Summer Fun!

FYI: this is AJ
OK, so I know it's a little late, but right now I could use a little summer. It's been so cold and rainy! So, what better way to bring some much needed sunshine than to revisit summer break? My summer was divided into three amazing activities: EFY!, Girls' Camp, and Youth Conference.

EFY
I loved EFY. I can't believe I've gone all these years without it. Shantelle and I had planned to room together. They gave us room keys after we checked in and told us how to get to the elevators. The counselors had all made cute name tags for our doors. When we got to the room, the door said Shantelle and Shannon. I was immediately bummed. I thought, what is the point of being at EFY if I can't be with my best friend? Now that I look back on it, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way - not that I don't love you Shantelle. But if I wasn't put in a group where I didn't really know anyone, I wouldn't have made new friends the way I did.

My favorite part of EFY was the classes. Two of my favorites where: "The Pursuit of Happiness" and "Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude." I had a neat experience with the classes one day. I had picked a class to go to, but got confused as to where it was on campus. I ended up in the "wrong" class. I put wrong in quotes because there couldn't have been a better class for me at that time. I knew as soon as the brother began to speak that I was where I was supposed to be. It was pretty cool.

Girls' Camp
Girls' Camp this year was such a neat experience for me. "Treasure It" was our theme. And, of course, my amazing stake young women leaders went all out pirate! They were great! They should have made a movie. There was the perfect mix of fun and games and wonderful spiritual experiences.

On the first day, the youth leaders had the opportunity to help the stake leaders to build camp - literally. We built benches for the fire pit -"the cove." It was a cool representation of what we were doing spiritually - building the camp to be a place where the other girls could learn and grow.

I had the awesome opportunity to work with Sis. Michaelson from Avon. She was so fun! She brought a beautiful piece of music called "The Rose" that we sang on the last night. She also brought 100 kazoos to make a kazoo band. Our wonderful first years - they were our favorites! - made up our kazoo band. They chose the song "It's a Small World" and did an awesome job performing it.

Sis. Pini and Sis. Morgan both gave beautiful devotionals. Sis. Pini's was about not worrying about what others think of you. She read a story about wooden people who gave star stickers to beautiful or talented people and dot stickers to people who weren't "special" in any way. The stickers, dots or stars, would not stick to one person and she said it was because she went an visited Eli (their creator). She reminded us the rest of the week not to let it stick. Sis. Morgan's devotional was about temptation to the youth leaders on night. One thing she said really touched me an has stayed with me since. She told us that when it says in the scriptures that Christ will succor His people, it means that He will run to his people. I loved that.

Youth Conference
Youth Conference was great this year. We did a service project at a Girls' Scout camp. We got to build a bridge and paint cabins and a barn. My group - go orange! - started out on the barn. It was so fun to paint! I love painting and I loved my group. What more could I ask for? We were lucky enough to be the group that finished the bridge. The starting groups spent all their time trying to dig through the hard, clay-like ground for the posts. They had all work and no fun! We got to see the finished product.

I was a little concerned about building a bridge - me being a klutz and all. Putting a saw in my hand didn't sound like a good idea to me. But I managed to make it through the whole thing without even hitting my hand with a hammer, until clean-up. While moving the old boards (with large rusty nails sticking out of them) away from the bridge, I stepped on one. It hurt pretty bad, but more than anything I felt stupid. Who gets injured at a church activity? But I thought, at least it didn't happen at the beginning of the day. That would have been much worse.

One of the coolest parts of Youth Conference for me didn't happen in the middle of the service project or during the testimony meeting - that I missed to get a tetanus shot, drat! The coolest part for me happened at about two in the morning while I stayed up late talking to Allison Houser. We had shared the Auger's house last Youth Conference as well, so we already knew which of their many rooms to choose from. We were both going through a rough time and the more we talked, the more we realized our situations were identical and we were both searching for someone who would understand how we felt. We didn't sleep that night. What was really cool was that I had prayed before Youth Conference that something at Youth Conference would strike me and I would understand why I had to struggle through this trial that seemed impossible to bear. I didn't expect to get my answer while laying in bed with a best friend complaining, but God works in mysterious ways.

I really had the greatest summer I could have asked for. It was jam-packed with spiritual activities and fun. I can only hope that this next summer - my last as a kid! - will be as great.

More Sebastien!

More baby pictures! Soon, we'll have the pictures with Amy, and me, and of course, his mom. He is a cutie, and is so little. His mom will be moving to St. Louis in September, so we all have to get a lot of hugs and spoiling done before then. He is already rolling over and seems anxious to just get on with life, in general.

His newer pictures will show that he has filled out since these shots. He has a slight red cast to his hair. I'm sure hoping he doesn't develop a temper to match! Right now, he's a sweetie, very alert, with lots of funny faces. A baby's main job is to be adorable, and he's doing a fine job of it. We will post the new pictures soon.

Our New Grandson!

Please welcome Sebastien Hunter Neal Menendez to the world. He was born on May 17th, was 20 inches long, and has dark hair with just the first hints of red. He is very photogenic, as you can see. Sleeping is his favorite sport. He does lots of yawning and sneezing, but very little crying. This, of course, makes him very popular!

We think we'll keep him! We will have more photos soon, so check back often.

Running out the door!

First, a couple of prom photos. Lovely! Alright then, a big update! Yes, I have been accepted to the IU Nursing Program! I can barely believe my good fortune. I'm still bouncing up and down! My school advisor said "It's a long time till August. You better quit that before you hurt yourself!" I'm just SO excited at all the wonderful things I am going to get to do. I've been invited to join the Honors Program, as well. It requires an extra 18 hours of additional work, like an internship and a research project. I am going to do that because it allows you to be provisionally accepted for the Master's or PhD program upon completion. Way cool. I already have bought one pair of scrubs in Bright Red. I wonder if it's the required color because red means DANGER, hmmmm?! I have bandage scissors, a penlight, a lab coat.....I am like a kid with new toys. I can't wait to get my first stethoscope, maybe in burgundy. Yes, they come in colors now, even colors like lilac and spring green! Wow!

Everyone should have a dream, a passion, that drives their life. We should focus on making it happen, going at it full steam ahead. Life is so short, just sitting on the sidelines is not something we should allow ourselves to settle for. I am having such a great time stretching and striving for this goal to finish my degree. All of us have great reserves of talent that we could nurture. Remember! Green and growing, or ripe and rotting.

I will keep you all updated as I ready myself for this next chapter. I have lots of vaccinations to get (Ugh!) and a CPR certification and an orientation class. Gonna be one busy girl!





Me and my pretty girl....

Conspired against? I think so....

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I am not in the slightest bit girly. So, it is no surprise that prom was not something on the top of my list of things to do. (It wasn't on the list at all!) But, it seemed that getting me to Mormon Prom was on everyone else's to do lists.

Shantelle bugged me for weeks about going to Mormon Prom. She actually cornered a guy and tried to talk him into asking me. (He was unable to attend prom because of a school thing.) Every time my mom and I were out shopping, she would go and look at prom dresses and try to get me to try some on. My dad (yes, even he was in on it), while working, ran into a guy from our old ward. They talked about some of the young men - my dad was young men's president for a while - and prom came up. One young man was going to prom, but had no date. My dear dad volunteered me - without asking me! (This, by the way, was one week before prom.) My dad sprung the news on me at church. I'll admit, I was pretty mad. I decided that I would go straight home and call him and use some made up excuse about how I was unable to go to prom and I hoped he had a good time andyway. But, I'm too much of a nice guy.

So here I am one week away form prom with no dress and no idea how I was going to get ready (you know me, I don't know how to be a real girl). Thankfully, I know some great women. Sister TJ Pini did hair and make-up for me and my two friends Shantelle and Kiersten. My amazing youg womens president, Sister Shawna Taylor, got my dress ready in no time. This was no easy task either. I needed sleeves attatched to make it modest and because I'm vertically challenged, i needed about a foot of material cut off the bottom. She even made me a purse with the extra fabric!

My date was Jeff Loper from Shelbyville. We were good friends when I lived there. We pretty much grew up together. We were the only mormons in all of Shelbyville's school district, so we relied on one another. Though we hadn't seen or talked to each other in two years, we had no trouble picking back up where we left off. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Olive Garden (which he paid for with his own money - what a gentleman!) and arrived at the Fisher's building right on time.

I don't know if it takes a village to raise a child, but it sure takes a village to get this tomboy to Mormon Prom!

Here I am with Sister Pini, the magician. Somehow she got three crazy

girls ready without breaking a sweat!

Here is my date Jeff and me outside the Fisher's building.

This is the day after at church:

me, Shantelle, and Kiersten

(somehow all of us managed to keep the hair and make-up

together! It must be Sister Pini's magic!)

Heather, me, and Shantelle

(Heather made her own dress. Didn't she do such a great job?)

To Be or Not To Be

As most of you know, I am waiting on the letter that decides my fate....acceptance into the Bachelor of Science Nursing program. Some of my friends have heard, others have not. My big-hearted, beautiful friend Amanda got a polite no. My nutty, lovely little Natasha heard yes. And Bim is waiting like me, she has not heard. I believe that if God wants me to be in the program, I WILL BE in the program. He's cool like that! I also believe that if that door is shut, then there will be an open window somewhere. So, now I wait for Monday to see if I'm running out of the door, or jumping out the window!

The Princess and the Prom

Mormon Prom was a couple of weeks ago. AJ is going to post some info and I'm putting up the pictures! Enjoy....

A New Start!

Okay, so we aren't very accomplished at this whole blogging thing yet. But, I am determined to do this so I feel more connected to everyone we care about. I am going to organize our pictures into a slideshow, hopefully soon! We also are going to get pictures of our grandkids on here, as well. Come on in and send us a comment. We would love to hear what's going on in your corner of the world, too.

a first time for everyting...

i finally did it. my mom has wanted me to make a blog forever. she knows how much time i spend looking at other blogs. i'm not much of a spend-time-on -the-computer type of person, so i'm a little worried about how this will work out. i hope i can get into the groove of it. i don't have a camera yet to post pictures, so now i guess i get to bug my mom! that's exciting. ;>