2013 Year in Review

2013 was a fab year. In January, I wrote this, "21, you've been nothing short of fantastic so far! I cannot wait to see all the fun things that come with your year!"

This year was incredibly fun. I made and met some incredible new friends, God worked in magnificent ways, I fell in love with a beautiful place, and I continued on this journey that God has called me to. There are some things I wish had taken place during 2013, but they didn't, and I'm just going to have to be content in where he has me this year. So, without further ado, a look back on some of the highlights of 2013! 

January: I turned 21!

February: I led my senior girls in their last DNOW! 

March: Drew got married, and my BD and his wife got saved!

April: Kaila and I went to Atlanta, and I threw Hannah a bridal shower. 

May: I went to Hilton Head twice, and Hannah got MARRIED!

June: I went to camp!

July: I was still at camp!

August: I went back to camp for a weekend, and I went to Florida for Labor Day Weekend. 

September: I went to camp again (clearly I fell in love with camp this year).

October: I started my student teaching (and SURVIVED it).

November: I spent a lot of time with the Dukes at camp, and I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! 

December: I hosted the FIFTH Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party!

2013, you really were great. I made some awesome best friends, I slept outside two times too many, I stood by one of my best friends as she got married, I drove to Asheville and back too many times to count, I had two of my best semesters in college, I read as often as I could, I cooked a 20 pound turkey, I was a student teacher for five weeks, I made it a full summer at camp, I watched my birth dad and his wife get baptized, I became an even bigger fan of phone dates and spur-of-the-moment visits, I spent more money at Gap then I should have, I joined a new church, and I made as many fantastic memories as possible. 2014, I cannot wait to see all the joy and fun you bring! 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy fall friends! I hope you are doing fun fall things like carving pumpkins, wearing boots and scarves, going to corn mazes, and drinking apple cider. While I haven't done any of those things yet, I plan on carving pumpkins this coming weekend and drinking apple cider the second Augusta hits 60 degrees. I'm over this whole 85 degrees during the month of October. It's ridiculous! But here's a look as to what I have been doing during the hot fall...

I went to Costco a couple of weeks ago with my parents. We saw this 160qt. pot (who needs something that large, anyway?!), and of course my mom hopped in it. Life is never dull with those two...

I spent a Saturday morning at Monkey Joe's with these two cuties. Gosh, I love them. 

I decorated the house for fall despite the hot and humid weather. 

I survived (and loved) my first day of student teaching! I have to drive an hour to the school each way, but the students and teachers are fantastic!

We had our first fire of fall the other night. No s'mores, but still good fire talks!

It was family day at my dad's company, and we had quite fun playing with the photo props!

One of the girls I'm in the education program with got married yesterday, and a few of us went to her wedding. She made a beautiful bride! Congrats, Tara!

A few of my favorites were home this weekend, and I got to see them. We made a Cookout run which was so fun! 

And to end a fun weekend, I got a phone call from my sweet friend Kasey from camp this morning. Long story short, she came to Augusta, and we got to catch up for a few hours! Made my weekend!

Happy fall friends!

Graduations + Beach

I knew Saturday was going to be a long day. I had three graduations to go to, plus I was driving to the beach after the day was over. But, I knew it was going to be worth it. And honestly, it was. Kaila and I left my house at 8:15 that morning and headed to our first graduation of the day...

I got to see this sweet girl graduate and lead the pledge! 

SO proud of you, Jamie! 

We then took a lunch and shopping break and finally headed back to the James Brown Arena for Lakeside's graduation. This was probably how we felt about hearing the same speech given by the superintendent for the second time or just our natural reactions to Bryan taking a picture of us. You decide. 

And then we decided to take pictures of ourselves instead of the graduates during graduation. Yep, we were those people. 

Congratulations, Ryan!

I then headed to West Acres to Augusta Christian's graduation. I got to watch Maggie sing, give a wonderful speech, and graduate!

After that, I headed to Hannah and Jonathan's where I dropped off their gifts and got to have dinner with the sweet newlyweds! It was so fun getting to hang out with them and be their first dinner guest. It was a nice break in the looooong day. Later that night, Kaila and I headed to the beach and we were SO relieved to finally be there. We soaked up the sun for two days and enjoyed just some time away. It was SO needed!

As you can tell, my mom sure did enjoy the sun this weekend :)

Sweet parents!

Such a fun weekend with this girl!

And the last time the four of us will be together until I get back from camp. Bryan and Kaila headed to Swaziland yesterday on a mission trip. 

It sure has been a busy week, but it was so worth it! Happy Wednesday!

a year.

It was a year ago Sunday that I took off from LAX on that really loooooooong flight and headed to Australia! I can barely believe that it has been a year. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was being shocked by how expensive shampoo was or by how often someone asked me if I wanted a cuppa. I miss that place more than words can say, but again I'm so grateful for Facebook and Skype!

And....exciting news...one of the sweet families from Oz are coming to Florida in August and I get to see them! I'm THRILLED!

Day 2 (I think?!?) in the country at the beautiful Wollongong City Beach, New South Wales

Fourth of July in the Outback! 

(Christa, on the left, and her family are the ones coming to FL in August!)

A beautiful shot of property on Mill Valley Ranch, a camp just a few kilometers outside of Pakenham

Some of my favorites! And congrats to Jarrod and Ang (the two in between me and Maggie) who just got married! Wish I could've been there!

Jonathan & Hannah's Wedding

Side note: I have no idea why all of the pictures are grainy/blurry. Blogger has been doing some weird things lately (I've been thinking about switching to Wordpress) but I want to post about this while it is still fresh in my mind!

Jonathan and Hannah's wedding was absolutely wonderful. It was a beautiful wedding, full of moments of God-honoring worship, pure love, and sweet memories I'll never forget. There were many happy tears, lots of laughter, and hours of smiling to where our cheeks still probably hurt from it. I don't think any of us could have pictured a more beautiful weekend.

We started off the weekend with a Bridesmaids' Luncheon at the house of one of Hannah's mom's friends. It was lovely, and it was a sweet time to just be loved on by the bride. 

Rehearsal Dinner with my BFF Bridesmaid!

Kelly is one of Hannah's friends from her year at GCSU. I've met her a couple of times before, but it was so fun getting to spend these past couple of weekends with her. 

I really love this picture of me and Hannah, and I hate that it's all blurry on here. 

Kelly and I really wished we could've worn our Chacos down the aisle. 

We didn't manage to grab a picture of the five of us, but it sure was great getting to be with our other two BFFs!

Family!

They're MARRIED! I was so honored to get to stand up by my best friend and watch her marry her love. I can hardly believe it's come and gone!