Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Today was one of the best days ever. I got Mario Kart DS, (one thing on my wishlist) a pink iPod Nano (the new one!! - and it was another thing on my wishlist) a lot of clothes, fuzzy Converse, a 2010 calendar with pictures of black lab puppies, and another 2010 daily calendar for the "Left-Handers". (I'm left-handed, in case you didn't know.) It told lots of facts about left-handers!! I learned that Obama is left-handed. :)

In a comment tell me what you got for Christmas, and some may be featured in the next post. Woohoo, nothing better than being noticed on an awesome blog like mine!!!

Again, Merry Christmas!!!

So This is Christmas?

Last week Boise was covered in snow. This week the sun came out and melted all of it. So even though the weather here is cold there is no more snow to enjoy. I guess there's no white Christmas this year.

So much has happened this month. I already wrote about my birthday (see the post Booyah!) but I still have yet to write about the wedding and the huge, sad news that was told to me this past week.

It was a snowy morning on December 5th, 2009 at the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Everyone who came to see Meegan and Parker crowded around a fairly large building waiting for the newlyweds. I was freezing even in my black peacoat. I could barely even breathe in my bridesmaid dress. There was a sash around my waist that was causing it. It was pinned on tight. When the two came out we took lots of pictures on marble stairs. When taking the pictures with just the bridesmaids and Meegan we were told to take off our coats. By the first picture almost all of us had goosebumps. Then later that night we went to the reception in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We entered a gigantic room with lots of fancy food, dancing, and a DJ. I got good old-fashioned chicken nuggets while everyone else got chicken and salmon, though. Then we had a program where Meredith, Meegan's sister Mary Beth, Meegan's dad Mark, Meegan's mom Mary Ann, my dad, and my mom spoke. Then Parker's friend Chase sang a solo. Then Meegan sang while her dad played either the guitar or piano. Anyway, after the program there was dancing. That was fun. Then Meegan and Parker cut the cake, and after that we lit up sparklers and made a runway for the two to jump in their car and drive to Park City.

Now we're back in Boise. I was having a great time back at school until this past Tuesday...I had finished up dinner, and then I saw an orange folder that was Tanner's from fourth grade or something like that. I opened it up and saw papers filled with pictures of available houses in EAGLE. I asked my mom what they were there for; she sat me down and instantly I began crying. With a long explanation Mom told me we were moving to Eagle, Idaho where our education and athletics would be better for Tanner and me. I had so many excuses and reasons, and I still do but nothing I say will convince Mom and Dad. I'm angry, horrified, and wanting to hit something hard. I wonder why I have to go to Eagle. Just because the high school's athletics are better doesn't mean we have to move there. Mom also explained that Tanner won't learn anything in his "high school quarterback life" if he stays are Timberline. She thinks it's good for my future, too. She says their volleyball team is best in the state. I know that, but that still doesn't make a difference in my opinion. What if Timberline starts receiving some good players? Then we could become best in the state, or at least in the valley. Mom says that there are more Mormon people out in Eagle. 30% of Eagle is Mormon and in Boise 10% is Mormon. Mom thinks I'll make more friends there just because I'll see them in church and in school. What if they're not my type? What if they're a clique of girls? And my friends here...what will I do without them? They're all so special to me. I can't just leave them. And my house...I don't want to give it away to some stranger. It's MY house. How would my parents like it if the new owners just trashed the place? What if they ruined our garden that we took 25 years to plant? So four words for you Mom: I'm going to stay.

So maybe this won't be the best Christmas ever, especially since this will be my last Christmas in my awesome house. I want to be able to convince my parents. I want to be able to stay at my house that I was born in and expect to leave for college in. I want to be able to go to my school. I want my family to drop our plan. BOISE IS MY TOWN, AND I WILL STAY IN IT!!!

Christmas 2009 isn't going to be the best. For sure.

Booyah!

The 4th is my birthday, but I've been celebrating all week. Looks like I'm gonna change the caption for my awesome blog. :] On Wednesday I had a party with some of my close friends. We went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was an okay movie; it's not the greatest. After the movie we went to my house, drank some Coke, ate some pizza, and opened presents. From Ashley I got a $15 gift card to Hastings, a personality avatar thing called a f.a.m.p. from Emily, and a Tigger stuffed animal from Journey. Also, thanks for the awesome lotion gift, Olivia! From Meredith (a little incident happened here, long story) I got HOT Converse. That makes four pairs of my little lovelies. Mom and Dad got me Ugg Slippers - just what I wanted! Unfortunately they were too small. I also got a dress for the wedding. Then my friends went home. ]: The next day we drove to Utah at 6 AM in the morning. (At least I got to miss school yesterday and today!) When we got there we met up with Meredith at Noodles and Company for lunch. I had delicious spaghetti with one of the greatest meatballs I've ever eaten. After lunch we went to Grandma's house to change, and while my family went to see my brother's fiance and other brother enter the LDS Draper Temple, my sister Meredith, my other brother Tanner, and I went to see The Blind Side. Greatest movie EVER! I hope the critics rated it four stars. The movie surprisingly lasted two and a half hours but had a great ending. We then went to a restaurant with American food called Hires Big H with Meredith's friend Tara. I got a cheeseburger and ate it in about two minutes. (It was the size of a Burger King Whopper, so be impressed!) The next day (today, my birthday) we slept in and went to the mall. I got bigger Ugg Slippers and these Converse that are soft on the outside, fuzzy on the inside. They're really comfortable, too. Finally we ended the day with a dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown. It was a delicious dinner, and we got to meet all of the the bride's (Meegan) family. Mary Ann (the mom) was very generous by giving all the bridesmaids bags filled with gifts. I got a beautiful pearl necklace that I'll wear on the wedding day. We also ate birthday cake with loads of yummy frosting. It was a great night, except for the five-second incident Meredith, Tanner, and I experienced walking back to her car. Not going into details. I'll have pictures loaded on here later. Buh-bye!

♥ Abigail ♥

P.S. Check the update section for the winner of the Theme Poll! :]

Tournament Week

This week was full of basketball because it was our school district tournament week. On Tuesday we played against Mountain View, home of the Bengals. We won by a ton, and it was a good game. We were also lucky to have played that game at our school. Then on Wednesday we went to Morley Nelson and played against Maple Grove, home of the Grizzlies. We won by twenty points in that game. It was much more competitive than the Bengals game, too. Yesterday (Thursday) we played against Cynthia Mann in the championships at Hidden Springs, my dream school with my dream town. It was a rough game because almost the whole team played some kind of competitive basketball club. Only three of us do that kind of stuff (me, Isabelle, and Kirsten), so we sadly lost. I sobbed after the game, partly because they gave out all kinds of rewards to the winning team. I have to be "a gracious loser," though.

This tournament has taught me a lot, but there were things that I strongly disagreed with. Like: not shooting free throws, no full court defense, not fouling as much, and no double teaming in the regular season. I had a great season, though. We all learned a lot from our coach, we got to explore and learn about the schools we played, (well, since I'm obsessed with Boise Schools, I was determined to learn about them) and we got to have fun! GO BASKETBALL!

I'M HOOKED TO TRAVEL TEAM, MY BOOK!

Have a great weekend,

♥ Abigail ♥

Travel Team

I was reading a book today that I found in the school library yesterday called Travel Team. It was written by a reporter of Sports Illustrated. I'm halfway through Chapter 3, and the chapters are pretty long. It's about a boy who loves basketball with all his heart. The only problem is he's been the smallest kid ever since first grade. Now that he's twelve and is watching the other boys enter challenging spots on basketball teams because of their reasonable height, Danny Walker decides to let his light shine. He's been a shadow his whole life, and this is his moment to become a great basketball player, no matter how short he is. He wants to follow his dad's footsteps. His dad was an amazing basketball player, and he was just as short as he was as a kid. He moved on up to the majors. Soon he was leading his team to winning championships and great feats. I love it so far, and I can't wait to read more. GO BASKETBALL!
I hope you're all enjoying Thanksgiving month, and I hope that when it comes, your Thanksgiving Day will be great! We're doing the same tradition: going to Utah for a big feast at my grandma's on the night before Thanksgiving, going to Nani's for a feast on the big day, Christmas and birthday shopping, Parker's birthday on the 27th, then going home soon after that. Then we'll prepare for my birthday "party" which will be on the 3rd, and then we'll drive to Utah on my birthday, the 4th. We'll go back to Utah for Parker's wedding on the 5th. It'll be great, great, great! Enjoy November and all it has to offer!

100th Post!

I think the title says it all - it's Truly Abigail's 100th post! For those of you who have just recently started reading my blog, this website used to be called The Wonderful Adventures of Abby. A year later it was changed to Abby's Blog, Obviously...but that didn't last long. People weren't thrilled about the name. So, I later changed it to Truly Abigail, and it's stayed that way for a while for a while now.

A few months ago I created a craft blog, but since I'm not that artsy kind of person, I changed it to a story blog. That didn't work so well, either, because it was hard thinking up a new story idea, and copying and pasting didn't respond well. I deleted that blog, and so I'm sticking with this blog. Truly Abigail is a year and a half old, and the blog's birthday is April 12th. I'm planning on keeping this blog running for a long time.

I've done lots of editing to the site over the year (including name change, as I've already explained). I've changed my way of writing. I acted mature in some posts, some I acted like someone who people didn't know anymore. Some were funny, but most are just plain me. I've changed the way Truly Abigail looks, like the background. It's been many colors before, but just recently I made a new background found at www.thecutestblogontheblock.com. It's where I got my top header, too, but I went to www.picnik.com for the words and pictures.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog, or else this website would have been made for nothing! I hope you're ready for some outrageous posts in the near future, because that's the new theme for 2010. This year was polls, but when 2009 is over, polls are rarely ever coming out again on Truly Abigail. I hope you enjoyed the polls, too.

Peace out, homie dawg, and celebrate Truly Abigail's 100th post!

Obsession

I'm obsessed with too many things nowadays. I'll show you my list. Here it is:

○ hot pink
○ neon green
○ turquoise
○ hugs
○ Hidden Springs, Idaho
○ Boise Schools
○ The Converse star logo
○ Nike
○ Converse
○ Coke
○ music
○ basketball
○ the size of buildings (weird, right?)
○ crazy designs
○ screaming

Yep, that's my list. And in case you don't know where Hidden Springs is, it's about ten minutes away from Boise. Since there are no outlet malls or general stores, the citizens drive to Eagle for their needs. It's the cutest little community, though. The houses are nice, (the garages are in the back of them!) there's at least a small mercantile and cafe, the sight is beautiful, and there's wide open space which is great for kids and animals. I'm not planning on moving there, but maybe when I'm older it wouldn't hurt to live there temporarily.
I'm excited for Halloween!!! I'm gonna be a rapper. Maddie, if you read this, I need those baggy pants with money signs all over by the 30th. I need my costume planned out for the big night! I'm excited!!!
School's awesome. Not much boy crisis, and if there was, I wouldn't go deep into the details like I used to. (The boy I used to be addicted to found my blog!) Anyway, school is just...AWESOME. I'm becoming obsessed with other schools when we go to them for basketball games. It's just awesome to be inside schools you've never been to. :D
Peace out, homie dawg.

My Coke

I'm a writer, I'm a computer addict, I'm a pink, green, and turquoise lover, but most of all, I am a Coke fanatic.
I don't get it too often, but just the other day my dad bought a huge box full of Coke. Wow, I guess dreams DO come true.
Whenever I go get food at a fast food place or even a fancy restaurant, it's Coke I order, unless it's Red Robin. Gotta get my Monster Milkshakes in, too, you know.
Coke: When you buy it, you've accomplished a great task. Honors to you!
My sister, Meredith, LOVES LOVES LOVES Diet Coke. On our trip to St. George this weekend (yet another post to be written) she drank at least three Diet Cokes. And in a post at her blog, she wrote a post all about her love for Diet Coke. Fascinating, huh? I would think so. :)
Other news - school's going great STILL. Usually I'd be bored by now, but time just flies in Mrs. Kaufman's classroom.
I've decided what I want to be for Halloween. (Thank you Kami, for giving me the idea!) I'm gonna be a gangster. Pretty dang cheesy, huh? Well, that's your problem. I love the idea. On Halloween night, I'm gonna have a jacket with money signs all over, lots of bling bling, and shoes that are way too big for me. Maybe even teeth covered in gold! :)
I posted a new story on my other blog: Abby's Stories at www.craftyabz.blogspot.com. Click on that link, and you'll see my new story. Part 2 comes out in a couple weeks. I never knew writing took so much time, especially since I can be so lazy. :)
Girls 5th/6th Grade Basketball started last week; it's awesome! Since I'm so tall, I got to play with the 6th graders. There are some girls named Isabelle and Kirsten who are my height, and they play AAU basketball, too, so I see them often.
I ended my Dog-Walking business. I'm just too busy nowadays. I think I'll start back up sooner or later, I hope.
Until then - peace out homie dawg.

The First Day of Fall

I've enjoyed summer and its hot, blazing features, but it's time for the leaves to change, for volleyball and soccer seasons to start, and for the animals of the wild to prepare for hibernation or migration.
The first day of fall was today, and it was cold this morning and this evening, like any other days, but it was cooler in the afternoon than it was in the summer. It felt great. I FINALLY needed some nice weather.
Although fall isn't my favorite season, I still love it. The leaves change into beautiful colors, those pesky mosquitoes fly away until next summer, and HALLOWEEN is on the way! Read my posts the year before about how excited I was about it. :)
This time I'm not nearly as excited about it, but I'm still pondering on what I should be! Any ideas, comment in. (Cheerleader is not allowed.) I can't wait to carve pumpkins, get candy with my friends, and stay up late! Halloween's on a Saturday, baby! :D
Enjoy the fall season with it has to offer; before you know it snow will be all over the ground, getting you frostbite if you're not careful. (Well, that's hard to get...I've only seen people get it on Mount Everest!)
Other news - School's going great. I'm with every friend now! We got introduced to our math classes; I'm with Maddie, Olivia, and all the other friends who aren't all in my homeroom class. Math is starting to make sense; our substitute we had one day was lazy, no offense to her. (Yeah, like she'd read this.) I'm one happy girl! :)
I'm writing a book called Madeline Stands. I'm NOT writing it on Tikatok; I'm writing on Microsoft Word. I hope to finish by May 2010 or earlier. I'll send it in to a publisher and editor and hopefully get it published! I heard about an 11-year-old who got HER book published, so what can't I give it a shot? If you'd like to see what I have so far, send me your e-mail address, and I'll send you the link! Peace out, homie dawg.

A Life of Writing

Hey, it's Abby again. I know the people who read my blog realize that I love writing. I have a blog called Abby's Stories. http://www.craftyabz.blogspot.com/ is how you get there. I love to write on this site called http://www.tikatok.com/ where people can write their own story and even get famous for it. Some really impressive teens go on this site and write to their heart's content. It's fun reading other stories, but I love writing my own. I've written only a few books, for I want them all to look good. If you go to the website, look for the books Qualify and If We Had a Day. Qualify is about a girl who plays volleyball really well, and runs into some drama and love along the way. If We Had a Day is about a girl who just graduated from college and has applied for a job as an interior designer. Well, I'm not going to give any details away, so go to http://www.tikatok.com/ and try to find those two books.

The pictures above are the covers I use for my books. I make them at http://www.deviantart.com/ and http://www.picnik.com/. At deviantart.com I pick out a picture, and then at picnik.com I make changes to the picture, like sharpening it, giving it colors, adding text and stickers. I have the before versions and the after versions.

Since I love making covers so much, I'm starting a business called: Abby's Cover Art. Not very creative, I know, but it just gets you to the point. It's a business where you pay very little money for a cover for a book or picture. I can send it to you and if you don't like it, your remake is free. :)

If you ever become interested in writing, trust http://www.tikatok.com/ for your writing needs. Other books can give you inspiration, writing your own book is easy, and you can even add co-authors to your books, so you and your friends can write a book together.

Besides writing, school is awesome so far. Great teachers, great to see my friends again, and learning to get up early once more. (8:00 AM is the earliest I'll get up.)

Another Summer Blows By

Well, summer's almost officially over here in Boise. School starts tomorrow. Not too excited, but I'm gonna have to deal with it. At least I'll see my friends who I haven't seen all summer.

Spent the last week of summer making funny videos with my friends, practicing on the pogo stick, (I can do 244 hops, baby) and staying away from the computer. I never knew I was missing a lot of things. I've always thought going outside in hot weather wasn't fun because it got you all sweaty, but if you don't pay attention to it, you feel like there was never anything wrong.

My friend Journey's transferring to my school to go to an advanced class her school, Garfield Elementary, doesn't have. She's not in my class, but at least she's at my school, which she's NOT excited about.

Got a new backpack. Would've used my old pink one, but it's too small, so I got a messenger bag covered in PINK. In case you haven't noticed, I looove pink. Everyone hates pink, because they think it's too girly. I'm not a girly girl, but I just LOVE LOVE LOVE pink.

In case you've started school already, bet you're having a boring time? Yeah. Thought so. School gets boring once you're in the routine, which is one of the downsides of school. I wish summer lasted longer...that's what a lot of people wish.

Well, better go enjoy the rest of my summer while it's still here. Peace out homie dawg.

♥ Abigail ♥

Cousin Brady's Wedding

Blog Buzz #6

Cousin Brady's Wedding

Two or three weekends ago we went to my cousin Brady's wedding. He married a girl named Samantha Pickup. My brothers kept teasing about her last name.

The wedding was nice, but only my parents went because the kids couldn't go inside where they got married. It's called the Mormon Temple. There are over 100 Mormon Temples in the world, and there are about 10 in construction. You have to have gone on what is a mission and/or gotten married in the Mormon Temple to go in. So, the kids went when the wedding ended. We waited for them to come out of the dressing rooms on the west side of the temple. They took a while (no offense, Brady and Sammy) and when they came out, everyone was taking pictures and cheering.

The day before had been our family reunion. All the Cliffords (my mom's side of the family) met up at Sugarhouse Park, which is REALLY close to my Grandma's house, where we stayed. We had potato sack races, and then the rest was talking and eating fancy deli sandwiches. I found a HUGE field past one of the playgrounds and started to run around. I think it was a field for dogs, though, because I saw lots of owners playing fetch with their dogs. My brothers didn't seem to notice, so they played catch with the football over at the field.

After Sugarhouse Park, my whole family except me went to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant. The way they described the restaurant when they got home sounded gross. They talked all about fried bananas and weird meat. I was glad I had lasagna and spaghetti for dinner. That's what my grandma always makes for me when I eat dinner at her house. I love it. She's the nicest!

We also watched The Soloist while my family was at dinner. Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. play in a movie about a homeless cellist (Jamie Foxx) who has this weird disease where he hears voices in his head that he doesn't understand. So, whenever he wants to perform on stage with his cello, he gets stagefright. It was hard to follow, but I think I got it pretty well. Robert Downey Jr. plays as a news reporter who decides to write about this weird guy. Then they become best friends and the rest is history...bla bla bla.

We went to Thanksgiving Point for the wedding reception the evening the wedding had happened. A girl was taking pictures of families, and when the picture printed out of the camera (it was an old Polaroid camera) it had a sticky thing on the back. You just peeled it off and pasted the picture to the paper. Then you wrote your note to Brady and Sammy.

Then we all stood in a line in the Rose Garden, waiting to greet the bride, groom, parents, and bridesmaids. My cousins, Kate, Emily, and Reagan were the bridesmaids, and another girl from Sammy's side.

We then gave Uncle Chris his Utah sticker back. When we had gone to lunch after the wedding, before my Uncle Chris and Aunt Mary came out from the restaurant, I stole the University of Utah magnet that stuck to their car. My cousin Brad plays football there, and my brother Parker plays football at BYU, so we're BYU fans. University of Utah and BYU are mortal enemies, so we like to steal stuff from them, and they like to steal stuff from us.

After a long night at the reception, we watched Brady and Sammy go off in Sammy's car to a hotel. The next day they would go to Hawaii, only Sammy didn't know that. The small blue car was covered in shaving cream that said words like, Just Married and hearts were all over it. We watched and waved as they left for the hotel.

The next day, Sunday, we went to my Nani's church (my mom's mom's church). Pretty much the whole family came. We then went to my Aunt Kathleen's for a yummy lunch. There were brotts, which are little hot dogs, but are WAY better than hot dogs. I also had chips, water, chicken, rice, and some cakes for dessert. It was my Aunt Kim's birthday, too, so we also had a birthday cake. It was the greatest lunch ever!!!

Then, we drove home. I said goodbye to Parker and Meredith and climbed in the car. Madison got to go home with us! He's still here, and WILL be here until next Wednesday. It was another great vacation to Utah!

P.S. I also put on pictures of what the car looks like from the crash. It was at the auto body shop when I took the pictures. It wasn't THAT wrecked, but it could've hurt us!

Mom's Car...

...is ruined. It was in the middle of a car crash. My mom was driving me to the water park from speech therapy (I can't say my S's right) and there was traffic on the road. My mom halted to a stop behind a car. Then, an old lady was flying in her car and crashed right into my mom's car. Then our car flew and crashed into the car in front of us. For some reason, the air bags didn't come out. Once the paramedics came, they told us to get out of the car because the air bags could set off any second. I had to carry most of mom's stuff while she filled out this big paper that asked about the accident; police's rules.

The battery acid was leaking and it smelled nasty, and it made my stomach hurt and made me want to puke. Once my brothers came to pick us up, I climbed in the Land Cruiser to get away from the stench. It was hot in the car, but at least it didn't smell bad.

I was surprised my mom didn't cry when she saw her little, gold Passat being towed (she's an emotional woman). She just said softly, "Poor little Passat." I was actually kind of happy, because I've never really liked that Passat. One door was broken, there were no cupholders, and the handle part of the door always separated from the door itself whenever you opened it. So, I guess you could call it a REALLY used car.

The paramedics checked on us by asking if any of our body parts were sore. My mom's back hurt a little. She'd hurt it in another car accident when she was 14 or so. Soon, the pain traveled to her head. I don't know how it is now. I'll bet she's OK.

I was fine. I felt a little dizzy, but other than that, I was OK. Right when I got home I sent an e-mail to almost everyone in my contacts about the accident. I felt like I deserved some sympathy. I got what I needed. Pretty much EVERYONE whom I'd e-mailed replied back asking if I was OK or how I crashed.

We ended up not going to the water park. We're going to tomorrow, as long as it doesn't rain. I'm good with it, though. I've already gone once.

Well, it's almost 2:30 AM here. I should get some sleep. Good night, sleep well, eat right, be strong, grow tall.

P.S. Crafty Abby didn't work out so well, so I changed the blog to Abby's Stories. Every week there will be a new story! If I can make the time, I will put on two stories a week!!! It is still the same URL, though, so you don't have to worry about writing down a new site address. http://www.craftyabz.blogspot.com/

Oregon Vacation

Blog Buzz #5

Oregon Vacation

Last weekend I went to Oregon to visit my dad's old friend from college, Michael Hansen, and his family. We went to three places in Oregon: Bend, Portland, and Lincoln City, which is REALLY close to the coast.

When we stopped at Bend (we broke our drive to Portland in half), we stayed at a hotel/motel called the Shilo Inn. It was cozy, but they had pretty uncomfortable beds and when you turned on the TV it didn't have great picture. Oh, well! At least they had REALLY fast Internet and AWESOME free breakfast. I even created my new blog, Crafty Abby, there.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to a ski mountain called Mount Bachelor. Instead of being wimps and going up the chairlift, we decided to be MACHO and HIKE! No one else did it. I hated the climb up, but going down was AWESOME. As you can see in the pictures, we rode down the mountain with trash bags. Tanner took a chance and took off all his clothes except his underwear and rode down. It wasn't a huge success, though. He fell off his bag. Poor Tanner. He ended up being cold for the rest of the hike down.

When we got to the bottom, my black Converse shoes were all muddy and brown. They didn't even look black anymore. I used one big waterbottle to wash the dirt off at the end. My family got mad, though. They said that they need the water, too. Oh, well. ;)

We put our stinky shoes and socks in a trash bag and rode the rest of the way to Portland barefoot. It reeked in the car. I had to suffer for three hours.

When we got to Portland, we changed into new socks and shoes and checked in to our new hotel, the Holiday Inn Express. It's much nicer and newer than a regular Holiday Inn. My brother taught me a new song called, "Motel Hotel." He sang it over and over whenever we said "hotel" or "Holiday Inn." "Motel, Hotel, Holiday Inn!" is how it goes. I thought it was funny that a rapper would sing about a hotel. Rappers sing about weird topics sometimes.

After we checked in, we drove to the Hansens' house to pick up my brother Parker and his girlfriend Meegan. Parker got interviewed to see if he could work for Nike (Nike headquarters are in Portland). Meegan had gotten interviewed to see if she could work for this credit union called Pacific. Parker got interviewed for the Nike job because Michael Hansen, the man we were visiting, (and his family, too!) works for Nike. It's a REALLY cool job.

When we got to the Hansens', the wife, Janine, (I hope I spelled that right) gave us awesome cookies. I don't know what they had in them, but they were good and crunchy. She gave us a huge container of them for us to take back to our hotel. We ate them all in less than 24 hours. My brothers are pigs.

Then, we went to Red Robin for dinner. It was really good. I always love a good cheeseburger once in a while. A chocolate Monster Milkshake, too. Yummy. I want some right now. When a waiter took a picture of us, the waiter that had been serving us jumped into the picture right when the waiter took it. I don't know why it didn't show up on the computer, though.

The next day we went to Nike headquarters to get a private tour from Michael Hansen. There's a track dedicated to Michael Johnson, this really good track runner. It's not very big, but it would give you a great workout!

On the campus, they have buildings named after professional sports players. For example, there's a Lance Armstrong building that has a rock climbing wall, a pool, and lots of exercise rooms. I've never climbed a rock climbing wall, so I REALLY wanted to break into that room, strap on bungee cords QUICK, and climb to the top.

Next to the Lance Armstrong building is a little putting course in honor of Tiger Woods. When the Tiger Woods building was dedicated, Tiger Woods hit a golf ball that went 364 yards and landed in the exact space a plaque is sitting now that tells about the hit. At the end it said "Damn bushes" because if those bushes hadn't been there the ball would have gone farther. :)

After the tour, we went to the Nike Employee Store where you can get ALL Nike items for half-off! Right when I walked in I pulled a shirt off the rack. My mom thought I was going to be buying everything I laid my eyes on, but I ended up only getting about five articles of clothing and two pairs of AWESOME shoes: pink Converse (Nike owns the Converse company) and pink breast cancer basketball shoes. There's a pink ribbon on them that shows if you buy those shoes, the money will go to support women with breast cancer. It was awesome.

When we got back to the hotel, we had a fashion show of all our clothes. Then, we changed into casual clothes and drove to downtown Portland to find a restaurant. We walked a long ways and ended up by the Willamette River. Above you can see the picture. I'm in a ponytail and I'm wearing a gray butterfly shirt. Soon we found a Thai restaurant called Typhoon! I don't like Thai, but I tried some new things and it's delicious! But, of course, I had to eat most of the rice. RICE IS SO DANG GOOD.

The next day we went to church. For class I got to go to a classroom that 12 and 13-year-olds go to. They were shocked to find out I was ten years old, besides Reese, who is Michael Hansen's 13-year-old son, because he already knew.

Then I went to the younger classtime for 3-12-year-olds. That's where I belonged. I ended up being the oldest. Woo hoo!

After church we went to the Hansens' for lunch. We had chicken, watermelon, rice...a big feast. I didn't eat much. I wasn't very hungry.

We played volleyball outside in the rainy weather. I was all giggly because I kept falling over and messing up the play. My brothers started teasing me around by saying, "I think you had some Reese's Pieces last night!" I paused for a few moments, and then asked, "Why did you say that?" My brother Parker looked at me and said, "You know exactly what I mean, Abby." Reese was on the other side of the net, staring with wide eyes. OK, OK, I know what you're all thinking. But nope, it's not true. Well, maybe a little, but not fully. He's 13, I'm ten. He's shorter than I am. He is quiet, I'm not. YOU SEE NOW? And I shouldn't be talking about this. MOVING ON!

The next day, Monday, we drove to the Hansens' beach house. It's a really nice beach house. It could almost be a regular house! I really liked staying in it. We stopped in Salem for a shopping spree, then kept on going. We all (Mangums AND Hansens) sat at one table. I couldn't sit there, because I was wet from the ocean. I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN WET. It was just so tempting.

After lunch, we went back to the ocean for volleyball. It was really hot in the wetsuit, so I took it off (don't worry, my swimsuit was underneath). We played volleyball, and again, I was giggly. My mom told my brothers to stop the teasing, though, so none of that. I saved the ball a few times. No spiking, though, dang it. I wanted to so bad! I'm just not tall enough compared to my brothers.

After a long match, we climbed into the ocean, and this time I didn't have my wetsuit on, so it was colder. I got sucked into a few big waves, so I got kind of used to it. Soon, it got really cold, so Marrin, the daughter, (I hope I spelled her name right) Reese, and I got into our towels and hurried to their hot tub.

It felt SO good once we climbed in. The hot tub can only fit about four people, but once all my brothers got in the hot tub was overflowing so we had to take turns sitting on the edge while others got to be in the warmth. It's cold when you sit on the edge. I didn't like it, but oh well. We don't want to waste water.

That evening, we went to the beach again to roast marshmallows and had s'mores. It was really fun, but cold. Reese didn't bring a jacket, so he was sitting there freezing. Poor him. :)

That night we watched a movie. We saw Taken. The people who had already seen it went downstairs to watch the Paycheck. Taken was scary, and the sad thing about it is that it happens in real life. Here's a clue about it: people take these two girls. That's all I'm going to say.

We all went to bed when it was about 1:00 AM. We were tired.

The next day we had French Toast with this awesome Buttermilk Syrup. http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=1242 You can get the recipe at that website.

My family packed the car, said goodbye to the Hansens, and then drove the 11 hours home. We dropped off Madison, Parker, and Meegan at the Portland Airport. They had to fly back to Utah for school. I got the whole back seat to myself while Tanner and Meredith got their own space in the middle. I was less nauseous than I was when I was cramped with Tanner and Meredith. I don't know if I'm claustrophobic, (which means I don't do well when I'm cramped) but whatever. I don't care if I am.

We stopped in Baker City for dinner. My family got Subway, but since I don't like sandwiches, I went to McDonald's and got some Chicken Nuggets. :) I thought I didn't want a shake when my dad ordered it, but when I asked my sister for a sip of hers, I drank almost the whole thing. She got mad. Oh well. It was irresistable.

I had the greatest vacation to Oregon EVER!!!

New Blog

I have a new blog called Abby's Stories . I will put stories on it. I will still write on this blog, though, so don't worry! http://www.craftyabz.blogspot.com/

July Fever

Sitting on the trampoline, watching fireworks, walking dogs in the hot, hot heat, swimming, playing volleyball, writing, seeing friends. These are all things I do in July. I love July because there's nothing that has to do with school all month! It's the hottest month of the summer, and it's the most fun, too!

Nothing beats July. It's not my all-time favorite month, but it's one of my favorites. I love to swim, go on vacation, (I'm in Oregon right now, woo hoo!) and hang out with friends.

I think I have July fever. I don't know why, it just is. I think it's the fireworks that keeps me high-spirited. As my friends, Ashley, Blake, and I were talking about our 4th of July, I spoke up about different types of fireworks. One was called the Blue Orchid, (I know, I know, fireworks have sucky names) and my family pretended it was the Timberline High School Firework. When we lit it up, NOTHING HAPPENED.

"NOOOOO!" I yelled. "TIMBERLINE IS NOT NOTHING. IT IS THE GREATEST SCHOOL EVER!!!" OK, so I know that's weird to say, but oh well.

My 4th of July was lazy. We sat around all day, and then when our neighbors the Peays came over for a BBQ, we weren't lazy anymore. We ate burgers and drank soda, and talked about life. Then, we opened our big box of fireworks and started lighting them up with a candle lighter. My brother Tanner lit them up.

Again, I think I have July fever. I hope you do, too, because JULY FEVER IS GOOD! See you later, y'all!

Summer Update

Summer has been awesome. I've gotten to go to a couple basketball camps, and a volleyball camp. Next week I'll be going to a writing camp at the Botanical Garden. There, you can admire the flowers and learn a lot about them! Our stories will be inspired by nature, as they say it.



Right now I'm in Utah with my family. We're taking over my dad's parent's three-storey house while they're away trying to sell a property. I found a cool discovery while here. The story: There's this little hiking trail behind my grandma's yard. I was just hiking for fun, and then...a MULE DEER ran out of nowhere. I, Super Abby, am an animal lover, so I waved to it. It was only 5 feet away. The mule deer wasn't scared, surprisingly. Soon, it just walked off. I hope I can see a mule deer again.



Also, my sister, Meredith, joined us for lunch (it was the day after her birthday. Happy 22nd birthday! I said that already to you, Meredith, didn't I?). Anyway, when she was leaving, she found a PORCUPINE right at her car's wheel. It walked through the yard and hid behind my grandpa's shed. My mom brought it back out (not with her hands of course. OUCH, that would hurt!). She just started walking towards it and the porcupine came out the other side of the shed. It was cute! My mom thought it had escaped from the zoo.



"No, mom, wildlife can live near houses," I laughed. Mom shrugged. I think she still believes it escaped from the zoo.



We got a volleyball net yesterday at Big 5 Sports. It's a HUGE net. We played this morning, but it was burning hot, so we stopped after a while. We're going to bring it home on Sunday. So, friends who want to play volleyball, you can come to my house!!! Our ball is flat, though. Thorns got into it. We're going to buy a new one soon. Technical difficulties with volleyball, people.

HAPPY SUMMER!

P.S. I'm not going to put polls on my posts anymore. A poll will be on the sidebar of my blog every other week. Remember, if you go to a January post, you'll see that the theme for this year is polls! Love y'all!

Four-Eyes #2

Blog Buzz #4

New Glasses!

Yes, yes, stop your applause. I know they're the most glamorous and flossy glasses you've ever seen in your lifetime, right?! Yes, thought so.

OK, so you see my new glasses? Good, good, and good. Hope you like them, PEOPLE.

Time for a couple polls.

Question: Would you rather be nearsighted or farsighted?

a. nearsighted

b. farsighted

Question: Would you rather be deaf or blind? (I get asked this question all the time.)

a. blind

b. deaf

HAPPY JUNE! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY IN A FEW DAYS, TOO!

Four-Eyes

Guess what, people?

I'm getting glasses.

If I know you in real life, you better not make fun of me! They're actually a pretty cute frame.

I'm not farsighted. I'm nearsighted. Same focus in both eyes.

My mom has wondered why the oldest child and the youngest child have needed glasses. Parker, the oldest, and I both agree after four children in the same family are born, the fifth child is just like the first. Every four children, for abbreviation.

Once I take a picture of me in my new glasses (I'm not getting them for another week) I'm going to post it on here, and then you'll see how glamorous I am. Pink and brown are the color of my glasses. YOU BETTER LIKE THEM.

Have a good summer vacation, PEOPLE.

Farewell, Hello

Goodbyes: I have to say good-bye to my AWESOME 18-year-old brother Madison tomorrow. He's heading to Provo to walk on to the BYU Football Team with my other brother, Parker. He is SO awesome. Even though he's a guy of few words, he's my tickle monster and my brother, of course.

At the graduation we sat in uncomfortable seats at Boise State's Taco Bell Arena. I fell asleep when a couple students were doing their speeches, and I woke up just in time for the graduates to be announced.

It felt like forever for the "M" graduates to come. The graduates came up and received their certificates in last name alphabetical order. But, when Madison came up when the announcer said his name, my family screamed as loud as we could!!! I lost my voice for a while, but regained it back.

We took lots of pictures, and some of me wearing Madison's graduation hat! But, I don't know how to upload pictures; I always need my mom's help, and she's out of town right now. She's dropping my OTHER brother Tanner off for a football camp.

Hellos: AAU Basketball Summer League started on Tuesday. This is WAY more competitive than YMCA Basketball which is what I'd done the year before. It was really hard, but I'm getting the hang of it.

And, HELLO, 5TH GRADE! On the last day of school (yesterday) we got introduced to our new teachers. I got Mrs. Kaufman, who is really nice, and my brothers had her, but NONE of my friends are with me. They're all in the other class! :(

Have a great June, everyone, and for those who are out of school, have a great summer vacation!

A Day on a Trail

Blog Buzz #3

Idaho History Day

On Thursday, May 21st, the 4th grade of White Pine Elementary went back in time to the days of Idaho's Gold Rush, and when pioneers came from Independence, Missouri to Idaho on the Oregon Trail. We the students got to do the jobs the pioneers did back then.

There were eight jobs in all: Milking and Washing, Pioneer Toys, Pioneer Games, Indian Beading, Roping, Pioneer Tools, Butter-Making, and Branding. On Milking and Washing, you milked cardboard carts with a glove filled with water. The helper behind the cow held onto the glove for you. The gloves had holes in them, so you could squeeze out the water. Then, when you were done with that, you grabbed a shirt from a table and got it all dirty in the grass. Then, you took it and placed it in a barrel and started getting it all wet. Then, you used a scrubber and scrubbed the dirt spots off. Then, you took the shirt and put it through a wringer. Then you took it to dry and bring two shirts back. At Pioneer Games, you made things called Moon Spinners. You chose a one-inch button (like a button that goes on a shirt) and put it through string. It's hard to explain how you use it, but mostly you twirl it around and let the string do cool tricks. I never learned how, so Blake had to teach me. I still don't really know how to use it, but oh well. At Pioneer Games you played Egg Races. You took a real egg and put it on a spoon. You carried it to a cone, walked around the cone, and walked back to your team. If you dropped the egg, you'd pick it up, put it on your spoon, and keep going. If you dropped it and it broke, you had to get a new egg, and that's a big waste of time. Then, you played Blind Man's Bluff where they tied a bandana around someone's eyes, and then they'd try to chase you and other players. Then, we played Leap Frog. I think most of you who read this know how to play, so I'm not going to explain the rules. Next, at Indian Beading, you made bracelets to wear. You took a fish string and did a pattern. You could choose 15 plastic beads of any color, and five glass beads. My pattern was: glass bead, orange, blue, black. It turned out beautiful in the end. Then, at the Roping station, you tried to rope animal heads that were stuck on haystacks. I got all of them, and a few times I ripped the heads off the hay. That was fun, but the wrist action was tough. At the Pioneer Tools station, my teacher's husband and my mom were the Trail Bosses there. (I'll explain Trail Bosses later.) We got to use real saws to cut off wood. We also got use drills to drill holes in wood. The old-fashioned tools were harder to use than today's. We also used hammers to hammer down nails. The nails were huge, and the hammers look like the ones we use today, except more rusty-looking. We got our own chunk of wood that we'd cut off with the saws. At Butter-Making, we had to shake milk and other ingredients for fifteen minutes until it turned into a ball shape. It hurt my arm; I guess I'd been shaking too hard at first. Then, at Branding, we used a stick with WP on the bottom, and that stood for White Pine. A Trail Boss stuck the stick in the real campfire, and then he stuck it onto the cardboard we laid out. I got to help push it on. Fire came off the cardboard, and the other Trail Boss sprayed water on it to cool it down. Mine turned out great! Then, we roasted marshmallows. My first marshmallow was nice, tasty, and warm, but my other turned WAY too brown. It tasted HORRIBLE. My mom gave me water to cool my taste buds down. I was relieved after that. It was fun. Then, we ate stew and rolls with the butter we made for lunch, and presented our Idaho History Projects. Then, we sang campfire songs and drew plants that are in 4th grade's Native Garden. Mine turned out horrible because I'm a REALLY bad artist. After that, a woman named Patty Miller came to talk about the Basque Culture. Basque is famous in Idaho because of the jobs that were being offered here in the Boise area. We told about our ancestors, and after I shared mine, I learned that my teacher is related to me!!! My mom and my teacher's husband are distant cousins. After learning about Basque, we did a Basque dance and learned a Basque cheer. It starts out low, then gets louder, and at the end, you laugh. It was funny. Then, we got popsicles!!! It was a fun day.

Trail Bosses are the helpers of the whole thing. They make sure you stay safe and send you to jail if they need to. The jail is a big, white tarp laid out in the middle of the field. If you run or do anything that might cause danger, they send you to jail. If you keep being "rotten," you get sent to the office for the rest of the day. The teachers weren't going to put up with "horseplay." Luckily, no one was sent to the office, but one person went to jail. He came out, though.

I'm going to miss 4th grade so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's almost over; school gets out in a week and a half! At first I thought 4th grade was going to be boring, but with learning Idaho History, I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodbye, Old Grade, I'm a leavin' 4th grade. (Original version: Goodbye, Old Paint, I'm a leavin' Cheyenne.) 5th grade will be fun, though. I just hope I'm in the same class as my best and close friends: Olivia, Maddie, Blake, and other great friends. I STILL LOVE 4TH GRADE, THOUGH!!! IT WILL PROBABLY BE MY FAVORITE GRADE FOR A LONG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOODBYE! GOODBYE! GOODBYE! (Blowing kisses)

P.S. Sorry about having no pictures. The battery on my camera was low. I'll take pictures of the things I made, though, and post them on the next post. LOVE Y'ALL!

Links to Websites

Here are links to some of my favorite websites.

www.moshimonsters.com

www.clubpenguin.com

www.webkinz.com

www.buildabearville.com

www.google.com (I like to research to pass the time)

Have a great May!

Celebration Park

Blog Buzz #2

Celebration Park

These are pictures of my field trip to Celebration Park on the Snake River the other day. The boy lying on Guffey Bridge is my really good friend, Blake. The girl half-smiling with a picture of Bobby Jack the monkey is my best friend, Olivia. The girl with the black hair flowing in the wind is another one of my best friends, Courtney. I wish I could have gotten another best friend of mine: Maddie. Her class went on the bridge at a different time, though, so we really only got to see her at lunchtime.

The field trip was really fun. It was an all-day trip. We saw petroglyphs and played with atl-atls, which is a wooden stick in which you throw a dart off of. If you hit the Wooly Mammoth target, you get one dollar, contributed from students. Only one person, Ashley Travis, got the target. I was close. I hit the hay!

I hope I can go this summer with my family; that would be really fun!!! Time for a poll!!!

Question: If you had to learn one state's history, which would it be?

a. Idaho

b. Utah

c. other (tell what that state is and one thing historic about it)