Mustard and Catch-Up

Hey.

It's already been a month since I last posted.

Does time fly or what?

To make up for my horrible lack of posting, let's play catch-up.

Madison is home! He came back on Wednesday, and it was the best reunion ever. I didn't think I'd cry, but when I saw him turn that corner to come greet us, there I was, crying like a baby. He hardly recognized me after two years of being away. It's so amazing having him back where he belongs. 

Florida was quite the trip. First and foremost, I rocked those Nike gladiator sandals like I've never rocked a shoe before (and after showing off my favorite pair of shoes, I became obsessed with these babies shortly after). Although some days were actually cold--as in, 44 degrees cold--I basked in the sun on the warm days. I went to Epcot and celebrated New Year's. I went to the Magic Kingdom and rode Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain for the first time. I had the opportunity to watch Tanner in his All-American game where he received the MVP award. I bought yet another pair of shoes. I stood 100 feet away from my celebrity crush, Cam Newton. One day, Cammy, one day. And boy, did I have fun. Ohhh yeahhh.

School is wonderful! Straight A's, cool teachers (with the exception of ONE), great social life, we're all good. I'm enjoying the easiness of middle school while it lasts.

Sports are going VERY well. I have a volleyball tournament next Saturday and the AAU season is in session. I'm gonna be honest, we have a lot of work to do, but I think we'll probably place about 4th or 5th this year. It'll be nice in high school when I get to play with older girls. I like a good challenge.

I'm growing my hair out. By summer, it'll be long and luscious and I won't have to worry about straightening it or making sure it looks good. They'll just be long locks of dirty blonde hair.

And, as always, I love ma best friend Zane(:

I'm obsessed with Temple Run and Sky Burger.

And that's about it.

Thanks for the great game of catch-up, y'all.

♥ Abigail ♥

Quarter One Down

These pictures are dedicated to Allie. She looks just great, doesn't she?

Oh Allie:)

Honestly, I don't know what to write. Lots of wonderful things have happened. Let's just go in a random sequence.

I love life.

I love ma boy Zane. ♥

I finished the first quarter with straight A's, all 95 and above!

I love my teachers.

I went trick-or-treating with that girl (above) last night. We didn't get very much candy, because half of the houses in the neighborhood were dark, but I loved my cowgirl costume. I wore a red and blue flannel with a red handkerchief around my neck, jeans that make my butt look really nice, cowboy boots, and a braid coming down the side. Beautimous(:

My basketball club is heading to Seattle on Friday! GO FUSION!

Tanner's team made it to state.

I grew a half-inch.

My braces are doing just fine. 

Jay-Z and I share the same birthday!

I wore these really cool Air Maxes to school today; people liked them a lot!

Club volleyball starts Thursday!

Cooper turned 5 four days ago! He's old!

My teacher's dog died today:(

I hate my natural hair.

When I move into Tanner's room I'm going to paint it pink.

My mom just left for a cooking class.

I had the best weekend ever!

I have a lot of clothes, and I don't wear half of them.

The sweatshirt I'm wearing right now is making me really hot.

In English I'm studying Nicolaus Copernicus! He invented the heliocentric theory. Ha!

The new iPhone 3S is awesome. Serie is amazing.

My first love from preschool came into town. That was fun.

I'm wearing pink socks.

My contacts kinda hurt right now.

I'm currently taking Spanish. We learned the alphabet today!

I am in loooooooove with Cam Newton. AHHH!

(Zane, I don't care if Cam Newton has Shrek ears.)

I recently came back from a tournament in Salt Lake. We played against sophomores in high school and we're 8th graders! Well, I'm the only 7th grader:) We lost in double OT in the championship. Heartbreaker.

I've been wearing a lot of my brother's clothes lately.

I have a disorder where I can't repeat outfits. It's terrible.

I like Apples to Apples.

I love Five Guys.

Girl, look at that body, girl look at that body, I WORK OUT!

I don't know what I should do for my birthday party with Jay-Z.

I'm going to Florida over winter break for Tanner's All-American game where hopefully I'll meet Cam Newton! :O

I want to move to Italy when I'm old and retired.

I eat Starbursts with braces. Woah.

When I walk in the spot, this is what I see. E'erybody stop and starin' at me!

I like writing notes to people.

I hate getting up at 6:30.

I just remembered that I'll miss the football game on Friday! NOOO!

I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT!

I love Coldplay. And I mean it.

Guido's Pizza is the bomb diggity.

I strangely can't wait for track season.

Baby, it's cold outside.

Dolvett Quince is yummy. And I like his name.

I wish I could play lacrosse.

I wish I was good at soccer.

I want to be a real estate agent when I grow up.

I know someone whose house got hit by a hot air balloon. How sad.

Cooper is staring at me right now.

He just looked away.

Aww, he's so cute.

Look at those brown eyes.

And those cute wittle ears.

Okay, back to the post.

I wear a size 9 1/2. Yeah, I have big feet.

Cooper just looked at me again.

Okay, he looked away.

My favorite Gatorade flavor is Cool Blue. Yummy!

7th grade is fun. The year's going by so fast!

I'm about to take my dog for a walk, so see ya!

Hope life's great for you, people!

♥ Abigail ♥

The Green Grass Grows

Life has been a blur these past two weeks. I can't exactly remember anything, so I'm going to put events in a random sequence.

The common cold has been going around, and I caught it.

AAU season ended; our record was 7-3, which isn't too bad.

I feel sick after eating Pop Tarts.

Cooper's ear puffed up, so it looks like a balloon now. We have to pop it...gross.

I can't think of any story ideas.

Spaghetti and chocolate milk is all I want.

I have about 37 pairs of shoes.

I grew a quarter of an inch.

Meredith just got here.

I have my future planned out: I'm going to go to vet school, become a world-famous veterinarian, and write several books with my photography in it. And if I'm lucky, I'll get to play basketball in Europe. All four dreams in one job. Then I'll get married to a hot hunk, live in a mansion off of Homer Road, and have three kids. Two girls and one boy. I'll also have a beagle named Pookie.

Nani's funeral was very emotional, yet very comforting knowing that she's in a better place now.

I've gone skiing only once this year.

Justin Bieber turned 17 on March 1st!!!

I bought Pimple Popper for the iPad. That's some intense stuff.

I have a crush on someone...

I want the iPhone 4. So bad.

I just counted. I now have 38 pairs of shoes.

Cooper's getting fat.

I rolled my ankle the other day, so I wear a brace in games.

I dance around when no one is watching.

Meredith is sleeping.

I didn't get a valentine on Valentine's Day:(

Spring is coming; I can't wait.

We have 62 more days of school left.

I had an All-Star basketball game on Friday; we killed 'em. :D

Mom is baking a cake right now.

I have a short temper.

I can't sit still...I think I have A.D.D.

I'm getting braces in two weeks.

I trimmed my hair to get rid of all the split ends I've pulled. 

I get to go to Twin Falls for a basketball tournament!

I'm alive and I'm happy.

And that was my long two weeks made short. Thank you.

♥ Abigail ♥

These are the times when my knees buckle.

I tremble as the bus nears my stop. I'm standing in skinny jeans, a BYU jacket, a pink tank top with navy blue stripes, and a navy blue long-sleeved shirt underneath. I grip my small backpack that's stuffed with unnecessary school supplies tightly. The bus is coming closer and closer. I stand next to my neighbor, Olivia, who is also going into 6th grade, and we both wait with our legs shaking and our teeth clenched. We are both more nervous than we ever thought we'd be. Finally the big yellow vehicle stops with a noisy screech right in front of the curb. While the others at the stop run after the door, Olivia and I slowly make our way into the old gray seats. We sit next to each other and stare out the window. 

"Are you nervous?" Olivia asks as she takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, are you?" I reply.

"Uh-huh."

"I'm worried that I'll mess up my combo, or the food will be disgusting and I'll starve, or that I'll forget something, or that my teachers will be rude," I explain admittedly. 

"Same here."

Shortly after, the bus driver pushes on the brake with all his might and we make a hard stop right in front of the doors leading to the 6th grade hallway. We jump off the bus and trot inside, our stomachs suddenly lurching with butterflies. We meander towards our lockers (Olivia's is far from mine) and put all our supplies in them. Then we greet our teachers and sit at any desk. I sit next to quite a few people. Since I don't move at all for three periods and homeroom, I watch as people come and go. I take a seat next to someone different every period. I made a few new friends, but really it wasn't much of a social day for me.

The morning lags on. Mrs. Walling is explaining the locker rules, and we're all desperately trying to fill out all the papers she's handed us. Finally it's time for lunch. I put my binder in my locker (more like shove it in) and head to lunch with my homeroom class (otherwise known as my advisory class). Since I forget to bring a sack lunch, I snatch a slice of pizza from the cafeteria, a bottle of chocolate milk, and a few other foods, I sit down next to a few girls who I know from my elementary school and begin eating. It isn't terrible pizza at all; I would prefer something better, though. I finish my lunch and walk outside with Savanna who is in the class next door to me for her morning periods. All we do is walk around; there is nothing else.

After talking with almost everyone from the whole 6th grade, the bell rings and we all make our way to class. Now I'm with Mrs. Williams for two periods. We do a scavenger hunt where I finally get to sneak away and talk with my 7th grade friends. I truly wish they would let us hang out with them and not keep the youngest students away from the older grades. We go back to class, invest ourselves with large amounts of Jolly Ranchers, and figure out the last two periods.

My seventh period is with Mr. Slayden, one of the two gym teachers. All we do is sort ourselves out and go over the rules like all the other classes. Then a few students and I rush up the stairs to the seventh grade hallway where I will attend a keyboarding class with Mrs. Long. Finally school ends at 2:35. I sprint to my locker, grab my belongings, and I'm out the door towards bus number 407.

Olivia and I meet up at the bus. We had separate classes the whole day, but we saw each other now and then. Luckily we are some of the first people to be dropped off; we're through the front door before 3:00. Now I'm home, exhausted and wanting to go to bed.

Things I would change after experiencing this first day of middle school? The food, the privileges of who you can and can't hang out with, the teachers, the size of the lockers, and the schedule. 

But I did enjoy the boys...

 ♥ Abigail ♥

Why I Love Homer Road

Five Reasons Why I Love Homer Road:

1. It's located in the foothills, one of my most favorite places on Earth.
2. There are some pretty massive houses up there.
3. It has pretty views.
4. It's far away from the hustles and bustles of the city.
5. It's a very secluded area.

"What started this obsession?" you might ask. Well, that cloudy morning when I discovered Homer Road I'd just run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with other members of our LDS ward. As my mother and I climbed into our car after running three miles, she turned on the engine, paused a second before she pressed on the gas, and said, "Let me show you what's above Beacon Light Road, Abby." 

"Um, okay," I reluctantly agreed. I just wanted to go home because I had woken up early that morning and I had just run three miles, which is a lot for me because I have bad endurance and stamina.

So we made the drive past the wonderful road of Beacon Light to a street called Homer Road. At first I wasn't impressed; all I could see was a little blue house sitting there like it hadn't been lived in for years. I was thinking, "THIS is what Mom wanted to show me?" Then we started driving farther down the road until we approached a monster house. There were four kids out playing with their 4-wheelers. I later learned from my friend Savanna that there was a girl my age who made a living in that house. Anyway, my mother and I ventured up the hill in our little white Lexus and saw some beautiful houses. Finally we reached the end, and there was an even bigger house sitting there. There were two kids outside, and as I looked closer, I realized it was my friend Marin from school and her little brother. I was astonished. 

Mom and I made our way back to the flat road. We disobediently went up private streets to see some amazing homes until we reached the street that led to our home. And that's when I realized I was obsessed with a little place I call Homer Road.

Now, if you live in the area, you may have heard that there was a large fire in the hills, right where Homer is. It spread very quickly from Highway 16 (close to Emmett) towards Highway 55. Luckily it stopped not too far away from where it started. It got way back in the hills, though, too, so several homes up there were evacuated, including the amazing homes my mother and I had seen on that cloudy day. Only four homes burned down, but most of the spectacular homes stayed standing. I am grateful the fire didn't spread to where I live; the smoke was very high in the sky.

  

Here are some pictures from the fire:

A little place I call Homer Road...

...is still standing tall.

Stay strong, my friend.

♥ Abigail ♥

This is for all of my Boise friends.

Yes, he certainly does.

And so do I.

I love you and miss you LOTS, Boise people!

♥ Abigail ♥