Graduation Fun

Yesterday was a day I'll never forget: my youngest sister graduated high school.

Our family is not your typical, run-of-the-mill family. It's pretty unique. There are four girls (three of which are full sisters - Sarah, me, and Holly, all 2 years apart - and one step-sister - Abby, who is 2 weeks younger and a grade behind Holly - who we see as another full sister) and our parents, my mom Brenda and step-dad James. If you include my mom, there are five girls. So we always have a surplus of things like makeup, hair products, tampons, cleansers, scrubs, nail polish, etc. If you ever need a bobby pin, chances are you will find one, no matter what room you're in, as they seem to turn up everywhere. We all share clothes and shoes, too. It's really fun! The only tough part is when we all are super emotional or hormonal...then we wish for brothers.

Here's a little bit about Abs. When we first met her, she was about 4 or 5. Holly was the same age, and I was two years older than them and Sarah two years older than me. Sarah and Holly and I loved our dolls and especially loved playing with Barbies. We met Abby, and were surprised to find out she had no dolls or Barbies that she really played with. Nope, Abby played with dinosaurs and sea creatures. She loved stuffed animals too, especially her Beanie Baby platypus, Platy. [One of my favorite Abby stories is when she was like 2 she had a giraffe that she cleverly named "Yellow Bright Orange"...so cute!]. Abs always the creative one and came up with the best games. She often acted as peace maker between the sisters. 

And now she's graduating high school, having participated in a number of extra-curricular activities (especially drama and various choruses) while keeping good grades and also having a plethora of things to balance on top of all of that - friends, boyfriend, two families (her mom, stepdad, and half sister live in the next town), and a job. She and two of her closest friends chose to sing together and separately for various places such as nursing homes for their senior project (lucky for us, they made a cd of their songs!). Next year she's attending Fairfield University in Connecticut. 

Here are some pictures from her graduation:

Me with the grad!!!

The fam bam: Me, Sarah, Abby, Holly, my mom, James

love my mom!

Right before Abby left to take pictures with her mom and family, James was like "Group shot! Everybody in" so my mom, me, Sarah, James, Abby, Holly, and our friend/honorary sister squished in.

After Ab left to take pics with her mom, we got a couple more pics!

love them :D

After graduation and the following reception, there was time for everyone to go home, which allowed the seniors to be able to change into normal clothes and meet back at the school where they'd soon embark on "project grad", their grad night. Before they leave for grad night each year, they load on buses and are paraded down Main Street escorted by police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, all driving slowly and baring their sirens and flashing their lights. We live on Main Street so we get to watch as the parade goes down and cheer and wave. We had a bunch of people over, including the family of another graduate, Brianna Thurston. We all waved signs and yelled our loudest and some people even had trumpets or other instruments they played. During the whole parade, the seniors lean out the bus windows to wave at everyone they pass. It's a loud, insane time and it's really fun! Such a small town thing and I love it!

Here's Flynnie and I holding our signs right before the parade

Sarah, Chynna and I holding our signs.

All in all, yesterday was an amazing day. I'm sad all our graduations are over. We had one in '07, '09, '10, and '11. But soon we start with the college ones! We are planning to have college graduations in '12, '13, '14, and '15. In case you didn't notice, from 09 through 15, we have a graduation every year. Crazy! But I love it!

Random Interest of Mine

Ok, this may be pretty dorky. But we all have random things that we enjoy. One random thing I've always loved to look at is cool staircases. I think it all started when I was young and we used to go to my dad's uncle John and aunt Ellen's house in Santa Monica. In their backyard, they had a small turquoise metal spiral staircase that went from the ground up to the roof, which was flat. Anyway, I really like looking at them now. Here are some cool ones I've found:

This one is gorgeous and just fun to look at

This makes me sad, in a happy way.
"Sad is happy, for deep people" - Sally Sparrow, Dr. Who

These are so cool! Painted steps with writing may be
the coolest steps I'll ever get

These are my favorite. I don't know why. 

So Predictable/Update on my life

So, life gets crazy and unpredictable. I thought blogging every day would be easy because currently I don't have a ton to do. But...then I got busier and kept getting home too late to write and then my computer got a nasty virus and went to the geeks for a few days. I got it back last night, but I'm already 7 days behind on the 30 day challenge...which is a quarter of it...so yeah. I think I'm dropping out. Or maybe I'll continue, but not make it 30 consecutive days.

On another note, I've really been experiencing and appreciating the Lord's mercy the past week or so. He is infinitely forgiving. It's like the song goes, "A thousand times I've failed, still your mercy remains." So thankful for this truth.

Tonight, I leave (at 11:51) to go to Maine! I have a 5 hr flight from Sacramento into New York's JFK international airport (which is my favorite airport to have a layover in, by the way) and then an hour and a half before my flight into the small jetport in Portland, ME. That's my favorite flight as it's only a little more than an hour. Then I'll be able to see my Maine family (which includes my mom Brenda, step dad James, older sister Sarah, and younger sisters Holly and Abby). Wicked excited for that ;).

My best friend from high school and her boyfriend (whom I've known since first grade) were recently engaged. Being home has made their engagement and upcoming wedding and marriage come alive for me. All this wedding talk has made me really excited for September 10 (9/10/11!). I'll only have been back in Santa Clarita for a weeks before I come home for the weekend to be in my first wedding (unless my dad and step mom's counts).

One more thing: today is my boyfriend Trevor's birthday!! He's 21! Unfortunately I won't be able to see him because he lives in Santa Clarita and I live in Roseville (Sacramento) and am leaving for Maine. We like to skype at night (except while my computer had the virus) but since I'll be going to the airport and hanging out there, it's not very likely to happen. Which might be good if he's busy anyway. Anyway....happy birthday Trevor!!

Bullet Your Whole Day/Things You Want to Say to an Ex

Well, as the instructions are to bullet your whole day for day 4, I had to wait until today to do it!
It wasn't the most exciting day, so I decided not to do it. Is that cheating? I guess if I have to cheat somewhere, this would be the place to do it, not in school or on my boyfriend. Haha.

Things I'd want to say to an ex...haha that's kind of personal. But it is my blog and few people read it. But really...what would I want to say? I don't even know...
I guess I'd say thanks for the good times, and I'm really grateful for everything I learned when we were together and also what I learned from our breakup. I hope you're enjoying where you're at and that you love the Lord first and foremost.\

[This is quite possibly the shortest post I've ever written!]

A Book You Love

I love reading. Really love it. Always have, always will. There are so many books that I love. My ultimate favorite book is (without meaning to sound cheesy or fake) the Bible. That book, and its Author, have completely changed me. But this isn't asking for my favorite, just one I love. I want to pick one that isn't the Bible in the off chance that I have readers (ha) who are looking for a good book to read to supplement their regular devotions. Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot was, besides the Bible, the most life-changing book I've ever read.

It was a book full of challenging content. Elisabeth Elliot outlines her entire relationship leading up to marriage with her first husband, who was martyred after a few short years of marriage. There were so many twists in their relationship. They went to college together. At times, they didn't even live on the same continent. Jim Elliot thought he might be called to being singleness. Plus more. Their relationship was full of roller coasters. But through it all, God worked in their hearts. He used each of them to shape the other. He brought them both to a point where they were fully surrendered to His will. Then He blessed them by giving them the best gift possible after salvation, each other.

Through it all, Elisabeth shares her thoughts, struggles, temptations, victories, and journal entries. She is so transparent and reminds you time after time that the most important thing, the only thing, is to pursue Christ-likeness and devotion to Him. He will work everything out perfectly on His time.

Like I said, this book changed my life. It changed the way I view things, and it changed the way I think. She has countless tidbits of advice. When reading it, I wrote down so many of the things she said. I must have underlined almost half the book. Okay, slight exaggeration. But you get my point. It's an amazing read for women who love the Lord and want to win victory over their flesh. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.