2019 vacation pt.1

This year our family decided to take a vacation south again! We left on 03/15/19 to head to Kentucky to visit some family friends who moved down there last august! It was nice to visit with them and get a chance to see more of Kentucky. We left Saturday afternoon (16th) and drove a few hours to hotel in Tennessee where we rested for the night and got on the road again. We drove most of Sunday (17th) until we finally reached out hotel in Florida and took a short swim at the pool in the evening.

Florida welcomes green grass

Gone swimming

 On monday we stayed at the hotel and swam, went for a walk, and just kinda had a break from traveling. Tuesday we decided to go to the Gulf of Mexico as it was raining on the Atlantic side. We stopped at Plant City and got amazing strawberry shortcake that we got the last time we went to Florida! I was able to make a successful sandcastle and make some shell designs.

Best place on the planet

This turned out so cool!!!

On Wednesday we went to the Atlantic coast to Indiatlantic Beach (south of Cocoa Beach) and spent another day the beach and sight seeing. The waves were a lot bigger here than at the Gulf. 

It was cold at first!!!

wow, such beautiful ladies.... I wonder who they are...

Thursday and Friday we did something amazing... we went surfing! I always thought it would be really cool to learn how to surf, so we went to a surf school called Ron Jon Surf Shop. We took a lesson and it didn't go too bad! I was able to get up a few times even!! Mom and Emmett stayed back and chased birds and played in the water. And by the way... I did NOT get attacked by a shark. 

Getting the wet suits

I'm up!!

He loved the beach!!!

His favorite thing to do was chase birds!!!!

We sadly left Florida Friday afternoon to make our way up to our hotel in Georgia where we were staying the night. We drove most of Saturday to get to Gatlinburg Tennessee, where we would be staying for the next 3 days. We spent time at the pool and exploring the resort. Did I mention that we were practically staying in the mountains! 

Smokey Mountains

So beautiful...

Life size checkers!

On Sunday we took a hike up rainbow trail to go see the falls. It took us SIX hours to hike up and back down. We walked almost seven miles up with switchbacks. I died after that... but it was very pretty!!

Emmett walked almost the whole way up... he finally took a nap after we got up to the end. I carried him back singing moana to appease his restless soul.

 

This was the main fall. It was a 70 feet tall!

On monday we had a laid back day and went for a drive in the Great Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park. We drove to Cades Cove 11mi scenic loop. It was gorgeous and had lots of old cabins and churches that we explored. The view was breath-taking.

On one of the days that we were in Gatlinburg we went to a candy store to browse and get some treats!

That's the end of part one. Part two will be on here very shortly! Hope you enjoyed the pics!! 

                       Always,

February 2019...

Well, obviously I have aced skipping blog posts. I am a professional at forgetting/putting things off, soooo. School has been consuming my life along with other things like this years musical. But, lets move on from that and recap on the last few months.

The biggest news is that my family is growing to 6. My mom is due in mid June. And did I mention... its a GIRL!! I'm so excited to meet her and I can't wait to make so many cute things for her!

I got my temps in November and a car!!! I had been waiting for EVER it felt like for my temps.
We had a successful hunting season this year. Well, I didn't, but our family in general did. I only had one deer come in by me and I missed. It happens I guess. xD

Christmas was great as always! We actually got some decor for the front of our house including some candy canes in red and green and some icicle lights. I got lots of fuzzy socks for Christmas this year; seriously I got 11 pair. I'm not complaining at all though because my toes have never been warmer. I think I actually own more fuzzy socks that regular socks : /
I also got some amazing horse themed gifts (e.g. shirt, socks, and mug); some Bible journal supplies; Zelda Ocarina of Time (3DS); and a Polaroid camera. I also got a few other things as well.

I've preoccupied my weekends with ice skating again this year. I swear, if I could ice skate everyday I probably would. I just love it that much! 

When new years rolled around I obviously fell asleep way before we could watch the ball drop *again* but I did wake up for midnight! And since then my life has been full of school and play practice. Our production is the musical "Pilgrim" based of the book Pilgrims Progress. Opening night is in 12 days sooo.     yeah.      lots to do and get ahead for.

In March we are going on vacation to FLORIDA!!! I super excited! Our only plans are the beach. On our way back we are stopping at a resort in Tennessee too. It's right in the mountains so it will be super cool.

I think that catches up the little bit of excitement in my life.... It ain't much... I didn't realize how little I've done since Christmas. Thanks for reading :)

hello. where has the time gone...

ohh boyy.... well first off, HELLO! Long time no post. The time has just gotten away from me over these past few months! And a lot has been going on! I don't even know where to start!
In May we actually went on vacation to CALIFORNIA! I was going to make a separate post for this, but I'll just summarize it here. We left the day after prom and made our road trip out west. We made a big loop through the north-western states down through Nevada, Utah, Nebraska, and Iowa back to Wisconsin. We stopped at Yellowstone, the Redwood forests, Fern Canyon and a lot of other national monuments and parks. We also went to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands!! It was an awesome vacation!! Here are some pictures of some of my favorite parts of the trip AND of the Pacific Ocean! 

Theodore Nat'l Park, ND

Yellowstone- Buffalo!!

Yellowstone- Emmett and Dad by the waterfalls

Yellowstone- The Lake with Sara and the Rocky Mountains in the back!!

Crater Lake

Giant Redwood

Fern Canyon

The seashore

Dad and Emmett In the OCEAN!!

Mount Rushmore!!

*sigh* the badlands... oh I miss 'em

I also got my first job this summer, in June, working at our local Strawberry farm!! It was actually quite fun! I was an Assistant Counselor at 4-H camp this year as well. 4-H camp was a blast just like last year!!

I actually took Samme to our first fun show where I competed in Barrel racing, poles, the flag race, keyhole, and plug. We didn't place but it was a really good experience and I plan on doing some shows again next year!

I am also doing volleyball with the high school this year again. I made JV1, but sadly our season is already almost over!! We only have three games and a tournament left! :(

Fair also happened. It went pretty well! I brought my civil war ballgown and a skirt and took 2nd for both! I brought some food and took three 1st's and one 2nd. I brought some visual arts projects and photography too. I also did archery again this year and took 4th place in the tournament!

I also somehow got a SUPER severe case of E-coli and they thought my kidney's were going to fail.... I could barely get out of bed to go to the restroom (which conveniently I needed 24/7) I am better now luckily thanks to God and the prayers from everyone!!

Ohh yeah... did I meantion that I'm a sophmore... I thought last year shocked me but this year really hit me like a load of bricks! 

I think that has almost caught me up. Ohh... and a post on Emmett's second birthday is coming very soon!!! I can't believe he's two!! Until then.

prom 2018.

Two weeks ago we had our home school prom! I was one of the nine prom committee members this year. Our theme was... CLUE! We had the entire building we rented set-up as a "clue board" with props distinguishing each room. To go with the theme we had a real mystery where everyone was playing clue in real life trying to figure out who murdered Miss Body, and later Miss White. The characters were as follows with the committee members who played them: Miss Body- Micayla ;

Miss Scarlet- Marie ; Miss Green- Maddie ; Professor Plum- Gabe ; Miss Karat- Josephine ; Agent Black- Buddy ; Miss White- Juli ; Miss Sterling- Naomi ; Miss Peacock-Myself. 

It was such an amazing night and it was the perfect weather, although mosquitoes tried carrying most of us away... it was a blast and I had so much fun! I got ready with my two friends Makenna and Emma (who just happens to have an awesome blog right over here- Aspiring To Be). Sarah also came this year (last years post) but had a commitment that ran into part of prom, but she still was able to make it for a couple hours! And, as we all know I'm sorta clumsy; and being the *amazing* person I am, literally went head over heels and face-planted.       yup.      i did.     not kidding at all.    and it was 100% NOT graceful. *applause for effort* Next year I'm getting a little bit shorter dress. Black and blue knees from face-planting are not worth the perfect dress. (or are they?!)

Anyway, here are the long awaited pictures of our dresses and of the night! 

Emmett and Dad! Lil' Bro being adorable!!

Makenna in her beautiful dress!

Emma and her converse!

Myself being a little teapot!

Group photo in our yard using out neighbors tree... lol

Micayla's (Miss Boddy) "dead body"

Being goofy at the photo booth ft. Emma

Meet Mrs.Green (Maddie) and Mr. Green!

Miss Peacock(Me) and Miss Scarlet (Marie)

Miss Karat (Joesphine) and Myself

Emma and her beautiful self

Myself... doing something weird...

Sarah in her beautiful dress!!

And Sarah's sister Caroline. What a cutie.

Nearing the end of prom we discovered another dead body... Miss White. And we soon discovered the murderer could no longer hide HIS tracks. It was... PROFESSOR PLUM with the wrench! Now the best part is... Prof.Plum is Miss.White's brother in real life. I totally did not give him grief about killing his sister.

I hope you enjoyed this post! What is your most embarrassing moment at any dance? Are you clumsy like your's truly?

a civil war ballgown complete.

I did it... It's finished! I made my ballgown!! I took it to our county's 4-H clothing revue and took first and I might be taking it to state! It only took me since last summer to finish but considering I got it complete by my deadline I'm fine with that! So obviously here are the awkward pictures! These were taken at the revue if you're interested in knowing.

I look so... thrilled

CLOSE UPS 

Side view

Back view. Can I just say, I've fallen in LOVE with how I did my hair! Want a tutorial???

Let me tell you... my machine has quite the temperament, it loves to EAT sheer fabric. I may have began yelling at it on multiple one *cheeky grin* occasion in a Russian accent. Tip I learned after the fact: place tissue paper on the top of it and rip it out after you stitch! 

Here are my tips for ironing a civil war ballgown:  When ironing DO NOT I repeat, DO NOT lay the HOT iron on top of your hand!!! It hurts... no burns, just redness. Just always pay attention.  When ironing sheer don't accidentally turn up the temperature and burn a HOLE in your shoulder drape. Use a thin towel on top or simply don't turn up the temperature.  And lastly, always steal your mother to help; Thanks for the help mom!!

The most tedious part was probably the waist because I got to do my favorite part... pull one TINY thread that breaks like a hundred times through an entire dress, evenly! I broke the thread at least 4 times and had to "improvise". But it is the part that makes the dress feel like it's really coming together.

Misty, the homely self taught sewer realized one fatal flaw in her scheme to make this ballgown... She's only ever put in one single zipper in her life. Four years ago. So youtube and the seam ripper became her best friends! Three tries later she said good enough, and let me say this, I HATE the zipper foot . *dramatic pound of the key*

Thanks for reading my post (rather, my rant of my sewing excursions)! Have any of y'all joined this bandwagon of dress making? Tell me about it in a comment! Have an awesome day

                      Your's Truly,

another year and a record snow storm.

   I am officially fifteen...  yep... another thing to remember when I fill out forms *sheepish grin*  Anyway, the point of this post is to share what I did for my birthday! So, if you live in Wisconsin, you know we had a blizzard this last weekend. Yes, I know it's basically the middle of April, but I'm not sure if God got the memo. haha, just kidding. Seriously though, we got 33ish inches of snow, in three days... with some of the snow drifts at 4 or 5 feet. Enough said, I'm getting cold.

   So I had a joined birthday party with the lovely Emma *check out her blog- Aspiring to Be* and it turned out sooo great. Of course a bunch of people were not able to make it due to the weather but it was still really fun! Unfortunately... I don't think either of us took ANY pictures! So that means you'll just have to simply imagine it! Emma made some delicious looking pizza garland and she did an awesome job on it! We put it by the pizza bar; Emma's mom made homemade pizza crust and we made a bunch of delicious pizzas. My mom, Sara, and I made ice cream garland for the ice cream table! We had LOADS of toppings to go with our ice cream!! We played some games, and I learned how to play Mafia; lets just say I was a little confused but I think I understand how to play now, and it was pretty funny. 

   Sarah (not my sister) was the doughnut man and she was delivering doughnuts and got stabbed and a doctor saw and ran to her. Sara (my sister) saw while riding her bike and ran into a car so the doctor veered to Sara and saved her instead of Sarah. Love it. 

   Finally, we watched the Greatest Showman; and it was AMAZING! That's it, AMAZING! I've been listening to the soundtrack non stop!!!

   On my birthday we didn't do much. We watched some movies, including the Greatest Showman...again, and the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time (that I remember)! We played a couple games and just spent the day together as a family! I'd rather spend the day trapped at home with my family than having a busy day!

   That's what I did for my birthday! I hope you enjoyed this post! When's your birthday?? Have a great day!     Always,