Family Folklore by Sydney Martinez

It was a day unlike any other. It was an epic day, the day a six year old girl would get her first puppy. Of course she dreamed of a tiny white fur-ball named Fluffy, a dog that she would cuddle and brush all day long. But that’s not what she got.

It was the year of 2001. A mother, a father, and four young girls went to look at a puppy. The puppy was everything this six year old girl had dreamed of. She was tiny, and white, and fluffy, and so cute that this six year old girl would choose it over her baby sister. Everything was going well, the puppy loved the girls, and the mother adored this puppy, but the father, the crazy psychotic father said, “No.” He thought the dog would grow too big. So, the mother, the father, and the four young girls set out on the never-ending hunt for the perfect puppy.

Puppy number two. This lovely family of six was on their way to visit puppy number two. This puppy, he, was a German Pinscher. Now, this puppy, as you may have noticed, was not a girl. It was not fluffy and it was not white. It was not what this six year old girl wanted.

As soon as the family stepped in the door they heard yapping. It was coming from the small red-brown puppy standing at their feet. Little did they know, this obsessed-with-barking dog would soon be theirs.

The ride back to the family’s home wasn’t bad, just the worst day of this six year old girl’s life. This was not the puppy this little girl wanted, but it was a puppy. A boy puppy and not fluffy and not white, but it was a puppy. It was loud and absolutely insane, but it was a puppy. It was a puppy, and if this little girl looked at it just right, she thought he was pretty cute.

When the family got home, they put the tiny yapping puppy in the backyard. The four young girls were magnetic to their new puppy, and followed. Of course as they romped and played, the four little girls began to adore the puppy. His name, they decided, would be Hunter.

During the tremendously straining exercise of chasing the small girls around the yard, the puppy caught a glimpse of something. They were purple and flying out behind one girl as she ran. It was her pants.

Hunter ran so fast after those pants everything stopped moving. He positioned himself, and then leaped. Like a hungry bear, he bit the pants, and¼pulled.

Down went the pants and “AHHHHHHHHH!!!” went the girl. The little girl ran around and around the yard, but so did the puppy. His iron jaws were locked on those pants. He was not, I repeat, was not going to let those pants go.

This odd moment soon ended and the puppy went back to his normal business. It was like nothing happened, except to the girl. She was scarred for life.

Family folklore Melanie Ririe

Bears in the tent!!

All the young woman in my stake go to girls camp every year, we go up to our stakes property and camp there for three days. We’ve gone up to the stakes property every year that it seems like déjà. A new year doesn’t create new memories just old ones repeated. Except for last year.

Last year was like a new dream in the same setting, but this time the dream became a nightmare. We arrived to our camp site Wednesday morning and started to get everything set up, tents, kitchen, and the schedule for the weekend. We had our first meeting in the amphitheater and as usual it was about the rules and regulations, by the time the meeting was over it was dinner time so my ward headed back to our camp site. We cooked the best dinner ever; it tasted so good that my taste buds jumped out of my mouth! The stake leaders called another meeting in the amphitheater, which was confusing because they had already gone over everything like it was the army… or so we thought.

The stake leaders introduced a big tall giant man who looked like he had just go off the couch after watching a soap opera, and was mad because we called to interrupted his TV program. He was wearing a forest rangers uniform, ah oh! Were we too loud, did we pick wild flowers illegally, what did we do wrong? So he goes on and on about how dangerously common bears were in this part of the forest. Wait, what there are bears! Big mean dangerous bears who want to kill us! Pack up the tent I’m out of her.

The ranger went on about all the precautions we have to take with the bears and what to do if you see one, make all the noise possible and don’t run away, when the bear is out of site call the forest ranger. This guy was not convincing at all that the forest rangers could help us he was just some guy asked to talk to the girls’ camp so they wouldn’t freak out.

My ward headed back to Fort 8th ward where the army lived. Tim, my leader’s husband was ahead of all of us and arrived first to find a big brown bear eating our dinner we fixed out of the garbage! “Hey, hey, hey!” was the noise he chose to scare the away the bear. This particular bear was very skittish that “hey, hey, hey!” was all the noise needed to scare it. So we called the ranger, but this time he was already up there so really all we had to do was scream “RANGER!”

Now the situation was not so good, we had hungry bear trying to eat us…and our garbage! We decided to stay up there that night because we just got up there we couldn’t just leave besides the bear was really skittish so he wouldn’t hurt us. We went over one more time what not to do with a bear around… the most important was no food in the tents! That would attract the bear.

The next day we had no bear trouble, but it wasn’t over yet. The rangers had dogs running around trying to find the bear so they could capture it, and we were instructed to get in tents or cars if we see a dog running….. Because the bear might be near by. Ahhhhhhh! Near by? Bear? So that night we met in the amphitheater and preformed our skits. In the middle of our performances a dog came running through, so… we headed to our tents. My ward squished into one big tent and made as much noise as possible, I lost my voice I was being so loud. Then the trouble came, the bears they were in my wards camp site! Not one, no not two bears… three bears! In our camp site! Now these bears were not so skittish like the other bear these bears were in for the food and were not leaving with out some. So we yelled and kicked up dirt and banged poles against the trees, we were so loud you’d think there was an earthquake.

We were not well physically and mentally to stay up their so we just hoped in the cars and left with what we had. We were going up the next day to recover all our other stuff we didn’t in the rush out of there. From this point there were no more bears so the story ends here… but one more thing, when we arrived to clean up our tents and belongings the stake took us over to their tent and showed us the enormous paw prints on them, obviously from the big mean bears in our tents.

family folker by: Susana Aguero

Imagine your self in a school that you know ever person their. Tell one day that your parents ask for you to go in their room and tell you that we are moving. That is what happen to me and I was in 4th grade just a few weeks for the school year to end I know how you guys would feel if that were to happen to you, and I don’t know if that’s happen before to you, I have no idea what’s going on in your life. That occurred a few years ago.

Changing schools is very hard, when you have been in the elementary school for ever I mean 4 years having friends and knowing them sins the 1st grade. That was a big change in my life. The change came really fast something that I didn’t want to happen. The school year begun in my new school every thing was difficult I didn’t know anybody. Tell one day a boy came up to me and asked me if I needed any help with my work. His name was William Lu; he was being very nice to me. He was the first friend in the new school that I had to attend. During lunch a few girls came up to me and William when we were eating our lunch of cores. The girls asked me for my name “Susana” I said. I said to myself I think William knows them he started to talk to one of the girls tilling them that I was know to the school this year. Hey I think I noticed so where you from, one of the girls are asked me. I told them that I was here (Las Vegas) but that I only had moved from cities which it wasn’t that big of a change. I lived in some where in east Las Vegas and then I moved to North Las Vegas. Some weeks passed by I started to hang out with the girls it was pretty cool ones I started to know them better. One of the girls that I used to hang out with was a girl named Wendalina but she preferred Wendy, she was a really good friend, we hanged out even after school my mom knew her mom which was really nice.

Wendy’s family loved camping or just go out to explored whatever was around them one day (it was a weekend) Wendy calls me on the phone and says if it possible if I can go to a place called valley of fire and I said holed on let me ask my dad. I got back on the phone and told her “My dad said if my brother and sister can go yes.” Wendy said okay no problem ill pick you up tomorrow in the morning, because it’s going to be hot very hot. So we went and we had the best time ever. It was the first time I went there so we had to stick together in case some thing would happen we would be all in one place. We returned home and it was about 5:30p.m. My dad was amazed we had fun.
P.S. I was about 10 years old back than.

One morning my dad was getting ready to go out with a friend all day. My mom shouted out “what” like a ocean wave. She finally said all right, he lift and wasn’t home all day. The next day passed and we resaved a call and it was my dads friend I t was bad news on the other lined my dads friend said your dad got pulled over and got a DUI it was horrible and I wasn’t with him when that happened. My mom didn’t want to say any thing to me but I sooner found out when I no test that my dad wasn’t home I think I know what happened.

Family Folklore by Chelsea Case

My family is just not an ordinary family we love to go out and experience many things that we can do. My amazing family prefers mostly to make jokes. When all of us are together mostly my aunt and my dad they could come up with the most hilarious jokes ever. The jokes my dad and aunt make up are so funny they can make you laugh so hard you will taste your wet salty tears for hours. When my dad, my uncles and my coolest aunt ever named Karen was little they grew up in Taylorsville Utah when there was only not more than fifteen houses built. When my aunt Karen, and my uncles were growing older, like pen writing on a blank sheet of paper. My aunts and uncles and my dad of course started helping my grandma and grandpa with their 1918 ford model T.
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which I can say was very awesome looking. My grandma and her sister betty helped build the model t by bending the all the metal like the copper and gold to make it. While in the mean time my grandpa was designing how he would want it built. When my grandpa Wayne and my grandma Loretta were starting to get done with this jumbo metal wagon they decided to put wicked animals creatures all over the sides of it. But the model T had stained glass windows to detach all of the scary suns bright light shining through. Then my grandpa made it into a popcorn wagon which they named the coolest name ever it was Loretta’s foods which was not name after my grandma it was named after her mother. At Loretta’s foods they sold coffee snow cones, soft drinks and especially large amounts of the jumbo popcorn they made with their popcorn maker. My dad ,my aunt ,and my uncles would go help my grandma and my grandpa over at the salt flats where all of the gigantic famous most amazing races were at. For about four times a years for seven years my granparents would also go to California with there model t as well. The greatest people in the world are my grandparents. They would ride a smooth ride to parkkcity in there famouse new ride the modle t and my grandma made most of the grand children work started working in the modle t selling many of the items they had mad with there bare hands.
The big and amazing modle t was in many different parades. especially in the christmam parade and in one of the giagantic parades the modle t took first place. then it was in the bountiful parade, midvale and my gradparents would go to the parks and sell the customers who wanted to have a drink or maybe a large snack. The funniest thing about having the model t was my grandma and her sister put a manican in the front seat of tjhe modle t and he look like was an old man that had skin that looked like a potatoe cooked in the microwave. when my family was selling the foods in the back, people would go up to the manican and start to talk to him thinking he was a real person until one of the people fugured out he was not even close to being a real life organsim. then there was this one lady who probably been talking to him for about an hour and then she went up to my grandma and said that man does not talk much! my grandma had the biggest grin on her face like a watermelon cut in half.

Back then my family before they had the disput they would play bad mitten,go horseback riding,walking on stilts,they would do horshoes,and kick the can. When the family and friends get together to have family reunions and parties a couple of people would always ask about the famous model T and then one day my grandma ran into one of her old friends back then that used to always help with the model T and they would always ask about it even if it looked dumpy and never worked. That is when my family would have fun together and not argue over something stupid so I suggest be close to your family and not take any thing personal because if you do you might just lose a loved one and then the whole family would separte and it would just be a mess. It would be an echosystem because if you lose one famly member then the population starts to dim down.

Family Folklore by: Brittney Golder

One day, my family went to my grandparent’s house to help out in the yard. The yard was as big as zoo! They wanted us to move this wood pile that was as big as six elephants put together. They also wanted to have us plant their garden that was as big as a crowd on the 4th of July. My grandparents also wanted us to mow their gigantic lawn!

We first got started on the wood pile that was as big as six elephants put together. My grandma wanted us to move this big wood pile into the back yard. So, that meant we had to move this wood across this big zoo. But, we eventually got it all moved into the back yard and had it looking good.

We then got started on the garden that was as big as a crowd on the 4th of July. We first had to till the garden to get the dirt soft so we could plant the seeds. Now tilling the garden took a really long time, but soon enough we had it complete and it was time to plant the seeds. My grandma wanted us to plant tomato, pumpkin, and corn seeds. There was so many rows of seeds we had to plant it seemed like we would never finish, but we got it finished.

We finally got to mowing the lawn that was as big as a zoo. Thankfully, my grandpa had a mower you could sit on and so you wouldn’t have to work as hard to get the lawn mowed. It took us forever to mow the zoo, but we finished.

Once we finished everything we were so hungry we could have all eaten ten elephants. Everyone decided that we would have a barbeque! It seemed like it took forever to cook the food. Finally the food finished cooking and we got to eat.

We then visited for awhile after we ate our food. My grandma then said, why don’t we have a fire in the fire pit outside. Of course everybody wanted a fire. I volunteered to get the fire started.

Once the fire was going it was as big as a giraffe! We had marsh mellows to cook and chocolate to put on graham crackers with the marsh mellows. We also made banana boats. It was so much fun after all the hard work we just did.

We stayed up for hours telling scary stories and some were happy ones too. My grandpa told us a story about Sasquatch and big foot. We were all so scared!!! Unfortunately I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night. My grandma told us a story that seemed to relate to our family, it was a good story for her just to make up.

It got really late and so my mom said we should go home so we weren’t too tired tomorrow! We cleaned up our campfire mess and said our goodbyes.

Family Folklore By Dallin Western

One time when my family was at Lava Hot springs. We go there every year but this time we were staying for over a week. So after a Little bit it started to get so boring I was going to throw myself into the camp fire. I wanted to make it fun again I started to try new things, like I did a back flip of a ten foot brig. jump off a 15 foot water fall catch a poisons snake. Doing all this took about half a day. Just like me my family was getting broad too. So the next day me and my family went to the water park there. They have a fifty foot high dive and I was still broad so I was going to go crazy on the high dive so I got my family together and told them we should go jump off. they said no so I went alone. There were three platforms and I did a front flip off the first one. The did a back flip off the second. Then I did a gainer off the top and on the way down I was having so much fun I thought I was going to puke. then I opened my eye's the water was maybe five feet away and the was not done with the flip. I landed in the water head first and it was the like lighting your hair on fire. Half the rest of the trip I stayed in bed. when I was in bed half my family did a gainer off the top.

Family Folklore By Mariah Najera

People don't see me for who I am now, they see me as who I was. I have had a lot of bad things happen to me in my life, but I could always find something good out of it. I believe things happen for a reason, and if the things that I have gone through in the past never happened I don't think I would be here. I have seen a lot of violence in my life towards me and the people I loved and cared about. I always find a way to make me or other people happy. One of the best moments of my life was when I meet the most wonderful person in my world. Mia, She is the person I can count on to be there for me, She has changed me in so many ways that I couldn't thank her for, She is just simply amazing to me, I don't think I could live without her. So the day I first meet her was in 7Th grade in Mrs Matthews English Class. She was alone in that class and so was I. I first talked to her in the library and that made my day ever since we have been inseparable. That day was the best. Then like a year later we were still best friends. The ultimate best day of my life was actually not just a day it was a week, The best week of my life. I was with Mia we walked to the mall it took at least two years to get there. Before we went to the mall we went to the most scary town ever, to get Ice cream. It was so cold we got frost bite form taking one bite.

We were there for about an hour frozen like Popsicles. Then we had been in the sun for so long we melted while we waited for the mall to open. As we walked we say at least three dollars on the ground. Yeah. I yelled. We walked a little farther and we were there. We ran across the road to get to the other side and as we ran I tripped and fell. I got right back up and ran again. We had so much fun even the clowns were jealous, but I don't see who isn't jealous. We both ate and bought like so much stuff not even a Wal-mart truck couldn't take all of the stuff we bought. We were like so happy that even the happiest rainbow couldn't be as happy as us. After the mall closed we left and had to walk are super long walk like like took two years.

That night me and Mia had a sleep-over that was fun too. We slept for 2 minuets. The day that was coming would be my birthday, So we got ready to go to a concert then go chill with some friends. As we got ready Mia flew the hair straightener at me after burning herself on accident the straightener. . But that was a funn weekend for me.

Family Folklore by Boston Hatch

It was the summer of 2008. Me, my brother, my sister, and my dad were going to Sea World with Grandpa and Patty. (Our step-grandma) We packed all our stuff and got ready to go. After we loaded everything into the car, we were off. After about two hours, I was so bored I made a prisoner look like someone vacationing in Hawaii. I wanted to sleep to pass the time but I wasn't at all tired. We stopped at Burger King and got some Whopper Jr's. and then we were on the road again. My desire for an iPod was as great as the need for water on a hot summer day after you've skating for three hours.

Eventually the sun decided to take a nap and so it crept behind the clouds and it was night. I was finally starting to get tired. I could only imagine how badly my dad wished he could sleep. Poor dad. After a long day, I fell asleep.

I heard my dad waking me up. "Boston, get up." I hate being woken up from my sleep.

"What time is it," I asked in a tired voice.

"It's ten. Come inside and see Grandpa and Patty before you go to sleep."

I slowly got up, got my stuff out of the trunk and walked to the front door. By now my tiredness was exceedingly impertinent. All I could think of was that inviting bed in the guest room. I was so tired I made a slave after a long day look like someone who has been asleep for sixteen days. After I was finally done saying hi to my grandparents, I slipped into the guest room bed and fell asleep instantly.

The next morning we all got up at eight. The one thing I hate about going to visit my grandparents is we always have to get up early. We ate breakfast and got in the car.

***

We pulled up to Sea World. Looking at all the rides and attractions made us want to get out of the car and go to them but we had to get all our stuff and get ready. First everyone put on sunblock, then we all took a water bottle and some food. Finally we were ready to go. We walked up to the front booth and bought our tickets then went on the Journey To Atlantis roller coaster. It was so fun, it made four-wheeling look like school. After that, we went to the pool where there's a bunch of starfish and blow fish and stuff. We went on more and more rides and saw more attractions and decided to eat dinner at the Shipwreck Cafe. The sun was starting to get tired and eventually decided to take a nap. It was time to go back to Grandpa and Patty's.

***
We had a good rest of the vacation at Grandpa and Patty's. It was time to go back home.

Family Folklore By: Rebecca Park

Once upon a time, not to long ago and in a land not at all far away, there lived a little girl named Marie. She lived with her mother, her brother, and her father. Marie also lived with three dogs, a bird and a cat. The bird would wake the family up every morning, and the dogs would welcome the family home every night. As a little girl Marie was just like her hair; bright as the sun. Her life like her hair was bathed in sunshine. But something happened to the sun when Marie started to grow up, the sun started to go dark. It was flickering out. The sun left Marie’s life, just as the gold of her hair abandoned her as well.

What made the sun leave was her father. His heart, once loving and playful, became self-centered stone. He became so unpredictable mean at times that everyone, even the dogs, would hide when he came home from work. He would yell or swear when things didn’t go his way. Though he acted like a child, he was a man strong enough to enforce what he wanted. Marie’s mother was made to do all the work, to take care of the kids. To Marie, her brother lost his own will; he would do what ever his father wanted even if he had objections.
In these dark times, Marie lost her golden white hair. It became as dark as her life. But Marie still stood strong, even though she was dying in side. Whenever Marie became too forlorn to keep the tears back, her cat would comfort her. She would listen to Marie’s complaints without comment other then her purrs. The cat would cuddle with Marie when she didn’t want to be alone in the darkness of her room and despair. If the cat didn’t the dogs did. They all understood that a storm cloud had hidden the sun from sight.

This dark time when on for years.

Marie became used to the sorrow. She would go to school, come home, do homework, and then go to sleep. Her life was empty. Though Marie had become numb to her life, she still dreaded going home to her father. He had only gotten worse over the years. His heart was now not only stone, but it was also frozen. Marie hated the long drive from school to home; it was an hour long drive. Every minute her qualms got worse. Like I said, she hated it.

Then Marie did something that set a chain of events into action.

She told her mom that she hated going home and didn’t want to do it anymore.

By that time Marie’s mother was sleeping in her room to evade her husband. She was scared of him, and she was angry at him for too many things to count. Marie’s mother was ready to leave as well. The only thing that delayed them was Marie’s birthday. Marie and her mother decided to wait until Marie was twelve.

A few days after her birthday, Marie and her mother took off. They left with everybody watching. The dogs, the cat, the brother, and the father. The father tried to stop them from going, but gave up when he saw that it was no use; they were gone already. One dog accompanied Marie and her mother, so that they wouldn’t get lonely. The next time they came back to get more of their stuff, the first thing Marie took was her cat. The cat was scared senseless, she had thought that Marie had abandoned her, but here she was taking her to a new home that was an intimidating mystery. But the cat soon came to love her new home.

So, after this groundbreaking turn of events for the family, Marie’s life started looking bright again. Though she had lost her child hood home and her brightly shining hair, she was elated to be away from the source of her fear for so many years. But what she didn’t know was that the father’s game had hardly begun.

For the next three years, the courts would decide the family’s future.

The End

Family Folklore By: Analee Meyer

It was in the year 1952, my Grandfather was 18 years old. He was living with his parents and two sisters in a little mining town called Bingham Canyon, Utah, He was working eight hours a day for Kennecott, as mechanic. He was paid a thousand dollars a week for working the big off road dirt hauling dump. He was so strong he could do the work of five men. He could lift a whole motor out one of these trucks all by himself and replace it with a new one in just three hours, including coffee breaks. When the trucks needed new tires they always celled my Grandfather to do it. He would lift the truck up on blocks and could change the tires faster than a NASCAR pit crew. Times where rough for his mom and pop and two sisters, but he took good care of them.. Keeping the house repaired their cars running and food on the table.

One day my Grandfather’s took his good high school buddy named Miles Clark, dragging state street in his 36 cope roadster. That drive changed his life forever. On this particular day my grandfather looking so cool and hot with duck tail hair cut his muscles bulging at the seams of his black leather jacket.

Miles was eager introduce my grandfather to his girlfriend Donna’s sister named Ellen. After showing my Grandfather her picture in the swimsuit edition of Hot Rod Magazine. My grandfather became very excited at the opportunity to meet Ellen.

They immediately left for the little town of called Fruita, Utah, were Ellen and Donna lived.

It was well known by all through out Utah that his hot rod 36 cope roadster could out run any of the police cars in Utah. So they never got pulled over for speeding. It would take most people 6 hours to drive to little town of Fruita. My Grandfather and his friend made it in just 4hours .

Ellen and her mother were sitting under a nice shady tree, peeling peaches when my Grandfather and his friend pulled up to their house. You know some, people don’t believe in love at first sight. But when my Grandfather looked at Ellen for the very first time, the birds in the trees gathered around started sing in harmony. The tree branches started to sway to the music as the bees began buzzing aswwet background harmony. The smell of fresh peaches filled the air. As she slowly turned and looked into his eyes. He knew it was love. That this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his live with. The immediately stated dating and were married on February 4, 1955.

Ellen and my grandfather where quite excited when theyhad their first child. It was 1956 when we reccived our daughter, Patricia. their seconed child, Jane, was born in 1958 and our last child, who was named after him (Bill), was born in 1960. The family life was wonderful and was filled with many new and exciting adventures. He enjoyed being home with his wife and kids. I admired the way Ellen always took care of the family when I was away, and the great person she was. they had burdens and struggles during these years, but Ellen always made them lighter.

Family Folklore by Brittany Atkin

It was the first day of summer, bright, sunny, hot, beautiful, and felt like a fresh start. Fourth grade had just ended and i was going onto fifth at a new school. I wasnt too excited because the thought of being the new girl didnt seem like much fun. New friends was a bright idea but wasnt all that great, my old friends were amazing, they were the best friends i could ever have, but that all came to an end when i heard i had to move. Summer felt amazing, my goal was to make it the best summer ever. Swimming, camping, hanging out, hiking, dancing, and so much more seemed like the best summer ever.

My friend Devin had just called and told me to come over to her place to hang out, i put my flip flops on and walked to her house. My mom wasnt home when she called but i went over anyway. When i got over to Devins my other friends Tiger and Lexi were already over there. After about two hours of sitting around the house, playing video games and watching t.v. we got pretty bored so we decided since it was such an awesome day we should go outside and play tag. The sprinklers had been going for a while and the grass was slippery so we had to be careful when we ran so we wouldnt slip and get hurt. Devins house was on a slight hill and was pretty steep but didnt seem like a problem. When we got outside we did the whole one two three not it thing and luckily i wasnt it. As i was running from Lexi i completely forgot i was wearing flip flops. I was running down the hill and slipped from my flip flops getting all wet. I fell pretty far and landed on a mailbox(how lucky). It seemed like i passed out for a minute or so and when i came to i started laughing, but something seemed wrong. Everyone was staring at me with a weird look on their face like they just saw a pig fly. Suddenly i felt a huge sharp pain in my wrist like a shark had just attacked me and rip[ped something completely out. I slowly got up but when i looked down to my wrist it was touching my arm all floppy like, it was so bad it was like a fish out of water. Suddenly i realized i had just broken my wrist, you could obviously tell it was broken from how i landed.

Devin walked me into her house, neither of her parents were home and same with mine. Devin rushed to the bathroom faster than a tornado and grabbed a splint from when she sprained her arm. She wrapped it around my wrist and let me call my mom. My mom rushed home faster than anything in the world, you would have thought she was going faster than light from how short it took her to get home. My mom drove to the hospital with my like a maniac. She kept asking me if i was okay every five seconds. It drove me insaine everytime i told her yes and with her following answer of are you sure.

When we got to the hospital my mom was speaking at about five thousands miled per hour to the doctor of how i needed to be seen right away. After about five minutes but what seemed like a lifetime the doctor called my name. My mom dragged me by my other arm that wasnt hurt into the x-ray room. The room was so dark it seemed like a cave. The doctor told me to put my arm on the x-ray table so i did. The doctor kept doing all this weird stuff with my arm like he was trying to find where i broke it but just seemed like a complete lunatic and had no idea what he was doing. Finally after like twenty minutes he preped the machine and moved my wrist in a certain way. The way he had my wrist was terrible. The pain was so excruciating i felt like i could just die right there. The doctor took five pictures with five painful different ways and sent me to the waiting room. The room was really weird, it had random pictures of firetrucks all over the place, it looked like crazy painter had walked in and splashed random spots of red paint everywhere.
After about ten minutes of waiting, the doctor came in with some weird supplies and my x-rays. From how it looked, it was definately broken. The doctor grabbed this weird foam stuff that was like bubble wrap and placed it over my arm tightly. I could have punched that doctor right there for grabbing my arm like that, he could have ripped it off by grabing it that hard. I flinched when he put it on and he asked sarcastically if i was okay. The doctor finished casting my arm and sent me on my way. As i walked outside it was still nice, beautiful, warm and smelt like barbeque partys. It was the first day of summer, supposed to be the greatest summer of all, swimming, hiking, vacations, staying out late, rock climbing, it all seemed so perfect. And then i felt a huge pain in my arm like i had just been stabbed by a fork in the wrist and reality all came back to me, i broke my arm, the summer was ruined. Although my summer seemed terrible, i still got to go swimming because the doctor luckily gave me a waterproof cast. The only bad thing about getting it wet was it itched more than anything in the world. It felt like i had ten thousand mosquios trapped inside my arm, stinging, biting and scratching.
I could go on forever about this but to sum it up, i ended up attacking my cast and took it off. I felt so relieved to have it off, i walked downstairs and immediately my mom freaked out and took me again to the hoispital to get another cast. Moral of the story? Dont do stupid things, they just get you to do more stupid things and pretty soon you will find yourself in a huge pile of things you regret that go up to your neck.

Family Folklore by William Nguyen

There was a day, it was a sunny day like the kinds you see on Mercury or whatever. My family and I went to Lagoon and it was like a 40 hour drive and I almost died of starvation by the time we got there. When we got there, I saw the Colossus and it was like as tall as the Empire State Building. There were so many people there it could fill a football stadium 4 times! We went in and the lines were longer than the Nile and it took sometimes days of waiting just to get to one ride. Our first one was the Haunted House and that was pretty scary. I saw someone get a heart attack just from going through that and I almost died when everything jumped out at me. We went from ride to ride expriencing the thrills and spills of the day. When we went on the Wicked the starting almost flew me off and the fall was as scary as...falling. We went swimming at Laggon beach where the water was hot enough to boil an egg and it almost scalded me.
Later that day, we ate a giant meal that would've fed a bear and we had so much fun that i could've died from happiness right there. It was the funnest day in my life and I had tons of fun.

Family Foklore by Daryl Gustafson

One weekend in April, my whole family was going camping. My 5 year old brother was so excited; he could make a person who just won a million dollars look sad! He loves Star Wars so much he could act out all the movies and not mess up once. My other brothers told him that we were going to a battlefield JUST like the one in the movie. He packed his toys and stuffed his backpack so full, it would blow up! We all thought we were going to stay for 4 days, so we packed enough stuff to last us 4 days. Except for food, we probably packed enough food to last us a year! Packing all that stuff into the trailer was deadly! We worked as hard as slaves doing that. It took forever! But finally, after all of our slave work was done, we were off! The drive was like driving to china! It was about a billion miles until we reached our destination. Finally, after the longest, most boring drive ever, we arrived in Moab. It was about 9:00 at night and we were so tired, we made everyone and everything around us sleepy. And to add onto torture, we hadn't eaten a meal since the Last Supper! We got out of the car and suddenly, without any warning, it started pouring rain like little daggers out of the sky! My dad tried to set up the tent as fast as a cheetah, but it was more like as fast as a snail! My mom and my brothers were sitting in the car like chickens. Then the daggers turned to guns, shooting us with tiny bullets. All the animals around got scared and went inside their homes to hide from the fast falling rain. When the tent was finally set up, the coldest snow in the universe started to fall! But we were troopers and slept through the freezing cold night in our warm sleeping bags; with snow falling and burying us under 1,000 feet of snow.
The next morning, we got up and the sun on the snow was blinding! The cold snow was melting, fast under our feet and turning to quicksand. We quickly set up our chairs on a rock, away from the deathly mud and started a fire to keep us warm. It did for all of breakfast. We ate our pancakes like a squirrel storing nuts. We were bundled up like Eskimos! Each of us had on at least a winter coat and 2 other jackets. Then, just as suddenly as the snow came, the sun got as warm as a fire! We were roasting around our own fire and soon enough we were in only a tee shirt and pajama pants! Surrounding the camping site, on all four sides there was a mountain range of rocks. It was very close, so close you could feel it surrounding you; it was close enough that we could explore it too! My brothers, their friends and I explored for hours! It was more beautiful than the sunset on a summer’s day.
After we were done exploring, we walked over to a part of the valley where we could see real dinosaur tracks from the beginning of time. Some of them were in plain sight but a lot of them made our eyes hurt just looking for them. But all in all, they were pretty cool. When we were walking down, we saw a snake the size of an elephant! It was huge! We attempted to walk around it but my brother got caught in the underbrush and we had to get him out. After hours of untangling and cutting, he was finally free and the snake was gone. We walked back to our tent and started to pack up, because we were not going to stay in the worst snow another night! We decided to go to another place and see if it was a little bit warmer, so we drove around, in the middle of nowhere, for another million years!
When we finally found a place to stop and eat lunch, we stopped and played in the puddles big enough so that it looked like a giant made stepped and made the puddles and they filled with rain. When lunch was ready, to our luck, it started snowing again! The weather said that it was supposed to be 70­ degrees but it turns out they saw us coming and put on the snow machine! So we went home and that was the end of our “Moab in April” days!

Family Folklore by Jordyn Hansen

I sat in the car on my way to South Dakota. We were almost there, only half an hour left. The car ride had left me so bored that I could have seen an ant and been entertained. My Ipod had died about 3 hours ago, and I couldn't watch TV because my mom was sleeping. I couldn't sleep because I suffer from insomnia. I glanced out the window every so often, but otherwise I just stared at the seat in front of me. I learned that my car has 24 stitches on each side of the headrests, there are 17 lines on the back windshield, and so many other boring facts that won't even apply to my life in any way. I never even thought that it was possible to be that bored.



Half an hour later we arrived at my great-grandmother's house. It was family reunion time, and this year, we had to meet in South Dakota. When everyone arrived, we went to eat dinner and just chill for that night. Later we hit the sack.


That morning I awoke from the bed in my hotel room. I glanced at the clock and it was only 800
(800 is military time for 8:00 am) I opened the window and was faced with a sun that was already hotter than melted iron. I closed the window and got ready for the day. After I was ready, my family and I drove down to my grandma's (which was like 4 blocks away). We arrived and walked in smiling and ready to eat breakfast. After we ate breakfast, we went outside to go get in the pool because it was already about 85 degrees. As I walked outside and sat next to the pool, I heard that something was rattling or hissing close by. I told my uncle Rob, then he told my dad. I was to afraid to move, for fear that the snake that I heard would bite. My dad came outside with a pillow case, and had brought my cousin, and my uncle. I asked what in the world were they going to do with a pillow case. They simply told me that they were going to catch it, and that I was going to be the one to drop the pillow case on it.


I stood there, my stomach dropped to my ankles. I stuttered, wh-what!?!


But sure enough, they weren't lying. I eventually took the pillow case, and started to move very slowly. My dad, uncle, and cousin started to branch off and try to find the snake that we heard. By now I knew that it was a rattle snake because of the noise that it was making. I was so scared, I probably could have died of a heart attack right then and there. All of the sudden, my cousin whispered to me that it was right in front of him. We all started walking over to him. I started to shake as I could see that this rattle snake wasn't very happy. I opened the pillow case as wide as I could, and I knew that making a mistake could be very fatal.


I leaped next to the snake and put the opened pillow case on top of it. I could see and feel the snake thrashing about. I quickly took the pillow case and closed it so that the snake couldn't get out. My cousin picked up the pillow case, and held it closed so tight that I thought he could have been trying to wring someone's neck. Once we all settled down and the snake started to relax a little bit, for it knew that we weren't going to hurt it. My uncle took the pillow case, and we started to walk back to my great-grandmothers house. I stepped in the door and my grandmother asked why I was back inside, and not in the pool. I explained to her that I was going to get in the pool, but I got destracted. Then my cousin walked in with the pillow case, and my grandmother could tell what was in it the second that she saw it. Sh raised her voice so loud that I thought I might be deaf. She screamed for my cousin Garrett to get the snake out of the house. We all just kind of chuckled, but eventually we took it outside.

Our next thing to do was to release the snake. Since I was the fastest runner they volunteered me to go about 75 yeards from the house and let the snake go, then run back to the house. Of course, I had no say in if I would do this or not. I walked out far enough for the snake to hopefully not return. I stood there, my arms shaking. The snake was getting mad again. I took a deep breath, and dropped the pillow case, and booked it back to the house.

I arrived back at the house winded. I walked back inside and told my grandmother that I released the snake. Until this day, she is still afraid of snakes. and my uncle Rob, my cousin Garrett, my dad, and I continue to joke around with her about it. She says that she was so scared that she is surprised that she didn't have a heart attack and kill over right then and there.

Family Folklore By Mariana Alvarez

It was an exciting and happy day. Where the sun was as happy as a person winning the lottery and where the shine from the sun was blinding. I couldn’t tell whether or not to be scared of be anxious. I was walking around with a few curious friends, and we were just being average hyper active teenagers. After about ten minutes of walking around, which seemed like it was ten thousands minutes, my friends walk like snails. We finally arrive to my house like a plane landing in an airport. We were so excited. We were starving! My mother popped out from the door, and scared us to death.
Well, we walked into my home and well, my friends ran to my kitchen like starving hyenas in the deserts of Arizona. I stormed off after my friends, of more like animals. You would think that, that was their first meal of the day. They ate everything in site. But honestly my mind was somewhere else. My birthday was the next day, and I couldn’t pay attention to my friends. I was so excited I could jump over a rainbow! I was turning 13, and well I was going to become a teenager, finally!
I mean a girl’s thirteenth birthday, I couldn’t wait! So at the end of my serious yet pointless thought train, I notice there was cereal on the road outside of my house? What the? I strolled over to my friends, and ask some what politely what happened? And of course, they blamed it on Micah, that boy is a crazy coyote. I mean, a twenty year experienced animal control man couldn’t control Micah. He was “off the walls!” But I knew Micah, was the one who threw the Fruity pebbles out my window. How? He’s the one who did it the last time. After that I didn’t allow Micah aka “Crazy Coyote Boy” into my kitchen
Well, that was one of the craziest nights in my life. You wouldn’t believe half the stuff that happened. Before the cereal mess, the was a milk and water pouring on my balcony. Why? I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, to this day. Well, all I can say is Tyler the farmer who milked the cows and Micah was the cow in this situation. Then I find out my best friend Katie, is hyper off syrup. Yes syrup. Can this day be any more hyper active? I was seriously the only non- hypertensive person in my house.
Well, after all that madness, everyone let and I was as tired as a man running an 200 mile marathon. I was basically exhausted! I am not sure if I can handle that type of rodeo again. Another day where your friends are so hyper you don’t know how to control them. I guess we’ll have to see. Because tomorrows a new day, I kept telling me self that and well who knows maybe tomorrow will be like today. And of course it was my birthday. But that’s another story

family folklore by bo bennett

My dad when he went hunting, he could find any type of animal. One time when I was so little that a midget was a thing to see. He went out into the mountains to hunt but this mountain was one of the biggest, largest mountains in the whole state of Utah.

This elk that my dad was trying to get was said to be one of the record bulls. When and ordinary person saw it a said song starts to play but in my dads case it played another one bites the dust. That instant that he heard the song he knew it was his time to finally get this bull elk. In the scope that made the gun scared, it was in the cross hairs. Following the elk was one thing that made the smallest of men feel big. The animal that had those antlers of steel walked and walked it’s gone.

The chase was on he walk following all the signs. When my dad spotted one tree that the monster of monster had encountered it was push over like a bear would. I know if was their I would of been running right besides my dad. He was one who started something and made sure it got done. 3 whole days had been passed up just looking. On the 4Th day looking seemed as if it was a crime but something moved in those trees that were as puffy as the stuck up poodles that people own.

Once it came out of those trees it was on the other side of the mountains that where like waves of water one after another. It was in Wyoming but it didn't matter to my dad he wasn't giving up like a fish in a trap. He shoots a bullet that would have killed an elephant. When it dropped you heard thunder from no were. Walking over there the smoky the bear came to talk to him........

Family Folklore, By Clayton Powell

It was Febuary 27th my sisters birthday. Little Kassie I remember when she was just a little baby. Now she has so much attitude it looks like that heads going to roll off her neck. Well anyways we are going to throw her a party at my uncle's house. His house is huge it looks like the Empire State Building in New York City.

Well we go over there before everyone else me and my mom. She decided earlier that morning we were going to make a cake. We go to the Albertson's. It's so far from my uncle house it takes a century. While we were in the car I beat Pokemon Blue so many times they made Pokemon red.

We finally get there and my mom starts piling stuff into the cart soon it looms over my head like a dark cloud. I swear if it had arms it would start chasing me. Instead of me eating it it would eat me. We get all the stuff and the car starts to slowly get weighed down. It was like trying to move a man of steel the car barely moved at 5 miles per hour. We get to the house and we start making the cake.

My mom is moving as fast as Usain Bolt it's amazing soon we get the cake into the oven. One problem it doesn't fit. So we run to a volcano. We bake it there it goes really quick. We run back in time just as everyone is getting there. We open presents it's time to present the Volcanic Cake. We turn off the lights and then the cake starts to bellow lava. It is awesome. It was a masterpiece. It was so delicous everyone ate and ate till there was only a little baby crumb left.

Family Folklore by Chelsea Pexton

My family went on a vacation once. It was so long ago the dinosaurs were still around. My two cousins, two brothers, two grandmas, two aunts and I were all headed to Florida. It was so far away, the plane ride lasted for an entire week. when we got there we did hundreds of fun activities, but no one could forget the time we had at the beach house.

In the two-story beach house you can lean over the banister of the upper level and see down to the level below. One of my brothers leaned over the edge with a three four long glob of spit dangling out of his mouth. He had intended on sucking back into his mouth but just as grandma happened to walked past, it dropped straight into her hair. Everyone stood frozen solid, All but grandma who hadn't even noticed the giant loogie on her head. After what seemed like hours, she walked into another room and shut the door behind her. We all breathed in unison because we'd held our breath for all those minutes. We waited and listened and suddenly we heard a scream coming from the other room that was so loud some people back home in Utah heard it! We all ran in to one of the tiny bedrooms and hid in the closet that was so small mice in it felt claustrophobic. When my grandma finally found us we looked up at her and beheld that she was so mad her hair was on fire!

My two brothers were on the lower level and my cousins and I were on the upper level. My brothers each took their sandals off and threw them into the air and my cousins and I would lean over and try to catch them. Just as my brother threw his shoe up to us my eighty-million year old great, great, great, grandma walked underneath and with a loud boom, the flip-flop hit her right in the head!

You must understand my grandma is a strong democrat and loathes George W. Bush. If he strolled by and she happened to have a gun in her hand, she'd shoot him. He was on the television so she was already in a bad mood. After being hit in the head with a plastic sandal she was angrier than she'd ever been before. She screamed so loud that Utah noticed the strange noise again. One of my brothers flew up a flight of stirs without touching any steps, leaving the other brother downstairs with grandma where he would receive a ten-minute long lecture.

Family Folklure by Dimitri Garzarelli

One time I went to Bear Lake with my dad, my sister, and our friends. We had an awesome time. The first day we were there, we went down to the lake, it was so hot outside that I was getting close to melting. The sun was bright and shiny like a new car on a Saturday afternoon. When I walked into the water, it was like walking into a pool full of ice. But it was perfect because it was REALLY hot outside. We were telling my dad's friend to put sun block on of else he would get sun-burnt so bad that he will turn into ashes. One time I went to Bear Lake with my dad, my sister, and our friends. We had an awesome time. The first day we were there, we went down to the lake, it was so hot outside that I was getting close to melting. The sun was bright and shiny like a new car on a Saturday afternoon. When I walked into the water, it was like walking into a pool full of ice. But it was perfect because it was REALLY hot outside. We were telling my dad's friend to put sun block on of else he would get sun-burnt so bad that he will turn into ashes. He gets sun-burnt easier than paper catches on fire. After telling him to put it on for five minutes, he finally put it on. We were having so much fun swimming in the water, but I wanted to make it even better, I had my dad, and my dad's friend throw me up in the air as high as they could and I would land in the water, I was flying like a bird. Finally we walked back up to our camp ground and I looked over at my dad's friend, he was brighter than a ripe tomato roasting in a fire.

Another funny time I had with my family was when I was at my house; my cousins had been over from Portland. We were upstairs talking about scary stories that my family had experienced. Some of the things they were talking about were things that I have never heard out of all the years I have lived with them. One of my cousins was so scared that she was crying up a storm. I was heading downstairs to watch my cousin play Guitar Hero. I sat down and I heard a noise, I was thinking about the scary stories, so I turned around and right when I did, my cousin was in the air right behind me. He wasn't trying to scare me, he was just running and he went to jump on the bean bag. I scared my other cousin that was playing Guitar Hero, I scared him because I screamed so loud because I was so scared

Finally, the funniest time of my life was on Halloween. My uncle was in from out of town. He came trick or treating with me and my cousin. I was little at the time, and there was this haunted house that I wanted to go to really bad. He took us to it, it was really fun. When I got out, I was running from a guy and my uncle jumped out of a bush and scared me. Then I turned around and there was this black figure looking at us, I was scared and told my uncle to unlock the door, it took him so long so finally I ran around to the other side and jumped over my uncle that was in the drivers seat. I went up to the window and the black figure was a man dressed up in a Gorilla suit. He was looking in the window so I went up to him and was teasing him, and my uncle rolled down my window and the man reached in the car and I jumped back. It was funny.

family folklore Daniel Reyes

One hot day, during summer vacation, my family thought it would be a good idea to go to Mexico to visit family. I, however, thought it was a bad idea. I was already sweating enough to fill a bathtub, and the thought of going to a country that was know to be really hot made me start to sweat even more. Back then, I liked rap and brought some CD’s and a CD player with some batteries. We decided on going in car, it took about 3 weeks. Inside the car it was rather uncomfortable in that small car. And it smelled like something the dog left behind. We kept stopping to sleep and take a shower in hotels. Sometimes we would sleep while my dad kept on driving. After all that driving, we finally made it to my grandma’s house. After we got there, my mom and grandma started hugging and crying. There was so much tears that, together, they could fill a reservoir. Then, they told my brother and I to lug the larger than life bags into grandma’s house. Me and brother then started to talk amongst our selves about the newfound cousins, then, we decided to play our gameboys. Then, out of nowhere, came maybe two or three of the little ones coming to say hello, and bam! They see the gameboys and rush at us like a pack of wild dogs. After they take the gameboys away from like they were savages. They told us their names. Then around the fourth day I knew every single one of my cousins. Every morning, I would find my brother at aunt Antonia’s house. Aunt Tonia (what we called her) was all ways nice to us “nicer than Santa” I would say. She also made the best pancakes. “It’s as if we are eating angel food.” That’s the last thing I remember until it was time to leave. Heck, when it was time to leave, everyone was crying. You could see little tears of sadness, rolling down my cheek. I just noticed that cheek is a weird word. I could feel that, I didn’t belong in America, but in Mexico, where all my family lives. Well I don’t know about you, but, this is too much for me.