Trip to Salida!

At 9:30 A.M., Saturday, I awoke to my Dad gently shoving me awake.
"Wanna go to the Endres house with me?" he asked. "Oliver's probably going with us as well." (For those of you who don't know, the Endres are some family friends from church).
Having just woken up, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I agreed, none-the-less. After a few more minutes of being awake, I learned that we needed to go to their house to drop off something for them having to do with church, because we weren't going to be able to attend church this week.
"We're going to Salida this weekend," Dad informed me, and I instantly became excited. We were heading back to our mountains, the Sangre de Cristos!
For those of you who don't know, Salida is a small little town about 60-75 minutes away from the town of Westcliffe, where I grew up. Both towns are fairly similar to each other, I'd say, although after this trip I think Salida's bigger than 4,000 people, whereas Westcliffe is not. 
We left for Salida at about 1:30 P.M. that same day, where we arrived about three or four hours later. During that drive, we talked about random things, practically none-stop, and I took so many pictures of the snow infested mountains it's not even funny! We saw some deer, but that was about all the wildlife we saw, sadly. Once we got into Salida and were checked into our hotel room, Dad treated the three of us to a restaurant that overlooked Salida's river. We were entertained as we watched kayak-ers try and 'surf', so to speak, on the rapids. After supper we headed back to the hotel room, where Mom and Dad promptly went to sleep. I followed their example about an hour later or so, and I'm guessing Oliver went to bed an hour or two later.

Mountains, coming down whatever pass we were on...

More mountains!

Abandoned Cabin

Two Deer

Mountain!

 

 

 

 

 

 At about 8:30 this morning, we all woke up and were packed and out of our hotel at about 9:00 or 9:30. Our next destination...The Great Sand Dunes of Colorado!

The Sand Dunes were a blast! I haven't been to them for years, which is odd considering they're located on the other side of the mountains I grew up on and around. Again, I got tons of pictures of these dunes, even though we didn't hike them. Why didn't we hike 'em? Because there was a lot of wind, and the sand stung our bare legs (we were all in shorts) harshly just by being down at the basin of the dunes. But we enjoyed the creek that's at the basin, and Dad and I stayed a bit longer than the other two, where he enjoyed watching people and I enjoyed taking pictures of the dunes and random people on them.

In order from left to right: Oliver, Mom, and Dad!

Poor, lone tree in the middle of all the sand...

Poor, lone branch, in the middle of the dunes :)

This here is one of my favorites of the day! Shoes, dunes, and mountains! :D

The creek at the foot of the dunes!

Once the four of us were all ready to go, we got back into the car, where Dad mysteriously drove up a separate pass, not to the town where we were planning to eat lunch. Rather, Dad was first taking us on a short hike, where a waterfall was at the end!
Now, out of the four of us in my family, I'm basically the only one who enjoys physical activity, such as hiking. My Dad enjoys it sometimes as well, but my brother and Mom...NO. They hate it. And so you can imagine that hiking even short trails is very rare in my family, making me that much more excited. After a short 1/2 mile climb, we reached the creek. It was beautiful, but none of us knew what we had yet to see.
Wanting to see this waterfall, I waded through the creek-shoes and socks on- until my feet couldn't stand the cold anymore, and then I'd find a dry rock nearby and stand on it until my toes were no longer numb. Meanwhile, my parents took the much longer route of trying to 'climb' on the walls surrounding the creek to the waterfall to avoid getting wet shoes. My brother stayed on the sidelines, watching the three of us make our way to the waterfall, thinking the whole time how 'crazy' we were.
After a bit of a struggle, I reached the waterfall, which was hidden within a cave. Peering up at it, my eyes widened at the sight of a huge chunk of ice hanging right by it. A second later I was rushing back to the shore of the creek where Oliver stood with the camera, for fear that if I took it I'd drop it in the water and kill it. But I had to have it for this. I knew this without having seen the whole waterfall in all its majesty yet, and so when I reached him two minutes later, I begged him to give me the camera. Reluctantly, he handed it off to me, and we were all lucky that I didn't drop it. =)
Excited beyond belief, I rushed back through the ice cold water (ice, due to the ice, I now realized) until I reached the waterfall's cave again, where my parents had finally managed to get to. Here's some of the pictures (they're not the best, considering I was so dang excited and the lighting wasn't all that good either, but whatever.)

Left to right: Oliver, Dad, and Mom, as we first arrive at the creek!

The creek in all its glory xD

Mom and I inside the little cave place where the waterfall was. Note how we're standing on the water.

The waterfall and the ice!

The ice hanging down from the cave

We probably waded in the water for a good 45 minutes or so before leaving, the three of us that had gone to see the waterfall at awe, and our feet completely soaked and numb. But the three of us agreed; it was so totally worth it.
Afterward, we headed to town where we ate at a Chinese restaurant, and left quickly after (it was downright creepy being one of the only costumers in the whole building). From there we started heading home the long way, going through Monarch pass, where I got even more pictures (but don't worry, I'll spare ya xD). When we left the Chinese restaurant it was probably around 3:30 in the afternoon, and we didn't get home till about 9:45. Again, like on the way to Salida, we talked a good chunk of the way, and Dad was amazing enough to pull over on the road when I wanted a picture of the mountains or something.
All in all, this trip to Salida was a great way to start the summer off! All four of us were together, I took a lot of photos, and there was some awesome sight-seeing. I can't wait to see what else the summer has in store for me. =D
~Kathy

Summer!!!

Oh my gosh....It's FINALLY summer break! *Que excited squealing*
This year has been interesting, to say the least. There's been the usual up's and down's, but this year added new struggles. I had to stick up for my faith in Christ some in middle school, but I had to a lot more this year, as well as my own political beliefs (I'll get to that). This year also included a lot more bullying, not on my part but for other kids, which I have a hard time watching. Apparently I can't take watching someone suffer.
My first class this last semester was language arts, where I had my only girl teacher, sadly. She, like most of my teachers, was pretty much just average; she wasn't there a lot, due to her getting some kind of opportunity to be a substitute principal at some other school for a few months, so we had a long term sub for a good chunk of the semester. Most kids didn't like her, but then, kids generally don't seem to like their teachers, claiming them to be unfair. Typically, I disagree with 'em. I had three friends in there, named Rayelle, Ally, and Izzy.
My second hour...oh gosh, I don't want to even recall it. Worst.Class.Ever. Second hour was "government" (more like civics) where basically all we did was debate about controversial issues. Generally, I was on the opposite side of the students and the teacher, who enjoyed brain-washing our little minds to believe whatever he'd tell us. By the end of the year, I was sick of being the only one who would stand for the Pledge (the words "Under God" are too scary for an atheist to say, or even just skip -_-), and I hated how the teacher picked on me. He liked irking me, too. Anyway...I totally need to just let this go...Moving on (Oh, and I had my friend Ariana in there with me).
Third hour was earth science, and this last semester covered astronomy, weather, and the atmosphere. Although it was either my lowest or second lowest grade in school this year, I learned a lot more in science than probably any other class. I enjoyed learning about all the different kinds of stars especially, and being able to understand what a cold and warm front are now is pretty awesome. The teacher was alright, like my language arts teacher. =)
Fourth hour was my off hour, where I hung with two of my friends, Ariana and Kenny. Usually, my friends would talk and play around, and I'd try and get some of my homework from my other classes done while I interacted with them every now and then. It worked out pretty well this way, and so I'll miss not having an off hour next year.
After my off hour was lunch, where I generally ate with three other friends of mine, Tori, Alexis, and Brandon. Tori is extremely sports-y, so we'd talk about softball or marching band, while Alexis and Brandon talked about cartoons and video games. Sometimes, a kid from band named Ben would come sit with us, and our conversation would switch over the band.
Evil geometry came next. Math has never been a favorite subject of mine, and although I did better in math this semester than science, I still didn't like it too much, haha. The teacher was alright, but the shapes have a way of confusing me. *Shrugs* Oh well. =)
Next came Spanish-or basically another off hour. Most of the kids in that class probably think I came out with a C or lower for a grade, since all I ever did in there was work on my math homework. But I instead came out with a strong A. This can tell you right there how easy I found the class. The teacher was pretty cool, and hopefully I'm not just saying that because it was an easy class...haha. =) I shared the class with Alexis.
Last class was the best-Band. My band class is a family; no, not the strongest family, for we're going through a rough patch right now with each other, but I think of them as my friends more so than my "Spanish family", if you catch my drift. Alexis joins me in band, and we both play the trombone. I can get along with most of the kids in there, too, and I've come to practically need their high energy. They can get pretty rambunctious, and we stall a lot in class (kid+instrument+talking teacher=chaos), but they certainly keep my life fun and entertained. Marching band begins in about a week from now, where I'm looking forward to bringing in the new freshmen class. My goal is to basically steal away the new trombone boy that I know is coming, and teach him everything I've come to know this year. Hey, I got high hopes in the boy! I believe he can be an amazing player. =)
And so, with summer just beginning, I can finally rest and recharge, forgetting my failures of this year to make room for new accomplishments. I am so ready for this! :D
~Kathy

Random

Since I don't want to do my chores right now, I'm distracting myself with this. =)
There's five days of school left...yes, count 'em, five. It's totally exciting! I feel like we're already out, though, because the seniors graduated last night. It's so not cool that they get to leave a week earlier than us.
In fact, I was at the senior's graduation last night. The band was invited to play Pomp and Circumstance and some other similar song at their graduation. I was worried about how it would turn out, 'cause our teacher had only given us the music a week or so prior, but the kids that choose to play at the graduation are more dedicated than the others, and so we got more done this way and ended up being fine. =)
The auditorium where this was all held was enormous! It had three different levels to it, and the stage was obviously pretty wide itself. Me and a few of the other band kids had fun running around on the top level of the auditorium, where we felt rather important as we were up higher than anyone else in the auditorium at the time.  The people down below looked like ants, practically!
There was probably about 200 kids or so that graduated last night, five of them being from my band, or the orchestra. We weren't supposed to clap or cheer for any of them as their names were called, us being on stage along with those graduating, but it was hard for us to not clap for a few of our buds. Our teacher had threatened us about loosing a good part of our grade if we did so, but I think he came to understand as the night went on, so I doubt any of us lost any points. =) Afterward, we were able to go congratulate our friends before hopping back on the bus and heading home.
...And sadly, that's all I've got to say...I guess I should go clean the bathroom now and whatnot, before 2:00 (graduation party xD). Talk to you later!
~Kathy

Day of Declaration

About a month ago, my Dad got on the computer and began typing away at something. When he was done, he printed out two different things, one paper that said, "The Day of Declaration is coming on 5/14/11", and the other said all the rules about the day and how it would be handled.
Now, for those of you who don't know, my Dad is a major cleaning-freak. For years, I thought he enjoyed cleaning, and I often still do. He's goes on about how my brother and I need to clean our rooms so he and Mom can walk into them all the time, but this time, he went a step further. This "Day of Declaration" had to do with my brother and I deep cleaning our rooms. That meant, throwing old toys and clothes out, going through our desks, sweeping/vacuuming our bedroom floors, dusting our shelves, giving everything a 'home'...
When he posted the signs up around the house that night a month ago, I immediately was filled with dread. Usually when I 'clean my room', I shove everything into a corner or something and let it all pile up the next day again. But I could see that this would be a major deal, especially when Mom kept saying that she was going to purposefully be gone that day (so as to avoid the stress spreading around our house like a virus. Although, with my brother and I alone at home most of today, a lot of stress was avoided anyway.). 
But, I had no idea to what extent it really would be difficult and how long a day it would be on April 14th.
I started off my cleaning before the date, so as to hopefully have free time when the date arrived. My nightstand was my first task, where all my journals, Bible's, CD cases, and what not, where all over the place. I knew Dad would have a cow if he knew what the inside of my nightstand looked like, and so I pulled everything out, got rid of some of the stuff I didn't need/want anymore, and then replaced it all in a much more, orderly sense. That took about 2 hours. And it was only two drawers.
 A few days later, now about three weeks from the declared date of doom, I began working on my desk, cluttered with old school papers, pens/pencils/markers/crayons, and other stuff that didn't belong in there. A lot of stuff ended up being thrown out, like old school papers, and now instead of all seven of my desk drawers being used, I'm using about five of 'em.
I finished my desk completely today, on the Day of Declaration. However, I had been foolish enough to believe, that maybe, just maybe, I'd be done at about 2 P.M. After all, my Dad had my brother and I up and going by 8 that morning, so how long could this possibly take?
Apparently, it would take about 9 hours, going none-stop except for lunch. The first few hours went pretty well; I had my music on, my cat (who refused to go outside today-read previous entry) was behaving himself, and I seemed to be getting a lot of work done. But then at about 2 P.M., my energy suddenly ran out. Rather then going at a nice, steady pace, I became a lot more lethargic as I tried finding a home for an old game I didn't even like anymore, but couldn't give up. The Goodwill pile outside of my room had grown from a few items to a huge pile, and the storage pile had grown from nothing to a lot of books in those five, short-feeling hours. Old stuffed animals were everywhere, and my poor cat had gotten tired of chasing random items I'd discover, but had instead decided taking a nap was more entertaining than watching me sort through old toys and clothes. By now, I'd gone through about five CD's of mine, and I wasn't feeling up to opening my nightstand to pick and choose a new CD.
Meanwhile, my brother began to crash about the same time I did. He had not had the whole month like me to prepare himself by cleaning out his desk, because unlike me he has schoolwork (aka, college), that forces him to do nothing but school projects, especially towards the end of the year. And so he hadn't even started picking up his room until today, and as of now he's still working on it... :/ Poor Mr. Tater (that's his nickname, for those of you who don't know).
At 5 P.M., I finally finished my room, completely drained. Both of my parents looked at it and seemed content, much to my relief, and after packing away all the Goodwill items in my brother's car, my brother and I went out to eat to award ourselves (our parents bought dinner for us xD).
It'll be weird going into my room later on tonight, and not only will I not trip over my trombone case, but I also won't trip over papers, or my backpack, or my baritone case, or a random book...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually glad that my room's finally clean! Although it was definitely not my favorite activity, I didn't really mind it until my crash; I was entertained by all sorts of things, one of them being finding matching socks when I sorted through my sock drawer! Oh, and 'Raton' (Rootbeer) was great company-unless he sat on my school papers as I tried sorting them, that is, haha. =)
Anyway, so four hours later, I feel much better, meaning I can once again think clearly enough to not mumble my own words out. Supper was amazing, and this computer can be a life-saver when it comes to recuperating.
That's all for tonight! Thanks for reading. =)
~Kathy

Rootbeer's Tree Journey

My cat, Rootbeer, is a wimp.
My family and I don't own a house-we rent. Every year, the people we rent from come back to our/their house about once a month to visit their mom (who lives across the street), and to fix our house problems, such as when the swamp cooler needs to be turned back on or when the gate needs to be re-hinged. They just got a dog a few months ago, named Buster, and since he's a "Marley and Me" kind of dog, they had to bring him with them, for fear that he'd cause too much ruckus at home while they were gone.
Buster is your average puppy, learning to be a dog; he's hyper, he only understands the word "sit", he's hyper, he chases cats, he's hyper...Oh, and did I mention he's hyper? =)
Buster has been a part of my poor cat's life these past two days, but I must say it's hilarious. It all began yesterday, when I came home from school. It rained all day yesterday, and when I came home it was drizzling lightly. Knowing that most cats (including mine) despise water I decided to bring him inside a few hours early, so I began calling him. Usually, he comes running a minute or so after I begin calling, but yesterday I didn't see hide nor tail of the little rat (his nickname is Rat or Raton, due to him being one xD). Shrugging it off, I headed indoors and decided to try calling him later.
An hour later, I began calling again. I probably wandered around our property for five to ten minutes, not even hearing his familiar mew, when I finally spotted him in a tree.
Now, Rootbeer's been chased up a tree by a dog once to my knowledge, and I was able to get him down in seconds, for he didn't climb very high. He doesn't think highly of dogs (what kind of a cat does?), but he usually finds a way to avoid them.
Apparently, sometime yesterday, probably before I came home, my poor kitty was chased up a tree by Buster. How this happened, I don't know, because Buster was in his large kennel in the neighbor's backyard, and so Rootbeer didn't have to wander over towards him in the first place, let alone climb a tree that was right below Buster's kennel. I mean, really. Smooth, Rootbeer.
Anyway, so after laughing at his misfortune (yes, I'm a terrible owner =) ) I began to ponder on how to get him down. Buster wasn't being all that supportive, for he wanted me to play with him, not try to get his enemy down from a tree. I probably told him to 'sit' two dozen times before I manged to climb part of his kennel, up into my other neighbor's fence, and onto a tree branch, where I could safely grab the poor, damp furball.
I pried Rootbeer away from his roost on the tree, much to his disappointment, and I again pondered the predicament I had just gotten myself into. Rootbeer and I were probably ten feet off the ground, and I was not willing to drop him on the ground, especially when Buster would start barking at him and scare the poor thing even more. 
I probably stood up on that branch five minutes, telling Buster to sit multiple times, before my other neighbor came out of her house.
"Want some help?" she asked.
"Yeah, that'd be nice," I replied, laughing nervously. I tried passing Rootbeer down to her outstretched arms, but he wasn't about to leave the tree with Buster still nearby. It was then that Greg, the man we rent from, saw what was going on, and he promptly put Buster back into the house so I could get Rootbeer down. With Buster out of the picture, Rootbeer hesitantly allowed himself to be lowered into my neighbor's arms.
And alas, he was safe and warm in my house two minutes later.

And then there was today...
I came home from school today to see Buster in our yard this time, keeping Cindy-the wife of Greg- company, as she trimmed our rose bushes for us. Having never been greeted by a dog after school, I was totally keen into entertaining him for a few minutes, petting the wiggly pup, and constantly telling him to sit. =)
And then I noticed, poor, poor Rootbeer in a tree, again. Laughing, I quickly attempted on trying to get the poor thing down, once Buster was gone, that is.
But Rootbeer was up higher in this tree than he'd been in the last, and it was impossible to reach him, no matter how hard I tried. I tried coaxing him down with some torn up sandwich turkey, which he loves, but he wasn't about to come down. Next, I tried climbing up closer to him, but I couldn't get up to his level without fearing my own death.
For the next 45 minutes,  I tried different tactics on getting the raton (rat) down, while my brother stood nearby, taking pictures and laughing at my failing attempts along with me.
Finally, my brother came up with an ingenious idea to get him down. Grabbing Rootbeer's smaller then average cat bed from inside, I placed it in the tree, where he could easily jump into it and not fall as long as I held onto the bed. Within minutes, he did so, and I had him down on solid ground a minute later. When I went downstairs a little later to comfort the poor cat, he was fervently trying to lick off the tree sap from his paws, haha. =) Here's a few pictures of the rat while in the tree that my brother and I took.

Raton, looking remarkably comfortable...

"Mommy...I don't think I like dogs...or trees..."

"Nice view at least."

Me and the cat after my triumphant success!

Note to self: don't force him outside tomorrow.=)
~Kathy

Summer Plans

Two weeks and two days until summer! :D
Now if you think I'm crazy for counting down the days, blame the teachers. They're the ones telling us "three weeks, start studying for finals" and what not. =) I'm totally excited for the summer, for a lot of reasons. I don't have a lot of plans so far though...
For obvious reasons, it'll be nice for school to end so I can sleep in. In Middle school, classes began around 8:00 A.M., but this year they decided to start at 7:30. Not much of a difference really, but it still means me waking up earlier. It's harder and harder for me to get up these days, what with me not wanting to go in the first place, nor do I want to leave the comfort and warmth of my bed. My cat Rootbeer had a hard time waking up today along with me. When he decided to get up out of his bed, he immediately sank back to the ground and stretched out, as if sun-bathing, until I stood up. Usually he blinks up at me tiredly, and then gets up before me. But today we both agreed: it was just too early.
The main reason for me anticipating this break so much, though, is really just because it's a break. I won't have to go to school for three months and be a witness; I mean, sure, I'm still Christ's witness, but I won't be surrounded by other kids my age all day who constantly trample my faith into the dust. Rather, during the summer, I'm guaranteed more time with myself, my family, and my church. Basically, I'll be around those three groups the most, meaning I'll be around good examples to help prepare me for the second, daunting year of High School. I won't be around anti-Christians, liberals, cussers....you get the drift.
Oh, I totally forgot marching band. Alright, scratch part of the last paragraph, haha; I'll still be around cussers and anti-Christians...but it'll only be once a week instead of five times a week. Right after school ends, marching band season will start! I don't know what to think of this, really- I'm excited for the new year with the new freshmen coming in, and for a new season where we'll hopefully do better...but I'm not looking forward to the days out in the sun, sweating, haha. I don't think any of us are, to be honest.
This year will have a totally different feel to it than last year's season. For example, we got our new band teacher at the beginning of last year, which really weighed us down. Now that we know our band teacher better and understand where he's coming from in some circumstances, we have a much better chance of preforming to our best abilities. For me personally, it's sure to be a better season, considering I actually play loud enough to be heard now, haha. =)

During the summer, one of the plans I actually have, begins sometime in June. My family and I are heading up to Yellowstone National Park to be with my cousins! I'm totally excited, because I'll be able to be with my cousin, Marian. Marian's been my best friend since I can remember, and we've always been there for each other. She's a year older than me, and she offers me a completely different side of life-she's more of the optimistic, popular girl who loves the old dresses in the-I think it was the Victorian time period. And then there's me; quiet (in school only, mind you), observant, pessimist, nerd-stereotype... But with all our differences, we have a bunch of similarities. For example, we both play the same instrument, we're both the loud ones in the family, the extremists, the adventurers, the writers...the list can go on and on. It'll be nice to get back together with her and talk about random girl things... =D
 Other than Yellowstone and marching band, I don't really have any summer plans. I could've gone to summer camp with my youth group, but I decided against it, for multiple reasons. Most of it has to do with the camp being the exact camp my parents worked at for fifteen years. They met there, to be exact. I was born into this camp and we didn't leave until I was around seven years old.
Last year I went with my youth group, but I could hardly stand seeing my childhood as a teenager...I mean, I couldn't even walk into the camp's gym without getting emotional, because it still smells exactly as it did when I was a kid. I didn't feel particularly close to my youth group back then (still don't, sadly), and so when I'd talk about how I was feeling, they just didn't understand. And so I don't want to spend around $245 just to go back into emotions. If I were to get closer to God, that would be a different story. But last year was all about memories for me, not about God, and so I don't want to go unless it is about Him. My youth group totally doesn't understand this-maybe I should just have them read this and then see what they think, ha. I'm thankful, though, that my parents, brother, and Christian mentor do understand. They all understand, and my parents led me to my decision in the end.
Also for the summer, my parents are big fans of work. I've had summers where I do math homework, and one time I did a whole course of math so that I'd be a year ahead come the following year at school. This year is sure to be no different work-wise, especially since we have a Government textbook right now anyway (long story how we got it-bad government teacher+bad teaching=studying at home). I'm sure my brother and Dad will find some kind of math work for me to do along with the government, just to make sure I don't forget anything over the summer-I'm very good at that, heh. Can't blame them for any of this, really. Good for them; but don't tell them that. Can't have them encouraged ;) . Oh, and then I have a "summer job" where I mow my neighbor's lawn at least once a week. Not too bad, actually, unless it's right after marching band practice.
And then, I'm looking foward to the normal, drowsy days, too. The days when I'll get up, stretch, and head to the computer for a few hours, before making breakfast or lunch. After that I'd go outside to our creek and just sit in nature, for one or two hours, taking pictures of Rootbeer chasing that darn squirrel, watching our apple trees form apples, watching the cray-dad whatch-ma-call-its swim around in the deep ends of the water...*sigh*
And the counting goes on. =D Two weeks, two days. I can totally do this...
~Kathy

Mother's Day

Usually when I think of Mother's Day, I think one thing: Oh gosh....I totally forgot.
This year was no different. A week beforehand, I had nothing figured out. One of my friends at school said that she planned on making breakfast for her mother today, another said she hadn't really thought about it, and the third said she'd make her a card or something. I ended up buying my Mom a movie (she LOVES movies) and I baked her a cake.
But recently, I've thought of something we can all give our mothers this Mother's Day, and for the rest to come. It's called respect. 
My Mom and I have a better than average relationship. I mean, I can talk to her about boys, about growing up, about a lot of things. I'm not afraid to tell her about something awkward and embarrassing; as a mother who's a girl (duh), I know she can help me out in some of those weird moments in life. She knows who I like, and I'm not upset about it.
One thing I've noticed this year more than usual, is our culture's lack of respect towards our parents. We think our parents are dumb and that they have no idea what they're talking about when they tell us stuff like, "Don't date so-and-so" or "I don't want you outside alone at night" or whatever else. My parents are very "strict" when it comes to my safety. For starters, no sleepover's with friends. My friends say they're helicopter parents, over-protective.
For me personally, I sometimes want to smack my friends. Who are they to say my parents don't know anything? Are they 20-30 years older than their parents or something? I don't think so. Parents were put into our lives by God to teach us the right way. Sure, there are those parents that don't know how to discipline, or who end up in jail, or are just bad examples in general. But we're called to listen to them-it's one of the ten commandments, if you don't believe me.
When it comes to me, I respect my parents for the most part, but I have a hard time not rolling my eyes at them, or frowning in frustration when they tell me for the millionth time to not go to bed late. 
However, today is Mother's Day. Today is the day when we honor our mothers, say thanks to them for keeping us alive over the years, for not "choosing" abortion, for making sure we don't starve by making us the best meals ever. But it shouldn't end by the end of today, our love and care for our mothers. It needs to continue on, forever. Our mother's do more for us than we know (until we become parents ourselves). They don't have to sacrifice their time and energy-they could throw us on the street. Some do.  Luckily, mine haven't, and won't.
I have some way to go when it comes to respecting my parents, I'll admit. However, today for me and other kids needs to be more than a one-day love for our mothers. Today needs to be the start of a new, respectful, loving relationship with the woman who bore us in and out of her womb.
Who's with me? :)
~Kathy

The Beginning

Hola! My name's Kathy, and I've decided to start blogging here on a fairly regular basis, for multiple reasons. For starters, ever since 7th grade, writing has been a major part of my being. I used to write Sonic the Hedgehog fanfictions on fanfiction.net, a place where fan-kids of a certain book, cartoon character, etc, could write about their favorite character. Not only did I discover that I wasn't that bad of a writer and that reading can actually be fun, but I found a way to release emotion (be it good or bad), safely.
But now, about three years later, Sonic is not so important to me, and so I needed to find another way to release emotion. Photography, turning to God, and music are huge outlets for me, and I believe they will continue to be so, but writing has this special little place all by itself carved into my very being. I tried to ignore this fact when I gave up writing about Sonic, but now I realize I can't live without it. I express myself so much better through writing...
Also, my big brother's been pushing me to do this for a while.
"You'd love it!" he said, months ago, and I blew him off, saying that I didn't want random people online knowing about me.
It's funny how things can change so quickly, isn't it?
Anyway, so this blog will be about...well, a lot of things, ranging from typical teenager struggles and how I work through them, and the funny moments in life, such as when my cat (whose name is Rootbeer) jumps three feet in the air when a car drives past...or when he runs away from my guinea pig. Either way, he's a wimp, haha. =)

Seeing as though I'm anxious to talk about my day today, I think I'll just jump right in from here on out. Today was pretty cool, in that my Dad took my brother and I up into the foothill/mountain area, where we saw soooo much wildlife I couldn't help but praise God. There are days when I'm just fine with the city life, and there are days when I seriously miss the days when my family and I lived in a small, secluded town, an hour away from the nearest Wal-Mart. Today was one of those days when I missed it. We saw A LOT of deer and elk, and four foxes!!! Two of the foxes were kits, probably no older than a few weeks old, and they were easily spooked whenever a car would rush on past them (they were right next to the road). But they were also curious lil' things, and for a while there they would poke their heads out of their hiding place and gaze up at us with wonder.
Also tonight, my brother's college hosted a firework show! His school's fireworks are known to be amazing 'round these areas, and let me tell you, they are. You can get up close and personal with the fireworks, and at times a person felt like they were being engulfed in smoke! Haha, a few car alarms were going off too at the loudest fireworks (now that's one thing I do like about the city. Fireworks ROCK!) Last year at the fireworks, a couple brought their poor dog with them, and the dog got so spooked that he managed to get away from his owners and run off during the show! Note to self: when I get a dog, never make him watch fireworks with you. He'll practically die. I know that if I'd brought along my cat from some reason, he would've lost all nine of his lives, and would've never been the same again. 

Anywayz, that's about it for today. I often update my own personal journal on the computer one to three times a week, but I'll go much easier on you guys, don't worry. Later! :)

                                                                   ~Kathy