Reflecting on 2017 \\ Looking Ahead

Years come and go, and a new one starts. Time never stops ticking... days never stop dawning, months never stop ending. But amidst all the time passing us by, we manage to grasp onto fun moments, make sweet memories, learn, love, laugh, grow, forging ahead. 

And now we are about to embark on the journey of a brand new year- approximately 525,600 minutes of 2018. 

Are y'all ready to find out what the new year has in store for us all? *grins*

But first, I want to reflect on the moments and adventures of 2017!

Here are some snippets from my diary over the course of the year-  I omitted some of the emojis I had written in there, maybe corrected a few things. *winks*  

. . . . . . . . . 

I realized today: I'm almost an adult. Not quite "almost", but in a year and nine months, I'll be an adult! gah, that is way too weird!

January 2, 2017


Well, we're flying. I can see city lights out the window

We're on our own! =D

April 12, 2017


The BEST part of the day was going to the beach!

I got a little knocked around, but I got the hang of it (boogie boarding) more after a while. I still got saltwater in my lungs... well, probably not really. And I "got dunked" underwater. Those waves really beat you. ;) It was fun though!

April 14, 2017


Me and (friend) put most of the boards on the porch today. =D Proud of our accomplishment. We didn't do ALL of it ourselves, but quite a bit.
It rained today too. We got to leave early. :)

July 4, 2017

"Been livin' in our nice new house, enjoying the lovely kitchen. ;)"

"It got dark and we went swimming again! We walked down the road in the cool summer air, stars and moon shining up in the sky, my big towel around my shoulders... #perfectness"

 -August 10, 2017

"We're at the reunion!"

"I rode with (older brother) the whole way down here- er, UP here. It was probably around 6 hours."

August 23, 2017

"So it's over, and now we don't have all those cousin to sit around the fire with. *sniff*"

August 28, 2017

"It's 1-something in the morning, so it's technically my 17th birthday!"

September 3, 2017

"I went down the paved driveway some, and sat down in the night. Took star pics and such. So beautiful. It was cold out. Oh fall. <3"

October 1, 2017


I'M GOING FOR AN INTERVIEW, WOW! And yikes?

November 17, 2017


I got my license!!!!!!! YES!! Finally, the time of having a permit and being behind is over. *sigh...* Eeeep, I can drive by myself!!! 
November 27, 2017


So driving alone! You can belt out Christmas songs, talk to yourself... It can be a queer-ish feeling sometimes, too, though. Like, ALONE.

December 13, 2017

\\ NOTEWORTHY EVENTS \\

January\\

My two older siblings came to see us. My brother just visited for a bit, but we got my sister back. *smiles*

My older sister and I babysat our cousins for a few days. 

Took a spur-of-the-moment trip to South Carolina!

February \\

Took a self-defense class... interesting stuff.

Went on a hike with cousins and people from home-school group

April \\

Me and my sister grabbed our sunglasses and went on a lovely trip to Florida!! Talk about taking a break from spring and jumping right to summer, and the beach, and tropical, and shells and swimming and alligators! *inserts hearts* Our aunt and uncle + cousins were there, so we stayed at our grandparents condo with them. Blessed times being with them... blessed beach days. I want to go again!

My sister and I attended our home-school group's first high school banquet! It was fun to dress up and have dinner, go on a crazy scavenger hunt, and play volleyball... fun stuff till midnight. *winks and grins*

May \\

After living in a rental since August 2014, we finally bought a house!

June \\

ALLL of that house working...

July \\

Went on a little missions excursion with a few people I know, for about a week. Cool experience!

Family came to visit!! We had some fun times going swimming in the river, visiting Civil War battle sites, going to town... <3

August \\

Moved into our new house.

The solar eclipse happened.


We had a family reunion with my dad's side, at a big manor\house we rented! ^___^



September \\

Experienced my 17th birthday.

Started my senior year of home-schooled high school. ;)

October \\

My parents, sister, and I went to a Tenth Avenue North concert!

November \\

Went to a Jonny Diaz concert with my sister and family friends! Plus we got a picture with him, so coolness. *winks*

Got a big horse, named Mousse!

Grandparents visited, and we had a nice Thanksgiving!

GOT MY LICENSE!!!

December \\



Christmas get-togethers and Christmas Day happened, along with all the seasonal baking and such. :)

I brought my 13- and 15-year-old brother and sister to pick up our cousins, and we went to hang out in town. *winks* We went to Starbucks (and used the gift cards we all got from our grandma), Walmart, Five Below, and Burger King, for supper. It was dark by then, and I drove back to our cousins house. We hung out for a little while, then headed home. It was a fun day. :) 

And thus, the year 2017 ends, and we come to the threshold of beginning again, a new year. ^___^

\\ THE FIRSTS \\


overnight babysitting with my older sister

went to a trampoline park

got a goldfish, Logy, and he's still livin' *winks*

visited the state of Florida

got my ears pierced

went on an overnight missions excursion

drove a big truck

jumped off a cliff into a river

went to a Christian pop concert

overnight babysitting where I was the oldest person in the house... "in charge".

applied for a job

went to my first job interview

got my driver's licence

drove to the store alone for the first time

\\ REFLECTING ON THOSE "MOMENTS" \\

 Hysterically laughing while playing a dirt-bike video game with your brother... because I was trying to crash him while he raced, and I was on free ride. :P I get crazy when I'm playing games LOL.

 When you live in an old house and the toilet starts having problems... and you have to use buckets of water to flush it at midnight. Yea. xP

When you keep cracking up over a picture you took, when someone is making the most hilarious face. *dies laughing* ;P It's so funny.

When you hit your first possum while driving. ;P

Taking a walk down the road with my sisters, with our bowls full of jelly beans. xD 

All the twilight\night walks with siblings, with the fireflies, the moon, the stars, and the smell of summer. *sigh*

Finding white paint in your hair while trying on clothes at Goodwill. Yep, I've been painting. 

When a semi-truck passes you. *blink blink* Come on, really?

When you get an infected foot, tetanus shot, and poison ivy all in the span of a few days. But the poison ivy was the worst. I still have it. *glares at it*

Taking a shower at midnight. 'Cause you stayed up too late. 'Cause you were texting. xP hehe. That's me for you. Socially impaired, procrastinating night owl. *nods*

Scaring the neighbors cows, yep.

Little bro: (says to roll the window up... or lighting will come in and 'trike us) "Lightning is tough. It will strike us down." 

\\ PHOTOGRAPHY \\

A few pictures I took this year... if you want to see more, look through my blog. It takes too long for me to try find all my favorite pictures. ;P

\\ BOOKS READ IN 2017 \\

According to what I recorded on Goodreads, I read\finished reading 22 books this year, counting some books of the Bible. 

I *cough* totally failed my reading challenge... by 17 books. xP My challenge was obviously too much, haha.

The collage above are the novels I read (or finished) this year.

Here are the books I'm currently reading, that I'll finish in the new year. 

\\ BLOG STATS OF 2017 \\

FOLLOWERS: 22

POST OF 2017: 100

TOTAL POSTS: 306

APPROXIMATE TOTAL PAGEVIEWS: 86,270

SO WHAT DOES 2018 HAVE IN STORE?

Crazy, crazy stuff, folks. Some of it the scariest thing ever. Also, grand opportunity, new experience, lovely vacation. I'll stop talking in "riddles" now, and just tell you what I KNOW should happen in 2018. 

. . . . . .

In January, my sister and I are taking a trip to the West Coast for about a month! We'll get to spend time with our brother, relatives, and friends. <3
And also while we're there, I... I am shooting my first wedding. *blink* Can you believe it?! It's a totally new thing in photography for me, and quite crazy and scary. Also a big honor, of course! But... I'm responsible for all the pictures! Like, ME. I'll have my sister there to help me set people up and such, so I'm grateful for that. I just really hope I do a good job, and all goes well. Y'all can say a prayer for me, that I won't be too scared! ;) 

In the spring, I believe, our homeschool group will have it's annual high school banquet, which they started doing this past year. That will be something to look forward to again! 

Hopefully at the end of May or before, I'll be graduating high school! Little old me, growing up. I don't know what I'll do after this happens. Get a job? Work on getting a photography business started? I don't really know what my purpose is in life, so I guess it'll be the start to a journey of discovery, perhaps. *smiles*

There is also a possibility that all of the seniors from my homeschool group will take a graduation trip!! That would be so cool! 

Summer 2018, my family (at least my mom and us) will probably be taking a trip to the West Coast. My uncle is getting married. :) That will be a lot of fun, to again see all the dear people out there. There's another crazy thing that might be going on in this trip, but I think I'll not say anything about it until it's finalized. ;)

September 3, 2018 will be my birthday. Not just ANY birthday, guys. I'll be turning eighteen, entering into adulthood! o.o 

TOLD YOU CRAZY THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN THIS YEAR! I'm going to do my first wedding, graduate, and become an adult! Life is happening... all I can say. ;P

Let the adventure begin! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!! *fireworks*

DID YOU GET THROUGH THIS WHOLE POST? DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING CRAZY\EXCITING HAPPENING IN 2018? WHAT IS ONE NOTABLE THING THAT HAPPENED IN YOUR LIFE IN 2017? 

December 2017

Here for my monthly highlights post for the last month of the year! 

Hopefully I'll be able to throw together a nice end-of-the-year post for Saturday. ;)

HAPPENINGS \\

Drove around town with the sibs. #freedomsofhavingyourlicense

We dropped books off at the library, I stood in line to mail something at the post office for my mom, drove on a one-way street, went to Walmart to get some things we needed- and decided to pick up a discounted chocolate cake too...  *grins* #crazieswithsiblings

And the wierd selfie from the driver's seat. xP

That rare day when you get to be home alone for a bit! 

Haha, look at my mace, at the ready. xP

\\Driving alone for the first time. I went to the store to buy a present for a party the next day. Got stuck at the lights for... probably at least three red lights? *squeaks and face palm* YEAA. Driving alone is kinda weird. And then on the way home I got kinda scared, because there was these green-ish headlights behind me, and I thought the person flashed at me... I don't know if they did, but it was dark, and I was alone. xP I turned into our road, and they passed, and I just slowed way down and tried to calm down. Haha.


\\ Then I drove alond the 2nd time the next day- I went to friend's house, so I could ride with them to a Christmas party. It was fun. :) 

\\ We got a lovely tree!

\\ We sang Christmas songs at assistant living facilities and such, with our Bible study group. The last time we went, we went to Pizza Hut with the cousins afterward, for lunch. :)

\\ Christmas Eve eve, spend with friends. We went to a candlelight service, had delicious Mexican food for supper, and played Dutch Blitz and Mad Libs. *grins*

\\ Christmas Eve was a family day. We opened gifts from each other and Grandparents, played games, and watched a movie.

Christmas Eve dinner

We shrunk! xD (One of the present our older brother sent)

\\ Christmas Day also ended up just being a family day. We were going to get together with relatives, but there was some sickness and such going on, so we didn't end up doing it. We opened up stockings that morning, and just played games and such the rest of the day. :) 


 EDIBLE GOODNESS \\

The yummy chocolate cake we picked up. *winks*

Deliciousness

Went shopping with mom and sisters, and we were treated to drinks... this is my strawberry lemonade kombucka. It's the healthy soda, I think. Fermented stuff, guys. *grins and laughs*

MOMENTS \\

\\ Trying Tom Brady's Avocado Ice Cream. ;P

\\ Belting out Christmas songs as I drive alone. *grins*

\\ When the printer tries to eat ALL the paper! xP

I'll just close this post with some Christmas gifts I got, because that's always fun. ^___^

These are things we opened on Christmas Eve (a couple day before). 

Mine are above, family gifts below. *winks* (Those three little think in the right hand corner were from my little sister.^^ *smiles*)

And these are my stocking gifts, opened yesterday! ^___^ I got so many lovely things!

LifeStraw (filters water so it's safe to drink- would be good for camping, or emergency situations), chocolates, gel pens, boot socks, earrings, natural mascara + more. *smiles* 

Ugh, if only posts didn't take SOOO LONG, then I could make them nice and perfect. *sighs in despair* Ha.


HOW WAS YOUR CHRISTMAS? DID YOU DO ANYTHING INTERESTING THIS MONTH?

Christmas Songs I Like \\ a variety

Hey guys! My last leading-up-to Christmas post, and I'm going to share some Christmas songs that I like. ^___^ I wouldn't say these are all my "favorite" or anything- I just gathered up some nice ones for this post. *winks*

Normally, the "classic" Christmas songs are my favorite. The others don't feel much like Christmas, really. It must be a sentimental thing... the songs I grew up hearing (or pretty much always knew) are the ones I like best. Makes sense. However, there still are new Christmas songs that I like. *smiles*

CLASSICS

Silent Night (Alan Jackson)

Mary Did You Know (Scotty McCreery)

The First Noel (Scotty McCreery)

Oh Come All Ye Faithful (Moriah Peters)

Let it be Christmas (Alan Jackson)

This is kinda one of those "sentimental" songs for me, I guess. *smiles* One I probably grew up hearing, since we have the CD... I'm not sure if it works anymore? ;P The Silent Night one is on the same CD.

CONTEMPORARY

Glorious by For King and Country

Mistletoe (The Christmas Sweater Song) 

by Tenth Avenue North

The First Christmas by Tenth Avenue North

These last two are like, fun Christmas songs. *grins* They're from Tenth Avenue North's Decade the Hall Christmas album, which is Christmas songs themed from 1920's to, pretty much, nowdays. 

Here, watch the preview for it, because it's funny. ;P

I think Mistletoe is supposed to be 2000's, and The First Christmas, the 50's. It's Elvis-style. *winks and laughs*

So yes, some nice Christmas songs. :)

Christmas is only two days away! I'm looking forward to gathering with friends and going to the candlelight service tonight (we're going Christmas Eve Eve this time, *winks*). And I believe we might be opening the gifts we have tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, and just having a family day. On Christmas Day, we'll open stockings, and get together with family. I think we usually do our get-together on Christmas Eve, but I guess we're changing it up this year. Christmas time is coming! ^___^

WHICH OF THESE SONGS DID YOU LIKE BEST (of those you listened to, if any)? WHAT ARE SOME CHRISTMAS SONGS YOU LIKE? WHAT ARE YOUR CHRISTMAS PLANS?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!