weekend at sharp top cove.

this past weekend i had the opportunity to go to sharp top cove in jasper, ga. it was beautiful. with about 500 other young life leaders in the state of tennessee! it was insane. it was so neat to be with friends and be encouraged by so many people: my young life team (who i love), other young life leaders, and the speaker, tom job. it was amazing!

tom spoke to us about how we don't have to be awesome and perfect. how we are our own person just trying to share Jesus to high schoolers. we don't have to be perfect and someone were not. it was so encouraging to hear! i needed that big time.

i loved getting close to my team and hanging out with them whenever i could. the weekend was full of lots o' laughter, hugs, perfect weather, back roads, games like who would be the one to (fill in the blank), square dancing, being encouraged, and did i say laughter?!

p.s. i got voted most likely to go to jail...i don't know how that worked out!

i stole most of these pictures from my teammate, morgan.

boom's day with a side of dance party.

boom's day is a knoxville tradition. it's always on labor day weekend. knoxville's finest get together and watch fireworks light up the sky. when i say knoxville's finest, i mean redneck, she mullets, and me! a lot of knoxville folk dress up like rednecks, so of course i wore a cut off shirt, jorts, and an american flag doo rag. what is more american than that? heck if i know! it was quite a show, but the bad part is that this year it rained so it was a tad bit hard to see all of the fireworks.

after boom's day we went to one of my friend's barn with a bout a hundred something other people and danced our booties off. we danced to some of the best songs out there...'get low', 'slow motion', and many more! we may have gotten on an old truck and danced. these raised surfaces may have been a theme in my life this week. it was so much fun and whatta way to end the long labor day weekend. although, i'm pretty sore and a little tired...still!

king tut's for a little birthday party.

last week, it was my one of my favorite people's birthday! my roommate, logan, turned 21! it was about dang time. we celebrated with going to one of knoxville's finest, king tut's.it's one of those places that you have to go at least once in your life if not more! and it was recently awarded the best place to go in knoxville by southern living. not too bad. king tut's has a little bit of everything. each night is a different type of food night. they have a broken karaoke machine. they have lots of masks and hats to wear. and they have the sweetest owner, moe! we danced, maybe on a table, (we were the only ones there for a while), we sang karaoke, we laughed, and drank our drinks out of vases...a normal thing for king tut's. it was a night to remember.

game day.

this weekend i lived it up. needless to say i kept saying 'i'm being so college.' my mom was able to go out of town, so i got to take a much needed break from being her nurse. so i got to go spend the whole weekend at my house!

but saturday was the day many vol fans have been waiting for...the first game of the season. it was hot, hot, hot. we tailgated and watched other football games to get pumped up for the big game. we kept saying ' wouldn't it be nice if it were a little bit cooler?' well Jesus answered and brought the rain and when i say rain, i mean buckets and buckets of rain. did i mention the whole stadium was under the concourse waiting for the rain to pass. needless to say it was pretty packed with soaking wet people. we were under there for what seemed like hours. we finally got to go back out, and we still got wet because it was still raining. (side note, this game was the 2nd time that the team didn't run out into the T in 65 years! that was crazy) we braved the rain and stayed for quite a while to see our vols stomp those grizzlies!

dear sixteen year old me.

a lot has been happening! you're probably driving in your car, named sonic the saturn (a beaut) or sleeping over at a friends house or at a high school football game or eating a cookie clump...i could go for one of those right about now! you have some of the best friends in the world and don't worry, they're still your best friends and walk with you through life...even when it gets tough! live up high school because i miss it a lot a lot. it was so much fun, so please don't waste it away. once it's over it's over. and once you graduate and you're ready to go to college you get really sad that all your friends are going to the college you want to go to, and you get stuck at a community college but it will be the biggest blessing in disguise! the first year of college is exciting and hard. making new friends, doing quest to becoming a young life leader, but not living on campus with your best friends is not ideal. but you soaked up family time and you get really close to dad which is so good. but so hard. hard things happened that summer. you find things out you don't want to and don't want to imagine. and then when you're 19 august 6th comes around and that will be the hardest day for you for probably forever. it's the day you get a phone call and find out that dad was in a car accident and didn't make it. your family comes together like never before. it's hard but you cling to jesus. it's the only way you can survive. you act strong and tough but don't be afraid to break down and show emotion. (i'm still learning that) you make new friends and start living your new 'normal' life. you live your life to the fullest. you're goofy, you like road trips, you love being with your friends, and you love to laugh! the next few years will be hard but so worth it. you grow so much. you learn big lessons that lots of people don't get to. you have great friends, great community, and a family that will do anything for you. you are strong and continually learning! you still gots lots of life to live!

bsc.

babysitter's club is coming to a close. i'm pretty sure this will be my last summer nannying because next summer i will probably/hopefully have a big girl job. but let's be honest...who knows. i'll miss my little friend. i have been her babysitter since she was 6! that's five years people. crazy! today was the last day of me keeping her until we both start school. we had a little lunch and then did a little arts and crafts! probably her favorite thing to do. we made pom necklaces and she loved doing. not to mention the finished product turned out great! i'm gonna miss seeing her so much!!

and yes, she looks like she is 13.

donna took a tumble.

this past weekend, my mom and i ventured to atlanta, the dirty dirty as i like to call it, to see my brother, daniel. we had a great time! it was full of comfy hotel beds, really yummy food, parmesan cheese tater tots (those were hella good), big laughs, and catching up with the prodigal son!

our great time suddenly took a turn for the worse. my brother was showing us his new house with some friends, and we were getting ready to leave and my mom fell down the stairs...didn't turn out to great. after 4 hours at the hospital we learned that she broke her humerus and her shoulder. ouch!

so the next couple of weeks i will be going by the name of nurse becca.

p.s. my mom really wanted a family picture that weekend...we had to make do.

p.p.s. she looks like a football player now.

blue forty two set hike.