Finally Back to the States!!!

Wow...my cruise was awesome! I never knew how different a foreign country would be. It blew my mind! This post will obviously be a long one but their will be lots of pictures I promise!

First, beginner session! That was an awesome 2 days! The girls in my cabin were just the most adorable girls in the world! I really think they touched my heart those two days! I don't know what I would do without Lariat Creek! Here's a couple of pictures of my girls!Thats Destri! She was so cute!

That was our whole cabin! Lauren and I were counselors together! It was awesome! I really miss her too! Awww little miss Isabella! She was adorable! And miss Lena! These girls were amazing! These were just a few of them! All of the others were adorable too but Like i said...can't overflow you with pictures! Oh and BTW...Lena is totally wearing my clothes right there! haha! She didn't have mud clothes so I let her borrow some! YEAH!

Now, on to my cruise! Day 1 - Was just the flight...wow..what a long flight it was! 8 1/2 hours going there! We watched two movies! The bad thing was that we left at 10 A.M. one day and got to Rome about 6 A.M. the next day! So sleeping was a problem! We finally got to the boat around 9 or so because we had to go through Customs and get our baggage etc...Talk about having a PikePass right? In italy they had a 'Telepass' lol!

Day 2 - We took a tour to Taormina and Castlemola on the Island of Sicily! It was pretty awesome! We shopped around the town for awhile! I saw some interesting things. There were mimes on the streets just standing in some form trying to get people to give them money! Here's one that is pretty cool!

See his little can? And anytime someone would put a coin in he would change positions....the funny thing was that we met these 3 people from england! 2 older ladies and one's husband! They were adorable! One of the ladies kept catching me with my jaw dropped just looking at this guy! He was impressively adorable?! His tie stayed like that too! Never moved!

This was how we got to the shopping areas! They dropped us off on level 1 and we took an elevator up to level 7! There country is kind of backwards to us! Because you always go up! No matter what...drive up...elevator up...walk up...when you are going somewhere you always go up. But when you are coming back..you go down! It was crazy! lol!

We also went to Castlemola, Sicily on the first day! This was the castle! It was so high! Check out the view in this next pictureAnd this is the little restaurant that we had a snack at as well in Castlemola!

Next - Day 2! We went to Valletta, Malta! It was pretty amazing! The walls there are so cool! And yes they did it...drove on the wrong side of the road! And the cars were backwards! lol! Totally unreal to me!

Do you see it! The steering wheel! It's on the wrong side! AHHH!!! lol! Just thought I would prove it to you!Check out the walls! They are pretty cool! Just picture it...the whole town looked like this! Totally reminds you of the Old Testament! Like I don't know how everyone else pictures the old testament in their heads but this is what I see...this type of city! It was crazy! Speaking of the bible! Remember in Acts when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta around 79 AD? Well it actually wasn't the island of Malta itself or at least not today..because this island right here...is called 'St.Paul's Island' its the actual place where he was shipwrecked. You can see on the left side of the picture that it is really close to Malta so at one point it could have been connected but there she be...the actual island he was shipwrecked! Talk about the bible coming to life right??

Another thing about Malta was the castles! Check out the domes in the background! And all the boats in the picture! This was just a marina! Totally packed with boats! It was awesome!

These were vineyards in Malta! They were everywhere! I couldn't believe how much wine was produced! It was pretty cool to see all the vineyards!

Day 3 - Dubrovnik, Croatia!

Look at the waterfall in this pic! We went to this cute little restaurant and this was the scenery! The whole entire place was hott and dry but we went down into this restaurant and look at the water! Beatiful I must say!

The coolest part was that the town had a drawbridge! Do you see it in this picture? It was so cool! lol!This is a picture of inside the town! Lets just say in the 'old town' there was no grass! lol! Outside the 'old town' city walls there is an entire city added onto the old part of town and that has grass and everything else but inside the huge city walls there is none! lol!

Day 4 - Pompeii & Sorrento! So on the second coolest day we had..my camera died! lol! So I will have to add pictures of these two towns later! My mom took lots and I'll get them from her!

Day 5 - We were at sea! Didn't stop at any ports! My mom and I enjoyed our time at the spa and just relaxed all day! It was amazing! lol!

Day 6 - Livorno & Pisa, Italy! Yep I climbed it! I climbed the leaning tower of pisa! It's awesome! It leaned so far over! I totally almost fell on the steps because they kept leaning and getting smaller and smaller! Here's some pictures of us climbing the tower!

Isn't she a beauty?At the top just before we reached the highest part of the tower their were bells all around!Within the field of miracles which is were the leaning tower sits there is a baptistry, a hospital, a cathedral, museums, and lots of little shops. Above is a picture of the baptistry!This is the cathedral that we went in! It was humongous!!! I was so impressed with all of the architecture!Inside the cathedral they made the women wear those blue things to cover our shoulders for respect and the men had to take off their hats!

Well That is about all the pictures I am going to post for now! i might put some more up there later but for now this post has gotten way tooo long! Hope you enjoyed this post! It took awhile to make! lol! This quote is exactly what I missed while I was in Italy!

'Home is not where you live, but where they understand you'

G is for....

GONE CRUISIN!!!! YAY!!!

Everyone I will be in the waters of the Mediterannean Sea for the next 9 days so therefore I won't be posting! I am going to be sailing around the 'boot of Italy' and will be climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa and so much other fun things! When I get back I am going to update you all on my trip to Colorado, Beginner Session, and this Cruise and tell you all of the other exciting places I went! I have been super busy that I haven't had time for awhile at all! My next update will have lots of pictures I promise! Our flight leaves Tuesday at 10 AM. and I will be flying about 17 hours over seas so pray for me please! I'm a little scared! I have been to Hawaii but it was never this long! I'm super excited though! I will update when I get back! Love you all! Hope your next 2 weeks are AMAZING!!!

"Italy, the spring, and your first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy."

-Bertrand Russell

E & F is for.....

Everlasting friendships....

I know its cheesy and its an adjective but today my mom and I are traveling to the good old Lariat Creek! it's that time again....it's beginner session! YAY! I have been in charge of the crafts for a few years now and I pretty much just love it! and lariat creek always reminds me of friendships. Last night I talked to one of my best friends in the whole world, Lauren! We basically grew up together in Alva and she is going to counsel with me this weekend! I'm thrilled! It might be only a weekend but let me just say that we are going to have a HUGE beginner session! Michael said that we already have like 40 kids and thats not including all those walk-ins that just show up on the day! lol! hopefully for my craft we wont go over 52 too much...because that is all the crafts I have. I will have to make more if the numbers start to add up to much! haha! also, in regards to everlasting friendships, i know that mel sure did find one down there because yep...she married him! haha! and obviously by her last post...it was the right decision! And also, Micheal found one of his best friends out there too! He passed away last August which I know was really hard on him. It was very sad to see Matt go but he is in a better place and i know that he's just watching over all of us now. This past weekend Michael went out to camp and spread his ashes out there. So that was nice. But like I said....Lariat Creek can give you everlasting friendships. It's pretty amazing how great some of the people you meet out there are.

So I am pretty stoked about going out to the camp! I went there over the work day but other than that I probably haven't been there in about a year. I really miss it sometimes. Back in the day when church camp was all that mattered! Oh I loved those days! But everyone has to grow up one day! Michael I guess never has to grow up because he is still the director at one! Maybe one day I can be a 'permanent counselor' at one of the longer sessions. haha do they have those? i really don't know. I pretty much am a permanent counselor at beginner session! haha! I love it! I decided that I'm going to do that session every year until my nieces are that old. then after they graduate to go to Junior session I am going to quit beginner. Hopefully I will have put in enough years since it has to be about 10 more! Yikes! lol! That sounds like alot, but at the rate both my adorable nieces are growing it will almost happen tomorrow! :)

Well, I think thats about it...I am almost off work and then I have to work out and get on the road! AHHH I haven't even packed yet! haha! But I will be ok! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I will update when I get home from camp!

Love you all!

"When God gave you to me he never said that you were mine, that I could keep you always--only borrowed for a time. Now, He's called you home, I'm sad and I shed tears. Yet, I'm glad He loaned you to me and we had these many years."
-Edna Burch

D is for...

Decision Making...Well it has come into my thoughts that Oklahoma Christian is not right for me. I understand that some will be dissapointed and some will be happy but it just isn't the right place for me. Changing schools in my academic career has become to be a repetitive occuring event and yes this will be adding to that list. But I am transferring back home to Wichita State University. I want to be closer to my parents honestly and I have good influential friends here as well. My spiritual life really did suffer at Oklahoma Christian as unreal as that sounds. I just didn't get the right surroundings or vibe from others at OC. Here in Kansas I have began to really get along and make a lot better friends with the Young Professionals/College class at Eastpoint. I just truely think that being back here in Wichita will help my Spiritual life and will help me to focus on my studies more so that I wont fail anymore or slack off and make bad grades.
So therefore my D is decision making because it has become to overtake my life. This will hopefully be the last college I attend and will graduate from. Thats all for now...I have an eye doctor appointment soon but I wanted to let you all know about my decision.

Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be. Custom will soon render it easy and agreeable.
-Pythagoras