Everybody's Changing

This summer has been jam packed with all sorts of activities and changes.

I mentioned quite a few of them in a recent post.

Two of the biggest changes happened in the same week: Josh's brother and his family moving out of state, and our last week of the college group.

One of my very first posts on this blog was about our first meeting with the college group. It's crazy to think of how far we've come, how much life has changed, and how many young people we've come into contact with in the past {almost} three years.

I get very nostalgic and like to look through old pictures or blog posts or Facebook statuses to remember the many things that have happened in my life. I used to religiously write in a diary or journal...but I've been very bad about keeping up with that since right before Josh and I started dating (which was over seven years ago). I love being able to look at things and remember back to what I was doing, who I was with, and the fun things we did.

Looking back on our time with the college group, we had some really great times, some occasional weird times, some times when our group was only 3 students, and other times when our group had over 20. We studied multiple books of the Bible, did a series on the doctrines of our faith (the covenants of God, creation, etc.), and had nights when we just shared about things that were going on in our lives. We had nights where things were a struggle, and nights where things were a breeze. We did girls only events and guys only events, we went to a baseball game together, went to the park a few times, watched students come to know Christ and get baptized, watched some choose a different road to travel, and watched some start/end relationships.

(Pics from our bowling night with the college group. Girl pic!)

All in all, I look back on our time with these students and I smile. Josh and I had never led a group like this before. Neither had our partners in crime, D and E (whose relationship we got to watch blossom. They went from dating to engaged to married while working with our group, and are now to moving away to start Bible school). All of us had either never taught before or hadn't done it very much. We were all able to grow in amazing ways and were able to learn so much from each other and from the students. We didn't know when we started out how this thing was going to go or how long it would last, but we knew God was calling all of us to work with this age group...and I'm so glad He did.

It was time to take a break to re-evaluate and see if God has something different in store for us. While we still don't know what the fall is going to look like, we are all excited for the future.

(Guy pic!)

The college group was not always an easy thing to lead. It was hard always having Thursdays blocked out, plus whatever events we had on top of that...because it meant we had to say no to anything else that would come up that would interfere with that. Other than a couple of vacations and some emergency situations, we met consistently every Thursday night for those three years. And while other people might not have understood why we couldn't just cancel it sometimes or why we had to always be there, we knew why. God had called us to this, we made a commitment to it, and we stuck with it.

I have a very committed personality. I don't change plans I've already made very often if something else comes up. Once I make a commitment to someone to be somewhere, I'm there unless an emergency or something crazy comes up. Because of this, I've had to let some people down in life...because I already had something I was committed to. Being someone who hates to let people down, it's been a tough road to walk...but having this strong commitment to the college group, since we were responsible for leading and hosting most of the time it was going, really showed me that it's really ok if I can't do everything for everyone. Keeping my word and doing what God has called me to are much more important.

 (The whole gang - minus the ones that couldn't make it, of course)

So while a lot has changed in life these past three years, I am very grateful for everything they brought, good and bad. I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without walking down the roads that I've walked down since we said yes to leading the college group. I am so thankful for all that God did in me, for the ways the students helped me to grow, for the opportunities I had to pour into them, and for the amazing relationships that either started, grew, or transformed during that time. What an amazing journey it was.

4th of July

We had a busy, but fun 4th of July this year.

We started off our day with a BBQ at my sister's house. We ate yummy tri trip, corn on the cob, baked beans, and margaritas with lots of salt on the rims.

We then headed over to my in-law's house to celebrate Josh's grandparents's birthdays (one of their birthdays is on the 4th and the other is on the 6th, so we often celebrate them both on the same day). I unfortunately wasn't able to enjoy the food, because we had just eaten at my sister's, but I did enjoy a yummy piece of cake and some homemade ice cream.

 

(These two make my heart melt. The hubby and our gorgeous niece)

We then headed over to watch our local fireworks show. We have gone the past four years that they've done them in this location and we always sit in the same spot. It's behind where the majority of the people are located in a ballpark type area, it's free, and it has an amazing view. This year was definitely the best year of fireworks that we've watched there. Many years, the finale hasn't been very good because they would let off a bunch, pause, let off some more, pause, and then let off the rest. Not a good finale. This year was a continuous minute and a half's worth of a finale and it was great! And the best part was watching my niece's reaction to her first experience with fireworks. She loved them!

All in all, a pretty good 4th of July in my opinion. And, the best part of all? Remembering the amazing freedoms we have in our country, as well as the freedoms we have in Christ. What a huge blessing freedom is.

(Linking up with Scottyboy and Katygirl and ACuppaKim)

In Between the Lines

Since my posting has been pretty few and far between, I thought a post to fill in the blanks was a good idea.

As I mentioned before, Josh's brother and his family had to move out of state for work. We had a siblings breakfast the morning they took off as a final goodbye. It was hard to see them go, but we are very excited for this new adventure for them.

 

(Me and my two nieces that I'm missing oh.so.much)

 

 (All of us after breakfast)

 

(Me and my sisters-in-law)

That same day, we celebrated my sister's hubby's birthday. It was a fun time of hanging out and playing Apples to Apples.

(Me, my mom, and my sister at my brother-in-law's party. Photo taken by my sister's friend)

The following week marked the end of an era. We decided to take a break over the summer from our college group. We had been leading it for almost three years and felt it was time to take a step back and re-evaluate things. While we aren't sure what the fall will bring, we are excited to see what God has in store for us and for the students. To cap off our time together, we went out for dinner and bowling with the group. It was a great night of fun and a perfect way to kick off our break.

(My hubby and I in our bowling shoes / Me and one of the college group students. I was this girl's leader throughout high school, too!)

And now, for some random pics:

 (Josh and one of our nieces. He was showing her the Disneyland app on the iPad)

(My June LoveClub accessory. So much fun!)

(Visiting my "niece". I love being this little girl's "Auntie"!)

(Me today after going to a two year old's Pirate Party. Notice my amazing pirate tattoo? It pretty much rocks)

Just a snapshot of my life lately. More serious posts to come...

Photo a Day in June

So my time for blogging (read lack of motivation) has been pretty much non-existent lately.

It's not that I don't have things I want to share...because I do...it just hasn't been happening.

But, it's already almost a week into July and I have June photos to share!

(This is my second month of joining in the fun that is fat mum slim's Photo a Day Challenge. For more info, click here)

 1. Morning 2. Empty (two of my nieces moved away, so my heart's a bit emptier) 3. On my plate 4. Close up

5. Sign 6. Hat 7. Drink 8. 6:00

9. My view today (at a wedding) 10. Best bit of my weekend (babysitting my niece) 11. Door 12. From a low angle

13. Art 14. Time 15. Yellow 16. Out and About

17. In my bag 18. Something you don't know about me (Gilmore Girls was the first show that I ever felt "attached" to the characters with) 19. Imperfect (I used to love this song by Skillet) 20. Fave photo I've ever taken

21. Where I slept (minus the sheets that were in the wash) 22. From a high angle  23. Movement 24. On my mind

25. Something cute 26. Where I shop 27. Bathroom 28. On the shelf

29. Soft (my amazing heated neck wrap) 30. A friend

I hope all of you had a lovely 4th of July!

(Linking up with Life Rearranged's InstaFriday)

Going Green

As I mentioned in some of my previous posts, I had to be on a liquid diet for a week because of jaw issues.

There were a couple of things I learned from a liquid diet (that I shared on Facebook):

1. Smoothies with spinach are actually delicious. You really don't taste the spinach. They just look nasty.

2. Taco Bell's Pintos and Cheese tastes amazing with their nacho cheese mixed in (maybe not the healthiest option but I was majorly craving nachos).

3. Freezing a smoothie over night is not wise - it takes forever to thaw. It also gets a bit freezer burnt and tastes and smells nasty (or maybe it's just the peanut butter with the spinach that was grossing me out...or maybe I was just getting sick of smoothies!).

So, going back to number one...I'm going to share with you how I made my daily smoothies while I was on my liquid diet via iPhone pics.

 (First, I put a little bit of ice in my blender. You don't need a lot because of all the other ingredients. You could even skip it if you want)

 (I then add my fruit. I bought this mix at Target and love it! The fruit looks fresh and is the perfect size for a smoothie)

 (I don't put a lot of fruit in. You don't need to. Even a little bit adds a lot of flavor)

 (I then add some rainbow sherbet. I made some without the sherbet, and put in some low fat yogurt and peanut butter instead. Both are good, but I'm partial to the taste the sherbet adds. I only put in about 3-4 small scoops)

 (I then add some lemonade. I just made some lemonade from frozen concentrate. You can see in the picture about how full I poured it)

 (I then add the spinach. I bought this organic baby spinach from the supermarket. I know it says it is triple washed, but I still rinsed it off. I put about three large handfuls of spinach in the smoothie. As you can see in the picture, it pretty much fills up the blender at this point. I pushed the spinach down a little before I started the blender so it would mix faster)

(And, here is the finished product. It looks gross but it's so yummy! You wouldn't even know there was spinach in there if not for the color. The amount I put in equaled two smoothies, so I would pour one into a glass to enjoy for lunch, and pour the rest into a freezer safe cup to save for dinner)

As I mentioned in point number three above, I don't recommend freezing them overnight. I only did that with one that I made with the peanut butter and yogurt, but it was not appetizing and it took a very long time to thaw. I had it in the fridge for over six hours and it was still solid. Only a couple of hours in between meals worked the best for me.

A friend of mine told me she puts carrots and broccoli in her smoothies. I haven't tried it, but I've heard you can't really taste them very much either. I'm looking forward to trying some different combos to include vegetables into my smoothies.

How about you? Have you gone green with your smoothies? I'd love to hear some of your tips on including vegetables in your sweet foods.