lots of pictures and a few words

the weather is finally beautiful! seriously i love it. i've been waiting to hike a mountain because it's been too dang hot. so last week when i had my monthly solitude day i took on camelback mountain. hiking by yourself at noon isn't the best idea in the world but it was still pretty great. also this mountain was less of a hike and more of a vertical boulder climb. it's about a mile and a half and takes an hour but very rewarding at the top! so, hike an arizonan mountain: check.

this is not my picture but you have to know why my legs were shaking so bad at the top

also in recent news... i got a tattoo! i know not everyone is thrilled about this (sorry mom) and it looks pretty impulsive. but i'm very pleased with it! it's three little birds on the inside of my wrist. i did it because i think this is an important time in my life. to be free and fly and listen to the lord. i know my life may not always be as flexible as it is now, but my chains are gone and i've been set free. and that's what i want to always remember. so that's it and i love it!

saturday we celebrated my good friend matt's 23rd birthday at bartlett lake. we boated, chicken fried, blasted country music, and had one of my favorite days here thus far. real redneck. real fun. we will do this again.

and finally happy halloween! i ducked out of trick or treating tonight but will dutifully be watching hocus pocus. it's tradition. anyway here's more pictures...

madi janay and i went to a halloween party saturday with a bunch of people we didn't know. so naturally we got the dance floor started. and then left.

all area club was monday! zombie night, so fun.

i had to represent. pumpkins here last about 48 hours before they mold and sag. but, while it lasted, i had a crab pumpkin.

so this is my life in pictures. i need to write more often so i can remember more. but as of lately, life is good. i'm settling in. i don't miss home as much. and i'm not nearly as lost. in fact i gave someone else directions the other day! i live here.

love to my east coast friends during this storm!

this is getting real.

well it's been a while. as warned, things have filled up quickly and i am finding my days getting more and more packed with things and people and driving. it has been a few weeks and i can't even really remember everything that has happened so i'll give you the highlights...

coronado. things are going great and i am constantly surrounded by high school girls at games, homecoming dress shopping, movie nights at my house, and anything else any 16 year old girl wants to do any day of the week. we have started club and had 30 kids at our first real out-of-school club! this was a blessing and has made the transition out of lunch club easy. we have had the same kids come back every week now with a few added. but we are growing. to get kids to come on mondays and spread awareness a sophomore girl, drea, and i made this ridiculous music video (click if you missed it!) which has been a hit. we still show up to lunch every other friday and bring pizza to meet and hang out with kids. about 100 kids show up to that so we're working on getting those kids to come monday night too. but so far it's been great and beyond what we expected. we are doing real young life ministry here.

the banquet. young life has a banquet every year to raise money and support from the community. it's an awesome event and SO MUCH planning goes into it every year. we were swamped at the office the week before, everyone in every day working on pulling it all together. and it did come together. quite beautifully. we got to tell people in scottsdale what we are doing in our ministry and ask them to partner with us which is so exciting. while we didn't raise quite enough money as we needed to for the area, it was still a wonderful night and very well done.

friends. i have fabulous friends here. people who love me really well. who want to be with me and talk to me and know me. who have graciously accepted me into their group even though i am the random girl from maryland. we went salsa dancing a couple weekends ago- so fun. people love me well here. and they're a blast. arizona is starting to feel like home.

san diego. this past weekend i got to road trip out to san diego to see my very dear friends from studying abroad in italy. sarah flew in from iowa and lauren came down from LA and we all stayed in julianna's apartment with her husband chris. it was a gloriously beautiful weekend, touring the city and hanging out on the beach. very chill with some much needed rest. this is our second reunion of all four of us and we have vowed to continue the tradition every year. next fall we will be heading over to iowa to see sarah! i love these girls and have grown so much alongside them in the past couple years. we spent probably the most exciting time of all of our lives together exploring europe and share such a sweet bond because of that. these girls are my friends for life and it was such a blessing to be with them again.

so all is well out west. it's still hot- but has cooled down the the lower 90's. i'm loving it here but starting to miss my east coast friends and family. it's hard and not wonderful all the time. but i do know why i am here and would not have traded this adventurous time in my life for the world! the lord has continued to unfold his plan for me and i am constantly in awe of where he is taking me. this is the life.