The year Twenty-Thirteen

The time of year has come, where you sit and ponder your achievements, adventures, and highlights of the previous year. Your priceless experiences. Your dreams come true. And lessons learned. You look back, and marvel at God's hand in your wonderful life, then look forward with great expectation at what is to come. This is a beautiful moment.
The year 2013-
Here comes the "highlights" of my year. Mind you, there are numerous of them. It was pretty good one. :)

Hosmer Lake.

Soaking up the sun on the paddle board. was. amazing.

One of the best times of my life, right there. 

Fish over a camp fire.

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of fish, 

there is something about fish on a line, with 

a camp fire by it's side. This is a sign that life is Simple.

Life it good.

Knott's Berry Farm.

Taken by my grandparents,

Knott's Berry Farm was one of those places that you'd

never tire of. Please take me backkk!!!

Serving on the air plane.

Have any of you done this before? If you have, then you'll 

understand why it's a highlight of my year. This is 

something you only get to do if you "know"

people. ;) (aka: Grandma)

Disney Land.

Spoiled by my Grandparents, my family

shows up in Disney Land once more. It's magical. It's fun. It's..It's...

everything it says it is.

Cannon Beach.

--it's kind of like a second home to our family. We go there so often,

we know it like the back of our hand.

We've explored everything we were, and were not, allowed to. 

Cousins. Family. 

What would life be without them? I was so happy to meet my new cousin Baylee, this summer. She fit right in. :)

Fourth of July.

Every single year, you will have to just accept that the fourth of July will always

be one of my highlights of the year. I just down right ADORE America! Our cars,

our freedom, our military, our foundations....'almost' everything. Everything our forefathers wished us to be.

I love feeling patriotic!  

Volleyball.

It's just one of those games I can play all day long, and 

love every bit of it. 

Adventure Fishing.

Papa has always taken us kids "adventure fishing." It's where we explore up and 

down the Lewis, or Daybreak river, fishing. The rules:

NO shoes. We explore, we compete for the first and biggest fish, 

and we rarely go home without one. 

It builds Character. 

Spring in bloom.

This Spring, we were blessed with the most beautiful bloom I've seen! Everything

 was bright, beautiful, and brilliant. I love flowers. 

Silver star.

Whenever I can hike...I will always come back saying "it was the best of times."

I don't have time to explain things here, but I just want to get this across to

AnnaLynn. It was an amazing part of my life, Anna. :)

Friends.

What is a true friend? A true friend is someone who understands and accepts you.
Someone who looks at your faults, and helps you with them by pointing you to Christ, but

does not judge you by them. Who loves you, whether you deserve it or not. Who will stand by you 

and die for you. Who not take any part in gossip about you, and who will

defend you. Unconditional love. 

May I always surround myself with such as these!

My scar.

When I first got my wound in the summer, I was dreading the thought of a scar. 

But now, it's a part of me. It is part of who I am now. And I love it! 

I'm hoping it will never go away. 

ELK LAKE.

This was the Alpha of all of my highlights of the year. The biggest of the big. It's the monstrous one of all. It was so amazing, that I've posted multiple photos of our time. We camped at Elk Lake, Fished Devils Lake, and Hosmer Lake, hiked up to the South Sister, and Green Lakes. We explored. We fished. We ate like crazy. We had fun being lazy. We laughed, not cried. We sang as the fish in the pan was fried. 

I love camping. It fills me with a beautiful sense of belonging, of gratitude, and of life. My soul soars as I take in the beauty this land holds. Being out in nature, brings out your true self. I feel closer to my family, and to my God. Sometimes I sit out on a rock, looking out  over Hosmer Lake as the sun sets, and all of the sudden I think, " I want to live here forever." It's a feeling words cannot describe well enough, or true enough. You'll just have to go there...and experience. 

Visiting Pastor JQ Hunter.

Pastor JQ was my Dad's old Pastor, while he was growing up. We had the privilege of going to their 70th wedding anniversary party. I've heard his tapes, but it was a true blessing to see him face to face. 

He is a good man, and the Lord has surely blessed him. 

Great Wolf Lodge.

I can't describe our stay there. It was crazy fun, and lovingly lazy at the same time. We hopped back and forth with the rides, and with that lovely hot tub outside. Every night we would eat our fill at our favorite restaurant, and retire in our rooms, watching t.v. It was a wonderful vacation. 

Butchering chickens.

Now, I never thought I'd say this, but butchering chickens at the Sturtevant's, was some of the very best times last summer. Not exactly the butchering it's self, but mainly watching the whole process and then selling the chickens to customers. And of course....good company. :)

Thus ends the post.