My 16th Birthday!

Last week, I turned 16!!! I am really excited! 16 is the age where in my church we consider ourselves old enough to go on group/double dates, and now I am also old enough to drive (I'm working on that) and its a big age in general! My Birthday was on a Sunday, but the day before that there was a church dance. A few of my friends that live near me came over a while before the dance and we watched singing in the rain and played a few games. It was really fun! After that we went to the dance, and it was my brothers first dance. He sat down on the side of the room pretty much the whole time, but I think he still had a lot of fun even though he pretended not to.
My friend's Claire and Miriam made this super awesome yummy cake for me! Thanks you guys!

Corry and I before his first dance.
The whole group before leaving for the dance. Unfortunately, Miriam isn't 14 yet, but she will be able to go next year!

Kraig and I before the dance.

Claire and I before the dance. It was really fun!

Church Dances

I love church dances! They are so much fun! If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to dances put on by the LDS church. They are not every week, but I always try to go when they happen! I love seeing my friends, and I really, really love to swing dance. It is so fun! Since my blog is basically my journal, here are some pictures from past dances. :)

My first dance! I went to the New Year's Eve Dance with my awesome cousin Franklin.

These are some girls from my ward. I drove to the dance with them.

My friends Nathan, Elizabeth, and Kraig. The dance was in August 2010. It was casual dress, so you didn't have to wear church clothes. I remember it being very fun. :)

This picture is from last November on my birthday. The friends I usualy drive with and I met at Cold Dtone, got ice cream, and then we drove to the dance. It was a fun birthday!
Kraig and I on the way to the dance. My friend Ben was being crazy, so no good pictures of him, and Nathan was taking the pictures, so none of him. :P


Before the New Year's Eve Dance 2011 with my cousin Franklin and my friend Kraig. (Kraig is my age and in my home-school group and happened to be in Utah at the same time as my family.) We were in northern Utah, and it was very cold but fun!

Before the above dance with Franklin

A dance I went to 2 weeks ago. It was my friend Claire's first dance, and it was really, really fun! (Haha, I look really short compared to my super-tall friends);)

I have been to waaaaaaaay more dances then I have pictures of, and I have so much fun at them! I have only ben to a few where they weren’t fun, and that was because the music was too loud, or the lights gave me a head ache. Other than that, they are always fun! Well, thanks for reading this post!

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I love this poem.

I am a part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.” The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, love with patience, live by prayer and labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and spoken up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner is clear: I am a part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.”

Julia

This will be a quick post, hopefully I can blog more soon. Maybe. Right now the thing that is taking up most of my life, is a play I am in. The play is The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I am so excited! Opening night is this Friday, and I am starting to get nervous... It is a good play (the director did have to edit it a bit, though) and I think the performance will be really good. I was really happy when the mentors chose this play, mainly for two reasons. 1. The Two Gentlemen of Verona was the first play I ever saw professionally done in Shakespearean costume. We saw it at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and I loved it! My favorite character was a girl named Julia. I loved her character, I loved how the actor portrayed her, and I loved her costume. Actually, I almost decided to be Julia for Halloween that fall, but for some reason I wasn't. Anyway, I thought Julia was awesome. HERE is a link to see pictures from the same performance I saw. Isn't her costume awesome! I loved the costume when she was dressed up as a boy even more than I loved her pretty dresses. I don't know why, but I just remember loving it. Alright, so that is the first reason I was happy this play was chosen. Second reason is because 2 years ago (the school year after I had seen The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the first time) our local home school-school's acting class for older kids (called "Classical Acting") put on-- you guessed it, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Once again, I loved the play, and I loved seeing a lot of older friends in it. My friend Heather played Julia, and she did a really good job. It was really neat to see it preformed non-professionally (but still really well) and seeing that performance made me super excited for when I would get to be in Classical Acting and put on an awesome play like that. Now, two years later, the chosen play for Classical Acting is The Two Gentlemen of Verona. When they announced the play I was really, really, really, excited, and I really, really, really, wanted to have the part of Julia. Auditions came, and I read a scene with me as Julia. I didn't think I did that well, but I was still hoping there was a chance to play Julia. Well, a few days later, an email was sent out with the cast list, and... I was Julia!!!! I was so happy and excited, I started to cry! Now opening night is in a few days, and I am soooooooo excited! This play is the first play I've been in that I have had a very big part, and it has been a challenge, but a lot of fun! I have a lot of lines, but I have (almost) all of them down. I get the words mixed up on a few of them, but other than that I know them! I also get to wear a really, really, really pretty costume :) I love pretty dresses. Also, my costume for when I dress up as a boy is really fun. I am really excited for the play, and I am happy to have such amazing amazing amazing mentors, Sister H. and Sister D. that will nicely tell me that I need to memorize my lines and help me be a better actor. Thank you!

Here is a synopsis I wrote for The Two Gentlemen of Verona, in case the above post confused you...

Julia is in love with a guy named Proteus. When her lover leaves to work for a duke far away, she disguises herself as a boy to follow him. She finds out once she gets there that he has fallen in love with another women named Silvia, who is already in love with Protues's best friend named Valentine. Valentine and Silvia want to get married, but then Proteus decides he now doesn’t care about Julia and is in love with Silvia, he has Valentine banished. Throughout all this, Julia continues to keep her identity secret. She works for Proteus, and has to deliver his love letters to Silvia for him, but Silvia hates Proteus. In the end Julia's identity is revealed, and Proteus falls in love with her again. Proteus and Julia get married on the same day as Valentine and Silvia, and they all live happily ever after. Other than the fact that Julia is really dumb and still marries Proteus after he cheats on her, I really like her. She isn’t really the best role model, but she has so far been really fun to play.

Books Read in 2010

Looking back on 2010, I guess I read a lot more then I though I did! I read a lot of books I liked, and some I did not really like, and a few I hated. But mostly, I liked almost every book I read! I read 41 books in 2010, and for all but 6 of them, it was my first time ever reading them.

For School:

Across Five Aprils

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Amazing Grace of Freedom

Uncle Toms Cabin (I listened to it, not read it though)

Romeo and Juliet

As You Like It

Macbeth

A book on Abraham Lincoln

Tartuffe

Oedipus Rex

King Lear

A Man For All Seasons

The Phantom Tollbooth

String, Straightedge, and Shadow

Carry On Mister Bowditch


For Book Clubs:

The Chosen

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

The Swiss Family Robinson


Series of Books:

Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

Artemis Fowl Opal Deception

Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows1

The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse

Percy Jackson and the Battle in the Labyrinth

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay


Other Books I read for Fun:

Fablehaven 5

Peter and the Starcatchers

Under the Lilacs

D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths

The Horse and his Boy


Here is my favorite book that I read this year for each category:

Sci-fi: Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Adventure: The Swiss Family Robinson

Fiction: The Chosen

Non-fiction: I didn't read any that I liked...

For School: Macbeth

Re-read: The Horse and His Boy

Yay for books! :)

Guess What???

I got braces! I am trying to sound excited in this post, but really the excitement is for when I get them off in 18 months. I got them two weeks ago, and they have almost stopped hurting! Yay! They are blue, because that is my favorite color. The above picture is from two days after I got them, and I was smiling kind of funny because it still hurt a lot to smile. I am finally almost used to them now, though, and I am glad of that. :)

KITTY!!!

Guess what!!! I GOT A CAT!!! I am super excited!!! Some friends of ours have a cat, and she had kittens in mid-August. So, I have always wanted a cat, but my mom is really allergic to them, so I was never able to get one. Then, after much convincing, my parents said I could get a cat, and I promised I would take care of it. So now, I have a cat!!! Yay!!!


This is Ella, my kitty. :)

My Name

To night I went to an Open House for an (almost) missionary friend (he is leaving in a few weeks, and is one of my best friends older brothers). There were some other people there that we know, and one of them was a little 5 year old girl that I know. She was jumping on the trampoline, and she said "look at me!" And then something that I think was supposed to be my name but I wasn't sure. I said "Millie, what's my name?" To which she replied in a very matter of fact voice, "Robin!" I laughed and said “actually, my name is Larkin”, and she looked very confused. I told her older sister what happened, and her sister said that Millie only knows one kind of bird, and that bird is a robin. (as in, she thinks every bird she sees is a Robin) Her sister said that probably one time someone told Millie that my name was Larkin, like the bird, so that's why she thought it was Robin. I thought that the whole thing was supper cute, and I loved it. Oh, and ten minutes later, I asked Millie what my name was, and all she said was that she didn't know!

The Many Uses of Narnia

WARNING: Early exposure to the Chronicles of Narnia books to young children, particularly before the age of seven, and in large doses (i.e. the whole series) may create a life long love of learning, reading, and fantasy. Other side effects may include:

He or She forever loving the world of Narnia

He or She always loving fairy tales, myths, and/or any other fantasy books.

He or She loving the movies, and watching an average of two per month.

He or She Enjoying fantasy so much they will read many other fantasy books before they are twelve. Some of these books might include: The Lord of the Rings, The Dark is Rising, A Wrinkle in Time, and/or Harry Potter.

He or She may also inspire siblings to start reading the Narnia series, including Eight year old sisters.


The many uses of Narnia:

The Books:

The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great book for an eight year old girl book club (we'll see how that one turns out)

It is a good book to read when you are board.

When you have a few days, you should always take the opportunity to read the whole series.

The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a wonderful allegory of the Resurrection.

The Last Battle can make you cry.

C. S Lewis is an amazing author.

All of the books are absolutely amazing.

The Movies:

The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great Christmas movie.

The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great movie to watch on Easter morning.

Prince Caspian is a great movie to watch Easter Evening.

You can feel the spirit while watching The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe on Easter on Easter morning as much as when you later watch general conference.

All the Narnia movies are great Christmas or birthday presents, and when you are a younger, very nice presents from the Easter Bunny.

They are great movies to watch on the way to Utah.

They are great movies to watch with you cousins.

The BBC versions are also great to watch with your cousins. After you finish Prince Caspian, even if it is after 9:30pm, your father and uncle will be begging to watch the next one.

Note: All warnings and advice are from personal experience, and may not be the same for you.

Books! (Again!)

Books I have Read or Finished this Winter (From the 3rd Week of December to the 3rd week of March)

I obviously I cant keep up with the start/finish dates very well. I read the books to fast:)


The Mysterious Benedict Society#3 12/25-29

Peter and the Starcatchers abt.12/28-1/3

Under the Lilacks 1/4-1/6

Uncle Toms Cabin (I listend to it, not read it though) (For School)

Romeo and Juliet (by Shakspeare) (For School)

As You Like It (by Shakspeare) (For School)

Macbeth (by Shakspeare) (For School)

Harry Potter book 5

Harry Potter book 6

Harry Potter book 7

Across Five Aprils (For School)

The Swiss Family Robinson

The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse

Percy Jackdon and the Battle in the Labrith

A book on Abraham Lincoln (For School)

D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

What I did today

My mom is going to have a "Home School blog carnival", so I thought I would participate after I saw my friend Marianne's post.

-Woke up at 5:35am
-Lay in bed for 10 extra minutes
-got dressed under my blanket because I was freezing
-Got ready for seminary
-Woke my dad up so he could take me.
-Had fun watching the temperature drop down to 36 degrees while driving in my dads car
-Went to seminary
-Said goodbye to my dad before he went to work
-Lay down on my parents bed (under the blanket:) because I was still cold
-had 2 home-made blue berry muffins while checking my email and my friends blog
-Did my hair in about 7 different ways before I decided on one
-Practiced piano for 35 minutes
-Looked at and edited my Shakespeare and my Civil war class papers that I wrote (mostly) yesterday
-Put tonight's dinner in the crock pot
-Made a fried egg and ate it
-Emailed Marianne for help on a paper
-Played a game with my sister in exchange for me to be able to wear her hairbands any time I want without asking in the week.
-Ate most of a small can of corn
-Did more school work
-Ate some Carl's Junior that my mom got on the way home from somewhere
-Wrote all of the above on my laptop at the kitchen table while eating Carl's Junior
-Played fetch with my dog Molly (um, in the kitchen actually...)
-Did more schoolwork
-Did math
-Researched for my talk on Sunday
-Read another great talk that I'll put up a link to sometime
-Re-discovered how nice it is to do schoolwork while laying on the couch with your dog as a foot/leg warmer (hey, she is the one that chose to lay on me:)
-Emailed Marianne back and forth about school a few more times
-Discovered how painful it is to completely change the side of your head your part is on for the first time in forever, braid it very tightly, then undo the braid 7 hours later
-Wrote this
-Did some laundry
-Made Pasta and a salad
-Ate a yummy dinner that was Chicken with egg noodles and a salad
-Killed a spider
-Took a shower
-Read a little bit from Little Pilgrims Progress
-Tried to publish this post, then the Internet died so I couldn't
-Fell asleep on the couch for an hour, the woke up at 11
-Put the rest of dinner away
-Put the clothes in the dryer
-Went to bed!

It was busy but fun day!

Getting Worried

Today very normal, but very crazy (for me at least) Sunday. After sacrament meeting, the first counselor in our wards bishopric came up to my mom and I, and told me he had an assignment for me. Naturally, I started getting worried as soon as he said that. He asked me if I could give talk next week, and I said yes. That wouldn't be so bad, except that next week is our ward conference, so I will be speaking along with the Bishop and the Stake president. I'm already getting scared. I must confess that I didn't pay as much attention in Sunday school because of that. After Sunday school was finished, I walked out with the three other kids in my class (yes, I only have three other kids in my class, which is pretty small compared to the 13+ I had last year). As soon as we stepped out of the room a member of the bishopric pulled each of the three girls in my class (including me) aside. Once again it was the first counselor that pulled me aside, and his first words to me were "I have another assignment for you" My first thought were "what do I have to do now?!?" (but of course I didn't say that out loud:) He told me that I was being asked to be the first counselor in the Mia Maid class. I of course said yes, and then I went into Young women's with a million things going through my mind. So now I have a new calling, and the scariest assignment of my life, all in one day. My life just got a lot busier.

Shakespeare Fair-again!

Here are the pictures from the Shakespeare Fair I mentioned in in a post a couple weeks ago.

The royal goblets on the royal table.

Getting ready to have two of the students coronations. From the left: My teacher Sister H, Rachel (who is about to become Queen), me, Emma, and Dante (who is about to become King)

Rachel and me.

Thank you Marianne for letting me use some of her pictures!

Books, Books Books!

I love to read! My favorite kind of books are Fantasy, but I love any kind of book. History, Non-fiction, Science fiction... I love books!

Last Saturday I finished reading the Harry Potter books, and I loved them. My favorite was the last one, but I liked all of them. If you saw one of my previous post on Shakespeare, you'll have noticed that last month I read A LOT of Shakespeare plays. I enjoy reading Shakespeare, and now that I've read so much of it (but not nearly as much as my Shakespeare teachers) I understand it pretty well. Another book that I listened to last month was Uncle Toms Cabin. I had to read or listen to it for a Civil war class I'm taking through my home-school group. I really liked Uncle Toms Cabin, and I thought it was a very good clasical book. It took me about three weeks to listen to it on and off.

Here is a list of [some] of my favorite books. They're not really in order, just as I think of them:)

The Book of Mormon

The Lord of the Rings (all of them)

The Hobbit

Narnia (all of them)

Harry Potter (all of them)

The Dark is Rising (Series, all of them)

Fablehaven (all of them)

The Mysterious Benedict Society (all of them)

Tresure Island

Watership Down

The Lost World

Eight Cousins

Macbeth

The Wizard of OZ

Half Magic

Magic by the Lake

Knights Castle

The Thyme Garden

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wind in the Door

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Uncle Toms Cabin

The Freedom Factor

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Peter and the Starcatchers

Under the Lilacs

Journey to the Center of the Earth

School Stuff

I decided that for a Personal Progress Project I would do a project involving schoolish things. (Personal Progress is a program for girls at my church ages 12-18. It a program that has different "values" such as Faith, Knowledge, and Virtue. Each value has a set of projects you can do, and you can also make up some of your own if you want to.) I thought for a project I would would blog about different home-school classes I have taken in the past year or to. I think I'll put it under the value Knowledge. I will have specific label for all of the post about school and classes, but I don't know what it will be yet. I hope you enjoy them!

Book I read last the Fall

Books I have Read or Finished this Fall (From the 2nd Week of September to the 2nd week of December)

I included a couple of start-finish dates, but then I stopped keeping track.

Inkheart (Reread) 9/11-9/15

The Mystery of the Periodic Table (reread) abt. 9/26 -3/10

Fablehaven #110/5-10/7 (twice)

Fablehaven #2 (twice)

Fablehaven #3 (twice)

Fablehaven #4

Harry Potter #1

Harry Potter #2

Harry Potter #3

Harry Potter #4

Peter Pan

Writing Magic

The Merchant of Venice

Happy Birthday...

To Me!

Ok, Ok, My birthday was over a month ago, on Nov. 13. which yes, was a Friday. I don't believe in that bad luck stuff much, but I just think it's funny! So know I'm 14 and a Mia Maid (14-15 girls)at church. I'm am getting used to it, but I really miss beehives(12-13 girls) I can now go to church dances, but I haven't yet; my first one will probably be the new years eve dance this year.

Here are some pictures of my past Birthdays.


My 4th Birthday, In the picture: my friend Emily and I.


My 5th Birthday. Emily and her family was there to, just not ion the picture.


My 6th Birthday. In the Picture from the left: My friend Emily, Her brother Christopher, Me, my brother, my other brother and My friend Katie. ( You might recognize Katie and Emily from previous posts.


My Dad and I before my baptism, so right after I turned 8.


M 9th Birthday. My friends Emily and Katie went to see the move The Incredibles together.


My 11th birthday.

My 13 birthday. My mom and I went to see the play Wicked in Los Angels with the tickets I got for my birthday.


My 14th birthday! A restaurant called "Sonic" opened by my house. There is one in Utah that we always go to, so we were happy when one opened so close. We went as a birthday treat for me, and it was really fun and yummy.

Now I have to get ready to do a Christmas post! (You might have noticed I have a very cute Christmas background:)

Books I Read This Summer

I read a lot of great books this summer. I rated them with stars ***** (5 stars) being the highest. This list includes all the books I read from the first week of June to the first week of September.

***** Over Sea, Under Stone (re-read)
***** The Dark is Rising (re-read)
***** Greenwitch (re-read)
***** The Grey King (re-read)
***** Silver on the Tree (re-read)
***** The Freedom Factor (re-read)
**** The Missing DaVincies
***** The Mysterious Benedict Society (re-read)
***** The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (re-read)
**** The red Scarf Girl (re-read)
**** Angel on the Square (re-read)
***** The Impossible Journey (re-read)
***** Treasure Island
**** The Penderwicks (re-read)
**** The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (re-read)
*** Magic or not?
**** The Well-Wishers
***** Half Magic (re-read)
***** Magic By the Lake (re-read)
**** Knights Castle (re-read)
***** The City of Ember (twice)
**** The People of Sparks
***** The Lost World (re-read)
***** Journey to the Center of the Earth
***** The Red Fairy Book

The cutest blog on the block

I LOVE this website! It has so many cute blog back-grounds and blog accessorizes. I especially love that they have LDS buttons- such as Gordon B. Hinckleys 6 B's, Families are Forever, and I am a Child of God. I first saw this website on a link on Marianne's blog, and now I love It! Its at www.thecutestblogontheblock. Have fun!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Larkin and I'm 13. I live in Southern CA. I love my family, my friends, and being home-schooled. Some of favorite books are: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia series, and The Lost World. My favorite music is the sound track from Wicked, Hymns, and songs by Jenny Phillips. Some of my favorite movies are The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by BBC, The Fellowship of the Ring, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I hope you like my blog!