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 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 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 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 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 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.

Day 9 - Happy Birthday Tahlia!

Today is April 21. Go figure. But today is not just ANY April 21. Today is a special day because on this day 9 years ago, my little sister, Tahlia, was born! I remember a few weeks before she was born, we went to Hobby Lobby and bought white T-shirts and T-shirt glitter and then decorated a bunch of shirts to wear to the hospital when she was born! (That's my mom for ya! Always thinking about crafts even when she's pregnant)!

On the front they said "I'm a big sister," or "I'm a big brother," and on the back we drew out all of our family (stick figures of course. Then we drew a tiny baby at the bottom of the shirt! I think I may still have my shirt somewhere...

This is her now. She's SO cute and I love her so much! One thing I love about her is that she's extremely crafty...like my mom! She always wants to make something. And I mean always! She's also very one-track-minded. Starting exactly one week from her birthday, she would run to the mailbox everyday to check whether or not she got a card in the mail. She'd be really disappointed if nothing came, but then she'd just think about tomorrow! Like I said...one-track-minded. Hhmmmm. I wonder where she gets THAT! 

So I just wanted to wish my lil' sis a happy birthday! I love you T!

Day 8 - My OTHER (Second) Cousin

So on Friday I posted a picture of my new second cousin. Today, my mom, my sisters, and I all went to babysit her. And her mother and her big brother as well. Today, I'm blogging about him:) His name is Will...short for William. I don't think he quite realizes that the newborn baby is his sister yet, but I think it will sink in soon. 

Will got some jelly beans from Grandma today and he decided that he likes to eat them by licking them. Not actually chewing them, but getting colored slobber all over everything! It was really sticky and all over everything and...we had to clean it up. But it was cute. :)

Day 7 - My Brother & His Project

Wow. It's already been a whole week since I started blogging. Thanks to you all who are reading this and who have commented on my blog! I truly appreciate it. (Of course it helps when my mom promotes it).

This is my older brother Noah. Well his hands to be exact. He's a super cool guy who plays baseball like a pro (and coaches me), and bosses me around all the time...but I still love him! Right now he's working on a school project for World History; it's a drawing of Africa and he drew it himself! Overall, he's a pretty awesome brother to have, and I'm grateful for him:)

Day 5 - Gluten Free Pizza

You obviously wouldn't know this (unless you know me or my family personally) because I haven't said anything about this in my blog before, but my family is gluten free. Not because we're allergic to it but because we wanted to try it out to see what kind of changes it may bring to our health. It has been said by many doctors that it is good for you and your body, which has proved true. I sleep better and feel better all the time.

This is a gluten free pizza my mom made! She's amazing. We don't just sit around wondering what to eat everyday because my awesome mom always makes dinner. She finds gluten free recipes all the time. This pizza was great. It had a soft crust that tasted like real pizza. If you want the recipe go to my mom's blog: www.studiojewel.blogspot.com I don't know when she'll post it, but expect it soon!

Day 4 - New (Second) Cousin

On Wednesday, April 13, 2011, my cousin gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Helena and she is such a beautiful baby! We went to see her today in the hospital. I got to hold her and take lots of pictures...but this is my favorite one! 

I realized how much of a miracle babies are today. The fact that they grow INSIDE another person is amazing, and then when they are born and actually breathe on their own...it's truly a miracle. It's even more amazing that God thought up the babies and their births. Babies are truly living, breathing, miracles!