I'm a fan of bike riding. Sunday after church I rode between 25 and 30 miles with a group of other people from church. It was a long ride, but we finally made it. I was sore for like 2 days afterwards, but it was a great workout and totally worth it.

On a random note....Two different friends came up to me and said they didn't think they'd ever seen me in gym shoes...probably because I only wear them for indoor volleyball.

Yes, I actually do need new shoes.

Tomorrow is the last day of week 5 of school. And studying. And procrastinating...mostly procrastinating (Like I'm doing now, for example). I really should be getting to bed...

Pretty much...

I love community college so far. Tuesday was super fun. I went to speech class, all ready to listen to more people give speeches, but when I walked into class, a few of my classmates informed me that class was cancelled. I was borderline disappointed at first, but I ended up having an awesome classmate  bonding time with a few of the other kids there. We decided that it was kind of nice having our professor randomly cancel without warning. :)

That's all for now!

Last week was crazy. Crazy in a good way(I told you some exciting things were going to happen, right?).

To start things off, Christine stayed at my house for her fall break. I've had the privilege of knowing this awesome girl for almost four years now. It was so fun having her stay at my house for a whole week!

We went to Bdubs for 60-cent wings!!

Time goes by SO fast.

Also, my best friend turned 18 last week. She's been my best friend basically since I met her, about nine years ago. Long time, right? I feel so incredibly blessed to have her as a friend.

Happy birthday Jenny!

Thanks for encouraging me, praying for me, laughing with me, and being there for me whenever I needed it. :) I could literally write a book about all of our crazy memories and adventures together.

...Making "secret hideouts" at church...

...Making up numerous nick names for ourselves and signing our letters with them...

...Playing random and crazy games like "Statue maker" and "the Four Kings game" ;)

...Painting our faces green for St. Patty's day...

...Going out for coffee in the morning at Starbucks...

...Making our hair all crazy for new years...

...Shopping at the mall...

...Playing volleyball all summer...

...Walking around and talking for hours...

...Talking on the phone...

...Mixing our tea ;)

...Surprise birthday parties...

...Non-surprise birthday parties...

...Memorizing Psalm 34 (Even if we didn't quite finish)...

...long car rides...

...sleepovers...

...Fourth of July skits...

...Singing a duet...

...Sitting through long sermons, lectures, and conferences...

...Passing notes during math lessons...

...Inside jokes...

...Pranking...

...Our super-long "secret" handshake...

...Christmas caroling...

...Instant messaging...

...Sending letters and postcards...

...Sharing music...

...Watching movies...

...Pulling all-nighters...

...Dressing up as fairies...

...Accidentally calling someone while we're on the phone ;)

...Writing Classes...

...Matching dresses for church...

...Grocery shopping...

...Crying for (almost) no reason...

...Praying...

...Baking and cooking...

...Trying each other's cooking creations ;) (Chocolate-chip hummus and homemade cough drops--Yep, we're brave)

...Laughing so hard that our abs get a good workout ;)

...And so much more. Love you Jenny!

Well, that's all for now.

Peace. :)

Classes at Waubonsee have officially started. So far, I love it!

Here's the crazy part.....I'm only taking two classes, and in each class there is someone I know from outside of class, and we didn't even plan it. Not only that, but both of these people happen to be friends of mine whom I've known for 12+ years! Isn't it awesome how God works these things out?

I ran into so many people that I knew when I was walking to and from class. Small world, right? :)
Both of my professors are super nice and understanding. I'm going to have a great year.

So that was last week. Work is finally slowing down, giving me more time for school(not much). So far so great. I got this. ;)

Today is a special day. My *almost* brother would have been twelve(Wow, I feel so old).

Life is precious.

I'm really excited about this week and the next. My first speech and first test of the year will be "under my belt"...Annd there are a few more exciting things happening, which you'll hear about later. ;)

Love you all!

Summer is almost over. The strange thing is, I'm actually a little excited about starting school again next week. I'm excited about learning again. :) Working less will be nice too.

Monday I went to Waubonsee to see where my classes are for this semester.
Tuesday through today....working.

Okay, I'm not a big oatmeal person, but one morning I made some baked blueberry oatmeal, and it was actually really tasty. You should try it!

Oh! And I hung out with Levi, one last time before he leaves for college. :( I'm gonna miss him! (Forgot to take pictures...ugh.)

I played volleyball with church friends tonight. There was another group of people there that we challenged to a game. They weren't half bad. :)

Yep, this week has been good so far. Life is beautiful. 

Compassion, Anyone?

This morning I got up pretty early (for a Saturday) and made "Breakfast grilled cheese"with Jenn.  It consisted of two pieces of french toast and a yummy cream-cheese/powdered sugar mixture with blueberries. It was super tasty. :)

I started a devo book a few days ago that is REALLY good so far. It's a book for girls and I would highly recommend it to any of you ladies out there in need of a good book for your morning devos. :)

Today's "character" was "Compassion". What hit me the hardest was that Jesus had an insanely busy life, ministering to and healing people everywhere. He was so famous that *everyone* who was sick or demon possessed was coming to him (And I thought I had a busy schedule). Yet, He had compassion towards all of them. One thing I realized while I was reading this chapter was that Jesus could have just healed everyone all at once if He wanted. He could have just spoken one word and instantly healed everyone, but He chose to minister to people individually. That's pretty awesome. If I had the capability to speak one word and have all of my jobs/chores/tasks for the day done, I certainly would have a hard time resisting. Jesus is so awesome. :)

Anyway, thats my thoughts on today. I had more to say but I'm running out of time.Thanks for listening. Love you all. :)

Tubing, Cooling and Moo-ing. :)

I believe a post has been in order for quite some time now....

Updates? Yes. My parents came back safely from CA.

July 4th--Annual church picnic. I *almost* got our whole family(thats right. Mom and Dad included) to dye our hair blue. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures....my bad.

July 5-9th--Annual church camping trip! I think it's safe to say most of us would consider it the highlight of the whole year. It's hard to sum up the whole trip in a few sentences...

• We did a lot of boating, swimming, and volleyball. 
• All of the girls had a movie night, and afterwards we slept under the stars by a campfire that the guys had kept going while we were watching the movie. 
• We had church in an old (I mean, OLD) chapel boxcar. It was by far the coolest service I've ever gone to. :) Dr. Fred gave a really good message, and because there were so few of us it was actually interactive. Sam and I sat in the front. It was awesome.
• Sam, Jenn, Emma and I made cookies on the last night. They were delicious!

That's all of the exciting things I can remember at the moment...although really the whole trip was exciting. :) Oh, I forgot my memory card so I couldn't take any pics...these are Sam's.

Moving along, after camping was over, we had a day to relax and then...more volleyball! :D 

Yep, volleyball two days in a row actually. I know, we're intense.

Soo that brings me to today. Cow Appreciation Day! 

Dress up as a cow and get free chicken at Chick-Fil-A. 

This week was pretty awesome. 'Nuff said. XD

Six Flags!

Four more days have gone by. One week left without parental units. =/

Saturday and Sunday were full of relaxation and work. On Sunday we played volleyball, went out to eat, and then went home to prepare for Six Flags the next day. I was up past 2. :(

We had a crazy-amazing time at Six Flags. Candace, Leah, Natalia and I went on about nine rides throughout the whole day.  We had to stand in a few super long lines, which actually gave us a great chance to talk and catch up with each other. :)

Natalia and I during lunch (:

During the evening, Leah and I were in line for Panda Express when a random girl came up to us and asked which ride we liked better between Raging Bull or the new X-Flight. We had to say Raging Bull, although X-Flight was a close second. So, if you're going to Great America for the first time, make sure to put Raging Bull on your list of rides to go on before you leave. ;D

The four of us spent the night at Leah's house Monday night. We were SO tired. In fact, I still feel like I need to catch up on sleep from the past few nights. 

All in all, we had a blast. It was super cool to see these people again. :) 

That's all for now!

Why Hello, Summer. :)

My parents left two days ago for California. My dad is delivering stuff for a conference there, and my mom decided to go with him. Know what that means? Thats right. Jenn, Joe and I have the house to ourselves for almost two whole weeks. :)

So far so great. Thursday was the first day. We went to the mall with Sam and Jenny to shop for swim suits (With only 1 1/2 hours to shop....needless to say, we didn't have nearly enough time to find what we were looking for) before heading out to Naperville for some soccer and volleyball.

Floppy hats <3

The next day(Friday) we hit up the Studio Movie Grill in Wheaton with Will, Sam and Grant. Our friend Abby got some tickets for us, so we decided to use them together. It was a super fun experience. :)

Afterwards, we went to Friday Frisbee and then to the Storms' to hang out, as usual. 

Sam and I felt the need to try on some ridiculous hats and take pictures. ;)

Ah, yes. Summer is here. Honestly, there's nowhere I'd rather spend it than right here, at home, with my family and church friends (who are also basically family). Even though the month is almost over, it still feels like summer has just begun. It's flying by so fast. 

Well, two days down, eleven more to go before my parents get back. They'll get back just in time for the 4th of July (which is always *tons* of fun and filled with so many traditions), and then we leave for our annual church camping trip on the 5th. 

Hope you've enjoyed my little update on what's goin' on! :)

Home Sweet Home.

I got home from college last Saturday night. My life has been so crazy lately; in fact, I still have about five THOUSAND boxes to unpack (Okay, maybe not quite that many, but you get the idea). On the brighter side of the spectrum, I now have 36 college credits, which means I'm officially a college sophomore. =D By God's grace, I was able to survive my first year of college! I don't know whether I'm more excited or anxious at this point...after all, they say that life only gets harder as the years go by. =/

I said goodbye to all of my friends from college, just in case I don't go back next year(which is all in God's hands at this point). I met some super awesome people, who helped me grow so much. I'm gonna miss them for sure.

Ben (a.k.a Butters)! He was like a little brother to me... I'm gonna miss him!

Candace! We were getting ready to be waitresses for the banquet (:

Christine(: I'm gonna miss our hall sleepovers. ;)

Sunday was pretty fun. We went swimming at my Uncle Rocco's house and I got a nice tan(just kidding)! After that, Jenn and I went to see the Hunger Games. I must say, it was pretty good...and since I'd read the book, I wasn't as lost as I would have been.

On Monday we went over to some friends' house for a church picnic. I hung out with Jenny all day. :D
Yesterday I went over to Jenny's house, talked it up for a few hours, and then did her hair for the WSHSB banquet that evening. I must say, I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. :)

I got home and made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a tomato/mozzarella salad. Not to mention iced sweet tea! It was super delicious.

Today I'm finally tackling all of the boxes from college.

....One down. I call that progress. :)

On the agenda for this week? (Much needed) Volleyball and more volleyball, job search, college course/class planning...and relaxation. Should be awesome.

That's all for now!

Spring Break Happenings

I got back from spring break a few days ago. Let me tell you, it went by SO fast...so much for getting a lot of school done while I was home. =P

The first few days were pretty chill. I watched a few movies with Jenn, played volleyball in the freezing cold weather(on the way back from Indianapolis we watched the weather get 30 degrees colder), *sort of* studied, and slept in. :)

On Thursday we went over to my great-aunt's house where we got to see some of our second cousins that we hadn't seen in awhile. That was cool.

Friday=long awaited Chicago trip. We visited Millenium park, Navy Pier, a random library, and of course, we did a TON of walking. :)

Saturday we played some awesome sand volleyball. 'Nuff said.
Sunday=Easter and saying goodbye to church friends.

Andrew and Landon drove Pricella, Konner and me back to school since they needed to be in Indianapolis anyway for a few coffee meetings(which we all ended up going to anyway, making the total trip about 13 hours). We had a super fun day. Thanks guys!

Konner, Pricella and Heidi rockin the backseat (:

The faithful drivers!

...I was all lonely in the middle seat! hehe

Well, there you have it! My spring break in a nutshell. Now to tackle Biology, College Algebra, and Natural Sciences? Heh...I got this. ;)

Here's a cool verse I found today:

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." -James 1:12