Bye Bye Teenage Years

So we have reached today...June 29, 2009. My last day as an official teenager. Woweee kazoweee! I remember turning 13 :) My family and I drove to Las Vegas and we stayed at Excalibur. I felt so grown up! Now, I as I remember back these past 7 years and all my teenage memories, I'm kind of happy to be entering a new era so to speak. And as I look back on my 19th year, it was AMAZING. But I know that God will make my 20th even better :) So, so long teenage years! It was nice knowin' ya, but I'm heading for 2 decades! Let's go!!!!

Here's a picture timeline of my years so far :)

Have a blessed day :)

One year old

3 years old

14 years old

17 years old

19 years old

Beach Days

We went to the beach again! Yes! I hope to go many more times before summer is over. We went to the same beach spot that we went to about a month ago and it was so hot! Not too many people were at the beach, so we played in the water and ate lunch. The only thing that we didn't get to do was explore the little cave that they have since the tide was so high today. But the waves were huge! The crashed and crashed. Man, I love the beach!!! I came home with sand in my hair and ears, but I really don't care...I'm such a beach baby!

On other news...my birthday is in 4 days!!! No more teenage moniker for me. I'm pretty excited and I'm still deciding on how I should celebrate it.

I also took a trip to the library yesterday and checked out several books. They included: Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion (both by Jane Austen), A Light to My Path, Candle in the Darkness (both by Lynn Austin), The Amateur Marriage, and The Accidental Tourist (both by Anne Tyler). I didn't even realize until now that I got sets of books by the same authors. Funny... :) So yes, I'll be enjoying my time reading and having fun in the sun! Share your summertime adventures with me, as well as good summer reads.

Have a blessed day!

Beautiful View

Me at the beach

Alex relaxing on the beach

More pieces of my poem

Here is another excerpt from my poem:

As called by name above, Light enters,
And shines as only Truth and Love can.
He brings my heart up through His glory and splendor,
Protects me, guards me close with loving hands.
He calls His angels near to stand their ground,
Their radiant wings will stop and shield the terror.
They shout to Darkness with a thunderous sound,
The Creature cruelly scowls upon seeing his error.

My breath has come back
And the shackles break.
God’s angels stand ready to attack.
The demons quiver; I can see them shake.
The Lord lifts me up onto my feet,
I lean against His shoulder,
With Him I feel fine and complete,
A fiery furnace I could smolder.

I really enjoyed writing my poem and I hope that you enjoyed reading it. It was inspired by a dream that I had and I turned it into a poem for my Brit Lit class. I find it relevant to living in the times that we are.

Have a blessed day! :)

Facebook Stuff

Ok, so why am I writing a blog post about Facebook? Maybe because I spend so much time on the website or because I can upload pictures and chat with friend who are across the country. I guess that it's a pretty cool site because of those things. I post the link to my blog so that more people know about my blog. I also write reviews on movies that I have seen, you know, get the word out on whether they were good or bad :) I've also made some good friends by talking with them on FB - that's facebook in computer talk :) - and then talking with them on the phone. Party plans can be set and my video blogs can be updated. It's an overall great tool to use. And my username has been set, so now just type it in to find me on FB. My username is pinkjuana...its soooo me, I know :)

Have a blessed day :)

LA Zoo Trip

Yay! The zoo! I hadn't been to the zoo in a while, so when my friend invited me and my sister to go I jumped at the chance. It was fun, too! I wondered, shortly after arriving there, how one goes about choosing the first animal to see. I guess we just started at the beginning of the park. We saw pelicans, went into an animal cave, then to the petting zoo. I promise you that those goats wanted to EAT me! They just stared at me with hungry eyes!

Then, we saw lions, and tigers, and bears...no lie! :) The tiger was probably my favorite animal there, besides the jaugar. There were hippos, camels, monkeys, wolves, and alligators. It was pretty interesting to see animals from all over the world in one area. I loved the howler monkey. I actually thought that a bird or child was making the loud noise, but no...it was the howler monkey screeching wildly.

We all got a really good workout walking around to see the animals. After a few hours, we sat and ate the lunch that we had packed. We finally took a tram ride about three time around the whole park, just to sit and relax. A tiring, but fun-filled day!

Have a blessed day!

Summer Updates :)

Summer's just started, but so many great things have happened already! As I sit writing this the weather doesn't feel so summery (it's kind of cold and windy). But summer's also a state of mind! So in that spirit, my AVAM classmates and I went to the 2009 AVAM Pool Party. If you don't already know, AVAM is the homeschool physical education group that my sister and I attended. Anyways, despite the cold weather the pool water had been heated to 80 degrees. I didn't go swimming, but I enjoyed the food and conversation :) This is the last year of AVAM and I got quite sentimental after the party because I've made so many great friends in that group. I've learned how to play many sports and enjoyed my time in the class. Shout out to my fellow AVAMers: I loooooove you guys!!!

So here's a quick update on my summer "happenings" list:

1. I made the Dean's List!!!! So all that hard studying really did pay off :)

2. I've had one beach day so far! Lovely time!

3. Went to the wedding

4.Saw Terminator, Defiance, Schindler's List, Kitt Kittridge, and Angels and Demons

5. Nearly jump out of my chair...ok I really did...when I saw the new Transformers trailer

So, yes, my summer list keeps getting bigger and bigger :) And only 22 days until my birthday!

Have a blessed day!

Kids at the AVAM party

Alex and I at the beach

Alex and I before the beach trip

Tennis and a Wedding

I'm having a very eventful "end of May, beginning of June"! My friend got married on Saturday. My sister, another friend, and I spent the afternoon going over our outfits, picking out eyeshadows, and practicing dance moves :) The ceremony was beautiful, as was the bride! After the wedding, I was hungry from dancing so we went to McDonalds and I ate a double cheeseburger for my late night snack :) Then, on Sunday, my mom, sister, and I saw Terminator Salvation. It was really good, but I thought it could've been better. Maybe I just expected waaaaay too much from it. We went to lunch at Wendy's and we tried a new coffee shake. I think that coffee + shake = yum yum yum! But after lunch we didn't want to go home so we went back to the movies and saw another movie! This time it was Angels and Demons, which I really had no expectations for. It ended up having a lot of action and an interesting plot so I enjoyed it. On Monday, my neighbors left for their vacation and I'm in charge of taking care of their dog, birds, AND cats. Oh yes...I'm very talented ;) (This is my second dog-sitting job in two weeks!) The dog, named Buddy, is sooooo cute! I don't like leaving him alone when his family isn't there because dogs need attention!

My sister wanted to play tennis on Tuesday, so she finished up her schoolwork early and we went to the park to play a game or two. We had no idea how hot it was! We played 5 sets in a game and I won 3-2. You did a good job, Alex! Tennis is one of our favorite sports and it really gives you a workout! We we're surprised at how well we played since we haven't played in months. It's that muscle memory I guess. But, as it turned out, we had forgotten our water bottles, so we walked to the store and got something to drink. By this time, I realized that my tendons were burning from rubbing against my shoe. By the time we walked back to the park, I had to take my shoes off. It was all good, though, we just played "baby tennis" in our socks. And another lady who came to play after we did asked me if I really played in my socks! So, yes, it’s been a very fun week! I can't wait to have more adventures!

Have a blessed day!

Alex and I at the park playing tennis

Pretty Alex before the wedding

Me before the wedding

Dreaming of Balloons

So the other night I came home from my friend's wedding (which was muy muy fun!). But I wasn't tired so I decided to watch Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...I only watched 16 minutes of the featurette and was ready to go to bed, but not before I drank at least 20 ounces of water mixed with crystal light. (Do you sense a "crystal" theme?) It was hot in my room and I was thirsty, plus I had eaten a late night snack of a double cheeseburger ;) Usually when I eat or drink a beverage too much before I go to sleep I end up having crazy, wacky dreams. This time was no exception! I dreamed that I woke up and heard sounds coming from outside of my window. I got up and opened the blinds only to find that I lived near a balloon factory that had just blown up. So naturally there were balloons EVERYWHERE! It really was a fantastic sight! I looked down below my window and saw my nieghbors. They didn't care about the balloons, but I think they were mad about being woken up. Needless to say, it was a strange dream, though not the strangest that I've had (I once dreamed that Philip Seymour Hoffman was chasing me around with a tiny razor trying to cut my foot...but that's a whole new blog post!) I'll be sure to post more crazy dreams!

Have a blessed day!

Me being as crazy as my dreams! :)