I Can't Stop Partying

Welcome to Christmas Party Update Central

I still have one more party before I head home for the holidays, but I figured I'd go ahead and do a weekend party recap!

On Friday, we had the Westside Leadership Party and I got to create a new Christmas game for everyone to play! I think it went very well—getting people to do creative silly stuff is so much fun to watch (and participate in)!  The game involved the following supplies:

A roll of toilet paper
5 Red Vines
6 toothpicks
10 marshmallows
3 pieces of gum
5 paper clips
3 rubber bands
and 3 pieces of string/raffia

As part of the game, each group (4 people) had to pick out a hat the name of one Christmas Carol. They then had to use the supplies to create a visual representation of that Christmas Carol. I had little H.Stubs judge to decide which one was the most creative. And the winner was:

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER!

There is nothing quite so quality as seeing Evan dressed up as Rudolph, complete with red vines shoved up his nose!

Then on Saturday, I went to Heather J's Birthday / White Elephant Gift Exchange Party and it was jam-packed with good times! I got to hang out with friends, talk about New York, make awkward poses while hanging from the pull-up bar in their house, and of course I got some rad gifts! I got chocolates and biscotti—not bad for a White Elephant Gift Exchange! I must admit, though, the real fun times happened when this little guy made his appearance:

That's right, a bonafide fiber-optic peacock!

And then this afternoon, I joined up with some friends for a Gingerbread House Party! A few years back, I got to make a gingerbread house with my friends Cory and Chase and we decided to make a gingerbread crack house. I don't even remember why, but it was hilarious!  Here's a pic of us back then trying to make our crack house:

I had so much fun making that one back then that I decided to relive the fun by making another gingerbread crack house at the party! Here's what I started out with:

And here's how it actually turned out . . . after a long fight against frosting and graham crackers. It is quite literally a cracked house ;)

You see, it's perfect! The front looks just like any normal house on the block, and the real business goes on inside and in the back. Kelsey said, in reference to my creation, "It's like a mullet. Business in the front, party in the back!" The top of the house is covered with weed growing on the top and the inside contains "the lab." The back of the house even comes complete with an escape ladder to use when the cops come by to bust the joint!

Here are the other (read: more serious) gingerbread houses that were made by the others:

Erica's Lighthouse

 Josh's Tugboat

 Kelsey's Gingerbread House

Brian's Gingerbread House

Tomorrow night I have an Elf Party to go to and I'm so excited! Elf is one of the best Christmas movies ever and spending the evening quoting it and eating all of the 4 main elf foods is gonna be rad!

And as promised, I wanted to show you the fun postcard I designed for my community group! I truly love how fun these people are and I'm thankful that they went along with the zany idea to take pictures with the snowflake glasses on!

(click to enlarge)

Forward Motion

The youth room is coming along . . . slowly but surely! I can't wait to add all the little decorative stuff! I'll still be doing more painting tonight and over the weekend, but luckily, I'll have some help from Heather J. (The Jedi Paint Master)!

She Paints Me Blue

If anyone would have tried to convince me that rooms have minds of their own, I would say it was rubbish and they need to get their head checked. But after spending the majority of the day painting the new youth room at Westside, I may have to agree with them.





Yesterday H.Stubbs and I started priming the walls of the youth room and oh man it was wild. From trying to keep the tarps from getting snagged on furniture, to paint tape falling out of windows, to accidentally backing into painted walls, laughs were in full effect. We finally got done taping around 5:00 and got a little bit of the priming done by 6:00 when I took her home for dinner.

After dinner, I headed back to Westside to try to finish up. I didn't realize that in the time I had been gone, the room was taking time to scheme a plan to make sure I didn't finish painting it. As I started where I'd left off, some of the tape began peeling in various places (I'm guessing from the heat) so I had to go to those spots and press the tape down firmly. Then, as I was dragging the tarp to a new section down the wall, the bucket of Killz ran into something (I'm still not sure what) and the bucket tipped, causing a bunch of the Killz to fall onto the tarp. At first I was panicked—"How in the world am I going to get all of this cleaned up? And now how am I going to have enough primer to finish the job?!?" So then I did what anyone would do. I made the tarp my new paint tray and used all the primer I could before moving on to the rest of the bucket.


As I continued priming, I noticed there were drips on the previous paint that I hadn't noticed before that must have been from a milk challenge or something from the previous youth group era. The primer did not like the drips and kept leaving the lines on the wall so I had to go over those ares with more primer. Finally 10:30 p.m. rolled around and I called it a night. Despite a few minor setbacks, I'm really glad this painting is underway and I'm even more excited to see the end result!

This week, my evenings will mostly be spent in that room trying to get the paint job finished. I'm hoping that somewhere along the way, the room and I will see eye to eye and it will accept that its getting a new coat of paint!

Kids In Love

When I first started attending Westside Church, I met a guy named Will O'Neill. He was really funny and super tall—that was my first impression. Over the 2 years I've been here, I've gotten to hang out with Will during small groups and during softball season (he was on our team). He was one of my greatest encouragers on the team. A little while after I'd been going to Westside, I got to meet his girlfriend, Erin. I remember thinking she was equally tall and was completely stunning! Her sweet personality was such a comfort and when she joined our small group, I got to know her more. It was always nice to see her bright smile when she showed up and hear her stories and gain a new perspective on interpreting the Bible.

Yesterday, I was blessed to have the opportunity to join them at their wedding and watch two amazing people exchange vows and celebrate the start of a new life together! The wedding was so uniquely tailored to them (as I feel all weddings should be) and had a very classy, almost Jane Austen feel to it. Will and Erin being the outdoorsy type that they are even made their getaway on a tandem bike! It was awesome!

Here are my pictures from their special day:

Taking the ferry to Vashon Island for the wedding

I got a ride to the wedding from Dan & Alisa
and we had fun on the ferry ride

The Siers kids were excited to watch the ceremony

The Groom & Groomsmen

The bridesmaids each had unique parasols

Welcoming the elegant bride

The giving away of the bride

An upfront view of her gorgeous dress

Sharing stories

The exchanging of the vows

You may now kiss the bride

Jay praying for the new married couple

Mr. & Mrs. William O'Neill

Dancing away into a new adventure

Fresh baked dessert served as the wedding cake

Tasty cheeses & figs with blue cheese,
walnuts and prosciutto for appetizers

The gift for the attendees
was unique wine glasses

Will, me, & Erin

The getaway vehicle

And you know it's never a party
without a little whip cream on your nose

I Want Candy

my thank you cards from the kids at VBS

Well, VBS week has come and gone and I had SUCH a fun time hanging out with all the little kiddos! It was really cool to see how things that happened to me daily would help me enhance the lesson for the next day. Yesterday's was especially funny.

I taught a lesson on sharing and part of the pre-set lesson plan instructed me to eat candy in front of the kids. The whole point of it was to talk to them about how it's not as fun to keep things to ourself, but it's fun to share the love of God and fun to share with others in general. Well, I was prompted to eat candy during the entire thing in front of the kids and then at the end, pass out share some candy with them. It was great to see their faces light up when they realized they got to enjoy a piece of candy too. This was really fun for the first class, and then kinda okay for the second class, but by the time the 5th group came through, I was nursing a stomach ache. I mean, it was only bite-size chocolates, but they were still too much! When I was talking toward the end of the day to my assistant, Taylor, she mentioned that my breath smelled like chocolate!

I was determined to eat a healthy lunch and dinner, and I did. I also pulled double duty on my teeth brushing routine. The funny part is that I have a dentist appointment this Monday!

My time helping with VBS was a LOT of fun and I totally recommend it to everyone who has a VBS at their church! As much time and energy as you give, you will be rewarded by the love the kids give back through their smiles, stories, and hugs!

Reflection

After my last post about being on the Westside softball team, I am pleased to say that I was able to walk away from the tournament on Saturday with a FULL heart, happy and excited that I got to be part of such an awesome team!

I went in with a positive attitude and walked away with an even more positive outcome. All season I'd been overwhelmed with the fact that I could never seem to hit the ball past the infield, which increased my odds of an out at first base. But on Saturday, I got some pretty awesome hits—including two past the infield! So I actually got a chance to run around the bases!


AND as a bonus plus, I even got to cross HOME PLATE! And THAT was such a winning feeling! We played our hearts out and made it to the championship game! And even though we came in 2nd in the tournament, I walked away with a 1st place smile! It was seriously such a great day! The fact that I got a nice tan during the games and got to go to a pizza party afterward wasn't too bad either. And I KNOW I got a really good workout too because even as I type this, my leg and arm muscles are still feeling the burn. I got to rest up yesterday and I'm ready for another great week!

Osmosis Land

Wow. I just realized I haven't blogged since Wednesday. Life just seems to have picked up at ridiculous speeds. So I figure the best way to catch everyone up on my latest shenanigans is to do a little recap post.

It's kind of like when you watch a TV Show and they say,
"PREVIOUSLY ON _____"

Well, here you go . . . PREVIOUSLY IN AMANDA'S LIFE:

Thursday:


I got to hang out with Alisa and her kiddos! After eating dinner and running around the house, we got to go have ice cream at one of my new favorite places: PEAK'S FROZEN CUSTARD. It's a frozen custard shop that also has awesome coffee and free wi-fi. I mean, really, what's NOT to love about all that? The kids loved it and Sophia was introduced to her first Troll doll. Man, I hadn't seen one of those in years, but the toy shelf at Peak's had a bunch of them all lined up. It was great. I got to have some great conversation and just chill time with Alisa, who is one of the most amazing women I know. I think back to the short amount of time I've known Alisa and I just smile because being her friend is just one huge gift!

Friday:


I spent the evening with Cindy J. and her kiddos! Well, mostly with her and Juliana, but it was still wonderful! I had my first ever Bruin Burger, which is a fried burger, found mainly at fairs. It was something new and fun! We also ate some brownies with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Afterwards, we went to KENYA NIGHT at Westside. One thing I absolutely LOVE about my home church is their involvement with a church/organization in Kenya that is dedicated to feeding children and providing micro-financing resources for women to be able to make money necessary to feed their families, as well as providing help and hope for those living with AIDS. We got to see some pictures and hear stories from one of the teams that recently got back from Kenya and got to learn more about the ministry going on over there. It was hopeful, inspiring, and gave me a greater passion for people. I will say though, the highlight of my night was when Cindy dropped me off at home and the kids requested that I have THEM all over to my house for a playday! Gotta make that happen!

Saturday:

Saturday was by far my busiest day, but it was just as fun as it was busy!

The first thing I did was enjoy a wonderful brunch with Amanda Stubbert and her daughters. I can't even understand why her kiddos love me so much, but I'm incredibly honored by it. I feel that I'm especially close to Hannah. Every Sunday morning she runs up to me and gives me the biggest hug and doesn't want to leave my side. It really blesses me.

In fact, side story: One Sunday morning, I was INCREDIBLY tired and had gotten to the church early, so I decided to catch a nap downstairs in the Kingdom Kids room. Hannah decided to join me:


So it's always a highlight to hang out with Hannah. But I rarely get to actually hang out with Amanda, so it was really a TREAT to enjoy her homemade Dutch Apple Pancakes and great conversation as Simon & Garfunkel played in the background.


After brunch, I headed home to get ready for my softball game.


Great news: WE WON!! It was a good game, but it was tough cause we were down a player, so we had to take an automatic out. But it was still nice to come out on top!

THEN, I capped off the night at Karli's performance with her A Capella crew at the University of Washington: UNLEASHED! A CAPELLA. They did sooooo good! My favorites that they sang were "Killing Me Softly," "I'm Yours," and "Proud Mary."


Afterwards, I got to join them for dinner at The Ram in U Village. We enjoyed burgers, fun conversations, and a rousing rendition of The Proclaimer's 500 MILES song as we all sang along to the overhead speakers.

Sunday:


Westside celebrated it's 12th birthday as a church by having a fun picnic. Originally it was supposed to be at Salmon Park, but in true Seattle form, it rained and we moved it to inside the church. And I dunno about you, but a bounce house inside a church sanctuary is pretty awesome! I even got to jump in the bounce house!! It was good food, good hangs, and just a fabulous day!

Now I'm primed to watch the MTV Movie Awards and call it a night!