The Last Week

Okay, so it has been a long time since I've blogged or emailed or done anything on the internet at all! I need to catch up. I need to post on my blog, answer emails and post on Sign It Weekly. Don't worry, I'll get better. Everything has just been so busy and I have been thinking about posting, but not having the time. So I was neglecting to do it when I got a complaint. We were all at Lizzie's house and having a good time when the phone rang. I was sitting at the computer writing something for Young Women in Excellence that night and Kate was standing right by me and the phone by the computer. The phone was ringing, no one was answering yet so Kate picked it up and tried to hand it to me. I reluctantly took it and just held it. I didn't want to answer their phone. Luckily Lizzie went to pick up a different phone. She looked at me and asked, "Did you already get it?" Almost in a why-would-you-do-that voice. I answered, "Kate did." And Lizzie got an understanding look on her face and answered the phone (yes it was still ringing). I hung up the one Kate answered and continued to write. Then Lizzie came over and handed me the phone. "It's Amy," she said when she saw the look on my face. I answered saying, "Hi!" (I think)
"Hi!" said Amy, "Did you read my comment on your blog saying you need to post?"
"No."
Amy sighed.
"Well you need to post!"
And then we went into a long conversation that only Amy and I know about and that I won't go into. So, that is why I am posting right now. Be grateful to Amy.

We were at Lizzie's house from about 10:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. We left with lots of yummy food. We originally went there so mom and Lizzie could cook. By the end they both wanted to take naps. Even ask them! That night we all went to Young Women in Excellence (mom was playing prelude and all the babysitters were there so Anna and Gracie came, too). We got there half and hour early so I could set up my sewing display and mom could play prelude. If we could we were supposed to bring some project we work on to display. I brought my not-yet-finished quilt, a skirt and bag. I also brought a paper describing the why and whens of my sewing. Lot's of people came up to me and said that we needed to get together to sew sometime. They said they have wanted to make certain projects but haven't. One or two were leaders! The theme was "There's No Place Like Home." The leaders did a skit like the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was twelve and in her dream in the land of Oz the yellow brick road was the path of personal progress. The scarecrow, lioness and tin "woman" (The leaders were woman) were her beehive, Mia-made and Lorel leaders. They had props and costumes and everything. They even taped yellow paper bricks to the floor for the yellow brick road! I loved it. They are such great leaders.

Yesterday we planned to go to Disneyland with the Mechams from Firth. But apparently they traveled here with Des's dad. They went to Disneyland all week (this week has been HOT) and they were all worn out. On Wednesday night Des's dad announced they were leaving on Thursday. So, we went with Lizzie instead. It was fun. We brought lunches and treats instead of buying them. Mom says we are doing that from now on for field trips. Mom is buying "One Yard Wonders" and it had a lunchbox in it. She says she can buy it if I do most of the sewing. After I finish my quilt of course.

I have more to write but I don't have the time to do it. After school I can write more. I love you all!

A Story of a Homeless Person's Clothes

So, Anna and Gracie do not take care of their clothes. They have been throwing them on the floor so we have a carpet of clothing (which causes sore toes). So, finally yesterday mom said, "Today is 'going through the clothes day.'" So we washed all of the dirty clothes and folded all of the clean clothes. Mom said they can each have 7 summer outfits, 2 winter outfits, 3 church outfits and 2 pairs of pj's. Anna did not take it well. She sat on the couch and cried and cried and said, "That is as many clothes as a homeless person has!" She was a mess. Mom decided that instead of giving the clothes to DI we would just bring them to dad's. That way they would not have to pack when we go there. We would throw one clothing after another to mom and she would hold it up and say, "Dad's or California?" So we piled clothes all over the room, on the couch, in a suitcase and on the piano bench. Dad came over to see us after we had finished and mom asked if he would except all the clothes. He said that this exercise was excellent and that he would only permit 10 outfits, 2 pairs of pj's and 2 church outfits. Anna really hated this. She repeated the temper tantrum on the floor and cried and cried. So, today we are going through the process again to see what to take to dad's. There is the story of the homeless person's clothes.

I am a published Author!

As you all know I have always liked writing. When we went to Oregon last summer I started a fantasy story. Mom said I worked on it for hours at a time. When we got home progress slowed. Without the inspiration of the ocean I did not work on it as much. Finally one day in September I worked on it for hours and whenever anyone came up to me I said without looking at them, "Leave me alone. I am on a role." Finally I finished it. I called it "Love is Truth."I handed it around and soon it got to my dad. He kept it for over a month and once in a while he would call me and ask me questions like, "This part when you said, blah blah blah... what did you mean by that?" Soon it was February and it was my birthday. Dad took me out to lunch on his lunch break and gave me a present. I opened it and saw three published copies of "Love is Truth." I gaped at it and the only sound I made was a line of repeated gasps. My dad had published them on lulu.com. It had a picture of me on it and everything. I loved it.

Now the only people who have read it are, mom, dad, Danielle, Diane (dad's fiance) one of my mom's friends, my bishop, and our visiting teacher. And there are a whole lot more of you than that. Soooooo, we have set it up so people can buy them. All you have to do is go to lulu.com and search "Love is Truth" and it will come up. Then on the side there will be a button that says "Buy It" or something like that. I am not saying you HAVE to buy it, but if you are anxious to read it and can't wait until we see each other next than you can. This is optional. Buuuuuuut... if you buy it while you are reading it you can say to yourself, "I know the author of this book." How often do you get to do that? Cool huh?

And my dad videoed me singing "You Belong With Me." We just have to figure out how to put it on here. Love you all!

Oh, the drama and the trama for Kate Leslie

Kate is a wonderful little girl. In mom's opinion with an adorable nose. She is very unlike the rest of her family. She loves us and we love her. That is why when the accident happened we all gasped. It was at the cabin when we were all there for the family reunion. We were on our way there. Dad had to work so we got there after everyone else. All this information I got from someone else.

Kate, Austin, Sayer and Cooper were out riding bikes far from the house. With Austin and Cooper in the lead Kate coasted down the hill and tried to catch up. To her disadvantage the bike she had borrowed went out of control. She tried to turn as she went up another hill, but the bike tipped over. Now ahead of everyone she rolled down the next hill holding onto the bike for dear life. As the road levels she skids and crashes. Austin and Cooper being a bikes length behind her rushed to her side and helped her stand up. Blood gushed from Kate's nose and went all over her white shirt. Just then the rest of the bike crew rode up. Everyone gasped at the sad sight.Being careful not to tip her head back Austin picked up the sobbing girl and held her close. Luckily at that moment Nicole and her friend rode up in the car. Pulling over and getting out immediately. Seeing the mess of blood Nicole retrieved a towel and held it up to Kate's nose. Austin still holding her got in the car followed by everyone else. Once arrived at the cabin Kate was cleaned up and changed. Now more comfortable Kate stopped crying. Trying to get a hold of my dad Brandt eventually gave up and took Kate along with her mother, Bridget and Meg to the hospital back home.

So, there is the story. I may have added a thing or two, or most of it but no one would tell me much. Anyway what the doctor said was that Kate had indeed broken her nose. She came back the next day but left that night. Her forehead had some scabs, her left eye was so purple it looked like make up and her nose was swollen. She however was very brave. After everyone left the cabin Kate came to our house now with two black eyes on Monday. On Tuesday she was checked by a specialist and made an appointment for surgery. If they didn't it would heal wrong and look weird. This is when mom said, "Oh, I am so glad she will have that adorable nose forever." Kate got surgery yesterday morning and everything went as planned. She will have to wear a nose cast for two more weeks but will soon be as good as new. They also took her tonsils out and the poor thing has to breath through her mouth which dries out her throat even more. We went to visit her yesterday afternoon and brought her a cool coloring book, crayons, a stuffed animal and a get well balloon. We also gave her a card that we all signed. She will be just fine and just as loving as ever.

Taylor Swift

I love her! I love her songs and I know a some of her songs by heart. I know You Belong With Me and Love Story. I have an idea! I can make a video of me singing one of them. When you comment vote for either You Belong With Me which is about a girl who is in love with her best friend but he is dating someone else who is mean. She think "He belongs with her." Or vote for Love Story which is a love song that is sorta like Romeo and Juliet. I love both of them. Diane likes me singing Love Story best. Maybe I can get the karaoke version so we have the music. This is going to be cool. Once on Valentines day we were listening to Taylor Swift and I said, "She is so good at writing songs." Mom didn't believe she writes them. She said, "It is rare for a singer to write her own songs." When I wouldn't give in she went to google it. And found out I was right! She writes all her songs. I love them all. There is one she wrote for her mom that is called "The Best Day." The chorus changes every verse a little bit. When there are capital that means to hold. I think I did it right. This is how it goes the first time:

i dOn't knoW whY all the trees change in the fAll
i knoW your not scAred of anything at All
Don't know if snoW whIte's house is near or far awAY
but i know... i hAd the best dAy with yOU today

I really like it. In the music video it has a whole bunch of old home videos from when she was little. It is really cute. I gotta go now. Don't forget to vote about which song you want me to sing!

I know!

I know! Ever since I have been able to change the blog by myself I have changed it a lot. But let's face it. That old one was a little boring. I went to change it and a whole bunch of new templates came up. I really liked this one! I hope you guys like it and don't get tired of me changing it all the time!

We are moving to California! Woa! I know, right! Crazy! I wasn't too surprised, though. I had heard mom on the phone with Lizzie. They never really said anything. I don't know how I figured it out. But I did. Really the only thing I am going to miss is my friends. Especially Kelsi. She is so nice and fun. We both love American girl dolls and she respects me. I was at her house and she got on to youtube to show me some videos and I said, "Kelsi, I am not allowed on and-" Anyway, I told her to get off and she did. She apologized and got off.

I have to get off. I love you all!

The Past Week

The past week has been eventful. It all started last Tuesday when I went to Girls Camp. You guys were all right. It was great and I loved it. My favorite part had to be the floating trip. We went down a river in conoes! I knelt on the floor in the middle of the conoe and paddled. But I was with two leaders a lot stronger than me so I didn't make much of a difference. It was so fun and peaceful. I didn't wear my glasses in case I fell in so I couldn't see too well. But it was still pretty. All the girls slept in one big tent and there was another one we kept our stuff in which was a changing tent. The sleeping tent was like one big air mattress. I didn't even sleep on my pad. One girl told scary stories the first night so I got scared and slept with another girl on her mattress. Everyone was in that spot. It is hard to explain, but where I ended up sleeping was closer to everyone than where I almost slept. I slept there all three nights with no problem. The girl I slept with never complained so it all worked out. With the meals we each had jobs. The camp gave us the food for $7 per meal per girl. There were different jobs. Going and getting the food, cooking, and cleaning. It was fun. I cooked the french toast once. I cooked it outside on some specail camping skillet. It was all fun. One night Katie (a lady from the stake) came with her guitar and we all sang around the fire. It was fun. We also roasted starbursts. They get soft and cruchy on the outside. We also went snipe hunting. This part was wierd. Snipes are not real, but everyone made us think they are. They said they were rodents with bright red eyes. We had to wear long socks over our pants to keep them from crawling up them. We brought pillowcases to catch them with. Everyone tried to catch some and the older girls rolled up socks and pretended they were snipes when they caught them. We did it at night so you couldn't tell they were socks. At the end the oldest girl told us they were not real and explained everything. They do that every year. They told me they weren't real before we went because I get scared easily. I would have to say the best part about it all was how I got to know everyone and made friends. We all became like sisters and had a great time.

After Girls Camp my sisters and I went with our dad to visit Diane. We got there Friday and left yesterday. It was fun. For the fourth of July we went to her sisters house and we met our soon to be cousins, aunts, grandparents, and stuff. There was a waterslide and when the boys went down it and did cool tricks but messed up most of the time I laughed so hard. While we were there I didn't even feel sick. Laughter truly is the best medicine. We got to sleep in our new rooms. The boys only moved out their beds so they were still decorated as sports rooms, but they were cool. Now the boys sleep downstairs. On Sunday I was too sick to go to church so I stayed home and slept. Diane has a friend that works for a company that sells cricuts. So for the wedding present she gave us a cricut and three cartridges. I made a family night wheel with it. It is so cool! I was planning to save up for one but now I don't have to.

Now I am at Grandma Leslie's house and not having too much of a fun time. I am sick with a cold. Symptoms are stuffy/runny nose, cough, swollen eyes, and fatigue. So I can't take care of Gracie. Anna won't help. I ask her to help Gracie because I am sick and she says, "So?" Grandma is sick so she can't babysit and Grandpa is so deaf he can't do much either. Jessie and Naomi (they moved into the yellow house a couple weeks ago) were here. Then Jessie said they needed to go HOME. When she said "home" I almost cried. They live in the three Leslie family houses in a row so they are now part of the family. They live in my house. Two four year olds get my room, and the kitchen looks like a barn. It had chickens and even has a glass pig in there. It is like the beginning of the divorce all over again. Finally after Gracie got upset I called mom and started crying. So she called a friend and had her come pick up Gracie. So, that has been my past week. If you have gotten this far thank you for listening. I love you all.