Picnic at Hagg Lake

My family had a picnic at Hagg Lake with the wonderful Preece family today. The weather was so nice and the lake was gorgeous. I love how Oregon is infested with green trees.

After cooking hot dogs on the grill, Jen spotted four dear up in the field across the street. J* wanted to see if his Frisbee skills were good enough to hit a dear. I bet him the last cupcake if he could do it.

Throw #one...miss, but close. Throw #two...miss. After the second throw, the dear ran off....with the Frisbee. Looks like the Preece family is going to be buying a new Frisbee soon.

I had a great time at the lake with some of my best friends. I cant wait to do it again.

(Gotta get my Zen time in.)

The Nagging Can Stop

For two years my family and friends have been nagging me about getting my permit. One, I am a little scared of cops, two, I don't want to crash, and three, I don't want to fail the test. None of my brothers or sisters had to read the book before taking the permit test, but I just knew I would be the one who has to read it in order to pass. Sarah convinced me that all I had to do was lightly skim over the pages. And I believed her. I went in February to take the test and...failed. I failed the test by one question. Yeah, I was pretty disappointed. After that, I wasn't in any hurry to take it again.

My family began to pester me about driving again. So this time, I read the whole book...twice. I got to the DMV and passed with a 94%....drastically better than before.

I proudly stuck my temporary paper permit in my wallet.

Oh, and acording to my permit, my last name is Otheringham.

All I have to do now is muster up the guts to get behind the wheel and drive. The way I see it, I've been doing the community a great service by staying in the passenger seat. Well, don't blame me for the dents and scratches to come...you are the ones who nagged me to get behind the wheel.

Sarah's Missionary

According to Sarah, the mailman "did his job beautifully" today.

David Arringtton left for the MTC last week, and Sarah is already getting letters. For those of you who have seen the movie The Best Two Years, Sarah's excitement level was that of Elder Vampelt's when he received letters from home.

High Adventure 2010

Four hours after students screamed "summer" through the halls of every school in Hillsboro, I was on my way to a weekend of the great out doors.

High Adventure was held at the beautiful Oxbow Regional Park this year. The park is next to YMCA's Camp Collins, so we spent a day out on the ropes too.

Setting up a tent can quickly turn into a fishing trip when you're with my girlies.

We were camped right along side the Sandy River. There are not many things better than falling asleep to the tranquil sounds of a running river.I do believe I have rubbed off on my friends...their all turning into tree huggin' hippies. Next thing you know their all gunna want dreads too. Sarah made what she calls a "Hobo dinner" for our meal. It was quite tasty.Sarah and I had a great time at the ropes course.Sarah was itching for her turn at the "Leap of Faith". I got a video of her jumping 50ft off a platform hanging in a tree. I took my camera with me to the top for my jump.The next course we did would be perfect for the adrenaline-junky. I'll try to post the videos of this one too.It started raining our second night there. While every one was down in the dumps because on the rain, I put my shorts and poncho on, and took in the refreshing breath of nature. I spent my last morning of camp hiking through the jaw-dropping shades of green that paint this landscape of Oregon. Spending my first days of Summer out camping was a renewing and reviving way to release myself from the old stresses of school. I plan on spending plenty more summer days with my dear friend Nature.

Lacrosse 2010

Liberty Girls Lacrosse was lucky enough to get a new coach this year. I admit, at first I was a little...actually extremely scared of our new coach. I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that she had been a college lacrosse coach before. I thought she would be the meanest coach and that she would make us work really hard. Well, I was right about one thing; we worked hard...but we liked it.

It's hard to believe but, my new coach made sprinting fun. Before this year of Lacrosse I never thought I could run a whole mile let alone run it in under 9 minutes. Coach taught me that pain is all in the head, and giving up doesn't have to be an option if you don't want it to. She taught me to control my mind and in doing so I could put all I had into practices and games.

My team had a great season this year. I felt like we were a little family. Everyone has their own crazy personality. Sadly the Seniors are leaving and wont be with us next season. Our team went to playoffs this year, which was fun. I cant wait for next season to start up.

My cult initiation

I was invited to join the National Honor Society. I only knew two things for sure about NHS before joining; one, it looks good on a college app, and two, the induction ceremony is ridiculous. I tried so hard to make up reasons not to attend. I couldn't use Lacrosse practice b/c it ended before the event. And what do ya know, it's the first Monday with no Lacrosse game either. Life was punishing me.

I went to the "candle lighting ceremony". I felt like I was being initiated into a secret cult. I had the hardest time not laughing while I had to stand, raise my right hand, and repeat a pledge (I still don't know what I pledged to do.)

I guess there was one cool part of the night though. One of the teachers at my school was there to give a speech. She was also my third grade teacher. It has been nice to have her in elementary as a teacher and now see her in the halls at my high school.

LHS Spring Fling

As I have mentioned before, I love dances. The school dances are too expensive (in my opinion) so I hadn't planned on going to the Spring Fling. But like always, there I am sitting on the couch, the day of the dance, and I cant help but gather up some friends and head to the dance.

Katie and I both rode our bikes to Jordan's house to ask him to go to the dance with us. This dance was casual dress (my fav), so we wore baggy basketball shorts, white T's, high socks, and Vans...(sigh) if only every dance was casual.

Anyhow, Lacrosse having started up, and me sorta kinda being "in-shape", agreed to Katie's suggestion to ride our bikes all the way to Liberty. I thought 'what the heck, it's only ten minutes away'. I failed to realize that ten minutes driving is a completely different story than riding on a rock for a seat attached to a piece of metal with two wheels.

After an hour, we arrived at the school.

Aside from the dead legs, I had a great time at the dance.

(Note: this last picture was taken with a cell phone in the pitch dark. Even photoshop could not save it.)