"Se cae el cielo y que más da tenemos nuestro mundo"

Last night my family got home from our trip to Arizona. It was a lot of fun! There is nothing that brings you closer to your family then all 12 of you being in the same car for 12+ hours. My cousin, Marylee, got married on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding and her husband seemed pretty cool. I didn't really get to talk to him.



One of my other cousins, Kelsey (Marylee's little sister), got engaged while we were down there visiting. It was really sad because no one in her family really approved of the match. When I asked some of my other cousins what they thought of him one said, "He's alright" and another flat out said that he didn't like him. Her parents have been discouraging her from marrying him and even when she first told me that she was engaged I just didn't feel very happy for her. It was sad! It was so different from Marylee's wedding. I just don't want her to do anything she will regret. She is only 19 and he is 22 (I think). I think she feels like getting married younger means that she is more attractive and more mature than the girls who get married later. I just feel bad for her.



On the other hand...my sister Debbie brought her boyfriend on our trip. She has never had a boyfriend before so we know it is pretty serious. It was the first time we had met him (yeah, the car trip made a great impression). His name is Elio Valenzuela and he is from Chile. He is really cool! I really liked him and I am crossing my fingers for a wedding this fall.



Well I hope you all had a good weekend while I was gone and that everyone has a wonderful day!

"Made my whole body a weapon"

Wow...I really stink at using computers. I have been trying to get into my blog for about a month and I just figured out why I couldn't and it is just because I had no idea what I was doing. I feel so stupid. Oh well.


School is over and I am so happy. I am excited to not have any more homework. I am going to miss my friends but I will see a lot of them doing other things this summer so it's all good.


We had our first Cross Country run today and it wasn't that bad. I was really nervous about it but we didn't run very far and they really let everyone run at their own pace. It was great! I am pretty proud of myself because I was able to run the whole time and I didn't feel like I needed to stop until I was on about the last 1/4 mile. It was just good and I am excited to keep training with the team. I am hoping it will help me get in better shape for some of the hikes my family has planned this summer.


Well, I am just really happy that I finally figured out how to get back in. I hope you all have a wonderful night!

-They asked me where Spain was too! I said, "It could be anywhere!"-

I was locked out today. If I don't drive to school then I don't take my keys and if I don't have my keys and get home early then inevitably I get locked out.

I was actually glad I was locked out today. I got to think (I thought about doing my math homework but...) I know I think all the time but it was different today. The weather was nice. I was all alone (which doesn't happen very often at my house) and I didn't have anywhere to be. It felt good.

My English class did this huge presentation today on School Reform. We were all in groups that talked about different aspects of school reform and we presented it in front of a bunch of important people (The principle, our parents, the PTA president, somebody from the school board, etc.) in the choir room.
It was really fun. We went way over our time limit but we did a better job than I thought we would. I got really nervous. I don't know why. It wasn't like I was going to say anything stupid. I had everything I needed to say written down. It is strange. I don't get nervous when I make a comment in class (and there is always a chance that whatever comes out may be regrettable) but when I have planned what to write I can't talk and my hands shake. It's kind of frustrating. I am always afraid that I am going to forget something or convey the wrong message.

My mom and my sister cleaned my room for me on Saturday while I was at work. It looks so nice now. I couldn't ask for a better family. You know you are loved when someone cleans your room.

...I can help him on Tuesdays

I just started a job at the beginning of January. I work with Kortney at Lonnie's Cleaners (It is a dry cleaners) and I have really enjoyed it. I honestly didn't think I would for several reasons. The biggest reason being that I am just really lazy. I had a job with an insurance company last summer and it stunk. I hated it and quit after 3 weeks. Even though I felt justified in quiting because it was pointless work (just busy work really-like the crosswords in Physics) and I didn't need the money-I still felt like a failure. I felt like I had failed because I wasn't able to make that job work.

I was really hesitant to get a new job because I didn't want to fail again and I didn't want to dread going to work everyday. Well I did get the job and I still work there a month later.

I actually kind of like it. I am constantly doing something and I am working other people. We all have to get it done before we can leave so we have to work together and learn to get along. I like that feeling. I also get to work with the customers and I love working with people.

Sometimes it is a little frustrating when I can't find their clothes or there is some other problem but I like figuring it out. I like searching the rack until I know that they know I have no idea what I'm doing. I like apologizing to them for someone else entering the information in the computer incorrectly, so they know I care and I like finally turning their problem over to the manager...

A couple days ago we had this guy came in (we will call him Tom for our purposes) and we couldn't find his clothes so Tom said he had an errand to run at Ream's and then he would come back.

While Tom was gone we found his clothes. Everything was good but before he came back another guy (aka Bob) came in. We got Bob's clothes, no problem. It was only about 10 minutes after he left that we realized he had not only taken his own clothes but Tom's too! We didn't know what to do.

There were really only two things to do; laugh or cry. We laughed until we realized that Tom was still going to come back for his clothes and one of us had to tell him that Bob had stolen them.

It actually went over really well. We called Bob and left a message on his machine politely informing him that he had stolen another customers clothes and we would be very grateful if he could return them. Tom came back from Ream's and was really nice about it. He realized that it wasn't our fault and that we were doing the best we could to try and get his clothes back.

It was a bit stressful but after it was all over I felt good. I had been in the middle of a crisis (having a customer's clothes stolen is a problem-it not only subjects me to the wrath of the customer but also puts the company's business in Jeopardy. If the word got out that Lonnie's customers had their clothes stolen at the store who would bring their clothes to us?) and didn't freak out. I just found the best course of action and went with it and you know what? Everything is alright now. Both Tom and Bob have the clothes that rightfully belong to them, no permanent damage was done, and I came out of it with more confidence in myself. It's a win-win situation really.



I was driving home today and talking to my 12 year old brother Richard. He is really cool but he is a punk. He was telling me about all of his and his friends girl problems and how they handled them. Apparently his school is having a Spring Dance that the 6th Graders are invited to attend and our conversation went something like this:


Richard: Oh no, the 6th graders are going and Abby will want to dance with me.

Marissa: What's wrong with that?

Richard: I just don't have time to dance with all the girls that will want to dance with me.

I have to reprimand him for being so cocky but I have to admit I was impressed. He is so confident in himself. People like him and he knows that. He feeds off that attention. I have never been like that. Even in Elementary I was kind of a recluse. My mood was very dependent on what others thought of me but if I received a compliment I would blow it off because "they didn't really mean it" "they are just saying that to be nice."

I am jealous of Richard's confidence. After talking about the Dance he proceeded to tell me about this girl that his friend liked but told me that she would never like his friend. Teasing him I said, "Oh, but she'll like you?" And he said, "Yeah I think so. Marissa, I'm attractive okay."

I love my brother. It is amazing how the world changes. It seems like my younger siblings are doing things and learning things that I didn't learn or do until I was at least 3 or 4 years older than they are. I feel like the rest of the world is racing by and I just can't keep up.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"

Merry Christmas Everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and remembered the real reason for the season.
I have had a wonderful holiday so far. All of my siblings (and I mean all of them) were home and we all celebrated Christmas together. There is nothing better than being with the people you love and knowing that there is no time limit to how long you can be together. That is how I think Heaven will be. Although we won't always be in the same place at the same time there will be nothing keeping us from visiting anyone we want for any amount of time. That would be so nice.

So I got a lot more presents than I expected and my sister gave me a new book. I got a lot of cool things but the book was what I was most excited about. There is something about knowing that at my own leisure I can explore and re-explore a new life in this story that excites me. I have never been a good writer but I really appreciate the people who are.
I also received a new high-tech blender from Jamba Juice. I did not see that coming but I am so excited. Smoothies and shakes are pretty much my favorite food. It is going to be awesome!

I watched Polar Express tonight and the Conductor said to Billy at the end, "Friendship is the greatest gift of all" (or something similar to that) and I realized that it was true. Katie and Molly came over today to give me a gift (they are so nice) and it was a great gift (another book of course) but I would have been just as happy if they had come just to visit. I value their friendship more than any gift. The same with the rest of my friends and my family. I do a lot of what I do to please people and it is not because I want them to give me anything...except kindness and love. What could really matter more?

I hope you all had as great a Christmas as I did and I love you all!

"I Guess I'll Cry Instead"

What was up with last night?
It seems like everyone I know had some sort of emotional break down. I don't know what it was but it wasn't fun for anyone.

I am thankful that God gave us the ability to cry. Crying is like throwing up: It hurts when you start but you feel better once it's over. Even if whatever makes me cry hasn't changed I feel better after crying. It relieves the stress of the situation and I feel like it's not as big a deal as I thought and even if it doesn't get better it won't be the end of the world.

I am super excited for Christmas! I have been looking forward to this Christmas for about 3 years. All of my family will be home. My siblings are finally all home from their missions, Karl won't have left yet, and my sister and her family are also coming. We are all going to sing Christmas Carols, eat good food, and be together. I love my family!

This was kind of random but I want to tell you Kortney that you can always talk to me (even if I don't have any gas money) and you have made a difference in my life. Thanks!

"I am not a hero. I am not an angel. I am just a man"

So, I officially decided that I am sick of doing poorly in history. If I had studied myself to sleep every night, read the chapter, and taken notes like I was supposed to and then gotten a bad score on the test I would be okay. That would not frustrate me because I would have performed to the best of my ability. If I don't know the answer than I don't know the answer but this...
I can't stand looking at a question and thinking, "I should know the answer to this." I may not be the smartest person but I am not stupid. I know how to study and when I am not studying enough.

I am going to start today and I am going to sudy my history atleast one hour every night like Mr. Rockwell told us to dang it! So you should all see an improvement in my scores from now on and don't let me be a slacker any more.

In fact, I am going to start right now and do my assignment because who doesn't want to read about subsistent farming? I know I do.