Pörtlandia

Oh Portland, Portland, Portland. Its the biggest city in Oregon, with a population of over 609,000 people. Portland is famous for it's interesting people, Voodoo donuts, its coffee, and local food trucks. I've visited Oregon many of times. I never got the chance to see Portland. Joe & Jen took me and their kids to Portland. It was an adventure!

Waiting at the M.A.X. train stop to head to Portland. Notice my NIKE shoes;)

The tracks are so picturesque

We made it on the M.A.X. train and took a half hour trip to Portland. The scenery was spectacular! We saw some deers and does and had beautiful weather.

Check out this 3-story Target?! Maybe next time I can explore it. 

Fun fact: You will not receive plastic bags at check out or anywhere in Portland. One of the past mayors wanted to be more eco-friendly and did away with them.

I saw the fire escape and just loved the architecture of the building. I might need one for my house.

We ate at the food court. They had many different varities of food. Hot dogs, gyros, burittos, and chicken n' waffles. Many foods I need to try.

I decided on a B.L.T. grilled cheese from The Grilled Cheese Griller. It was really good! 

Again so picturesque! With the leaves and the crisp air. Oh I love Fall!

We made it to the Saturday Market. It reminded me a lot of vendors at a state fair. There was a lot of creative items for sale. 

Fun fact: The fountain you see are located all over Portland. They are available to use year round.

Right before we left we had to do a bathroom break. While waiting, I was looking around and looked up and saw the sign. Its THE SIGN. You can see it as you cross the bridges in Portland. 

I enjoyed visiting Portland. The most exciting moments was witnessing a fight and seeing a man get hand cuffed. Haha, that wasn't the highlight, but it was great just seeing something different. I hope to visit again!

Paris Lights

I was able to go to Homecoming with my cousin and her friends. It was a great evening. I was even lucky enough to participate in a breathalyzer test. 

The decorations were phenomenal! Oui, oui!

All of Rylie's friends made it easy to fit in. And we looked good!

(L. to R.)  Anna, Alex, Yesenia, Paige, Andrew, Rylie, Dierden, Emma, and me

Got to get some laughs in.

For dinner we went to P.F. Changs. It was really good. It was my first time and it was worth it! We left in the pouring rain, but we were dry in time for the dance.

We loved all the photo booths and took full advantage of them.

Keeping our standards too high for you!

The SQUAD!

Ooh la la!

Magnifique!

Sometimes we get over dramatic and have to do poses from famous movies.

We didn't do much dancing. It did get crazy up on the dance floor when the DJ turned the Nae Nae on. I do a really good "whip". 

CoLoR mE cRaZy

I saw an advertisement for the Portland Color Buzz. It looked awesome! I had to get Rylie to do it with me. It wasn't hard. Rylie has done similar runs, and I've always wanted to do one. So I signed us up!

On Friday I drove to north Portland to pick up our packets. I've never driven to Portland! I was nervous, but the way I went was pretty easy.

I drove over a mountain. The view was amazing.

Crossing St. John's Bridge was spectacular! I felt as I was floating on air. I want to visit St John again. 

(I didn't take this picture)

The day of the race arrived. We were pumped, high on calories, and a song in our hearts. We didn't get the pretty drive, but did party hard while stuck in traffic. "See You Again" just might be our favorite song.

We got there a little bit after the pre-party started. People were already covered in paint. We weren't close enough to enjoy it....yet.

Clean white shirts before we got smothered in paint.

Thats the starting line is way up there. They split us up in waves so we weren't all walking/running on top of eachother. We were in the 7th wave. We walked/jogged/ran it in about an hour. We ran through colorful bubbles. Practically swam in the pile of them. We were covered head to to toe in bubbles.

 

The after party was fantastic!! It was loud, but fun! We did the WHIP, got covered in paint, and experienced "snow" in September. The energy was high! 

At the end of the evening we were smothered in paint. Rylie got most of it in her eye, but she shared it with my sleeves. When we got to some real light, found out we changed skin color. We looked like Oompa-Loompas, even had the green hair. Thanks to some hard scrubbing and water, our secret identities were kept secret a little longer.

I hope to do another one!! Like it or the same one next year!

Holiday to Sun River

One last holiday before school starts for the rest of us in the northwest. Jim & Clarka's family, Steve's kids (besides Amber), Brittany (friend), Grandma & Grandpa, and me took the 4 hour trip up to Bend. Everyone left Thursday, besides me because of Institute. Jim had to stay for work so we went up Friday. Friday could not come fast enough.

Oh, and Rylie tagged along:). We both brought our Stitches. It was a fun drive up! Those 4 hours included beautiful views, getting to know Rylie better:P, Birthday Cake Oreos, and Jim's music playlist. Can't complain.

After settling in and watching Nancy Drew, Rylie & I decided to explore Sun River. The bikes were our mode of transportation. As we left it started raining. It was chilly, but we had a great time. We played at a park and found a marina. 

The rain subsided when we were finishing our bike adventure. This beauty I captured on the way back. Rylie is so photogenic....oh look and there's a rainbow. 

On the way to the park on Saturday we saw a lot of deer. They were going about there business not noticing the cars or the people.

We also went to the S.H.A.R.C. (acronym for pool, somehow). Even though it was chilly outside we enjoyed it. They had a lazy river, water slides, kiddy pool, and hot tub. Rylie and I went down the big water slide with a double tube. We flipped at the bottom. The kiddy pool had a log to sit on and log slabs you can jump across. We had a lot of fun in the lazy river. We played tag, so we hid behind tubes and were running laps trying to get away. It was a pretty good workout. They also had an indoor pool. Rylie and I waded in the deep end for 4 minutes. We could have done it longer, but it was boring. We ended the day at the pool with some fries.

At Sun River they had a little shopping/dining village. Shopping? I'm in! We went to a souvenier store. I bought a pink long sleeve shirt with 'SUNRIVER' on the back.  After stuffing our faces with yummy pasta and desserts, Rylie and I went on another bike ride. Even though it wasn't raining we dressed in our warm rain coats. It was chilly enough to bring out my gloves. Not a true Oregonian:/. 

On our adventure we found horses. There was a beautiful horse that had a blue eye and a brown eye. Sadly he wasn't in the modeling business. 

The view was spectacular as the sun went down behind the mountains on that crisp summer evening.

We found swans in the marina! They came towards us so we got out of there. Not the friendly type.

Then we stayed up (not too late) and played Sardines in the dark. Thank goodness it was a one level home. But it was scary. Brittany enjoyed it the most by scarying us. Ben & Ashley were attached to me. It was fun scary. It was completely dark and everyone wore black. You didn't know if someone was there or not unless you reached out and felt them. Because Brittany and Clarka were so good at hiding, all of us kids hid. I was the last one to be found. I hid between the two couches which had a tea table next to them. They stuck their feet and hands under the table, but I was beside it. Bethany was 2 feet away from my face. Clarka didn't find me till she used her flashlight.

It was a great way to end Summer. Its a fun place to do a family reunion. I hope to go there again, but a little warmer next time

¡Buena Suerte Hermana Ely!

(Okay, I googled how to say "Good Luck, Sister Ely!" in Spanish)

Wow! Your mission came faster than I thought it would. It seems just like yesterday we were singing "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" in Primary together. I know serving the Lord and the people of Ecuador will be a wonderful experience. I know you will receive many blessings and so will the people you serve. I hope those 18 months fly by fast. I can't wait to read your emails and see your beautiful face at Christmas and Mother's Day. Safe journey and God be with you till we meet again.

"To belong to Jesus is to Embrace the NATIONS with Him."
                   -John Piper

⚓⛵I eat, sleep, dance, understand nautical {Room Tour}

I really do! I love the sense of calm and relaxation of the beach and waves etc. I fell in love with nautical when we stayed at a beach house in VA beach. The color scheme and so many different types of themes (hey that rhymed) are amazing! Pinterest helped me so much! I have links and descriptions of all my ideas. I wish I took a before picture of my room, oh well. So sit back and relax and enjoy my room tour.

 

 

 

Top panorama view

 

 

Middle panorama view

 

 

Yes I have stairs. Cool thing is they are also drawers.

I needed a life preserver to catch peoples eye when they came in. Its a little crooked because I used a pool noodle. I hand-painted "U.S.S. 1985, Goondocks" Goonies is my all-time favorite movie and it takes place in Oregon near the beach so I had to paint it on. And 1985 is when the movie came out.

http://www.lifelovelarson.com/2013/06/diy-personalized-life-preserver.html 

 

 

Closet and Captain America (my fav superhero)

 

 

(Dresser) I cut out/painted a little plus sign for a first aid cabinet. Okay, it doesn't hold first aid, but it looked so cute!

 

 

Hooks to hold all my bags. Magnet board with a ton of magnets. And my tall shelf (next to my door) that holds all my books.

 

 

This is one of my favorite projects I did. I hoard a lot of necklaces. They were always getting tangled up. I saw cute ideas for wall shelves, but didn't know how to make one. I saw this crate at Michaels ($13, also at Joanns). Worked so perfectly! I screwed in some little gold hooks on the front and right side. I also hoard perfume and lotion as you can see. *I used a towel thing for my bracelets and rings. I painted the "style" plaque for YW (I know it doesn't go well with my theme, but I love it). I had the little drawers lying around so I put all my makeup in those. I used a soldering iron for the stars (it was like a little stamp). *So I'm not good at writing letters or painting them. I found an awesome tutorial on a fast way to stencil. New favorite trick! The letters and numbers on the left side is latitude and longitude of where I live. I googled latitude/longitude converter and found my exact spot. Than I painted a compass and soldered it out to give it dimension. *The mason jar I colored to look like sea glass. It holds my EOS.

*links

paper towel- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/504051383264969535/

stencil- http://asmallsnippet.com/2013/04/easy-diy-handpainted-canvas.html

sea glass- http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/2014/03/make-sea-glass-bottles.html

 

 

 

This is my craft/DIY shelf

I saw these cute *canvas paintings on Pinterest. I made my own stencils and painted them. The nautical hat box I got from Joanns. I have my crowns displayed on top. I have a another sea glass mason jar (same tutorial as above). I have all my markers, paints, tape, paintbrushes, etc. all organized. And yes that is a flamingo head. I have two lawn flamingoes because I thought they were so cute! I made them little *paper sailor hats.

*links

canvases- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/567031409306586251/ (there aren't available at the etsy shop anymore)

sailor hat- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/567031409309660686/

 

 

In the corner are my *fishing floats. I made two of them (tutorial down below) and the big one is a glass ball I had. Then I *tied them up and made them different lengths. My cork board of the U.S. with my key chains. I stenciled the outline of all the states using a U.S. map then cut out each of the states. I used pins and washi tape to mark each of the states.

*links

fishing floats- http://www.worthingcourtblog.com/2014/06/make-glass-fishing-floats.html

how to tie a fish float- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/567031409310664730/

 

 (Sorry its so dark)

The banner are *Navy signal flags. Each flag is a letter and signal. That's my name in Navy flags:) I really like Calypso drinks. I hoard those too. I bought some flowers from Michaels that matched my color scheme. I have my little pineapple candle holder from B&BW. I stole the glass manta ray from Clarissa and I just got the glass star fish.

*links

navy flags- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/567031409309582673/

 

 

This is my bed! My grammy made me this nautical quilt. (It was my graduation present) I helped and picked out the colors. She hand sewed it! I have sea green pillow cases/sheets which matches my flowers and quilt.

 

  

My desk. Its always messy and unorganized which bothers me. I made an *organizer out of a box. I painted navy stripes and used washi tape to cover the harsh edges. I have a totem pole of Mickey, Goofy, and Donald in sailor outfits. That little *chair that's holding the shell was difficult to make. A lot of glue and popsicle sticks. I made *coasters out of cord and cardboard. I painted nautical symbols on them. I always get water stains on my desk. The *folding chair was ugly, so I upcycled it to this chic red striped chair. Works perf with my theme. My trash can was more of a mess up. I spray painted it navy using painters tape. It didn't dry correctly, but it turned out pretty cool.

*links

organizer- http://www.katydidandkid.com/2010/07/cereal-box-stationary-organizer.html

folding chair- http://myfabulesslife.com/foldingchairs/

coasters- http://www.makinghomebase.com/nautical-sisal-rope-coasters/

popsicle adirondack chair- http://www.kyleswoodworking.com/apps/blog/show/14388379-how-to-make-a-popsicle-stick-mini-adirondack-chair

 

 

I got the sea life hook thing for Christmas from Hobby Lobby. Its pretty thick; I cut off a piece of wood from pallets and sanded and painted it then screwed it on the wood. Then I attached it to the wall.

 

 

I used the tutorial, but because I used pallet pieces and my ceiling is low I changed it up to work. I can't put books on it or it will fall over, but it works for what I want it to do. I had an old latch jar that I filled with shells that we collected.

shelf- http://www.myhomeideas.com/how-to/weekend-projects/diy-shelves

 

 

I've had this clock for 7 years. Up cycle!! I looked up different nautical clock ideas and came up with this. I took off all the gems. I used left over rope and shells to add that nautical feel.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed all of it! I'm not trying to show off. I'm really passionate about creating things and decorating. Combining it with Nautical brought my visions to life! A lot of these items I had, but of course some of it I had to buy. I was going to use a lot of shells, but I felt it was kind of cheesy. I placed different shells around my room, but I didn't want them to be the main focus. I do want to add more, but because I'm going away for school I may not. I want curtains and I want to add some throw pillows and maybe a futon underneath my bed. If you want to see my room for real come out and visit me! And check out my nautical board on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/bubblebre/id-rather-be-sailing/  

Here's to the class of 2015

 I did it! I graduated!! It was an adventurous year! I graduated in Williamsburg, VA with 17 other seniors.

 

 

B: (left to right) Ian, Alex, George, Preston, Dallin, Bryan, Logan, Shawn, Aspen, & Joey

F: (left to right) Madilyn, Angela, Caroline, Victoria, Rachel, Malory, Meghan, & Me

 

 

"Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist. Touch the pearls and blow a kiss." 

 

 

My magnificent mother!

 

 

We matched!

 

 

We are so weird 

 

This is Joey. I met Joey when I first moved to Georgia. Small world that we graduated together.

 

 

Joey is pretty cool. Grammy & Grandpa came and celebrated with me!

 

 

I'm perrtty fantastic!

 

 

Ben & Emily and their kids came down to celebrate also.

 

 

I luurrrrvvvv them

 

 

My graduation cap

 

 

DJ & I were the seniors of our seminary class! We totally got class!

 

 

First Day of school! Hanna was a freshy and I was a senior.

 

 

Last Day of school! I had so much going to the LDSHE conference and meeting new people.

 

So what are my plans for the future?

My summer is full of traveling. This fall I will be working at the family nursery in Oregon and start the Pathways Program by BYU-Idaho. After a year of school I want to serve a mission, but we'll see what the Lord has planned for me. I want to finish up school at BYU-Hawaii and get married. 

 

"The world is at your feet."

-Mary Poppins