I AM THE MAN!!!

Hello Again!

2011-08-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I have posted on my blog! I have been wanting to for a while now, but I am totally lazy. My summer has been filled with a lot of wonderful things. I have been playing a lot of volleyball over the summer at the recreational center and as well with my school team. I also have been umpiring baseball a lot for the All-Star Tournament for all ages which went really well. This will be my job starting in September. I get paid $45 a game :)).

A few weeks ago the Aaronic Priesthood members in my ward drove up to Durango, Colorado for one week. It was a blast! We did a lot of fishing and hiking. My quorum split off from the deacons and teachers and went on an overnight hike to some really nice fishing spots. We hiked around 20 miles. the fishing was really good. I fly fished for the first time. There was also this crazy beaver in the river that kep scaring me half to death as he would body slam into the water and steal my fish! I also fell in love with the shotgun. We shot lots of clay pigeons and I loved that!

My last year in high school is starting up pretty quick here! I am a Senior! I have dreamed for this year since like 6th grade. (Ive never been a big fan of school) I am very excited for what this year has in store for me. I am taking seminary, and advanced Anatomy class, orchestra, AP Statistics, English 101, and Economics with Government online. It is going to be one crazy semester full of homework but im excited!

On a more spiritual side, the Lord has definitely be shaping me over this summer. I think I have grown more spiritual over this summer then I ever have. Throughout all the trials that I have gone through earlier in my life, they all have seemed to come into a new perspective and I have realized why I have gone through the ones I have. I am better understanding my Heavenly Father and His spirit and as well as the Savior. Next year in June I will be able to send in my mission papers (341 days left) and get going on my mission for 2 years! I will also be ordained an Elder and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood almost right after school ends. Holy Cow! I am very excited for these next few years of my life.

Since I was in junior high I always wanted to become a doctor just like my Grandpa Hooper! Then after some thinking and talking with my mom and doing some research, I don't know if being a doctor is something I really want to do. Something that has really struck me is Genetics and Biotechnology. I just imagine myself creating new vaccines and using Gene therapy to cure diseases (but not making Apes take over the world like that new movie haha). But who knows that could all change! I will be turning in my admissions to BYU in December so hopefully they will accept me! Life is really going to change very soon. I like to see it as, my life will finally "begin" :)).

But that's my life right now and I'm loving it.

Strings Attached Quartet

2011-01-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

www.stringsattachedquartet.com

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Surgery

2010-04-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

So I went to the doctor thursday and he told me my ACL is torn was pretty bad and I need surgery. I will be getting the surgery this wednesday morning. I didnt think the surgery was going to be that bad but the past few days have been really depressing for me. I just cant do all the things that I used to be able to do. I wont be able to do anything physical for about 6 months. Ill be going to through rehab every week. I cant do any of the activities on my super activity this summer, I wont be able to waterski or anything that puts strain on my knee. It is going to be a very long and painful 6 months but atleast going to rehab and the gym everyday Ill be buff lol!

It also has been hard on me spiritually. I have been so focused on this surgery and just havent had my thoughts focused on my saviour like I normally do. The adversary knows that I am week right now and he is doing all that he can to make me feel awful.

It is definitely going to be a tough 6 months but I will get through it!

Its been 6 months!

2010-04-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy i have completely forgotten about my blog! So many things have been going on in my life during the past 6 months so I will just skip to the important parts.

I am driving Opa's 1971 Chevelle still. I absolutely love this car! It has quite a few problems but it gets me from place to place.

I didnt make the Red Mtn Baseball team. In was way I was really glad I didnt make the team. The boys are just very crude and its hard being a Latter Day Saint and keeping your standards up around them. Instead I tried out for the Volleyball team and I made that! Volleyball is officially my favorite sport! It is so much fun! You are always constantly moving and into the game!

During my freshman year at Shepherd, I gave a girl named Kaylee Tyner a Book of Mormon. Since then, the missionaries and I have gone over to her house to teach. We have only gone twice but we are trying our hardest to bring the gospel to her. I have invited her to church and quite a few other activities but she always seems to be busy lol. This up coming sunday I have invited her to come to church and play her violin with me. She accepted that! So we will be playing together in church next sunday. I really hope that goes alright and that she feels the spirit.

During spring break my orchestra and I went on tour to NYC!! WE played in Carnegie Hall and St. Paul's Cathedral. I will never forget that experience! it was absolutely amazing and I would love to go there again.

Last Wednesday, playing in my volleyball game, I tore my ACL. I was hopping backwards to go for a spike (the ball was set a bit behind me) and as I hit it, my knee popped and gave out and I couldnt bend my knee for some time. It hurt like crazy! I am not yet sure how bad it is. I will be going to the doctor this thursday and we will see whats up. If it is bad enough, I will most likely get surgery because otherwise I have to give up sports and I am sooooo not doing that!

AIMS Tests are tomorrow! :((

I Got my License!

2009-10-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon my mom took me to the DMV. I swear we were in there for hours.... after the paper work was all filled out I waited some more and took the my dads truck in the 3 point turn area. I wait some more and the instructor tests my lights then tells me to go into the coned spot and do a 3pt turn. If you hit a single cone you fail automatically. That really got my heart racing. I pull up and started backing up but then I realized I was going to hit a cone. SO i pulled up farther then backed up and completed the turn. The instructor said to pull to the side and wait so I did and watched the other kids trying to get their license do the 3 point turn. 2 out of the 5 failed.

The instructor got in my car and we drove around the block. It was quite easy but I was shaking really bad! The instructor said I need to watch my speed but other wise I did fine.

Having a license is suhweet! I drove around like all day yesterday lol.

Shooting Range!!

2009-10-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we all went to the shooting range. I have never had so much fun shooting guns ever! It was a lot better than shooting all the .22's all the time. I shot the AR-15, AK-47, 30.06, .22 pistol, and the 9mm's. My favorite had to be the AR-15 along with the 9mm. AR-15 has pretty good kick but it doesnt like throw you back like Eric's 30.06. The 30.06 was really kool too though. I have to say I was freaked out to shoot it cuz it has a lot of kick. I shot it and man that was awesome! I shot it about 7 more times. The pistols were really kool. I have always wanted to shoot a 9mm. I am also surprised how much my mom shot. She is pretty tough! My dad...., he dont care. He just picks up the gun no matter how big, pop...pop...pop. Grandma Hooper even shot the AR-15 with the .22 bullets instead of the bigger ones with lots of kick. It was fun watching her just unload that clip haha!

Overall I think everyone had fun. I so want to do this again!

Me on the AR-15
Kirk making sure I properly loaded his gun
The little cousins all hanging out on the back of the truck

Grandma chilling out in the truck watching everyone shoot

Getting ready to shoot the AR-15

Dad on the AK-47

Mom on the AR-15 (look closely and you can see her bullet hit the dirt behind the target

AK-47 again

Mom also on the AK-47

Dad on the AR-15 (his bullet also just hit the dirt)

Me on the AK-47

Connor didnt like how much kick the AR-15 had lol

Connor like the .22 rifle

Me and my brother shooting

Helping Jenna shoot the .22

30.06!

My dad with his 9mm

Me shooting the .22 Pistol

Connor on the .22 pistol

mom on the 9mm (she looked deadly lol)

Past weeks...

2009-10-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks i have been really busy reading The Scarlet Letter and writing essays and character analysis' for my AA English class. Geometry is pointless. I will most likely never use this stuff in life...i mean, when am I ever gonna need to do proofs and write all the steps i did to find the proof...so stupid. Seminary is really cool. There are a lot of really good and smart kids in my class so I learn alot. We are studying the Book of Mormon this year and so far I am loving it. Its the time to just relax listen to the spirit and get away from the vain things at school. Orchestra is like the best class besides seminary. My orchestra director is awesome! He so funny and loves doing what he is doing. Yesterday after school, he helped me with my bowing technique because I told him I am having issues with it. I am already playing a lot smoother. Now I just need to practice and et used to the improved bowing grip.

Biology is pretty kool. This class is really easy for me. I have a 96% in this class and have gotten 100%'s on basically every quiz and test. I guess this means i am meant to be a doctor lol!

Drivers Ed is pointless. I am really not learning anything. Its a great class for those people who are trying to get their permit. I am learning everything I need to learn from my dad on the road.

Sign language is really cool. I love that I am learning a language and playing at the same time. Its fun to be swinging your hands all over the place and are actually signing words.

I am also doing baseball after school Monday and Wednesday. I am getting a lot better and hopefully Ill make the JV team.

Its my BIRTHDAY TOMMOROW!!!!!! I am so excited to turn 16 and being able to drive and date too. I feel like life is going by so fast. Each year is faster and faster. (a great bday present would be some money to fix up the chevelle haha!!!) By the way I am updating the chevelle blog also.

"Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today. Of the here and now providing pleasant memories for the future."
-President Thomas S. Monson

Chevelle Blog

2009-09-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

www.hoopers71chevelle.blogspot.com

This is the blog for the car I will drive when I am 16. It will give you all the updates of me and my dad's progress on getting the car ready for emissions.

Check it out!

My Talk

2009-08-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

So yesterday i gave a talk on Gratitude. I think i did a pretty good job. I had a lot of nice job's afterwards too.

Here is my talk for anyone who wishes to read it..

My talk this afternoon is on the topic Gratitude. The Strength of Youth pamphlet says The Lord wants us to have a spirit of gratitude in all we do and say. If we live with a spirit of gratitude we will have greater happiness in life, even in the most difficult times. Also in our prayers, before we ask for blessings, pour out your heart to God in thanks for all the blessings you have already received. Thank him for your family, for friends and loved ones, for leaders and teachers, for the gospel, and for his Son Jesus Christ.

When I read this early last week, I felt like I needed to thank my Heavenly Father more than I regularly do. The next time I prayed I thanked the Lord for about every blessing I could think of. I noticed that the Spirit was with me more strongly than normal. My day went smoothly and I felt the Spirit quite often and I was happy. At the end of that day I reflected on how I thanked the Lord for everything I had and how my day had turned out. I thought of how I feel when I do something nice for someone else and they greatly appreciate it and tell me thank you and how that it makes me feel good and want to serve that person again. Then I thought how the Lord might feel when his children thank him for all he does. I think it makes the Lord happy to see that his children care for what he does and makes the Lord want to bless them even more.

In the November 2008 Ensign, President Monson said, “Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.” This quote from our prophet has helped me so much. Whenever I am feeling alone or depressed I read this and it always gives me the strength to stop thinking of all the bad things that have happened in my life, and instead, as President Monson said, provide pleasant memories for the future.

A way we can create these happy memories is by showing thanks to our friends and family for all they do for us and as well, thanking our Heavenly Father for the things he does.

I know that Gratitude is something we all should have. When we try to see the blessings in our lives instead of the bad things, it helps us become more cheerful and more grateful for the blessings we have already received. All of us are going to have trials in life and have those rough days. When these come into our lives, we should try to find something to be grateful for. For example, I am grateful for the friends that I have, and for my cute little kitty, and for my wonderful parents and grand-parents, and for my education, my home and even my brothers and sisters. Having this grateful attitude will push us through the troubles we have and help us overcome them easier.

AMEN

What's been going on...

2009-08-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

So lately I have obviously going to school and such. I have finished up my Eagle Project for Andrea's Closet 2 weeks ago. Me, my dad, and some friends from the ward went to the Andrea's Closet warehouse to inventory/stock the toys. There were lots of toys in this place. They were arranged by dollar amount. The bottom shelves were $3 and under, 2nd lowest shelf $5 under, the middle shelf $10, 2nd highest shelf $20 and under, and the highest shelf was above $20 (it was something close to this). There are different shelves for boy toys and girl toys. We took all my toys i collected and seperated them by its $ amount. Then we colored stickers on them (each sticker color meant a certain $ amount). then stocked them on the shelves. It was a lot of fun and Kenny Brunk (the president of Andrea's Closet) was really funny too. We collected approximately $3373 ($423 per hour), 566 toys, all in 8 hours at the Southern Walmart in the Superstition Springs Mall area. The project was definitely a success. All i have to do now is fill out the rest of the paperwork and then the court of honor to be an official Eagle Scout. i will also update info on the celebration of my cart going to St. Joe's hospital.

I have also become obsessed with the '71 Chevelle too. I will be driving this car when I am 16 (6 weeks exactly to this day). I love this car! Me and my dad are working on this and soon will have it looking good and running well enough to drive. I am so greatful for awesome parents to help me with the money to get this car fixed and to help me pay for my insurance as well!! Love you guys!

I am starting a blog for my dad and I's progress on the chevelle too. When I have it set up I will put up a link on facebook and on my blog.

:/

2009-08-14T06:31:00.001-07:00

I have been totally forgetting about my blog ltely. I have been so busy getting ready for school and i promise i will post after school :)).

Catch up

2009-07-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

So lately i have been working on my eagle project and just been hanging out with friends. I have a nice sized toy collection going and I am going to give my letter of approval to the Walmart on Southern and will hopefully get accepted and a date chosen.

Baptisms for the dead are next tuesday and i will hopefully be doing names for my ancestors the Koenigsbergers. I have always wanted to do names for my ancestors. I am so excited to help them. On wednesday I will go with Grandma Hooper to help her with all that.

Well thats pretty much it soooo....yea ill let u know when something exciting happens. :))

Youth Conference, EAGLE PROJECT

2009-07-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to youth conference. It was alright, i think it could've been better. The best part was when they set up a trail through the forest with different spots for things like the great and spacious building and the mist of darkness form Lehis Dream of the Tree of Life. It was amazing. I have always wondered what it would feel like being one of those people in that dream. We were holding on to literal rods of iron with one of our leaders dressed in a white cloak symbolizing the Holy Ghost. I felt so safe on the rod and that i knew nothing bad was going to happen to me. The tree of life was pretty cool too. It was lit up with Christmas lights and hymns were being played.

After the tree of life we started heading back to camp. We didnt have our rods anymore and the leaders didnt have there lights on anymore. I noticed that I was tripping over lots of rocks and branches. I looked back and remembered that I was tripping over small things while holding on the rod but I still felt very safe. When i didnt have the rod I felt like i would just keep tripping and tripping and soon might actually fall over. These bumps on the road to me were like temptations and sins. I reflected on this the following day and just felt how hard it must be for those who dont have the gospel in their lives and dont know about or how to use the atonement and how we can repent for our sins. It must be very hard for them to not have the spirit guide them and to feel its comfort.

I am holding a Toy Drive for my Eagle Project benefitting Andrea's Closet. Andrea's Closet is a non-profit organization that stocks toys in most Hospitals throughout Arizona allowing children to having something to look forward to before a painful/scary medical procedure by choosing a toy out of a big closet full of new toys. If you would like to visit their site it is andreascloset.org. My little brother went to Andrea's Closet after some procedures they did when he had pneumonia. He picked out a cool little tractor and that made him so happy! So all I am asking for is a simple toy donation. They can be any kind of toy as long as they are new from the store. There will be a large box outside my house on my porch. My address is 6626 E. Preston st. if you have any questions feel free to call me at 480-635-6277 or email me at jonathan_hooper@cox.net. Thanks!!

The Kitty

2009-06-30T10:37:00.001-07:00

Our cat Stormy had babies like 2 weeks ago and this is the only one that survived Alex. She is so cute! I love her so much lol! Her name is just plain old kitty cuz thats what everyone calls. WE had a little fight last night about the name if it should be named Honey or just kitty. Kitty won but the girls of course freaked out so we said we would call her Kitty Honey Hooper lol! Well yesterday I saw that she was trying so hard to walk so I have pictures of her walking!

Papago Park

2009-06-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Me an my friend landon went to Papago Park to go fishing. We left my house at 4:30am and got to the lake at 5. Since the gates were closed we had to walk a mile with all of our gear down to the lake. When we finally get we set up our gear and start fishing. I starte walking around the lake to look for spots fish would want to be hiding. I stopped at a part that was completely covered with moss. I knew fish would be down there. The moss started clearing up since new water was being put in the lake pushing the moss father out. As the moss cleared I saw this huge Carp! It was white and orange. Biggest Carp I have ever seen. Too bad I didnt catch it. After 4 hours of not catching anything e moved down to the middle lake.

Landon I were just looking around for Bluegill and other sunfish since they are right on the shoreline. Landon puts his line in the water and within 5 seconds he pops out a bluegill. He threw his line in a again and within 5 seconds popped out another bluegill. I was like man what are u useing for bait!? He was just using a small bit of live worms. We both started throwing in the worms far being the fish and reeling it in and a fish would bite it just about everytime. It was o awesome! WE caught about 20 fish in like 2 hours! (the fish started getting a little smarter as we went)

Here are some picture of like half of the fish we caught.

The biggest bluegill ive ever seen/caught

This is the spot we fished at. Where ever we threw our line we were bound to catch a fish.

Transformers 2

2009-06-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

I went and saw the midnight showing of Transformers 2 and it was a pretty good movie. There were a lot of things that didnt need to be in the movie but it was pretty good and action packed.
I am pretty sure that there is going to be a transformers 3 bcuz of the ending.

Now I am really tired lol.

Tempe Town Lake

2009-06-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I went to Tempe Town Lake at 4AM with my friend Landon. I was using my brand new nice fishing pole (my other one broke) and I was very excited to use this big pole. So we get the lake around 5am an start fishing under the bridges. There were lots of fish jumping around and the weather outside was nice and cool (until the same popped up over the 202). We didnt catch any fish. I tried every bait I had in my tack box from plastic worms too doughballs. After 5 and a half hours we left kind of bummed cuz of not catching anything and went to the beach park with my family. It was still a lot of fun but wouldve been better if we caught something.

But wait! I did catch something! We went to the dam and fished there and I was reeling my line in very slowly and all of sudden my fishing pole just sunk into the water. I thought I had a big fish. I set the hook and start reeling it in as fast as I could. It started coming to the surface and it looked round and definitely not like a fish. I pulled it up guess what it was....a ROCK! I was really bummed lol.

Roosevelt Lake Trip June 4,5,6

2009-06-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

For my teachers quorum super activity we went to Roosevelt Lake for 3 days and 2 nights. We had lots of fun canoeing, fishing, water skiing, tubing, knee boarding, etc. It was by far the most fun super activity I have ever been on! Skiing with Kirk was such an awesome experience doing all the cool tricks and stuff. It was also way fun to water ski with my friend landon and my dad. If only my dads feet weren't hurting him in those darn skiis.

I slept in the canoe trailer because I was too afraid to sleep on the ground after the saying from kirk. Kirk said that the bugs just crawl all over you anyway when you are asleep and you dont even know it. Me and bunch of other kids were just like..... um im not sleeping on the ground anymore lol.

Fishing was fun but unsuccessful. I could've caught a big Carp or some Catfish if some of the boys didnt start making all this noise and scare the fish away. It was just me and my dad sitting in this little fishing hole by our camp surrounded by tall trees that were submersed under the water watching all these blue gill have a feeding frenzy and out of no where, 2 large catfish and 1 big carp come swimming by staring at my raw bacon. Then all of sudden Ahhhhh hey jon! What you doing! I look at the boys and out my finger to my mouth saying shhhhh. I look back and fish darted away. Man was I mad!

Well for some stupid reason I cant get the pictures downlaoded so if you are my friend on facebook feel free to look at them there.

Good News! and the game with RMHS

2009-05-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

I made the Chamber Orchestra at Red Mountain! It is the highest orchestra at the high school! I am so excited to play with a really talented and big group. The best part about this is that we will be able to go to California and since we are there we are stopping at Disneyland! I am so happy I made it.

Yesterday was my first baseball game with Red Mountain High School's summer baseball league. I did really well. I was warming up doing stretches and stuff and the coach was like where's Hooper. He found e and said hey you are starting us off pitching. I was like....what!? I was happy, excited, nervous, scared all at the same time lol. I went and warmed up with the catcher and I threw ok. I started off the game throwing nothing but strikes. It was probably my best pitching I have ever done. 1st batter got out on a pop fly the second batter got out from a grounder to shortstop and the last out was a strike-out. Everyone was proud of me. I had strong at bats but got walked both times all on full counts cuz I was always swinging cuz i wanted to get on base and the coach liked that cuz he told everyone that that was a good at bat. I then sat for 2 innings after pitching my second inning. Then played some first base. Oh btw we lost that game but it dont matter.

Thats all for now!

Lake Trip!

2009-05-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

So we went to Canyon Lake cause the Salt River was closed probably cuz it was to crowded. It was a lot of fun just being with my family and nobody else. It was nice to get break from all the other kids my mom babysits and just be together. The water felt great and the pay beach wasnt too crowded and it was also very nice with grass and lots of trees for shade :). I also caught my first fish and as I got it into the ice chest I started feeling really bad and was like man this fish is going to miss its family. Then my mom jut starts cracking up. I was like mom....what u laughing at and she was like fish dont have families. Then I started think how fish reproduce and they just lay eggs and stuff and leave them then those fish just go eat sleep lay eggs then die. Now I dont feel so guilty anymore and am excited to catch some mroe fish this afternoon at Red Mountain park with my friend landon. I will bring the camera and take pictures of me fishing and stuff.

just a 6" bluegill

Fishing

2009-05-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

On saturday I was talking to grandpa about how Im going to Roosevelt lake for my teachers quorum super activity and I needed a fishing pole and he offered to get me one and a few things that I needed as well. He ended buying a bunch of stuff and wanted to make sure I could do just about everything like he got me all the different hooks for one fish and stuff like that lol. I do appreciate it alot and am so excited to go fishing now! Thanks Grandpa Hooper!

hooks

Last Week of School

2009-05-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well the last week of school is always the worst cause you are so excited to finally get out of school and the days just go by so slow. It has been the most boring week. Monday and Tuesday we didnt do anything but study for finals in class and sat for an hour in the gym doing nothing for PE >:/. I did great on all of my finals i dont know about my science final but i think i might have bombed it. So today is finally the last day of school and im not bringing anything to school except a pencil and a marker to sign year books.

I also had a practice for Red Mtn high schools summer baseball league. My team is alright. The outfield needs some people who have stronger arms and thats mainly why im going to go in the outfield plus im pretty fast and can judge the ball in the air pretty well. I am really excited for our first game next wednesday.

I am going to go see Angels and Demons today at 7 and I will let you know how it is.

Catch up

2009-05-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well nothing exciting has happened yet this week. It has just been a normal week of school but with lots of studying for finals. Today should be alot of fun cuz the 9th graders won the spirit contest so we get a pool party in the Shepherd pool during 4th, 5th, and 6th hour and then 3rd hour we are listening to an Olympic athlete who sucked and got 17th placed lol but she is one of our teachers daughter.

After the pool party I will get home and get ready for father and sons.

Should be a really fun weekend.

Oh yea I guess I will post about my missionary experience yesterday.

So this tough looking kid is crying about his girlfriend who broke up with him and saying he wants revenge and to make her feelings hurt badly. I said to him, "do you really want to hurt her? It isnt going to make you feel any better. Should I get a couple scriptures to help u out with this since I have them in my bag" Now I was totally joking and I happened to bring my scriputers to school oday and he said um yea id like to here some. And I was uuhhh ok. So I pulled out my scripture mastery card and looked up some scriptures about loving one another. He started feeling bad lol and then he said I dont think i am going to do anything to her anymore. He then started talking about how he wanted a sign from God telling him to either play football or not to play football. I told him thats not really how God works. So then I pulled some scriptures about how God reveals these things (by the Holy Ghost) and then I showed him James 1:5-6 if ye lack wisdom let him ask of God. He read that and was like ok yea i understand that. Then i turned to Moroni 10:4-5 and how the Holy Ghost will reveal the answer to him. He said he understood and wasnt going to football practice instead going to seek for some guidance. Now today I am going to see how he is doing and see if he'd like to come to church since it is invitation Sunday.

Eagle Project, Baseball bat

2009-05-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

After trying to schedule a meeting with Kenny Brunk (president of Andreas Closet) since March, I finally met with him saturday at noon. I am so glad I waited for him. I this my project will be great and a lot of fun. Here is my project planned out that I also have in my eagle project papers.

My project will be benefiting Andreas Closet, which is an amazing organization that helps young children get through terrifying procedures. Kenny Brunk (President of Andreas Closet) has pre-made mobile units that he will give me and I will have to assemble a handle on the cart to push it. I will have help from my uncle Kirk Hooper welding and bolting the handle on to the cart. After the cart has been properly assembled by my scout troop, I will take it down to the graphic company. The graphic company will put the Andreas closet graphics on the cart and my name will be put on the cart.

I will be holding a toy drive at the nearest Wal-Mart to my community. Flyers, posters, toy drive containers, etc, will all be provided by Andreas Closet. Andrea Closet flyers as well as flyers I will have made giving a brief biography on myself and explain what I am doing. I will have the scouts cover different hourly shifts at the local Wal-Mart during the toy drive. Boxes for the toy drive will also be placed in the foyer of the Church.

Once the toys have all been collected, they will all be taken to my house and we will tag and record all of the toys. The toys will be put into the mobile unit and will be taken St. Joe’s Hospital and a ceremony will be held. The scouts, my family, and I are all invited to a ceremony that will be held at St. Joe’s Hospital. A big cake will be made and the press will take pictures and best of all, the sick children in that department will also be invited and will be allowed to pick out a toy of the closet.

I am very excited to get started on this and now I just need one more signature for my project to be official.

After this I went over to Grandpa Hoopers house to make another baseball bat with Kirk. This time we wanted the bat to be perfect. We used a calliper to help measure exactly also. I think the bat is legal since it is 32" and 29oz. I dont have any pictures but the barrel is Antique Red and the handle is White Oak. It looks really sharp. Kirk is going to put my name on it and stuff on Albukirkie. Thanks Kirk!

Baseball Award Ceremony

2009-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my baseball banquet. It was a pretty short and to the point unlike football where it never ended. I got the city champs certificate and I also got MIP (Most Improved Player). I was really hoping I would get this award. I am glad my teammates saw how much I have improved this season and voted for me. I definitely have improved a ton. There was so much new things that I have been taught playing for Shepherd. Big THANKS to Coach Hebting and Coach B.

My weekend

2009-05-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well to start off the weekend I went to a baseball clinic. I really didnt learn much at he clinic but It was fun to hang out with one of my friends Mitch from the teachers quorum. After all that I drove home from shepherd for the first time and did pretty good except for the part where i didnt brake enough on the turn to preston and everything in the car flew forward lol.

Then I went to my grandpas house to make a baseball bat. I spent a whole 4 and a half hours with my uncle making this bat. I think it turned out great but it is a little to heavy. It is 32" and 41oz. A normal bat that i would use is 32" and 29oz so they bat is a whole lot heavier than the normal weight. It is still fun to use though.

I also went to a baptism for Shane Rader, a boy who has been recently coming to church and to our other activities. He asked me to speak so I wanted to make the talk especially for him. I am very proud of myself for the way it turned out. I had a lot of people crying, as well as myself. I definitely loved looking at Shane and seeing him crying and really paying close attention to me. I also learned that Shane wanted me to baptize him. I would've have loved to do that! But since I am not a Priest I cant. It was a very busy but fun Saturday. I also have my talk at the bottom to anyone who would like to read it :).

My name is Jonathan Hooper and Shane has asked me to give a talk on baptism. When Shane asked me to give a talk I was actually quite excited. I am most excited to be part of his baptism. I’ve really enjoyed Shane being in our quorum and I want him to know that we all are happy to have you in our quorum.

First off I’d like to start with the scripture John 3:5-Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Baptism is a holy ordinance. An ordinance is a sacred ceremony that shows that we have entered into a covenant with our Heavenly Father. We covenant with the Lord to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and to keep His commandments. In return, God promises to forgive us of our sins as we repent and to bless us with His Spirit.

Baptism is one step closer to the Celestial Kingdom. As the scripture John 3:5 said, without being baptized by water and of the spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Being baptized by the Spirit, you are beginning a new spiritual life as a disciple or follower of Christ.

We must be baptized to become members of the restored Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and to eventually enter the kingdom of heaven. This baptism ordinance is a law of God and must be performed by His authority. A bishop or mission president must give a priesthood holder permission to perform a baptism or confirmation.

After baptism we show our faith by keeping our covenants that we made when we were baptized by partaking of the sacrament. Partaking of the sacrament weekly is a commandment. It helps us remain worthy to have the spirit with us always. It is also a weekly reminder of our covenants.The covenants that we make are… that we will take upon the name of Jesus Christ, obey all of God’s commandments, and to serve Him to the end.

After we have made our covenant and have entered into the straight and narrow path God has set for us, we must always try to stay in this path by staying away from sin. Trials will happen and no one is perfect and if you ever go astray of the path, you can repent. Once you have fully repented, you will be pack in the path to the kingdom of heaven.

Shane , You will never forget being baptized. 7 years ago I was baptized and I still remember it. I remember putting on the white suit and going down into the baptismal font with my father and I held his arm and he submersed my body under the water. I came up out of the water and knew that being baptized was a good choice.

Bear Testimony
AMEN

Shepherd vs. Stapely

2009-04-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

We are UNDEFEATED CITY CHAMPIONS!! We beat Stapely 9-2. It was an awesome experience playing in a stadium. The dugouts were all nice and they had a lower level with the locker rooms and stuff lol. It was so cool and i could totally get used to that :). I played the 4-7th innings and only batted once but got a really nice hit to center field it was a double and I got 2 RBIs off of it. I was 11 for 18 this season in batting and thats really good. My batting Average was .611 :).

Well now im just in 6th hour PE which sucks cuz now we have to swim and i really dont want to lol. I guess it will be fun but still.

Shepherd vs. Fremont

2009-04-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!! City Champions! We are now officially city champs even though we have one more game. We beat Fremont 9-2 and i think that was the same score from the last game. I didnt hit this game, struck out then got walked. I made some really good plays on first base and stretched out way far for the ball and for a minute i thought i hurt my hamstring (i kind of did the splits haha). Apparently the kid i started over on first base was talking a lot of crap about me when he was sitting in the dug out. And one of the team managers told one of our best players what this kid Ryan was saying and he was like well Hoops is better than Ryan. :)

Anyway gotta get ready for school so c ya!

Shepherd vs. Rhodes

2009-04-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well our record now is 16-0-1 :/. We tied our first game with Rhodes 3-3. None of the players on my team were playing very well, including me. We were just not mentally prepared for the game. Since this was a double header we played them one more time and this time we won 4-0. Rhodes was definitely a good team; probably the hardest we have faced. As long as we beat Fremont or Stapely next week (shouldnt be a problem), then we are City CHAMPIONS! I have never been on such a good team before. Its awesome!

I have been asked to give a talk next Saturday at one of my friends baptism. He is new to the teachers Quorum and just started showing up and I always tried hard to be a good friend to the boy and now he seems to lie the church and want to stick around. I think he enjoys all the activities we do and I can see he definitely wants to have a the priesthood and be like the rest of us.

Pitchers Mound!

2009-04-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

Me and my dad thought it would be awesome to make a pitchers mound for the backyard. I didnt think we would ever actually make the mound. We spent 4 hours on this and I think it turned out great! Only downfall is that its really heavy (200+ lbs according to my dad). I think me, connor, and my dad all had fun doing this together! Here are some pictures!

It took forever cutting the boards and making sure our measurements were correct. We sprayed some aggressively tacky glue lol. it was really really sticky.m

i think it turned out awesome. Alot of our projects turn out ok but this one turned out great.

I also drove on the freeway for the first time and McDowell, Greenfield and Recker. It was fun but scary! Well goodnight guys!

Shepherd vs. Poston

2009-04-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

This was definitely a must win for my team but we didnt pull it off :(. We lost by....haha jk we dont lose! We won 15-1! I was surprised that we beat them by that much when us and Rhodes were the only undefeated teams and Poston beat rhodes so I thought it was going to be a very close game. We had lots of nice hits and home runs. The Shepherd Home Run record is 9 HRs. So far a kid on my team is tied with that Record and I am hoping he doesnt get it lol. It will irritate him forever :). 15-0!

I got my plastic Permit in the mail instead of a piece of paper. Its really nice looking but I hate my picture as always lol. I will definitely post pics with me and the permit haha and also some pictures of my driving :).

Shepherd vs. Highland

2009-04-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

14-0! We won 8-5. It was a very close game until the last inning we had a few home runs hit and scored like 5 points. I did very well. I started at first base and made a lot of good plays and made no errors. I was 2 for 2 with a line drive to left field and to center field. It was a very good game and I he always says that hey you are going to pitch and then he doesnt put me in to pitch instead he just takes me out of the game....... I dont understand my coach. I was doing really good and he just benched me for no reason at all.

Well thats all for now.

GOOD LUCK dad at your interview with the IRS!

Shepherd vs. Horizon

2009-04-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

We won again 8 - 3! We have a perfect record of 13 - 0. It was a good game without to many errors but was still kind of boring. I didnt play in this game cuz for some reason whenever this certain kid pitches i dont play at all. Hopefully I will play in todays game. I also have another game this Friday at Poston. Next week should be really cool because we will be playing on Fitch and HoHoKam park.

Driving

2009-04-12T12:20:00.001-07:00

Man I didnt think driving was gonna be so hard and stressful lol. I mean its pretty fun and all but I really dont like driving with my mom cuz she stresses me out haha. She is always like oh my gosh you are gonna hit that!! when i wasnt even close to the other car lol. I am going to be pretty lucky if I dont hit something soon *knocks on wood*. I really dont like getting into reverse cuz i forget to go put it in drive to go forward lol. Well thats enough for now.

100th POST!

2009-04-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!!! I past my permit test and am legal on the road with an adult so watch out lol. So on Friday I went to the MVD and got all my paper work and signed a bunch of papers. I sit down at my computer and take the test. Expecting to pass easily, I failed. I got a 74%. I was pretty darn mad. I began to realize how unprepared I was for the test. I never read the book thoroughly. I just skimmed through it and thought some of the information was going to be on the test and most of that stuff was. It was a 30 question test and got a 23/30. you have to get an 80% to pass. One more question and I would've passed.

Friday and Saturday I studied like crazy. All morning on saturday 8-12 (while doing some spring cleaning) with my dad and the book. I felt prepared and my dad took again today and I went straight to take my test. I was on computer C and last time I was on A. Test C was definitely a lot harder than test A, but i passed! I got 4 wrong. The minimum is 6 questions wrong. so i got a 85%. Ill take that lol! I cut it pretty short but who cares. So far its been a pretty good Spring weekend :).

I also went to the Easter Pageant yesterday and It was really good. I have been for a few years and I "really" understood it this time.

100th post!

Fremont, Smith

2009-04-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Both games were a success. We beat Fremont 9 - 2. It was a really boring game cuz our pitcher threw a no hitter until the last inning. The Smith game was fun for me to see all of my old friends again. We beat them 14 - 3. I had 2 nice solid hits to left field and was hit in the back of the calf at on my last at bat. my batting average is .615 :). Right now my teams record is 12 - 0!

Tomorrow afternoon I am going DMV to get my permit. I dont think ill pass lol but Im reading the Driver licence manual thing like crazy so hopefully I can pass.

99th post!
3 Day weekend!

Taylor vs. Shepherd

2009-04-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

It was a very quick game. Not much happened really. Taylor put this one pitcher that just lobbed the ball into home plate and we got all our points mainly from this kid. Oh by the way we won 10 - 0. The innings were really quick since our pitcher was really good and threw strikes. 2 home runs were hit. The wind was ridiculous. There'd be gusts of wind and just throw you off balance, especially whileThere is really not much to talk about right now. My team is still undefeated 9 - 0.

yea this is short but i am way tired!

2 more posts till my 100th post :)

Ironwood, Corona

2009-04-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! My baseball team is still undeafeted 8 - 0. We beat Ironwood 28 - 1 lol. Ironwood was supposed to be like really good but we kicked their butt! The game actually got boring because of how we slaughtered them so bad. Corona was definitely a challenge. They were pretty good. We struggled with hitting but still came up with the victory 6 - 5. I also had like my first sacrifice bunt in my baseball career lol.

My next game is on the 3rd versus Taylor again. Last game we beat them 22 - 7. Maybe this game will be a little more challenging.

I am very excited for conference. I used to not care but this time i am actually excited for it. Priesthood session should be great. I am inviting my Grandpa Standage, my uncle Jeremy Rowley (Charity's husband), possibly my Grandpa Hooper (?) and 3 other boys from my quorum who goes by themselves so we are taking them and will go out to dinner with everyone also.

"Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future" -President Monson Finding Joy in the Journey October 2008

Stapley, Poston + Other Stuff

2009-03-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry i havent blogged in awhile. I have been really busy lately and had forgotten about my blog. The stapley game was really easy. We beat them 22 - 7 lol. The Poston game was pretty good. It was a lot like the Gilbert game by how close it was. We won 7 - 6. It was a great game and we really came back at the end of he game. We had bases loaded with 2 outs and the pitcher walked both the tieing run and the winning run! It was an awesome win cuz we got revenge on poston for beating us in football. The next game i have will be at Ironwood (no idea where this is at) and i guess i am going relief pitch this game (hopefully my coach sticks to his word) and i am pretty excited.

I also have been in the doctor for Muscumcontagioso which is just a skin virus. The doctor put a blistering agent on all of the sores and turned them into blisters. They will pop on their own and hurt really bad! I have all sorts of bandades on me and I can barely move my right arm. So while we were in the doctors office and the doctor was cleaning up the stuff she used on me, I told my mom a story about this annoying kid. At school in math this kid had a open wound on his hand and started wiping it all over me (eww!). The next he did the same thing and I showed the sores that I had. And I told him at was MRSA. Having absolutely no idea what I was talking about i said it is very contagious and it is life threatening. He looked at me and was oh....my....gosh. He left me a long then. So yesterday at school when i was baseball with this kid, i had those blisters all over me. He saw them and asked what they were and I told him is that disease I have and that is what happens and they really hurt. He was pretty scared and I was just laughing m butt off in my head :P.

Well thats all for now :)

Shepherd vs. Gilbert High

2009-03-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

This was the toughest game we have ever played. Last years team that won state lost to Gilbert so its fun to say that so far we r better than last years team :]. I started at 1st base in this game. I was pretty surprised since i didn't think I would ever start. I made a sweet double play which ended us out of a bad inning with bases loaded. The ending score of the game was 9 - 7. The last inning we were down by 2 points 5 - 7. We had bases loaded with 1 out. Our best hitter was up to bat and he smacked a Grand Slam! This ended the game 9 - 7 and we were all screaming and yelling cuz we were so excited to have beaten one of the hardest teams we will have played. It was definitely a really fun game.

(I think I forgot the Smith game. We won that game 7 - 1.)

My next game is Wednesday at Stapley at 3pm. This game should be a tough one too.

Shepherd vs. Taylor

2009-03-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

Another victory for shepherd! We beat Taylor 22 - 5. It was 22-0 until our last relieving pitcher just kept letting them smack the ball to the fence but we still kicked butt. 2 of shepherd guys hit a total of 3 home runs, a single run HR, a 3 run HR, and then the best, a grand slam. It was a good but boring game (all of the gmaes hav been boring bcuz the other team cant get on base very often) This wednesday should be a lot of fun to see all the guys on my old schools team Smith to lose to Shepherd:).

Shepherd vs. Carson

2009-02-27T09:46:00.001-08:00

Our first game was against Carson Jr. High. We killed em 16 - 0. Carson couldnt stop us lol. Our pitching was so fast none of Carsons players hit the ball. One pitcher at Carson threw the ball so slow he rainbowed it to home plate. I played fr the last half of the game and was called in for a pinch hitter and runner. It was definitely alot fun. I am excited for our next game on Monday vs. Taylor. ( might not play bcuz i hav been sick and missed some practices.)

Baseball

2009-02-11T19:52:00.001-08:00

WOOHOO!! I made the 2009 Shepherd baseball team. Coach doesnt know where to put me yet and hopefully he will find out soon enough.

Registration, Eagle Project, and other stuff.

2009-02-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Alright well this week has been rather stressful with registering for Red Mountain High School. I am going to be taking an online class of World History since I didnt take it this year at Shepherd and dont have room for it in 10th grade. I will be taking A hour seminary, AA english, geometry, biology, Orchestra, Football/Baseball, Spanish 1, then after football practice I have to stay for an extra hour weightlifting (you have to have a separate weight training class in y our schedule and I cant fit it in and coach said that I could do it after practice which sucks). So i will be at school for 12 hours!!! It Sucks! 7am-6:30pm.

I have finally figured out and planned my eagle project. I am going to be helping out Andrea's Closet (for more info on what Andrea's Closet is: www.andreascloset.org).

I made regionals!! I can't believe I actually made it. I got my music yesterday and It looks quite hard. The Rehearsals are Feb 20&21. They are very long rehearsals and the concert is at 3pm at Camelback Highschool Feb 21.

Baseball tryouts start monday. There are 30 kids trying out and only 15 kids make it. I am pretty good so I am hoping for the best.

Thats all for tonight!!

Go CARDINALS!!!!!!!!

2009-01-31T17:57:00.001-08:00

GO CARDINALS!!! KICK THOSE steelers BUTTS!!!!!!!!

current news

2009-01-27T05:09:00.000-08:00

Its been like 12 days since i have last posted :/.

Well the current things going on are as followed:

I got to football every morning monday-friday and workout in the weight room and on the field doing different drills. I really like do this. Its a lot of fun and a morning exercise is good.

Regionals are this saturday. I need to practice my hard out these next few days.

Today i am doing a concert for the 6th graders that come to view shepherd. It should be fun, plus i get to miss 2nd hour.

Then on thursday i have this stupid duet thing i am doing at my school for this show off shepherd thing which the 6th graders are supposed to come and i dont see why they would come.

3 - 6pm church is ok. I like how I have all the morning and half the afternoon but coming when the sun is down sucks.

Well i need to go so talk to you later.

Stuff

2009-01-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Alright well its been a long time since I have last posted. Nothing really all that exciting has happened.

I think for my super activity in the summer we will go to lake Powell or somewhere else and camp there for 3 days and earn the waterskiing, motorboating, rowing, and canoeing merit badge. I have the rowing and canoeing. I think it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully football doesnt interfere with this.

Well football starts already. Ill start going monday 7am-8am weightlifting and stuff I really want to play.

Regional Auditions are coming up :/. (its for violin for those who have no idea what this is) Its for the best of the best I am practicing all the time.

Well Im gonna get ready for school...so cya.

Christmas, New Years, paintballing.....

2009-01-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas was great. I got lots of clothes and money. I got some other small things too. Probably my favorite present was form my grandpa which was $100. I used that and my money to buy a paintball gun. I really love paintball only problem is that is an expensive sport. I went paintballing yesterday and it was a ton of fun! My gun is pretty sweet. I didn't really get hurt that much but my dad took a beating lol. He has lot of welts and stuff. I got shot 4 times in my lef shoulder from about 6 feet away (ouch!). I am very excited for my next paintball trip.

Then Last night we hung out with the Smithson;s and played games and watch movies. It was fun :)

I took down down all the christmas lights down today. It was kind of sad to have the winter holiday and take down all the decarations.

I am not excited to go to back to school. Mainly because my schedule doesnt change a bit.

Well thats all for now.. :)

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

2008-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

It Ends Tonight

2008-12-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

My mom did this and it was funny so I had to copy!! This sounded fun and I'm bored.

1. Put your iTunes/playlist on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
.3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

What is your motto?"The Grey Havens"

What do your friends think of you?"You're not Alone"

What do you think about very often?"Will and Elizabeth"

What is 2+2?"Long Way Too Happy"

"What do you think of your best friend?"Before He Cheats”

What do you think of the person you like?"Infatuation"

"What is your life story?"You Be Illin'"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"The Black Gate Opens"

"What do you think when you see the person you like?"King Of Rock”

What do your parents think of you?"Inseparable"

What will you dance to at your wedding?"Ring My Bells"

What will they play at your funeral?"Can't Take It"

What is your hobby/interest?"To Pirates Cave!"

What is your biggest secret?"The Second Coming"

What do you think of your friends?"When Love and Hate Collide"

What’s the worst thing that could happen?"Armageddon It"

How will you die?"Chasing Cars"

What is the one thing you regret?"Forgotten"

What makes you laugh?"Specialty"

What makes you cry?"Go Back"

Will you ever get married?"Rhapsody in BLue"

What scares you the most?"Twilight and Shadow"

Does anyone like you?"In The End"

If you could go back in time, what would you change?"Bringin' On The Heart Break"

What hurts right now?"Yoda"

What will you post this as?"It Ends Tonight"

That was fun. (There is also a post under this one)

Winter Break Almost Here!

2008-12-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! Just a few more days until winter break. Im so glad I get like 3 weeks off from and school and celebrate New Years and Christmas.

Anyway, I am going to be taking A hour World History and my Grandpa Standage is giving me $150 to pay for it. Thx Grandpa! I will work for him for that money like I do with my Grandpa Hooper :).

On Monday I made a Hydrogen/Oxygen bomb in science (it was hydrogen and oxygen in a balloon). We taped it to a wall outside and burned a fuse of tape. When it blew up it was so loud. People fom across the school could here it. If you ever want to see it go off, I can send it to you form my phone.

Wednesday and Thursday are my final days. Today I have a final in math and tommorow I will have finals in Science. The rest of my finals I did yesterday.

Well there isn't much to talk about so see ya!

My Campout

2008-12-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Friday-Saturday I went camping with my troop up at Four Peaks. It wasn't to cold but when the wind kicked in, it was freezing. The dirt road that we drove t get to our campsite took like 45 minutes. We finally get there and we set up our tents and now we are all hungry and ready for some burgers.

As we try to make our fire, one of the leaders sons came and basically turned into the scout master. He was showing us how to make fire with flint and steel (all of us know how do this from 11 year old scouts so this was irritating). For about 15 minutes we are watching try to light this nest of grass and me and another kid were just like, Hey! we have matches and 6 brand new lighters for a reason. Lets use them? After the leaders son went to go and get more grass. There rest of my troop builds a Tee pee and uses matches to get the fire going before he got back. I felt bad for doing that but seriously we have had this lesson all the time, we just wanna eat lol.

The burgers were delicious (cooked by my dad). After the burgers we kind of went to bed cuz we were cold and we talked and laughed for a while before falling asleep (of course i fall asleep first).

In the morning we got camp packed up, ate breakfast, and went on a hike. The hike was actually fun. We hiked for like a 1mile and decided to turn around. Before turning around we ate lunch by this really cool tree. The branches on the tree formed a staircase so me and another kid from my troop, Tyrel, climbed to the very top. We had this awesome view of the valley.

On they way home on this 9 mile down hill dirt road, our car breaks start smoking and we had to stop to cool them off for about 20 minutes. Tyrel had to go to the bathroom so bad and he forgot toilet paper so he wiped with sticks lol. If you want to hear the whole car story feel free to talk with my dad.

Well I have to get ready for church. Cya!

Things that are going on

2008-12-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

Well I went to my counselor to see if I could take World History for an A hour yesterday since it doesnt fit in my schedule. If I take 2nd semester WH I'll take the first semester online or possibly next year. So I am allowed to be in A hour and that will start at 7:55 :/ but I need to pay $150 before Dec 19.

Final are next week :/.

I am going camping today at 4 peaks. Im excited to go. Its been since like July that I have gone camping with my troop. We will go on a hike and play capture the flag all night long :).

Friday - Sunday

2008-12-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well these few days have been a little hectic. My parents went to Utah to get the new but old suburban. While they were gone. Me and my brothers and sisters went to stay at my grandpa's. For the most part, everything went pretty well. There times where kids were fighting or Jenna was crying cuz she wanted her mom. We spent the night at grandpas Friday and Saturday. Saturday morning me and Leslie helped Lucy move out of Grandma Rowley's house. That took maybe an hour and a half. I pretty much just played xbox all day. Saturday night I took my brothers and sisters to our ward party. It was actually fun. We all enjoyed the play and the food. Alex and Jenna especially liked the square cheese on toothpicks.

Sunday just me and Connor came to our normal ward. Everyone else went to Grandpa's ward.
It was weird being at church without the entire family but in a way it was kind of fun. At about 1:40 I see grandpa and he comes toward me and says "Ales has puked 7 times". I was like are you kidding me? After church me and connor came home and maybe some sandwiches and sat down to watch the Cardinals play and checked on alex who felt miserable. Woohoo!! NFC West division champs!!! The score was 10-31 and the Cards win!

Gotta go. Cya

just a few things

2008-12-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

Alright well, its been a normal week; going to school and all. Um I had an orchestra concert Tuesday and I think we did pretty good. I played well thats for sure. I thought I was gonna be really freaked out and mess up.

Me and my dad got really cool looking wool blankets for our kapotes we are making in scouts or our Rendezvous campout.

..I'm going to the counselor today to see if i can take A hour World History since I dropped it so I could take Seminary. I'm hoping I can jump in and get 2nd semester out of the way and take the 1st semester class online in the summer.

I Am also very excited for my campout at 4 peaks next Friday.

Well there's not too much going on so..
Cya!!

Saturday - Sunday

2008-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning my family had to clean the church for our final time. We were done fairly quick. After this we cleaned the house and began decorating Christmas. We have our tree up and the wreaths the lights and all sorts of other things. The house looks really nice. This year was my first year actually setting up Christmas lights out front. I did all the bushes and had help with the really tall bushes. I think it looks really good for my first time doing it. I also got shocked by an old strand. I got electrocuted on my calf muscle and had to sit down. After being afraid of touching that strand I had Connor take it down and throw it in the garbage. Guess what... Connor got shocked to lol. I felt bad for him cuz it hurts.

It was a lot of fun and am so excited for Christmas this year.

On Sunday I had to give a talk. It was definitely my best talk yet. I sounded smooth and looked up at everyone. Here is my talk if anyone would like to read it. :)
--
My name is Jonathan Hooper and I have been asked to talk about the Spiritual Development requirement in Duty to God. There are 12 different goals in this requirement and I will only be talking about 3.

One of my favorite goals out of all 12 is collecting a dozen quick meals that can be used on my mission. I love to cook. A lot of the time I will be peeking over my mom’s shoulder when she is cooking dinner to pick up a helpful tip. Before my mission I would like to learn how to cook Sour Klopse. Sour Klopse is a German dish with meatballs and potatoes that my grandma makes every now and then. It is a very delicious but kind of a tricky meal. On my mission I am sure that I am not always going to be fed lunch or dinner and macaroni and cheese or spaghettios get really old really fast. I need to be prepared with quick and easy meals. By the time I have completed this goal, I will have 12 meals that I can easily cook in a short amount of time.

Another goal is to regularly add to my mission fund. Missions are not cheap and it is up to me to plan and save for my mission. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money all the time, but a little bit at a time can add up over time. I have noticed that when I pay for my clothes or things I want by myself I end up taking better care of them. Especially if I worked hard to earn that money, I don’t want to see it go to waste. Paying for a mission by myself as much as possible will help me to be a better and more dedicated missionary.

Last but not least, memorizing the articles of faith. Almost any question that a person can ask about our church can be answered by one of the articles of faith. My favorite article of faith is We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. It says as long as a repent of all my sins and obey the commandments and laws of the land, I will be saved at the last day. Joseph Smith was inspired when he wrote the articles of faith and I know that they are true. I am trying to memorize them so I can use them on my mission to help people that are seeking answers about our church.

The spiritual development requirement is, in my opinion, the most important requirement in the Duty to God program. It has definitely strengthened my testimony and has helped me understand my priesthood duties more fully. I know by completing this requirement it will help me become a better young man, and a stronger member of the church.

My ThanksGiving

2008-11-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

In the morning I get up and get ready for my flag football game that our ward is doing. We had like 16 people show up which means 8 vs 8. The first two plays of the game were all me. The ball was thrown to me both times and I got a total of 50 yards. Couple of turnovers later, I get and interception and ran for 25 yards until I was accidentally tripped (I'm kind of doubting that) and I really hit hard.

After a few bumps and bruises I get ready to go to my Aunt Jenny's house. The food was ok but the potatoes were nasty (fake of course). After dinner I decided to get away from the family and play pool with my dad down stairs. I got my butt kicked by the way. The the family meeting woohoo! Lol I'll let my mom or dad tell this story.

After this we went to Grandpa Hooper's and watched Hancock with lots of sound/picture problems.

Nothing to post

2008-11-25T17:32:00.000-08:00

Facebook is way better than blogger lol.
Uhh... Well Thanksgivving is this week of course so I am going to my the Standage's fiest :(. I am most excited for Kirk to come down and go fly airplanes with him and my dad.

My Saturday

2008-11-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

Ok so I wake up at 7:00 to get ready to leave to go clean te church (I think I woke up at like 7:45 cuz my mom was getting frustrated cuz i wouldn't wake up). We are at the church by 8 and there are like 5 families helping already and pretty much everything was cleaned. So we stayed for like 15min to see if anyone needed help thn we left.

After all this I called up my grandpa Hooper to see if he had any work needed to be done so I can make 40 bucks :). He did as always which to yesterday was cleaning around the pool. I didnt think this would be to hard. I look at the pool and there are leaves all over. It took me 2 hours to clean it all up with about 6 loads of the vacuum (the really heavy duty outside vacuum for dirt and leaves). After that grandpa had me mow the backyard which is really easy cuz its so small.
40 bucks is now in my pocket.

Me and my dad go to the mall to shop for me. I bought 2 shirts from Aeropostale then from Hollister. My total was $70. It was actually a lot of fun. We were there for like an hour then we went to Serrano's. We split the Special Quesadilla thing. It was really good and really cheap.

Following that we went to target for some dividers for binders for the Teacher's quorum presidency and I really wanted a new game for xbox and I bought Gears of War 2.

My Saturday was pretty fun.
Im so excited for 24 and the football game; NY Giants @ AZ Cardinals 2:15pm Sunday

Football Banquet

2008-11-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

So last night was my football banquet. We started out in the cafeteria at Shepherd and had hawaiin food. It was much but the meatballs were really good. After eating the crowd headed down to the library to give out wards and also to watch the game film. I was about the 8th kid who was talked about and given a certificate and shirt. Coach didnt say much about me, im sure he really didnt care about me anyway since I didnt go to summer camp but whatever. Now he is giving long speeches on his favorite players and that went an hour and a half late. When it was time to watch game film at 8:30 (the party was supposed to be over this time) my mom and I left becuase we needed to leave. We went home and watched he game film. I was actually surprised to see some of my sacks and great plays on it too. (If you ever wanna see me in it let me know and Ill show you :])

I gotta go to school cya!

I promised this

2008-11-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well I have gotten in to facebook and found out I kind of like it. I find out that most of you guys had facebooks so I decided to make one. It definitely a lot of fun especially the games lol :).

Man im struggling to stay awake, good night

Posting more regularly

2008-11-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

Ok well I haven't been posting hardly anything if you haven't noticed, probably cuz I have been forgetting about my blog. So I promise I will post probably every other day maybe even everyday. So after school today I will add something.

My mom is always saying I need to post something new so... I will....eventually.

Tuesday Trip

2008-11-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Well there isn't really much to post about except for my quad riding trip near four peaks witht eh Standage families. I left with my Aunt JoAan and her family to go quad riding. Todd, my grandma standage, and JoAan's friend came. It was a lot of fun. I rode my Grandma's quad. I really only wanted to ride her's because I am very comfortable with it. We drove down a trail for about 45min with everyone on a quad. Then we decided to have let slow pokes get in the back and the people who really wanted to ride could zoom on back to our camp. Me and my cousin Trevor were going pretty fast. At one point we were going 55mph (according to Trevors quad's speedometer) and we also caught some air. I am looking forward to our next quading trip. It was a blast!

Well I would wright moer but I have to hurry off to the bus. Cya!

Pictures of Heber and Halloween

2008-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well there you have it! That was pretty much my Halloween weekend. Srry it too me so long to post pics.

This week I have figured out what I want to do for my eagle project (with the help of my mom and dad) . I want to help out in the Pediactrics department in any hospital that needs help in that area. I have been having trouble figuring out how who to contact.

Well Im tired. Have a Good week!!

Friday - Sunday

2008-11-02T19:13:00.001-08:00

So on Friday I wore my grandpa's michael jackson jacket to school. I have never had so much attention before lol. Everyone thought it was so cool and they were all unzipping the zippers on my back too lol. It was pretty crazy. After school we got ready for the Halloween party at my house. Our next door neighbors, grandpa/grandma standage, Todd's family, and my 2 friends Kimberly and Lexie. We had scones, which were very delicious, then went trick our treating.

I went with Kimberly and Lexie. It was a lot of fun. We got tons of full size candy bars too. I don't think I have ever gotten so much candy. I am also afraid to eat it cuz I don't wanna get chunky lol. At 8:30 we left for Lexie's house for her Fear Factor party. We did lots of crazy things. It too was a ton of fun. (Lexie's blog has all the cool pictures of that. Btw, I'm a wimp.)

Saturday morning we got packed for Heber. We left around 10:45 and arrived about 2ish. First thing I dad was hop on my grandma standages automatic quad. I love her quad! I am very comfortable with it and no what I can and can't do on it. I was going really fast down the gravel road to her land; it's a blast. Started getting darker and colder so we needed a fire so we could stay warm. We go searching for wood and we had tons of wood to carry back, it would take forever to carry it. I come up with an idea to strap the wood down on the quads with bungie cords and haul it down to the fire.

This worked really well. my dad and I took both quads and gathered a lot of thick pieces of wood to burn. This as well was a ton of fun! We got Our fire going and I basically drove the quad all night long with the lights on with my Connor and Alex aboard.

We had steak for dinner and then my grandparents left. We all climbed into the trailer and went to bed except for me my mom and dad. We played Phase 10 for about an hour. It is a lot fun. There are ten different phases you have to complete to move on to the next round. The first phase is like you have to have 2 sets of 3 cards. The rest of the phases get a lot harder.

We woke up in the morning and had breakfast then went on a short hike. The hike was kind of boring but the little ones liked it. My dad did his normal nature pictures which I am sure he'll post on his blog when he has the time.

We left around 2 and got home at about 5. It was a lot of fun and am excited to go back later in the winter when it snows since we have our sledding hill all planned out.

Have a great week!!

Season To Its End; Randon Stuff

2008-10-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well football season is over. We cleared out all of our lockers and turned all of our football pads in. When I started putting my stuff away, I kind of started missing it. But now I get to come now when the sun is still up! Now I am just in a normal P.E. class.

Well We beat Fremont!! 43 - 0! It was pretty funny watching us beat them that badly. They were the ones who started saying they were gonna win 0 - 48. I did play a little bit in the 4th quarter.

Happy Halloween! I am being Michael Jackson. I think I've said this before, but I'm borrowing my grandpas mj jacket that he had sitting in his closet. My mom even made a glove for me to wear too lol. (I took a picture of it and will post em soon)

My family carved pumpkins yesterday too. It was a lot of fun. My mom and Dads always are better than mine. My pumpkin didnt turn out the way I wanted it too but oh well. (It looks cooler since I spray painted it black lol)

Well thats all I have. I'll post pictures of stuff this weekend.

Happy Halloween!!

Season Is Ending

2008-10-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well the 2008 Shepherd Football season is coming to its end. It's been a great winning season of football. I have been on a team that has been so good. I am very glad I came to an athletic school unlike Smith lol.

My last practice was today. Honestly, I was so glad! Football is definitely a ot of fun but its been a little too mch lately. I am gettinghome when its pitch black and I have been forgetting to do my homework (I still have good grades though). We have been practicing for the biggest game of our freshman career. We are playing Fremont. Shepherd and Fremont extremely dislike each other and try to beat each ther at everything. We have beat fremont for 4 years now. One my coaches lost to fremont playing for Shepherd and he said he still hears the story of their lost to this day. So basically this is a must win game. It will be "TODAY" at Red Mountain High School, 6:00pm.

Since football is over I plan to start spend a lot more time practicing my violin. I absolutely love playing my violin, especially hymns. Whenever I play church hymns I just want to keep playing more. I want to get a scholarship through my violin also. Anyway, I have Regional tryouts in January and I really really want to make so I will be practicing my butt off. I mainly want to make it in for my Grandma. She has worked really hard to help me develop my violin talent and this is the way I want to thank her.

Well have a great rest of the week!!!

BEAT FREMONT!!!!!

Sabercats vs. Stallions

2008-10-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

We are on our 5th game winning streak with a record of 7 - 1. We beat em 40 - 0. Back to back defensive shutouts. It was a pretty fun game. I played all of the 4h quarter.

The Teacher's Quorum is in charge of a bean bag toss for the trunk or treat for my ward this Friday. So for mutual we went over to one of my leader's houses and made the booth. It is just a square board with a big orange pumpkin painted on it. Its eyes, nose, and mouth are the holes where the bean bags will be thrown. I think it should be fun for the little kids :).

4 MORE PRACTICES TILL FOOTBALL SEASON IS OVER! Yea I am a little excited cuz I never have to time to do anything else, but football. We our last game is Wednesday versus our huge rival, Fremont.

B game and the movie Eagle Eye

2008-10-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well the B game was a lot of fun! We won 24 - 22; it was really close the entire game. I played a ton too. I layed out 3 people and actually got a picture of one too. Well I will post most of the pictures of the game and then tell you about the movie Eagle Eye.

Me blocking for the running back

Protecting the QB
Field goal (fake)
to the very right you see me laying out this kid

Punting

punt is off

Well that was the B game.

Anyway, me and my dad went and saw Eagle Eye last night at 10:00. It was by far the best movie I have ever seen. There was non-stop action and it was very hard to predict the ending. Even my dad didn't know what was going to happen next. It was definitely a great movie. Shia LeBeuof or whatever did very well. If you get the chance to go to the movies go see this one.

Synopsis:
Shia Labeouf reteams with 'Disturbia' director D.J. Caruso playing a young slacker whose twin brother has died mysteriously. Rachel (Monaghan) finds that her child is missing, and soon the two strangers realize that they have been framed as terrorists. Forced to become members of a cell that has plans to carry out a political assassination, they must work together to extricate themselves while being led by a mysterious voice. -

Victory! (News on B game today)

2008-10-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Alright! We beat Taylor. 54 - 0 lol. I played like 15 plays in this game in the 2nd half. It was a lot of fun kicking another teams butt on our home field just like Kino's game. We scored most of our points in the 2nd half cuz i think Taylor kind of gave up at 20 - 0. So.... yea the game was great and fun watching.

The B game is TODAY sorry for the late notice, but it is today at 4pm at Poston Jr. High. If you can come this is the game that you are going to want to see since I will be playing basically the entire game and I will be kicking field goals, punting, offensive line, and linebacker. It should be a fun game and this is how we get revenge for Poston beating us 6 - 14. Well HOPE to see you there.

Have a good day!

YES!! Cardinals Beat Cowboys In Overtime!!!!!

2008-10-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

This was so awesome!!!! Blocked punt TouchDown return wins the game! I was really nervous when they made the extra point making the Cardinals go into overtime. We put a good rush on the quarterback and forced them to punt and we blocked it. I was yelling Yes, go cardinals! lol. It was so cool. The cardinals ahve been playing very very well lately. WOOHOO!!!

GOOD JOB CARDINALS!!

They are 4 - 2 now.

Fun In Bull Dog

2008-10-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday my family and my Grandma and Grandpa Standage went to Bull Dog Wash to hang out and ride the quad. I know we took pictures, but I really don't feel lie going through the hassle of getting the camera out and downloading them. It was a lot of fun. I learned how to drive a quad with a clutch, which is definitely a lot more work then an automatic :). It felt really nice, probably in the low 70's plus the wind. We sat under a really big tree and it provided us with a bunch of shade to relax under. Kaitlyn, Connor, Jenna, and Alex had a blast on the quad with Dad. Alex also got some cactus stuck in his shoe while he went on a hike with Dad. He was talking all about when he got back lol. I also got a late birthday present from grandma standage. It was a really nice shirt which I'll probably where to school on Monday and she got me another Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites book. So far the book is good.

Well that was my Saturday. Have a good week!

*There is "B" football game this week on Thursday. I will be playing a lot in it. If you can come, this will definitely be a game you'd want to come to. (I will post more about it when I know more lol)

The Random "Ology" Tag :)

2008-10-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

This is my tag that I made up cuz I was bored. If you get tagged with this pass it on!

*FOODOLOGY

What is your salad dressing of choice? RANCH

What is your favorite sit- down restaurant? Matta's

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? steak

What are your pizza toppings of choice? pepperoni of course

What do you like to put on your toast? strawberry jelly

* TECHNOLOGY *

What is your wallpaper on your computer? flames

How many televisions are in your house? 3

What color cell phone do you have? maroon

* BIOLOGY*
Are you right or left handed? Left

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? teeth

What is the last heavy item you lifted? table

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? for a few seconds

* BULL CRAPOLOGY*

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? definitely not

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $ 1000? YES

* DUMBOLOGY*

Last time you had a run- in with the cops? at a scout activity

What did you want to be when you grow/grew up? pediatrician

Last person you talked to on the phone ? my mom

Last person you hugged? hug

* FAVORITOLOGY*

Season? fall

Holiday? Halloween, Christmas, New Years

Day of the week? wednesday

Month? october

Pass this on to atleast 3 people!!!

We Made History!!

2008-10-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well no Shepherd Football team has ever beaten a Desert Vista team and we did! It was a very close game and am very proud of my team. It was very close. No one scored until 3rd quarter. Desert Vista had a lot of fumbles and penalties. The score was 14 - 8. It was really fun game cuz when ever a big play came we all would just start jumping in the air and screaming. My team had more fans in the stands the desert vista until about the second half lol. If we didn't win the game I would have been very mad cuz having a quiet 60 minute drive home wouldn't have been fun. Well hopefully my next game we will do jusas well and score even more points.

It's my B-DAY! I am now 15. It should be a great day. I've already gotten a bunch of texts telling me happy birthday and its only 7:00 in the morning. Today will also be cool cuz it is early release and we get out at 1:40, but I still gotta go to football till 4:40. And I just got my first present of the day and it was a new under armor. I really needed a new one cuz the one i got now is wearing out.

Well talk to ya later!

Tagged!

2008-10-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

The tag image wont work so I will just explain the rules. Share 7 random/wierd facts about yourself. Tag 7 random/wierd people once you have gotten this. Let each person know they've been tagged my commenting on their blog.

My mom tagged me.

1) (boys love their cell phones too not just girls) I love my cell phone. I always have to know where it is or i like freak out cuz i dont want to lose it. It is basically my way to communicate with friends.

2)I want to be a pediatrician when i am older. I like to learn about health, our bodies, and all the rest of the stuff. And seeing blood doesn't freak me out. I also do well with little kids.

3) ummm.... I would love to learn sign language in high school. I have always wanted to learn how to do sign all those words with hands.

4) I extremely don't like people to be in my "bubble" (people who i dont know). Especially in football when I am just standing there and someone touches me or just taps me with their shoulder pads or something I just get irritated. lol I have no idea why I do this.

5) I am a kicker, not a lineman! My coaches just don't care that I can kick better than there starting kickers. I hate when coaches have favorites and even when they someone is better than that favorite, the favorite still plays.

6) I love to play madden 09. It is so much fun to kick other peoples butt around the world on xbox live. I never lose lol. (madden 09 is an NFL game)

7) I am still trying to figure out if I am gonna play football next year, or get a job.

And the only person to tag now is Lexie.

Happy birthday to Darrin Skabelund my best friend. And happy bday to me tommorow!

My Birthday Party

2008-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Well my birthday party was a blast! Everyone enjoyed it (im positive cuz they all told me it was fun). We just played video games lol. We started off playing call of duty 4 and we couldnt do a system link for some stupid reason. We then tried halo 3 and it worked so we played that for a while. Pizza came and we all ate it very quickly. Everyone was dieing to play rock band so we played that basically half the party while me and some other friends play xbox live on halo 3 and madden 09. I got a total of $100 and a gift card to target for $15, iron man, and a ton of candy.
The party was a lot of fun. Only downfall was that I was sick and everyones Cologne/perfume made it hard for me to breathe lol.

The football game was a slaughter lol. We won 56 - 18. We scored 75% of the points in the 1st quarter lol. I even played a ton too. They had a guy # 68 i swear was like 300 pounds, you could see his fat just flopping and hanging out of his jersey. I had to block him and he flew me back atleast 2 yards. Luckily I didn't let him get to the quarterback lol.

Thats all I have for now Cya!!

Party

2008-10-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally decided, with some help of my parents, to just do a small inexpensive video game party this Friday. I have invited 12 people and 2 of them can't come because they are leaving for general conference. So i will probably look for 2 more people to take their place.

But I am hoping to have 3 Xbox set up, one on the big screen, one on a projector and another on the smaller tv upstairs. We will all have to switch off cuz I am sure that no one wants to play on the little tv lol. The games we will play are probably gonna be Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Madden 09, and possibly Nascar 09. I wish we had some more, but oh well.

I think the party should be a lot fun. Hopefully everyone enjoys it.

This is all I got for now. Cya

Football Can Be Extremely Painful lol

2008-09-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was just watching a bunch of you tube videos of football and stuff and would like to show you guys some of em. Some of theses are crazy!

I really hope this guy is ok

Well I really hope those dudes are ok and I hope I never get hit this hard lol. Anyway I finally got a haircut (its been getting pretty long). My dad also found a whole box of my clothes that I have been looking for since we moved here. It was buried deep in the garage lol. Thx dad!

Whatever I Feel Like Adding

2008-09-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Ok Smith got their butt kicked once again by Shepherd 28 - 8. I wasn't allowed to play in this game cuz I have played in all of our A and B games so far (you can only play in like 8 or 9 and I had already played in 4 and we had 6 games left). It was painful to watch everyone play the kids I went to school with for like 4 years. It was awesome to see the expressions on their face as I shook their hands after the game.

I also had an Orchestra concert on Tuesday. My orchestra played pretty out of tune which irritates the heck out of me and half the orchestra wasn't together lol. Hopefully next concert we get that all sorted out.

Thats all I got for now. Gotta go to school Cya!!

My birthday is coming up quickly and I still have no idea what to do so any suggestions would be great. (nothing to expensive)

14 more days to October 8!!

2008-09-22T09:18:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, my dad, my scout troop, and I went to participate in an event called On Target. On Target is where a bunch of different scout troops go on top of mountains and signal each other with mirrors. It was really quite amazing that a signal mirror can reflect more then 120 miles. I was on the one of the highest peaks of the White Tanks. The farthest mountain we signaled was 75 miles away. The best part of the trip was when a sheriff helicopter circled around us. Apparently, people down in Phoenix saw our mirror and called the sheriff's department. The copter landed and out came a woman dressed in a police officers uniform and asked what we were doing and if we needed help because she thought we were like stranded hikers. We explained to her the event that was going on and she took off and did a little trick flying away. I was very glad that football was cancelled so that I could come to this. It was a blast and would love to do this again. Below are some of the pics of the trip.

The light is a mirror. This was the first mountain we signaled

The Last Few Days...

2008-09-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to blog about except that my football team is not undefeated anymore. We lost to Poston 14 - 6. It was a very upsetting lost since that is one of the teams that had to be beaten so we can win City. Now we have to hope one of the teams we beat beats Poston.

Happy Birthday Dad!!! Yea I know it's a little late but I never had time to blog until today. He got 2 nice ties (from Joann), a nice church shirt (from grandma standage), and Nascar 09 (from me and my mom) which I think is his favorite present.
Hope you had a marvelous b-day.

My brothers and sisters now have a blog if anyone would like to check it out. Just look down at my links to find it.

Well Today is picture day so I've gotta go make myself look good. Cya!

50th Post!! New Phone and College Football

2008-09-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon Grandpa came over and took me and my dad over to Verizon and let me pick out a phone. I've been eyeing the enV2 for a while cuz it had everything I wanted on it.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=3726&changingCompletedOrder

I love the phone it, has a lot of kool features and it is fun to text with since it has a keyboard.

AT 5 me and my dad went and watch the USC game with Bro. Montez (family in our ward) and his family. It was a lot of fun and my dad seemed to have a good time also. We brought a bunch of snacks and soda to.

Well that was my weekend. C ya all later!

50TH POST WOOHOO!! lol

Undefeated

2008-09-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well my football team is undefeated so far, 2 - 0. The end score of the game was 20 - 27. A the start of the first quarter I thought we were going to lose because they kept scoring. In the second quarter we got ahead by two points, 12 - 14. Third quarter begins and in like 2 plays we score, but missed our field goal. Fourth quarter they scored and got a two point conversion making the score 20 - 27. As time fell short, the referee's called the game.

I played only 5 plays on the special teams. I am still working on getting a starting position so hopefully I will play more next game.

Other stuff and things to look forward to:

I finally got something new to play from grandma. (I've been absent from lessons for a while so couldn't get anything new) It is a lot harder than the one before, but it is fun to play.

Saturday should be a fun day for me. Hopefully I don't have practice. But, grandpa is taking me to Verizon to get a new phone so when my parents cut mine off I will still have one (I have been dieing to get a new one lol). And I am going to one of the Elder's Quorum guys house to watch some college football with my dad.

Well I gotta go to school Cya!

We win AGAIN!

2008-09-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

This Saturday morning I had a scrimmage against Smith Jr. High. If you look at all the pictures you will see the score of the game. I did really good!! The start of the game we kick off the ball. I tackle the dude with the ball causing him to fumble it. I dive to the ground scrambling for the ball and I got it! I stand up after the play is over and hold the ball over my head to the side line and everyone is screaming. A bunch of guys said I set the tone of the game. I sacked the QB twice, Alex Carlson one of my friends from Smith and teammate of Paiutes, I made sure he knew it was me who sacked him each time lol. I blocked all of my guys and no one passed me. It was also really funny to be yelling at Smith's defensive players by name and they are all like how does he know my name lol. My dad took a lot of pictures and I'll post the good ones. I had so much fun playing in this, but was left with lots and lots of bruises.

(captions are under each pic)

Opening kick off of the game

same kick off

coming off the field after we scored on offense

I am in the bottom of this pile (If you look closely you can see my glove)

I am in the center or picture and this defensive lineman isn't gonna to touch my QB

End of game

FINAL SCORE
46 - 0

We WIN!!

2008-09-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Stallions win 21 - 12! Even though I didn't play much it still was fun being there. I played a total of 5 plays! Wow! It is better than not playing at all I guess.

We made lots of errors, especially fumbles. Number 5, Mike Calendo fumbled the football on a punt return and allowed Fairfax to recover it giving them a 50 yard gain. Mike did reveal himself by scoring the last touchdown though.

The best play we probably had was when Fairfax punted it and we caught it and ran the ball into the end zone for a touchdown (about 4o yard run).

*On Saturday we have a scrimmage against Smith (yes! This is a must win for me) at shepherd - 9:00am. I "will" play a lot since starters are not allowed to play. (I'll give more info maybe tomorrow)

There is a lot more to talk about, but I am very tired. Have an exciting day!

I am Excited!

2008-09-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for the game tonight. It is so much more fun playing against someone other than your own team all the time. My team should do really well. We have good runningbacks, quarterbacks, our receivers are ok too. I am also excited to use my really nice new gloves I got for selling 20 cards. I should be playing more than I thought I would in my last post and I am jersey number 60 if no one caught that in the last post.

If anyone would like come it is at Red Mountain Highschool @ 6:00pm.

I also have a chair test in orchestra today. I hope I do good and move up in chairs.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I hung out with Anthony and Connor from my ward. We pretty much played video games the entire time. I kicked their butt at halo. Anthony is really good at the drums on Rock Band. He plays the hardest songs on Expert which is really crazy lol. We also played super smash brothers on the wii lol.

I am sooo excited lol. Gotta get ready for school. I have good day.

The Rest of My Week

2008-08-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

The rest of my week was just kind of the same stuff, football practice everyday, scouts, and all the great stuff. I'm kind of just falling back in football. There is always a better kid than I am who wants it more than me. I'm still being put in on offence, but I am on the kick off return team and the punt team so I will get some playing time. I finally got my decals and number jersey number. The helmets look really slick. There is a skinny blue stripe down the center and a big stallion with "stallions" under it. (I'm number 60)

Orchestra is good. We are having a chair test on Tuesday and I have been practicing a lot because I really want to be first chair. I have to play an A scale and a D scale, which I have figured how to play 3 octaves. What I am really focusing on is my bow. I'm trying to figure out a how I can be less choppy and sound more smooth. My chin rest also snapped in half and I have absolutely no idea how it did, but I got a different one from Grandma Hooper.

That's all that has really happened this week. I don't really have anything to look forward to either besides my football game at Red Mountain High school on Tuesday.

But, have a spectacular day!

The Past Few Days...

2008-08-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been pretty good. I've been meeting new people, especially girls lol (I'll explain in a minute). School is boring and homework is crazy, but I have good grades. I am also really enjoying seminary. Bro. Spencer is a very fun teacher, but is serious when it comes to the lessons.

The football team has really changed up the offensive line. We don't have a center anymore and the guy they thought could play center isn't doing to hot. So when the coaches were all talking I overheard them saying they needed a new center or to some of you who don't know football so well the center is the guy who hikes the ball to the quarterback. I told my coach that I would do it for the teams sake. They were like yea that's a good idea. So I'm gonna try hard to get the position even though I have never played this position. I think it'll be fun.

No girl in this neighborhood doesn't know my name now. I'm getting tons of texts from girls who I have no idea who from. Sunday night I sent/received 90 texts in like 1.5 hours. May not seem like much, but I used to not send very many. I am always texting now and if I didn't have unlimited texts I would've spent $60 in one day lol. Cheerleaders at my scrimmage sat under my mom and dad's "shade" (they had their canopy) and they were asking my parents who was their kid. They said we are here watching Jonathan and The cheerleaders said Oh the tall blonde one? Everyone talks about him. I was laughing when my mom told me that. Last night for family home evening we went to the Murset's house (family in our ward) and I guess this girl wanted to meet me. Her and her mom came over to say hi. She was very nice.

Well that's all I got for now. I have to head off to school. Have a great day!!!

The Scrimmage

2008-08-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

My team lost. We didn't do very well. We made lots of mental mistakes like jumping offsides and stuff.

The score was 0 - 7. I made a few good tackles, one kept the other team from scoring.

The crazy part:

At the end of the game there were police officers all over the place. Apparently kids from Fairfax (one of our biggest rivals) were filming our scrimmage. One of m coaches caught them and called the cops.

I know this is short but there isn't much to write about.

Scrimmage on Saturday!

2008-08-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, you are all invited to my scrimmage this Saturday at 9:00am at Shepherd Jr. High.

It will be a lot of fun. I will be playing a lot more than playing for the Paiutes. I am on the punt team, kick off team, first offence and defence. If you do happen to come look for number 23 in a blue jersey.

Any questions comment.

I'm Alright

2008-08-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

There is nothing to be concerned about.

My bump on my head is completely normal. Grandpa says most human skulls do have bumps like mine.

My back is a lot better than it was yesterday. I will be fine.

Magnets and other weird stuff:
I DO NOT believe in magnets, but my grandma really likes that stuff so I didn't want to argue with her so I just put them on. Surprisingly they took a little pain away, but thats not something I would have cure my inuries.

Lol. I will be ok my back is getting better and my bump is normal.

My Injury and The SUPER cold bath lol...

2008-08-20T21:29:00.001-07:00

Well Wednesday morning I woke up and started my morning routine with a shower. As I got out, my back starting really really hurting. I had to sit down because I couldn't stand. It is in the center of my back and very painful. I also stayed home for half the day to just relax. I went to my grandma Standage's house to have her try and help. I hung upside down on this thing and it actually made it kind of worse. Then she bandaged a bunch of magnets to my back. Very uncomfortable, but surprisingly it kind of helped the pain. Then she put Sun Breeze crap on my back which smells REALLY bad.

I come home after the long day and take an ice bath. brr! It was extremely cold. The very low temperature of the water constricts the veins not letting very much blood flow. Then you take a warm shower and the veins open back up letting fresh blood flow to muscles actually healing my back. Pretty cool. I did feel better afterward.

I will be alright. Have a good week/night!!

Random Stuff

2008-08-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well I don't really have much to post so I will just post what ever.

Football has finally really began. We have put on full pads are now going full speed in our tackling drills. It so much more fun, but way more painful. I am starting to lose my starting position so I gotta work harder.

I have this weird bump in the middle back of my head. Its been there for a long time and my mom noticed it while rubbing my neck since it was sore from football. It isn't normal my grandpa said. Hopefully nothing serious.

I sold all of my cards. I can now get my lineman gloves woot! Those should hopefully impress my coaches during drills.

What other random thoughts should I post?..... Oh! I am 3rd chair in the first violins in my orchestra (I didn't play very well in the playing test), but I will be first chair in our next chair test.

I'm really tired. Good Night!!

What a Week...

2008-08-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

This week has been very hectic. School, football, homework, trying to sell more cards. It's been crazy. But hurray for the weekend. My weekend doesn't start till about noon since I have football till 11:30am.

School has been fun. I have made a lot of new friends here and am talking in the big groups which i used to Never do. People actually know that I am there and talk to me. I have never gotten so much homework in the first week of school. I had about 30min to an hour of homework each day which took away of my 2.5 hours of free time.

My orchestra sounds awful. I don't even want to play in it cuz its that bad.

Football has been going good. Today was my second day with shoulder pads. I am also fighting with this guy for first string left guard. There has been lots of new guys showing up that aren't very good and are dieing out in the heat (it's really funny watching whining I'm too dizzy or I feel sick lol). Wearing a button up shirt and tie to school was cool but its now starting to get really annoying, but everyone thinks my dad's ties are cool (I wear a lot of his ties cuz they are pretty cool. Everyone like the frog tie the most lol). It isn't very comfortable.

Seminary is fun, but not fun walking there. I have memorized Romans 1:16 now. Monday is when we really start studying the New Testament.

Well I gotta go to sleep since I am gonna be busy all day long tomorrow.

Good Night and have a great weekend!!!

First Day of School

2008-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well today was my very first day at Shepherd Jr. High. I found all of my classes and was on time to all of em except seminary since it is really far off campus. I also had to wear a shirt and tie.

1st hour:
Mrs. Chilton

My 1st hour class is Orchestra. We picked locks and lockers to store our instruments in and got out planners. Tomorrow we will all be playing.

2nd hour:
Mrs. Ewald

English is by far, the most boring subject. We did a greet and meet sheet thing to get to know other class mates. It was a lot of fun to be honest.

3rd hour:
Mr. Post

This class is science. He is a little wierd, but I'm sure he will teach well. Like most of my classes we just did little get to know you things. After the class we went directly to lunch. Man! Shepherd seems to have better quality. I don't know how when it comes from the same place, but oh well. I sat will all the football players. It was fun.

4th hour:
Mr. Schapiro

Math, one of my more favorite subjects. I actually got homework in this class. We reviewed a little and did get to know you sheets. My math teacher is strict and will be a good teacher.

5th hour:
Bro. Spencer

Seminary was great! My teacher is really nice and it feels great to be in a class learning about the gospel during school hours. The seminary building is really far. Takes about 10 minutes to get there since I have math on the other side of the school. He also cited a really good scripture that we will master later on. (Romans 1:16)

6th hour:
Football

Football practice sucked since we wore helmets. It was alot more difficult, but i lived.

Thats all for right now im tired and I am dieing to eat some food.

Internet, Cable, and Other Stuff...

2008-08-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

WooHoo!! My house has finally been visited by cox and we now have Internet and cable. I am not so bored anymore lol.

Last night I went bowling for mutual. It was a lot of fun. It was nice to do something that is kind of expensive for once and not paying for it. In the first round I got second place out of everyone. My score was like 139 or something. The next few rounds i just messed around and tried throwing right handed and stuff. I also made a lot of new friends, and I seem to fit in quite well in this ward.

I have survived football so far this week. I also know what position I'm in. I am the left guard on the O-line. (hopefully this doesn't change later on lol) I know you probably think I'm pretty small for that position, but I get the job done.

That's all for now. Time to go shoe shopping lol :).

Moving and Stuff...

2008-08-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I last posted. It also doesn't help that my new house doesn't have Internet so I am over at my grandpa's house blogging. We finally moved into our new house and are trying to unpack everything. (I will also post pictures later of the move and stuff). I love this house. It is so much bigger than our last one. The only problem that I have with it is that it smells so strongly of new carpet and paint that it gives me a headache, and we have termites.

Church was good today. I found all of my classes ok and there are very few teachers, but lots of priests. Mutual is now on Wednesday and we will be going bowling this week. It should be a lot of fun and hopefully I will socialize and make new friends.

I also have been going to Shepherd's football camp. I will be going to the official pre-season practices tomorrow 3pm - 6pm all week long.

I am also really excited to start school at Shepherd Jr. High.

That's all for tonight Cya.

Scout Camp

2008-07-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well as you all know I have been gone for 5 days in Moab, Utah white water rafting. Is was a great trip and would definitely do it again. Wish I had pictures, but didn't bring a camera.
(this is probably my longest post lol)

DAY 1:

The drive was very long and boring (8.5 hours). My car basically listened to all my cool music I had on my iPod which we plugged into the radio. We got lost a couple of times putting us back about 45 minutes. As we finally got to our camp site for the night, I set up my tent in the dark. 4 people were going to sleep in my tent and we all get in and it felt like someone cranked up the heater. It was so HOT! One of my tent sharers or whatever found another tent to spend the night in. Luckily I slept fine.

DAY 2, 1st day on river:

When we all woke up, we packed up our gear and headed to McDonald's for breakfast. It was disgusting! I will never get a Deluxe Breakfast ever again. (The orange juice was good though) After breakfast, we headed down to the White Water Expeditions HQ and got our life jackets. My group got into a bus and drove down to the part of the river where we started our adventure. The river was very slow. No rapids or anything cool. We were all very bored and VERY excited to come home. That night we had burgers for dinner. Mmmmm!

DAY 3, 2nd day on river:

We packed our gear and threw into our trailer. And got back on the river. There were lots or rapids this time. It was so much fun. A couple of guys fell out of the boat and held onto the side of our boat until the rapid ended. Later that day, we got settled into our next camp ground. That night was the best night I slept until the storm. Winds were blowing very hard and blowing polls out of tents and taking tarps off. It was really crazy. The entire camp was up all night at like 2 in the morning staking down and tents and just talking cuz we couldn't sleep. I have to say, it was kind of fun with all the wind. It eventually slowed down and everyone was able to get back to sleep.

DAY 4, 3rd day on river:

Well we past all of the rapids in the river, so the guides decided to get us in the bus and go do yesterday's section of the river so we could have some more fun. The best part of that is that we didn't have to take down camp and set it up all over again. So basically it was the same as yesterday, but with no storm.

DAY 5, going home:

I woke up and packed my stuff and helped anyone else who needed so we could leave ASAP. we left about 7:45 AM Utah time. I got home around 5 PM, took a shower and left for grandpa's house for Jacob's B-Day party.

I did skip a lot of stuff cuz it is just to much to right. I earned the White Water Rafting and Rowing merit badges which will go toward my Eagle Palms. I also got the Cleanest Camper award since I never had any dirt on my body at the end of the day and picked up trash often. The mountains and stuff were really amazingly pretty and there was one rock formation that looked like a gummy bear lol. If you get the chance, go rafting down the Colorado River, but be sure to wear lots of sunscreen lol.Below is the merit badges I earned and am not sure if these are the current looking ones.

Rowing

White Water Rafting

These merit badges were VERY fun. I flipped big boats rowed, and tied lots of knots for these. Well this is all for today. I my tired and am finally going to sleep on a comfy mattress instead of the hard ground. (If you have and questions about my trip fell free to post and I will be sure to answer them)

Good Night.

5 Days

2008-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Well I wont be posting for a while since I am going to be gone with my scout troop. I am going to Moab, Utah and will be rafting down the Colorado River for 5 Days. I hope it will be a ton of fun. I will blog all about it when I get back.

Memories

2008-07-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Since Leslie did this and I commented I have to do this too. :)
(Does anyone even have a memory of me besides my parents lol?)

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty 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.