Happy Birthday Leah

June 30, 2011

Today is Leah's birthday!  And we are at camp.  In the morning Steph and I snuck into Leah's cabin and decorated with Superman stuff (one of Leah's favorites) and gave all of her campers Superman masks to wear when she came back in.  Here they are on their way to a meal with their masks on, so cute!

Meredith came up today, so I am officially not in charge of my cabin any longer, yay!  She came up with a box of donuts to celebrate Leah's birthday, so we went to the Camp Grounds Coffee Shop on our free hour to celebrate Leah with coffee and donuts.  It was a great time just talking and relaxing, taking a little time away from the campers.  It was fun that we were all there for Leah's birthday at camp! 

Happy Birthday Leah!  I'm so happy to have you as a friend and a sister and I look forward to many more years of celebrating birthdays with you!

Summer Camp Day 2

June 29, 2011

Another day at camp, our first whole day, and it was a great one!  We got to go to Bible class, Arts and Crafts, Swimming and Dance class.  We also got to play in the pool for free time, although they had to close it down early because some one threw-up in it, twice...so gross!  I love summer camp!  But the kids are having so much fun, and my group of girls (those who just finished second grade) is doing great and enjoying everything we do. 

Tomorrow we are going to get to go canoeing, swimming class and play volleyball for our classes, and I'm sure we will be back to the pool for free time.  And tomorrow Meredith comes up, so I will be free from my duties as she takes over!!  It has only been two days, but I'm already exhausted.  I think I'm getting too old for this!

Summer Camp Day 1

June 28, 2011

Today was the first day of summer camp for the 1st through 3rd graders from LACS.  We headed up to The OAKS Camp and Conference Center to start our week of camp.  It was a great first day, although I got stuck doing lice washing.  Yuck!  But once that was done we got to have fun at fire circle singing songs and dancing around.  Then headed back to our cabins for devotionals and lights out.  After lights out the girls stayed up talking for most of the night, but finally got a few hours of sleep.  Tomorrow will be a fun day, although I'm sure we will all need to take naps during "rest hour"; the part of the day I'm most looking forward to!

One Hot Day

June 27, 2011

On hot days like today, I always want ice cream!  Today I compromised and bought some fudgecicles.  It's still ice cream, but not so bad for you!  It was a great treat on a hot day!

A Day at Home

June 26, 2011

Today I stayed at home all day.  It was great to have a day off, to relax, to get stuff done around the house, to read and to play some Wii.  I have had a Wii for a little less than a year now, and it is always fun to play it.  I especially love to make little Mii's that look like friends and family!  Here are a few that I/we made...

My Dad

My Mom

My Nephew Luke who smiles so big his eyes close.. This really looks like him!!

Steph

This is Steph's pretend boyfriend Charlie...she made him.

Leah

Mer, with a beauty mark!

My Spanish teacher in Guatemala, Luis Fernando.  This one looks exactly like him too! : )

And last but not least...this one is me.  Hahaha!

Graduation and Futbol

June 25, 2011
We had an amazing graduation today from TUMI-LA (The Urban Ministry Institute of Los Angeles) a seminary developed by World Impact so that men and women from inner-cities across the US and around the world can be trained in Biblical truth and go out and be pastors to train others.  It is an amazing ministry and school, and it was so much fun to see the 4 graduates get their diplomas and walk across the stage as ministers.  I was privileged to be a part of this special day as one of the photographers.  It was a great day!   

After the graduation I went over to Janice and Judson's to watch the US-Mexico soccer game.  We watched it on the wall using a projector!  It was a great game, with US coming on strong in the beginning, but Mexico came back to win 4-2.  I was happy, because I usually root for Mexico, but had to go for US in this one, so it was a win-win in my case!!  : )

Pretend BBQ

June 24, 2011
Today I went over to my friend's house for a BBQ, except we couldn't get the BBQ going.  So, we cooked our food in the house and ate our pretend BBQ together.  We still had fun and the food was still delicious!  Thanks Leah and Steph for having me over!

Fun in the Sun

June 23, 2011

Today was a pool day for me and a group of girls who just finished up 5th grade.  We had a lot of fun playing in the pool, soaking up some sun, and laughing.  They are so cute, and loved playing all the silly games I love to play in a pool, they even tried doing the synchronized swimming sideways dives in a fan!  It was hilarious!!  Here are some of the pictures from our fun pool day.

Immediately after the pool party I headed out to have our final family group time together at Vista Hermosa Park.  We had a picnic all together, then walked around the park, taking pictures and playing around.  It was fun to just hang out with my family group, and the view was quite beautiful from the park!

Birthday Hang Out Day

June 22, 2011

Today we celebrated Meredith's, Leah's and Janice's birthdays!  They have birthdays that are pretty close together, so we had one big celebration for the three of them.  We hung out for the day at the beach, in Venice.  We walked the canals and saw all the sights of the area.  We ate at C&O, soooo delicious!  And we had so much fun.  I am so thankful for the three ladies (Steph too, but we weren't celebrating her birthday) who we were celebrating today!  One of the best parts of coming to LA and working with World Impact has been the amazing friends I have made. 

It was a fun day celebrating my beautiful friends in a beautiful part of the city of Los Angeles!

Happy Birthday to my friends!!

Out to Lunch

June 21, 2011

It was nice to be back in LA today, although it was a crazy busy day trying to catch up after being gone for a little bit longer than I expected to be.  Most of the teachers started their summer school programs today, so it was fun seeing everyone back around the school.  One of the high-lights was going out to lunch at Caveman Kitchen with a group of friends.

I also took the after picture of my car today.  Here is what it looks like with the new wheels and tires...

I think it looks great, but I miss the big tires and showing everyone who's boss on the road!!  : )

A Typical Summer Day

June 20, 2011

Today my brother Billy helped me as I tried to get new wheels and tires for my car.  We first went to a junk yard, my first time at one (and of course I didn't take any pictures) where we were looking for wheels that would fit on my car so we didn't have to buy them new.  We didn't find any Escapes at the junk yard but we found some Bronco's that had the same size tires, so we figured they would work.  Well, they were pretty rusted on, so Billy had to work SUPER hard to get those tires off the cars.  Once he got three pf them off I decided to call a tire place to see if those wheels would work on my car.  I should have called BEFORE he did all that work, because they told me that they wouldn't fit... : (     So, we ended up at a tire shop.

While we were waiting I spent time at his house with his wife and girls.  They are in their first week of summer and had their cousin sleep over last night.  They made signs for a lemonade stand, played with play-doh, roller skated, hula hooped, ate watermelon, played with paper dolls and played outside, and they already said they were bored!!  So funny how kids don't want to be in school, but the minute they are out they get bored.  I love it! 

So, my pictures for today are of my car in the before shots (I didn't take any after pictures yet, but it looks very different), with the huge tires that were on it when I bought it, and apparently were for an Explorer, not an Escape, and my nieces having some summer fun, but still being bored!!  : )

I'll show some after pictures of my car tomorrow...  Happy Summer!

Father's Day

June 19, 2011

Today is father's day!  I have an amazing dad who is always there for me.  He is kind and generous and very funny!  My dad is always there for us when we need him and will make you laugh no matter how you are feeling.  There were times I didn't want to hear his silliness, like when he used to come in and wake me up singing some made up song to wake me up when I was in high school (I am NOT a morning person), but for the most part his sense of humor has always made me laugh. 

My little brother is also a dad now, which is so crazy to me!  I love watching him with his girls, and they love him so much, there's no doubt that he is a great dad! 

Happy Father's Day to two amazing dads!

A Life Time of Dance

June 18, 2011

Tonight was Hannah and Georgia's dance recital.  It was fun to see them all dressed up and dancing on the big stage!  Hannah was in two dances, and did such a great job.  She even jumped rope while tap dancing, and didn't mess up one time!  It was amazing!  Georgia didn't really dance much, but she looked so cute up there.  We couldn't take pictures during the program, but I got to go backstage before the show to take some pictures of the girls. 

So cute!!

Beautiful Ventura

June 17, 2011

I <3 Ventura!
 

No need to say more.

Graduation Dinner

June 16, 2011
I got to go home to Ventura today, yay!  I'm so happy to be home.  Tonight we went to dinner for Hannah and Georgia's graduations; Hannah from 5th grade and Georgia from Kindergarten.  : )
We went to Red Robin, their favorite place to eat.  They are growing up sooooo fast, and are both so cute!  It was fun seeing them and celebrating with them!

Good job girls!  You both still have a long way to go, so keep up the good work!

A Little Obsession Never Hurt Anyone

June 15, 2011
It's official, I am obsessed wth the music from Les Mis, and I don't even own it.  I found the whole show on youtube, the 10th anniversary concert is my favorite, those singers are amazing!  Someone posted the entire concert, which is just missing the acting to make it the entire musical.  Tonight I watched/listened to the whole thing, all 2 hours 27 minutes and 54 seconds of it, and I kind of want to watch it again!  The best part is that they also have subtitles so you can sing along.  This is one of my favorite songs, the finale, technically the 1st encore of "Do You Hear the People Sing", and I like to sing it really loud!!  You can see the words in the pictures and you can find it on youtube so you can sing along too!!

I Dreamed A Dream Of Time Gone By

June 14, 2011
Les Mis... I really don't need to say anything more.  It was amazing! We took some really funny pictures, not on purpose.  We tried to get a good one, but they kept ending up looking funny!  Here's what we ended up with:

Not too bad.  This was before the show.  We were so excited!!

This is the stage during intermission.  I had already cried at least 3 times at this point...

We tried a self portrait, but apparently my arms are not long enough!  Not so good.

Then we asked some lady to take it for us, but the lights went down to start the second half, so it is kind of funny and we are all scrambling to get back into our seats... Plus no flash and Sara is hidden behind me!

Outside after the show we decided to try another self-portrait in front of the huge sign, didn't work again.  We all look really white, and you can't see the sign.

Finally some kind soul took our picture, and I guess this one is ok.  You can't really see the sign still, but it will have to do! 

Such a great show, with an amazing story!  I left feeling exhilarated and inspired (and marching while singing a lot of great songs in my head)! 

"Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men?  It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again.  When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes."   Just give me a flag to wave!!  : )