so here are some of the higlights of my week...

Saturday (ok i realize this is really last week but were just going to make this a week meaning within the last seven days cuz its my blog and i can do what i want) -
me and emma made a stormy weather beach day which was simply amazing.

we got a little carried away singing i believe i can fly...

Sunday -

We had a mini family reunion at my aunts house with my moms dad and all the sibbiling and cousins and stuff.

My cousin Chase and his friends Jeremy decided that since the back patio was pretty much already a pond from all the rain why not add fish!? So they went and bought $4 worth of goldfish and ended up putting them not only in the huge puddle but also in all the little light fixtures around the pool...to say the least it was amusing.

tuesday -

hurray for coming across amazing new quotes and rediscovering old ones...

"we get one story, you and i, one story alone. God has established the elmemets, the setting and the climax and the resolution. it might be time for you to go. it might be time to change, to shine out. i want to repeat one word for you: leave. roll the word around on your tounge for a bit. it is a beautiful word, isn't it? so strong and forceful, the way you've always wanted to be. and you will not be alone. you have never been alone. don't worry. everything will still be here when you get back. it's you who will have changed."

-Donald Miller

"everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons."

-Donald Miller

"You wonder why people choose feilds away from the states when young people at home are drifting because no one wants to take time to listen to there problems. I'll tell you why I left. Because those stateside young people have every oppertunity to study, hear, and understand the word of God in there own language, and these indians have no oppertunity whatsoever. I have had to make a cross of two logs, and lie down on it to show the indians what it means to crucify a man. When there is that much ignorance over here and so much knowledge and opportunity over there, I have no question in my mind why God sent me here. Those wimpering stateside young people will wake up on the day of judgment condemned to worse fates then these demon-fearing indians, because, having a bible they were bored with it -- while these indians have never heard of such a thing as writing"

- Jim Elliot

tonight akawednesday -

I fixed a yummy Israeli inspired meal. a falafel sandwich!!!

well that was a very edited verson of my week in pictures : )

Nepal...

So it is officaly offical...I'm going to Nepal this year! And Oh I am ssoooo excited about it all!!!

I'll be leaving in May and going to live in an orphange in the capital city Kathmandu. There is a single missionary gal there, Jenn, who lives only a 2min walk away so I'll be able to go over there whenever I want plus I guess there is anoter girl in her 20's who will be there some of the time. I think most of my work will be in the orphanage but ABWE, which is who I'm going with, has a church there which is what the orphanage is a part of and they also have a bible college I believe so I'll be able to help with those also.
Then come the end of August I will come back home on another crazy long flight.

So that is whats going on in my life right now. Just trying to put everything together for that and working it all out with the people who are helping me. It is pretty exciting stuff!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/garden/27childs.html

So here's something from the New York Times. An article featuring my Uncle JT's photos (hurray!!!). I didn't really read the whole article but I did look at the pictures. My Uncle is amazing : )

http://www.jtthomasphotography.com/index.htm

So I realized that as soon as I got back from Israel I got swept up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and have been lacking in doing anything but emptying my wallet of all its wealth.

And so here is some of the wonderful things that have been happening this christmas season...

- first we picked out our amazingly fat christmas tree

...And after loading on all the lights, ornaments, and ribbons it is finished! A work of art I must say...haha

- Then it was off to a little family road trip. Our first stop being a shop where my dad could get a new uniform. Oh my word I never knew there were so many choices of black boots, It was ridiculous. They did have some pretty cool coats! For dinner we went to Pinks, a very yummy place to get hot dogs. But the reason for the trip was Knotts Berry Farm...not anywhere near as magical and the happiest place on earth but still fun.

- This last weekend my mom and Robby went to Vegas for Robbys swim meet so I had to play mom for a couple days. So we baked gingerbread cookies!

- For some reason I decided that this year was the year of making things for people so my time has been filled making gifts for people and shoping for everyone else. Mind you I haven't even started wraping yet.

Oh and another wonderful thing was eating this delicious pomegranate that Robby had.

Goodbye Hannah Goodbye -By Kevin Lindsey

Verse 1:
Goodbye Hannah,
You're on your way
Oh Hannah Banana,
I can't find the words to say
We'll miss you sorely,
Every single Thursday
Just sitting around chatting,
With boring Brittany Mae

Chorus:
Who will continuously skip songs for us,
While we're driving in the car
Who'll be adventurous,
And smoke big old fat cigars...

Bridge:
Oh yeah, Emma's still here,
She'll do that for us (2x)

Verse 2:
But we'll still miss you,
While you're on your trip
And if you want to come back,
Stay off the Gaza Strip!

(Instrumental)
Goodbye, goodbye to you
Goodbye, goodbye to you Hannah
Goodbye, goodbye to you
We hope and pray, that you won't come back a Jew...

Like Kevin did!

(Instrumental)

I love adventures. If someone says something that I find somewhat adventurous I will most likely do it.
My all time favorite adventures though are the ones that involve traveling...like my first ever plane flight being by myself not knowing what I'm doing, going on missions trip where i don't know anyone there, taking a road trip over to CO with a some friends, sleeping overnight in an airport by myself when my flight got canceled, going and working at a camp in MN, camping (an adventure in and of itself), and of course any family vacation is an adventure : )
and then there are the adventures where a friend is like lets do this and I'm just like ok whatever...and i do it.

so that said little adventures are amazing.

my new adventures that are coming up:
-going to SF with my sis and Emma this weekend
-going to Israel with a bunch of old people!
-and hopefully going somewhere AMAZING for a couple months next year...

yeah I'm excited about it all.

christmas time...

well today I was invited to go over to Emmas house...for some reason she had decided that today was going to be a christmasy day!
So we put on a little Bing and made some hot coco with whip cream and red and green sprinkels and ate some peaunut butter fudge.

But then we decided that we needed to bake! So we made these amazingly yummy cookies that Morgan had told me about from her friends blog so after a little internet search we found the recipe.

They were the most amazing cookies ever!!! I ate so many i hardly had room for our christmas dinner of "turkey" (aka Chicken), mashed sweet potatos, stuffing, gravy, green beans, corn and whats christmas with out the cranberry sauce!

So in honor of today... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Nepal...

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

~Ansel Adams~

oh life...

so i just wanted to give a shout out to the guy today who came in to starbucks and told me i had nice teeth. i got a good laugh out of that : )

well summer is over. it makes me really quite sad. i decided that summer is my favorite time of year because i feel like each summer holds a new adventure. some of the highlights from this summer were...

- roadtrip to colorado
- lots of days at the beach
- sunshine
- volley ball
- 80's beach day
- my aunt sue getting married
- yearly Camp Pendleton camping trip
- stick shift
- being barefoot
- getting tan
- yosemite
- curly hair
- a nice walk on the beach with my friend

and that is only what i can think of off the top of my head! yeah this summer was so much fun but now its back to life and school and work. oh well i will just have to wait and plan my adventures for the next summer...

work...

so today i had a crazy day at work...and when i say crazy i mean it! i was only supposed to work 4.30 hours but ended up working 7. yeah that kinda says something. but i was happy to get some more hours in!
i some pretty silly customers like the guy who started singing frank sinatra to me and then the guy right behind him tried to put on this southern drawl, didn't work to good, but i was pretty funny. then there were these extremly hyper girls who were yelling at each other and yelling into the drive thru so much that we couldn't understand them, i cried i was laughing so hard at them.
needless to say i am sssooooo tired right now and cannot wait to go to bed! then its off to work again tomorrow!
yeah so hurry for pointless blogs!

the boys built a raft on one of our hikes, i'm not gonna lie i didn't really think it would float but it did! i guess they are just amazing raft builders.

my Aunt is a dj on tuesday morning so she let us go and pick out music and talk on the radio one morning.

the boys smokin' pipes. our nightly tradition.

the cool kids.

Colorado was amazing!! It is so beautiful there! I had so much fun spending time with my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle. We fet so much into the week we were there! I am totally ready to go back again!

oh man i'm totally leaving for a little colorado road trip tomorrow...or wait today.

yeah i am really excited about it.

just wanted to share.

be back sometime next week...

is it just me or have the stars been extra bright lately?

i highly encourage you to lay outside and just gaze at the stars for awhile.

its beautiful.

i love stars.

oh our God is amazing.

amazing...

well this past friday was one of the best days! My family was out of town so my friend stayed over and well we pretty much had way to much fun. : )

oh i love my friends so much what can i say

One time I got a note and it said that I was an inspirer. You know I never really thought about myself that way. I mean I did always get annoyed when someone would 'copy' something I did. I wanted to be original, I don't like to be like everybody else. But I really like the thought of inspiring. I hope I can inspire people to do things. I want to inspire people do go on mission trips. I want them to think less about what will happen and what there going to do with there lives and more on the moment that there living that they'll never get back. To not waist there energy on being stressed out when it really isn't that big of a deal. To love without holding back. To spend time with there family while they have them, cuz they won't be there forever.

I really hope I can live up to what my friend said and be an inspirer.

Oscar Party... Britney, Nicole and Paris

i am so tired of people thinking i'm perfect. they seem to think i don't have any problems. when they want to encourge each other they just over look me. they think i'm this like machine who never stops.
well the truth is i'm tired. i have problems and i have to deal with them on my own cuz no one even tries to be there for me. i cling on to evey little encouraging thing someone says to me because it doesn't happen very often. and trust me i do stop. i can't even count the times i just lay on the floor and cry.
so i just wanted to let you know. i'm not some crazy indestructible perfect girl. i need people. i need friends. people say i seem stuck up and self confident and trust me i am pretty much the farthest thing from that.

a map of where i've been...

http://www.travbuddy.com/widget_map_display.php?id=78114