7th Grade

7ith grade was an awkward year for me, my eyes seemed way too big for my face and I started feeling really insecure about my appearance and fitting in.  Junior high brought an opportunity to meet lots of new kids. I was no longer limited to my friends on our street, but gravitated to friends at school who had shared interests.  I learned to play the clarinet and was in the band that year. I continued to train in gymnastics and was improving rapidly, but had an incident on the balance beam that brought things to a halt.  I was doing a back handspring on the beam when one of my hands slipped off the edge, I lost my balance, hit my neck on the beam and landed hard on the mat.  I was in a lot of pain, and pretty stunned. After that, I struggled to get back on the beam, and my dream of becoming an olympic gymnast came to an end.  Toward the end of 7th grade I decided to run for 8th grade secretary and won!  

For Christmas that year I got a suitcase from Santa Claus.  Inside the suitcase were two airplane tickets and two tickets to the Freedom bowl, BYU vs. UCLA.  I loved watching BYU football, so I was really excited!  My mom and I flew out and stayed with Grandma McNeil and went to the game.  We flew home on New Year's Eve.  It was a fun little mommy, daughter trip.  

During my 7th grade year, I read the Book of Mormon all the way through for the first time.  I had a Sunday School teacher who invited us to read it from cover to cover.  She diligently and consistently checked on our progress.  She brought a progress chart to class each week.  Any time we finished a “book,” she marked it off by our name and we got a candy bar.  Her persistence helped me reach my goal that year and my testimony of the book began to grow.  I wish I could remember her name.  She was a sweet older woman, so I’m sure she has passed to the other side, but I wish I could tell her thank you! 

I don’t recall much of what we did during the summers other than watch a lot of tv and movies.  I know we went to the Julien family reunion a couple of times with Grandma and Grandpa Julien, but don’t really remember specifics.