What would we do without Winter Break?

Those are some pictures of my AAU basketball team. The coloring isn't good in the first one, and I look awful in all of them, but you get what you get and don't throw a fit. AAU was a TON of fun. It made me way way way better at basketball, and I loved my coaches, (even if they frustrated me some times), and hanging out with my friends while playing a game I loved. AAU basketball is pretty much over for now. We had a practice Friday, and then we have two more Jan. 1 and 2. But the 2 is a Sunday, so January first is my last practice of AAU. I wanted to have practices over winter break, but Dennis (my coach) decided not to. Then the 3rd is tryouts for school ball. I'm REALLY nervous. I want to make the team so bad, and I think I might, because I'm a lot better than last year. Then once school ball is over there's a time where we can have a couple of AAU tournaments, which I will definitely be going to.

Christmas Spirit is in the air! Today is the first day of winter break, and it's snowing! Which usually I hate snow, and it's already snowed a couple of times this month, but I have been wanting it for a while. So I'm really glad that we're going to have a white Christmas! There's a lot of good things right now. NO school for 2 whole weeks, Christmas, school ball starts soon, and then my birthday. It's just a bunch of sweet surprises wrapped into one package.
Merry Christmas!!!! And a Happy New Year!

30 Random Things I am Grateful For

Warning: This will post will not contain any of the normal, usual, practical things people are grateful for. Meaning anything pertaining to family, religious things, food, or sleep.

1. Back rubs
2. Summer rain
3. Inspiration (from songs, books, movies, and people)
4. The person who invented comfortable pants, such as Sweats and PJ's
5. Fuzzy socks.
6. Summer Vacation!
7. When sunlight leaks through cracks in the curtains, and warms your back
8. Those times where you can't help but to crack up laughing, or even just give a little smile because of a funny memory.
9. Teachers who think Homework is overrated
10. The smell of rain
11. Boys who don't think that it's cool to be a jerk
12. Summer nights
13. Friends that have heard your singing, but still let you listen to their Ipod.
14. That I'm done with 6th and 7th grade, and actually like 8th grade.
15. People who dance like no one's watching
16. People who let you be yourself and still like you afterwords.
17. Memories
18. Friday nights
19. My froggy slippers
20. Those days where you know your hair just looks so great, it can't help but to make you just a little happy.
21. That moment of joy when you see your food coming in a restaurant.
22. Digital clocks.
23. The two songs, Secrets and Just the Way You Are
24. Sinking your toes in soft mud
25. My closest friends, Annie, Olivia, Joelle, Cherish, Katie, and Kim
26. All of my guy friends, Chris, Austin, Chase, Jon, Wilson, Alden, and Justin
27. That wonderful feeling of accomplishment, after you exercise
28. The pool
29. People who make me laugh
30. Days where you can just relax and not do anything

Soak Up The Sun

Camping. Not the best, but not the worst. Everyone in our family was going to go, but Tyler got the stomach flu so him and Mom stayed behind, while everyone else went up to Priest Lake. It was only supposed to take 3 hours, but because we made so many stops at stores to look for dry ice it took us 5 hours. We were all pretty tired out when we got there.
So after we set up the tent in the fading light, we all sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows.


If you look carefully you'll see Kelsey was very careful never to have her face showing in a picture. I don't know why, because to be honest, she looked the best of all of us.


Jenna and Nathan showing off fancy moves with their sticks.





Mom and Tyler decided to give us a little surprise and show up the next morning. Apparently Tyler felt good enough to come up. So we all went down to the beach together.
Because fortunately there was a lake there (which you probably caught onto since it's called Priest Lake) which always makes camping more fun. Unfortunately the high there only got up to like 68 degrees. So the weather barely got to the point where it was too cold to get into the water. Which was a bummer, but me and Jenna had fun playing on the sand, while everyone else just sat on a log and read or watched us.(booorrinnng) I guess Tyler and Nate played on the sand a little, but they didn't even put their swimsuits on.
Here's me building my sand castle, and Jenna building some pit thingy.



Here's the finished product. I know it doesn't look like much. But it took a long time to do, and it's pretty good for me. Plus we had nothing to build it with except out hands and a broken plastic cup. So no laughing.
Here's Jenna's pit. It doesn't look too impressive either, but don't judge it. It was really cool in person.
Here's a couple of pics of the lake (which was really pretty) and of the kids having fun on the beach.



Well I think this is the longest post I've ever done, so I guess Congrats to me.
ps. If you can't tell, I actually had pics on this post. Why? Because I noticed we don't really have any pictures of our family right now, but tons of them when we were all little kids. So I made a commitment to start taking pictures of us whenever I felt it was needed. That's why there's no pictures of me really. But I feel proud to have made a goal and so far have kept it.

The end of summer and the lazy monster

Ugh. Only 8 more days of summer. It's SOOO depressing. Oh well. At least I'll be in 8th grade now so no more being called a sevy for me!!! The bad part about being in 8th grade is you don't get your schedule until the first day of school, when the bell rings. Which I don't think is smart. Why can't they just mail it to you, or have you come get it like the highschoolers? The 7th graders get it about 5 days before school starts.
I went back to school shopping last Monday, I need to go to the mall again. I went to Rue 21 which is my favorite store in our mall, with a girl named Kim who just moved in. I got three pairs of jeans, only 12.99 each!!!!!! And a couple of shirts for about $3 and a cute tank top thingy. (yes I'll be wearing a shirt underneath ;) ) Which was good since pretty much my whole wardrobe is in Jenna's closet. I still need Sunday clothes and a pair of jean shorts though. Oh! And I got a pair of white heels for Sunday.
I might try out for Volleyball. I'm still not sure. I wasn't even thinking about it, but when Sam and Courtney (cousins) were here we went to a park and played volleyball for a while, and I could spike!! Which I'd never been able to do before. Usually I had to underhand serve because my overhand serves go about a foot then drop to the ground.
I've never played volleyball before so I'm kind of nervous. Plus the tryouts are the first day of school. But Cherish (one of my friends) has never played either and is trying out, so I might tryout with her. The only problem is I'll probably make B team because I don't really know how to play and if Cherish does too she'll quit.
We're going camping Thursday-Sat. morning, and on a REALLY long bike ride some time this week, we went to Robinson park on Friday and stayed until about 10. Besides that I'm just hanging out with friends for the last week of summer.
Oh! And I'm trying to get in shape for Volleyball, Basketball, and Track, so I'm trying to go jogging with Mom every morning but Sunday and Saturday. I started this goal Monday I think, and have gone jogging twice so far. So it's not really working, but I'm determined to continue. I just don't know how it's going to work once school starts, because I can't wake up early enough to go jogging and get ready for school and walk to school, and most of the time I'll have too many things going on at night. Plus the sun will start going down pretty early. But I'll find a way to get in shape. I won't let the lazy monster triumph again!!!

POOL TIME!!!!

Summer is here and it's time to hit the pool!!! I've already gone a couple of times, and it's weird seeing Kelsey at the snack bar stand. Summer's going by WAY too fast. It's already July and it seems like summer break started just a few days ago.
We've had a couple of nice days, but alas, Moscow is still wet, very wet. This is not good. Especially when your celebrating the 4th of July. The upside is my grandparents on my dad's side are here. They got here Tuesday and it's been a ton of fun. We went and saw Toy Story 3, and amazingly it was a good movie (but not Kung-Fu Panda good) !!! It was well done and actually had a thought-through plot. It didn't need to be in 3D though, there was nothing popping out at you, so I suggest waiting to rent it instead of seeing it in the theater. We've done other fun things too. Such as going to a river and park, going out to eat at Sella's, going the the arboretum, and even just talking to them is great. I expect everyone to follow their example and come down to visit us too.
For the 4th of July we're not doing anything especially grand. We do have our grandparents over, and we did go and see Toy Story 3 and those are cool. We almost went to a lake to hang out and go swimming and tubing with a couple of other families in our ward (one of the families had moved away but was coming to visit), but it was too cold for us so we skipped.
Aunt Lora visited us a week ago and I was also doing basketball camp that same week, and both of those were fantastic. I think the camp really helped me get better at basketball event thought it was only five days, but to put it the short way, there weren't very many kind people there. I'm really glad I had a friend there with me. It was also fantastic to have the Strawns over. They are just a load of fun, and I'm so happy they live close.
Happy 4th of July!!!

Seven More Days of School

ONLY SEVEN MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL!!! I am so excited! This year, unlike last year, has gone by very fast. Nonetheless I am ready for Summer Break! There's no school tomorrow, because it's Memorial Day, and then there's three days the next week. Which means, because of our weird schedule, I only have 5 more days of each class!!!!! Which is especially exciting because that means I only have exactly 5 hours and 30 min. left with Mr. Lawton, my Science teacher, FOREVER!
I don't have anything too big planned out for the summer. We're going camping a couple of times, I don't know how fun that will be, but I'm trying to keep open mind. Then there's Girl's Camp, and we're going to Spokane with Aunt Julie to go shopping and other fun stuff. I'll also be hanging out with friends a lot, and going to the pool. And No, I'm not going to be working on my tan, because I don't get tan, I get sunburned. So I will be wearing sunscreen at the pool, and the real kind, not the tanning kind, unlike all my sunburn-free-tan-lovin friends. But besides that my Summer is totally care-free, and I can tell you right now, I am going to LOVE it!!!

Spring Break

For spring break we all went to St. George to visit our grandparents. It was only 48 degrees when we first got there, which was very disappointing, but quickly warmed up to 78. Which was good, because the whole way there it was snowing, and we got stuck behind an accident that took 45 min. to clean up, then drove 15 mph for 5 min. before getting stuck behind another one, which also took a long time to clean up. We decided to stop at the next town, Beaver, and stay at a hotel, since it was getting pretty dark. Everyone else had that same idea too, though. We were very lucky though, because we called our grandma and she gave us the phone number for the 2nd to last room in the entire town. Everyone else had to sleep on a church floor. Not fun. Especially for someone like me who you could say has sleeping disorders if you felt like being nice that day.
It was definitely worth it, though. The week was a TON of fun. We went hiking, went to parks, to an actual, real, authentic, bookstore, with real books! We went to their Rec. Center and played Racquetball ball (which I was awful at. I've decided my official excuse is that it was my first time), basketball, bump, ping-pong, Foosball (which I creamed my Dad at), and air hockey. And we did lots of other fun things. It was worth the long, hard drive, and would do it again any time.
We got home Sat. afternoon, and a half hour I got home my friend that moved to Pullman invited me over. She said she had "shicks" she was really excited to show me. I tried to figure out what shicks were, and the only possible explanations I could come up with is they got another dog, and that was his name, or it was some stick game. Dad said she probably said "chicks", and he was right. They live in their own little area, and have two dogs, are getting horses, and now have chicks! They were SO cute! They had yellow ones, black ones, and dark brown ones, and one special one that was light brown and had a white stripe going down its back. One went to the bathroom on my hand, and i have to admit they looked slightly less cute after that.
Mom's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and we celebrated Dad's yesterday. We went to Lewiston and he and Mom went to look for lamps. They didn't find any, so we went to this pizza place that was okay. We decided Sella's was much better. Then we went and watched the cartoon movie How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It was very cool,and everyone really liked it, especially me. I really like cartoons. They're so simple and happy, and always have happily ever afters. I also saw the movie the Illusionist (not in theaters) though, which is not a cartoon, but a mystery and suspense movie. I really liked it, it had cool special effects, and it was really well done. Everyone's faces were always in the shadows, and the edges of the screen were always dimmer, so it looked like you were looking through someone's eyes. I recommend seeing both those movies.

DANCE YOUR HEART OUT!!!

So right now my life is just the usual. Eat, sleep, breath. OK, so it's a little more interesting than that, but nothing too exciting has happened lately. I hang-out with friends, try to help them out with all their boy drama stuff, which I luckily have chosen not to get involved in except to give them advice and listen to them. I go to school, go to mutual, go to church, go to b-ball practice. And that's about it.
OK, actually here is something that's bugged me.I learned that for mutual that we we're going to learn how to swing dance, and with boys too. So that might sound fun to anyone else, but to me that sounds like torture. I begged and begged my parents to not make me go, but apparently it's my duty. Finally they partially gave in and said I only had to stay there for 25 min. Which means at exactly 7:25 I could call them if I wasn't having fun.
Luckily our neigbors we were car-pooling with came a few minutes late, but that didn't help too much. So I went there, and to put it in short, it was awful. It was a tri-ward activity so there was like 30 people standing in front of me so I couldn't see the instuctors, they were going super fast, me or the guy I was doing it with didn't know how to do it, and pluss I hate dancing unless you're just totally goofing off with your friends or family. So after we switched partners a couple of times I went and hid in the bathroom for then next 5 min. Kelsey wouldn't let me use her cellphone to call my parents so I used the church phone to call them.
When I got home I went and changed into my Pjs and then Jenna came down and said my leader, Sister Kreihbel, was here to see me. I thought she was going to make me go somewhere so I threw on some clothes and went up to see that she had made me a huge cookie in the shape of a heart, that was beatifully decorated. Sister Kreibel is a wonderful leader and I love her so much. She is so sweet and dedicated to her calling.
So, the next day guess what we did in PE. We had to go up to the mat room and watch and do a DANCING video. It wasn't as bad though, because it was all these weird, funny dances and I was with my friends, so me and my friend, Olivia, just totally goofed around.
And today is the family dance at the church. I never knew that Valentines Day was a time for dancing. So I give all of you a challenge. Show your love by going home and dancing your heart out tonight. and Happy Valentines Day!

Going Foreign

We had a Weber family reunion and it was very fun. We didn't really go in the snow though, except for one day we went sledding. We, Anne,Samantha and me went into the hot tub a couple of times. We'd go and run around in the snow then run back into the hot tub. We had Family Night and we we're in charge of the awards. Some we had were, the biggest bruise, the person who's changed the most since the last Family reunion,the person who can do the most push-ups, ect.
We played lots of games, ate lots of food, and I had a blast! We left Thursday and spent New Years Eve in Salt Lake with some cousins on are other side. That was fun too. We played on the Wii, ate food, watched Spider Man 3, and Jenna, BreAnne and I did some makeovers where we made ourselves look scary, even if sometimes it wasn't on purpose.
My b-day was two weeks ago, but we're celebrating it today. We had french-bread french-toast, and german pancakes (which we got from Heather's blog), I guess I just felt like going foreign. It was very good, we also had orange juice. I got a cute skirt that was beige and had pink and brown flowers all over it and a brown T-shirt to go with it. I had actually picked those out myself before when my mom and i went shopping and i got to pick out two things, reasonablly priced I wasnted for my b-day. She wrapped them though. I also got a cute green shirt, a tote to carry my scriptures in, (which I had wanted for a really long time) it was white with orange polka dots and would match my new skirt too. I got a little book with three pictures of me that Nate had drawn that were very well-drawn,and Kelsey's old, blue ipod she's found that still has a few songs on it. I've wanted an ipod for a long time too, and at a couple of points I had enough money to buy one, but I've always decided there were beter things to spend my money on and refrained, so I', glad I got one. For my b-day we're not doing anything big with the fmaily since I'm having a b-day party.
We're going to have a Mario-kart tournament, and play some other games. We're havinng our own cake, we're having at lunch. It's a kind I've wanted for a really long time but we never have it. It's a chocolate cake with a layer of this pudding thing, then a layer of chocolate frosting stuff, then another chocolate cake, and more frosting. Or something like that, and you add strawberries or cranberries, or raspberries on it sometimes. It's SUPER good.
Then 5-9 is my party. We're doing blind-folded makeovers which are really fun, the playing this game where you roll dice until someone gets doubled then they try to unwrap and eat as many Rolo's as they can with chopsticks until someone else rolls doubles then they stop and the other person goes. We're playing spoons, but the person who looses has to go in a room and everyone else makes a disgustion concoction they have to drink. And the Flour game where you pakc down flour and put a penny in the middle of it and you cut a piece of the flour off and whoever makes the penny fall has to get it out with their mouth.
The only problem with that game is it's no fun if people try to make it fall, and you can only play it like twice, or it makes a big mess, and the penny has been touched by too many people's mouths.
We're also decorating cupcakes and eating pizza. And watching the movie While You Were Sleeping. And if you haven't seen that I want you to know that it's not a horror show, or a gross show, even if it sounds like it. It's sort of a chick-flick comedy. And I can't remember it that well, but I remember that I thought it was very funny. I recommend it.