My Day

I wake up at 5:30 to get ready for school. Then I get on the bus at 7:05. On the bus we mess around and get in trouble a lot. When we get to school, I hang out with my friend Kayley for a while, and then go find Lexey and Abby. When the bell rings, I walk to my locker to get rid of my stuff and then go to my first class.

Sometimes, math is my least favorite subject because it can be really confusing. Plus, I don't like the videos that Mr. Weems uses. Right now, we are trying to learn how to graph quadratic equations, which I don't really understand. After math I go to language, which is my second core. Right now we are working on a project where we have to make a family tree and present it to our class. 

My first elective is digital media. Everyday we watch the student news and then write a summary of it on Edmodo. Then I usually blog, which is what I'm doing right now. Once I leave digital media, I go to art. We just finished our clay animals project. I made a turtle, a snail, and a snurtle, which is a mix between a snail and a turtle. 

Once I get out of art, I go to lunch. At lunch, I sit with Lena, Taylor, Abby, and Andrea. Then we go outside and mess around. Outside, we usually play soccer, keep away, monkey in the middle , or we just talk. On everyday except Monday, after we come inside we go to academic enrichment. Right now, we are just reading our books or drawing.

After academic enrichment, I go to social studies, which is my third core. In social studies, we just started a unit on Russia. Then I go to science. It is the last class of my day. Right now we are learning about how species can evolve to form different species.

After I get out of science, I go to my locker to get my stuff. Depending on the season, I either go to track, cross country, or just ride the bus home. When I get home, I usually take my dog for a walk or play football with my dad. When my mom gets home, I usually go for a run or ride my bike. Then we eat dinner and watch TV. 

My Dogs

My first dog was there before I was born. He was a yellow lab named Ike. I don't remember him very much, because he passed away when I was seven. However my parents tell me a lot of stories about him. One time they took him to a lake with an island in the middle. He swam out to the island, and wouldn't come back no matter how much they called him. He ended up staying out there for three hours. Another time, when my parents lived in Denver, he ran away to a soccer game. No one there spoke English, so it was really difficult for them to find him.

We bought the next dog when I was three. He was an Australian shepherd named JT. When strangers approached him, he would always bark. He usually did it because he was protecting my mom. As he got older, he started to lose his vision and would start barking at my mom when she came home. A couple weeks ago, he seemed to be getting sick. At first we thought it was just allergies, but then, a few days later, he could barely walk. We took him to another vet, and they diagnosed him with lung cancer. He passed away last Easter, 2015. 

The first dog we got that was actually my dog, was in 2012. She is an Australian cattle dog named Yuma. We got her when we lived at our old house, from IMHS. They said that she was found on the side of the road in Arizona. A guy that was on a vacation there, saw her and put her in his car. Then he brought her to IMHS on his way home. After we bought her, we took her to the vet. They said that she had a tick-borne disease called anaplasmosis. They said that it was easily treatable, but if we didn't give her medication in the next week, she would have died. Luckily, she's fine now. 

During the summer, we were volunteering for the Keenesburg marathon since it went right by our house. When some people were running by, they had two dogs with them. They said that they weren't their dogs, so we picked them up. After the marathon, we drove all around trying to find where the dogs came from. We knocked on doors and made posts online, but we couldn't find anything. My mom said that we can keep them, but only for a little while.

We named one of them Parker. She was was all white except for a few tan spots around her eyes and her face. My parents said that she looks like a mix between a Jack Russel terrier and an Australian shepherd. She was really cute. If you were laying on the couch, she would just jump up and lay on your lap, even though she wasn't that small. She also loved laying upside down. We sold her to my moms friend, Lisa. A few weeks after that, she had puppies, which was really unexpected.

We named the other one Denver.  She was a mini Australian shepherd. She was mostly black, with a little bit of white on her face. She liked to climb up the couch and lay on the back part. We used to call her Shark because she loved to play and bite. We sold her to another one of my moms friends, Heather.

Since JT died, we are going to get a new dog. We aren't sure what dog we are going to get, but in a few weeks my parents are going to look at dog. Her name is Hyacinth, which we would probably change if we bought her. We can't buy her right now because she has puppies. My parents said that if we didn't want to buy her, we could get one of her puppies, which would make me really excited.

Track

A couple weeks ago, track started. I love track because there are so many different events that you can do, like hurdles, distance, sprinting, jumping, and throwing. I like to run distance, which is the 800 and the mile, because I'm not that good at sprinting. I might do long jump if I practice some more, but I don't think I will be very good at it.

At practice we do two warm-up laps and then we do plyos. After that, we usually go up to the high school. Then, we most often work on ladders. Once we're done with ladders we can work on special events, which is like hurdles, throwing, and jumping. Then, we do two cool down laps and stretch.

Awhile ago, we had our first track meet. It was against Ft. Lupton, Valley, and Platte Valley. I decided to only run the 800 and the mile because I didn't practice long jump enough. I went out too fast on mile. By 300 meters, I felt like I was going to die. I ended up okay, but in the bottom half of the people. My time was a 7:10 which is an 8 second improvement. On the 800, I remembered to go slower in the first half of the race, but still didn't feel good. When I finished, my time was a 3:25, which disappointed me, and I was in the bottom half again, but just barely.

The week before spring break, we had another meet. It was at Highland. When we got there it was freezing and I forgot to bring sweats. My knees were really bothering me, so I decided to only run the 800. Coach told me to take it easy, so I did, but I ended up running a lot slower than I wish I did. Halfway through the race, I started watching the jumpers, and realized I was running really, really, slow. I don't know my time but I don't really want to know either.

A while ago, we had another meet at Highland. My knees were still bothering me a lot, so I decided to only run the 800 again. Coach told me that I should take it easy, as well. But I also wanted to improve since last time, so I tried to find a balance. When I was running, my legs felt fine, but I was really out of breath. On top of that, my knees still hurt. Unfortunately, I don't know my time.

Yesterday, we had another meet at Highland. This time, it was a relay meet, which means that there are no open events, only relays. I did the 3200 meter relay, which means that each person had to run an 800.  I ran the first leg because I was the second fastest. When I finished, we were in last but we would have been in third if I didn't have to run out to lane seven to hand the baton to Megan, and then run back to lane one.

My Dream House

Have you ever thought about what your dream house would look like??? Well, I have, and this is it.

Exterior: 

The exterior looks something like this. It has a large front porch, a balcony, a big lawn, a garden, and lots of trees. I like neutral exteriors, with a bright front door, like white. 

Interior:

It should be sort of southern inspired, but a little less traditional. I want dark hardwood flooring with Robin's Egg Blue walls. I want mostly white furniture with gold accents. I want a lot of global pieces in my home, like statues of elephants and owls. 

                                                                 Kitchen: 

 

In the kitchen, want really nice, stainless, appliances, like double wall ovens. I want white cabinets with black, granite counter tops, and a grey back splash. I also want a huge island. Like, really big. I also want a big stone sink.

My room:
I want my room to look some thing like this. However, unlike this picture, I want white furniture with metallic accents, like silver and gold. I would like a window seat, and a huge mirror. I also want lots of storage and a big, walk in closet.

Living Room:
I want a big fireplace, with a huge, flat screen TV on it. I also want really comfy, couches and huge armchairs.

My Horse

I bought my first horse when I was 5. His name was Caesar. The people that owned him told me that I could ride him for a day because I didn't feel like riding my moms horse. I loved him and the owners said that he was for sale. I wanted my parents to buy him really bad. Today I still have him but I can't ride him anymore because he is to old. He's like 38 or something.

When I decided to retire him, I had to find a new horse. Sprout was the first horse I bought after Caesar. The day we went to look at her to decide if we were going to buy her, she got kicked in the leg. That day she was fine, so we bought her. She was doing great for a little while, but when we took her to the vet, they said that she fractured her splint bone. We had to give her a lot of time off. When we started riding her again, she was still having issues with her leg and was bucking a lot. We had to sell her to a friend of ours in Iowa because of it. 

The next horse we got was from some of our friends in Nebraska. His name was Buck. He was an old roping horse, so he was super experienced and wasn't afraid of anything. When we took him up to our house, the first week he was there, he got sick. We had to take him to the vet. They said that there wasn't anything that they could do for him, so they had to put him down. I was really sad. 

The next horse I bought was from the same people that we got Buck from. His name was Sandman. Just like Buck, he used to be a roping horse, but Sandman was younger. When I started training him, he understood what to do immediately. I was really happy about it. He was really fast and winning a lot. A couple days after my birthday, I was running him. Since he was an old roping horse, when I stood up, he stopped. I wasn't prepared and fell off. He was 16 hands tall, so he was really big. When I fell, I landed on my head. I could barely walk. When my parents took me to the hospital, they found out that I broke my shoulder, and that I had to have surgery to fix it. I was supposed to take 3 months off. 

I started riding him before I was supposed to be on a horse again. For my third time riding him after I fell, we went to our friends arena. When I was in the middle of riding him, he started collapsing. I jumped off because I was scared. My mom told me to call the vet. They said that they would be there as soon as possible, but that he might not make it. Unfortunately, he passed away before they got there. They were able to guess that he had a heart attack, but they weren't sure.

A while later, we brought a new horse to our house. We didn't officially buy her, because she didn't pass her health test. The test said that she was a little bit away from severely injuring her legs. We were sure that the reason her legs were so exhausted was because she was overworked.

Then I got my current horse. His name is Lyle. When we first bought him, he wasn't very responsive and didn't listen that well, so we sent him to some of our friends so that they could train him. We got him back in August. I've been working with him since then. Now he's doing really good and he's winning a lot. 

Cross Country

At the beginning of this school year, cross country started. It was my first time running cross country, so I was kind of nervous. Since I ran a lot outside of school, I was already in shape. We had a really small team, it was probably the smallest in our league. We were coached by Ms. Pryor.

At the start of our practices, we ran two warm-up laps. Then we did plyos and stretched. When we were done, we would either run around the high school, the roads, the track, or we would do Indian runs. The day before a meet we would do easy practices, and two days before we would do hard practices. When we finished running, sometimes we would do a cool down, and sometimes we wouldn't. After that, we stretched again, then went home.

Our first meet, we were running really late, because they let us out late and we couldn't figure out where we were going. We had to stretch on the bus. When we got there, we had to jump off the bus and run to the starting line. As soon as we got there, the gun went off. I started out to fast, and then started lagging behind. I thought that I wasn't going to finish.

At our second meet, I was prepared. We were going to know the course, have time to stretch, and this time I knew not to go out too fast. It was freezing cold, and we all had to run in tank-tops and shorts. This time, I made sure to pace my self. After about half of a mile, I caught up with Jordan. I ran the rest of the race with her, but the end I passed her. I was really happy with my results. I ran a 15:11 for two miles and got 16th overall.

Our meet in Littleton was by far the most fun. The course crossed the river about four times, all of them you had to run through it. There were also a bunch of really steep drop-offs that you had to jump off of. The first time we had to cross a river, I fell in because a girl pushed me. The same girl also pushed me off of one of the drop-offs. I was really tired at that meet because me and Lena were running around a bunch and jumping off of stuff. I didn't have a very good time, but I had a lot of fun.

Our last meet of the year was our league meet and how we placed would determine our teams points. I was really nervous for that one because it was an important meet. I felt really good, and at the end of the first lap, I was in the top ten. On the second lap, a couple more girls passed me. At the end, there was a girl from Miliken that was right in front of me. In the end, I couldn't pass her. My time was an 18 something. For end of the year standings, I got 6th overall out of like, 70 people. Our team got 2nd overall out of 7 or 8 teams. The only team we lost to was Miliken. If had passed the girl from Miliken that was in front of me, we would have won. That is my only regret about that race.

Running

June 24, 2012. I remember that date because it means a lot to me. That was the day that I first started running. I was 9. My friend and I sprinted and walked the majority of the race. I thought that I would never finish, even though it was only three miles. Looking back now, I wish I had pushed harder, because it would have meant that much more to me.                                                                                                                       The next month I ran another race. The night before I was so excited I could barely sleep. I set a goal that I would run the first mile. I know that doesn't sound like that much but it meant a lot to me. I went out way to fast. After about a half a mile, I was dying. But I decided to keep going. When I crossed the finish line, I was so happy. After a while, I realized that I ran 5 minutes faster than my last race. I didn't win an award but that didn't really matter. What did matter was that I worked really hard and met my goal.

That winter I trained a lot, which made me improve a lot. By spring, I had gotten down to a 27 minute 5-k. May of 2013 was when I would do my first race longer than a 5-k, the Bolder Boulder. I was really nervous because I had not trained to run anything longer than 3 miles. I felt great when I first started but crashed at mile five. Crashing means when you have no energy and cannot run any further. But I finished with a time of 1 hour and 8 minutes which is okay for not having trained at all. 

During the fall of 2014 I joined cross country. Our first meet, we were really late because the people at the front office forgot to give an announcement to let us out. When we got there we had to jump off the bus and start running. We did more and more meets but none of them were as memorable until we got to the end of the year. Our last meet was my favorite. We had to run two laps around the lake. For end of the year points, I got sixth out of about 75 people, and our team got 2nd out of about 7 teams.          


That September, I ran a half marathon. It was really fun because we took a weekend trip to Buena Vista. When we went to the race, I was the only kid there, but  it was a race, there were only like 50 people there. I was really nervous but I knew that I had trained really hard. The course was really pretty because all of the trees were changing color. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. When we were done I still had a lot of energy. I ran a 2:16:53. It was 6 minutes slower than I hoped but I was happy.

The next month I ran another 5-k. There was a huge hill at the beginning that lasted about .75 of a mile. It was really draining. It was also really hot out and I thought I wasn't going to finish the race. It turns out I did finish and with a new : 24:53. I was so excited, especially because I was really out of shape and I had do deal with the huge hill at the beginning.

Now I am running track. I mainly do distance ( the 800 and the 1600), but I may try the long jump at our next meet. I wish that I was a good sprinter, because sprinting is much easier than distance to me, but I really suck at sprinting. At our most recent meet I was kind of disappointed with my times. I ran a 7:10 on the mile and a 3:25 on the 800. Hopefully I will be good enough at long jump to compete. My dad says that I should do high jump but the first time I tried it, I jumped it like it was a hurdle and got my foot caught in the rope.