Scenes From My Weekend.

 Inspiration

 

 

 

 

My neck still hurts.

Where Did The Weekend Go?

It’s been a good weekend.

Good hiking, good friends, good food.

Such good times!

 

 

What did you do this weekend?

Thank God For Days Like These

Today was one of the best days I have had in a long time. After days of being cooped up inside from snow and ice, the weather turned 66, sunny and amazingly beautiful!

And since I love anything outdoorsy, we went to hike Sugarloaf mountain.

It was my first time hiking Sugarloaf and it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Like, rock climbing difficult.

But that just made the view at the top even better!

Funny story:

Morgan was ahead of me when we were climbing back down. I slung my purse off and tossed it at her over a ledge for her to catch.

And she dropped it.

It fell into a deep crack between boulders. Deep, deep crack.

We gasped. It had our iPhone’s, car keys, and my wallet.

I died a little bit inside. My PHONE! My precious child. Well anyways…

Morgan was a beast and crawled down to get it while I prayed that my car keys didn’t fall out and our phones weren’t broken.

Thankfully everything was still inside and now it’s just funny that she dropped my purse.

Oh, let's not forget about the 11 year old boy who threatened to knife me because I wasn't hiking back down fast enough. Seriously.

And THEN, he pulled out the knife. Naturally, I said "I'm gonna hit you in the face, kid" and he backed off. Kids these days...

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Then we came back to school and split a $5 Domino’s pizza four ways. College budget, people.

It was an amazing day and I’m so thankful for it!
We have an amazing God.

A Little Culture

I have had a lot of culture sprung on my small-town raised American self today.

How much? You ask.

Our HUF program students have returned and chapel was dedicated to their wonderful experiences overseas. The mayor of a city in Italy was speaking as well as a few other important Italian dudes.

Then they served us an Italian dessert.

 
There’s more, just you wait.

Tonight, I went to the Arkansas Choral Society concert because my darling brother sings with them. The first half of the concert was in Latin. The second half was in English but it was opera, so needless to say, I understood not one word.

For dinner, I feasted on tortellini from Olive Garden.

It’s like I traveled to Italy for breakfast, Latin America for a concert and then back to Italy for dinner.

I am so cultured. Next up, art museum!

Oh dear,
I think I’m getting ahead of myself…

A Special Saturday

This Saturday is special because:

1. I'm in my childhood home

2. There is a fire in the fireplace.

3. My mom bought me new bed sheets. Flannel ones.

4. Coldplay is serenading me.

5. I finally got over my two-week running burn out.

Ahh, it's nice to be home.

It's Great To Be Home

Alas, I am home from school for a much needed break.

The break started off wonderfully with some quality girls time with my best friend.

We went to a Miche purse party and then hit up the bowling alley for 'All You Can Bowl' night. I never go to the bowling alley because I am terrible at the 'sport' but it was very refreshing to do something I never do.

And it's always fun to make a fool of yourself, right?

This week I am going to think about school as little as possible and think about something infinitely better: Black Friday and pumpkin pie.

The holiday season is here, friends!

The Best Day

Reasons This Has Been The Best Day of My Life

1,
Happy October!

In excitement to make everything in my life Halloween-ish for my favorite holiday (and month), I have started changing everything, including my desktop background, courtesty of kate.net

It's precious, I know.

2,
Chemistry

I think I have mentioned my hatred for Chemistry. But today we got to blow things up which was slighty terrifying and yet still entertaining. It definitely started my day off with a bang. Pun intended.

3,
Chapel & Tots

Bison Daze is this weekend which means there are high school seniors and their overbearing parents on campus. That's okay, though, because one of those awkward seniors sat in my chapel seat! I went to the caf and they had tator-tots. Score! Free chapel skip + Tator Tots = Amazing morning!

4,
Lunch & Cable

My dad sent me a text and asked if I wanted to have lunch together. Of course I said yes- I'm a poor college student living off of cafeteria food! I met him for some delicious mexican food and he brought me a cable cord for my TV. I can finally watch Ellen again.

5,
Stastics

My statistics class was canceled today so after Chemistry and my Western Civ test, I was d-o-n-e for the day. It was 11. I was ecstatic.

6,
Front Lawning

It is such a beautiful day. 75 degrees, sunny and breezy- it's blissful. After class, Ali and I grabbed a blanket and headed to the front lawn to relax.

I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday!

We Deep-Fry In the South

In Searcy this weekend there is a 'Get Down Downtown' festival. Live music, crafts and local vendors. And you can't forget the food- foot long corndogs, funnel cakes, nachos, BBQ, and fried Oreos.

Wait, what? Fried Oreos.

I had never heard of them either, which is strange because in the south,
we fry everything. As soon as I heard that those deep-fried, chocolate creamy Oreo concoctions smothered in powdered sugar and carmel were for sale, I was in line.

Success.

Skywalker

Today was my nephews first soccer game. He's a ripe age of five.

Five year olds playing soccer? Funniest, most precious sight in the world.

Not to mention the fact that he insists on being called Skywalker. Hearing the coach yell,

"Run Skywalker!"

"Turn around Skywalker!"

"You can't pick up the ball Skywalker!"

Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

As I was watching Skywalker kick the ball, I was bouncing his 5-month old brother on my lap. Don't you want to devour him, starting with those plump cheeks?

Little league soccer games are my new favorite sporting event.

Home Sweet Home

Afternoon sun

I am home for the weekend.

It's always nice to come home for a few days. It serves as a nice breather from exams and homework.

I plan on spending time rolling around in my huge bed without the fear of rolling off the top bunk, eating home cooked meals instead of caf food, and shopping with my mom.

School stuff can definitely wait.

What are you doing this weekend?

Weekends Mean Nothing

Remember when weekends were something to look forward to? Maybe they still are for you. For me, weekends are just days without class- the reading, making flash cards and note-taking doesn't stop.

So while it looked like this outside,

I was inside doing this,

I am one dedicated student.

Game Day, Baby!

College football started today, which was a reason to celebrate! Being from the good ole' state of Arkansas, I was pumped about the first Razorback game of the year.

Woo, Pig Sooie!

Of course, the game wasn't on TV today, but that didn't stop me from putting on one of my Hogs shirts and supporting. My friend Brittany cooked baked ziti and hot fudge cake to commemorate the occasion.

Brittany cooking

Baked Ziti. Delish

Hot fudge cake, ready to be popped into the oven

The rest of my Saturday was very relaxing. I studied and got organized for the week. And slept in until noon- it was amazing.

Happy Labor Day weekend! Stay safe!

Sophomore Year

Katie and Jill

Sophomore year of college is going to be amazing, I can tell.

We have grown a lot. For instance, last night we had a deep conversation about religion and death.

Let's forget the fact that 10 minutes later we were quoting Mean Girls.

Okay, maybe we haven't grown that much.

Ali and Brette

Class starts tomorrow and I am actually ready! I'm sure that a week from now I will be questioning my sanity, but for now, I'll take ready.

It is SO good to be back at Harding.

Elijah

My nephew Elijah, swimming at sunset.

Happy Saturday.

Blogging coming to you next week
from Panama City,Florida.

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

This is the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. It seats 21,000 Mormons for their bi-annual conference. The organ in the picture is one of the largest in the world. Very pretty, I think. And huge- ginormous!

We also went on a tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Temple Square has many buildings but the prettiest is the temple itself. I saw several brides taking pictures outside of the temple- a Mormon must. (Temple weddings, that is)

It was very pretty. Of course we couldn't go inside (especially me) but I'm sure it's equally as nice inside!

This is a statue of Jesus in the Visitors Center at Temple Square, where I was offered a Book of Mormon and a visit from "the" missionaries. I agreed politely.

Atop the Conference Center is a garden where there are trees and a variety of flowers. It was so neat to see such a lovely garden in the middle of Salt Lake City, with buildings and moutains in the distance.

Salt Lake City from the top of the Conference Center. I was aiming to get a shot of the mountains. It's impossible to truly capture their essence, but it is certainly my goal for the trip.

Even though I am not of the LDS faith, I was still able to appreciate their beliefs and their beautiful temples.

In other news, it is still 50 degrees here. See the snow on the moutains?

What the heck Utah? When is summer here?!

9 more days!

Southwest Wedding

This weekend

Wine bottles in the wall.

I drove to the southwest for a wedding.
It was at a vineyard in the desert.



The ceremony was under a pavilion facing the vineyard.
Afterwards we dined on prime rib, potatoes, pasta, salad, & bread.
Or chicken if that is your preference.



It was a beautiful wedding.
Here are a few pictures:




I had a great weekend seeing my family & eating authentic Filipino food. It's nice to be home though. My dorm room is still packed in boxes in my car and needs to be moved inside. Maybe tomorrow.

Now we have steaks sizzling on the grill to celebrate Mother's Day. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday: There was a torrential downpour, my windshield wipers literally snapped in half and flew off my car, I almost died when I couldn't see the semi trailer beside me, but somehow landed safely in the grass on the side of the road. Oh, and this was all while going up-hill.

Saturday: I went to visit the newest member of our family.
Paxton Lucas Ballard.
10 pounds, 7 ounces. No lie.

Sunday: Drinking lots of Diet Dr. Pepper and mentally preparing myself for the week of studying ahead. Finals soon.

p.s. excuse my appearance. Rough morning!
p.s.s. what did you do this weekend?