Our family plus Uncle Jake and Uncle Ken
This is the pond we saw... isn't it beautiful?

This is one of the hieroglyphics we saw... I guess Devin liked this rock.

I'm So Tired...

Yesterday we went hiking with some relatives (Aunt Alisa, Uncle Jake, Uncle Ken, and Aunt Nancy) up to see some hieroglyphics on the face of a mountain. We hiked 1 1/2 miles in the heat to find 2 beautiful small waterfalls. A pond sat between the waterfalls, and behind the pond was the hieroglyphics! (by the way, hieroglyphics is a pain to spell)
I'm starting to miss being home, although Arizona is a wonderful place (there's no snow here, believe it or not, and it's, like, 75 degrees outside! I could go swimming). I really miss Bandit and Diamond. They're so cute.
We'll be home by New Years Day hopefully, and then I'll finally be able to play with Athena and Luna. It's been a bit of a pain, because right after we opened our Christmas presents we had to leave for our trip. At least there wasn't any traffic that day.
On a random thought, I wonder if anybody ever reads this anymore... I haven't written for, like, two months... but you can't really blame me, because no one ever reminds me to blog (except for Steph). No one writes on the blog other than me either... oh, well. I'll try to keep steady blogging again.

Yay! It's Christmas!

Okay, no. It is not Christmas. That was yesterday. We got lots of toys :D. We are at Aunt Pam's house. Aunt Nancy came over, too. She stayed for about 3 hours, which was really fun . She might cut my hair to look cuter (it won't be cut as short as it was cut in March). I got a little bored on the 6 hour drive to Vegas, so I came up with a new story idea. Not sure if people will like it though. We'll be leaving to Uncle Kyle's house tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post again for awhile, I'm using Aunt Pam's computer, because our laptops won't get internet access (ugh).

Where is She?

My mother is currently gone with her friend Jackie. They left and will not be back until Monday. They are going to play in a tournament. Fun for her. Hmph, why couldn't they take me with them? Oh well...
At least I can play with my cousin Alex. He is really smart when it comes to animal facts, just like I am. Ryan and Devin are happy playing with him, and the Wii game he brought, 'Naruto'.

UM

Okay, Ryan wants to vote under his account, but it won't let him without changing what I voted for myself. (I know, I'm full of it aren't I?) Anyways, Ryan votes under Really Good, so add that into account. That's all. Sorry to overwhelm you all with my HUGE comments.

My Story!

Okay, here's part of the story I'm writing. Thanks to all who read it! P.S. It's really not as long as it looks.

Kayla Rupper

I walked forward with dread. Sure, this was supposed to be one of the best days of your life, for a normal Vanarian. I was everything but a Vanarian it seemed.

All my life, I had been labeled odd, peculiar. It wasn't only my outward appearance, I didn't even think like a Vanarian. It didn't ever seem like it was my fault though. Can I help what I think?

My sister knew I was odd, and she knew what happened to people who stayed near me, so she kept far away. People who were near me got their popularity demoted for hanging out with the weird kid.

I don't really mind, though. I have two best friends. They think that only having 2 friends is stupid, and awful. What's the difference, though, 2 or 200?

At least one of my friends is normal. Luke is very popular, despite hanging out with me half the time. Girls think he's cute, and whole hoards of them swarm him whenever they can. Sometimes I wonder why he doesn't dump me for one of his more popular friends. He wouldn't do that to me, though, he's a very loyal friend. He is good at sports, and all the girls think he's handsome.

Curls is my other friend. She kind of sticks out too, but people still hang out with her, although she isn't very popular either. She understands me a bit better. Her real name is Carlianna, but because of her personality, and her hair, we all just call her Curls. Plus, Carlianna is a mouthful to say.

We moved forward in line. Luke, in front of me, turned to me. "I can't wait 'till I get to the front of the line! What do you think yours will be? I bet yours will be completely unique, something no one has ever seen before. Mine, ooh, I hope that I get super-strength or something awesome like that!"

I grinded my teeth together. "I don't know, Luke, stop asking me! I don't really even care at all what power I get, so long as people stop asking me what I think mine will be." Luke got a little offended at that.

"Sheesh, I was just wondering." He replied, and turned to talk to the person in front of him. They talked in excited whispers.

"Don't blame him; we all feel that way, Strike. We've been waiting for this day for half our lives… our status and popularity, all of the other important stuff, will change once we get this, okay? Don't spoil it." Curls chided me. I sighed, knowing that she was right.

I was almost to the front of the line now. Luke sucked in a deep breath, smiled, and then, jumped into the pond. I looked around. It was fall, and the trees were yellow and brown. The pond reflected the trees, though the blue sky shined in it, too.

Luke emerged at the other side of the small pond. He started punching his fist into the air. Nothing happened. He grabbed a tree, and tried to pull it. It didn't move.

"Get going, silly!" I heard Curls from behind me. Then, all of a sudden, I was falling. Curls had pushed me!

I tumbled into the water, hearing the big splash that I made. As I sank lower, I saw a sparkle in the water. I swam further down, and saw more sparkles. Something golden in the water caught my eye. I tried to swim down further, but I was out of breath. I swam to the top, and emerged out of the pool.

I saw concerned faces that turned into relief when they saw that I was all right. I got out of the water completely. I punched my fist in the air, but nothing happened. I stomped the ground, and grabbed the nearest tree, and pulled it as hard as I could. Nothing happened.

I swallowed, embarrassed. Suddenly I couldn't breathe. I had always feared that this would happen. I didn't have a power. Nothing inside of me felt different. I just wanted to be away from here, from everyone.

I took off as fast as I could. My power wasn't super speed either. I felt humiliated. Why was I so peculiar? Why couldn't I be normal, and sporty, like every other guy?

I cried, as my greatest fear had happened. I would stick out, being odd and helpless as I always was. I would be known as the loser, whose power had never shown up. My poor mother would be secluded from normal life, as she would always have to take care of her strange boy with no special rare gifts that they had always ranted would make me popular.

I woke up. I had slept in my small tree. I didn't want to disappoint my parents until I had to. I went to school. I passed Lukes' house, and he came out. He didn't see my upset face, so he started talking.

"You will never believe my power. It's not super strength, but it's the next coolest thing. I can run super fast. The girls love an athlete. I'm so lucky." He sighed, contently.

Curls ran up to me. "Guess what?!" She blurted out. "I have the gift of fire!" I blinked. Wow. I thought she would get a more subtle gift, like sunlight or something.

"What did you get?" She turned excitedly to me. Uh-oh, I was in trouble now. What to do, what to say? If I lied and gave a random power, she might ask to see it, but if I didn't… she would know how stupid and powerless I was. Even I wouldn't be my own friend if I was her.

"Uh… I can talk to small animals." I lied to her. "Oh. Cool," she remarked disappointedly. "That's, uh, really something." She looked around. "Oh! Hey why don't you tell that potgut over there to come over here and stand on two legs? You could probably even teach it to roll over."

Oh, no. I knew this would happen! I froze. What to do, what to do? I panicked. "Please, PLEASE, come over here and stand on two legs for me, Mr. Potgut." I didn't say this out loud, of course. I was hoping and praying to myself that it would run over here.

I stuck my finger into my backpack. "Squish," I felt my finger touch my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I hoped it would be worth it. I pulled my peanut butter finger out.

Curls saw it. "Eew, what are you doing?" She cried out.

"I'm… uh, well, potguts like peanut butter. He told me so himself." I lied. The potgut ran over to me. I froze and stayed completely still, hoping that the potgut would lick my extended finger. It sniffed, and started, to my relief.

I sighed, thanking Sirah (the goddess whom we all honored, because she granted us life) that the potgut had licked my finger. It was a lucky coincidence.

"That was… weird." Curls remarked. "Well, it is a pretty subtle gift. What did you expect from me, lava?" I replied. She shrugged.

"I guess your right. But it would look really cool if you ordered a tiger around!"

"Uhhhh, I don't control animals, I talk to them. If the tiger was in a bad mood, it wouldn't listen to me. That is not a good idea. Besides, I can only do small animals. That potgut was the biggest thing I ever tried to talk to." Yes, what a beautiful lie. I was soooooo brilliant, I thought to myself.

"Well, we're taking powers' class today for the first time. You practice your power there. You'll see, you'll be ordering cats and dogs around in no time!" I almost fell over. Oh no, how could I have forgotten about that? She thought she was cheering me up. "I guess so."

We got to the school. All the little kids looked up in envy and honor at us. They wouldn't look at me in honor when they heard about the boy who didn't have a power, I realized.

"PAY ATTENTION!" The powers' teacher screeched at us. We trembled a little bit. Powers: fun. Teachers: not so much. "Alright, who has not discovered their power yet?" A few tentative kids put their hands up. "Names?" The teacher had a clipboard. She took down their names.

"Now, the rest of you come line up over here and tell me your name and your power. Now!" She barked out at us. We immediately obeyed her command. I moved forward in the line quickly. "Not another dreadful line!" I thought to myself miserably.

It was my turn. "What's your name?" "Uh, Strike, ma'am," I answered her.

"What's your power?" I quivered in fear. I had known this was coming. "I-I-I can talk to animals." My voice shook. I stood there stiffly.

"Alright, alright, MOVE!" She barked at me. I started to sway, to and fro, and she started to look fuzzy. "You heard me, move!" Everything went blank.

"Hello, youngling. I have been waiting for you." I saw a deer in a woodsy clearing. It was talking? I was confused. Last time I checked, deer couldn't talk. I gasped, as it started speaking again.

"Do not worry, youngling, you are in my care. I will protect you." How could a deer protect me? That's it, I've lost it. Lock me up in the loony bin, I thought.

"You will find your powers soon, and they shall be great and wonderful. Do not fear, you will be fine. I see a great era of peace coming towards us. Lead us into it."

"Is he going to be okay?" I heard Lukes' voice in a far-off haze. "What is going on? I'm fine. Where's the deer?" Were my hazy thoughts.

Then, with a painful shudder, I had a HUGE headache. My head hurt, my feet hurt, even my legs hurt. What was happening to me? I wondered in despair.

"Most likely, though that head injury could get infected. He might even have brain damage. Johanna, get over here! I need you to try to heal this boy. The hospital might take too long to get here." I painfully heard a loud voice that I recognized as my powers' teacher.

"A-a-are you sure? I might mess up his head. What if it never restores order?! It'll be all my fault if he ends up retarded!!!" I heard a girls' voice.

"Better retarded than dead," the teacher replied dryly.

CRACK! I heard something. I was screaming in my head. Something was wrong with me! There was pain everywhere inside of me.

"Oh, no, I messed up! He's dead, he's dead, I just know he is!" Apparently, I was screaming out loud too. Slowly, it started to go down a bit, though still incredibly painful.

"Oh well. It was too much to ask of you, Johanna. I wonder what I should say to his parents when they come looking for him. Dang, I might even lose my job." I felt a new throbbing pain. She had kicked me.

"Unnnnnh," I grumbled. "Ow. Ow, ow, ow, ow OW!" The pain was a lot more than my words. I kept moaning miserably. I heard gasps all around me.

"He's alive! Quick Johanna, keep doing whatever you were doing just now!" I felt teardrops on my face. She was crying.

I felt more pain, and then I relaxed. It was completely gone for a couple seconds, and then came back.

I opened my eyes, and heard more gasps. What was with these people? They were going to hyperventilate if they didn't stop gasping all the time.

I tried to get up, but the girl Johanna pushed me back down. Ow, more pain. "I'm fine," I complained, "I just have a little headache!"

"You're not completely healed yet. You just stay right where you are." To the others she commented. "Get this boy some juice! He's lost a lot of blood, he needs liquids." I felt a straw at my lips and started drinking, realizing how thirsty I was.

"I think he's going to be okay." Johanna said confidently. "Help him up. Let's get him over to that bench."

I extended my arms and they lifted. I stumbled over to a bench a little ways off. "Careful! Don't try to do anything yourself." She scolded me.

"Thanks," I muttered gratefully to her. I noticed Curls for the first time. She came over and sat down next to me. She sighed.

"You really had us scared there. We were afraid we were going to lose you. What happened?" There was a lot of curiosity in her voice.

"I don't know, I'm the one who blacked out, remember? You tell me what happened."

"Well, you were standing in front of the coach, and you wouldn't move. She was about to push you out of the way, when you blacked out." She stopped and looked at me.

"I remember that part."

"Then you fell down and with a 'crack' you hit a rock. We all panicked, screaming loudly. Luke thought that he just lost his best friend. Coach tried to stop the bleeding by grabbing someone and ripping part of their shirt.

"She made a bandage for your head, but very quickly blood was seeping through. She called Johanna over. Johanna was ordered to try to fix you, but we all thought that she had messed up and you were dead, until you muttered 'ow'."

"Oh," I muttered. "So, am I retarded?"

"Who knows?" Curls looked me in the eye. "But, I'd rather you alive and retarded, than dead." I nodded. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three," I replied.

"Well, if you are retarded, then only a little bit of you must be, because you're sounding fine to me."

Chapter 2

I woke up, yawning and stretching as tall as I could. I walked over to my window and looked out. The sun hadn't come up yet, and it was still quite dark out side. I sat on my window sill, even though I was on the second story of the house.

All of a sudden, I felt compelled to jump. "What?" I wondered why I needed to jump. I would most likely black out again, if I lived at all. Besides, this time Johanna wasn't here to heal me. I started to become itchy all over, and without thinking, I jumped.

I felt a light still of leaves as I tried to regain my balance. I wasn't dead? I looked down. I had landed on my feet. "Well," I thought in awe, "They should be feet." Because right under my ankle, were largely shaped cat paws.

As I stood staring at them, they quickly morphed back into human feet. My feet. "Is this my new power?" I thought to myself. If so, It was awesome!

"I hope I'm not dreaming, and if I am, please nobody wake me!" I could and would have shouted for joy were it not for the fact that it was probably 6 a.m. in the morning.

I ran to the closest tree, closed my eyes, and raked my nails down it. When I opened them, I saw that my hands were lions' paws and started running fast into the forest. I picked up speed, and soon the trees were a blur past me. I stopped, gasping for breath.

I felt like a cheetah. I slowly walked to the nearest stream and sure enough, I was a cheetah. I changed my thoughts, and suddenly, I was a bear. That was my last thought. I put down my head, and everything went blank.

Chapter 3

"Quick, he's over here! I found him." I heard a far-off voice. I opened my eyes and blinked. I looked up and saw my older sister, Sarah. Her eyes looked over me in concern, then skepticism.

"You loser, only a sissy would faint in the middle of a forest and force the whole town to look for him. I hope you know, your classmates are skipping school to look for you. They're all missing their first powers class. They were looking forward to it, too."

I sat up. I fainted, again. Man, people were going to think my power was fainting! They'll all think, man, what a sissy, who's so lame and helpless that the whole town had to put together a search party to find him.

I stood up. "Careful." My sister warned me. I started to walk in a random direction, then stopped. I didn't know where I was going, I realized. How did I get here?

"Our house is that way." My sister laughed and pointed in a slightly different direction.

"Oh." I said in a small voice. "OH!" I remembered how I got here. In a flash I remembered jumping out of the house, and scratching a tree. I remembered looking into a random pond. That's how I got here.

"Guess what, I can turn into animals! Well, only my hands and feet." She looked sarcastically at me, obviously not believing me. "No, really! Watch me."

I felt my hands form into lions' paws again. I heard her gasp, "Ew!" I climbed up a tree using only my front paws to show off. It was getting strenuous, but it was something I felt I had to do. No longer was I her weak brother. Promptly, everything went dark.

"You are in big trouble, young man!" Were the first words that I heard coming into consciousness. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes yet.

My mother was deep into one of her rants that I hadn't heard until just now. I listened silently, giving no hint of being awake yet.

"I was so worried. What were you thinking! How did you creep past our room?! I have ears like a hawk!" She whirled on me. "You still haven't told me your power yet either! You were silent when you ate dinner last night. I don't care if you think your power is lame, I'd like to know what it is!"

She went out of the room. I decided it was safe, and opened my eyes. I sat up and looked at the room. I was in the hospital.

The hospital was only 2 stories tall. It was painted completely white outside, or at least it was supposed to be. The white had faded a bit into a very light gray. Across the street was the ice cream store.

I looked around the room. It was pretty plain, with the walls painted a very light cream color. There was one painting on the left side of the room. It was a painting of the magical pond.

I saw some breakfast on a small table to the right of me. I picked up the tray and started drinking some orange juice. I knew exactly why I was here, and recalled my fainting incidents.

I was pathetic, I realized sadly. I wouldn't show off or use my powers unnecessarily to minimize passing out in the future. Even though my power was cool.

I got up, put my regular clothes on, and went outside my room. I went down the hall, and saw my family sitting in one of the three waiting rooms. My father got up as he saw me.

"You are in deep trouble, son." He said to me sternly. We will talk about it on the way home."

I endured the walk home muttering things like, 'Sorry mom', 'sorry dad,' it will never happen again… no sir, never go anywhere again without permission'.

I finally escaped, without further questioning, to my room. I sat down and started twiddling my thumbs. I got bored and stared out the window.

I saw my claw marks on a tree, and knew it was real. "I should definitely tell Curls and Luke." I thought to myself. They would be the ones with the 'subtle power' then.

Creeeeek, I heard the door to my room squeak slowly. My sister poked her head in. "Hey." She said, slightly bored. She walked further in, and sat cross-legged on the edge of my bed. I sucked in a breath. I knew what was coming.

"I'm not gonna give you a bunch of crap. If I did, it would mean that I'm a sissy, like you. Now, you better open your trap, and tell me all about your power. Don't show me; tell me. I'm to report to sergeant Mother, because she really wants to know."

I told her pretty much everything, which really only was the paws and feet thing. I didn't tell her about the potgut, because the way I figured it, that was only by chance. She listened silently to me.

"Hey, wait up. Wait up, Luke. No fair, you got a head start!" I called as he was running ahead of me. We were racing to Curls' house. His footsteps stopped abruptly.

"I win, I won. Ha," he panted, gasping for air.

"You cheated!" I accused him.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes, you did. Stop lying!"

"Oh, yeah sure, I'm the one lying."

We would probably have continued fighting, but right then Curls came outside. "Guys, guys, cut it out, CUT IT OUT!" She screeched at us. We stopped and turned toward her. She was frustrated with our behavior, and we realized that if we didn't stop, she would use fire to distract us.

"Oh, we're sorry." Luke tried to calm her. He elbowed me.

"OW! Yeah, sorry," I rubbed my arm. We walked to school in silence, until I realized that this was the perfect time to show them. Just for a few seconds, it probably wouldn't make my faint.

"Hey, guys. You know that lame power that I told you about?" I ran in front of them, and they stopped walking.

"Yeah," They replied at the same time.

"Well, check this out!" I shaped my hands into large cat paws.

"Wow!" They replied in unison again.

"That's really cool! See, I knew you had a great power." Curls commented excitedly.

"Yeah, totally awesome! Show me again," Luke agreed.

"Well, I can't really do that." I confessed. "Last time, I was a bit too excited, and I passed out, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. You had at least half the town looking for you. That's why you must've gotten up absurdly early in the morning and disappeared."

I nodded sheepishly. How embarrassing to have fainted not once, but twice, I thought all over again. We continued to school, with Luke chatting normally all the way.

Chapter 4

We came to a stop. Coach had 5 people with her, and she was blowing on the whistle for kids to come over, that I thought her head would blow up.

"Listen up!" She shrieked, silencing all conversations. "Today is the day that we are going to watch you test out your powers. If it is not your turn, you will wait patiently and quietly. Understood?"

Several kids nodded. She continued. "We would have done it yesterday, but apparently, there was a small crisis, and most of you kindly volunteered to help out." Most of the kids turned their eyes to me. I looked at the ground, and hoped that my face wasn't as red as a tomato yet.

"Alright, the first kids to be evaluated are: Kristy Nightly, Jacob Blake, Lily Jayson, and Wally Dawson." The chosen students scrambled to their feet. "Show us what you can do."

Kristy's power was very cool. She eventually faded until we couldn't see her anymore. She could camouflage her body, just like a chameleon, so her nickname was Kristy the Chameleon.

Jacob Blake could lift up very heavy things. To demonstrate, he took an overweight boy and slung him over his head. Coach didn't like that very well; she gave him an 'F' for the day.

So students came and went; their powers ranging from growing plants to having the I.Q. of a genius. "Strike Fayward, Dawn Chatterson, Carlianna Naholm, Luke Nichols, and Taya Camerson.

I got up and went to the front. I gulped, and started itching myself a bit. My legs quivered a bit. I looked down, and saw with relief, that I wouldn't have to go first.

Taya eyes' started to glow bright blue. "Hey, stop picking on that kid!" She called. People started looking around. "Yeah, you; in the back behind that boulder."

A buff looking guy came out with his cheeks a bit red. Promptly, a weaker kid came out with a few scratches on his face and a bruise on his arm.

Curls went next, and after her came Luke. He zipped to Phillips' and bought a burrito, making the trip in 2 minutes, and everyone knew Phillips' was all the way across town. "He's so slow making burritos." He complained to us. Wally could make sticky webs, but that wasn't very entertaining to watch after all the cool powers we'd seen today. His nickname was now Webby Wally.

It was my turn. "Um," I stammered, "well, uh, here I go."

People looked at me, obviously bored. "I've got to impress them," I thought to myself. "I just have to." I closed my eyes and felt my hands changing. I opened my eyes, and heard the gasps of my female classmates. I saw the guys whispering their surprise.

I smiled, and sat down. "That was awesome!" Luke whispered to me. I knew my power was cool now; I felt normal for once for having the 'awesome' power.

Okay, okay, sorry...

We haven't blogged for a little while... okay, a huge while. Things have been a little hectic since school has started. Mom's swamped with grades and other stuff, along with parent-teacher conference a while ago. It was on the same day as mine, so she was trying to get out of her room and to my teachers. It didn't work out that well. She got held up by 3 parents , and, after deeling with them, was finally able to get to my school. My parents wanted to see my math teacher most of all, but he wasn't there! Saved.
I have also been swamped. I have to stay after school for play practice. Yes, I am in my school play, "Hansel and Gretal." No, I'm not Gretal, but I am a girl called Johanna. You pronounce it Joanna, though, and other people keep ticking me off by calling me Jo Hanna. It bugs me, so don't get on my bad side or you'll end up like my friend Cidney :D Don't ask. I also have about 40 lines in the play total, including talking or singing at the same time as Fredrick or Susie.
There is a downside though: waiting for your parents to pick you up (groans). The other day I was SO frustrated because, aptly, my parents FORGOT to pick me up.
Let me rephrase this... hmmm. Okay, we got out extremely early from play practice. I borrow someones' phone (Fredricks') and called the home phone. I had to leave a message. I called my dads' cell phone. He's there, he just can't pick me up. He suggests that I call my mom and have her pick me up. On her cell phone. I call her. Nobody picks up, so I leave a message. Little did I know that she turns her phone off until she leaves school. I got stuck waiting an HOUR and a HALF for her to drop by.
People to be Blamed:
My mom
My dad
Mrs. Green (my drama teacher)
Me (possibly, just putting down my name so people don't start getting angry at me (examples, mom and dad) )
All cast members who left after the first ten minutes of getting out who had cell phones
Long list, huh? Anyway, I had one MAJOR headache when I finally got home. If it wasn't for half a cheeseburger, I might not be here right now. Thanks to Steph's offer after my great ordeal, I probably won't have to go through that again. Also, my mom talked to Mrs. Green, who is SUPPOSED to wait OUTSIDE with the cast members, until ALL of them go home, but she just stays inside her class room, and my mom, requested that she notify them one day ahead about play practice schedules. I had a fun time that day, didn't I?
Ryan has also been to his play practices. He's a Natzi (did I spell that right?) Guard, and he's been busy too (he's in the musical, The Sound of Music, practically the only old musical anybody actually remembers).
One more person to go: Devin. He's been running amuck around half the neighborhood, playin who knows where? Anyway, like I care.
Also happening recently, was a pipe malfunction. My DAD tried to FIX it, and black stuff came out downstairs, bringing along its' unforgettable smell. Ew, and the smell spread throughout the house. I was gasping, at the screen door, trying to save myself from DYING.
I spent the night over at Steph's (thank you, thank you) and slept in Athena's room. That dog of hers, really knows how to steal your bed, and look cute doing it. I pushed him out anyways.
By morning, the smell was getting faint, and we all survived the challenge. So, thats' all for now.
-Kayla

Last Comic Standing Trip

Ron and Lorraine went to the Last Comic Standing finale and got the pictures taken with some comics.

Bella's The Bride!

To anyone and everyone! You've read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and now finally the 4th book is almost here!!! In this final book, Bella has a recount of how Charlie took the news of hearing that Edward & Bella are getting married. Bella got a new awesome car because her car finally died out. Alice is going completely crazy and all-out on the wedding. This book is a MUST READ and comes out August 2nd! I preordered it on amazon.com for under $14. I also get free shipping because my friend April wants it too. Though shipping takes a while so... I'll have to resign myself to waiting a week or two for it to get here... sigh. Couldn't get a picture of it on this computer... oh well.

Mom's corner

Hi! Here's a few pics from our hike. I made a slide show, but can't post it here... lack of skills strikes again, ARGH!

The kids complained a bit because it was SOOOO long of a hike... all mom said was, WHAT DIRTY SHOES WE HAVE!

But the view was definitely spectacular, as you can see!!

More Volleyball pics

This is Devin. Really focusing on serving the ball during his first tournament ever!

Mom's corner

I entered the funniest joke contest. I'll see if I can add a link for you to see it.

Mom's corner

I'm working on scrapbooking. I have our HUGE table set up with all the stuff on it. I FORCE the kids (yes, physical force if necessary) to scrapbook one page per day. Hopefully we can get through all the pictures this summer. That's one of my goals. We'll try to e-mail some pictures to some of you. I'm also trying to clean up my bedroom (junk seems to accumulate.. don't know how that happens. Also, playing volleyball Mon., Tues., & Wed. Looking forward to playing one last tournament with Kayla on Aug. 2nd. : ) It's so fun!!

My Birthday!

Okay so my real birthday is July 3rd but I had my party July 2nd because we had to leave for a reunion the 3rd. It was fun! We watched Spiderwick Chronicles. I got a cute CTR necklace, a waterslide, a symphony candy bar, M & M's, and some other awesome presents. I also got a cute harness and leash for my rabbit from my mom. You should have seen my cake though. It was cool. My mom had different pictures of me on the cake. I don't know how to explain it, but the pictures had been copies and were the frosting! I might be able to put up a picture of it soon.

Results

We got 3rd place in the tournament, a frisbee, shirts, and soreness that will last for a few days. I hurt, but mostly just in my legs... ow.

Tournament Time Out

So we played our first 2 games and won them. We won't have to play again until a while later. We went home, because it's at UVSC and we are only a mile away. I had a good time. My mother is really good at volleyball. I'll give another update later, Bye!

Tournament Time!

My mother and I are going to a tournament (another one)! I hope we do well, and I hope that it doesn't last too long, because tournaments are extremely hard. I've played a couple tournaments before, once with my mom (we got 2nd) and once with Ryan (we go 3rd). Wish us luck tomorrow! I'll post afterward so you can know how we did.

Team 13

I should probably explain the poll that says 'should team 13 have a theme song?' Ryan, my friend, and I are writing a book called Team 13. It's about 3 kids in the future who work for a secret rebellion against most adults. Most adults (not all) are evil, and would rather clone their kids than keep real ones with their imperfections. Then a small boy comes in and changes the 3 kids lives around. Ryan started working on a theme song, and I don't think we should have one, because it's just a book. Ryan thinks far into the future, someone might make a movie out of it, so he started working on one. Now you can decide.

Yeah for pics!

Book Review #2

Alright, here we go! This book is one of my all-time favorites! On a scale of 1 to 10, this book is an easy 15. It is about a young house cat named Rusty who desperately wants adventure.When he's offered the chance to join the ThunderClan, one of the gangs of feral cats in the area, he doesn't hesitate. Renamed Firepaw, he becomes an apprentice and begins to train as a warrior. After rescuing Yellowfang, ex-medicine cat for the ShadowClan who has fled for her life, Firepaw and the other ThunderClan members find themselves in the middle of a turf war against the rival gang, led by the nefarious Brokenstar. There's a traitor in their midst, though, and Firepaw must learn more than just hunting and fighting to survive. Read on yourself from there! Thanks a lot to amazon.com for helping me with my summaries. I also got the picture of the cover of Lord Death from there. I got this picture from ebay.com.

Book Review #1

Okay, I don't have much I can do on here right now, I'll have someone help me soon. Anyway, if you like fictional books, kind of romantic (bleh) you should try reading the book Keturah And Lord Death. It's about a girl called Keturah and it takes place in the Middle Ages. She is a poor peasant girl who wonders a lot about her future. She has always been different with strange and unknown gifts. She knows from her grandparents what a happy marriage is. She's aiming at finding her true love, but after wandering three days aimlessly, she knows she will die very soon. Keturah is surprised to discover that Death is a strong, handsome lord to whom she immediately feels connected. Despite the fact that she is afraid, she challenges Lord Death, which is something he is not used to. She uses her story skills to make him grant her to live for one more day. She spins a story of a love so sweet that even he cannot destroy it. He lets her live on the condition that she will tell him the ending to the story the next day... and that's where it all starts. It is enchanting, and takes unexpected twists.

So......

We just barely got our family blog up and running, and since I'm still logged in, it's under my name. Oh well... We'll be getting our main picture up soon, we'll just scan it in. Thanks for checking it out. We'll have lots more stuff on really soon. I'll probably do book reviews since I like reading so much. I made the text color purple, because purple is a cool color. :D

Rupper Blog

We are sorry. We currently cannot get a family picture. But hopefully within he next couple days we should have some up.