My Best Friend Jessica!!

Another one of my greatest friends is Jessica Roberts. Haha she's wonderful! She's someone who you can never depend on to be on time, or to show up when you want her to... but she tries her best. haha Jessica is a year older than me and always let me tag along in High School, I gained so many friends with Jessica's help. She's someone who is nice to talk to and fun to be with. One of our favorite things to do is to take pictures. We all get dress up and then one person poses while the other 2 take pictures... it sounds weird typing it out like this, but It's a blast! Haha Jessica and I met 4 years ago through our good friend Kim. I think... When we found out she lived so close to me we started doing lots together, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have done many after school activities... She's a wonderful person, and you can depend on her.. you just have to depend on it that she'll be late... haha Jessica is easily one of my best friends and a great person to be around, she keeps Cara and I in line... until you get Jessica a Dr. Pepper... but then she's just kinda scary.. haha sitting on cookies... and watching movies upside down... haha I don't know where I'd be with out her.

My Best Friend Cara!

I met my best friend Cara my second day at Bonneville High School. We were in P.E. together and were automatic running partners cause we seemed to run at the exact same pace. At first I had a hard time trying to figure out where to eat lunch, but I finally found some cool guys to sit with and Cara quickly joined me at their crazy table. Pretty much after day one, Cara and I were inseparable, we would meet up before school if she rode the bus, and we usually had a couple of classes together, and then we'd eat lunch together, Lunches were funny in high school.. for some reason when Cara and I got done eating we didn't like to sit around and wait for the bell to ring, we would walk around the commons area, getting atleast 4 or 5 rounds in. haha but I think that was more our Senior year, our Junior Year I honestly don't remember what we did, I'd like to say we went around and hung out with all the seniors who were my friends, but Cara doesn't remember half of them.. I was popular with the seniors, I went to most of the Senior parties and knew more of the Seniors then the Juniors who were my age.. but this isn't about me. I remember Cara and I doing crazy things in high school.. like a foam soap fight, having skipping contests, and jumping off walls, it was great! We didn't really do alot in High School together other than lunch. I think one of my favorite memories from high school was when Cara and I asked some guys to a girls choice dance and she was getting ready at my house. My dad was sitting in the living room (which is where the girls in my family get ready.. that sounds weird but when there was 8 kids in the house and only 2 bathrooms it worked out best for us girls to do our hair and makeup in the living room.. ) talking to us while we were doing our hair and him being an artist was like "You guys look way too much alike, Cara, what's your last name again?" and he then looked up her last name in our family books and figured out that Cara and I are 3rd cousins! We thought that was pretty cool. I loved going to school at Bonneville, and now when I look back I wish I would have graduated from there, even if it would have meant I wouldn't have known half the people I would have graduated with, and wouldn't have been able to go to Indiana for FFA.. But.. once Cara and I got to College we were able to hang out alot more and we did. Now that Cara is actually focusing more on school, I have people always asking me where she is and why she's not with me. It's kinda funny and since we did so much together people always get our names messed up. She has always been a wonderful friend.

Introductions

Well, I'm kinda new to this whole blogging thing. But I really enjoy writing down my life.

All of my amazing roommates have blogs so they convinced me to start this, and they don't even know. I am a student Brigham Young Univerisity of Idaho, and I love it here. I never thought I'd enjoy such a strict school, but I really do.


I am the 4th of 8 kids.

















My syblings in order are Leslie who is 26, and just got married this past June to Curtis they are expecting their first kid in April, it's a boy, and I'm sure he's going to be adorable. He'll be the first grandkid for my parents and my first nephew, I'm excited!








Next in line is Diane, she is 24 and just got married in November to Demetrios, she would have to be one of my best friends, but since she's gotten married I haven't done much with her.

Next in line is Lane who's 22, he's always been one who has a different date every week but rumor is he might be getting hitched.. who knew.

Next is me, I'm 20, I'll be 21 next month and quite excited, in fact I'm always excited for anything and everything, it's really not a big deal that I'll be 21 since I don't drink or anything but I'll officially be an adult and I get to change my drivers license.

Next in line is Tyler who is 18, almost 19, he leaves for the Missionary Training Center March 25th, he's been called to the Minnesota Minneappolis mission.

Next in line is Michelle, who is 16, she also would have to be one of my best friends. She's sometimes a brute (bluntly honest) but I love her just the same.

Next in line is Brett, he's 13, and the hardest working kid ever, he struggles with learning, but is a great kid.

Ryan is the baby, he's 10, and by far the most talkative of all the kids in my family. He's hillarious, but very spoiled rotten, Ryan and Brett are fighting constantly, it drives me nuts, actually it drives my whole family nuts!

I come from a huge family, there have been few divorces. My mom has 13 whole syblings, she has 7 brothers and 6 sisters. My dad has 10 syblings, 3 sisters and 7 brothers. When we have family reunions on either side, they're huge, but tons of fun!

Since the year Lane was born, 1986, my family has lived on a dairy farm, I think we milk about 60 jersey cows, they're adorble! especially the babies. As you can tell in the picture. I love the cows, but I hate waking up in the morning at 5:00 to milk them, so I usually find a way to get out of it. On our little farm we have cows, two dogs (Rusty & Ace), tons of crazy cats, stinky chickens, devilish white rabbits with red eyes. I've got many stories from growing up on the farm.

Well, that's some of the main stuff about me, if you have any specific questions let me know.

Saturday Boredom Broken

Today was soooo boring! I woke up about 11:00 a.m. only cause I read my clock wrong and thought it said 12:00 noon... I ate breakfast, showered, and then totally got ready doing my makeup hair and everything even though I wasn't planning on going any where and then sat around until 5:30 trying to accomplish my homework.. but by judging how much I got done on my blog today.. I obviously didn't focus very well.. about 6:30 I noticed my sister Diane was on facebook, so I convinced her to go get my syblings from home and bring them up bowling (cause I really felt like going bowling) So I called home and convinced my sister Michelle to come bowling, which was really tough, she likes to argue... I finally convinced her and they came and picked me up around 8:15. Diane and her husband Demetrios picked me up along with Michelle and Brett. Tyler met us at the Alley with Tesha (his girlfriend) and Ryan. It was an intense game of bowling, on my lane was Ryan, Michelle and Brett. Ryan


was winning most of the game ( I think it's cause of the bumpers but even when we switched lanes and didn't have the bumpers he was still winning) but I came up at the end and won by 1 point! I had 112 pts and Ryan had 111, when I went to give him high five he tried punching me.. so I punched him back.. but it was still tons of fun. I love hanging out with my syblings, they're a blast and never boring... I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of us bowling.. I always get sidetracked and forget to take pictures, the first picture is of Tyler and Tesha the second

The Bowling group: Me, Michelle, Tyler, Tesha Demetrios, Diane, Brett, and Ryan

Friday Night Fun

So, last night I had a blast. I called Jessica, Cristi, and Cara. We were all going to finally be able to hang out. But then Cara said her old roommates were having a party at her apartment so she said we should all just go there. After much confusion and mess, Jessica, Camille, Cristi, and I finally made it to Cara's around 5:30, we then went out to Chinese along with Cory, Rob, and Anna. It was fun. I think my favorite part about eatting Chinese is using chop sticks and eatting the fortune cookie.
When we got back to Cara's we watched the movie Bandidas and then everyone was just leaving, so we kinda got kicked out, which I still don't understand what was going on. So Cristi, Jessica, and I went ballroom dancing, where I sorta learned the guys part to cha cha, guy have it tough cause they have to know how to lead the steps where as girls just have to know how to follow. I ran into a little girl there whom I used to babysit when they were my neighbors, and she almost recognized me, and she said I looked like I belonged in college. She took me upstairs in the Hinckley building where I was able to hang out with her family, and played wii, in the meantime I had forgotten about Jessica and Cristi, I had just ditched them, but they found me and we went back down to go dancing and they wanted to leave, so they left and I stayed for about 4 more songs then met them at Cristi's apartment. At Cristi's apartment we had hot chocolate, and chocolate ice cream while we were watching the Sister Act with Cristi's roommate. It was fun. Then about 12:30 Jessica and I came back to my apartment where I offered Jessica my bed because my roommates were still up and in the living room where she usally sleeps and she kept complaining about getting up early so I figured she needed as much sleep as she could get. But about an hour later, I went into my room just to find out she was reading a book! So finally my roommates all went to bed and Jessica and I stayed up until 3:30 watching Sweet Home Alabama which I do say has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. But that was my Friday night. Even though it wasn't perfect I had a great time and love my friends!

Tree Climbing

Okay, so my brother and I got this brilliant idea one day after chores... okay.. so it was my idea, he just followed... We decided to climb our huge (it's got to be close to 80 feet high!) tree.. which, by the way is half dead! It was tons of fun going up, coming back down was a different story. On the way up Brett (my brother who followed me) was breaking off the dead branches which we had carefully used to go up. In fact, we probably clung to the top up there for close to 15 minutes, just cause I thought it was such an accomplishment.. and wanted my sister to take pictures, and the whole time up there Brett was snapping off the dead branches which were around my feet. I could see for ever way up there, it was sweet! But, I don't think I'll ever do it again.. haha I don't know why I wanted to share that story but I enjoyed the experience, it was spontaneous, exhilerating, and fun!

On Wobbly Legs

I really should be doing homework right now, but this blogging thing is kinda addictive.. I think this is the last paper I can post which is on my computer, the rest are on my families computer at home, like the story of a skunk being in my 4-H cabin, and more stories of my crazy life. This paper I wrote for English in High School. Enjoy!

Watching a calf take its first steps is an amazing experience. It gets up on its back feet, and then it’s front feet, and carefully takes its first tentative step, only to lose its balance and fall. But it always gets up again and takes a step and another and another, until it can walk, then run without even thinking. Just like the calf, in life, we slowly try something new just to fall down. But if we keep trying we’ll eventually be like this calf, able to get up and walk without even thinking.
Just like a calf has to live on a farm its whole life, I have lived on a farm my whole life too. I started doing chores at age 6, and have done chores ever since. Chores have taken me about four hours a day, 365 days a year, which is about 1,460 hours each year doing chores. So chores have been a big part of my life.
Living on a farm doing chores has taught me a lot. First of all it has taught me how to wake up early every morning if you want to make it to school on time. It has taught me responsibility, I have to make sure every animal gets their share of feed, and looks healthy or I owe my dad $500 if a calf dies. Living on a farm has also taught me how to work hard, and how to get along with my siblings, well sometimes. I think everyone should live on a dairy farm, so that they can learn what I have learned. I’m glad I have lived on a dairy farm and had the opportunity to learn so much. One of my favorite parts about the diary was being in Dairy 4-H.
I have been in 4-H since I was 9 years old. It’s a hard organization to describe, they have many different clubs you can participate in to learn many different things and they usually participate in many service projects. I have been in many different clubs and learned a lot. I have had many different experiences in 4-H. I think the greatest thing about 4-H though, is not only learning new skills and knowledge, but also getting to know others. I have belonged to many 4-H clubs. I have done crochet, quilting, knitting, Dutch oven, scrap booking, and Dairy 4-H. Future Farmers of America or FFA is a lot like 4-H except there are bigger competitions.




I belonged to the FFA in 9th, 10th, and 12th Grade. It has been a fun organization to be a part of. The Rigby Chapter goes to contests about twice a year once in Moscow, Idaho, and once in Twin Falls. In 9th Grade I tried many different contests including Soil Judging, Range land Judging, and Dairy Judging. I came really close to making the teams but didn’t quite make it.
So in 10th grade I again tried out for the Rangeland Judging and made it this time. Our Team went to state and won! I got 8th individually which was the 3rd highest on the team. If you win State you then go to Nationals to see how you do there. So our team went to Oklahoma where nationals were taking place. It was really fun; we tried hard and won first Regionally.
Also in 10th grade I tried for Dairy Judging, I went with about 8 others to the Black and White Days in Richmond UT. We were supposed to write down how we had judged each class of cows so that as soon as the contest was over we could try figuring out how we did before we got back the results. Well, we figured out each persons score and mine was really low. So when we got back the results I must have written, how I had judged the classes wrong, because I had the 4th highest score out of all who had gone to Richmond. So I had made the team, but since we had thought I had done really bad the girl whom I beat off the team had thought she had made the team and had already been planning on being on the team, so I decided to let her be on the team instead of me.
Since I wasn’t going to be on the Dairy Judging team, my advisor said I could compete in the Dairy Handling contest instead. When we went up to Moscow, the weather was beautiful until it came to the day of the Dairy Judging Contest. It rained almost the whole time during the contest, which of course was out side so many others, and I had to show the dairy cows out in the rain. It wasn’t a very good contest because the cows were all hunched up and ornery. When it came my groups turn to be judged on how we handled the cows I felt I had done very well.
When it came time for the Awards Ceremony the next day they called up all of the Dairy Handlers and we received a standing ovation for standing out in the rain all day handling the cows. I headed for my seat as they called up the runner up, 3rd place, 2nd place, and I had just gotten to my seat when I heard my name. I was awestruck, I had won 1st in state, and would be going to Lewisville Kentucky for nationals.
When I went to Nationals it was lots of fun. I was excited for the contest because Showing Cows or Dairy handling is something I have done my whole life at our Jefferson County Fair and the Eastern Idaho State Fair. The cows handled very well for me and I felt good about how I did. The dairy handling contest isn’t judged like the others, they don’t really give anyone places you either get a bronze silver or gold placing. The judges went through all of the bronze and silver placing and then came the gold. The gold they told us were the top 10 showmen. I was called for a gold placing.
Life doesn’t change much for a calf, it always does the same things, eat, and sleep. Life doesn’t seem to change much for me, being the 4th child and living on a Dairy farm. We don’t get any vacations, go camping, or do much away from home. We always have to be home at 5:00 in the morning and 5:00 at night. Probably the biggest change for me was changing schools. The summer before my junior year I decided to take an art workshop with my dad. The lady teaching the workshop taught me a lot and told me I could be really good at art if I kept working at it. It was her saying I could be good that helped me decide that I should switch schools if I want to become good at art because Rigby didn’t have a good art program.
I kept thinking of switching schools but was afraid to because I had two big trips I was going on the last week of September to Kentucky for Dairy handling Nationals, and the last week of October to Wisconsin for Dairy 4-H. So after I got back from these two trips and Rigby’s first Trimester ended I decided to go to Bonneville. It was hard to decide if I really wanted to go to Bonneville, if I went there I wouldn’t be able to be in FFA, but if I stayed at Rigby I wouldn’t get art. It was a hard decision but I finally decided to switch.
I am glad I decided to go to Bonneville, even if I was a traitor to Rigby. I had lots of fun and learned a lot. I entered 2 art contests this year, one called the Helen Aupperle art competition which I won 1st in and received $500 and The Bank of America art contest which I got second in and received $100. After learning I was pretty good at art I decided to go back to Rigby so I could participate in FFA and Graduate with my friends. Like most of the seniors I am excited to almost be out of High school. I feel I have accomplished a lot in my life and hope to accomplish much more in the years to come.
Some of my more recent goals I am trying to achieve are to get good grades so I can graduate from high school with high honors. I want to be able to graduate with high honors so I can get some good scholarships for BYU-I. I plan on going into a good paying, art related career, maybe interior design or Landscape design in which I ‘d be using Knowledge I have gained through the FFA program and skills I’ve learned in 4-H. College will strengthen my legs and I will begin to run into life like the new born calf.

My Most Memorable experience

okay, so I was just going through some of my old papers I wrote for projects, school, and other random occasions and I found this one I wrote in High School. I don't know if this really is my most memorable experience, but it's kinda cool.

One of the most memorable experiences of my life would have to be when I was told that I could do well in art. It was Thursday evening in September 2004 and my dad and I had just cleaned up after our first oil painting workshop, we had cleaned off our palettes and packed everything in a toolbox to carry around. We then carefully carried our pictures and the box to where we were to pay the lady.
As we paid the lady for the workshop she criticized our work. She told my dad a few things he needed to work on but overall, his picture looked great. She looked at my picture, which had been a still life of a tall bottle and some apples. She was impressed that I could get a picture to turn out so well when I had never painted or drawn before this year. She told me that if I kept painting I could be really good someday.

This statement surprised me, I didn’t think I could be good but this lady said I could she had learned from some of the best artists and knew exactly what she was talking about. I thought about this statement for some time, and then decided to switch to another high school where I could get one of the best educations in art. At Rigby, where I was before, they didn’t have a very good art program and I had heard that Bonneville had sent out some of the best artists around.
I switched schools to where I have learned so much about art and how to do it in the half a year that I have been in Bonneville. I’ve learned about all the mediums that you can and I like them all a lot. I can’t wait to learn more about art and magnify my talent in art I then hope to use my knowledge and talent in art to help make the world a better place.

I think it's funny how I don't meantion that the teacher at Bonneville was my dad, so I'm guessing this paper was for an art competition. I won one art competition in High School and got second in another, over all I won $600 which I though was pretty cool. I started going into art in college but I didn't like how the classes took all the fun out of drawing and painting so I've switched to Computer Information Technology.