A Summertime Surprise

June 22 - The day after the first official day of spring and I come home from work to this lovely surprise! A whole kitchen full of strawberries!! So full, it overflowed onto the dining room table. I love strawberries and I love the joy they bring. They bring the assurance that summer actually is here to stay. There will be no more snow, no more bitter cold until fall sets in. They bring the smell of pie, the fun of making jelly, and the taste of beautiful fresh fruity goodness!

I Need Sleep

Monday June 21 - So utterly tired that I almost didn't even take a picture because of the effort required to open photobooth on my laptop.

Father's Day

June 20 - Today I tried on my dad's glasses, just to see how I looked. I thought I looked like a geek who had been shut up in a science lab whose only other outside contact involved the geeks from the math lab down the hall... Not saying my dad looks geeky when he wears them, because he doesn't, but gooolly they looked geeky on me.

In Which I Can't Remember

what happened... I know I went to work, but what I did before that is a mystery to me. Nor can I find a picture of this date, therefore, I'm assuming there isn't one. It's strange to me how I can just completely lose an entire day out of my memory! Maybe I witnessed some top secret something and had to be brainwashed. Or maybe I didn't do anything and therefore there isn't anything to remember...

Backyard Challenge

June 18 - This was one of my first official events as the youth action intern... A backyard challenge! Where teams of ten compete against each other in relay races, tug of war, and so much more. We drove several hours in an overstuffed 12 passenger van, unloaded, set up all the games, got all the participants registered and then headed out to the field for some fun! The teens had a great time and I got this picture of a team ready to compete silhouetted against the setting sun. I also avoided the mud pit, a pleasure not afforded to many of the others. It was a grand old time and after everything was said and done, we went and got ice cream at Friendlies then told lame jokes (I actually just listened) the rest of the car ride home to keep Katie, the driver, awake.

It's Raining Flowers!

June 17 - This is the view from my pillow as I wake every morning. Paper flowers falling from paper clouds.

The Toilet... Revisited

Wednesday June 16 - Instead of jogging, Maria and I walked the route with Jessica. Since we weren't running we decided to take a closer look at the toilet in the hayfield. (See June 8 for more about the toilet)

In Which Kendall Rides A Horse

Tuesday June 15 - I took my city friend Kendall for a horse ride today. It's so much fun to do country stuff, like riding horses, with people who have never done it before. It reminds me how special it is.

Monday June 14

One of my favorite books... that the church library has been missing for months. Oops. I should probably bring that back sometime soon.

Luke 9:18-27

Sunday June 13 - Tonight I had the immense privilege to get to speak to my youth group. It's been kind of a tradition for seniors to get to speak after they graduate and so, tonight I took my turn. This was the passage of Scripture I talked about. I think it's often overlooked and not taken to heart. Jesus demands all of us. He doesn't want just a part or a tidbit. He wants us to give up our very lives. He wants us to abandon hypocrisy, selfishness, and pride. Following Jesus is not an easy thing to do, but in the end, it's going to be worth it.

A Gig of A Unique Variety

Saturday June 12 - In which New Vine and Konnected perform in a barn... complete with horses, cats, some calves and a goat. Definitely a memorable experience, I can't remember any other time a performance was interrupted by a horse neighing.

Graduation!!!

Friday June 11 - My high school graduation... A grand whopping total of six grads! Hooray for homeschoolers, creativity, sunglasses, bubble wrap and a techno remix of pomp and circumstance!

Future Plans?

Thursday June 10 - The question every highschool graduate gets asked at least 500 times in June and July... What are your future plans? Well, mine include this place!

Making the Most of the Time

Wednesday June 9 -
Today was the last day I really got to spend with my brother before he set out on his adventure. We took Charlotte (our minivan) and just set out to have an adventure. We drove on as many tiny backroads as we could in an attempt to get lost. We didn't really get lost per say, but we had no idea where we were exactly. Before we got lost though, we stopped at Wal Mart and saw my mom, who had incidentally driven my sister's car and parked right next to us. So we wrote her a ticket saying she owed us each two doughnuts for her parking infraction. She payed up and it was great! So yeah... that was our adventure. And then Nate came over and this picture is of them playing Polar Golf on the computer. I shall miss their silliness immensely.

In Which A Toilet Appears

Tuesday June 8 - On my morning run, my friend and I were jogging along when something appeared on the horizon. As we got nearer, my friend and I gave each other a weird look... were we looking at what we thought we were looking at? Yes... it was indeed a toilet sitting in the middle of that hayfield. Odd, but what can I say? It's Howard...

In Which a Package of Peeps Arrives in the Mail

Less Than A Week

Sunday June 6 - Till I have to say goodbye to this jolly good brother of mine and relinquish him to the wilds of the Yukon for the summer. And I'll be gone by the time he gets back. Stink. May Thanksgiving come quickly.

Tops... Revisited

Saturday June 5 - Sigh... after another evening at work, Chelsea looks lovely and I look like a freak. Typical. And we are at Tops. Typical once again.

The cowherd

Friday June 4 - And here is a long line of cows headed back to the barn...

Countdown

Thursday June 3 - One week, one day until this whole graduation thing is done and over with. Yeehaw. Somehow, graduating from highschool after finishing a year of college is somewhat anti-climactic...

Senior Picture

Wednesday June 2 - Today my friend Jordan and I finally got around to getting our senior pictures taken... seeing as how our graduation ceremony is in a week, we figured it was about time. So here is one of the ones I ended up picking... but the bottom pic was just too epic not to put somewhere... taking a picture upside down through a culvert pipe (as someone aptly pointed out, it looks like we're barfing):

A Little Goat Lovin'

Tuesday June 1 - Silly little goat