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!