Michigan 2013

Well, Michigan was great this year. Technically it's not over yet, because I am still here, but I will be leaving today after supper. I'm trying to avoid getting in the lake, because I don't want to have to take a shower before we leave. We started out at 6 a.m. last Saturday. It was actually a fairly short trip. We pretty make sang the whole way up and played iPod karaoke. Pretty hilarious times. When we got to the "cottage"(aka The Mansion), we unpacked our bags, and then headed to Wal-mart for groceries. I had planned the meals and grocery list, which was quite long. I had everyone split into pairs, and tackle a section of the store. It worked out great. We had 4 carts filled with groceries. I'm pretty sure we were a funny sight. I mean, it would be funny to see 9 girls in skirts with 4 carts of groceries. So then we unpacked everything and got onto the lake. This year we had much better luck with the boats. None of them really broke down, but it was more expensive, because we had to buy more gas;) I actually only went tubbing once. I'm not a huge fan of water sports, but I love it lay out and read a book. We went to Alto on Sunday, and then went to Aaron and Loretta Steffen's for supper. When we got back, 3 girls from Minnesota met us and we headed back on the lake. Monday we got a pretty early start(I'm not included in the "we", I tend to like to sleep in:)) We all thought it wasn't too bad, so we didn't put sunscreen on. Bad idea. Pretty much all of us were fried, and I have a nice line on my legs. Half is red, half is white. Lovely. The ping pong table was put in good use in the evenings. So pretty much everyday we were out on the lake. Nothing extremely exciting happened. I mean, it wasn't boring by any means, but I won't expound on all the jokes and such. Me and Victoria Stoller were usually the first ones to go to bed. Surprise, Surprise. Actually, we had good talks, so I was glad we decided to go to bed earlier. Last night, we went to the Alto Fellowship Hall for a small VBS program and then a talk by Bill Waibel from Bay City. We got home at around 10:15 and then chowed down. Like really ate some food. You would have thought we hadn't eaten for days, but in reality, we had pancakes for supper and then went out for ice cream before church. Then we burned off all our energy by playing laser tag. They brought a ton of laser guns, and we played all around the house in the dark. It was so fun! We also played sardines. Last night was the latest I stayed up. It was like 2 in the morning! I am leaving today, but a lot of people are staying until Saturday. I tend to get homesick and so I usually go back earlier. I love it up here, but I miss my family. We took tons of picture, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 Amber was really getting into the songs....

 I love that window and the view

 Fully loaded with groceries. Check out that receipt.

 Jaylyn, Hannah, and Katie

 Me, Hannah, and Jaylyn fishing with our nets. I tell you it is addicting. You catch one, and then you have to catch all of them.

 Look at these macho Princeville girls. Katie was hoping to impress Landon(her fiancé)

 Filetting a fish(aka dissecting it)

 Toss the paddle around the world. Such a fun game.

 Ready for church on Sunday morning

 The ICC group

 Rhea, Hannah, Katie, and Amber

 Jaylyn and Amber

 Katie, Rhea, and Hannah

 Amber, Jaylyn, and Me

 Jaylyn and Hannah and creeper Katie

 Me and Victoria. This is in a random spot, but we tried to do devotions on the boat one morning, but it started raining, so we just had to sit under the awning thing.

 Olivia, Alyssa, Jaylyn, and Kelsey

 The rainy morning. It actually cleared up pretty quickly, so we were able to spend the day on the lake.

 I think that is Oliva and Hannah

 Jaylyn finally got up! She was the first one!

 The Birthday girl Amber

 Sandi, Olivia, and Myca

 Me and Jaylyn

 The ICC ping pong dominators. They obviously have had some practice:)

 Beautiful sunset

 On the speed boat. So much fun! Last year we didn't have a speed boat, so we were so excited to have one this year.

 The lovely hammock. From L-R Victoria, Abby, Hannah, Me, and Jaylyn

 Jumping:)

 Pyramid

 If you can't tell what it spells, it says LAKE.

 The sunset reflecting off of the water.

 Look at those gorgeous clouds

 Singing on the boats. We couldn't all fit on one boat, so we took the pontoon and the speed boat out.

 Jaylyn, Hannah, and Me. We were the party in the backseat:)

 At the Caboose before Wednesday night church

 The whole group minus Katie who left on Tuesday

 The Junior(almost senior) Princeville girls

 The Princeville girls my age

 The whole group after church

 Pigging out.

 Laser tag in the dark. Funnest thing ever.

 We are intense.
And thats all folks. It was a great week, but I'm thankful to be going home to my family!

The Little Things That Make Up Summer

I decided this week that it is the little things in summer that make it so enjoyable. Yeah vacations are fun and all, but I realized that I just enjoy the little things. I kind of forget home much I like summer until it's actually here. Here's my list of the little things in summer.
In no particular order.
1. A bowl of strawberry shortcake on the front porch. Doesn't get much better than that when you need some downtime after a long day at work.
2. A cool dip in the neighbor's pool. It's so fun taking the girls over to Ben and Hannah Martin's pool to swim. Especially when their kids are out swimming too.
3. The Polar Bear. In my opinion, the most amazing ice cream ever. I might be a little biased considering it is in Princeville, but other than that it is an awesome treat after church. I almost always see old classmates or teachers there, so it's pretty fun.
4. The grass between my toes:) Who doesn't love being bare-foot outside?
5. The gorgeous sunsets. This year has been pretty amazing so far, and I just love watching them. One of my favorite parts of summer by far.
6. The cool breeze. I love it. I guess this summer I have just noticed it a lot. I just sit outside, close my eyes, and let the breeze blow over my face. It's so peaceful!
7. It's grilling season! I love a good hamburger every now and then. Grilled chicken is pretty tasty too:) Not so much of a steak fan though.
8. Fresh produce. The best time to eat it is summer. We are getting to the end of strawberry season, and have had TONS! Which is pretty delicious, because Mom makes pie, and let's us have dessert every night:) I can't wait until the green beans are ready. They are so delicious when they are fresh.
9. Going to bed stress-free because of no homework. Seriously, it's an amazing feeling. This summer especially.
10. Time spent with my younger sisters. I love it. Wether it's racing Sophie out to the mailbox or jumping on the trampoline with Tessa, summer is a great season to bond with the younger ones. And then coming in and reading them 5 books. I think I cherish the time with them a lot more than I did before, because I'm gone from work all the time. Oh how I love them:)
11. Planting season. I love seeing all the tractors/sprayers out in the fields. It makes me appreciate all the hard work my dad does for our family. (And, I know the farmers are happy when they are in their tractors)
12. Building stronger relationships with friends. We don't have to worry about getting home early for school the next day, or being busy because of school activities. I'm hoping this summer to develop deeper friendships with existing friends, and challenging each other to grow stronger in our relationship with Christ.
And there are many other small things, but it would take too long to write them all. Hope you all our enjoying the little things too.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. II Peter 3:18

Sleepless Night

Here's a summary of my Sunday night. Keep in mind I had to open this morning at 7:15. We had the Schumacher's over for what was suppose to be a picninc, but ended up an inside deal. We at supper and played games. Quality family time at it's best. They left pretty late, which was fine, because it is summer. Although I think Seth and Brooke had to get up pretty early to work, as did I. Recently, Sophie gave her passy over to baby Josie. On top of that, she has learned how to climb out of her crib. It's a formula for disaster. Mom and Dad lock their bedroom door now, so she can't get in. I woke up Saturday night at 2, because she came downstairs crying. Other than that one time, she seemed to be doing good. Until last night. She was completely wound up. Probably from all the airheads Tessa collected from the lunch tables, and from making her rounds to all the candy men at church. Anyways, back to the story. It's near 12 in the morning, and she decides she wants to sleep with Rhea. So Rhea preps her bed, making it safe for Sophie to sleep in. All seemed to be going well. Then my bed started shaking. I sort of got scared. Then a little head popped up over the bed. She was just coming to say hi. So I told her she needs to stay in one bed, but she informed me, "No, two beds." Whatever, she obviously didn't understand what I was saying, or she was just acting dumb. She decided to go to Claire's room. I thought to my self, "Good, maybe Claire can get her to stay in bed." Nope. Next thing you know, she pops up again, "Hi, Nene." Then she's off again. Next thing you know I hear this rolling and then bounce. Then 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. She's rolling large bouncy balls down the stair railing. And then jumps down the stairs to retreive the ball, but she must loudly count each stair. The game goes on for several minutes. Then, my bed starts shaking again. This time she brings a bouncy ball to me. She wants to play catch at 12:40. So she throws it to me, but I don't catch it. She find delight in making me hide under my covers. For those of you who have never been it by a bouncy ball, they hurt, even if it is a 2 year old throwing it. Things got boring, because I wouldn't play with her, so down she goes. Next thing you know, my lamp goes on, and my night-light(yes that's right) goes off. Then the lamp goes off and the night-light back on. After awhile, she heads back upstairs. I heard her crying, so she must have had to go to bed. Today I am running on less than 5 hours of sleep. Tonight is the first night of VBS and I'm not sure if I will be able to handle all the energy:) Tessa is so excited for VBS, she has had her outfit for tonight picked out since Saturday. I'm not sure if I would be that excited for my older sister to teach me VBS, but I won't complain:) It's going to be a crazy week between work and VBS four nights this week. It's going to be busy, but that's just how I like it(except when I don't). Plane tickets to Oregon are bought for Labor Day weekend. There is 8 from Princeville/Bradford going and 2 from other churchs also riding with us. I think that all of us are pretty excited! Michigan is in only a few weeks, and there are baptisms in Oakville this weekend that I am going to. This summer is turning out a lot busier than I expected. Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer also!