When I think of a "beautiful" season I don't usually think of winter first. But wintertime is truly gorgeous.
These are some pictures I took in the morning the other day when my friend Linden and I went walking around the yard where everything was covered in frozen fog (including our fingers). I love the little frost crystals on the trees and leaves and flowers. It looks like they're all covered in icy fur. :)
Well, bloggers, I'm thankful for many things, including my Attitude of Gratitude experience, compliments to Brooke. I'm just going to include one thing on this post (I'm kind of in a hurry, it's 9:15 and my family is about to start Return of the King for our LotR marathon.)
Sunshine
Gorgeous sunrise I got to witness
on the way to school!
This week (this month for that matter) has been non-stop rain. Rain. Rain. More rain. But this morning, I woke up, and our of habit, looked out my window. Sunlight, gorgeous sunlight, was streaming through it. I couldn't believe it. I'm SO thankful for my sunshine! :)
I hope we all enjoyed Thanksgiving, and got a chance to count our blessings! :) Happy Holidays!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope we all take a little bit of time to recognize how many things in the world we have to be grateful for, and also to stuff yourself.
My Mom took this picture of the
Portland, Oregon temple. Isn't it
beautiful?
1. Temples
I'm so, so grateful that we have a temple so near us. Every time I go inside, or just walk on the grounds, I feel such peace. It's one of the best ways there is to be in the world but not of it, and remember why we're really here on earth.
2. Orthodontists
Some other brace-faces like me will agree deep down that they are thankful for their orthodontists who help them have straight teeth. This one's pretty straightforward.
3. Basketball
Basketball is a part of my life. Last year, when I didn't play, I realized how much was missing from my year. This year, now that I'm playing again, it just makes me happy. (Plus I got an awesome shooting shirt with PEDERSON printed on the back. Score!)
4. Male teachers
This one seems sort of strange, but I'm grateful for my "guy-teachers". I'll ask around to my classmates, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and a few of the girls will answer that they might want to be a teacher, including me. But none of the guys at school have informed me that they would ever consider that job. So thank you, Mr. Garritano, Mr. Oldham, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Workentin, and Mr. Deland, for stepping up and being awesome teachers at MRA!
5. Autumn time
Can you tell I'm grateful for my camera too?
That will be on my list tomorrow.
I've said it a hundred times, and I'll say it again: I LOVE FALL. It's my favorite time of the year when all the trees turn colors, and the leaves start to fall, the air is crisp, and we can start building fires in the fire place. What would I do without you, autumn?
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, all! :) Count your blessings!
I love Mormonads. I really do. They're so inspiring, and every time I look at one it just makes me want to be a better person.
2. The computer
I'm thankful for the computer. There I said it. I am. Truthfully, I wouldn't be able to do so many of the things that are part of my week, like blog, check my email, write essays, do homework, print our photo, you get the gist. :)
3. Cookie dough
This should not be on my list. But, I really don't know what I would do without my chocolate chip cookie dough. It's a little taste of home, some memories of making cookies as a kid (and a teenager).
I took this picture too!
4. Flowers
It seems like such a simple thing, flowers. But, imagine if there were no flowers in the world--what an uncolorful place it would be . . . No annual tuplip field trips, there wouldn't be lilies at Easter, my dog would probably be named something other than "Daisy" . . .
5. Art
What would I do without my artsy stuff? I can't imagine my world without paint, pencils, and color . . .
Second round of "Attitude of Gratitude"! Here are 5 more things that I'm thankful for:
1. The scriptures
Man, what would I do without my scriptures? Any time I'm troubled about something, or just need a break from the world I can go to them, and they will give me answers.
2. My bed
It's kind of hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that there are many people in the world who don't have this simple pleasure of having a warm bed to sleep in at night. Just last night after I finished watching Lord of the Rings, I said my prayers, and I thanked Heavenly Father for my bed. I climbed in, and went to sleep thinking how grateful I am to have one.
I took this pic . . . just in case you wanted to know.
3. The piano
My piano is where I sit down and express myself. If I'm frustrated or sad a song comes out of my fingers that I've never heard before, and it makes me feel better.
4. Pumpkin rolls
Pumpkin rolls, I think are my single favorite treat in the whole world. They just remind me of Thanksgiving and Christmas time, and they taste delicious (especially with cream cheese frosting).
5. School
I love school. You're probably thinking, "How amazing is that? An 8th grader that loves school!" But I'm serious. Every morning I look forward to getting up and being taught, and let me tell you, my teachers are absolutely awesome. I'm actually crushed that it's my last year here! Then it's off to highschool . . .
Once again, you guys are welcome to participate! Enjoy the break!
Brooke over at her blog started something really cool for Thanksgiving week called "Attitude of Gratitude", and invited anyone who was to try it too to do so. Basically for the five weekdays of Thanksgiving week you post 5 things you are grateful for. It's such a great way to step back and take a look at all the wonderful thing that we have in our lives that we take for granted!
1. My family
The most important thing to me in the whole world is not a thing. It's a group of things. Six things to be exact. I don't know what in the world I would do without the love and support from my family! I love you guys! :)
I love my camera too . . .
this is my set of HP books
2. Books!
I love books. I love reading books. I love looking at books. I love feeling a book's pages. I even love smellingbooks. I. LOVE. BOOKS.
Took this one too . . .
3. Trees
Oh, how I love trees! Something about them . . . they're beautiful in the spring, they're pretty in the winter, they're handsome in the summer, and breathtaking in the fall.
4. Friends
I'm so lucky have such wonderful friends . . . they are constantly brightening up my days with how funny, trustworthy, and supportive they are.
5. Sunsets
Ah, sunsets . . . whenever I am in the presence of a gorgeous sunset I can't help but feel at peace.
You guys are welcome to participate too! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, all!
Okay, so me and my mom have been really into . . . mushrooms lately. Not the slimey, sliced-up kind that you eat, but the cute kind that grow on the ground. Now that I'm writing this down it sounds really weird . . .
Anyway, today we were in Coos Bay browsing some of the sea shops (I love little shops by the sea!) and my grandpa showed us this shop that sold unique wooden creations made out of Myrtlewood. Will you guess what they had there?
Little wooden Myrtlewood mushrooms! They were so strangely adorable, so my mom and I bought three between both of us.
Yesterday morning, I woke up, dragged myself out of bed and out of habit, glanced out the window. Will you look at what I found?
It was a gorgeous sunrise that looked as if someone had taken a paintbrush and streaked the sky with pastel colors. It was a scene to perfect to miss. So of course I went crazy and took tons of pictures.
In our old house, we had a small red maple tree in the corner our backyard. I loved it. It was my favorite tree. It would turn beautful colors in the fall (and anyone who knows me knows how much I love autumn trees). Then we moved. I actually begged Mom and Dad to take the tree with us to our new house, but they promised that we would plant lots of trees in our new yard.
Well guys, we're finally carrying out that promise. We're buying some new trees to plant in our yard! I'm so excited! :)
My favorite season is here at last. Oh, how I love fall time! Something about it is just so enchanting, with the trees that look like they're on fire, and the leaves that crunch under your footsteps . . . Something about this season is just . . .
. . . breathtaking.
Do you see this beautiful tree? There is no place that I'd rather be than curled up under this autmun tree, in a bed of fallen leaves, reading a great book, watching the morning fog move over the hills, seeing the sun scatter light over the field . . .
That sounds good to me.
What is your favorite part of fall? Brooke at her blog and Jillian at Random Ramblings have both described it beautifully. Enjoy the autumn weather . . . I'm going to go get my book.
Hello again, blogging world, good to see you. I'm still alive for those wondering. Our computer did something very inconsiderate and crashed at the beginning of July. We didn't get it fixed until the summer was already over. The break of computer related things was very nice, I'll admit . . . But obviously, my summer adventures have not been blogged about, so if any of you care, I will do a quick summary for you now (after all, this is mostly for my personal record). Get ready for a very lengthy post.
YOUNG WOMEN'S CAMP!
Oh my gosh, YW Camp this year was absolutely phenomenal. Every single morning devotional lesson was amazing . . . Every day, there was at least something especially for me that I needed to hear. I made some wonderful new friends, and we all just had a fun and spiritually-filling time!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
AHHHHH!!!!! I SAW IT, I SAW IT!!! IN THE THEATERS!!! TWICE!!!! I loved it so much, I read the whole series again, too. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series, you are seriously missing out. That's all I have to say. If I keep typing about this I have a feeling I'll start spilling spoilers for the books and movies all over the place.
Speaking of wizards, we have a little witch in our family now:
Lauren has been liking HP lately too, and she even got a robe and a wand. (It actually lights up! I'm super jealous . . .)
Writing with a feather quill . . . so cute!
My New Toy
I've finally done it everyone. I bought a digital camera of my very own. I got it a few weeks ago and I'm having so much fun with it! :) Lauren has willingly been my little supermodel . . .
So I've been really into doing people's hair lately . . . cute, right?
School.
So Saturday night, three nights before the start of school, I was getting together all my school stuff, nervous and excited at the same time. I woke up feeling fine on Sunday. But then something happened that wasn't in my plans. At all. I caught . . . the stomach flu. My brothers and sister all had it, and they were still contagious for about 5 days. 5. As in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So, readers, you can guess what that would mean. I missed my first 3 days of 8th grade.
But, I came back on Friday, and pretty soon I was caught up, and now I'm having a fantastic time. My teachers are really cool, and I enjoy all of my subjects. We've been making stop-motion videos, and doing science experiments, learning what an epistemological quandary is, AND I get to start my Senior Project! Our schedules are going to be pretty hectic this year, but you know what? I think I'm okay with that.
3. Basketball
4. Male teachers
1. The scriptures
It's kind of hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that there are many people in the world who don't have this simple pleasure of having a warm bed to sleep in at night. Just last night after I finished watching Lord of the Rings, I said my prayers, and I thanked Heavenly Father for my bed. I climbed in, and went to sleep thinking how grateful I am to have one.
4. Pumpkin rolls
Take a look at the date. 
