District Champion!

Yesterday, I competed in the district championship. We are technically a 4A school, but we play against 5A schools like Irons, Hutch, etc.. For this tournament, we actually competed in our district for the first time. I had to get up at 5:30 am because I had to be at the courts by 6:30 to leave for Plainview. Since I had gotten home from Amarillo the night before at 11:30 pm, I was more than a little tired. At the tournament, I was competing in the Girls A Singles division. It was about 94 degrees, and it was hot! My dad came with me to this tournament. I won my first match 8-2, and then got to wait forever (tennis tournaments involve a LOT of waiting) before playing my second match. This match was against the #1 seed girl, and she was expected to win the whole tournament. I ended up winning 8-4, but for the first time ever, I got mad during a match. The other girl was from a school called Westover. Westover feeds into Canyon High School. The Canyon coach stopped the match a few times (at least it was while we were switching sides) to give her 15 minute sermons about what to do if I hit the ball here, what to do if a do this shot, blah, blah, blah. On top of that, he stood there, right next to the court almost the whole match, yelling advice and such. In tennis, there are very strict rules about these kinds of things, and he broke all of them! Anyway, after more waiting, I played my third match which I won 8-1. Then after even more waiting, I played the championship match and won 8-4! I am officially the Girls A Singles district champion! Overall, Frenship took home a lot of medals which was very exciting. But the best part of the day was when I got home. My family, the Hardy's, and Nato and TK Kimball (they were at the Hardy's house) were all there standing in front of this sign.

They all started singing "We are the Champions" with a change in lyrics to You are the Champion. They also made me a beautiful trophy!

 Here are some up close pictures of some of the messages on the sign.

Rich insisted that I had dedicated the tournament to him, and I won because I was thinking of him. Quite frankly, I beg to differ.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive family, and such amazing, creative friends! They are all so great!

Amarillo

Friday, the choir and band went to Amarillo to compete in the Greater Southwest Music Festival. In this competition, the highest score you can get is an "O" or Outstanding, which our choir did! So after getting our trophy, we all headed to Wonderland, a small amusement park which is a little closer to a standing fair with bigger rides than an actual amusement park. My friends and I hit a lot of rides and had a lot of fun! We also got to miss the whole day of school for this trip, which makes it all the better. Other than not getting home until 11:30 at night, I had a good time. I am really glad that I got to go on this trip and that we were able to get an Outstanding!

Denver, Colorado

For spring break this year, we went to Palo Duro for a day, and Denver for three days. Palo Duro was a lot of fun, the usual picnic, hike, and playing in the river.

On Thursday, we left for Denver. We arrived in time to check into our hotel and then go to see BYU play Wofford for the first round of March Madness (the whole reason we came to Denver.) There were a TON of people there.

The people waiting to go up the escalator. 

Part of the line outside.

BYU did not play the greatest, but they still pulled through with a 74-66 win.

The next day we drove down to Colorado Springs. We started out the day by touring a cave there called Cave of the Winds.

It was a pretty fun tour, though it was sometimes a little tight. There was one passage which they called "Tall man's headache, Fat man's misery." They're only advice to this passage was, "Suck, tuck, and duck, and with any luck, you won't get stuck." The passage was incredibly small, but also very short, so we weren't sucking, tucking, and ducking for very long. After the cave, we went to take a quick look at Garden of the Gods, which isn't actually a garden, just a lot of rocks, but they were fun to climb.

Next, we went to Seven Falls, which is 7 waterfalls, but it only looks like 6, they count this little flip at the end as a waterfall.

It was a pretty sight, but the stairs next to it that you normally climb were closed because they had ice on them, so we just rode the elevator to the top and enjoyed the view. After Seven Falls, we went to lunch, and then to tour the Olympic training center in Denver.

The tour was really cool, we even got to see a few potential Olympians actually training. There was also a little hall of fame where there was a bobsled you could get in.

 There was a really cool, HUGE statue out front.

That was the end of our day in Colorado Springs; we were going to go to this "Focus on Family" place that looked pretty fun, but it was closed because the Duggars from the show 19 Kids and Counting were taking a vacation there. We all decided that we don't like the Duggars anymore. So we went back to Denver and got DELICIOUS cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. I had an amazing time in Colorado Springs. Saturday was the day of the game, so we spent the morning in the beautiful city of Denver. First we went to the aquarium there and Tyson, Justin, and I got to snorkel in this big Under the Sea exhibit. I had my doubts about it at first, but I had a really good time.

After checking out the rest of the aquarium, we went on a tour of this old fashioned candy factory called Hammond's. It was neat to see how they made all the different hard candy, and the samples were delicious.

Then it was time for the BYU game. This time BYU was playing Gonzaga. The cougars played so good! It was really fun to watch the game, and despite some doubts (mainly on my part- Gonzaga is a tall team,) BYU won 89-67! They are going to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in a LOT of years! I had an amazing time in Denver and am very glad that I had the opportunity to go!

I'm Selfish!

Yesterday on the way to church, my mom was trying to teach Abigail what selfish was and why it's important that we're not selfish. None of us thought that the lesson really got through to her, but today she proved us wrong. Abigail was playing with Ryan and Addison today and she came up to me with her hair sopping wet, literally dripping water. She asked me if she could sit on my bed while Addison gave her a hairdo. I told her that she couldn't while her hair was so wet because I didn't want to have to sleep in a wet bed tonight. As she walked away, I heard her tell Addison, "She said no because she is selfish!" I guess that I needed that lesson on not being selfish!

Doubles Tournament!

Last weekend I competed in a doubles tournament with a new partner, Jessica. We are still getting used to each others playing styles, add to that the fact that it was 34 degrees, around 8:30 in the morning, and out first time competing in A division, and I think it's safe to say that we probably weren't playing our best. This was proven by the fact that we lost our first match 8-0. This was pretty discouraging, but it put us in the consolation bracket where we won our next match 8-0. We then proceeded to win 8-1, then 8-2, and then in the (consolation) finals, we won 8-3. It was pretty exciting to win consolation since it was our first tournament together. I think that we will be able to do better next time, once we are more used to playing together. I am sad that I am not playing with Alex anymore (we won the B division doubles tournament last season,) but I'm am excited about getting to play some more with Jessica!

It's Snowing, It's Snowing, the Winter Winds are Blowing!

Anyone who has ever been to Lubbock, Texas knows that typically, the absolute coldest it ever gets during the whole year is maybe 19 degrees. Well I am here to say that this week, it has gotten down to 2 degrees, -25 if we are counting wind chill (which is way worse than the cold!) As usual, the whole city goes into lock down the moment it gets below 25 degrees and we get a half inch of snow. School was canceled on Tuesday, (which, by the way, was totally pointless and now we have to make it up,) and it was delayed 2 hours both Wednesday and Thursday, (which was also pretty pointless, but I'm certainly not complaining!) It is again snowing right now as I am writing this. Although this weather may not be fun, I am really grateful that it finally actually feels like winter. Plus, now all of the true Texans here (while I was born here, I don't consider myself a true Texan) can say that they have survived cold weather.

Catch Up Post

I have not posted in a few months, so here is a summary of all that has happened. Before Christmas, we went skiing at a tiny resort called Sipapu  (yes it is pronounced sip-a-poo, we had some interesting conversations about the name.) This was all of the kids first time skiing and we all had a blast. Christmas was great as always and we got to spend it with my aunt Darlene who came out to visit. Second semester of school has been packed with homework, but it's good to see my friend's again, I missed them over the break.  Tennis season has finally started back up, and thank goodness. After awhile, just plain running, drills, and matches against your own team gets monotonous. My first match is Monday, and we get to bus over to Plainview for it, (I'm praying it doesn't snow, this past week has been gorgeous weather, but the high for Monday is something like 22. I'm not a fan of Lubbock's unpredictable weather.) Basketball season has also started up for the boys, so I am back to either attending a few game every Saturday, or babysitting during them. Ryan got his tonsils out a few weeks ago, but he is better than ever now. Overall, it has been a great few months.

Thanksgiving Break

This Thanksgiving break, I've been doing a lot of reading, played some tennis, wally-ball, and racquetball, and just spent some time with family and friends. Thanksgiving day was fabulous as always. It was just our family and my Grandpa Cluff, and his wife Annabell. Annabell and my mom made some really yummy food. I know that the Thanksgiving dinner was a success, because we all felt slightly sick afterwords.  Oh, by the way, did I mention the homework. I don't know what it is about teachers, but they all seem to think, "Oh, Thanksgiving break, that means that they have a lot of extra time to get work done, maybe we should give them a lot of homework." I don't know what part of "break" they don't understand, but all of my teachers gave me hours worth of homework. Oh well, I still had a fabulous thanksgiving break, and I hope you did too.

Tennis Tournament!

Yesterday I had a tennis tournament. I was in the 8th grade B girls singles division (which started at 8:00 am.) My family had a LOT going on that day! My first two matches, only my dad saw because my mom had to run the harvest festival parade and watch Tyson and Justin in the fun run (they were both in the top ten.) I won both of those matches 8-1. Then my dad had to go coach Ryan's soccer game, while my mom was at Justin's game, and then Tyson's. So I played my next two matches on my own. I won one of them 8-4 and the other 8-2. That put me in the semi-finals. My mom was able to come for half of that match. I won that one 8-6, but it was a LONG and exhausting match! Then it was the finals. The rest of my family got there in time for the second half of that. I won that match 8-2. In case you have lost count, that is six matches that kept me at the tournament for seven and a half hours, and yes, I do have a massive sunburn. Anyways, I won my first tournament! 

 

In case you are questioning my stylish chose of socks, when the tournament started at eight in the morning, it was freezing and I had left my sweats at school, so my mom gave me some spirit socks to wear (they are my school's colors.) Although it soon grew unbearably hot, the socks weren't bothering me and I wasn't motivated enough to take them off. Since I won the tournament, they are apparently my new "lucky socks" (according to my family.) Whether it was the lucky socks doing or my own, I am very excited to have won a tournament!

First Day of School

My first day of school

Monday was my first day of eighth grade. I had a good time and am very excited about all of my teachers. After school we had our 2nd annual "No Manners Dinner." This is a dinner that is eaten outside and in our swim suits. We have to eat with our hands and can act as rude or wild as we want to. We had rice and chicken, red jello, squash, and root beer. Our dad came out dressed like this.

  He informed us that it was wrong to desecrate the American flag, and that it just wasn't right to hit nerds. He obviously remembers last years messy food fight and didn't want to be a part of this years. Unfortunately for him, his lovely attire made us go after him with even more vigor. We had a pie eating contest after all of the food was thrown. My dad won, but I wasn't all to far behind him (they were those miniature pies just a little bigger than a fist.) The pies were delicious and I thought the contest was a lot of fun. I am really grateful to my mom and dad for being so willing to help us have fun! I am sad that summer is over, but it looks like a promising school year!

Surprise! Happy Birthday!

Friday, I had a surprise birthday party. I had been at the store with my dad getting charcoal for smores that I thought we were supposed to roast with the Hardy's. When I got home I was met with a loud chorus of "Happy Birthday to You!" Almost all of the Mormons in my middle school were there (including boys.) There was Mikaela Sircable, Nicole King, Destiny Seraudi, Landon Hardy, Preston Shumway, Joseph Whiting, and Tyson and his friend Miller Hardy. The party went from 8-10 pm. We played water balloon volleyball (nobody was sure who won, but since it was my birthday party, I'm going with the girls.) We then did cake and smores. My mom made a really yummy two-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and we roasted marshmallows over our fire pit.  Next we played Capture the Flag two times (sadly, the boys won both.) And finally we played Kick the Can a few times. I had a lot of fun and am very grateful to my mom for being thoughtful and willing enough to do the party. 

Girl's Camp, San Antonio, Utah, and Birthday's

It has been a long time since I've posted because I have been gone a lot. June 7, we went to San Antonio. We went to Sea World, first, and that was a lot of fun. There were some really neat animal shows, and a cool water park, but the best part was that it was rainy in the morning, so it wasn't crowded at all, but it cleared up in really quick, so it turned out to be a nice, crowd free day. The next day we went to Schlitterbahn, (the world's biggest water park.) It had rained 11 in the previous day, so only one small part was open, but the tickets were under half price, so we went and ended up having a lot of fun! We also went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and did a few rides, but mainly spent time at the water park. We all really enjoyed the water park, and I had a blast on the rides (I was the only one tall enough to do the fun rides, disadvantage #1of a short family-amusement park height limits.) We got home that Friday, and I left for Girl's Camp at the New Mexico Mountain Retreat Monday June 15( My mom's birthday was the 17th so I missed it.) I LOVED girl's camp. I had a lot of fun, met new people and felt the Spirit more strongly than I had anywhere else. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony at our campfire testimony meeting the last night. It wasn't until I got up, that I realized just how wonderful the gospel was and how strongly I had felt the Spirit that week. We arrived home Friday afternoon. I then got one week of rest before we headed off to Utah. We got there Friday the 25. We went to Beaver, Utah first (a tiny town in southern Utah where my mom grew up,) where we stayed at my grandparents house on my mom's side for about a week. We had a fun time with cousins and grandparents. That Friday, we went to Centerville where we visited my great-aunt Marie and my cousins the Keddingtons. We celebrated the 4th that Saturday (the 3rd) because the 4th was on a Sunday. We went to the parade, went swimming, and had a picnic (no fireworks ahh.) That Saturday night we drove up Syracuse where we visited my mom's sister (my aunt) Andrea and my cousins. Me and Lindsey had a great time even though it was just for a day. The next day we went to Provo where we were attending camps at BYU. I went to tennis camp (5 days, 7 hrs a day.) Tyson and Justin went to soccer camp (4 days, 4 hrs a day.) We stayed at a hotel. I had a lot of fun at tennis camp, and really feel like I improved. I was one of the youngest there, one of the only was not staying overnight at the dorms (I'm way too chicken to do that) and one of the least experienced. I did pretty well though. I was ranked 15 on my team out of 18, but I won all of my singles matches but one (I tied that one) and won about 2/3 of my doubles matches. In my tournament I finished third. I also won most improved out of my team (I'm still debating whether I should be proud or embarrassed about that.) I had fun, but I do wish I could have gone with a friend though. I didn't know anyone there, most of the socializing was in the dorms, and I'm very shy to begin with. I didn't make a single friend. I really don't care too much, I'm perfectly happy to sit by myself and think or read, but when the coaches come to sit by you, you don't feel to hot. It really was fun though, and my family and I did stuff in the afternoons. We went to Seven Peaks (a water park,) went to visit Greg, Leanne, and their kids (my uncle, aunt, and cousins,) went hiking with the Anderson's (our other cousins,) and went swimming. We left Friday afternoon, stopped for the night in Grants, New Mexico, and got home Saturday afternoon. Today was my 13th birthday. I got a lot of books, some clothes, and a huge make-up kit. My mom had to show me how to put on the make-up, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it. We had dinner at my Grandpa Cluff and Annabelle's house (Annabelle's 87th birthday was yesterday). We also had cake there. I think it's safe to say that so far, it has been a GREAT summer!

5K!

    Okay, it has been quite a while since I've posted, and I have had quite a few things happen, but the one that I'm really excited about is the fact that I ran a 5K (3.1 miles!) It was a Memorial Day activity for the whole stake, and admittedly, I really, really, really didn't want to run it, but thankfully, it wasn't my choice. My parents made me run it, and now I'm really glad that they did. I am not even going to pretend that I ran the whole way, in fact, I ran a little more than half. Obviously, there is plenty of room for improvement. I started out running with my mom, but she wasn't doing so great. She has been doing P90X (an INCREDIBLY hard work out program,) and while that does an amazing job of improving your muscles, it doesn't make up for good, old fashioned running. She has decided that she still wants to continue P90X, because she can see improvement, but she is going to start running as well. Anyways, to make a long story short, I ended up pushing Ryan and Abigail in the jogging stroller. I'm positive that I looked ridiculous, and I'm pretty sure that Ryan and Abigail were gaining weight by the minute, but I still finished before my mom (victory!) That does not in any way though, mean that I beat my dad or Tyson, because I didn't. I don't know my time, but whether I took 10 minutes (I didn't) or 50 (I know I didn't take that long,) I still am proud that I finished, (that's more than some people can say!) I am grateful I had that fun opportunity!

Memories of School Turn to Ashes

This Saturday, Landon Hardy and I decided to burn all memories of school. We took all of our notes, graded papers, and anything else we could find, threw it in our fire pit( a raised one in out sand area), and lit it on fire. This was about 11:00 am. We got about half way through when we decided to save the rest for that night. We thought it would be more fun in the dark; we were right. Later that night, we got everyone out there (all the Hardy's and Cluff's.) This time Landon brought his house (an art project: a miniature house on a 12" by 12" board made of Popsicle sticks) and we started with that. He had filled all of the rooms with 4th of July sparklers, and I added crumpled worksheets. This time we had a large, steady fire, constantly fed by more and more crumpled school work. Justin and Reagan were "firefighters." Every time the wind blew out a hot ember or a small flame, they smothered it with sand. All of the older kids and adults talked. We told about our school year, and talked about next year. The younger kids jumped on the trampoline. We all had a great time burning away all memories of school. I must say, we were tempted to sing Kum-Ba-Ya, but we decided against it. We have decided to make this a tradition, and I must say, I am really looking forward to doing it again next year.

           Here are some pictures of the day fire. The fire at night was 1000 times better, but I couldn't find my camera, so here are some of the wimpy day fire. 

Before we started burning and adding more papers.

Landon's science composition book burning. Our science teachers sent ours straight to the 8th grade teachers so we wouldn't be tempted to accidentally "lose" it during the summer. I'm pretty sure Landon was supposed to keep his to, but he says that if it turns out he was supposed to, he would blame his teacher.

Have a great summer!

Ryan's Preschool Program

Ryan finished his first year of preschool this year. He goes to an incredibly small preschool, which means a short end-of-the-year program (yeah!) The whole program was under 40 minutes (a possible record.) He really got into the singing and dancing. I really enjoyed watching him. The videos are below this. Ryan is the short blond boy between the two tall girls on the right.

Wide Mouth Bullfrog

Tootie-Ta

Buddy Field Day

 Buddy Field Day is basically a bunch of different games and races that students get to participate in. Every student has a buddy and they go to the different stations with their buddy. As a middle school student, I no longer get to do Buddy Field Day. This year however, I got to help run Buddy Field Day at Bennett Elementary (my old school, and the one Tyson and Justin now attend.) I am a member of NJHS (National Junior Honor Society.) NJHS members got to go help out at Buddy Field Day for summer credit hours. Each NJHS member has to do fifteen hours of service every semester, but you can earn ten of those hours (five for each semester) during the summer. This was an opportunity to get those summer credit hours. In the morning, I worked the bubble station for the Kinder-Second graders. As you can imagine, this was not the most popular station, so there was plenty of free time. A girl from school named Annie Kane was working it with me, and I had Ryan and Abigail while my mom was helping out in Justin's class, so we had fun blowing bubbles and playing with Ryan and Abigail. We then had and okay lunch of pizza. After lunch, I went to Justin's class room and hung out there until the afternoon shift began. In the afternoon, I worked the Carpet Pull station. I worked it alone, but Annie was working a station right next to me, and I had Ryan with me. The carpet pull is where both buddies have a small rug that they sit on. They each hold on to a rope (attached to tether ball poles) and they then use the rope to pull themselves to the pole. The first one to touch their pole wins. This station was a lot more popular than the bubbles, so there wasn't as much free time, but while the classes were switching zones, Annie and I had time for a few races. I won every carpet pull race, but their was another race where you had to sit on towels with your feet and your hands flat on the towel and inch yourself toward the finish line that she beat me at. I had a fun time at Buddy Field Day, and I tackled six of my summer credit hours!

Busy Last Weeks of School

There are only two more weeks of school left! I am super excited. I can't wait for summer, not because I don't like school, but I am definitely ready for a break. Normally, the last two weeks of school are all fun and games, you don't really do anything that really makes you think. I get the joy and privilege of spending my last weeks of school taking end-of-year exams and doing a presentation in GT, fun huh? I have to take a math exam that helps determine what math class you get into next year (normal, pre-AP, or Algebra 1.) I get to turn in a report, cause and effect statement, interview,visual, and give an oral report on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and the general end of Segregation for GT. There are a few more exams I have to take, but I can't think of what classes they are in. I also need to finish a mosaic project in art that I have only done two rows of so far. My teachers are determined to keep me busy right up until May 27th. Well, I guess it will make summer vacation all the more welcome.

Ward Split!

Recently, we got a new stake president, President Shumway. He has this great vision for our ward (I won't bother going into details) but in order for it to happen, some major changes have to occur. The first step in that happening was for the wards to be split. We used to have four wards, we now have six! Today, for the first time, we went to our new wards. There were a lot of people that I knew, but quite a few that I didn't. I met a few new people, and got a new Young Women president whom I have never met before. I can't wait to see how this turns out!