Christmas Traditions

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I am excited that it is less than a week away. Because Christmas is coming up, I am going to talk about some of my family’s Christmas traditions. We have done these traditions since I was born.

The first tradition is that Santa comes. The night of Christmas Eve we hang our stockings over our fireplace. In the morning we are not allowed to go upstairs until our parents have finished putting things in the right places. Then when they are ready we come up one at a time youngest to oldest. My dad always records us opening our presents.

The second tradition is that we put all of our family’s names in a Santa hat and we draw one out. Whoever we draw out we get a Christmas present for them. By doing this it makes it so that we can get a more expensive gift for that person rather than getting everyone a small gift. Usually watch each other open these gifts because they are a little more special than the gifts from Santa.

Often when we open a gift we send them on a treasure hunt around the house. Sometimes they need to put puzzles together to find out where the next clue is. This usually doesn’t happen on Christmas just on birthdays. By sending people on treasure hunts it makes them earn their present.

We always go to our grandma’s house during the week of Christmas. Usually we get a small present. Sometimes we have a talent show. We usually meet with our other side of our family and have dinner. This is a fun time to talk to my cousins. I love talking with my cousins because I do not see them very often. Pretty soon the will be married and on missions. Some of my cousins are already married and some are on missions.

Usually we put up our Christmas tree and our other ornaments on a Monday night. We help each other put hard things up. Our tree is always stuffed with ornaments that we have made. The tree always looks magnificent after we are done.

On Christmas morning we always have quiche. We eat it after we open our presents. Quiche is a breakfast food that has a pie crust and has cheese and bacon. Quiche is most of our family’s favorite food.

With our cousins we act out the nativity scene. The nativity scene is Jesus Christ’s birth. We act out the shepherd, the wise men, Mary, Joseph, and even baby Jesus.

We also make some good Christmas goodies. These include Fudge, divinity, and other yummy stuff. We make these as a family.

We also go to our great aunt to make gingerbread houses. They are always a milk carton and a plate that we cover with frosting. Then we apply all the goodies onto them.

I love my traditions. They are very fun. They are things that I look forward to the whole year!

Author Letter

Earlier this week I wrote this for the author contest.

Dear D. J. MacHale,

I enjoyed the Pendragon Series especially, The Soldiers of Halla, the last book. There were many lessons taught in this book that were also in the other Pendragon books. One of these lessons is to never give up. Another lesson is patience. The last and most important lesson is that reading can be fun. These lessons have helped me in my life and have probably helped others too.

The first lesson is to never give up. This lesson was found in The Soldiers of Halla as Bobby fought to save Halla. Halla is everything that exists, all the worlds and everything on them. Bobby fought even though fighting for Halla looked impossible many times in The Soldiers of Halla. This book has taught me not to give up in many things even if it looks impossible to win. Many times my grades do not look to good at midterm, but by the end of the term my grades look much better. My grades looked much better because I did not give up at midterm. This lesson has not only helped me with my grades, it has also helped me in sports. Enduring to the end is a good lesson that has helped me in my life. Sometimes, even though I do not give up I loose a soccer game, but by not giving up and being patient I might win the tournament.

Patience is the second lesson The Soldiers of Halla taught me. As Bobby fought his way through Halla he was not always patient, but when he was not patient, he paid the price. In The Soldiers of Halla Bobby was horribly outnumbered, but as they slowly and patiently fought Saint Dane, they eventually won the war. For many things I have needed to be patient. I have needed to be patient when I run. When I started, I was not very fast, I was slow. As time went on, I eventually was able to run very fast. If I was not patient with myself, I would have never been able to run fast. By being patient I can continue to improve my running. The first time I played soccer I was not very good. By being patient I will continue to improve and become better. Patience has helped me be better at many things. From reading The Soldiers of Halla I learned to be patient and that reading is fun.

Most importantly The Soldiers of Halla taught me that reading can be fun. The Pendragon Series was probably the first group of books that I read for fun, rather than being forced. I actually could imagine what was happening in my head because it was very descriptive. It was also a fast moving book that if I skipped a page I probably would not know what was happening. These books were action packed and had many inventions in them. These books taught me to use my imagination rather than just following the words on the page. The Soldiers of Halla and the other books in the Pendragon series have taught me that reading can be fun.

These lessons taught in The Soldiers of Halla and other Pendragon Series books have helped me in my life. These books have taught me to never give up. These books have taught me patience. Most importantly these books have taught me that reading can be fun. The Soldiers of Halla and the other books in the Pendragon Series have changed my life, they have changed other’s lives, and will continue change lives.

Thanks so much,

Rex Sumsion

100 Things That I Am Grateful For...

1. Walls
2. Lights
3. Ceiling
4. Dishes
5. Running Water
6. Cookies
7. Cake
8. Chocolate
9. Carmel
10. Whipped Cream
11. Pie
12. Bed
13. Yard
14. Friends
15. School
16. Television
17. Telephone
18. Cell phone
19. Cars
20. Videogames
21. Computer
22. iPod
23. Books
24. Time
25. Pen
26. Pencil
27. Shoes
28. Shocks
29. Pants
30. Shorts
31. Shirts
32. Jackets
33. Hair
34. Thumbs
35. Pine trees
36. Fruit trees
37. Shrubs
38. Grass
39. Sports
40. Dirt
41. Paper
42. Chairs
43. Gravity
44. Eyes
45. Ears
46. Mouth
47. Nose
48. Nerves
49. Skin
50. Ten fingers
51. Toes
52. Girls
53. Temple
54. Church
55. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
56. The Book of Mormon
57. Seminary
58. Classes
59. Piano
60. Music
61. Microwave
62. Oven
63. Washer
64. Dryer
65. Toilet
66. Soap
67. Shampoo
68. Sinks
69. Pictures
70. Cameras
71. Dressers
72. Book Shelves
73. Clock
74. Skies
75. Ear buds
76. Speakers
77. Head phones
78. Lamps
79. Table
80. plates
81. Glasses
82. Silver Ware
83. Napkins
84. Assignments
85. Money
86. Rivers
87. Lakes
88. Snow
89. Rain
90. Flies
91. Frogs
92. Mountains
93. Desert
94. Sky
95. Ground
96. Sun
97. Earth
98. Solar Systems
99. Galaxies
100. Universe

Service

I am grateful for many things, especially around Christmas. I am grateful that I have everything that I need. I am also grateful for the things that I do not need. It makes me more grateful when I see how some people do not have everything they need. It makes me feel really good when I serve people. Service is fun to do and it makes a person feel good.

Around Christmas last year or the year before we helped a family get Christmas. We helped them on family night. It started out as my dad giving us a little bit of money for us helping around the house. After that he pointed out that a family was not going to get Christmas. Before we knew it we were at the store buying some things that would be good for this family. Then around Christmas we put these in front of their door and doorbell ditched them. We ran away and heard some excited screams and the parents yelled thank you. It made me feel really good. It made me want to do it again.

We helped a family another time. We were going on a vacation in a couple weeks. This time I am not sure if it was during Christmas or another time. But we still met at family home evening. When we met my dad gave us money that would have been used for a vacation. It was a pretty big amount of money. My dad talked about another family that was in financial trouble. We stuffed some big socks with the money and my parents took the money to them. Helping someone made me feel very happy even though we just gave away our vacation. Service makes me very happy. It does not need to be around Christmas to do service.

Service is very fun to do. It does not need to be as big as this but it still can help someone out. For example when the teachers in the ward and I went to rake leaves I felt happy. When a person does service for someone other than his/herself it generally makes that person feel happy. Another great thing about service is that it is fun. Even though a person is working it seems fun. It is especially fun when a person does it with a group like their family or friends. Service is what a person needs when they are not feeling to good.

BYU's Victory

I am grateful for many things this thanksgiving. One of which is that BYU won! For those of you that do not know they played Utah today. Utah Utes and BYU Cougars are pretty big rivals. It was a pretty close game that kept me interested all game. There were many fouls from the players throwing punches, extra pushing, and so on.

BYU was said to win if they played a decent game. The game started with the Utes kicking off. BYU punted on their first and second drive. The Utes scored field goals on their first and second drives. BYU was down by 6 and they did not look like they were doing to well. When they would throw it they would just get pounded. There were many calls for punching and extra pushing but there were many things that were not called. There were many calls for punching and extra pushing but there were many things that were not called. BYU looked like they were going to score a touchdown on their next drive. But because of a 15 yard penalty they went for the field goal. BYU made the field goal.

Later BYU scored a touchdown. This is where BYU started to play. The Utes were not giving up though. They still made some good plays, and made a field goal. BYU scored a touchdown. BYU also made some good plays, including an interception and a field goal. Close to the end Utah made a touchdown with a two point conversion. This made it so it was 20-17, BYU winning. This gave me a shock with only a field goals difference with two minutes left. Utah had the ball they had enough time for a drive to a touchdown. The only hope was to stop the Utes. Utah made a forty yard field goal. Making it tied with a minute to go. The clock ran out just after the kickoff.

Overtime made the game extremely interesting. The rules are that each team gets the ball on the twenty-five yard line. If they are tied than it goes to the next round. Then if the teams tie it goes onto a third round. In the third round the teams must go for a two point conversion. In this game the Utes were stopped and scored a field goal. Then BYU came in and scored a touchdown. The touchdown that BYU scored in overtime looked too easy. It was a soft throw and he ran right through some people then into the touchdown, still on his feet. BYU WON! It was pretty sweet the BYU fans flooded the field it was sweet.

Max Hall made some amazing plays and he also made some not too good plays. Many times he was about to be sacked and he pulled out of it, sometimes even picking up about 15 yards or so. Later in the game he had more pressure on him causing him to through really quickly. This made the ball go faster and harder. This made it so one time a receiver didn’t catch the ball in his dive. I think BYU played a decent game. It was pretty close. It was a very good game to watch.

BYU

I am grateful for many things this thanksgiving. One of which is that BYU won! For those of you that do not know they played Utah today. Utah Utes and BYU Cougars are pretty big rivals. It was a pretty close game that kept me interested all game. There were many fouls from the players throwing punches, extra pushing, and so on.

BYU was said to win if they played a decent game. The game started with the Utes kicking off. BYU punted on their first and second drive. The Utes scored field goals on their first and second drives. BYU was down by 6 and they did not look like they were doing to well. When they would throw it they would just get pounded. There were many calls for punching and extra pushing but there were many things that were not called. There were many calls for punching and extra pushing but there were many things that were not called. BYU looked like they were going to score a touchdown on their next drive. But because of a 15 yard penalty they went for the field goal. BYU made the field goal.

Later BYU scored a touchdown. This is where BYU started to play. The Utes were not giving up though. They still made some good plays, and made a field goal. BYU scored a touchdown. BYU also made some good plays, including an interception and a field goal. Close to the end Utah made a touchdown with a two point conversion. This made it so it was 20-17, BYU winning. This gave me a shock with only a field goals difference with two minutes left. Utah had the ball they had enough time for a drive to a touchdown. The only hope was to stop the Utes. Utah made a forty yard field goal. Making it tied with a minute to go. The clock ran out just after the kickoff.

Overtime made the game extremely interesting. The rules are that each team gets the ball on the twenty-five yard line. If they are tied than it goes to the next round. Then if the teams tie it goes onto a third round. In the third round the teams must go for a two point conversion. In this game the Utes were stopped and scored a field goal. Then BYU came in and scored a touchdown. The touchdown that BYU scored in overtime looked too easy. It was a soft throw and he ran right through some people then into the touchdown, still on his feet. BYU WON! It was pretty sweet the BYU fans flooded the field it was sweet.

Max Hall made some amazing plays and he also made some not too good plays. Many times he was about to be sacked and he pulled out of it, sometimes even picking up about 15 yards or so. Later in the game he had more pressure on him causing him to through really quickly. This made the ball go faster and harder. This made it so one time a receiver didn’t catch the ball in his dive. I think BYU played a decent game. It was pretty close. It was a very good game to watch.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to be grateful for stuff.

I am grateful that we do not have school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. School is a fun time to see people but it gets old after about a week. I do not think it would be as bad if we did not have the same schedule everyday. One the other hand I am grateful that I am able to go to school and learn and that no one has blown up the earth yet. I am grateful that I have teachers and friends. School would be nothing without my friends.

I am also grateful that we are going to have a good dinner. This year I am having thanksgiving with my dad’s side. I am grateful that I will see my cousins that I hardly ever see. I am grateful that I get to choose what I eat. I know that sounds strange but I really do not like some foods one of them is stuffing. Whenever I put it in my mouth I look at the rest of the stuffing and it just gags me. Stuffing is a weird name anyway why would you eat something that would stuff you. I hate when I feel like am going to explode it is just like someone is counting down to my death. Then something really fun happens someone hits me in the stomach or something then I loose my dinner from the past week. Not really it just feels like I am going to. Anyway that is why I am grateful I can choose what I eat.

I am also excited for the turkey bowl. The turkey bowl is just a traditional thing our ward does every year on thanksgiving. We all wake up early to go play football. Our ward has done this every since we moved in. After we play we always have hot chocolate and doughnuts.

Davis Darts vs. Bingham Miners

Davis went to state and played at the Rice-Eccles stadium on Friday. I made it to the game with about three minutes in the second quarter. Davis was up by seven with fourteen points. Davis finished up the half by scoring a field goal in the last seconds of the half. Davis looked like they had it under control. Davis was up by ten and it looked good. However after half time Davis was not able to stop Bingham on their drives. In the 3rd quarter Davis and Bingham would have back to back touchdowns. The turning point of the game was when Bingham stopped Davis and forced them to punt. Davis was up by three ending the third quarter. In the fourth quarter the game just fell apart. Davis did not make the tackles when they needed to. Bingham just plowed right through Davis. Davis’s last chance was blown down by an interception with a few minutes left. It was very disappointing. The guy behind me started to swear after every play. Davis ended up loosing pretty badly.

Theseus: Minotaur Slayer

Imagine you had to face a fifteen foot tall monster that is half man and half bull. Theseus had to defeat this monster, it was called the Minotaur. This monster was in a maze called a labyrinth. Every person that had been in the labyrinth was killed by the Minotaur. Only a few people knew the way out of the labyrinth. Theseus received help from Medea, the king’s daughter, to defeat the Minotaur. Theseus was the type of person that makes the person taste of their own weapon. Theseus defeated Periphetes, Sinis, Sciron, and Procrustes by making them taste their own weapon. All heroes have tasks that they complete Theseus defeated Periphetes, Sinis, and Sciron, and Procrustes. All heroes defeat some kind of monster; Theseus defeated the Minotaur. All heroes get help on their tasks just like Theseus did. The myths of heroes are very similar to Theseus’s myth.

Many other heroes have tasks. Perseus had a task that he was to kill the Gorgon Medusa. The Gorgon Medusa was a monster that if you looked at its head directly you would turn to stone. The king asked Perseus to defeat the Gorgon Medusa trying to get rid of him. Jason had a task where he was to get the Golden Fleece. This was a hard task because it was guarded by a dragon. One of Hercules’s Tasks was to clean out King Augeas’s stables in one day. These stables were pretty messy because of the cattle that were oversized. When a hero is on a task they receive help.

Heroes received help on their tasks. Perseus was given help by many things including a mirrored shield, flying shoes, special pouch to hold the head, a sword, and helmet of invisibility. He received help from the god Athena for where and what materials to use. She was happy to help him with this because the Gorgon Medusa terrorized one of her temples. She told him to go to the river nymphs for some supplies. Athena gave him the shield. The river nymphs gave him some flying shoes, a helmet, and a pouch. The god Hermes gave him a sword. Jason also received help from Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She made Medea, the princess, fall in love with Jason. Medea’s help saved Jason a lot of times as he made it to the Golden Fleece. Hercules also received help cleaning out the stables of King Augeas. Hercules cleaned them out by directing a river through the stable then he just shoveled the cow’s crap in the river. So he got help from the water. Without it he would not have been able to clean it out in time. Heroes get help defeating their monster too.

All heroes have a monster that they defeat. Theseus defeated the Minotaur. Perseus’s monster was the Gorgon Medusa. He killed it my looking into his mirrored shield (so he wouldn’t turn to stone). Then he used his special sword and cut off its head. He put the head in the pouch and flew away with the head. However, when he took out the head to show the king, the king turned to stone along with the people in the room. Jason’s monster was a dragon. Jason didn’t kill the dragon but he used a potion on the dragon to get past the dragon for the Golden Fleece. Jason was helped, by Medea, by a sleeping potion that he used on the dragon. Then he made his get away with the Golden Fleece without Medea. Hercules’s monster was the Hydra. The Hydra had more than eight heads. It was unsure because as soon as one of its head was chopped off two grew in its place. The Hydra also had lethal breath. Even a foot print was bad enough to kill an ordinary mortal. Hercules chopped off its head one by one. While his nephew Iolaus seared the neck of the Hydra with a torch so it would not grow two heads in its place. All heroes had an amazing monster that they defeated.

Hero myths are very similar to the myth of Theseus. Perseus, Jason, and Hercules all have tasks that they completed, Theseus did too. Theseus received help on his task, so did Perseus, Jason, and Hercules. Theseus, Perseus, Jason, and Hercules all somehow defeated their own impossible monster. This is just four of the heroes in mythology, and they are the same in many ways. Hero myths are very similar to other Hero myths.

Summer Events

I got a music gadget on my blog… I also got a picture this is all because of my brother that is so nice to me. On the first day I tried to do this but it would not work. So today when I had to put my shelfari thing up I just had him help me with the other stuff too. So now I have officially set up my blog. This is sort of sad because it has already been a term, a forth of a school year. I cannot believe it is already the second term. Every year it just seems to go faster. It seems like we have not learned very much in some classes then in others I do not know what else I need to learn. This school year has gone incredibly fast following an incredibly fast summer. Last summer a lot of things happened. First I went to EFY which was extremely fun and had a very spiritual side. Unfortunately I got the swine flu at EFY and had to stay in my dorm for about a fifth of the week. Everyone is so afraid of the swine flu and to tell you the truth it was nothing. My mom had me quarantined so the rest of my family would not get it. My older brother that helped me with my blog also got the swine flu. I do not know if it was because of me or because he was at EFY with me. So I guess it was my fault. While I was sick I just played the PS2 and watched movies. It was fun. Well sort of. As soon as I was better I could not go running. I was pretty dizzy. I did not feel like doing anything. So the after affect was probably worse than the actual flu. I went on a couple of trips in the summer: including scout camp, family reunion, and some others. Scout camp was way fun we hike the narrows in Moab. It was cool to slide in small places and to climb some rock walls. One night we had steak. It was perfect all juicy and full of goodness. It was probably one of the best steaks I have ever had. One person was half way done with his when someone finally told him it was not supposed to be as raw as it was. He apparently had never had steak before. For my family reunion we went to strawberry reservoir. We spent so much time fishing. The only person that caught a fish was my younger brother. He did not even try that hard. He just left his poll on the ground. About ten minutes later he wanted to do another cast when he reeled it in he had a fish. So one thing I learned was that I do not like sports that are all chance because you cannot really become better. There might be more things to learn about fishing that will make you better but the fish just has to be there.

Flagella

For science I had to write a paper on flagella. So I thought I might as well kill to birds with one rock. That is why I decided to use this in my blog. My science teacher for biology gives me many assignments. I think sometimes that she thinks too much of us. She gives us the biggest assignments with hardly any time. She is very persuasive and lots of times you don’t think it would be too hard, but it always turns out harder than what she says.

Flagella are tail-like structures that project from the cell’s body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. There are three types of flagellum they are Bacterial, Archaeal, and Eukaryotic.

Bacterial Flagella are shaped like a coil. Bacterial Flagella are made of protein flagellum. Their shape has twenty nanometer-thick and are hollow tubes. Bacterial Flagella have a helical just outside of the outer membrane. This hook lets the helix point away from the cell. The flagellum goes through protein rings in the cell’s membrane that help and act like bearings. Organisms that are gram-positive have two protein rings. One of these rings is in the poptidoglycan layer and the other is in the plasma membrane. Organisms that are gram-negative have four protein rings. One ring associates with the L ring or the lipopolysuccharides. Another ring is the P ring it associates with the peptidoglycan layer. The third is the M ring this is embedded in the plasma membrane. The last one is the S ring it is directly attached to the plasma membrane. Flagella increase and decrease their speed; they do not stay the same speed. Some flagella can operate 6,000 to 17,000 rotations per minute. Flagella spin counter clockwise to move the cell forward. When bacteria flagella grow they grow by addition of subunits at the tip of the flagella.

There are four types of bacterial arrangement schemes. Monotrichous have one flagellum at one place on the cell. The second kind is lophotricheaus, it has many flagella but the flagella only coming out of one place. Amphitrichous has two flagella they are on opposite sides of the cell. Peritrichous has many flagella they are all over the cell.

Archaeal Flagella are very similar to bacteria flagella. They have a very unique structure that lacks a central channel. They spin counterclockwise they move the cell forward. Archaeal Flagella only bundle when they go counterclockwise. When some move the other way it is called tumbling. Even if Archaeal Flagella all went clockwise it is proven that they would not bundle. Bacteria flagella are thicker than archaeal flagella. They grow by addition of subunits at the base.

Eukaryotic flagella are a bundle of nine fused pairs of microtubule doublets that surround two central single microtubules. Eukaryotic flagella are incased in the cell’s plasma membrane. Each of the nine doublet microtubules extends a pair of dynein arms.

Flagellum is longer than cilia. Flagella move in a flagella propeller like motion, while cilia just goes back and forth.

Band vs. Choir

This week has been really busy for me and that question on homework just started this whole blog. Homework takes a bunch of my time even when I don’t have anything going on. For example a day for me consists of eating breakfast, going to school, snack, exercising, eating diner, and then finally homework. It is not that I procrastinate I just have a lot going on.

This week we had a band concert that was pretty sad, because it was so bad. It was not me that was bad I hit every note right but most everybody else was lost. We sounded too bad to be the top band in the school. Everyone always blames it on the band teacher because last year we got a new one. Now our top band sound like our lowest band with the old teacher. Many people were very disappointed in how the band played. With the old band teacher it was very rare to see an eighth grader in the top band. This year half the band is eighth graders and there are even some seventh graders. Loads of people blame it on the teacher. Sometimes I wonder if it is because so many people have dropped out or if it really is the teacher. I think that it is both. It may be hard for a new teacher to come and act like he has been there forever, but I think he should have. Last year for about the first semester we just sat there and that is why everyone dropped out at the semester. So I guess it is his fault that they dropped out.

Then I had three concerts for this choir musical review. I loved the musical review it was fun to learn the music to three musicals and actually know what they are saying. To have it memorized, I think it would be cool to watch those movies now. This took a lot of my time but it was definitely worth my time. It was way fun to be with the choir and get to know each other better. Last Saturday we had an all day concert that was all day. Pretty obvious but still it was all day. It took a whole day. A whole day! Like I was saying it we had an all day concert that took all day. It was fun to bond with the choir. But because of this there we negative things that happened. For one it took all day if you heard me mention that already. Another thing is I missed most of my friend’s birthday party. I was looking forward to that party to it was too bad that it was the same night as my performance. Even worse about that night is the piano player was late; though it was not her fault she was not told that we were starting thirty minutes sooner than the night before. It does not matter that much but I missed an extra half hour.

Tonight I just decided that I like choir a lot more than band.

High School Boundaries

Recently the high school boundaries for my area were changed. I was moved from Davis High to Layton High boundaries. Boundary variances are given in the spring for the 10th-12th grade students. Because I am not in the boundaries and in 9th grade, I can not participate in Davis High Cross Country, my dream. The district should grant variances before 9th grade. Students might like to switch high schools for academics or different activities. There has been much disagreement in my area about the boundaries, especially since the last change. I think if they changed the timeframe for granting variances there would be less disagreement.
The students going into 9th grade should be able to apply to receive variances to the high school they would like to go to before 9th grade. Since I was young I dreamed of running for Davis and the boundary change took away a full year of Cross Country. What if someone that moves in wants a variance or what if someone changes their mind and they want one, and all of them are gone? Each high school should give out half of their variances a year in advance. This would make people able to go out for sports as a student in 9th grade.
By this little change it could have a huge difference in a ton of lives. It could help people get their dreams. This would help people so they are not in the same situation as me.

I entered the essay contest for this class. It took me forever to edit it. I always had and probably have something wrong in the essay and in what I am writing now. Sometimes it just did not flow right. So to finish my 500 words I am just going to talk about my experience righting the essay.
When I started I chose to write about how the boundaries for high school have affected me. I had a couple ideas to fix my problems from cross country. It made me really made when the Layton coach went to the district and got me in trouble. I was only in trouble for working out with them. I still do not understand at all why that is a problem. It just makes me dislike the Layton coach a little. Okay a little more than a little. But then I was taught in seminary to forgive. So I have forgiven him, yup I have. I just hope those in the future in my place will not have the same problems as me. I hope that someone will consider my idea and take it to action. It took me a while to right this essay. So I just used it in my blog. I thought it was pretty good. After I had it written it was three hundred and fifty words. For the contest it can only be two hundred and fifty. So I had to take out almost a third of my essay to get it right.

Eagle Project

If you are a scout you would know about you mom always getting on your nerve about needing to do you project. I am not even close to being eighteen but my mom was always getting on my nerve so I just did it. For my project I a putting gas shut-off wrenches on people’s gas meters. I had them sign up at our stake’s emergency preparedness fair. About 60 people signed up so I had a ton of work to do. So I separated them into groups and got it all organized. I got groups together and we went to go put these on people’s houses. I learned something. It takes people a really long time to get their money out. Sometimes they are not there. You may thing oh it is only ten minutes, or just come by again. That is ten minutes adds up to be 600 minutes. That is ten hours instead of about 3 minutes at each house and it would be 180 minutes. That is only three hours because they had their money ready. So this lesson that I have learned is for something like this or fast offerings have you money ready so it doesn’t take as much of other people’s time.

Destroying

Right now my teams have destroyed the other teams that they have played. My soccer team won yesterday 12-2. It was fun. I even scored a few goals. My coach didn’t put me as the goalie, which was good because I hate being goalie. It was way fun to win by that much. My team is still undefeated 5-0. My game last week was the closest game that we have had to losing. At halftime it was 1-1. I scored our team’s only goal in the first half. It was the coolest goal ever; I scored from half. I was playing sweeper, a defensive position that covers about the whole field. We had a corner kick the other team kicked the ball up straight to me so I just kicked it. The ball went in the goal right in the center almost hitting the top post. The goalie was short, obtuse, and couldn’t jump so he couldn’t reach it. After half time we kicked into gear and we won 6-1. That was our most fun game so far. The other games we just kill and let them score a few. They are fun because I can score a few, but with the game a week ago we did not let them score they scored before us. On Saturday BYU killed too. They won 59-21. It was pretty close until about the quarter. Then they took off. It was way fun to watch. Harvey Unga ran 30 something yards into the touchdown. It was cool. BYU was about 3 yards away from running back a kick off to the touchdown. Even though the other team wasn’t too good they ran back a kick and made some other good plays but BYU killed.

The Cold

It has been very cold these past few days one day it was normal and the next day it snowed. Being cold is not my favorite thing but I think it is better than being too hot. I can go eat something hot then my insides will be hot, or I could go get in a warm blanket, but when it is to hot all I can do is sit there. My favorite is when my dad puts a fire in the fireplace and it gets really warm. It smells just like Christmas. Not that Christmas has a smell my dad always makes a fire on Christmas. I love fire except for the fact that it probably has to be pretty cold outside for us to light one of these or else having a fire would not be very fun unless you were camping. Do not get me wrong the cold is okay because it means snow, I love snow my favorite sport is to ski. You might say I am pretty good. I was taught to ski by none better than my dad. When he was little he raced. He has taught me a lot I can get going pretty fast. It is so much fun to be going really fast and then spray everybody with snow at the bottom.

General Conferance

General Conference weekend always starts out okay. This year is the 179 semi-annual year of conference. Yes, I am Mormon just in case you did not think that when I said that I watch conference. In conference I can usually get through the first two sessions without falling asleep. They are okay to listen to and it is fun to draw. I may not be the best artist but it is still fun to draw. I just need to do ten hours of doodling. That is not to much, is it? Well it was not in the first two sessions. It is never a problem in the first two sessions. The talks this year were better and I thought I was going to make it through with listening to all five sessions. Then the incident happened I was at the stake center watching the priesthood session of conference. I was wide awake until about the last talk. My eyes were getting tired so I tried to resist but then I closed my eyes. It made be mad I had lost to myself. It had been a goal to not fall asleep this year. The priesthood session of conference is always the most entertaining. I couldn’t believe I already lost in the best session. So what did I do after this? Well, I went I got ice cream. It was a blizzard that was cookie dough flavor. I loved that blizzard it was delicious. I do not think I deserved it because I had lost my goal. The next day I fell asleep again in one of the sessions for a long time no one woke me up until… Finally some woke me up but it was with a hard slug in the arm. Fun stuff I was awake for the rest of conference but my brother was not. It is always fun to mess with some one while they are asleep. It was way fun until my mom made me wake him up. General conferance is the best I love general conferance.

The Pairie Dog

It all started when my mom took my family fishing one day. She decided to take us to a place where she went fishing as a little girl. (They caught many fish there.) So we went to this lake called Lost Creek. It took us a really long time to get there. It is in a town named Croydon (over by devil’s slide). In this town the speed limit was like 20 so it took us a half hour to get through the town, because my mom wouldn’t break the speed limit. We only saw one car in this journey but it was going the same way as us and passed us at about 50 miles per hour. My mom still stayed at the same speed. Eventually we were there. It was a huge lake but unfortunately the side of the lake that she went fishing on was blocked off because it was private property. So we just started fish on the side of the lake that we were on. It all was good except we didn’t get any bites. There were some prairie dogs and chipmunks. They kept getting into the persons tackle box right next to us. Before I knew what was happening my brothers kept coming by and taking all the marshmallows. I couldn’t see what they were doing until I went over and saw them using a fishing line as a trap with a marsh mallow as bate. They would always never pull the line hard enough. So I found some extra line on the ground and made a trap. The entire trap consisted of was a slip knot with a loop on the ground with the line in my hand. After I set it up right in front of the creatures I just looked the other way and acted like I looking at the mountain, while looking at it with my peripheral vision. When the prairie dog stepped in the loop I pulled but I pulled up slightly so it went right over his head. I set it up again quickly. When I pulled the fishing line the second time the fishing line when right under his or her arms. It was a victory for all of 5 seconds. Then it started to scream, it was very high pitch. That’s when I tried to let it go, but when I was loosing the knot it bit me on my left index finger. So I just cut it loose. During all this my mom saw me catch it and was very mad. Apparently she had told us to stop several times but I did not hear. We had to leave right then. My mom didn’t know it had bitten me until we were at our grandparents’ house about an hour later. When she found out she got really really mad. She had to take me to the doctor. She was very worried I would have to take the $5,000 rabies’ shots. I felt very bad at this point. In the end the doctor told me that in the past ten years they haven’t had one with rabies that they are aware of. So he just wanted me to take some pills that would take care of the other things prairie dogs had.

Cross Country

This week I have been mad about one thing, but before I tell you what it’s about I need to tell you some background information. My sister was a major runner for Davis High School. She started in 9^th grade because some friends wanted her to run track with her. These friends were and are very fast. After they got her to come she has been dedicated to the sport of running. She runs year round and went to state a couple times for track. She also did exceptional in cross-country. My sister has many medals that are hers. But this is not just any running team it’s Davis’ cross-country team. Layton’s cross-country team is horrible (sorry for the Layton fans out there, but it is). My sister got me to come and train with the cross-country team for half the summer before eighth grade. Then I quite because I took to many vacations and I couldn’t keep up so I didn’t want to. This summer was different know one made me I ran but I knew I wouldn’t be able to run because we are in Layton’s boundaries line is now less than a football field away from my house. When the schools’ boundaries were first made it didn’t matter to me because I could just get a variance. But it limits one of four years. This year I even kept training into the school year, until now. I loved running early Monday mornings on this trail that we only ran on Mondays. Then we usually met on Thursdays and sometimes Tuesdays too. Even if we didn’t meet we were suppose to run on our own. I made tones of friends. There were only about 15 freshmen that came. I ran an average of about 5 miles a day. Sometimes double that. Recently, I was at one of the meets (even though I can’t race) and the Layton coach saw me, although I was not sure when I saw him, when I was warming up. He asked me what school I was in and I said Fairfield then he asked me which high school. I told him I would attend Davis High School. He continued to question me, but I ran off because it was scary. When I found out that it was the Layton coach I was mad with myself. His team is desperate they don’t even have enough people to score. The next thing I knew I saw the Layton coach do its walk over to my coach, Coach Tally (Tally’s a really good runner that ran a 100 mile race last week), and talk with him. I knew it was about me and I got really made at myself for talking to strangers. I asked my coach and he said the Layton coach was cool about it. So I stopped worrying. I kept training I was running everyday. I was going to all the meets and cheering on my friends. Then one day I was told I couldn’t go anymore because the Layton coach went to the district, and got me in trouble just for training with them. I couldn’t believe it, that they wouldn’t even let me train with them. So I stopped going in this last week. I just can’t believe the Layton coach!

Soccer

I love soccer. It is my favorite sport. Right now I am on a team so good that we win every game by at least five points, but only five points. Our coach told us we can only win by five points because he doesn’t want us to demolish the other team. So when we can only win by five points, like last Saturday, You want to give them the ball so they can score. Even when you do that and only act like you are trying, they still mess up and miss and very rarely do they score. So you might say that my team is not that great it is just that the other teams are very bad. This is not the nicest thing to say, but it is true. This is my sixth grade on this team. We have about the same people every year, with about two or three new people. So we know each other very well. This is the reason why I think we are so good. We have had a couple of years when we lost every game. Then we have had some years when we are so good that we do not let a goal in the whole year. This year could be one of those years except our coach only lets us win by five. So on days like last Saturday, we score that in the first fifteen minutes. It is even hard for us to let them score because we set it up perfect and then they miss the goal. OH well, so we scored for some almost goals so we beat them by seven. Not that bad, heh just kidding, we were not trying to score those last two. We were just playing keep away when the ball hits the back of one of there players and goes in. It was not our fault, but we scored. That game was very sad. Two years ago we were on the same team and we lost every game some by one and some by ten. It was not very much fun. We were just glad when we could score a goal or two. I guess that is why our coach wants us to not kill these guys. For another reason it is not nice, but what do you do if you are giving the ball right to them and they still can not score. I do not know but it gets really hard. Last year we were undefeated but we were not this good. It was close most games, but we always pulled through. Even against the closest teams. We might only win by one but that is all you have to win by. Three years ago (I was on the same team) we only let one or two goals in. I was the goalie when both of these went in so I was blamed, but we were still undefeated. So I think this year will be like three years ago except I do not play goalie anymore. We have other people that like to play goalie…

I am testing this

Blog Post #1

Hello world!