christmas :)

Austin deep in thought as he tells Santa what he wants for Christmas: "A Bakugan 6 pack, a Bakugan 3 pack, a Bakugan 1 pack, and a Bakugan backpack." And he got it!

My new electric scooter... goes up to 15MPH! Seriously, you don't know how fast that is...

I seriously had the best Christmas ever!! I know, I know, I will say that every year but that is because it keeps getting better... and, I'm sure my parents would say, more expensive. This years I got a blue electric scooter, an awesome Wii game called Animal Crossing City Folk, a digital picture frame, a journal, a CD, three adorable necklaces, a Twilight mirror (who knew those even existed?!), and a little bit more!!

Beck (on the far right with his dad, my uncle Todd) doesn't want to see Santa. Everyone else, however, seems happy to sit with the jolly man.

Kate cuddles with Santa. She wanted a Baby Alive. She loves it - even though it is annoying. It actually poops real poop... You feed it real food and it makes it into poop... It is sick.
Lucy giving her "How could you do this to me?" look to her momma.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandma Sue's and Grandpa Bryce's house. "Santa" came and gave everyone PJ's. Kate and Austin were ecstatic. My little cousins Beck and Lucy... not so much. The second Beck saw Santa walk into the room, he burst into tears and

freaked out. He wouldn't even touch the jolly man in red. Lucy, however, didn't notice Santa walk into the room until she was plopped in his lap. Then.... well, let the picture tell the rest. She reached out to her momma, screaming and crying, totally traumatized that her mom would hand her over to a "stranger".

The food was awesome too! We had carne asada... mmm mmm good. Thanks Uncle Brad!! My mom and I stayed up all night making chocolate pie, which was awesome too!

I hope you had as awesome a Christmas as I did!!!!!

a rant on peppermint bark, 27 dresses, and get smart

Sorry for all the posts lately (I DID promise to post more, didn't I? so don't blame me) but lately I have a weird obsession with William Sonoma's Peppermint Bark (pic above). Have you ever tried it?!? Oh, it is to die for. My mom bought some the other day and my family cannot keep our hands off of it. The perfect combonation of creamy dark chocolate, melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate, and perfect-tasting peppermint chunks... Mouthwatering. I'm just killing you, aren't I?

Well, another thing I'm obsessed with is "Benny and the Jets" by Elton John. Ever since I saw 27 Dresses (when it was in theaters... I saw it with all the Young Women from my ward, of all people to watch a PG 13 movie with), I love this song! If you haven't heard it yet, scroll all the way down to my music playlist and select it!

Oh yeah, I saw Get Smart last night with my dad, and it was probably the funniest movie I've seen in forever! I love how serious yet funny Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) is. I was laughing the whole time... Super funny, a must-see!!

Well, that ends my little rant... Um check back for more around Christmas... I'll post pictures that I don't look like an idiot in.

austin sings

My mom, little sister Kate, and my brother Austin after the play.

Some kids at Austin and Andrew's school participating in the play.

Austin in action.

Austin decked out in his costume - sorry it wouldn't rotate.

Here is Austin singing his angel song for his school Christmas play. He got so excited about it. I wasn't at the play because it was during school, but my Grandma Sue came down to see it and hang out, and my Mom was there too. He'll sing his song whenever you ask him. I have some pictures of him in his angel costume (above). He was so excited about the whole thing.

Well, my family is so excited for Christmas! Kate wants a Baby Alive doll, Austin wants Bakugan and Mario Kart, and my brother Andrew and I want electric scooters! Have a merry Christmas!

merry christmas! (again)

No, this isn't the same video: this is a disco version (the better version!) and the other one is the classic version. Must watch both!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

happy holidays

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I know what you're thinking: Why isn't my Dad on here? Well, I both didn't have a picture of him and it only lets you do 5 elves. Well, anyway, have a merry Christmas and a happy new Year!!

up to the mountain we go!

Today we went up the mountain on the tram with the Terrys to play in the snow! It was awesome. The snow was 3 feet deep up there. I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures. :'( I need to figure out how to upload photos from my phone... Hmm.



I am so excited for Christmas! It's on Thursday! Wonder what I will get... Well, sorry for the short post but I will post more later!

twilight guy

Sorry for the million and one posts I've done in the past couple days.

Wow, I just found this Twilight site called www.twilightguy.com, and it is sooo funny! It is a guy who reads Twilight's blog and it is very popular. He sorta makes fun of Twilight, which, surprisingly, I find hiliarious. Here is something funny he says (he inserts words to make it funnier, those are written in red):

"..You know," Iteased halfheartedly. 'this whole secrecy and deception things is kinda a pain.'

"Edward's expression hardened. 'It gets easier. After a few decades, everyone you know is dead. Problem solved.'

"He sniffed. 'In fact, the thought is so depressing, I might just break out into song.'

"And thus a new career was born."

Another one I found particularly funny was this:


“I feel like I don’t really understand your relationship. Like there’s some secret I’m missing…” Renee said.

I nodded. “Yes mother, I confess. My boyfriend is a vampire. Surprise!”

But Renee only nodded. It wasn’t the reaction I had been expecting, so in shock, I went on.

“A-and…my best friend is a werewolf.”

But she only nodded again. It was utterly maddening, how casual she seemed to take the supernatural things. What was wrong with her?

So, in desperation, I hissed, MOM CHARLIE ISN’T A POLICE OFFICER HE IS REALLY A GNOME.”

To my utter rage, she only nodded. Then she sighed.

“I guess then it’s time to tell you the truth,” she broke the silence. “See, Phil is actually a leprechaun…”

If you like Twilight and you need a good laugh, go to www.twilightguy.com and enjoy!!

shiny...

O... so shiny!!

Top view.....................................

Side view.......................

Top diagnal view......................

Front view......................................

For Social Studies, I had to make a "creative" and "original" Roman Coliseum model and write an essay on the history of the Coliseum. Well, somebody in my class suggested tinfoil, and I thought, oh, that will be easy. I'll just make some tinfoil blocks and stack 'em up. Not so. I successfully made about 6 small 1 inch x 1 inch blocks... in about half an hour. Not working. So then I had a bright idea. My little sister Kate had a box of light foam blocks in shapes of arches, cubes, etc. Because I didn't want to ruin the blocks by gluing then together, I went back to whole tinfoil thing and wrapped 'em up so I could use a hot glue gun to glue them together. Turned out pretty good. And pretty shiny. I got an A-! I was so happy... It was supposed to be 20 in. circumference, which is pretty big if you measure it out, and mine was 12 in. I was just glad I didn't get an F. Woo! Round of applause for me!!

things that make you think

Today in my Sunday school class the teacher read a story that really, well, made me think. She gave it to me to keep and, even though it is long, I will post it, and you better read it, because it took some effort and some time to type it all out. Enjoy!!



"TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT by: Price Pritchett

"I'm sitting in a quiet room at the Milcroft Inn, a peaceful little place hidden back among the pine trees about an hour out of Toronto. It's just past noon, late July, and I'm listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on a few feet away.

"There's a small fly burning out the last of its short life's energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of a windowpane. The whining wings tell the poingnant story of the fly's strategy: Try harder.

"But it's not working.

"The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It is impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and determination.

"This fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill.

"Across the room, ten steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks. With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could be free of this self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility is there. It would be so easy.

"Why doesn't the fly try another approach, something dramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the idea that this particular route and determined effort offer the most promise for success? What logic is there in continuing until death to seek a breakthrough with more of the same?

"No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it's an idea that will kill.

"Trying harder isn't necessarily the solution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promise for getting what you want out of life. Sometimes, in fact, it's a big part of the problem.

"If you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances of success."


I don't know exactly why this little story hit me so hard, but it did, and without reason. Maybe I should take something from this. I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good. I should just follow this story's advice and try a different approach on things. I definetly try too hard.

Another thing that makes me think is not as profound and deep as the fly story, but it's been bugging me all week. I'd love to hear your answers to this question (comment please): What color is clear? My answer would probably be every color, because clear is any color it feels like being. Yeah, well I hope I made you think.

the boy in the striped pajamas and twilight

I just finished a book called "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne. It is a book about the Holocaust from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy named Bruno with a Nazi soldier as a father. Bruno moves from his home in England to a deserted home near a camp for Jews called Out-With. There he meets a Jew boy who lives behind a fence with hundreds of striped pajama-wearing Jews. This boy becomes his only friend. Bruno doesn't really understand the concept of the Holocaust, or even that the Jews are beaten beyond the fence, so it is a simplistic but well-written book. It has a heartbreaking ending, but it is a beautifully written book. It is in the process of being made into a movie. I saw the preview for it when I was watching Twilight.

Twilight was amazing! 5/5 Stars! I saw it the Friday it came out and it was awesome!! It was a perfect image of the book. Jasper was hilarious! He was described as "That's Jasper. He's the one who always looks like he's in pain." I can't find a pic of him, so you'll have to go see the movie yourself! Yeah, so, read The Boy In the Striped Pajamas and watch Twilight!

my cat is famous!

My cat Choco just got onto my favorite Himalyan cat blog in the world! It is called KittyBellys.

The link to the post with Choco in it is http://kittybellys.com/2008/11/choco.html. I am so happy. :) Choco is famous! The person who created KittyBellys also has another blog about her Himalyan cat Goma, who looks identical to Choco, and it is one of the cutest blogs! Well, check out Choco on KittyBellys!

4-day weekend

Nothing really has been going on this week. Well, of course we have a 4-day weekend in honor of Veteran's Day, but all I will do is sleep. :) My friend Mary came over on Saturday and we had an awesome time. We watched a movie, but got bored with it so we went up to my room. She found this old Crayola modeling clay in my closet and we made stupid stuff with it. I made a teddy bear and a bunny; Mary made a globe and a pencil. She tried to make something for every school subject but we both ran out of clay. Then we played Monopoly with my brother Andrew - it's funner with more people - and had dinner. We had a fun time! Well, today both of my brothers have their friends over, so my cat is freaking out and the house is loud, but it's okay. Tonight our family is going to a free magic show for CVASA (Coachella Valley Austism Society of America), so at least I'm doing something today. Yeah, well that's it, and 11 MORE DAYS UNTIL TWILIGHT COMES OUT! WOO!! I am soooo excited!! Mary, my friend Tati and I are going to see it and I can't wait!!!! GO TWILIGHT! Oh yeah, if you want to see the movie trailer and clips from the movie scroll ALL THE WAY down. I have a Twilight widget at the very bottom. On the side is a countdown, on the bottom is the movie trailers etc. Enjoy!

prop 8 passed! finally something to be happy about!

For those of you who haven't heard, Prop 8 passed! :) Yay!

Well, I just posted to say that, because I've done nothing else today except eat tomatoes and go to school. So, post on your blogs everyone! And if you haven't already, check out my little brother Austin's blog, www.austinbarney.blogspot.com .

well... obama won.

Well, Obama won the election... At least we have Prop. 8 to be happy about, it's currently winning but we'll see the results tonight or tomorrow. YES ON 8!!

austin's new blog and obama... or mccain? austin decides

My little brother austin, 7 years old, has started a blog with my help. He says what he wants me to put on his blog and I type it. It is very cute, he insisted on having a Pokemon backround. He's very excited. It is www.austinbarney.blogspot.com .

Well, today Austin came home and said "I voted today." (At his school they had a fake election.) We asked who he voted for. Very enthusiastically, he replied, "Obama!" We asked why. He eagerly explained that two nice 2nd grade girls had liked Obama, so he then voted for Obama. He is really cute, he does the cutest things!

go mccain!

I like McCain, although all my friends don't, which is annoying. Today at lunch they were using a variety of words to express their dislike for McCain. So, good luck McCain!

i'm back!

Okay, after a long time I've finally decided to restart my blog. It feels like home to be blogging again, it feels great! If you've noticed I've had lots of fun playing around with the sidebar. All of my little gadgets are there to prove it. If you want any of them they're all from abowman.com, except for the Twilight and the Yes on 8 one, which are from widgetbox.com. So, yeah, I'm back! I can't wait to start blogging again!!