First paragraph

   There were many problems the Puritans faced as they tried to establish the first settlement in the New World, it was important because it represents the history of our country. The examination of the Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, will reveal that many of the days they encountered starvation, sickness, diseases, and they also had relationship issues with the Indians and the treaty drawn up by the Massasoit. They were very perserverent because they had God on their side to help them get through everything.

What I learned today 11/18/12

How to make Christmas treats!

Just 3 simple ingredients to make a yummy mouth watering holiday treat! M&M's, Hersey kisses, and pretzel's in the shape of an O. Perfect ingredients for a salty and sweet treat. 

First preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Get a regular cookie sheet out and spread the pretzel's out evenly. Then unwrap all the Hersey kissed and place them in the middle of the O pretzels. Place them in the oven but don't leave the room because you're only going to have them in there for only 4 minutes. Right when they come out of the oven push the M&M's on top of each one! Place the pan in the freezer to cool down for an hour. There you have it simple and yummy holiday treats, don't eat too many they're addicting!  

http://houseonhilltop.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/our-favorite-christmas-treat/ 

Holiday Traditions

On Christmas we always take a family picture on the stairs before we can open presents. After opening all the big presents a tradition is we open stockings next. Stockings are my parents favorite thing and it was always a tradition in their family to open them last so we decided to carry it on. Right after stockings we always eat this amazing apple cake that's my mom make. It's warm, fresh, and filling. For the rest of the afternoon we usually hang with the family, watch a movie or whatever. At night we head over to my grandmothers house for a big family get together and have dinner, open presents, and hang out with the family. 

What I learned today 11/8/12

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What I learned today 11/8/12

I learned about Kara Goucher. She grew up in Queens but now is ended up in Beaverton Oregon. She is an amazing athelete, mom, and wife. She has been on the Olympic team twice for the marathon. In the article I read it talks about the Huston Olympic trials for the 2012 team. She said she didn’t feel stressed at all about the trials she was just nervous because she new she would be going up against some pretty strong runners. She knew she had done all the preparation she could. “The last 200 meters has never felt any better” said Kara, she new she would be going to the London Olymipc’s! Her coach and her husband were at the finish line ready to congradulate her.

“Never count yourself out, you never know what you can do” –Kara

 http://karagoucher.competitor.com/2012/02/13/never-count-yourself-out/

Family History

I am Sophia Criswell I am a junior at Tualatin High School: Painter, photographer, dancer, and runner. I interviewed my mom Pamela Criswell, who is very much like me. I chose to interview her because I respect her, she is a good role model, and I constantly strive to be like her. I always love how shes so grateful for everything and is always smiling.   

   Pamela Jane Hill was born on April 14th 1967 in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was the first of three kids; One younger sister and one younger brother. All the way up to 8th grade she lived in thirteen different houses and attended eleven different school. After 8th grade her family moved from Nebraska, west to Wilsonville, Oregon, where she graduated from West Linn High School. While in high school she was on cheer team, dance team, and was homecoming princess. After high school she went to Portland Art Institute and graduated with a degree in interior design. She got married in 1988 to Paul Criswell and had 3 children; One boy and two girls. Current she has added to her life a certification as a personal trainer and works at Body Balance Personal Training Studio. 

   All of her family came from Europe. Her dad's side of the family is from England, and her mom's side of the family is from Germany and Denmark. She remembers as a child her grandmother Clara telling her stories of when she first arrived from Germany to America at age 9. She had never eaten a banana before and ate one without pealing it but digging out the inside with her finger. Pam remembers her grandmother commonly mixing up phrases such as, "what the cat drags in" and "let the cat out of the bag", it always brought lots of humor to the family. A tradition on her mom's side would to always have a big meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas. One year her grandma Clara tricked the family and said the turkey shrunk and brought out a huge patter with a Cornish game hen on it. Clara was always up for joking around.

   A huge change in her life would definitely be communication. When she was growing up they had to talk more as a family as to where they were going, what they were doing, and had to make plans way in advance. Now that in this day and age everyone has a cell phone and email and you can contact someone anywhere in a matter of seconds.It's a huge change, but in a good way, but it makes life busier. One thing that is interesting is how fashion comes around and goes around, like pink neon, big earrings, and legwarmers; Movies like Footloose and songs like Jump by Van Halen.    

   She had a flashback of her life when she was in the stands at a Tualatin football game looking down at her daughter cheering in her junior year at the homecoming game and dancing at half time. It was exactly what she was doing her junior year in high school at West Linn. She remembered walking onto the field with her dad when she was on homecoming court like everyone else. It was a good feeling to see her daughter as happy as she was.

   From this interview with my mom I learned how much I'm like her grandmother. Crazy, loves playing jokes on people, and just always making the best of it. I love learning about new traditions in families and how they run holidays because that's something that is super important to me and one day I will be having to carry on those traditions and also make new ones up for the generations that follow.

Questions:
1. Does the whole paper flow well?
2. Should I add more detail?
3. Does it catch your attention and make you want to keep reading after the 2nd paragraph? 

Never Thought
    I never really thought I would be that girl to have a boyfriend in high school. After messing round on Facebook one night and texting, one of my friends convinced me to message Owen on Facebook. I had heard of him before because his sister always came over and I've been to their house before also, but didn't know him very well. I messaged him and said "Hey I really like your sister." I really had no clue what to say and I didn't want him to think I was some weirdo talking to him so I thought a good conversation would be about our siblings, because a week prior my bother went to the beach with his family so he knew who he was. He replied back quick and said "Oh yeah. I met your brother last week when he came to the beach with us." We ended up talking for a long time, and started hanging out.
    One night when I dropped him off at his house after going to youth group. I pulled up into his driveway and we were sitting there for awhile, awkwardly, I didn't want to say get out of my car because that was rude. So I just kind of sat there waiting for him to leave. He leaned toward me and 5 words came out of his mouth, "will you be my girlfriend?" My heart was racing and I wasn't expecting this at all, "yes".
    As you know cars are kind of awkward and weird it was hard to lean over and give him a hug so I put my hand up and give him a high five. No one really gives a high five after they ask you out.. hahahaha. Yup I'm that weird girl that does. And still to this day is explains our relationship every well. The Facebook message and that high five started it all.

Who's The Oldest?
The oldest person in my family that I can remember is my great grandpa. He was a funny character, he loved telling stories, and was very sweet. The main thing I can remember is rolo's (Carmel, chocolate candy). You may ask 'why rolo's?' Every time I went and visited him at his house I would always always somehow end up finding the box of candy and I remember I would always pick the rolo's. It was always a special treat to go see Paps.

Fashion Police, I Don't Think So
     As I entered into my house after a long day at school my sister and friends were in the kitchen hanging out, I decided to go in and see what they were up to. As I walked in I started to feel a weird vibe from them and started getting weird looks from my sisters friend, and I started to feel uncomfortable. She finally opened her mouth and spoke up. After the words were spoken I was crushed, she said that I looked like a little school girl... I'm very into fashion and when people say they hate my outfit or judge me because of what I'm wearing they usually tend to either not have a good style or have a different sense of fashion then me.

This is what I learned today 9/21/12
http://www.designmom.com/2012/03/prepping-for-a-family-photoshoot/#comment-354323 Today I read an article called "Family Photo Shoot" on google reader.
There are lots of things that go into doing a family photo shoot. First, picking the the location, there are lots of different ideas that families like such as, beaches, the park, the city, a lake, and fields. Second, picking the time of day (when it's the brightest). Next, picking poses and how you're going to set up the photos. Then last, editing the photos based on what the family prefers.
It was a great little article about a life as a photographer.

Who am I? I am a Junior in high school and am experiencing with a blog. I'm very adventurous, passionate, and love art.
I'm very outgoing and love to try new things, if that maybe be eating octopus or going on a huge zip line. I also love to travel and experience other cultures and see how people live.
My passion is to serve. To serve is a huge part of my life and means a lot to me. Being able to travel the world and help people in need would be a dream come true. I have so much and am very fortunate to live in the USA but being able to go to Haiti 2 months ago was life changing. Being able to see and experience how joyful they are all the time impacted me so much. Riding in the back of the tap tap every morning and getting 2 handed waves from little kids that didn't even have clothes on their back was incredible. I live to let the Lord shine through me no matter what I do, if that is walking through the halls at school or handing a Haitian child a bowl of food.
As I travel the world and as I serve I love to take pictures and paint them. Photography is life changing and is very powerful. I thrive to get that chill as I take and also look at pictures.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.