BATH TIME!

My favorite part of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays is.....BATH TIME!

Tagged.

So I was tagged! Thank you so much Mrs. Guard I truly appreciate it. I have to write 7 quirks or interesting things about myself. I have a feeling it might take me a while to think of some but here it goes!

1) I have to eat small items of food on both sides of my mouth. For instance, if I chew a Skittle on the left side of my mouth I have chew a Skittle on the right side of my mouth as well. And if someone gives me three Skittles, they MUST take one away, give me one more, or I usually just bite it down the middle so I have 2 halves. Weird I know, but true oh so true.

2) I like fountain drinks WAY better than soda in a glass cup or can. It just tastes better in a fountain drink. To me, there IS seriously a difference.

3) When I place a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom I have to place it in such a way that the paper comes off the top of the roll and not from the bottom. I know...SO weird!

4) For a while I wanted to have 5 girls and have their names be Lacy, Macy, Stacy, Tracy, and Kacy. Hahahaha. Thank God that phase is OVER.

5) I am a half-identical twin. YES. I AM A HALF-IDENTICAL TWIN (or semi-identical). There IS such a thing and I ALWAYS have to explain it so here is a quick definition for you blog readers. A half-identical twin is when one egg drops and splits into two and then those two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm. So we have 50% of the genetic makeup from our mother and different percentages of genetic makeup from our father. My mom calls us her "little mutants."

6) I LOVE SHOES. Not only do I love shoes but I love shoes when they makes that clicking noise. Just something about the sound makes me feel good.

7) This last one is written by my mom: "If you want Alyssa to HEAR what you are saying AND follow through with it, make sure you see that she is looking at you with her baby poop colored eyes and focusing on what you are telling her. You might even want her to repeat your words back to you just so you know she heard what you said." I have a problem with focusing. I can only focus on one thing at a time, especially if I am 1) watching tv, 2) on the phone, talking or texting, and 3) on the computer. My mom says she was like that until she had twins. I hope it doesnt take twins to make me focus.

Now its my turn...I tag Katelin, Shauna, Jocey, Schuyler and Kelly. Have fun!!

FINALLY!!

So I have been having some MAJOR issues with my laptop! I learned from the amazing people who work at the GENIUS BAR that I have a hard drive problem so I will have to fork over the mula and send off my computer for 2+ weeks. I FINALLY got my computer to stay on long enough to back up some files on my external hard drive so now I will have the ability to download some pictures from some major events that happened in the month of October. October was for sure a completely CRAZY month and I have the pictures to show for it! Look forward to FINALLY seeing some new blog posts ASAP!

PS...Kelly is still in Europe and I have been missing her like CRAZY! SEESTER--I miss you and I hope you are having a beyong amazing time in Europe. Have fun in Austria on the "Sound of Music" tour...(Dad and I were reading your blog today and OR COURSE he started singing so I joined him...I know you miss our singing!) I LOVE YOU KEL! Come home soon :)

Hula-hoops!

Our family (thanks to my amazing mother, Jill) has a weighted hula-hoop. Its purpose is to build your core and with that, it kind of hurts when you first try it. Here are some attempts made by some friends recently. Have a good laugh because we did!

This is Josh Simpson trying the hula-hoop...


And now its Nikki Smalley's turn! (sorry Nikki!)

This Should Keep Us All Thinking...

May the Words of My Mouth

When I was in Nepal, there were a couple of days where we had to stay in our hotel rooms because of the danger going on outside. So what my wonderful roommates and I would do was either sleep, journal, read our Bibles, or listen to our iPods. One day I was listening to my iPod and came across this wonderful song called "May the Words of my Mouth" by Tim Hughes. It pretty much became the anthem for my time in Nepal. I also prayed that it would become the goal for my everyday life...

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You

Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You
I will follow
I will follow
I will follow You

"Lord be my Vision and my Guide"

San Diego...Oh Happy Day!

Yesterday I drove down to my old stomping ground in San Diego for my friends, Alyssa and Matt's, dual birthday party. I have not been back to the Point Loma area since I graduated and I got a chance to see a ton of my friends that I went to school with at PLNU. Before I did anything else, I had to stop by PLNU to drop off some money for my Loveworks trip to Nepal. As I was driving in, I got super giddy and a huge wave of nostalgia hit me big time! I love Point Loma and I truly miss it. I miss the small classrooms, caf lane, my professors, my friends, the caf, and especially chapel. (Never thought I would say that haha!) I can say proudly now that Point Loma definitely helped shape who I am today. It helped mold my way of thinking about the Lord, life in general, and the world, and helped to nurture my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to have had such great and memorable experiences at PLNU. Then I had the chance to get sushi for dinner with my amazing friend Emilee Peterman. She just returned from studying abroad in Costa Rica so it was a blast to get to catch up with her and see some pictures of her adventures there. Emilee is such an awesome friend and is my encourager. She encourages me in so many ways and I love her and thank her for that. I don't know what I would do without her and I miss her so much now that she is in San Diego and I'm in Orange County. I got to see a ton of people at the birthday party for Alyssa and Matt and so many things have changed, but for the better of course! And today on the way back to Orange County, I got to hang out with my good friend Alex Frenzel. We went to lunch at UTC and then he took me to UCSD to show me where he worked. He introduced me to some of the people he worked with and showed me his "office" and the physics lab where he spent most his time this summer. I always thought he was the smartest guy I know...and I was right, but now I think he is pretty much a genius. (And he is.) So thanks Alex for showing me how much of a genius you are! I had a great time in San Diego and I look forward to visiting down there more often!