From Old to New, Snow to Sand!

Well I've checked off everything on the previous "Things I'm looking forward to list" except for Hawaii. We have officially moved into our new home. Moving was stressful and strenuous, but we've actually unpacked pretty much everything. The rain added an extra element but thankfully God had mercy on us and it didn't rain the day we actually moved. It's amazing how fast I've adjusted to living in a new house. Sometimes I feel a tinge of sadness when I catch myself unexpectedly planning my driving route back to our old house but for the most part I feel very blessed that we're living in as nice of a house as we are.

For Christmas I got the best gift of all-a visit from my cousins Grant and Olivia. We had such a good time all hanging out and catching up. I've missed them a lot and I love them dearly.

Seeing all my friends has been really great. I'm just bummed I don't get to spend New Years with them :( Yesterday Wesley, Scott and I went on an adventure to China Peak (formerly Sierra Summit). We left our house at exactly 4:17am and got there just as the lifts were opening. It snowed ALL day so there was tons of fresh powder. I got my wish of becoming a pro snowboarder-well almost haha. Thanks to Wes I can officially carve! I can't wait to hit the slopes again and get even better.

Tomorrow we're leaving for LAX and then to Hawaii. Wow. I've been wanting to type that sentence for months now! Anyways I hope you all (my dedicated 3 followers hahah) had a wonderful Christmas and have a fantastic New Year.
ALOHA~ Evie

Chopped!

This afternoon I got a long awaited hair cut. I've been wanting to try a short hairstyle for a while now. I really like it and feel good about cutting it because I was able to donate it to Locks of Love :) Yay for using less shampoo, conditioner and not having to blow dry!

Here's the before and after. It really was LONG!

My new snowboard boots!

'Tis the season...

Hey peeps,
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Life is crazy lately. I just realized Christmas is in 9 days and we are moving in 5 days! My brain just doesn't seem to be able to comprehend that right now. We've been in packing mode for a while now and I'm actually excited to move. I've always loved change and new scenery. I used to look forward to getting new classes and seating assignments in high school :) It's still pretty weird though. I've only been in the new house once and I know that when I move in it's going to feel pretty strange for a while. But I am so totally STOKED to be sharing a room with my bestest sister Gretchen. I love her so much. We're already so close and I can't wait to get even closer from living and sleeping side by side :)
Today was my last final, yipeeeeee! I also went in to drop my resume off at Sierra Vista Hospital for a phlebotomy job and God was gracious to me in that. I happened to see a lady I had done my externship with there and she took my resume and said she'd put in a good word for me with the Lab Director. So we'll see if it goes anywhere.
Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Moving
2. Christmas
3. Seeing my cousins
4. Spending time with friends home from college!
5. My new snowboard and boots and learning how to be a pro snowboarder with Wes
6. HAWAII!!!!
God is good and I've just been filled with an unexplainable joy lately. Hopefully it persists!
MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody :)

xoxox Evie

p.s If you need anymore last minute Christmas gifts you should buy them from my cousin's Etsy site! http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoLittleDoves?ref=seller_info

Thankful

Awwww....what a fitting title as Thanksgiving rapidly approaches. But seriously, I am feeling so thankful lately. I'm going to try to pack as much new life info into this post as succinctly as possible. Here goes:

1. My family is moving houses

This move has been brewing for a few years now. The combination of a huge mortgage, crash in the housing market, and my dad's decreased salary has forced us to short sale our house. It was really hard at first knowing we would have to give up our beautiful house which we poured so much time, energy, and money into. But through this whole ordeal God has taught me so much.

a. Material things truly don't matter-we can't bring our houses to heaven.

b. Home is where your family is

c. God ALWAYS has a plan for you. When we learned our house had sold we began praying that God would bring us a house to rent. My mom asked for a 4 bedroom house that was single story, safe for our grandma and dogs, close to the high school, and had a big kitchen. Literally within a week we found out the buyers of our house offered to rent us their recently remodeled home which fit our prayer list perfectly and even has fruit trees and gardening beds in the back! To sweeten the deal we won't have to move until Christmas and we actually kind of know the family. The house is right across from Sinsheimer Elementary school, just a few blocks from our existing house and very close to some friends of ours. God is so good!

2. I'm applying to only UC Davis as an Art Studio Major

Oh my gosh. Crazy how things end up right? Apart from being nervous I'm really excited. I'm so burnt out on academics that the idea of painting and drawing during college sounds amazing. I may minor or double major in something else, we'll see. I'm still plugging away at prerequisites in case I want to do something medical related after college too. Today I had to talk to some difficulties I was having with the application which I think we'll get straightened out. But on my way home from school today I started worrying about how long it might take me to graduate when I realized all of a sudden that I'm a year ahead and that I could even graduate early if I want to! All these years of being different and going the unconventional route are finally going to pay off. Thank gosh I can at last realize that! I'm so thankful for having parents that weren't afraid to go against the grain and who have helped me down a very smart educational path. I love you Mom and Dad :)

3. I went to the Father/Daughter Conference at Hume Lake

My uncle Larry and cousin Olivia invited my dad and I to go up to Hume this last weekend. We've been to the conference before but missed last year and this was the first time going with family. It was such an amazing weekend of getting to spend time with one another, hear a great speaker, good worship and have some really good conversations. Not to mention the glorious nature up at Hume! I hadn't seen Olivia in almost a year and I have really missed her. I think we're going to be able to visit each other more often now. She is one of the most treasured people in my life. Love you Livi!

So even though life is still a little stressful at the moment I'm so thankful for my family, my old and new friends, and the direction God is taking me in life.

xoxox Evie

Fun stuff

Cake Pops!

We made Lauren walk up the stairs and ACT surprised, hahah!

This last weekend was a busy one! It was my dad's birthday on Saturday and for years I have been trying to convince him to go to California Adventures for his birthday because he has never gone before. My plan at last came to fruition. Muaaa! Just kidding. We drove down to L.A late Thursday night and then spent all day at Disneyland and California Adventures. It was very uncrowded (so nice). Unfortunately Disneyland is definitely better in my childhood memories but getting to finally spend some quality family time was really nice. We stayed with our friends the Wiricks in Orange County. They are such an awesome family and we enjoyed every second of our time with them. On Saturday we went back to California Adventures for a couple hours and rode the rafting ride 3 times in a row. Sadly I must report that California Adventures is going to the dogs. They have eliminated my mom's favorite fountain, the Giant Orange, the cool metal sun on the ferris wheel, Mulholland Madness, and the Maliboomer. They are making it less California-y and more Disneylandish. Oh well.

After speeding home on Sunday I had exactly one hour to get ready for Lauren's surprise party that I was throwing. It turned out really well. It was a Super Hero themed dance party and I made all of Lauren's favorite desserts. The Funfetti Cupcake Cake Pops turned out super cute if I do say so myself! Unfortunately Lauren wasn't truly surprised...she said my texts inviting her to watch Batman were "too formal." Ok so maybe planning surprise parties is not my expertise, at least for people as "witty" (Wesley's words) as Lauren :)

10-10-10

Phew! What a week. I'm currently sitting at Shelby Patty's dorm desk at Wheaton College. Sarah Phillips and I set out for our midwest adventure on Wednesday. We drove down to LA and stayed with Hannah Bredberg for the night. We actually stopped by UCSB on the way down to visit Kelsey O'Brien for a little while also. So far our travels have been so smooth. It was quite the task planning the traveling details a few months ago but everything has worked out perfectly. A van from Hillsdale College met us at the Detroit airport. The drive to Hillsdale was amazing. We sped past quaint farms with picturesque red barns and hundreds of beautiful fall trees! All of the leaves have turned yellow, red, and orange. My brother was actually in Michigan as well for the Michigan vs. Michagan State football game. We were texting back and forth about how pretty the state was.
Sarah and I had a wonderful time at Hillsdale. I felt like I had stepped back in time. The tiny campus was just gorgeous. We got a tour, had a meeting with an admissions person, attended some classes and got to hang out with one of my best friends Emily Johnston. Everyone there was so friendly. I kind of felt like I was on a different planet. We were driven early Saturday morning to Jackso0n, MI where we caught an Amtrak train to Chicago. Unfortunatley we experienced two delays but we made it into Union Station eventually. Shelby and Eli were waiting for us. Eli was our official Chicago tour guide. The city was beautiful. It reminded me very much of New York City but some people argue that it's cleaner. We went to Millenium park, played in the fountain, ate yummy Italian food (Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza had way too long of a wait) saw the Moody Bible Institute where Eli goes to school and just enjoyed each other's company.
At the end of the day we took a commuter train out of Chicago and into Wheaton. After getting settled in Shelby's dorm we had fun eating ice cream and getting to meet her friends. This week has been go go go and I definitely nodded off multiple times during church this morning. Now we're just relaxing in Shelby's dorm until we walk downtown.
This trip has given me a ton to think about. Do I like big schools or little schools? Do I want to go to school in California or out of state. So many decisions to make. It has been a little annoying how we keep getting mistaken for high school students and then have to explain that we are really freshmen who go to our local junior college but plan on transfering. Also all of our college friends have made so many new friends and relationships that we are getting anxious to make some of our own as well.
Sarah- I love you so much. I honestly don't know what I would do without you. God has blessed me so much by keeping you in my life this year. I know He has awesome plans for us both. We just need to hang in there and trust Him. Love you, xoxoxoxo
I'm trying not to think about the huge Physiology test and Sociology test I have awaiting me at home. The work just never ends I guess. But I'm so thankful I've had the opportunity to go on this trip. It has been awesome.
xoxoxo Evelyn

The Studly Group

The cables were definitely scary

Too bad Wes isn't in the picture, it would have made a perfect Christmas Card!

Half Dome

What an adventure I had this weekend! My parents and I, along with 4 of my friends drove up to Yosemite on Friday night. We planned the trip around the full moon because we had decided to hike it at night! Some road work delayed us by a few hours so it was 1am when we got on the trail. Hiking at night is my new favorite thing. It was the perfect temperature and something about the dark just helped me keep chugging along. A five-hour energy may have contributed too, hehe. We reached the bottom of the cables at 5:30am, just as light was creeping over the mountains. The cables loomed before us, inducing a small panic attack because they looked vertical. But we soon found out that was an optical illusion. Somehow we survived the 70 degree angle climb to the summit.

The view from the top was spectacular. Every few minutes the light would change and illuminate a new section of the valley. Watching the sun rise was really special. I felt like a conquerer. We spent about an hour on top and then headed down the cables. The hike down was hot and hard. Hundreds of people were hiking up the trail by the early afternoon. I felt like I was in China or something. So many tourists! Because we had hiked up in the dark, I didn't recognize many parts of the trail and kept thinking we were almost back-but of course we weren't! It was such a relief to finally reach the car.

Though I had been awake for 38 hours and had been hiking for 14 I still somehow had energy. It was crazy! Usually I get sick, or feel awful when I am sleep deprived but God granted me some kind of supernatural wakefulness over the weekend :)

Tonight I went to Campus Crusade. As we were worshipping all I could think of was the view from Half Dome. God is so evident in His creation! Sometimes I wish I could just live in the mountains for a while, constantly surrounded by God's beautiful nature. Yosemite is AMAZING but SLO is pretty awesome too.

Too much to think about

Aaaaa! I have so many thoughts swimming around in my mind but I don't want to overwhelm you all. I'll try to make this as organized as possible...
Today I went to my only Monday class-creative writing. We had a guest speaker who is a poet from Boston. His name was Fred, he looked exactly like Bilbo Baggins, and seemed to be the sweetest old man. It was really encouraging and strangely soothing to listen to his advice for young writers. All of a sudden I started tearing up in the middle of class. I found myself wishing I had a grandfather like him. My mom's dad died of lung cancer when I was two and my dad's dad is off in Nevada at a retirement home living in dementia ridden, "fake married" bliss. Long story. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to have a grandpa who actually poured himself into my life, giving me wisdom, hugs and all that mushy stuff. But oh well. I know my dad will be the greatest grandpa someday and hopefully my future husband will be too :)
I also spent a large portion of my day discovering the beaty of Etsy.com. My cousin Mindy and her friend just opened their own shop. It is super cute! I actually bought two items to give to my friend for her Birthday! You should definitely check it out. They go by the name "Two little doves" and "Lost in the Attic" on Etsy.com. There is a link to their site under my blogs. After surfing the cyber world all day I started wondering if I should try to sell my cards on Etsy. Then my mom got me thinking that I could make custom charcoal drawings of people's 3D ultrasound pictures. I've done one for my Grandma's hair dresser and it turned out super awesome. But no one can ever tell what it is. My mom is convinced that moms would love that sort of thing. What do you think? Maybe someday I'll get around to making that happen. Hahah.
The other night I had a mini breakdown about college. It seems like such an imporant choice! I still don't know where I want to go and what I want to major in. And I need to start applying! Prayer that I would trust in the Lord's plan and see choosing a college and major as an adventure would be greatly appreciated :) I just get so conflicted when it comes to career choice. Some people say not to turn your passion into a job because then it will be "work". Others say that you have to be passionate about your job or you will be miserable at work. Which is it????? For some reason I can't find a major that just jumps out as the perfect major for me. I'm considering majoring in something fun like art and then applying to P.A or medical school later. But I want to be able to graduate college with a marketable skill-especially in this sucky economy. It's all just incredibly overwhelming. But I know God has it under control somehow!
Ok I think I've overwhelmed you with enough for tonight.
xoxoxo Evie

Things are looking up...

This has been a good week. On tuesday night Sarah Phillips (we are official Cuesta homies now) and I went to a Campus Crusade bonfire at Port San Luis. We sang worship songs under the milky way and met a bunch of people. On Wednesday Sarah and I had lunch with a bunch of friends from SLO High. It's so nice seeing people I know that are actually my age around Cuesta these days. That night we went to our first college bible study led by Annie Berg (who Sarah went to the Czech Republic with) and Lauren Buzzeti. They are really nice girls. We met 3 new people and had an awesome time of sharing. I can tell this is going to be a really tight knit group of girls to grow with all year. I'm excited for God has in store for us!

So today my phone literally BLEW UP with calls from people asking me to babysit. 6 people, I repeat 6 people asked me to babysit on various upcoming dates. Unfortunately I had to turn a few down because I am catering TWICE this weekend. Not to mention I will be frantically studying for my physiology test on Tuesday, gulp. Lately I have been feeling lame/guilty for not having a job. It seems that almost everyone I know going to Cuesta has a job except me. Today I feel like God was reassuring me that babysitting and catering are legitimate jobs. People I don't even know are calling me to babysit constantly and this weekend I should make some serious bank catering. I love how God knows exactly how I am feeling and how to fix it without me even telling Him.

I am now OFFICIALLY going to visit my friend Emily Johnston in Hillsdale, MI and then Shelby Patty in Wheaton, IL. Sarah Phillips is coming with me!!!! I am so stoked for the trip. We bought our plane and train tickets with our fancy-smanshy debit cards and have figured out every detail of the trip without parental aid. Yes we are THAT grown up. Hahahah! Hopefully we won't miss our flight and get lost in the Detroit airport or the Chicago one. Well I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. Ta ta for now,

xoxox Evie

More Peace

Well I'm pleased to announce that school and life are going much better! I was a bit worried for a while about my physiology teacher. She was pretty scary and mean at times. I got snapped at for being a grand total of 1 minute late. I thought that didn't matter in college-pshh. But I've discovered that she is an absolutely amazing lecturer. Her lectures are more like discussions and she is very animated when she speaks. I actually look forward to going to class now. Physiology is quite interesting! I love learning about WHY and HOW things happen. Yesterday we learned the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat. Beware of so called healthy things like fake butter--it's really just un-saturated fat bombarded with hydrogen ions in a chemistry lab. They turn it into trans fat which is worse for you than saturated fat! Ok I'll stop boring you.

I have definitely been depressed lately about my friends leaving for college and the lack of change in my life. I have been at Cuesta for lets see....8 semesters so far. It starts to get old after a while. Most people are experiencing Cuesta for the first time-realizing how much better it is than high school. But for me Cuesta IS high school. I've been praying for peace and contentment with where I'm at. God has come through for sure. I'm feeling much happier and have been focusing more on the positive things instead of the negative. There are so many fun things coming up that I have to look forward too. The Family Campout and hiking Half-dome are going to be awesome! Thanks for reading my ramblings, hope you all are doing well.

xoxoxo Evelyn

Dear Mom & Dad

....It's Wednesday night and I ought to be reading for Sociology or sleeping but here I am writing. You are off in the wilderness hopefully having a blast, out of reach. It's pathetic how much I miss you. It's pathetic that tears are welling up in my eyes as I type this. Maybe it's just the stress of starting school and having to say goodbye to friends that has made this week especially emotional so far. I thought having you gone would help me feel more college-y but it has just made me realize I am going to have a tough time going away to college in the not-so-distant future. Most of my friends are excited to leave for school, to finally have some freedom and be on their own. I'm so happy at home. You guys are the BEST parents ever. Period. Thank you for being so wonderful, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to start doing something to annoy me so I will someday want to leave!

While I was in Tahoe I felt so at peace with life and so happy. But after being thrust back into the real world, life isn't so blissful. I've been looking through photo albums and wishing I was a carefree little kid again. I hate having to think about the future and big decisions. Dad-I know I am supposed to look at college/finding a career as an adventure but it is so hard for me sometimes. I am such a worrywart!

School started on Monday. I was signed up for a softball class but arrived to find it wasn't what I expected. The class is preparation for the season and I would have had to join a weight training class as well. I struggled with the decision of whether to drop the class. I wanted to ask you guys for advice but felt lame that I couldn't just make the decision on my own. I did in the end. I dropped it so I could have more free time, more time to study, to sew, to paint, and to visit friends on the weekends. Hopefully it was the right choice.

I know I will get back into the swing of school eventually. It has been amazing having Gretchen around, she is such a blessing in my life. Thanks for letting her live with us! Grandma is doing well, she told me she loved me tonight :) Well I'll just keep plugging away for now. Hopefully I'll get to the pile of laundry on the back porch soon. Can't wait till Sunday when you get home.

Love,

Evie Lou

p.s Wesley I miss you too!

Bittersweet feelings

Cuesta starts in 16 days. :( :( No me gusta. I really shouldn't complain since I got out in May but this summer has flown by like it does every year. I'm definitely in denial over school starting and a lot of my friends going away to college. I've just been so caught up in trying to hang out with them as much as possible that I don't know if I've had time to process that they're leaving. It will probably hit me hard this fall. That's not going to be fun. God is saving me from total depression by keeping Sarah Phillips and Lauren Page around this year. I'm so thankful for them. There are actually a lot of people from Slo High going to Cuesta so I have a feeling this should be the best semester yet. I will just miss my friends so dearly.

I've had such a great summer so far. Two trips to Mexico, one to L.A, a graduation party, and ample hang out time with friends. But I'm greedy and want more time. This year I have really connected and built some great friendships. Now, as many of them are going off to college I find myself wishing I had met those people sooner. But one year is better than nothing!

I still have one last hurrah before school starts....a senior trip to Lake Tahoe! I'm hoping it will be a great time to relax, recharge, and savor time with friends before school starts. xoxox Evelyn

An Eventful Weekend

My mom and I spent the weekend down in LA with our good friends the Bredbergs. We got to go to Burke Williams spa in Pasadena on Saturday. That was such a treat! It was like entering a whole new world. I felt a little out of place as I imagined what it would be like to float in indoor spas, get massages, and take endless showers on a regular basis. I'm sure it would loose its awe factor after a while though. We followed up our spa adventure with a trip to "21 Choices" which is the best frozen yogurt place on the planet. It's Yogurt Creations meets Coldstone. You choose from custom flavors and then they mix in whatever you want! I got strawberry shortcake flavor with pound cake and rainbow sprinkles mixed in-mmmmm.

The rest of the weekend we spent working and playing. There is always something exciting going on at the Bredberg house. For my mom and Kim working meant editing the book they are co-authoring about education and homeschooling and also working on marketing their website Collective Banter. It's basically facebook combined with the scholastic art and writing competition for artists, writers, and musicians. You can win money! They are all about advertising at the moment so here you go mom and Kim..... This is the link : http://collectivebanter.com/ Go check it out!

Working for me meant running lots of errands and talking to Kim about the book of my high school writing that she is going to publish. Woooohoo, I can't believe I am going to be a published writer. Pretty cool. Kim is always coming up with awesome ideas for me, but I never thought I would have my own book! She's going to use it to teach other high schoolers about the writing process. Now I have to write something for the forward and a blurb for each of the pieces. It's a little nerve racking to sit down and try to write something you know is going to be published!

Hannah and I had a great time hanging out, being totally dorky Twilight fans, and seeing the movie "Grown Ups" together. It was hysterical. I would highly recommend it along with Inception which was AMAZING.

Wow I have been promoting a lot in this post. Better give you a break. Tata for now

xoxox Evie

A monumental discovery

I just found the coolest website! It has all these amazingly cute blog backgrounds that you can download for free. It's so easy-and coming from me you know that's the truth. There's a link to it under my favorite sites. Flowers make me so happy!

All my wisdom has been robbed

I'm sitting in bed with lots of gauze in my mouth and feeling pretty darn good. I just got three wisdom teeth pulled. I used to be scared to have them taken out but after my trip to Mexico I became very enthralled with the idea of anesthesia. They started an IV in my arm which I've never had but it was very similar to having blood drawn (I've offered my arm to my fellow phlebotomy students many a time!). Then they put something over my nose and said it was oxygen. They asked me to do something but I honestly can't remember anything past that point. When I woke up I felt sooooo weird. They helped me walk to the recovery room to lay down in for a few minutes. It was all very funny to me. I'v decided my mind is too impenetrable for drugs to make me loopy. Hypnotists don't have a chance either. Heheh. However, this experience has given me a lot of compassion for those people in the world who are all there mentally but can't talk or express their thoughts and emotions. That would be so incredibly frustrating. It makes me see people like that in a new light. Anyways--wonderful Caitlin is coming over later to watch Lord of the Rings with me. I should probably get some sleep. But first I want to talk about my graduation party....

It went so well. I was a little nervous about the speeches and the ceremony part. But it was really nice. My parents had the most heartfelt things to say and of course they made me cry. My speech went well until I started thanking Kim--I lost it royally at that point. Tears aside it was a very special ceremony and party. Everyone came down off the deck and prayed for me. That was really sweet. I'm incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life that care so much about me. The food was AMAZING and I received so many encouraging cards and wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone who came, and I missed all of you who couldn't make it. I'm off to go hibernate. Tata for now! xoxox Evelyn

Last night was such a great night. I have been wanting to have a dance party in our old house ever since our renters moved out. I really wanted to do it before a lot of my friends left on vacation for most of July. At the beginning of the day it wasn't looking like very many people could make it. Low and behold every single person I invited ended up at my house later that night. That's record breaking. We had such an awesome time dancing and we had two mock rocks. That was definitely the highlight of the evening. Fond fond memories. Thank you Jesus for all of my amazing friends and for providing the opportunity to hang out with them all before their vacations!

Team Godines!

Maria-the grandmother at our site. She got a letter from her son with a note saying God Bless You to all of us

Adrian and Wesley trying to be par-core (don't know how to spell that) in the party house

Casey all Cola-ed out. My favorite picture of the week I think

Mexico this year was great. It was less laid back than last year but it was just as good of an experience. Despite having small numbers and three houses to build we still finished a whole day early. This year was unique because we got to rent this "party house" thing in the neighborhood and have lunch with all the families instead of having them come to our campsite. I mustered up enough spanish to share with Maria during lunch. She gave me the biggest hug and then launched into telling us how much she appreciates all of us. She said that God told her we were angels sent to her to build her house. I love her so much. She is such a kind soul. I was a little bummed throughout the week that we didn't have kids or VBS on our site but listening to Maria at the end made it all worth it. None of the other families shared except for her. This was my 5th year going to Mexico and I don't think I will ever get tired of it. Each year is so different and so special.

I got to help Trale (a dental hygiene student) suction while he used the ultrasonic instrument

We were invited to Joel's (the owner of Velmar Hospital) house for Paella on our day off

Me and my horsie Maria. She gave me the most thrilling ride of my life! She literally galloped down the beach and I was holding on for dear life. I was laughing hysterically. See the video :)

Me and some cute kids from the migrant camp

I was able to watch 4 births. This baby girl is literally minutes old and I got to hold her and feed her. I felt bad that her mother didn't get to hold her first though.

An enormous tumor I watched be removed from a very overweight patient's abdomen. Sorry...heheh

Me and my roomates (the dental hygeniests)

A group photo- this was only part of our group. There were 25 of us altogether

Me and Joeny in front of the general hospital. She spoke fluent spanish and was a great friend.

My two week trip to Ensenada was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. Thank you Sally Beck for helping me get there! I was able to see four births, two surgeries, tour two hospitals, visit a public health clinic, help clean kids teeth at a migrant camp, and do glucose tests at an orphanage. I also got to go on an awesome horseback riding adventure, see the Bufadora (a big blowhole) and meet some great people. When I arrived at our hotel everyone was so friendly and welcoming. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone in our group over the next to weeks. There were so many different people from all walks of life. I felt like I had a few stand in mothers and made some really great friends. I really miss them-we were all like a big family. We ate together, worked together, cried together, talked together, and had fun together. I learned a lot about the health care system in Mexico. It's better than I expected but it is definitely different than ours. The labor and delivery room really opened my eyes to that. There were 12 women laboring in one room and it was virtually silent!

I was a bit frustrated with my spanish during the trip. I used to be able to speak so much more smoothly and I felt tongue tied every time I tried to say anything. I had good days and bad days language wise. There were some people on the trip that didn't know any spanish and they elected me to help teach them basic things. That was nice:) But being there really ignited the desire in me to some day be fluent in espanol!

So I was hoping that going on this trip would also make me super passionate about medicine. That didn't exactly happen. I enjoyed the trip and the things I did but I still don't know if I'm called to medicine or if I'm passionate enough about it to have a career in it. I'm pretty sure I want to help people and involve spanish somehow. I just don't know if it will be in health care. I feel so fickle. One day I think it sounds great to be a P.A. The next day I get an uncomfortable feeling when I think about medical things and having to see sick people all day long. I also found out that P.A school is really hard to get into and you need at least 3,000 hours of working in health care before you can be considered a strong applicant. I'm scared to throw myself into something that I'm not sure if I will even like. Lately I've just felt so unexcited about college and my future. Nothing is sparking my interest-how lame is that? I enjoy a lot of things but I've never had a dream career. I know God has a plan for my future but it is still so hard to have faith that everything will work according to His plan when I'm the one having to make the decisions!

Even though my trip didn't answer all my questions and give me an overwhelming passion for health care I'm still so happy I went. It was such a valuable experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thanks to my wonderful friend Lauren my blog is now the way I want it and I actually know how to work it. Here are the pictures from Kayla and Justin's wedding. It was such a fun event-everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves so much! I am so thankful I was able to go. My dad and I left around 9pm and I drove almost the whole way to Bonita. We spent the night at the Sanchezes and the next morning we drove across the border and arrived at Suites Malena where we met everyone from Santa Rosa. It turns out I didn't miss anything important the previous day so I'm really glad I chose to go to Kayla's wedding!

So far I kinda stink at this blogging business. I'm pretty technology challenged and better get Lauren to help me figure out the layout options on this thing. Anyways... A lot of things have been going on lately. This weekend my dad, mom, grandma and I went up to visit UC Davis and attend an orientation for the trip to Mexico I'm going on. Our friends the Becks let us stay at their beautiful home in Alamo and it was great visiting them. I'm going on a two week trip with Santa Rosa Junior College (random I know) where I'll be working in hospitals, clinics, orphanages, and farm camps. The orientation was really long but I really like the man running the trip and all the other students seem really nice. I will receive 3 units of medical spanish and 4 transcultural health care units for going on the trip-pretty sweet! I'm really excited to get to practice my spanish and really connect with the people in Ensenda in a new way. I'm not sure how I feel about observing brain surgery and live births though...

God really came through on this trip. I was planning to go on another medical related trip but it wasn't looking like it was going to work out. Then God literally dropped this opportunity into my lap and even provided me with an amazing friend who is helping me pay for it. Then God decided to test my faith a little I think. I went to bible study and was telling everyone about the trip when someone pointed out that the trip starts on Kayla's wedding. I immediately burst into tears. All night I cried and asked God "why did you give me an awesome opportunity and then take it away?" The next day I called the trip coordinator and begged if I could somehow meet the group in Ensenada the day after the wedding. He was so nice about the whole thing and said yes. I was so happy but felt bad for doubting God. He really is good!

After the orientation we went to visit Davis. It was really hard to hear the lady giving the tour because we had to push my grandma around in the wheelchair. I was kinda frustrated that she had to come with us. We ended up talking to some really nice people all over campus. We visited the art, spanish, english, and pre-health advisors. I like too many things! I like the campus and town a lot--but I don't know if I had "the feeling" about the college. I guess I just need to visit some more places for a little comparison. Thinking about college excites me but also worries me because there are so many decisions that have to be made!

Duh-duh-duh- DUHHH!

Well I never imagined myself starting a blog- but then again I've done a lot of things lately that I never thought I would do. Here goes!