10 Things I Love: Pizza Hut

I don't know for sure when my love for pizza began, but I do know this, "A wise man once said, 'Never pay full price for late pizza.'" (Ninja Turtles) Pizza, in my life, always had a way of bring people together. Maybe it's just for the free food but they're still around. Though for me it can't just be any type of pizza it has to be pizza from Pizza Hut. I prefer to keep it simple by just ordering the basic: a large pan pepperoni pizza, twenty hot wings, and ten bread sticks. Sometimes it's just the pizza, sometimes it's two pizzas and forty wings with no bread sticks. But nothing beats eating Pizza Hut pizza with family and friends, for me.

With my family, parents and two younger brothers, pizza is not that big because "sometimes" it gives my dad heart burns. I just think he gets tired of having pizza every time we go out to eat which I understand, just a little bit. But when we do they always order the salad bar with our meal, and they don't know (yet) that salad is just a waste of stomach space. As the wings and pizza start coming I absolutely enjoy watching my brothers slowly start pushing their salad bowls away and having my mom give them that "you better finish that" glare. And as always, they bring their salad back in front of them and finish their salads by taking two big bites then finally attacking the wings and pizza well I had already started. Our meal is usually filled with laughs and small talks, nothing too big, but with pizza with my friends turn out entirely different.

With my friends, it begins so quiet and no one wanting to take the first slice, just staring at one another. Until someone take the first slice and everyone follows. Then the music is turned up and the loud laughs and jokes and everything else. I personally enjoy eating pizza with my friends somewhere other than the restaurant place because I have a feeling that we would be kicked out but its a theory that I'm willing never to test because I just got to have my pizza.

Pizza is the way to my heart, maybe. I just have to pepperoni pizza everyday, if I could! Pizza for me has always been an ultimate favorite food of mine and will always be. So if you're ever wanting to exchange laughs, order some Pizza Hut pizza and that'll do the trick.

Another Special Day

I graduated from Northland Pioneer College on Saturday, May 19, 2012 with my Associates of Applied Science in Welding. Honestly, it wasn't that exciting at all. I had already decided to receive my degree within the two years of being apart of Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of technology (NAVIT) Welding and I did. I wasn't shocked or excited, just stressed. Stressed about being late for the graduation, getting ready on time, making sure everyone has their ticket to get into the graduation, and most importantly, making sure I had enough tickets for everyone that showed up.

A month ago, before my graduation when I first received my tickets, I had a list of everyone I wanted to be there and I was set. I had notified everyone, but as we all know things don't always go as planned.So my best friend and sister couldn't make it because of work, which was okay due to I ended up receiving two tickets less than I expected. But the day of graduation, one of my aunts brought her friend and my uncle and his family were coming and I just didn't have enough tickets for everyone and I didn't really want to have to decide who could show up and who couldn't. So somehow, I don't know how, they all got in which was a great thing. The down side was the wait. I am not a big fan of waiting and being patience, especially when I have no choice but to wait.

I had to check-in, dressed and ready to graduate. We had to check-in two hours before the actual graduation started. So I was going in and out of the "check-in" location and talking with the other graduating NAVIT welders from both St. Johns and Snowflake, I was the only NAVIT student welder from Holbrook graduating. It wasn't so bad because I knew them a little bit because we had all competed against one another in both the regional and state welding Skills USA competition this year. The two hours seemed to have taken much longer and the room slowly began to fill up more and more, until finally I heard, "NPC Graduates of 2012, may I have your attention please." We all looked towards the center of the room, then instructed to line up according to our degrees, so we did. And waited some more.

Finally, it was "time", time to walk down the aisle to be seated, time to search for our family and friends in the crowd, and time to do some more waiting. We sat and listened to the welcome address in five different languages, the choir sing, the keynote speaker speak, the outstanding students speak, the college hand out different awards to certain students, then finally the heading out and receiving of our diplomas.

It wasn't until I handed them my name card and standing on stage within a few feet of receiving my diploma I realized I finally did it. I placed sixth out of about fifty high school welders at the Skills USA competition. I placed second in the state of Arizona on our Career and Technical Education (CTE) exam for welding that all seniors take that participated in any CTE program. And finally, the fact that I am about to receive my degree in welding.

Even after realizing my accomplishments with welding, it still felt like nothing. After the day was over with, I wondered, "When will it mean something besides nothing?" I can't answer right now but I can not wait to find out. For now, it'll be seating in my room until the day I need it. I feel relieve today but I still have one more graduation this Friday from my high school and expecting it to have a much bigger and more meaningful impact on me. After spending four years with wonderful classmates and friends along with amazing teachers helping me along the way, Friday, please come fast!

10 Things I Love

These are just a few things that I look forward to everyday or weekly because it's what I love, each one has their own special memory or memories engraved in my mind. I have briefly explained each one and will further more define why I love each one until I'm done.

1. Pizza Hut: Pepperoni pizza & hot wings with Dr. Pepper. It's become something I love because pizza parties hold so many memories for me. From junior high throughout high school, my friends and I gathering money together for pizza and hot wings are the best! 
2. Half & Half's: Also known as: Arnold Palmer. It's a type of drink half green tea and half lemonade, my older cousin sister bought me one one day and I haven't stop buying them since. 
3. Brother's: I have so many  besides Brent and Nate (my actual brothers), who I claim as my brothers. They're there for me and I can talk to them about anything and everything. I cry with them, laugh with them, tease with them, pretty much everything and sometimes my mom "adopts" them as her son too.
4. Mother: My mommy, I love her. She's been with me through everything and I've been there for her. Yeah, we have our disagreements but she's always going to be my mom and stand by me through the thick and thin.
5. Mistakes: I enjoy my mistakes in life, in relationships, in school, in everything because I know I'm not perfect but it's nice to know where I messed up and learn from it and fix the mistake.
6. Winter: I enjoy the cold. I don't have snowball fights or go skiing, snowboarding, or sledding I just enjoy the cold, chilly weather that winter has to offer.
7. Amazing Friends: My friends are the people I'm around when I just want to by myself. I'm the type of person that tries to keep things to myself but my amazing friends are those I can not hide from.
8. Staying Home: Occasionally, I like traveling but nothing beats laying in my bed or the couch alone watching TV, cleaning, or playing video games.
9. Visiting the Dentist: Ever since I was small every year I looked forward to visiting the dentist. My favorite part is having my teeth cleaned and when I had braces, my visits were monthly and I enjoyed it.
10. Welding: Welding is amazing and plan to be doing it as long as I can. There's so much you can learn from it and make very good money. I can't wait to be making money doing what I really enjoy doing. 

Pair of Boots

My younger brother, Brent, has always been the person that is always wanting to see the smile on people's face. Years ago, when I was in fourth grade, I was in a JROTC program with at my school. There we were required to wear the camouflaged uniform with the black boots and everything along with it. Well, Brent always watched my clean and shine my boot and always teased me, telling me my mom was going to send my off to the army that's why I was in the JROTC. After my fourth grade year, I transferred to Winslow, so that was the end of my "army" days.

As for my uniform, it became Brent's Halloween costume that year, but the boots I could not give up, so they remain inside my closet. Occasionally, I would wear them when I would go paintballing with my brothers, though after awhile I stopped going. Every weekend Brent asked if he could wear my boots and he was still in preschool at that time, so the boots were big on him and practically reached his knees. He would not take no for answer and I ended up having to lace the boots up for him and he would run around all over the house them. By then, I ended up giving my boots to him because I had no use for them anymore. Brent would always wear these boots everywhere he went: school, to town, to play outside, and once even to bed. He absolutely was in love with these shoes and they lasted up to his third grade year.

During his third grade year, he was given an assignment to write about something he likes the most and you guessed it, he wrote about the boots. I had never seen him so happy about something he wrote and he had a picture above it, which was cute because he really emphasized the black on the boots and the rest he drew in pencil. His story went a little something like, "My big sister gave me her black boots. I really like my black boots because I can go play paintball with my sister and brother."

It wasn't until after I read those two sentences, I understood the saying, "Other man trash, is another man's treasure". Throughout our years there has been something at one point that we saved from being thrown away. The little meaningless things that we have no use for, might beneficial for another. Being the oldest of my two brothers there's been numerous things that I wanted to throw away but they wanted it and made something better out of it. Like how I was really into drawing but I stopped because I didn't have time to draw anymore, but Nate wanted my sketchbook, paint brushes and paint, charcoal, and pastels. Majority of the things I gave him I never ever opened but when I gave them to him, that same day he did like three drawings and they were pretty good. My brothers have always been a big part of my life. My parents always used to tell me that my brothers are watching my actions and are learning from me, but really it's them who are teaching me.

Something New

This weekend was the first time ever that I didn't go to valley to watch the semi-final and final basketball games. Instead, for the first time I spent the entire day with my aunt and cousin brother. My aunt, Rae, is currently going to school at Northern Arizona University and my cousin brother, Colin, is a junior at Winslow High School. We went to town because he needed new clothes for a roping his doing this weekend and I needed new moccasins with my leggings attached to the new pair, our aunt was just the driver, but the trip was really for Colin.

My brother is careless, but I have never seen him so picky until that day. He told us before that he needed an outfit, I just didn't expect it to take an entire hour! He started team roping and well be roping this weekend in Holbrook, AZ, at the Tolani Lake Classic. My aunt and I started browsing through shirts after shirts, after shirts and every shirt seemed to have something wrong with it. The buttons were right, the shirt was too thin or too thick, or the color didn't match his rope! The last one made me laugh but he quickly defended himself by saying "my rope is an accessory to me." It wasn't until Rae picked out a blue shirt with black buttons, one pocket on the left side, without the shoulder design that he didn't like, and had the right thickness. Though it still didn't match his rope, so he ended up buying a new rope. Just his new shirt alone was about $65 and his two pants were $50 each, it was shocking to witness him spending all that money within minutes. Selecting his rope took even longer! From the rack, he inspected each rope and each one had a defect he named by just looking at it. "It's not balanced", "It's not straight", and my favorite "It has a bend", well of course it has a bend, it's a rope! After going through nearly all the ropes he finally found one that was "perfect" and I asked, "How did he know?" He undid the rope and told me to watch, then he threw the rope up in the air and let it hit the ground. I watched but I didn't know what I was really watching. Then he said the rope goes straight up and comes straight down without moving, that means it's balanced and the honda (the loop for the rope) is straight. Then I was amazed with how much he could tell about a rope with a quick glance. He then compared it to sports for me by saying, you spend hours at a shoe store looking for the right pair, then you wear the shoe in practice so that your used to it, and in practice you run and do whatever you need to do for the real game. It's the samething for me with roping, I trained my horse myself, I ride it everyday afterschool, I select the perfect rope, boots, and clothes, just so I know I did what I can to win.

I never noticed how dedicated he was to roping and it was impressive on how he compared what he does to what I did. He told me about some of the local ropings he goes to and wins about $800 to $300 each weekend. So he invited me to watch him in his first roping this Friday, I'll probably end up going to support him at his first roping. For him, it's just having fun and if he's lucky he wins. Rodeos do not interest me, but he bought my shoes for graduation with the money he won, I'll watch him (maybe). I love how my cousin has something he's dedicated to entirely.

Another Competition

 Today is the day I leave for Cottonwood, Arizona, for the SkillsUSA Regional Welding competition at Mingus High School. So far, I’ve only prepared my tool box and resume, I have not yet packed at all but eventually I will. Throughout the week at the welding shop, we were given pieces of metals and a blueprint that we to assemble according to the blue print within 30 minutes. 30 minutes sounds like a lot of time but when you have to quickly glance at the blue print, place the right piece of metal where it belongs, and correctly weld where and how the blue print says, the 30 minutes feel like 5. As we did our projects there has been little mistakes that would have cost me lots of points in the competition, 50 percent of our points come from our assembly and the other 50 percent come from how well are welds are. Inside the welding competition, we weld in three main processes in welding: mig, tig, and stick, along with welding we cut the metal in oxy-fuel and plasma, as well as a mock interview, and written tests that are related to welding in between everyone of these categories. We receive points in everything we do and in the end whoever has the most points wins.

Although this is just the regional competition, between the three NAVIT (vocational institute program) welding shops: Holbrook, St. Johns, and Show Low, to qualify for state we have to finish as one of the top six out of the three shops. There’s normally about 80 welders that compete in the regional that are just from the northern part of Arizona, but at state it’s everyone in Arizona. Last year I was fortunate enough to place 11^th in the entire regional competition and advance to state because I place 4^th inside the NAVIT shops. I plan to do my best at Saturday’s competition. It starts at 6am and does not end until 3pm, so I know already it’s going to be a long day.

I enjoy competing with welding, for me; it’s like putting two of my favorite things together. Even though I probably would have lost if my projects from this week were for this competition, I see it as I have already made mistakes and learned from them. Right now I’m nervous about welding, but I’m more confident than I was last year and looking forward to Saturday. I’m just doing what I love, surrounded by people who share the same interest in welding as me. I will do by best in this competition and most importantly have fun welding and hope it’s good enough to qualify for state in March.

Friends & Basketball

Growing up, we met many people that are somehow drawn to us that are either shares the same interests with us or just fun to be around and if you’re lucky they’re both. Friends are just the people we met and like to be around and talk to when our family members are just not the people to go to. My first friend I made when I was in Preschool, as little as we were neither one of us knew that we would evolve into what is known as “best friends”.

We grew up in the same area and began going to school at the same school with the same teacher. But then in 3^rd grade we received different teachers, though the classrooms separated us, nothing ever came between us during lunch and recess. The following year, she transferred to a new school a few miles away, so we wrote letters to each other for the entire year and occasionally I was allowed to visit her and play at her house. It was nice to have someone my own age that I could communicate with and proudly call my best friend. As we grew older, distance became our enemy, our 5^th grade year I transferred to Winslow (even further away from her than I already was!) starting out in a new school was difficult for me. Until then I finally understood how she felt when she first transferred through her letters. As the next few years when on our communication level declined drastically due to the large amounts of homework we I received and she had continue playing basketball, it was hard to keep contact as middle-schoolers. So instead of seeing each other in person, it was like we only seen each other on paper now.

Then came junior high, we once again were reunited at last! No more distance between us or writing letters, we finally had each other at our side. I couldn’t be happier having her back after so many years, and at school we had some of our classes together which made me even happier! Nothing ever got between us and nothing ever will, personally, I never could ask for a better friend than her. She was the person that could practically read my mind and finish my sentences for me and had so many fun memories from grade school that we would occasionally reminisce about the “good ole days”. As a bonus, from spending a few years apart, we developed friends of our own who all got along very well. We became an entire group of friends that had even bigger and greater laughs together, but it turned out that they all had played basketball, not I.

Though when the 7^th grade try-outs came around they all encouraged me to go, so I went. On the first day of try outs, on a piece of paper that was being handed around we were instructed to write: our name, how many years we played basketball and what position we played. My friend knew I have never played before, so she told me to copy what she wrote down three years of playing basketball as a post player.  At the end of our second week of try-outs, I made my first basketball team my 7^th grade year. I also became a part of the starting five basketball team that year and the next year as well. If it wasn’t for the amazing set of friends I had during my two years of junior high, basketball would have never been a sport I played because I constantly needed their assistance on running plays and working hard both offense and defense to improve my “game”.

With all the fun I was having on and off the court and making more friends that had the love for the game of basketball was a big part of my junior high years. As a team, we were like a family and set dreams of becoming state champions our senior year. Although towards the end of my 8^th grade year I decided to leave Winslow and finish my senior year at Holbrook. Why? Because I thought being a Roadrunner would make my dad and his family notice me. My entire childhood has always been stuck between the rivalry of Winslow and Holbrook, my mom and majority of her siblings graduated from Winslow and my dad and his siblings from Holbrook. So if you go to either school, you should kind of know what I mean, but if you don’t, watch any game, any sport at any location and you’ll know what I mean instantly. Leaving my best friend, again, and everyone else was hard because basketball really united our friendship.

As a freshman at Holbrook, I didn’t know anyone at all. Thankfully, I played volleyball much longer than I did basketball, so at a new school I tried out for a sport. There I made new friends, along with my girls from Winslow, after volleyball was over came the sport I was looking forward to, basketball. Playing basketball with new players was a new experience from me after spending my first two years with my first team at my previous school. But I adapted and learned that friends and basketball took away the lonely feeling from transferring and not knowing anyone. Between the two years I played for Winslow and the three for Holbrook, I feel blessed to have been alongside them on the court and both set of girls are extremely talented. Unfortunately, for my senior year I choose not to play, not because of my families, or the girls, or whatever but for my education and new dream of being a welder.

I still support all of my friends on the court and enjoy the game of basketball every now and then because it’s taught me so much in just five years. I learned that a team is a family and for your family: you work your hardest both in school and on the court, you practice until everything is right, not matter how sore or how tired you are, and what I think is most important about a family is you stay a team, not matter what the scoreboard reads in the end. Without a team, you have no family and it makes it harder on yourself and the team. I will never forget my team, whether they have “Holbrook” or “Winslow” written across their chest because in my heart, they will always be my family. For the true love of the game of basketball and irreplaceable friendships with all my teammates!

My Bundle of Joy

Babies. I have always have a fear of babies. I don't know why but I always try to avoid them as much as I possibly could. On the other hand, my mom loves babies so every newborn it was like we were the first to be there to welcome the new baby. I would just look at the baby and that was about it.

Though a few months ago, I was blessed with a beautiful, baby sister, Samantha, on November 10, 2011. She's really my niece but my uncle was the father figure for me as I grew up, and evolved into being my other dad over time. On the night of the Sam's birth, he was constantly texting me and keeping me updated until the actual birth-giving part of it. The next morning my parents left and said I could visit her until she was back at my uncle's, but that wasn't soon enough for me to meet my first sister. I say "my first sister" because I grew up with nothing but boys and never really had girls to talk to until I started going to school that is. But with my parents gone and my eagerness increasing to visit my sister, I asked a friend to take me to Winslow and since she had to pick up hay herself, it all worked out fine. The first stop was Little Colorado Medical Center, room 3, I remember walking through the hallways looking at every label searching for "Room 3". As I passed every room, my heart began beating faster and I became nervous walking until I reached the right room.


When I entered the room I saw my other dad, his girl, her daughter, and my baby sister. I hugged the three of them and stood beside my baby sister, she was asleep, so I began stroking her above her forehead and along her jawline, admiring her birthmark on her left jaw. I couldn't help but smile knowing that I finally have a sister of my own, so I held her hand and felt a warm tear gently roll down my face, tears of joy. Sam then moved her hand from mine then grasped my pointer finger and didn't let go until I had to leave. As she held on to my finger no words could ever describe the feelings that I felt that day for her. I stood beside her in silence listening to my other dad tease about him waiting for the doctor to tell him to deliver his child, his girlfriend telling me that she didn't feel any pain at all throughout the entire thing, and her daughter making fun of my dad telling me that he drove so slow from Holbrook to Winslow and occasionally I laughed with them. The four hours I spent with her felt like 20 minutes but my friend was waiting for me outside, so I had no choice but to leave the side of my sister. I said my good byes to the three and told them I would be visiting my baby sister as much as I could.

Samantha was the first baby I first held inside my arms and I enjoyed it a lot! I still have a slight fear when she cries inside my arms, but thankful my mom has been there for me to hand her Sam. I love spending time with my baby sister whether its a few minutes or a few hours, I know those are times that I will never regret. I am still learning how to feed her, change her diaper, and everything else you need to know to take care of a baby and I'm loving it and learning a lot. I just hope to be there for my little sister as she grows up, just as her dad was there for me as I grew up.

Brent & Nate

I am the eldest of two younger brothers, Nathan and Brent. As we grew up we were constantly reminded by our mother that we will always have each other and we're each others only best friend. As a little kid, I doubted my mom thinking there's no way my brothers will ever be my only best friend! And her response was always, "because they are the only ones that know your life and are always going to be there for you as you grow older." Well now, I'm proud to say I was wrong and she was right. And here's why...

At the age of 10, our dad was in an car accident due to drunk driving not far from our home. He was air lifted to Flagstaff hospital, where our mom followed after him with our grandma and aunt. As for my brothers and I, I remember sitting in our mom's car looking at our diesel truck totaled alongside the road surrounded by officers and flashing red and blue lights, and further away our dad laying on a stretcher. I looked back to my brothers and they were both in tears, I moved towards them and wrapped my arms around them both. Our dad was okay but to this day every time we go home I glance at the spot and see our dad laying there, then I remember my brothers being there and I being the big sister and comforting them.

Three years ago was another major impact on our lives, the passing of our grandma. She was the greatest person ever! My brothers and I, all spent our early childhood with her a lot and Brent, the youngest of us all, spent the most time with her growing up. Her last days with us, Grandma's House was the one place we all wanted to be every weekend and making her laugh with our silliness together. When she passed, we were all we had. Days after Brent would be crying and I would just hold him and cry with him, he would then remind himself that she was in a better place and I could only agree with him at that time.

Despite our tragic events so young, we managed to work together to overcome them. Our mom was right and she knew way before any of these events, good and bad, affected our lives which still amazes me today. Its not just these two tragic events that  helped me understand that we have each other, but are the main ones that I personally believe that my brothers are my best friends. We're the oddest of the oddest kids and I give my mom props for keeping us around with her and teaching us that we're always going to be there for one another no matter what life throws at us!

I absolutely love my brothers, even when I hate them! (If you have younger siblings, you know what I mean, especially boys..) Everyone needs a best friend or friends, I'm just lucky to have my little brothers as mine, always and forever!

Beginning to Weld

For my first blog it was quite hard to decide what to "blog" about and from my friends I was given outrageous ideas that I had to clarify had to be "school appropriate." Until one finally suggested to blog about something I love, without a second more, I thought of welding. But first I began thinking of how I always dreamed of being a doctor or surgeon or somewhere in the medical field before welding, so here's how it happened... 

It originally started with a program at my high school known as Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT), that consisted of Welding, Health Related Occupation (HRO), and a few others. HRO was that program I told my mom and others that I was doing, but on the day of testing I marked welding. Why? I still don't have a clear answer but I'm very glad I did though that weekend I told my mom and she wasn't so happy about it. After telling her I visited my older cousin brother, Jerrin, who is an ironworker and I told him what I did and he just laughed about me. Minutes later I asked what is welding?  He looked at me and responded let me show you. He handed me a Carhartt long sleeved button up shirt that already had burns up the sleeves, a welding cap to cover my hair, and putting on what I now know is called arm sleeves on my arms then a welding hood and gloves. As he was suiting me up, his older and younger brother, Everett and Jaylin, were setting up their Miller Bobcat Welder (a welding machine) on the side of me. At that point I was beginning to become more and more nervous and excited at the same time, I stood and watched as the three of them put their jackets, hoods, and gloves faster than I did of course. When they were done Jerrin told me to sit beside him and watch the little puddle. Everett pushed my hood down and we all gathered around Jerrin. "COVER!" was the last thing I heard, everything went silent when the bright light was the only thing I saw, at that moment I felt like a little kid again with a smile so big I couldn't take my eyes off that spark! Then Jerrin started talking about the puddle and keeping it the same size and how you have to push and pull the rod (stick used for welding) to keep the puddle steady and flowing evenly. After he completed a stringer (a welded line), he began telling me about how there are different ways of welding, different metal, different rods, different positions of welding, so many different things about welding and I didn't even understand any of it but it interested me even more!

The beginning of my junior year in high school was when I began taking welding classes with the NAVIT program. The first day of class I learned that I would be receiving college credit in welding by passing tests and doing different welding projects as a grade. I had NAVIT in the mornings then high school in the afternoon and I loved it a lot because I only had four classes at the high school. I remember my first welding assignment, two pads (welds overlapping one another to increase the thickness of the metal) with 6010 and 7018 (welding rods), I was so scared thinking that I would mess up or not be able to weld at all and with all these thoughts going through my mind I recall Jerrin telling me, "every welder sees the same puddle, no matter if you're a beginner or you've been welding all your life that puddle will remain the same." After feeling confident enough I did my first weld, then again, and again and again until I got it right.

I looked forward to welding everyday. Being able to welding is what I love doing, I do not regret changing my dream of becoming a doctor but looking forward to underwater welding as my ultimate dream now. So it's okay to change your dreams and chase new ones, or in a cliche "always expect, the unexpected."