Girl Can't Help It

Once upon a time there was a trickster named Amanda. Most of her friends knew how much of a ruthless schemer she was. One day, her friend Kellie left her Facebook logged on while she went to run an errand. Now, Amanda, being the schemer she is, decided it was a prime opportunity to change Kellie's personal information on her account—you know, little things . . . like her relationship status and her birthdate.

The funny thing is that the next day, when Kellie checked her Facebook, she was flooded with Happy Birthday wishes. She frustratedly changed her information back and cursed Amanda for having changed the information. Amanda was very proud of herself, but in true trickster fashion, was not satisfied. She proceeded to clue everyone in on a great joke that everyone should wish Kellie a Happy Birthday EVERY DAY! Most everyone who knew, participated as they remembered, taking random moments each day to flood her with Birthday wishes—even on missions trips and travel trips!

Fast forward 2 years and the fun still rolls on! Amanda tries really hard to remember as often as possible to continue to remind Kellie that birthdays should be very happy, especially hers. The thing that's REALLY funny is that Kellie still reacts to it the same way, thus feeding the sneaky little trickster flame burning inside of Amanda. In fact, Kellie once claimed that she wasn't going to give it any attention—this ended in a 50+ back and forth comment thread on a Facebook photo. The fun just never ends!

Here is some recent goodness:




But the best one EVER is this one:



I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a huge, proud grin spread across my face from ear to ear ;)

PS: If you are a friend of Kellie's on Facebook, you should definitely wish her a Happy Birthday today . . . and the next day . . . and the next day . . . mwahahahahaha ;D

Friends They Are Jewels

Reflections from the "4th on the 5 Adventures"

I am really really glad that I have friends who are willing to travel up to see me and see this beautiful city that I live in. I learned so much from our "4th on the 5 Adventures."

I learned:

- that differences can be bridges to stronger friendships

- it's okay if things don't go according to plan

- more about how to "roll with the punches"

- even the seemingly strong, independent people have deep insecurities

- not everyone shares my view of the world, and that's okay

- I have beautiful friends

- I pick the lamest karaoke songs

- despite picking lame songs, I LOVE karaoke

- years change people, and change is a good thing

- Twilight should have been filmed at least partially in Forks, WA or at least closer to it. I guarantee that Olympic National Forest had some amazing meadows

- I'm a careful driver and obeying the law is a big deal for me, and I'm pretty glad about that

- Don't park your car on the street in front of my house

- Don't leave your iPod adapter in a nice new rental car

- My friends have good taste in music too

- I need to get over myself

- The years I spent in Master's Commission building friendships is something I will NEVER regret.

- Stay on the 5

To P.Lo and Joy: I adore you both :D I miss you already and though I wish I could have gotten over myself at various moments in the trip, you should know that you make my life better. :D

Kids of the Future

Last night I got to watch an amazing bunch of kiddos! Even Wilbur is sad cause the night is over.

I love when this group gets together cause they are like the best of friends and they really learn to work with one another very well. I think what I loved most was that
A. They enjoyed watching Charlotte's Web...the old skool one!

B. Luke, who is a toddler, LOVES watching The Muppet Show...like from back in the day... and he loves Fraggle Rock! I was singing him the song while changing his diaper and he was smiling so big!

C. I didn't send them into a sugar coma... which is huge, considering that I'm such a sucker (get it) for giving kids all their little sweet tooth desires. ;)

D. When I put Luke down for bed in his crib, he was crying and didn't want to be in there, so he reached for me and I held him and sang to him as I rocked him in my arms, and when I stopped singing, I heard something and turned to look at the door where Julianna was there, singing to Luke from the doorway too! So sweet!

E. We also got to go to the park just as the sun was going down for a few minutes, and Eliza made it all the way across the monkey bars all by herself for the first time! I was so proud of her!

Here are some pics from our fun times together. The boys were at the park almost the whole time I was there, so these are just pics of Eliza, Julianna, and Luke.

I was teaching Eliza the fine art of taking pictures of yourself. ;)

Okay, so quick story about this one. So, you press the button and the dinosaur ROARS. Luke got the biggest kick out of it cause I kept pretending that it scared me. But what was really tough was trying not to laugh at the epic fail of the placement of the button that you have to press to get the dino to ROAR. Poor dino guy. ;) Yes, I know. I'm corrupt. Also, I'm still in the the 6th grade.

Ballerina Eliza

Ballerina Julianna

Luke, rockin' the Elmo slippers

Isaiah and Gareth found a random wedding band among the rocks that had an interesting little inscription—it had a scripture reference to a verse in the book of Isaiah from the Bible. I thought it was funny and cute that Isaiah found a ring with his name on it. ;) schweet!

And now, a some special final words from Joshua: