One Day More!

Tomorrow is the last day of school. I feel kind of bittersweet about it, because I am so ready for Summer but I'm going to miss being around my friends so often. Also, three of my favorite teachers are going away after this year. Ouch.

On the bright side, remember that table I told you about? It's done. And it doesn't look too shabby if I do say so myself.

The picture quality is not overly fantastic, but it sure looks nice in real life!

The Backgammon side of the table 

The Chess side of the table

But wait, there's more!

I have found a new hobby/obsession. The Harmonica. That's right folks, your's truly picked up a brand spanking new harmonica the other night, and I've been playing it every chance I can get (my poor family). I bought the really nice professional quality (not, it literally cost $5.99) version and I love it. It's going to take a lot of time and practice, but what the heck, it's Summer! I don't gots nuttin' better to do!

Memorial Day and It's Summer! (Pretty Much)

Today was awesome. I slept in until 9:30 and the went climbing with my cousin. Because of Memorial Day, there was tons of people and it was really hard to find a climb. We ended up hiking to almost the last climbing area in the canyon. In the end, it was worth the hike and we had a good time. 

After we got done climbing, we went to Hokulia Shaved Ice. I love Hawaiian shaved ice. The deliciousness of syrup drenched ice and then the creamy vanilla ice cream in the bottom. Mmmm. 

Also, today's Memorial Day. Often I get distracted by the coming Summer and the fact that I have lots of finals this week. Today I took a moment to look at the history of Memorial Day and to consider what it represents. Yesterday, on our drive through Springville, we passed a cemetery and I watched as people placed flowers on graves and paid their respects. It reminded me that I needed to be more appreciative of the sacrifices made for our freedom. 

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

- Kelly Strong

Four or five years ago, my family and I were at a Subway near Hill Air Force Base in Salt Lake City. A group of three soldiers was standing in front of us. My dad offered to buy their meal, and they of course refused. My dad butted them in line, ordered our food, and the stood at the register until they had order to pay for their's as well. They thanked him over and over, and sat down to eat. We chose a table outside. Two of the soldiers came over and thanked my father again and shook his hand, and then ripped the American flag patches off of their uniforms and gave them to my sister and I. I still have that flag, and it is a reminder of our military and the protection they provide for us. Happy Memorial Day!

The World Is ...

My grandma suffers from Alzheimer's, and I told you about our visit with her and my grandpa in a previous post. While we were driving through downtown Provo, my grandma looked out the window in awe at the buildings and the large amount of people going about their day. She said to me, "You know, Kyle? The world is an amazing place nowadays." I smiled and told her that it was.

Those words have stuck with me since that day a couple of weeks ago. I have tried to look at the world as though it's something I've just discovered. And I've come to realize that my grandmother was right, the world is an amazing place. 

Today, my family and I drove down to Springville to visit my other pair of grandparents. We came to find out that they were on a camping trip, so we drove around our old neighborhood and up Hobble Creek Canyon. It was really fun and nostalgic to drive by the house we lived in not three and a half years ago. The drive up Hobble Creek was beautiful. I thought of my grandmother's quote again, and I was amazed at what I saw outside the windows of our car. The marriage of the power of the car and the peaceful timelessness of the scenery outside was breathtaking. I felt inclined to write about it.

The World Is ...

A tunnel of trees

The power of a motor

The happiness of people

Tranquility and peace

A smiling family

A day in the sun

The kiss of the breeze

The hum of a bird

An adventure in pages

The words of a poet

The singing of song

Time spent together

A cool, cool river

A high-floating cloud

A bend in the road

The wave of a stranger

 If you look at the world you live in, you'll find that it's pretty fantastic. Everybody's world is different, which is what makes life an adventure. What is your world?

All the Best Things

Life is hard. I've learned that lesson many times over this past couple of days. But I've also come to realize that there are things in life that make it worth living. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Music

If you've seen my older post on my love of music, you'll know that this one's a big one for me. Music is what gets me through the day. I'm actually typing this post to Counting Crows's Across a Wire: Live in New York City. A day without music is a day without color!

2. Baseball

I used to play Baseball, but gave it up three or four years ago. I love to have a catch with my dad whenever I get the opportunity, though. I love the smell of the glove and the ball and the sound that a solid throw makes when caught. There's nothing that illustrates Summer better than having a catch.

3. Steak

I love steak. There, I said it. Eating cows pleases me. Mmmm.

4. Literature

I love to read and write books and poetry. There is something captivating about the beautiful arrangement of words. Look for a post on my favorite writing form, Calligraphy, in the near future! Also, my fantastic English teacher started a blog where she's trying to write one thousand stories based on people's experiences. Check it out here.

5. Cleanliness

I spent around four hours today cleaning up my room. My room wasn't a huge disaster going into the cleaning session, but I had a lot of crap that had accumulated since my last deep clean. It sure feels nice to have an organized room again!

Life is worth living if there's something to live for. A favorite Pinterest post of my family says: "If life gives you lemons make lemonade. But your lemonade's really going to suck without some sugar."

Craziness

I know that there has been way too much venting going on around here as of late, but I couldn't help but share this with you as I sit in Seminary.

You Know the Feeling

We all know that end-of-the-year feeling where everything seems to go wrong and typically easy things seem astronomically difficult. My end-of-year experience has been nothing less than horrible. I both apologize and give thanks to you for allowing me to vent.

1. I missed the deadline to cancel a membership.

I, being the developing and sometimes naive teenager that I am, was not aware that there was a deadline to cancel memberships. I just assumed if you called and asked to cancel, then that was that. Boy, was I mistaken? Yes, yes I was. 

2. Because of #1, I don't have enough money to buy a turntable this month.

That's right folks, that turntable that I was so excited about will have to wait. Bummer.

3. My grades look really bad.

How many days of school are left? Five. That's right folks, I have five days to fix an F and two C's.

4. I have tomorrow to finish a book and to do a book project.

I really like the book, Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, but I haven't had time to do much reading lately. So between now and Thursday night I have 350 pages to read!

If you're an adult and you're reading this, you may be wishing for your life to be this easy. But to me, this ain't no fun! One week more, one week more...

Poetry

Allow me to preface this post with a warning. I have only dabbled in the world of poetry, but as an admirer of literature I have always been drawn to the beautiful and expressive arrangement of words. That being said, this poem is very much my freshman effort. 

There

By the jagged mountains and wispy clouds

Past the towering forests and clear streams

Lies home

Gone

Like the thundering storms and fleeing roads

As the soaring doves and raging rivers

My home

Lost

Its crackling fire and welcome porch

The familiar smell and panting dog

Was home

Found

In my aching heart and worrying mind

In the sleepless nights and longing daydreams

Is home

There

Over the gentle brook and winding road

Through the curved archway and springing garden

Lies home!

I think that I might swap out some words to create more alliteration throughout, but I think that it's pretty good! What do you think?

A Very Active Week

To say I am addicted to rock climbing would be an understatement. This past week, I went up Rock Canyon four of the seven days. Holy. Crap. Am I tired? Oh boy, yes! Was it worth it? Absolutely! In fact, next week might look similar...

Yesterday, I went up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville for our ward's fathers and sons camp out. It was a blast. I got to have a catch with my dad and hike a mountain and play a killer game of capture the flag. It was awesome, and probably one of the best fathers and sons I've been to. When I got home, I decided that climbing all week and sprinting and throwing all weekend just wasn't enough, and that I should go climbing again. 

You're welcome, sister!

I took my sister climbing outside, the first time she's been! She ended up having a blast and was really, really good. I'm so proud! I am beat, but this week's been fantastic!

Rock Climbing Overload

Are you ready? Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, prepare to be amazed! The great Kyle Anderson is here to boggle your mind and awe your soul! Well, that is if you're boggled and awed by lots and lots of rock climbing. I am!

The last couple of days have been postless (is that even a word?) due to many rock climbing excursions. I've gone every day for the last three days, and plan to go tomorrow and Saturday. I love rock climbing! Prepare yourself for a picture overload!

Let's get this one out of the way. My smile looks pretty funky, but
it's the only picture of me I took.

And here's a picture of my buddy, Sam, climbing a route I had lead earlier.

Ooh, ahh. So pretty. I climbed there one day!

On one of the walls we were climbing, this was the view across
the canyon. Pretty incredible!

Another purely pretty picture!

I love this time of year. The weather is perfect for climbing and the leaves are so green. 

Rock climbing is awesome, and it's also a great excuse to go spend three or four hours in a beautiful canyon. I'm excited for tomorrow!

Remember that Spanish presentation I told you about? To make a long story short, the date of my presentation has been postponed thrice for various reasons. And tomorrow's the day. Can I just say again? Thanks, ughhhhhh. I am not looking forward to it. But, what do you do? Well, you could just not go! There, there, Kyle. It'll be okay. Tomorrow, here I come!

End of Year and Trimming Pots

The end of any school year is always insane, but this year's last couple of weeks have been crazier than any other. I guess that's to be expected now that I'm in high school. I spent most of today studying for a high-stakes math test and writing a research paper. Fun, eh? Not really.

On the bright side, those pots that I threw about a week ago? I got to trim those today. Trimming is done when the pot is in its leather hard stage; when it's hard enough to handle but soft enough to move a little. Basically you take a knife-type tool and you cut ribbons of excess clay off of your pot to make it look pretty.

Before trimming

After trimming

After some more studying I decided to go on a little run at the local Junior High's track. I just got back, and it is really relaxing to run at 10 o'clock at night. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow!

Mother's Day

My momma made that pillow, and I think that is one of the truest quotes I've heard. It very eloquently describes my mother perfectly. Hopefully you're aware that today is Mother's Day. After church, my family and I visited my mother's parents to take them some cookies and wish my grandma a happy mother's day. 

My mom is so awesome. She puts up with all my teenage crap and still manages to laugh and make fun of me. I love to spend time with her and I admire the way she walks through life. I love my mother! 

Also, I just had an epiphany. Salad is the perfect excuse to eat thinly sliced olives! 

What A Day

Today has been one heck of a ride. Despite sleeping in until 11 (oops), I was able to get a lot done and have a ton of fun. My family does some weekly chores that we call Saturday jobs. I finished those and then organized a surprise for my momma that I'll tell you about tomorrow. I got to go indoor climbing at The Quarry as well!

My Chinese exchange student friend, Sam, came home from a week-long visit to Hong Kong today. I say come home, because to me his home is here, not in China! It was awesome to see him and we are excited to go climbing again. I hung out with him for awhile and then took a whole herd of friends to Arctic Circle to get shakes. We then came home and hooked up two Xbox's to play 8 player. We just finished, hence the late post, and it was a ton of fun.

My momma is so talented! She loves to paint and to sew and to be creative! While this whole day was crazy for me, she spent it painting. I love her so much! Check out her blog here. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Holiday

Today's Friday! And I spent the day napping and hanging out with friends. Let me tell you, a two hour nap after school may be the epitome of laziness, but goodness it was fantastic. I then went to my friend's house with a couple of friends and we played ping pong and Foosball and Canasta. Canasta is such an old people's game, but it is so much fun!

Is it sad when your local Holiday Oil knows your families names? Probably. Kind of awesome? Heck yeah. We have spent way too much money on soda and snacks from Holiday, and tonight's no exception. I ran with a friend to Holiday twice tonight. Once to grab drinks for us and then again for our parents. Tonight was fun!

P.S. There might be rock climbing tomorrow!

Ughhhh, and Poetry

Lucky me! I get to combine two of my favorite activities! Speaking Spanish and giving presentations! I love speaking a language that I know barely any of for a grade, and there's just something about getting up in front of a class and teaching people what they already know that makes my heart so pleased. Are you picking up on the sarcasm? You should be, 'cause I'm laying it on pretty thick.

On a brighter note, I decided today seemed like a good day to write a poem. I've been meaning to write down a poem I've had in my head for a couple of days about being homesick, but I never got around to putting pen to paper. Today was the day. I've still got a little bit of revising to do, but it's looking pretty good! I'll be sure to share it with you here after it's finished.

Pottery

Another one of my passions is throwing pottery. I was introduced to pottery about 2 years ago and I immediately exhibited a talent for the art. I love the relaxation involved during the throwing process and to be able to take home a useful creation that you've babied since it was a ball of clay. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to throw very much lately because of school and rock climbing, and the expense of throwing pots. But every now and then I get the opportunity to throw at Creativity Art Studio.

I threw a total of 5 pots today, with pictures of a couple of them. It's been a couple of months since the last time I've thrown, so I wasn't able to complete as many as I would have liked. 

My Nexus 5 keeps amazing me. It does this "Auto Awesome" thing where it finds different photos that meet certain criteria and combines them into panoramas, animations, and videos. The one above is of me in the beginning stages of creating the pot pictured above.

I really like the control you have over the form and usefulness of a piece. I have so many pots in my home that we've started to run out of room for them. 

The five bags actually have my pots in them. The bag prevents the pots from drying out too fast and cracking.

If you've never had the chance to give pottery a shot, I highly recommend you find a local studio and take some classes. You won't regret it!

Grandparents

Today, I got to spend some time with my grandma and grandpa. They don't get out of their assisted living home very often so it's always fun to get to take them out on the town. We went to the Great Steak in Provo and then went to the grocery store to pick a few things up for them. I never get tired of hearing their stories, even though my grandma has Alzheimer's and tells the same ones over and over. I love them so much!

Music

Since my day has been filled with church and stake youth conference meetings, I decided to share a little bit about one of my favorite things about being alive. Music really is the epitome of human accomplishment. So many great things have been conceived because of the brilliance of musicians.

Unfortunately, I can't play an instrument or sing (ask anyone). One of my passions is finding new music to listen to through Pandora or lots of googling and watching music videos. I so regret not continuing piano lessons, but what's done is done. Music will always be my companion through the best of times and the worst of times. 

Below are a few of videos of some of my favorite songs.

Down in the Valley by the Head and the Heart

Sight of the Sun by Fun.

I Gave You All by Mumford and Sons

The Wolves and the Ravens by Rogue Valley


I am so excited to soon be able to own my own record player and to be able to enjoy my favorite bands through vinyl LP's. I hope that I will continue to be able to find new music and share it with my friends!

The Sand Dunes

I didn't post yesterday, but I had a good reason not to. I just got back from a weekend spent in the sand dunes of Utah. One of my young men's leader has a little bit of money. We took 11 people in a huuuuge RV with 7 really nice quads, 4 dirt bikes, and a 4 seat side-by-side. Not your average youth activity? No, no it isn't.

It goes without saying that we had a freaking blast! We spent all day riding around and having a good time. We try to go to the dunes about twice a year, and it is always one of my favorite trips. Both my hands are sore from gripping handlebars all day, but the pain is well worth the fun that I had. Unfortunately, we're back to real life. I am so lucky to be able to have the opportunities that I have, though, and I am thankful for them!

Canceled Plans

My buddy and I were planning on going rock climbing up Rock Canyon today. The weather is beautiful - 68 degrees and sunny - and I have been looking forward to going all day. My friend just got his mission call to Honduras yesterday, though, and he is too exhausted to go. Under normal circumstances I would be really disappointed, but this time I understand.


So, instead of a climbing post I'll show you what I am building in wood shop.

What you see above are the pieces of veneer that will be arranged and glued onto the board they are sitting on to make a Backgammon board. On the reverse side of the board will be another veneered Chess board. The reversible board will be set inside a game table that I made! It looks really good so far. I will post the completed project in a couple of weeks.

So instead of climbing, I mowed some lawns. Good substitute, right? Both of the lawns that I mow are coming along really nicely. Spring makes everything look so beautiful. It's funny to me that there is still snow on Mount Timpanogos even though it's 70 degrees outside.

Also, only four weeks left of school!