Favorite Thing: Flea Market

My Favorite Thing about today:
The Webb Road Flea Market met many needs in our life today. We went originally because Chase needed to buy a gameboy so he can play Pokemon with the boys when we go on our mission trip. Through the journey I found a sweet pair of cloth polka dot pants that I'm pretty pumped about. In a huge table of piled up shoes, we sifted our way to some Tom's.

Now I know used Tom's #1 scream of foot disease and #2 defeat the purpose of the whole Tom's organization but they were being sold for $15 a pair or 2 for $25. That's half of ONE pair at regular price!! So...we bought some.

We Lysol'ed them for good measure.

Finally at the end of our trip, Chase found a gameboy and haggled his way down by a whopping $1 difference. What a success!!! If only we'd traveled there on a cool Spring day. Afterward, we refreshed ourselves with some delicious fried ice cream.

Yum!!

Follow: Sam

The next of our two senior girls is Sam. Earlier this Spring, Sam came to a girl's retreat at the camp ground and found some like minded Christian friends who enjoyed a lot of the same things as her. Since then she wanted to come to camp so she could experience this awesome place for a whole week verses just a weekend.

Her fave part this week was the Ashes Remain concert. They played the style of music that she likes best and she was able to mosh with the best of 'em.

I love hearing about the projects she's working on. She has so much enthusiasm and passion for her hobbies and writing. Sam is always herself and proud of it!

Follow: Dana

Last year was Dana's first year to come to camp. I remember being so glad when she decided to come. We had so much fun all together.

After having a blast last year she couldn't miss it this summer!! Her fave thing this week has been our nightly messages from the camp speaker.

We've talked about positioning ourselves to follow God and setting boundaries to help us follow Him.
Over the past few years, she has positioned herself as a leader and friend at Xalt. It's awesome to see her impact!

Birthday Girl

Today is Anna's birthday so naturally it's her profile day.
Every year I've been to camp, Anna's been to camp. We started off at Jr. High camp 2 years ago now we've moved up to High School camp and we love it!! I'm so glad to have her in all of my camp memories. We always have a blast and each year brings us closer together.

She loves coming to camp to meet new people. Her fave thing at camp this year was the Ashes Remain's concert. She was totally pumped for her pic with the band member.
Anna's also my hair mannequin so below is an inside out pig tail braid she let me do on her.

Follow: Olivia

This is the second year I have been at camp with Olivia. She continues to come because every year is such a blast. She enjoys the nightly services most about camp. It is great to have her around because she is always good for a laugh, easy going, and willing to have some F.U.N!!

Megan Monday!

One of our two senior girls at camp is Megan who last came in 8th grade. I'm SO excited she decided to come this year because it is her last year to come as a camper. She decided to come this year after hearing how much fun everyone had last year. Her fave part so far has been cabin time. Cabin time consists of group time with our cabin girls, getting to know one another, and sharing about your day.
It's been great seeing her grow over the years and to be able to become a closer friend to her.

Follow: Caroline

This week's camp theme is Follow. There are 6 girls her from Xalt and...6 days!! So you will get a lovely profile of one of these fine young ladies each day!!

Bravely volunteering to go first is Caroline, it's also her first time at camp.
She decided to come to camp because it sounded fun and a previous weekend retreat at the campground peaked her interest.
Her fave part so far has been the worship!! It's always rockin'.
Her fun loving but quiet personality can be summed up in the adorable squirrel socks she's wearing!!

Summer Vaca

Having the summers off allows me to spend time with the Xalt students!

And I love it!!

There's been Sweet Frog dates

late night Taco Bell

(with no worry of being out too late)

Summer Lunch Crew

(we pick a restaurant and eat lunch together)

sand volleyball

and more dance rehearsal...!!!

Having the summer off also means spending Monday with Chase.

Last Sunday night, we went camping.

Willow even got to come along. 

I don't think she loved it but 

it may grow on her.

For dinner we cooked potatoes in the fire

then roasted...bacon.

That was a first

but it tasted good!

 

Between all of that, I spent time with the puppster

and worked around the house.

I even finished the 5th Harry Potter Book! 

My last Les Lit was ages ago...eek!
Speaking of Willow, she's spending a few weeks with our parents
so hopefully there won't be any damages to report. 

Salvation Is Here

This summer our Pastor decided to do a series called So You Think You Can Dance.  Each week is a different aspect of life that we have to "dance" with.  To make the series come to life we are integrating some actual praise dances into our worship time. 

How I came to be involved: 
I'm not a choreographer by any stretch of the imagination and I'm not even a great dancer but I love to dance and LOVE the show SYTYCD.  Also, one of the goals on my 25 things to do by 25 was to have more dance drama in our Xalt services. Even though this is for the main church congregation...I was stoked for the opportunity.  And who knows? Maybe this will light a fire for Xalt to have some more dance involved in the services for the upcoming year.  

25X25 Goal:
Some girls and I put together a little diddy for the Xalt talent show which mashed up the songs "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and "Good Morning" by Mandisa.  The girls did an awesome job, sorry I haven't posted that. 

Back to the Point: 
More recently, to kick off our summer series I found a dance on youtube to the song Salvation Is Here.  We cut it down a few minutes to fit our schedule and the dancers did a tremendous job on our Praise Dance (click to see the video).

I really enjoyed getting back into rehearsing and just enjoying dance.  The dancers learned so quickly, had amazing attitudes, and allowed for our passion for dance and God to come together.  

Operation Retro!

We've been watching a show set in the 60's 

and I've come to realize I was made for those outfits!

I love the colors, the shape, and the emphasis on dresses and skirts.  

 A dress can make you feel like a million bucks 

or 

a dress can be the perfect comfort on a lumpy sort of day.

I told Chase I'm going to clean out all of my clothes 

and revamp my wardrobe 60's style.

I probably won't actually go that far but 

as you can see I'm one dress in and kinda hooked. 

dress: NY&C cami: Maurices shoes: Kohls necklace: thrifted costume jewelry earrings: Kohls
Photos by Chase via iPad (he was so excited to use it)  

Xalt Grads!

Thirteen years

Three levels of schooling

Friday night football games

Dazzling Dances

Choir Concerts

Marching Band

Friendships made,

stretched, and lost

Of course, your

daily doses of drama

And then one day

Cap, Gown, and Tassel

Don't forget

Speeches

Cheering

Pictures

and then...

an end.

Not the end

but an end.

A fun, memorable, hopeful

end!

Congrats Xalt Grads!

We can't wait to see all of your accomplishments.

Two Days!!

Two days until summer break! 

So far this week...

Talent Show

lots of dancing and tumbling

Michael Jackson impersonators

Boy do I wish I could show footage?

Hilarious!

Field Day

water games

bouncy games

sharp Frisbee games

My personal fave: 

a little fella 

singing and jiving 

along to the DJ

The next TWO days 

finalizing grades

catching up on some work

sharing the kids' enthusiasm 

for the beginning of Summer!!

J's Graduation

20 years ago the girls my mom babysat and I sat by my mom singing "baby baby suck your thumb, you don't get no bubble gum." We sang this particular song because my baby brother's ultrasound showed him sucking his thumb. A week ago, I watched him graduate from high school. I can't believe how the time passes.

Most of his high school career I've lived in a different state so I've missed out on some things I wish I could have been there for: cross country and track meets, dances, and your everyday game nights or family dinners. On the other hand, we've stayed fairly consistent at talking to each other on Thursday nights, I attended his eagle scout ceremony, and it even worked out for us to go to his senior award banquet for cross country. The times I come home or they visit we always make the most of it and have a blast.

Last summer, we drove up to VA to meet my fam during their mission trip.

I will always cherish the period of time after I graduated from OCU and November when Chase and I got married because it was just J and I at home. We hadn't experienced this before. I enjoyed getting to know the teenager my little bro had become while I was at college. During those four years, he had gone from an elementary school-er to a high school-er. That's a pretty huge difference. Living with him again, showed me how fun-loving and sweet he still was. After another three years it's crazy to think he has grown, matured, and developed even more into an amazing young man full of great potential. I'm excited for the future God has planned for Him and hold dear the moments we've shared throughout the years!