A few weeks ago, I got an iPhone.  I used to be one of those people who didn't "get" the iPhone.  "Sure, it's neat," I would say, shrugging my shoulders carelessly.  "A lot of cool apps.  It's pretty fun to have... but it's probably a waste of money."  Now that I actually have one, I'm basically addicted.  The iPhone helps with everything.  My Kindle books, the Bible, games, websites, music, GPS, maps, restaurants, school information, email, Skype, EVERYTHING is on this phone.  It's amazing compared to the rinky-dink "refurbished" phone I had for a long time.

Something that I've fallen in love with as a new iPhone user is "instagram."  If you don't know what that is, it's a picture-taking program that lets you take a photo with your iPhone (or upload one you've already taken), edit it however you like, and then post it to all of the social media sites you enjoy to share with your friends. 

Some people dislike instagram because it can make any basic photograph look artistic, but that's exactly why I love it.  It's a creative way to document your life through photographs.  Right up my alley!  I decided to go ahead and post my instagram pictures on this blog as well.  I'll post once a week (Mondays) with the latest pictures I've taken (although I may make a few extra posts to catch you up on some of the pictures I've taken before now).

You may or may not be interested whatsoever in the little pictures I take, but I love them.  :)

So here are the first few pictures I've taken with instagram:

My very first picture was a test shot of the item nearest to me: a can of Dr. Pepper resting on one of the Boston Terrier coasters my cousin Jonathan painted for my mom.

My second picture was a little more creative... well, somewhat.  This fairly soon after my car was hit while I was eating lunch.  I had to take my car to the shop, which was a bit scary since I was leaving home in two weeks.  I got a rental car for the time my car was under repair.  Even in my rental car, I hung my "famous" pair of Converse shoes from the mirror.

I was given those shoes for my sixteeth birthday from a friend.  Ever since then, I've hung them from the mirror of every car I've owned (or rented, now).  They are how I even recognize my car in the parking lot these days since they're so unusual. 

I figured these shoes would be a perfect "instagram" picture.  They're definitely a little piece of my life. 

After these first basic shots, I was pretty hooked on instagram.  Some are better than others, but I've definitely enjoyed taking little snapshots of my life over the last few weeks.  I've gotten my mom hooked as well. 

Do you have an instagram?  Do you love it or hate it?

If you want to follow me, I'm emilytheperson.  Shocker, right?

Also, for those of you who have been saying, "Tell me what college is like," I'm having a Q&A about it on September 10, so if you have a specific question, be sure to ask it before September 9.

Y: Young at Heart

(Before I start today's post, I'd like to let y'all know that I'm writing this in advance.  Right now, my mother, Ali, and I are traveling.  We'll be moving Ali into her dorm room at her school and then moving me into my dorm.  This is a big and emotional step in both of our lives.  It's going to be so hard to leave our family and each other.  Please pray for this process and for traveling safety.  Thanks, guys.)

There are so many ways I'm still young at heart.  In fact, sometimes I feel like there's no way I should be eighteen and moving out of my house right now.  I'm too little!

One way I've kept my youth is by somehow making friends with childlike people.  I don't mean this in an insulting way whatsoever.  None of my best girl friends have ever kissed a guy (and most of my guy friends have never kissed a girl!).  We all love Winnie the Pooh, Veggie Tales, and Disney animated movies.  We listen to Disney princess songs like normal music.  We have very innocent fun, like playing in the park or playing board games in my living room.  I love how innocent and childlike my friends are.

While I don't think it's good to be so sheltered that you have no idea about the real world, I do think it's fantastic to be "like a child."  That is how many of my friends are.  That's also what I strive daily to become.

Here are ten ways I've been "young" with my friends this year:

1.) We always manage to throw interesting birthday parties.  For my friend Zeek's, we threw a big party at a Japanese fast food restaurant (yummy!).  We all wore little birthday hats (he had to wear his big one all day) and took group hug and "Zeek huge smile" shots.  It was so much fun.

2.) We don't mind embarrassing ourselves sometimes for the sake of fun.  For Rebekah's birthday last year, we dressed up in tie-dye party hats and bandanas over our faces.  We sneaked into Old Navy where she was shopping, got a LOT of funny looks, and kidnapped her from behind.  After kidnapping Rebekah, we went to my house, literally had a dance party in the rain, took silly pictures in our party hats, and played "Clue" in the living room with about twelve people.  :)

3.) I prank people quite often.  Occasionally Lukie (my little brother) and I will lock Ali out of the house.

Or Rebekah, Lukie, and I will duct tape her to a column in my house.

4.) I get excited over the smallest of things, like finding a giant baby carrot in our vegetable tray.  At this particular moment, I was so excited that I made my entire family stop dinner, find the camera, and take a picture of me holding the carrot next to a normal-sized baby carrot.  This was all very delightful to my younger siblings.

5.) I dress my dogs up in cute outfits and pose them for pictures.  You've seen a lot of pictures of Jack in his sweaters and A&M jerseys, but here's a picture of my dog Boo in a fluffy winter coat.  Doesn't she look like she loves it?

6.) I play pattycake with Rebekah.

7.) I love to have picnics with my friends.  We even use a picnic basket!  We'll bring handmade sandwiches or kids' Lunchables.  I've never grown out of Lunchables.  One of my friends from work said he always thinks of me when he sees a Lunchable at the store because that's what I would bring every day for lunch!

8.) My friends and I will literally play for hours on a playground meant for little kids.  We swing, play "Lava Monster", tag, and we'll even ride the little horse see-saws.  One of the best park games is this tilting thing that kind of sways back and forth.  It doesn't go very fast, but when we're in the moment, you'd think we were on a roller coaster.

9.) Sometimes my friends and I dress up.  I try hard to look like a gangster, but I always end up looking like a little kid.  I am terrible at being tough!  However, when we went to a deli, my friend Zeek scared everyone inside.  He can totally pull off gangsta, even though he's the opposite!  You can see how he ACTUALLY dresses in the picture above.

10.) And finally, we love to play with makeup, even if we look CRAZY after we're finished.  I remember caking on a ton of makeup when I was a little girl and running up to my mom.  She started laughing and said I looked like a clown.  I was devastated, thinking I looked like a princess, when I probably DID look like a clown with bright red lipstick, blue eyeshadow, and red spots on each cheek.  I remember looking at my reflection in the mirror, thinking, "I don't see how I look so funny!"

So those are ten ways I'm youthful.  I hope I stay youthful forever!  It's so fun to be young.

How are you like a child?

I've loved watching the relationship between my three dogs increase as the months have passed.  When we first brought Jack home, Buddy was terrified of him and hid out upstairs for weeks.  Boo was more irritable than ever and snapped at poor Jack if he even crept by.

Now they're all best friends and will even defend each other from wicked cats and grasshoppers. 

Buddy is the perfect older brother.  He's always patient with the young and eager Jack.  When Jack wants to play, Buddy will collapse onto his back on the floor and wrestle with Jack for over an hour at times, growling gently and letting Jack win nearly every match. 

When Jack finally settles down, Buddy will cuddle with him.  This in itself is an amazing feat, since Boo and Buddy will NEVER sleep close to each other.  But Jack likes to snuggle and Buddy doesn't seem to mind.

Boo will usually ignore Jack, choosing to spend more of her time with the humans in our family, but once or twice a day Jack will convince her to play with him.  They'll play tug of war and tag and chase and murder in the dark and checkers... and okay, not all of those are true.  But they'll chase each other all over the living room with their white stuffed toys until Boo gets tired and goes back to ignoring Jack.

One nice thing about their relationship is how protective Boo is of Jack.  Since Jack isn't FULLY potty trained yet, we keep him in a playpen when we're out of the house.  As soon as we get home, Boo will run from us to the playpen until we let Jack out.  If another dog or cat acts threateningly towards Jack, Boo will growl and step between them.

What a good sister.

I'll miss my dogs so much while I'm gone.

W: Wearing

I generally prefer comfort over style.  My favorite outfit would be a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt, like what you see below.  (In this picture, I'm actually standing in the closet of my future dorm room... but the outfit worked with this post, so there you go.)

I feel very comfortable with myself in shorts and a t-shirt, usually even more so than in a cute outfit.  This is probably because when I am wearing a cute outfit, I am more self-conscious about the way I look.  When I'm wearing a t-shirt, I'm supposed to look casual, so my hair and makeup just don't matter.

In fact, I'm wearing a t-shirt and a pair of Old Navy running shorts at this very moment. 

When it comes to an actual cute outfit, I do have one that is most recently my favorite.  Yes, I'm wearing skinny jeans.  I'm normally not a fan of skinny jeans, but my mom asked me to try them on in the store, and with certain long blouses, I'm actually okay with how they look.  Both the jeans and the blouse are from Forever 21.  The blouse is white and navy blue with a neat tribal print.  It's very comfortable.  What I like most about it, I think, is that it's out of my ordinary style.  Most days I'll wear shorts and a t-shirt, but when I branch out and wear something new and different, I'll get a lot of hugs and compliments from my friends.

This probably won't be my favorite outfit for much longer because I recently purchased several "ahem... special occasion" outfits with my grandma (her term for "date" outfits). 

What do you like to wear?

V: Vacations

I've been given the opportunity to travel a lot in my short lifetime.  I've visited several different countries.  One of the most memorable was when I toured Europe as a twelve-year-old without any parents along.  Fun, fun.  My favorite traveling experience ever was when I went to Kenya, Africa, but I wouldn't call that a vacation.  My best relaxation vacation was probably this summer when I went on the cruise, but I already journaled that on this blog.  I considered sharing some pictures and memories from when I went to London, England with my family, but decided against it because I wasn't really the photographer of that trip like I am now.

I thought I'd share a few pictures from when I went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico with my family the summer before I started high school. 

This was the first time in my life I was starting to gain confidence in my appearance.  I had just grown out my bangs and was wearing makeup (a tiny bit of mascara) for the first time in my life.  So in the June, 2007 album on my computer, there are a lot of strange pictures of myself with statues and paintings in Mexico.

Some were kind of neat.

Others were... odd.  Let's just leave it at that.

I also took some strange pictures with my siblings.  We enjoyed the many weird statues placed all over our resort.

When we were exploring the little village near our resort, a lady braided my hair, as you can see in the picture above.  At first, I was so excited.  Once she started braiding, my excitement faded.  It HURT.  She pulled my hair back so tightly that I was squeezing the life out of the armrests of the chair to keep from smacking her hands away.  And my head was sore for days.  I actually had to take Advil that night because it hurt to lay my head on my pillow!  Ugh, I will never do that again. 

But if I could get the chance to have another of those woven things around a lock of my hair, I would do that again.  I kept that thing in for weeks.  The picture below is strange (I used to think it was so cool), but you can get a better glimpse of what was in my hair.

I did some pretty neat things during the trip, one of which I'll share on the sixteenth (X-Treme Day).  I went swimming with dolphins, which was actually quite a brave thing for me to do, considering the fact that I'm terrified of being in the water with any sort of fish.  Yes, dolphins scare me.  Badly.  Sad, I know, but it's true.

The dolphins were very cute and sweet, but they scared me, especially when one pushed me up by my feet and lunged me into the air.  Swimming with dolphins was one experience I got to check off my "dunnit" list, but that I won't be doing again anytime soon.

I went scuba diving... in a pool, but hey, I still did it.  A funny Australian guy taught me and my grandpa how to scuba.  It was fun to swim all around the lazy river in my big goggles and heavy air tank.  I loved sharing that moment with my grandpa.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the beauty of everything around me.  The resort was stunningly beautiful.  I loved the flowers and palm trees and even the architecture.  The staff was very friendly.  In the main pool, there was an underwater bar.  You had to swim through the pool in order to get there and even the bar stools were underwater.  For the non-drinkers and youngsters, there were plenty of virgin drinks to choose from. 

It was a great vacation.  I would most definitely do something like that again.

It's hard to believe that this was more than four years ago.  Wow.  Time goes by so fast. 

We made some great memories on our Mexico vacation.  I loved Xel Ha and the pool and the Cliff of Courage.  I loved taking family pictures on the beach.  I loved eating nice dinners and spending time with my family.  Sometimes it's so nice to be pampered.

What's one of your favorite vacations?

(Warning: pictures of a two-headed baby doll and a somewhat disturbing-looking zombie are featured in this post.)

I've gotten a few requests to actually give an explanation for letter "N" of the alphabet blogging challenge.  For "nothing" day, I posted three odd pictures and offered no explanation.  Today I'll give a little backstory for each one.

First is a picture of me and three of my friends.  (I'm the one on the far right.)  While my friends are each wearing a cute dress, I happen to be dressed like a guy.

This is one of my proudest moments.

Actually, we were in costume.  No, I'm not in theatre.  Every New Year's Eve for the last few years, my friends and I have gotten together and made a "movie" to celebrate the new year.  The movies are always very cheesy, very overdramatic, and very... entertaining to our families.  Check out the movie we made from last year called "The Beauty of Friendship."

I believe this was from junior year (or was it sophomore year?) of high school.  The movie was about three young women who were attending a tea party together.  When the girl on the far left, Whitney, is kidnapped after rejecting the "Bad Man" (notice the t-shirt), her two best friends/detectives step in to save the day.  The video ends with me tied to a chair while the girls rejoice all around me.

It was a great, great work of art.  You know, the fact that we start filming around one or two in the morning probably never helps the quality of our movies.  I hope this tradition never ends.

So yes, that's how my friends happen to be dressed in adorable outfits while I'm wearing a beanie (to hide my hair), giant basketball shorts, and Rebekah's dad's t-shirt.  I make the perfect-looking tough guy.  Actually, my gangster antics were the most pitiful moments of the entire video.  Oh, man.

This photograph is a bit tougher to explain.  It was mid-March of my sophomore year in high school.  A friend of mine had come over for the weekend from out of town, so I invited a few other friends to have a cookout at my house.  Towards the end of the night, we decided to take one of those cheesy holding hands and jumping at the same time pictures.  (High School Musical 1 or 2 had just come out and those pictures were everywhere.) 

At first we took a group shot, which took about 300,000,000,000 attempts to get everyone in the air at the same time.  And because of the darkened lighting in the barn, the picture ended up being a bit creepy rather than adorable.  Perhaps disturbingly cute.  How's that?

And then we took some individual shots, where each person would try to get a neat jumping picture all on their own, like this:

Unfortunately, I am usually the photographer in my group of friends.  I'm the one who always remembers to bring the camera and I enjoy finding fun shots.  When it came time for me to jump, they took the picture a moment too late and snapped it just as I was landing back on the ground.  I just so happened to look like a deranged pyschopath.

Isn't it scary?

On this particular day, my friend Connor had come to my city to visit for a day.  While we were trying to think of interesting things to do, we went to Hobby Lobby and saw some doll body parts, Earth Bound Co. and played with hermit crabs, and then we entered a toy store.  Now, I wasn't allowed into many toy stores as a kid because my entire focus in life would suddenly become, "I need this toy.  I need this toy.  Please, I beg of you, good mother.  GIVE ME THIS TOY!"  But you know, the toy stores I did visit never contained Halloween decorations.

There was an entire aisle of Halloween things.  I found myself a zombie boyfriend.  Connor found a head that hung from a chain (and a tiny violin). 

Then we came across something... interesting.  At first, I noticed the somewhat ugly doll with cute blue eyes and a pudgy face.  And then my eyes immediately fell on the demonic-looking twin baby right beside it.  The bulging veins in its arms, the red eyes, the fangs, the horrifying curve of its little baby eyebrows.  And finally, the last thing I noticed was that the two babies were attached.  A two-headed Jekyll/Hyde baby.  That had to be the most interesting thing we saw all day.

So that's the explanation for the wonderful "Nothing" post.  Now you'll finally be able to sleep at night, haha. ;)

N: Nothing (Random)

I may have been the one to make up this blogging challenge, but unfortunately for myself, when I was trying to think of good topics for each letter of the alphabet, I wasn't thinking about what I would write for them.  This means that I don't even have the slightest idea of what to write for today.  Nothing?  Really? 

After much contemplation, I finally decided to leave you with three photographs.  I won't give backstory for any of these three pictures and I'll leave it to you to figure them out.  Sound good?  Good. :)

Saturday is Q&A day.  Do you have any questions you'd like me to answer?  If so, leave them in the comments below. :)

I'd appreciate any prayers for my family's water supply right now.  Because of the severe drought where we live, our well is running dry.  What's left of our water is a nasty sandy-brown shade.

See for yourself.

Jesus, PLEASE bring rain.

H: Hairstyles

I was born towards the end of the feathered bangs area.  All growing up, I had bangs.  Bangs can be cute now, but mine weren't.  Even though I've always been to hairdressers (Mom has always been afraid to cut my hair), they often would make my bangs crooked... and they weren't the long type of bangs either.  Other than my early childhood years, when they rested in an awkward curl on my forehead, they were cropped short at about half an inch above my eyebrows.  Awkward.

So I'll go ahead and take you through a hair tour of my life.  My hair looked absolutely awful until I was almost fifteen.

As a toddler, I actually had blonde ringlets.  My hair was pretty cute back then, minus the nineties-style bows I ALWAYS wore until I became old enough to strongly protest.  I'm not sure how old I was here.  Somewhere in between one and two, I believe.

Here is an example of my feathered bangs stage.

This isn't a style I wore often, but I saw it, laughed hysterically, and had to share.  See, my mom (like myself) does not have a big passion for fixing hair.  She always had trouble putting my hair into the "cute" pigtails and ponytails that all my friends had.  She would try her best, she really would, but these hairdos never seemed to turn out right.  I was about eight here.

And then, of course, there was the period of time where I thought it was SO cool to add tiny braids all over my hair.  Supa cute, right?  I was ten here.

I grew out my hair when I was in sixth grade.  Unfortunately, I was at the point where I still didn't really care what I looked like.  My hair was constantly tangled and NOT looking good.

Mom finally convinced me to get my hair cut a few inches above my shoulders.  This was in eighth grade or so.  Some teens look good with short hair, but this just wasn't my best cut.

Towards the end of eighth grade, I was persuaded to grow out my bangs.  For some reason, I was terrified of this idea.  I don't like change, so the thought of transforming my entire look made me nervous.  I had very low self esteem at the time, so I was positive I would look ugly with long bangs.  Sadly, I didn't know much about hair fashion, so when I decided to go ahead and grow them out, I didn't know how to make them look nice.  No side-parts or swooping to the side.  I just kind of let them... grow.

When it came time for another haircut, my awkwardly-growing bangs reached my chin and the rest of my hair reached my shoulders.  I knew my hair didn't look good, but I didn't understand why at the time so I told the lady who cut my hair to do whatever she wanted.  She layered my hair and showed me how to part my bangs on the side.  For a couple of years after this, I kept my hair very layered and fairly short.  I loved this style. 

As you can probably imagine, I got SO many more compliments on my hair than I ever had in my life.  For the first time in a long time, I actually felt pretty.  I firmly believe that a good haircut is so important for your self esteem.  It can change your look so much.  I got this haircut towards the end of the eighth grade, and I think this was a big reason why I finally started caring how I looked.  I started wearing makeup for the first time the summer before my freshman year of high school, I started TRYING to dress in cute clothes, and I finally started holding myself with confidence. 

My hair has a natural wave to it, so I'll occasionally wear it scrunched, like this. 

And finally, this is pretty much my haircut now.  I don't have very many layers since I need to be able to pull my hair up for work.  My hair is a little longer than it is in this photograph, but it's close.  (I actually need a haircut, but I'm trying to wait until sooner before I leave for college.)  I don't know if it's incredibly stylish, but it works for me.

G: Growing Up

I couldn't think of any specific stories off the top of my head, so I thought I'd just share a few based off of the archive of photos of photos I have on my computer.

This would be my mom when she was newly pregnant with me... trying to show off her "bump."  She does not look twenty-five, does she?  I'm pretty sure this is the first photograph taken when I was in existence.

This picture is of me at four years old.  I was living in Waco, Texas.  We had a swing in our driveway.  At this time, my family lived in a small rental house without much of a yard while my dad was finishing up residency, so the swing and a plastic slide was all I had by way of outside entertainment.  I spent hours on this thing.

It's going to sound totally bizarre, but most of the time I was playing on the swing, I pretended like I was a piglet.  My parents would always try to sit me on my bottom and convince me to swing normally, but I didn't want to do that.  I would get on my stomach with my little arms dangling in the air, and then I would slowly creep back until I was on my very tip toes.  When I let go, I would fly through the air for a few short moments.  During this time, I would proceed to wriggle my arms and legs and make a high-pitched squealing noise, pretending like I was a piggie running from a wolf or a butcher.

Seriously.

I know, I know I was a strange child who played strange games.  Ali was just teasing me a week or two ago after we watched Beauty and the Beast for the millionth time.  She said she always used to pretend she was Belle after seeing the movie.  Well, I used to pretend I was the wolves who attacked Beast and Belle's dad.  As a kid, I always thought they were way cool.

So basically, the reason why I'm on my stomach on this swing is because I was pretending I was a pig running from a killer.  And I was four. 

I cannot BELIEVE I'm about to post this, but I'm covered up in all the right places with bubbles, so I figure it doesn't matter.  This is me at approximately six or seven years old taking a bubble bath in my parents' bathtub.  You might notice the long line of "little people," as my family always called them.  These were my favorite toys.  Most kids act out their dolls and action figures, right?  I never really did that.

I've always been a writer.  Writing is a passion I believe God has always given me.  I would get my little people, put them in lines, and then make up stories about them, not even bothering to act them out.  I just made up stories.  Before I could actually write, I would whisper them or speak them out loud, narrating the stories and everything.  "Flash walked through the forest, crying.  He was the loneliest giraffe ever.  But then Molly came and gave him a huge hug!"  Once I learned to write, around the age I am in this picture, I would line up my toys and then spend hours scribbling out stories about them in thick, college-ruled notebooks.

Here I met my childhood hero, Miss Texas.  I have an autographed poster from her, which I got at first from one of my dad's patients.  After I met her at a charity run, as you can see in this photograph, she sent me a hand-written card with the sweetest note inside.  I still have that card.  It meant so much to me.  Later, she sent me an invitation to a banquet right before she became Miss Texas.  I even made it on the news that night, which excited me to no end.  I still admire Miss Texas for reaching out like she did to a little girl who thought Morgan Matlock was the prettiest and most amazing lady ever.

This would be me at age four.  I was pretending like I was driving a car with my infant sister, who was ten months old.  What makes me laugh about this picture is how all of us managed to fit into this tiny laundry basket.  Who knows how many stuffed animals I squashed in that thing?  I sure loved my dalmatians. 

And finally, this would be me as a homeschooled eight year old.  That night, I informed my parents that one of my many teddy bears and I were going to have a birthday party (because it was his birthday, of COURSE).  I wanted Mom to buy me party hats, but her answer was no.  So I spent the LONGEST time making these hats.  I was very excited about them.  I thought they looked better than any silly hats you could ever find at a store.  So my bear and I had a birthday party that night, right before bedtime. 

What are some of your favorite childhood memories?

If you'd like to start this challenge on your blog, please give me the link in the comments below.  I would LOVE to see your answers for each topic. :)

Some of you may remember Rebekah from the prank wars.  Whenever she comes over, we love taking pictures and being silly.  Today's mission was to look like we were flying or levitating.  We weren't quite as good as the girl from this blog. 

"THE PROPOSAL"

"THE WARRIOR"

"PETER PAN"

"MARY POPPINS"

And despite the fact that it was a record-breaking 109 degrees outside, we thought we'd go ahead and take some head shots.  The sun was setting, it was burning hot outside, and it was also incredibly windy, but we still managed to take some decent pictures.

Rebekah is incredibly photogenic, so I love taking pictures of her. 

And I'm not as photogenic...

...so I tend to give up more easily.

And then I'll decide to try to take a picture again...

...but I can't seem to sit still for long.

I love these kinds of days. (:

 

This is where I've been putting my dorm stuff.  Considering I still have about six weeks before I move out, perhaps I should find a different spot.  What do you think?

It's important to make some crazy memories if you're a senior in high school, but it's also important to make good memories no matter what stage you are in life.  Do things with your friends and loved ones that make you smile both in the moment and looking back. 

Here are some of the ways my friends and I have made crazy memories this year.

Citywide Scavenger Hunt
My friends and I did this for my birthday.  We made a list of challenges, like "serenading a stranger" and "trying on crazy clothes at Wal-Mart."  One of the challenges was even to kidnap a random person and take a picture of him/her tied up in the backseat!  Whoever could complete the challenges first won the scavenger hunt.  With everything we did, we had to take a picture or a video.  We had a blast.  Some of my favorite memories from this year are from that night.
Service Projects
Serve others with your friends.  This may seem like a lame idea, but it will give you that "feel good" feeling and you'll be helping others.  Serve food at a soup kitchen or go visit people at a nursing home.  If you serve people with a group of friends, you'll manage to have a great time and help somebody out.

Canoeing
Personally, I'm terrified of water, but for my friend Rebecca's birthday, we went on a canoe ride around the creek behind her house.  If there's a lake or creek nearby, get a group of friends and go canoeing.  Be sure to take plenty of pictures.  And sing.  Everything's better with a good song. 

Corn Maze
Every year for the last four years, my friends and I have gone to a corn maze on Halloween.  It's a blast.  We're sure to go after dark and we always manage to get lost.  Take a picture with every marker to show how far you've come.  It's dark, spooky, and tons of fun.

Football Games
Go to a football game or two.  Football isn't a sport I necessarily enjoy watching, but when you're with a few friends, it can turn into something crazy fun. 

If you're a girl, have a crazy makeup night.
Get together for a night and celebrate being a girl.  Do each others' makeup... and be sure to do it badly on purpose.  Watch Disney movies, pig out on chocolate and ice cream... go absolutely crazy.

Start a prank war.
You may want to set some basic ground rules, like "don't do anything that will permanently damage someone's property" and etc, but a prank war can be the most hilarious way to make memories.  Divide your friends into two separate teams and go crazy.  Saran wrap each others' cars, toilet paper houses, fruit loop, fork, and the list goes on and on.  Get creative.

Prom
Again, this only works if you're a junior or senior in high school, but if you are, then get a group of friends to go to prom with you.  Agree to dance with everyone.  Have fun and enjoy the night.  Be sure to have a little party afterward to relax and make the night even more memorable.

Game Night
Have everyone bring a game, like Apples to Apples, Scribblish, and Twister.  If someone has a Wii, play games like Just Dance.  Be silly and have fun.

What are some crazy memories you've made with your friends?

Which of you guys watched the royal wedding?  I did, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I'm not usually interested in that sort of thing, but I absolutely love the idea that a prince has married a commoner.  I love that.  It sure seems like the perfect fairytale, even though I know it's going to be tough for the newlyweds to have to survive in the public eye.

I wasn't planning to watch the wedding live.  It was 5am my time, so I sure didn't want to pull an all nighter (or wake up super early) on a school day to watch a royal wedding.  I'm not that excited.  However, it worked out for me to watch the thing live, so I saw part of it. 

At 4:57 yesterday morning, I was jerked awake by the howling and shrieking of what seemed to be a huge pack of coyotes.  If you've heard coyotes howl before, you know how utterly disturbing it is... especially when there are a lot of them.  The high-pitched shrieks seemed to surround my entire bedroom.  Honestly, those coyotes scared the living daylights out of me.  I'm reading "The Priest's Graveyard" by Ted Dekker right now... and I do not need to hear creepy sounds in the night!  Not now!

Anyways, the coyotes woke me up and I knew I'd be wired for a while, so when I glanced at the clock and realized the royal wedding was about to begin, I figured I'd watch it until I fell back asleep.  So I flipped open my laptop and watched the first half the wedding. 

Later on Friday, Rebekah hosted an absolutely wonderful tea party in celebration of the royal wedding.  It was so cute.

We drank tea and ate scones, chocolate covered strawberries, and all sorts of wonderful snacks.  Rebekah and her mom did an amazing job decorating and making sure that the tea party was legit and absolutely lovely.  They even provided everyone with their own plate, teacup, and princess tiara.  So sweet.

My favorite food item of the tea party was the sugar cubes Rebekah's mom made.  They were shaped like roses.  See for yourself.  I loved them!  I honestly had no idea that sugar cubes could be transformed into something so delicate and pretty. 

Everybody who came to the tea party dressed in sun dresses and wore our tiaras.  We enjoyed practicing proper etiquette by sticking up our pinkies, talking in fake English accents, and crossing our ankles in a ladylike fashion.  Of course, we aren't all that "proper," so we had a few misshaps... like Rebekah accidentally knocking over my teacup with her elbow, for example.  But it was all silly and lighthearted.

After we ate our scones and finger sandwiches and drank our tea, we sat down together and watched the royal wedding.  I think we enjoyed the crazy hats most of all.  Kate's dress was beautiful.

Overall, we had a wonderful time.  In thirty or forty years, if I'm still around, I'll be able to look back and clearly remember the royal wedding, just like my mom remembers the wedding of Charles and Diana.  Watching a royal wedding may seem trivial, but I'll always remember this day and this celebration with a smile because of the fun my friends and I had together. 

We celebrated being girls.  We dressed up, ate wonderful food, and enjoyed each other's company.  I couldn't ask for a better time than that.

So yes, even Texan girls celebrate the royal wedding.

Day 24: Who is someone who changed your life for the better?

My best friend Ali has changed my life for the better.

We became friends in the fifth grade, when we were both eleven.  I had just moved to this new school after having previously been home schooled.  I was terribly shy, self conscious, and a little weird.  Ali was the first friend I made at my new school.  Despite how shy I was, Ali stepped forward and befriended me with open arms and a sweet smile.

We've been friends ever since.

Ali has changed my life by encouraging and uplifting me throughout difficult times I've gone through.  I've tried to do the same for her.  Ali is stubborn and loyal, and she always manages to keep a smile, despite some tough situations.

We have a lot of... interesting memories together.  Silly moments, like when we were driving home and thought we saw a dead body in the middle of the road.  Or when we'd sneak to Braum's together without anyone knowing.  Or when we stayed up all night discussing how to end world hunger.  With those kinds of memories, we've become best friends.

I could never ask for a better friend than that I have in Ali.

I'll share a few pictures of our high school years to take your mind off of the awkward fifth grade picture I can't believe I showed you above.  Don't tell Ali. :)

Here we are on the last day of school, Sophomore year.  I don't know why I love this picture so much, but I do.  It's framed right above my computer screen.

This picture is of Ali and I dancing at last year's prom.  During that particular dance, neither of us had a partner, so we decided to dance together.  We were holding each others' arms because we always argue about who is the "guy" in our best friend relationship. 
This is us on last year's TOMS Day Without Shoes.

Hunting Easter eggs at seven...

Hunting Easter eggs... at eighteen.

Yes, I still hunt Easter eggs when I'm a senior in high school.  I've hunted Easter eggs every year for as long as I can remember.  Sure, some of hte eggs are still filled with candies and goodies like that, but the older we get, the bigger the prizes become.  When I was a toddler, I got gum and tootsie rolls.  Now the big prizes are gift cards, cash, and little prizes.

We always have a separate section of the yard for the young kids.  They have eggs filled with little toys and candies and the eggs are much more openly hidden than ours are.

Our hunting grounds are much, much bigger.  In fact, we have about nine acres of mesquite and yucca bushes, tall grass, and shrubbery to search through if we want our prizes.  Under the beating glare of a hot sun, we searched for the 350 eggs hidden throughout our property for almost an hour.  Do you see us tiny specks in the distance, searching desperately for eggs?

Ultimately, we all go away satisfied with at least a few dollars and a gift card or two.  I lucked out this year.  Twenty bucks cash, a bag of candy, and four giftcards to Starbucks, Chili's, the movies, and iTunes.  What makes everything even more fun is that it isn't just my family who participates.  We celebrate this holiday with another family, so the morning is filled with laughter and fun.  We all enjoy eating brunch together and going to church and then we come home, the parents hide eggs, and then the kids rush to find them.  We can make great memories together.  Ali also got to hunt with us this year, which was fun.

Overall, today was a fun day.  After everything was over, more family came to visit and we all ate a big lunch and then everyone curled up on the couches and watched "The Passion of the Christ."  It's been a wonderful day.  I hope you had a wonderful Easter as well. :)

He is risen!

Lately, Jack has been spending a lot of his time in my bedroom.  I frequently hear a little scratching at my door and when I turn around to open it, Jack is standing in my doorway, waiting patiently.  He won't give up.  He'll scratch for several minutes at a time and if I still don't answer, he'll go to sleep with his nose pressed against the crack of my door.  Sad, isn't it? 

When I let Jack into my bedroom, he immediately hops onto a big green pillow I got for Christmas.  The pillow is his spot.  Sometimes he'll bring toys into the room and leave them on the pillow, but he often naps there.Sometimes Jack gets lonely or bored, so he's taken the habit of jumping up onto my lap and crawling up to my shoulder, where he'll curl up and actually fall asleep.  I honestly have no idea how he manages to balance on my shoulder while I write, but he does it.  He likes to perch on my shoulder.  It's the weirdest thing, but I can't help but laugh.
And finally, I'd like to share a picture of the face Jack makes when he really, really, really wants me to play with him.  This is an older picture, but I'm pretty sure I haven't shared it with you guys.
Oh, Jack.  There's just something about him that makes you say, "Awwww."

Be sure to check out Jack's YouTube channel at JacktheDorkyYorkie.

I'd like to share pictures from the One Day Without Shoes that took place on April 5.  Ali and I couldn't celebrate all day, since we went to a stockyard for a field trip.  I guess we could have gone without shoes during that time... but we weren't that enthusiastic about getting foot diseases.  However, we wore shoes as little as we possibly could and had a great time.

The photograph above was based after a picture that was taken of me and Ali last year on the One Day Without Shoes.  It's become a tradition.  I actually almost wore my Fireflight shirt today, but when I realized that I wore it last year, I was too creeped out.
Ali and I decided to go on a walk, but we soon realized that walking barefoot on gravel roads can be quite painful.  In fact, we could hardly walk at all.  At one point, Ali decided that perhaps running across the gravel street would be easier than walking, but all she managed to do was embed tiny pieces of rock into her feet.  At that moment, we empathized with children who don't have any shoes more than ever!
We managed to take several pictures of each other... some featuring our bare feet and others just featuring us.  I love taking pictures.  Perhaps Ali is right and I am a "Picture Hoarder."  One of these days, you'll see me on that TV show called Hoarders, but all that's hoarded will be on my computer... thousands and thousands of pictures.
There's a tiny park near our house.  It's only about a half mile walk away, although it seems incredibly long when we're traveling barefoot.  At the park, we finally had peace.  When you're swinging, you don't have to worry about your feet touching the ground!

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've shown any pictures of Jack, so I'll give several today.

Jack loves to be petted.  For some reason lately, Jack has been enjoying my company... a lot.  Constantly throughout the day, I'll hear a little scratch at my door.  When I open the door, Jack bursts in or runs to the top stair and rolls over on his back, begging for me to pet him.  His favorite place in my bedroom is my giant green pillow where he naps or sits quietly and watches me write.
I love the way Jack sleeps.  He often sleeps flat on his back with his little legs in the air.  The other night, I was rubbing his belly and he fell asleep that way.  When I walked away to go to my own bed, I couldn't help but chuckle.  Jack looked so small and vulnerable as he bared his tummy to the world, fast asleep.
I've been working on teaching Jack different tricks.  So far, I've taught him sit, stay, shake, lay down, roll over, circle, stick'em up/bang!, play dead, dance, and crawl.  He's a very bright dog.  I can practically see the little gears turning in his head as he tries to figure out what I want him to learn next.  Here's a picture of what he does when I point my hand at him in the shape of a gun and say, "Bang!"
And when I say, "You're dead."...
And finally, here's a picture of the normal goofy Jack I've grown to love.  Here he is just trying to get me to rub his belly.
Be sure to check out Jack's personal YouTube channel at JacktheDorkyYorkie.

A few of my girl readers asked if I would share pictures of my prom dress.  Prom was on March 11, so I thought I'd go ahead and share pictures from that night.  This post will consist almost entirely of pictures, so get ready.  The captions will be below each photograph.
This is me right before prom.  You can't see my entire dress here, but you can see my makeup, the front of my hair, and the top of my dress.  I chose a dress that wasn't strapless, but instead had one strap over the shoulder.  Maybe it's just me, but I always feel much more modest when I have a strap of some sort, even if not that much of my skin is covered.  I did my own makeup.
This is my hair from the side.  It took about an hour to get done, but it held up the entire night.  By the end of the night, not a lock was out of place.  However, I did end up taking out 36 bobby pins, a rubber band, and three clips after it was all over.
This is me with my date, Caleb.  Yes, it's the same guy from the prank wars... Muber.  In all truth, we're good friends, no matter how much we torment each other.  Don't you think my corsage is pretty?
Caleb and I entertain ourselves in... unique ways.  In this picture, we were dancing and watching the people around us slow dance and stare lovingly and intensely into each other's eyes.  In fact, a lot of dates were staring so intensely that they weren't even speaking.  Caleb and I would often chatter throughout the dances, talking about random things.  We began to practice the intense, disturbing stare, looking deeply into each other's eyes without speaking.  Someone managed to capture this in a photograph.