Last Weekend's Camping Trip

If you even want to call it that :P

Eric and I drove down to meet our parents at some campsite on Saturday morning. We talked, played games, lounged around... I guess the stuff that people normally do when they camp? I'm not much of a camping person myself. I like the idea of it more than the act.

Saturday night, Eric built the fire :)

We made smores, sat in the rain, and finally went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up sick and grumpy and all I wanted to do was leave... haha.

Eric and I took a walk through this trail and I told him about this time that I went to an ostrich farm with my parents. He knew that there was one not too far from where we were camping and we should go. I thought it was a great idea, so I looked up the directions and we left the campsite. Well this so-called "ostrich farm" was in these huge hills and it was like a completely residential area (with gigantic houses). We saw tons of ostriches and we figured that was it, but when we finally got there, the place had "private property-no trespassing" signs all over it. We were bummed.

So we drove back up through the hills and huge wealthy neighborhood, and Eric read a sign the said "peacock crossing." Not even a second later, we see a pecock hanging out in front of some orange trees. Perfect picture opportunity. :)

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Giant Cupcake Attempts 1 & 2

Last Saturday I got a call from my best friend Sarah asking me to come over and bake a giant cupcake with her. She just bought this awesome giant cupcake mold so we decided to try it out.

It was kind of a disaster, but we had tons of fun so it was alright :)

We wanted it to look like a pumpkin...

...It didn't look too great, but Papa Whaley ate some and said it was delicious! :)

Our SECOND attempt was on Tuesday. This time it turned out a whole lot better. It actually looked really cute :)

See? Adorable! :) They're so much fun to make! If whoever reads this decides they want one, they're worth it! just make sure you separate the batter perfectly or else it's gonna be a little lopsided and the top wont fit into the bottom too well. :)

Sarah and I :)

Much love <3

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Time...

I've been sorta busy lately and haven't been able to post. This week I'll try to post a few adventures i've had in the past week.

coming soon: My adveture with Sarah Whaley and the Giant Cupcake

and also the camping trip i went on last weekend.

:)

But for now I'll leave you with this: It is pouring rain, thundering, and lightning outside and I love it! I only wish I didn't have to go to work today. :(
Today in my writing class we played Simon Says... you'd think that working at a daycare would help me out a lot in this game... you know, make me better at it? Nope. Still lost. Oh well. I guess I'll have to get those extra credit points another way.

I'm going to eat lunch now. Then I have work until six.


Until next time... <3

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Beautiful Day :)

Today was SO NICE. It was cold and cloudy and I got to wear warm clothes!

Last night I went to walmart and bought a candle. It smells like fresh cotton. I'm in love. I'm burning it right now and it is making my room smell heavenly. I also bought a new pillow... It's so much more comfty.

Tonight after work I stopped by target and ended up buying a new pair of ugg boots. The ones I had were a couple years old and pretty beat up so I figured it was time for a new pair.

I love Autumn. I love rain. I love boots and scarves and jackets..!

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P.S.

This picture makes me happy.

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It's October!

That means that the leaves are going to start changing colors, pumpkin patches are OPEN, and the weather will (hopefully) start to cool down. :)
I love October and November. I love this time of year. It's so pretty.

I'm hoping to make a trip down to Tanaka Farms in Irvine this month. I've always wanted to go there and pick my own pumpkin out of the ground. They have wagon rides around the farm, and corn mazes to walk through... and just a bunch of really cool stuff to take pictures of.

To start off my amazing October, I am going to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights tonight with some of my best friends. I'm so excited! It's going to be terrifying... why do people enjoy being scared? I haven't the slightest clue. I know tonight will be fun though :)

Tomorrow I'm driving down to San Marcos to my friend Brittany's apartment to meet her, Kevin, and Joey. We're going to the Miramar Air Show. Her uncle is the Captain of the Blue Angels so we're going to see that. I'm excited! I'm coming home from San Marcos on Sunday.

It's definitely going to be a tiring weekend, but it will be well worth it...

On a last note (if that makes sense)... I've lost 8 pounds since my last post. Yay!

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and so it begins...

i was talking to my mom a week or so ago about weight. it's really time that i do something about this. i've never been "skinny" but i've never been this big and i've never felt so uncomfotable with myself. i don't feel pretty anymore. i want that again. i'm starting to really watch what i'm eating and i'm going to workout as much as i can. there's no reason to stay like this. it's unhealthy... physically and mentally. so it's time to get busy!
jen and i are going to try out a zumba class on monday nights. i'm excited. it looks like a lot of fun. i know it's going to kick my butt... i need it though.
i've set an actual weight-loss goal and everything! i'm not going to give up on this.

on another note... i'm supposed to be writing an essay at the moment... but it's really difficult to get started. it's supposed to be about why i want to be a school teacher. ugh. the answer for that could be summed up in about 3 easy sentences... but no. i have to write a whole essay about it. that's college for ya. writing writing writing.

<3

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life and things

sometimes i feel as if i'm getting way ahead of myself. i find myself longing for my own place to live, a husband, a kid or two, a dog...
i know that i'm nowhere near ready to take on the responsibilities that come with these things, but i just really want a life of my own. i want to sit down at a dinner table and eat dinner with my very own family for once. i want to tuck in my children every night, read them stories, say a goodnight prayer with them, and kiss their foreheads. i want to crawl in bed every night with my husband and talk about our days and love and be loved by the most amazing man in the world.
is it weird to want these things so badly when i'm only 18 years old? probably...
i guess the reason i want these things so badly is because i never had that kind of life. not saying my parents and family are horrible. i love them very much and i'm blessed to have them. i just had an unusual childhood.
i was talking to a friend a few weeks ago about school and life and majors and stuff. we are kind of in the same boat in that we want to be stay at home moms. not because we're lazy and just don't want to get our college degrees... but that's just what we feel we'd be best at. what we were meant to do. well anyways... i'm going to school to become an elementary school teacher because i love kids so much and i know that when i do have an amazing family of my own someday, it'll be the perfect job.

i just wish i didn't have to wait so long and go through so much schooling for it. i guess that when i do finally get my happy ending it'll all be well worth the long wait and hard work.

on another note, i got paid today. i needed it badly. i only had 10 dollars in my bank account.
also, i officially applied for centri-kid and got an interview!!! it's on october 29th and it's on skype which is kind of weird. but i am hoping and praying that it will go well and i know that if it is God's will, i'll get the job.

i'm starting to listen to music that i haven't listened to in a long time. it's bringing back SO many memories. man oh man. isn't it weird how music does that? you hear a song and you're instantly in a different place. for instance, this is kind of an embarrassing example, but the song "sexyback", by justin timberlake, reminds me of a friday night during sophomore year when i had just picked up my best friend darlene from the airport with her aunt debbie. dar was moving back to california and we drove from the airport to running springs (big bear) to pick up her cousin kristen who was one of my best friends as well. anyways, we blared the song on the way back down the mountain from kristens house. the windows were down and the air was freezing cold but we didn't care. we were so happy to all be together again. that night was so great.

well you get the point. old songs = vivid memories.

i think that's enough for tonight. i'm sleepy and i have class tomorrow.

goodnight. i love you, whoever you are. <3

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my day...

geez... i'm just now getting a break... it seems like i've been going non-stop allll day long.

this morning i had class. writing. not exciting. except kind of exciting today because we watched scrubs. so i guess that was pretty cool.

after class i went to chik-fil-a with kevin. that was fun. we figured out that every frida, the chik-fil-a off of sand canyon had all ou can eat nuggets and drinks for 10 dollars. i'm not too sure if that's a really good deal or not but i guess it could be if you like to eat a lot of nuggets...

after lunch i went straight to work and taught P.E. to the 1st-3rd graders until 3:30 and then the normal after school activites began.

after work i went over to pastor mike's house for college bible study. tonight was the first night. we watched ben stein's movie "expelled." it was pretty interesting. we used the movie as a sort of intro to a new study we're starting on the book "i don't have enough faith to be an atheist." i'm pretty excited about it. tonight was fun.

i get to sleep in tomorrow. it's going to be glorious. GLORIOUS. :)

p.s. today is 90210... 9-02-10

:P

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today i fell off of a ladder

it was the 1st day of school for the kiddies at my work (Arbor Christian School) and i was helping Patty (the 3&4th grade teacher) finish putting posters and things on her walls and i fell off of the ladder. i wasn't too high up and i landed sideways on a plastic chair. my hip hurt a little afterwards and i have a bruise on my hip. it wasn't as bad as it could've been. i have to admit it was kind of funny. the whole classroom got completely silent and i looked at the kids and laughed. i was just glad that this happened in front of a room full of 3rd and 4th graders rather than people my age. that would have been the absolute worst thing that could happen. i wasn't even embarrassed. it was just kind of a silly moment.

i'm glad that the kids are back in school. it's nice to have a set routine again. i know that unless another teacher calls in sick, i'm going to be doing the same job every day. i'm Patty's assistant from 1-3:30, and then after that it's just after school daycare. seems like a great day to me :)

i really should go to sleep now. i have class in the morning, then lunch with kevin, then working, then bible study at pastor mike's house. :)

p.s. i really love banana bread. i want to make some. i wish i had a recipe that i knew would be moist and delicious. i'll find one...

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Well..

my weekend was fabulous. :)
i had the youth group all-nighter on friday night and it went SO well. we did a video scavenger hunt, ice blocking throught the sprinklers, messy games, and broomball. sooo much fun.
saturday i slept a lot an hung out with eric and jen.
sunday i had church, then went down to the beach.

yesterday and today i had school but i didn't ha ve work, so i went to class and then hung out with jen afterwards. today we went to the beach. it was a really nice day.

tomorrow i have school and work. i'm really excited to have a set routine again. it's the 1st day of school tomorrow for the kids at Arbor Christian School where i work, so everyone's schedules will be back to normal.

i'm going to be working from 1-6. 1-330 i'll be assisting the 3/4 grade teacher and 330-6 i'm an after school supervisor. hooray for being back on a definite schedule! :)

well... see ya later. :)

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So Tiredddd...

i got 6 hours of sleep last night and i don't get to sleep again until tomorrow morning at about 8:30.

i'm about to go run some errands to get a bunch of stuff for the youth all nighter tonight. i'm also going to put some gas in my car.

i'm kind of excited for tonight. we're doing a video scavenger hunt, ice blocking, messy games, broomballing, and some other tournament type games. it's gonna be a good time. i love working with the youth. :)

i wish i had a costco card...

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Summer... School... LIFE :)

well summer is over. i haven't blogged very much at all, but i really should do this more often. i know i keep saying that... maybe this time i'll stick with it.

anyways, my summer was pretty great. i went to fuge (youth camp) and it was my first year as a leader which was really awesome. the 2 weeks right after camp, i went to washington state to visit with some family. it was SPECTACULAR... minus one thing. i was sick the entire time i was there. poop.

This is the view from my aunt tracy's beautiful home. i spent a couple days hanging out here with my cousin. love it.

since i've been back, i've been working... and working... and working. i do a lot of that these days.

School started up again on monday... i'm taking health, writing, and math. 12 units. not too little. not too much.

the youth all-nighter is tomorrow night. i've planned the wholeeee thing. it's going to be a blast! i hope the kids have fun.

OH! i almost forgot... i have a new car... only because i totaled the old one. it was a lot of stress, but i ended up with a nicer car? and of course... higher insurance bill. ehh... that's life i guess. being an adult is expensive. i miss those days when i'd get money and spend it on whatever i wanted at the time. oh well. haha.

it's been super hot this week. what's with that? the weather was so sunny and cool all summer and NOW it decides to be hotter that hades? i don't understand. dear autumn... please bring your weather to orange county soon. love, me.

i read a friends blog earlier and something she wrote stuck out to me. she said "if you HAVE to do something, why not have fun doing it?" while this obviously can't apply to every situation... it can apply to most. it's one if those things that everyone probably hears often but for some reason it just stuck out to me more today.  if i'm going to be stuck at work in the hot hot hot 100 degree heat... i'm going to do my best to have fun while doing it. there's no use in complaining about it... i need the money, therefore i must work. so i'm going to go have fun while doing it.

speaking of work... i gotta go.

<3

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ready...

i'm ready for vacation. i need a break from work... from lake forest... from everything that is familiar.
i like living here, but i go crazy if i don't get a little vacation every now and then. i've been getting a taste of reality this summer by working 40 hour work weeks. it's tiring.
i never believe those adults that told me they'd rather go to school than work full time. hahahaha. now i kind of understand.

...but at the same time, i would never go back to high school. i did my time there. it was great. now i'm done.
i just have college to worry about now. ugh. so many classes to take.

anyways... this post is rather pointless.

i wish it was exactly one week from today.
fuge one week
washington the two weeks right after.

how lovely.

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stuff.

I haven't written on here in a while, and I've realized that my day is much better when I get things off my chest. Since I don't think anyone actually reads this... I can vent to my internet. hah...

Earlier today I came across an old friend's blog. I wish I didn't have to say she was an old friend... but we aren't exactly friends anymore I don't think. Just friendly.
It made me think. A lot.
It made me think about change. It made me think about how many changes that I've gone through since the year 2008.
I lost an amazing friendship. Probably the best. And the majority of that was my fault.
I changed, I started hanging out with a lot of people i shouldn't have hung out with, and I lied to her. I lied. And she let me lie. She always knew that I was lying. I don't know how she wouldn't have known.
When senior year started in '09, I started hanging out with yet another different group of friends, and I'm still really good friends with all of those people. They're great friends. I stopped getting into trouble, and I stopped doing those things that I knew I shouldn't be doing. I had a great senior year with some great friends.

I'm not sure exactly where i was going with that except to say that no matter what friends I've made since I ruined my friendship with my best friend... no one has ever taken her place. And no one ever will. Cliche sounding? probably. but it's truth.

For that last couple months I've been thinking about this a lot. I miss her. I want to call her and maybe go to lunch or dinner. something. I want her to know that I'm sorry for lying to her. I'm sorry for everything I did.

But then I start to doubt myself. Have I waited too long? What would she possibly have to say to me?
When we see each other, we don't say much. A lot of stuff can happen in just a couple years. A lot of time can go by in what seems like just a few days.

Maybe the reason why God has put this on my heart is because it IS time for me to reach out to her. Maybe we were supposed to wait for this until we settled down and let the drama pass.

I guess I won't know unless I just do it.

Well... it's lunch time for pre-k. Looks like this post has come to an end.

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all that i can say - david crowder band

We sang this song in youth last night and I'm almost positive that it instantly became my favorite song. This song is so amazing and so true. I think I speak for most Christians when I say that some days it's just really difficult. We have those days where we just wanna cry or sleep ... or both. Things go wrong. We just have flat out sucky days where the last thing we want to do is sit down and read our Bibles or   even pray and we feel like we have nothing left to give. Why is it that the days we need God the most, we forget to turn to him and ask for help? Because we're human... and we think that we have to be strong and independent and do everything on our own. My mom always used to say to me "if you want something done, you do it yourself." and while, this is a quote that I pretty much live by... I can't do anything alone. I need God. Sometimes we feel as if God leaves us... like he sets our hearts down somewhere and forgets about us. But that's not the case. He's always standing next to us, but we forget to talk to him.

Lord I'm tired
So tired from walking
And Lord I'm so alone
And Lord the dark
Is creeping in
Creeping up
To swallow me
I think I'll stop
Rest here a while

And didn't You see me cry'n?
And didn't You hear me call Your name?
Wasn't it You I gave my heart to?
I wish You'd remember
Where you sat it down

Chorus:
And this is all that I can say right now
i know it's not much
And this is all that I can give
yeah that's my everything

Bridge:
I didn't notice You were standing here
I didn't know that
That was You holding me
I didn't notice You were cry'n too
I didn't know that
That was You washing my feet

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If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Last weekend was amazing :) I drove up to San Francisco with one of my best friends, Brittany, and we watched our high school show choir "Soundsation" compete in a competition up there. Kevin, Chris, and Carson (some of our close friends) met us there as well. They're going to school up north so they had a much shorter, less boring drive. My boyfriend is in the choir and I was glad to be able to see him :) We got there Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning.

Friday I had work so Brit and I left around 1:30 when i got off and we drove up. That drive is so boring... we got stuck in some LA traffic and were kinda worried that we wouldn't make it there by 830... but sure enough we did. :) The performance went well.



Afterwards we experienced this crazy thing called the "San Jose Bike Party" we walked out of the auditorium and there were at least 1 thousand people on bikes... it basically looked like a huge bike rave. Not gonna lie, it was weird. After we finally got out of the bike infested parking lot, we went to check into our fabulous motel 6 in Palo Alto... ick. I was just glad we only had to stay there for a night because it was far less than glamorous :P After check-in, we drove over to the choir's hotel to hang out for  couple hours and then back to the motel ICK.

Saturday morning, we woke up at around 10 and showered, packed up our things, and got the heck outta there & drove to the beautiful, crazy, uneven city of San Francisco. By the time we arrived, we were starving and decided to eat lunch at this amazing little mexican resturant called "La Cumbre Taqueria" that was on man vs. food. We had THE greatest burritos ever and I could barely eat half of mine because they were so filling.

After our yummy lunch, we drove over to Haight St. It was really busy and fun and we went into some pretty interesting vintage thirft stores. After Haight, we went to China Town and looked around over there because the boys wanted to look at all of the illegal items they sell on that street. :P China Town was really busy and we didn't stay there very long.
When we were done there, we decided it would be fun to drive down Lombard Street... it turned out to be more scary than fun... but i'm glad we did it :)

After Lombard, we went to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to walk around and hangout for a little bit. That was SO much fun. I got attacked by the bush man and some gold painted street performers. Weird. When we were done at Fisherman's Wharf, Brit and I begged the boys to go over to th Golden Gate Bridge and walk across it. We definitely lucked out because we got there right as the sun was setting. It was GORGEOUS! :)

By the time we were done on the bridge, we were extremely hungry again and Chris told us about this burger place over on Pier 1 that was on the travel channel's top ten burger joints in America, so we just had to check it out. The burgers, fries, and milkshakes were absolutely scrumptious and we were totally full once again.

It was about 10 o'clock by the time we left Gott's Roadside Burgers and we were finally ready to head over to Berkeley to spend the night at Chris's dorm. We drove over the beautiful Bay Bridge into the pretty college town of Berkeley and got to see where Chris lives. We got to sleep at around 130.

Sunday, we all woke up at around 930 with sore backs and necks from sleeping on the hard floor and were very tired. We got ready to leave and head home and we left at around 1030. On the way home, Brit and I ended up catching up with the choir's bus and we stopped at the same place to eat, but as we were getting there, they were about to leave, so we didn't really hang out with them. After getting our lunch, we got back in the car and continued the boring drive back to Lake Forest, CA.

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Today Was A Fairytale

This was the first Valentine's Day that I actually had a real "Valentine." It was a great day. Eric and I had a delicious picnic at Irvine Regional Park and we relaxed under the trees in the soft grass for a couple hours and then we walked around the ark for a little while. After our picnic, we drove to the spectrum and we saw the movie "Valentine's Day" which was really good. Eric got me this huge pink bear and it's really soft. I'm planning on sleeping with it tonight. :)


I have always loved Valentine's Day. Which most people might think is weird considering I haven't ever had a "special someone" to actually spend it with. I just love the fact that there's a day completed devoted to LOVE. Now don't get me wrong, I think that every day should be as filled with love as Valentine's Day is... but if we're really going to be realistic... it's just not. People are too busy... too self absorbed... too caught up in their lives to remember to just LOVE... and not jut love the people that they love every single day, but everyone in general. 


Love is such an amazing gift... a gift from God. God has given us love and that's a gift that must be shared with the world because without love, we are nothing. God tells us to love people just as he has loved us. 


Just a thought... :)
Goodnight, world. I love you.

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Grace Like Rain

I just talked to a friend of mine who i've know since 8th grade. We haven't always been super close over the past 5 and a half years or so but we've always remained in contact with each other. Our freshman year we were probably the closest. We hung out and talked just about every day. After freshman year, he i guess just went into this downward spiral and started drinking and partying and stuff and it continued until a year or so ago. Since our freshman and sophomore years we've done so much growing. I had the opportunity to talk with him tonight and i was so blessed to see all of the amazing things that God is doing in his life. He has such an amazing testimony to tell and I can tell just how much he wants to share it with the world.
It is so amazing and inspiring when God gives me the opportunity to talk with certain people and show me what he's doing in the lives of some people who I haven't talked to lately. One year ago, if someone were to tell me that I would see such a change in this guy, I don't know if I would've really believed them or not.
God is so amazing. It is so incredible when he reveals himself to me in little ways like this one.

Goodnight. <3

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Heaven Song - Phil Wickham

So today I shadowed Miss Natasha who is the first grade teacher at work. She is pregnant and is due to have her baby girl, Evelytte, in the middle of March and I will be taking over he class while she is on her 6 week maternity leave. I'm so excited that my boss is trusting me with this. It's going to be such a fun learning experience for me. I already know the first graders very well because they are with me after school everyday. There is only seven of them so I don't think I'll be too overwhelmed. Natasha is awesome and she has been making sure that once the baby comes, every little thing I will need is nicely organized and her lessons are easy to understand. 
I'm so glad that this is going to happen... it's all in God's plan. I want to be a teacher and this is going to give me six whole weeks of experience. It's so great! 
These kids just think, "Oh.. Miss Ally is going to teach us our new lessons while Miss Natasha has her baby and stuff..." Little do they know that they're gonna be the ones teaching me. 
Not that they don't every day already. Kids are smart... they push you... they challenge you. I have gained so much experience from these kiddos just by hanging out with them everyday. No matter how much they push my buttons sometimes... I love them. They have brought so much joy to my life. They all have so much potential and I really just can't wait to see what kind of amazing things they'll do. 


Goodnight. :)

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