Oakcrest.

It's about time I blogged about one of the most beautiful summers of my life.

So, this summer I was a camp counselor.

It's true.

One more thing, I loved it.

This summer turned out to be exactly what I needed. I found out a lot about myself! I came across an amount of energy that I never thought to be possible, a compassionate side of me that I had never seen, and 91 thirteen year olds to love. 

Week one I can describe in one word. 

HARD. 

I had no idea what I was doing,

but my sweet campers

laughed at my jokes anyway.

By second week I was feeling better,

and this was the week that started

my love affair with Justin Bieber.

That's right.

Be jealous.

The third week brought a group of

extremely 'scraggly' and, 

lets be honest, 

farty girls. :) 

We dressed up as Peter Pan

characters for the party.

Along with sweet costumes, 

week three decided to come up with an evil plan to zip line in the middle of the night. We executed it perfectly..

except when we got to the harness closet it was locked!

Spoiled. But we made up a great cover story anyway. 

I sure did love that night!

Look at these gorgeous girls.

Week four brought a 

never-ending party. 

We sang opera, played in the ashes after cookout,

and sang everywhere. Yes. We did.

Week five was floater week for me, so I had no campers.

And was very sad. But that was the week I found the ukulele,

so I can't complain. Love my little red friend!

Week six was International Week!

We represented Madagascar.

Manao ahoana!

Pretty sure we had a flour-bomb

fight that week..so SO fun.

Oh week seven..my crazy little ones!

We had a fantastic photo shoot in our

80's costumes, and let me be the first

to say that those costumes were

probably the best I saw all summer.

Love it.

Week Eight, I love you!


We had the funnest time on the 
foam slide after a very
adventurous hike.


I went moose hunting.


The so-called moose grunts that we heard turned out to be a camper blowing her nose.
Ridiculous, right?

I am very sorry to say that my camera broke

during week nine. I have no digital evidence

that week nine even happened..

But I promise it did! 

We had a beautiful experience with 

a special needs camper and her

17 year old buddy. 

I will never forget how wonderful all my campers were. We all worked together

better than any other group all summer.

Christmas Week!

This week was too much fun.

We re-enacted the manger scene, and got to carry around my teddy bear wrapped in a blanket as our baby Jesus all week.

Probably not the most religious thing, but eh. Oh well.

We also got to write letters to our Savior, giving him something in return for his sacrifice for us. 

We learned the ultimate importance of him being born to Mary and Joseph, and the 

harsh beauty of the circumstances surrounding his miraculous birth.

I've never felt the spirit as strong as I did that week. 

I will never forget the lessons I have been taught by the

daughters of God that I was blessed enough to spend time with. This experience is something that will stay in my heart for the eternities. Thank you for the most beautiful summer of my life, dear ones! 

I love you, and I hope you are still as happy as I am.

{{ Favorite place on Earth }}

Ice breakers

So... today I had a classic moment.

I was walking to the bus stop with my roommate,

and we were discussing how boots now-a-day 

are more for fashion than function. As in, they have 

no traction. 

Just as I'm saying this, I slipped and whhiipp *in air moment* FLOPPED.

We actually laughed for a while about it. Okay, we giggled for the next

five minutes, until we had to get on the bus.

Almost one year ago, I was in a similar situation.

However, it had a different ending.

A yit-tow crack in my bone, a few inches up from the base of my tibia.

This crack led to...

a fatty fatty ankle, and then..

a beautiful cast. so lovely.

So anyway, my slip/fall today reminded 

me of how grateful I am that I can walk walk walk everywhere, and not have a problem.

A sore ankle today is so much better than a 

broken leg for two months. :) 

Here's to a break-free winter!

< A few of my favorite things >

Clean.

Just wanted you to know 

something beautiful.

Explosion. Everywhere.

I haven't been at my apartment consistently for the last three days.

What did I come home to? 

The kitchen. In pieces. Not a single piece of clean silverware to be seen.

The best news?

I now hear the sweet hum of the dishwasher, and my hands

are dry and cracking from water damage.

 Mmm mmm, good!

|| quite possibly my favorite thing. cleaning the kitchen. ||

Smile

Music. It radiates in my soul.

I know my recordings are mediocre..and very homemade..

but I'll keep on singing, because I love it.

Here is the most recent video I've uploaded to YouTube in my 

increasing effort to become famous.

Feel free to share this with all the producers and/or rich people you know. :)

*wink wink*

This song is for my good friend, Becky Arnell. 
She inspires me with her blog to keep 'simply smiling.'
treetoppbaby.blogspot.com

smile!

( a few of my favorite things )

Mugger

Oh D.I.

I truly love you.

My latest trip to the Logan location added a few things to my

growing collection of house decorations.

First after scrounging around the back room, I mentioned to my friend that "I guess you can't always find a treasure every trip," when what appeared before my eyes?!

This.

Pretty great, right? I'm going to peel a few more of the chips off
since some are already fallen off, to help 
it look like it's supposed to be like that. 
Perfect.

Second, I found some fabulous little mugs that I fell in love with. 

They have great shape and are very feminine.

After doing some research, I found some 

enamel paint that I could use

to create a unique set of teacups.

 Last, this is what happened!

They are currently baking in the 

oven to seal the paint.

I can't wait to get them out and 

have a nice cup of cinnamon spice tea!

.favorite things.

Making You Wait

Yeah you are welcome.

Thanks Sethy!

-- My favorite song --

Round DOS

I have been a busy little bee. Before Christmas break, I acquired a 
painting from the store (my first bought art!) and hung it 
in my humble apartment.

I truly love it, 

and was inspired 

by it. 

So inspired, 

in fact, 

that I decided to make a unique 

piece of art all by myself.

Over Christmas break I...

1. Built a frame

2. Stretched a canvas

3. Painted said canvas

But, there were several other steps involved.

I used some old trim for the frame, then cut up

my brother's old church shirt for the canvas. 

Classy, right?

Here she is. :D

After the shirt was stapled on, I painted and painted! 

As you can see, the bird addition was to help this painting somewhat
fit with the previous bird painting.

Yeah. Welp, that is about as good as my painting

skills are as of now..but I am going to

be working on it this semester! 

Look forward to coming installments. :)

{( My new favorite pastime )}

Nature walks and good friends!

A new semester, eh? 

Bring it!

But for reals, I am ready for it. It finally snowed today, so it feels like winter! And Utah. It feels like winter in Utah.

So, I've got some pretty cool friends here, and we do some pretty cool things now-a-day.

Such as... taking nature walks! Yesterday we did the same thing, and I wish

I had comparison pictures. We were commenting on how nice it is that there is no snow, 

and what did we wake up to? Several inches.

YAY!!

Then, after making this wonderful discovery 

of snow, we decided to walk in it.

And I brought my camera. 

Love the colors in this one!

Logan

Don't I have the best friends?

We had a grand ol' time runnnnning through the snow, enjoying the great company.

I suggest you try it.

~These are my favorite days ~