Recap: a week in the life

This last week has been nothing but absolute craziness!

last Thursday: Bachelorette Party for Emily in downtown Portland

All the Ladies!

Friday: last minute wedding craziness and rehearsal dinner

Saturday: WEDDING DAY!

getting her hair done!

morning of the day!

the Beautiful Bride and Maid of Honor

My handsome date! :)

The couple's first dance

the 4 of us :)

Later Saturday evening, I drove to my Aunt's house and started family craziness! My aunt was having a surprise 50th birthday party and I got there just to enjoy the tail end of it (still in wedding attire!)

My big brother and I

Sunday: What a great day! We had church outside at my uncle's cute little country church. After church, we had a chilli cook-off picnic and played all sorts of games.

Me and Dan with our grandparents!

I'm the auntie of this cute little kid :)

my Mom and I. Isn't she beautiful?

Blake and my Mom playing in the grass

my Grandma playing and singing with Blake

Later that afternoon, we got to watch old family videos of when my mom was a kid. It was so cool to see my mom as a little kid and my grandma as a cute little young thang! We decided to spend the evening hiking Multnomah Falls!

All the cousins! We're all so big now!

 

Me with Dan, Stasia, and Blake

Oregon is stunning!

Dan and I at the top

After the hike, we all went out for pizza!

Monday: We had a leisure morning and then we decided to go float the Sandy River. 

Dan tied the canoe to the car!

Family picnic

Dan and I floating along

Stasia and I showing our excitement!

Tuesday: I'm back in Corvallis! Anna and I did our blackberry goodness!

Wednesday: Emily and Jonathan drove through Corvallis post-honeymoon, so they met up with Greg and I for a bit. We ate at American Dream pizza and strolled a bit through campus. Later that evening, my family arrived! We went out for Indian Food and stayed up late all talking. 

Thursday: We spent the morning walking around the OSU campus!

Starting him young: He's a beaver believer!

I literally said while taking this picture, "Oh no! I'm ganna look like a freshman!"

In front of Valley Library: Dan, me and Mom

Blake and I in class

We spent a bit of the afternoon cooling down in my apartment and then headed south to the Oregon Coast!

It was in the 60's!

Stasia and I found a really cool pirate ship slide!

We went to Mo's for dinner and enjoyed yummy clam chowder!

I had a great time with my family! I'm so excited for this weekend and my adventures with Caeli in Portland!

This summer has been nothing like I expected, but I have been overwhelmed with love, friendship, and God's faithfulness. I love the many adventures I have gotten to go on, experience, learn from, and grow.

And the Iphone tells the story of...

This last weekend/half of week, I got to spend some time in Portland. I spent the weekend with Emily doing wedding prep galore. On Sunday, we went to Solid Rock and I ran into some friends from Corvallis! :)

me, Emily, Sara, and Tina! <3 (the boys are not photographed)

Emily gets married in 8 days. EIGHT. {enter here squeals, jumping, and the big to-do pile} Then her and her hubs are moving across the country to Tennessee. I'm ganna miss this lady. We were so busy, I didn't get around to taking any pictures. I spent a majority of my time working on the Wedding Playlist. Really, I was just illegally downloading songs hardcore. Shhhh. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think you understand what this tasks entails. I'll be honest with you: click, copy, paste, find song somewhere on hard drive, put into itunes, playlist. bam. NEXT. It took hours upon hours. BUT I'm so glad I could do it instead of the Bride.

The future Mr. & Mrs.

Monday evening, Brynn and I did a test run on Emily's wedding day makeup. I can't say any more than that, but it is going to be GREAT. Brynn and I went out to dinner with her Dad. YUM. We went to Chevy's and we delighted in cocktails and mexican food. Is there really anything better? Well, yeah, there is. But I really enjoyed my pina colada.
When we got home, we put on the Olympics. I gotta say, these people are so deserving to be there. They do some amazing stuff! While we were watching the Olympics, we laughed our booties off reading Damn You Auto Correct. Have you ever read it? You should. Pure hilariousness.

I don't know how we came up with this idea but Brynn had some extra fireworks she didn't use on the 4th of July, so we headed out into the church parking lot behind her apartment and let some loose. We we're having all sorts of fun and laughter, until we realized how late at night it was and we saw a cop car driving down the street. We picked up everything and ran inside. SO WORTH IT.

The next day, we headed to Salem. The birthplace of our beautiful friendship. I got a haircut and Brynn got a new piercing! I have been contemplating getting my nose pierced for nearly 2 years, and I almost did, but I chickened out. In my defense, I don't have ANY piercings at all. Not even my ears!

We went out for really good, but expensive BBQ. I put a napkin in my shirt. Yes, I was that person and I have no shame. It was worth it for every single fabulous bite of ribs. Ah, drooling just remembering how good it was. We then came home, put on the Olympics and did a puzzle. Don't judge us, it was a really hard one. We worked on it patiently for all 3 hours of the Olympics. 

We kept losing pieces, and then I realized they all somehow managed to land in the crotch of my sweatpants. Don't ask. I was (and still am) as confused as you to how they got there. We laughed hysterically.
Favorite moment of the night: Brynn goes "is it weird I like to eat..." And before she could finish her sentence I said, "no, most people eat..." and we died. Literally. If laughter could induce dying it would have happened that night. Love this girl so so much. AND I'm so beyond happy she is finally back in Oregon!

Lately, I've decided to take on the task of riding a bike. {large amounts of laughter here}Yes, I do not know how to ride a bike. So Greg and I walked downtown to Peak Sports so I could get correctly sized for a bike. They let us take the bikes out on a test drive. So we did, or really, Greg did. I went on a nice walk with my bike. I rode it for probably 0.5 seconds, if that. I attempted, and Greg laughed. After such a refreshing walk downtown, we stopped at The Beanery for blended chai, and then walked to central park. I played on the swings and went down the slide. I enjoyed acting like I was 5. What's better than that? Really.

Then we decided a swim would sound absolutely decadent. So we got Peter to go along with us, and we all went swimming. Did I mention I've been sick? Well I have. My life has revolved around this nasty cough that induces dry heaving and lack of breathing. Swimming? I didn't think that one through. But it was still a refreshing little dip. Later that evening, we went on a motorcycle ride since Greg sells the beloved bike today. We enjoyed a last ride on the beautiful red babe. Or, I did. I'm not really sure if Greg enjoyed it. I couldn't see where we were most of the time, so I was singing worship in my helmet while it was too windy for Greg to hear me. I live a really beautiful life and I am amazed at the many ways God answers my prayers, hears my every word, and blesses me with such wonderful people to love.

Camp: Week 1

Caeli and I were placed at Ranch Camp where we had the exciting opportunity to co-counsel for the week! Our campers arrived on Sunday June 17th. We went to church in the morning on Sunday, moved our stuff down from the cabin in Timberline to Buckskin at Ranch Camp, and then prepared for our campers!

 Ranch Camp was a blast! We got to spend a lot of time with horses, our campers, in the pond, laughing, singing songs, doing skits, and learning more about Jesus.

A typical day at Ranch Camp starts at 6:15 when our staff meeting begins. We have our staff meeting, pray, talk about the schudele for the day, and then put on crazy wacky costumes to wake up campers.
We saddle up our horses, brush them, and clean their hooves.

Me brushing a horse with one of my campers, Arabelle

At 8:30 we have a yummy breakfast. This often consists of someone being forced to SING A SONG. The song goes..."Sing a song, Sarah, sing a song. We wont stop singing til you stand up, sing a song, Sarah, sing a song" Each time, it gets louder and more and more people sing along until the person's whose name is in it stands up and you guessed it, SINGS A SONG. The staff put a limit of 2 sings a song per meal, otherwise it is very obnoxious! After breakfast, the campers have classes. They are: Trail Riding, Arena, Vaulting, and Horse Science. They girls are separated into groups and they rotate with their group through these classes all week. This week, I had the bandanas.

The Bandana's with Christine (a Wrangler) 

After classes, we have KBAR. Also known as Kick Back and Relax. EVERY COUNSELORS FAVORITE TIME. No, but seriously. It is. At the beginning of the week, Caeli and I used this time to talk to our girls, or just play some chill games, but as the week went on, we got more tired and so did our girls. By Thursday, this became NAP time. Gotta love it. Then we had lunch time, which consisted of more sing a song songs. FUNNNNNN. When my girls tricked me into singing a song, I sang the Beaver Song. I still honor OSU even way down here in California. My girls sang along. I was so proud.
After lunch, we had some solo time and then Cabin Devos. This time was really aggravating this week. It was hard for the girls to focus, and many of them grew up in Christian homes, so they already know Jesus. It was hard for Caeli and I (who were not Christians until a later age) to understand how best to lead them. A big answer to prayer happened on Thursday: we had a great discussion about how to listen to God and hear his voice. I was really impressed with a few of the girls eagerness to follow God daily.
After Cabin Devos, it was pond time. I really loved this time, because we just got to hang out and have fun with our campers. There is no rush for time, and we got to play silly games, talk more about life and God, and just enjoy have fun together.

Caeli and I at the pond with some of our girls

After pond time, we have some sort of activity before dinner. Activities like: games on the soccer field, Shoot for Gold on horseback in the pasture, or a night ride. After dinner, we have a cabin activity. On Monday night, we made our cabin flag. We lived in Buckskin, and our cabin name was the Chick-A-Dees.

 After that, was the BEST time of the day. Campfire. I have a GINORMOUS collection of pictures from campfire. Please enjoy. :) This was a time of silly songs, skits, yelling very loud, competitions, learning about God, testimonies, and worship.

On Tuesday night, Ranch Camp camped out under the stars. I had so much fun that night. We ate hot dog dinner cooked over the fire, and then made our own dough boys. That night, the stars were amazingly beautiful. Caeli and I stayed up talking. We prayed and the wind hissed through the trees. It was a lovely way to fall asleep all laying on a tarp close to each other for body warmth.

I have an embarrassing story to share with you all: I was sleeping very very soundly and very warmly. So much that I didn't wake up when I had to go to the bathroom. So I started to pee my pants and I woke up as soon as I realized what was going on. Luckily, I only peed through my first layer and it didn't soak through much at all. But I was so embarrassed and it was quite a night. I also peed in the woods for the very first time! Caeli was very proud of me! :)

The hoedown was one of my favorite nights of the whole week. Here is the hoedown in pictures:

Haley, myself, Jenn, and Caeli

Our crazy Chick-A-Dees

All of Ranch Camp at the Hoedown

On Friday, it rained unexpectedly, so we had to improvise our plans for the day. I got to teach cotton-eyed-Joe and the Hoedown Throwdown for 2 and a half hours. All those nights of country dancing are really helping at Ranch camp!

Here are some miscellaneous  pictures from the week:

Caeli and I dressed like twins one day on accident

Here's the cabin mid week

Our Cabin :)

Halliday and Katie with their horse Peppy

Our Cabin: Me, Rawnie, Arabelle, Kendra, Caeli, Katie, Zoozer, and Halliday

So BLESSED to have this girl at camp!

Ranch Camp Staff Week 1

This is our natural state. Be jealous.

 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" Hebrews 10:23

Prayer Requests for the next week: 

I've never worked with junior high/high school campers before-wisdom and direction

For our staff to continue to bond with unity

For those traveling to the River, for safety

For campers to come to a deeper understanding a saving faith in Jesus Christ

For rest and good sleep for staff

For spiritual growth and trust in the Lord for what He is doing