EFY 2011

This Summer, I went to a youth camp type of thing called EFY, or, Especially for Youth. It was super fun, and a really good experience. I gained a stronger testimony of the scriptures, and I made a lot of new friends! While I was there, I also met up with some friends from home, it was super duper awesome to see them! I went to EFY at BYU Provo. I LOVE staying on campus! I plan on going to BYU Provo or Idaho in 2 or 3 years, and I love the experience of staying there. I went to EFY at BYU Provo last year as well, but I went with my cousin Franklin. (who is awesome) This year I flew to Utah by myself, and my cousins picked me up from the airport. I stayed with them for a night then went off to EFY! I didn't know anyone in the group, including my room mate, but it was ok because everyone was nice! It was super awesome and I am glad I could go!

Here are some pictures from while I was there:


This was on the first day of EFY when my cousins were dropping me off. I was excited!


Here are all the girls in my group. They were all really nice!


My room-mate Mallory and I. Mallory is from Washington, and was really nice! I had never met her before, or anyone else in my group. It was fun to get to know so many different people!


This was the whole group. We ate together, and did all of our activities together for the whole week. They were all really interesting!


This picture is of Marianne, Emma, and I. Marianne and Emma go to my once a week school, and we didn't even plan to go to EFY the same week! I was soooooo glad they were there, it was really nice to see them.he first day of EFY, when my cousins were dropping me off. I was excited!

Utah Snow

Lots and lots of snow!!!



Me shovling snow. It was actually suprisingly hard, snow is heavy!

One of our favorite days was when we went to BYU and visited the Bean Museum. We took lots and lots of crazy and fun pictures!





We had a lot of fun aligning our head with antlers and horns of animals in the museum. The pictures turned out pretty cool!!!





Since we were in Utah for New Years Eve, my cousin Franklin and I went to a New Years Eve dance! It was super fun, and it was neat because I went to my first ever church youth dance (which was also a new years eve dance) with her.

Some home-school family friends were in the same area of Utah as my family, so my friend Kraig went with Franklin and I to the dance. That made it extra fun. :) Here we are, we all look like we are the same hight.


Haha, nope! Kraig and Franklin are waaaaay taller then me, but I don't mind tooooo much. ;)

My family and my Great-Grandpa Rogers. He will be turning 99 in June! We visit him pretty much every year, and I think we all enjoy each visit. He has many childern, grand childern and great-grand childern, and we all love him very much.

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.

Cousins!

On my post about the New Years Eve dance, I said that my cousins visited us. It was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad they could come. Here is what we did with them:

Sunday: They arrived at our house right after we got home from church. (we beet them by about thirty seconds) They had stayed at my grandparents house the night before, and happened to get to our house right as we did. We watched a really good movie called EverAfter (I think) and then we goofed off for the rest of the day. We also played cops and Robbers that night. Its a tradition that we play it, and we usually play for at least an hour or to. We went to bed and the older two cousins and I played The Worst Case Scenario game for an hour till about 11:30.

Monday: My cousins family, me and my little sister went to a beach about an hour away from my house. we were there till mid afternoon. That night we played Cops and Robbers again and watched about five of the original episodes of "Get Smart" (the 1965 version, not the new-ish movie) We also played "Clue" till late that night.

Tuesday: We went to the same beach, but this time it was just my cousins family an I. They brought Inflatable Kayaks with them from Utah, so we went kayaking in the ocean with them. It was really fun kayaking, but it was scary when ever there were big waves. That nigh, we watched "Prince Caspian" and I stayed up late with the two older cousins playing "Spoons"

Wednesday: It rained and was supper cloudy, so we went to the movie theaters and saw "The Princess and the Frog" It was a supper cute movie, and we all really enjoyed it. We stayed home the rest of the day, watched more movies, and goofed off (we do that a lot with our cousins) That night, starting at about 10:30, my older two cousins tried to teach me how to dance. I didn't do so well (come on, it was late:) but we managed to go to bed right before midnight, still laughing.

Thursday: New Years Eve! We went to a different beach this time, but it was supper cold. We went kayaking this time, and it was the only time something really bad actually happened. Here is the story of it:
I was out in pretty deep water with my two older cousins (who are both girls by the way) So pretty much, it was a 15 year old, a 14 year old, and a twelve year old battling waves that were taller then them. (dramatic, aren't I :) We were trying to get back to shore, when a huge wave came. We were side ways to the wave when we saw it, so we quickly turned, and we ended up facing it. when the wave hit us, my 12 year old cousin flew out of the kayak, and the wave went over her, also pulling the kayak on top of her. By the time we could see her again, the wave had pulled us about 20 feet away from her. We tried to stop the kayak any farther away from her, and I stuck out my paddle which she eventually grabbed when she got close to us, then we dragged her back on board. We were really scared because she was breathing super fast, and her eyes looked weird. I just kept on patting her on the back, while my other cousin paddled back to shore as fast as she could. We got back, my uncle came and took my younger cousin back to the place we had chairs set up, and we started to drain the kayak out. (It was full to the brim with water from that wave) We left the beach about twenty minutes later, and my cousin was fine. I think her main problem was that she was just really scared. (I would have been) luckily, I think that that was the worst thing that happened during their visit, so it turned out to be successful. We went to the dance that night, everyone else had fun playing and watching movie at home. I can't wait to see them next time!


Here is a picture of us playing "Mexican Train" together. Its really fun, and we love playing it together. Here are some pictures of us kayaking.
This picture is of right before our kayak compleatly flipped over (dummping us all out in the prosses.)


Happy New Year!

New Years Eve Dance

I had a comment asking if I went to the my church's New Years Eve Dance, and I did. It was really fun, but at first I was really nervous. My cousins were visiting since last Sunday (they're from Utah) but they left early this morning. Anyway, My cousin is 15, so she came to the dance with me. There was a thing before the dance starting at eight, then there was the church broadcast a little before 9, and the dance started when the broadcast was over. At the dance, I mostly was with my cousin and a bunch of home-school friends, but I was also with some nice girls from my ward. The dance went till 12:30am, so I was really tired by the time it was over. (I got up at noon today, I was so tired:) It was really fun, and I think I'll want to go to more dances. What did you do for new years eve? Happy New Year!



Here are two picture of my cousin and I right before we left for the dance. My Aunt and my cousin did my hair in a really cool braid like a crown on top of my hair, and in a long braid in the back, so it was really pretty. Thank you Aunt Julie!