Job Description:

I have a job. I work at a camp. My duties change from day to day. Today the kiddos have some free time in the morning, thus my job description (yes, this is what it says) is as follows:

"Generally be a presence in the dorms and surrounding areas - just checking up to make sure kids don't get up to something or get pregnant"


Yeah. I think I like my boss.

Lately

I'm tempted to assert that the end was better than the ride..... let's call it a grand finale. And so grand it was.

1. Church Prom!
Sorta self-explanatory, right? Mormons from all over the southeast-ish part of Michigan put on fancy clothes and go to a dance where no grinding is permitted. It's a good time.

Madi, Marah, Lauren. They rock my world.

Kiddos from our ward.

The Girlies.

2. STATES
APs this year were irrelevant. Seven years of forensics culminating at states my senior year. I wanted it, I was ready. Last year was solid and I took seventh. This year I was dynamic and they were going to LISTEN to me.
I was in second place after prelims, shot up to first after semis, then finals round slipped. I was sloppy, and the judging was not quite up to par. Fell back to third. Legit. I'll take it. And I did.

Stealing sleep  between rounds....Happens.

Oratory Awards, Class A. NERVE-WRACKING.

THE EAST SIDE! From Left to Right:
Domestic Abuse, Scientific Illiteracy, Inter(dis)course, Hearing Loss, Mental Health Awareness in Schools  

THE EAST SIDE <3 Left to Right:
Marissa, Karen, Lauren, Maddie, Ari

Trophies. NBD.

Forensic Team 2011 Captains--The Girls--Faith, Olivia, Sarah, Lauren

3. PROM
Ok, so I can't call this one a highlight, but it was fun. And I know that I would have regretted it if I'd graduated high school never having gone to a high school prom. So I went. With a group of buddies. Dinner was good, dancing wasn't bad. HOWEVER, I have to say that I think my favorite part was hanging out in the car waiting for our hostess to arrive at her house to begin our post-prom partying. THAT was funny. And, yes, I did wear the same dress to my school's prom as I wore to church prom. I am a dress repeater. My apologies. 

The Group

The Girls

The reason I went to prom. They're such sweethearts.

My Prom Date! Well. Kinda....

Changin! No worries-- This was before Tyler got to the car.

Creepin?

That Post-Prom Partying begins!

Clearly, we just clean up well

Tyler gave us all roses. Sweet, right? Susan's gonna stab him with hers and Sydnee's creepin. BUT HEY I'M CUTE, RIGHT?

 4. MACKINAC
I wanted to go to Mackinac. Badly. Groves' Forensic Team hadn't been to this tournament at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in YEARS-- since before I was in high school. I was determined to go.  Many of the captains were in, and so was our coach. WE WENT! :) I'm so happy with the group of people that ended up coming along, and we had SO MUCH fun. Instead of judging (not so much fun), Faith and I competed in Duo Broadcast. GOOD DECISION. It really was a blast. Finished our script the night before (well, early morning the day of) competing and pulled through in fifth. Not too shabby, eh? 

Just arrived on the island. :)

You get to dress up for dinner. It's fun.

Another Fancy Night of Dining. :)

Yep. We took one of those Lame, Cheesy photos with the Finals Postings. Cuz our names are on it. Duh.

OH! and how could I forget?  Night of Champions! I have some sweet connections in the forensic community, and consequently got to perform for all the students, coaches, etc that came to Mackinac. That was so fun, owning the stage like that. Only messed up a little. I'm so, so glad I got to do that.

5. Graduation!

I graduated. It did happen. I know, it was questionable for a bit. But Commencement did come and I walked. I also got to speak. It was kind of amazing how many opportunities to speak popped up toward the end of the year. But being up there on the stage kept me entertained with only a couple minor mishaps.... Which I won't go into. :) I also spoke at Seminary graduation, but no photo ops for that one. 

With Komal at my Grad Par-tay! Next to the little children's toy. As is entirely appropriate.

** I did get to wear special yellow cords for being smart, but I forgot them... so my dad went back home and got them! They're just not in the pictures... :(

6. GIRL'S CAMP

Last year of gathering with my Mormon buddies from southeast Michigan for a week of having fun, keeping busy, and eating too much food. These girls make my life happier.  It was their idea to have a theme for dressing up each day of camp. 80s day was by FAR the best of them! :)

Madi, Me, Marah. Marah

Marah should have been an 80s child.

7. TREK.

The trek really can't be written with exclamatory punctuation. But it needs punctuation. Trek. As the cute little Mormons we are, we dressed up like our pioneering progenitors (to an extent) and pulled around our luggage and supplies for four days with very much rain (4.75" the first two days) and very little food. I most definitely ripped both of my dresses and spent much time muddy, wet, and cold. Wet shoes and bloomers were the WORST. And far too many mosquito bites. But when the sun came out that last day our wishes for heat were realized and reconsidered. It was quite the experience and I had the best family in the world (or at least the stake) experiencing this all with me. Lots of pictures f

We actually had the best brothers EVER. They made us fires and chairs and were just the best.

Trying to dry things out....

Apparently, I didn't make it to the Salt Lake Valley. I died on the trail. (So did everyone in this photo.) Each family had about 11 or 12 members. In some families no one died-- in some, five died.

My family's handcart! Check out that mud. And those smiles :)

Gathering.

My family.  A family that prays together stays together.

Sooo....it rained....

Most of my family. So wet and so happy.

OK, this is when I got really grumpy. Stayed dry in my pajamas through the night, but the rain was kind enough to come back to wake us up and serve as an alarm clock. Wet bloomers chafe and are just really unfortunate.  Me, two sisters, and Pa.

Before we started. So clean.

And all that pretty much gets us up to date! Summer's about half over... I'll try to keep up!

I Have A Cold.

One of these times I get a cold, I think I am going to find the average weight of a single tissue, weigh a garbage bag, and proceed to calculate the mass of all the snot leaving my body over the course of the cold. I have pondered this many times. I simply just do not understand how THAT MUCH can POSSIBLY be produced by my nose and FIT UP THERE. So. I shall ready my calculator and hunt down a scale. Next Time.

(This time around has been three tissue boxes and counting. Good Grief.)

My Hiking Boots Were Not In My Room

Me: Why are my hiking boots in here??

Rebekah: Because I used them for 7th grade camp

Me:... Why are my hiking boots STILL in here?

Rebekah: Because I'm Lazy and Forgetful!!

Rebekah: ......If you want me to be completely honest.....

Grad Party Tomorrow....

The Good News: The family room is getting cleaner!

The Bad News: The cleanliness of the basement is correlated negatively with the cleanliness of the family room, a linear relationship with an r value of approximately -.8.

In other words... The basement is not getting cleaner.

Isn't it Ironic

That the person that makes it easier to breathe....

....Is the one that takes your breath away?

A Letter to my Cousin

Yes. My cousin and I are snail-mail buddies. We have resurrected our 12-year-old selves. Or are in the process of so doing. Sorry, MaryAnne, if you see this before you get the letter itself.... This is actually basically an excerpt...

So you talked about how you've learned a lot about life this year. I feel like I've learned a lot about death. It's just never seemed so close... If someone close to me were to die, I know exactly who I would run to for comfort-- but what if that person were to die? I don't know what I would do...It's a paradox because I actually look forward to death--not that I'm looking to die anytime soon, but I am excited to see people who have touched my life and to try to teach people that I couldn't or didn't in this life. I hope that when friends of mine are taught, they can think of me, and think that I was a rational, reasonably intelligent and happy person-- and that perhaps there's something there-- and give it a shot.

So dying shouldn't be so bad. It's the being left behind that's hard to sort out. I suppose that if you rely on the Lord more than you rely on those around you it should be easier to get through the departure of those around you, but... that's so much easier said than it is done. That takes a lot of work and courage. I think of meeting up at the Tree of Life and looking for someone who just isn't there. But even now, in this life-- how much happier could they be if they would trust, then believe? Of course, I'm not the exemplary believer, but still. Maybe they would be.