My Year in Review | Photos and Words

January

counsins / brothers / winter cooking / basketball watching

February

babysitting / valentines / sledding with friends / hair feather/ watching friends in sports / brother signing

March

awkward cousin photoshoots / National Lutheran Schools Week / best friend / volleyball team at Dairy Queen / teachers making pancakes for us / roller blading / State wrestling championship (1st place!)

April

confirmation / track meets / best friend / last school band concert / last school volleyball game

May

track meet / baseball games / Festival of Nations / annual lock-in / prom / last choir concert / 8th grade field trip / volunteering at Camp

June

Zach's graduation / my graduation / my mom's graduation / salutatorian speech / first Twins game at the new field / goodbye parties for friends

July

campfires / fish / lake / wedding / first phone / 4th of July / fireworks / brothers / trips

August

state fair working / county fair ribbon-winning / flower picture-taking / bird watching / babysitting

September

birthdays / adventure seeking / cousin time at the lake / dog-loving / portfolio building / football games / 1st day of school / first pepfest / Girls of Grace concert

October

volleyball / cousin's confirmation / brother's playoff game / adventures with the cousins / early Christmas / Fields of Faith / half marathon watching

November

Grand Marais / youth group trip / Gooseberry Falls / Thanksgiving / Student Council lock-in / my birthday

December

snow fall picture / band gift exchange / church youth directors / my old school's Christmas concert / best friend / siblings / winter pepfest / new mascot / aunts / extended family / cousin with our friend's baby

2012 Independence Day {v.1}

 Yes, it has been a week since the 4th, but I'm just now posting about it.

 Our morning consisted of going to a  neighboring city for a parade.

Boy, was that parade long.My mom threatened to leave early because it was so long and the temperatures were unbearable.

 After our morning parade, my older two brothers went off on their own and did their own thing, so my younger brother Luke and I were home and completely bored.

 We begged mom and dad to take us somewhere, but because of the heat, there wasn't much outside that we wanted to do.

 So what did we do? We went on a house tour. Haha! No, I'm not moving, but we looked at all sorts of houses (the lake houses were my favorite) while listening to my new CD by Jamie Grace.

 We were looking at houses for a little over an hour before the sun went down and it was time for the city firework show {that apparently is the best in the Cities}.

 Let me tell you, this picture made my night. Gah!

 I never knew that fireworks were create such great bokeh! :P

The finale.

 So even though I didn't go out of town like I have every year, it was nice to experience something new and in my city for once. Last year was close to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But this year, I just might have found some enjoyment in it.

What did you do for the 4th? Were you restricted from fireworks because of the drought?

Holiday Kick-off

A few weeks ago during Thanksgiving break, that Friday to be exact, I went to my cousin's/aunt's and uncle's house. Not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving with them, but we went to a Holiday parade. I was so happy that I could go because it was their first time doing it in my home town. I only go back a few times a year and this was one of them. Here are some pictures of the parade.

 I'm sorry most of these pictures are kinda blurry. It was dark and cold.

 And remember this was only a few days after I had my camera, so I still had NO idea how to shoot in a manual mode. :D Oh and yes, that is a helicopter covered in Christmas lights.

 I happen to come from the 4th of July City of America. I'm not kidding. That's why they had that float.

Santa! Yep, that's him!

P.S. Thank you Emily for inspiring me to write this post! Go check her {better} pictures HERE.

P.P.S. I'm sorry if all of my Christmas posts are bugging you.

Happy 4th of July {a couple days late}

Hey everybody! I hope you have been enjoying some guest posts! I just have to say thank you to Rachel and Francesca. They were both awesome posts!

First off, Happy 4th of July! I hope you all had a great day! I didn't do much that day, but it was sure a day I wouldn't forget...

 On the 4th of July, my younger brother, parents, my aunt, and I went to a firework show. We left REALLY early, but that's what we were told to do! So we were there at like 6:00 PM or so. The show started at 9:45 (actually, 10:00). So we had nothing to do for those 3+ hours! My dad, brother, and I went to some stores right around the lake where they were setting the fireworks off. We had some very yummy ice cream! (random, I know) The bad thing was, it rained and stormed off and on while we were waiting. Luckily, it didn't rain when the fireworks were going off.

 Coming from the "4th of July City of America", this firework show was really good! The "4th of July City of America" is Seward, Nebraska, where I was born. I thought this firework show was going to be wimpy compared to Seward's firework shows! IT WAS NOT!! This firework show was really good! And there wasn't just one firework show going on. We were there for one, but there were many. There was a group of people that were at the lake at 7:00 AM. They got really good seats. They lite off a lot of cool fireworks before the show. There was another group of people that lived close by that lite a lot of fireworks before and during the show as well. When the main firework show was switching barges (there were two full of fireworks), there was some other huge firework show going on at the same time! No kidding! We were looking at all 4 of these firework shows! It was a crazy night! It took us like 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. :( not very fun! It was also crazy because the guys we sat by... never mind. They were just crazy boys.

Here's a quick little story before I "leave". There was a little, tiny boat that was on the lake for hours just going around doing whatever. My family noticed that there was a weird looking thing on the back of the boat, but it was a little too dark to see what it was. In the middle of the other firework shows, the boat was 10 ft. or less in front of us, and started lighting TONS of fireworks right above our heads! It was kind of scary, but for this little boat, there were a lot of fireworks!

I hope you had a very good 4th of July! How was it? Was it as crazy as my firework show?