Bad News

Just recently a terrible thing happened at our house. The computer crashed... This means that all my books which i have been working on for 6 years went down the drain. This same thing happened to my cousin Timothy a little while back. And hes like 14... But after hearing his story and learning from others mistakes i geniusly saved my books to my email and printed them off. This means that everythings ok and my dream is not delayed. Yeah Me!!!

School time!!!

Okay everyone, haven't blogged for a while now so don't be mad it's not so easy to do (especially if you're in middle-school). So today I'm going to talk about school... I go to school at ALA (American leadership academy) and it is the best school Ive ever been to. Ive been going there 2 years now. Well first off are the classes. History: This class is one of my favorites, it is taught by Mr. Whitlock (who also drives my bus) and we've learned about everything from ancient Greece to Karl Marx. He is really funny and nice and everyone likes him. English is taught by Mrs. Provencher who really likes cats. She has a bunch of posters of them in her classroom. I swear their eyes follow you around. I like her because she gives us a lot of rewards (we still have to work for them). Literature: This class is DA BOMB!!!! It is my favorite by far. The teacher is Mrs. Baker and she is super nice. I'm actually doing a book report on the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien right now. Ive entered a reading contest on there. 23 hours in one week, i hope i win. Spanish is muy bien. It is taught by Mrs. Brandt who is really nice. Everyone has a Spanish name that they choose and mine is Chauncho. Right now we are learning about food names and conjugating -er and -ir verbs. Math is pretty sweet. I was bumped up to pre-algebra (8th grade math). It was hard at first but know I'm pretty good at it. The teacher Mrs. Erickson is really nice and is a math whiz. P.E. is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The teacher is Mr. Huggins and he gets us pumped and active everyday with new and exciting games. We also get to go to discovery park every day. Science is awesome. It is taught by Mr. Ray who is super cool. He lets us do fun projects and watch science movies at school. Unfortunately he is leaving so Mrs. Constantine is filling in for the rest of the year. I've only had her for about two days now so I'm still not sure about her. That's pretty much it so stay tuned.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with Greg was a blast. Oh Yeah... Greg is my dad's little brother. It was sooo awesome.

My cousin Jake and his newly-wed Lindsey came over too and we all got Tapenyacki together.

It was quite a good time. We also got on the x-box 360 (that my mom's about ready to break) and had 2-2 team deathmatch. Me and Kaden would win the most, but over all it was pretty even.

Whoa!!!!

Orca

Name: Orca
Religion: Painist
Military: The Horde
Race: Orcan, Troll, Goblin, Ogre
Capital: Xl'rieg
Other cities: Tron, Drorg
Current Leader: Horrar the Horrible
Military Leaders: General Roth Wringworm, General Narc'ish Flamescar
Native Animals: Trolls, Warwolves, Reptilian Horses, Vampirebats, Megalodon, Tiger sharks, Hammerhead Sharks, Great White Sharks
Motto: "Pain is Power"
Native Terrain: 12% Acid Geyser Plains, 28% Fiery Bogs, 60% Mountains
Interesting Aspects: Geysers of super-heated acid ravish the land enabling nothing to grow. Orcs mainly stay in their caves year-round and only come out to go to war. They stay in their caves breeding, training and waiting for a time to strike. No non-orc has ever gone into their caves and come out alive.
Random Fun Facts: All orcs begin as Goblins then warp into Orcs then Ogres and then Trolls
. They advance species after killing a set amount of enemies in battle. Often times when battling Orcs, armies will find the same or even more terrifying foes at the end then in starting.

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween was a blast. As you can see Sophia was Snow White, Kaden: Al Capone, Mom: Cleopatra, Dad: Julius Caesar and me a mercenary/assasin/SWAT/Black ops/Rambo dude. We had a trunk-or-treat, 2 parties and Trick-or-treating to get done. and I had 2 1/2 completed. I made it to 1 party and the Trunk-or-Treat because we were late to the 2nd party and I had a young mens fireside activity to go to so I missed TOT. All in all not bad.

Anitopia

Nation: Anitopia
Religion: Suntor
Military: The Anitopian Ape Army
Race: Mixed Primates (Anitopians)
Capital: Preditorma
Other Cities: Animillia, Ecoplania, Habitar
Current Leader: King Gorchimp, Supreme Silverback of the High Gorillas'
Military Leaders: General Oranguton, General Lionkill
National Motto: "Mess with nature, and it'll mess with you!"
Native Animal: Lions, Elephants, Water Buffalo, Crocodiles, Zebras, Leopards, e.t.c.
Native Terrain: 40% grass plains, 30% Savannah, 15% forests, 15% mountainous deserts.
Interesting Aspects: The Anitopians, being one with nature, can speak any animal tongue. They also are friends with most animals.
Random Fun Facts: The Anitopians were created when, after the Belgasians disappearance a great amount of magic stayed on the land and gave some primates the gift of tongues and knowledge to a certain degree. The Anitopians religion also comes from their creation, they believe in the great Primate god Suntor. The word "Monk" comes from their religion and them being monkeys.

Birthday Blast!

On the thirtieth I turned 12 and had Wyatt my best friend over. I got birthday donuts, a movie, money, a nerf sword, tactical vest, belt blaster, two lightsabers, two Artemis Fowl books, a t-shirt and a spot in the deacon's quorum. My parents also went on a trip to New York and saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Museum of Natural History, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, the Jets v.s. Vikings game, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park, Empire State Building, Long Island, Ellis Island, Little Italy, Chinatown, Metropolitan Art Museum, Ground Zero, St. Peters Church, St. Patricks Cathedral and two Broadway shows. The whole time they were gone we were being baby-sat by our Cousin Carly who took us to the Arizona Science Center and the Childrens Museum of Pheonix. It was really fun and they got a ton of cool pics the best part is that this Sunday I get the preisthood from my dad.

Woodsor

Nation: Woodsor
Religion: Terrianism
Military: The League of Pine Protectors
Race: Elven
Capital: Wildor
Other Cities: Birchwood, Pinewood
Leader: Duke Broadleaf the Great
Military Leaders: General Quiverkill, General Silvanic
National Motto: "If we don't end war, then war will end us."
Native Animals: Grizzly Bears, White Horses, Terrians, Timber Wolves, Wild Boars, Hunting Falcons
Native Terrains: 100% forest
Interesting Aspects: Some of the oldest trees in Woodsor, some that no living creature has ever come in contact with, filled with the elves magic, have become alive and have took up the title of Guardians of the forest or Terrians.
National animal: Timber Wolf
Random Fun Facts: The Elves worship no god or goddess except the Mother Earth, who they refer to as Terra. They are extreme environmentalists and can become freinds with almost any animal. Elves are the best archers in the land.
National Colors: Mixed Greens

Skullcron

Nation: Skullcron
Military: The Black Scourge
Race: Undead
Capital: Skullkronia
Other Cities: Skeletar and Plaugemor
Current Leader: ???????
Military Leaders: Kronos the Desecrator of Light, General Spikeback, General Darkblade
National Motto: "Z scourga, z murda, z oblivato!" (We burn, we kill, we destroy!"
Native Animals: Dragons, Barracuda, Night Mares, Ceberus, Komodo Dragons
Native Terrain: 17% lava, 4% acid rivers and lakes, 79% volcanic rock
Interesting Aspects: Rivers of lava and acid.
Random Fun Fact: In Skullcron the volcanic ash produced by the volcanoes is so thick that you'd have to be dead to live there. The ash also blocks out the sun enabling it to stay dark forever.

Melvia

Nation: Melvia

Religion: Maelvinism

Military: The Melvian Opposition

Race: Humans (Melvians)

Capital: Melva

Other Cities: Melshire, Mellington

Current Leader: King Melvanis the Magnificent

Military Leaders: General Robin Swordson, General Ulysses Warshield

National Motto: "Freedom isn't free"

Native Animals: Mustang Horses, Giant Eagles, Rhinoceroses, Cheetahs, and Swordfish

Native Terrain: Melvia is 71.4% plains, 3.2% tropical regions, 17.2% mountains and 8.2% forests.

Interesting Aspects: 100% pure fresh water lakes and rivers.

National Animal: Horses

Random Fun Facts: The word "maelstrom" literally means "of Mael's fury" the god of the Melvians. The letter "M" was invented by the Melvians.

National Colors: Silver, Blue and Gold.

More in Depth

Hi everyone, for those of you who read my last post and thought to yourselves, there are a ton of names to remember this will help you. Sort of like a sip of Pepto Bizmal after Thanksgiving. This will also help you see things the way I do. I know that most of the names give it away and tell you pretty much the place but that's why I chose them. So here are some quick pictures of the Ten Nations of Belgasia. (Ten because of Skullcron) Enjoy!

Melvia

Dwelven Cur

Orca

Canopia

Mythonosis

Skullcron

Icentine

Deseron

Anitopia

Stay tuned for seperate posts about individual nations in two days!

My Book

Okay everyone, I think it is time to tell you the point of why I am doing all of this; the blog, the pictures and the title. Well I'd like to start with one of the books I am working on. It is about a Melvian 16 year-old human boy named Maxwell. When his father is murdered and his city razed by the skeletons, Max sets out on a quest with an Elven Princess named Kaera, another human named Erik and later Samuel the Faun. They embark into dangerous lands to find how his city was attacked so quickly and unexpectedly. Here is a sneak preview of the Introduction... enjoy!



Introduction

001 B.B.D.
A long time ago in a peaceful land far away there was a king and his son. The king known as Belgasia the Creator and ruler of all was a fair and powerful king, so powerful in fact that he was a god, not just one of your average every day gods but a true god. His son known as Prince Augustus De Ravenous was a quiet non-social boy possessed with extraordinary intelligence, who Belgasia adopted and called his own. He also acted as Belgasia’s apprentice learning magic, knowledge and the way of the universe. For a millennium they ruled their people, other wise called the Belgasians who believed the peace must stay and vowed never to fight other countries. And of course why would they need to? They had everything they could ever want. For years their plan lead them in up rise but then suddenly the great nation vanished, never to be seen or heard of again. Was it plagued, destroyed or wiped out by another nation, no one knows. No trace of their disappearance was ever discovered and all there is left of their ancient culture is temple ruins, sculptures and parts of artifacts. For centuries the land remained empty until it was discovered by merchants, pirates, and explorers all looking for gold, land, power, fame or simply a place to live. So the land was inhabited by nine new nations all taking a piece of Belgasia and calling it their own.

For awhile these nations lived in harmony and were called the Nine Great Nations of Belgasia, each with different cultures, beliefs, and fighting styles. The inhabitants were the Human race, owners of Melvia, the Woodland Elves, keepers of Woodsor, the Mountain Dwarves, holders of Dwelven Cur, Ape-People, possessors of Anitopia, Ice-Warriors, protectors of Icentine, barbaric Orcs, conquerors of Orca, Desert Nomads, landowners of Deseron, an alliance of mixed mythical creatures’ ,proprietors of Mythonosis and Jungle Tribesmen, chieftains of Canopia.

Suddenly war broke out, started by an exiled Melvian necromancer who was banished because of his growing power in the dark arts. Furious because of his expulsion he vowed to enslave all of Belgasia and found himself an expanse of land abandoned because of lack of proper soil, sunlight and water. He then summoned forth a great army of Skeleton warriors, horses and all things vile and marched forth to destroy all and called his new nation, Skullcron. The Orcs, seeing a great slaughter coming joined forces with him and began their dark campaign. Mythonosis soon fell and its inhabitants were enslaved or went into hiding and after that Anitopia followed. Deseron, Canopia and Icentine joined in fear of being destroyed and soon Skullcron was outnumbered by its allies, and seeing this, the necromancer made more soldiers and put less of his on the front lines to weaken his allies so after he conquered all he could easily sweep them away.

Meanwhile the remaining nations formed an alliance and made one last final stand. Elves, Dwarves and Men all fought bravely fearing the end, the elves with their bows and elegant swords, the Dwarves with their axes and heavy mattocks and men with their cavalry and war machines. How they fought with their fate balanced on the edge of a knife, hoping that that knife would plunge into the enemy and give them victory. The fight was not going well for the defenders until suddenly the allies of Skullcron caught whiff of the treachery the necromancer had planned, turned around and attacked Skullcron. The Orcs though remained true and stayed with him. With all of its strength allied at last the defenders took back the land that was corrupted from them drove the Orcs to the point of extinction. Then at last they attacked the very borders of the necromancer’s dark realm, and the necromancer with his armies diminished was killed by a spell gone horribly wrong.

With the war over everyone went back to themselves all except the defenders, they had made an unbreakable friendship and forever elves, dwarves and men would live together, work together and fight together. This friendship was called the Alliance and for years to come the land lived in peace and harmony until now…

The 12 Labors of Hercules

We all know who Hercules is, right? Big, muscular Greek hero who had super-man strength and killed tons of monsters. Well, for those unfortunate few who don't, he was pretty much what I just said. For the writing class that I have been taking lately we had to write a short story or summary on whatever we choose in our own words. I chose the awesome legend of The Twelve Labors of Hercules!!! Here it is... enjoy :)

Hercules driven mad by the goddess Hera, madly murdered his wife and children. To pay for his crime, Zeus the Chieftain of the Olympian Gods, commanded Hercules to serve his cousin, King Eurystheus 10 labors or task. First he was to single-handedly kill the Nemean Lion, a legendary lion with a fur coat that was indestructible. Next he was to destroy the Lernaean Hydra, a terrible lizard beast with 7- heads. He and his servant Iolaus, soon realized that this beast might be too much! Every time one of it's monstrous heads was severed, two more grew in it's place. Iolaus then came up with a brilliant idea to burn each head before they could multiply. His plan worked and they brought one of the heads for proof to Eurystheus. Unfortunately is scared Hercules's cousin so much, he ordered that a brass pot be stuck in the ground so that every time Hercules came with his demon trophies he could happily hide inside without fear of monsters.

He easily captured the the Golden Hind of Artemis, the Cretan Bull and the Erymanthian Boar. The king then ordered him to clean the Augean stables, the home of immortal cattle. Hercules achieved this by redirecting two nearby rivers crashing into the stables, instantly washing away all the waste. After that he exterminated every last one of the Stymphalian birds, man-eating birds with beaks of bronze, metallic feathers and toxic dung, all with only a pair of magic symbols and one arrow. Next he tamed the mares of Diomedes, four mythical man-eating horses with an appetite. He then met his match against the six-armed, six-legged three-headed giant, Geryon when he tried to herd his red cattle. Later he left to retrieve the girdle of Hippolyte, the Queen of the Amazons. He succeeded only to arrive back to his cousin and find that the Hydra and the Augean Stables didn't count towards his penance. The king went on how he had help from Iolous and the two rivers. So Hercules went out to steal the Golden Apples of the Hespirides. He traveled to the former-Titan general Atlas, who was condemned to hold up the sky forever by Zeus. Atlas swore on the river Styx that he would return with the apples, since he was the Hespirides father on one condition... That Hercules would hold up the sky while he was gone.

Atlas returned hours later, all the time Hercules was almost crushed to a pulp by the sky, the apples in hand. Devastation then struck when Atlas refused to take back his burden. Hercules then wittily told him to hold the sky for a moment while he fix his toga to make it more comfortable. Atlas agreed and cursed Hercules for tricking him. Eurystheus finally told Hercules of on final task, to tame the Ceberus, a giant, black, guardian dog belonging to Hades, the Lord of the Dead. To do so Hercules travelled to the underworld to convince Hades to let him borrow his beast. Hades agreed to but told Hercules that he must use no weapon of any kind against him. Obviously by now you would guess that Hercules wins, well... he does! With his penance payed, his trophies mounted above his fireplace and the gods pleased, Hercules lives happily ever after. The End

That was then...

23 months. 23 month of total awesomeness. Planning, writing, moving houses, editing, drafting, and more writing. 23 months since my last post. Some would say that's a long time, others would say that's too long, me though, I say it's too short. In that time period I have become a better writer, illustrator, thinker and more specifically a better author. From reading countless books on how to write books, temper tantrums of the Sophie proportion and of course the "big move" life these past months has been pretty normal for us Washburns. These pictures show the time period of then to now.


Partying with family in Utah. Summer 2010

(More Partying...)

Going to the circus, homeschooling and researching. Spring 2010

Wild man with trophy. Summer 2010

Sophie and her friend Adi at sleep-over. Summer 2010

California Beach Trip, summer 2010

Family pictures, Utah, summer 2009

Breaking down on the way back from Camping, 2010

Kaden's 8th B-day summer 2010

Updates

Hey yawl, I am now starting my blog back up. To warn you the posts wont be common but i will still do it.

• I have now finished my book and will publish it as soon as I edit it.
• I am now 11
• I now go to public school
• I am now in Boy scouts
• I now do flag football
• I am in 5th grade
• I have gone hunting in Utah, Australia, Germany, Georgia and Kansas. (computer game)
• Have gone in a real haunted house.
• I have a crush at school

Well that sort of sums thing up, we had a football game yesterday against two kids in my ward and we beat them by an interception and two touchdowns. I sacked my first quarterback... twice and had an awesome time.

Fathers & Sons

This weekend I went to the Fathers & Sons Outing. We had a lot of fun. We went to the lake and rode canoes. It was a blast and my dad even knocked a tree down. Today is my green belt graduation and I'm going to be a purple belt. I also finished my second work & the glory book last night.

Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship

This week we are learning about the Titanic. The Titanic was the name of a popular food court in Brazil and served excellent teriaki chicken. Hee Hee Hee. Just kidding! The Titanic was a luxury cruise ship that unfortunately sunk because it hit an ice berg. More than 1,550 lives were lost and only 32% of the people on the ship survived. The ship is now in the ocean and can only be seen with a submarine. There was not enough life boats to hold every one and a lot of people died. Back then it was like a 9/11. I bet it sunk a lot of peoples attitudes.

The Dunes Pictures

The Dunes

Nothin' but Sand

Kelly's Sand Rail (with Star Wars paint job)

The Gang

Jumping hills

About 5 Ft. of Air

Righteous

Stuck!

Wyatt's sweet moves

Clayton and Weston on quads

Malaria and the Visigoths

Every one knows that Rome was one of the most powerful Empire in the ancient world and that it eventually fell... But! Do you you know how it fell? No, it wasn't hit a meteor or destroyed by a natural disaster but was attacked by barbarians, like Attila the Hun and the Visigoths. The Romans decided that Rome was too big to rule at one time so they split it in half, the East and the West. So the Huns attacked the East and the Visigoths attacked the West. Soon the Visigoths won the West and the leader made his 6 year old son the new emperor. He also game his son a new name, Romulus Augustus. Romulus for the first king of Rome and Augustus for the most popular emperor of Rome. The people of Rome felt embarrassed and called the boy "Momylius" which means Little Disgrace. The East part of Rome never was captured or destroyed, it just had some crazy leaders and was then known as the Byzantines. I never would have thought that Rome would just fall like that.

Did you know that malaria kills up to three million people a year? Today we read The Little House on the Prairie book and the family got sick with malaria. Malaria is caused by mosquitoes that spread the disease. One of the ways to avoid malaria is to sleep with a bug net over you but luckily it is not that common in the U.S only in Africa and South America. The U.S is trying to help people with Malaria. I'm just glad it isn't in the U.S.

Stuff on My Mind Right Now

A lot of stuff has happened to me and I want to put it all in one post so it won't take as long...

1. This week I finished The Work and the Glory: Pillar of Light By: Gerald Lund. It was a really good book that talks about Joseph Smith getting the Gold Plates and the Steed family and their own affairs. It talks about the McBride family and Oliver Cowdry, William Harris, and the Smith family. About how Joshua Steed moves out of the family and tries to steal the Gold Plates with the Murdock brothers. I learned a lot about the church and I can't wait to read the next one.

2. Last month I made a book club and invited a bunch of people, friends, family, neighbors and other homeschoolers. At the beginning we handed out papers that you're supposed to fill out your favorite books and any you recommend. Then we played outside for a while and waited for the others to come. When everyone was there told the our names and talked about what the name of the book club should be. I said we should name it "Lights, Camera, Jaxon!" My friend Wyatt said we should just call it "The Book Club book Worms" or "Jaxon's Book Club". But the my Dad said we should name it "The Papyrus Pirates of Words" and everyone agreed on that. We then discussed what books we should read, so we said the names of the books we liked and put them in a bowl and drew the books we would read. We decided on these books:

May: Holes by: Louis Sacher

June: Wayside Stories from Wayside School by: Louis Sacher

July: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by: J.K Rowling

August: The Hobbit by: J.R.R Tolkien

September: Summer of the Monkeys by: Wilson Rawls

October: Old Yeller by: Fred Gipson

November: Lord of the Rings #1

December: Marley and Me by John Grogan

January: Into the Wild by Eric Hunter

February: Great American Warriors

March: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

April: Pillage by Obert Sky

3. Next weekend is the Father's and son's Outing for my ward and we have to go on the day of my green belt graduation. We're going to go camping and fishing there. The plan is that if I pass testing I can just get it the next day. When I graduate I will get my purple belt.