Fair is Done?

Yes, Rachel, the county fair is over - until next year. The rides are all taken down, the exhibits are all (hopefully) taken to their perspective homes, and the animals are taken to their potential final destination.

Grace got to get interviewed 

I had the chance this year to go help out at the 4-H booth at the fair - Monday through Sunday - which I love. Why? 'cause I love the fair. My responsibilities consisted of checking paper work, answering questions, looking like I knew what was happening, stepping in for superintendents, vet checking rats and lizards, being ready to give a smile ;), and running to go see my siblings showing their sheep. :)

The last night, as is tradition, we went on rides (after putting way to much food into my stomach). We've always had a time frame saying, "Let's be back by 10 to help load the rest of the lambs and then be able to pick up some of our exhibits." This means that you have about 3 rides that you can go on - the last night the lines are always really long.

The Starlight Run

Rachel, Sarah, Lauren, Susanna, and Jonah

When we were younger - Dad was our distance running coach. We would start the year with "Running with the Wolves" and end the running year with "The Starlight Run". I'ts been years since I've run the starlight run (over 7 years ago). It was a unique race in that it was (1) at night, (2) in Portland, (3) right before the rose parade, and (4) always ended at Burgerville.


Sarah remembered that parking always took forever and then you had to walk a distance to the race (we sometimes parked up at the Rose Garden and walked down to the school). After we arrived in Portland, I think it took us about 30min to find parking. Since we had scheduled up to an hour to find parking, we had plenty of time to get to the race - though it didn't really feel like way too much time. :)

After the Race

We all finished and lived - though running in 95 degrees is tough. (I totally see why it was our last race of the running year.) This is such a fun group to run with - I get pushed yet can go my own pace . Running - it's just fun. What can I say?

I think this is my last race for the summer - I haven't signed up for anymore at this point. Next race that I know for certain to be doing is in October. Until then - good bye summer racing!

Tenacious Turtles Trotting Through the Tulips

My challenger :) 

Running - it's lovely! What a great way (exercise wise) to begin the day. I didn't run the Tulip Trot last year, but my family did and loved it so when it came time to sign up for it again, I was there.



Sarah, Grace, Ben, and I were the only ones from our family, but Lizzie, Lauren, Susanna, Micah, Bethany, and Aaron were all there as well. It was cold in the morning and quickly after the race as well, but it was perfect during the race and the course was pretty.

I got a PR (personal record) - I think I ran that "fast" (Micah ran it in under 19 minutes) when I was younger, but in recent races, not at all. I ran 26:26 which made me very happy; but, it also made me realize that I can and should be running faster during the week. :/

Let the Running Season Commence!

I just had a wonderful whirl-wind weekend (I hope you did as well).

I got to spend time with so many - how blessed am I!

Cupcake decorating and eating,

Fort Vancouver volunteering,

Josh lead his first lantern tour Saturday night

and
"formal" dinner dining (with a superb cake eating - thanks, Kaytch!).

I am so blessed by the people God has placed around me. People to encourage and sharpen me. People who have the goal of knowing God more and more. People who are contagious in their desire to follow His will.

Savor the Moment

Lynnae and I got together today and were able to go to a new tea shop in town - "Savor the Moment" in fact. We arrived an hour before they opened (accidentally), but the owner came to the door, let us in, and made us feel at home. This was super nice because we had to be leaving by 11:30. Having arrived at 10:00, we were able to have scones and tea and have a great time talking and still be able to leave on time.

Not the best picture, but you get a super fast overview of the place

We had a beautiful waitress
who did a splendid job serving. 

The beautiful table arrangement

The Little Girl Dress-Up stage

Pictures are fun, but you can't really capture everything. I guess you'll have to go there for yourself to get the whole picture.

Christmas Decorating

We got to go and decorate cookies with our dear friends the other day. Sarah and I decided that we should make Disney characters out of the gingerbread men.

Grace, Emily, Sarah, me, Hannah

Kristoff, Elsa, Anna, Hans, Peter Pan,
Tinkerbel, Flynn, Rapunzel

Later that week, I had to make cupcakes - I told my kids at Classical Conversations that if they had the first 11 verses memorized for Psalm 103, I would have made cupcakes for them. I brought over 2 dozen, and they were almost all gone when I got home. I was very pleased with their work. At the end of the year, I'm going to have them say the whole chapter and hopefully record the whole thing without the knowing. :)

They did such a good job! :)

Hey - it might happen! :)

Betsy & Greg's

Yes - the two got married Saturday and what a beautiful picture of Christ and the Church they were. I know family and friends were helping along the way. It rarely feels like work though 'cause you are spending time with your friends as you work - we just got to spend about 24 hours with some of our dearest friends.




I was thrilled 'cause I was asked to help with fixing the bride's maids' hair. I think I have now really figured out the waterfall braid. It is much easier to do the braid and then curl hair (in my personal opinion). After Elizabeth and Elsie worked on Betsy's hair, I grabbed a picture of her trying on her vale - she was a beautiful bride. :)

 One of my favorite things was the song that Kaytra and Olivia sang - Twila Paris's How Beautiful - they sang beautifully.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!

Life

practicing during construction - beautiful weather :)

Nov. 1st, 2007, Sarah, Ben, Emily, I dawned our black performance apparel. We clambered into the Camry - four folding music stands, a cello, a viola, and two violins - and Mom drove us to The Heathman Lodge. Probably a couple months prior, Dena Conzatti called us to see if we would play background music for the Camas Pregnancy Center Fundraising Banquet. I don't remember
much of it - I was just eleven (I guess I was closer to twelve).

This year, I went as a guest of Ben's along with several others (however, none of us thought to get a group picture till we were in the car on the way home).

I think the most fun part about it was the Cake Auction... I've never bid for anything before (besides E-Bay, but - seriously?). They all looked amazing, but we chose this one to be what we would put our money down on. It was so much fun and a great way to raise money for (now) Pathways Pregnancy Clinic.

I'm thankful for Pathways - I'm thankful that they're there for girls of all ages who need help. I am thankful that the workers and volunteers there love God and desire to serve Him.

Pathways provides various services for women: after abortion counseling, ultrasounds, support groups, and more.

Wednesday - Memorizing and Baking

Bethany and I have been memorization partners this year. We decided that whenever we would get together to say more than one chapter, we would get together and do something fun while at it. Last time, we went to go see Cinderella (in theaters) and then to Jamba. This time, we decided to meet at Pete's and then have a baking day.

After we successfully quoted our verses, we ran to Ross - we were going to a Pregnancy Clinic Banquet the following night and we were told it was formal. (What does formal mean? There's a nice skirt and blouse, a nice dress, a Sunday dress, and then prom-formal.) Just in case it was going to be prom-formal, we wanted to check and see if Ross had anything we would definitely need - it didn't and that's ok 'cause we discovered later that it was Sunday formal... ish... (this will be another blog post. Sometimes I feel like there is nothing to blog about and then I have a weekend full of fun-ness :)

We got back to Bethany's house and began creating - it was then around 10 and we wanted to get a couple of goodies baked so we could send them to some friends. We pulled this off superbly and had the last Pumpkin-Apple Sauce muffins in the oven by noon. After lunch, we packed the goodies (adding the decorative touch of lace duck-tape) and ran to the post office before getting me back to my abode at 2pm. It was a day well spent from the moment of getting out of bed, till the moment of returning there.

It's such a blessing (and ton's of fun) to have friends who sharpen you while you are reciting verses or while baking in the kitchen. :) Who are your friends? Do you come away having given and having received encouragement and blessing (in some form or another)?

A Cinderella Party

For my Christmas present, one of my friends gave me a ticket to the new Cinderella movie - it was totally

photo credit

worth waiting for! This was the first of four visits to the movie theater for this specific film... What can I say? I had friends who wanted to go see it and they couldn't come with other friends - I couldn't send them by themselves.

However, Saturday night, we had a party at our house to watch Cinderella. :)

Since it was a Cinderella party, some of us (Sarah, Bethany, Susanna, and I) took one of each of the shoes you currently see and placed them in the music room. Feeling guilty of such a game, we did return them.

A "Brilliant" Summer

It is no longer Summer! Sometimes I don't know what I've done - I don't have a huge clue or a day-to-day schedule, but here are some of the highlights of my summer and not in any particular order - just the order they came to mind. :)

Soccer:
Kaytra, Titus, Josh and I got to play Tuesday nights - in a word, it was "brilliant".

If you're curious, yes, that's a gallon of Gatorade

Texas:
Such a fun time with Grandparents and cousins!

Fair:
Always tons of fun ;)

Cliff Jumping:
This, soccer, Church Camp, and Family Vacation - they are my favorites!

Running:
I ran two... :)

Church Camp:
How do you explain it? :)

Family Vacation:
Wow - totally amazing!!!!

So if you were me, and you had to describe your Summer in a word, what would you say?

Hope you all had a good Summer! Now throw on your sweaters and scarfs, and pull on your boots and gloves. It is officially Autumn!