Long time, no....write?

It's been a while, I will admit, but life has been so BUSY!!! Little Alison was born, and she is just an angel. Love her with all my heart. I started my new semester at school, and it's actually turning out pretty fun :)

My english class is still the bomb, I love every minute of it, although, my poor english class. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a handful, so yeah, imagine me in a class room where I can argue about absolutely anything I want to. My mecca :D

My reportcard was decent. All A's and one B. The B was in math shocker. Sometimes I wonder if i made the right choice going into this class, but I guess it's too late to back out now.

Currently I am writing a Novel for a scholorship oportunity. I am hoping that it will help me pay for college expenses since for the life of me, I can't seem to get a JOB! Man I have applied everywhere, and I don't know what else to do. It sucks too because I can't get my licence until I have a job so, DARN IT!! Yeah I might have my permit forever :'(

Anyway, I've missed talking to all of you. I miss all the family far away. I love you all (especially if you are taking the time to read my nonsense) have a great week, and valentines day!!

<3
Rachel Whitmer

Snowflakes

So I wrote this for my school newspaper. I don't know if it will be published or anything, but I am submitting it anyway! Let me know what you think!
Rachel

Snowflakes line the sky in winter time, or at least we wish they did in Oregon. However, if you take the time to examine each snowflake you will notice that everyone is just a little different. They might be similar, but never the same.

Such is the human race. But let’s narrow it down to Springfield High School only. Have you ever felt like your nothing in this huge mass of people we like to call high school? Sometimes it’s like no one cares about you, except you. And when it gets to that, it’s feels like, what’s the point?

Here’s the point, everyone is special, everyone is different, and everyone can make a difference. No one can be you, except you.

It’s like every person is a snowflake. Each one is very different, but when all combine together, it makes the most beautiful landscape, that can just take your breath away.

Sometimes it is easy to compare ourselves to each other. Maybe you look at someone who is better than you at something, and jealousy races in. But would you really change places with that person?

This winter season, as shoppers go crazy, and parents stress themselves out, the challenge is, to appreciate who you are. Find your place in the mass of snowflakes that will hopefully be lining the ground on Christmas morning.

Learn to enjoy who you are, knowing that you are the only one who can truly be you. Every person at Springfield High School is special, and each one has a special purpose in making our landscape beautiful.

Newspaper

I decided that I was going to free lance write for the Newspaper at school this year, and I was all excited, but then I was writing my article and I realized that no high school kid in the right mind is going to be interested in this! FYI: I'm writting about Obama, and how the decisions in government directly effect each student. Ya, so far, anyone I have asked is bored before I finish describing the article. I feel like I am wasting my time. I wonder if journalists ever feel like they are totally wasting there time?
All I know is that I think the Disney Movies article is awesome! I think it is fun and uplifting and that kids might actually like it, but newspaper doesn't want it because it isn't serious enough. Just in my opinion, I think that you need to write for your audience! I mean why put out a paper that no kid is interested in! Ugh.
Anyway, i will have to put up the Disney piece in a little bit. I love it. But it isn't quite done yet because I thought I wasn't going to ever use it. But at least i can use it on my blog! haha anyway, if I get published in the school newspaper, then I will put the other article on to.

Tired!!! Oh and P.T.C

I am soooo tired!!! I haven't posted in a while sorry, and I really don't have much going on. Ah...O but here's a bit of interesting news, or at least an interesting thought, my mom is going to her first Parent Teacher Conference for a child in high school! They are on thursday, and I'm a bit nervous. Not that she's meeting with them, I mean mom is completely chill. But the teachers she's meeting with are a bit wierd. Don't get me wrong they are the teachers of my 3 favorite classes! But definately wierd. She's meeting 1. Saunders at 4:00 then 2. Schmidt 4:10 3. Lovdokken 4:20. Saunders is my english teacher, Schmidt is my math teacher, and Lovdokken is my Government teacher, and... he's over Newspaper! Which is the coolest class ever. :) So she is meeting with them, and I haven't decided if I should go too or not, but I have been invited. We'll just have to see.
Besides that, I'm making progress on my short novel, and dad is sick. So for once in the Whitmer home we're hanging on the DL (for those un linguistic people, that means DOWN LOW...haha) And as for me...I'm pooped!

Hector the Hero of Troy

Alright I wrote another essay for english, and I'm not sure it's my best work but I think it's good. So let me know what you think.

Hector the Hero
By: Rachel Whitmer

True, strong, intelligent, caring, and honorable, all terms that describe the hero of the Trojan War. Hector of Troy, a family man, and a dominating warrior; lead an army to fight against the army of Agamemnon and Achilles. Fear seems to never cross the mind of Hector, as he marches on to face his doom, against the rage filled Achilles. Honor to Hector is an action. He shows that in each and every choice he makes to do good. And with the love of his wife and country he does his best to live and love with the passion of everyday like it’s his last.

The inspiring hero of Greece leads strength and power into a battle of uncertainty. His dear wife, supporting his endeavors and strong moral ideals. Everything he’s done in this war has been for the honor of his family, our great and noble troy, and for himself. His wife had a moment of uncertainty and in desperate attempts to save his life and make him stay with her and their son, she yelled “Reckless one, my Hector-your own fiery courage will destroy you! Have you no pity for him, our helpless son?...Pity me, please! Take your stand on the rampart here,”(p.376). But alas, she took a step back and is now supporting him, in fact she even “laughed as well,”(p.378).

Even with the concern of his loving family, Hector marches off to meet Achilles in a battle that is soon to be his last. And after a tretorous trick played by the tedious Athena, causing him to face Achilles thinking he had the force of a god behind him, he turns to face and with a grave thought prying at the back of his mind he began to realize that he had been tricked, and with his last breath he begs, “Please, return my body to troy,”(p. ). But the terrible rage of Achilles could not be tamed by the soft gentle words of a true hero. And so, our general is slain, and laid to the grave, never to return.

The end is tragic, but the beginning, and the middle is a story to look up to. It’s the life lived, and the honor earned that shows his true heroism. And if we take a break for just a moment in time we might even realize that someday this wonderful story of our long never ending war, may inspire a new generation to find the true hero’s that lie in their own societies.

Healthy Choice...really it CAN have taste :)

So I came up with some great recipes for chicken, and it's really very healthy! I know wierd huh? Yummy and healthy?? They are complete oposites! But really it's good. So here it is,
Grab a pad of paper, this is what you'll need:
1.I like to use teriyaki chicken breasts from costco and use them, I think they have a better flavor :D

2.Grab some Lime juice. Mmmmmm LIME.

3.Get a small tube of REAL bacon, bacon bits. You wont use very much, but the flavor isn't right without it. Scouts honor.

4.GARLIC!!! You can't cook without garlic. I mean who DOES THAT???

5.One RED and YELLOW/ORANGE bell pepper.

Ok so do you have your ingredients?? Don't read on until you have them. I'll wait....got them now?? ok...

YAY!! You have your ingredients! Now heres the hard part. Get out a...SAUCE PAN!!! Yay ok, now turn the stove on, and if you don't know how, then you really should not be allowed to cook. Haha. Now while your waiting for that to heat up, chop your thawed chicken into thin slices. Alright, is that done? Now throw it in the pan and let it heat up, but right as it begins to brown, throw in some LIME juice, and some bacon bits (about the size of a quarter in your palm), oh and don't forget the garlic!! :) let that all simmer in and constantly stir so it doesn't burn. Then chop up your peppers, about half of each one, and toss them in. But you want them to still be crunchy! And you know, don't be afraid to pick at the food and taste it all along the way!!

After you finish that, slide it onto a plate and serve with a favorite vegatable, and homemade whole wheat bread! It's AMAZING! And really it's easier than it sounds :)

Let me know what you thought!

Stand up

When someone questions our morals, I wonder whether we stand by and pretend that nothing happened, or if we, stand up and let people know exactly what we believe. Is our excuse that it's hard? Or maybe it's that we don't wan't to ruffle feathers. I think it's past the time to do nothing. We have to do SOMETHING. If we stand idoly by than nothing will ever get done.
Have we even set morals for ourselves? When people walk by, do they know, "hey hey thats that chick, she doesn't curse, and you better not curse around her,". Or is it more like, "Oh hey, there is that girl, that never stands up for herself, I bet we can get her to do some pretty stupid stuff,". When you walk down the hallway of your schools, do people know who you are? Or do they just think your a nobody. Are you a light or do you like to hide in the darkness.
Have you ever believed in something??? Haven't you ever just wanted to stand up and say "No. I believe in this, and no, I DON'T agree,". The real question is CAN you do that. Or are you content with sitting by and doing nothing. NOTHING. NOTHING is not GOOD. You have to stand up for something in your life. Don't let people tell you it's ok, and your just being OLD FASHIONED. YOUR NOT. That is called having MORALS. It's time each one of us define who we are. We can't be indecisive anymore. It's hurting us. One voice is heard. Because ONE voice can inspire a THOUSAND.
When I see my peers getting into things that they shouldn't, it hurts me. I wish i could help them, but it isn't my choice. Wouldn't it be so much easier to make those simple decisions before your faced with that dificult decision.
Maybe it's just me but how can we live knowing we didn't stand up for ANYTHING in our lives. I constantly am making ruffles, I think anyone that knows me, knows that I believe very strongly in many things. I may be confused a lot. I mean, I don't thing that anyone thinks more about their future than I do, and can I just say it's exaughsting(I am a terrible speller by the way)!! I never relax anymore! (Besides blogging, I love blogging!)
This is probably the most ramndom blog I have ever written, and reading it over, it really probably wont make sense to anyone but me. But I just have to say. When pressured about things, most of the time I know my response. I know what I will say. And MANN I hope you guys do too! BELIEVE IN SOMETHING. And please, do something with your life that will make a difference. People will never remember how much money you had, but they will remember what you did with that money. And even if your dirt poor, you CAN make a difference. Let NO ONE tell you, you can't do it. Because you CAN. Mann, am I ever learning that. And it might just be that I am too stuborn to learn, but, I want to do something inspiring with my life. I want to HELP people. I want people to know how wonderful they are, and I WANT them to know how special and different each one of them are. And if I make only a difference in 1 persons life, it'll truely be worth it. I know it will. Mann, the more people I meet the more I realize how wonderful each person really, really is. Each person remember, that somewhere, someone truely loves you. And Please make your life an oportunity and a chance for a better future.

TEST!!!!!!

I am freaking out again!!!! I have two tests tomorrow!!! And I can't help but stressing. :'( I'm a stress-o-holic. AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't fail...I CAN'T!!! AH!!!!! ok ok, calming...AH!!!!!!!!!! Nevermind!!!!!!!! Freaking out again. AH!!!!!! ok ok...I'm good

Cookies!!!

So it seems to me that every time Elizabeth Thramer comes over to my house we make cookies. It's so rediculous. But they're soooooo GOOD! And I am pretty sure that my teachers don't mind either. I tend to share :)

It's great though. She has made the decision to be baptised a member of the church and I am so proud of her. It has made such a wonderful difference in my life and I do hope that she realizes how wonderful truth makes you feel.
Anyway, the Sister Missionaries are over at our house like every Sunday to give her a discussion so we always like to have something for them to munch on.

Today we made chocolate chip cookies but we made sugar cookies like 2 weeks ago and that was way to fun!! It was great. The dough stuck to our hands like super glue and I felt like I stuck to everything I touched! And the great thing about cooking cookies today was....brace yourself....we had....MATCHING APRONS!!!! AH!!!! I know I can hardly stand it. :D
Don't worry that strange look you have on your face right now. It's being recorded. Your on candy CAMERA!! haha :) yay me.
Sorry about that wierd tangent there. Another great thing about today was i got to take school pictures! Woohoo! But more importantly, I got to take a picture with the greatest grandma in the whole world. Oh did you want to see it? Well ok, since you asked so nicely.

Ya and to end this rather lengthly blog, sorry, heres my school picture! Or at least the one I like the best. Mom has a different opinion...:)

Ah isn't ^ that girl adorable!!!? I think so! Oh wait it's me! haha

My Testimony

We just got back from youth conference and I would just like to say I have never been so gald to have been raised in the true gospel of Christ. I know without a doubt that he lives and loves each one of us. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of god and he translated the Book of Mormon as another witness of Jesus Christ. I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I witness it is the one and only true church on the earth today. And for anyone who doubts it, Read the Book of Mormon. It is true. I have never believed that more than I do now. And I am so lucky to live in a family and in a place where I can stand for what I believe in so strongly.

OCD and perfection

This past week I have been feeling as if I can't do anything the way I want to. Have you ever had one of those days where it feels like no matter how hard you try, you can't do anything right? Ya well imagine that for a week and you can imagine my stress level.

I know that I shouldn't stress myself out about little things, but I can't help it. Have you ever just wanted something to be absolutely perfect? Like, I don't know, example: You have been working on this painting for like 2 months and you love it, but then you keep picking it apart until you hate it again, and then you just keep working and working and working, until you can look at it again and say, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture." But you know what I've learned this week? It might be a perfect picture, but it isn't art anymore. It's just a stupid picture someone spent 2-3 months outta their lives on that ya, might be perfect, but is a little boring. I begining to feel the same way about school, and writting and I'm not quite sure, but I feel a little bit of everything. I'm not this great scientist or some amazing mathmatician. I'm not the greatest writer or the famous Historian, but I am me. And taking these hard classes and working as hard as I can is just a pit stop for me. And I hope that maybe someday when I get through this (if I get through this) I can help other people realize that they are great the way they are. And the first step of perfection is making mistakes.

Anyway so back to my OCDness. I didn't sleep at all last night because I had freaked myself out about this essay I've been re-writting and re-writting and re-writting and then I hadn't finished all my math, and I couldn't sing the songs in choir right, and on and on and on....and then about 4 or 4:30am I fell asleep, and didn't make it to seminary in the morning because I was way to tired!! I hated that feeling! I feel totally jipped! From sleep and seminary and it seems like everything. So when I walked into my former math teachers room this morning and said "I think I am OCD.", he just started laughing at me and replied "I've only been telling you that for a year and a half!" which made me laugh, even though I was about /\ that close to falling asleep.

This all boils down to my reslove however. I have resolved that I can't be perfect, and that I'm not going to kill myself trying. I'm going to try and just cool off for a bit, and maybe if I'm lucky, catch up on some sleep. The only thing that is keeping me going right now is the cookies my friend Breanne keeps feeding me to keep me awake. Thank goodness for friends is all I have to say. And besides that I've just got one last thought. Loosing sleep over things really doesn't help anything, trust me. All it does is make things worse. It's really true.

Wish me luck! I have to stay awake for like 3 more periods and for Cross Country...haha. Ya, that'll be interesting...

My Essay :-D

I had to write this for english, and it is mostly true, well kinda in a way :) Let me know what you think!

The Haunting Morning
By: Rachel Whitmer

The lights in my mind dimmed as I drifted into sleep. The noises slowed and my soft pink pillow caressed my head as I cuddle with my yellow comforter, in the dark room I live in. My teddy bears guarded me, their princess, as I slipped into my dreams of the upcoming events of tomorrow. Being five years old limits my spectrum of dreaming, but never the less, I was overcome with peace as I drifted into slumber. How could I at this time imagine the horrible outcome of what the devils, I call brothers, would do to me as I woke up the next morning? How could I prepare myself in such a peaceful state of slumber, to be devastated even into tears? There is no preparation for a five year old with two older brothers.

Going to bed the night before was just as natural as it always is, my dear mother tucked my yellow blanket snug around me, as she sang to me about angel’s watching over me as I slept. I could feel my eye lids drooping and I curled into a ball as mother kissed my forehead good night. I believed that each angel my mother sang to me about was actually watching out for me, and so they might have been. Sleep did not escape me long as the soft hum of the heater lulled me to sleep. The dark blues mixed with the lighter yellows on my wall became a blur and the rainbows in my mind began to brighten. My innocent dreams were kind to me, helping me relax into a sweet happiness. And that happiness might have remained with me through the next beautiful day had my parents chosen to make me the only child.
I could see the sun peeking through my white curtains on the far wall, but I fought the feeling to awaken and shoved my head deep into my plush pillow. Warmth surrounded me, and my large calico cat was curled on my feet keeping them warm and my toes toasty. I began to fade quickly again into the chasm of my mind, when I hear my door creek. I peek just a tad to see the white door being pushed toward the direction of my bed. My first thought was that, it might just be my mom checking on me making sure I was still sleeping okay, and then something seemed different. Mom usually sits at the edge of my bed and gently moves my hair from my face and whispers words I can’t hear into the open air. But this wasn’t her. I could feel it, and smell it. My mother smells like Lilies on a gentle spring morning. However, that wasn’t the smell, it was more like dirt and wet socks. The smell alone was ruining my mood, but before I knew it two boys had jumped on me and were dangling a giant spider in front of my soft, hardly awake, face. The older one started tickling up my arm, like a real spider would, and I began screaming. Tears came and I tried closing my eyes but I couldn’t, I was far to scared. I needed to analyze my surroundings, but I couldn’t because my massive brother was pinning me down! I screamed and screamed for my mother, and at last she came barreling into my room with a look that could have been described as death itself. She was not happy, and when mother isn’t happy, no one is.

My brothers climbed off me quickly, it seems that mother didn’t have to say anything the look just said it all. They marched themselves out of my room muttering something about how little sisters ruin everything, and I curled up against my teddy bear and tried to stop crying. After my mother took the boys to their rooms she came back to comfort me, and to try and calm me down. But all I could think about was how I wish I was still sleeping comfortable against my down pillow with my yellow blanket tucked around me. And as if my mom could read my mind she laid me back down in my bed and tucked me in. Making sure the comforter was outlining the shape of my traumatized little body. Then she again, began to sing. And again I began to drift into sleep, but it was different this time. I couldn’t get the image of the spider out of my mind. And since that morning, ten years ago, I still haven’t been able to get the image out of my mind. It haunts me every morning as the sun rises and I hear my door creek.