.003-04:00

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I went to my Grandma's house for Easter. So I suppose I'll just say it now: HAPPY EASTER!!!
I unexpectedly spent the night at my Grandma's house, just Hunter and I. My mom, sister, and other brother left for home, because mom had to drive Katrina back to college today, and I really don't know why Connor decided to go back home. This morning I had brunch with Gramgram (we make fun of that pet name big time). We played card games and Hunter and I played catch with the football.
Ha ha! Funny story. A dog ran from across the street (my grandparents live in the country) and start running back and forth between me and Hunter, following where the ball went. Finally, when the ball was thrown over one of our heads, it ran to it and took off with the football in its mouth!! We chased it across the street. I think it just wanted to play with us, because it laid down and let go of the ball before long, when it noticed Hunter had run towards the house to get Grandma, and I wasn't running anymore. I was trying to get it to stay where it was. Soon I got the ball back.

So how was your Easter? Did you do anything special? Did you get sick on all the chocolate and sweets like I did (and when my mommy wasn't there, too!)?

Umbrella (Christ remix)

2009-04-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

LOVE IT!!

Almost Done!

2009-04-05T07:47:00.005-04:00

Only ONE MORE WEEK till I can go onto the Internet all the time! Yes! I can tell you, that these forty days - even with the exception of Sundays - have been rough! My mom might say something about Facebook, and that makes me want to go on, or I have an idea for a blog... but I can't go on! Even when I hear a good song, I've started to try and memorize the name or write it down so that I can look it up on playlist.com. Over all, I guess it hasn't been as bad as I would think, but this last week has been pretty bad, knowing that soon I can go on at any time again.

Well, a lot happened this week. I suppose right now I'll say the biggest thing that happened.

On Thursday I had to walk to school, as usual. But as I ran across one of the streets, my hamstring (wow, as I wrote that down I realized that that's a really weird name) started hurting. I could walk it off, though, and quite frankly, I felt like an old woman, pulling a muscle just while jogging a short distance. But I suppose it can happen to anyone.
Anyway, that night I had an indoor soccer game. I forgot about the hami, and just ran like I normally do.
At my first sprint, *ouch*! I pulled it, way worse than earlier that day - or maybe I just made it worse, but whatever, I don't know. Trying to run it off and ignore it was my first reaction, but that just made it worse. Thankfully, in indoor soccer, the coach can sub you out at any time. I was limping pretty bad, so my coach pulled me out.
I couldn't play for the rest of the game! Uhg, I was so upset. But my hamstring was REALLY hurting, so all I could do was sit on the bench and ice it up. I could hardly walk on it.
The next day it was a little better, but far from perfect. Yesterday, Saturday, I couldn't play, because my mom figured that she didn't want it to get any worse, and I have soccer practice on Tuesday, so I might as well rest it until it's as good as new (on Saturday my leg was just sore, like it would be after a hard work-out, or something).

I hope that wasn't boring to you readers, but it was a big deal to me. For now that's all I'll write. Look for more posts from today!!

Soccer

2009-03-29T15:02:00.003-04:00

I've started soccer! ...Well, sort of. Yesterday I had an indoor soccer game. We won, 7-0!!!! It was the most awesomest thing ever!
There are different sessions of indoor soccer. One is right after the fall soccer season (I played that one) and then another in January, and another in February - at least I think that's it. Anyway, I'm playing in the last session with my soccer team, just to get in better shape. My actual soccer practices don't start until April 7, though.
My running from park to park seems to have been paying off, and lately I've been running up and down the stairs 15 times, twice a day. That's also helped me get in relatively good shape. So I'd get tired fast, but not as fast as other girls, but I got over it very quickly. :D

Goodbye Trini! / Tea Pots

2009-03-22T17:49:00.004-04:00

My sister went back to SAU today.
*Sigh*.
I'll miss Katrina. I didn't get to do much with her since she was 'bed ridden' the whole week. Ha ha. I hope she won't be sick for her Easter vacation (especially since it's only a four day weekend, I think, because she just had her Spring Break). Then we can have some girl time! - Away from the brothers that I've been forced to hang with for the most part of my day. Ha! Just kidding!
Over all, this week went pretty well, though. In my art class, we're making tea pots and cups and stuff out of clay. Then we're going to have a tea party - using what we made- and we can bring in cookies and cupcakes, whatever's good for a tea party. I feel like I should be talking with an English accent, talking all about 'tea time' and 'dainty tarts, and such'.
I think it'll be fun though! I mean, I'm not all that into tea and everything, but it should be fun just to have a time to hang with class mates and 'party'.

So I suppose that's what happened this week!

P.S. we get to make a theme for our tea sets (example: shaped like some kind of animal, plant, object, etc.) and mine are going to be shaped like ice cream!

Couple 'o pics

2009-03-22T14:54:00.002-04:00

Here are some pics!

Normal picture.

Mission accepted.

Sorry I forgot!

2009-03-15T13:08:00.003-04:00

Hey guys!! Sorry I forgot to write last week. Already I've noticed that just two weeks can really make a difference! I used to go onto the Internet all the time - which I do admit probably isn't best - but now I'm not even remembering to go on and make a blog post! I will try to go on each Sunday and write, and my mom might post something for my throughout the week, too.

Oh, I love this sun! It's just been beautiful here for the past few days! I LoVe it! Played outside some yesterday... planning on doing more today!!

My church is near to a bowling ally. Every once in a while we go as a church there. Today is one of those days. But I decided not to go. I know it's a good time just to hang with your friends, and that would have been the only reason I went if I had gone. But I don't like bowling that much, and I is wayyyy too nice outside to be cooped up in a bowling ally!! I went bowling with Marisa and Sarah, more than a month ago now, just to hang with some friends. But I don't know, today's weather is just too perfect! So I decided to do some blogging real quick and then I can go rollerblading, or whatever.

I have a MP3 player. Not as good as an ipod, but still cool. I haven't learned how to delete songs yet - mainly because I never really wanted to until now - so I'm going to learn how to do that and start getting rid of the many songs I never listen to. Last night and this morning before church I made a list of all the songs I want to get rid of, so after this post I'll delete them. Then I can listen to the songs while I do whatever outside!

My sister's home for Spring Break!!! She'll be home this whole week! Unfortunately, she is VERY sick. Horrible, stuffy nose, cough, back pains, and more! Katrina's just feeling plain lousy. She couldn't go to church, and pretty much all she does is lay on the couch and watch TV and nap. :__(( I hope she gets better soon, for her sake and so that we can hang out!

Survey

2009-03-01T14:20:00.004-05:00

I got this e-mail from a friend and thought it was fun, so I copied and pasted it for you guys!

The longest survey you'll ever fill out! Do the world a favor and post it for all your friends.... Do this because the person who did it had fun. Answer all the questions truthfully,no lying!!!!

PERSONAL QUESTIONS.......

Name: For my blog, Sisi
Single or Taken: Single
Siblings: 3
Shoe size: 10
Height: about 5ft 7in
What are you wearing right now: jeans and hoodie

FAVORITES.......

Kind of pants: Denim Jeans
Number: 14!!!!
Animal: Snow Leopard
Drink: milk/apple juice
Sports: SOCCER!!!!, track, b-ball, lov it all
Month: idk. June i guess. and July cause it's when my b-day is!
Favorite cartoon: Tom & Jerry, i suppose.

HAVE YOU EVER......

Given anyone a bath: my baby cuz, Christian.
Bungee Jumped?: no way!!! never going to!
Made yourself throw-up? no way
Loved someone so much it made you cry?: haha! only 13 years old! nope! - unless ur talking about family love. in that case, i have cried at just the thought of my mommy dying.
Broken a bone?? yeah... funny story...
Played truth or dare?: sure have. but we do it; truth, dare, double dare, promise to repeat.
Been on a plane?: when i was, like, 6
Came close to dying? not that i know of!
Been in a sauna?: i don't even know what a sauna is.
Been in a hot tub?: yup!
Fallen asleep in school?: nope
Cried when someone died?: yes. (and that counts people who'v just died in a book)
Fell off your chair?: yes!
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call?: no
Saved IM/chats on emails conversations?: no.
Saved e-mails?: course!
Used someone?: no!

WHAT IS........

Favorite 3 songs: hmmmm.. iv got lots...
What is beside you?: nothing really close, but a chair, i guess.
Who do you really hate?: no one
Ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with: yeah, i suppose.
Are you lonely right now?: no
Have you ever been beaten up?: gratefully no
Have you ever been on radio/TV?: nopers
Ever liked someone, but thought they never noticed you?: not really
Your Favorite Food?: apples, chocolate, ice cream...
Are you too shy to ask someone out?: yeah, but I don't want to date right now!
Dogs or cats?: dogs for sures
Favorite Flower?: idk. but not roses because they 'bite'.
How many pillows do you sleep with?: 2 while hugging a throw-pillow. hehe
Sprite or 7up?: don't like either.
Coffee or iced tea?: yuk
Are you oldest, middle or youngest?: middle

FINAL QUESTIONS:

What did you do yesterday?: play outside in the cold! i walked my brand new stick-dog!... until it snapped. RIP
Where do you want to get married: when i'm grown up!
Good driver?: hopefully
Have a lava lamp: nope
Scary or Funny Movies?: funny, totally!
Vanilla Or Chocolate ?: both!
Root beer or Dr. Pepper?: nooooo Dr. P for me, thanks!
Skiing or Boarding?: never did either of them!
Summer or winter?: i like both as they arrive. but - because its the end of winter - summer right now.
Silver or Gold?: idk
Diamond or pearl?: diamond
Favorite date place?: Haven't ever dated!

Now you get to fill out the survey and pass it on to your friends so they can enjoy it!! Don't forget to send it to the person who sent it to you!!!!!

2 Posts in 1

2009-03-01T13:34:00.005-05:00

My first week without the Internet is over. Okay okay, my first 4 days are over. :-[
I didn't give up the TV though. My mom told me it would probably be too hard to give up both. So I decided to give up the Internet, because I go on it more and stuff. Plus it would be kinda hard to give up the TV, since when it's on, the sound carries through the whole house. And the computer is in the same room as it, so I'd be VeRy tempted to turn around and watch it a lot.

This week's been so hard! I go onto the computer and want to blog, but I can't! :-[[[, again. I hope you can stand going without updates from this blog all week. Ha ha. Just kidding. But I'll be posting one HUGE blog each Sunday, just to make up for a whole week without anything!

Stick-dogs

Alright, so I've kind of wanted a dog. But the thing is, I'm not sure I want to clean up after it, and it's nice not having to worry about stepping in... uh... manure in your backyard.
So Hunter and I were walking through the trees in our park. There were a lot of sticks and twigs laying around. I picked up one of the large sticks, and put it out in front of me on the ground. When I began to walk, the stick would bounce up and down on the pavement.
I dubbed it, Skipper (because it looks like it's skipping - he he). And I got my first dog.
Skipper and I... we had so much fun - *sniffle* - it was so... young. The sad fate that came to Skipper happened when the neighbor across the street stole him. Jake - the neighbor - hit him across a tree. Skipper did not survive.

Sigh, I suppose everything happens for a reason, right? Skipper was a good stick-dog. The way he bounced up and down on the pavement... it just seemed so... right. But, because of his sacrifice, I have been given the chance to be incredibly weird and stupid on my blog.

I hope you liked this dedication to Skipper the stick-dog.
- And I also hope that you weren't so weirded out that you won't come back to iSisi.