The Scary Thing that we call our Futures!

I never realized how much our future depends on what we are doing right now. I am a little bit of what people would call a psycho when it comes to grades. People tease me constantly about how uptight I can become when my grades aren't what I would like them to be. Most of this is because I want to go to a great college, and carry that into a career. I still don't know exactly what type of career I would like to go into yet, because it is a very tough decision.

It scares me a little bit to know that we won't have our parents to fall back on for everything when we grow up. This is why we need to practice doing things on our own, and learning how to take care of ourselves. People talk about how they got to college, and they didn't even know how to do laundry. I don't want things like this to happen to me. Yes, I do know how to laundry.

My goal for college is to go somewhere out of the state of Utah. I don't even care where, I just want to get out! Don't get me wrong, I have loved growing up in Utah. Sometimes I just have to wonder how much different my life would be if I lived somewhere else. I also want to do something different than my parents and my oldes sister. All three of them have gone to BYU, and the summer before they attended their freshman year they earned money by being firefighters. This has been great for them, and I'm sure I would have a blast doing that same thing. I just don't want to look back on my life, and think, "what if I had done this?"

What I am hoping for is that I can go somewhere on the east coast, or somewhere in California. Basically, anywhere except for Utah, and the surrounding areas. I am not saying at all that they aren't good schools, I just don't know if it would be the best option for me. My sister was hoping for the exact same thing from college, and she ended up going to BYU. That might happen to me, but I just want to make sure that I will have the opportunity to do something else. This is the reason I am such a freak about my grades.

Especially if I go out of state I won't have my family close by to fall back on. It's a scary thing to think about having to make it on our own, but I am determined to get as much education as I possibly can. It's not only that I want to have opportunities, but I love to learn. My sister once told me that the ideal job would be learning, and getting paid for it. I would have to agree with this statement, because I really do enjoy learning. Some subjects definitely interest me more than others, but it's fun to learn new things that you didn't know before.

Our futures may be a scary thing to think about, but I think the time to start worrying about it is now. We need to figure out what we want to do with our lives, so that we can leave it knowing that we made a difference.

Holidays

At this time of year I am realizing how much I love the fall. I didn't discover my passion until this year, and it makes me sad that I haven't been able to appreciate how nice it is until now. The air is unbelievably crisp, and the whole world is changing colors. I've never exactly understood the concept of Halloween, but you get to dress up in costumes and it keeps kids happy for weeks. I remember when I used to get so excited for Halloween night, and getting ready to trick-or-treat at the neighbor's houses. One year I was planning on being a bride, and then unexpectedly got sick so I couldn't go trick-or-treating. At this time my brother was probably the nicest he's has ever been to me, because he came home and shared all of his candy with me. At some of the houses he even asked for an extra piece of candy for his sister Kendall, who was sick. Autumn also means that it is getting close to Christmas, and that is the most amazing part of the year! I don't know how the Grinch couldn't just love every minute of it. My house always looks and smells the best when it comes to be the holidays. My mom can get a little bit carried away with Christmas, because our house is decked with decorations. There is holly all the way down the banister, on our chandelier, and also on the hearth. There is always the sweet smell of hot cocoa or apple cider in the air. Even though Christmas is such a big event at our house, my mom is very strict about not overlooking Thanksgiving. Which she says is very important too. One of our traditions that we have for Thanksgiving, is in the month of November we have a "Thankful Pumpkin." We have a porcelain pumpkin, and we write down what we are thankful for. After that we put it in the pumpkin. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we read them all to each other, and it's actually very fun, and gives us an opportunity to realize all the things we can be grateful for every day. I am disobeying my mom's rules to not to skip Thanksgiving, because I am listening to Christmas music right now...don't tell. My favorite Christmas songs would have to be "Santa Baby" by Madonna, "All I want for Christmas" by Mariah Carey, and every song by Harry Connick Junior and Michael Buble. It makes me want to be a better person, and be nicer to people around Christmas time. Then when the Holidays are over I go back to being me again. Just kidding, but it really is nice to have such a spirit of service in the air in the coldest time of year. I have recognized that it really isn't about the presents at all, even though that is very fun too. It's about the spirit you have, and how you treat others. It is a great opportunity to help those people in need too, we do a Sub for Santa family each year, and that is always a good experience. So pretty much I just get a little to into the holidays, but as far as I'm concerned there is nothing wrong with that!

UEA

I can't even tell you how much I want to go give a  hug to the person who came up with UEA! I am in need of a break from school in a very bad way. I have been super stressed, and I am so relieved that I don't have to think about school for four whole days!

My friend Ashley even had the idea to go to "Stress Management" with Mrs. Turneau for intervention...it's been that stressful. Most of it is coming from math because we have two tests within a week. The first I did pretty badly on, so I need t do better on this next one. UEA will also give me an opportunity to play volleyball. I need to get a lot of touches on the ball before tryouts which are on November ninth and eleventh.

So I have decided to play volleyball this year, and who knows what I will be doing next season. Over the break our family is going to have somewhat of a "staycation." In other words, we are going to stay at home but do a lot of fun things. We are going to go to a BYU volleyball game on Saturday, we are also going to go shopping. Everyone in our family got to choose one thing that they would like to do, and my little brother chose to go to the zoo. Not exactly my idea of a fun time, but I will try to have fun. My dad chose to work out in the yard for three hours, and work on the rock wall. In my backyard we have this wall that is about three feet wide and three feet tall that surrounds our grass. It is a pain to work on and build, but the actual wall looks pretty dang cool. My mom refers to herself and all of the kids as the "unskilled laborers." My dad is the person who actually performs the process of building the wall, and the rest of us are only responsible for gathering the rocks from the dirt hill behind our house. That should definitely be the most fun part of my weekend for sure.

I have decided that I love spending time with my family even though half the time we would secretly like to kill each other. I really do love them, and I need to show it more often. I am so excited for this weekend, and sadly I think a lot of it will be spent doing homework. I have a project due in biology on Tuesday that I need to start. Also, I have tests in algebra 2 and geography.

My friend and I have decided that over UEA we need to watch the whole movie "Pride and Prejudice." The whole movie is about five hours, but it is totally worth it. The movie is great and I plan on reading the book by the time this year is over. Elizabeth Bennett is one of my many heroes because she is so independent. I hope everyone's UEA is great!

Tennis or Volleyball...that is the question

Tennis has been so great so far! I love everything about it, and I actually look forward to going to practice everyday! The girls have been so dang fun, and they are so nice to me even though I am a little freshman. My doubles partner is pretty much my hero, because she is amazing at everything that she does. She is an SBO, she is on the tennis team, the track team, and she is so nice to everyone. I have never seen her be mean to a single soul, and everyone is so nice back to her. We are undefeated so far! All five of the spots on varsity are undefeated, and that has never happened before. Our whole team has made our mark in history!

The thing is, I have always played volleyball and I only played tennis because our Junior High volleyball team was going to be really bad. That sounds really horrible, but it was just my one chance to play tennis and I did. That is pretty much the best decision I ever made.

Since I have loved it so much it has made it hard for me to decide if I want to play tennis or volleyball. They are so different from each other, but each also has its charms. I guess you're always supposed go with your gut instinct but really every time I thing of it I come up with nothing. Yesterday we had the state tennis tournament to finish out the season. My partner and I did great in our first to matches, and won pretty easily. Our third match which was the semi-finals was more challenging. In the first set we started out ahead but then made some mistakes, and lost the first set 4-6. The second set we took the lead at 4-3. We got complacent, and let them come back. They ended up beating us 6-4 again in the second set. This sounds pathetic, but I have never been so devastated! It was horrible because the team that they played in the finals was a lot easier. My partner and I just couldn't believe it, and it still is making me really upset to think about it right now.

It makes me really sad that the tennis season is now over, and I'm realizing how much I love it. Club volleyball tryouts are in the middle of November, and my mom is telling me I need to make a pro and con list before then. It will be a very tough decision that will affect my life immensely.

A lot of the reason I love both sports is because of all the fun people that you get to meet. I don't think I would even play sports if I didn't make new friends doing it. Volleyball is so much of a team sport because everyone is involved in every point. Tennis is so much different because if you are playing singles it is you and only you out there on the court. You can't feed off of other people's energy like you can with volleyball. That is why tennis is such a mental sport, and I believe it is 90% mental and only 10% skill.I love both and only wish I could play both.

My Family

Whenever people figure out that I am from Utah, the first question they ask is always, "How many kids are in your family?" In response, I answer six kids and I leave the person in shock. Yes, I know that six is a big number, but it can also be a ton of fun! I'll start off with my dad, and then go from oldest to youngest. My dad is a great guy, and most of the time I just take it for granted, not realizing how great he is. He has always supported in me in everything I do, no matter what it is. Whether it's sports or big choices, he always stays with me. My mom is very similar in the fact that she is very supporting and loving. She is a great listener, and I always have enough for her to hear. Even when she gets tired of my chattering she just smiles and goes right on listening. She uses her time so well which results in her being a very productive person, and she always gets things done when she says she will. My mom is one of the most unselfish people I know, so she is constantly doing kind things for others. When one of our neighbors is having a hard time she is the first person to ask what she can do to help that person out. Next, my sister Maren is my oldest sibling and we definitely have our ups and downs. But no matter what, I will always love her. She just recently turned 20 years old, and for some reason that sounds so old. She is currently going to school at BYU, and she loves everything about it. Because she has so much fun down there, she rarely comes and visits us back at home. But coincidently she is staying with us right now, along with her boyfriend from Hawaii. A lot of the time we disagree, well actually most of the time, but we still have loads of fun together. The next one down the line is my brother Spencer who is one of the peacemakers in our house. He is a junior at Davis High right now, and is super excited for me to be there with him next year...not exactly. Spencer is very quiet, but he definitely has his moments where he just needs to let it out and go a little crazy. He is a tennis player also, and he plays doubles on the school team. We get a little competitive with eachother when it comes to ping-pong, but don't worry we're always safe. Next there's me, who is smack dab in the middle. I always figure out ways to make sure our house has a little excitement. My little sister Sammy is about as sweet as they come, well most of the time that is. She is called our second mom or nanny around the house because she always knows whats going on. She can't wait to have kids of her own, and I know she will make a great mom. Sammy likes to ride horses, and has gotten really good at it. Then there is Jack, and when you here that name it pretty much describes his personality. You can't do anything but love Jack, because when he shows you that little innocent smile it somehow just makes you feel better about life. Playing football, basketball, and baseball he is quite the athlete. Kate is the youngest of the family, and she loves every secon of it. She truly believes that she is a princess even though she turned 7 years old today. She is not so sweet all the time, she as a cry that will make the windows shatter and our whole family to take cover. You wouldn't never say that my family is the perfect, ideal, and functioning family, but we have fun together and love eachother no matter what.