summer life

life this past week has been pretty busy as i've been trying to learn the restaurant business. i'm working at Hof's Hut on PCH and 2nd, so come visit me! haha.

i get to be a hostess, so it's not that bad or stressful. i did have to train with servers though for a while, during which my good friends amy, august, their moms, amy's aunt (visiting from NZ), my mom and katie came to visit me for lunch. we happened to be serving their section and i was dedicated the honor of taking, placing and bringing them their orders.

actually, now that i have kind of gotten settled in with the job, i'm enjoying it. there are a lot of interesting people that come in and i think it's fascinating just to people watch.

in other news, i'm off to Jackson Hole this weekend for a fun filled weekend of river rafting and Yellow Stone National Park! so excited!

well, thats about it for now...i'll hopefully post again before i leave this weekend.

peace out!

dedication to this cute girl

so, in case you were all wondering what is new with my little sister, katie, she is just ruling the house as usual and being her cute joyful self. i went to wash my car the other week when i was babysitting her, thinking she would play with the water, but she goes "d-nell, i wanna wash my car too!" how cute is that?! so, she washed her car while i washed mine haha :) she is also now taking swimming lessons, which she LOVES. she goes tuesdays and thursdays for half an hour and this last week, she asked me to come watch her.

even though the words "i'm not having children" frequently come out of my mouth when she does something annoying or misbehaves, i love her and think she is the absolute best little sister i could ever ask for! it is so fun to watch her grow and to be a part of that.

i can't imagine what my life would be like without her

Graduation Party/ a few from grad night

the last you all shall hear about graduation, i promise.
here are a few pics from grad night which was a blast! i can't believe i made it all night without falling asleep! :)
finally (around 5am) we all went to sit on the golf course and then ended up lying on top of one another...it was funme and allison lying on the golf course haha

and on other things... haha this i believe was right after we made our amazing music video, which was an absolutely brilliant rendition of YMCA! yes!
here are some pics from my grad party below
katie eating the balloons :)

me with krisit (cousin) and matt

mom

kristi put a bow on my head and then took a picture...attractive

awesome picture of me opening my new hiking backpack, kathy making a great face and elliot (the baby) laughing.

cortes and leah. or should i say "Gina" since she told me to call her that now...i don't think that will sink in though...she will always be mrs. cortes to me haha

nanny and gramps

mr. bras :)

granny

katie, aiden and leah playing on the swing set

i have no idea what was so funny...

rebekah, me, kamille and colby, who i've known since pre-school

gary...always ruining the pictures :)

aunt susie

katie won't smile in pictures...so i make her smile haha

aw, i love my sister!

kamille and her super cute new hair cut

Graduation 2009

wow! i can't believe it is officially over! it was a nice ceremony that ran smoothly. grace and mr. garner both gave amazing speeches and i managed NOT to trip while getting my diploma. however, i did not manage the water-works and pretty much bust into tears after the ceremony was over. i don't really know what else to say about graduation itself (i think i expressed my feeling already in my last post). my mom decorated my car, so she made me stand by it...she is so sweet

the only face katie was happy making for a picture was one with her tongue sticking out, so i joined her in the expression.

yay graduating! haha


after i had been crying in the off chance you couldn't tell. but i owe the person i have become to my mom. she has supported me in every way possible and i am so thankful for her.

the whole family...minus katie (it was a bit too late for her)

my grandma. i also owe a lot to her, as she helped raise me. she has also always been there for me and i am very blessed.

i was very glad coach jim could come. it really meant a lot to me! thanks so much!

andrea, who always makes me laugh...the picture should support that statement. :)

family

mr. tamminga and me. i will miss his inspirational messages that he always starts class off with. if i will remember one thing from his classes over the years it will definitely be Carpe Diem

hannah! the girl who got me through track with her amazing optimism. she is also one of the kindest people you will ever meet.

matt, who also helped me get through track these last 4 yrs. he always knows how to make me laugh and smile.

my family was being ridiculous and kept taking pictures...

me and mr. becksvoort. talk about inspirational, he has so much passion for God and life that truly is inspiring.

mrs. cortes aka best bible study leader ever! i was scared of her when i first met her cause i always had to leave her class for tennis. haha she is hilarious!

scott the tennis buddy

mr. bras. what an awesome guy! i will miss him

mr. rhodes...favorite government teacher. haha it was great to get to know him better this year

two of my best friends in the world! both who are always there for me and both people i can have so much fun with.

amy, august and i with amy's aunt, who kindly hosted us in New Zealand last summer.

branden, who has been great to get to know better.

hannah kim...i will never forget the time she thought we had a tennis match when 2 of us told her we didn't, but she still thought we did, told her teachers that she did and then realized we didn't when she got in the locker room and no one was in there.

some of the most amazing people anyone can ever meet!

i was bummed to not get a picture with everyone i would have like to, but there were other people not in the pictures above that made my high school experience everything it was. that helped me become the person i am. and that i hope and pray God will allow me to remain in contact with.

sorry for the sappiness, but i guess it's good to be sappy sometimes. that is all i have on graduation...on to the next adventure.

it's difficult to say goodbye

but i really can't believe how difficult it truly was. this was my last day of high school ever and much of the day was spent in tears. it started with august's heart warming message she wrote on my yearbook page and just continued from there. walking out of T.A. for the last time, and after talking to ms. admiraal, i hurried to english class with tears rolling down my face, after school while walking with grace and amy, i began crying (at least amy was too at this point). it's weird. and i find the whole experience weird for a couple of reasons. first, because it feels odd to know that i'm not coming back to this place that has been my life for the last four years. i'm not going to be with the people that have been such a huge part of my life, i will no longer see some of the teachers that have completely shaped my life, and for the first time in six years i won't be a student of Valley Christian. but nothing could have prepared me for what i feel like, which is the other part of why this whole thing is just so difficult.
i know that God has plans for me and i know that i will have an amazing time at Westmont. hey, probably by this time next year i won't even know why i was so upset over moving on. of course i'm excited and i do feel completely ready to move on, it's just i wish i could move on and not have to say goodbye. i wish i could move on knowing that the beautiful, amazing people God has put in my life will always be there, standing beside me. but, the reality is no one can ever know what the future holds. all we can do is live in the here and now and hope for the best.
honestly what i'm going to miss the most is the teachers who have shared so much of their wisdom and always been there cheering me on. my teachers, i believe, have really made my high school experience what it was. especially people like ms. admiraal and mrs. cortes, whom i'm very greatful to have gotten to know on a personal level.
i know most people aren't this sentimental about graduating high school, but the fact is that i have just really loved my time at Valley and truly had some great memories.
i guess my feelings can be summed up in these statements:

Ready to move on

But I don't want to let go

God, be my refuge

"For He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ"

Philippians 1:6

i'll be okay :) it's just hard for the time being.

hey at least i get to go back all next week for yearbook haha

senior trip!

alright, so monday was senior trip to Catalina. so, all us seniors arrived at school at 6:45am to go get on the boat and have a day of fun in the sun (or not in the sun, in this case, since it was rather chilly and overcast all day).

allison, andrea and i (well, half my face) on the dock, waiting to board the boat

don't amy and i just make the best faces :)

still on the boat...

okay so allison and i are just awesome like that and decided to up the status and rent a tandem bike! i'm not gonna lie, we had some major issues for about the first 30 mins. the first time we attempted to ride the thing, i cut my toe, which bled all over my sandal. and then within maybe three mins of riding with our group, she crashed us head on into a curb because she didn't know which way she was supposed to be turning. then of course it took us about another five mins to be able to breath because we were laughing so hard, by which time the rest of our group had deserted us and rode away. we kept seeing them, but always ridding the opposite direction that we were going. everyone that saw us either laughed because we were trying to turn and most likely were screaming and concentrating like it was the most difficult thing in the world. also i would be in back and as we rode away would shout apologies to people we almost mowed down and enlighten them to the fact that we were extremely bad at this. all i'm going to say about the tandem bike is that it was an utter and complete BLAST and we looked like the double mint twins (or so we were told). yay! haha

august riding her bike...after about an hour had passed and we had found everyone again going the same direction haha

oh my goodness! look how cute we are! well, i am anyway...totally kidding. she must have been trying not to crash us into anything else.after our bike ride, we spent the next hour throwing rocks into the ocean...easily amused? i think so.

i have no idea...

my true feeling finally come out. haha no i think at this point we were impersonating different animals and i was chocking her long giraffe neck...like i said, we are easily amusedsee now i'm hunting her and she is my prey on the african plains

not so mini sirloin burger! august is chowing down!we always have to take pictures with sunglasses

can you find us???

amy and her new friend
allison had some issues getting on. who knew if we were supposed to be on it, but hey it makes for a couple of great photos

gabe sat on me on the boat ride back...for like 20 mins! my legs were squashed! haha but after he got up allison proceeded to come and sit on me as well...how lucky for me. at least she weighs a considerable amount less than gabe. :)

well, that is all for senior trip. i can't believe graduation is almost here and tomorrow is my last day of high school ever! wednesday we had senior chapel where mr. rinks plays our "goodbye" video and everyone fades. i think the saddest part was the beginning with all the teachers saying by to us. i was okay through the video...just tearing up a little, but then allison walked over in full out tears and i just lost it. and thanks to andrea, i now have some lovely pictures of me crying. oh, goodness...graduation will be interesting. i'll post more on this later.

:)