Who doesn't love being a Sophmore?

Sophomore Year! It's been GREAT! :D I am constantly kept busy with Truman's marching band as always. Saturday we visited Springfield for our marching band competition. We got 6th out of 21 bands in finals. But, it really doesn't seem all that bad, when there was only 1 point separating you from 2nd place. We played first in finals and we had to really set the bar high. Here is a link to the video from Saturday's performance in finals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kSOgkewlzI

Hope you enjoy it!
Crystal

New Update! :)

I am now a high schooler! :) I have been for almost a month now. I've been kept busy during the summer and getting ready for this school year. I had a wonderful time in the Czech Republic. I got to meet my penpal, some of her friends, visit her school, stay with her family, meet other people from the Czech Republic as we stayed at our sister church's manse. While I was there we also went sight seeing. I loved every part of their culture. The Czech Republic is just GORGEOUS! I highly recommend visiting there sometime. I also went the first week of August to New Mexico with my church youth group. We all had SO much fun and we met many new people there. Unfortunatley, I sprained my ankle while I was walking down a trail and I didn't get to hike up to chimney rock at the camp we stayed at called Ghost Ranch. I loved being able to wake up in our cabin and look outside and there were the mountains right outside our window. We usually had to get up early for breakfast, so we would watch the sun rise as everyone got ready to go. During Santacaligon this year, September 4-7, my Czech friends that I met came to the U.S. Two of them stayed with me and the rest of them stayed with the people I went to the Czech Republic with. They were here in Missouri from September 4-10. They left September 10 and stayed in New York until the 12th and then they flew back home. I enjoyed being able to show them around Independence just like they showed us around Brandys nad Labem- Stara Boleslav and Prague in the Czech Republic. We all had a wonderful time during their visit. I do miss them terribly and I hope to maybe go back this summer, if my church decides to go back. Thanks for reading! :)

Update!(:

I ONLY HAVE 1 1/2 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL UNTIL I'M A HIGHSCHOOLER!(: Band got their marching band music for next year. The show we are doing is "Tribal Elements", you can listen to it at www.inspiremusic.com. On the main website, it will want to take you through a video DON'T DO THAT. When you get there you will have to click "Marching Band Productions" in the bottom left hand corner. When you get to the next page, you will have to make sure that you are on grade 3/4 gallery 1, and you will click on "Tribal Elements", which it is the last one in the row and is an orangeish color. It will bring up a new page and will start playing the track once it uploads. There are four movements to the piece and each of them are unique in their own way. It's actually 5 PAGES OF MUSIC, talk about a lot, huh. I have started my scrapbook for my host family in the Czech Republic, and I'm about halfway finished with it. I've FINALLY gotten my passport and ticket ready for my flight on the 28th of June. I've gotten SO much stuff for this trip ALREADY. I had to get a pair of shoes that are only to be worn in the house, my luggage tags, an adapter, a passport holder, a luggage strap, and even a new luggage bag set!

Just a General Update.

Well, today my friends and I, (Kaylee Miller and Sarah Macoubrie) went to Solo Ensemble Contest. We played a Clarinet Trio called Saltarello, and we recieved a I rating. If you aren't a part of the band world/family that means that we were superior and it's the highest rating you can earn. The Bridger 8th Grade Band got a I- at full band contest which was the weekend after my birthday, and it just happened to snow that day. (February 28th) Yes, i have had my 14th birthday. It was one of the best birthday's I've ever had. There currently is 11 1/2 days of being an 8th grader left. Which means...I'll be a Freshman in 11 1/2 days.(: School gets out on May 27th. My parents are NOT ready for that to happen. If you didn't already know, I will be going to the Czech Republic from June 28th- July 8th. I will be visiting my penpal, who is 17, and our sister church there in Brandys nad Labem. (city in the Czech Republic). My flight will be from KCI to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Prague. On the return trip I will be flying from Prague to NYC, then from NYC to KCI. I also have TONS of band camps I will be going to at Truman High this summer. Then, after full band camp is done the last week of July, I will be going to New Mexico with my church youth group the first week of August, from the 3rd- 9th. As you can see, I clearly have my summer full and it's not even summer yet.(: I've also included a picture from Easter of my little sister Candice and I in our Easter dresses. This past Thursday my parents bought a new car! We now have a 2004 PT Cruiser. It only had 33,000 miles on it and we got a GREAT deal. We finished signing everything today. The car is Patriot Blue and has wood grain pannels on the side. (the patriot is my school mascot next year. ha ha.)It has a sunroof and leather, but has felt where the back of your kneecaps rest on the seat, so you don't sweat. My dad is going to be driving that car mostly and that leaves the van to my mom. On Monday, my 8th grade band has it's final performance and 45 of us in our band are going to Truman and will continue on in the music program. The 1 person who will not be going with us is an alto saxophone player, who will be going to Chrisman, but will still be continuing on in the band program there. I'm also in Pep/ Jazz band and we are also performing 2 songs. So I will be playing 5 songs that night. The 6th grade and 7th grade bands will also be playing. If you would like to hear one of the songs that the Bridger 8th Grade Band is playing, Celtic Ritual, you can go to http://www.jwpepper.com/. In the search bar put "CELTIC RITUAL". You will click on MP3 audio link, and it will bring up a new window. You should click "AGREE", and then it will start playing the audio, it may take a minute or two depending on you internet connection. Allison Wright is playing the flute solo, and Johnathan Brown is playing the alto saxophone solo. Since I was taking Algebra 1 this year as an 8th grader, I had to take the Freshman EOC. Which is the End of Course Exam. It was pretty easy, and only one question on there I didn't know. On the 19th my team 8B is going to be going to Lexington, Missori for an educational feild trip for Social Studies. Swimming was great this year. We got new coaches and it wasn't as endurance filled as last year. We actually had a LOT of fun. I am in Student Council and so I got to help plan our dance, "Under the Stars". I will blog about that later, once I have the pictures brightened up. Hope you've enjoyed the "Brock Family" update!

Heather Brewer.

If you have read the books, "The Chornicles of Vladimir Tod", then you will certainly envy me. I got to meet the author of them, Heather Brewer. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Heather came to Bridger Middle School on May 7th. She talked about writing books, about herself, and she even read us the 1st chapter of her new book 10th grade Bleeds. Heather Brewer has written 8th Grade Bites, 9th Grade Slays, and now 10th Grade Bleeds. It hits bookstores on June 25th. You can visit her website at http://www.heatherbrewer.com/ to learn more about her books. If some of you don't know, I was a part of the Truman Award Readers Selectors to choose the list for next year. Heather Brewer's book 8th Grade Bites, was a book that we put on the list and the thank-you we got from her was a free t-shirt with the purple smiley for her new book with a purple smiley button. We all also got another button either a red, blue, or purple smiley. I got a blue one as my second. We all got to sit front row when she talked to us, and we all got to get our books signed first. I personally own both of her books, and will get the new book when it comes out. I am including pictures of this time with this update. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do!

David Cook Concert

On April 28th my dad and I went to David Cook's concert at UCM. We had SUCH an amazing time. We went and there was tons of people we were about in the middle of the line, so we got some pretty good seats. I'm including some pictures from the concert. Ryan Star was the concert opener and he sang for about 45min. Even though we had never heard of him before, he was still really good for an upcoming star. David Cook sang for about an hour and a half. We got there around 5:00 and finally got back to Independence around 11:30. It was on a school night, but the concert was totally worth it.(: