Home Sweet Home...(:

Alrighty, Peeps! Time for another weekly update! Last week in one word: Chill.

On Saturday, I rode back to IL with Candace to surprise Jenn for her birthday.  We watched the superbowl, ate lots of good food, watched movies...you know...chill stuff. :)

I love long car rides with friends. (:

On Monday, I came home from Candace's house to surprise Jenn for her birthday.  I must say, she was totally surprised! She didn't suspect a thing, even though everyone knew about my plans to come up for weeks.  

Tuesday was Jenn's bday!  We went to the mall with Jenny, tried on some awesome hats, and bought a few things. :)

Wednesday=Movie night with my girls, Sam and Jenny! (Joe joined in a little while later too for some games;))

Friday we celebrated Jenn and Andrew's birthdays by going laser-tagging with the groupsters. It was TONS of fun.  Happy birthday again, Andrew and Jenn!

The next morning(Saturday), I went out with my best friend Jenny for coffee.  We had a great time chatting one last time before my break was over. :)

Annnd finally, to continue this birthday celebration, we all went to Andrew's house later for a game night(because one day is NOT enough time to say "happy birthday" to these totally awesome people)!

All this to say, last week went by WAY too fast.  It felt like two days.  I love all of my friends n family from IL! <3

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY JENN!

Today is a very special day.  It is Jenns 18th birthday!  I love this girl to death!!!

Why?  Let me just paint this picture for you...

37 Reasons why I love Jenn:

1. She loves Jesus. :)
2. She's a beast volleyball player.
3. She's smart and intelligent.
4. She knows how to keep a secret.
5. She's a great friend.
6. She knows how to encourage me and always makes me feel better when I'm upset.
7. She's the best roommate ever.
8. She makes me laugh.
9. She makes inside jokes with me and laughs when no one else thinks it's funny. XP
10. She lets me do her hair.
11. I can go to movies with her.
12. She stays up late talking to me.
13. She lets me borrow her clothes! 
14. Her style is awesome.
15. She's really pretty.
16. I can go shopping with her.
17. She can read my mind.
18. She knows what my tastes are better than anyone else I know.
19. She knows what makes me happy, and what makes me mad.
20. She loves playing with little kids.
21. She's always there for support.
22. She surprises me.
23. She never gives up.
24. She studies hard.
25. When I am sick, she comes in my room and gets me stuff. (Medicine, food, laptop--whatever. ;P)
26. She wakes up and talks to me when I'm sad for some reason in the middle of the night.
27. She plays "Who would you rather" and other such games with me at night. ;)
28. I can talk to her about ANYTHING.
29. She always likes my cooking! :)
30. She sings with me.
31. She's determined.
32. She gives great fashion advice.
33. She watches TV shows with me.
34. We give each other hand-me-downs.
35. My favorite Christmas/bday presents always come from her.
36. She understands me.
37. We always have fun together.

A few favorite memories...

On our way to the church camping trip!

baking cookies with Kayla and Rachelle!

Crazy hair for the new year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN!!!!!



So, thanks to my dear friend Candace, I got to come up to see her for her birthday. :D

Candace and I drove up Saturday, and yesterday my mom picked me up and we went out to eat with the grandparents to celebrate.

Today, Jenn and I went to the mall with Jenny. :D  We got to spend some time there, found a few cute things, tried on some crazy hats...

*Jenn and I as we are walking out of the mall*: "we shoulda bought those hats....."

After we got home, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 with popcorn (which I seasoned with salt, pepper and a lemon-herb seasoning)!

Oh yeah, and I made cake balls. :) They were pretty good.

That's all for now.  Just thought you all should know how awesome of a sister I have. =D

A wonderful day... (:

I can't describe the past week an a half in one word, so I'm not even gonna try. (Trust me, that's probably a good thing.)

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Lets see...

I woke up early. (7:15. half an hour to get ready for chapel. I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible for me to get used to getting up that early.  I think not. =/)

Chapel. 

I read a few chapters for a book discussion group:

Super good book about time management, and prioritizing...something I will honestly say I'm pretty bad at.  Anyway, the chapter I read today was on how we need to make make sure we put our focus on what's THE best thing for us to do, and not just something we *really* want to do.  That's one thing I'm trying to work on.  I have a habit of procrastinating on the things I need to do the most, and then to make myself feel better about it, I do something else instead that is still important, but just not as much.  A little voice inside me says, "Well, [this] needs to be done too, so at least I'm not wasting my time..."
Yeah. Still working on getting better at that. ;P

Anyway...back to my day...

Symposium was good.  Candace, Alison and Victor gave great speeches. :)  I'm due for a speech sometime in March.  I'm trying to think of a good topic to speak on.  (Ideas??)

Dinner was totes delish.  GREEK night!  Gyros, waffle fries, an amazing greek salad, and baklava for dessert.  (Don't worry, I didn't know what it was either) :)  I went out with Janet, Lindsay, Butters, Steven, Abby and Josh to DQ for ice cream...haha, I definitely think I'm gaining the freshman 15. =P

And LASTLY........I got back and talked to my BESTIE on the phone!  Highlight of my whole day.
Can I just say I am so blessed with the friends I have?  They're always there to encourage me, pray for me, and just talk about whatever with me :).  All this to say, last night Jenny and I had a super uplifting conversation that I really needed.

I love her!

Yep, that was a pretty good night.

:)