Knights, Pie, Soccer, and a Beautiful Choir Concert...Twice!

Friday night Corrie, Millie, Grace, and Kevin came over around 5:30pm. We drove to Waldo Theater for Sean's play called Daze Without Knights. It was really funny! Josh did a fantastic job too! After the play, Shannon, Billy, Millie, Grace, Kevin, Sean, Mr. Hughes, Mrs. Hughes and I went to Moody's Diner to eat some pie. :) I got a delicious Peanut Butter Cream Pie. When we all finished are pie, we said good bye to the Hughes and then headed home.

Saturday morning, we had my homemade bagels and Billy made some pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, we played Dutch Blitz for awhile. Around 11:30am we packed up and left for a pick up soccer game in Waterville with some SMASHers and some of their other friends. That was super duper fun! The team I was on ended up winning but we didn't really keep score.

After soccer, we drove over to the Phillips' to have hot dogs supper. :) Mrs. Phillips also kindly provided showers for the sweaty soccer players. :D We tried playing Apples to Apples for awhile but people got distracted so we ended up just talking.

Eventually, we all drove to Colby College to listen to Nick, Joel, Mr. and Mrs. Estes sing in huge choir accompanied but an orchestra and three soloists. Nick, Joel, Mr. and Mrs. Estes did a beautiful job! The Soloists did a splendid job too! They did Hayden's masterpiece: The Creation. The Estes had a huge amount of friends show up, it was great! After the concert we all hung around and talked for awhile. I mostly talked to Kenan about soccer and hunting. :)

On our way home, Shannon dropped off Jolie and Corrie are their house and the Kidd's slept over another night.

Church we great Sunday morning! We had a guest preacher preach on being "Loved and Loving".

After church we went to the Almquists around 2pm for some ice cream and games. Around 5pm, we left and then went to the Estes concert at Colby again so Mom, Dad, Erin, and Kyle could see it. That was fun! We got home around 11:30pm. I was soo exhausted and sore from soccer the day before that I fell right to sleep! :)

Fun Weekend Ahead!

Tonight Shannon, Billy, Mom, Dad and I are going to see Sean's play called Daze Without Knights. A teacher in Sean's school wrote play. We're meeting the Albees at the play and after the play they're taking me back to their house for a sleepover! :D

I think we're just going to hang out Saturday morning and then drive to Waterville Saturday afternoon to play soccer with the Phillips, Elayna and some other fun people! After the soccer fun we are going to hang out at the Phillips' house until the Estes concert at Colby College. I'm really excited!

I made 20 bagels last night for the first time in over two weeks! Now, I'm going to bake something from The King Arthur Flour website! Anna gets all her amazing recipes from there so I'm looking forward to it.

Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser was a Success!

Last night our church put on a spaghetti fundraiser for Mom, Shannon and Kayleigh's missions trip to Haiti next month. It was a success! I think we had about 40 people show up, I'm not exactly sure though. Joel, Kenan. Linnea, Catherine, Meredith, Connor, Mrs. Crawford, and Aunt Debbie even came to the dinner! It was great! Joel brought along his Accordion and played it for everyone. It really added to the Italian mood. I had a fantastic time serving our wonderful guests with Meti, Millie, Grace, Kevin, Mr. Kidd, Ginny, Kyle, Jason, Shannon and Billy! Serving is so much fun! I know we raised a good amount of money but I'm not sure if I should say how much...

Last Sunday, I had a photography job at the Basilica and I forgot to mention that it was a success also! I'm expecting people to start ordering their prints next week! :)

Super Dandy Day!

The talent show at Anna's church was awesome! It was stinkin' hilarious!! I really enjoyed it. I really liked the skit Billy, Ben and Parker were in, when Anna sang the Apple song, and Mr. Wright's song at the end.

Saturday morning, Mom and I dropped off Billy at the Almquist's house to help tear up their walkway so they could put gravel down. After dropping Billy off, Mom and I cleaned the church, went grocery shopping at Walmart, then Mom got a coffee and I got a coffee coolatta at Dunkin Donuts. Billy finished helping the Almquist's sooner than expected so we went and picked him up.

When we got home, Dad and I quickly ate lunch and then drove to the Basilica in Lewiston. Adam and I watched the rehearsal while Dad set up the back drops down stairs. After the rehearsal was over, Adam got the lighting set up. We talked to Mr. Smith (the guy that coordinates the First Communion and Confirmation event) and then left.

When we got home, I helped Mom clean the house. Mom had it pretty clean already so that was nice. :) Around 4:30pm, Nick, Joel, Kenan, Linnea, and Douglas showed up. Nick, Joel, Douglas, Kenan and I started playing Around The World with the basketball for awhile. Kyle arrived while we were playing Around The World and minutes later Jolie, Corrie, and Brenna showed up. Millie, Kevin and Gracie arrived soon after. Our game of Around The World kind of faded at the mention of Ultimate Frisbee. We took three cars to Recreation Drive and played Ultimate Frisbee for about two hours, I think. That. Was. So. Much. FUN! At first, I was on the losing team until Billy switched sides with Kevin. Our team ended up winning with a score of 15 or 16, I think. The other team had 14, I think.

When we got back to our house, Jolie and I cut some chicken into bit sized pieces, put them in a bowl for supper. We also had jelly beans, chips, salad, water and cream soda! Eventually, it got too cold and buggy outside so we moved inside. We played Catchphrase, talked and had ice cream. Douglas and Joel can make the strangest sounds. :P

The Estes and Douglas left around 9:30pm. :( The Kidd's and Kyle stayed until almost 10pm and the Donahue's stayed until almost 11pm. It was a great day! I was SO tired though! My feet are still slightly stained from the grass because I played Ultimate Frisbee barefoot. I also have a pretty big bruise on my knee from Ultimate frisbee. I'm not sure where it came from though... Either one of my dives or from one of my collisions with the other team.

Track Meets + Friends + Sun = Super Duper Fun!

Yesterday morning, Mom, Shannon, and I picked up Corrie at her house and then drove to Waterville Highschool. When we got there, Joel and Libby went to go pick up Nick. Corrie, Shannon, Mom, Colin, Douglas, Lydia ( I think that was her name?) and I went and watched Billy's track meet for a couple hours. Libby, Nick and Joel came back probably a half an hour after they left. We watched alot of high jumping and javelin while we waited for Billy's races to start. There was this one guy who was a beast at the high jump. I took a picture of his extreme skill.

After Billy's track meet, we walked to Libby and Colin's house. When we arrived, Mrs. Phillips had delicious grilled cheese sandwiches ready for us. After lunch, we played spud. I came in second. Colin came in first. After spud, we played pass the frisbee for a while. Later, Colin decide to climb a tree and we followed his lead! 

Billy, Colin, and I in a high tree.

Colin and I call each other "Chuck" and  "Norris"  because our names are so similar.  Corrie  drew our  "tattoos".

<3 1234 <3 Corrie and I on our way home.

On our way home we decided to have Corrie sleep over. :D  When we got home we experimented with Corrie's hair and then went to bed.
Then the next day I had to do school, so Corrie wrote an email. Then, for lunch we had grilled peanut butter and jelly.  Tonight we're going to Anna's church's talent show!

A Set Apart Life Discipleship Conference

Last Thursday afternoon, Mom, Dad, and I went to go watch Billy's track meet in Lewiston. Billy told us that Jessi, Jolie and Corrie were there so we went and watched the track meet with them. :) Billy is SO fast. It was awesome to see how much he improved since last year.

Once the track meet was over we said good bye to the Donahue girls and then headed to the Merrill Auditorium in Portland to meet up with the Sepulvedas. We got there just in time to see Daniel play the Cello with the orchestra he is in. I also got to see Bethany play the Cello too! That was a very delightful surprise! :) On our way back from the concert, Daniel, Elisabeth, Hannah (a friend of Elisabeth's), David, Maria, and Theresa sang a bunch of fun and beautiful songs. 

The next day Theresa, Elisabeth and I were the only ones at the house because everyone else had school. Elisabeth and I had breakfast, talked, decorated cupcakes, talked, packed, talked, and talked until it was time to go to Kristyn's house. :) Before getting to Kristyn's house, we picked Anna up at Panera Bread so her Mom wouldn't have to drive her all the way to Kristyn's house.

When we got to Kristyn's house we loaded up the three cars that were heading to Rhode Island. Once every girl that was going to the conference arrived, we headed out. Kristyn bought me a milkshake at McDonalds because she knew I had just gotten my wisdom teeth taken out. :)

When we got to the church in Rhode Island we registered for the Let God Write Your Love & Life Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy conference and then enjoyed the first session. :) It was about giving God the "pen" of your entire life. You may think you can write your own love life because God is kind of old... But who invented love in the first place? God did. I think he know a little more than you or I do.

I think we arrived at our hotel around 9:30 or 10pm. We each dropped our luggage off in our rooms and met in one hotel room for quick devotions.

The next day we all quickly got ready, ate breakfast and packed up our bags and went to the church again for a day full of the Ludy's talks.

The first session was The Sacred Honor ~ The Art of True Purity Faithfulness. If I remember correctly, that was about honoring your future spouse even before you know who they are. Picture two eyeballs following you around, those are your future spouse's eyes. Live as though your future spouse is watching you. Eric Ludy said, "If you don't train in faithfulness before your marriage, how will you be faithful during your marriage?". Proverbs 31:12 says, "She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.".

The second talk was fortification, I think. It was pretty much about Satan trying to attack our breaches (weaknesses) and learning on how to use God as your safety tower and fixing your "breaches". My notes aren't super clear, I apologize. Eric Ludy is really quotable, here's another quote he said, "You want Hell to go on red alert when you wake up in the morning.". Prayer is the key.

The third talk was about Set-Apart Femininity. This was about putting Christ in his rightful place, putting Him before any other love in my life. Self has to go away and Jesus needs to shine through. John 3:30 puts it very nicely, "He must increase, but I must decrease.”. Turn your gaze upward and don't focus on your beauty but focus on God and His beauty and His beauty will shine through you. Give God the best hours of your day with the best energy.

The fourth talk was on "Reckoning with Truth ~ Living a Fully Surrendered Life". Fix your eyes on faith and experience will follow. Be in Christ. When something is buried, it is forgotten, Jesus buried our sins. 

I'm sorry if some of this is unclear, I don't remember everything and I'm not the greatest note-taker. I pretty much walked away wanting to know more about God, I want to memorize lots of Scripture, pray much more, and honor my future husband.

Also, Kristyn brought up the question, if we're Christ's bride, what are our wedding vows to Him?

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Tuesday morning I had my wisdom teeth removed. The anesthesia made is seem really quick and painless. When I first remember waking up I tried to get up and fell back in my chair. :D I was not ready to go. When I was ready to go, on my way out I ran into the corner of a wall and a nurse said, "Yeah, the wall jumps right out at you, don't they?". That's all I pretty much remember and that my lips were numb until like an hour after I got home.

When I arrived home, I watched Iron Man 2. It was pretty intense!

Through out the day I watched Merlin, slept, ate popsicles, and fudgicles. I tried eating some beef stroganoff for supper but I ended up getting really nauseous from swallowing my blood and I threw up. :/ Later that night I ate some chocolate ice cream and took some pain medicine, and went to sleep.

I woke up around 2:30am because my cheeks and gums hurt SO bad! They kept awake off and on until 6am. Mom woke up at 6am and got me a fudgicle so I could take some more pain medicine. After I took the pain medicine, I slept until almost 9am. I tried eating oatmeal for breakfast but I didn't eat much of an appetite. I took another nap until almost 11am and then I ate most of the oatmeal, took ibuprofen rinsed my mouth with salt water, and then took a shower. The shower felt really nice! After my shower, I finished my oatmeal. Now I'm expecting Corrie, Jolie and Rebecca to come over in 15 minutes for a quick visit. :)

A Pretty Relaxing Weekend

Last Friday evening we had a Good Friday service at our church. It was really good! It's really amazing that God sent his only Son to die on the cross for our sins.

On Saturday I slept in and then made myself breakfast. After breakfast I went on the computer for a little bit and then I went on a bike ride to Lewiston. It was 3 miles there and 3 miles back. I was soo exhausted! I am going to try and bike 6 miles every other day until it gets pretty easy and then I'll bike even farther. After my bike ride, I took a shower and then I did corn rows in my hair.

Tada!

I just have to do the top braids thinner and I think they'll work!

After I did cornrows on myself, I fixed the seal on the bottom of the fridge. It was coming out of it's lining because some juice spilled and made in fridge really sticky.

Yesterday was Easter! I like to dress up extra pretty so I wore this pretty light green dress and did my hair is a simple tucked updo.

That video shows how to do it. I had some short strands of hair that don't fit into the updo so I used a small curling iron to curl them away from my face.

Church was SUPER full yesterday! My family and I had to sit in on of the front rows. I really enjoyed the music! Mrs. Kidd sang beautifully, Jake, Mrs. Crosby, Mr. Hurley, and Kyle did a fantastic job! After church there was alot more food than usual. My plate was full with a lots of sweets and strawberries.

After we left church, we stopped by the hospital to visit Mom at work.

When we got home Billy made a delicious ham dinner! We all talked about things we really want to do before we die. For example, some of us want to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, ride an elephant, pet a koala bear, and travel to every state in the US.

Casey and I went out to Starbucks last night and came back home because nothing was open...Not even Walmart! :) I guess that's a good thing on Easter.

Today I haven't gotten much school done because my nephew, Gabe, is here. He's so much fun! :) After he leaves, I'll finish my school.

Lace Braid

Last night Nina let me try a hairdo on her. I'm not sure what it's called but I like to call it a zigzag lace braid. I got the idea from a picture I saw on Pinterest.

This is my version of it. I think it would look really pretty with some small white flowers and one big white flower by the ear.

A lace braid is very similar to a French braid but you only grab hair from the top. It's pretty easy. Here is a video that doesn't really explain how to do the lace braid very well but it works.

Enjoy!

Bagel Recipe

 Today I plan on making bagels. I believe I said I would share with you all the recipe so here it is...

Dough
1 tablespoon instant yeast
4 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (I just use brown sugar)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Water bath
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (again, I just use brown sugar)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar


Combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and knead vigorously, by hand for 10 to 15 minutes, or by machine on medium-low speed for about 10 minutes. Since you're using a high-protein bread flour, it takes a bit more effort and time to develop the gluten. The dough will be quite stiff; if you're using an electric mixer it will "thwap" the sides of th bowl and hold its shape (without spreading at all) when you stop the mixer. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and set it aside to rise until noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into eight pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let them rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up very slightly.

While dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water and sugars, to a very gentle boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat oven to 425.

Use a bagel cutter, or your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter (the entire bagel will be about 4 inches across). Place each bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Transfer the bagels, four at a time if possible, to the simmering water. Increase the heat under the pan to bring water back up to a gently simmering bowling, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, gently  flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or a strainer, remove the bagels  from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bagels.

Bake the bagels for 20-25 minutes, until they're as deep a brown as you like, turning them over after about 15 minutes, which will help them remain tall and round. Remove the bagels from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.


Onion bagels: Bake bagels for 20-22 minutes (or until they're almost as brown as you like) and remove the pan from the oven, keeping the oven turned on. Working with one bagel at a time, glaze (1 egg white beaten until frothy with 1 tablespoon of water) and then sprinkle with minced, dried onion. Return the bagels to the oven to the oven for no more than 2 minutes. <--- That's what the recipe says but I usually roll the dough (before I let the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes) in onion salt. They do end up tasting kind of salty if you eat your bagels plain, but they taste fine with cream cheese.

Cinnamon-raisin bagels: Before letting the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes, roll one ball at a time in cinnamon-sugar and raisins until you reach your desired amount. Some of the raisins do fall out while they get boiled.

Blueberry bagels: Before letting the balls of dough rest for 30 minutes, roll one ball at a time in frozen blueberries. This gets tricky as the blue berries melt and some of them will fall out as you boil them. I recommend boiling these bagels last because the blueberries turn the water blue.



My friend, Nina, gave me a duct tape bowtie to put in my hair. It's really cute!

Bowties are cool.

Shapoopie, it's Another Cold.

Yesterday morning, I slowly came down with a cold. Now my cold is pretty icky. I woke up around 6:30am this morning to make cinnamon roll pancakes and cream cheese glaze for breakfast for Nina, Kelsey, Billy, Shannon, Dad and Mom. After breakfast I went back to bed for an hour and a half because I felt achy and I didn't sleep well last night. I'm not achy anymore and I'm a little more rested. :) I'm going to take a shower soon and then slowly do my school.

Tonight I was going to go to the Richards' church to play Ultimate frisbee and eat pizza but, I don't think I'm going to go anymore. I don't want to get anyone else sick and I don't feel up to it anyway. What a bummer!

Hosting Friends

This week my family and I are hosting Nina and Kelsey while they attend Teenpact. So, while they're aren't at the capitol for Teenpact, they'll be here. It's going to be a fun week!

Yesterday, Gabie (my nephew) came over for a few hours. He's so cute! He is coming over again today. :) This morning he called our house and said, "Hi Nana..It's Gabe!", then Shannon picked up and talked to him for a little bit. He is one smart kid!

Gabe liked to wear Auntie Colleen's helmet. I really like his shirt!

Fawnwander!

Last Saturday morning Shannon, Sean, Millie, Billy, Mom, Dad and I went and helped my Aunt Debbie move into an apartment. That was fun and pretty speedy! Around noon time Shannon, Sean, Billy, Millie and I left for Fawnwander which is in Massachusetts.

When we arrived at the church, we played a pretty fun "ice breaker" game where we each got a balloon, inflated them, wrote our names on the balloon and then threw them in the air while loud music was played. We pretty much played "keep it up" with about 50 balloons! When the music stopped, we had to grab a random balloon and find the person with the name on the balloon. After we all got our balloons back, we put wrote down our favorite food. After that round, we wrote down our favorite fictional character was. For favorite food, I wrote down Pasta, for favorite fictional character, I wrote down Rory Williams.

A guy named Steve spoke on obedience. It was geared more towards the middleschoolers. :/ I still enjoyed it though.

After the session, we had soft shell tacos for supper. Mmm mmm good! For dessert we had delicious apple crisp (made by Mrs. Vandyke) and vanilla ice cream.

After supper we went to the YMCA. First, I went swimming in the 12 foot pool with Jenny, Naomi, Millie and Bethany, then I played dodge ball with a bunch of people. That was REALLY fun! It was Fawnwander people vs. some random guys who like the throw the ball really hard. Dodge ball gradually ended. Shannon, Sean, Talia and I watched some people kayak, and paddle boat in the pool until the pool closed. I really wanted to join the people in the pool but, I was too lazy.

After the pool closed, we went back to the church for a snack and then some singing and another session on obedience by Steve.

We had some free time after the session but Talia and I were too tired to really do anything so, we got ready for bed and talked until the boys went upstairs so we could go to bed. Talia, Shannon, Millie, Bethany, Naomi, Jenny and I slept in Youth room where it was pretty quiet. :)

Jon Evans (the youth leader) woke us up by blaring The Final Countdown! I must say, it worked very well. I got ready for church, and then did Naomi's hair in a fishtail braid. Shannon was ever so kind to bring my sleeping stuff out to the car while I did Naomi's hair. When I finished her hair, Talia, Naomi and I put my back pack in the car, then joined the rest of Fawnwander people for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to Church. That was good. :)

After Church, Steve spoke on obedience one last time. After his last talk we had lunch. After lunch we helped put the tables and chairs away.

Fawnwander we officially over around 1pm. I said good bye to Talia, Naomi and Bethany, and then Shannon, Billy, Millie, Dan, Ben, Julian, Lianna (only for part of the time), Brian, Sean, David and I played Monkey in the Middle with the frisbee. It may be a little kids game, but it was still fun! After awhile, we all went into Ben's house (he lives right next to the church) to celebrate his birthday.  We all talked, laughed a bunch, ate apple crisp, ice cream, ice cream cake, and played Apples to Apples. It was very fun! Right before us Mainers (Shannon, Sean, Millie, Billy and I) had to go, we took a group picture.

About 5 minutes or so after we left Ben called Shannon to tell her that Jenny still had my bathing suit. So, we turned around and met them at Dunkin Donuts. While we waited for Ben, Jenny and Joanna (Ben's younger sister) to show up, Sean bought us each something from Dunkin Donuts.

On our way home we played Catch Phrase. Let's just say... A car full of overtired teens, caffeine, and funny personalities stuck in a car for two hours equals a HUGE amount of laughter. We quickly stopped by Aunt Debbie's to get Millie's sleeping stuff which we accidentally left at her new apartment.

When we got home Sean drove back to his house and then Mr. Kidd picked up Millie.  Overall it was a fantastic weekend!