Photo Gallery: Lakeside Pictures

 So, here are the pictures from my first time swimming this year (which I mentioned in my June Highlights post).

 Yea... I just took a bunch of random pictures around the lake. :)

  These are some "bonus" pictures I took on the way to the lake. ;)

Hope you enjoyed! (Happy July, too! ^___^)

  

June Highlights

  Well, June went by kinda fast. :P Did you think so? 

   I did a few things this month, but the real summer fun starts next month for me. :) I know. I just can't stop talking about it. :P 

Anyhow, here are some highlights from June 2016:

\\I helped out with vacation Bible school. Was a leader for the first time. :P (You've probably already heard this before. :P)

\\My mom and some ladies started a Bible study (which is almost over) and so I was one of the main people helping out with the kids... lots of kids. We usually did a little lesson with them too.

\\I'm getting better at crocheting. :)

\\I went swimming for the first time this year last week. ;) I should post the pictures from it soon. :)

\\We went garage sale-ing and shopping a bit this month. Getting clothes for our trip next month, and all. :) I bought a new purse too. It's small with a long strap, so I think it'll be nice. :)

\\We've been enjoying picking blackberries (if that's what they are) from the edges of our woods. :) It's pretty fun. 

\\A tree fell down during a storm. I have pictures of it in my June currently post here.

\\I did three recipe posts this month:

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Low(er) Sugar Pecan Banana Bread

Healthy Breakfast Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

\\I won first place in the Ilyon Chronicles Fan Art Contest!! :D I was so excited! The winners and runner's up were posted here. :)

\\ AND I bought two books this month! Well three, actually. (think that's all.) So garage sale-ing I bought a book for my sister for 25 cents. :D 

Then, since I got a $30 amazon gift card for winning the fan art contest, I bought myself two books with some of it. :) 

I already got one: Resistance!! Now the lovely big book is sitting on my shelf! ^___^  

The other one is The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson. :) I haven't read it yet, so it'll be fun to do so!

So... that's kind of about all we've done this month. :) 

Next month- whew!- Is going to be much more full of activity. 

Let me warn you: When I get back from vacation next month, this blog is going to be flooded. With pictures. Of mountains. And everything. SERIOUSLY. 

I'm probably going to be kind of stressed out trying to take pictures of everything! :P *dies!* I'm going to have to tell myself to just enjoy it, and not try to capture everything. 

I wonder if my camera card will even be able to hold all the pictures I'm bound to take. I had better take a safe drive just in case. :P

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post! Welcome to July tomorrow!! :D

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS MONTH?

Healthy Breakfast Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

 So I recently bought this awesome jar-cup thing at goodwill for 59 cents. :) I thought it would be good for smoothie pics, and I it is- even though my smoothie didn't even fill it over halfway! :P 

   So then a made a banana oatmeal smoothie. :) I let the ingredients sit for awhile in the refrigerator while the bananas were in the freezer, so you can do that if you'd like- I didn't have that in the recipe directions though.  

HEALTHY BREAKFAST BANANA OATMEAL SMOOTHIE

1\2 cup milk

1\2 cup oatmeal

1 tbsp cream cheese *

1\2  tsp cinnamon 

1\2 tsp greek yogurt

1 tsp honey

1 small frozen (or partially frozen) banana

Blend all ingredients together in the blender, pour into a cup, and enjoy! :)

* you could substitute this for more yogurt, I'm sure. :)

Focusing fun. :D

  Isn't it a nice cup? ^___^  

So yea, an easy, healthy breakfast recipe for you if you are in a hurry! ;)

Photo Gallery: Sweet Summer

  Happy first day of summer! :) 

For me, it has already felt like summer, but now it has officially begun. 

  So I was just going to do a post of pictures I took the other day, and then I found out it was the first day of summer... so that influenced my title. :) 

  We have little vine- like flowers growing out in the ditch by our house, so I made some flower wreaths. I wanted to take some pictures of them on these little "pixies". :) 

(these three pictures are edited, but I think the only other one that is on this post is the last one- brightened. ;P)

 So then we went walking around the woods along a cornfield. Doesn't it look like a nice place? :) No weeds right there. 

  I got bokeh in this. :) (the little circles in the background)

 This isn't as clear as I would have liked, but I like the bokeh in it, and all...

 There were some white fluffy things floating around- or falling. It looked cool. :)

    Tire of an old bike out in the woods. 

  Well I hope you enjoyed these pictures, and I hope you are having a good summer beginning! ;)

Currently in June

 June is already about halfway over! So now I'm doing a currently post. :)

\\CURRENT POST SUMMER HAPPENINGS

 So the other day we had some thunderstorms, and strong wind too, apparently. Since a large chunk of this tree fell down. ;)

 Me and my little sister were down in my basement room, and then we heard this noise- I looked out the window and saw that a tree had fallen down.

  This is the third tree we lost since moving into this rental in 2014. Two, (counting this one) fell down, and one had to be cut down because it was growing into the electrical lines. Hopefully we don't lose any more, 'cause I like those nice shady trees!

 Luckily it didn't hit the house, though it came close. ;) That little window peaking out from the bush on the bottom left side of the house is my bedroom window. It was pretty close. :D

And our potted tomatoes are ripening... well, one at least. :)

  
  Another "happening" was helping out at VBS last week. :) It was a good time, all in all. I don't think I was sad for it to do over though. I was the leader of a group (as I've said in another post), and I can't say I'm a talented leader. :P It was good for me though.

\\CURRENTLY MAKING

  I finally learned how to add on to a chain in crocheting. :) My little square... thing, is rather unequal in size, though. It's probably because I was purposely skipping holes. It's easier, but then it screws up the squareness. :P I think I'm more of a "messy" artist, not a neat one. Embrace it. *breathes deeply* :D Haha.

 I also have this embroidery that I have to finish. I don't know if I worked on it this month or not, but... still putting it here. ;)

 See how not neat my stitches are? :P

 I also made a few "fake" book covers on picmonkey. I started doing this some years ago. It's actually pretty fun. :D

 I just made up titles and authors. This one above kind of looks like a mermaid story... don't you think?

                                       

And this one. I made it look kind of like it's really raining with picmonkey's overlays. :)

Maybe a Christmas story. :)

CURRENTLY BUYING (in other words: BOUGHT IN JUNE)

 I finally got my little candle holder a candlestick! :) White would have been better, but this works, especially since it was only ten cents or something.

\\CURRENTLY READING

I started reading A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander. So far it is kind of interesting. It involves painting... :) 

\\CURRENTLY EATING (in other words, recipes I've made up in June)

Low(er) Sugar Banana Bread

\\CURRENTLY LOOKING FORWARD TO (!!)

Our family vacation to the west coast next month!!!!! Yes, you've probably heard of this already, but who cares. :P

WELL there's a little life update. ;)

Low Sugar Pecan Banana Bread

  I made banana bread today, and made just four changes to the recipe I used. I added more cinnamon, added pecans, cut the amount of banana (ha, I did this without trying to :P), and cut the sugar by one-fourth cup. So it's really not so low-sugar. It is healthier though. ;)

    Anyhow, it tastes very good, and eating it with butter may possibly make it taste like butter pecan banana bread. :) 

LOW SUGAR PECAN BANANA BREAD

2 cups white flour *

1 1\2 tsp baking powder

1\2 tsp baking soda

1\4 tsp salt

1\2 tsp cinnamon

1\8 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs 

1 cup mashed banana 

3\4 cup sugar

1\2 cup melted butter

1\3 cup crushed pecans

______________________________________________________

  Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients (plus pecans) in another bowl. Mix both together just until combined. Pour into greased loaf pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 55 minutes. **

* Use some whole wheat flour to make this more healthy. :)

** The original recipe says to bake for 55-60 minutes, but mine was done at 55. 

  You should definitely try this if you love banana bread (like me!). :) I didn't even miss the cut sugar- or banana! ;)