Awkward and Awesome

Awkward

• Jogging...I'll leave it at that. :P
• Holding up a PVC pipe/pole thingy-ma-jigger over my head and behind my back while my dad digs a hole to put it in for our Sukkah (for Sukkoth: a major Jewish festival held in autumn to commemorate the sheltering of the Israelites in the wilderness). Very awkward/painful position.

(Guess I had a pretty "good" week...can't think of any other awkward things that happened. ;)

Awesome

• The Dr. Seuss book my Mom got me in French! (One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish...my fav Dr. Seuss book!)
•  The fact that my five year old sister is fluent in Ubbi-Dubbi! It's so awesome!
• The Seahawks. I've liked football ever since my mom took time to explain what a first down was. And it's nice having a team to "follow" and "cheer" for (I never really cheer :P).  
• Walking in the fall. So amazing! I think I've decided that walking is one of my favorite things to do. I just don't do it very often because my mom doesn't like me to walk alone and there's usually nobody to go with me at the times I can go (except a hairy beast of course, and I don't want them along). I have always said that I'll walk more when I get married because I'll have someone to walk with, but certain people in my family don't think it'll happen. I'm stickin' to it though....till it doesn't happen. :P 
• Candles! I've definitely decided that I like them. Just not most pumpkin scented ones...some are okay if they have cinnamon or something in them as well as pumpkin, but I don't like pumpkin candles as a general rule.
•  Almond Extract. Makes vanilla milkshakes or sugar cookie frosting ten times better! :D

Awkward and Awesome

Awkward

• Singing "I'd loooove toooo dance with you under a big blue sky!" as you walk through Costco
  *love* this song! (I sing it to Sami for now... ;)

• Walking through Costco with my sister and poking her every time I see someone with Under Armour on or any kind of Seahawk apparel. :P (I also have a cat alert, but you don't use that one very often in Costco ;)
• Grace and I standing around at  (guess where?) Costco! waiting for mom to finish trying some kind of white-grape juice sample. We noticed this sample guy who used to be in soccer with our brother and since he was standing a ways off we started pretending we were talking to him about his samples. Grace said: "Sir...what is your product?" when a lady sampler (samplest?) heard her and thought she was talking to her! She started explaining her product (diapers) and Grace tried to save the situation by having a lengthy-back-and-forth-joking conversation with the lady she has "just called, 'sir'". :P She did great!
• Having to tell the worker at the DOL as I was giving info for my license that "I'm really only 5'2"" (not 5'3" as my expired permit said). I'm shrinking already! I guess back then I was just guessing and I guessed high...I don't really know why. :P

Awesome

• Singing Christmas music two days before Autumn even starts!
• Driving by yourself for the first time *ever* and having the music you like on and the windows down and not worrying that you're bothering anyone else! Glorious!!!! :D
• Driving over leaves that have fallen off the trees (if you don't know why that's awesome it's because it means fall is just around the corner! Out come the awesome brown boots!! and sweaters and mittens and hats and all the other amazingly awesome fall clothes! ;)
• Merging on the freeway...by myself...with no help! (It really is awesome. :P) 
• Going to a buffet with "unlimited" ice cream! :D
• Watching Courageous with my sister (it was her first time to watch it)
• Toot and Puddle! I've been reading some of my old favorite kid's books to Sam and I crack up at every one. They bring back so many fun memories! "Dear Pudsy, Bonjour from Paris! Art is everywhere! Love is in the air! Au revoir, Toot." :D (When I was little I even wrote a book mirroring the idea in this book. :)
• Dilbert comics!
  

Praise!

Driving: Something I love! :D

I've asked most of the people who follow this blog, in one way or another, to pray for me as I took my driving test today. I didn't feel good (woke up with a cold on Sunday morning :-/) and was super nervous since I had not driven in 3 months. My driving story has been a long one, but I won't bore you with the details. ;) All I know now is: I CAN DRIVE! I am so stoked....that I'm going to bed (and maybe now I'll be able to sleep!). :P So thank you all so much for praying for me! I am sooooooo blessed to have you awesome friends who come around me with encouragement and a promise to pray that I know you will keep! Y'all are the greatest and I thank God for you! :D 

Yummy

I realized something very important yesterday....

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Awesomeness

!! :D I never realized how many chocolate plus peanut butter things I enjoyed.
Peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips (thanks Rebekah!), Butterfingers (fav!), grandma's peanut butter pie with little chocolate chips on top, graham crackers with peanut butter spread on top and chocolate chips pressed into the peanut butter, pretty muchly anything chocolate and peanut butter!! :D

Welp, ya learn something new every day! ;)

In God We Trust

Speech by President Eisenhower in 1954:

      "In God We Trust." Often have we heard the words of this wonderful American motto. Let us make sure that familiarity has not made them meaningless for us. We carry the torch of freedom as a sacred trust for all mankind. We do not believe that God intended the light that He created to be put out by men.
     Atheism substitutes men for the Supreme Creator and this leads inevitably to domination and dictatorship. But we believe - and it is because we believe that God intends all men to be free and equal that we demand free government. Our Government is servant, not master, our chosen representatives are our equals, not our czars or commissars.
     We must jealously guard our foundation in faith. For on it rests the ability of the American individual to live and thrive in this blessed land - and to be able to help other less fortunate people to achieve freedom and individual opportunity. These we take for granted, but to others they are often only a wistful dream.

9/11

The head of a company survived 9/11
because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was
his turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her
alarm clock didn't go off in time...

One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike
because of an auto accident.

One of them
missed his bus.

One spilled food on her clothes and had to take
time to change.

 One's
car wouldn't start.

One couldn't
get a taxi.

One man put on a new pair of shoes that morning and took the various means to get to work, but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot.
He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
That's why he's alive today...

Now when I am
Stuck in traffic,
Miss an elevator,
Turn back to answer a ringing telephone...
All the little things that annoy me.
I think to myself,
this is exactly where God wants me to be
at this very moment...

Next time your morning seems to be going wrong,
You can't seem to find the car keys,
You hit every traffic light,
Don't get mad or frustrated;
It may just be that
God is watching over you.

May God continue to bless you
With all those annoying little things
And may you remember their possible purpose.

(I don't know the source of this "article". It was sent to me by email several years ago...)

Amazing what you find on Wikipedia ;)

I now have an excuse for being a "picky" eater!!! Yahoo!!!! :D (In my opinion a picky eater is someone who turns up their nose at tons of food. I'll eat most food, I just don't always like it. So in my opinion, I'm not picky, I just don't enjoy different tastes.) Anway...I was doing research on Wikipedia for college general ed courses and found this interesting fact about PTC. (At least I thought it was interesting. ;)

 ...non-smokers and those not habituated *love that word* to coffee or tea have a statistically higher percentage of tasting PTC than the general population. PTC does not occur in food, but related chemicals do, and food choice is related to a person's ability to taste PTC. There is conflicting evidence as to whether a higher percentage of women than men can taste PTC (Phenylthiocarbamide - a very bitter chemical).

There you are! I'm a non-smoking woman who is not habituated to coffee or tea. That must be why I don't like a lot of food that most peoples do! :P Okay, w/e...it made me smile. And doing this post gave me a break from school. And I get off on rabbit trails way to easily on this blog. And now I'm going back to my Quizlet set...  

New Favorite Verse

 1 Corinthians 12:9, 10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I love these verses! I was teaching them to a sparky last year in AWANA and realized how much I liked them. I had always meant to memorize them since then, but never got around to looking them up. I was going through my old Bible Bee verse cards and found them! I stuck the card on the mirror in my bedroom and had it memorized very quickly! (I memorize some things a lot quicker if I really like the way they sound. e.g. Christopher Robin had sneazles and weazles, they bundled him into his bed. They gave him what goes for a cold in the nose and some more for a cold in the head...*love that poem!* Okay, that was a major rabbit trail. :P For some reason these verses came quicker than: "If a collision results in injury, death, or property damage of $700 or more to one person's property and a report is not made by a law enforcement officer, you must report it to the Washington Department of Transportation on a Collision Report form within four days." ;) Just sayin' :P And a tip for all those who have yet to take the driver's test: all you have to remember is "injury, death, property damage, $700, four days. :P) ANYWAY, I was playing capture the flag with some "little buddies" yesterday (first time in over a year! *so fun*) and in order to get out of jail you had to say a Bible verse. *loved that idea* Of course, I picked these!! :D Hope y'all enjoy them as much as I do!!

Lake Chelan

My family just got back from our annual vacation over to Lake Chelan, WA. As usual it was very hot (yes, I swam for 30 minutes at 7:00 pm...aren't ya proud of me?? :P). We had a great time and built lots of long lasting (I'm sure) memories!! :D

Here's some pics that I'm sharing upon request. ;) (I was going to share them anyway, but it's nice to get asked for them so you know people actually appreciate them. :)

Selfie while waiting to start the trip...

Me squished in the back seat. ;) Don't I look happy?? :D

Lake Chelan is such a beautiful place!!

Someone who was sneaking around snapped this of me when I was enjoying my "quiet" time. ;)

Yes, I was the one sneaking this time. :P Actually, Grace took this, but I spotted dad out here resting...

Pretty waterfall on the river that emptied out into the lake...

Waterfall...

The end of the lake

We saw some crazy boys jumping into the lake off some really high rocks... :P

Sami and Grace

Dad reading to us about the feast of trumpets

Swimming...or at least getting ready to. I look like I lost something. :P

Sami reading her Bible outside of the bathroom. She looked so cute! :D

Grace taking a nap after doing her Bible reading...

Sami riding her bike...she is such a pretty little girl!

Looking up at some birds that were dropping *ahem* interesting things all around our table while we were eating. I don't know why the girls have their mouths open...it seems kinda dangerous. ;)

We thought this was kind of a funny door. If you can't figure out why....I don't know quite how to help you. :P

I liked this car so I had dad take our pic by it. :)

This is on the way back to our campsite from Manson (which is where the last few pics were at). I thought the sun looked gorgeous coming through the clouds. The camera doesn't quite capture it though. :(

Grace eating breakfast. You can see the ground is a little wet. It rained for about a half an hour one morning and then we had a huge thunderstorm one night. It was pretty cool...since none of us got wet. ;)

The girls doing their favorite thing. :D

Everyone having a "second breakfast" after I'd done all the dishes!

Me trying to look like a football player (and failing miserably) in front of "the big bear" (that's what the crown said)

The annual Asa pic in front of the bear :P (It's true, we always take a pic by this bear...)

Enjoying some shade

These birds were super annoying. I stayed behind one day when the family went down to the lake to swim because I was tired. When I woke up from my glorious nap these birds came and surrounded my mattress (which was outside sitting on the grass)...it was kinda creepy. :P I scared them away though. :D

The girls tent! Ignore the squints...it was hard to look at a bright flash in a pitch dark tent. ;)

All packed up and probably off to a last trip to the bathroom. :)

And back again...

Don't ask why I'm not smiling...it ruined the effect of the glasses. :P It's also awkward to pop on your bro's glasses and start taking selfies when everyone is looking at you. :P (Oh yeah, at this point Blake was able to join us. He came out on our last full day there in the afternoon and then drove home with us. It was really fun to get to drive with him...not to mention being saved from squishing into the back seat with the boat.)

Sami showing her licorice

Grace petting a goat at Leavenworth (gross, ik)

This goat was so close to me. Way too close. :P

Waiting for lunch at our favorite place to eat in Leavenworth!

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Me and my little buddy again. Poor thing, she didn't have her sunglasses on. O.O

After lunch in Leavenworth the rest of the family went off to the river there and swam. Blake and I didn't feel like playing and the only other option was sitting in the hot sun while everyone else played so we went to Snoqualmie falls to wait for everyone (love having a brother who can drive!). When we got there Blake took a nap (didn't post that pic cause I didn't think he'd appreciate it :P) and then we got out and looked at the falls. That was way more my kind of weather than Leavenworth. It was heavenly! Cool and misty and gray....loved it! :D

Buildings in the background in case you've never been to the falls and need a little perspective on how big they are!
On our way to the falls I had noticed several "Elk Xing" signs (one with a "no hunting" sign below it :P) and on the way back we passed a field (the one with the no hunting sign by it ;) and there was a huge herd of elk grazing in it. We were going too fast for me to get a picture, but it was really cool to see.