San Fran!!!

Left to Right.  Back- Josh, Bella, Me!, Jeremy, Adam, Nick

Middle- Missie, Nikki, Mom, Alicia, Lollie, Trevor

Front- Amber, Sam, Madalyn  (My Dad is taking the picture) 

San Francisco was awesome!  And the best part was all of my immediate family was together and Nikki, Amber's sister, was spending time with us because she didn't have anyone to be with on Sunday.  But that doesn't matter she is part of the family anyway.  We went at night, so we got to see all of the lights and personally it was breathtaking.  I love the city.  And I feel like at any minute someone is going to open a window and burst into song.  Like everyone is a part in a musical and they don't know it.  Everyone has their own story to tell and we just have to stop and listen.

And I'm not kidding about the musical part.  When 11 of us boarded a Cable Car we had no idea that we would have so much fun.  A couple got on at the second stop and maybe they were drunk but they decided to get everyone into the Christmas spirit by singing carols.  And good thing that our family was on their because we know lots of carols and all the words.  So here was how Jingle Bells started, 

"How about another one?" the lady asked.

"Ok.  Jingle Bells." my dad responds

"Cool!  How does that start again?" 

"Uhhh...Jingle bells, jingle bells..."

And so it went for every Christmas song you can think of.  

Then for the night we stayed in the Stratford hotel literally right next to Union Square.  O, I almost forgot the rooms were free courtesy of my brother Josh who has "connections."  

The next morning we rode a glass elevator!!!  Thats right glass!  Only 7 of us would actually ride it.  First my brother Jeremy rode up with us all the way to the top which was on the 36th floor.  Then he got off.  Then we rode again and my sisters Missie and Lollie got off the second time. Then my younger sister and niece and nephew proceeded to ride 3 more times.  It was awesome!  Then for lunch we went to Josh's restaurant "Best O' Burger" which was really good, I mean really really good.  

Sadly at the end it was time to go home.  Jeremy, Lollie, Bella, and Madalyn and I started home.  While the rest of our family stayed to get their hair cuts by Nikki who is a great hair cutter.   They left the city at like 4 and got back to our house at 9.  Traffic was crazy.  But all in all..San Francisco was awesome.  

    

Homeschooling

I used to think that all the kids who homeschooled had it so easy. They could get up whenever they wanted and do school in their pjs. But now that I am homeschooled I look at it WAY differently now. My mom used to be a teacher and she makes me a my sister get up at 7 and get to work at 8:30 just like almost ever regular schools. And since I'm a freshman in high school, my work is no walk in the park. My mom also has very high standards and wants me to do everything to the best of my ability. I know that someday I will most likely appreaciate her later in life. But right now I would rather be doing fun things, other than sitting at our kitchen table from 8:30 in the morning to like 4 in the afternoon. I used to go to a Charter School called Smith Flat. I only went to days every week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. I love everything about it, the people and my teachers. And I'm trying to convince my mom to let me go back next year. Well...we will just have to wait and see.

The Wizard of Oz

In April the process began. With much fear and trepidation and feeling like I was going to throw-up, I auditioned for the role of Dorthy. Sadly I did not make it, but got into the chorus!!! I was a little disappointed because at first it didn't seem like I was really important. But as the rehearsals started off in August I could see that truly there were no small parts just small actors. :-)
First the practices were just once a week and then it was twice a week. Soon it got to be everyday some weeks. It was exhausting, but I loved it all the same. My least favorite practice was the three 6 hour days that were dedicated to choreographing all of the set changes. When we first changed from one scene to another it took about 20 minutes. By the closing show we got them down to like 45 seconds or less. My mom said that it was really amazing to see how no one got run over by an of the big sets. But I guess that none of it changed for any of us in the cast we just got used to it.

I was an Ozian, a person of Oz, an understudy for a tree, and a ghost for the last 10 or so shows. It was awesome and I wouldn't change it for anything. Now next year is Beauty and the Beast, and I can't wait!! Now my mom on the other hand is not so excited, because of all the driving. And I don't really blame her. We live 30 min away from the theater and when the practices ended at like 9:30 and we didn't get out from the shows until like 10:45. It was a long week and weekend. But sooooooo much FUN!

Sorry!!

Wow ok. So my excuse for not writing anything is being really busy....i was in a play that had 99 practices and 22 performances....i had my first year of homeschooling in high school. which i must tell you is no walk in the park...making Christmas presents...Friday classes...kickboxing....teaching an enrichment class....keeping up my part of the chores done at home...guitar lessons...helping with 2 VBSs...babysitting....and a whole lot more. But now I am going to put more detail into all of these things. With some pictures, cause I'm doing this on my brothers computer and I don't have a whole lot of pictures of my goings on, on here. So ya. I guess that's like a pre-opening paragraph to everything. Well here it goes.