Christmas

So I haven't posted in a while because, of course, it was Christmas time! I'm sure you're all dying to know about my Christmas, so I'll just start at the beginning (of last week).

It was a cold winters day, and we were headed to our Aunt DeAnn's house. Yeah, it was a Sunday and we were going to our annual Black family Christmas party. It's been at our house for years, and this year we finally got a break and our kind aunt and uncle offered to have it at their house. Thank you!! I didn't have to clean the house!! So we were there a while and Dad was all loopy because he was on medication because his back was out again. Joe and Erica came and then Grandma Carol came. Joe started carrying in huge black trash bags that were full of presents from Grandma because she got us each about 20 things from the local dollar store. I actually got some nice stuff which made me so happy. I got two pairs of fuzzy socks (I'm wearing one right now), sticky notes, mechanical pencil, a cute little calendar with pictures of sickly cute kittens (like Dolores Umbridge =D) which is hanging in my closet, sweet pink pajamas with hearts on them, and many other wonderful things. I came home soon after the "party" and Marjorie delivered Porthose. For any who don't know him, he's a black Shih-tsu/Maltese (I probably didn't spell that right, but you get the idea) They were going to stay with Suzie's family so I needed to watch him.

Ashley and I decided to do something about our ugly rooms. Mom had promised to paint our rooms the August after we moved here (which was over a year ago). The next day (Monday, December 22) we started to patch up holes and paint the baseboards and do other boring stuff. Ashley had my ipod so I couldn't listen to Harry Potter so I got Hannah's book on CD called Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. I had to find my old CD player. It was a pretty good book, but I finished it in about 2 hours. Mom painted most of the ceiling and my walls. I stayed up late to watch her paint but then she made me finish the ceiling, ugh. Porthose of course had to follow me everywhere so he kept on going into my room and Ashley's while we were painting which really helped us. My room is now a cream color like the rest of the house, yipee. I do like it though, it's better than the brown and all of the holes in my walls are covered up. Ashley's room is blue like the bathrooms, a kinda baby blue but not really. I'm too tired to describe, just picture it as any kind of blue you like. Our bedspreads matched each other's new room color, so we switched so it all worked out nicely. My new bed color is a hot pink with a black throw blanket and Ashley's is this creamy quilty bluey yellowey pinkey kind that would've matched my new color anyway, but it looks good with her blue. Mom was mad that we had her paint right before Christmas but I keep on telling her that now it's behind her and she doesn't have to repaint it for many years to come.

Christmas Eve was a bit sad because Marjorie and William's families decided to ditch us. John just came over for an hour to hang out and then we were by ourselves. Dad had had a bad reaction to his medicine so he was in bed. Us girls pulled on our Christmas pajamas and we play Category 5 together. After so many rounds, we got sick of it and we tried to think of a good game that Emma would be able to play too. We decided to have Hannah open one of her Christmas presents early (from Ashley and me) which turned out to be a game! Who knew? So we decided sinse that present happened to be a game, we might as well play it. It was Uno Spin. I got Uno and then someone spun and we had to pass our cards to the left. Emma got my card so she won. How is that fair? Eventually Dad came out and we read some scriptures and took pictures and then we went to bed. I was a bit worried because I wanted to have my cat, Charlie, in my room on Christmas Eve, but Porthose has to sleep with me. They don't like eachother very much. I decided to chance it and have them both in my room and they were pretty good until 7 AM which was good.

Mom made us wait until 8 AM instead of 7 to open presents which I was mad about. I woke up at 7 AM and Ashley was up too. We couldn't go back to sleep. It wasn't that I was extremely excited, but Charlie woke me up and I just couldn't go back to sleep. At 7:30 I asked Mom if we could look in our stockings like she said we could last night but she didn't let us. A little before 8, Ashley and I went into Hannah and Emma's room and jumped on their bed and started cuddling them so they'd wake up. That was a little backwards. Usually, the little sisters wake up the older ones on Christmas because they wake up early from being excited. This time, the older sisters were waking up the younger ones. Mom finally woke up and we opened stockings and presents. I finally got a jacket (I've been stealing Ashley's because mine were too small and she kept on stealing mine). I got a lighter jacket to wear when it's not really cold. I got 5 tank tops and some cute shirts. I got a book called Wicked (not the musical, a different book with a different story), scrapbooking and beading stuff, jewelry, Guitar Hero II, and gum. Oh, and a planner. I got one last Christmas and it's extremely useful. I got a watch too which I've been needing. Hannah got some cute random games, Emma got poly pockets, and Ashley got electronical stuff including an ipod and a camera, and then some small stuff. Hannah got a camera too. I got mainly clothes. I remember last year Ashley got mainly clothes and I was thinking of how upset I would be if that's what I got and how boring it is. I'm happy with it now. I spent the day playing with a game of Hannah's (a 20 questions toy that guesses anything from Harry Potter) and Guitar Hero. William's family came over for a while and we watched Charlie the Unicorn goes to Candy Mountain 1 and 2 because they didn't get why I got a shirt with three unicorns that said "Shun the Non-Believer, Shun!" on it for Christmas. (For those who can't see apparently, in case you didn't get what the underlined blue/purple things mean, click on them to see each one.) Wendy (not my mom) was wondering what the people were smoking when they made those. Grandma Carol was over too and she stayed for dinner which was delicious. Well, the salad wasn't my favorite. The adults dug into it while us kids just stared at it. The actual meal was really good.

The day after Christmas, Grandma Carol took my sisters and me to the movies. Ashley and I saw 7 Pounds while the lil ones and Grandma saw Madagascar 2. Dad said that a lot of people didn't like it because it was depressing and the ending "ruined it". I thought it was very good even though it was depressing, and the ending fit into the movie. You'll have to see it yourselves.

I've just been playing The Sims 2 and Guitar Hero II, playing with Porthose, and being lazy for a while. That's the joy of Christmas. Porthose is gone now which I'm kinda happy about. He was always chasing the cats and he followed me everywhere I went. I can't even go into the bathroom without him whining.

Now Grandma and Grandpa Stevens are coming over and staying at our house. They should be here any minute. I love it when they're over, because then I can play Ticket to Ride and Settlers with them (only Mom and Hannah like to play it too).

It's been a goodish Christmas. :)

Logic Puzzles

In my geometry class, I can do up to four of these logic puzzles for extra credit (which I NEED). My teacher said that I can get help from my family. So, here they are and you guys (especially Grandma Joan probably) can try to figure them out, and maybe help me out a bit. I think I have the last one figured out, #8. I think it is to ask one of the peoples what the other person will say that they will say. (Like you ask one who happens to be the honest one what the other one will say that they say. So he will say something like "The other one will say that I will say that the other one will say that I will say that...") Does that make sense? If not, help me out.

1. Arrange 12 toothpicks to form six congruent squares. Each square must have one toothpick for each side, and you cannot bend, break, or overlap the toothpicks.
Draw a picture of the figure when you get the answer.

2. Determine the rule for multiplying 11 by any number including 2-digit, 3-digit, and 4-digit numbers.
Show how the rule works on 72, 77, 121, and 1344. I don’t want the product only, I want the procedure explained!

3. King Arthur wants his daughter to marry one of the knights in his kingdom. However, she insists that she be able to marry the smartest knight. She devised a challenge that could be won only by the smartest knight in the kingdom. It went like this:
A dinner party would be held and all the knights in the kingdom would be invited. Only those who wished to take the challenge had to come.
All the knights in attendance would sit around a circular dinner table. King Arthur would start at the head of the table (seat number 1) and go around the circle clock-wise and be-head every other knight until only one was left. The first knight beheaded would be in seat number 2. (Remember, this is a made up story). The one that was left was the smartest knight and he got to marry the King’s daughter.
Here’s the challenge for you to figure out: Not knowing in advance how many knights will show up, how can you determine which seat is the “safe” seat. For example, if 10 knights show up the safe seat is #5. If 25 knights show up the safe seat is #19. If 200 knights show up the safe seat is #145.
To get credit for this problem, determine the safe seat if 7 knights show up, 29 knights, 117 knights, 260, and 550 knights (Do this without a simulation). Show your work. Hint: Simulate the challenge with some small numbers, organize the results, and look for patterns.

4. Each letter in this problem represents a different number between 0 and 9. Find out what number each letter represents.
FOOLELFELF E = ____ F = _____ L = _____ O = _____

5. Using 10 toothpicks, make the following pyramid
........l
.......l l
......l l l
.... l l l l
Move only 3 of the toothpicks to reverse the tower.
..l l l l
...l l l
....l l
.....l
To get credit, show how the toothpicks are moved.

6. A person told a census taker “I have 3 children. The product of their ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is my house number.” The census taker looked at the house number and said, “I still can’t determine their ages.” The person replied, “Oh, I forgot. The oldest one likes chocolate pudding.” The census taker then wrote the children’s ages. What are they and why? (Hint: The person could have said: “Oh, I forgot. The oldest one likes football ( or math or broccoli…etc).”)

7. There were two stairway races. In the first race, the children started at the bottom of the stairs and raced to the top. In the second race, they started at the top and raced to the bottom. The racers were Dameon, Deedee, Ron, Allison, and Kathy.
1. The person who was the last to the top, turned out to be the winner of the race to the bottom.
2. The person who won the race to the top came in third in the race to the bottom.
3. The person who was third to the top was second to the bottom.
4. Kathy was fourth to the top.
5. Allison was fourth to the bottom.
6. Ron reached the top ahead of Deedee.
7. Ron reached the bottom ahead of Dameon.
For each race, tell what order the children finished.
Race to Top Race to Bottom
1st:__________________ 1st___________________
2nd__________________ 2nd___________________
3rd __________________ 3rd___________________
4th __________________ 4th___________________
5th __________________ 5th___________________

8. You are traveling to Truthtown, where everyone always tells the truth. As you are traveling, you encounter a fork in the road. Only one of these roads goes to Truthtown. The other road goes to Badberg, where everyone always lies. A man from one of the cities is standing at the junction. What one question will allow you to determine which road leads to Truthtown?

My Exciting Week

I started to realize that since I can no longer do the 30 Days of Gratitude and have them automatically post, I have to tell you guys about my life again. *sigh*

On Tuesday night, I had a Holiday concert at my school where I got to sing S'vivon, Sleep in Heavenly Peace (mix of Silent Night and What Child is This?), and Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. What really annoyed me was that all of the girls and guys in the choir kept on getting up and going where they pleased and talking really loud and being super loud. We were forced to listed to the bands and orchestra which isn't my favorite past-time activity, but I was trying to listen to be nice. I wanted to slap all of them. Our choir teacher wasn't impressed. Our singing was nice though.

Later that night I went to my Sunday School teacher's house (Sis. Dlugas). We each were given a person that we had to give a creative present to and whoever had the most creative one wins (and it had to be under $5). Apparently, only me and Matt Wilcox (and sorta Ben Barlow) remembered. Matt Wilcox gave Ethan Drake a comic that he made himself which was pretty funny and Ben Barlow made Ryan Davis a plate of brownies I think. I gave Matt Wilcox a Toolkit for Surviving a Church Dance which Mom helped with a lot. We got him body spray, chap stick, breath mints, how to dance guide, 15 good pick-up lines (I'll put these at the end of the post in case any of you need to use them), and an Abba CD. I also had chocolate for him to give to the girl if the dance isn't going well but it "disappeared" and today Mom found it half eaten under the bookcase. Very suspicious... He really liked it, I hope. We played Pit, this super fun sock game that I'll teach you peoples sometime if you wisheth, we had pizza, and we just hung out. It was really fun, and I got to take home a 2-liter bottle of sprite!

Yesterday I got to babysit these cute kids in my ward. The oldest one, Landon, is Emma's age and the other, Brinley, is around 2 and they both have really blond hair. The parents said that they'd be gone two hours at tops but didn't come for 3 hours. I watched Horton Hears a Who (one of the best shows ever) with them and played games. They did ones where they jumped off the stairs and sofas and did stuff that paranoid me because I didn't want them to get hurt. They were made at me because I wouldn't let them play with the decorations even though they said their mom lets them because I didn't want to be responsible for them braking. They've got a billion toys down stairs (more than Emily and Matthew which is saying something) and they wanted to play with these things. They were also begging for oreos which I was told they couldn't have. We still managed to have fun (I hope). Babysitting isn't my favorite thing and I have to remind myself of why I want kids when I'm older, but I get paid. I like dogsitting Porthose so much more and I am so excited to! He's coming over this Sunday because Marjorie's family is going to ditch us and go to Texas. I hope my cats are okay with him... Misty wasn't, but it could be because she had 5 babies and he was so interested in them...

Today I had to go to school ten minutes earlier than I usually do which really inconvenienced me because it meant that I couldn't take my bus. I had a French Holiday Singing Concert Stupid Thing That Almost No One Wanted To Do in the drama room. I had to go and get this ugly green stamp on my hand to show that I was there, but I would assume that she would know that I was there since I was forced against my will to play a stupid song on the piano while the poor kids sang. It was Il Est Ne (He is Born). My French teacher, Mrs. Lee, made me practice during class a lot and play while they sang it and that was a hard song and I messed up on most of it during practices. I finally sat down one night and played it with the metronome over and over and over again until my back hurt from having no support on that unforgiving piano bench. I finally got it down and I only messed up once during the performance when I accidentally moved up my hand a full step for one of the notes. She made us sing and dance and bounce up and down during it. When we were singing "Dashing Through the Snow/Jingle Bells" she had these "dancers" come down and she said that she wanted to make it more creative by incorporating (if that's the right word) dancing into it. So they would all stand elbow in elbow and squat and then stand up and do a sort of perverted can-can thing during "Dashing Through the Snow". They would then start squatting up and down during "Jingle Bells" where the first person would squat and then the next person and it just went down the row and then back up with them standing up. Amazing dancing, it was so good and beautiful that I was crying while I was singing (from laughing too hard). Poor souls.

Later that day I put my hand palm-up just above my knee and then put my other leg on top of it so I was squashing my hand while crossing my legs which I tend to do lately. Well that stamp that was smeared rudely onto my hand by one of Mrs. Lee's students rubbed off onto my jeans. That made me happy. I was feeling pretty good today because my hair was straight and I feel so pretty when it's like that and I had tons of people go up to me and say that I look good =D. My faithful Asian friend, Sydney, said "Wow, your hair is straight! You look so much better!" Thanks....? In French Mrs. Lee said this boy who has some kind of syndrome cried because we didn't record our "performance" so she had me play my song again which I funnily messed up on a bit and other people had to do their stuff. We went into the other room and played Bingo and this guy named Scott stole all of my chip things (not food, but colorful chip things used to play Bingo or whatever your heart desires), put them in his mouth, and spit them across the room. ? We went into the other room again and we just goofed off and he tried to hit the clock with a stick while I played the piano and some other boys did crazy stuff in there too. Mrs. Lee came in and got mad at everyone because there were chips all over the floor in the other room and she made most of them clean them up but Scott got to stay in there with me because we were "practicing". She came in later and said in a sweet voice "Scott do you want to tell me what happened with the chips?" I figured that was a good time to go so I headed back to the classroom where Ethan Drake and Ben Fisher told me that she was yelling really loud and going crazy and that it was scary. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks after that.

That's my exciting week and I can't wait until next week!!!!!

15 AMAZING Pick-up Lines!

Did you fart? Because you blew me away!

Is your name virtue? Because you garnish my thoughts unceasingly!

"So...what's your favorite temple? … Really? YOU are my favorite temple."

You remind me of the fruit in Lehi's dream, which is precious above all.

You must be tired because you've been running through my mind all night.

Haven't we met before...like in the pre-existence?

Would you like to dance or is your sole function in life to stand around and look pretty?

How are your sweet spirits tonight?

Was your dad king? He must have been to make a princess like you.

You fascinate me more than the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

I lost my teddy bear. Can I cuddle with you instead?

My love for you is like diarrhea; I can't hold it in.

You're more beautiful than 100 pink flamingos on a golf course.

Do you have a map? I keep getting lost in your eyes.

You are the reason men fall in love.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 30

I'm grateful for people who read my blog.

You make me feel happy.

Stupid Celeste

So this post was supposed to be one where I tell you how I went to the Brand New Year Premiere for the BNY cast at the Bountiful Regional Center today and how it was so fun seeing all of my friends and the finished video and stuff. Nope, sorry. I thought it started at 4:30 PM but it actually started at 2 PM and I checked to see if it was 4:30 or 5 PM around 4 and then I saw how stupid I was :( I was looking forward to it all week and me and my friends were talking about how excited we were and I totally missed it. I was watching the clock today and I had been hoping that we would have a reunion. *sigh* At least I get to see it in January.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 29

I am grateful for Ashley.

She is my sister who is closest to my age. She's been my best friend when I was younger and we did a lot of things together. I still love to talk to her and hang out with her and I'm so glad she's my sister even though we do have our... disagreements. Shopping with her is fun and she makes me laugh a lot with her randomness. I love her soooo much!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 28

I am grateful for Dad.

He is so fun to be around and cheers me up. He always makes jokes and he is really good with computers and technical stuff. He is kind and a hard worker. I love him so much and I'm so glad that he's in my family.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 27

I am grateful for clocks. They tell everyone what time it is so they won't be late for things and so that our life is better scheduled and they give me something to stare at during class at school.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 26

I am grateful for Christmas.

It's the best time of the year for me. I get to spend time with my family, give to others, receive gifts, feel happy, and remember Christ's birth. I love the feeling that I have and I love how it's the time of year when Mom makes a lot of cookies, rice crispy treats, homemade marshmallows, fudge, and this year she made gingerbread. Christmas makes me happier than my birthday and I'm so glad we can celebrate it.

High School Musical 3

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Apparently Sylvester and Charlie had been spying on everyone's dancing this whole time and they were jealous. They thought what's the point of just having a dance party if no one will see us? Let's be in something big! So they went to the set of High School Musical 3 and tried out for the part of Troy and Gabriella and lo and behold! They got the part and they sent this to me just to gloat. I was so proud of my little girl, Charlie. She's so talented! And Sylvester... wow... I never knew. They kicked everyone's butt! They are some crazy Wildcats!

Barnyard Bash!

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Being as jealous as I was, I decided to take it upon myself and make another dance party where none of them were invited in the place where they least expected so they can't find us. I chose some way cooler people to come party: Me (of course), Hannah, Chelsie, Mckenzie, and Jordan. We held it in a barn but we were having the time of our lives AND we weren't copying Jim or Cheryl's idea of a disco or Charleston. I tried to invite Skyler but his picture on facebook was the only one I could find and JibJab didn't like it so I wasn't allowed to have him. We totally beat them!

Panic! At the Disco

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So Amanda, Stephanie, Ashley, Emma, and Jacob all thought that Jim and Cheryl's dace party looked fun so they went and had one themselves (copycats) and didn't invite me! I managed to get some footage and I was amazed at their skill!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 25

I am grateful for punctuation.

Without it, we wouldn't know when to stop or breath or when someone is talking and what we read wouldn't make sense.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 24

I am grateful for colors

Without them our world would be super boring and we would go color blind. In The Giver by Lois Lowry, all they have is brownish colors which would drive me crazy. Colors complete our world. Without them we couldn't paint, describe things, call blue berries "blue berries", or have any fun at all.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 23

I'm grateful for cleaners such as laundry detergent, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner, and dish soap.

Without these, I would surely perish as I would go crazy trying to keep things clean when all I have is water. With these cleaners, I can kill 99.99% of germs and they make my jobs easier.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 22

I'm grateful for computers

They hold a ton of information, provide me with endless music, games, videos, sources of entertainment, and it helps me with my homework.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 21

I'm grateful for lights

Without lights, it would be dark at night. And my Christmas Tree wouldn't be as pretty. And my ipod wouldn't light up.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 20

I'm grateful for Facebook

I have over a hundred friends (even though I only talk to less than half on any given day) and I can post pictures, tell how I'm feeling, play games, and feel social.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 19

I'm grateful for Post Options

Today is December 3, but really I am posting this on November 29th at 11:11PM. This way, I can post things ahead of time so I don't have to get on blogger everyday. This way, on December 3rd it will automatically post at 1:10 PM when I'm actually supposed to be in 6th period.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 18

I'm grateful for butterflies.

They're really pretty and fun to catch.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 17

I am grateful for little sisters.

Even though I constantly get mad at them and tell people that they are annoying and I wish they were gone, I really do love them and they make my life more... eventful. I'm trying harder to be patient with them. They are really cute and funny.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 16

I am grateful for Mom.

See my Friday, October 31st post for details.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 15

I'm grateful for my friends.

I can hang out with them when I'm sick of my family or whenever I feel like it. They are my age and I can have more fun hanging out with them than my sisters who aren't my age. They make me feel good and are my friends for ever!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 14

I am grateful for my home.

My house is really pretty and my family lives there, so I kinda like it. I feel safe there and I can go there every day without question (usually). There's food, my entertainment things, bed, a heater, and an A.C. My cats are also there. I can just relax and have fun and be with my family.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 13

I am grateful for family.

My family are my friends and I (usually) love hanging out with them. Marjorie and William's family are over right now and it's so much fun to be around them, especially to celebrate Thanksgiving. My family supports me and (usually) makes me happy. I love my family! I love you guys!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 12

I'm grateful for chocolate.

Chocolate is comfort food and makes me so very happy. Without it, our world wouldn't be the same. Also, if we didn't have chocolate, they would've never made the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or the book. That would've really deprived us. Chocolate keeps everyone happy and is delicious! I don't know what I'd do without chocolate.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 11

I'm grateful for J.K. Rowling.

She has made my life more exciting than it really is. When I read her books, I forget where I am and think that I'm there in Harry Potter's life and it's such a relief to get away from my world. She has also made thousands of kids start reading more which will somehow benefit the world. Her imagination is amazing, and I'm so grateful for all of the time and energy that she put into her books. Her effort into making the books has led to making Harry Potter movies which makes me much happier and keeps me entertained as well. J.K. Rowling is amazing.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 10

I'm grateful for vacuums.

They make our jobs so much easier and keeps our houses and work areas clean and it makes my mom happy which is so rewarding. These little things just suck up whatever they can and keeps your carpet clean.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 9

I am grateful for food.

Without food, we would die. Period. It keeps us healthy and happy and allows us to do our day-to-day activities. It's yummy, mostly nutritious (depending on what you eat), and gives us energy and satisfaction and keeps our brothers, sisters, teachers, parents, and bosses happy, which is a huge blessing right there.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 8

I'm grateful for education.

If there was no education, then our world would be horrible. We wouldn't have all of the electronics, food, jobs, houses, medicine, and many other things that we have today. We have teachers who teach and workers who work to benefit our world so that we wouldn't all go crazy. Even though I hate school, I know I'll be happy when (if?) the economy gets better and I've gone to college and I get a good job and a husband who has a good job and we'll be able to support our family and continue to teach others. Education, even though it's torture, really has it's benefits.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 7

I am grateful for books.

Books allows me to think that I'm in another world and not stuck in my own. Anything can happen in them. They keep me very addicted and entertained and are so much fun to read. Books like Harry Potter I love because I forget where I am sometimes and I get really into my book. It's a nice break from the real world. It confuses me when some people say they hate reading when it's just like watching movie but with your mind. I love books!! Book worm!

Oh Great

During mutual last Wednesday while everyone was going to the gym to play pictionary, I had Joye sit on my lap and we read the book "Guess How Much I Love You?" Brother Wilcox, a member of the bishopric stayed and shared that touching moment as we read that book about a young bunny and his Mom, and so did Kayla Paul.

After I was done reading, Brother Wilcox asked if he could talk to me so I said sure and so we did indeed talk. He asked how I liked being in the BNY choir and I said I loved it and it was such a great experience. He then said Oh good, because I was wondering if the Sunday after this one, you could go up and bear your testimony and give a talk about being in it.
Oh... okay... I gave one two weeks ago, but what the heck? I'll do it again... He said that he knew that I had just given one but he really wanted me to go up again. Alright, no problem! How many get the opportunity to give two talks in Sacrament meeting in one month?

I told him that I had actually kinda expected this. I remember talking with my friends during the BNY practices and saying that You know what we're going to have to do since we're in this right? Our ward isn't going to just let us walk away with that experience, we're going to have to give talks in Sacrament Meeting I bet. And lo and behold! Here I am, giving another talk.

Yay me!....?

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 6

I'm grateful for all of the pets I've ever had.

I'm grateful for my turtles that I had when I lived in Sugar house, Tiny Tim and BJ. They provided entertainment and made me happy. Our bunnies that I hardly remember, Samantha and Sam, were also very cute and entertaining. I think they starved to death... Blake, our little white cat that I named after a boy I liked at Aspen Grove, was really sweet and also psycho. We had to get rid of him because everyone was allergic. I loved Lilly, the chihuahua/weener. She was sweet and I was so thrilled when Dad brought her home one day unexpectedly. Lizzy scared me to death when I first saw her because in all of the TV shows, bulldogs were evil. She was so sweet and really funny. I told Mom when we had to get rid of her that I'd rather have her than Emma. Mom still wishes she had her. Daisy was my special dog that I got for Christmas. She was very good with Emma even though she chews and ran away a lot. She was my best friend when I was home schooled. Zippy was a very special guinea pig. I loved to play with him (which I don't think he enjoyed) and he was so cute even when Emma poured purple nail polish on him. I liked his daughter, Tootsie, too, but not as much. She was still fun. Toby was my little Taco Bell dog. Because of him, I got cute guys to come over to my house to see him. He never bit me and was a wimp, but he was sooo cute and sweet and I loved him so much! Misty was a stray cat that we took in. She was dirty, shaved, cut, and starving. She was so funny and Mom was in love with her. Her and Sylvester were best friends and she eventually had a litter of 5 babies (1 boy, 4 girls). I loved her babies, they lived in my room for a couple of weeks and were so adorable and entertaining. Floppy and Harry, Hannah's bunnies, were okay and were cute, but weren't my favorites. Moppy the guinea pig (named after her hair) was so cute and sweet. She was my baby girl and I got her for helping out when we moved here. Emma hid her in a basket of hats and I couldn't find her and when I did, she was starving. She was shoved in a gallon size zip lock bag and nearly suffocated but Mom came to the rescue just in time (also the work of Emma). She was lonely so I got her a friend, Spaz, who was also a girl guinea pig. I love them both but I'm relieved they're gone because they were a lot of work. Sylvester is our special cat. We got him over a year ago and he is huge now. He makes us laugh all the time and is a huge teddy bear. I would be devastated if we got rid of him. Charlie is my beautiful baby girl cat. She is weird but really cuddly like Sylvester and I'm so happy to have her.

Those are all of the pets I remember. If there is one that I didn't mention, he/she must've been not too important to me, but I think I covered them all. I'm grateful for all of those cute pet memories!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 5

I'm grateful for blogger.com.

Without blogger, I couldn't communicate more with my family and I would have no idea what's going on. I love to read other people's blogs, and one of them has tons of sheet music
http://my-piano.blogspot.com/. I like to write a lot also, so this allows me to write things and have a purpose for writing it other than English class. I feel more social when I post and when I read other people's blogs. Keep on posting everybody! Don't give in to temptation to stop!!!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 4

I am grateful for pianos.

I love to play the piano and I use it a lot when I'm angry or sad. It allows me to express myself and feel good. I love hearing people play the piano. I especially love it when I'm over at Marjorie's house and Stephanie gets on and plays for around a half hour, I love just sitting on her sofa and listening. Pianos also "complete me".

Tempting Offer

I was on facebook and this ad on the side of the screen said "How well do you know Harry Potter? Take the quiz now!" I just couldn't pass up a chance like that so I clicked on the ad. It had 20 questions and at the end, it said that I got 100% and that I qualified for a prize and I got to choose it. I chose the 3GB Apple iphone. It said that I can get it, but first I needed to fill out a form. I looked at it and it wanted me to fill out these:

• Telephone number
• work number
• cell number
• email address
• home address
• work address
• social security number
• credit card number
• full name
• date of birth

I was sorely tempted by this offer. I just had to answer a couple of questions and I get a free iphone! After all, I deserved it. I got 100% on the test and even knew who Professor Moody (A.K.A Crouch) danced with at the Yule Ball (Professor Sinistra). I decided that this could possibly be a scam, though I don't know anyone who would be so rude like that in our society today. I declined the offer even though it kept on persisting. I guess I'll get an iphone somewhere else.......

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 3

I am grateful for clothes.

Without clothes, I would suffer from extreme embarrassment and be a social outcast and I wouldn't be allowed in public. They say quite a bit about who I am and make me feel pretty. They "complete me".

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 2

I am grateful for friends!

My wise health teacher once said Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart. I can talk to them whenever I need help, it's fun to hang out with them, they support me, and they make my life happier. Thank-you friends! (that includes you Amanda)

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 1

I'm am grateful for boys.

Without them, my life would be super boring and have no drama. They make me feel happy and most of them are super funny and make me laugh all the time! They're cute and make up around half of the population of the Earth. Thank-you boys!

It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

I've decided to talk about why I'm pretty happy right now:

Today, we have to do our icky Saturday chores. Mine is always kitchen, Ashley's is always bathrooms, and Hannah's is always vacuuming and general cleaning. Emma just does the shoes (I remember the days when that's all I had to do and I complained and hated doing it, now I have to scrub down the whole kitchen). I was on the computer and Ashley came in and begged that I do bathrooms and she does kitchen. After thinking this through for about five seconds, I pretended to still ponder about it while Ashley impatiently awaited my answer. I did the bathrooms. I dawdled a bit and was on the computer for a long time and didn't do it the fastest. But, I am now done with the bathrooms and Ashley's still cleaning the fridge and freezer! I love it when I get done before her.

Hannah has been making a quilt for a project in her class. Mom kept on saying how she really loves it and is a natural and it's too bad I wasn't this enthusiastic. My dear mother, I was. I love sewing and I think it's fun. I have gone up to you many times asking you to help me sew a purse or something and you say you can't because you have homework. Amanda then stole my machine so I couldn't do anything. I like sewing, but I don't know how to unless you help. Anyway, Hannah's been working on her quilt a lot. She's usually super slow with her Saturday chores and is still doing them at 5 PM. Not today!! She got them done super fast so she can continue with her quilt. Yay Hannah!

Sylvester and Charlie are getting along now and have started playing and cuddling which makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, sorta. They make me laugh all the time and they're very cuddly cats. Sylvester is really big and heavy, but he's just a teddy bear. The only things that bug me about them is that it's impossible to sleep with them, Charlie bites, and they both drink out of the toilet... Eeew. They're my babies!

I made a facebook without Mom knowing and she figured out I had one last Sunday when Marjorie was showing her that it's not a bad website. She was looking at Stephanie's wall (or maybe it was John's) and saw my picture and my account. Oops. She got mad at me and I thought I would be in deep doo-doo. Luckily, she only took away my cellphone (well for other girls, their life would be over). She even let me keep it in my room with the promise that I won't text, call anyone, or check my messages because I use it for my alarm clock to wake up, catch the bus, and it welcomes me home (plays "Suddenly I See" around the time when I walk into my bedroom). I have 2 missed calls and 12 text messages last time I checked. I'm a good girl, I didn't check them. I got to keep my facebook but I had to give her my ID and password. I don't mind that either, because she promised that she wouldn't pretend to be me and write stuff on there or talk to my friends or change anything. I thought I was going to be in so much trouble.

My hair is straight right now and this one guy told me that he likes my hair.

I downloaded free sheet music off of the Internet! My collection of (legal?) downloaded songs include: A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton, When You're gone - Avril Lavigne, Bring Me to Life - Evanescence, Complicated - Avril Lavigne, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Greensleeves, I'm With You - Avril Lavigne, Moonlight Sonata, My Immortal - Evanescence, Shiro Long Tails, Time of Your Life - Greenday, Traverse Town, and Kingdom Hearts. This really excites me!! I can't wait until Mom prints them off (ahem, mom, that's a hint)!!! The printer hooked up to the family computer doesn't work.

I'm going to see "The Scarlet Pimpernel" tonight at Davis High which Stephanie and Chris are going to tonight also. I happen to be watching that in French right now, so I'm excited because it's a really good movie.

My mom is doing 30 days of gratitude. I thought about being better than that and doing 365 days of gratitude, but I figured that by the 261st day, I'd be saying "I'm grateful for... printers, no, I already did that. Hmmm... Oh! telepho- wait, that was the 135th day... I don't think I've done light switches yet... I think I'll do that. It's wonderful so that you don't have to pull a string or something, you just flip the switch..." I decided to do the 30 days of gratitude too! For the next month, I'll do that along with my other entries about my thrilling life. Look for my first day of gratitude post tomorrow!

P.S. Stephanie, sorry about that one thing. You know I'd never ever... It was a total accident. =D

Blog Readability Test!

I was bored and so decided to go to some blogs and I eventually ended up in Jim's Daily Update. I went to his February of 2007 post which had a website that says what reading level your blog is. I decided to see what everyone's reading level is, or at least those who invited me to their blog unlike someone *coughmarjoriecough*

Okay, here it is folks, first I decided to start with Suzie's blog called A Beautiful Mess! And her reading level is .....(drum roll please)...... Genius! Congratulations!

Second is Amanda-Lou, even though she hasn't written in her blog for many moons! Hers is ......... Genius! Congratulations to you to!

Third is Cake Wrecks by Jen! Hers is ...... High School! Very good indeed!

Fourth is Cheryl's Couch by none other than our own Cheryl! Her reading level is..... High School! Yay! Great Job!!

Fifth is Dancing in the Rain by Bonnie Mantel! She has accomplished the amazing feat of college under-grad! Woohoo!!

Sixth is our beloved Hannah, author of Hannah-Gram! Her reading level is, and this is indeed extraordinary and a big shocker. Genius! Amazing! Inconceivable! Who knew?

Seventh is Jim's blog, Jim's Daily Update! Although in previous posts he was so modestly boasting about how his was genius, he has regressed from that and is now... High School! How very wonderful! More than some men can say!

Eighth is Jim's other blog, Jimsmatrix! This is also high school, it would've been crazy if it was different from his other blog! Brilliant!

Next is our wonderful Grandma (or mom, mother-in-law, wife, however you connection to her is) Joan for Joan's Journal! I'm sure we can all guess what hers was, and it is indeed Genius! Terrific!

Tenth is Stephanie's blog, My Overactive Mind. Her reading level is (and I know this is a huge shocker to everyone) Elementary school! That's okay, we know she is amazingly smart! We love you Stephanie! *laughing and smiling all cheesy* Okay...

Eleventh would've been Marjorie's blog, Once Upon a Time. Even though I don't have access, her reading level is still as I suspected. Genius! Wonderful!

Twelve is my wonderful mom, Wendy! Her blog is The Black Sheep! Her reading level is... college undergrad! How very appropriate! Good Job!

Thirteen is Hannah's other blog, Wendy Rocks Me. Somehow, this is Genius too! Wow!

Fourteen is Chillin' with Chelsie! Hers is also Genius! We have smart young people in our family apparently!

Fifteenth is Navel Gazing at it's Finest by Sue! Hers happens to be Junior High *laugh covered with a cough* Wonderful! Just wonderful!

Last, but definitely not least, is my own blog, Celestial Confessional! *scattered applause* Even though I am so intelligent and nice and super and you all wish you were me and I'm the most modest person on the planet, my rating is Elementary School! Yay!

Something is really messed up with this program! I should be at least college or high school, Stephanie should be higher, Hannah and Chelsie should be lower. Next thing you know, they'll say Obama is a genius too! But who am I to question the almighty Blog Readability Test?

Thank-you and Goodnight!! *people hurry to door as fast as they can

http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx

Once in a Lifetime

This week, I had the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience at the conference center for A Brand New Year Choir, A Celebration For Latter-Day Saint Youth. On Tuesday, we performed without the audience, but we still taped it. On Wednesday and Thursday, the conference center was completely filled, and many were turned away because there was no more room. It was an amazing experience that I'll never forget.

We performed for the first time on Tuesday and then Wednesday and Thursday, and had the cameras on us. It was pretty strange having all of these cameras all over you and not knowing if you were on or not, so you had to smile and be paying attention the whole time in case they caught you. On Wednesday, Dad told me that Ashley said I had a close up on the big screen. I had no idea, because I can't just turn around and look whenever I want to. The next day at school, a couple of people came up to me and said that they saw me on the big screen at the conference center the night before, and they thought it was extremely cool that I was doing it. I don't know if I got a close up last night, but the cameras were right by me many times.

On Tuesday-Thursday, I was super tired during school from being up so late the night before for choir (well, staying up late on Monday was my fault). We got out at 10PM and I had homework. All of my teachers decided that this was a perfect week to play movies in their class, so I was falling asleep in most of my classes. I was extremely miserable on Thursday. I was super tired and hungry (there was barely anything worth eating for breakfast and I didn't have time) and I hadn't figured out a ride and Mom kept on calling me over and over again in science so I used my hallpass that I just barely got (that I get only once a term) and went into the bathroom to call her. I could get a ride from Kaitlin (Mom had school 3-9PM) but I had to go over to her house and I had no way of getting there either. Mom suggested I ride my bike. It's super cold, I'm more than two miles away from the school, and she lives right by the school. I started going a bit crazy in the bathroom saying I don't want to do this anymore and stuff like that (which of course, I didn't actually mean, I was just upset). Mom said that she'd take me out of school so I can rest and get things done before I have to leave. I went back to class after being in there for ten minutes. I wonder if the teacher thought I was having problems. Mom came and got me and I got the address of Kaitlin. We dropped Emma off at kindergarten and Mom and this one guy she knows (is he in our ward? heh, oops) were talking about how they don't like Obama at all and how they're both trying to find jobs and they're going to help eachother out. When we got home, I called Lori and then Sue. Sue said that she could take me to Kaitlin's house. I was excited when Mom went shopping because she got lots of wonderful foods to fill our barren cupboards.

We went to the conference center at 5PM Tuesday-Thursday. On Wednesday and Thursday, we met in the small theater in there where they hold plays. We talked and looked at some of the footage and decided what we needed to do to make our performance better. On Thursday (which was last night) we were told that when we look at this in January or ten years later, we shouldn't have the regret that we could've done more. We needed to give it our all that night, since it was our last performance. We talked a bit longer and then we were informed that the prophet was coming. They said that there is a chance that he won't be able to come, but he had said that he'd be there. They told us that this isn't about him. We can't be singing to him, looking at him, or trying to shake his hand. This isn't about him, this is about the youth of this church. We then sang some of our songs and primary songs. I recorded us singing many times on my cell phone, but the cell phone recording system is crappy. It was still such a cool experience to have 400 youth in that room and to sing with them. Everyone was very upset it was our last night together, but a girl said to some of us that we shouldn't be sad that it's over, we should be happy that it happened. (BTW, Pres. Monson ended up having something come up and he couldn't attend. That's okay, his spirit was still there.)

They gave us a little bit of time to go to the bathroom, fix our clothes, hair, or make-up, and put our stuff in the dressing room and then go out in the choir seats. I needed to get something from one of the directors which took a while and then I had to go to the bathroom. I had to run as fast as I could to the dressing rooms and quickly throw on some lipgloss and check to see if I look okay, and I was the only one left in there. I ran out to the seats, and then the program started about ten minutes later. We started singing our opening song, and it felt so good to sing there.

While Elder Holland was talking, my heart started beating faster as I realized this is it, I'm about to go out there for the last time, and never see most of these people again. It was a sad realization, and it brought me down. I told myself that I can't feel sad yet, I have to give it one last shot, and give the audience what they came for.

When he was done speaking, the choir went to their dressing rooms to change and make sure we still looked good. When I was done getting dressed and putting on more lipgloss, I ran out to my spot on the very left of the audience (from the audiences view) and up some stairs to the second level of seats and waited to start. The audience were given some instructions and told that they were going to be recorded which excited a lot of them, though I knew most of them wouldn't actually be shown. When the music started and everyone shouted "HELLO!", I ran down the stairs and started shaking hands with a bunch of people and giving them high-fives. When the second chorus started, everyone ran on stage singing and put up the number one with their fingers at the end. I barely made it onto the stage in time.

Brother Dahlquist and Sister Dalton started talking and asked us if we wanted to have fun and saying they couldn't hear us while we're breaking everyone's eardrums trying to say yes. Brother Dahlquist said "Do you want to have the kind of fun Sister Dalton is talking about? Good, clean, wholesome, latter-day saint fun?" and we all scream "YES!!" Sister Dalton says "Well, why didn't you just say so? Because when you say yes to having that kind of fun, what you're really saying is...Jacob...?" And this guy name Jacob starts to sing and we all start clapping and standing up and dancing. That's my favorite part of the whole performance, that beginning part and then the song "Yes!". I can't wait for all of you to see it.

We continued on singing songs, talking, having discussions, watching video clips, and just having a great but spiritual time. I think I liked Thursday's performance better than Wednesday. We had a live discussion group, talked with this guy named Brad who found out about the church a year ago from going to the lds.org website and asking a friend about (he got baptized a few weeks ago), and having a super fun time.

The audience was more into our performance than the night before. They showed more of them on the big screen. People who saw themselves on the screen waved and smiled and were so excited. When this guy was giving everyone instructions for the third segment, this girl was on the screen and caught picking her nose. She looked at the screen and quickly dropped her finger and put her hands to her mouth. I'm not entirely sure if it was real, but she was digging pretty deep for gold. Poor, sick, sick, girl.

When we sang our second to last song, I was trying to put everything into it. When we got up and waved and sang our closing song, I felt so full of energy, but sad at the same time. When it was over and the audience started to leave, I felt so empty. That was it. I won't be doing anything like that again. I probably won't be with this group of people ever again, only in memory.

They kept us after again to go over some more parts to record. They said thank-you for being so good about this, so whenever they said that we needed to do a part over again, instead of groaning, we cheered. During one period of time when some people were getting microphones changed, I played the laughing game with Kaitlin Archibald and Andrew Wood. The guy who I liked but not as much anymore said something funny, and then I couldn't stop laughing. I was in the middle with my head on Andrew and Kaitlin on me, and then I got them laughing a bit too. I felt super sad thinking that I wasn't going to see Andrew anymore. I didn't want to ask for his email or number, because I always feel weird doing that to guys. This girl in our group (we were A's, and Andrew and I were A2's) sent around a list where everyone puts down their number(s), name, and emails and she was going to email this to all of us. That gave me hope. When we were finally done recording, the YW and YM general presidency people talked to us. I got give Sister Dibb and Sister Cook high fives before the show started. After they talked, Brother Boothe told us that they actually have two more parts for us to record. We all cheered. When we were done for good, we went backstage and got our stuff. I went out to the stage again when I had my bag full of stuff, and Andrew was there. He came up to me and we gave eachother a high-five and knuckles, and then he hugged me. I was in heaven then. I haven't had a guy hug me, and that is really all I ever wanted to make me happy. Even if I didn't know a guy that well, hugs are magical to me. I was glowing inside as my self-esteem sky-rocketed. He asked to see my phone and he put his number into it and then texted himself. I thought happiness was going to burst out of my skin, I felt so special. I told him thanks for making this a better experience because he was so funny and made me laugh a lot. We said bye, and I went with Kaitlin and her Mom to the place where a lot of the cast were. We got rootbeer milk (on Tuesday I think, one of our directors told us that if he could, he'd take all of us to get rootbeer floats and rootbeer milk was the closest they got, it was surprisingly good!! I loved it even though it sounded like someone who likes to mix foods made it, like me), our CD that we recorded on October 25, and a poster. There wasn't really anyone I saw who I wanted to sign mine since I didn't really know them. I ran up to the guy who was a convert, Brian, and shook his hand. Kaitlin's mom found a pen for me, and eventually the youth soloists and youth came out and I got a lot of them to sign my poster. This guy who was in the choir was playing hymns on his harmonica which really added to the feeling that was there. I was happier than I thought I'd be when this ended.

Kaitlin's mom took me home and Mom said that I didn't have to go to school the next day since I would be so tired and I have a lot of homework to do and it was 11:30PM. I went into my bedroom and looked through my For the Strength of Youth pamphlet that I got from there and listened to my CD.
I felt so sad and lost as I listened. It's over, it's all over. I went to this practice a little over a month ago (Sunday, September 28) expecting to be in a Mormon Tabernacle Choir youth version, but it turned out to be so much more. In just over a month, I made new friends, learned new songs, and got to perform in front of about 45,000 people over the two performances, I get to be on TV and shown all across North America and potentially, to the world. I was chosen to be in this, and I've had the experience of a lifetime. People were told that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this performance live, well I was in it. It's been such a great experience and now I don't know what to do now that this is over. We had talked about have a 20 year reunion in 2028 when we'll all be around 32-38 and have 8 kids each. I can't wait for it to be shown so that I can watch it, and I can say that I was in it and I don't regret anything and I had a once in a thousand lifetime's experience. It totally beats being in a Mormon Tabernacle Choir youth's version.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705260981,00.html

Brand New Year Choir Takes Over Celeste's Weekend

Thought I'd update you about my spectacular weekend and I know that all of you have nothing better to do than to read this, so enjoy!

On Saturday I went to the Conference Center again for my Brand New Year Youth Choir thingy. I had to be there by 12PM and I was told to eat lunch beforehand and bring my super-duper handy-dandy backstage pass. Well... I was rushing to get ready and I grabbed a bag and put a few pieces of candy, my slacks, my pass, lip gloss, water bottle, and cellular device in there. I didn't have time to have breakfast or lunch. The color scheme in the choir was yellow, green, blue, and purple. For segment 1, I had to wear that color shirt and a black skirt with tights and black, closed toe shoes. My shirt was this pinkish purplish color which was silky and had two front pockets and a belt. It's a bit more than they asked for, but I had a bunch of girls tell me that they liked my shirt and some of them were rubbing their hands against it because it was so soft. That was a bit strange, but I was extremely flattered. The guys had regular Church clothes with a white dress shirt and a tie. For segment 2 and 3, I wore the same thing except for the girls changed into slacks. The guys changed their dress shirt color to the color scheme.

So Dad took me to the conference center (on the way I was frantically cutting and filing my nails since they were getting really long) and just before we got there, I thought I'd show him how I'd clipped my backstage pass to this clip sticking out of a blue pig which he'd given me a few weeks ago. I started digging around inside. And, as fate would have it, it wasn't there. Bummer. I started freaking out and dumping everything out and picking up each individual item to make sure that it wasn't the pig wearing a lip gloss, cell phone, or candy disguise. Dad kept on assuring me it was okay and I was saying that in the e-mail, it said we had to have it. Dad went into the conference center with me and the nice man in there said that he wasn't going to be mean and I could still go in. Dad whispered to me and said "See, I told you" and then I felt stupid for overreacting. It's not like they'd tell me to go home, but I was still worried.

They had us put all of our stuff in a room and then line up according to our height. Apparently they were changing the seating arrangement for the first segment which made me happy because I didn't like the people I was sitting next to before.

After we were all settled they said that for the next long long time, they would be showing us how everything was going to go. For the first segment, I would be in my skirt and in the seats that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is usually in while people made opening announcements about how they're recording this and this is special and we're so cool and wonderful and thanks for coming and blah blah blah. We then sang the opening hymn (which was more like three or four shoved into one song) and we had a prayer. While this dude gets up and says a 15 minute talk, we would run backstage and change into our segment 2 and 3 clothes. End of segment 1. Yay!! Applause!! Wolf Whistle!!

So they showed us where to go according to our letter (mine was A) on this stage thing in front of the seats that they built. There is a raised circle platform where the youth orchestra plays and below are these stair things that look like sun rays. This is where we are in almost the whole performance. So, depending on our letter and number (like mine was A2) we would go with our group to the backish part of the hall and when we got to a certain part in the song, we would run on stage and be all jumping and happy and excited and Oh Golly Gosh! Isn't it great to be a righteous Mormon? How are you? I love you, you rock, let's have fun! Maybe I'm being a little sarcastic but you get the idea. We start singing and then Brother Dahlquist (the General Young Men President) and Sister Dalton (the General Young Women President) come on and talk. They say (and I'm not exaggerating) "do you want to have fun?" Us: YES!! Presidents: "I can't hear you!" Us: YES!!! Presidents: Do you want to have some wholesome Latter-day Saint fun? Us: YES!!!!! Presidents: Well why didn't you just say so? Us: Oh, haha, we did! You are too funny! Good one! (just kidding, we didn't say that) Presidents: Then we'll show you how it's done! Jacob?... And then this kid starts singing and we all eventually get up and start clapping and dancing and having fun while some of the kids are down on the main platform singing and dancing. One starts break dancing and these two guys do a round-off layout. *Sigh* For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a running cartwheel (if you don't know that, then you're hopeless) where you land with both feet and then do a back flip where your legs are straight and together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Rtzq1zQrI It's super fun to watch and to be in.

During the performance, we sing songs, some of the youth sing solos a lot, and talk about stuff and do different things on stage. We have videos of testimonies from kids all over the world and one of President Monson. Sister Dalton and Brother Dahlquist talk a lot and have a live, un-scripted discussion with some youth for part of it. For 15 minutes, we get out our For The Strength Of Youth books and write down things that we want to improve on in it, and we have to do it because the cameras will be looking at us. It's a pretty cool performance and I hope all of you will get to see it.

They gave us about five minutes for a break, so I took the time to look desperately for the place where they had us keep our stuff. I was really upset because I couldn't find it and I really truly wanted to eat my candy in there because I was starving since I had only a couple pieces of candy that day and it was around 3PM. I went back after the break with a broken heart, I was super upset because I was starving and I needed some chocolaty, sugary, nourishment.

We practiced for another two hours and a half and then at five fifteen-ish they let us have dinner. We went in the underground tunnels into the church office building and they gave us a scrumptious dinner. We got a bake potato, veggies (they were soggy and tasteless, but I ate them to be a good girl), this white chicken stuff with ham and turkey lunch meat (I think) on top, a salad, soda, a bendy straw, a roll, and cake. It was delectable. We went back and performed for the parents and got out on time, for once, at 9PM. We were there for 9 hours. They originally had it be 12 hours, but they changed it.

I went outside and waited for Dad to come. I was waiting forever when he called and said that his car broke down and that Mom was just barely leaving Marjorie's house (in Kaysville) and she should be here in 20 minutes. Alright. Cool. And Mom, I'm not saying you're bad parents, you guys couldn't help this, this is something that happens.... to me. Dad said to stay inside. I went in, but the people said they were going to close the doors. I went out and just laid down on this short stone wall thing in the front. Everyone who went past me said "Hi". Maybe they were checking to see if I was real or something. That was fun, and I tried to text Ashley but she didn't text back after the second one, and I couldn't find my Hershey's candy. Eventually Mom and Dad came and I told them that their only chance to see me perform was just barely and it's a bummer. When we got home, I watched Spiderman and found my Hershey's candy.

Today, I had another three hour practice which was super fun. It actually was, this one guy who's in my section... he's really nice, and a good singer, and cute. I was also really happy because this girl said that she liked my nail polish and I just blushed like crazy at that and then couldn't stop smiling.

The End.

Ha, just kidding. But, now I don't have anything else to say, so... The End.

I Did It!!!

I just wanted to let the world know, before Mom figures out I'm out of bed, that I did it! I made my Halloween candy from last year last until this year. I have about 2/3ish of one of those big, rectangle tootsie rolls left from last year. I've kept it in my closet and have refrained from eating it. I managed to keep it safe while Mom scavenged through my room last month and threw away a lot of things. You always hear about how kids want to make their Halloween candy last all year, but then they can't resist eating it all. It's like candy has nicotine in it or something. I just thought I'd let all of you know that I have accomplished this complex task. I know you're all proud of me, but please try to hold your congratulations, gifts, applause, and pat-on-the-backs as I don't really want to brag. Yay me!

My Wonderful Mom

Mom was talking to me and saying how she doesn't like how I'm making it sound like she's a bad Mom. I would like to clarify that and say that Mom isn't bad, she is a very extremely, superbly, wonderfully, awesome Mom! And just to prove it, I'm going to devote this post to why I love her so much and she's the best Mom I could've ever hoped for.

Mom...

• carved pumpkins with us in her kitchen today
• is making caramel apples with us right now
• taught me how to do my hair
• Bought me clothes, make-up, toys, diapers (not now, but when I was younger), beauty products, jewelry, useless crap, candy, food, tickets to things, furniture, pets, music, electronic things, and much much more
• Took me to every single gymnastic meet that I had and cheered me on
• home-schooled me in fifth grade
• signed me up for gymnastics and took me to practice and private lessons every day and paid for it
• took me to dance and other activities that I've done
• helps me with school
• cooks me dinner
• didn't abort or abuse me
• makes every birthday special
• makes every holiday special
• makes every meal special (haha)
  
• takes me to fun places
• plays games with me
• helps me with problems
• made all of my bedrooms I've had cute
• buys things I need
• is a wonderful cook
• doesn't try hard to be cool
• dresses nice
• doesn't usually embarrass me
• isn't a mom who doesn't care about her children
• isn't a super strict and annoying mom
  
• has allowed me to have many pets (which is more than a lot of moms can say)
• cleans the house
• works to earn money
• makes the house pretty
• takes me shopping
• supports me with the BNY Youth Choir
• loves me
• loves my pets
• loves my sisters and Dad and other people in family
• wants what's best for me and my sisters

I think that sums up a lot of it, but there's much more that I haven't mentioned. Now everyone knows what a wonderful Mom Wendy Ellen Stevens Black is!