Mail Call and Starry Nights

Another week has gone by... Only one more full week of campers and I am done for the summer. WHAT? It's gone by that fast? I was blessed with a great group of silly girls who loved Slip and Slides and too much candy. This week was great!

Crafts! I now have a new necklace and keychain thanks to my girls.

Counselor Hunt! giggles won again, and she looked incredible!!

More crafts. I love macro.

Slip and Slide! My girls made me go on it with all my clothes on, and we had a blast.

One of my babies was a gymnast and runner, and was incredibly flexible. She would hop onto the slip and slide and shoot down that thing faster than I have seen anyone go! ahahah

My girls and I at the Slip and Slide.

Magic Carpet rides. We sang Little Red Wagon too many times.. Including one round of 24 verses. I loved this week's enthusiasm and joy.

Low ropes. I did a little debrief about the body of Christ and working as a team, I would really suggest reading it if you haven't before. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12-26. I feel it is incredibly important that all Christians read and desire the knowledge that comes from these passages. It really changed me as a person and how I handle relationships in a Christian manner.

Yayyy my babies! They are all so cute and I am so blessed to have had such a stretching cabin.

Creek walk. What a beautiful adventure and a wonderful opportunity to bask in God's glorious nature.

This week was just so great, and I'm excited for this week to come. I'm going all out this week, and I think we're going to have lots of fun =]

Question of the blog:
While on the creek walk, I was bit several (maybe several is a little vague) times by mosquitoes. I do not like mosquitoes. First, don't you think it's weird that they have the word Toes in their name? And second, where do you think the most annoying place to get bit my a mosquito is?

Let's Just Say...

Today was a good day.

Edward's Crossing

Picnics at the river.

Staff Banquet at Wolf Mountain.

Throwin up the Pioneer sign

Our lovely centerpiece

Baby Puffin was my date.


I had a thoroughly splendid day, those were just the major highlights. I am so grateful for everything that has happened to me this summer. I have learned so much, met incredible people, grown a lot in my faith, and stretched myself in so many ways. Please let summer go on forever?

Question of the blog:
Some of my girls at camp this week would just lather on their sunscreen like the sun was sitting right next to them. I personally use SPF 8 sunscreen because, hey, I like getting tan! What SPF intensity do you use, if any at all?

Pistachios and Love Languages

Every week, God continues to stretch me in ways I know I need to be stretched. This week was awesome! I had a great set of 7 girls who all knew about the Lord, and had a fire to learn more and more every day.

This is my cabin and I. We went Christmas caroling one night, all around to every cabin. We had a great time being silly and making everyone laugh along with our awfully awesome songs.

One night, my cabin went with Kringle's cabin on a night hike, where we walked in the darkness along the road and up to the archery fields. Kringle did a little debrief concerning the light and the dark, and I felt the kids responded to the adventure really well.

My girls had a rough time getting out of bed unless you motivated them to do something, so almost every morning I brought out cards and they could play Go Fish once they were ready for the day. This gave them great opportunities to get to know some of the other staff as well as making us on time. Hehe =]

Counselor Hunt! Journey won this week, and oh man was he funny. I didn't get dressed up this week which was a nice break. It was fun helping out the kids and decorating everyone into hilarious costumes.

MC5 and Monty finally participated this week, and the girls went wild decorating them. I could not stop laughing during their model struts in the fashion show.

Man oh MAN it was hot this week! Goodness. My girls spent a lot of time at the pool and pond zip. We did a lot of crafts together and I made a really sweet hemp bracelet =]

More card games with my girls. And Cody. Cody was a silly kid this week, but we had a great time. It's so encouraging to know that we as staff have such power to comfort kids and make them feel better even with just a simple high five or remembering their names.

These are my girls! Such characters and all so full of joy.

Wa, another week is over. It was rough saying goodbye to everyone. I have already gotten emails and phone calls today from my girls this week. We had such a great week, full of incredible questions and lots of learning time in cabin huddles. I pray that I can continue to be a good example and that my future cabin girls will be as responsive as this week.
Ah! God is just so great. He has filled my life with some incredible people that have already made such a difference in my life. I am excited about the future and about what God has planned for me. Yay yay yay yay happy happy happy. I am so joyful, and so excited for each and every day. Forever and ever amen. Eep! It is nice to be silly and goofy again. Hehe. I am smiling right meow.

Question of the blog:
One of my favorite things in the whole world is seeing people walking all alone, and smiling. I love seeing that they are comfortable with themselves and so joyful that they just let their honest smiles out. Do you ever people-watch? What is one of your favorite things to see?

Girls In White Dresses With Blue Satin Sashes

This week has been lovely. So here are a few of my favorite things that happened this week:

1. Singing Christmas carols in July with my cabin
2. Lifting my hands and spinning around
3. Falling asleep under the stars with all of Junior Adventure
4. Waking up with bible studies
5. Tooth fairy surprises
6. Praying with Marcelina everywhere and anywhere
7. The cup game at meals
8. Dancing under the stars
9. Appreciating other people on random occasions
10. Being able to worship God in everything.

Question of the blog:
What was one of your favorite things about this week?

We Spend Our Days With Smiles On

I love camp! That's all there is to it.
Yesterday, a bunch of Junior Adventure staff went out to Lake Tahoe and hiked a good eleven miles around the lake. It was glorious.
I love spending time with God in nature.

Puffin bebe! This trip was so great for many reasons, one being that I had many opportunities to get to know each staff member a little better. I love spending time with all of them, especially my little Puffin. She is just so precious.

Chilly (aka Kaylee) and I. She is just so cutsie.

Puffin and Mary at Eagle Falls. A couple of the staff climbed up there. The whole trip was so beautiful!

Yayyy Junior Adventureeee. Okay so this isn't all of the JA staff but that's a-okay. I love em all.

This is us trying to jump at the exact moment on a 10 second timer from like a million miles away. Too bad we didn't get the timing right! hahah
I like these friends a whole lot. Thank you for all that you do.

Question of the blog:
As we ate our lunch at Vikingsholm in Lake Tahoe, there was a little chipmunk that was running around us trying to sneak food. I LOVE chipmunks. It would be great if I could just have bebe chipmunks and squirrels as pets. If you could tame any wild animal to be your pet, which animal would you choose?

Just Talk

Dear friends,
I think today of all days I will express the importance of good role models in your life. There are a couple of adults in this world that make an incredible amount of difference in my life recently, and Laura Preece is one of them. She is such an amazing woman, and I'm so glad I have women in my life that want to be there for me. Sometimes it's just nice to meet up with someone older with you, just to talk. It's so nice just to talk. I am so blessed to have her in my life. Last year, I didn't really feel like I had any women who I could go to and just talk with... About anything. I've started to recognize a couple now, and let me tell you it is so relieving to know that you have those people in your life. I am happy today. Thank you Laura, if you're reading this. You are so great.

Question of the blog:
Do you have any specific role models? How have they inspired you or what have they done to help you change into the person you are today?

A Look Back, Part 1

One of my favorite things to do is to go through old files and find pictures of today from past years. This one is from July 8, 2005. Four years ago! I love this picture.

Question of the blog:
I think I'll start posting more picture memories as a series. I'm sorry that my photography series never came along.. But that has no relation to the question of the blog. Which is this! This morning, after my second broken permanent retainer was removed, I went to Caroline's Coffee and had my favorite morning snack: a 16 ounce iced latte, single shot, whole milk, 1/2 shot of vanilla.. and the butt of the coffee cake. What is your favorite drink/snack to order at coffee shops? Do you go to a certain coffee shop so often that the baristas know what you are ordering the moment you step into the coffee shop?

Back and Forth

Most of you don't know this, but in January I started getting extreme back pain and soreness for no reason. I was in physical therapy and seeing a Chiropractor for about 5 months, and it helped a lot. Through those 5 months I changed my diet a lot, and worked a lot on strengthening my back. A lot of it was due to stress, which I (thought I) learned how to control a little bit, or enough to not let it affect my body, especially my back. I was going strong all through the end of may up until a few days ago, when my back started feeling very sore. I'm worried about how long this pain is going to stay, and I'm worried that I will have to start doing physical therapy again. I don't want my back pain to affect how I counsel my last three weeks at camp... So please keep me in prayer. I think this is my body telling me I need to cool it this week and stop getting worked up. Sigh.

On a lighter note, today is beautiful. Go outside and do something! Today is the perfect river day.

(These are from last Saturday at the river. I'll post more pictures of that day very soon.)

Off Day

I wish I was back at camp.

First and Foremost

I'm going to formally apologize for my lack of Question of the blog lately, but I will be sure to add those from now on. And due to my incompetence to keep them going, I will ask TWO today! What a treat!
Question of the blog: number one. My new banner, yes? Good? Or should I ix-nay it for something different?
Question of the blog: number two. I was talking to a friend yesterday about first memories.
One of my first memories was in England, and I was walking around our library while my dad and his friends were sitting around. I remember turning to my dad and telling him to show me his scar, which was on his stomach.
Another one of my first memories is playing McDonald's in the kitchen of our house in England. I remember sitting on the black and white checkerboard floor with Moorea, and we would record our voices into a little colorful tape player. "Wewcome too MacDonowds may I take yah ohdah?" We found tapes of us saying that a while back, and it instantly sparked my memory back to those days. I wish we still had those tapes.
What was one of your first memories of this world?

Tastes Like Purple

I am chewing gum right now. This makes me very happy, because I can't at camp, and I am usually an avid gum chewer.
Anyways, last night I bought this gum: Trident White Cool Rush. The first time I bought it, I was quite hesitant because seriously, when have you ever seen a product that tastes minty that is in a purple case? It's always green, blue, or on occasion you get a red case. I was so confused but I thought I might as well try this odd little thing.
I wish I could explain how Trident Cool Rush tastes... But I will settle with one word: purple. It's so weird! It's a great mintyness, but you get a hint of tropics in there and it's all mixed around in your mouth and makes you want to do a funny little dance you have never done before. It's so odd. But so purple. And I love it!

Hi There, Raisin Friend!

I just wanted to give a quick hello to all of my new readers. I keep hearing from quite a few people that they have just started looking over my blog. This summer is a little different from my usual posts. In my normal posts, which occur quite often, I am generally much more sarcastic and I pretend to be a lot funnier that I really am. This summer I am working at Wolf Mountain Camp, so I haven't had much time at all to update my posts, and when I do, they are about camp and mainly just contain photography. So sorry that you've entered my blog world (muah hah hah) at such an awkward stage in its life. Soon it will be back to its uncomfortable but well updated self. Bear with me. You and I will get through this together.

On a lighter note, this is my little sister and I exactly one year ago. Septum piercing, long hair, blue otter pops. So much has changed in such a short time.Happy Fourth of July and please stay safe in all of your activities this weekend.

Empty

Yesterday, a few Wolf Mountain staff and I went to Soda Springs for a night. It was a lovely break, full of fellowship and rest. This morning, I woke up to a new day, and I was excited to be there, yet my heart just felt so heavy. I don't really know what it was. I've always just stated it as an "off day." I guess that's how I'll keep stating it until I have something better to call it.
So this will be a quick pouring out of my emotions, in the most positive manner possible.



I'm very grateful for the friends I have made at camp. I feel like I really belong there right now, and that God really wants me to be at camp, for more than just taking the role as a counselor. I had a really hard time the first two weeks feeling like I belonged there. I have changed that point of view and now know that this IS where I'm supposed to be, and that God has a purpose for me to be there. I feel as though although probably very small, that I have made a difference somehow.

I'm having a hard time staying happy. I always say, I am not happy, but I am joyful. But sometimes, I just want to be happy. Silly Alexandra likes to put a heavy weight on her heart. I think (this time around) that because I was so overwhelmingly busy the past 3 weeks, I didn't have time to think about myself or my life. But this past week has given me a lot of time for.. me. What? I had almost forgotten about all of the things that were going on in my life because I was so consumed in schedules and my girls for that week. This week off will be a time for me to confront those hardships that I am avoiding, and it will be a time for me to turn around my sadness and ask for peace.

I feel slightly uninspired to write anything else of my own right now... So I hope you enjoy that song. It is sleepy time for Alexandra.

Thank you for all who went to Soda Springs this weekend, I had a wonderful time and I am glad I got to know a few of you a little better. You are all such blessings in my life, and I know God has you at camp this summer for specific reasons. Thank you for inspiring me to advance in my faith through whatever activity we partake it. Sigh, you guys are great.

Dear Pet Gopher Snake...

We didn't know you would taste that bad. Sorry we killed you.

One shot KO made by Monty the Maniac.

Yes. It was a solid blow to the face. I'm glad you were put out of your misery fast, that was nice.

57 inches! We couldn't believe it.

Huge huge gopher snake. And baby Wyatt throwing rocks at it. Good boy.

Scalies. Goodness, I love texture. God made everything so beautiful and intricate in this world.

Bounce and Monty skinning the snake. Slightly repulsive, but they were awesome.

Dericious. At this point I was really not feelin up to eating the snake.

All skinned. So gross. Then Monty talked to Dog Bone and we decided to bread the snake like chicken...

I'll be honest, it was disgusting.
So, my dear little gopher snake, I'm sorry we killed you. I really hope you weren't the pet gopher snake that Becky kept until it was too big... And you didn't really taste very good so that sorta was bad too. Okay byee.
Love always,
Alexandra