Blessings and birthdays

I made it to 20! How crazy is that?

This past weekend, the fam came down to visit! Our foreign exchange student made it to the Large Group All State Speech Festival!! (I'm so proud of her!) But Friday, sis came and we hung out at an ISU gymnastics meet. It was so fun to have sister time! We haven't gotten to spend a ton of time together, so that was super special.
Saturday we made chocolate chip pancakes (a favorite!) and met up with the parents to watch all the cool acts. We loved watching everyone; they were fabulous! Then Mom and Dad spoiled me! Mom and I bargain shopped. After a while, I went to work. From the play-by-play via text, I'm sure they had fun. They also brought down a few presents and baked goods. My apartment is still in no short supply of sweets! Grandma baked cookies, Dad baked a cake (complete with frosting and funfetti sprinkles!), and Mom baked a pie. I had made brownies Friday night with sis, so we were stocked!
Sunday church was wonderful, and we had plenty of time to eat and clean a bit before I had to be at choir rehearsal before the concert, which went wonderfully!
They fed me again before leaving. It was the best weekend I could have had! :) Thanks fam!!

This coming weekend is the Salt Company Spring Retreat! We'll have almost 700 people there!!! Pray for us as we talk about the Glory of Christ. Everyone is super pumped! (I would say I'll get pictures, but I try to make promises I can't keep)

Birthdays are so fun! Can't wait for spring to come!

Rain, rain go away!

I'm super sick of the rain here. I will, however, accept the rain instead of the snow my hometown has received within the past week or two. Sadly I don't have rain boots at college. When it's super cold and wet out, my toes are also super cold and wet. (wet socks ... ew)

But, here I will list as many positives I can think of concerning rain:
1. "April showers bring May flowers" (I'm hoping for tulips!)
2. Fields will be plenty ready for seed and hot summer days.
3. If the sun shone all the time, people would be far too happy about Iowa weather. The word would get out, and we would have a crazy influx of tourists.
4. It gives me a good excuse to curl up with a book.
5. It lengthens the tights-wearing season.
6. It makes the world smell good.
7. Cloudy, drizzly days are good for journaling with tea and Jesus.
8. We probably wouldn't be in Iowa without some crazy weather in spring.
9. I won't see a lot of it this summer.
10. It makes outside not so awfully hot all the time.

Yep, I couldn't have an odd-numbered list.

In other news, I have less than three weeks left of school this year. I have not posted as much this year compared to last year, however, I hope you will forgive me. Maybe I'll even do a finals week post with pictures from the past semester!

Spring has Sprung!

Yep, I had nothing better. Sorry! I hope these pictures make up for the lame title! :)

She's too cute!!

I put all the tulips in a 'vase'!
'Vase': free water bottle 

               

                        Lighting isn't great, but look at the pretty lilac! :)

A new favorite! So beautiful!

What does spring look like around you?

Adventures!

Wow, I'm such the adventurer! jk I'm not really. BUT I did have quite the weekend discovering different parts of campus! 

Look out! I'm trying to get artsy again!

These are a few of my friends
that came with me on adventures!

Larkspur?? I don't know!

We did all sorts of crazy things! Do you think my horse-lover cousin would come visit me if she saw some of my awesome pictures?? 

There were 4 mares and 4 ponies!

Look!
Can you see the chameleon?

Are you ready?

For......

because here we go!!

Might I just add that this is
what my bed looked like before I left!

Homemade goodies: Grandma's buns and Chocolate chip cookies!

Pre

Post

Omnomnomnom... get in mah belly!

Broken cookies don't get to be shared!
;)

Just look at these cookies!

gettin' artsy with the
cookie sheet pic! 

All gone! :S (good and bad face)

Now, I'm very sorry it took so long to post all these, but if you take a peek at how beautiful spring makes Iowa State, I think you'll understand. :) My green thumb has absolutely gone crazy with all this beauty!

These are seriously ALL over campus!!

Do you see both of the swans?
Their names: Sir Lancelot and Lady Elaine.
One is on the left right behind the fence post
and the other one is easier to spot on the right.
ISU Secret: They're both male!

Campanile and Central Campus.
So gorgeous!

Daffodils. Daffodils everywhere!

TULIPS!!!!! The Dutch girl in me is going crazy!!

Check out how cool this is!

This is Sloss House.
It has women-oriented things in it
and a fantastic tree in front of it!

I don't know exactly what this is, but I love it!!

Double tulips in cardinal and gold!

Erica's so pretty!

It was so perfect for a dress!

Nobody knows what kind of tree this is,
but it's the most beautiful of them all!

This is a sculpture in the Lagomarcino Courtyard.
How quaint!

Getting artsy! I love the pure flower against the muck in the birdbath.

Mia! Steampunk worthy??
Cool gate also in Lagomarcino.

This sidewalk leads literally from the very north of campus to
the Memorial Union. The endlessness of this path is so fantastic.

Now that you've seen how marvelous campus is, you'll understand why I love college in general.

I've made some of the best friends. Truly. God has blessed me so much!

Last night, I saw that Zondervan (Karen Kingsbury's publisher) would allow me to read the first five chapters to Loving. I told my friends they better not bother me while I read. 

When I heard my door rocking back and forth, I figured they were just writing something weird on my board. I should have known better. 

When I got a picture message on my phone, I had to check it out. They had post-it noted my door!!!

Then I heard duct tape, so I told them they couldn't ruin my pictures (especially of Sleeping Beauty, my fave princess). 

This is what happened.

(yep, keep going. it's worth it.)

You can see the video of me escaping on my Facebook page!

(almost there)

They not only put post its on my door, but literally wrapped
my door with wrapping paper! 

My friends Jimmy and Ryan with their creation.
Jimmy is proud; Ryan hates pictures.