Conspiracy Theory

You know I have a theory about all of these fires that have popped up in the last day or two. They're saying that a lot of the fires that have occurred so far in the state are because of people doing target practice. That's practical. But you wanna know what I think? I think that it's all a conspiracy. This is my theory. They're just saying the fires are being started by target practice to cover up the truth. Why would they want to cover up that truth you ask. Well I haven't figured that out yet, but I'm sure of my theory. 

On another note today I actually did something with another human being today. It was way fun. My Pal Rachel and I were planning on going to see The Avengers but the blasted show was sold out. So instead we got Jamba Juice and cupcakes from the Cocoa Bean. It was fun to actually hang out with someone outside of my family.

Also you need to watch this video. It's so sweet. I love Phillip Phillips. He's the best. And I think that movie is that cutest, sweetest thing ever. Also I love that song. 

Well ya'll enjoy your lives. I'm off to go watch the smoke fill the skies. 

What a Dump

Today all my wildest dreams came true. After much anticipation I finally saw The Avengers. Since I saw the trailer for it I could not wait to see it, only I hadn't seen any of the movies that lead up to it. I wanted to see all of those wonderful movies before I watched The Avengers.

So every time I was at a Redbox I would look to see if they had one of the movies. Captain America was the first one they actually had. We watched that and then I went out on the hunt for Thor. Now that is quite the story.

You see I had to do some shopping at Macey's so I planned on checking the Redbox there. I did. They didn't have it. I had to stay in that general area though because I would have to pick up Susie soon, so I swung by the 7-11 on University and checked that Redbox. No luck. I still had time to blow until I had to pick up Susie and I had things that would go bad in a hot car so I called Jeff and asked if I could hang out at his place for awhile since it was just down the street.

So I went over there put my things in his fridge then walked into the living room and what was there sitting on  the couch? Thor! I couldn't believe it. So I returned it for them then got it for myself. Then the Redbox NEVER seemed to have Iron Man (1 or 2) and when they did it was always Blue-Ray and we don't have a Blue-Ray player.

Eventually we got those and watched it. The Hulk we just had to buy cause nowhere seemed to have it. Now after all my determination I have seen all of those movies and The Avengers. Oh that glorious movie! Today has just been the most marvelous day. On top of all my wildest dreams coming true I had the day off! The one thing better than making money is having the day off. Don't get me wrong, I love my job it's just nice to have a lazy day.

Today I have been overly friendly and it has been very embarrassing. Let me explain. Well to start off let me say that riding in the back of a police car gets you tons of attention. Everyone stares. Why? Probably cause they think you are some felon being arrested or something. One time these people would not stop staring at Susie and I when we were in the back of my Dad's car so we milked it and we milked it good. We started acted like what we assumed someone being arrested would act like. It was fun.

Anyways today I was stuck in the back of my Dad's car again. We were turning onto Geneva and I thought I saw my Uncle Jim in a car. So I started to wave. Only it wasn't him. It was some old man. And he probably thought I was some psycho person who was being brought to the mental hospital. And then my Mom and I were driving down 820 and we thought we saw Jeff driving the other way. So we waved. It wasn't him. Moral of the story, I need to not wave at people anymore.

Anyways I think I've rambled enough. I want to go look at the pretty blue sky. Oh wait, that's not possible. Stupid Dump Fire.

A friendless Bum.

I'm a friendless bum. 

I have no people my age that have a desire to be my friend. But that is A-ok! Why? Because I just go hang out with my parents at their work and hang out with all the old rich people. That's right I hang out with State Legislatures and my Dad's fellow Troopers. In the past week I have "hung out" with them twice. 

Yesterday there was some shindig and the EVO (Emergency Vehicle Operations I think) Track. This place is the greatest thing since sliced bread. What do they have here? They have a life size video game and a track where they wreck old police cars. That my peeps, is your tax dollars hard at work. 

Ok. So they don't really crash cars all day and there isn't really one big video game. This place is where they practice how to respond to emergencies safely in their cars and how to do sweet things like Pit-Maneuvers. They have a driving simulator where you can practice speeding through traffic to respond to a crash or chase somebody or anything like that. 

It's really cool and fun. When I did it I was pretty good. Especially when you just had to go down a straight road with all green lights. The guys in there kept telling me I was good at it but I think they were just being nice. I especially sucked it up when they made me do a pit-maneuver. I did it three times on the simulator and out of those three times I crashed twice. It's harder than it looks. Especially when it's just on a computer and your break is as still as I'll get out. At least I wasn't like the Legislator next to me who just drove up onto the sidewalk and was running over pedestrians. 

The really fun part of yesterday was when we got to sit in on a real pit-maneuver. I was terrified. I'd been watching people doing it all day, just waiting for one of the cars to roll. They never did so I finally braved it. There were two cars and three siblings that would be doing this so this meant one of us would have to be in a  car alone. 

I was not going to let this be me. For those of you who really truly know me you know when I am THE MOST paranoid person alive. I did not want to have to brave this terrifying thing alone. But I had to. And to make matters even worse this was my conversation with the guy driving. "So are you Johnson kin?" "Yep. Are you going to kill me. I'm so scared. With my luck this is going to be the time someone dies from this" "Only ten people have been injured from rolling." "WHAT?!" You can roll?"

Why on earth would you tell an already terrified person that? And to make things even better, in the front seat there is absolutely nothing to hold on to except for that little handle on the door that you pull on, to shut the door. Any ways so we did the pit maneuver and I didn't die. It was actually a ton of fun. 

When we got home that night I found out the guy that was driving the car I was in was making fun of me while he was talking to my mom. How rude. But lets be real I probably would have made fun of me if I was him. 

So moral of this blog post. Friendless bum? Just go to work with your Mom and Dad and you'll make tons of new friends. 

A Beginning and an End

Well the day I thought would never come has indeed come and gone. Graduation was yesterday! Growing up I always looked forward to graduation but always thought it was too far away and that I would never live to see the day (yes I had weird logic). Yesterday just seemed so surreal to me. I was beyond excited but I didn't want to believe that it was really happening. I didn't feel I was ready to say goodbye to the life of being a teenager in High School. I was and still am beyond excited that I am done with High School but I feel like last night I said goodbye to my childhood. The ceremony was so fun. It was fabulous to go to a graduation and actually be the one graduating. I am way glad I am done with High School but I'm also a little sad. It's all definitely bitter sweet. After graduation I went to the all night party. I am so glad I went. It was a blast. We went up to the Boondocks and just partied the night away. While there I also drove some go karts. It was so much fun. I loved being able to speed around a track as recklessly as I wanted. There was also a Hipnotist at the party and watching all that was a real hoot! It was all in all a fun, fun day and night. I didn't want it to end. I wish I could have just stayed in that day for forever. But that is not possible, so I'll move on to bigger and greater things. Yesterday was an end to childhood and a beginning to adulthood.

Oh, really? Is that so?

It's been awhile. Why? Because I swear my brain is is good for nothing as of late and I can never remember anything! It's really quite annoying! But don't worry I've found some brain exercises on Pinterest that claims you'll have a stronger brain in 10 days! Haha I wish. But I'm sure if I looked on Pinterest I could find something to that effect.

Pinterest is so great! I love it. It is whats going to keep me alive in college. I've designated my "Delish" board to be my recipe book that never got made for me for college. It's brilliant I know!

Speaking of college, if you would have mentioned college to me 6 months ago I would look at you in despair for bringing up such a horrible subject. I used to say that I hoped the Second Coming would happen before I came of college age so I wouldn't have to go. If you mention college to me today I get all giddy and start jumping off the walls.

I've got senioritis big time and I cannot wait to go to college. Next fall I will be going up to Utah State! I'm pretty excited. It's going to be big for me though. Logan is pretty far for me. You see I'm the kind of person where if I was invited to a party on a Friday night but I knew my family was going to watch a movie together that night I'd rather stay home with my fam!

If I ever plan on having a social life or ever getting married I should probably change that. Anyways back to Utah State... So I'm excited to go up there but I'm kind of forcing myself to go because if I don't I don't think I'll ever fully grow up.

So now I'm just prepin for the big league! I still need to apply for housing but there's a stinking $150 application fee and as of right now I am not made of money. That's also why I've been applying for scholarships like there's no tomorrow.

The other day I went with my Mom to work and right now the legislative session is going on so she is up at the capital all day. When I was there I told her I was going to ask all those rich politicians if they wanted to give me a scholarship. I had no success. After they all told me no I told them I would never vote for them. (I can vote now, well not officially. I just have to actually mail in my registration then I am an official voter)

That's just one of the many joys of being 18! 18 is the greatest age I have ever experienced. I love that I am now able to play the "I'm an adult you can't make me do that" card on my Mom and Dad. I'm sure they love that too! (Even though most of the time I'm joking but it still usually works). Also let me just say the most satisfying feeling as of late is being able to sign your own things like permission slips and such! The only thing I've yet to do is bye dry ice. I need to get on that.

Well I just sat here at my computer trying to think of something else to write about but nothings coming so I will conclude this post now.

This post is now concluded.

Pictures from New York

The Smith Family Log Home

The Sacred Grove was so beautiful

An awesome candid picture of Niles I got

One of the best days of my life...

The Statue of Liberty

The Survival Tree at the 9/11 Memorial

9/11 Memorial

9/11 Memorial.. So Beautiful

The Cathedral by the 9/11 Memorial

Time Square!!

Ed Sullivan Theater

First sight of Central Park. What an odd sculpture eh?

That would be Trump Tower

First view of NYC

Taking a quick nap before seeing the city.

New York!!

Thanks to Jeff and Ariel my family and myself got to go to New York. J & A got married in the Palmyra Temple on September 29. So that week we headed out there and saw all the sights. It was a really exciting trip for many reasons. For one it was most of us kids first flight. I must say I was terrified. I wasn't scared of being up in the air and crashing or anything I was just scared that I would get way claustrophobic. Well I got on the plane and it wasn't bad at all. So my worst fear ever turned into something I really love to do. How grand! This trip was also one of the very first REAL vacations my family has ever taken. Yes we are very deprived.
So we took a red eye flight out on Sunday night. We got there early Monday morning. When we flew in it was really foggy and I was excited because I thought it would be nice and cool. Once we walked outside it most definitely was not cool. It was hot, humid and it smelled very strongly of cigarette smoke. It was horrible. I hate humidity. I didn't even think that New York would be humid but clearly I was wrong. We flew into JFK and our hotel was about five minutes away in Queens. Queens is a lovely place. So lovely that I will never live there. Having lived in Utah all my life I'm not used to places like Queens at all so it was quite a wake up call. Our hotel was very intimidating from the outside. But luckily the inside wasn't so bad.
Having had no sleep that night we took an hour nap then headed into the Big Apple. We took our first ever taxi ride which really isn't that cool at all. The taxi man turned on the radio and a horrible song that swore horrible words every other word was on. But the man wasn't that bad just his choice in music. He then took us to the subway station. I was way excited to ride the subway. Why? Because of Madigascgar. It just seemed like such an adventure on that movie. Well it's not that way. At least in Queens it's not. It is so muggy down there and (suprisingly) smells of cigarette smoke. Then once we got on the subway it was so hot. And we had to stand. And I was scared of everyone around me. (Not very shocking if you know me).
Well we finally made it to NYC and we walked out anticipating this wonderful place that we've always dreamed of seeing but we got off the subway and we all felt like puking. And it was so hot. So we got some Diet Cokes to get rid of our headaches and to calm our troubled stomachs. We also got a pretzel from a street vendor to help with our wanting to vomit. But we still walked around and saw all the sights. We walked down some street that the Trump Tower is on that led us to Central Park. Central Park is huge and so cool. After there we headed to The Ed Sullivan Theater (naturally) we got in trouble for trying to take pictures of the front lobby of the theater. Cause apparently it's super secret in there!? After there we headed toward Time Square and on the way we saw Carnigie Hall. Then we made it to Time Square. I thought it was so fun there. There was a band playing this amazing music that just made you want to dance and everywhere you look there is something to see. It was so cool.
Wow this is turning into a play-by-play. Oh well. I'll find it fascinating in the future. After time square we dreaded the subway again to get to lower Manhattan. This time it wasn't that bad because we had seats and it was air conditioned. When we got to lower Manhattan we had tickets to see the 9/11 memorial. We got there a little early so we went to a Cathedral across the street that survived the 9/11 attacks and it was SOOO close. It was a cool place because it was surrounded by all these ancient head stones. Also I thought it was cool because on the 9/11 anniversary this year I watched this thing that I believe was called 9/11: Ten Years Later and it talked about how one of the very first firefighters to die that was also like a preacher for the fire department was carried over there and laid under a statue. So I don't know why but I thought it was cool to be there. Then we got to actually see the memorial which was so cool. Definitely and experience I will never forget.
After the memorial we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the lovely Statue of Liberty. Then we saw Wall Street and had to get some authentic New York pizza which was delicious. After that we were exhausted and we didn't want to be around when it got dark because of all the CSI shows we've seen. So we hustled to the blasted subway again and headed back to lovely Queens. It was scary trying to get on the subway this time because all us kids got through but for some reason the metro card wasn't working for our parents so we were seperated for a while. But needless to say we got back and we didn't get lost. But once in queens we had to wait for our taxi and it was so scary being out and about in Queens at night. I thought I would surly die. Thankfully none of us did.
The next day Jeff, Russell and Leigh Ann flew in and we drove in the amazing 12 seater van to Palmyra. The drive was like 5 stinking hours long. But we made it. Palmyra was my favorite. It is so incredibly beautiful there. It's just beautiful country surrounded by trees. (I couldn't believe how many trees there are in New York) We got there late so we didn't get to see any of the church history sights. So we checked into our awesome hotel. I really loved that hotel. The next morning we went to the Sacred Grove. That place was so amazing. I could have just sat in there all day everyday. I wish I lived closer so I could go more often. We also checked out the Smith Family farm. The next day was Jeff and Ariel's wedding which was so neat. The Palmyra temple was so beautiful. After the festivities we went to the Sacred Grove again, then the Hill Cumorah, and Peter Whitmere's Farm. That night we went to Albany because the reception was the next night. On Saturday we headed back to JFK so we could fly home.
The trip was so amazing and fun and I want to go back any chance I can. I have pictures but this post is already way to long because I had to give every little detail so I'll have to do pictures on another post.