Christmas Giving

This year, it's been pretty exciting waiting for Christmas, but this year I went with my ward group and gave gifts to the mentally challenged. You'd think that it would be awkward and uncomfortable, but it was quite the opposite. It was really fun and there was a happy atmosphere the whole time. I was so amazed at the reactions of this group of mentally ill people, it was incredible. The gifts that we gave weren't that great, but they absolutely loved them. We gave Ron a bunch of stickers and some crayons, and he loved it and started coloring right away. Yes, maybe all those people were right when they said giving was the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Gifts

Well, it's that time again! The wonderful time where everything is on sale and you get to go shopping for Christmas. It is amazing how everything states that they are 15%, 25%, 50%, and dare I say it, 75% off the original price. I can't wait to go shopping for the family member that I randomly select, I just hope that there will be stuff left for me to buy!

Deck the Halls

Recently I experienced the great emotional and pyshical roller coaster that you take when you decide to put up decorations for the winter holidays. I tell you, my roof is not a force to be reckoned with. My Dad, older brother and I got on the roof and struggled with the massive tangle of lights that had rested in our garage like a dragon sleeping until now. After that struggle and a couple close calls with the ladder and edge of the roof, we got all but the highest peaks done with the house. Now onto the inside decorations. Never have garland lights and decorative snowman been such a hassle. Until now I wasn't considered big enough to handle any kind of responsibility when it came to decorating the house, but this year it all came pouring down on me. The only thing I like about decoration is decorating the Christmas tree, which this year I missed due to my trip on the top of the house. Well, next year is gonna be different, I tell you, it's going to be different......

Thanksgiving

I have to tell you, this Thanksgiving weekend was not as great as some of the ones I've had. Wednesday I didn't do anything but clean and set up Christmas decorations for my Mom, which is about as exciting as watching TV land for a full day. Anyway, after Wednesday comes Thursday, last time I checked, and that was a road trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho. While we were in Idaho, we ate Thanksgiving dinner and saw Harry Potter 4, which was pretty good, but not the best. We came home that night, and hit the sack. Then on Friday we set up more decorations and cleaned some more, and on Saturday we went Christmas shopping. Oh, and during this vacation I was helping my sister with a paper route she took for a friend. So my sister and I were up every morning of this vacation from 4 to 6 delivering newspapers. I can tell you right now, I 've never appreciated sleep more in my life.

Baseball past- The Glory Days, or Day

It was a clear night, the night of our last baseball game of the season. Not a cloud in the sky, yet every member of our team was too preoccupied with the brutal thrashing we were about to experience to notice such details. Sure, we wore the cap of the Diamond Backs team proudly, but we were also a realistic group of 11 year olds. We had lost every game of the season save one, the pre-season scrimmage. Glumly standing in the outfield, I waited, watching batter after batter smack another homerun and head off towards the dugout after taking a victory lap. I remember it clearly, as if it were yesterday. The baseball diamond was flooded with light that night. The cold night air was misted by the dust rising from the infield, as player after player continued rounded the bases. It was clear that victory was far out of our reach. There I was, standing in the middle of center-field, squinting to see what was happening infield when the pitcher of our team suddenly took an injury, his arm snapping out awkwardly as the ball rolled from his hands. I knew right then that our fate had been sealed. I could see the coach from the other team, his arms tightly folded and a wide grin splitting his face in two. For a second I felt a surge of embitterment, until the thought crossed my mind “who's gonna pitch now?" Everyone else seemed to be wondering the same thing, as our coach called a time out. As the crowd sat, milling around and muttering, discussing our downfall, the team started to look around, sizing up each other with the thought of who’ll have a chance to end this game with dignity, or without it. The crowd watched silently as the coach started to walk towards me. "Dang it," I thought "I'm doing something wrong again." He sidled up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder and, in a strangely calm voice, said“Hayden”“Tanner, sir,” I interjected quickly.“Right, Tanner, we need your help tonight.” I was slightly confused, seeing as how I was already playing center-field, and I even did that poorly. There wasn’t much I could do to maintain this teams’ level of mediocrity. “We need you to pitch for us.”I was shocked, he must have been joking. The coach gave me a tired look, a look lacking hope as his eyebrows sagged.
“No,” I said, laughing at his ill attempted joke. He rubbed his eyes and pulled his eyebrows up to give me the appearance of confidence, but from the look in his eye I could tell that he was serious. I've never even pitched to another person before, I shouldn’t even be an option, but he wouldn't have no for an answer. Barely remembering to breathe, I slowly and timidly trudged up to the pitcher's mound, shaking so badly I must have appeared to be a blur. The catcher tossed me the ball, as it flew threw the air I squinted to follow it, being blinded by blazing light encompassing the field. I snagged the ball out of the air and the game started again. The first ball I threw didn't even make it to the catcher; it just bounced and hit the kid up to bat in the shin. A muffled blend of laughter and confused cheers came from the crowd, as if they weren’t sure it was supposed to be funny or if this was a serious effort. Seeing as this is the same group of supportive parents that had seen every embarrassing slaughter we’ve experienced, I take it that they were actually hoping this was a joke. After that I threw pretty darn hard, and things seemed to work pretty well. Once, twice, three strikes, out. Again, three strikes, and out. I was getting excited now, as the crowd felt the momentum and began to roar. I was getting excited now, forgetting about the small commonalities and techniques of the baseball game, such as my nonexistent pitching form, and occasionally forgetting the small commonalities and techniques of life, such as breathing. But my confidence is growing, vanishing completely during the final, game ending pitch.Throwing a really slow pitch, I knew the kid was going to nail it. I could see his eyes glued to the worn, leather torn ball, his body tense with concentration, and everyone knew it was over the minute it left my hands. As his bat made contact with the ball, the cracking sound sent a thousand images of pitching injuries that occur when the batter hits the ball back at the pitcher, all resulting in embarrassing and crushing pain. As a complete act of self-preserving cowardice, I swung up my mitt to guard my face from anything that came my way. As if in slow motion, as I watched my mitt rise up to shoulder length, the very baseball that had left it just moments ago, soared back into it with a resounding Thwack! Not a single sound interceded that one, as for the next ten seconds all you could hear was the echo of that catch. Finally, as everyone registered what happened, the crowd went wild. Our team poured off the field in an awesome frenzy as we gathered around the coach to say our goodbyes for the year. That last catch ended the game, and thanks to me we only lost by five. I may not have walked away from that game with a trophy, but I did walk away with the game ball, and my five minutes on the pitcher’s mound, which is worth more than any trophy could have given me. All my baseball career had been spent going unnoticed, being a team player in the outfield. Not everyone got a chance to prove their worth, and of those few, many people often need a second chance to prove their worth. I was lucky enough to get a chance to save the day, to be a hero, and that day on the mound made that time spent worth it. Imagine That!

Viva Las Vegas

I used to live in Las Vegas just 6 months ago. If you've ever lived there, you can tell that it's one of the most uncomfortable places to be during the school year. Let me tell you, the heat was one of the least uncomfortable things there. During the school year I was offered all kinds of things that are not worthy of mentioning, and when I refused they looked at me like I was an idiot. Down there it is very hard to keep moral standards, but some people have gotten used to it. Take my two friends, for instance, Brock and Jacob, they're the coolest people I know down there. We used to hang out all the time and laugh our heads off about completely nothing. One time we decided to walk to the nearest Target, which wasn't far. The catch was that it was in the middle of the summer, and the day we decided to go it was 119 degrees outside (seriously!). I don't know why we went but on the way we found a dead cat wrapped in a towel. We just stared at it, thinking of how it got there, and then burst out laughing. We started using the dead cat as material for jokes, like Hey Brock, that cat looked like your face!! or Hey Jacob, looks like your mom got fed up with the neighbors cat. But making jokes about them is never a good idea, because if you insult Brock he'll make up a comeback so funny you'll feel stupid, and if you joke around with Jacob He'll just come back with so many your mom jokes that you will beg for mercy at the end. Their really cool kids though, you just have to look past the hideous exterior....(just joking)

Talent

Have you ever noticed the people who we see every day that have overwhelming talent? They're everywhere!! They're the ones who really want something to the point of doing something about it. Take the kids in the Symphonic band for instance. Some kids in there have extreme talent and play everything with ease. Then there's the kids like me. I used to play my instrument purely on talent, but that was three years ago. Now it's all hard work. So I started thinking, what's my talent? After a couple hours of hard thinking and asking several people who would like to remain anonymous, I realized that I am almost good at football. Now I'm not the guy who runs a mile in three minutes and throws the perfect pass, goodness no, I'm the guy who tackles the crap out of the people on the other team. Having 2 other brothers who I practice on (I only practice on my older brother and my almost twin brother) I've got the technique down.

Mind Reading

Have you ever wondered what people are thinking while their talking to you? Sometimes if you knew things would be a lot easier while talking to a boyfriend, or girlfriend, or teacher. Honestly, though, if you could read other peoples' minds, you would be disturbed and scarred for life. But I could live with this disadvantage if I could join a gameshow every now and then. All you would have to do is get on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and you would be set. Then there's that one gameshow called "Ten Thousand dollar pyramid" where you guess what the other person is trying to describe to you. Yeah, that would be the life..... Of course, people would get suspicous over the years, but what are they gonna do?

Halloween..... continued.....

Some good pranks proceed in the following....
(the pranks are for those who are passing out candy at home)

Some of these pranks are dangerous, and should be practiced on only those who look to old to be trick or treating:

1. When someone comes to call and they look old enough to drive, slip a lit firecracker into their bags and watch the candy fly ( I haven't done this one, but it was done on me!)

2. If someone you don't like rings the doorbell, slip a frozen piece of meat (like a hotdog)into their bags discreetly so it thaws and ruins the candy all around it. (once again, I've only been the victim of this one.)

3. If someone is picky about the piece of candy you give them, simply either put a used pencil or a rock into their bag of goodies.

These pranks are really great, but sadly Halloween is gone. Maybe you can try them next year.

Halloween

Halloween is a great time for pranks, second only to April-Fools' day. I've given up trick or treating this year and hope to find something interesting to do other than watch horror movies all night and throw candy at the unfortunate kids to come to my door. Here are some great pranks that I've heard about, or done myself....

Technology

Can you believe all the technology that we have? I mean, it's crazy! I bet half of the American population would die out if all our technological gadgets and electricity was all of the sudden gone. I'm not complaining, though, I can't wait 'till the Nintendo Revolution and Xbox 360 come out into the market. (I don't care much for the Playstation 3). The advances in the gaming area is incredible, and their making a great profit off of the youth today. The Nintedo Revolution is my favorite so far, because of the price tag. The Xbox 360 is just too much money for me to save up and spend in one place. Even though all this is great, we could use all the research and advances in more imprtant areas. With all the money put into gaming, we could put an end to global warming or world hunger or something like that.

My UEA weekend

My UEA weekend wasn't one of the best weekends I've ever had, but it was okay. I didn't do anything on Thursday, but I went boating on Friday. The boating trip was pretty fun, except when your freezing cold and the sun goes down and you can't feel your fingers or toes. After that fun experience we all went to bed and woke up to a Saturday of work. First I cleaned up my house and mowed the lawn and cleaned the garage, then I went with a neighbor to work at a dentist office in construction as the clean up crew. Now that I come to think of it, that UEA weekend wasn't cool at all.

Jobs

Don't you hate it when you need money, but the only source you have are your parents and the local neighborhood civilians that give you little chores to do for money just because they pity you? That's how my life is and it isn't getting any better. I could use an infinite amount of money right now, but right now I can't get any money!! I want a job, but the only place I could work is Lagoon, and it's too late to work there this year. I just hope that I will win a contest or competition for a million dollars or something, because I'm not gonna get anything any other way!

school rules

I think that they should allow gum in the schools. I mean, gum helps us think and it gives us something to do while the teachers are ranting on. Honestly, I think that the gum rule is outragous. The thing that really bothers me is that there was no gum rule in the first place. It was the kids that stuck their gum under the desks or let drop on the floor, they ruined it for the rest of us. I think that if we were given another chance we wouldn't let that happen again.

My Pets

My pets come and go about as frequently as the seasons change. I have had 5 dogs, two turtles, two hamsters, and, long ago, three ducks. You may be thinking well maybe it's not the pets, it's the owner. I know it sounds doubtful, but in most cases I wasn't to blame. The first pet I had was a dog, unfortunately the dog wouldn't have me. He started off this wonderful relationship with 3 bites to the arm and a bite on the back. I really didn't like him after that. The next two dogs had a problem with the house and where to go to the bathroom. My mom can't handle her beautiful carpet being soiled. The ducks were the neighborhood pets as they stayed at every house one night in order to obtain bread. After that, I got two hamsters to share with my brother, but, with bad luck that only I could possess, my littlest brother liberated the hamsters while I was at school. He came to me saying the hamsters are free! I didn't get any hamsters after that incident. Then came my dog-not the family dog-my dog. I bought it, I supplied the food, I bought the kennel! Sadly enough, I had to take the dog to the animal shelter when she ran all the way to Layton. Then came my favorite dog-Sparky. He was a Sharpei (Chinese war dog) and was the most obedient dog in town. We really invested in this dog, we even gave him eye surgery to keep the great lengths of extra skin from blinding him. With great pain, we gave him to a good family when we decided to move to Las Vegas. In Vegas we went through another dog who had a bad case of nohousetrainingitis. Then we got the turtles. One was named Lily, and another was Picasso. They too were a few of the many casualties in the war of relocation. But my latest pet, a Lahsa Apso named Marcello, is staying for good. He's already house trained, and is really nice to the little children. He's the only success in one of 12 pets. Hopefully all you out there have had better luck with pets than I have.

Movies

All the movies nowadays are a big change from the old ones that my parents used to watch. They all seem to include gunfights, swordfights, or hand-to-hand combat. Every movie now has gotten one step closer to being "more real" and each one has a great love scene that makes me cringe.
Every other Friday I get to go rent a movie to watch with my little brothers while my parents go to dinner or a movie. I'm always told that I have to get something apropiate for a five year old and a seven year old, and that's getting extremely hard now. Don't get me wrong, I love watching young kid movies with my little brothers like Winnie the pooh, the heffalump's adventure, or Herbie, fully loaded, but you have to draw the line somewhere. There are some great PG rated movies that my brothers and I really like, for example The Incredibles, or National Treasure. Sadly enough, movies like these are very few in number.
I can hardly find any good movies to rent anymore, and my brothers and I have to find some other form of entertainment. Almost every movie coming out is rated R or PG-13, which isn't very good for families like mine that go to theatres every other week. I'm fine with watching Pg-13 when I'm with my friends or my older brother, who's 16, but when my parents are there, It gets really uncomfortable. If the movie is a bad one, afterwards my parents tell me that they have to see the next one before I can go to it.
Overall, I think that they could make movies a little less bloody, or leave out the cuss words next time. If they did that, they'd have a wider audience-span, and believe it or not, they would make more money!!!

it has begun

hello world!!