Harvest Festival

Last Friday was Trinity's annual Harvest Festival and my first opportunity to enjoy this event.  Here are highlights from some of my favorite moments of the night. 

"The Sales Team"

 

Our kids were selling glow sticks as a fundraiser and some of the students (ie- Carlton and Luke in the first picture) were the "sales team supervisors."  Carlton in particular was so serious about his job.  He reminded me of a modern day business man.  The second picture is the girl's expression upon hearing the "rules" of sales.

~~~~~~~~

"The Cake Walk"

 

 

Like all good church events there was a cake walk.  For those who aren't as familiar with this phenomenon, everyone chooses a number and stand on it.  Usually there is music to follow while everyone walks one direction on the numbers.  When the music stops you land on your number.  The conductors select a random number (in this case from the box) and someone wins a cake!  However, these ladies were having trouble reading the numbers and it made for quite an entertaining sight hearing them banter back and forth as to what number was just pulled.  Such a great job ladies!

~~~~~~~~

"Hanging Out with Friends"

 

 

I just love watching my students enjoy the fellowship of their friends.  Trinity is such a big family and you can tell as you watch the kids interact with one another.

~~~~~~~~

"Booth Leaders"

 

 

 Many of the students were involved in booths.  Watching them building their leadership skills is awesome!  Plus, they are learning how to serve others.  Wow, what character building!

~~~~~~~~

"Letter to Soldiers"

 

 

My favorite booth was Mrs. Broome's.  She brought supplies and encouraged the kids to write letters of appreciation to a soldier.  Wow, what an impact her booth must have made.  Just another example of the character building that I love at Trinity!  Plus, one really great teacher to look up to.

~~~~~~~~

I'm already looking forward to next year! 

Outdoor Education

Yesterday, I just got back from a full week at Alpine Christian Camp with my 36 Jr. Highers.  What an exhausting and exhilarating week with my students!  Here are some pictures I took of the campus.  It's located near Lake Arrowhead.  Isn't it gorgeous?

 

 

The kids had such a great time!  They participated in team building activities and played so many creative games.  I ended up taking over 500 pictures all together.  

One of the best parts of the time as seeing them push themselves in the high ropes courses.  Many were simply insane and I swear they had no fear! Here are some highlights from their adventures.

I'm glad to be back home (because it was crazy exhausting!)  Lastly, I wanted to show you how fun my kids are.  We made up this inside joke where someone would yell out "SMALL FACE!" (usually me) and the person would try to scrunch their face as small as possible.   Here are the resulting pictures.  (Check out third row, second from the right... not sure he quite understood the concept.)

Ah, I love my job!

'Fall in Love with 28'

Yesterday, I had the first of several gatherings to celebrate my (gulp) 28th birthday.  Anthony and I went over to my mom's house in Lake Forest and it was such a blessing to see how much my family loves me.  My Mom put out all of her fall decorations and the house was smelling like cinnamon, pumpkin and fall goodness!

Notice the picture of my sister and I in the background from when we were in elementary school.  So very 90's.

My sister also took the time to make an adorable sign that read "Fall in Love with 28!" and she decorate the backyard.  She actually gave me the sign and I think I'll put it up in my house or perhaps my classroom.

Isn't this sign just the cutest thing?  She used scrapbooking paper, a stencil and black magic marker.  Then she strung it all up with twine.  Here are some more pictures of the food spread.  They put together many of my favorite munchies for the occasion. 

Mmmmm.... Swedish fish!  

We also played a game of Phase 10 in which I came in second to last and my Mom won.  She was so pleased with this as she NEVER wins at any of the games we play as a family. 

Joshy was the loser.  Hee hee.

My cute cousin Sarah admiring her cards.  She's so smart and always wins at strategic games!

My Auntie Cindy.  I love you Auntie Cindy.

And my adorable husband.  Oh what a charmer!

My little sister with her "game face" on.

By the end of the night, after a delicious dinner of BBQed chicken, potato salad, baked beans, corn-on-the-cobb & melon, the sun began to set and it was time to sing, "Happy Birthday!"

The only kind of cake I'll have on my birthday is pumpkin pie!

I'm also the only one who likes pumpkin pie, so they bought a lemon tart pie as well.  I am loved!

Towards the end of the night, my sister and I started to bust out our cameras and show each other all the new things we're learning.  She recently got a Nikon DSLR camera.  I know... sadly she joined the traitor's world.

Ah, aren't we cute!  The older I get the more I treasure time spent with family.  It's better than any birthday gift or party.

Vacation in Bass Lake

The second week of September Anthony and I took a small five-day vacation to the Bass Lake/Oakhurst area to join in the celebrations for my best friend's wedding.  Jenna is an old married woman by now (going on three weeks?), but I took a while to actually post some of the pictures I took from that week. 

We rented this AMAZING one bedroom loft-style cabin off Highway 41 on the way up to Yosemite.  I fell in love.  It even had a sweet name--Creekside Casa.

This is the porch and right below the wooden deck is a creek flowing down from the waters of Yosemite.  It was such a tranquil ambiance.  Not to mention the killer floor to ceiling windows throughout the entire cabin!

Are you jealous? Don't be.  Just stay there yourself.  I found it on VRBO, and it was a great deal! Still not convinced?  Check out the skylight right above the bedroom...

While we were in Bass Lake we went to our favorite burger place.  Honestly, I would drive 50 miles out of my way just to eat the burgers at Forks!

Anthony was about done with me taking pictures at this point and did the classic "turn-away" pose.  :)  Love ya babe.

So, I was discussing the burgers... they are killer!  I don't know what it is about them... the mountain rusticness?  Yeah, I made up a word... you can do that when you're a English teacher.  Here they are...

Are you salivating?  I am.

The best part of the trip was just celebrating the excitement with Jenna.  Here are some pictures of her the days leading up to her wedding.

The last one is my favorite.  That's her looking up to Brett, her new husband.  This was the day before they got married.

Here's some neat pictures of the church they got married in.  It's actually called "Little Church in the Pines."  Quaint huh?

And the inside of the church was so rustic looking.

Anyways, it was a fabulous time and I'm so glad Anthony and I were able to share it with her and be with one another.  We're looking forward to the next trip which comes next week when he takes me to the San Diego Zoo for my birthday.