Alexis (Lexy) Blue Rose Mikkelson

Today has been a really hard day for me.

My heart is broken. Tears shine on my cheeks. A lump is in my throat. All the while I'm trying to be strong. It's impossible.

Anyone who has owned a dog knows how much we love them and get attached to them. Even then you cannot know my pain of losing a dog who I have known my whole life.

Today we had to put to sleep the greatest family dog ever to live. My dog Lexy.

This is a picture of her at Christmas time. She would always lie by the fire and warm up. Sometimes she would be my foot warmer.

On Sunday, when we would have breakfast, she would always come under the table and stay there for the rest of the meal. We used to feed her scraps off the table. I would always give her the end of my ham as a treat.

I remember when she would run everywhere. When we went sledding, she would always be flying along side us with her ears bouncing up and down. She would do the same when we were at the sand dunes.

Every time it snowed, she would always be the first one out there, leaving a trail of footprints behind her. She would go outside in the freezing weather just to eat the snow off the deck. When she came in, she would have a snow beard around her mouth.

Lexy was incredibly loyal. She would always be there beside us when a stranger was near. She was my  protector. Late at night, when my parents were gone, she gave me that sense of safety. When she was in the house, I knew we would be safe.

Everywhere we went, she would follow us around. When I would go into my parents room, Lexy would come along and lie down on her big red pillow.

There are many other stories I have of her, but I will have to post them later.

She is the greatest dog ever to live and I will miss her terribly.

She will forever be in my heart.

Mistborn

Ever wanted to have super strength, balance, and speed? What about gaining enhanced senses? Seeing, smelling, touching, and hearing better? How about making people feel a certain emotion? What about soaring through the air? Seeing what someone is going to do before they do it?

You can do all this and more if you're Mistborn.

"For a thousand years, the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heartbroken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison."

With the Garrison keeping everyone in line, Obligators everywhere you go, Inquisitors watching your every move through steal spikes where eyes should have been, and the Lord Ruler's unmatchable power, it's no wonder why there is no hope in the land.

Kelsier, The Survivor of Hathsin, The Lord of the Mists, and Slayer of an immortal Inquisitor. He is a fully realized Mistborn. He has undertaken the most challenging task of overthrowing the Final Empire.  With the help of his friends, a skilled set of mistings, they make the plan into a reality.

Vin is a 16-year-old girl who expects betrayal from everyone she meets. She's had a rough life. Her mother tried to kill her. Her father doesn't know she exists. Her brother beats her. Now she's alone, left with a thieving crew who mistreats her. But she has a special gift. She has luck. Unknown to her, Vin's so called luck is really Allomancy.

When these two meet, Kelsier explains to Vin that she's Mistborn. He convinces her to join his group. Together, they try to topple the politics that has dominated society, lead the helpless Skaa in a rebellion, and kill the Lord Ruler.

Will they be able to bring hope to a hopeless world? Will Vin learn how to trust and be a friend? Will Kelsier kill them all with his unbelievable plan?

Find out in Mistborn.

My review:

After reading this book, I was tempted to swallow some metal to see if I was Mistborn. My dad forbade me of this.

I am a big book reader. I LOVE to read! Lately I've noticed I can predict what's going to happen in books. I don't like books that are too predictable. I haven't read a book in a long time that challenged my skills at predicting. I really enjoyed Mistborn because I wasn't able to predict the entire story.

It took me on a great ride. I spend hours sitting in my favorite chair reading this. WARNING! IF YOU PICK UP THIS BOOK, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP READING!

I have warned you.

The characters were very fun to get to know. I especially loved Vin. It was fun reading about her adventures.

This table will help you understand a bit better what each metal does.

These are the basic eight metals. If you swallow a certain type of metal and burn it, you will be able to have whatever skill it lets you.

If I had to choose one, I would be a Tineye. But of course I would be Mistborn so I would have all the powers.

The coolest metal, which isn't on the list because it's special, is Atium. It allows Mistborn to see a few seconds into the future. Wouldn't it be nice if you're in a fight to see what your opponent is going to do before he or she does it? You could block or dodge all of there attacks, making sure you go away from the fight unharmed. The only problem is it is really expensive. The Lord Ruler controls what goes out, just like they do with diamonds. The more rare, the more expensive.

I can't wait to read the next two books. I'll be at my library tomorrow to pick them up.

"There's always another secret." -Kelsier

Fire vs. Water

The Alpine fire is four miles away from my home. Kind of scary. What's even more scary is its burning up my mountains. Fire, you can't do that.

 It looked like harmless clouds at first, but then I looked down. That was no clouds. That was a fire! Burning up the forest. That was not ok.

I went back inside my house, went to my parent's closet, sat down, and cried. I was heart broken. And scared. And angry.

At night, I went outside with a camp chair to watch the flames. I don't know how long I was there. I lost track of time. You do that when you see the mountains burning up. In the nighttime, you can see the flames much easier.

My sister said it looked like a trail of wisps. Wisps are the little blue guys from Brave.

On a side note, my hair looks just like Merida's. Except not the exciting color of fiery orange.

I hoped and prayed for rain. And it came. Two days after the fire started. I was so grateful. I went outside to take pictures. The clouds covered the mountains. It looked like they were sitting on the side.

In a happy mood, I looked around and saw the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. I asked my mom when she got it. Apparently they have been in our yard for many years. 

For a close up (which makes them even more pretty):

And others that looked just like it but different colors:

I was walking around and saw the coolest thing ever. Little beads of water hanging from a branch of a pine tree.

It's amazing when you get close up to nature.

In the end, ladies and gentlemen, water beat fire in an amazing battle for the ownership of the mountains. This has been a good day. A good day indeed.

Fo(u)rth of July

Even though it's not spelled with a "u". I think it should be. It just makes more sense.

Anyway, the Forth of July. Independence Day. The day we got our freedom from England. An amazing day to celebrate.

We go over to my grandma's house for dinner. Sandwiches, chips, pasta salad, and some delicious salsa. My aunt made the coolest looking drink ever.

A little science lesson. The sugar's density makes the drinks separate out and makes this creation. Pretty cool, huh. She also made this with a little help from my cousins.

Marshmallows covered in pop rocks, all on top of a twisty straw. You can't get much better than that.

My cousin enjoying this treat. It was so funny when she opened her mouth. You could hear the popping sound echoing around.

Savannah posing for a picture in grandma's garage. She has the cutest smile.

Fisher, Savannah's little bro. I love his face. My little bro is standing in the back. He could be a soldier.

This next picture is going to make you drool. If you're hungry, turn away. Now. 

Homemade Oreo cookies. The best cookies ever. I'm usually the cookie maker in the family. The day before, I had made a few batches of chocolate chip cookies (the second best cookies ever!), and I didn't feel like making any more cookies. (Probably because I was still trying to get over my stomachache from eating half the cookie dough.) 

My little sister, Annika, took over the job. She's never made cookies before, so my ma helped her. They turned out very well.

My little bro agrees with me. It looks like he got caught taking a cookie he wasn't supposed to have.

The little girls got out the Disney castle play set, and started playing with the small figures. I remember when I was much younger I used to play with this too. I showed them the secret passages and buttons. They thought I was so cool so know all this secretive stuff.

My sister decided to join them in their make believe game. She also showed them a few tricks. Who knew a plastic castle as small as this had so many secretive things?

The older kids sat on my grandma's couches having a conversation about Harry Potter and magic. Apparently they are to cool for toys anymore, as all other older kids are. They asked me if I was taking a picture. I told them I was deleting pictures. They fell for it.

Afterwards, we all went outside to watch fireworks. Since I was the oldest kid there, I was the one setting off the most fireworks. Starting off the night with sparklers and parachutes, we did every kind of firework imaginable (not really, but it seemed like it). My favorite kind is called ground blooms. The spinning ones on the ground.

I don't know what it is about these, but they are the coolest. They always spark a childish glee inside of me. This is just like any firework I see. It's funny that humans are attracted to bursting bombs of light.

Happy Forth of July everybody!!!

Question of the Day #3

Time for another Question of the Day! The question is:

Did you have a special object that you slept with? blanket? doll? stuffed animal? Did it have a name? Where did you get it?

I had all of the above. Blanket, doll, and teddy bear (stuffed animal). The relics of my past.

Don't they look cute together?

Let's go from oldest to youngest.

This is my blanket. (I enlarged it to show detail.) It has the abc's on it. They must have wanted me to start learning right away. My grandma gave it to my mom right before I was born, so I guess it's older than me. I had this blanket for a long time. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember loving it.

When I went to find it to get a picture, I smelled it. (I know that's weird, but that's what I do.) It triggered something. It's hard to explain, but I remembered that smell. It's the smell of my blanket.

On to the next item.

My baby doll. I named her little baby. This isn't really her (though some part of me says it is.) She looked just like this, but I had chewed her fingers and toes so it can't really be her. She was my doll for a very long time until one day I lost her and couldn't find her. I should have taken this look alike, but it just wasn't the same.

For a long time I was without a sleeping partner, until my grandma had a garage sale and I found this.

She let me take him home, and he's been mine ever since. His name is Alex. I think I've had him since I was seven. Ever since I've been attached to him. When I was eight, I took him to a photo shoot my mom had me do.

I had short blond hair back then.

As you can see, I really like my bear. Even though I'm older, he still occupies my bed while I sleep.