On My Doorstep Again

Hunter showed up on my doorstep again...and it was kind of awesome. He brought me cookies that he had made himself... :D And he was really nice to me this morning when I was texting him. I told him the cookies he made were fantastic...and he replied "Oh, thanks...And by the way, I wanted to say sorry for all the mean things I've done to u...I was kinda a jerk. I'm really sorry. I'm trying to be nice now...Like seriously I was very immature with the jalepenos and all the prank calls and rude comments. But you were never mean to me so I'm sorry." I replied that I forgave him a long time ago and he said "Oh that's so sweet of you" and I said "It's sweet of you too". And these are direct quotes...no joke. I've been really happy all day now.

Another Guy on My Doorstep

Ha ha yes it's true. But this time it was Hunter Hoopes begging me for a copy of the English Summer Assignment previously mentioned. According to him, he wasn't there when we got it in class last May. And with only 3 weeks left until school starts he's just now worrying about getting a copy of it. Ha ha ha. I admit I've had a slow start on the summer assignment myself, but at least I made sure I had a copy before school got out, and I'm actually working on it. Oh well...I was glad to help him, I'm pretty much glad to help anybody with anything. And he did say he would bring me cookies or something some time. (That's always a plus...)

Yes, I know I'm a nerd

I don't care what you think...Shakespeare is a genius. Yes, his work is hard to read. Yes, his ideas aren't always the best. Yes, he is a little overrated. But he's still a genius and I still love reading his works. The genius comes in the way he uses words. Here's a brief example:

Lysander: How now, my love! Why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
Hermia: Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.

Is that not so much more beautiful than:
Lysander: What's wrong? Why are you so pale?
Hermia: I think I'm going to cry.

I'm currently in the beginning-middleish part of A Midsummer Night's Dream for my English class. And I love it. I feel bad for Helena though...as those of you who have read or seen it know, the guy that she loves (Demetrius) that used to love her, doesn't love her anymore...He wants Hermia (Helena's best friend) now. It makes me want to cry. This is another passage that I like:

Helena:...O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart!
Hermia: I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Hel: O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
Her: I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
Hel: O that my prayers could such affection move!
Her: The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Hel: The more I love, the more he hateth me.
Her: His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
Hel: None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!

Read A Midsummer Night's Dream if you haven't already.

Band-Aids and an Extreme Sugar Rush

Lately I've been letting my creative side shine a little (this is why it's been so long since I've blogged.) It all started July 16, 1955 when my mom was born. Then on July 19, 1976 my oldest sister Margie was born, and on July 18,1978 , my second sister Emily was born. Then, two years ago, on July 20, my nephew Reed was born. These events combined created our family's July birthday week. So all last week I was getting ready for our super-duper enormous celebrations last weekend. That's what led to the extreme sugar rush and the need for more than twenty band-aids...

For my mom and sisters for their birthdays, I decided I would make mosaic stained glass covered vases/candleholders. The one in the picture above shows the one for Margie (It's the only one I've finished so far!). It's a fairly simple process, and really fun, but where there's glass there's usually broken skin and a little blood (I'm proud of the cuts all over my fingers though!). I enjoyed choosing the shapes of the vases and glass colors for everyone to match thier personalities. They all seemed to love them, even though they still aren't finished.

As for the sugar, I helped my talented older sister Amanda make a cake for Reedy. His absolute favorite movies are Thomas the Tank Engine...so we made a Thomas cake. It was a two-car train pulled by Thomas, the first car full of candy toys and presents that I made(the Tootsie Roll bears are my favorite!). I also helped to sculpt Sir Topham Hatt, ducks for the pond, and the green Rice Krispie trees. It was so much fun. And we ate so much of the candy and extra cake that we had a great sugar rush. Nan has officially named me her "detail person" for her cakes. I love it- and I have so much fun with it. I don't usually have the chance to be this creative.

Give Me Your Tots

Now, I've never been one to brag about my incredible sense of style, but my outfit this morning was impressive. Anyone that saw me walking down the street to take care of the dogs at seven o'clock this morning saw me wearing:
>a worn out green-striped polo shirt
>midnight blue work out shorts
>bright pink and black squishy flip flops
>my scroungy unbrushed hair thrown into a ponytail
>a look on my smeary yesterday's-makeup face that said "I should be sleeping right now, not scooping poo"
>And to top it off: the pictured hat that says "Give Me Your Tots"
I was the image of well-kept perfection. No wonder everyone ran away screaming. I must have blinded them with my awesomeness.

God Bless America

In all this celebrating the independence of our country, I've had some interesting thoughts. At the park program in Thatcher, we all sang the song "God Bless America". One line of the song goes "Stand beside her, and guide her/Through the night with a light from above". As I sang it, I kind of started to cry, and I thought to myself "that is exactly what our country needs right now". We need that guidance from God to remain the free and righteous land we were created to be. Then, on Sunday, we sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for our closing hymn in church. We sang the not-often-heard third verse that goes like this:

"Oh! thus be it ever, when free men shall stand,

Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation,

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,

And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."

I had no idea the third verse had such an important message to it. If our country trusts in God, and we are trying to do what's right, we will conquer, we will not fail, because we will have the Lord's help. It also acknowledges that our Heavenly Father had a great part in the creation and preservation of our country. It was not just luck that we gained our freedom. With a message like that in our country's national anthem, how can some believe that we are "a Godless nation"?

Go to my sister Emily's blog for her thoughts that are very similar to mine. What she wrote in her post titled "How's that thread holding?" is incredible. It's the top one on my blog list.

A Fabulous Fourth

I spent the Fourth of July at my grandpa's house. We had so much fun! The small town of Thatcher, AZ certainly holds a huge celebration every year. At 5:30 am the fire department woke everyone up by running the fire trucks with the sirens going all over town. Then they had a patriotic people parade leading to a program at the park(and if that's not alliteration, I don't know what is!). They had music and speeches there, followed by a watermelon and cantelope breakfast, and a hose-off by the fire department. Then, that night, they had a huge fireworks show at the fairgrounds. We had the best seats ever, we were right underneath the fireworks. We could see them setting them off a hundred yards away! There was a ton of ash and debris that kept falling on us!

These aren't the best pictures, but they were taken from my phone, what do you expect?

First-Rate Second Date

I appologize for not updating earlier, but the last few days have been busy. As I mentioned before, I had a date with Jaron on Friday. It was incredible. We doubled with his older sister Becca, the sweetest person in the world, and her date Josh, a guy from my seminary class. We went to the park played around. Jaron and Becca made dinner for us-spaghetti-but they didn't bring plates (intentionally). So they spread out a plastic tablecloth on the picnic table and we ate straight off of it! It was so funny! Then we did ice blocking down the hills and just played around, enjoying the stormy weather. When it got dark and started to rain, we went to Jaron's house and played Phase 10. That's two dates in a row that we've played it. I love that game though. Anyway, it was just so fun. And Jaron was such a gentleman- he opened the car door for me, it was so sweet. I hope I can have more fun dates like that.

Blessed

I honestly feel so blessed right now...in several areas of my life. And I do know from Whom it all comes.

1. A Source of Income
I don't have a job (yet). I did however run into an opportunity to earn some money last week. A neighbor asked me to take care of her pets while she was away for a week. It was kind of hard work but I earned enough to "hold me over for a while" as my mom put it. I won't say the exact amount, but this is the most I've ever paid in tithing.

2. A Chance to Visit My Grandpa
It's Fourth of July weekend and we're going up to visit my grandpa in Thatcher. They always have a huge Fourth celebration in their small town, everything begining at 6 am. So we thought it would be a good idea to visit my grandpa for a few days and enjoy the festivities on Saturday. I love my grandpa so much and am really excited to see him.

3. A Date
Yes, I am so glad for it. It's been so long since my first date, I was worried I would never have a second. A very nice young man from my Spanish class called me up today. I was so excited. We've tried several times before now to set up a date, but every time one of us has been busy. A date (especially with him) will be an incredible boost to my self esteem.

4. A Way to Go on the Date and to My Grandpa's
The date previously mentioned almost couldn't happen. The plan was to leave for my grandpa's house around 6:00 pm tomorrow (Friday). The date was scheduled for 6:30 pm tomorrow. My parents can't wait for me to be done with my date, and my date couldn't change the time. I was worried I would have to choose, when I really wanted both. But my loving Heavenly Father has blessed me with a chance to have both (even though I don't deserve to get everything I want). My older sister and her family aren't leaving for my grandpa's house until early (2 am) Saturday morning, and they are willing to let me ride with them. They were having trouble deciding when they would leave, and because of other circumstances they chose the time that works out for me.

I do believe thanks are in order.

What's black and white and read all over?

Me in a newspaper ballgown...that's what! It was the funnest mutual activity I've done in a long time. I went to mutual with my older sister who is a young women leader in her ward. The point was to create a modest ball gown for each of the models-I was one of them-out of newspaper and ribbon. It was fantastic. I love the dress...I'm so glad I got pictures of it. It was modeled after Disney's Cinderella dress. Notice the beautiful matching diamond necklace and headband. The newspapers were all from this week, so there were all kinds of pictures of Michael Jackson in it, one of which they taped to my butt. The best was the roasted chicken on my tummy that said "belly up". I loved this activity and would love to do it again.