A very hectic summer...

Here we are with less than two weeks until school starts. Where has the summer gone? I got to enjoy some of it but most of it I was miserable. After my awesome week at the Wilds, I came home with a bad cold... which turned into a sinus infection. I was miserable. To make matters worse, I had a drug reaction to the antibiotic they gave me and ended up in urgent care. Making that a total of 4 weeks I was out of commission. Then if that wasn't enough, 2 weeks ago I went through the dreaded wisdom teeth extraction. I am praying that nothing else will go wrong this summer... I want to enjoy my last two weeks! Other than that, this summer has been great. I had an amazing beach vacation, an awesome week at camp, and Neighborhood Bible Time at our church. The Lord has definitely in and around me this summer. It was especially noticeable this past week of NBT. I can't wait to see how the Lord will continue to work. It's one thing to read about our God in the Bible but when you actually look and see His work around you... it's beyond amazing. How great a God we serve!

Eyes

As I was playing in the ocean today, I got water in my eyes. Whenever you get salt water in your eyes it burns your eyes  doesn't it? It almost blinds you. I was thinking about why God made our eyes so sensitive and then it hit me. Our eyes are sensitive in more than one way. When we see something it is permanently in our brain. Sometimes when we see something that looks beautiful and fun but it blinds us the dangers that are coming. If you can't see in the ocean you have no idea when the next wave is coming and you don't know when you're going to fall. Be careful what you do with your eyes. They can be deceiving.

Here I sit

Here I sit on my bed in our beach house. Well, the beach house we're renting for the week. It's our seventh day on vacation and I worn myself out with fun. Well, fun and my Dad but they're kind of one and the same. I am looking forward to getting back home although I'm not ready for vacation to end. It will be fun hanging out with friends, doing stuff with church, writing new music, organizing, etc. I am excited for what this summer has to offer. At church we have lots of pontential for new families and kids that will be greatly welcomed. It's all really exciting. I will be working on my music more intently. I will be doing extra work ahead (and behind) on school to make sure my high school years count. I will spending time with God studying His word and seeking His will. I will be organizing my room, the gym, the den, etc. because I'm just so OCD. I will training more significantly and hopefully work on strengthening my knee. I will start running again no matter how bad my knee hurts. I'm gonna get more tan than I already am. I going to spend most of my time outside, at the pool, or on the river... of course with some of my most favorite people. I am looking forward to the rest of my life. This is the first day of the rest of my life and I'm going to make it count. Make it stand out. Make it mine.

Sweet... or not:)

This is sweet in a good way. We're not acting this time... we actually love eachother:)

Now this is sweet. Don't I just have the cutest grandparents?I'm sure everyone says that about their grandparents but this is priceless. In a good way. Not like the one above on my sister... that's priceless as in wow... can you tell we didn't really wanna be out there getting pictures taken? There are not words to describe that picture... All I can say is, that's Ashley for you... :) On a sidenote, this is my 100th post! Not that you care:)

home at last:)

That's right. Our family is back from the beach. Sadly. We had a blast but, we knew it had to end. Hopefully sometime within the next week I will have all of the beach pictures up on their own personal page. There are way too many to put in one post. I would work on it this evening but I have to unpack and get a shower and eat supper and go to bed... but probably not in that order. :) The beach is one of the highlights of our year. Like I said before, our family at the beach is the definition of rest and relaxation. It's awesome. Even though we love the beach, I was glad to be home. Not even paradise can replace my home. Well, I need to go get everything done... but don't worry I will be working on that page so you can see Ashley (not my sister) and some gnarly body surfing by me and my Dad. Hope you have a great evening!

A Night on the Town...and a crabbing dock (:

Monday Sunrise

Well , you might have guessed that I haven't put all of the pictures up yet. I don't know if I ever will get all of them up... in a post that is. Hopefully once we get back I will have all the pictures and videos ready and I will create a beach page so you can see them whenever you want. I would love to put together a slide show instead of just putting pictures on there because that would take forever. I'm sure most of you know that a slide show of pictures with music is a whole lot better than one without music so if you have any ideas about what songs would work I would love to hear about it! I'm open to all and any suggestions. I hope I haven't bored you to death with my beach pictures but if I have feel free to tell me... you won't hurt my feelings:) Maybe I will post more pictures later... If not, I hope you all have a great day!

first day on the beach (:

A Crab

We did help this crab get all the way back into the water... we just don't have a video. This little guy just isn't having a good day:)

Our Beach House

Since my Mom is taking pictures like crazy, I will have a ton of pictures by the time the week is over. I already have a ton... If you guys get bored with pictures... you'll just have to deal with it. I know some people back home want to see my pictures and it's easier just to put them up here. Hopefully I will get more posted before we go back out. :)