Wow, it is April and we had snow just a few days ago! On Sunday it was really hot and I was asking when the pool would open, then on Tuesday I woke up to a white yard! Some of my flowers have already bloomed and the snow looked funny on them:
I'm just hoping that this cold spell doesn't kill them. Anyway, it was really strange and I'm hoping that we will have warm weather from here on out. I'm tired of winter!
Apr 9, 2009
Snow in April
Feb 27, 2009
Sweet Sixteen
I should have written this back last weekend, but I suppose now is better than later! Anyway, I turned 16 last Sunday and had a family party in Knoxville the day before. To start the morning off (Saturday) my mom took me out to breakfast. I had an enormous waffle with strawberries on top, and, right as I was finished eating, my aunt Ann (Seaman) showed up and took me to have a pedicure. I've never had that done before and it was a lot of fun! Then my grandmother met us after we were done and took me shopping! We went to the mall and when we were finished we went to my grandparents' house so that I could open presents. The first thing I got I had to walk down to the garage for....no, I didn't get a car....I got a Hope Chest. My granddad made it for me out of cherry wood and it looks really pretty. It isn't quite finished yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product! When we went back inside the house and I opened my other presents. I received some blankets and silver from various great-grandparents, I got Sharpies from my brothers, I got car keys from my parents, bookends, a cook-book from both my aunt Anns and then a nice blue shirt. After I had opened my presents we ate my cake...it was a pity because it was a very pretty cake!
Dec 15, 2008
Nov 5, 2008
It's been a while!
We have been back in the states for a long time now! I had a great time in Japan. It was a lot like New York City, just with everything in a different language! My dad had heard of a place where Nathan and I could get dressed up as a samuri and geisha. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time making faces into the mirror. I didn't look anything like myself!
Now I have gotten back to school. I have gotten into a play along with my brothers Caleb and Noah and my mom. It is called "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and I don't even have lines. I am in the "angel choir." I think I will get some experience in singing in front of people so that is good. I haven't had to do that before.
This semester I'm taking a dance class. It has been a lot of fun and I have learned several different dances. We will be having a barn dance at the end of the week that should be very fun. In preparation for the barn dance we have learned some line dances that are very fun and easy compared to the swing dancing we were doing.
Anyway, now that I'm back to school I haven't had much to post on here...which is why I haven't posted since I was in China in August. I will probably be posting at longer intervals now that I'm into the school year and not as much is happening.
Aug 25, 2008
The Temple of Heaven
In the morning we went to the Temple of Heaven and it was very pretty. During the time of old Beijing it was the highest point of the city and the view from the top was really neat. The thing that impressed me the most about the temple was that they didn't use any nails. It was like a gigantic set of lincoln logs! The building was circular and the roof was painted blue to symbolize heaven. 
I also took some cute pictures of children we saw. Since it was a Sunday there were more children out and about with their parents instead of in school. The funny thing about the toddlers is that the poorer Chinese children have the bottom cut out of the pants to save on the cost of diapers. I'm not going to post pictures of that though!
We even saw a family with two children where the older sister was beating up on her little brother. While that was slightly humorous, he did end up crying and being led away by a grandparent. Sibling rivalry still survives in communist China in spite of the one child policy.
Aug 23, 2008
Halfy Birthday and the Great Wall
The 22nd was my halfy birthday!! We all went shopping at a super store and went crazy from all the bargaining that was going on! The fun thing about it was you could get a really good price if you knew how to bargain correctly, but you could really get ripped-off if you had no idea what you were doing!
Then yesterday was the 23rd which was wonderful because 1. we got to sleep in! 2. we got to see the great wall and 3. I got to go to bed at a semi-normal time! Yep, yesterday was really good! Anyway, we also went to a Cloisonne factory where they make all sorts of decorative vases, plates, cups, chopsticks and jewelry. I took several pictures that I thought explained what it looked like a little better:
Then we went to the Great Wall, and I was excited to know that we were going to a different part than last time. It was not crowded like I thought it would be and it wasn't a hard climb either. The weather was great and Nathan had a great time running ahead so he got out of some pictures...but not all of them:
Tonight we are going to be seeing the closing ceremonies! We are very excited about that and I am going to take a lot of pictures!
Aug 21, 2008
August 21....China Time!
Well, today was a long day and so much fun! First we went to the "Water Cube" to watch women's 10m platform diving and it was really impressive. We had really great seats and I took some great pictures of Laura Wilkinson, but she didn't do the best today and didn't even make it to the finals.
After our group had lunch we toured the broadcast center here, which was built in only a matter of months. That was very hard to believe because the building was so big. There were so many cables everywhere and our guide told us that there was around 800 km of cable and wire! That was very mind-boggling.
When we finished the tour our group went shopping! There was an enourmous line to get in, but we were able to get in a back door with permission from the staff. I seriously felt like a VIP. Inside the super store there were so many people and it was very very noisy. The Chinese do not understand the idea of taking turns and they pushed a lot. I think I will need therapy after all that! My mom and dad bought a bunch of stuff for friends and family, though I won't say what for fear that it wouldn't be a surprise anymore.....I'm so terrible!
Near the end of the day we got to watch the women's softball finals where the USA and Japan battled it out for the gold. That was a pretty impressive game. We did get rained on quite a bit, but the people at the venue handed out ponchos to everyone so we made it through without getting soaked. Anyway, we were very excited to see it because one of the pitchers was from our home state of Tennessee and played at UT. Her name is Monika Abbot and she played a very good game.
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