Day 58 - Again, Something from Colorado

Our computer is still rebelling and refuses to allow me to upload an awesome picture I took. My mom is trying to fix it, but who knows how successful that will be? ;)


So I guess I will pull a another picture from our vacation to Colorado. I can't even edit a new photo right now, so I have to use one already done and ready to go. So here's a picture of a hummingbird. Obviously, you can tell this was taken a while ago because now, it is snowing. In this picture, it is not. I think I like the weather in this picture much better than the real weather at the current moment! 

When I took this, we were just sitting on a bench in Fort Collins, Colorado, and I was bored. I think we were waiting for somebody, or thinking about what we were going to do next...I don't remember. But whatever the reason, I was still bored. So I took random pictures. I took pictures of people, cars, the sidewalk! Like I said, I was bored! But then a hummingbird decided to show up right next to me, which is (as you photographers know) a GREAT opportunity for a picture! 


Now, this picture is not the best, but I really liked it because I caught the bird looking at me, and the wings are blurry. What do you think? Any tips for better bird pictures? :)

Day 57 - The Elk

Unfortunately, something is wrong with our computer at the moment. I cannot upload any pictures from my camera...and I have LOTS I want to upload! It's all very frustrating. Grrrrr.

So here is an elk that was right by the road in Estes Park. (Yes, I have gone back to my summer vacation, but I had no other choice. I couldn't upload anything!)

This elk was very friendly. She walked up to cars and through parking lots...It was a perfect opportunity to take pictures! I took this before the elk walked through the parking lot. She started by grazing on the side of the road. I got almost close enough to it to touch her! Very cool. 

Day 56 - More Rock & Worship Roadshow

What can I say? I had more pictures from the concert I wanted to share:) This is Hawk Nelson. Well, I think Hawk Nelson is actually the whole band, but this dude right here does the singing. And he's good. My friends actually met him while waiting in line at the door which was pretty cool. I missed him by ten minutes. TEN MINUTES! Bummer.

But anyway, this is him singing. When I took this picture, they were covering Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and apparently they wanted to be girls. They all wore wigs. All of them. The guitarists, the drummer, and the singer. I don't really know why...but I guess they were just being random.

One of my favorite parts of this picture is the hand. I guess the person was loving the wig. "YEAH DUDE! YOU ROCK!" was probably coming out of their mouth, or something like that. Totally random, but funny. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Day 55 - Rock & Worship Roadshow

On Friday, I went with some of the awesomest friends in the whole world to the Rock & Worship Roadshow! It was a ton of fun. We sat really close to the stage (the closest I've ever been!), and I fist-bumped the singer from Hawk Nelson, and high-fived Group 1 Crew! It was a really cool experience. I got a lot of really cool pictures, but this was one of my favorites. 

I really didn't edit this photo at all. The only thing I fixed was I took out red "exit" sign in the background. It was very small and kind of distracting. Other than that, this picture is straight out of the camera! 


If you're wondering who this person is, it's the main singer from Jars of Clay. I couldn't find his name, but they are an awesome group! 

Day 54 - Real Life...Sign...Real Life...Sign...

That pretty much describes my picture(s) today. We were standing next to a sign that had the names of mountains on it as we were overlooking the mountains the sign was showing us. I HAD to take a picture...it was so cool! I could easily tell which mountains were which, and it was fun to be able to see that. 

Can you see it?

I just wanted to share that with you today:)

Day 53 - WAY Up High

Yep. That's how high we were...the highest you could be on the path up the mountains in Estes Park. Thie highest point on the Continental Divide. 12,020 feet. Wow. That's pretty high up.

We actually drove past this sign, but since I really wanted a picture, I got my parents to turn around and go back. :) Glad they did, because now I have proof. 

Day 52 - Mountains...Mountains...and more Mountains

I AM ON TOP OF THE WORLD!

That is all.

Day 51 - Squirrel

While in Colorado, my family decided to go to Estes Park. Tomorrow, I'll post a picture of what it looked like from almost 12,000 feet up! But for now, I want to share this picture of this adorable little squirrel.

He was strolling along on the rocks and decided to look right at me for a great picture! Thanks little guy:)

Day 50 - Awesome Sign

Today is my 50th blog post! Woot woot! I know that if I had blogged every single day since I started, I'd be a lot farther, but my crazy schedule hasn't really permitted me the freedom to blog everyday. Yes, I could try to make the time, but I don't always think about it...but today is not a day for apologies, it's a day to celebrate! YAY! Let's have a party and some cake and....just kidding. HA! (We'll save the party for when I finish all 365 days). :)


Anyway...


While we were in Fort Collins, Colorado, there was an amazing shoe store! If you've read my profile, you will find that I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes. Especially boots. Thus the name of my blog...


In the shoe store was this amazing sign! Since the name of my blog is about shoes, what better picture than this to celebrate my 50th blog post? 

Let us all take a minute to remember how special shoes are.....ah yes...thank you shoes for being awesome;) (A girl can NEVER have too many shoes!)

So, what kind of shoes do you love? Do you have a favorite shoe brand, type, or just a favorite shoe? Let me know!

Day 49 - A Rainbow

I'm at my 49th post! Tomorrow, I will have 50 blog posts! Cool. Anyway, back to my blog post...


I don't know if you've ever been to Colorado (yes, I'm still blogging about my vacation...hee hee), but it rains sometimes. It will randomly rain without any warning for a few minutes, (and it's usually a fairly light rain) and then the sky will clear and a rainbow will appear. 

This rainbow was a full rainbow, all the way across the ranch. I couldn't really get it in one photo, it was too big. But, it was beautiful. It's one of those moments where you just marvel at the beauty of the earth...or the sky...since we're talking about a rainbow here. Whatever.


So I just wanted to share this picture with you. You got to see a picture of a pretty rainbow, and a little more of their ranch! 

Day 48 - Scotty McCreery

Ok, since I finally shared our vacation destination with you, I thought I'd take a break from blogging about my travels, and blog about something awesome that happened to me this week.


Yesterday was a very special day. For those of you who didn't know...and most of you probably didn't...it was Scotty McCreery's 18th birthday yesterday! (Scotty...you know...the winner of season 10 of American Idol? Yeah. That Scotty). Anyway, last Tuesday I bought his debut CD, "Clear As Day," which is super awesome. I though't I'd celebrate his birthday by doing a CD review/just tell you all about my new favorite CD. :)


So here goes:


Scotty McCreery's CD was released October 4!!! I voted for him every week on American Idol, and it payed off...he won! I bought his CD on Tuesday, and have listened to it probably ten times already. My favorite song is "Out of Summertime," the first track on the album. It's a nice, upbeat, true country song. Then again, so are "You Make That Look Good" and "Walk in the Country," and I really like those songs as well.


As far as lyrics go, "Dirty Dishes" and "That Old King James" are true to the Country roots: being thankful for your family, and a precious bible passed down through the family.


All in all, I think it is a very well balanced album. Be sure to check it out!

Oh, you didn't know I had a signed Scotty McCreery picture? Well, that's unfortunate...because it's totally awesome! I sent him a few letters, and I got a response from his mom, and a signed picture! How cool is that? I received a signed picture from a person I totally adore...ok, maybe obsess over a little ;). I was so ecstatic. The picture sits on my dresser, for everybody to see. I am so proud of it:) 


So there they are...my two Scotty "things" that I'm so happy to have. Thrilled, actually. ;)

Day 47 - Colorado

I had four comments yesterday...hopefully more people than that read my blog...but I am grateful for all of you who do! No matter how many of you there are. :)

About the post yesterday: The winner is Derek Lee! YAY! He guessed Colorado, and that's the answer. Our family took a road trip this summer to Colorado (near Fort Collins). We stayed at a ranch owned by friends of ours. They own 3,200 acres of land!

When you stand on their back porch, outlooking the beautiful mountains and fields, everything that you can see belongs to them. What a feeling that must be for them to know they OWN that gorgeous land! 

Yesterday was a picture of an old horse corral on their ranch. Today is a picture of a beautiful river that runs through their land. Not many people in Colorado have water on their property, so it's a big deal. This picture was taken when we were driving through the river to get to another part of the property. 

We were able to swim in it and fish. My sister, Isabel, caught a seventeen inch trout! It was very tasty:) Although, when we swam, we just about FROZE to death! The first day was fine, but the second day....I'm serious: that river dropped 50˚! Either way, not many people can say they swam in a fishing hole in the mountains of Colorado! But I can:)

Don't worry...there are more pictures of Colorado coming soon:)

Day 45 - Ultimate Destination

We've finally arrived at our ultimate destination! Who wants to guess where it is? Well, that's what you are going to have to do because I'm only posting a picture... ;) YOU have to figure out where we are...and if I don't get enough guesses, I'm not telling! So, take a guess. Where do you think this picture was taken? 

This picture, by the way, is possibly my favorite picture taken on our vacation. Period. I just love the old, broken down fencing and the mountains... I love it and I hope you do too! :) 

So, please, guess away! Even if you don't normally read my blog, please guess. I want EVERYBODY to try and guess where our fabulous vacation destination is...please?

Day 45 - Mount Rushmore

Yep. That's right. Next stop: Mount Rushmore!! Why wouldn't we stop since we were already in South Dakota? Actually, Mount Rushmore was the reason we took longer to get to our destination. It was the main reason we drove to South Dakota. The Corn Palace and the Badlands were just fantastic places to go while we were already there!


Mount Rushmore is everything you have heard of, and way more. It was so cool to be able to see how it was made and to see actual pieces of the practice piece...which, although not nearly as large as the real thing, is still huge! I was absolutely fascinated by everything in the museum and the facts. It's hard to believe that the faces were formed by blasted rock. The workers blasted exactly the right amount of stone to form the facial features. I just loved looking at the masterpiece...even though it's not finished. 

As you can see in this picture, there are a lot of flags. They are the USA State Flags! Each pillar has four flags on it. On the side the flag is mounted on, etched in stone is the number each state is (for example, Michigan is the 26th State admitted to the Union), and the date the State was admitted into statehood. There are also flags from other countries as well.


All in all, Mount Rushmore was definitely one of the coolest places I've been in my entire life! 

Day 44 - Another Sunset

Yes, I know. I've already blogged a bunch of sunset pictures...but why shouldn't I? They are gorgeous! 

This is a picture of the sunset at the Badlands...beautiful isn't it? A picture of our next stop will be posted tomorrow...and that picture is pretty cool. Not the photo, but what it captured. :)

Day 43 - Happy Faces

  Do you hate colds? I do. I was sick all weekend...I was pretty miserable. For me, being sick is a big deal. I never, I repeat NEVER, get sick. I can count the number of times I've gotten sick on my hands, so this weekend I was not very happy. But now, all is well...well, I am well...I mean...I'm better...not sick anymore...ah whatever. You get the point I'm sure. So...back to our lovely vacation.

  We stayed in South Dakota that night at a hotel. Before we found a hotel, however, we stopped at....da da da da: The Badlands National Park!!! Badlands are different types of rocks and soil that have been worn down by weather over time. The result of this is beautiful mini-mountains that are layers of different colors. When we stood on the observation area, all you could see were miles and miles of this beautiful terrain...and a few bison. It was breathtaking. We drove through the National Park, which is 30-some miles. We stopped to walk around in places where you could hike. We saw animals and animal tracks. We also stood on the tall hills and saw mountains in the distance. I will never forget it.

  When the sun was sinking down, it was casting shadows everywhere. Our favorite of all is the smiley face! This isn't that great of a picture, but there is a smiley face! That makes it the best picture ever!!! 

Day 42 - The Corn Palace

Hopefully, you really would like to know where we went for our vacation and you returned to my blog. Unfortunately, I still can't tell you. But, once again, I can tell you where our next big stop was: The Corn Palace!

The Corn Palace is located in Mitchell, South Dakota, and is made entirely out of corn cobs. It was a sight to see! Plus, they even sell corn inside! Go figure! :) It was pretty fun to see. 

Day 41 - Wisconsin

  Wow. School has started and summer is gone. Literally. It's freezing cold outside today! I miss summer because of the time I got to spend doing nothing (honestly, I told people I was too busy doing nothing), the warm weather, the freedom of sleeping in, and the family vacation. We never go on vacations...NEVER. I think the last time we went out of state for a vacation was two years ago. So, as you can see, vacations are a big deal. Guess what we did this summer?


  Oh yeah! We took a road trip to........wait for it........eh. Not going to tell you. You'll have to come back and read about it later. I'm not going to tell you until I post a photo about it...which might take a while. (By the way, this is why I couldn't blog for about two weeks, and then I left my camera at somebody's house a couple of weeks ago. I know. I'm stupid).

  But I WILL tell you about our first stop: Madison, Wisconsin. We stopped there to eat, walk around, and find a hotel. The best part was probably the amazing food we ate, and the Capitol Building! It was so pretty at night.


  So, stay tuned for more pictures of our stops on the way to............ ;) Like I said. Stay tuned. 

Day 40 - Hair Color!

Today, my little sister, Isabel, had my mom color her hair with some hair coloring stuff she got in her stocking this year. She now has a lot of bright pink hair! This is a picture of my mom painting the stuff on her hair.

Just to let you know, I won't be able to blog for the next week and a half. But when I blog again, I will have some awesome pictures!!!!! 

Day 39 - Babysitting!

You remember Eliot don't you? From my Day 36 post: "My Buddy!" In a day over one month, he has already grown! How cute is he now? I babysat Eliot today! Lucky me:)

This is Selah,  my dog. I've blogged about her before too. She came and slept next to Eliot. She even put a comforting paw on him to keep him happy. And happy he was! He was giggling and smiling the whole time. When she left after being there for a while, he actually started crying. No joke! How adorable is that?

Day 38 - Tree Frog

Wow. It has been WAY too long since I last blogged. I've been pretty busy this summer doing.....well....pretty much nothing. I really don't have any excused. I just didn't focus on blogging and I will do my best to make sure that for the rest of the summer, I blog as much as I can.

Summer. What do people do in the summer? Well, they play outside, go to the beach, go swimming at pools, and in my case they almost squash a beautiful tree frog while reclining in a pool chair...thing. Yup. I almost killed our lovely friend here. I will name him Bob. 

Bob posed for almost fifty pictures. No joke. I seriously took that many pictures of Bob. At one point, while I wasn't looking, he even jumped ON my camera! It freaked me out because I was most certainly was NOT expecting a frog to jump on my camera.

Day 37 - A 4th of July Sunset

July 4th is a special day. Families usually gather together to celebrate America's freedom. This year my family went to our friends' cottage. We watched the sun set while in a boat. It was beautiful. Sunsets on water are absolutely stunning! 

This is how I spent my Independence Day, how about you?

(I didn't edit this photo at all. Like my previous sunset pictures I wanted you to see the true beauty of our world! Also, if you click on the photo, you can see it enlarged. It is that much more beautiful bigger!!)

Day 36 - My Buddy

If you remember, I went to Milwaukee for the Bead and Button show. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got to sit next to a baby the whole time! (This is a good thing;) ) He was the cutest thing and he cried only one time! Seriously, he may be the cutest baby in the whole wide world! Oh, and his name is Eliot.

Thanks Eliot for being such a fun car buddy! I would have been bored in the backseat without you! 

Day 35 - Birthday Bash

  Wow. It's been WAY too long since I last blogged! I'm so sorry. I've been extremely busy lately. This past week I made around 550 earrings for a conference my mom was attending (and SPEAKING at!!!). They will be given to all the people who attend the conference. That was a lot of work! But I watched a lot of GAC and CMT on TV...country music videos! I know, weird right? Of all the shows I could have watched while making the earrings, I chose to watch country music videos. Well, that's me! :) And speaking of country music...........

  For those of you unfortunate enough not to know who this amazing man is, I will enlighten you. JOSH TURNER!!!!


  One of our local country music radio stations: B93 was having it's 19th annual Birthday Bash! Over 10,000 people attended to watch some pretty special country artists perform. The best part, IT WAS FREE!! (Well, except for reserved seating, and I was given free tickets for reserved seats!) I was really looking forward to seeing  Josh Turner! I love him! We had great seats, and I got to see one of my favorite country singers for free! LOVED IT!

Day 34 - New Stamps

Today was another day at the Bead and Button Show. At the show they have a HUGE bead and tool sale. People from all over come and sell beads of all kinds. Yesterday at the sale, my mom bought me two design stamps, and I was given three free stamps by PJ Tools, which are really cool! Besides a set of pliers my mom gave me, I had no tools of my own. Now, I have my own stamps! I'm SO excited to use them!!! I also got a really cool wire weaving kit today, but that's a blog post for another day. :)

My mom bought me the two in the front, and the three stamps in the back are the free ones. I love them all! I'll be sure to post pictures of what I make with them! YAY!

Day 33 - Bead and Button

Yesterday, my mom, one of her friends, and I drove to Milwaukee for a HUGE bead show. It is, in fact, the largest in the nation. It is called, simply, Bead and Button Show. My mom is teaching three classes! THREE! These are her first classes she's ever taught to adults, and she's teaching at this huge show! YAY!

I came to help her with the classes. I'm just the young apprentice, but I get to come to this amazing event! This picture is of me and my mom before one of her classes today, and may I say that she did awesome? Yes, I think I will. Her students loved her, loved the class, and learned to love jewelry making more! I'm so proud! :) Check out her blog post about the Bead Show BEFORE we left for it, and stay tuned for her blog post AFTER we are finished! 

Day 32 - Memorial Day

I found my camera!!!! YAY! Ok, so here's the picture from memorial day I wanted to post:

I think it's kind of cool because of the shadow of the flag on the bottom. That's all I'm going to say for this post, because in this case, the picture is truly worth 1,000 words.

Day 31 - Miranda

I have not been able to find my camera since Monday. I really don't know where it is. I've tried to find it, but I was unsuccessful. I have some great pics from Memorial day that I wanted to blog about, but I need my camera first! Grrrrr

Today, I have a picture of my friends play that I went to last week. She was a bug. A funny bug. This is her pose. You wouldn't know this, but this is such a Miranda pose that I would be surprised if she did anything else! Haha! Love her!

Day 30 - Tyler and the Tigers

My brother's friend lives across the street, and today they watched the Detroit Tigers WIN! (and Noah and Tyler played Playstation during commercials.....sheesh. Boys. They just can't be satisfied with one thing)

This is Tyler watching the game. He decided to pose for me! :) It's hard to tell, but it was a pose...I think.

Day 29 - Annelise's Art

As you know, my best friend is Annelise. She takes an art class for homeschoolers (actually, she's the only student in this oil painting class!) and at an art show this week, she displayed her amazing art. 

I cannot believe what a fantastic job she did on this bird! Way to go Anna! (For this pic, I did nothing but crop it a little.....I though you needed to see just the artwork!)

Day 28 - Here Fishy Fishy

We have a fish. His name is Pluto. Originally, Pluto belonged to my brother, who, when he got Pluto, was REALLY excited about it. Then Noah got bored of the fish and was going to give him to me but my mom wouldn't let me have him. She figured I'd kill the fishy...which is probably true.....heehee. 

He's a pretty cool fish. I noticed when you try to take a picture with somebody else's camera that you're not used to, it's hard. Plus, it's hard to take a picture of a fish in the water! I think this photo is not really great, but I tried. :(

Day 27 - Selah

Last night, I was going to take a picture of my brother's new pair of shoes, which are size fourteen (around 14 inches!!! I measured them!), to talk about his huge feet.....but, I had to go to bed. 

So TODAY, I was messing around with his shoes trying to find the right angle and setting, when my dog walked up. I took some pictures of his shoe next to her head, and although it was funny, they weren't AMAZING shots. So.....68 shots later, I finally downloaded my photos onto the computer and here is my winning picture!

Forget the shoes. Here, it's all about the cuteness of the DOG! Her name is Selah. Selah decided she would pose for me tonight. I love it! All I did is tell her to "stay" and she didn't move for about seven minutes! "Good girl, Selah!"

Day 26 - LOVE

Who doesn't need a little extra love sometimes? Maybe a little extra support or appreciation. I think everybody does, and I know that I will always have that. If I ever feel like a teenager who thinks nobody in her family loves her (I know....teens are crazy!), I just think of my best friend. Or call her. Or write her a letter! I always know she'll love me no matter what.

Hopefully, you all have a best friend out there who understands you for who you are, and doesn't care what you look like. Somebody who will always tell you if you are messing up, who will guide you in your life, and will always encourage your failures. Not encourage you to fail, but encourage you WHEN you fail. I'm glad I have that.

(This picture is not edited at all. Straight from my camera to you!)

Day 25 - Tahlia's England Project

Today, well tonight, actually, my little sister presented her poster about England. This was her very first research project and presentation attempt, and I have to say that for a nine-year-old, she did great! I didn't learn a ton, but what I did learn, I won't soon forget! 

I know it's not a great picture, but I wanted everybody to see her poster! So this is her with her amazing little smile! :) She is very proud of her poster, and I am proud of HER! Good job T! Love ya!

Day 24 - A Rainy Game

My little sister Tahlia's softball game ended early. REALLY early. It ended halfway through the first half of the first inning! It started raining. And raining. And POURING! Total downpour! The field was unplayable within three minutes! 

Day 22 - A Fireman's Rescue Kitten

My neighbor, Mike Malcolm, is a fireman. Yesterday, while he was on duty he was called to rescue a kitten in a storm drain! Poor kitty. After he rescued the kitten, he had the choice of keeping her because nobody claimed her and nobody knew who she belonged to. Guess what he chose? :) Now, she belongs to Mr. Malcolm!

Readers, I introduce you to Stormy the kitten (get it? Stormy for storm dra...hahaha...yeah. Lame). My family was also introduced to this ADORABLE little kitten today, and I got to hold her for a while! She's so cute! It was a little difficult to get a good picture of her in the bad lighting, but I did my best and I hope you like it! 

Day 23 - Best Friends

(First, I would like to apologize for not blogging yesterday. I tried to log on Blogger last night, but Blogger was undergoing some maintenance and I was not able to blog. This is my blog post for yesterday!)

My best friend is Annelise. She's great! We are alike in so many ways, and we are different in so many ways. I'm thankful to have such a godly young woman as my best friend! We are both homeschooled and we both LOVE horses. We love, well, each other too! I love her a TON!

We hung out yesterday, and what do teenage girls do when they hang out? Take tons of pictures of course! Yup. That's what we did...and we studied a TON for our english exam next week. This picture is straight out of my camera. I didn't think I needed to make us any prettier than we already are! Just kidding!!! ;) (Inspired by me starting a blog, Anna started one as well. You can check out her blog here: Anna's Blog )

Day 21 - Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. Mother's Day is a super special day because on this day we get to honor our mothers for her dedication to her children. I love my mama. She's the best in the world in my opinion:) My mom sacrifices so much for my siblings and I. She teaches us school, she works full time, and she leads a VERY busy life.

Today, we gave her a kayak which is something she REALLY wanted. I'm happy that we could do something for the mom who I admire and adore. We, and by we I mean us kids, made her breakfast-in-bed like always, gave her cards, and let her open her presents. Although she didn't really open the kayak! This afternoon, my family took my mom out for a picnic and a hike. In this picture, you see my mother, sister, and brother attempting to stand on a stump one foot longer than the others! They all failed. 

Day 20 - France (Project)

For those of you who don't know, I am homeschooled. My mom does a wonderful job teaching us! For the past three weeks, my sisters and I have each been working on gathering facts about a country for a presentation board due next week. I picked France. I've found it to be fascinating! Tonight, while I was watching a movie with my family, I worked on my project. I had to cut out all of those letters perfectly, and the little strip of paper at the top that says, "The Country Of." It took a while to get everything centered!

 Even though it's not done, I wanted to share it with you! So.......this is what I have done so far...I know. Amazing, right? Well, at least everybody will know it's mine! I'm planning something special for my board, and I will take a picture of the finished project soon! Stay tuned!

Day 19 - Sunset

I did many things today, but my favorite was standing at the barn, watching horses quietly eating their hay, and seeing the sun set over the trees. Definitely the highlight of my day. I have not been out to the barn for a while, and finally, today I was able to ride my neighbor's horse! Thank you Tracy!!! Mostly, I just sat on the horse, closed my eyes, and felt the movement of the horse beneath me. I loved it. 

I didn't do anything to this photo because I wanted you to enjoy its true beauty. 

Day 18 - Paws

Yesterday, I said a lot in my blog post. Today, I will let the picture do the talking...well, most of it anyway! :)

Maggie. That's my dog's name. She's a golden retriever and I love her. My life would not be the same without her! :) I love walking her, talking to her, hugging her and giving her kisses, and watching her go crazy trying to eat a reflection on a wall! Yes, I said trying to EAT reflections! 

Day 17 - American Country Countdown With Kix Brooks

I love country music. It's not just listening to it, but literally loving everything about it and knowing all the songs. I! Love! Country! Music! A lot.

One of my favorite shows to listen to on the radio is the American Country Countdown With Kix Brooks. It's where they count down the top 40 country songs of the week. During that time, they read requests from listeners, play past number one hits, and have their own little special thing called "Live Like You Were Dying" where they read stories from listeners who have had something major in their life they want to share. The show even has a special guest every week!

This past week, I sent in a request for a song, wrote about why I wanted them to play it, and they picked me! This was totally awesome for me because I don't ever get picked for ANYTHING, plus, Kix Brooks was going to read my request and say my name on the radio!!! I actually received an e-mail from a producer of the show asking how to pronounce my name. After I thought about it, I realized I would not be able to hear the show that week because I would not be home, so I asked if it was possible to somehow get a small recording through e-mail or something...and they actually sent me a CD of the entire show!

I couldn't believe how awesome she was for doing that for me! I totally appreciated it and now have been able to listen to it! Because they were so nice, I will be sure to tell everybody to listen in and totally listen in every week myself for sure! I would suggest at least checking out their website! http://americancountrycountdown.com

So thank you again ACC! You are great people! 

Day 16 - Flower

My little sister, Tahlia, is super artsy. Always thinking about crafts, always imagining what an object would look like in a craft, and always DOING crafts. Inspired by my mom's amazing business, Studio Jewel, she even started her own business called Artz & Partz. Her catalog currently has one item because most things we actually buy from her are custom. She's so cute. I love her!

I found this tissue paper flower she made on the kitchen table today and decided to blog about it. I love flowers. I mean, what girl doesn't? I love getting flowers. I love smelling flowers. And I love looking at flowers. Flowers are truly a special creation created by God for their beautiful appearance and smell. And that's what I urge you to do in the next few weeks. Take a minute to just embrace the flowers and appreciate their beauty! And let me know if you do! :) 

Day 15 - The Kite

My family is really busy almost every day, but today we somehow found time to play outside together. We played baseball catch for a while, then passed a soccer ball to each other, and tried to play frisbee, but the wind was too strong. (We tried to teach one of our dogs to catch a frisbee, but she didn't really catch on). We also hit a volleyball around for a little while. It was fun!

My brother has a kite. He isn't really an expert on flying it yet, but he tries. His last kite got stuck in a tree last year and is still there. HA! What's left of it that is... ;) Today, once again, he failed in his attempt to fly his kite, but I did take a pretty sweet picture as I was jumping out of the way! 

Day 14 - Happy Anniversary!

Today, April 30th, is my parents 17th anniversary! Wow! They have officially been married to each other for seventeen years...which is pretty awesome! Although they had wanted to do something special to celebrate, they had to be satisfied with spending most of their Saturday at our sporting events! They didn't even get to go out for dinner! :( The other day, my mom was talking to my dad and she said that they should celebrate the fact that they have four healthy children with no problems. 

This is the cake my mom made for herself! I haven't eaten any of it yet, but everybody else says it's good!

So congrats to my parents for seventeen years of marriage! Love ya!!!

Day 13 - Soccer

In my family, all of the kids play sports. My older brother, Noah, plays baseball. I play softball and volleyball (I am playing both at the same time right now). My little sister, Isabel, plays soccer. And last, but certainly not least, my littlest sister, Tahlia, plays softball. The crazy thing is that we are all playing these sports RIGHT NOW! This spring, my parents have to deal with four kids and five sports. FIVE! For example, this Saturday, I have an all-day tournament, my brother has a game, my sisters both have games, and they are all VERY close in the timing with each other!

So this is Isabel at soccer practice. She played soccer last year and softball almost every year, but this year she decided to drop softball. I don't know why. She was good at softball, and I guess we'll see how good she is this year at soccer. Her coach is English and he has an awesome accent! Today he was demonstrating a corner kick. According to my sister, he almost kicked some of the girls with his long legs! HA!

Day 12 - My Boss

You know those country songs that always talk about people disliking their bosses? Well...it's the story of my life I tell you! Ugh. My boss is the worst. Always nagging. Always yelling. Always being...awesome! Ha! Just kidding. 

My boss is my mom and she is the coolest person ever!  I love her so much! She's a fantastic person and I'm NEVER embarrassed when I'm with her. In fact, I love doing stuff with her! 

So about my mom. She is a fantastic jewelry maker (that's her job), she always pushes me to run farther when I run with her, and she cannot play Mario Kart to save her LIFE! (She's AWFUL)! Most of the time, she ends up going the opposite direction, but that's a story for another time. But I really love my mama! She's the best mom in the WORLD!

Day 11 - Easter!

Happy Easter! Today is a super awesome day because today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fact that he paid for our sins! Easter is a day to just be happy and thankful...so all of you gloomy people out there...be HAPPY! Jesus is ALIVE! 

Besides the joy of knowing that Jesus is alive and that he paid for our sins, there's another great thing about easter: the easter egg hunt!!! Oh yeah. We each get a lot of eggs in our color that we have to find. Of course, as always, I didn't find a few. No worries though. They always turn up in a few months...or a year or two. Haha! But this is a picture of jellybeans! I love jellybeans! In my opinion, the starburst ones are the best. I love them. LOVE THEM!

Day 10 - Home Run!

Yesterday, my brother, Noah, played a baseball game. A double header to be exact. He's on the freshman school team and they play some good ball. Anyway, they won both games played really hard and I'm proud of him. :)

The coolest thing about yesterday's game is my brother's awesome hit. A home run! YEAH! It wasn't just an in the park home run...it was a line drive, out of the park, homer! SMACK! Oh yeah. My big bro can really hit that ball. 

This is his home run ball he was allowed to keep. He's so proud of it! I hope someday, I'll be able to hit like my big brother.