Christmas Eve

We decided to watch a movie tonight so we started to get teat when our doorbell rang. A box with presents for our whole family! Our Christmas Elf's finished the twelve  days of Christmas and have us a whole Christmas dinner!

When we started watching the movie the doorbell rang. It was sister Rosenvall, she brought us a $50 dollar gift card to Wendy's.

Later into the movie he doorbell rang again! This time it was another box full of Christmas presents.

We have been so blessed this year for Christmas.

Christmas time.

Dear Friend,
4 more days until Christmas! Ahh! My friend said (and I totally agree): I feel like I have to run to catch up to the Christmas season. There is too much to do and to little time. Finals are over, thank goodness. I didn't do to bad, but I didn't do to good.
   So I've had quite a few performances going on lately, I've had two play performances, one sign language performance, and one choir performance (with another one today!) Here is a link to watch the sleepy hollow performances: Sleepy Hollow.
   Well, thats it for now. Merry Chirstmas!
-Dassia

Blessings

Dear friend,
   I have been blessed so much this year. Trials looked at from a different point of truly are blessings. And this past year I have not only had trials but I have also learned to look at them as blessings, and that has been a great blessing to me.
   This February my dad lost his job, that was a great fall back to my family. We felt stick and didn't know what to do next. But we pushed on and soon it became a normal part of life to have dad home all the time. We have learned a lot of skills during this trial, cooking with food storage, shopping once a month, only buying things we really need, and saving money. That has been a blessing.
   Many people have seen our needs and been so willing to share. Just simple things like asking what we need or noticing and dropping something by.
   In this Christmas season we have been especially blessed. Christmas elf's leaving things at our door, millions of gift cards and dollars left in cupboards. Everyone has felt the need to give, and share this special Christmas.
   They say that "the older you get the less you want for Christmas, because the things you really want are things that cannot be bought with money". This year I couldn't think of anything that I wanted! I thought and I thought, I looked through adds from the newspaper, but I couldn't find anything! My parents kept asking me but I didn't have any ideas. I see this as a blessing because we have been so taken care of we have very few and small needs. What a blessing.
   Well I'll get to the point now, today my dad was offered a job, and today he accepted it. It is very exciting! It will be weird to have him leave and go back to work, and the hours are weird but we are very lucky. And his whole wish was "I just want a job before Christmas".
   -Dassia

Happy Times.

There are many types of days,
Happy, sad, amazing, and,
No matter the type, we always have,
A chance to change our opinion.

So lets stand up. And remember, the happy times.

These are just some happy memories!

Baby Joy Babies Joy.

Today we went to the baby blessing of baby Joy. I really enjoyed the Bates ward. They had a ton of kids. And when I say a ton I mean it! But I really enjoyed there Young Women and felt welcomed at once. Right when I walked in they said "Hi Cassias Cousin!". And even though Cassia and I aren't really cousins I still felt cared for and welcomed.

For Sunday School we had a great lesson where people participated. We read scriptures and applied everything to our own life's. Then at Young Womens one of the girls taught and everyone participated and listened and we had a quite enjoyable lesson.

After words we went to the Bates' house for some delicious food and catching up on peoples life's. It was quite a fun day.

I also emailed Kyle this poem that I thought I should share: (You can also view it on the poem blog [see link above]):

The Last and Final Battle

Based on C. S. Lewis' book: The Last Battle 

Swords are clashing,
Shields are Smashing,
Soiders in a war.

Giants and Dwarfsa,
And Unicorns!
By the Stable door.

The world was smashed
By Aslan not Tash,
For good can always defeat evil.

It was darkness and blackness,
And complete not and emptiness,
Absent of life and people.

They went through the door then Aslan appeared,
But in the beauty of now, the Dwarfs still quite feared,
The Dwarfs for the Dwarfs they said they must.

They were still dark and blind,
Need of changing their mind,
For they lacked faith and trust.

In Battles in the Latter days,
We too are fighting in a haze,
A sword of truth and light.

A shield of strength
A Helmet of Faith,
A Battle for the right.

Lets all start, the chapter one
And have our daily battles won.
For whenever we are Obstinate,

We are giving-in to wrong
Not making life a happy song
And taking sides with Shift!

Lets all instead be kings and queens,

Searching for the righteous things

-Dassia

-Snickerdoodle

 

-Dassia :D

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Acting time is here again! This time we will not be doing a Shakespeare play. WE are doing "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" A play about Ichabod Crane who is scared of everything! He falls in love with Katrina who is pretending to like him to make Brom (the man she really likes) to be more interested in her. Each nigh Ichabod stays at a different families home (he is the school master) and they each tell him a different story. On the last night he is in sleepy hollow there is a Halloween party where they tell the tale of the headless horseman. Katrina tells him her true feelings for him and Ichabod storms out. He runs into the headless horseman and they race Ichabod is never seen again. (except in our play to make it less scary Ichabod comes back on -after everyone leaves- hand in hand with Gracie [my daughter in the play] and then the curtains close). Sound like a hilarious play? Well it will be! There will be lot's of music (I'm not kidding most of the lines are put to music) and the music will be all of the tunes you know: Oklahoma, Follow the Prophet, Cups-You're Gonna Miss Me, If I Were a Rich Man, and more.

This year acting is the exact same time at choir in the exact same spot! SO we will be switching back and forth between the two. We missed it this week (I heard it was good) Because of Great Grandma Rodgers Funeral. It was sweet, everyone of her children said something about her and everyone of them said "service". She was always serving others, and she always always had hot cinnamon rolls to give to strangers, family and friends.

When I was just a little girl I was misbehaving in church. Mom was outside in the foyer with me along with Grandma. Grandma took me on her lap and said "Megan it's time for me to teach you how to sit like a lady." Right then and there she did. And I listened to her and sat like a lady the rest of the day. That's the kind of person Grandma was.

(I don't know the exact number but I'm close) She had 8 children, 45 grandchildren, 130 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren, and she could remember all of our names the year 2011. She was amazing and loved her family most of all.

Read 1 Nephi 1:1 and write down all the ways you are like Nephi.
-Dassia

Back to Blogging!

I have not been on this blog for a while. But this week as I was learning about Journalism I decided to come back and as Nephi says "I make a record of my proceedings in my days." And also to record what I learn and how I can apply it to my life.

So this week was a busy yet fun one. We celebrated the much awaited birthday of the twins; Clay and Cami who are both now 10 years old! It really does make me feel old as they get older and my friends get older (one is turning 16 this week!!!) I can't believe how the time fly's.

On Tuesday we went to boondocks (since the twins got in free we decided to go) It was really fun. I enjoy doing things like that because I think it brings us together as a family. As were having fun and playing with each other (and trying to beat each other in the go carts) we learn more about each other.

This week I made a discovery that didn't please me very much but got me thinking. The discovery was: "I'm less grouchy (for lack of better word) when I spend time with my family." And by time I don't mean a little time I mean "stuck in the house with them, quarantine" time :) I was much less rude, offended, grouchy, and just plain mean. I spent time with each of my siblings individually and got to know more about them:

Dude: While walking on the paper route together Dude and I talked about what he enjoyed what he thought about being 12, what he liked and disliked about Vanguard. I listened to him (even when I was really tired and could barely keep my eyes open) and I learned a lot from him. He is really a wise person.

Chip: I was sitting in the basement; waiting for a chance to go see my friends when who came down the stairs but Chip :) I had always gotten along with Chip but we weren't really close as a brother and sister should be so I had him come sit by me and we started to talk. It started out with me asking him math questions (I had never been good at math but he is and he likes it..most of the time) Then in return he would ask me math questions. We went on like this until he wanted to know what time it was and then he asked me and I told him and then he continued to tell me why he needed a watch so much more then Dude (who just got a new watch). He continued to talk about that until he noticed the fight going on outside (between a bee many wasps, a yellow jacket and a fly over some honey) as I listened to him tell me about this I learned how observant he is and how much he enjoys nature.

Chipper: Okay, I will tell you the truth here: Chipper and I have almost never gotten along. We (as sisters) were always fighting and always telling each other who was right and who was wrong. But this week as I have tried to understand her we've become better friends. I must say we still have a long way to go but we have been improving. And I have enjoyed getting to know her better.

Tookie: More and more often I have been sitting down with Tookie and reading her stories or talking to her about butterflies or singing her a song. We have definitely become closer. She even was snuggling with me today and when mom asked her who she wanted to snuggle with she said "No, I [want] Meggie" It was cute.

B boy: (who I don't even have a picture of that how long it's been) and I have gotten along since the start and today he even gave me a kiss :) He is the cutest Ginger I have ever seen and I will have to get a picture of him soon.

Parents: I'm still not sure how well I've been dong on this but I have been trying not to complain AT ALL! I have been trying to honer my parents and think of others before myself. I have been trying to show my parents how much I love them and show them how much I care.


This is a really long post and I have to go to bed so I will try to write more later. If you could please comment on this so I can know who is reading this blog (that is mostly for me so it will be a shock if anyone does read it).
-Dassia

Play, Piano, Park

   This morning we went to the Bate's stake center to practice the play. (We probably won't end-up having it there but we practiced there anyway) We went through the whole thing twice! And it was amazing! So you should all come because I of course will be amazing and you should all come to see me, the star of the show :) JK! But it will be amazing and you should come see it.
   After the play we hurried over to the Petersons for piano lessons. Their house is really random :). They brake out randomly into song, in the EXACT same place... which can be kind of freaky :) Anyway we practised the end of "Church Song" and started learning and new blues song... Which will be very difficult yet very fun. At piano we helped Chloe and Anna get ready for Yw's. And on the way home me and Cassia imagined the perfect day at the park. Today. With some arbys and then laying out eating food in the shade. And then a fun time at the park.
   Then lo and behold! We got home where the mom's were talking and told them of our plan. Sister Bate's said "that sounds like fun!" And mom agreed. So off we went to arbys and the park were we saw Cassias favorite marshmallow trees!!! We took pictures, here are some of them:

They are so poofy! 

It was really fun and I even got to push a whole bunch of kid's on the marry-go-round for my daily act of service which was fun. One kid even called me "amazing"

It was a great day!!!!

Ps I wrote a poem about it view: "poems" above to read it!!

Fun and excitment.

Okay so yesterday we practiced the play in the stage in Farmington (where we had to move it to) It's was so hot! We were all dieing and It was not that good but later I went to young women's with Cassia and we did a service hunt. Which was really fun. And then after that we went back to her house and danced in the rainstorm and then we went to save the "Vole" A creature the Bates found in there window well:

It was so cute!!



Anyway when we came back there was a beautiful rainbow! You could see all the colors and it was a full half circle! It was so cool!! After that we had to go home but it was a beautiful day!

Then today we practiced the last scene played who would win and then watched the movie "comedy of errors" in which all the girls were VERY immodest. But the last scene we did was SO GOOD! Which is good because tomorrow is our performance! It will be very fun were all so excited.

That's all!

New goals!

Today I made a new goal. That goal was to he more like my closest friend: Cassia. She is a wonderful example to me. Here are some if the traits she has that I want to work on:

• Noticing others Cassia always try's to include everyone no mater how strange or different.

• Caring She is a very caring person, and even when she's frustrated she is still calm caring and quiet.

• Loving Cassia is loving in a very quiet way. From across the room you can tell she loves you and cares about who you are.

• Perfect Cassia likes to have things perfect. Because of this she works slowly really thinking about what she's doing and how to do it the best.

These are just a few quality's she has. When I have mastered these as best I can then I will add a few more. So that slowly I can become more like her!

-Dassia

Boys?

   Today mom and dad went to court. The judge is going to let Heather and Sunny fight for Boe and Jaxon. Mom is hoping that the judge will extend the time to six months and then the foster family will say "we don't want to have anything to do with this" and then we will get the boys! But we still don't know and DCFS isn't working with us :(. Whatever happens, happens. That's how me and dad are looking at it. We will just wait and see.
   Today was the first day of tech week! And the last two scenes kind of dragged. WE need a ton of work on them, which is kind of scary since we are preforming the play THIS WEEK! But finally all the costumes are done and we can just act Act ACT!
  

Comedy that leads to errors and what becomes of that!

We are performing our play this week! Here is the details: 

Vanguard in production presents:

                Shakespeare's

               Comedy of Errors

      Please join us for an evening of 

          confusion and comedy!

Friday May 17 at 7:00 pm

Saturday May 18 at 6:00 pm

FREE

Performance will be held at the LDS church located at

7989 S 2250 E South Weber, UT.

I hope everyone can come! It is a very exciting play and it is FULL of confusion! I will be playing the narrator gypsy with my friend Cassia the nunja (nun narrator and ninja) as my "enemy". This week is tech week we will be practicing EVERY DAY! And then preforming on Friday and Saturday, one day (Sunday) of not seeing each other and then Monday morning we leave for a week of Shakespeare showdown!!

Shakespeare showdown.

It's a really fun camp-out (or so I've heard) where they have Shakespeare workshops, everyone performs their play, you camp out and then you go home. Except our group is special because we get to stay an extra two days to do our out door adventure for vanguard!!!!! I can't wait, oh and I forgot to mention: there's a ball!!!!

Well hope to see everyone there... If not miss you!

 

Birthday Party and Calling Home

   Last night I went to Grace's birthday party with Cassia and Nic. It was a lot of fun, We played night games like Tag the tagger, Ninja!, bunny bunny and questions. We also played curses which was really fun and really hard :). Some of the snacks we had were: Yeyow Gwapes, Chips, Chocolate Milk, orange juice, and Ice cream!! It was a really fun and wild birthday party.

   Happy Mothers Day! Today we made mom breakfast in bed and we each wrote her a note. We also went (yesterday) to grandma Johnson to visit her for mothers day and in a minuet we are going to grandma Bass' because Kyle is calling home! Can you believe it? He has been out in the mission field for 6 months already! It is going way fast for everyone except for grandma :) luckily he is calling home because everyone else in the family is having to many problems :-/.

   (A few hours later...) Kyle is doing great! It was really fun talking to him, even though I was the only kid/youth that talked to him :). He said the weirdest or most nastiest things he has eaten so far is: A coconut cake, and kinwa soup (which he immediately ran outside and spit out). He also said: "We need to have a light heart but not a light head" I really liked that because it's so true!

Well I better get going... Happy mothers Day!

Cultural Dinner and a Homeschool Ball!

   This week (on Friday) we had the end-of-year cultural dinner with the vanguard group. There was so much good food, my favorites were probably the chicken mom made and the ravioli stuff. After we did the awards I gave the mentors:
   Sister Bates: The wise Kong-Fu mentor
Sister Edwards: The youthful grandma
Sister Bird: Fantastic food and frank facts
Sister Johnson: Our favorite Fibonacci
Sister Pack: The snazzy secretary
I got the award of "A joy to be around" and they gave me an "almond joy" :)
  
 I was really nervous for the ball but I didn't have a choice so I went off with the other girls to go get into our prom dresses. My prom dress is cream white with a pretty bead pattern it's strapless... But prom dresses are hard to find with sleeves :). Cassia's dress was so pretty It was a dark midnight blue with little sparkle jewel things It looked so good on her! But we were both so nervous, all the other girls were so excited freaking out but I could not see what was so good about it. I had no clue how to dance I had never been to a dance and I was so scared. So Cassia and I stayed near the back as we all walked in, unsure of what to do...
   We waited for half an hour playing ninja while we waited for the music to start when they finally got it working Nic (the DJ) got up and said that we were going to have every-other-one a fast song and then a slow song. I was so relived! I didn't think there would be any fast songs, just slow boring songs that would make everything awkward. The first dance was amazing and from then on I enjoyed myself. The first slow dance as the girls were being asked to dance I went over to Kylee and Ashley who were sitting in the back and asked them to come and dance. Which they wouldn't. Then they both kind of smiled looking at something behind me I didn't realize it until someone was right behind me and put their hands over my eyes. My first thought was "Dad?" But no! I turned around and there was Nic He grinned at my shocked face and asked me if I would like to dance with Isaiah who proved to be an amazingly good dancer!! But my mission to get Kylee and Ashley to dance did not fail for Nic went over and asked Ashley who said no :( and then he asked Kylee who said yes :).
  
 The next slow dance Nic asked me to dance And the one after that was girls-ask-guys so I pushed Cassia over to Nic against her will but to bad and asked her to go ask him... Which she did :) I liked all the fast dances. Even though many times I was out of breath :) Sadly Ashley did not dance to any of the slow dances :( maybe we can get her to next time!
   It was a good end-of-year celebration! Even though I'm sad it's over.

Comedy of Errors

Gypsy:Is it just me? Or does it seem like comedy and errors shouldn't go together?
Nun; I feel That if we all choose the right there are no errors.
Gypsy:But without the errors this play ends after the third Scean! We have not even bought the popcorn
Nun:Oh! Such a worldly thing I would never think of buying...
Gypsy:(meekly)But it's....yummy...
Nun:Tsk tsk such a worldly person you are.

   A new acting group has been established!! And our next play is in May, We are preforming Comedy of Errors! A play of mistaken Identitys. In which I am the Gypsy and my friend Spicedoddle Is the nun :)
   Here is the cast list so far...

 

Sumner Bird Antipholus of Ephesus (twin brother)

Donovan Bird Antipholus of Syracuse (twin brother)

Kaiden Cloward Dromio of Ephesus (twin servant)

Nic Cloward Dromio of Syracuse (twin servant)

Jordan Housholder Solinus – Duke of Ephesus

Isaiah Pack Egeon (or Ægeon) – a merchant of Syracuse (father)

Hyrum Edwards Merchant #2 – to whom Angelo is in debt

Dallin Johnson Merchant #3 and Officer

William Bates Merchant #4 and Jailer

Cassia Bates Nun Narrator

Megan Johnson Gypsie Narrator

Sarah Bird Angelo – a goldsmith

Teegan Bird Adriana – girlfriend of Antipholus of Ephesus

Gracious Pack Emilia (or Æmilia) – lost wife, now Lady Abbess

Grace Edwards Luce – maid to Adriana

Hannah Wolf Doctor Pinch – a conjuring schoolmaster

Semira Scott First merchant – friend to Antipholus of Syracuse

Maretta Scott Messenger and Servant to Adriana

Josee Shupe Luciana – Adrianas sister

Rachell Wolsey Girlfriend (please pick your own name)

Ashley Baird Balthazar – a merchant 　

It will be a really fun play I personaly can't wait!!!