Molly was helping me roll up my Sleeping bag...

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Molly, even though she looks like a half starved mangy beast in it and it is a little blury:)

Books

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

To Kill a Mockingbird (For School)

The Amazing Grace of Freedom (For school)

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

The Horse and his Boy

The Chosen

Fablehaven 5

Our awesome story

Last night, my amazing friend Katie and I wrote this awesome story. We were chatting on G-mail, then I had to go for a moment. Right before I left I said "brb", and that is where our story started. Note, it was totally impromptu, we didn't plan it or anything. It just sort of happened. :) I also don't know why we switched from third person to first person mid-story, we just did, and I thought it was funny. I really don't know why almost the whole thing was in parentheses, that also just happened.

I hope you enjoy!

Larkin: brb
Katie: ok
Larkin: I'M BACK!
Katie: You!
You killed my father!
Larkin: Prepare. To. Die
Katie: NOOOooooOOOOOO!
Larkin: Muaahhahhhahaahahahahaahahahahahahhahhahahhahaaa!
Katie: (light saber)
Larkin: (Awesome sword/with laser proof coating)
Katie: (swing)
Larkin: (block)
(stab)
Katie: (dodge)
(twirl, swing)
(battle yell)
Larkin: (duck, jump)
Katie: (loss of balance)
(somersault)
(recover, turn, scowl)
(strike a dramatic pose)
Larkin: ("For Narnia, Middle earth and the free countries of the galaxy)
(Charge)
Katie: (FOR PONY!)
(charge)
Larkin: (Back flip over you)
(on to my Dragon)
Katie: (pulls jetpack out of nowhere)
(ascends to meet Larkin and dragon in aerial combat!)
(pauses to wonder how Larkin could back flip while on a dragon)
Larkin: (Pulls out hunting-horn and blows, (hard) for reinforcements)
Katie: (summons nanobots to meet reinforcements)
Larkin: (wondering how Katie could pull a jet back out of nowhere)
(Commands 20 dragons to melt nanobots)
Katie: (nanobots! repair!)
(you will never defeat me, my kung fu is stronger!)
Larkin: (You will never defeat me, my magic is stronger)
Katie: (un-straps jetpack, freefalls towards Larkin with light saber swinging, nanobots like a cloud blacking out the sun behind me)
Larkin: (Dragon shoots forward, does a triple loop at a barely safe distance from Katie, then breaths fire at the nanobots, which completely disintegrates half of them)
Katie: (enraged by destruction of nanobots)
(summons a bubble of fire around myself and collides with Larkin and dragon. somehow the sword swing missed)
Larkin: (Larkin turns into her true Elf form, and uses her Elvin power to deflect Katie’s fire from herself and her dragon)
Katie: (GAH foiled again!)
(pulls enchanted daggers from boots and throws them with deadly precision)
Larkin: (daggers deflect off of even more enchanted Dragon scales)
Katie: (twirls magic-resistant dragon-piercing daggers mark 6 from sleeves and juggles menacingly)
Larkin: (reinforcement dragon comes up behind Katie and wacks her legs with his tail so she falls over)
Katie: (teleports)
(reappears behind the dragon)
(says "BOO!")
Larkin: (dragon zooms forward because she's scared because she can't understand how the heck Katie could teleport 300 feet in the air)
Katie: (hmm. good question. Katie falls after realizing that teleporting is impossible)
(the daggers clatter to the floor not but inches from me. catlike I land, poised to strike again!)
Larkin: (Larkin whispers something to the dragon, then jumps off, doing tricks worthy of the Olympics)
(lands on feet, 10 feet away from Katie in a threatening pose)
Katie: (draws dueling pistols, tosses one to Larkin)
Larkin: (Larkin pulls out a magic wand and turns her pistol into a long bow)
Katie: (BUT IT WAS A BOMB!)
(as the spell takes effect, it explodes, tossing Larkin!)
(the concussion blows nanobots everywhere, but they are dead)
Larkin: (luckily, Larkin has extremely quick reflexes, and uses a spell to counter act the majority of the bomb towards Katie, so it knocks her over too)
Katie: (I mutter an eldritch cantrip, and the nanobot pieces assemble into a metal golem!)
(it attacks!)
Larkin: (Larkin's dragon reinforcements immediately shoot lava hot flames at the golem, and it melts)
Katie: (no it doesn't)
Larkin: (fine, it just welds the joints together so it can't move very quickly)
(Larkin grins)
Katie: (fine)
(the golem falls. on top of the dragon)
Larkin: (but the dragon is way stronger then the golem, so she throws the golem off of herself, and uses her tail to smash it into one solid hunk of metal)
(the size of a dining room table)
Katie: (golem is dead. its metallic remains lie in a heap.)
Larkin: (good)
Katie: (its red eyes flicker and go dark)
(I am sad)
(I cry)
Larkin: (Larkin suddenly feels bad for your fruitless efforts, (and because you are her friend) so she puts a body bind spell on you because she knows you have the tendency to be treacherous)
Katie: (without speaking, I make the water turn into a blue dragon-thing out of sheer force of will)
(and that was very nice of you not to kill me btw)
Larkin: (I wonder what exactly a dragon-thing is)
(and send my dragon off to fight your dragon-thing)
Katie: (ok the dragon-thing is like a long snaky see through dragon made of water. pics later)
(the dragons meet in battle!)
Larkin: (My dragon breaths fire at your dragon, which makes it shrink because half of your dragon turns to steam and floats away)
Katie: (my dragon melts and envelops yours in water)
Larkin: (My dragon concentrates on becoming as hot as possible, and then the water explodes)
Katie: (my dragon fizzles away into a puddle)
Larkin: (I raise my eyebrows at you, as if saying "that's the best you can do?"
(and pull out a real-not bombed long bow)
Katie: (you slip in the puddle!)
Larkin: (but use it to my advantage to do a jump/huge triple double back flip onto my dragon)
Katie: (I do a flip-type-thing to my dragon-thing)
(but it's not there)
(instead, I teleport onto your dragon!)
(behind you)
(holding onto the tail)
Larkin: (I use the flat of my sword to knock you off)
Katie: (grab back onto the very tip of the tail and climb hand over hand underneath your dragon until I am holding onto his front legs.)
(also, I tied all his shoelaces together)
(he doesn't know 'cause he's flying.)
Larkin: (my dragon is a girl)
Katie: (she doesn't know, cause she's flying)
Larkin: (and she doesn't wear shoes)
Katie: (I use duct tape to entangle her mary janes?)
Larkin: (IF my dragon wore shoes, she would wear dragon-thing leather boots)
(so ha)
(and my dragon only pretends she doesn’t notice, and she spreads her legs far apart so you fall down)
Katie: (and down and down)
(I parachute)
(and create an illusion of a dragon's horde in a nearby cave!)
Larkin: (my dragon starts to fly straight towards you illusion)
(but she is too smart to be tricked so she breaths fire at you)
Katie: (as she breaths fire at me she's not looking at the pile of gold. the gold disappears and she flies into a giant hole!)
I have to go now.


:)
I hoped you had as much fun reading it as we had writing it!

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!

I am laughing

Yes, I know it is almost ten o'clock and I know and I have seminary tomorrow, but I just had to write this down. We are a little late in going to bed tonight, so my siblings and I are all in the front of our house reading various things. M.8 is on one couch reading Calvin and Hobbes, out loud. P.10 is on another couch reading another Calvin and Hobbes book, out loud. C.12 is at the dining room table reading the index of the Arabian Night’s book he just finished, out loud. I am on the couch, blogging and reading The Chosen, but I am reading it to myself. I don't know why almost everyone is reading out loud to-night, but it’s funny! Oh, it sounds like they are all going to bed now, so I had better too. I'm still laughing though!

A cute conversation

In the car on the way home from a play rehearsal today, I heard this conversation between two seven year-olds. They are both home-schooled, and their older siblings are in some of my classes. They are friends and have been for years, (as are their families) and I thought it was especially funny because of that. I thought it was super cute, so I wrote it down.

Little boy: I feel bad for my dad sometimes; do you ever feel bad for your dad?

Little Girl: Why would I feel bad for him?

Little Boy: Well, cause he works all day, then he comes home, and the house is a mess, then he gets all frustrated. Does your house ever get messy?

Little Girl: Yes sometimes it gets really messy.

Little Boy: So does ours. Then we clean it. Do you ever clean your house?

Little Girl: Yeah, we clean it a lot and put our toys away, but then we take them out and it gets all messy again.

Little Boy: Is your car always this messy?

Little Girl: Yes, except when we clean it. Do you clean your car?

Little Boy: Yeah, we clean it. First we get a big box and put all our stuff in it. Then we vacuum it.

Little Girl: Do you like vacuuming?

Little Boy: Yes, it’s my favorite part because it is fun.

Little Girl: Oh, that’s good.

Love it!

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.