Good Ole' Ligonier Valley

 I really do love the little town I was raised in. I love the small town atmosphere and the shops run by the people there. My mom and I spent a couple hours one day walking around and visiting the town and people there. 

Kennywood

Soon after the trip to Penn State I was off to Pittsburgh to Kennywood with my ERICA! I miss this girl a lot when I am out west. We headed to the park for her dads company picnic and a fun filled day of rides and good amusement park food!

With me being in charge of games at Idlewild for 7 years I can't go to any park and not play at least a couple. Pong Ball is one that we always try. We won last year, but with no such luck this year. 

 We love the merry-go-round. And if they don't well at least they will ride MY favorite ride with me!

 I really love this picture! It is a new ride at the park and made mostly everyone feel pretty sick after riding it. Our faces are priceless!

A trip to Penn State University

 It take me long before I got home to start with my adventures again. 2 days after coming to Pennsylvania I was on the road again headed to State College to visit my very awesome little brother. We got right out there and drove to Bald Eagle State Park to go canoeing!

It was a beautifully hot day and we stayed out on the lake for 4 hours before coming in hot and tired. Mom decided to just sit in the middle and didn't have to touch a paddle the whole time. Kevin and I got our rhythm down and got going pretty good in that big canoe.  

 I just loved this picture so much! This is the front of the card Kevin got me for my birthday. On the inside it said to relax because it was my birthday and wear a bucket on my head....or go skydiving! haha what a funny kid! But this looks like a picture that would be in our family photo album. 

 I hear a lot about this restaurant so we decided to try it for dinner and what a good choice it was!

We of course ended our eating at the Penn State Creamery. We love that ice cream so much! And I had a wonderful 2 days hanging out with my wonderful brother!

Good Luck in your Senior Year Kevin!

Birthday Tradition

I don't write this to brag or because I think I am such a do gooder, but this is something that I have been doing for a few years now and no one has really known about it. A long time ago I read an article or a blog somewhere about a lady that spent her birthday doing service for other people. She did as many acts of service as years old she was. She also enlisted her children's help and they loved it. So I figured it would be fun and I would try it out. I have been doing it 3 years and I absolutely love it. Even though it is my birthday I love making other people feel special too. I have already started thinking of what to do for next year!

I am not going to tell you all 23 things that I did, but here are a few....

I made cookies for the mailman. I also owed him some money for postage and I forgot about so I left some interest too.

 I also took some cookies and water to my friends down at the boat docks who rent me a kayak everyday. 

 I went through my closet and donated clothing to a special needs group.

I left flowers and a card for a friend. Needless to say she figured out it was me in about a week. But it was still fun. 

I left random happy notes on people's windshields.

Collected stray carts in the parking lot and put them in the cart return. 

Happy 23rd Birthday to me!

*Note my birthday is June 15 and I am just really really late writing this :)

 Why not get up early on your birthday and run a 5k?!

 I got Corinne to run it with me :) She helped me get out of bed and motivated to warm up before the race.

 Ashley is a new friend of mine and I wonder sometimes where she has been all my life! We are so similar sometimes it is scary, but I owe having such a great birthday to her! Thanks Ashley! She also ran with me the whole race and kept me going so I wouldn't stop or walk. She is training for a marathon so she probably could have run a lot faster but she didn't, instead she stayed with me til the end! I just love her!

After the race my second family took me to breakfast at the best place ever...IHOP!! It was a great reward for running. 

Then after taking a little nap, Ashley and I hit the lake to do some kayaking. We paddled around for a while enjoying talking and basking in the sun. This awesome person then took me for lunch as a local little restaurant where we stayed for a couple hours and talked some more. Oh how I love my kayaking!

I just had to take a picture of this so I could remember how awesome my friend Mitchell is! I laughed so hard after reading this. What a quality friend! And yes he did come up with this on his own. 

Later a group of 10 of my friends got together and what other place would I go eat than to Buffalo Wild Wings for my birthday! It was fun and I got a free slice of chocolate cake. Afterwards we headed over to the South Jordan fair where I got my fresh squeezed lemonade just in time to watch some awesome fireworks. 

I am not one to make a big deal out of my birthday. Last year I was in Ecuador which was fun but also weird. Then so many years before that I usually worked. This seemed like the first birthday in a while I got to spend doing things I love with some people that I have come to care about. 

Dreams Coming True

 For my 22nd birthday I treated myself to the best birthday present I could ever ask for. I bought myself NEW TEETH! This is something that I have dreamed about for years. The history behind it is simple...I never got my adult teeth after the baby teeth fell out. Sometimes I like to make up storied about getting in intense fights or punched by a baby, but the boring truth is that I just never got them. After I got my braces off in about 6th grade I have been wearing a retainer with fake teeth in it called a flipper. I wore the same one all the way until my senior year of college when I broke a tooth off the day before my student teaching interview. It was a complete nightmare but I survived it.  I got a new flipper that summer and this one didn't last as long breaking right before my spring break trip to Hawaii. So this time I did it right and got a beautiful bridge. 

This is with my second flipper in with my tooth super glued in. I was not a huge fan of this one but it did the job.

I took 3 trips to the dentist and almost 5 hours in the chair but I left the dentist with a huge smile on my face telling Dr. Alvord how much I loved him and coming to the dentist. Him and all the dental hygienists laughed because they never hear that, so I told them over and over again while I was there. It feels so weird to have my mouth so open and free but it is AMAZING! I may never stop smiling again.