Truth: Maggie is my very best friend.

My mom woke me up early this morning and we went to an exercise class at the park and rec taught my Erica Minnett. It was hard doing it first thing in the morning. We did step aerobics mixed with normal aerobics mostly.

When we got home, I really wanted to join my mom on her walk. But I headed to the basement and took a great nap.

My mom woke me up and I went back to Maria's room and worked on the scrapbook for Dan's parents for a while. I got all of the pictures and letters glued on the paper.

Then, I went to the pool. And I brought Maggie along with me! She loves going for car rides.

Maggie was so excited to be back at my grandparents house. She and my Grandpa were almost better friends than she and I are. It kind of reminds me of the Grandpa in Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons. I read this book in fifth grade in a book group for class, and absolutely loved it! But mostly, this is the only thing I remember:

"When Gramps tells this story, he starts when he was seventeen years old and living with his parents in Bybanks. That's when he met Gram. She was visiting her aunt who lived over the meadow from where Gramps lived. 'I was a wild thing then,' Gramps said, 'and I didn't stand still for any girl, I can tell you that.' They had to try to catch Gramps on the run. But when he saw Gram running in the meadow, with her long hair as silky as a filly's, he was the one who was trying to do the catching. 'Talk about wild things! Your grandmother was the wildest, most untamed, most ornery and beautiful creature ever to grace this earth.'

Gramps said he followed her like a sick, old dog for twenty-two days, and on the twenty-third day, he marched up to her father and asked if he could marry her. Her father said, 'If you can get her to stand still long enough and if she'll have you, I guess you can.'
When Gramps asked Gram to marry him, she said, 'Do you have a dog?' Gramps said that yes, as a matter of fact, he had a fat old beagle named Sadie. Gram said, 'And where does she sleep?'

Gramps stumbled around a bit and said, 'To tell you the truth, she sleeps right next to me, but if we was to get married I-'

'And when you come in the door at night,' Gram said, 'what does the dog do?'
Gramps couldn't figure what she was getting at, so he just told the truth. 'She jumps all over me, a-lickin' and a-howlin'.'

'And then what do you do?' Gram said.

'Well gosh-' Gramps said. He did not like to admit it, but he said, 'I take her in my lap and pet her till she calms down, and sometimes I sing her a song. You're making me feel foolish.'

'I don't mean to,' she said. 'You've told me all I need to know. I figure if you treat a dog that good, you'll treat me better. I figure if that old beagle Sadie loves you so much, I'll probably love you better. Yes, I'll marry you.'"

I know that it is wrong to judge people, even after you have met them. But I will admit that ever since I have read that, I do judge people-especially guys. I judge them on how they talk about their dog, how they treat my dog, and how Maggie reacts to them.

My mom and I laid on rafts and floated on the cold, cold water in the hot, hot sun. We listened to Jack Johnson. It was a lovely time.

When we got home, I put the finishing touches on the book. I added stickers and such. That was my favorite part. Dan and my mom both loved it and were very appreciative of my work. Dan told me I could do that for a living. Again, another suggestion of a career dealing with art, I'll take it!

I did my laundry, took a shower, and packed for a week. I hate packing, so basically I threw all the clothes I saw in my blue Nike duffel bag.

I went over to Clancy's house where the girls were anxiously awaiting me. I did the backs of three shirts and Clancy wrote "win state 2011" on all four. We are so excited to go tomorrow and hope the boys the best.
I hurried home to my dad's. We drove to the Cain's farm to borrow their truck, then brought it home and loaded the trailer full with sticks and brush and leaves and such. It reminded me of the time we had to wash rocks. But not quite as bad, I don't think anything was as bad as that when it comes to yard work.

Then, we got a small arni's pizza and ate it on the way back to their farm. I let my dad do most of the unloading, because it was kinda hard. And not fun. While he did that, I took pictures. Lots of pictures!

When we came home, I just hung out at his house the rest of the night. I painted my fingernails yellow- actually the name of the nailpolish is sunshine! I also unpacked my bag and texted and am blogging and listening to music and am going to go to bed very soon.