Future Fantasy By Parker Brock

It’s 2021 and I’m 27. I’ve been out of college for 1 year. I’m living in Kamas, UT. I graduated from BYU and also went to the U of U. I got a major in math. And I own a great business in Heber.

I married a beautiful girl named Madie Bryant. She’s very beautiful and she loves the area we are living on. She works for a bank and loves her job. Or that’s what she tells me. We met at a friend’s barbeque. And I know he set me up. We started to talk and then we decided to meet again at Café Rio. We talked for over an hour before we noticed the time. After that we met every other day for lunch or dinner. Then after about 3 months I pop the question. And she said she was out of breath. Then she said “yes!” We got married on May 23, 2017 in the Jordan River Temple.

We have one boy named Ely and a girl on the way. We have a few names in mind. Like Emily or Kelsie. We had Ely about 2 years ago. He’s the happiest little boy you could ever meet. He loves camping and loves to go and play sports. He thinks he can beat his cousins at anything. He reminds me a little of my brother. I still love him no matter what he does. He’s just too cute.

We always go to visit the family back in the valley as often as we can. They love when we come to visit because they don’t see us much. So it is nice to see people when you don’t see them that often.

We are planning on building a home in Midway this summer and hope to be finished be the end of September. The home is going to be about 3,900 sq. ft. So it’s going to be big enough to have the whole family over. My neighbors all say they are going to miss having my family around. So that made me feel good to know they care for us.

I’m now starting a project on building a new store in the Murray area sometime next year. So our family is doing just fine. I hope you know you will find just the person for you no matter who you are. Just remember that.

People are sporks By Ian Richter

People Are Sporks
And
Life is Neapolitan Ice Cream



People are Sporks because people are two parts of one whole and when you are eating the Neapolitan ice cream of life. You start to eat the strawberry and you are saying ummmmm this is pretty good cause this part of your life is ok. Then you hit the vanilla and you are throwing up and gagging because you are allergic to vanilla this maybe the bad part or stressful part of your life. Then you start munching on the chocolate and you are like o this is super delicious o it is so good this would be the great part of your life. Neapolitan stack goes on forever and some time you get full and then your family and friends are there to help you and tell you to keep eating.


I have asthma an they same 75 % of teenagers overestimate their asthma and I did until and had a simple cold and it triggered an asthma attack. And went to the IHC hospital across from McMillan at midnight and stayed there to 5 in the morning then had to get take me in an ambulance to children’s primary cause I still needed to be on oxygen. Once I got there I stayed up all night because of the albuterol sulfate raises up my heart rate so I was up for 38 hours straight and my mom was there with me the whole time. And I never overestimated my asthma again.

Future Fantasy By: Alexis Godfrey

Dear Orenda,

It’s amazing that so much time has passed since high school. We were wild and spirited. No one could tear us down. How has life been recently? It’s strange to think we haven’t seen each other in ten years. All throughout junior high and high school we were inseparable. Where did you end up going to college? Are you married? Do you have any kids? Well since it has been so long since we last spoke ill give you an overview of what life has been like so far.
I am currently enrolled at Willamette University College of Law and have been for almost 3 years, its great, and I also want to take some classes to become a social worker. I met the man of my dreams in March of 2018. His name is Oly Grey, he is from Australia. He is the most kind hearted, sweet, and of course good looking man ever. He attends law school as well at Willamette. His family is great; they are so open and sweet. He proposed in December and we are going to have a nice fall wedding at the Zenith Vineyards in Salem. We haven’t set a date yet but we are thinking sometime around August 27th. I have been thinking of some color schemes and I think teal and red would be great. The contrast is beautiful. We really need to go to dinner or something soon. I would like for you to help me choose my cake, invitations, and dress. Oh and if its not to much of a hassle I would like you to be my maid of honor, Which reminds me I need you to help me choose brides maid’s dresses. I am so excited about the wedding it’s going to be smashing.
I have another really big surprise: I’m pregnant! We found out last week. We are so excited, it was perfect timing. We’ve been thinking of some names; we are thinking Real for a girl or Eli for a boy. What do you think? I’ll be sure to give you a call for my first doctor’s appointment, and of course when we find out the sex of the child. We bought a house last month its gorgeous it’s like my dream house, its perfect four bedrooms three bathrooms, a balcony that overlooks the ocean, and huge stained glass windows. I currently work at the Strange-land Winery but I’ll be graduating from Willamette in about two years, and I already have a job set up with Saalfeld Griggs Gorsuch Alexander & Emerick, P.C. My life is turning out to be great I have the most amazing man in my life, I’m graduating from a respected law school, and I’ll have a child soon. I never thought that my life could be so happy and peaceful, but I never was too good at foretelling the future.
We should really keep in touch I’m going to need a lot of help planning with everything coming up in the near future, and you always have been one of my best friends, which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’ve kept in touch with Andrea and Kelsey because I would like to ask them to be brides maid’s as well. I really miss you, and I hope your life has become the best it could be as well.

Dear Me By: Veronica Martindale

Dear Myself,

I can’t believe how far I’ve come! I can’t believe I got good grades all through my years of school! I just can’t believe that I am about to graduate college and find my dream job! I got a scholarship in high school that helped me find the best college I have ever seen! High school was so exciting for me, I was ecstatic when I found out I got a scholarship!

After I graduated from college I spent a few months living with my mom. I found my dream job after the first two months. I wanted so badly to study the human mind and I got the job I had been looking for. I’m starting on the lowest “level” but I can make my way to the top.

Now I am looking for either a condo or an apartment to start my life after college. My mom is so proud of me for accomplishing everything I wanted but she said she is going to miss me if I move out. After awhile of looking through the newspaper for an apartment I found one and so I went to look at it. The outside of the building was beautiful, to me anyways; it was made out of uneven dark sandy colored stones with “quakies” surrounding the whole building. “Quakies” are my favorite tree when the wind blows they make the most soothing sound.

I walked up to the top floor of the building to find the apartment of my dreams. I walked slowly and opened the door to find the most beautiful view of the city out one of the many windows in the apartment. Then I saw the beautiful baby blue or a sky blue paint on the walls with the tanish white carpet below my feet. Then I looked up to find the ceiling lights that are kind of like spot lights built into the ceiling. I walked slowly over to the kitchen area to find a gorgeous tan tile that went perfect with the carpet. I then saw the beautiful white cupboards that looked great with the granite counters. I walked quicker this time down the hallway to find a great office size room. I turned my body and walked a few more feet and found the bedroom with the most elegant color of red on the walls and saw the shiny wooden floor. I took a few more steps towards the bathroom and found a greenish tan color on the walls with the most beautiful bathroom of my life. (If that’s possible) Then I found myself telling the person who was selling it that I wanted it. That’s how I got my apartment after college.

After I moved in I got a promotion and now I get to have a better pay check an exciting job and I now also have a German Sheppard named Charlie and a my cats Tiger and Zoey from when I was in Jr. high. They are old but they are still the best pets around Zoey doesn’t sharpen her claws on the wall anymore so no more worries.

Love always,
Veronica

Future Fantasy By: Emma Kjar

Dear Abby,
It was exactly 3 years ago when I graduated from Cambridge University in England. It wasn’t easy but it happened. I was living only a mile away with a family my dad had known. I lived in the basement and paid my share of the rent; I bought my own food and cooked my own dinner. When I Graduated I finally got to go home and start living my life back in Utah which was a great decision to make and I am so happy I did.

I’m now happily married to an amazing guy. My husband is the best to me! He is from Tonga! I met Matt while going to school at Cambridge. His family was living in Tonga and I only met them about 3 times while we were dating. My family was in Utah still and Matt had to fly all the way out there and ask my dad for permission to marry me! (Isn’t he the sweetest?) We dated for about a year and a half and were engaged when I was 20, he was 22. We got married in the Salt Lake temple on January 5th, we were both still in school at the time, It was a perfect day, my family and his family were there, McKaela, Alex, Sarah and Addie were my bridesmaids. We went to Disneyland on our honeymoon and had a blast!

We were married for a year and I became pregnant with twins. I had Seth and Gabe on October 4th and they keep me busy! They are now 2 and a half. They both love sports, I Have a feeling they will be sports stars, but whatever they want to be I will follow them 100 percent!! Seth is more of a “trouble maker” than Gabe is. They always find a way to make me laugh at all the mischievous stuff they get in to. Then I became pregnant again with another boy. I had Maks on March 19th he is now 1 and is just an angel when it comes to eating, sleeping and playing; he always has a smile on his face. I am now pregnant with another boy due sometime in April. We are so excited for the arrival of this sweet little boy! Matt and I both want to have altogether 10 kids. It seems like a lot but we are both determined!

Now I am a stay at home mom and I have no regrets at all. Matt has his masters in medical study and became a doctor about a year ago. It was a stressful process, long years in school, paying off the bills, and not seeing him as much, it was becoming stressful when he hardly had anytime for me and the kids but now he has a flexible job and is a great dad and husband. Every Saturday morning I go in to the dentist office as an assistant, (just for some extra money), while Matt stays home and takes care of the kids. Sure Matt and I have our ups and downs and yes we do fight, but we love each other and that’s all that matters in the end.

As for keeping in touch with my family, we are so close! Matt and I didn't know where we should live, Murray, Sandy, St. George, there were so many doctor offices that wanted to have Matt work there, but we finally made a decision to live in Logan Utah and absolutely love it up here!!! It is hard being such a long ways away from Murray, where Mom and Dad live, but it works out. We come down every Christmas, Thanksgiving, and we might even come down for Halloween! Mom and Dad are adorable with the boys and love being Grandparents! I still keep in touch with my brothers and sisters to and I love being an aunt! Addie and Travis have 5 kids with one on the way, Sarah and Tyler have 4 and Hunter and Brooke have 2. It is so much fun when we get together!

It was great talking to you but I think Seth just broke something... keep in touch!

Sincerely,
Emma

Water Flowing by John Bailey

Life is like water flowing down a stream. I say that because things are always flowing through your mind. Sometimes you are thinking something and you want to say it to somebody else. Then some one else starts talking and you forget what you were going to say, but if you said it the other person that wanted to say something might forget it to.

In streams sometimes rocks get in the way. And some times if you are doing what’s right and somebody else isn’t they might get in your way. The water is always flowing the right way and that’s how everybody should be. The water is afraid to do what’s right and you shouldn’t be afraid either. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what is right. If you are having trouble in having a good attitude think of something you liked a lot in the past. You just have to remember something you liked and keep it in your thoughts. Don’t let your thoughts your anger or your sad times control you. Because if you don’t control yourself you might end up hurting somebody else. If you hurt somebody else then you will probably get in trouble.

If somebody hurts you then you don’t have to do anything back because there doesn’t have to be two hurt people, but if somebody hurts you it is okay to go tell a teacher. Some people get beaten and don’t tell anybody, but I think you should tell somebody. If a friend is doing something wrong you should tell on them so somebody can help them. You are not really a friend to them if you don’t tell on them for something you don’t believe is write. Some people think if you tell on your friends your friends will get mad at you, but it is better for them. When water flows down a stream most the time it is pure clean unless it gets into mud then it will get dirty. And if you are pure clean and you break your morals you are not pure clean any more.

Breaking your morals is kind of doing stuff with girls or holding a girls hands before engaged is breaking morals. Most people in the world get to the end of there life and somebody asks them if they would do the same thing if you could live there life again most people say no if I could life again I would not do the same thing, but water always goes the same way and it goes the right way. If you put sugar in water it is now not good for you. So if you drink sugar drinks you are probably not going to be healthy. Some people get really fat if they eat a lot of sugar, but some people are healthy if they don’t eat a lot of sugar. Sugar can get you really sick. Water flows really fast and life flows really fast if you are older. To little kids life seams to be really slow.

John Bailey

The Fifteen Minutes I Was Blind

Andrew Saltzman

Simile Sensation

I felt as if I was a motionless semi-dead body. I could hear everything but I couldn't see anything around me. It felt like I was in an endless dream where everything was dark and nothing was light. It felt so weird it felt as if I was getting controlled by a TV’s remote and I was in pause while everything else around me was in play. So I stood there in my shower not knowing what to do or if I was even awake.

I had just gotten woken up by my mom to go to school. I was so tired I could have been a bear who had just gotten woke up from hibernation. But I wasn’t just tired I felt very light headed and extremely dizzy. I was so dizzy it felt like I had just gotten of a rollercoaster with five loops. But I still got up and I got in the shower. Once I got in the shower things got even worse I felt all the blood draining out of my face and slowly I my eye sight vanished. Then my eye sight was completely gone it was the strangest thing I have ever experienced I could still move around and hear everything around me but I everything was completely black.

At first I thought it was just a dream or something and I thought I would eventually just wake up. But did ever wake up so I knew what ever was happening was real so I just started crying and I started freaking out and fell so that made things even worse.

A little later my mom was walking down the hallway and heard me crying. She asked what was wrong and why I was crying and I told her I went blind and I couldn’t see a thing. So at first she didn’t believe me and said Andrew is this a joke? Then I replied no!!! Then my mom said are you sure you don’t just have soap in your eyes? I yelled yes I am blind! So she ran in and screamed for my dad because when she saw me all of the blood in my face was drained out so I was white as a ghost. Plus my pupils covered my entire eye.

So my mom went running for the phone to call 911 while my dad hopped out of the other shower in my parent’s bathroom and came sliding into the bathroom crashing into the sink. Then he got up and got me out of the shower and guided me into my room a little while after that my eye sight came back and the ambulance had arrived.

Then they took my to the ER just to find out what had happened. They ran a ton of different blood test and they decided that I had some kind of fainting syndrome where you black out then eventually you will faint. This can happen when you get up to fast in from a laying down position because all of your blood will flow to your feet when you get up.

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Life is like Hockey

Life is like Hockey

Life is like a hockey game. You and your strength need to be at their best condition. If they are not you will end up being checked and your body will shake your whole body like jello. But if you are really strong physically and mentally you will blow right threw everything.

I think it would be good to hockey into this school so it could help kids with confident problems. This could help those kind of kids gain a lot of confidents, they could even learn a fun new skill. I also think it is a good idea because it is a really fun sport and it is a very physical mental game. If we did decide to get hockey at this school I thought it would be cool to teach kids.

Hockey is a really fun sport and I would like to make hockey a sport you have to learn hockey to pass Gym. Some people think hockey is a hard sport to learn but it is really not that hard. Once you get you used to you it will just come to you. But if you are one of those kids that is really not in to sports this is one of those sports that will get you off the couch, and out running.

Floor hockey is a lot easier than ice hockey, because in floor hockey all you have to do is run around on the floor. So it a pretty easy sport to learn how to do. It is a fun sport because it does not take much to be successful in this sport. It is also a fun sport because, you really get to now a lot better than you thought.

I hope that a lot of kids in Utah learn to hockey because, I think it should start to get big here because even thought it gets really hot here, we can still play all year round.

Rachels Challenge By: Alejandra Sanchez

Rachel’s Challenge Assembly

Going to that assembly really touched my heart because 4 of my family members have died recently. And one of them was a really close cousin. He has 13 years old and about to turn 14. He had many friends and was loved by many people. But yet he felt unneeded. So one day he decided to shoot his self. It was all over the news and we later found out from another one of my cousins he had been texted by him right before he killed him self. In the text he talked about how he didn’t feel needed. And didn’t want to be in this world anymore.
It was scary knowing how he killed him self and I had nightmares for weeks. The image of him taking his dads shot gun, sitting on the flour and sticking his toe where your fingers meant to go. Just so he could pull the trigger. Replayed in my mind over and over. And I’m that his father has feeling the same way maybe even worse. On account that he was the one that came home to find the body of his dead son laid across the flour smothered in blood with his shoot gun next to his.
At his funeral family and a lot of his loving classmates and friends came we were all crying. And every weekend we go to the cemetery and bring him fresh flowers.

R.I.P

The Story of My Life-Veronica Martindale

Life is like a book, around every corner there is a surprise. Life gets more exciting every time you turn a page. It wouldn’t be a good book if everything went the way you want it to. In every chapter there is a lesson or event that you need to learn from. Every book is different, and your life is different from everyone else’s. Life is like a book, even though you want to keep going there is always going to be an end.

My life will never be the same again…

The chapter in my life that affected me most was when my grandpa passed away. My grandpa, who I had called “papa” when I was younger, read his book to the last page. The last chapter I spent with him was the best I have ever had. My grandpa loved animals and loved to go to the Tracey Aviary with my brother and I. So when we would go he would just love to sit and watch the birds. My grandpa used to talk to their three cats all the time; he would take them outside to get fresh air and watch them relax. My grandpa’s last chapter was the best one I’ve ever had in my entire book.

I was in my 11th chapter when one day after school while I was walking with my brother to my other grandparents house, I saw my mom’s car in the driveway. Wow I thought why did she get off so early? I walked curiously up to the door, opened it and walked in. My mom was sitting in the living room on the large chair by the window with her elbows on her knees and hands clasped together. Then my grandparents looked at me with sorrow in their eyes and walked outside quick and quiet.

My mom told us to sit down and I looked in her eyes, there were red blotches around her eyes, I smiled hoping to make her happy but it didn’t work. Then she told us…my grandpa was only in his 71st chapter and I in the 11th chapter.

There are plenty of other happy chapters that I should tell you about, but one stands out in particular. One of my favorite chapters is when my sister was born. We had just finished unpacking from our move which seemed years ago, and the next day I had gone to school. My grandma picked my brother and I up from school and told us my mom was going to have my sister today! I was so excited! After my mom had her I couldn’t wait to hold her! My little sister I’ve always wanted!

I was also excited when my little brother was born, but I think my other little brother was more excited than I. My baby brother had the most complicated first chapter, because my step dad went out of town for work one weekend. My brother and I went to our dad’s house but had to come home early because he had something planned. That morning my little brother was born and his dad wasn’t there because of work. The thing is, is that my step dad asked to stay home because the baby was due soon and they didn’t let him.

Life is like a book, it tells the story with an ending you may not like but it has to end. There is always a moral to a story, what’s yours?

Silly Simile Life is like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time By Canyon Smith

Life is like the Legend of Zelda of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
You start game not knowing what to do. After you know what to do life is much easier until you hit the next problem. With your trusty ocarina you can relive the greatest moments of all. In certain times of your life you will come across a temple and you will have to find the key to overcome the boss thus defeating the temple. And life goes on until you defeat the final temple and your adventure ends. (Till the Sequel)
A time where I had this happen to me was a few months ago when I went to Montana. It started out I did not know what was going to happen. But as we left I got more information on what we were going to do. So this became more enjoyable till we hit Jackson Hole. The next adventure was when we went alpine sliding. The next was when I went with my dad. We went to a little place called Doughnut Falls. Here a at doughnut falls we hiked to the falls and purified some of the water and drank it was good water. After that we hiked to an old mine shaft in search for a geocache. Some of my other moments were like this but they are too small to talk about.

Life is like a... BOOK! By: Alejandra Sanchez

Life is like a …
BOOK!

Life is like a book in the sense that are lives are chapters

after chapters. Some are long and short are very short. And even

though some moments are better than others life will go on. And

That chapter will soon be over with.

So all I can ever do is make the best of it, by having fun, and

living your life as well as my life page by page. The best way

you can think of. Because life is only as perfect as you think it is.

Books inspire me to live my life to the end. And that’s exactly

what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I’m going to live my life

to the fullest. At least until the end of the crazy, fun, and very long

book that I like to call “My Life”.

All I have to say to people readying this is turn off your computer

screen and go read a book. Because watching some new

television or playing on the computer is not worth giving up the

chance to completely change there view in life. I know books

inspired me.

The number one thing that “POPPED” into my head when one of my

favorite teachers said we had to write about what life is like. Was a book

life is really like a book in my opinion. There are many books that I like but

there was one that stood out. All though I’m not going to name the book.

Because everyone’s life is different. And the book that I’m talking about

might not relate to you. So find a book that relates to you and eventually

change your life.



BY: Alejandra Sanchez
Date: 9-17-08
Period: 4

What Golf Has to do With Life By Parker Brock

Life is like a game of golf. You have to be patient and think about what to do. When you’re stuck in the trees you have to choose to get out safely of try and go right through it all. Just like if you get stuck with bad friends and you can choose to get away from them or you could take a chance and get in more trouble with them. You’re the person hitting the ball and so you are also the club and the ball. And the way you set up will choose what way the ball will go. So you’ve got to set up your life before you hit that ball.

The story is when I was golfing on a cool and cloudy July day and I was confident about shooting under a 50. It was just me and my dad and he teed off and then I did. My shot went way over into the trees. That’s where most golfers fall apart. So when I went back to find my ball I told myself to just get out safely. So I did that and then I went for the green and almost made it.

Later in the round I had hit a ball behind some bushes and I had to get over them. So I flopped the ball over and landed right in the path of a tree. And now I was feeling the pressure of falling apart. So I took some slow breathes and got my club and hit the ball. I watched it as it went straight to the green and it landed three feet from the pin. And it got there because I set up in the direction I wanted to go and I kept my confidence up.

At the 8th hole I was also stuck in the trees and so was my dad. When I got to my ball I hit my ball out into the fairway and my dad tried to go right through the trees and got caught in the trees even more. So while I was going for the green he was trying to get out in the fairway. And that gave me a great chance at getting under 50.
So when I got on the final tee box I told myself to aim to where I wanted to go. So I hit the ball and went down the middle of the fairway. Then I hit a six iron right down the middle of the green. Then I was about fifteen feet from the hole. So I told myself to hit the ball soft but not to soft. So I hit and left the ball 2 in. short. So I tapped the ball in and shot a 47. The best score I’ve ever shot on a full 9 hole course. And that’s because I aimed the way I wanted to go. So aim your life the way you want to go.

Metaphor Madness! Life Is Like A Garden By: Emma Kjar

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=flowers&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

With so many different flowers it makes the garden beautiful. Just like people, if their were only pansies in the garden, it would be pretty boring. There are gorgeous flowers and bland flowers, some live long some don’t. It makes the garden exciting. But all flowers need love and attention. They all need someone to love and take care of them; some thing to raise them up when they are down, just like the sun does with the flowers. They all need different ways to be taken care of, or they slowly lose their energy, color, and happiness. We all live in the beautiful “garden” and need love and care to make it through life!

I’ve had plenty of moments that have changed my life. But one really sticks out for me. I had always thought that everyone around the world had the lifestyle that I had. Two amazing Parents to love you, a family to watch over you. Friends to be there for you when you need them, a house, food and toys. But I soon realized that’s not what life was like for everyone. I had been In 7th grade for about 6 months now so I had made new friends and gotten closer to old ones. I was learning new things everyday. I had noticed something about one of my new friends and she never talked about home life. I asked her one day and she told me things that had happened to her that I had absolutely no idea it could really happen in real life. When she told me it was like a sudden tornado no body had warning for. I mean, I know it happened all around the world, but I had never met someone who it actually had happened to or at least known about it. But I tried to myself in her shoes and I realized that I would feel like I was glued to the ground with an oncoming semi truck coming towards me and myself having no where to go.

Comparing this to flowers, I had been growing tall and strong because the love I was getting, like a flower growing tall by the sun, and water it was receiving. But my friend was getting droopy because she wasn’t receiving any “water” or “sun.” I am glad I got to have that experience, even though it was so sad to hear, I could still learn from it and help her through it, and become more aware of that problem going on in not only her home, but millions of others home. It just made me SO much more thankful for my family and friends that I have. And to ever lose them I would be the dying flower this time, with no color, life or happiness. But now I know something important, if I was to go through a hard time, then I know that I would have family and friends to bring the life and color back into me.

Metaphor Madness; Life is a book By: Alexis Godfrey

Life is a book, a never ending roller coaster of ups and downs, twists and turns, and anxiety. It has a climax and a resolution, often more than one of each. You never know exactly what is going to happen. There is pain and worry, but also joy and happiness. Your story will have its good parts and its bad parts, its sorrow and its delight, and all of the indescribable feelings in-between each and every word. Just like a book life won’t let you down, and unfortunately just like a book this nail biting drama we call life will someday come to and end.
That night, that cold winter night, you would have never thought it could get any colder, but it did. That night lying underneath the blankets, sleep wasn’t coming easily but it never came to me exactly why. I had a feeling a feeling of misery. Then came the call, grandma answered still half asleep and very much confused. She started crying, she cried as if the world was falling down on top of her. No one knew what was going on but we knew it had to have been something quite terrible. I had never seen grandma cry like that. When she got off the phone she continued to cry hysterically.
I was confused; I had absolutely no idea as to what was going on. I asked Grandma Great and she told me that you and mom had been in a car accident. I didn’t know what to do or say. The next thing she said is you had died instantly and they weren’t sure about mom yet. I was so confused I couldn’t even cry. I couldn’t move, I felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest but that I could still feel all of its pain as it was being ripped into millions of pieces. I sat down and thought, and then it hit me that I could leave this solitude and go home without a mom or dad, it hit me like a punch in the stomach, I couldn’t breathe.
I still did not know what exactly happen but I knew that I couldn’t do anything; I would leave here tomorrow without you. We drove to the hospital to see how mom was doing. They said her condition had improved, that there was no internal bleeding. What she did have though was a shattered hip, a broken knee and foot, and bruised lungs. We didn’t have time to worry. We had to identify your body and plan your funeral. We had decided to bury you in Kamas because we knew that that’s were you would want to be. Mom’s condition improved a lot she was able to move around by that Tuesday. She couldn’t attend your funeral though that hurt her a lot.
The funeral was the hardest part. Seeing you for the last time, knowing this would be the last time I would be able to see you, but you looked so very happy. You looked normal just like you always had. It made me miss your jokes and kind smile even more. I tried not to cry because I knew you wouldn’t want that, but I did anyways but they weren’t tears of sorrow, they were tears of joy for the life you had lived.
Your book came to an end like we always knew it would, it just seemed to end a lot sooner than we thought. Your book was filled with many memories both good and bad; your book told the story of a positive man who lived a very fulfilled life. It seemed you knew you wouldn’t be here long, maybe that’s why you lived such a rampageous life. Your story will never be forgotten. I love you dad.

Life is like a roller coaster

By Kaitie Woodmansee

---- Life is like a roller coaster. Life will throw whatever challenges it has for you. It has its ups and downs that in the end make you stronger and smarter than many other people. Life wasn't meant to be perfect and we know it. It may be a bumpy ride, but everyone will pull through till the end.----

My sixth grade year was exactly like a rollercoaster. In that year I had fourteen funerals between family and friends. We would just get over a funeral and then figure out that we have another one the next day. One of the most challenging times was when my cousin died. His name was Mike Penovich and he was the fire chief of saratoga springs. He was on his way to pick up a brand new fire truck one morning when all of a sudden his truck swerved out of control and his whole truck dove head first off the cliff and into the resivior below. His entire front car was smashed and so was he. It took them a long time to get him out of the truck and into the ambulance. They thought that he might have a chance but when they got him out, it was already to late. Me and my siblings were heading home from acting when we found our mom crying on the couch. We asked her what was wrong and she told us the unfortunate story. None of us could beleive what happened. It was another funeral but one that was most unexpected. The rest of that day was filled with a ton of sadness.

The day had come, it was mikes funeral. I dont ever want to experience something like that again. Everyone was crying. There was noone in sight that was smiling or laughing with each other. That day was one of the longest days I have ever expirienced in my life. But that year made me as strong as I am today.

OMG Another Writing Contest!

Here is another opportunity for writing contests. This time it's for short stories. Check the details out here.

From the Principal's Desk

I am excited about being part of your conversations! As you know, writing is an important part of our school. I want all of you to become great writers. It doesn't matter what profession or career you choose, you will need to know how to write.
Writing can and will open many doors in your future!
Write, write, write....

Simile Sensation-Toilet Paper By Katie (Sample '07)

Rough Toilet Paper

My Life is like… a roll of toilet paper. It will eventually end, just like life. But before life ends, you experience soft rolls of toilet paper, just like there are soft, happy moments in life. And then there are those rough rolls of toilet paper (they’re a big pain), just like experiences that have left bad impressions. My life has had so many happy, fun loving memories. But then I’ve had those horrible events that have left tragic impressions, making my life like a roller-coaster.

Fortunately, my life has had so many fun, happy memories. This is because I’ve had a wonderful family who supports me in everything that I do. But even though I have a magnificent family, I have had some unfortunate memories. One of which, happened in the fourth grade.
It was a beautiful winter day the snow clung to the trees; the icicles bordered the school in which I was attending, called, Rosamond Elementary. The teacher that I currently had was Mr. Ball. He was “DA BOMB”!

The red light was up, meaning that we had to stay in for recess because it happened to be too cold outside. Haley, Felicia, and I were sitting in a corner, far away from anyone, (so no one would over hear) talking about who we liked. Haley was going on and on about the boy she was “crushing on”, and so on with Felicia. Then… it was my turn. I didn’t like anyone at the time and didn’t want to tell them that because they would accuse me of lying and make a huge fuss. But, I ended up telling them that anyway, and oh boy was that the wrong thing to do. They went crazy. They started yelling and saying that I promised to tell them who I liked (not true).


“No I didn’t,” I yelled back.
“Whatever,” they both said as they walked away.
Later, on that day I saw that everyone was whispering, and wanted to know what was going on.
So I turned to someone and asked, “What’s everyone talking about?”


“Oh, I thought you would know, I mean after all it is about you.”
My heart dropped and I immediately went over to Haley and started to yell at her and asking what she had done. She then pulled me aside and said that she had started to tell everyone I liked this kid, whose name I will not mention. I was so angry. I then went up to my teacher and asked if I could go to the bathroom. I was probably in there for a good twenty minutes when someone came in to check on me.


I was back in the classroom drying up my tears while everyone looked at me as if I were some disease they didn’t want to touch.
Right when I got home I went to bed and slept for what seemed like an eternity. I never mentioned this emotional incident to my mom.
My life that day had gone through what seemed like a really rough piece of toilet paper.


I lost my best friends that day. But if I could turn back time and change it, I wouldn’t, I learned a lot from that experience. I know to watch what I say to people and to only tell my closest friends who I like, to watch out who I trust, and to learn from my mistakes.

Thomas Kincaid pictures

I just thought these were some cool pictures! Enjoy!

Snapshot Ice cream mess By Ian Richter

Ice Cream Mess

By Ron Garden-gnome

On one glorious, sunny day in July I was out mowing my luscious green, grazing grass. It was one of those burning, blazing fell like your baking day. It felt like an eternity before I finished mowing the lawn I was parched my tongue felt swollen and dry. So I slowly inched over to my freezer were we had one biggest boxes with the most humungous ice cream cone in the world in side the cardboard prison. So I fetched one of the many ice cream cones in that cold box called a freezer.

I unwrapped the wrapper and started to munch on this delicious dairy treat just as my sister walked out of our house.

My sister exclaimed: “I want one too!”

“Ok, Kadie!”, I said.

I trotted over to the freezer and reached into it to find the smallest ice cream cone I could find for her. I took it out and handed it to her and

she said “No!, I want a big one too!”

So I reluctantly reached back into the freezer and pulled a gigantic dairy treat for her. As it touched her hand the wrapper flew off and she began to shove the ice cream cone into her mouth. As you can imagine the ice cream cone was too big to fit into her mouth! After she finished the huge cone, melted ice cream fell everywhere. She then went off to play, still dripping ice cream.
I said “Whoa Kadie, you HAVE to clean up before you do anything else!”

As usual, she didn’t listen to me and went about her business.

Pools By: Alejandra Sanchez

Pools

It was June 23, 2004 and my birthday party. I was turning eight years old and the excitement was like no other. My birthday was the best. There was everything I could ever imagine my birthday would have. Like a huge birthday cake, a kiddy pool, and presents. But most importantly there was all my family and friends.

My grandpa was one of the loving family members at my great party. He was feeling tired and very cranky. “Like always”. The only bad thing about my party was. When my grandpa is cranky or tired he gets pretty bossy. It was a beautiful day but he was still cranky. All he wanted to do is sleep under the giant cherry tree in the back yard. He found a good shady spot under the cherry tree. And right away he started bossing my cousins and me around. First it was a blanket to lie on. Then it was a pillow to set his head on. And then he asked for a couple of beers. We were tired from running back and forth. To climb up the cherry tree and get him the best cherries. Witch was always at the very top of the tree. “We all had enough” no more being pushed around.

We watched as he slowly closed his eyes more and more. And as soon as he started snoring we all took a part of his body to the kiddy pool. My uncle took his legs and the rest of us took his arms. We were all about to throw him in on the count of three. We picked him up and with a grin on all our faces we took him over to the kiddy pool. We counted to three. “One, Two, and STOP”. Said my mother. She said she had to get this on video tape. We smiled in to the camera as my grandpa started to wake up. He was a very deep sleeper. So we quickly throw him in close and all before he woke up.

We giggled and laughed. Until we saw my grandpa jump out of the icy cold water soak. He had a funny looking smirk on his face. You could tell he had an idea. I knew I was right when he grabbed us one by one and started throwing us in. After my uncle was thrown in first we all knew he wasn’t playing around. We ran away as fast as we could so he wouldn’t throw us in. After running around the yard four a minute we quickly realized that we were all out of energy from picking my grandpa up.

He caught up to us all out of breath. But yet he had enough energy to throw us in one by one. My grandpa throws the last one of my cousins in to the kiddy pool. We jumped out of the pool even quicker than my grandpa did. We were shivering from head to toe. Especially because my mom wouldn’t let my cousins and I go inside the house to get some towels to dry off. It sounded like the rest of our family was laughing at us but I couldn’t tell over the sound of my teeth chattering. We finally dried off and even though we were thrown into the kiddy pool it was one very exciting birthday party I would never forget.

Name: Alejandra Sanchez
Period: 4
Date: 9-15-08

Snapshot: Wisconsin Trip

Snapshot: Wisconsin Trip
When I was in sixth grade I went back to Wisconsin to see my cousins and grandparents. We had also decided to go ice fishing. We even celebrated Christmas when me and my dad went back there. I got to go see my cousin play hockey, which is pretty cool because we both play hockey.

My dad and I left Utah on my Christmas break to go back to Wisconsin to see my cousins, and my grandparents. I really like to go back to Wisconsin because I don’t really get to see my cousins and grandparents that often because they live in a different state then me. When we got to the airport in Wausau, I couldn’t believe how small the airport is because there are only ten terminals in that whole airport. When my dad and I got to the baggage claim my grandpa was waiting for us, and when I saw him I ran up to him and gave him a big huge hug.

When we got to my grandparents house, me and my dad stayed at their house for the night. Even though it was winter it was extremely hot upstairs where we were sleeping, so I came down stairs and slept on the floor. The next morning at five o-clock grandpa woke us up to go ice fishing. My dad and I got up, got all of the stuff ready , put it in the back of the truck and we were ready to go. Before we started to go to the lake we had to pick up my cousin Brett. All of us got to the lake about seven o-clock in the morning. When we got to our spot we still needed to drill holes and get all of the equipment ready. When we finally started fishing it was eight o-clock. When we stopped fishing it was five o-clock in the evening and we needed to start heading back home so we could gut all of the fish and start cooking them for dinner. At the end of the day we caught about thirty two fish. It was amazing, and the biggest one I caught was a twenty two inch Northern Pike.

On Christmas night everybody in the Gibbons family came over and celebrated Christmas together. The Gibbons family has a Christmas tradition. Everyone has to buy something that starts with one of letters in Christmas, and that year it was "r"; so me and my dad went to the store and bought Rolo’s. The Rolo’s went to my cousin Larissa and my gift was a fishing “rod”.

After Christmas, my family went to Bemidji, Minnesota to see my cousin Brett play in a hockey tournament. When I was watching the game, someone on my cousins team hit someone that he ran into the edge of the glass, but the kid got up and kept on playing. My cousin came so close to making a goal it made everybody in the stands jump. At the end of the game my cousin won 7-3. It was a great that he won because the 7 hour ride home would have been bad having lost.

Snapshot of My Life By Parker Brock

Snapshot of My Life


This picture will stay in my mine for a long time. It was when me, my dad, my uncle, and my cousin went to Wyoming for a fishing trip. We had left on a cool and beautiful Monday morning. The air was clear and the skies were clear. So we set off to where we were heading.
The ride was fast and it was a beautiful drive until we reach the boarder and then a bad thunderstorm hit. The storm was so amazing as the lightning hit the lake. Then the thunder would role across the sky. The storm lasted about two hours. The land looked so clean after the storm. And the scenery was beautiful.

We stop at a gas station to get some gas and get something to eat. Once the tank was full we set off again into the mountain ranges to get to where we were going. We saw all kinds of birds and the deer were everywhere. We had to of seen at least 1,000 deer. And we saw a few elk and moose.

When we got into Jackson Hole we stopped and got some food from DQ. They had some good chili dogs. Back to the story. When we were done eating we headed for our camp. We got to our camp and it was real nice. We set up our tent trailer and went back to Jackson Hole. We were there until 11 p.m. And before we left we had some pizza from the only pizza shop.

So this story doesn’t take so long I will skip to the trip home from our trip. This was probably the best part of the trip. The rain was falling again and the road looked like it went on forever and it never would come to an end. We stopped for food about every three hours. And every time we stopped we got Taco Time. And that is because it is really good.

My dad and my uncle talked about how stocks were doing and me and my cousin were talking about our scout camps we had to leave for the next day. After a while we got tired of talking and fell asleep. When I woke up we at our house and we began to unload all our gear. Then me and my dad were talking and that’s when my mom took the picture. And that’s how the picture became a snapshot in my life.

Epitaph by: Alejandra Sanchez

Epitaph
By: Alejandra Sanchez

The sloppy sick mess that invades my writing is gone.
“WOW” it’s so exciting! Its dead,
It’s
Done,
And no longer in my life.
So bye, bye to bad writing and hello to nice organized writing!!!
R.I.P

My Family Vacation

My family vacation
By Eric Gibbons
When I was in fifth grade I went on a vacation to Florida to Orlando. When I was there we went to all of the amusement parks and had a blast. We also went to a cool place called the Gator Farm, it had all of these alligators the lived there, and they had some big gators. We went to a gift shop that had these baby gator heads that died when they were born, and they were really cool, and it was a cool souvenir, we were also chased by a hurricane Wilma.

I think the most fun amusement park was Disney World, because it had a lot of fun rides that I could do. But some of them I was to short because I was only eleven years-old so I was kind of small at the time. But I had a lot of fun with my cousins even though they couldn’t go on most of the rides because they are so small in height. The funniest ride I went on was the Guitar. The best thing was that it was nice weather there so we didn’t have to worry about bad weather.

When we went to the Gator Farm there was a lot of alligators, and there was some pretty big ones. It was pretty scary because one of them came on the fence and tried to get out, so it was pretty scary. But it was cool learning about how they got their and why they are their. It was fun to feed the gators because when they bite down it makes a big pop sound.

When we went to this gator shop they had these little baby gator heads that died when they where born. They decided to put them on display because they wanted to let people see what a really baby gator looks like up close without getting bitten. I didn’t buy one but my cousin did so every time I go to his house I can see it and it brings back a lot of memories. The thing that is cool it that the whole thing is completely real and not fake.

When we were leaving there was a hurricane that same day, the hurricanes name was Wilma. So when we took off it was really windy and rainy so the pilot didn’t really know where he was going so he had to rely on all of his gadgets. The good thing we got of the hurricane and we got to Dallas, Texas safely but there was a really bad storm there to. When we landed we couldn’t wait to get home when are plane took off we were really happy to get home. When we got home it was nice and hot and we were glad we were done with bad weather.

This family vacation was a pretty fun vacation as you can tell. I hope had as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

Snapshot: The Peftect Tree By: Becky Jessop

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Snapshot: The Perfect Tree By: Becky Jessop
Snapshot: The Perfect TreeBy: Becky JessopOn June 17, 2006, my family was sealed in the temple as I have written before. But there is one picture that I love to look at every time I see it. There is no other tree in the world I would look at. I know when I write this and people read it, it will sound like I’m some sort of tree hugger or something. But just to clear the air, I’m not.

We were taking pictures by the side of temple. And our faces hurt from being so happy. But it was really hard not to be so happy that day. Watching my brother-in-law, Brian, take pictures of my Mom and Dad kiss and smile made us all want to smile. Family members were crying and the sealing was already over. But we just wanted to smile and cry all day.

One day Brian and Katrina, my sister, came over to visit us. Brian had a book in his hands. He had a book for our family. It had all the pictures of us in there from the temple. We looked through the book so thankful that Brian had made us this and letting us remember that day forever and not forgetting it. We saw the picture of the tree and complimented Brian on how peaceful and graceful that picture was. It had always been one of my favorites.

The tree in the picture has so much foliage and so much purity that you thought if you even stood near it you would be disgusted with yourself. It had such a loving look about it. When it hovered over the bench below it looked as if it was a mother guarding her child from any danger in the outside world. If had a choice to sleep under one tree, I would definitely sleep under that one.

When I get married, and that will be in a long time so don’t worry Dad. I don’t plan on getting married for a long time. But when the time comes I hope to have a picture under that tree. As long it’s still there anyways. And if they try to tear that poor little graceful tree down, I will for sure sleep under that tree for time and all eternity. And I don’t plan on letting anything happen to it.

I hope one day everyone will look at something or someone with so much passion as the tree guards that bench. All the danger just disappears and there is nothing but love and honesty. Oh my heavens!!! I actually am starting to sound like a tree hugger!! Oh well. I want that tree to be there when my children and I visit the temple one day.

Family Folklore-Four Wheels By Ali Sanchez

4 Wheels


It all happened that one Easter. That one trip to St. George was when the funniest and saddest thing that happened to my mom.

It was a Friday afternoon when my family and I were driving to St. George. To visit my grandpa and his new wife. We were getting closer, and closer. I got so excited when we pulled up to my grandpa’s house. Because I hadn’t seen him in such a long time.

It was already late when we arrived to my grandpa’s house so we didn’t do much that day besides going to get a bite to eat. After eating we went back to the house to get some rest. After all we would need our rest for the next fun day.

I woke up bright and early in the morning because I was so excited to go out and do something fun. So I ran up the stairs to go wake up everyone so we could eat breakfast and get on our way. My mom was already up on account she was as excited as I was.

When my grandpa woke up he scratched his big belly. And made me so happy when he said that we were going to go 4-wheeling. So I quickly ate my breakfast and headed on our way to the place we were going to 4-wheeling at.

We had finally gotten there and we all jumped out of the truck. And unloaded the 4-wheelers from the trailer. My mom and I were really excited so she rode her 4-wheeler as I followed her with mine.

I was so excited when we started riding until my mom and I spotted a huge snake right in our path way. We were going to turn around and back up slowly. But then the worst possible thing happened the 4-wheelers ran out of gas and just stopped in there tracks. We were really scared. We backed up slowly until the snake slithered away. Then we pushed the 4-wheelers back to the truck and filled them back up with gas. After we filled up the tank my mom was feeling brave again. So she went racing up the same path we had just seen that huge snake at. My mom looked really brave going up and down the big hills. You could tell she was having fun. Until she was coming up down the last hill on the rout.

And at the bottom of that hill she saw a big brown thing across the path way. It scared her so much that she slammed on head. And went flying over the 4-wheeler and fell on her head. She wasn’t badly hurt. So she could think about was quickly getting off that flour before the snake got her. So she jumped up as quickly as possible.

To realize that the big brown snake she had seen in front of her was really just a big stick. She was so embarrassed and bruised. Luckily all that happened to my mom was a couple of bad bruises for three weeks. With all that done we headed back home to Murray to relax before they had to start work again. My mom wasn’t looking forward to going back to work the next day. But of course she wasn’t going to miss a day of work because of a couple of bruises.

By: Alejandra Sanchez

The Family Trip By Parker Brock

The Family Trip


About a year ago me and my family went to YellowStone for a trip over UEA weekend. I have to say that it was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. But it wasn’t as good as Maui. Hey, it was still fun.

The way the story starts is that my family is getting ready to go and we are waiting on a friend to show up because he was going with us. Except he hadn’t shown up and we were getting real angry. But my sister didn’t care because she was the one who invited him. Yes, they were boyfriend and girlfriend until he let for his mission. Back to the story. When he got to our house we threw his stuff in the car and headed for a little town in the middle of nowhere.

Halfway to our destination we made a rest stop so we didn’t die. And we got some lunch while we were there to so that we didn’t have to stop again. Oh yeah man, we got Taco Bell! And it was so good. Until the bloted feeling came in. Yeah, that’s what Mexican food does to you. When we were about five minutes out of the town, or if you can even call it that, we saw some elk heards crossing right over the main highway. But this highway was like a two way street in Murray. We sat there for about two minutes watching one after another cross the road.

When we entered into the “town” we couldn’t seem to find our cabin we were staying at. Then we noticed that it was right behind a McDonalds. So we didn’t have to worry about starving. But I have to wounder why they put a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere!!! But hey, if you want to get money then you should build where people actually live! But it was quiet around the town. So the whole trip wasn’t a loss.

So the next morning we left for Jackson Hole Wyoming to look around and see what we could find. It was about a three hour drive from nowhere to somewhere. But the park was so beautiful. I mean how many times do you get to see at least 40 wolves in one field?! It was just the coolest thing I had ever seen. Yeah, I saw a pack of wolves in a field while we were going through the park and we stopped to get pictures. They were so cool to watch.

When we got to Jackson Hole we went and had lunch and saw all kinds of nick nacs and souvenirs. I even bought a shirt that says “The best place to live.” Which I could agree on. It is pretty quiet when you are in the middle of nowhere. So I think that is where I am going to live.
After all the fun we had in Jackson Hole we headed for the cabin. Let me tell you, it was really quiet when we got back and it was kinda scary. But we survived.

The next morning we were up and we got packed and got breakfast and headed for home. I couldn’t wait to get home so I could get some food from a real restaurant so that I wouldn’t die. While on that trip I had the best time of my life. I went home feeling good and then I remembered school. I still had homework so I was having a panic attack. But then I remembered I had done it before I left. So I still had a good time.

My Ducky Trip By Ian Richter

My Ducky Trip
By Ron Garden-gnome
My Dad and I were in Grand Junction Colorado about to raft down a class six rapids one of the most dangerous thing my Dad and I have ever attempted. We were going to do the Blue Heron a 3 hour kayaking trip down the Colorado River. The river guide said that there are three bridges once you see the third one pull off to river left. O and on the third leg of the river watch out for the side cliff watch out for the side cliff on river right we have and boats disappearing there. So after that my Dad drove up to the blue heron put in site it was a long dirt launch in to the dangerous river. It only took my Dad and me ten minutes to get the boat into the water and then we were off in to the unknown. It started with some class four rapids it was a bumpy ride with a lot of rocks but nothing my dad and I can’t handle. With oars in hand we trudged on until we hit the first bridge of the river and stopped at an eddy and had a snack and took short nap then we were back in the river.

There was a long stretch of flat water the to the class five rapids. I was jolting up and down from the power of the current. We must have been moving around 50,000 cubic feet per second because my dad lost his oar. But we just behind the second bridge so we pulled over and had are lunch and prepared for the challenges that we faced ahead.

We started moving down the ravenous, raging, running river at an amazing 100,000 cubic feet per second. There were rocks, trees and fallen brush at every turn so you always had to stay alert and keep your eyes on the horizon. We were flying down the river and then suddenly my dad flipped and he went under but he recovered and flipped back on the boat. The river picked up to 250,000 amazing cubic feet per second. We were come coming up on the bridge fast I rolled under water and I saw a prehistoric looking fish but I flipped up so fast it might have been a rock. Then my dad said “Go to River Left!!!” I barely made so we pulled our dented, scratched, scraped, and scared boats.

Tiger Snapshot- By: Veronica Martindale

My favorite photo that I took was about 6 months ago…

I had woken up early and lay there in my bed, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I rolled over to look at the clock and saw my cat Tiger sitting on top of my printer in my room staring at a bird outside. Then of course me being me got my camera out at 6:30 in the morning and took a picture. She sat up tall angled toward me but her head towards the window. The lighting was perfect, it was early in the morning so the sky and light outside was a foggy gray, it hit Tiger at the perfect angle and made her beautiful shiny orange coat of fur a mixture of orange and gray. Then her eyes shined from the gray light making her look beautiful, even for a cat. Her paws sat like a round balls connected to a leg. She sat up on her front legs and showed her chest, a grayish white. Her ears came to a perfect rounded point.

Once I took the picture I tried to take more but she saw that I had woke up and wanted me to pet her. She jumped off her perch and trotted towards me. Then she jumped up on my bed and looked at me because I hadn’t pet her right then and there. Her eyes grew impatient; she stared at me until I gave in.

I pet her for a few minutes and decided to go eat breakfast since I was absolutely awake. I opened my bedroom door and could feel the cool air. I walked down the hall as quiet as I could but the floor creaked under my every step. I found the kitchen in the unlit house and found the light switch with what little light I had. I opened the fridge and a bottle of ranch fell out making a loud thud! I hurried and picked it up thinking I could undo the noise. I looked in the fridge. Nothing. So I went to the pantry hoping that I wouldn’t wake anybody up. I opened the door and creakkk! I didn’t know that the door squeaked, Oh well! I found a box of cereal and opened the cupboard to get a bowl THUD! I dropped the bowl how could I possibly do that!

I finally made it around the counter to the table and accidently dropped my spoon on the table ding! Ug! I am having a hard time not making noise! I poured my cereal and watched the crunchy bits of cereal tumble out of the box, and then I watched myself pour the white milk, silky and smooth, glug out and making a mess. I ran to get a towel and threw it on the puddle of white milk. The towel got sopping wet and I went to get another.

After I finished cleaning up my mess and eating breakfast my mom had woken up and said “Good Morning!” I was surprised I didn’t wake her up but then I showed her the photo on my camera. She said it was really good and that I should practice taking pictures more often. Might as well!

What My Family is Like By Nick Simmons

WHAT MY FAMILY IS LIKE

We are like any other family. My dad works at Stantec Consulting, don’t ask me what he does because I can never answer that because he does things like: environmental engineering, cleans up roads, and check water levels in lakes, ponds, and rivers. My mom works at Desert Star, a local theater here, in the Box Office. She also used to work as a crossing guard for an elementary school, she’s worked at the mall at one of those stands there, and she’s worked at Applebee’s before I was born. I have 2 brothers and one sister, all three are very annoying. I am the oldest kid in the family, my one of my brothers eleven, my sisters five going on fifteen (so she says), and I have a two year old baby brother who starts school on Tuesday.

I share a room with my brother who’s eleven and my sister sleeps with my mom and my two year old brother. My dad has his own bed for unknown reasons. I am just like any other teenager, I have a girl friend, I like to hang out with my friends, and I play a few video games. My mom is a really good singer, my dad plays bass guitar really good at it, I’m starting to play guitar, my brother sings (not well, but neither do I) so does my
sister. We play a lot of music in my family. My dad used to skateboard really well but doesn’t any more. My mom has sung all her life.

My favorite bands are Coldplay and Foo Fighters because their songs are really good and have a meaning I used to be big on Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Killers. My Favorite game is Rock Band/Guitar Hero or Battlefield 2. I used to hate Rock Band and love Guitar Hero but now I like both of them. I play drums and lead guitar on Rock Band and when GH: World Tour comes out I will probably play Bass or Lead Guitar and Drums. My brother likes a lot of the same things I do. My sister like to watch “her shows” but “hasn’t watched them in a year” those exact quotes from her.

My favorite vacation spot is Myrtle Beach, SC and once I graduate and have enough money I’m planning on moving there. I also like to go to Las Vegas and California. I just like tropical places like Florida and the Carolinas. I have been cross country twice and have been to both the Carolinas, California, Alabama, Michigan and of course Nevada.

Snap shot Chicken By Bailey Shaw

By Bailey Shaw

My snap shot picture is of a chicken! I know it may be hard to believe but its true! Me and my friend Carrie went to Wheeler Farm one day, and we were very very hyper! (Trust me you don’t want to see my friends and me hyper!) We went there to hang out and feed the ducks and chickens.
When we got there the first thing we did was feed the ducks. They all wanted the food really badly, so we made sure each of them got a piece of bread. The next thing we did was go see the cows. There was a baby one and it was so cute! I love cows and horses, they are just so cute! I once had a horse, it was so cute but I don’t anymore because it is with my dad. (I can’t see my dad.) Anyways then the next animal we saw was the little cute pigs.

They were so small and innocent, with here cute little ears and cute everything! Then the sheep! I hate the sheep there they scare me because they baaaaa! There baaaaa’s sound so weird, they like sound so much a person trying to scare you! Okay sorry getting off the subject here. So finally we got to the chickens! (We save them for last, because there our favorite animals there!) But when we got there, there was a chicken that was beat up by the other chickens!

L I felt so bad for it and none of the others let it get any bead! So Carrie and I had a plan, I would distract the other chickens and while I was doing that she would feed the beat up chicken. It worked out good, the chicken got some food! We had forgotten that we brought her moms camera, so we took some pictures of the chickens!

When there was only enough for one more picture, we took the perfect one! It was of a chicken that was jumping for a piece of bead. It was the best picture ever! We were rolling on the floor laughing! It was so funny! When it was time to go her mom picked us up from the farm, and we showed her the picture. She laughed to, that’s how funny it really was!

After words we had a fun sleepover! We invited two more friends, Callie and Cami. It was a fun sleepover, we slept outside in a tent! In the morning we got the picture developed! We laughed even harder went we got them! Well that’s how I got my favorite picture

A Basketball Snap-Shot

Andrew Saltzman

A Snap Shot Of My Life

I see it all in my head, it's like it is glued into my brain. It is my moment of greatness. It was exciting; nerve wracking, intenseful, and it was my metal round basketball game. My team was playing for the third place bronze metal in the Utah Summer Games and I had a hurt back, which hurt more than any broken bone that I've ever had. The pain stopped me from playing in the game. But later the game my team was down by ten points going into the forth quarter and I decided that I needed to go in to the game and try to make a difference.

Soon after that I scored two lay ups, I gained one assist, and my team had made one foul shot so we were only down three. I wasn’t about to let my team down. It was my time for us two tie up the game game up because the was only a couple minutes left in the forth quarter. But as time went on my back's pain only got worse. I wanted to help my team out one more time before I could not do anything with my back at all.

Then I had a perfect chance to contribute to my team once more. We had just finished stopping Snow Canyon and we were heading down the court to set up our offense. Right once I got down the court I went cutting through to the three-point line. I was wide open because Nate had set a pick for me down low while I was cutting through. I yelled for the ball saying I’m open! Just then Dillian passed me the ball. Right as turned to release the ball for the three pointer. I saw the defender running towards me. I was tasting the flavor of the Gatorade that I had finished drinking earlier and the gross salty flavor of sweat that was running down my face. I was hearing the yelling of the defender that was getting closer. I felt the smooth, strong, leather, grip of the basketball. Which was slowly leaving my hands with defender jumping up trying to block the ball. But he missed the ball by around four inches and I drained the three pointer.

The Crowd went crazy as can be and the game was tied up. That really made Snow Canyon really mad. Everyone on my team now believed that we could finish Snow Canyon off. Unfortunately my back was hurting way to bad to stay in the game any longer. So I was benched for the rest of the game with a minute left in the game.

The last minute of the game was intense full right after I got pulled out Snow Canyon had went down and missed a wide open lay up and we received the rebound. Then we went down and we made our lay up. With twenty seconds to spare they went down and made their lay up. So we had to try to score once again but we failed. Then they went down the court ran down the clock and hit a three pointer for the win.

We had lost but we played a great game and we had a fantastic time down at the Utah Summer Games. Latter on when we arrived home I found out that I had a lower broken vertebra. Which I have to rest till Jan. 2009.

Visit: http://www.newstoyounow.blogspot.com/

Snapshot Memory Memoir: The Day Long Hike By:Kelsie Rogers

Google

A couple of years ago my family and I took a hiking trip up in the mountains for just one day. We were nearing the end of the trip so my dad decided to take a picture of my brother and I so we would remember that fun hiking trip up in the mountains. Around me were lots of tall, green pine trees. It looked they could have touched the big, grayish, wet sky. It was Fall so all of the leaves on the trees were red, brown, yellow, and orange. The forest looked so pretty and very, very colorful because of all of the brightly colored leaves. Right before we got there it had been raining so there was a lot of mud. There was also a lot of rain still hanging around on the tall trees. If you looked up in the sky it was a light gray, but the bright sun was starting to peek through the dark clouds.

The wind was still swirling around everywhere. It was a cold, sharp wind. A wind that is kind of cold and mean when it touches your bare skin, it makes your nose especially cold. The rain on the trees would drop down onto me. Since it was Fall the dead leaves would also fall down on me and my brother. The rain turned the dirt into mud which made it feel squishy under my feet. Through the clouds the sun was peeking through which felt nice and warm all over my brother and I.

I could smell the dead leaves that were still hanging around on the trees, trying to stay there as long as possible. I could also smell that unique smell that lingers after a light rain. It is a very different smell, but everybody can easily identify it. The tall pine trees around me gave off a strong pine smell, one of the smells that I really like. The mud also gave off a weird mud like smell that wasn’t very pleasing to my family and I. The last smell was sweet because of the yummy trail mix I had been eating just before the picture was taken.

In the forest it was almost too quiet, but I could still here some of the birds chirping in all of the tall trees. I could also barely hear the small, wet twigs below my feet crackling and snapping. The dead, brown leaves that have already fallen off the trees were crackling and rustling on the dark, muddy ground. I could also barely here footsteps; I sat and wondered what they were while my dad took his time taking the picture. The woods were very pretty, it would have only been better if you had been there to see it!

The mall!

By Kaitie Woodmansee

In the picture me and my friends went to the mall and we took a bucket load of pictures! We went in june after school to say hi to each other and we decided to take random pictures. In this picture I thought that we were going to do crazy faces so they look pretty while I look....LIKE IM GOING TO KILL SOMEONE! Ha ha! The friends with me are Silvana and Natalie and they are awesome! I love them to death!Right before this we were taking a picture of all of us in the same postion excpet all of us are smiling! Including me! Right after this we all about died of laughter at my face! We took this picture to rememeber how much fun we had at the mall together! I like this picture because it shows our real personalities. And trust me im not going to grow up and kill people! But natalie and silvana show that thier happy (im happy too!) and i like to see that! Whenever I see this picture it makes me smile, just knowing that I have friends and they love me for who I am! Im glad I have so many positive influences in my life. Sorry back to the photo! Silvana took the photo and I dont know if you can see it but her arm goes up so thats how you can kind of tell! This photo was taken in the outside doors of maceys, since we were waiting for natalies mom to show up,unfortunatly right after we were done laughing her mom showed up and me and silvana just went to sears to try on dresses and chill out the rest of the time! It was surely a day to rememeber!

Snapshot Memory Memoir Game Time By Canyon Smith

Game Time



A picture the say a picture is worth a thousand words but much more is worth a picture than that. A Picture taken after a game, this game was a very intense game that has been won by the child in the picture, the child was me at age 11.
The season had just begun and we had our first game on Wednesday a glorious day for baseball. In this game I have never played base ball before so I had just started for the first time. I was up to bat, the Pitcher threw the ball and I hit the ball and got to first base. Next I stole second base. To make things short we won the game we had several more games after that but my two favorites were the games I was and I won M.V.P. The first game was the best game ever.
It was the bottom of the 3rd I was in right field and the ball had been hit to me I got it and I had a choice to pass it to my cut off or to throw it to first base so I decided to do that and I did that and I got the runner out. The next game was almost the same position. I was second base and the batter was up he hit a fast one and it went speeding towards me so I stuck up my glove and caught it and threw it to third to get him out. That picture was taken after the game.
The team pictures were OK but my picture was the best. In the picture was me standing in my baseball uniform with my cap. My uniform consisted of the best materials that were polyester. My cap was normal cap material. My long hair stuck out of the cap and curled around itself. The taste of bubble gum was very strong with a slight taste of blue Gatorade. The sight of the light brown haired goatee camera man with his Nikon 300 camera. The felling of my baseball bat in my hand and my tight baseball pants. The very strong smell of garbage. I believe that the garbage had old food and diapers.
After the game I went to go to the K.F.C for some very delicious chicken. After that we went home to relax. After we got home I played video games. A few weeks later we got the pictures in the mail and we framed the base ball picture for every one to see.

Snap Shot Memory Hook By John Gray

One day I was rolling a round in my basement and then when I stopped and fellt on my head and I thought I was my moms hair clip and then it would not com off my head soI went to the bath room Mirror but what I sow whas a hook and so I showd my mom and she called my dad who rushed home and then he got his pliers and riped it out of my head I even did not cry and on that day my mom said that I was brave but my brother was mad and that night I was rolling a round .

on my bed and I rolled of and hit the corner of my eye on my dresser and then Ihit the floor and I did not fell a thing but my mom came rushing in and she looked worryed and then she woke up my dad and we went to the Hospital and they put me in a beb and then thy numbed me and started to stich and after that my dad got mad at me for sleeping so I went to bed now I can not sleep with out felling like I was falling.

Snapshot Memory- Lagoon Snapshot By Amanda Lundberg

One day my friends and I went to Lagoon for a day of fun and rides. We were having an amazing time together just laughing and cracking random jokes every few minutes. After some way fun roller coasters and some food we decided to walk across the park to some more rides. We were walking across the park when we saw one thing that caught all of our eyes: a photo booth. We all ran toward it and decided that we would all chip in a dollar to buy some photos. We got in the photo booth, and just started randomly smiling or making faces. Unfortunately for us, the photo booth didn’t say when it was going to take pictures, so we didn’t know what any of them would look like!

My picture I cherish! It’s one of my prized possessions! I keep it in my room on a little picture holder and every time I think of it I get back amazing memories. The picture was taken in black and white, and in it were my friends Marie, Cami, and Lucy. I was also in the picture. I was in the front making some sort of face with my mouth open, Lucy was to the right smiling, Marie was to the left smiling, and Cami was hiding behind us laughing.

I had never been in a photo booth before, so this was a fun experience. And what made it one of the best experiences of my life was that my three best friends were sitting right beside me. Well, they were sitting sort of right under me… that was one small photo booth! We were all squished in there but we made the best of it, and it was SO fun just laughing at ourselves while we were sitting all over each other and making faces! All I can say is SO FUN!

Once we got out of the photo booth, we immediately started laughing our heads off! We looked at the pictures and decided who would get which picture which mine ended up being the one that you see right now. We cut them on the lines in between the pictures a couple days later and split them up between us. Four friends, four pictures. That worked out perfectly!

Now each of my friends has one of the pictures taken at that magic photo booth. All the time we time we talk about our fun trip to Lagoon in May, and how glad we are that we took about five minutes and four dollars to get a memory that would last forever!

Every time any of us looks at one we remember that absolutely amazing day we all had at Lagoon… friends forever!

Snapshot Moment Memoir A Perfect Day By: Alexis Godfrey

It was a perfect day, the wind blowing gently through our hair, the relaxing scent of rain and fresh cut grass, an autumn day so very, very perfect. We climbed to the top of the hill, racing and playing simple little games. When we reached the top we fell to the ground in complete exhaustion, and then one by one we flew down the hill. Rolling one way and then the other, rolling down the hill like racecars on a track. When we finally reached the bottom we laughed, laughed at our childish ways. We were dizzy; it felt as if the world was spinning right in front of our faces. We all fell over in our dizziness, but not once did we stop laughing.

Then out of nowhere some more of our friends came to join in, our friend’s Skylar and Kristian to be exact. We all laid on the grass using our backpacks for pillows and protection. We watched the gray clouds form overhead, seeming as though they were putting our little city in a cage, trapping everyone inside, and the rain falling in a slow yet somehow happy rhythm. We giggled and smiled as each, of the little raindrops hit our faces, and as we attempted to catch the pure rain drops falling. We talked and talked and talked until we were soaked to the bone. As we got cold we decided it was probably time to go.

We trampled along through the wet soggy grass making loud “slosh slosh” sounds with each and every step. We sang songs we had learned many years ago in grade school sitting in desks that are a fourth of the size of us now. We walked to Carl’s Jr. and ate food we ate a lot of food. It seemed as though we were never going to get full. We had nearly ten hamburgers. We left as the restaurant seemed to overflow with customers coming from every entrance of the store, ordering their food and laughing at us “youngsters” being free. We then we went back to our dearest friend Orenda’s house, we watched Pokémon for a while, and then slept on her floor. We all separated around six o’clock for it was time for every one of us to return to the drain of life. Doing chores, and worrying about school.

September 9, 2008 was one of the best days of my life. A day when I completely forgot about all of the worries in my life and the world, a day to relieve all of your stress, and make you feel care free, no stress, no worries, and definitely no problems. Definitely something I won’t forget anytime in the near or far future. Days like this really make me appreciate the life I have, and the friends that I have to fulfill the empty space in it, make me want to go on living to have many more moments I have with the people I care about most.

Snapshot Moment Memoir Disneyland memories by: Emma Kjar

It was February 2008. Our family had planned a vacation to go Disneyland over presidents day weekend. We had already been there for about 4 days and this was going to be the last day in California. All the sisters wanted to ride the Matterhorn for one last time and then go to California Adventure to ride some rides there. It was finally our turn to sit down in the ride and we were very excited. When We got all situated with my sister in the back, my sitting in her lap, and then my other sister in the seat in front of us, we just had to wait for our car to start up the mountain for the ride to begin.
My sister in front, Sarah, decided while we waited we should take a picture. She held it up high so we could all fit in it and clicked the button. The flash went off and we were about to look at it when we all the sudden heard the loud “clicking” of our car heading up the “mountain” and that’s when we knew the ride was starting. Sarah quickly put her camera away so it would fly out of her hands while the ride was going. We had an amazing time on the ride and this picture brings back way too many amazing memories!!!

Snap Shot of My Sister

This blog may sound a little corny, but it's true that my sister is my HERO!! The photo is of her. She's in the navy. I'm proud of that. I never would have know she would join the navy. Would you? HUH!!


Sorry some times I think your laughing at this, so I yell. But it's true. She's in the navy and doing well. First few weeks and she became the captain of her cabin. Wow right? WRONG!! Next week she was asked to be in the Honor Guard!! That was unexpected, right? I thought so. She sent us a picture of her in her uniform and that was amazing. She was not able the team. That was a bummer. She's still in the navy though. I'm happy about that.

So far she is doing pretty good. But she has those hard times as everyone does. I think that she may by lying for the sake of my parents not worrying about her. I worry for her all the time. Though i don't think I need to. I think she's doing fine. I'm sure there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of her. I wish she would come home.

Snapshot Memoir Moment-Miraculous Seashells (Sample '07) By Alex Wilkinson

“Hey, look at this seashell I found guys!” I said on the hot, humid day my family went to the beach in Florida. We were hunting for the most “Awesomest” seashells we could find. We had bucketfuls of seashells. Large and small, dry and slimy, Weird Shaped and regular shaped, miraculous ones and just ordinary ones.

We had been wanting to go to the beach all trip and when my parents finally gave in, we hurried and got into our swimming suits and were off. We got to the beach and realized that we had to walk along this forever long, winding, deranging path. In order to get to the good part of the beach, most of the beach was rocky and very unfriendly looking.

At the beach, I could smell the saltiness of the ocean and feel the sand sliding between my toes. The sand was so soft I wanted to dive into it. I raced to the tide and got my hands and feet wet.
Then me and my brothers, Conner and Nathan, decided to build a fort right where the tide came in to see if it could survive the tide. We got our fort really big and when the first big tide came in, we were racing just to keep it standing. The fort was falling apart and we were just dumping more and more wet, damp sand on it, hoping that that would do the trick, and help our fort to survive.

Soon we had kids from all over the beach coming and helping us. We were getting the smooth sand all over us and one time I actually decided to be a protective wall of the fort till we could get it rebuilt. I dove in front of it and used my body to protect it.

After we could no longer keep our fort alive, we decided to build a river going back into the ocean. Since there is water deep in the sand, when we dug deep enough the river filled itself. The river was all over the place, going this way and that; it was windy, jagged, shallow in some parts, deep in others, bumpy and smooth. We put rocks in some parts of the river to make rapids. Then we took the lightest seashells that we could find and sent them down the river to see, if they could make it all the way to the end. Some never made it and sunk, but others made it all the way through and withstood our raging river.

The sun stole all my energy away, like a robber steals somebody’s jewelry. So, I plopped down and rested, and inadvertently tanned. As soon as my very energetic siblings had gotten tired too, we went on our way back up the long, winding, never ending trail. Midway we decided to take a picture, just to remember the day and all the fun, sandy, hot, and splashy memories.