2015

2015 has been a whirlwind of a year. So many wonderful things happened and I want to take some time to revisit them and share some things I’ve learned over the past year!

The beginning of 2015 was really nothing special.  A lot of internal struggle for me as I tried to decide where in the world I would attend college the next fall. I gave myself a lot of anxiety over this decision that was completely unnecessary. I ended up deciding to join AmeriCorps instead of attending college in the fall; I am positive that it was the right decision.

Most of the exciting things of 2015 happened from May-December so I guess I will skip to May!

May 17: I graduated high school! What a huge milestone! Senior year went way faster then I ever though it would and I had a wonderful time! Now I feel old!

May 30: Fowler girls track and field take 2^nd place at the state meet! Although my season didn’t end the way I wanted it to, I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the way we ended our season!

June 28: My last Steubenville youth conference. Steubenville will always hold a special place in my heart because it has really helped me grow in my relationship with God, especially the week long LEAD retreat! And this year I got to share the experience with Marisa!

July 10: Fall Out Boy Concert with Em! One of the best nights of my life! I am still obsessed with Fall Out Boy and they put on an amazing concert. I am pretty sure there is nothing better in life then rocking out at your favorite bands concert with your best friend by your side! J

July 14: My first trip abroad! Sometimes I still can’t believe this even happened. I had been dreaming of this trip since I was about 5 years old. It took me a while to decide where I wanted to go but then I remembered 5 year old me watching The Rugrats go to Paris and telling my mom I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to Paris or France (LOL). She told me she would take me to both. I thought that was the best news ever. When I remembered that I knew I HAD to go to Paris!

This was the trip of a lifetime. I am SO incredibly blessed to have a mom who would take me to Paris and Germany! We had such an amazing time and managed to spend 2 weeks together without killing each other which is quite impressive! We got lost in more countries then we can even count, ate amazing food, and disgusting food- cold fish and goat cheese crepe- we got on a ferry when we had no idea where we were or where the ferry was going. That is probably my favorite story from our whole trip to be honest.  Like mom always says “How can you be lost if you don’t know where you are?”

This trip has also given me a pretty bad case of wanderlust (a strong desire to travel.) I have so many travel destination boards on Pinterest. I want to go everywhere! The world just amazes me and I want to see as much of it as I can

August 1: Saying Goodbye

This was one of the hardest days of my life! Telling everyone goodbye was 10000x harder than I ever thought it would be. I can remember driving out to Heather and Rooney’s house where all the Silliman’s were for the Silliman campout. I was crying driving out there just thinking about having to say goodbye to everyone. I was a mess when I actually had to start saying bye to everyone.

It was very difficult but really made me realize how lucky I am to have such an awesome family that I will miss so dearly! But thanks to Skype I get to see them- especially Braylee- a whole lot! J

Saying goodbye to my friends was no easy task either. I think I hugged Em for a solid 5 minutes before I had to leave :(

August 2: The move to Missouri for AmeriCorps.

Dad and I left for Missouri around 6 am with the van full of almost all of my possessions. But this was not without one last cry as I said goodbye to mom. It was a long drive but we made it better by rocking out to some classic rock. Huge shout out to dad for driving my mangy butt all the way to MO and for helping me get all set up! I appreciate it more than you will ever know!

As we got close and closer to Missouri I remember getting very nervous and scared. I would be living with 2 girls who I really didn’t know well except for a few Facebook messages…… What if they didn’t like me? What if I didn’t like them? What if I don’t like Missouri? But it was too late to turn back now!

Everything turned out fine! I have been so blessed to live with Martha and Alyssa. They are AWESOME! I couldn’t have picked better roommates. We get along really well and have a lot of fun together!

Moving 600+ miles away from everyone I know was such a huge step for me. I’m usually not one to step out of my comfort zone (especially by 600 miles!) but moving to Missouri has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I have learned to cook for myself, pay my bills, and be an adult (most of the time). None of this would be possible without many texts and calls to my mother dearest though!

August 18: My first day as a preschool tutor!

First day of school pic on the porch!

I’m not sure who was more nervous, the kids or me! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. When I came to Missouri, I had no idea what my “job” would be during my year of service. All I knew was that I would be tutoring at a school with younger kids since I had just graduated I knew they wouldn’t put me in the high school. Other than that I really had no idea! Preschool is such a perfect fit for me! I love watching the kids grow and learn! My favorite part of the day is lunch and recess when I get to talk to the kids and they get to tell me all kinds of stories about their dog and hear all of their knock-knock jokes. I came to Missouri to make a difference in their lives, but little did I know how much happiness they would bring to mine!

August 21: Visitors for my Birthday!

Even after only being away for a couple weeks it was still nice to see some familiar faces. Mom, Marisa, Sally, and Kendra came all the way to MO to visit for my birthday! We had a great time and I even got to go parasailing with Marisa! It was a great weekend but very short!

November 25: Home for Thanksgiving!

After another long 10 hour drive I was finally home for a few days for Thanksgiving break! I even had a welcome committee! J

The weekend sure went fast, but I was so glad I got to come home!

December 19: Home for Christmas Break!

I survived my first flight all by myself! Break sure is going fast, but I’m trying to make the most of my last couple days home!

December 28: COLLEGE DECISION!

I have finally made my college decision! I have been accepted into SVSU’s Foundation Scholars Program so I will be attending Saginaw Valley State University in the fall of 2016! GO CARDS! I am very excited to start this next chapter in my life! As of right now, I have no picked a major, although I think it will be something in business/finance!

I hope you enjoyed my year recap! Sorry it was a bit long! What a great year! I am looking forward to whatever 2016 has to offer! J Happy New Year!

Room Decorations!

Hello everyone,
A quick little update for you all!
I am planning on coming home for Thanksgiving on the 25 and leaving probably the 28th. I am really excited to come home and see everyone. Only 22 days not that I'm counting or anything....
I haven't done anything exciting since camping. Halloween was super boring here. Both my roommates were gone for the weekend so I pretty much stayed home and passed out candy and watched a ridiculous amount of Breaking Bad on Netflix.
Anyway, I thought I would post some pictures of the new decorations in my room. It feels a lot more like home now that I have lots of pictures and stuff I love up on the walls.

 The new additions: world map poster from Amazon and Paris scarf thing from Em Esch

I made the clothespin picture hanger thingy myself! It was super easy! I just cut out a circle from cardboard and painted the clothespins and glued them together!

I also made a little cup thing to hold misc things on my desk. I just painted some more clothespins and clipped them around a peanut butter lid!

Other new additions: some lovely paintings from the one and only Em Esch! She sent me a lovely care package with the elephant painting and a chalkboard. She also sent some Lindor caramel truffles which I am thoroughly enjoying. So thanks again em! :)

And there we have it! My room is complete!
Also, a huge thanks goes out to Kreta and Aunt Pam for their care packages too. So, if you are reading thanks again! They made my day!:D

Aubrey :)

Camping!

This weekend Alyssa, Colleen and I went camping! I know what you are thinking.... camping on October? It was perfect and the fall leaves were so beautiful! The weather was a bit cool but all in all it was lovely. I would say it was probably 50 degrees most of the weekend.
We hiked, cooked some hot dogs, and hung out in hammocks! We even saw an Armadillo- but I was too slow to take its picture :(.
We stayed at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park pretty close to the water!

I've decided I need a hammock -hint hint Santa ;)

If you look very closely you can see an armadillo in the grass sorta.... ;)

Aubrey :)

Kansas City Renaissance Festival

Hello everyone!
Yes, I am still alive here in Missouri! Whenever I call my mom she says that people are always asking why I haven't had a blog post in a while! The truth is..... my life is not that exciting! For the most part, I wake up and go to school from 7-5. Come home make some dinner, maybe watch a little Netflix and get ready for the next day! Not exactly blog post worthy ;)
Usually a couple weekends a month I try to do something fun! When I do I will post about it I promise! :)
This weekend, my roommate Alyssa, and another Americorps friend of ours Colleen headed to Overland Park ( near Kansas City) for the weekend. Alyssa and Colleen are both from the area so we all went together. I stayed at Alyssa's house with her parents who were kind enough to house me for the weekend and their adorable pugs Carmen and Dory

Just look at that face!

We left Eldon shortly after we got out of school and arrived in Kansas City around 8:30 after a pit stop at Panera for some dinner!

Saturday morning we headed to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival which was our reason for going to KC for the weekend. I have to admit I had no idea what to expect or what I was getting myself into.

This place was huge! And there were way more people there than I expected. Almost everyone was dressed up and the people watching was amazing! People were dressed up as wizards, gypsies, kings, queens, knights, etc.  There was food, and people selling medieval trinkets of all kinds. 

The first thing we did was watch a mud show. Which was pretty much a comedy show then at the end they jumped into a big pit of mud. These guys were hilarious!

climbing the tower

the jump!

Next we wandered around a little bit just checking things out and trying to figure out what to do next

Also, there was a booth where you could throw rotten tomatoes at a guy which I thought was pretty funny.

Next, we went to another comedy show called Bodily Harm.

After that, we headed to mermaid cove and saw a real live mermaid ;)

I also turned into one

I thought this was a funny sign

Last on our list was the Joust. This was one of my favorites! It was really interesting to watch!

Then we checked out some presenters from a bird sanctuary. They had a hawk, eagle, owl and crow. We attempted to get a picture with the eagle, but either he wasn't looking or we weren't! You could also donate money and the crow would stuff it in the box (see video)

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I used the feature on my camera again that takes video between pictures so that is what the video is from. it is a bit choppy sorry!

Aubrey :)