Okay, so I haven't blogged in forever so I'm just going to start fresh with what's happened in this year so far. You can check the family blog for pictures: holbrookchicago.blogspot.com
In January I celebrated my 16th birthday! I went and saw Bedtime Stories with my parents (awesome movie by the way) and I got my LICENSE!!! So now I drive to seminary alone. It's kind of nice to have some quiet time in the mornings.
We were able to correct some intestinal problems, and since then I've been feeling great, except a little tired. So the kidney people decided to get me some iron infusions and now I feel a whole lot less exhausted. It's a very nice feeling.
My dad got called to be the Bishop, so we see a little bit less of him now.
I ended first semester being sixth in my class 582 - whoo hoo! My goal was to be valedictorian, but I'll live with the top ten. Now I'm in probably the best/worst semester of my life: love global issues and I'm learning a ton about current events. Did you know there are actually pirates?
family joke My English class is actually quite interesting, especiall since we just started rhetoric - sarcastic writing. Health is probably the easiest class ever. I really like creative writing, but our fiction unit is about to end. We did this really cool thing called a 55 word story - it's actually really hard to write a story in 55 words or less! I strongly dislike science, but at least we don't have to do anymore lab reports and I managed to bring my grade up. This is the first time in a long time that I have ever had an A+ in math - I give all the credit to my teacher and her amazingly organized notes that actually make sense. AP European History is fun, but we're racing to the finish since our AP Test is only 27 days away. That's only 27 days to study over 800 years of history. YIKES! But I love my teacher (who happens to be my global issues teacher and is an absolutely amazing person) and the topic, sothe studying is worth it. Dad actually didn't know that you could take an AP test and get college credit, so to him, the $86 for the test is easily worth it - especially if I do well. Spanish is increidbly easy. We finished learning a new tense and our strange video project is done and over with. Now we learn about culture, which is so much easier than vocab and verbs. The yearbook has been shipped off to the printer, so that won't take up my Wednesdays until next school year!
Seminary is awesome! Bro. Rubow is a great teacher and does a great job at inviting the spirit and helping us (at least me) understand the scriptures. We just finished James, and we're getting ready for our big SCRIPTURE MASTERY event on Saturday. If anyone has any ideas on how to get a bunch of sleepy teenagers to seminary on time, I'd appreciate those ideas!! We're supposed to start at 6:15, but we usually start with one or two people around 6:20.
Break was amazing - again look at the family blog for cool pix! We went to DisneyWorld! But on the way there we stopped at the home of the Kentucky Derby - Churchill Downs racetrack! It was gorgeous, huge, and absolutely amazing! Even if you don't like horse racing, I would definitely suggest going to visit to at least say that you've been there. I loved the stunt shows and animation exhibit at MGM Studios. Mom and I got SOAKED on Splash Mountain. The last day, we rented a wheelchair because I was exhausted and having stomach cramps, so we got to go to the front of a bunch of lines. GET A WHEELCHAIR when you go to Disney - it'll save so much time waiting in line! A giraffe stuck his head in a truck ahead of us on Safari at Animal Kingdom - adorable! And the fireworks were absolutely amazing everywhere! We managed to visit all eleven countries at Epcot and we went on Test Track twice. Each morning we woke at the crack of dawn to get to the parks early. The opening shows were really cute, and we did manage to aboid some of the longer lines. We took a monorail break during our visit to Magic Kingdom - we took on to the TTC and then hopped on the one to Epcot. We rode back and forth about three times. We were all rested, and it had AC so we cooled down, too. All in all, it was really fun, and the road trip was definitely worth it. Dad learned from some bad Super 8's over our summer trip and booked some really nice Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn places to stay. Thank you Daddy!
I think that's pretty much it! We're on a four day weekend right now - Good Friday we have off and Monday is an institute day. So we're all hanging out and cleaning the house and making easter cinnamon rolls - YUMMY!
There's a guy named Paul Cardall who is waiting a heart transplant. He's an LDS musician with a little girl. Please pray for him and his family!
Forgot to mention: I got glasses! and my license! And I finished Personal Progress and received my Young Women in Excellence Award from my wonderful Bishop, Daddy.
Love you all!