Merlin!

So I've been so busy lately, and I haven't had any time for nanowrimo for days, but I thought I may as well put this on for fun. The latest episode of Merlin, season 2, "The Lady of the Lake" It's so sad, but I love it, maybe because I have a strange obsession with Colin Morgan/Merlin. Besides when Gwen thought he was dead in season 1 episode 4, he's never been kissed. But he meets a prisoner druid girl with a curse, but takes care of her, and falls in love with her. I love it...I know so mushy, but to me it's amazing. Here's pics. In some, the girl looks kind of grimy, but hey, she's a prisoner! And she looks prettier depending on her expressions.

Uhhhhhhh

Well, it's been a while since I've updated. Hope you don't mind. But nothing too exciting has been happening that you'd find interesting. Hmmm, well this is the official marker for the first week of NaNoWriMo. I have 8336 words as of today, and have gone from page 36 to 52 on my word document version of the book. I wrote Chapters 9-12 during this week.
Today was Stake Conference, and since Dad doesn't come to our ward anymore, and Mom was going to be in the stake choir, I was all alone. But whenever I do have to sit at church alone, it always seems destiny that someone will find me. That's how it was today. I came an hour early with Mom, and tried to find a seat, but didn't want to sit waaaaaaaaaay back, so I found a seat that was the only one not saved on its row, and I found out a few minutes later that that was where my friend Megan was sitting. Being the nice person she was, she let me sit with her family. And Jacob came over to show off his nieces and nephews for me. I love my friends!
Well, that's about all I can think of. To my friends, Happy Writing! Love you guys!

NaNoWriMo

Okay, I'm way excited for this, and I've desperately needed something to post about, so this is so perfect! Basically, this is a heads-up for next month, November, which is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, which I started doing last year.
So here's some info on it:

A full-length novel is at least 50,000 words. There are two sites for NaNoWriMo. The first is the adult side, where you try to write a 50,000 word novel that month. The other is a Young Writer's Program version (which I suggest for teens, cause of school), where you can make yourself a goal to try and reach it. It's always harder because of school.

You can make an account online on either of the sites. If you give them your email, they will send you email advice from various authors (I reccomend!)

For more info, click on this link:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

My own experiences of NaNoWriMo:

I'm sure all of you guys know this stuff, but I'll put it on anyway.

Last year was my first time doing NaNoWriMo. I wrote a brand new story that I made up just for this once-a-year opportunity. It was called Mist. I didn't finish the book that month, but I did on the very last day of January, exactly three months, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without this site. I'm not done editing (and I have NO IDEA when I WILL be done...), but right now, the finished product is over 63,000 words, so I'm happy.

This year, I'm doing the sequel to Mist, Charm. I've already started it, and am currently working on Chapter Seven. Technically, you're not supposed to start your novel until November, but I'm just going to subtract the words I already had before I started for November, and use that score. I'm happy, because my chapters are getting longer, my friends say they are getting hooked on this one faster than Mist, and I already have 15,000 words, which is 3/10 of the way!!!

So seriously, sign up! It'll be fun!

Merlin Season 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the second season of Merlin came out in the UK on Saturday, so Alien and I watched the first episode today! One comes out every week, so we will always get together on Mondays to watch it! I'm so excited! Merlin is the best!!!!!!!!

Love you all!

Help?!

Sorry about the blog neglect. I will be better, but now that school's started, I haven't been so good. But I'm going to beg for help, even though I obviously need to find something for myself, but this is my last year for doing science fair, and I really need an idea. Does anyone have any good ideas?

Laura <3

Merlin

So there is a show on BBC called Merlin that Alien showed me (she also showed me BBC Robin Hood, but that's not nearly as good). It's based on the legend of Merlin, obviously, and how he has the gift of magic that he must keep secret because King Uther forbids magic, and how it is his destiny to help Arthur become King.
For some reason, I am like, totally obsessed with it now, and it's like my favorite tv series ever! All the episodes aren't out in America yet, and they just finished the first season in the UK, so it will be a while before season 2 is out, which stinks, because it is at a HORRIBLE CLIFFHANGER!!!!!! I watched all the episodes on Youtube in 5 part segments.
Alien and I are both infatuated with the two main guys. She loves Arthur (aka- Bradley James), and ok, I admit he's pretty cute too, but I prefer Merlin (aka- Colin Morgan), even though he's cute in a weirder way. In my opinion, he rocks. Even though his brown jacket, blue shirt, and red scarf totally clash, that's like, my favorite outfit of his. Anyway, so yeah, I am very obsessed!

Here's the main cast:

Colin Morgan- Merlin
Angel Coulby- Gwen
Bradley James- Arthur
Katie McGrath- Morgana
Anthony Head- Uther
Richard Wilson- Gaius
(with John Hurt as the voice of the dragon!)

Some Old Friends

Dad, Mom, my friend Jessica, and I went to Cody, Wyoming this week to visit our old friends the Dovers. They were serving a mini-mission there, so we were able to tour a lot of Wyoming.

Thursday we traveled around Yellowstone. That was very fun! Old Faithful wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but that was okay! There were lots of other fun things to do there.



We don't have hardly any geyser pics, which is really a shame because they were pretty awesome. But this one was my favorite. It's called the Dragon's Mouth Spring. It was blackish water, and it growled like a dragon. There was a little cavwern in the back, and it kept on looking like a dragon was going to come out, because smoke was coming out of it.



Jessica and I had a fun time wading in the stream!

Friday, we were around Yellowstone as well, but we did a lot of other things too. We fed fat chipmunks, went to the top of the world (no joke!), and went to a beautiful cascade we renamed Dishwasher Cascade. There was a really pretty trail there that went a little ways up it, and traveling on it, we discovered giant mushrooms! That's why we named the trail Passage to Fairyland!



Help! We're falling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



"I'm on top of the world!!!!"



BFFS!




The first evidence of fairies...



I "Rock"!

We ate lunch in Montana. I know that sounds crazy, but we did! There was a little part of where we were driving where we cut into Montana, and there was a pretty picnic site there, so that's where we ate! Beyond the trail, there was a creek with lots of rocks. My dad skipped them really well, and Jessica and I attempted to, but ended up throwing in big rocks to hear them clunk for the fun of it!



Dad's a pro!



I found a rock that sort of looked like a gun, and I couldn't help myself!

Another fun thing about that day, was that there were tons and tons of buffalo! They were everywhere! They were even really close, and sometimes walked slowly across the road (though, none of us complained about the hold up. It was so funny!) We did see a bear, but it was really far away, and you couldn't see its front...




At the end of the day, we saw a lot of scenic water falls that were really incredible!







Saturday, we went to the church where the Dovers work, and saw the mural painted there. It was wonderful! We also went to the Buffalo Bill Museum that day, and found it very interesting. That evening, we watched Miss Potter (a movie about the author of Peter Rabbit) in the church theater.



This is one of my favorite shows!




Sister Dover moved into our ward in Georgia when I was only three. She was my first piano teacher, and I can't tell you how glad I am because of it. The Dovers have been delightful friends, that we are still blessed to keep in contact with. Thanks so much for letting us come by, and thanks, Jessica! I hope you had fun. I look forward to our next get together (we ARE still thinking about Scotland, right?!?!?!?!).

I Thought this was Important enough for its Own Post!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! For the last month I have my braces on, I have to wear rubber bands! Oh well, it will straighten my teeth even better, and I get my braces off the day before school starts!

Ohio Standage's and Cedar Hills Standage's Family Updates

I am extremely sorry this is so belated. But if you didn't get it from my last post, we went to Cincinnati, Ohio to hang with my brother, Stephen, sister-in-law Laura Beth, and their kids, Rachel, and the twins Maren and Michael three weeks ago. We did a lot of fun stuff while we were there.



Daddy giving a scripture



Maren and Michael chilling with Grandma!



Rachel chilling with Aunt Lar-Lar!



We went up to Kentucky to spend the night there and go see Mammoth Caves the next day. Upon our arrival, we went out for pizza. Yum!



I thought this picture was priceless!



Some pool fun at the hotel!



The next day, we went to Mammoth cave, which was really fun and interesting, and...didn't have HUMIDITY! The air felt cool and great!



Also that day, we went to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. I think the kids' favorite part was making creations out of the lincoln logs!



Pretty inspirational, huh?







Monday was our "Fun"-day at an Amusement park called Coney Island. It was mostly kid oriented, but it was still really fun. Rachel went on a rollercoaster, and I overcame my fear of ferris wheels, and we went swimming at the end of the day!





Tuesday, we went to the airforce museum! I just love that picture of Stephen! That day, Great-Grandma (well, Grandma to me...) came up to spend some of the trip with us. We love you!



Wednesday was completely devoted to Harry Potter. I'm so happy we got to see it on opening day! Stephen and Laura Beth went first while we watched the kids, then we traded off!



Thursday was kind of another hang out day, but we went to the library and got a book that I had been looking for to read. My sister Juli and her kids listened to the audio book and loved it, so tried to read it to Rachel, but she's a little younger than Emily and Sadie, so she wasn't interested. I read it in only an hour or so, and loved it. Then I read about twelve chapters in the car to Mom and Dad, and finished reading it with Mom that day, Dad finished it on his own. We all loved it! I recommend it to everyone. You're kids will love it, and so will you, and you will learn a great deal! It's called "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane", by Kate DiCamillo.



Friday was zoo fun! This was one of my favorite parts, since I love animal interaction. This little guy started playing with my hair when I tried to leave. How cute!



Is this guy adorable or what? I can't believe Stephen thought he was ugly!



Eating lunch with the peacocks!





These three manatee pictures are dedicated to Alien! Rock on!



After the zoo, we got to tour the hospital where Stephen works! We're so proud of you!


Our last big day of fun: we went to Amish country. The kids loved playing on the homemade swing sets and gazebos, and we got some pastries!



Another fun highlight was that the kids enjoyed playing human bridge with me in the girls' room. Maren especially liked this, and kept asking me to play that and "Teddy Bear" in her room!



Can't wait to see you guys next summer! I sure love those kids!