look at these lazy bums!

you know what's sad? these pics were taken at noon. lazy bums.

it's a girl!!!!!

okay, i've known about this for 4 days already, but i'm just now having a chance to post this: my cousin and his wife are having a girl!!!! i'm so excited for them, and i think the next few months are going to be torture until i can meet my new cousin. i'm sure they feel the same way too!

hannah-you're going to make a wonderful big sister! i know that your little sister will look up to you and admire you. make sure to tell her all the secrets to getting what you want from edward :)

theresa-i'm so glad that edward married you. i'm proud to call you my cousin. you're already a great mom, and i know that this little one will be blessed to have you and edward as parents.

edward-i have to be honest...i wasn't sure this day would come at all! but i'm so proud of the way that you've allowed God to work in your life. He has blessed you with a great wife and daughter, and now you'll have 2 daughters (i won't envy you at all when they're teenagers). somehow i have this feeling that your poor daughters won't even be able to talk to boys (now where would i get that idea?!). but know that i'm always praying for you, theresa, hannah, and the little one. i love you.

girls only conference

the conference that my cousin spoke at was a girls only conference. it was wonderful. the person who put it together, ana, did an amazing job. this is her 5th year to do this conference, and you can tell that this is her passion. there is no doubt in my mind that God has called her to do this. there were about 50 teenage girls who attended and i KNOW that God spoke to them at this conference-through my cousin, of course!

this is something that every young girl needs. every girl needs to know that she is precious. that God loves her more than anything and wants only the best for her. i want every young girl to know that.

my amazing preacher-cousin; she's stinkin' awesome

the first session-i was too embarrassed to go up to the front to get a picture

the girls scrapbooking between sessions. the decorations were incredibly cute.

i believe 100% in the ministry of chi alpha. college students need God. but this weekend opened my eyes to the precious gift we have in teenage girls.

ooh la la...

as some of you know, my best friend amanda is getting married in september. i'm beyond thrilled for her. and i'm beyond thrilled that i get to wear a pretty dress again. my dress was shipped to my parents house this past weekend, but since i was out of town, i didn't get to see it until sunday. i tried it on sunday night. and monday morning. and i'm sure i'll put it on a few more times in between just for the heck of it. wanna see it?

no, that is not me...i'm a little darker than that

it fits perfectly...almost. i have to get it altered a little bit, but not too much. now here's the funny, yet slightly sad part. it's supposed to be tea length. but because i'm so stinkin' short, it goes to my ankles-MY ANKLES! guess i gotta go get it hemmed. like a lot. *sigh* why am i so short?

go ahead and laugh...i know you already are...

now i get to go buy shoes!!!!!!!

b&b: my new favorite thing

as i mentioned in my last post, i went out of town this past weekend. i traveled with my cousin, cheli, because she was invited to speak at a girls conference in canadian, tx. yes, there really is a town in texas called canadian-it has a little over 2000 people. and its about 2 hours north of amarillo. NORTH!!! it was a bit of a long drive. i'll give you more details about the conference later. it was great. but i was pleasantly surprised by the town. i thought it would be super flat, but after we left pampa, it started to get hilly (is that a word?) and pretty. the landscape is beautiful. now that i think of it, i should have taken pictures of the scenery. oh well.

anyway, the church that hosted the conference put cheli up in a bed and breakfast called kim's cottage. it was waaaaay super cute. i absolutely fell in love with it. don't tell anyone, but it may have been my favorite part of the whole trip :)

front door to the parlor area

the door to our room-i think all the rooms used to be attorney's offices.

the view from the door. now how did my dr. pepper sneak in there?!

the dresser/information table

our closet

closet door opened. i almost knocked the whole thing over. long story.

guestbook-guess who forgot to sign it (stupid, stupid, stupid)

look at this cute sink!!

my absolute favorite! i took a bubble bath in the clawfoot tub. i loved it! i loved it!

(are you jealous?)

this was in the bathroom! imagine...eating breakfast in the bathroom. actually, that sounds kinda gross. the point is, it was a HUGE bathroom.

the common/ sitting area

breakfast table in the common area

our fully stocked pantry. there was also a fridge and microwave.

um yeah, i definitely wished we could have stayed longer. it was wonderful! if for any reason you find yourself in canadian (don't ask me why), stay at kim's cottage!

don't cry for me, argentina...

well folks, i'm going out of town this weekend, so don't expect any new posts...but i promise i will post another one when i come back, complete with pictures!

have a super weekend!

i got it

i got my dr. pepper today guys, so ya'll don't need to worry anymore. close call....

a special thank you goes to courtney for getting me one from chick-fil-a (of course). do my friends know me or what?!

oh dear...

i'm quite in need of a dr. pepper right now...

how to know you go to chick-fil-a too much

as many of you know, i am highly addicted to chick-fil-a, a problem that has only been compounded by the fact that my brother joey works there. thus, i feel the need to check on him quite frequently (and i'm so good that sometimes i check on him when he's not there too). as i was leaving chick-fil-a today, i compiled a list of ways to know that you go to chick-fil-a too much. let me know if any of this applies to you. enjoy!

1. the person handing you your food no longer asks what dipping sauces you would like. he/she just drops it in the bag.

2. every time you pull in, the workers immediately start looking around for joey so you can say hi to him (i'm not kidding you-one of the managers made sure that i had a chance to say hi to joey before he handed me my food).

3. the workers notice when you have a friend with you, and they are most curious about the guy friends.

4. the workers compliment your wardrobe choice for the day.

5. you notice when the boss comes back a day early from vacation.

6. every time you use the mertzon exit off the freeway, your car automatically turns right at the light, assuming that you are going to chick-fil-a (it assumes correctly, of course)

7. the workers quit asking you what you were drinking when you go for a refill; they already know it's dr. pepper.

8. you notice when one of the workers has dyed their hair...pretty color, by the way.

9. you can tell who's working by the cars that are parked in the parking lot.

10. you get annoyed when someone new is hired, because that means you have to train them to recognize your car and to know what your favorite drink/dipping sauces are so they don't waste their breath when you go through their lane.

i'm sure there will be more to come, but for now i need to finish my #5 8-pack with a dr. pepper...

fyi

orange juice and thin mints do NOT go well together. just thought you'd like to know.

(i'm broke and hungry and that's all i could find in my fridge-leave me alone)

welcome to "the brace place"

as most of you know, i have braces. not my favorite thing in the world, but hey, it builds character. i can't wait to get them off (september?) and when they do come off, i will have some insanely perfect teeth. woo hoo!

but my heart goes out to my sister. she's getting braces put on today...right now, in fact. i remember how much in pain i was (probably because i was older when i got mine put on) and i hope that hers isn't even a fraction of that. i know that its only temporay and that the payoff is huge.

does this sound like i'm being a big baby? well maybe i am. i just don't like it when my family is in pain, physical or otherwise. so, would you please say a prayer for her?

waiting for wednesday

i used to love fridays because i didn't have work or school. i always had big plans to never do anything on those days. yeah right. i can count on one hand the number of times i did nothing (side note: when you have no plans for the day, keep it to yourself).

but since summer has started, i have a new favorite day of the week: wednesday. mostly it's because we have small group on wednesday night. it's for the girls who are in leadership at chapter one, and i love it!

i've been teaching a small group in chapter one for the past two years and i have really enjoyed it. this past semester was especially great. the girls that i had were always so eager to learn. they are all just thoughtful, wonderful women of God.

but this summer, i don't have to teach one; i just get to attend one. it has been so good for me. all of the lessons have been about issues that God has been showing me that i need to work on. i love how i can trust and depend on the group of girls who go, knowing that they are praying for me. christal is doing an incredible job leading the small group. when i get to her apartment on wednesday, i know that she has studied the lesson and has already been in prayer for our time together. i've been blessed every time i go to small group. maybe this wednesday i can take a picture of the girls who mean so much to me and put it up here for you to see.

so now, i patiently wait for wednesday.

who am i kidding?! i want it to hurry up and get here...

old friends, pt. 2

you know how in an earlier post i talked about getting in touch with old friends? well, it happened! one of my friends fom high school came into town saturday, so i met up with him and some other friends i graduated with, and we had a great time. they all came over to my house (have you seen my house? it looked even smaller with 12 people in it) and we sat and told stories of the good days back at cornerstone. i forgot how hilarious the guys could be. poor matthew couldn't remember anything past 7th grade because that's when he left cornerstone, which only made the stories funnier. matt, we'll tell more stories of elementary later, ok?

but i had so much fun with them. i forgot how much trouble they had gotten into in high school ("mr. mitchell, remind jeremy to shave") or how passionate they were about playing basketball. i hope we can do this soon with everyone else.

derek, jeremy, james, cody, matthew, and the rest of our class-i love you! and everyone else who came over last night-thanks for coming over...and i love you too!

oh, and tia yaya-thanks for the pizza!

city champs

as most of you know, my little brother, ryan, is incredibly athletic. he loves all things sporty. before he even knew how to read, he learned how to read the sports scores in the newspaper. my mother worked as the after-school care provider at my school for a few years, so ryan grew up playing basketball in the gym. a good friend recently reminded me that he remembers seeing ryan dribbling the ball around the court when he was just 2 years old. my cousin says she remembers him falling asleep on his basketball. needless to say, at 12 years old now, he is very involved. right now he is playing on a select basketball team, and he also plays tennis, baseball, and runs track & cross country.

this year, he decided that it would be his last year playing baseball because he wants to concentrate more on basketball, his first love (i already feel really sorry for his future wife; he'll love basketball more than he loves her!). so this weekend his team, the white sox, played in the city tournament-the last few baseball games ryan would play. i knew they were pretty good, and that they had a shot to play for the city championship, but i wasn't sure if they would win or not. guess what? THEY WON! THEY WON! they won their games on thursday, friday, and then saturday's championship game. it was an exciting game, with the final score being 4-3.

ryan warming up before their first game of the tournament

the team holding up their ginormous trophy (sorry about the sun)

their coach talking to them. he's the one in the middle with his hands on his head. he kept saying, "i don't know what else to say. i don't know what else to say." a proud dad yelled out, "city champs, that's what you say!" love it.

team picture with the trophy. ryan's head is being covered up by the top of the trophy. way to go, ryan.

final score. little league plays to 6 innings (a few bulbs were out)

ryan with the trophy. can you believe how big the trophy is? can you believe my little brother is growing up?!

i am so excited for him, and so incredibly proud of him. i'm glad that they won the city championship this year, but he didn't have to win for me to proud of him. i'm proud of him because he's my brother. i love you, ryan.

ugh

my car smells like stinky boys.

i've got one word for you

sweep.

okay, so i have a lot more words for you (did you really think you would only get away with one?!). i'm sure they will be as jumbled here as they are in my head.

THE SPURS WON THEIR FOURTH CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!!

love it. and i especially love that they swept the cavs. was there ever any doubt? they are amazing.

tony parker deserved to win MVP, but i still wish tim duncan had won it. oh well, i'm not picky.

manu ginobili totally stepped up his game tonight. 27 points, baby.

tim duncan has to be the most humble athlete on the spurs right now. and that's hard to do. the spurs are a humble team period.

i love that the whole team wanted to win this championship for michael finley. it shows that they are a true team, willing to sacrifice personal glory for the good of the team. how many other teams are like that? not many...

the spurs are known for their defense. it reminds me of what a former basketball coach taught us: defense wins championships. how totally true. the spurs have proven it time and time again. thank you, spurs, for not making a liar out of my coach. i'm sure he thanks you too!

and just in case you think that i only love the spurs because they won, you are sooooo wrong. my family and i have been spurs fans for years. all i know is that ryan said it right tonight:

"win or lose, we love 'em"

super duper cute

this past sunday, we had a missionary at our church, nathan alfaro. he's a missionary in nicaragua and he has some great stories about what God is doing in that country. awesome. unfortunately, his wife couldn't come with him. fortunately, his two year old daughter could. her name is alexa, and she is just beautiful. seriously. just look at her.

her eyes are just gorgeous. nathan and his wife, christine, have their work cut out for them when she gets older. i bet she breaks a lot of hearts without meaning to. and she's pretty smart too. she knows all of her animals in english and in spanish. beautiful and smart. sigh. some people get all the luck...

yay!!!

i got a new chair today at work!!! well, new to me. i don't care that it's not brand spankin' new. it's fabulous! now, who wants to buy me a laptop?!

old friends

today i heard from a friend that i haven't talked to or seen in a super long time. i met her in the 2nd grade, and we went through all our elementary, jr. high, and high school years together. i miss her, but i'm so glad that i get to talk to her again.

for those of you who don't know, i graduated with a class of 9. huge class, i know. and i had known all of them almost my whole life. we were super close.

if you had asked me five years ago when we graduated (five?! oh my word...), i would have said that we might not see each other all the time, but that we would never lose touch. how incredibly naive. one of my friends just moved back to town with his wife (when did we get old enough to marry?), so that makes just four that live out of town. ask me how many times i've seen the others. actually, don't.

i thought about putting a picture of all of us on our senior trip (a cruise to the bahamas; life was good back then), but i opted not to. trust me, it was the right decision :)

i'm gonna make a bigger effort to get and stay in touch with the others. they're too special to me to just let go. i love you guys!

complete and utter exhaustion

not tired, like staying up too late watching movies. but exhaustion. my day was completely packed. my sister had a really bad day today. and when i picked up joey, he said that he had to deal with rude customers at work (he works at chick-fil-a...heavenly). did anyone else have a bad day?

a couple of years ago, a friend of mine wrote a blog about how terrible her tuesday had been. that's how i felt. only it wasn't so terrible, just tiring.

this is not right. i never felt this tired during any long semester. i've been more sleep deprived than this many times. i wonder why this is affecting me so much this time around.

the bad news: the next three days will be like today-full of errands. the good news: THE SPURS WON TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously, that made my day :) i love watching the game with my family...well, actually i could watch the game with strangers and still love it on the that big screen tv (best purchase you ever made, tia sandy!)

anyway, i'm tired and i have to get up in 6 hours. i'm going to bed. night, ya'll!

p.s. go spurs go

go spurs go!

words cannot express how happy i am that the spurs won tonight. of course, i never doubted that they would, but it's nice to see them in action. my boys did good! now, if i could only make it out to a game...

i forgot...

...how funny the donkey is on shrek. absolutely hilarious. go watch the movie.

i've noticed

you know how people say that dogs take on the personality of their owner? it's true. kelli got a dog for christmas. his name is roddick, and he's an australian shepherd mix. he's way cute, but it's like living with two kellis. scary, i know. once, kelli took something away from him, so he peed on the carpet, even though he is completely potty trained (thankfully kelli quit doing that!). when he gets his feelings hurt, he goes under my bed to pout. he is so stinkin' moody. i did not sign up for this...

once, someone asked me if there was a person who could frustrate the life out of of me but i would still love them. the answer is kelli. you can now add roddick to the list. when he is behaving, he is the cutest little thing ever. look at these pictures of how spoiled he is.

um, can you say brat?

he loves kelli's bed more than anything. when she's gone, he always gets on her bed.

moody? yes. but he's so darn loveable. i think i may miss him more than kelli when i move out. just don't tell kelli. she's moody too.

pure excitement

it just occurred to me that i am super excited about blogging. i think it is because i love to talk, and since most of you don't get the joy of listening to me every day, now you get to read about me every day! lucky you!

please don't tell me if you never read this. it just might hurt my feelings. just kidding!

so, some of you may be wondering why i named my blog "chi alpha girl," especially since i'm about to graduate and thus won't be involved in chi alpha anymore. well, it's basically for one reason: i love chi alpha. in my heart, i will always be a part of chi alpha. when i get married and have children, i will look back on my time spent in this organization with fondness. the past three years that i been involved in chi alpha have been wonderful. i have made wonderful friends, had a great job, and grown closer to God. words can't express how much richer my life has been because of chi alpha and the things that God has done through it.

see what i mean about loving to talk?

trust me, there will lots more to come...