Day 181: Eclipse

Right after sand volleyball last night, Brittany and I went to the midnight premiere of Eclipse. It was totally spontaneous and unplanned on my part! Midnight is not my best hour, but I grabbed some caffeine and was good to go! We left for the show at 11:30 pm- which is incredibly late... considering everyone in Sugar Land was there. We ended up getting pretty decent seats and parking without any issues! The movie was absolutely amazing and by far the best movie of the Twilight series so far!!! During the day I babysat for Pam and her friend- since they were going to the daytime showing of Eclipse! They are completely obsessed with the series and are die hard Edward fans! I watched Brooke & Lainey and we had a complete princess day! I did their hair, make-up and nails and dressed them up in their princess attire. We had a photo shoot and a princess lunch! At their house they even had plates that say, "The Princess Eats"! Overall it was a great day of Eclipse excitement and babysitting fun!!!

Day 180: Sand Volleyball!

Today I worked out and started a healthy eating plan with my Mom! We also organized the laundry room, cleaned my bedroom and straightened little things around the house. Tonight I worked at 9ners and afterwards I went to play sand volleyball with a group of people. The group of friends that I played with was Brittany, Melinda, Eric, Lauren, Kaitlyn Brooks, T. Jack, T.Cobb, and Anthony... but we also played with a huge group of Indian men! They were SO funny and nice! They definitely played volleyball in their own distinct style, with no rules. My team consisted of three guys named Ali, T.Cobb, Anthony and Mike (who was our MVP)! Haha :) My team won both of our games... because we don't lose! Over all it turned out to be a really fun night and I am so glad that I decided to go out and play some sand volleyball!

Day 179: Olive Garden Delivery

Lately I've been having some issues waking up to my alarm clock and this morning was no exception! I was supposed to babysit at 9:40 AM and I was trekking out of the house at 9:50- no make up, no shoes, in my pajamas. It was a fantastic start to my Monday! Anyways, I babysat the Singleton's which is always a highlight of my day! And after a sudden change of plans tonight,  Brittany Muller & I went to Olive Garden! We ordered the bottomless salad and breadsticks and we had an awesome server! When we asked for a togo box, she brought out 2 freshly packaged salads (with dressing on the side), a bag of fresh breadsticks and lots of mints! She even let us take the actual breadstick basket! We decided to take all of our leftovers to Taylor, since he couldn't do anything tonight and the OG is his favorite restaurant. I felt like the server's positive and helpful attitude made us want to do nice things for other people... so we did!!! After we made Taylor's night with his personal Olive Garden delivery service, a few other people came over and just hung out! "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." -Mark Twain

Day 178: Basket-Flaggan-Fluggen

Today was Promotion Sunday at church and T's birthday! There was a great crowd, an incredible singer and a powerful message in the high school service!!! This afternoon was my first training shift at 9ners Grill in New Territory. Melinda trained me and it went well! In the evening I went over to Katy's house, because she had a bunch of people over to swim and hang out! Katy & I were a beast team at Energy Pong and then I played a game called Basket-Flaggan-Fluggen (a.k.a water basketball) with all of the boys! My team was Taylor, Anthony, Harold and I... we were awesome and we won both games! I am a pretty competitive person and this game was by far one of the most entertaining water games that I've ever played! I got so into it and actually played pretty darn good for a girl! :) In the final game we played to 5. The ending score was 5-3 and I scored 2 of the goals for my team... holla! Afterwards, I went to Sonic with Brittnay, Mark, Taylor and Anthony. We sat outside and talked for over 2 hours! We played games like "Would you rather", "Mary-Bury-Do" and the random question game. It was so much fun just sitting and having good conversation with a smaller group of people! We took this picture in the Sonic parking lot on self timer. The camera was sitting on the trash can- oh memories! :)

Day 177: CB!

This weekend Lauren had some of her friends in town from Austin, TX. Jason came in town to take part in all of the festivities as well. This weekend was FIESTA themed- so they just hung out, played games, ate chips & queso and swam! Today was pretty chill... we relaxed on the couch and watched USA play Ghana in the FIFA World Cup. Sadly, they lost 2:1 and were eliminated from the tournament. I went with the family to see Grown Ups which starred Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider! It was hilarious! And tonight we had a tournament with every game you could possibly imagine. Jason & I were on a team together and our team name was CB. At first it stood for Cuddle Buddies (which is an inside joke) and by the end of the tournament it stood for Come Back Kids. We got 1st place out of 5 teams... yeah that's just how we roll!

Day 176: The Long Haul

Today we headed back to Sugar Land, Texas! It is about a 10 hour drive- which is a long drive for me to be in a charter bus! I sat next to Amber and we were kind of bored... so we decided to write a rap describing the past week. It includes all of the big events and little inside jokes... so here it is!

I am sitting on the bus with Berr

It's so freakin hot up in her

She even said I am going to marry Logan Furrh

Tori's crying 'bout High School Musical 3

The bathrooms are so gross, we can't even pee

Keaton and Megan are getting their flirt on

But all I wanna do is listen to John

KB is snippin' her nasty toe nails

And T is complaining... it never fails

I've learned a lot of new terms this week

And during the 3 legged races, Amber had a leak

David and Taylor are pretty tight

But T wouldn't let us go to teen night

Laura and Foster forgot their half a year

And we saw a drunk drivin' accident on the way here

Marcaya was sittin' in the hot tub in June

And she passed out around noon

There weren't many slides at the water park

But Taylor and David were sure to make their mark

Mary thinks Life is Crap

And Katy had some trouble with her flap

Jordan flashed the crowd on her way off the slide

And KB got tatted up down her side

We freaked Megan out with our moan fest

And decided that oil spills really aren't the best

Katy was dancing like a hoe

While Theresa was playing it kinda low

Logan is the sweetest country girl around

And Chad kept fallin' on the ground

Nicole won't stop saying "Totes Presh"

And Mo appeared to be pretty fresh

Everyday there are new "Crazy Mother Puckers"

Our team won the Beach Olympics... sorry all you suckers!

Corey floated the river with us

And my roommates taught me how to cuss

500 pictures were taken

And the beach babes were always out there bakin'

T was making fun of the girls with dimples

While Amber was poppin' all of Tori's pimples

At dinner, we devoured all of the rolls

While Kevin impacted all of our souls

This week out in the sun was raw

Even though Florida is a long haul

We've made memories we'll never forget

And got to know people we just met

We're jammin' to Justin Bieber on this ride

And Tori Watts... of course she just cried!

This is a sweet picture that I took during Thursday night worship. The flash was NOT on and it was pitch black outside. I don't know how this lighting happened... but it did and I love it!!!

Day 175: Just Listen

The entire gulf coast is suffering from the worst oil spill in history. People are losing their jobs, families are being evicted from their homes, and innocent animals are getting killed off. Today the oil arrived at the shore of Destin, Florida. I was bummed we were not going to be able to swim in the ocean, but my heart was broken for all of locals that are going to be affected by this disaster. So needless to say... our plans for today got changed. We ended up hanging out at the hotel, shopping at the local souvenir shop and laying out by the pool. I made 3 separate trips to the shop, because it was SO interesting! They had so many neat things and cute clothes! I bought a teal dress and a cover up for Shannon! In the mean time, a girl in our group passed out by the pool from heat exhaustion. I wasn't there, but I heard she was sitting in the hot tub in the middle of the day and she didn’t drink anything all day! Not a good combination! They called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. She was fading in and out of consciousness- but in the end she was fine! Everyone got all dressed up for dinner and we took pictures (of course)! We ate at a yummy restaurant called Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q! They had incredible cheese rolls and we sang Happy Birthday to Avery, who turned 6! Tonight at worship we were instructed to sit and LISTEN to God. The song The More I Seek You continued to stream through my thoughts.

The more I seek you,

The more I find you.

The more I find you,

The more I love you

I wanna sit at your feet

Drink from the cup in your hand.

Lay back against you and breath,

Hear your heart beat

This love is so deep,

It’s more than I can stand.

I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming

I thought it was a distraction and I tried to avoid it. Afterwards, we met in a circle to continue singing worship songs. John played that song again and it literally brought me to tears. That has never happened to me before in all of the years that I’ve been a Christian. It was powerful and real. Tears were streaming down my face and Katy was holding me in her arms. I finally realized that God was speaking to me through that song and I was finally able to calm my busy mind and just listen.

Day 174: Mysterious Maker

Today we spent the entire day at the Big Kahuna Waterpark! It was super hot outside, so we were ready for some waterslides! Amber & I hung out the entire day! We spent a lot of time with a ton of different people, but we were buds all day long! We went on all of the waterslides, but spent the majority of the time floating in the lazy river! It was incredibly relaxing and a ton of fun! We had a few stockers, saw a bunch of cute babies, and witnessed Jordan flash everyone on her way off of the big black waterslide! It was hilarious! I enjoyed getting to know some of the interns and other students on this trip! We were out in the sun for the entire day and enjoyed staying in for the night and eating some pizza! At night we had worship on the beach and John sang Revelation Song!

"Holy, Holy, Holy

Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come

With all creation I sing

Praise to the King of Kings

You are my everything

And I will adore You"

It was a powerful song! Kevin talked about where we are right now. It made me open my eyes to reality and see what I am struggling with. He challenged me to move forward, regain strength and take major risks for our mysterious maker! 

Day 173: Your Defining Moment

Last night Tori, Amber and I all slept on the pull out couch... it was interesting! When I woke up, I ate a yummy omelet for breakfast! My friends and I decided to play a game called 'Word Strip' throughout the remainder of the trip. I tend to shorten my some of my words and we needed to find a way to break this habit... so every time anyone shortened a word- they had to remove an article of clothing! Thank God silly banz counted! :) This morning everyone participated in Beach Olympics! We broke into 3 teams and I was on Kevin Edelbrock's team. He is super competitive, so each and every event was VERY intense! Amber & I were partners for the 3 legged races and she literally peed in her pants! We also had an egg race, a hula hoop weave, a leap frog competitive and an animal float relay. We hung out by the beach and had lunch by the pool! In the afternoon we went shopping at the outlet malls in Destin. I wasn't in the mood to spend money or wait on people to try outfits on... so it wasn't the highlight of my day- but other people enjoyed themselves (and that's all that matters)! Tonight we ate dinner at a restaurant called Cheeseburger In Paradise and I got to hang out with Avery Edelbrock (Kevin's 5 year old daughter). I just love being around kids any chance I can get! :) Tonight we had worship on the beach and it really started to stir up my heart. Kevin talked about a defining moment in your life- a point in time which everything changed. It is the thing that sets the course for all other things in your life. My defining moment was my car accident last September. I knew my life would never be the same from that day forward. I know Christ has a purpose for sparing my life that morning and I feel like each day that passes I am one step closer to reaching my destination and fulfilling my purpose here on earth.

Day 172: No Complaints Monday!

 We departed for Destin, Florida at 12 AM today. It was late, but we drove in a charter bus with 40 people from my youth group. We are going on a trip called DESTINation and we will be spending the entire week in Destin, Florida! The ride was going smoothly until our bus driver spotted a drunk driver on the highway. She reported their license plate number to the police and 30 seconds later she witnessed them hit a car on the overpass. We sat on the overpass for a solid 2 hours, while the adults waited for the police's arrival. We finally continued on with the drive to Florida and arrived around 1 pm. Once we got here, we all ate lunch and headed to the beach! It was fun playing in the waves with all of my friends and the people that I just met! Later, we all went to dinner at Fudpuckers! There was an hour wait, so we all explored the restaurant. This place was AMAZING! It had great spots to take pictures, live alligators to touch and tasty food! After dinner, we all went to worship on the beach and listened to Kevin Edlebrock speak. He is such a funny kid and in spirit of the restaurant he decided to give out the "Crazy Mother Pucker" Award! Whoever did the craziest thing that day would earn this award. He let us know what was in store for us this week and asked us, "What is your Destination?" I hope I am challenged this week to grow stronger in Christ and have a ton of fun in Florida with my friends!

Day 171: Father's Day!

This picture is from Spring Break 2007. I was in 8th grade and I played club volleyball. We flew to Denver, Colorado for a volleyball tournament and then my Dad & I went skiing for the remainder of the week! :) I used this picture in the frame that I gave my Dad for Father's Day! My Dad is so special to me and has helped me in so many ways. I am so blessed to have him as my father.

My Dad is....

• My Best Friend

• The Greatest Advice Giver

• Always Real & Honest

• A Teenage Boy at Heart

• A Carefree Person

• Goofy and Super Sarcastic

• The Life of the Party

• A Hard Worker

• Trusting & Compassionate

• The Best Dad Anyone Could Ask For

I pray that I will marry someone exactly like my Dad one day. He is funny, loving, supportive and spontaneous. No matter how old I get, I will always be my Daddy's Little Girl.

Day 170: Toy Story

Today Shannon returned home from a weeklong camp with her friends! We went to the church to greet her when the buses arrived. Below is a picture of my Dad holding up a sign that I made for Shannon last year. Our family is big on the welcome home signs! :) Shannon told us a few camp stories and showed us some of the camp cheers... but other than that- she was exhausted and just wanted to return to her spot in front of the television! This afternoon we had our first summer PALs hangout. We all met in Pecan Park for a Paint War- which is basically a water balloon fight, with paint inside the balloons. It was extremely hot outside, but I enjoyed licking some popsicles and getting to know everyone! Tonight I went with my family to see Toy Story 3. I've been waiting forever to see this movie and today was the day! There was awesome animation, precious new characters, a handful of suspense, and a few tears! Pixar never lets me down! It was the cutest animated movie that I've seen in a while... there just aren't enough classic family movies out there like Toy Story!

Day 169: Kerbey Lane!

Today was Day 2 of the ATX Road Trip with Brittany! We woke up and ate at Kerbey Lane- which is a delicious, diner style restaurant and another Austin classic! We ordered some Kerbey Queso and Pancakes... an interesting combination, but very yummy! Afterwards Brittany & I went to Tyler's and bought new shirts... and then we headed home! The drive was easy and traffic free- for the most part. I had so much hanging out with Brittany, Lauren and her friends!! Austin, TX may be weird, but it is a very cool city! I am so glad that we were able to spend a few days out of Sugar Land! We needed to mix it up a little! :)

Day 168: Forever Young

On Thursday Brittany and I took a road trip to Austin, Texas! We left fairly early and made it there by lunch time! We ate at a restaurant called Huts Hamburgers and had dessert at Tiff's Treats! They were both amazing Austin classics! I highly suggest trying the Tiffwich- which is Blue Bell vanilla ice cream sandwiched between your choice of two warm cookies! After we ate, we wandered around the city- taking pictures and making fun of freshman lost at orientation. We saw some dark clouds and knew rain was on its way! It started pouring on us, so we ran through the streets and went to park my car close to Lauren's apartment. We stopped by a crazy toy store and a store called Buffalo Exchange. Since the sun was now shining, we decided to walk to the 7/11 to rent a $1 DVD. As we were walking and laughing, an old homeless man walked past us and said, "Hahahha. WHORES." It was totally uncalled for, but we definitely got a good laugh out of it. Of course it started raining like crazy again... so we were drenched from head to toe! Luckily, Brittany's camera was waterproof... so we got some classic pictures. We watched the movie Valentine's Day and then went country western dancing with her friends. It was so much fun!!! I loved meeting some of her friends; especially Kassie- that girl is hilarious! Having a night like last night, surrounded by a new group of people in a new city, reminded me how much fun it is to be young! “Forever young, I want to be forever young!”

Day 167: Popsicles

My Mom is on a girl's trip, Shannon is at camp, Jason & Lauren are back to their college cities, and Dad is at work.... I am thinking friends are coming over!! :) I had a bunch of people in and out of the house today- from 2pm-11pm! We swam in the pool, did slip n' slide, ate, had 'real talk' and just hung out! I am so glad that people were able to come over and bond with a different group of people! I'll never forget sitting in the office having a therapy session with Jamie and Mark, eating popsicles with the girls and celebrating with Jamie, Mark and Sevon! Today we were reflecting on how classy the girls are in our graduating class of 2011. Our class has very little drama and a lot of really friendly people. My favorite quote from the movie Never Been Kissed is..."They're not gonna want to buy the whole friggin' ice cream truck when you’re handing out the popsicles for free!" That quote was the theme for the day and a great quote for the girls in future graduating classes! In this picture is Ariel, Victoria and Jamie (and imaginary Erin, Brittany and Anam). They are all eating their popsicles- but Victoria's is falling out of her mouth. Oops! ;)

Day 166: Tori & Kaitlyn's PONDERING ADVENTURES

This is the Tori & Kaitlyn's PONDERING ADVENTURES video! I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it! :)

Day 166: YouTube Sensations!

Today Tori Watts came over! It was a hot day and we were bored, so we decided to become YouTube stars. We were tired of Facebook stalking people, we didn't want to go to Swirl again and we had no money left in our pockets- so of course we made a video! We sat there pondering... just pondering all of life's little questions. The questions that everyone thinks, but no one actually asks out loud! Some of my favorites were:
"If you mated a bull dog and a shisu.. What would it be called?"

"Who was the first person to look at a cow and say... I think I'll squeeze these pink dangly things and drink whatever comes out."

"If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?"

"Do bald men wash their head with soap or shampoo?"

We came up with about 30 random questions. We switched out our props and filmed them all in different locations. Tori made me laugh so much today! This is a picture of her in front of McDonald's- since it was where we shot two scenes and grabbed dinner! I had so much fun making this video with her and I think that everyone should watch it!

I'll post the link to the blog! :)

Day 165: "Sometimes the food is just so good that we forget to talk."

Summertime is so sweet! It may be extremely humid in Texas during these 3 months- but I love everything about this time of year. This is a picture of a piece of artwork that Shannon painted in her summer spirit! Anyways, today I went to lunch with my mom and sisters at TGI Fridays. Our family is notorious for eating our meals extremely fast, so we had a discussion about this topic over lunch. We concluded that we will have a conversation up until the food gets to the table... but once it's there- the conversation comes to a halt and we get down to business! On a commercial that we saw today they said, "Sometimes the food is just so good that we forget to talk." That statement is SO TRUE! Lauren and I also went on a 4 mile rollerblade ride in the 100 degree weather. When we were maybe 2 minutes into the ride I completely ate it on the sidewalk. It was so embarrassing! My knee is completely scraped up and I rode the entire way with blood running down my leg... but at least I scored a cool battle wound! And that's all that really matters! :)

Day 164: Reunion!

Today I went with my mom and sister to Harwin and a ghetto thrift store. We were on a search to find Lauren costumes for the theme nights at Pine Cove-since she will be a counselor there this summer. Tonight I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with a bunch of friends and then they all came over to my house afterwards! We watched the Lakers vs. Celtics game and it was a nice reunion since I haven't hung out with most of them since middle school! In this picture is Erin, Brittany, Jamie, Ariel and Shannon. We attempted to get a group shot... but that is easier said than done. We played a few games of flip cup, waterfall and water pong- all with water, of course!! I hope everyone had a good time and enjoyed the delicious brownies that my dad and sister made! I have to give a special blog shout out to everyone that came: Brittany, Erin, Jamie, Erica, Kate, Victoria, Anam, Ariel, Brandon, Anthony, Taylor, Mark, Cody, Matt, Nick, and Cale! :)

Day 163: ACT in the Hood

Today I took the ACT. I signed up for it months ago and it was only yesterday that I discovered there are two Stephen F. Austin High Schools in the area. I signed up for the Houston area one across from the 3rd ward... literally located in the hood. I wouldn't have gone, but my friend Melinda also signed up for the wrong one. So we were two white girls strollin' along the ghetto streets of Houston looking for the ACT testing center. We literally took the test in the hood with no air conditioning. It was fantastic. When I got home my family was having a patriotic party for the FIFA World Cup Game: USA vs. England. There were streamers everywhere, they were waving American flags and my Dad made cookies that wrote out "Go USA"! They are just a bunch of party animals! And tonight I babysat my sweet little Singleton babies! They are the greatest! :)

Day 162: Luau!

The Engle Family Luau!

Tonight we had a family luau! All of the kids went to the store and made dinner for the entire family. We had an awesome fruit salad, Jason's specialty chopped salad, corn on the cob and chicken drumsticks with specially made sauce. Everyone was required to wear multiple leis and the parrot hat got passed around! After our awesome meal, we had an Engle Family Luau Tournament. Notice how everything we do involves a competition in some way! :) We played the Wii Tennis Target Smash, Scattergories, Taboo, Flip Cup and Wii Bowling. We randomly drew the teams... so here are the teams and the results:

1st Place- Dad & Jason
2nd Place- Mom & Shan
3rd Place- Lauren & Me

Even though my team lost... we had a blast tonight! I'll never forget...

• When my Mom won the Wii Target game (and she had never played before)

• Watching Shannon go crazy with flip cup

• When Lauren practically said every single word on the Taboo card (that you're not allowed to say) and Shannon buzzing her like crazy

• Making this great meal with the people that I love

• The Engle Family Luau!!!

Mom & Shan

Dad & Jason

Lauren & Me

Day 161: Together

Today Lauren & Jason came to visit! It's a rare occasion for our entire family to be in the same city for the weekend, but when it happens- we have so much fun! We started off by playing the classic game of Scattergories! The letter was P and the topic was Things that are black-- and Shannon's answer was People. Haha- She came up with the funniest answers! For dinner we ate at Lupe Tortilla, which is our family's favorite Mexican food restaurant! Afterwards we had an Engle Family Tennis Tournament. The arrangement of these activities was not ideal, because we all felt like we were going to throw up our chips and queso on the tennis court. Lauren, Shannon and I jumped in the pool with all of our clothes on when we got home! When we looked up at the sky we spotted stars and airplanes... so of course we all started singing the song Airplanes.

Can we pretend that airplanes

In the night sky

Are like shooting stars

I could really use a wish right now

And then we all made a wish! We may do lame sisterly things, but I love them more than anything! My family is the greatest and I am so thankful that we were all together today!

Day 160: Breakfast for Lunch!

Today my Mom had a teacher conference, so I spent the day with Shannon! I made us chocolate chip waffles for lunch- complete with strawberries, syrup and whipped cream. I don't like all that jazz on mine, but we enjoyed our warm smiley face waffles! Afterwards, we went and saw Shrek Forever After in 3D. The movie was super cute and I can't believe the story of Shrek has finally come to an end! Tonight Tori & I attempted to play sand volleyball with people, but hardly anyone showed up. It was very embarrassing sitting on the bench alone for an hour! However, we gained some unforgettable memories, laughed A TON and realized that we were clearly too cool for everyone. Haha :)

Day 159: Silly Bandz

This morning I babysat the sweetest bunch of kids ever! They are growing up so quickly! Ellie was talking up a storm, Caroline was constantly concerned about the lightning and Grayson just graduated from kindergarten. In his picture he is rocking the infamous Silly Bandz! This little invention can be found on almost every single kid’s wrists nowadays. They are simply rubber band bracelets in the shape of all sorts of random things. I have quite a few bandz that have been given to me by a ton of little kids. I think they're really cute! When I came home from babysitting, the master bedroom was flooded from the rain! It needed some serious work-- which was definitively not ideal! I got the opportunity to catch up with some old friends tonight! We scored 3 free meals at Pei Wei and had a ton of fun reminiscing on the past. All in all... it was a great day!

Day 158: New Moon!

Today was a rainy day! I ate lunch at Panera Bread with my Mom and Shannon- which is Shannon's all time favorite restaurant. She always begs us to go there, so she can get the broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl. We went to Wal-Mart afterwards and it was pouring down rain! I discovered that one of the funniest things to do is sit in a parking lot while it is raining and watch people. My Mom and I were dying laughing at all of the different reactions to the rain! We saw some awkward running, a few bare feet, an old lady with a bag on her head, and countless panicked expressions! When we got home we watched the Twilight saga- New Moon! These movies are seriously taking over the world! Personally I think the books are much better, but I enjoyed watching it with my girls on this rainy day!

Day 157: TOMS

Today was such a great day! Ariel bought me a pair of TOMS. It was totally out of the blue and probably one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me. I am obsessed with them! They are glittery and absolutely adorable! Ariel, thank you times a million for my TOMS!!! I also had a bunch of friends over at my house tonight. We played water-pong and Harold and I were an amazing team! We reminisced on old pictures, had an ice cream party and watched the MTV movie awards. I had so much fun with all of my friends and I hope they had fun too! :)