In a Nut Shell....

Alright so I'm feeling so guilty right now.

I haven't written a post in over a month and pretty much deserted Blogger in general.

Life has just been crazy....good....but crazy.

And I thought summer was for relaxing...... pish posh!

So here is a really quick rundown on what I have been up to during the month of June.

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Well it was my little sissy's Sweet Sixteen!!!

She had a groovy little party.

Today is actually my birthday...but no party this year.

I let her do all the partying since 16 is sweeter than 19. :)

My sister and I were counselors at Junior Church Camp.

We had an awesome cabin full of awesome girls. And of course we were the coolest cabin leaders ever!!!!

I loved getting to know each and every girl. They were a hoot!!

Justin Beiber even visited our cabin! We were that special. ;)

Actually it wasn't him...but it was fun messing around with people.

Emi and I were also the worship leaders for the entire camp, so it wasn't exactly relaxing and we had alot of responsibility, but it was a week to remember. Next was the mission trip with Ocoee Outreach in TN. This is my 4th year going, and most likely (and sadly) my last. But it was a fantastic week.This year the adults of our church who were roofing were working on the same house the youth were painting. So we all got to be together!

We also did VBS at this very tiny church. It wasn't a big turn out, but the kids who came

enjoyed it so much and thought it was so special.

Emi and I also helped out our new youth pastor/music minister with worship and a youth rally held at a local church. It was totally last minute, but it turned out pretty well.

There was also live music at a block party we organized. Over all I enjoyed hanging out with my youth group and getting to know everyone better.

I believe that we all grew closer on this special trip.

So as you can see, Emi and I have been very busy this month.

Can you forgive me for not blogging? ;)

And I promise I will start reading yours again.

YOU ALL ROCK.

I'm Off Once Again

Well it seems like I just got home but...I'm off to church camp.

I am now officially old enough to be a counselor. YAY! Now I get to wear the grown up wrist band! Not only am I in charge of my own cabin (with my sister's help of course) I am also the music leader. I always get so nervous because music is a very important aspect of church camp.

I want it to be fun, but not too crazy. I don't want it to be hard for the 3rd graders, but too easy and boring for the 6th graders. Know what I mean? So if you could pray for me during this week, that would be wonderful. I am not just a camp person...I don't like the rustic living, bugs, heat, and thunder storms. But in the end it is worth it because I know I have helped the camp out and pleased God. That's all that matters in the end right? :)

So good bye once again fellow readers.

High Hopes and Big Dreams

So like I said, I'm home....but not only that:

I'm GRADUATED!

Our homeschool graduation ceremony was yesterday.

It was a perfect day for a picnic celebration!

How we did it was each graduate would go up with their parents to give a little

speech and receive a diploma.

Here I am delivering my little speech. I'm pretty much thanking everybody in my life.

I believe I was the only graduate not to cry during my or my parents speech.

I have a heart of stone. ;p

Afterwords we took pictures with alot of people.

Here I'm with Beth and her sister Emily. This is my familia!

Here is us five graduates. All girls. The 5 amigas.

Now we are acting all gangsta and cool. Time to partayyy!

Us in our pretty dresses.

Pop the foot! If any guys had graduated with us we couldn't have done this!

My table where my senior pictures were set up and such.

Beth wanted me to open my gift there. It ended up being a picture album full of

photos she took while in Summit, since I lost all of mine.

Such a sweet idea. :)

Me, Rebecca (r), and Megan(l) who are also graduates and really good friends of mine.

We are wearing our class shirts...which I designed!! How cool is that?

This is the back of the shirts.

After most of the people left, we went to go play on the playground.

Yeah, we are cool like that.

So yeah, we had great time together. It was a great day full of friends and family, yum yum food, fun pics, great weather, pretty dresses, big accomplishments, high hopes and dreams.....and playing on the playground.

CLASS OF 2011 BABY!!!

No Place Like Home.....

.....except Summit!!

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Man do I miss that place! Like a little oasis on top of a hill,

away from the everyday stress of life.

I must say, I recommend Summit to every one of my readers.

The speakers, literature, atmosphere, fellow students, staff, food, everything is epic.

I truly felt God working on my life here, in many different ways.

Like I said earlier, my camera and stuff got stolen so I don't really have any pictures.

If I end up posting any, they belong to other people.

Anyways, glad to be home. Glad to be back to the blogger world.

Missed ya'll.

*ash*

Another Update...

Hello, once again I have an update but it is not a good one.

While we were site seeing today our car got broken into and my purse got stolen which contained all my money, cell phone, license, camera, etc.

Some of my friend's stuff got stolen also.

We only hopped out of the car for a few minuites to take some pictures,

but I guess it was just enough time for something to happen.

I am especially upset that all the pictures I have take these few weeks are totally gone.

That bothers me the most, I just see each picture as a memory I'll cherish forever...

and now they are all gone.

So anyways, please pray that we will be able to get on the plane home ok since we don't have all the info we need. That's the big thing right now.

So yeah, lesson learned.

Never leave your valubles in a car unattended, or anywhere for that matter.

I once again learned it the hard way.

This is the 2nd time in like 3 years that my purse has been stolen.

Apparently God is trying to teach me something....what? I'm not sure yet.

Update From Colorado

Hi everybody! I'm not back home yet, but I finally have internet access!!

Oh how I have missed the blogging world!

Well I can't show you any pictures yet, but I just thought I would give you a little update. Summit is over and I am now at my friend's grandparents house here in CO.

They live really close to Rocky Mountain National Park which we actually drove through today. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We also went shopping downtown and just enjoyed our beautiful Sunday.

I am sick with a cold, so I am really trying to get rid of it before my flight home Wednesday.

I would rather not have my head feeling like it's going to blow up for 3 hours.

Well, just wanted to say hi and that I have missed you all.

Hope you have had a great past two weeks.

I know I have.

Pictures will come as soon as I get home.

Tootles

*Ash*

Ciao, ciao

Packing seriously wears me out. It hurts my brain to go think through everything I have

keeping in mind, "what can I not live without for 2 1/2 weeks?"

This is how I pack. As by brain flys, my hands try to keep up.

So i end up just throwing everything in a big heap on my bed.

This is my "not amused" face.

And unpacking...even worse.

After I throw everything on my bed, I then roll or fold all my clothes and stick them in

big plastic baggies and squeeze all the air out of them.

It really does save space!!

Where am I going you ask?

I'm going to Summit Ministries in CO for 2 weeks.

Beth and I are going along with a few other friends.

Oh, what it Summit?

It is a worldview conference kind of thing.

You learn about stuff like post-modernism , socialism, and that everyone has a worldview.

And that we need to know what our worldview is as Christians, and know how to

stand up for it.

So we will be spending alot of time in class listening to lectures and watching movies.

But we also just get to hang out, play sports, and make friends.

Aren't the mountains in the background gorgeous!

Can't wait for the beautiful scenery!

So I won't be taking my laptop with me, so it will be a while before I post again.

Hope you all have a great next few weeks!

I'll be fine as soon as I get the plane ride over with.

Airports make me really nervous.

What about you? Do you like to fly or not?

Have a great one!

*Ashley*

Surprise Birthday Party!

All pictures are from Pinterest.com

I have always wanted to throw a surprise birthday party for someone.

So today, let's use our IMAGINATIONS!

Let's pretend we are throwing a cute summery surprise birthday party for a

sister, cousin, mother, or close friend.

Let's get busy!!

First we have to pick out the location and the decorations.

We could have a whimsical "Alice in Wonderland" type tea party in the back yard.

We need someone to pick out the flowers, someone to spray paint some old chairs,

and someone to bring and find a way to hang a neat chandelier.

Or if it's just gonna be a few of us girl friends, we could go a little rustic.

I mean, who needs chairs? Pillows on the ground are just as good.

It's like a picnic...for fairies!

Oh, but what if alot of people are coming?

Maybe we could rent out a nice dining room or church fellowship hall We can then find some Redwood tree branches (fake or real)

and we need lots of candles!

All that seems like alot of work.

How about we just have the party outside under my grandma's big tree.

We just need to bring a big table and some chairs,

and hang some decorations from the tree branches. Maybe even some lights! Not to mention, there is plenty of shade.

Alright, the location is picked out. Great!

Now for the best part....the food!

I think we will only have refreshment/dessert type foods, not a whole meal.

Too much trouble.

Let's see, what should we have?

Raspberry cheesecake tarts? ummm....do I even need to think about this?

Of course we will have them!

I don't know how to make cheesecake though, can you make it?

Oh, I can make these fruit tacos!

What they are is fruit and this sugary creamcheese mixture inside a sugar cookie.

I'm getting hungry already! OK, now what about drinks?

Wow, this strawberry lemonade punch looks good.

Let's go with this!

Or for those who can't have sugar or are on a diet (like me)

we can have some ice water with these real fruit ice cubes available for extra flavor. Good! Food is done!

We need to wrap up that special gift we got her!

How should we do it?

We could go for a frilly girly look and use cupcake cups to make little flowers.

Or we could just wrap it in plain paper (doesn't have to be brown)

and make little flag pendants or sting puff balls for a celebration look.I think I'll do this one. Just wrap different color yarn around the plain wrapped gift.

I have some yard I need to use up anyways.

Are we done? Oh wait, not yet! We need the invitations!

We could go for this cool little 3D effect....

Or cut out polka dots out of bright paper.

Make little button flowers! This one is probably the easiest.

But I must say, I like this one the best.

Punch out different color flowers and glue buttons on top. Nice!

All right. Now we are done! Whew!

Coming up with a party is a lot of work!!

But the hardest part is still to come, keeping the secret!

I won't tell if you won't.....;)

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Can't wait to see her face!

*Ash*

Charlieissocoollike!!!!

Charlie is just so cool like.

Don't believe me? Check him out yourself!

He is also on my top 5 favorite Youtubers list.

My friends actually introduced me to Charlie McDonnell.

At first I was like, this dude is wierd....but then I was like...

he is kind of cute...and funny....and wierd.

If I am having a bad day, this little ray of sunshine can always cheer me up with his

clever little songs, crazy "Challenge Charlies", and funny facial expressions.

So if you like British accents (did i mention he's from Englad?), ukuleles, crazy challenges,

unique fun songs, and Dr. Who, this guy is for you.

Just a warning: he is a atheist and believes in Darwinism.

And in some of his flicks, he makes it quite clear.

Just thought I would warn you. He is still awesome in my book. :)

Wordy Wednesday ~ Adventure

Have you ever gone on an adventure?

What is something adventurous you really want to do?

Happy Wednesday!

*ashley*

Portrait Contest

I was really excited when I heard about Polka Dot's Portrait contest

cause I love taking pictures of people!!!

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But as I was looking through all my portraits, I realized that some of the best ones was some

senior portraits my sister took of me.

So this is actually my sister entering. Not me. So if one of these wins, the prize goes to her.

Thanks for hosting this Polka Dot, you rock girl. :)