News

The semester is officially over! I had 1 final on Tuesday and 4 yesterday and I am so happy to be done until the fall! I'll let y'all know about my grades once they're posted, I'm crossing my fingers for all A's. I know I got at least two.

For other news, on Tuesday I submitted my application to transfer to Brigham Young University - Hawaii. One more winter here in Idaho just might kill me. Although Hawaii has its challenges too.

There won't be any snow - darn. I won't be able to apply lotion to my hands and face 4 times a day - too bad. I'll have to breathe freely in all that humidity - sad. I can't do the pale my-skin-hasn't-seen-sunlight-in-eight-months look anymore - I'm going to miss that.

Yup, it's going to be rough but it's times like this when you just have to be corageous and tough it out.

Results

So for those of you who have seen my "school project" I just wanted to let y'all know how I did. The overall grade was a 94% - an A! Good thing too because a 93% would have meant an A-.
Here's how the pictures did: The portrait got an 11.5 out of 12.5 because of harsh flash and shadows. The landscape got a 10.5 for lack of interest. The redemption received a 12 his only comment was "interesting". And my favorite, the hero picture, aced the test with a 12.5. I was pretty happy with the results, I'll take the A.

Meanwhile we had to do another project where we compared Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, and a Book of Mormon hero. If any of you know what the monomyth is then that will make sense, if not then allow me to explain. It's basically the elements of the heroic journey. A person is usually in a state of mortal weakness (for Odysseus he was prideful and denied the power of the gods, for Luke he was simply a youth and unaware that his destiny lay outside the occupation of farming), they then get a mentor (Athena and Obi-Wan Kenobi), receive training (Yoda in the Dagobah System), go through various tests and trials, have some sort of fall where they enter "the belly of the whale" (Luke rushes into a fight with Darth Vader out of anger, is overpowered and gets his hand chopped off, and discovers that Darth Vader is his father), after this comes a redemption and the return of a wiser, stronger hero. Pretty cool huh? In a way, Anakin Skywalker and Oedipus Rex also go through the steps of the heroic journey, but there is no redemption because they never recover from the fall, they just keep falling. So we had to choose a Book of Mormon hero to compare with these two. Almost everyone chose Nephi or Alma, and a few chose Moroni. I chose to take the road less traveled and chose Corianton. To me he embodies the true hero in that he receives a higher calling, unfortunately he falls and makes a mess out of it, he receives training or counsel from his father (think of all the great doctrine in those chapters), and then he repents and becomes a strong and righteous man again. Perfect.
Let me know what y'all think. By the way, I got a 100% on that project (in case you're wondering, that's an A+!).

School Project

In my humanities class we've been studying art in all its forms. Paintings, etchings, drawings, sculptures, music, poems, and even photography. After learning some of the basic rules and elements (basically guidelines) of photography we were given a project. We had to take four pictures and hand them in. But not just any pictures. We had to have a portrait and a landscape and we had to choose two of the following four themes: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Hero.
This sepia of Cody was one of two I was considering for the portrait.

In the end I chose this color one because I liked the green in his eyes. I also like the angle of his head.

The landscapes were the hardest to choose from. Mom's favorite was this one of the trees, she thought they had "a lot of personality", which they do.

I couldn't make up my mind which one I liked best so I decided to turn in both. When the professor looked at me like I should have been joking I made a last minute decision to turn in the river picture as my landscape requirement. Sorry mom.

This is my redemption picture. It's probably my least favorite out of the four I turned in. It's the only one I titled. The title: Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet...

And lastly, the hero pictures. This one was Cody's favorite. Mom titled it "The Beast" on her computer. Nothing against this picture, it's an awesome picture, it just didn't match the picture that I had envisioned in my mind.

This is the picture I chose to submit because I liked the compatibility of strength (his physique) and humility (the act of him kneeling). I once heard that a true hero reaches his greatest height while on his knees.

So that's my school project. Let me know what y'all think.

The Further Escapades of Mowgli

Once again, Mowgli wandered off while we were cleaning his cage. This time he didn't go very far. Maybe he just wanted to be in touch with his wild side. See mom's rather hilarious post from December or November.

In memory of Daffy

I found some pictures I'd taken of Jesse and Kelly's adorable puppy, Daffy, back in November. As most of you know she passed away in December.

Starting the New Year Right!

The New Year started off right with a relaxing evening at Cali's watching movies, playing games and lots of good food! Among my culinary contributions was this delectable pesto cheese wreath. My family loved it and couldn't get enough of it.

On Sunday the 4th, the Grill Master taught us an important lesson......

Neither sleet,

... nor snow......

...nor 6 below will keep the GRILL MASTER from his appointment with

grilling destiny.

And the steaks and portabellas were delicious!

Turkey Shoot

So Saturday it was time for the South's annual (?) Turkey Shoot in the crater. We all forgot to bring cameras but Katie South had hers and said she would email us some pictures.
We took the puppy with us and she seemed to have a good time. The gunfire didn't phase her one bit.

The men's competition: In this competition the winner was the one who shot the most out of 6. The only catch was that you got four singles and then the last one was a double. Ryan kept up the Cunningham name by advancing to the final round where you had to shoot at two sets of doubles. Randy South took first with Troy Hansen in second.

The women's competition: This was set up the same as the men's competition. Being the 2004 champion (I still have my first prize mini maglite) I was a little afraid that I wouldn't live up to that reputation. Turns out I was right. Mom and Katie South advanced to the final round and Mom took first while Katie came in second.

Speed shooting: This competition they just let the birds fly and the first to shoot 5 won. With Dad as his spotter, Ryan advanced to the final round and again kept up the Cunningham name by taking first. Who knows how far Dad would have made it had his gun not jammed. Tough luck.

Knock out: This one was interesting. Most of you know the rules so I won't explain them. It started out with six shooters on the line, by the time Mom's group was down to three it consisted of her, Nathan South, and Ty Hall. All of you would be proud of her and the way she held her own against the boys. Round after round no one was "knocked out" because all three of them kept hitting their pigeons. Finally after several rounds she was finally "knocked out" by Nathan and he advanced to the final round. This time it was Cody who did the Cunninghams proud by advancing to the final round. He put up a good fight but Nathan South took first with Derek South snagging second.

All in all we did pretty good with two champions from four competitions and always having a Cunningham advancing to the final round.