Be Thou An Example

Last night, Brent and I went to a little party thing at my friend's church. We mostly just played games and ate pizza, but they did have what they call a worship service where they had their little band play a couple songs about worshiping Christ and they had us stand up and kinda dance around a little bit. Then they had a guy named Pastor Tim Black get up and speak for a little while. It wasn't like a horrible experience where I felt out of place or anything, but it was interesting to see first-hand the things that they're missing out on. For one thing, when they were praying, it wasn't in the name of Christ. It took me a minute to figure out what it was about their prayers that didn't feel the same to me, besides not folding their arms. And they spoke to God more like a peer than a Father.

But even though I know that they're missing things, I kind of found a little sense of comfort being there. We're always taught about the missing pieces of the puzzle that we have and that other churches don't, and about how they'll have their chance to get back to Heaven. Knowing that, I guess I kind of had a slight personal revelation for myself last night. It really just clicked for me that there are a lot of really good people up there, waiting for us to go to the temple and break them out of prison. We were sort of talking about that in seminary the other day. About who goes to which kingdoms, and Brother Greer asked who goes to Paradise, and we said "good Mormons". He asked who goes to Spiritual Prison, and we said "good people who aren't Mormons". And when he asked what people happens to people in Prison, somebody said "they learn how to be Mormon". Now, that's not really a good way to put it to people outside of our church, but it's reassuring to me. Those people, mostly Pastor Tim, helped confirm my testimony that even when we do everything we can to teach people the fullness here on Earth, they'll get their second chance in Spiritual Prison. And it was good to see someone who I know won't take long to get out of Prison and to join the 'army' of God.

How Long?

I guess I'm not ready for the responsibilities of a blog. :) It's not like I have an interesting life anyways, though. Don't worry; you're not missing out on much. School's going pretty well. We're reading Romeo & Juliet in English, and I personally love it. Old timely literature really interests me. I got my permit. In one try. And I only missed 6 questions. I'm pretty sure you're only allowed 6. So I guess it's smarter to read the book more than once. ;) I also got a puppy. She's pretty much the greatest puppy in the world. She's real cute, and she never barks. Ever! There's my quick update I guess. Told you it wasn't much.

Well, one really exciting thing has happened though. Blake went to the MTC! He's going to Nashville, Tennessee; I'm sure everyone knows that by now though. The people in his mission will definitely be lucky to have him. He's been studying his scriptures and all kinds of church magazines, books, and the like for the past few months. He's so ready for this.

I just wanted to say a few of my favorite things about Blake. He is a really great brother. He's always got my back. I only remember one time that he's ever had a "bad attitude" toward me and I was shocked. Of course, his bad attitude isn't really that bad. He has a really strong testimony and he's an amazing example. He definitely encourages me to be good, too. He's also smart. So smart. He actually watches the news. And reads the news online. He has one of those really great senses of humor that your average idiot doesn't quite understand. He's so funny and clever. He's always making me laugh. If you meet Blake, there's no way you won't like him. I'm pretty sure it's impossible. He's just a really likable guy. With soft hair. :) He's pretty good looking too. ;)

Besides that, one thing that I really love to do is find new musicians on Youtube or just by recommendations from people. Along with that, finding covers of all the crappy music on the radio. My favorite "cover artist" of late is Tyler Ward. He is so amazing. He makes Top 40 Hits bearable. For me, anyways. And he introduces a lot of really great, unknown artists. Such as Julia Sheer. These people have real, natural talent. No auto-tune included.

For example, there's one song out there right now getting all kinds of beat downs. Well deserved, beat downs, I might add. It's terrible. The auto-tuning is ridiculous, the lyrics are silly, and the poor girl singing it just looks like a complete idiot. I'm talking about Friday, by Rebecca Black. And as stupid as the song is, I found a cover of it that makes the stupid lyrics almost acceptable. The girl is Ally Rhodes. I found her at http://musicitis.blogspot.com/2011/03/ally-rhodes-singersongwritermusician.html. I must say, as a side note, I really like this site. They post some really great artists. Anyways, she's from Nebraska/Tennessee. Not sure how that works, but that's what the site says. If you're interested in this at all you can go to the before mentioned link and there are more links to her YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts.

Here's the original video, Rebecca Black version. Try not to laugh too hard. ;) She didn't mean for it to be a joke.

And here's Ally Rhodes' cover of it.

It'll probably be a while before I post anything again. :)

California!

Because nobody could go to Lake Powell at the same time this year we decided to go to California for a week with Aunt Paula's family. We picked up Grandma Romine from Las Vegas so she could come too. We stayed in condos by Oceanside beach. It was a lot of fun. Our condo was like right by the beach and Aunt Paula's was just across the street from ours. It was pretty only in the 60s all week and overcast but the water was still pretty nice. Justin and Jillian came over for a day with their kids. Those kids are so cute! I don't have any of those pictures though because they're still on my mom's camera so I just stole Ashley's from facebook haha. Oh and Kylie was there with some of her friends so it was like a mini family reunion haha. California was fun but we still need to go to Lake Powell this year.

haha Dad wanted to join in the fun
It only took us like 30 tries but we got one!

Summer!

I guess I should probably just quit haha. I never have anything really important to "blog" about so I just don't anymore. But I finally graduated from 8th grade and I get to leave that stupid middle school. I wasn't really excited for high school until I got my paper saying that registration is in a few weeks. And now I can't wait. I'm still not ready for PE though. And I'm definitely not ready for early morning band.

The summer has been nice I guess. Even though all I do is clean a little bit and sit around watching TV or waiting for someone to post something interesting on Facebook. We're going to California this Sunday right after all of the Pioneer days stuff. I can't wait to spend a week doing nothing on the beach instead of doing nothing on the couch. Sandra and I are doing the grocery race again this year with Stormy Penrod. We're so ready to make it to the end without falling off this time haha.

Dad was really proud that I got Salutatorian.

A Night of Insight

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