My Favorite Christmas Decoration

A Christmas Tree is my favorite decoration. Because they are always so cool looking especially with all the lights and ornaments on them. We have several trees in our house and my favorite is the one in the living room because it is the biggest and the one we put the most effort into. It has colored lights, alot of ornaments, and silver tinsel. I love looking at it when the lights are off because the tinsel makes it twinkle. And it is always really cool seeing it from the outside of the house, like when we are pulling into the driveway. Christmas morning is my favorite time to see the tree because it has all our christmas presents under it.

A Christmas Gift I Really Wanted

I really haven't had too many gifts that I remember absolutely wanting for Christmas. But the only one that I can think of is wanting new television for my room. My old one wouldn't even turn on it was so broke. And now that same T.V. that I got for christmas' speakers are acting weird.

10 sentences saying no without actually saying the word

1.      I would rather not do that.

2.      Sorry, but I am busy.

3.      I will get back to you on that.

4.      I have to do homework.

5.      My Mom says that I can’t.

6.      I regretfully turn down your offer.

7.      I must refuse.

8.      I do not have the time of day to do that.

9.      I can’t.

My Thanksgiving Traditions

I like my Thanksgiving traditions because I get to see all of my family again. My tradition consists of going over to my Dad’s parents house and eating lunch on Thanksgiving Day and visiting with my 2 sets of aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and my 2 cousins. Then for supper we have our family Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom, Dad, and two little brothers. On Saturday Night we go over to my Mom’s parents house and have Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandmother, 6 aunts and uncles, 32 first cousins, 10 cousin-in-laws, and about a dozen little 2^nd cousins.

Earth at Night

All I can say is wow that was truly beautiful. We definitely have a fear of the dark because we keep everything so lit up. But it still looks so cool at night. The daytime pictures were also really cool too. I never realized how beautiful Earth looked like at night. It also shows how water covered we are, it is truly amazing and the water is so blue. I wonder what it is like at night in the Desert of the Sahara. I bet it is truly mesmerizing to see the moon and the stars when it is just pitch black all around you.

To Those Who Served and Those Who Serve

Thank you to all the Veterans who served and who are currently serving. You all are the reason why we keep the freedom and liberty that we have today. Our Veterans have made so many sacrifices so that we may sleep in our beds knowing that the same America we went to bed in is the same one we wake up to. And sadly as a student very few people that I know actually appreciate the sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made for us. I hope that when they get older they actually do realize that.

What Am I Thankful for?

I am thankful for God and everything he that has given me.
I am thankful for my Catholic Faith
I am thankful for my parents and my two little brothers.
I am thankful for all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I am thankful for all of my friends and acquaintences, especially my best friend Darin.
I am thankful for all of the clubs and organizations that I am involved in because I have met so many amazing people through these activities.
I am thankful for the freedom and liberty that we as Americans have because our Veterans and Military have sacrificed so much for us to have it.
And last but not least I am thankful for all of the amazing teachers I have had over the course of my Educational Career because they have also sacrificed so much to provide their students with a quality education.

Happiness is Key

Being happy helps you have an optimistic outlook on things. During any situation happiness can carry you out of it, and in bad situations it can also keep you out of trouble. Happiness can also improve your life, people who are happy about themselves or just generally happy have a better quality of life. And when you get older and you retire there are alot of depressing things that could happen when you get older, but if you have an optimistic outlook on things you could live longer and be a good role model.

Comments about the Election

I think that the election turned out realy well because the Republicans kicked out many of the big-government Democrats. I am a conservative, I love this country very much and I cherish the values and principles that the founders of this great nation had. This country is not what it should look like at all, many of the policies over the past 100 years have been very unconstitutional and yet people do not care about his one bit, until last year when the Tea Party Movement developed, they cherish the original values and the Constitution as much if not more than I do. And this whole movement has woken most of the American people up, and they have realized that our government is way too big and that Congress is quickly becoming irrelevant after all they only have an 11% approval rating. President Obama is also in the process of "Changing America" which we never fully realized at the 2008 Election what his definition of "Change" meant, which is pretty much completely transforming America into a Socialist State and Health Care Reform was the first stepping stone to that goal and then the Financial Reform was the second step. And not only that, but many of his closest Advisors want in essence to de-develop this country to Third world status so that we can share the wealth with the rest of the world. And the Obama Administration also thinks that we can spend our way out of this crisis, in the History of mankind that has never worked, Woodrow Wilson did it and we ended up plunging into the "Forgotten Depression of 1920" but what was differant was after he left office the next president cut taxes and the budget by 50% and the Roaring 20's resulted from that. This is not the country that I want for my children and grand-children, I have researched much of the stuff going on lately and in conjunction with watching "Glenn Beck" I have come to realize that we as a country and economy are matching up with the German Weimar Republic which failed horrifically and led to Adolf Hitler. And the worst is yet to come, I think that we are on our way to inflation and China refusing to buy any more bonds from the US Treasury which within 20 days would spell the end of the American economy. This election is more than just switching the House from D to R it is a turning point for our country and if the new Republicans stick to the what the American people and God than this country is on the road to recovery, but if the Republicans are co-opted by the big government progressives than our country is on its way to collapse.

What was the best Halloween I have ever had?

My favorite Halloween would probably be October 2007. It was my favorite because it was our last Halloween party when Grandaddy was still alive, we knew that he probably wouldn't live until the next one so we decided to make this one the best we could. It was the first one that I went to without wearing a Halloween costume, which I was not happy about because some of my older cousins were wearing awesome costumes such as Sherlock Holmes. I also have several little second cousins running around in all of their super cute costumes, and I even started pulling them around the old house in a little red wagon which was very fun. And while I was pulling them around I remember seeing Grandaddy sitting in his wheelchair talking to one of my uncles. Then after that we ate, then about an hour and a half later we got our candy, I got 9 bags of candy which was the equivalent of about 5-6 sack lunch bags. Then 15 minutes later we did the hay ride; which we did alomost every year, during the hayride we used my cousin Simon's (the one who dressed like Sherlock Holmes) monocle frame to start a small fire with some straw which was funny. We drove around for about 30 minutes or so then we came back, played around alittle and then went home.

Ghosts of West Louisville

I remember when I went to West Louisville Elementary School and being paralyzed with fear from all of the ghost stories that had to do with this school. One in particular that I remember is that decades before I was born a car crashed into what used to be the old girls bathroom in the basement of the school and blood from the man who was driving the girl went everywhere, and in the years since that happened many girls had seen blood on the walls. Another story is about the Candyman ghost who haunted the school which was the one that scared alot of us because we always walked in pairs and I remember on one occasion every friday we  were allowed to go get a coke, well the coke machines were all in the basement next to the freezers for the cafeteria, me and a few other students went down there and I clearly recall Madison Lee saying, "I wish we had some strong guys down here to protect us" which was a slam for me, for I was the only guy down there.
And that wasn't the only part of this experience the very next day we began finding candy on the floors of the bathroom which freaked some of us out, but we later found out that it was Corbin and some of his friends who were playing this prank on us.

What I like about Autumn

The first thing I like about Autumn is all of the pretty colors of the trees during this time of year, because they really do make an impact on my day when I see them.

The Second thing I like about Autumn is bringing in the Harvest for the year, you get to see all of your hard work pay off; whether the crops turn out good or bad, and it also means that I am almost done working on the farm.

The Third thing I like about Autumn is Halloween, my mom's side of the family got together every year at my Grandparents Old House and we would all eat and we would get lots of candy - you see my grandparents had 10 children and each family gives each of the grandchildren a bag of candy and that adds up to alot. We would also go on a Hayride through all of the trails my Granddad made in in the woods behind Panther Creek and it was a blast. And also we would all dress up in our Halloween outfits even some of the adults got into it, and I have a dozen little second cousins now and they would dress up in some of the cuttest outfits you had ever seen.

The Fourth thing I likt about Autumn is Thanksgiving, we would get together on both sides of the family and have a big Thanksgiving dinner. I love family gatherings at Thanksgiving because we all can be thankful together for what all God has given us. And also Thanksgiving of '07 was the last holiday we celebrated with my Granddad and we went ahead and celebrated Christmas because my Aunts and Uncle (his children) had the feeling that he would not live until then; which we were right he died on December 14, just a little over 2 weeks later.

And the last thing I like about Autumn is that I know Christmas is getting closer along with all its joys and family get togethers.

Scary Movies

What movie has scared you? The movie that scared me the most when I was little was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Now I am not very into scary movies at all and the scariest movie I have seen was either Disturbia or when I was about 12 The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It
Why? I liked the movies but I was absolutely terrified of the snake in that movie. Anytime we watched that movie I would always walk out of the room during the part and then come back.
For me I jump very easily in all movies and Disturbia had alot of parts that were like that, so Disturbia didn't scare me content wise it just made me jump alot, and not to mention it was very suspensful.
For the Haunting Hour it was just very creepy and I watched it at night alone in the back of my house and it gave me nightmares for a few days.

What makes a movie scary to you? When I was little it was really anything, except unlike most kids I wasn't afraid of what was under my bed for a very smart reason; it was because my mattress sat on top of a set of drawers so naturally nothing could fit under my bed.
Now just anything that makes me jump or want to close my eyes scares me, but for me the reason i don't watch horror movies is two reasons; one i totally freak out or two i like the movie. I don't want to take the chance of freaking out in the movie theater.

Life without my nightlight

Life without my night light would be a terrible fright
Life with my night light helped me combat darkness with light
Life without my night light would be a terrible fright
Life with my night light lit the way in case I had to tinkle right away
Life without my night light would be a terrible fright
Life with my night light kept the monsters away
Life without my night light would be a terrible fright
Life with my night light helped me fight the monsters of the night with all my might
Life without my night light would be a terrible fright
Life with my night light brightened my night
For this is the reason that life without my night light would be a terrible fright

What is Autumn to you?

Autumn is when I have to start wearing pants because it is getting colder.
Autumn is when I get to see all of the beautifully colored leaves on trees.
Autumn is also when I have to rake all those pesky leaves up.
Autumn is when all of my favorite T.V shows start their new seasons.
Autumn is when Halloween is and when all of our family get togethers start up again.
Autumn is also depressing because I know that a cold winter is on its way, especially this year.
Autumn is the last time I get to play outside in comfortable clothes.
Autumn is not my favorite season of the year.

Why do we like humor? What is fun in laughing?

People like humor because it makes them laugh and it brightens people's day. Laughing is fun because it just makes you feel a whole lot better about something. Say that you screwed something up or embarrassed yourself, in most cases laughing it off makes the situation a whole lot better. I know that it has worked for me.

"The road doesn't tell the traveler what lies ahead"

This quote definetly describes life. Life is full of surprizes, you never know what will happen tomorrow. You can always plan ahead or set some goals. But, you need to allow some flexibility in your plans in case you have an obstacle in the road ahead, such as an injury. And also their are good spots in life such as winning the lottery. A person should plan ahead, but that person should also focus on the present so they do not become lost.

What are ways you can show that you believe in tomorrow?

One way that you can show that you believe in tomorrow is by writing in a journal. Journaling is a way to chronicle your life and it can also have all of your dreams and aspirations.
Another way to show this is by writing your goals down on paper. By writing short term and long term goals you can develop a path to follow, and to base your life around.
Planting anything shows that you believe in the future, because you have an idea of what you want your plant to look like.
Marrying someone shows that you look to the future because in most marriages you want to be together a long time, and that you want to have children. Also this shows that you believe in your children's future.

My Upcoming Very Busy Weekend

This weekend is going to be another hectic weekend. It will start with going to Sadie Hawkins for three hours going home and attempting to sleep until ten or eleven o' clock Saturday morning. Then at 12:30 I am going to KWC to see my friend from Ohio County High School, who is in their band, perform. Then at 10:00 Saturday night I am going over to my church to set up for the lock in that we are having starting at midnight and ending at 9:00 Sunday morning. The lock in is going to be totally epic because we are going to have almost 80 people there and it will be an amazingly spiritual experience. And plus me and Briget Payne are the planners of this lock in, so it will be even more fun to be leading the event. But I will be dead during this weekend. I will probably take a nice long nap on Sunday, and then I will work on any homework that I have. Then I will hopefully be lucky enough to go to bed at eight or nine o' clock.

"A Family that laughs together stays together."

I love laughter so very much. When I went to Christian Leadership Institute over the summer thats just about all we did in our free time. Their were 20 of us and we were each divided into 4 groups of 5 and we were also assigned 2 group leaders. We had the best time EVER, in my entire life I have never laughed that hard. One of the first things was that I had missplaced my Bible and I had a conversation with myself about where I could have put it, this was an out loud conversation, and Kelsey (one of the members of our small group) started laughing and then Lear started laughing, and then we all starting laughing. Another instance was we planned alot of the activities we did that week, and there is a box with all kinds of supplies, we were looking through it and we found a sign the said, "Happy Birthday Lee Ann" on it, and I don't remember why but we laughed so much about it, then we found another one with, "Blow out your candles Katie" and that was the icing an the cake. We also played a number game when you count to 100 and you substitute animals names or sounds for selected numbers, which for us was two, five, and seven; well one of the animal sounds we did was bug and then you stick your tongue out, we said that throughout the entire weekend and it sort of became our battle cry. And the funny thing is that we still say bug anytime we see each other, and I even say it when I am alone and it always gets a kick out of me. One thing that I learned through all the laughing was that I can actually be really funny, whcih boosted my self-confidence alot. I think laughter is definetly the best medicine for almost everything.

My Busy Busy Weekend

The first thing that I did was I went to the March for Life at 10:00 in the morning, which was awesome because we walked down Frederica Street all the way down to Weslyan Park Plaza. At noon I went over to my church and helped clean up from the rummage sale they had just had which would take an hour and a half. At 3:00 I went back to church so me and Briget could go over our speeches, which we would say at the 5:00 mass. On Sunday I would go to Both the 8:00 and 10:30 masses and say my speech. Then at 6:30 that night I went to youth group. I had a very full weekend, but I took a big step because I got in front of people at church and spoke, and I kind of liked it.

Proverb #8

What does home mean to you? Are you ready to leave home and be on your own? Why or Why not? What makes your home unique or special to you?
Home means somewhere that you can go where you have a loving family waiting for you. Yes and No, yes I am kind of ready to leave home because I am getting more independant and no because i am so attached to my family. I have lived in my house for my entire life so it is special for that reason.

Proverb #7

When someone always finds the bad or wrong in others it means they are judgemental and that they are negative people

What do you see in a leader?

Qualities of a good leader for me are: a leader needs to be honest, they need to be a good listener, a good participant in a group, a good public speaker who speaks from the heart, is clear about why they made a certain decision, and being able to compromise. 

"Friendship Doubles Joy And Halves Grief"

This proverb is very true in my life. I have a strong friendship  with one of the guys I met at CLI. My friendship with him has definetly doubled my joy in the sense that I have never had a friend like him before. Also, being friends with him has cut my grief in half, in the sense that I have been a person with dangerously low self-confidence as well as a low self-esteem and he has made me feel a whole lot better about myself. I could also see us being friends for the rest of our lives because the bond between us is so strong not to mention that we talk for at least an hour everyday.

What Relative Am I Most Like

I am the spitting image of my dad. I am the most like my late Grandfather, in which we have a great love for stories, for history and especially our family history, a greta attachment to our family, and a passion for our family's Catholic faith. Most of my physical features are from my paternal side of the family, but I get my eyes from my maternal grandfather.

What does family mean to me

Family means people who you are surrounded by that will love you no matter what happens.

Jacob's Summer

I went to my cousin Haley Riney's wedding the first week, the second week I went to FFA State Convention, the first week of July I went to CLI, third week i went to another cousin Leah Thompson's wedding, the last week of July i went on vacation to Panama City, and on the first Tuesday of August we had our church picnic.