oooooklahoma adventures.

half of my family (my brother, dad, and stepmom) moved to oklahoma the end of july. edmond, oklahoma to be exact. about twenty minutes from the big city. everything is about twenty minutes from everything here. it's like magic.

what a city motto!

we go to walmart a lot. that's an experience. the walmart closest to us is a superstore. it has a family hair salon, doctor's office, subway (for the healthy oklahomans..), nail salon. you know. the usual in a neighborhood drugstore. 
we spend lots of time in the pool. where the water is about as warm as the air. it's kinda like taking a bath. but still fun!
dad and i saw a tractor leaving the mall the other day. that was shocking. they don't even do that in idaho!
and last night we went to a rodeo. quite the experience. mutton busting was my favorite event (little kids riding sheep!) it was so, so cute. 


here are a few pictures i've collected over the week..

shleper's idea of back to school clothes.. the sign is hilarious! 

my new boots. they're actually kinda pretty!

sunset on the lake. oklahoma has big skies, and big space, and it delivers big time every night.

em and i on the lake!

braum's. not your typical baskin robbins, but still pretty delicious if you get the frozen yogurt.

oklahoma city is growing! it has [almost] one skyscraper!

gluten free rolls i made!!

andrew and i on our way into the rodeo!

warming up at the rodeo!

cows like rodeos too! just kidding. they're in it.

i have about two days left in oklahoma. i plan on spending it with my family doing oakie things. like sitting in the air conditioned house and seeing harry potter with my brother!

calvin crest.

my favorite week of the year.
every year, i go into the week worried that my expectations will be too high, and i'll be disappointed or worse, i'll disappoint my campers. 
like what if they don't learn about him? the camp high isn't a necessity to faith, but it's helpful. like the bullets you get during mario kart that speed you along for a while. that's what the camp high does. gives your faith enough power to hold you up for a bit. 
or what if they don't separate their cliques and get to know other people? i don't expect everyone to be bff, but it's important for them to be out of their comfort zone and get to know others.
what if they think our activities are stupid? we worked really hard on the schedule for the week, but i knew if they didn't buy into the games, it'd be miserable for them. 
what if they weren't open and real with themselves and with me? in irvine they don't get time to process, so they desperately need this week for that. it's always stressful for me to see if they'll actually take that space, and run with it.
god is so great though, and every year he provides exactly what my girls need, and i learned something every other minute.
needless to say, i was not disappointed last week. 

we all made new friends!

we tried new things (like a 14 mile mountain bike ride!)

they got messy. sooo messy. but when do you really get to go down a slip in slide full of oil, vinegar, ketchup, pancake mix, soy sauce, texas ranch, italian dressing...?

they learned to be real, open, honest, and love themselves a little more. and  they learned to trust me just a little. i'm honored and proud of them. 

we had fun. and dressed up like cowboys and cowgirls. so cute!

gabi and i learned to climb real tall trees! (or we had a little help...)

they learned to work as a team, and look out for each other.

we learned to stand out! and we had yellow dress up night wednesday.

my princesses! i learned how much i love them!

my gabi and neal as mad cows.. they taught me how to laugh harder than i've ever laughed, and believe in myself, my story, and my love for the kids a little more.

there are a million stories i could share, a million little moments i watched happen or we experienced as a group that were so, so good. but what is most important is that god was so present and real while we were there, which was exactly what these high schoolers were craving.
i'm so thankful for them, our week, and your prayers!

prayers for camp

as i'm rushing around getting ready to leave for camp with 49 high schoolers in the morning, i keep being reminded that the only way i'm going to get through this is prayer.
and it isn't to say that these high schoolers are crazy, disrespectful, or anything like that. it's just that...when you're a counselor, you give everything you have physically, emotionally, and spiritually for a week. and that is beyond draining. i wouldn't change my time with them for the world. it is honestly my favorite week of the year. but i would like prayer.
prayer for...
safety. we always, always have injuries. usually some er ones. and we have one camper who just had surgery yesterday and is coming up anyway. dedication!
food. some years calvin crest has the nastiest food. it makes everyone grumpy and out of energy. and since i have food allergies coming out my ears, i'm taking all my own food. it's been stressful trying to get everything together for that. prayer that i haven't forgotten anything!
love and compassion. love from us to our campers. love between each other. love in our cabins. and love extending from each clique in our youth group and breaking those boundaries so they can all know and feel so loved. and compassion between them to foster that love!
patience. for everyone. all the time!
wisdom. a lot of our kids use this as a time where they don't have to live in the irvine bubble. they ask hard questions, share tough stories. as young counselors, we can get overwhelmed. we don't want them to hurt, but we know we can't always fix it. wisdom in our answers, and our understanding of their situation.
fun! this week is a time for our kids to bond. and try new things! prayers that they enjoy their time together and the activities we've worked hard on!
spiritual growth. for all of us! because that is the ultimate goal of this week!


know that these prayers are so appreciated. and i can't wait to share what god does in our lives this week!

pre-messy monday counselor love from last year! 

oh those calvin crest nights!

it's camp eve eveeee!

it is camp eve eve! (have you watched eloise at christmas? she celebrates christmas eve eve. this is just as exciting for me!)
it means i've been busy preparing in just about every way imaginable. late night leader meetings. surprise cabin changing leader meetings. costume shopping. easing parents' worries. telling high schoolers that they'll have to wait just 48 more hours before they can know who's in their cabin. trying to pack my clothes. working on a sermon with gabi. praying for patience and wisdom. sleeping extra. all the things we do every year! it's wonderful.

planning outfits.. 

fancy friday dress. clearly!

trying to figure out how to fit a tutu into an already full suitcase..

but just because camp is coming on sunday doesn't mean the rest of life has stopped. there are pool parties to attend, snacks to bake, and precious little children to watch. and since i've slacked recently, i have a lot of pictures to share.

 leah dancing on our ride down the coast ! she is too, too much.

the view we had while drinking our milkshakes in the limo on pch!

gluten free brownies! yum. and theeee cutest cupcake wrappers!

    

an extreme water slide party at poolside with jr. high and high schoolers!

some of my love high school girls. but they swim and have ridiculous tan lines! its worth being cif champs though!

and so friends, i'll leave you with pictures from my last three weeks and a prayer that yours have been as blessed, fun, and a little less tiring than mine have!

hailey marshall !

today is the birthday of one of my good apu friends, hailey marshall.
we were roommates for a semester. she is so good! so today i'm going to share her with you and we can celebrate hailey together!
hail is one of the sweetest girls i know. she is always volunteering to take care of us when we're sick, makes us pancakes, cleans extra..
she's always up for a good cuddle.
one of my favorite things about hail is how empathetic she is. if you want someone to laugh with you, go to hailey. if you want someone to jump around and scream in excitement, hail. cry with you? hail.
and the most important thing about her? hailey's heart for the lord. she has a real love for him and it's so evident- especially as a bible/youth ministry major!

freshman year welcome something!

sillily sending bethany off in our mod last fall!

brianna's visit. so good!

happy birthday hail! i'm so thankful to have you in my life!

vbs week and calvin crest.

the past week and a half has been filled with church. which is good. so good. but it's been loud and tiring too.
last week was my second favorite week of the year- vbs week.
i love vbs. and this was my 16th one. no worries, i've just spent the past 16 summers giving each night of a week in july to spending time in fellowship at ipc.
regardless of whether i was in vbs, guiding it, or interning for it, i've loved each year and this one was no different. 
seeing the elementary schoolers excited about their memory verses, pumped to see what they learn about jesus through the skit, and loving on each other during the benediction made my heart happy.
watching preschoolers do crafts, playing at recreation with 1st graders, taking high school guides to starbucks after vbs was over for the night, and singing songs with other college friends at their thousandth vbs made my body tired.
but it was good. so good. jesus is so good.

my favorite kindergartner. rocking her vbs shirt i rhinestoned for her

the craziest week of vbs ever. summer 2008.

yesterday morning neal, eric, gabi and i drove up to calvin crest. we're taking high schoolers in 3 weeks and wanted to check the cabin flow, and meet with some people since things are a little different this year.
five and a half hours, a few hundred miles, an in n out, and two rounds of the alphabet game later, we made it. (complete with messy monday gear in tow)
after a few business meetings and some super good pizza (eric is the resident pizza guru. he flew in gino's east from chicago for this) we went to bed, got up early this morning, and drove back. (with a stop at in n out, of course.)
we love our high schoolers and want their week to be the best!

hanging out on the calvin crest fieldddd! 

neal and i love bus rides to calvin crest.

idaho again.

last wednesday i flew back to idaho.
elise tore up her knee, and i just thought that it would be more fun for her to have someone sitting next to her on the couch. so i came over. and let me just say, i am so thankful i did.
the only thing better than hanging out with a best friend for a week with nothing pressing to do is hanging out with a best friend for a week with nothing pressing to do and a brother who makes every meal for you.
even though we don't move around a lot, we've been having fun. we've watched excessive amounts of tv, found our wedding dresses, ate lots of toast and jam, picked strawberries (well, elise watched me and laughed at how slow i was) and took a weekend vacation to mccall where i fell off a four wheeler, we got sunburned and watched legit fireworks. not to mention our endless hours of talking, the laughter started by a look, and our unique ability to drive brittan crazy in a short amount of time. 
as always, idaho has surprised me. it's been good.
i loved hanging out with you this week, elise and brittan!

strawberries i picked from the garden!

sweet cuts from my four wheeling fall.

oh, you know. just our view for fireworks..

sorry woodbridge lake fans.. this trumps it hardcore.

happy birthday, america!

one of our least favorite brittan creations. soup  in salad instead of soup and salad.