Summer is finally here!

We are done with ninth grade! Can you believe it? We are done with Jr. High, done with summer and before we know it in high school. Then after that we will be graduated and gone away before we know it too. College in less then four years, it is all just coming and going so so fast. Not a day goes by in my life when I don’t think about the future and where I will be in one year from now, then two years from now and just so on until I get bored thinking. I remember when I was really little, you know like those vacations to Disneyland, first day of school, fun times you had in kindergarten and things like that. It all just seems like yesterday. Well I am really really looking for summer. I think it is going to be a fun one. I just signed up to go to EFY at Weber State. Then only thing is that I don’t get to stay overnight. I will have to drive back and forth morning and night because all the rooms were filled up. But still it will be really fun. Last year I heard how much fun everybody had at EFY when I was an officer last year and got a chance to hang out with the older kids. So in my ward when the young men’s leader said. “Hey everybody we are going to EFY” I was excited cause I had heard so many good things. But I turned out that we were going to this four-hour talk with some churchy guy. It really wasn’t fun at all. So this summer I just decided to sign up with some friends and go with them for the weeklong thing. It should be really fun. Then after that along time into summer I think I will be going to scout camp. This will be well I guess my fifth summer camp. This one is going to be different though. My scout troop is going to go down to Zion National Park and camp for two days. We are going to hike around the park and do the Narrows, which is really fun. Then we will drive down to St. George to play some golf. Then we will stay the night in a hotel and the next mornings go to the St. George temple. They are trying to change it though, I hope they wont cause it is going to be really fun. Then today my mom and I were talking about jobs over the summer. I think im going to try and find one that I can do before I turn sixteen in September. I am already a soccer referee and that makes really really good money. I mow a lot of lawns and ref a lot of soccer games, but the only problem is that reffing only for four or five weeks in the spring and fall. Then I can mow all summer long but still I can only do so much. I make a lot of money in a short period to last a whole year. We decided that my family is going to go to Europe next summer (Not this summer but summer 2009) So I will keep reffing and hopefully find more of a full time job during the day so I have enough money to go. Its going to be fun im so excited. SUMMER HERE WE COME!

This Terms Reading Assignments

Two books teaching the same morals are “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Walk two Moons.” They both teach that you should not judge a person tell you fully know them. A book similar to To Kill A Mockingbird is Walk Two Moons. This is because the theme in Walk Two Moons is “don’t judge a person until you’ve walked two moons in their moccasins.” In both books, this is the reoccurring theme. In Walk Two Moons a girl named Sal judges her neighbor before she even gets to know her. This passage talks about this blind woman named Mrs. Partridge and her nurse Mrs. Margaret Cadaver. (Page 22)

"And speaking of odd, there is something very odd about that Mrs. Cadaver."
"Margaret?" I said.
"She scares me half to death," Phoebe said.
"Why?"
"That’s what I am telling you," she said.
"First there is that name: Cadaver: you know what cadaver means?"
Actually, I did not.
"It means dead body."
"Are you sure?" I said.
"Of course im sure, Sal. You can check the dictionary if you want. Do you know what she does for a living - what her job is?"
"Yes," I was pleased to say. I was pleased to know something. "She is a nurse."
"Exactly," Phoebe said. "Would you want a nurse whose name meant dead body?"

In this story there turns out to be a long explanation about Mrs. Cadaver and why Sal and her father moved to be closer to her. I have had many friends who I though were really weird until I really got to know them. And other friends who I thought were cool or something and wanted them to be my friend. But when I really got to know them I found out they were not the great person I judged them to be but something else. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley are both judged before anyone actually gets to know them too. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point-of-view -until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” these are the words spoken by Atticus Finch when giving advice to his little girl, Jean Louise, “Scout.” This theme, “do not judge a person before you get to know them,” is something most children, during this day and age, are taught when they are very young, and is the reoccurring theme in To Kill A Mocking Bird. The two clear examples of this theme are with Arthur “Boo” Radley and Tom Robinson. When the characters are first met, they are introduced as bad and maybe even evil people. However, when the characters start to develop, it can be noticed that they are actually good people. In To Kill A Mocking Bird, from the time Arthur “Boo” Radley was a small boy until the time he was a grown adult he was a very misunderstood character. When the children of Maycomb, like Jem and Scout, were young, people would tell horror stories about Boo. One of them was when Boo allegedly stabbed his father with scissors, but throughout the book, it was foreshadowed that Boo really was not a bad person. The first example of the foreshadowing was when Jem got his pants stuck on the fence, and Boo sewed them up and folded them for when Jem came back to claim them. Then, when Miss Maudie’s house caught on fire, Scout was standing outside watching, and Boo put a blanket around her shoulders, so she would not get cold. Finally, Boo kept giving Jem and Scout “gifts.” “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.” The greatest thing Boo Radley did, that definitely made him a good person was he saved Jem’s and Scout’s lives from a crazy Bob Ewell. To both Finch children, Boo was a very scary person at first, but in the end, he was a kind and caring person. “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep. Good night,” declared Atticus about Tom Robinson’s verdict. Tom Robinson was a character that was found guilty of raping white women. In the South there was a division, based on name and race. Tom Robinson was at the very bottom of this division, because he was black. Even with the evidence that pointed to his innocence, he was found guilty. In a way Tom Robinson was found guilty even before he walked into the courtroom because of his race. Many people, including Atticus, knew that verdict would be “guilty” even before the trial started, unless a miracle happened. Tom Robinson was “judged” before anyone knew anything about him. If the jurors would of kept in mind, “do not judge people before you get to know them,” an innocent man probably would not of lost his life. The two books “To kill a Mockingbird” and Walk Two Moons” were written at two completely different times in history, referring to how life was for everyone, but yet the themes are the same. This shows throughout history people have looked at and written about not judging people, making it a very important moral and topic through the years. “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” These are the words spoken by Jean Loise Finch about turning in Boo Radley for Bob Ewell’s killing. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing busting their heads out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” “It’s a sin to kill a mocking bird,” and “do not judge people before you get you know them” are two themes that are intertwined and actually can make one theme. In both Tom Robinson’s and Boo Radley’s cases it was like shooting a mockingbird, because they never did anything wrong, but they were judged before they walked two moons in their moccasins. So, by judging them, it was like killing them, and in Tom Robinson’s case it did result in his death. All of these stories and examples somehow relate to us from experiences we have had, but they all say the same thing over and over again” Do not judge people before you get to know them.” These words can be worded in many different ways, and put in many different contexts, but it still means the same thing, and the books To Kill A Mockingbird and Walk Two Moons convey this moral very well.

LOL!

Discussion board today brought up a lot of thoughts about the life of teenagers. Friday I was talking with a friend about teenagers. When I was little I would always say and think “Stupid Teenagers” when I saw them riding their skateboards or walking around causing trouble. It seems weird when I think that we now are the teenagers causing trouble around. I write a lot about growing up and stuff and this is just another thing I have to say. Anyway back to the Discussion Board question I had to think that article. Think for a minute about what you do in your day. I am not a big texter but I know that others out there are. How many text messages do you use a day? How much time do you spend on the computer a day? How much of that time on the computers is spent emailing or IMing? All of these studies out there show that even though Americans are getting really social by cell phones, emails, texting, IMing and everything else, but do you really think that we are more social? Or are we becoming more unsocial by always having to be entertained by our phones, or computers? IM's, text messages, e-mails, and every other way of electronic communication are taking over teenager's writing and in my opinion their lives. Everybody now uses "text talk". (lol, thnx, nmu, idk,) I have never used text talk, and actually I find it really really annoying. All my friends laugh at me when I text, IM and Email, because I always use correct spelling, and grammar. Think about all the people you know. Who spells out every word and has every punctuation mark in the write place? Not many that is why I get made fun of. (I guess I am just making Mr. Thompson proud.) I think everybody has his or her own opinion about this subject but I think that America is become very unsocial. I don’t know everybody has their own opinon about everything and that was mine! GO JAZZ!

I knew a blond that was so stupid . . .

“How can you tell when a blonde has been using your computer? Answer: By the white out on the screen.” Has anybody ever thought about where blonde jokes came from? I just did a half-hours research and this is what I came up with. There are no proven theories about where blonde jokes came from but here is the most common theory. The story originates in areas where blondes are not common and dark skin and hair dominates. But when blonde people would travel and would be seen by people who have never seen a blond person, they would look at them and talk to them and wonder why they were different. They would group around them feeling and touching there hair and asking stupid questions about where they came from and why their hair was like that. But stupid questions lead to stupid answers. Really in the end the blondes had nothing to do with themselves being stupid. It was everybody else’s fault. There are no reasons that girls are the characters in blonde jokes, and there is absolutely no scientific evidence that suggests that blondes are not as smart as everybody else. Sorry in advance to all the blondes out there, but since blonde jokes are so much fun here are some.

I knew a blonde that was so stupid that.......

she called me to get my phone number


she spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice box because it said 'concentrate.'


she put lipstick on her forehead because she wanted to 'make up' her mind.


she tried to put M&M's in alphabetical order.


she sent me a fax with a stamp on it.


she tried to drown a fish.


she thought a quarterback was a refund.

she got locked in a grocery store and starved to death.


she tripped over a cordless phone.


she took a ruler to the bed to see how long she slept.

she asked for a price check at the Dollar Store.


she studied for a blood test.


she thought Meow Mix was a CD for cats.


when she heard that 90% of all crimes occur around the home, she moved.


when she missed the 44 bus, she took the 22 bus twice instead.


when she was leaving on vacation she saw a sign that said 'Airport Left' she turned around and went home.

The Amazon

In Geography we have been talking a little about rainforests. After we watched the National Geographic on rainforests I figured out how amazing they really are. There are very little places in the world like it. The Amazon is unique because it replenishes almost all of the earth oxygen. It is the home to many unique plants and animals that are only found in the rain forest. The Amazon is being cleared at an alarming rate: Well over one square mile in an hour. We have to save the rain forest before it is to late. Did you know that all the sickness that kill the most people in the earth most likely had cures. Such as AIDS various types of Cancers and many others. Do you know why people are still dying of theses diseases if there is a cure? Because of the destruction of the Amazon. There are so many different species of plants and animals in the rain forest most likely among them there is some sort of a cure to illnesses. But since the forest is being cleared at such a fast rate, theses species are not being discovered therefore never being tested as an effective drug. Many drugs used today are only found from sources in the Amazon. The rainforests of the world are disappearing at a rate of 80 acres per minute, day and night major climatic and other environmental changes will occur if this continues. The destruction of the rainforests cause carbon dioxide to be released, which in turn allows the greenhouse effect to occur. The greenhouse effect raises the temperatures all around the world, and can cause ice caps to melt. When ice caps melt, the sea level rises, causing major flooding around the world. There are three major causes of destruction to the rainforest: farming, ranching, and logging. Worldwide boycotts are the most effective ways of stopping rainforest destruction. Boycotting fast food restaurants that serve hamburgers that came from cattle raised on rainforest land. Also another way that could help is to not buy furniture products made from rosewood, mahogany, ebony, and teakwood, because they come from the rainforests. It is believed by many ecologists that some tropical rainforests can be harvested without causing damage to the great variety of plants and animals that live there. I hope that people will understand the importance of the Amazon Rainforest and respect it like it should be. At the very fast destruction rate anything could happen because somehow everything can be traced back to the Amazon. I am worried that people will finally realize that when it is too late and everything is already gone.

Summer

Spring is here and summer is getting closer by the day. Im so excited, its going to be a fun one. We will be done with ninth grade, done with Jr. High, done with summer and before we know it in high school. Then after that we will be graduated and gone away before we know it too. College in less then four years, it is all just coming and going so so fast. Not a day goes by in my life when I don’t think about the future and where I will be in one year from now, then two years from now and just so on until I get bored thinking. I remember when I was really little, you know like those vacations to Disneyland, first day of school, fun times you had in kindergarten and things like that. It all just seems like yesterday. Well I am really really looking for summer. I think it is going to be a fun one. I just signed up to go to EFY at Weber State. Then only thing is that I don’t get to stay overnight. I will have to drive back and forth morning and night because all the rooms were filled up. But still it will be really fun. Last year I heard how much fun everybody had at EFY when I was an officer last year and got a chance to hang out with the older kids. So in my ward when the young men’s leader said. “Hey everybody we are going to EFY” I was excited cause I had heard so many good things. But I turned out that we were going to this four-hour talk with some churchy guy. It really wasn’t fun at all. So this summer I just decided to sign up with some friends and go with them for the weeklong thing. It should be really fun. Then after that along time into summer I think I will be going to scout camp. This will be well I guess my fifth summer camp. This one is going to be different though. My scout troop is going to go down to Zion National Park and camp for two days. We are going to hike around the park and do the Narrows, which is really fun. Then we will drive down to St. George to play some golf. Then we will stay the night in a hotel and the next mornings go to the St. George temple. It is going to be really fun. Then today my mom and I were talking about jobs over the summer. I think im going to try and find one that I can do before I turn sixteen in September. I am already a soccer referee and that makes really really good money. But the only problem is it is only for four or five weeks in the spring and fall. So I make a lot of money in a short period to last a whole year. We decided that my family is going to go to Europe next summer (Not this summer but summer 2009) So I will keep reffing and hopefully find more of a full time job during the day so I have enough money to go. Its going to be fun im so excited. Five more Mondays after today and school gets out Five weeks from Friday! I cant wait!

Why Read?

Children are always being told that books and reading are good for them. Have we ever really thought about why that's true? Exactly what do older children get out of reading novels? What are the benefits of reading to younger children? Does reading really matter? Reading is an important skill that needs to be developed in children. Not only is it necessary in schools, but in adult life as well. The ability to learn about new subjects and find information on anything depends on the ability to read. Internet has made reading more and more a part of people's daily lives. Internet itself is a huge new source of information and fun for all ages. Not being able to read makes a computer completely useless. At any given day 24 million kids are logged on the Internet at a time. I like to be on the Internet and I always find things to read about and research. We all have interests and spend lots of time reading about them. The more children read, the better they will become at reading. It's as simple as that. If they enjoy reading about something they are interested in they are more likely to finish it and develop their reading skills. This year in Honors English I have had a very hard time getting all my reading done for the term. I feel it is because I have been assigned to read certain books that are not my type. I really do love to read but things that are entertaining and interesting to me. My mom used to read my favorite books to me. Even to this day I love it when teachers read books to us for class. I have always loved that. It gives me a little more time to think and imagine what is happening. Studies have proven that the more young children are read to, the greater their interest in reading, and the better readers they will be. Reading out loud, helps people to better use proper grammar and phrasing, helps with their language skills and their ability to express themselves verbally. Reading can provide kids and adults with endless hours of fun and entertainment, and the best part is it’s free! It is so easy to go to a public library and borrow free books. Reading also helps the brain in all ages. There is so much learned by reading. Reading books, magazines or surfing websites, exposes kids to new vocabulary. Even when they don't understand every new word, they absorb something from the context that may deepen their understanding of it the next time the word is heard. When parents read aloud to children, the children also hear correct pronunciation as they see the words on the page, even if they can't yet read the words on their own. Did you know that in one week the average American parent and their children spend only 3 ½ minutes in meaningful conversation? A parent reading a story aloud, whether from a book can be a great opportunity for adults and children to share some quiet, relaxed quality time together away from everyday stress. Reading is a crucial skill for children and adults to master. It is an important source of knowledge and pleasure and relaxation that can last a lifetime.

State Science Olympiad Competition

I didn’t write about the state Science Olympiad competition last week I will write about it this week. So last Saturday was the state competition at Weber State University. I had three events to compete in: Electric Vehicle, Food Chemistry, and Chemistry Lab. First for Electric Vehicle I had to build a car that I could adjust to run between five and ten meters. It had to start with the push of a button and stop by itself at the target distance. I spent about five hours every Saturday morning for six or so weeks building it, and forever trying to figure out how to work it. Next is Food Chemistry. I had to prepare and study for testing certain foods for certain elements or ingredients. I have competed on this event for the past two years and this was my third. This year I had to determine the amount of energy in two different kinds of nuts. You do that by burning the nut and weighing it before and after and finding the difference. It’s kind of easy if you know what you are doing. Then second was my hardest event. It was Chemistry lab. For this even I got thrown on it a little while before the competition. Mr. E called my house and asked if I would do it. I told him no and he said “Too bad” so I got stuck doing it anyway. I went to one practice and it was really really hard. Luckily my partner was able to make it to most practices and knew what he was doing. For the event we had to do a bunch of experiments on a bunch of different things. I don’t know anymore about it. I just did what my partner told me to do. So those were all my events. After I competed we had a little bit of waiting to do before the awards ceremony that night. My family went to The Pie for lunch and then went ice-skating ate the Ogden Ice Sheet. We saw this poor old um… rather large lady skating. As she seemed like she was finally getting used to the ice and stuff she fell down and hit her head on the ice. She just laid there for a long not moving before a bunch of people came over and helped her up and off the ice skating rink. She didn’t look so good. After she got back to the lobby she just sat and laid on a bench for a long time moaning and holding and ice back to the back of her head. When we got tired of skating we went over to the hospital café and got milkshakes. Now that may sound weird that we would go to the hospital for ice cream but we do it all the time. First of all the shakes are really big, really cheap, and the ice cream is from Farr’s. I got a peanut butter shake. It was the best. After my family polished of our shakes we went back over to Weber State for the awards ceremony. I ended up taking 3rd in the state out of all the High Schoolers in Utah for the Electric Vehicle. I won $25 and a $200 scholarship. It was a fun day. It will be my last for Jr. High and most likely my last forever. It’s been fun though. Thanks to everyone who helped my in my three years of competing!

Too Much TV?

What is the one thing that 99% of Americans have in common? They all own a TV. Do you know how many hours a day the average American watches that TV of theirs? Over four hours a day! One of the major causes of obesity and eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia is the TV. Please listen to these statistics:

66% of Americans watch TV while eating meals
The average TV is on for more than 6 hours and 47 minutes a day
250 Billion hours of TV are watched a year in America
6 Million videos are rented each day while only 3 million books are checked out from a public library each day

People may read this and think; “Oh TV that is no big deal so what if we watch a lot” or “It keeps the kids entertained”

The average child spends 1,680 minutes a week watching television
70% of day care centers use TVs as entertainment
Parents spend on average a whole 3.5 minutes in a meaningful conversation with their kids per week.
The average American child spends 900 hours in school and 1500 hours watching TV
By the time the average child finishes elementary school they have seen over 8,000 TV murders and 200,000 violent acts.
Before Americans die their total TV watching hours can easily exceed 15 years total

I could easily go on and on with these statistics on TV watching. All of us know we watch a lot of TV but nobody seems to do anything about it. Even if there is nothing good on people still watch it. I don’t understand why and I am even one of them. TV is addictive and we all know it. We find our selves out of habit, just going straight to one of our many television sets in our house and flipping them on without even thinking. Then we stay and watch for hours and hours even if nothing good is on. Now days the programs on TV are filled with bad things and junk. The adult content on the air has gone up by over 90% in the past fifty years and just keeps rising at a steady rate. Violence and addiction are not the only TV-related health problems. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey released in October 1995 found 4.7 million children between the ages of 6-17 (11% of this age group) to be severely overweight, more than twice the rate during the 1960's. People are to busy watching TV to go out and exercise. A study showed that there were an average of 200 junk food ads in four hours of children's Saturday morning cartoons. According to William H. Deitz, pediatrician and prominent obesity expert at Tufts University School of Medicine, "The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV." Children are not the only Americans suffering from weight problems; one-third of American adults are overweight. According to an American Journal of Public Health study, an adult who watches three hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less than one hour. Sometimes the problem is not too much weight; it's too little. Seventy-five percent of American women believe they are too fat, an image problem that often leads to bulimia or anorexia. Female models and actresses are twenty-three percent thinner than the average woman and thinner than ninety-five percent of the female population. Not all TV is bad it just depends what you watch and how much of it you watch. I hope that you will take these reasons into your daily lives and consider not watching so much TV. I feel the best solution is by changing our routines to find a better alternative for entertainment.

Car Search

I don’t know if most of you know or not but my birthday is in September, which means I will be sixteen in a little over five months. I will be getting my drivers license then. (Scary huh) My parents don’t want me to have a car but they want me to be able to drive. So they are going to buy a car and let me use it, but it is not my car it is theirs. (They keep stressing that part) So since cars are my obsession, (and it may be time to start looking for a suitable car for me) I was browsing around KSL classifieds for used cars. Friday night I was searching there for cheap cars for me to “use” when I turn sixteen. I happened into the BMW section (which happens to be my absolute favorite brand of cars) and I found a little red 3 series. It was perfect for me, it was a little old and the paint was peeling a little but it was cheap! I showed it to my dad Saturday morning; he kind of got this smile on his face and said, “That would be pretty nice.” He told me to write down the address of the dealership. I did and we drove off to Ogden to go look at it. We stopped at a stoplight and I looked out the window and saw it parked right in front of the dealership. It was the best! We pulled into the lot and got out of the car and walked over to it. Yeah the paint was peeling a little and the leather seats were a little cracked, but I loved it. A salesman came out with the key and we stared it up. It started fine then after a minute of it running it started to smell a little like a strong lawnmower exhaust gassy smell. We got in it to go on a test drive and when my dad put it into gear it started to shake and rattle and bounce. We looked at each other and laughed as we drove it away on the test run. The salesman in the back seat laughed and said, “Well this car needs a tune up really bad!” I asked if the sunroof worked and he said no. But I pushed the button anyway and it opened up anyway. We laughed again and we drove the smelly, bouncy, shaky, car down the road with the sunroof open. Then I noticed that the car was flashing a sign that said, “Left taillight not working.” There were just to many things wrong with it. After we were finished playing with it and got back to the lot. The owner car lot came out laughing and said, “I wouldn’t touch that car with a 10 foot pole!” He went on to say that the car had not passed inspection and emissions by the state. Also it had a bunch of loose and missing parts in the engine and suspension. Too bad too cause I really liked the car. It would have been a great sixteen car if it worked. Ha Ha. I just guess I will have to keep looking around.

Attitude

This is my Comma Essay assignment from last week. I was reading over it again and impressed myself that I wrote it, so I am going to publish it again.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference," Mrs. Crittenden my 4th grade teacher drilled into our heads. Every morning we would say it over and over again. "Now class say it with me,” she would say, ”Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference," our class always repeated back rather unenthusiastically. " But now thinking about it now she was right. I have a good attitude, or at least I think I do. Attitude makes the world what it is. People, their thoughts, and attitudes, are what makes the world, and how people look at it. If you don’t have a good attitude about something, then you are going to get absolutely nothing out if it. Life is pretty good, except when we are driving in the winding highway of life, taking the ups, downs and the curves it throws at you. But taking control of your car on this highway, you can make it safely to your destination. In other words if you don’t take control of your attitude and look at everything in a bad way, things will only get worse. But if you change your attitude to make the best of things, you will find yourself having a good time. I have done many things in my life I have not wanted to do at all, but I still knew I had to do them anyway. I would always complain, “Why do I have to go?” or “I don’t want to go can I stay home?” I know for a fact that all of us have done this. But if I look at whatever I am doing in a fun way, most of the time I always find myself having fun. Even sometimes I argue with my parents about how boring something will be and how much I don’t want to go. “Oh come on you will have fun!” Is what they all say as they push you out of the car and drive away. Then you go with a bad attitude, sometime during it you change it had find you had fun, a lot of fun. Then they pick you up and your parents say, “How was it.” I just always answer fine. Remember what you have learned about attitude. Attitude luckily is something people can control. What they don't realize is that all they need to do is change now and then and it will make a world of difference. Just remember, “Attitude is a little thing that really does make a humongous difference!”

California: Part 2

Since I have so much to talk about, I have split up my writing about the trip is a few parts. So here is part 2. Wow I am only on day two. Ok then Friday we packed up the car in the morning and headed on down to San Diego to go to Sea World. We stopped for some Subways about halfway there. Finally we pulled into Sea World. We got in and the first thing we did was ride “Journey to Atlantis.” It was so much fun. It’s a mix of a water ride and a roller coaster. Fist it’s the traditional climb up the slope. But then it drops you with a splash down the big slope. Then the river carries you around and into an elevator. The elevator grabs your car and takes you to the top. That’s where the roller coaster starts. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to go see a pet show, Shamu and the dolphin show. Before we knew it the day was over the park was closing. But that was my favorite part of the whole day. We got to the car and were hungry so my dad said, “Oh I know this good Mexican place”. So we drove into Old Town, San Diego. It’s a State Historical part of San Diego that seems like it has been frozen in time. So we arrived there parked our car and walked up main street. I felt like I was in the small olden day village in Mexico, kind of like the city Nacho Libre. Anyway we got to this really old restaurant. It looked like a very small house decorated with normal lights, Chile pepper lights and cactuses on the porch. We walked in to the sound of two men in sombreros playing their guitars to some Mexican tune. We were seated in the very small dinning room and I looked around and the ceiling was covered with hanging Piñatas. (Later on I figured out the restaurant was called La Piñata) We ordered got a really big plate of food, which we ate to live guitar music. I think the best Mexican food I have ever had. (Aside from Café Rio but that doesn’t count) We loaded our leftovers in a box and started out long drive back to Anaheim in the fun California traffic. The next day was Universal Studios. We watched the fun shows about how they made all the movies, and rode the exciting movie rides (and for those of you who have been there, rode escalators all day). My favorite was “The Mummy: The Ride” da da da. It was fun and FAST! Once we knew it again the day was over and the park was closing. We dove back from Hollywood to Santa Ana where we stopped for Olive Garden for dinner. While we were waiting to get into dinner we walked through the mall. We played the game if “Find the most expensive clothing item.” I won with my $350 plus tax pair of jeans. We ate then once again called it a night. I only have a little more to tell you so I will start next week’s blog with the end of my trip!

California: Part 1

Ya I finally went on a Vacation and it went way way to fast! If you have been reading my last blogs you probably know that I went to California. My parents surprised my little brother and me about it two weeks before we left. It was the first time my whole family has flown on a plane at once, and my family’s first family vacation in almost seven years. So we had to get up at like five on Thursday morning so we could be at the airport in time to leave. After the short flight of about an hour and a half we got our car, checked into our hotel, and got a burrito at taco bell, and went right on into Disneyland. Our first ride was Indiana Jones. After that we just kept going on rides right and left. Then I got a terrible headache. I honestly think the worst one I have ever had. I think it was from all the jerking and bumping of the rides. Anyway I asked my dad if he had any aspirin or something in this pocket since I saw him put some in this pocket before we took off earlier that morning. But then he told me he had left it in the car. So I just spit out my gum (cause that gives me headaches if I chew to long) and figured it would go away. Well three hours later after going on even more rides; including the Teacups, Roger Rabbit and other spinning rides it still did not go away. In fact it just got thirty times worse. To the point where I thought I was going to throw up. By then it was about five o’clock and the park closed at six. So we decided to go to California adventure. Still with my headache I went on the Tower of Terror. Oh my gosh first the ride freaked me out, then after I got off, Oh my head! Oh my poor head! But for some reason I kept going to rides, so we wandered over to Soarin’ Over California. As we were waiting in line my dad asked me if my head still hurt. But then I was like lying on the ground about ready to throw up. I said yes then guess what my mom pulls out of her pocket!!! Ya I know what you are guessing and you are right. Oh I wanted to die especially since my mom had the aspirin with her all day. So after another nauseating ride I finally took it right as the parks were closing for the night. Kind of a bummer but it was still really fun. We were starving after that so we went to this pizza place. I don’t know what it was called but it was a lot like the Pie Pizzeria. It was really really good. Then we went to the store across the street to got cookies and snacks for our hotel room. Then we went to our hotel and went straight to bed. Well im done with writing right now so next post I will tell you about the rest of the trip. I had a blast!

Fun Week, Getting Ready to Leave!

Well right now I am between topics. Last week I talked about our trip. So since we haven’t left yet I cant talk about that again so I am stuck. We really didn’t do much this week because we are trying to get ready to leave. So I guess I will talk about the few small things that happened. Oh wait Monday we didn’t have school cause it was President’s Day. So I got up that day and waited for an hour and a half sandwiched in the middle of to old ladies talking over me to one another while I was waiting to get my haircut. It was so much fun uggghh. Then after that was over we went skiing. We drove up to Powder Mountain to go night skiing. We got there skied had fun. Oh and we saw someone like run into a tree and the ski patrol had to bring them down on a sled under a tarp. That was kind of weird. We had packed some sandwiches in the car and when we got hungry we went and ate them but the peanut butter was frozen because it was so cold. That was okay though because we were so hungry they were still really good. We skied some more then got in the car to go home. We stopped at a gas station for some drinks on the way home, we kept going after that and were still really hungry so when we got back into town we went to Little Caesars for some pizza. The only thing was is that they were out of pepperoni so there were obviously now pepperoni pizzas. But we were so hungry we still got a ham pizza. I don’t think we have had one taste so good. Tuesday and Wednesday rolled by until Thursday. Thursday was the “One week till we leave!” marker and also the Solo and Ensemble festival at the school for band. I played both a solo and an ensemble there and did fairly well on both. First was my ensemble. It was a tuba and euphonium duet. We did really well be we got stuck with a song that doesn’t sound very good. Even though we played it right it still sounded kind of bad. Then after we played that I played my solo. It was an accompanist and I. She was on the piano and I was playing my tuba. But the only thing is that my accompanist is blind. But she is amazing so I asked her if she would make up an accompaniment to my song. She said yes and we worked on it and sounded really good. We ended up doing really well in the competition. It was a lot of fun too. Saturday some friends and me went swimming and had a really good time then went over to one of their houses to play Rock Band. Then today was my cousins farewell for his mission to Toronto Canada. He leaves one week from Wednesday. It’s really weird because he is not much older than me. He is the first on to go on my moms side of the family and I am next to go. Really scary huh. Well I leave on Thursday for California so wish me luck!

Vacation!

This week was a great week. But it all started out kind of strange. On Sunday I went to go sit down with my family after passing the sacrament. As soon as I sat down my mom leaned over and said, “I think you need to read your scriptures” I just looked at her and was like “umm… ok” and just sat there. Then she said it again “I think you need to read your scriptures right now!” So this time I said ok again and started to unzip my scripture bag. As I finished opening my bag an envelope fell out that had my name on it. So I opened it up and pulled out a paper that said Scripture Hunt. It was a riddle thing that I was supposed to fill out using my scriptures. So I followed all the instructions on the paper and finished the riddle and it said, “Surprise! Prepare this week for those things, which are coming. You will shout with joy and these signs shall follow which shall manifest unto him the truth of all things.” So in other words It said to be ready this week for a surprise and you will keep getting hints. So that was my Sunday clue. Then on Monday after school I went to go get a snack out of the fridge and there was a bottle of water that said “Clue #2” Then when my mom walked into the room she said “Its not the bottle it is the water inside.” So I had to think about that, it means it has something to do with water. I sat and thought about it all night cause I only got one clue a day. I went to bed and got up the next morning and went to go get in the shower. In there I found no shampoo and no soap, instead there was a little bar of soap and a little bottle of shampoo with a post-it note above it saying “Clue #3. You know like the ones from a hotel. Right then I though we are going on a vacation to stay in a hotel and we are going somewhere with lots of water. So lets see this was Tuesday morning. Wednesday rolls around and I can help but think what my next clue for that day would be. Then in seminary my mom comes in with a little bottle of sunscreen and a post card that says “Pack your bags we leave in two weeks.” Then on the other side were the picture is there was a picture of Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck. So right there in school I found out we were leaving for Disneyland! I am so excited! My parents were not going to tell my little brother and me until the Thursday morning that we were leaving. They we going to pack for us and just get us up at four in the morning and take us straight to the airport to leave. I am kind of glad they didn’t do that. But I wouldn’t have cared anyway. This will be our first vacation since I was in third grade and we went to Disneyland! That was a very very long time ago. We are going to go spend the days we are there at Disneyland, California Adventure, Sea World, Universals Studios and the Beach before we come home. We leave one week from Thursday! I can’t wait!

Summer! Almost Here!

Well summer is getting closer thank goodness. I was counting the weeks and we only sixteen more weeks until summer! I honestly couldn’t believe it. We will be done with ninth grade, done with Jr. High, done with summer and before we know it in high school. Then after that we will be graduated and gone away before we know it too. College in less then four years, it is all just coming and going so so fast. Not a day goes by in my life when I don’t think about the future and where I will be in one year from now, then two years from now and just so on until I get bored thinking. I remember when I was really little, you know like those vacations to Disneyland, first day of school, fun times you had in kindergarten and things like that. It all just seems like yesterday. Well I am really really looking for summer. I think it is going to be a fun one. I just signed up to go to EFY at Weber State. Then only thing is that I don’t get to stay overnight. I will have to drive back and forth morning and night because all the rooms were filled up. But still it will be really fun. Last year I heard how much fun everybody had at EFY when I was an officer last year and got a chance to hand out with the older kids. So in my ward when the young men’s leader said. “Hey everybody we are going to EFY” I was excited cause I had heard so many good things. But I turned out that we were going to this four-hour talk with some churchy guy. It really wasn’t fun at all. So this summer I just decided to sign up with some friends and go with them for the weeklong thing. It should be really fun. Then after that along time into summer I think I will be going to scout camp. This will be well I guess my fifth weeklong camp. Wow just had another one of those “Can’t believe how fast life goes moments. I just seems like last summer I was at my first camp. But anyway my troop is going to Camp Loll this year. The scouts are going for the usual merit badges and stuff, but the older kids who already have their eagles are going on a high adventure trip. For those of you don’t know Loll is just outside of Yellowstone park. So all week long we are going through classes on how to repel, white water raft, and other fun outdoorsy things. I am really excited for that too. Then today me and my mom were talking about jobs over the summer. I think im going to try and find one that I can do before I turn sixteen in September. I am already a soccer referee and that makes really really good money. So I will keep doing that and maybe find more of a full time job during the day. I don’t know I am really excited for summer and nice weather. Sunday was so so so nice and warm. I cant wait.

School Sports

What sports do you play? Soccer? Baseball? Football? Well if you play those then you would try out for the school team wouldn’t you? Well I guess you are just out of luck because those sports are not offered in our school or even school district. Throughout this essay I will focus mainly on soccer because that is the sport that I play. But in this paper I am also including Baseball, Football and other sports. I want to know why there is only a very select few sports offered at our school compared to other schools. I feel sports have always brought people together. To learn to work together, trust each other, and become good friends. Think of the revolutionary story of Jackie Robinson and how he changed baseball and the way people look at other races. Which I feel even led to a change of the world. With out sports this story would not exist. Imagine in school you have two different groups of kids. They don’t like each other and fight. Kids in both groups enjoy playing soccer. They all try out for a school team. They have to learn to work together and trust each other. Sports in school would lead to more unity between student’s and most likely lower the amount of high risk kids. If that does not work then we could use the discipline points system. Say that if they get a certain number of points or more than they cannot participate in school athletics. You can also use this for grades. Tell them that if they do not get a high enough GPA then they cannot play and are removed from the team or just bench them and not allow them to play. I have some friends that are very passionate about soccer. I really do feel that if they could not play the sport because of behavior or grades then they would try their very very hardest to improve so they could play. This friend who I just briefly mentioned does go to our school. He truly loves soccer and is very very good at it. He has been playing on a competition league for a very long time and I have been privileged enough to play competition level with him for five years before he moved on to a better team. I feel that he does not get respect at school because he does not play one of the few organized sports that is offered at our school. Basketball players who have seen him play in gym class think he is bad at basketball so that makes them think he is really bad at all the other sports. That is very not true. If only those kids could see him out on a soccer field. Then go out and try to play soccer for themselves they would find out its not as easy as it looks. Even with other sports I feel that there is a bit of bullying going on because sometimes kids can’t always see the persons full potential. My friend trains non stop all year round to be the best he can be for the upcoming soccer season. He runs almost every morning in the very very cold temperatures and sometimes in inches, even feet of snow. When I ask him why he keeps going? Why he keeps training through miserable conditions he just says to me, “It will pay off when the soccer season comes., because I will be that much farther ahead of everybody else.” People would never know how good he really is. Everybody knows that the kids who are good at sports are always the most popular kids. It’s not fair that people just don’t realize there are a lot of sports that are not as well know out there that are also worth noticing. We need all the sports that we can get to help in getting kids in shape. The state and Nations top health officials say that Americas kids are bigger than ever. They have a higher caloric intake and a less active physical lifestyle. If the state and district are telling kids that they are out of shape and overweight why are they not doing anything about it? They make us take gym class. They feed us very bad food because it is healthy and low in calories. This is still not working because I still hear how overweight the youth really are. If they love a sport then they will work at it to be the best they can be. Everybody will do that if they truly love the sport. I feel this is a way to solving the problem of overweight kids. Give them a variety in choosing a sport. They will probably also work at it like my friend to be the best they can be. I think that adding more sports to schools will solve many problems, Obesity, Bullying, Low GPA averages at schools, possibly even money issues. All of these things have been brought up to the school board as problems. They have a very high chance of being fixed with just a few small changes. Mainly the addition of more sports.

Day at the Legislature

Well finally second term is over and third term is beginning. Almost over just counting the days until summer. Since it was the start of second semester we all got new classes, kids and teachers on Wednesday. I was not in school. I had to miss to be up at the state capitol for the state Day at the Legislature. I had to go for a youth City Council for Layton City that I am on. Me and a few other council members got up really early in the morning and had to be at the capitol at seven in the morning. We had a short breakfast and went off the smaller council meetings at eight o’clock. It was actually very interesting. We went down to the basement to the meeting conference rooms. The meeting that was the most interesting was a debate about wildfires. The state fire marshal was there saying that instead of spending billions of dollars to put out wildfire in the middle of nowhere just control it to an area where nothing can be hurt or damaged and just let it burn itself out. “Who cares about a few square miles of sagebrush? As long as nothing or nobody gets hurt just let it burn.” He said. Later he went on to saying that at the end of the Utah fire season every year the state runs out of money specifically for fires. Which ends up with the state going into debt. But he was saying that if they only fight the fires that are threatening homes that should save them money. It actually was very interesting. After those small meetings the State Legislature and House of Representative meeting started. They took place in the very big and fancy meeting rooms like you see on president of the Untied States and government movies. They talked about people who wrongfully go to jail. Which means they did not do a crime and were put in jail on accident. Well once this is proved that they did not commit the crime and are released they are given a check from the government saying they are sorry. But the problem with that is that the person who is in jail for one year gets the same amount of money as someone who is in jail for up to thirty years. Which is not fair. The person wrongfully accused and convicted should get more money if he stays in longer. After that we left the capitol and went to the Grand America hotel for a very very fancy dinner. We had this fancy salad, chicken and potatoes and other fancy things. I met Governor Huntsman and ate lunch with Layton city’s mayor and three senators and representatives. It was really fun.

The End of Term and Long Weekend

Well I don’t remember what I wrote about last week. I think it was the expression of my disappointment of not being able to go on that campout. It ended up being okay though. So actually right now I am typing (or trying to type) to type this blog on my iPod. If I was home I would just do it on the computer but on not so I will try to kill two birds with one stone. So anyway I am so so glad that the term is over. I really don’t know why I think is just the stress of making sure that my grades end up okay. On last Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday all I did was read. I read all day at school when I could. Then I would walk home from school and that was my only break from reading. Then I would go straight back to read again. This is why I am so glad that’s over. But the thing that I am looking forward to the most is the extra long weekend. So starting off the weekend. Yesterday was my grandpa’s birthday and my grandparents came over and spent the day with us. Then we all went to my little brother’s basketball game. Afterwards we went out to dinner at Cafe Rio. (My favorite restaurant) It was AMAZING as usual. Then after that I went to the regional dance. Had a good time there to. So them here comes this morning I got up and got ready but today is Stake Conference so instead of driving to church we hopped in the car and drove to Bountiful. So enough of this week let's talk about the fun stuff with our long weekend. Tomorrow/Monday I am going to the car show in Salt Lake. I am so excited you can’t even imagine. So I will have to take a lot of pictures and post them on my blog. Then I really have no idea what I am going to do the rest of the break. I really want to go skiing and sledding. So I will cross my fingers. I guess I'm lucky cause I get a day longer break than all of you. On Wednesday I have a conference at the State Capitol and Grand America hotel. So I get an extra day off. The only problem is that I have to get up of five o clock on the morning. Leave at six fifteen and be at the Capitol very very early. That's the only bad thing. But I think that it is going to be worth it.

End of Term Stress!

Well like I promised last blog I would tell you about my winter camping trip to the cabin. So I guess I will tell you that we didn’t end up going so let me explain how it happened. When we planned this campout it was supposed to be in a week from this coming Friday, But my leaders pregnant wife said “No you can’t have the campout then! That’s when we are supposed to have the baby.” So after much persuasion we convinced him that he needed to be home that weekend. So then they moved the campout to Jan. 11th and 12th. Then I found out that his wife had the baby three weeks early so it ended up being a few days before we were supposed to leave. It kind of made me mad that we planned it around the baby then they ended having it when we had moved it for him in the first place! (If that made any sense at all.) So since the baby was born early he had to stay in the hospital a little longer than most babies. But really it is all right with me. Im glad that that was the reason they canceled it and im glad that both parents and baby are now home. So anyway I guess that I will have to wait another week and a half and you will to if you were just dying to hear about it. It is almost the end of the term thank goodness (Getting closer to summer!) but the only bad thing is I have been living the last three weeks in total stress. If you are at all like me the last week of the term you are running around the school talking to all the teachers trying to get your grades up at the last minute. That’s exactly what I really really do not want to do tomorrow. But I think my grades are fine as of now, as long as I can finish my AR points. I really do like to read I just feel like I can’t choose the book I want to read. I had to read Into Thin Air for science and all of the books we had to read for Honors English. I just don’t get excited like I used to about reading because the books I get stuck reading are not my type. So really now I have to stop typing and go read so I can get all the AR points I need.

Movies and Snow

Well since we haven’t talked since before Christmas I hope everybody had a good one. I hope everybody got all they wanted I know I did and much much more. Well any over the holiday break the only thing I did was read my book to finish my AR points and I watched movies. I saw like eight movies, National Treasure, Disturbia, I am Legend, The Game Plan, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and finally Alvin and the Chipmunks. Well I guess that’s only seven but still I saw all of them in five days. My favorite of course was just the first National Treasure but since I have seen that a lot that really doesn’t count for the holiday movie contest. My favorite was National Treasure: Book of Secrets Though I didn’t like it as much as the first I still really really liked it. Disturbia was really good but it was really kind of strange in some parts. Those of you who have seen it probably know what I mean. But really I liked it. I did love all the movies I saw all over the break. Then aside from all that I spent lots of time shoveling and snow blowing the snow. The really sad thing is I haven’t had a chance to go play in the snow yet. We have gotten so much snow the past few weeks, well I guess even months I haven’t had a chance to go play in it. Except next week I will have all day and night and day again. We are going on another scout camp out. Now im sure you have heard me talk a lot about my young men’s and all our campouts so it should be no surprise that I am going on another one. This one I am going to a cabin in Heber City. There will be lots of snow of course. This will be my third trip there and I have had lots and lots of fun there every single time. So we will get there and unpack a little then go outside and sled and snowboard and play in the snow. So that should be fun and I will have to let you know how it went when I write my next blog next week.