New Year's??

So, this Wednesday there is a New Year's Eve Dance for church. I was so excited about going because I love the dances. But everyone is saying different ages that are allowed to go! Like 1st ward is 100% positive that it's ages 12 and up, but people in my ward aren't exactly sure but they say it's 14 and up. I'm 13, so I wouldn't get to go if it's 14 and up. I really really want to go! I'm going to ask my Bishop to double check. . . . But if I don't go to the dance, the Hillman's in our ward have invited our family to a New Year's Eve party that they're having. So anyways, in Young Women's we talked about our New Year's Resolutions. The General YM/YW Presidency said to include resolutions from 5 different categories (mental, physical, emotional, social, spiritual). Here are some of mine:

MENTAL
-To work harder in Algebra so I can get an A next semester/quarter.
-Keep up good grades in my new High School that I'm going to.

PHYSICAL
-Try to take my vitamins every day even though they mess "things" up.

EMOTIONAL
-Not complain so much in school/home.
-Be happier by smiling more often.
-Speak my mind more if something is bothering me . . .

SOCIAL
-Uhh . . . not be so quiet all the time. :)

SPIRITUAL
-Finish the Book of Mormon again.
-Do better in my church "calling" (Beehives . . . ).

So, I hope you guys have a wonderful New Year's celebration. HAPPY {ALMOST} 2009!!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Merry Christmas!!

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a great time with your families on this holiday just like I have. Christmas has come and gone very quickly this year. All of my family is still getting used to not having snow to prepare us for the holidays so it's weird not having it. I know I don't miss the snow, but it doesn't feel like Christmas to me without it! But I still love the Christmas season anyways! So have a great Christmas and a New Year's!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Electric Light Parade

Well, last night was the Casa Grande Electric Light Parade. My mom took me, Mason, and Morgan and we had a good time watching all the floats with the pretty lights on them. The CGMS band marched--along with Villago and Cactus--but CGMS was of course the best. :) They did a good job. Mason and I cheered really loud for Katie but she didn't hear us. :) They had a creative idea for their decorations, unlike the other schools that just did lights and glow sticks. I had fun last night, except it was really long and my fingers got cold. The Santa float was my favorite!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Christmas Concert

Hello! I apologize for not writing sooner! Well, tonight was our Christmas Concert and I got the opportunity to sing a "solo" Christmas song called "Mary's Lullaby". I really like this song! So yesterday was the Dress Rehearsal and Sister Maroney (my voice lessons teacher) gave us the program to check for misspellings and things like that and I saw my name and next to it is Kody Herring and Cole Harvey. I had no idea what this was about! So I find out that Brother Herring and Brother Harvey we originally practicing this song but with guitars, but found out I was doing the song also and we just basically combined both things and did a joint song. It turned out to be very very nice. I loved the guitars in the song; it made it soo much prettier! I think I did a pretty good job, and I'm glad I didn't mess up and fall on my face or something like that! There were 17 performers all together in this concert and it was very nice. I'm glad I got this experience and hope I can do it again sometime soon! I would like to sing this song again with Brother Herring and Brother Harvey sometime! :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

TWILIGHT!!!

Okay so Katie and I saw Twilight last night at 7:00! It was really really good! I say it was definitely worth waiting for, except for a few things . . . . But I liked it. I think they did casting very well and Robert Pattinson was perfect for the part. Just wanted to say a little something about how amazing I thought the movie was!! I definitely recommend seeing this movie!

DAVID ARCHULETA!!

Whoo hooo!! The new David Archuleta CD is out and it's amazing! I absolutely love the songs and would definitely recommend it to David Lovers! My favorite song on the CD is "Touch Your Hand"! I love that song, but "Crush" is still my song! :) Anyways, just wanted to let out some of my excitement!!

Haircut . . .

Hey, I got a new haircut . . . I did it myself so I don't know how it turned out. I wanted something completely new and I definitely got something new, but I don't know if I like it or not. Connor says it looks bad, Morgan says it looks dorky when my hair is up, and Mason has "no comment". So, what do you think??

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

TAGGED

I want to do this before I forget! I got tagged by Katie and I am supposed to list 10 things I can't live without. So here goes. ;) (Not in order of importance in my life)

1. My Family. I think family is at the top of everyone's list, including mine. I know I am so lucky to have such a great family and I love them so much. My parents do so much for me and sometimes I take them for granted.
2. My Friends. I honestly don't think I could survive without my friends. They mean so much to me because I know I can always go to them for help with anything. I can tell my friends anything and everything because I know I can trust them. I have amazing friends that I know will support me in just about everything I do.
3. The Gospel. I know I would be so lost without the Church in my life. It has made me so strong in knowing I can rely on my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know for sure that I would have made so many mistakes already in my life if I did not have the Gospel. I love going to church and feeling the spirit and I know it's a huge part of who I am.
4. Music. I absolutely love music and every aspect of it. Music also plays a huge part in my life because I love singing and listening to music of all kinds. I love just sitting down and listening to my iPod because I know music can relax me if I am stressed.
5. My cell phone! I love playing with my phone and having the security of a cell phone. It helps me be organized and entertained. I love texting!!
6. My Education. Lots of times people take their education for granted and do not fully appreciate the amazing benefits of the educations we have been given. I don't particularly like going to school but I love learning new things. I am so thankful for my teachers and everything they do to help me learn to be successful. My education also is important in my life.
7. For number seven it may sound silly, but I would have to say Chocolate! Not plain chocolate by itself, but chocolate mixed with candy bars (TWIX!!). Chocolate is amazing because it never changes, but comes in all kinds of different forms. :)
8. Books. I absolutely love reading. I love hearing the amazing ideas that these authors have and I love being in suspense. I really like being surprised in books and, honestly, I love crying while reading books. Crying while reading books shows signs of affection and love for the characters. It amazing to know that a bunch of words can stir up so many emotions.
9. The Internet. I love the Internet. I know it can be totally evil and corrupt, but if you know how to be safe on the Internet, it REALLY helps your life out. It helps with communication, entertainment, knowledge, school . . . I don't know what I would do without the Internet and Microsoft Word!
10. Honestly, it was really difficult to narrow things to a number 10, so I'm going to skip it!

People I tag:

Mom, Mikenna, Bekah . . .

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

HA!

Hey! I was looking around on the internet and I actually found a SMART blonde joke! :) It's fairly funny . . . . so I thought it might be nice to do a little post about it. Here it is:

A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan Officer. She says she’s going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000.
The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Mercedes Benz SL 500. The car is parked on the street in front of the bank.

She has the Title, and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car collateral for the loan. The bank’s president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the blonde for using a $110,000 Benz as collateral against a $5,000 Loan. An employee of the bank then proceeds to drive the Benz into the bank’s underground garage and parks it there.

Two weeks later, the blonde returns. She repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41.

The loan officer says, “Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?”

The blonde replies, “Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?”

So HA not all blondes are dumb! :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Boo!

Happy Halloween!!!!

I hope you have a great holiday and eat lots of candy!!

Fall Break!

Happy Fall Break to me!!

It's finally fall break, which means NO SCHOOL for one whole week! :) We haven't really done anything, but yesterday we saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the movie theaters. My dad didn't want us seeing it because it looked "too dumb", but it actually ended up being really good. And I have babysat my siblings every day this week basically all day (well, from when I wake up to dinnertime).

Oh, I also cut my bangs {all by myself} last week. My parents don't like it. :( I like the cut.

For Halloween, I'm going to be a 50's girl. :) I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of dressing up and getting FREE candy! :) Katie is going to be my football player date. hahaha

Well have a great day!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Hello!

Hello again! A few things have happened recently. I'll make a list. :)

-About 2 weeks ago, I had my first choir concert for school. My mom's friend did my hair really cute. Here's some pics of it. {I had my mom take a video of the songs our choir sang in, but only after the concert when I uploaded the video did we figure out that my camera doesn't record sound, AT ALL! Grrrr!}



Our concert was combined with the High School choir and the 7th grade choir. We sang So Sick {NeYo}, Get on Board This Train, and Let the Earth Resound by ourselves. We sang 2 combined songs with EVERYONE {all 130-ish of us}: This is Me {Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas} and Da Pacem Domine {Latin song}. The 7th graders sang No Air {Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown}, The Cat Came Back, and some Spanish song. I have no idea what the high schoolers sang! :) It was a great experience and I'm excited for our WINTER concert!

-Last night I slept over at Katie's house. We went to the high school football game last night. It was a lot of fun, although I don't think we watched much football! We mostly just talked with our other friends that were there and were really crazy! :) I had lots of fun. I do know that we lost the game! :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Blog

My blog is now blocked!! To enter my blog {which you must have figured out if you are reading this}, you now have to enter the email address in which you were invited from and your password. I have personally selected people to view and leave comments on my blog. There has been a certain person that has gone onto a person's blog from my friend's friend list and wrote an inappropriate comment on there. I don't want that happening to anyone of you that are on my friend's list, so this person is not invited to read my blog. I hope this will eliminate the possibility of that ever happening to any of you! That comment was really offensive and I will be talking to that person about it shortly. GRRRR she makes me SOOO mad! X{

Anyways, thanks for your cooperation! :) Oh, and PLEASE leave comments on my blog so I know you have visited it! Thanks again.

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Not much has been going on really, but I'll make a list of things that have happened [if you are interested, of course].

-Last night was my friend Marisa's birthday party. She had an Arbonne party. It was a lot of fun. In case you don't know, Arbonne is like a makeup/moisturizing/lipgloss line [I'm not sure what to call that!]. When we got there, there were these buckets for our feet filled with hot water and marbles. I would definitely recommend trying that someday because it feels really really good! The lady showed us some of their products. They have a teen's line called F.Y.I. [for young individuals] and she showed us their 4 scents that smell really good. They have good lip gloss and lotions and stuff. Then we went into their kitchen and we got facials. We washed our faces with moisturizing cream and a masque that feels sooooo good! I would by some despite two hard facts: 1) I have exactly $0.00 and it's kinda hard to buy things when you are broke and 2) Their products are pretty expensive; the lip gloss [in a tiny tube] is 10 bucks. I really want the masque that we sampled! Then the lady did our makeup. She did mine more subtle then I'm used to! :) She taught us how to do the smokey-eye techinique. It looks pretty! I had fun and it was a good idea!

-Tonight I'm going babysitting for Sister Broiles [I don't know how to spell her last name! X( ]
-School is blah. It's boring. I'm not doing so good with some things in Algebra. There's these equations that I don't know how to do very well. Even when I'm sure I'm doing them right, I get em wrong!! GRRRRR!!! :)

Well that's about all that has been happening as of late! Oh yeah and last night Katie slept over at my house. We had fun. Today we went to go see "Tyler Perry's House of Prey". It was a lot better than I expected it to be. Well, bye bye now! :) hahaha

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

"The Big Race"

So this weekend my dad, Connor, and I went to another race! Wooohooo! It was way fun. It was a little ways from Snowflake, Arizona. John and Emily came out and we split the race with them. We did pretty good. We ended up getting 2nd place in our class [out of about 5 people]. We got a nice, big plaque, which was awesome. It was so much fun and I'm really glad I could share this opportunity with my dad. It is something that I will always remember. I can't wait when I'm the one behind the wheel! Right dad? Hahahaha. It's so much fun to be in that car out in the desert and feel the pump of adrenaline and excitement and even the nervous feeling you get when John and Emily were supposed to be back 15 minutes ago and they're no where in sight! :) It is an amazing feeling! Fun, Fun, FUN!!! I'll post further details and some pictures later. Dad says I took some good pictures of the car and of Emily. :) Talk to you all later. :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

School is going good. Teachers are good. Young Women's is good. Family is good. Friends are good. I am good. My life is good. Is your life good? :)

That's really all I have to say right now! :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

P.S.: I went to Katie's birthday party. She had it at the Pointe Hilton. The hotel was really nice and it was really fun going there. I got to meet her cousin Stephanie that I never had met before. So that was cool. I had fun!

Interests

Hey! I am bored, so I just thought it might be fun (for me) to list some of my interests as of late.

1. Singing
2. Reading
3. Writing
4. Scrapbooking
5. Journaling
6. Texting
7. Typing
8. Occupying myself (just finding random stuff to do by myself when I'm bored)
9. Getting to know my friends better
10. Taking online quizzes/surveys
11. Writing poems
12. Writing songs and coming up with the melody

If you want, you can do this on your blog too. I think it would be cool to see some interests of friends that we didn't know about. :) Have fun.

Luv ya lots!!
♥♥Kennedy♥♥

School

Wooohoo! 8th grader at last! :) The first day of school was good. I got to meet all of my new teachers and go to my new classes. My favorite subject/class is choir. Our school FINALLY got a choir elective and I really enjoy going--though I have only been there once so far. :) Mrs. Seaman is a great teacher and we will have a lot of fun this semester. I have Mr. Weber for Advanced Language Arts. He is a good teacher, though I miss Mrs. Miller! Mr. Hindman, my algebra teacher, is different. He likes suddenly yelling when it is completely silent, just to see us jump! Mr. Carter, my science teacher, is really nice and funny. He makes the subject a lot of fun! Mrs. Sundust is my social studies teacher. Her class isn't really that fun. She is clearly very "opinionated"--sometimes so much so that she strays off of the subject for about 1/2 an hour if you get her started on gangs, or protesting. I don't understand her sometimes. But nevertheless, she is a good teacher. There are a bunch of new rules at our school that I don't get or like. First of all, every single male student has to tuck in his shirt, even if it is not too long. Second, NO ONE is allowed to wear colored shoe laces (only white and SOMETIMES black). Third, at lunch they have separated the boys and the girls into separate parts of the cafeteria. I don't really like this because some of my friends are boys and I don't get to sit by them/talk to them at lunch. And, though it seems like they can't get any pickier, they personally seat everyone! They think that they MUST fill up every seat in the cafeteria. So, if there are only two seats left in a table, my two friends get to have fun sitting by each other and I have to go sit by myself and a completely different table. And this happened on the first day of school. Fun, right? :( Well, I have to go! Have fun with your lives and STAY IN SCHOOL! hahahahaha

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

I lied :(

Hey, you know the song I posted earlier ("Does He Feel the Way I Do"), just wanted to let you know that I wrote that song. Yes, I lied. :) I didn't "find" the song, I wrote it. I'm sorry for lying, hahaha. I just wanted to know what you thought about it before I told you. :) I was really proud of myself because I came up with the lyrics (all by myself haha) and I even came up with the tune. I even wrote down the notes into sheet music! I was so happy with the finished work! So what do you think? :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

bored. . .

HI!! Just wanted to say hi and that I'm REALLY bored!! Yesterday we went over to friends from Utah that just moved to Mesa. It was pretty fun. I was finally allowed to read some of Breaking Dawn. Let's just say, it isn't as good as I had hoped. And it's WAY different than I wanted it to be! I think Stephenie Meyer could have done better. :( Well that's about all I have to say . :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

What do you think?

Okay so I found this song and I wanna know if you like it. Here's the lyrics:

Does He Feel The Way I Do?

Verse 1
The way he walks, the way he talks has a way of givin' me that
feelin': butterflies inside, shy smiles outside. My heart beats faster
and faster, louder and louder. Again and again I wonder . . . (chorus 1)

Chorus 1
Does he feel the way I do? Do his heart have room in there for me?
If he could ask one question would he ask if I love him too? Would
he be proud to hold my hand? Would he kiss away my tears? Would
he show me that he loves me by telling me it's gonna be alright? Does
he, does he feel the way I do?

Verse 2
I ask him questions but my efforts go unnoticed. To him I'm just the shy
girl and nothing more. I wish he would give me a chance to prove I'm not
this mask that's hiding me! That's when I wonder . . . (chorus 1)

Bridge
I'd give anything for him to see the real me and not who I'm pretending
to be. If only he knew how much I care, how much I cry over him, how
much I wish he would wonder . . . (chorus 2)

Chorus 2
Does she feel the way I do? Does her heart have room in there for me?
If she could ask one question would she ask if I love her too? Would she
be proud to hold my hand? Would she kiss away my tears? Would she
show me that she loves me by telling me that is gonna be alright? Does
she, does she feel the way I do?

What do you think?

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

HOME!!

We're finally home!!!! It is SOOO good to be home! Two weeks is just WAY too long. Well its good to be in Casa Grande and to see my friends and my daddy. Sedona and Utah were way fun and I'm glad I got to go this summer. I can't believe summer is almost over! School starts NEXT week! It has come too soon, but it will be good to be back in school. I have about half of my school clothes bought. I got about 5 pairs of shorts and 1 shirt when we were in Utah. So I need to shop for shirts. I have bad news..... I was getting all my stuff ready to leave for home. I quickly grabbed my phone, my phone charger, and all the stuff that was at the table next to the bed I was sleeping in. We are about 4 hours into the trip and Chris calls and I find out that I took HIS phone charger instead of mine! So my phone is dead and I probably won't get my charger for another week. GRRRR!! So if you try to text me and I don't answer, thats why!

As almost all of you know, I have been taking singing lessons. In singing lessons, we are to choose a song that we want to learn/sing/perform for the class. Last time, I chose "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. I have been looking and looking but I just can NOT find a song that would be good for me to sing! This is where I need everyone's help! I want to sing a song that is somewhat challenging, but not so much that I can't sing it. :) Preferably a song that I can sing in my chest voice range (which I can sing up to a high D without switching to head) . . . NO swear words please. Please help!! :) Comment with your suggestions. THANKS! Have an AMAZING day!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Right now at this very second, I am in Clinton, Utah at my grandma's house! YAY! The ride can, in NO words, be described as "fun" or "exciting". More like "LOOOOOONG" and "car sick"! After we said goodby's to our family in Sedona, we headed out towards the canyon. Not 5 minutes into the canyon and Morgan throws up [from motion sickness from the turns and stuff in the canyon]. About 15 minutes after that [we are still in the canyon], I throw up! Then not even 10 minutes after that, Mason throws up! It was inSANE! At least there were no other "accidents" after that fun half of an hour! After about 10-12 hours of non-stop driving, we arrive at Steph's house. We spend the night at her house. Baby Cameron and big-brother Noah are sooo cute! It was fun seeing them. Then we drove the hour drive to Grandma's house in Clinton. There we saw the rest of the family. We get to stay in Chris' room. :) Yesterday was the 2nd day at Grandma's house. Since it was Sunday, we woke up at 9:00 and went to church at Grandma's ward, which, much to my surprise, was REALLY REALLY small! I guess I had forgotten how small the wards in Utah really are! There were no more than 3 Beehives, 2 Deacons, and 10 Young Women all together! It was crazy. The chapel was a lot different than ours, too. :) After that, we hung out at the house. At 5:00, we had a family dinner with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. The hamburgers were delicious! After that, Whitney [my aunt] cut Morgan's hair short. It is so cute! But I think Morgan was a little surprised to find out that she can't fit her hair into a ponytail anymore! Then Whitney cut my hair! She only took 1 inch off the length, but she put in lots more layers. She also cut my bangs shorter. After the cut, she surprised me by saying, "I want to put blonde highlights in." It took some convincing on my mom's part, but at about 9:00, I was getting my first highlights EVER! I was sooo excited to see what they looked like. Although, I wasn't quite sure about the color of them. They were just blonde and I didn't know if I would be able to see them since my hair is blonde. Boy, was I wrong! :) I absolutely love the way it turned out! I will post pictures of my hair at a later date.

I am having a good time, but I miss Casa Grande, my dad, my friends, and Jasper! :) (Jasper is my cat). Well I hope everyone has a fabulous day!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

We made it!!! Whoooo hooo!!! After a very fun time at the grand canyon, we came here to Sedona for a family reunion. We had rented a HUGE house. When we walked into the house we all gasped because it was SOOO much better than we had expected. There are 7 bedrooms (about) and each room is decorated differently. Our room is at a lower level and there is a window as the wall so we have a surrounding view of the trees around the house and stuff. The house is gorgeous. There is an upstairs and a huge backyard with a swimming pool. In the backyard there is a hiking trail and a maze and a kiva with an outside room and everything! When I get home, I will post a video tour and a bunch of pictures of the house. I have to go right now, but I will post when i can! :)  

Happy Birthday to me!!

Yesterday was my 13th birthday! Katie slept over Friday and helped me out with my party when it came around. I got to open my first bday present at about 10:00. And it was a cell phone!! I love it soooo much! It is a Samsung Myshot. Here's a picture:


I love it so much! Isn't it amazing?? My birthday party was fun, too. Everyone came and we had chicken enchiladas for dinner (made by mom). Then we went to the mall and started the scavenger hunt. There were two teams. My team ended up losing, but who cares? It was my fault! :( When I wrote the scavenger hunt, in one challenge they had to find some items. And I didn't check if they actually had the items in the store because I didn't think it would be fair if I knew where everything was! But in one store, they ended up not having some of the items . . . oops! :( But I think it turned out to be fun. Afterwards, we had cake and I opened my presents. Thanks to all my friends that came!! You're the best!! I got a lot of Bath and Body Works stuff (which is good, cuz I LOVE Bath and Body Works), jewelry, and iTunes gift cards! Awesome, awesome, awesome!! I got A LOT of calls from family members, so THANKS!! I had an amazing birthday!!!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me! In about 3 days, I will celebrate the day of my birth. 13 years old on July 5 at precisely 11:04 a.m. I am having a party with some of my friends. It is themed "The Amazing Race". Here's what my invitation said:

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the Amazing Race! Compete against other teams for the prize. Join your friend, Kennedy Nightingale, on her special day in fun, clean, competition. The challenge will take place on Saturday July 5 at 5:30 p.m. Be prepared for a Mall Madness race of wit, speed, and endurance. The first leg of the race will be held at 1251 E. Prickly Pear St. in Cottonwood Ranch (the neighborhood across from Cactus Middle). So, are you game? If you have the courage to participate in this amazing race, RSVP to 520-426-0477 ASAP!

P.S. It IS a birthday party! :)

I wrote it and I thought it turned out to be pretty good. What we're going to be doing is we're going to the mall. They are given a list of different things they need to do in each store. And the first one done, wins. That's my party in a nutshell! :) I'm excited for my party. I think it will be fun!

Two days ago, I spent the day (literally) with my BFF Katie. She was having a party and I helped her get ready for it. The party itself was a lot of fun. We ate junk food, stayed up late, prank called boys :), and played party games. It was a lot of fun.

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Memories

Story Time...
Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2.Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Background

Just so you know, my background is just plain white! My blog is experiencing some minor technical difficulties right now because no matter what layout I put on it, it always turns out to be white when I publish it. So, until I get it figured out, you're stuck with a plain white background! :)

Girl's Camp

I had so much fun at Girl's Camp! It was an amazing experience. I had a lot of fun spending time with my friends. The spirit was so strong. It was at Mount Lemmon in Tucson. It was a beautiful view. I got car sick on the way up the mountain and I threw up, so that wasn't fun. When we got there we took all of our gear to our campsite. We were at the very bottom of a hill. It was tiring to get up to the the stage and the Lodge (cafeteria) but we had a good view. I was roommates with my friend Sarah at first. Mikenna and Shanci were sharing a tent but they found a big spider in it so on the second day, Shanci slept in our tent. When Shanci went home because of a twisted ankle, Mikenna moved into our tent. It was fun staying up and talking and goofing off. The hike wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm a second year so we got the 5 mile hike. We went up the mountain and then came down, so coming down was easier. It was so pretty! There was a river and a bunch of trees and big rock formations.

Testimony Rock is a big ledge that overlooks the valley. A couple years ago, there was a fire that went in a complete circle around our campsite and you can see the burnt trees. You may not think it was pretty, but it was! Being there was an amazing feeling.

Thursday night, our bishopric came to camp and we had a testimony meeting. It was the most spiritual experience I have ever had. Everyone was in tears because of all the emotions. Our friendships were strengthened and we all grew to love each other more. We had KRISPY KREME DONUTS afterwards!! I hadn't had a Krispy Kreme in forever! It was delicious.

Friday on the drive home, we stopped for something to eat. I had Panda Express. We also bought Eegee's. Eegee's is delicious! They are kind of like slushies but they have a smoother texture. The orange flavor is the bestest!

I had a great experience at camp. I can't wait to go next year. I have a bunch of camp songs stuck in my head though! :) Arickabamboo! . . . . :) Here's just a few pictures. I'll post more pictures later.

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

My Mummy Brother

Okay, so today I was babysitting my brothers and sister while my mom was at work and we were doing our jobs. I was cleaning the downstairs bathroom, I come out and I find out that Mason has found the toilet paper. It is ALL over the house and he is wrapped up in it. "Look, Kennedy, I'm a mummy!" I was so mad that he had trashed the house AND wasted a whole roll of toilet paper, but it was so funny that I couldn't stay mad! I took a picture of him.

My Favorite Things

I decided I wanted to put a little thing about my favorite things, in case you are curious.

Favorite . . .

Food: Chicken Enchiladas
Color: Green and Purple
Singer: Sara Bareilles
Song: Love Song
Actress: (I haven't decided)
Actor: (I haven't decided)
Number: 18
Letter: K
Teacher: Mrs. Miller
Subject: Language Arts
Hobby: singing, writing, reading, babysitting
Sibling: Mason (haha, just KIDDING! I love all my bros. and sis. equally!)
State to be in: Utah because my family is there and Arizona because my friends are here.
Day of the week: Saturday
Least favorite day of the week: Monday
Place to be: my room
Book: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Harry Potter, The Clique
Movie: (too many to choose)
Website: blogger

So there you have it. . . my favorite things. :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

fun, fun, fun

Today I'm really lazy and tired. I wasn't motivated to do ANYTHING, but I had to anyways. Last night I slept over at Katie's house. We read books and talked. We were really tired in the morning so we slept in. I had to leave at 10:30 because I babysat for Sister Newman. She has three adorable children. Beth is 6, Grant is 3, and Ashlynn is 1. They're really cute. We played a Littlest Petshop game and Candyland for most of the time. Grant is autistic so he acts younger than his age and he repeats himself so he was a little difficult to understand. He'd repeat everything Beth said! He found a maraca at the park, so he kept saying, "My maraca, David found at play group." And he kept asking, "Is my mom in the garage?" It took me a while to figure out what he was asking because he mumbles a little bit. but he is really cute! And Ashlynn kept glaring at me like she was mad at me! She was asleep until 6 minutes before her mom got home, so I think she was still grumpy from being woken up. They're really cute kids!

In the summertime, I do a "tutoring" kind of thing for Morgan, Connor, and Morgan's friends Hailey and Sophia. It's basically a summer school but I teach it. It's a big responsibility keeping up with the grades and the lesson plan and the activity, but it's fun. I think I want to be a teacher when I grow up, so this is really preparing me. Today we had "computers" and they practiced their typing and we learned about the parts of the computer and things like that. We also read more of our class book, The Magic Treehouse. We have a lot of fun everyday. I love teaching them.

Last night at Young Women's we had combined activity. We had a couple from Queen Creek come and teach us how to do the Swing. My daddy was my partner! We can now do the Single Swing! It was really fun!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

PS: We were at Ricardo's last night for dinner. We were all quiet and Mason says, "You know Mom, Jesus made this food!" And then later on we heard someone at another table say to another person, "Welcome to Arizona!" and Mason gives me this flabbergasted (ha ha) look and he goes, "Wait, we're in ARIZONA?!" And my mom laughs and says, "Yeah, where did you think we were?" And Mason says, "In Casa Grandee" (he says the "E". We Arizonians commonly say Casa Grand!). It was pretty funny! We took a few minutes to explain that Casa Grande is a city in ARIZONA!

Hellooooo again. Well today I had to wake up early because it was our turn to clean the church. That took about one hour. It was actually pretty fun. While we waited for the cultural hall to dry from being mopped, we got out our homemade "hockey sticks" and passed around a "ball". After that we came home. I colored my activity for Family Home Evening on Monday. Then when my mom got home from getting her hair done, we went to Serina Faucette's house to help them move. Mikenna was there too and we had the "privilege" of cleaning the baseboards with toothbrushes. Before me and my mom got there, Sister Faucette had given Mikenna a bunch of nail polishes, so we divided the nail polish amongst ourselves. I got all the colors she didn't like. :} First come, first serve, I guess! :) When we got home, I took a 3 hour nap. And now here I am! Typing on my blog. It has been a very fun first day of summer. :}

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

!!!!!!!!!!!

School is finally out!!!!! Today was the last day of school! I'm half glad that school is over and I'm half sad. One of my good friends is moving to Ohio. His name is Jacob and we're going to miss him! :( After school me and my friend Mikenna went to go see Indiana Jones in theaters. It was really good! But it bothered me that Harrison Ford is so OLD! :) There were some parts that had lame acting but it was really good! After the movie we went to Claire's. We tried on lots of sunglasses and I bought some "chopsticks" for my hair. They're really cute and I can do my hair really cute with them. After that, we babysat David Allred who lives across the street. We had a good time! It was fun! We had an Indiana Jones marathon and we sent goofy text messages to the boy she likes. She is not allowed to have sleepovers at other people's houses once she turns 12, so she couldn't sleep over. But we both wished she could cuz we had a good time! After she left I scrap booked with my mom and Aimee [Merrell] until midnight. Even though I did that for about 4 hours, I only got on object on one page finished! :) I kept getting distracted and I was REALLY hyper! I had a lot of fun today!!!!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

Singing Recital

Hello hello. This week has been quite eventful. It is the last week of school!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!! I'm excited for summer! Last night I had my singing recital for singing lessons. We all sang a solo song along with 2 group songs, "On my Own" from Les Miserables and "Caro Mio Ben" which is an Italian song. I sang "Love Song" by Sarah Bareilles. It's a totally awesome song. I was pretty nervous at first but when I got up there, I wasn't so nervous. Which is weird, I know! :) Katie is in my singing "class" and she did a fantastic job singing "Someone's Watching Over Me" by Hilary Duff. We all sucked on the last song On My Own, though. We forgot most of the lyrics so it sounded completely horrible! But that's okay since we all did a good job on our songs. My mom took a few pictures of the performance and she even got my whole song on video! If your interested, here they are.




PICTURES:

top left--Mikenna Hillman singing "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat.
top middle--Katie Duffin singing "Realize" by Colbie Caillat.
top right--Megan Duffin singing "When I Close My Eyes" by UNKNOWN :)
bottom left--Katie Russell singing "Someone's Watching Over Me" by Hilary Duff.
missing picture--Jessica Hart singing "Only Hope" by Mandy Moore.

(I can't get the video to show up, so just watch it on my mom's blog: www.riccidesertmama.blogspot.com SORRY!)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

update . . . .

Just an update. . . . I forgot to post on this, but on Mother's day, I gave a talk in sacrament on Mothers. If you're interested I copied my talk on here so you can read it. It's short and simple.

Happy mother’s day! My name is Kennedy Nightingale and I was asked to speak on the topic of mothers.

What is a mother, first of all? A mother gives you life! She takes care of you and loves you. My mom is always there for me to comfort me when I am unhappy or scared, or if I just need a shoulder to cry on. She has always been there for me when I have needed her most. I think the most important characteristics of a mom are:

© She must always have faith in herself.

© She must love Heavenly Father, the gospel, and the scriptures with all her heart.

© She should be dedicated and loyal.

© As a mother, she has to make sacrifices.

© Patience is necessary!

One of my lifelong goals is to become a mother when I am older. My mom has always taught me things that I look forward to teaching my future children. I want to be a mom just like her! I have learned from babysitting that taking care of kids is hard work. But, unfortunately, you don’t get paid to be a mom.

In the Book of Mormon, Helaman and his army fought bravely with the inspiration of their mothers. Alma chapter fifty-six verse forty-seven through forty-eight says:

Now they never had fought yet they did not fear death, and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives, yeah, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers saying, we do not doubt our mothers knew it.

So that’s basically saying to trust your mothers because they do know what’s going on!

There is a quote from the First Presidency that says:

Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her, who honors it’s holy calling and service, next to the angels.

So being a mom is really one of the holiest services in all mankind! That’s a really high authority and it definitely makes me respect the work of my own mom more. I know that even though I am a big pain some times that she still loves me. I love my mom so much and I am truly grateful for all that she does for me. Without her guidance, I don’t know where I’d be. Even though I probably have a strange way of showing it, I am thankful for her. I try my best to help her out a lot, and it’s hard sometimes, but she really deserves it. I’m going to close with a poem I wrote called “What is a Mother?”.

What is a Mother?

A mother is thoughtful caring and true

Who is there to support you in all that you do.

No matter the cost, she’s willing to pay

So she can hold you in her arms and wipe those tears away.

When giving support, she’s your number one fan;

Loving you lots is her game plan.

She’s there to comfort all your fright.

She’s there to tuck you in at night.

She loves when it’s quiet and away from the loud.

When you are accomplished, it makes her feel proud.

She must have a degree in teaching right from wrong,

Because you know right here is where you belong.

She loves watching her kids laugh and play

Even though sometimes they make her hair gray!

She loves to just sit and talk with you,

To be involved in the things that you do.

What mother could be so divine?

What better example is there than mine?!
I love you mom!

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So there you have it. That talk went pretty good in sacrament.

Last night there was a baptism for my mom's friend Aimee's son, Reid, and I sang at that. I'd say it went pretty good, though my mom said I wasn't loud enough. But that's okay.

So yep, there's a little update on my life.

♥S♥U♥M♥M♥E♥R♥

Katie is so sweet! She is so great! She is my bestest best friend and I really love her a lot. She is so talented and I absolutely love being around her!

Only 8 more days of school!!! Then I'm going to be in 8th grade! I am so excited for summer. This summer is going to be awesome. I'll make a little outline of things that I'm going to do/go.

-I think my mom was talking about going up to Utah on the weekend of the 24th of June. I did not know about this little visit until this morning. I don't know when she was planning on telling us, but yeah.
-My birthday. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but it will probably just be a little party for me and a few of my good friends. Nothing extravagant like last year! ;)
-Family reunion. This summer we are having a family reunion in Sedona with my dad's side of the family. We rented a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally nice house, it's really big and it has a swimming pool and all that stuff. We're going to ride a train--I think that' still in the plan--and we're going to the Grand Canyon.
-Just hang out. Go swimming, read, write, sing, more swimming . . . . you know, normal summer stuff!
-Babysitting! I'm planning on making some extra cash, to pay for things that I really want, like a phone. I want to prove to my mom that I AM capable of paying for a phone!!!

So that's pretty much it. School was pretty fun. I'm just getting my grades where I want em for report cards. . . . . .

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

PS: I give all the credit and glory of making my fabulous layout. Isn't it so cute??? Not to mention it is my favorite colors: purple and green. She's amazing!

KATIE IS HERE!

This is Katie!! Seriously it is!

Kennedy does not know that I am posting on her blog =]. This is a suprise. I am just here to say how AMAZING SHE IS! She is so talented and everyone LOVES her! You would be crazy not to like her. She is so much fun to be with. I can do anything with her and we have fun! She is so smart and an amazing writer and singer. =] so much better than me... no matter what she says. Everyone wants to be around her because when you are it just makes you feel soooo good. She may be shy but she's not obnoxious like me and she is so wonderful once you get to know her. She is my best friend forever!

Today was pretty boring. Katie and most my friends were in the Math Fair and I wasn't so I was lonely. I babysat today for 2 little boys: Grant, 6, and David, 2. They are the cutest little boys. I absolutely love babysitting for them. David has red hair (that was recently shaved off, so he doesn't have hair right now, :( ) and blue eyes. He laughs at the silliest things and at any sign of music he shakes his little body and dances! It's adorable! But he's learned how to crawl out of his crib, so getting him to stay in bed was frustrating. But, when he falls and gets hurt, he usually learns not to do it again. At least until the next night! Grant is Morgan's age and I think he has a crush on her! He's really smart for his age and he's a joy!

I AM SO MAD THAT BROOKE GOT VOTED OFF OF AMERICAN IDOL!!!!! She is SOOOOO much better then Jason and Syesha and EVERYONE knows that!! She did not deserve to go home and it's not fair! I'm upset over this. But I realize it's kind of a silly thing to get mad at . . . but it's still upsetting!! :(

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

My Favorite Things...

I decided to make a little collage post about all the little things that I love. . . so here it is!








There's lots more stuff, but I don't have time to post them! Do you like the things I love? :)

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

PS: Yes, Katie, the Dachshund is in your honor! :)

American Idol

First of all I'd like to say that on top of being an amazing singer, David Archuleta is so CUTE!! He has so much talent and he is one of the best best on American Idol. His latest performance "Think of Me" from The Phantom of the Opera was just so great! You'd be tone deaf if you didn't think that he had some talent! And on top of all the great things about him, he's LDS too! What could be better?!






Also another of my favorite American Idol contestants is Brooke White. She is also really talented. But I really think that she needs to really find a good song that is best for her voice. I mean she's sung great songs and all, it's just that she needs to really top everything with a song that puts her voice over the edge (the good edge). Don't you agree? I think she'd be a great celebrity to look up to; she'd be a positive influence upon others, being LDS as well. . .



Although he's not one of my favorites, David Cook is also a great contestant on American Idol. There's not many rock singers from American Idol (besides Chris Daughtry) and he is someone could pursue a career in singing. He's very talented. He knows how to pick songs that are good for his voice and this week's song that he picked from The Phantom of the Opera, "Music of the Night", was genius! :)


♥♥Kennedy♥♥
P.S. I had a decent week. Yesterday I spent the day with Katie and by the end of the day I was really sick. I just felt sick to my stomach and ended up throwing up before I went to bed. I did not go to church today because I still feel sick. But I was able to eat lunch and dinner without throwing it up, so that's good. Whether I go to school tomorrow or not depends on how I'm feeling. . . . .

HI HI

Hello Hello. I know, I know, It's been a while since I've posted. I'm sorry. Weeellll, here's a little update on my life:

-Singing Lessons are going great. I've been taking them for about a year and I totally ♥ them soooo much! My BFF Katie joined with me, so that's fun. Our recital is coming up quick and I have a solo. It's called Love Song and it should be playing right now. :) (By the way, do you like my playlist? Check out some of my other songs.)
-Schools going pretty good. Still boring. Nothing new. We had AIMS, which is a big test that tests our knowledge of things we've learned all year. That was eventful (boring is more like it!). I currently do not like any boys at school (I know, a first! :) ). I guess I've liked all the like-able guys already! I can't believe school is almost out! Only 4 more weeks and it will be summer! I can't wait. I love summer!!! Remember how I told you all that I started playing Trombone for the school band? Well that's progressing, although progress is VERY slow! It's been about a month and so far I can play about 3 songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hot Cross Buns, and Let's Go Band. It's getting frustrating because I basically have to teach myself; my friends are always busy, the TEACHER is always busy and has no time to teach me. So that's a big reason of why I'm frustrated. Last night was the Spring Band Concert but I decided not to play in it because I can't play any of the songs and it wouldn't be fair to just pretend and move my slide.

Well that's about all I can think that's going on in my life. Love you all!!

♥♥Kennedy♥♥

DRESSES

These are my two new dresses. Sorry a) that I'm not wearing them and b) that they're kind of crooked. By the way, I took these pictures with my new camera. Grandma got me a new digital camera for my early (by early I mean 4 months) birthday present. I love it! It takes really good pictures!

Kennedy