Fall Break!

Hey everyone-- it's fall outside!!!

Last week was my fall break and it was soooo wonderful. Just wonderful. I have a great school and great friends, and thankfully not a hard work load at all this year-- but I was ready for a break. The week was fun, but it started before that first Monday we got to sleep in. It began Friday evening for our middle/ high school spirit week banquet, or as we affectionately call it, "Formal Hangout." And see, formal hangout is the end to our wonderful spirit week, but I'll have to post about that later. I know I say that all the time, that I'll post later, but when something exciting happens, I want to put that right then. lol. So, oh yes! Formal Hangout...

We were dismissed at 2 on Friday after our fun and very messy olympics. We all had to go home, shower all the chocolate, oatmeal, etc. off of us (don't worry, I really will try to explain later). Then we got all dressed up and met at the picture studio in Sears to, well, get our pictures taken! Then finally, finally we got to go to Melini's. It's this delicious Italian Restaurant, and we were all very hungry. So we ate there (I got a wonderful portion of fettuccini chicken alfredo which was super yummy but also too much to eat. But no worries- I took it home and ate it for lunch the next day=] ) Then we headed back to school where we all got changed from our "formal clothes" into jeans and hoodies and played Keep-Away with a little ball, boys against girls, on the parking lot in the dark and the cold... it was so much fun! lol. We also had a little bonfire and we stood around that some, and we hung out in the gym and ate snacks and talked. It was really fun. We left about midnight and slept in on Saturday. It was so wonderful. That day I did absolutely nothing, and it made me very excited because I knew I was about to have a whole week of relaxation like that. So I'll give a quick over-view of my week. The funny thing is, the weekends encompassing fall break were actually some of the best parts of it, but the week was wonderful too.

Sunday afternoon we had a birthday party for our cousin, but we only got to stay a few minutes because I had choir practice at church, then I led worship, then we had youth. So after church Jacqui, Gabriel, and I went back over to our cousins' house, and we watched Bride Wars with Chelsey and Aunt Chris. It was a fun evening.

Monday- relaxtion. Completely. It was cool but sunshiny out, and I laid on the trampoline in the warm sunshine and was super happy that we were on break.

Tuesday- I had a piano lesson that evening, then we went to Mimi and Papaw's house and ate dinner and visited with them for a while, which is always really fun.

Wednesday- I went with Chelsey and Aunt Chris to help show Chelsey the course for her driving test, then we picked up Jacqui and Gabriel and we went back to Aunt Chris and Uncle Mark's house where we helped them move furniture and such. As we were moving Jesse into Randee's old room, we had House of Heroes playing really loud and we were eating runts candy from like 3 Christmases ago, and it was a blast! Then we ate dinner with them (Aunt Chris made a super yummy meal), then went to youth with Randee and Mark.

Thursday- We went to Mimi and Papaw's again. Fun! :)

Then Friday was the beginning of our fun weekend! We went down to Lexington to stay the night with Aunt Debbie and Leanndra because we were going to the Cincinnati Zoo the next day. But that evening I got to go to one of my best friends' football games in Bourbon Co, and I had a such a good time!!! And since we live like 2 and a half hours or so from there, I hardly ever get to see my friend, so it was really good to see him. Oh, and they won. Hooray!

And Saturday, we went to the zoo! We had a really great time there too. I hadn't been to the zoo in a long time, but it was so much fun. I'm sorry I don't have any pics to post on here, because we saw some really cool animals, but I didn't take my camera in with me, and my brother did, but I don't have his pics on here. But anyway, we saw elephants and lions, rhinos and tigers, seals, bears, birds, gorillas, monkeys... so many pretty, cute animals (and some not so cute. But very entertaining.) I enjoy watching like all of the animals, but I think maybe the tigers were my favorite that day. There was a beautiful mommy tiger and four little cubs and they were sooo cute. But the cutest thing was that the momma was resting there, with her beautiful face and fur, and her big pretty paws crossed so delicately (if a huge tiger can be delicate), and one of her little cubs was behind her just kinda laying there too with its little paw on his momma, and it was so sweet!! They were really cute!!

Then Sunday was homecoming at the church where my Papaw pastors, so we went there and heard great music (from some of our family; 0ur second couins to be exact), heard my uncle (who's also a pastor at a different church) speak, and had a delicious meal. Church dinners are the best.

So my fall break was very, very wonderful. Everyone needs some down time and relaxation once in a while, and I think my week was just about perfect for that. :)

Campfires and Break Dancing

Well, it sure seems like a long time since I last posted- that was the first day of school. Today I just finished my third week. And thankfully it's not been hard, I'm just tired.

Well to begin, I'll just explain the title of this post. And if you're wondering how campfires and break dancing go together... well, they don't except for the fact that those were the highlights of my weekend a couple weekends ago. (As I said, I'm a little behind =])

So on that Saturday night, my dad and brother came home w/ hotdogs and marshmallows, and they built a campfire! It was so much fun. My dad came in and un-bent a couple wire hangers to use as the things to roast our food w/ (I can't remember what they're called), and we did just that. We brought out some lawn chairs and sat around the little fire and roasted our hotdogs and then made s'mores. They were sooo yummy. I ate three of them.

Then we just sat there under the beautiful stars and talked and I played my guitar some, and we just had a cozy little family time. It was really fun.

Then Sunday evening was the annual talent show at our church. I sang and played a song on the piano. It was Beloved by Tenth Avenue North. I had just pretty much learned it that day, but I really wanted to share it w/ the church because it's such an incredible song- it's like Jesus is singing to us, to me, and He's pursuing us, and it's such a cool song. But then......

Break Dancing!!! Yep, that's what we did. See, our youth group did a skit like "America's Got Talent," and the act our friend Hannah and my sister and I did was break dancing. It was really fun. See, we really don't know the first thing about it, which made it sooo much more fun and funny. We were in costume and everything- I was wearing my chucks, jeans w/ a hole in them, my brother's shorts over those, a big hoodie, and a sideways ballcap. I have to admit, I felt pretty gangsta. haha. And I would have a couple pictures, but we never could get them on here. So anyway, I think we had a TobyMac song playing, and we walked out on the stage then just like dropped to the floor and started spinning and flopping and acting like we knew what we were doing. It was sooo much fun.

But that was two weeks ago, and now it's the weekend again, and I'm very happy. School has been good, and I don't hardly have homework so far this yr, which has been nice. But weekends are always so wonderful, and this is gonna be another good one. Last weekend our parents were out of town, and I ran my brother around everywhere. Friday night we took him to a birthday party. Saturday morning he had a car wash because their class is raising money for as fieldtrip. Then Jacqui and I bought groceries, pet food, recycled, picked up my brother, got his allergy shot, then came home and relaxed. Then Sunday was Mark Walz Sr.'s funeral. Even though it was very sad, it was very good too because he was a great man who God had really used to reach other people's lives. The church was packed, there was worhip and there was laughter, and it was cool to see a huge body of believers who had gathered for a funeral be able to sing our praise to God.

So I know this weekend will be very wonderful too. Well, tomorrow I have to take Gabriel to another car wash, but that's always fine. Then Sunday and Monday we're doing a bunch of stuff w/ our whole family, and I'm really excited, so I'll have to write about that later. But so far it's been a great yr, and I'm sure I'll have much to tell as it goes on. :)

Senior Year!

Well, today was my last first day of school. Ever. (I mean, there's college, but I mean actual school.) It was our first day, and I still can't really believe that I'm a senior! It's happened so fast! I've loved high school, and it seems like it's flown by so fast, so I really plan to enjoy this year super much.

There are only three seniors at Calvary this year- David, Brandi, and me. And that's the biggest graduating class yet. (I know, right?! lol) So we are very excited.

Today we didn't actually do any work, which was nice, and kinda got us back into the swing of things. Well, actually, as nice and wonderful as our teachers are, I don't actually think they were trying not to give us work, us seniors just haven't started our math class yet because we're going to do an online college one. So while the other high schoolers did math, we went to another room and got the middle school quiz packets ready for Mrs. Harris. It was a nice day.

So now I'm officially a senior, and I'm still taking it in. That hit me last year, when I knew that the next year I'd be a senior, but now that it's actually here, I'm still a little in shock. Like this year I have to get in college applications, take the ACT a couple more times, la de da de da...... and I'm a little sad it's my last year. But actually I'm much more excited than sad. Actually, I don't even feel sad. It's just that the thought of this being my last year of high school is a little overwhelming to me, but very exciting too. Very very exciting! :)

Oh, here is a picture my mom took this morning of Gabriel, Jacqui, and me before we left for school. I still don't have a car, but yesterday evening we went up to my Papaw Johns' house, which is in Louisa, and we borrowed his bronco so my dad could drvie that and I would drive his truck this week. So that was all very nice and wonderful. But anyway, this is before my mom left for work and us for school. I think she got this because it's a pretty big year for all of us- my brother started middle school, my sister started high school, and I started my senior year. I think my mom is a little overwhelmed too. But she's happy for us. Very very happy.

So I am looking forward to this school year and to see what all it (and God, precisely) has in store for me.