The Winters of Rexburg, and Other Harsh Times

Everyone knows it: Rexburg is cold. It seems as though on January 23 the temperature was minus twenty. Yes, it's true. It was the first time since the 1990s. That day my sister, who is three years old--you might have heard of her in old posts I've put on my blog--, she had preschool that day. I bet half her class wasn't there. I only went out two or three times that day. The second time I went out I had just four coats on and some insulated overalls. And a pair of hiking boots I got at the beginning of the school year back in August. Now in 2009, it's that time of year again. Things are greening up, it's raining like crazy. Yes, it's May. It shouldn't be raining. The saying says "April showers bring May flowers." But I believe next year we'll have that ocassional seven feet of snow followed by five feet of ice. When I woke up on the minus twenty morning, I went upstairs at about 6:30 in the morning. My dad had just gotten out of the shower and he told me what the temperature was, and he said "you won't go to school." Then I went and sat on the couch for about an hour. Then I went downstairs and I got dressed--my usual morning except for no shower, no school. It was on a Tuesday. I remember the exact day of the week because we had school the day before.

My sister has gained a little more bigness, but there are some things she does a lot--daily, actually. She whines like a maniac. That's Hazel. But Ruby isn't annoying. Ruby can crawl now. That's the end.

Elmo Stinks

You see Elmo has been on Sesame Street before, and three-year-olds just love the heck out of him. But Elmo is not very good at puppet shows. You see, if I was Elmo I would talk in a very mean voice like Oscar. But Sesame Street doesn't have anyone else who would do it. What should they do? Take Elmo off the show, then let Cookie Monster take over, eating cookies all day. And I also hate the song that's on Elmo. And poor old Mr. Noodle. If they took him off the show, that would be really good. Then he could go to grade school and learn how to put his shoes on. I think Elmo messes up three-year-old's brains. I think Cookie Monster should take the place of Elmo.

Holden's Wonder

My baby sister is really big now. She likes to grunt and grab my face, which I don't like. I'm a very good balancer these days. I'm also a very good faller. In 1983, the most famous rock star in the world made the buildings collapse by singing so loud that he actually fell down. Right now it is -20 outside. This world is crazy. I have a crazy clock and for the first four weeks in December it snowed 16 inches. Crazy! Crazy, I mean. I'm about to eat a weird doughnut. My sister started preschool last week. Last night I had pot stickers for dinner because it was Chinese New Year. Happy in Chinese New Year!

Holden's Post

I'm going to my grandma's for Thanksgiving. My sister is going to have my old red snow boots. And I am going to stay in a yurt for the eve of Christmas eve. I hope it's going to be fun. Mom says there are bunk beds! We are going to make a big breakfast at the yurt. My mom thinks it is going to be lots of fun. School is going good. My baby sister Ruby is lots of fun and we live in Rexburg now. I miss my grandma. I'm going to Oregon during Christmas break. My favorite food is pumpkin pie now. My dad is in Oregon right now. My mom is nuts. It's weird: Rexburg is cold in the winter, but it's hot in the summer. HOT HOT. My mom is addicted to getting my hair cut. We're going over to the Galers for dinner tonight. Lately my nose has been runny. And sometimes my teacher has this overhead projector and sometimes she turns it on before she puts down the screen. We all laugh when she does that. My mom is paranoid twenty four hours a day. My mom is totally nuts. It's really windy right now. It's like the trees are flying all over the place. I use license plates in all my big jobs in the back yard. My life is NUTS!

What We Have Been Doing

I just had a new sister. Her name is Ruby Jane. I like her a lot. But sometimes she can just be a fuss-mick. But sometimes she's fun and cheerful. I like to hold her. My sister likes Ruby too.

We moved to Rexburg. We bought a house and have friends, and my favorite thing about the house is the back yard. My favorite food here in Rexburg is burgers at the Backyard. I also like the custard there. It is goooood. Also, I like to make cookies with my mom.

My new school is around the corner and up the street. I walk to school. I like to play at recess and have several different clubs. For example, jumping club: in jumping club we jump off the monkey bars into the gravel piles at school. They came and dumped a bunch of gravel piles at my school. There are some high monkey bars and some low monkey bars. Some kids jump off the high ones and some off the low ones. But sometimes I like to jump off the top of the little ones.

I like school. And one more thing: I like playing with Harry and Owen and camping (see my poll).

Holden's "I Wish We Could Post 20,000 Times on My Blog" Post

Here are the things that I like about Taiwan:

1. Taroko Gorge

2. Fried rice

3. Taipei 101

4. Maokong Gondola

5. Having my own MRT card

6. Riding the Metro with my own MRT card

7. Playing on the first floor of my apartment building

8. Crazy kids at church

9. Going to Danshui and building up my rock collection

10. Going to the Jade Market


Here are things I DON'T like about Taiwan:

1. Having to travel far to go anywhere fun

2. Searching high and low for rootbeer

Holden's Many Writes

So, when I come back to Utah--you all know that, don't you?--I'm going to, let's see......start an off road club. You all know that exactly. So, I told you I was going to start an off road club, right? I'm going to tell you the places I want to go in my off road club. I'm going to go to rattlesnake wash, lambs canyon, nine mile canyon, teton damn, mt. lemon, the sand dunes in Rexburg. Do you want to know anything else about what's going on with us in Taiwan? You do! Well, come on, and I'll tell ya.

Me and my sister have ear infections right now. We're going home in one week. Our flight leaves April 21st at 12:00 noon. That's all I want to write for now.