12 Days of Christmas

Maia is always posting things like this up, so I decided to beat her to it. :) Have you ever wondered what the heck they mean in the Christmas Carol, The 12 Days of Christmas? Like, what the freak does twelve lords a-leaping have anything to do with Christmas? Or maids milking?!? I know, right? So I got this in an email, and decided to post it up on my blog since I haven't written in this for a LONG TIME ha ha.1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were
not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone
during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning
plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each
element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality
which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.
Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!!!

Twilight Movie

This movie was so good! Despite what some people have said, it was way good. Rob Pattinson is ridiculously hot in this movie. And Kristen Stewart did a great job as Bella. I love the two of them together.... The chemistry is SO REAL! It was very good, and made about $80 million dollars in its opening weekend. Also, today, (November 23, 2008) it was announced for sure that they are making the second book into a movie. So that means we fans are to expect New Moon coming to theatres! Pattinson and Stewart signed the contract so it'll be the same Bella and Edward playing the parts!!! I am just so excited over this, I had to write something. So, I also took some pictures of me in my Twilight attire. Ha ha! So here is the only goodish picture.



Me, just chillin' before the amazing movie viewing experience! Showing off my Twilight shirt!

A Very Happy Day

Well, the title is pretty self explanatory. I guess I could start off by saying, hiya guys! It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. Oops, hehe. Well, I have a great thing to talk about in my blog that I haven't written in for a LONG time. It was Sunday night, and I get a phone call from my friend, Dori. She invited me to go and see Tokio Hotel with them that next day (that would be Monday, people). Lemme' clear that up for people who may not know this new group; they are a fresh-outta'-Germany rock band that I really like. They're a huge hit there, and Europe so they decided to try their luck in North America. They may be new (CD was released in English for U.S. in May) but they are already becoming a huge hit. No sold out concerts quite yet-too new for that still. Anywho-I got superexcited and went. It was my friends Julia, Erica, Dori and I that went.

We all slept over at her house that night. 1:30am rolls around on the clock and the alarms go off. Time to get ready!!!

We spent a couple hours getting all primped up, then 3:30am rolls around the clock, and time to leave! Now you are probably wondering "why so early?" Right? Yeah, thought so. It took place in LA so we needed to get on the road early (believe it or not, we still hit traffic) and to reserve some really good spots.

This was an interview that Tokio Hotel was called for on KIISFM. After the interview they were going to perform. This wasn't a huge announcement, so if you were lucky enough to hear of it, then you were lucky enough to go. While there and waiting for the whole schindig to start, we made buddies with the security officer, Roger.

Now now folks, I've learned a lesson that making friends with the guard there is a brilliant idea. He guarenteed us autographs by placing us in front row, and right next to the door, so we could see them coming out of the exit and everything! It was great. About midway through the interview, they accepted phone calls from fans, and they were allowed to ask the group a question. Dori is a diehard fan of Tom (one of the twins; he has the dreadlocks). Dori wrote I Love Tom on her chest, and Roger put two and two together to figure out that Tom was her favorite. So he called Ryan Seacrest (who we also saw there) right after a call. Ryan answered, and Roger said there was a girl who wanted to talk to Tom personally. Of course, Dori never said she wanted to do that, but Roger did that for her. As he handed her the phone, Dori freaked out. It was pure comedy. I was laughing so hard, my sides hurt. So Dori made it on the radio LOL. Replaying it, I've noticed that she was the only one who said "gosh." Everyone said, well, not gosh. All of us that went are LDS, so that really shined while she was talking. Even when they came on stage, we all said gosh. Excecpt everyone else. :/ I really wish I had my camera out then, to record her reaction. The whole interview plus the phone calls is on KIISFM.com, and here is the link-Click Here= She was the 6 one to get interviewed. So anywho, shorlty after the interview, it was announced that it was almost time for their performance. OMG. We were going to listen to them live, and because we were in the front row (thanks Roger!!) we were going to be SO close. Long story-that-is-already-very-long-and-only-getting-longer-by-my-writing-this-short, they performed the song Final Day in acoustic, so lil' Gustav wasn't there to play the drums. Ah well. They play very good live, and the acoustic version was really good, I almost like it better than the original... yeah I don't know haha. So they went back inside, and only a few minutes later, all the body guards make their way out. So it was only natural for us to befriend them too! We still don't know his name, but we talked to a bodyguard. Then their "something like that" manager came out too and we talked to him also. Finally, finally finally finally, They whole group makes its way out the door each carrying permanent markers in there hands. Julia, was first in line, me second, Dori third and Erica fourth at the very tip beginning of the line. The order that the group came out in (for anybody who gives a care) Tom, Bill, Georg, and Gustav. After Julia got her things signed, I had Bill sign my phone. And Gustav, ah, cute little tiny 5'6" Gustav, sign it also. So I have two signatures by a band. It's really rather fun. Adults may make fun of me, but that's OK. I'm a teenager. I'm supposed to do that. All the people taking pictures and videos liked the four of us, especially Dori who was the most outgoing. So we have a couple of pictures on KIISFM.com. We are on page 15, 23, and 24. So if you just want to skip-a-dee-do-da there. And, btw, the girl holding up the sign that says "I ditched school for Tokio Hotel", the ONLY sign on there, that was a girl from Moreno Valley too. In fact, the same school as us even, haha! And here is the link to there- Click Here They took some shots of us as a group posing, but they didn't put it online. =( Oh well. It was still such a blast, and I'm so glad they invited me. It was great. Well, I'll end this here. Bye guys!

Welcome To The Magic Show, Kids.

Gather Round!! Gather Round!! Gather round to see the wonderful Grace-dini at work! I would first off like to introduce her, however. She is commonly known as GraceFace, which is taken from the name, BraceFace. It was a TV show for those of you that remember about a teen with braces. Well, Grace has had her braces on for a while, and Grace happened to rhyme with Brace. So, the name GraceFace kind of stuck for a while (TRIVIA!! While Grace was running for secretary at Ridgecrest Elementary when she was in the 5 grade, her brother-in-law, Brent, drew the cartoon BraceFace on posters and used the nickname GraceFace for her slogans.) Now that all of that history is out of the way, I will present to you, Grace-dini! Watch, as her braces MAGICALLY disappear from her teeth. Drum roll please!!


Before.....


Tah-Dah!!


OMG! Look at those teef!



Thanks so much one and all for stopping by! We hope you enjoy another fantabular show presented by Grace!! Have a great day/evening/night/morning!!

Article by: Grace Emmons Photos by: Grace Emmons Special Thanks: Grace Emmons, Dr. Kevin D. Rummler

Up, Up, Up, To Big Bear!!

A whole whopping 50 minutes from our driveway to the lake up in Big Bear, we decided to do something different for our Labor Day weekend. So obviously, we took a trip up to Big Bear for a day. My dad packed one of his humongous picnics, Maia looked up Family Friendly hikes that the kids and Mom (=D) could manage to go on.




The wheather is absolutely perfect up there- the highest was about 78 degrees up there. In comparison to our 95-105 degrees in deserty Moreno Valley we had died and gone to heaven. I thought that this would be a perfect time to take my camera and take some kewl pictures. So I took some pretty pictures of plants and flowers using the SUPERMACRO-LED function on my camera. I thought they turned out very nice, but you all can be the real judge of that. It was Maia, Brent, Tahnee, Hannah, Kirstine, Seth, Larissa, Mom, Dad, and I that went. Spencer had a boys' day, so he wasnt able to make it up there with us. Well, I can't think of anything else to say, so I'll just let you all enjoy the pictures.




At the Ranger Station place thing, Seth was greeted by a bear LOL.



Aw, how cute are the three of us?



OMG, Gracie is in the mountains!! Still yet to see snow... ever...


The Happiest Trees on Earth are in Big Bear Mountain.


This is a close up of a plant called Rubber Rabbit Brush. It's branches were used as a rubber substitute during World War 2. Rabbits hate this stuff, and like I said, it has rubber in the branches, so, hence the name for a cool history of the plant.


Just a cool looking tree.


Wanted a picture of a bee for no reason.


Same bee.


Pretty little flower right next to a little stream.


Just another cute flower.


I guess I had a thing for kewl plants while up there LOL.


Yep, more flowers.


This was the only flower in bloom on its bush.


AAAH! Kids!!


A rather pokey plant.


A dead tree had fallen, and basically some of the branches just shattered. So, new life was forming out of all these broken pieces. I thought this was a beautiful picture- It can kinda' represent life. Something like, out of hard and difficult troubles, new life can form with the nourishment of knowledge of the past or something like that. I find it a very poetic plant I suppose...



This tree grows so slow, it takes 100 years just to grow 6 inches in diameter. Even Larissa grows faster than that!!



PineCone close up.


Big tree, little girl.


When you scratch the bark of this tree, it smells like vanilla. So that makes it a Scratch N' Sniff Tree! Yes, it does look like Seth is kissing it. Haha!


Rissa got tired of walking for a little bit.

New Hair!! =D

That's right folks. I chopped about a foot off my hair and had it layered in the front and highlighted, all in one visit. What more can a girl ask for?? Oh, that's right- shampooing your hair in a salon. And I got that... TWICE(!) in one visit. This post sounds very conceited, but it isn't. I'm just very tickled to get my hair styled. It feels really good and fun.
Despite the akward angle, you can see some of the front highlights and the small layers.

In this pic you see the length I've gotten and the colors of my highlights and some more of my front layers. I only got it one length in the back, I really wanted something low- maintainence. This is for all my family who whine that I don't talk to them enough, send them my blog enough, or just want to see me grow up... hahaha.
**UPDATED August 16, 2008** Cahnged my background again

Lake Trip (with my new camera)

I had a Lake trip with my brand new camera. It was alot of fun. My new camera is a waterproof one and you can put it up to 10 feet underwater. It was really wierd, you just don't put electronics underwater! And here I am, getting a camera as a gift that is made to go underwater. So, I took some pretty sweet pictures underwater. And Brent too. This trip was alot of fun. It was windy the whole trip, and cloudy because a thunderstorm was blowing in. It rained on us a little bit one day. That trip was still really fun- great for Great Big Mable!! Haha, not very much left to say, just a joeschmoe trip with my waterproof camera. =D

**UPDATED August 9** Corrected some errors ;D