I can't believe my little brother is 12! I remember when the nurses were checking him over after delivery, and now he is a big kid of twelve! It's crazy to see that he is one of the biggest kids at church. O.o When oh when did that happen?!? I used to carry him around EVERYWHERE and now he can pick me up! Alright enough of that.
Yesterday was a very very lazy day. I was still trying to recover from my week in Prescott watching some little ones at a missions conference, (I never knew a 2 year old little girl could kick my butt so bad!) and flagstaff to visit the Grand Canyon. After sleeping for what was probably an unhealthy amount of time Jake and I got up and went to horse back riding lessons. Yesterday I started to learn the most fun and terrifying thing I know to do on the back of a horse.
... Loping!
If that doesn't get your blood pumping, I don't know what will! I couldn't help but laugh really hard every time I tried loping. I was sure I wanted to stay on Maggie, but I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do that. Yes, I know.. Maggie doesn't sound like the name of an animal that you're worried about falling off of. But I LOVE this horse. She has spirit! She's not mean spirited. But she will let you know that your will and her will are totally separate in her eyes. We are still trying to learn to work together. :)
I'm a little sore today and have a few bruises on my thighs, but nothing too bad.
Just recently I decided that if I'm going to attend a cowboy church and get involved in the cowboy culture I should probably invest in a good pair of boots. And invest I did!
Look at them babies! Purty ain't they?
This morning Mom announced while we were milking the goat, "We're going to make prickly pear Jelly!" Ughh.. Okay Mom.. So after quite time and talking to my friend Amanda in Texas I dutifully pulled on my cowgirl boots and plunked Dad's hat on my head and got in the car to drive into the desert by our house to pick prickly pear fruit. Welp.. That's a great idea in theory.. BUT, we couldn't find fruit ANYWHERE!!
Me wearing Dad's hat. Don't I look cute? lol (Not truly the best photo. But you get the jest! :))
I'll tell you a secrete but be quite about it. We finally found fruit on different empty properties and then we got a little adventurous and would pick fruit from prickly pears along the side of the road coming into the neighborhood. Shh.. :)
My Mom asked me once as we're getting out with our long tongs and bucket to pluck some fruit off the cactus, " Do you think anyone lives here?" my reply you ask..? "Just repeat after me Mom. Say in the best hill billy voice you can muster , "Officer, we weren't looking to snatch any of their fruit. We just pulled into these heres peoples yard to share the good news of Jesus, kinda like them their Jehova's Witnesses! We come in and pluck their fruit because they're ripe for harvest!" Bhahah! Who could possibly argue with that?!?!
That catches you up with this week.
Last week however.. That is another story.
I can maybe sum it up with one photo.
That is Gugi. The adorable bug obsessed four year old that I watched at the missions conference in Prescott last week.
And that is Miss Abi. She's a very engergetic two year old and has quite the little personality for being only two. Do you notice though that I'm not above bribing the two year old with candy so that she'll like me?
Those were my two kiddo's for the week. We had fun. I introduced "bubbles" and "playdough" into Miss Abi's vocabulary. And I tried my best to keep Gugi from putting beetles in my hair.
It was nice because I had quite a bit of down time at the conference. So I was able to hang out and visit with different people. I'm so glad that I was able to go!
Last weekend I was invited to go with the mission team from La Mesa to Flagstaff and visit the grand canyon. We drove up to the Canyon on Friday right after the conference was over.
I met a new friend his name is squirrel. (Inside joke)
And I had an awesome time with the team. During sunset we sat on the edge of the canyon singing praises to God and had a time in prayer.
The next morning the group of us woke up and had a time of group prayer before we headed off to a friends house for an amazing breakfast. Ken who is the leader of the group (and my friend Erika's Dad), quickly bought himself a fond place in my heart. I was just grumbling to myself before the group prayer that is was almost sacrilegious not to have coffee during prayer time. :) And in walks Ken with a couple travel carriers of Starbucks coffee and milk and sugar! YAY!
I couldn't have asked for a better prayer time with an awesome group of like minded believers or a better breakfast! :)
Saturday we spent our day at Saver's thrift shop and Walmart. There was a little girl in Saver's that sounded exactly like Miss Abi and I kept having to remind myself that Step and Andy had already left. I kept wanting to go look for her! lol
Sunday morning we all stopped at this cute beatnik coffee shop in Flagstaff before making our final decent into Tuscon. I was so happy to ride with Beto and Ale, because most of the way back to Tucson I talked with Beto about alternative medicine and then he was telling me different stories from the clinic in La Mesa. That's what every nursing student likes to hear about! :)
:( Even though I'm looking forward to getting this last year of school behind me, it's still sad to see the summer go. I have a week from Wednesday left of summer vacation. It will probably be the quickest year of my life to date. But I'm also excited for it. I'm curious as to what new things God has for me in this coming year.
