That Fluffy White Stuff...

IT'S SNOWING!!!! :D I'm really excited that it's snowing and all, but isn't it a little wierd that it's snowing now, in late February, when it didn't even hardly snow in the middle of winter!?! Washington is just plain wierd.... >.<

And now, because it's snowing, the tennis courts at my school are also covered in snow... *sigh* Which of course means I can't play today :,(  I might go play at the Sprinker Center courts though if the weather doesn't clear up. Seriously though, why is it snowing now???

Here's a few pictures of the fluffy white stuff from my backyard :)

These first two are the view out of my kitchen window. The third is from standing on my patio outside.

I think snow must be one of the most beautiful things in the world because you just can't capture it in a picture.

Always,

~KJ







A woman should be so lost in God, that a man needs to seek Him in order to find her. ♥

"A woman should be so lost in God, that a man needs to seek Him in order to find her. ♥"

You know, I really love that quote. It may sound silly, but I think it's a good reminder to all women that their man should respect them and love them enough to go through anything to find her. I may get a little lost in my thinking sometimes, and doesn't everyone, but its little things and quotes like this that really remind me of my love and appreciation for God. It's not just the beauty of the words themselves, but the deeper meaning. And I don't just mean that a woman should be respected, what I'm trying to say is that by loving God, you open yourself up to so many positive, for lack of a better word, "things" in life. I'm not saying either that loving God is the only way to live. Of course not, I just think it gives you a better picture and perspective on life to have someone like that in your life. I'm not trying to preach or anything, it's just that I was looking through blogs today, and came across some really inspiring blogs about God and how he has affected people's lives. It made me remember to always be thankful for what I have, and made me really want to be more active in a church again. I would really like to find a church that I can attend consistently its just that I feel like I never have time. I don't think that is a bad thing, but I just wish I could devote more time to God. ♥

God bless you and please pray for me too :)

Always,
      ~KJ

February So Far! And Tennis!!!

Well, not many interesting things have happened to me this month...Another valentine's day has gone by and I am yet again without a valentine, but hey, I'm still young! On the 17th, I graduated from driver's school (yay!!) and come october, I will be 16 and officially licensed!! It's gonna be so nice to be able to drive myself to all my activities and not always worry about whether my parents are working or not. Only 8 months left!! Better enjoy it while I can, because after that I'll have to pay for gas :( And everyone knows that gas prices are sky-rocketing right now...Ya, not looking forward to that part of it...

I'm on mid-winter break right now, so no school for a week (yes!!!) !!! And after break is over, next monday, TENNIS STARTS!!!! I'm soooo excited x 1000! I've always loved tennis and I've played with my family since I was little, you know the "haha-fun-play-without-caring-about-rules" type of playing, but this will be my first time playing on a real team with the rules (which I honestly don't even know yet xD). I'm pretty nervous for the first day of practice, but we are doing some non-mandatory practices over break plus I've been practicing a bunch with friends, so hopefully I won't do too bad!! I feel a little guilty cause I just got a new $100 (eeeek!!!) racket and a pair of $90 (eeeek again!!!) tennis shoes, but I absolutely love them and as long as I get a lot of use out of them, my mom doesn't mind too much. The really cool part about the racket is that we bought it at the Sprinker Pro-shop, so it's really high-end stuff, and I actually got to watch my racket be strung! Even cooler, my racket was strung by a legend!! He was ranked #3 in the nation at one point and he has coached some of the best tennis players out there!! And he strung my racket!!!

Here's a picture of the amazing racket and shoes :)

And one more big piece of news...I now have 3 followers!!! (yippeee!! a personal record xD) Thanks Kellie and Kralovics, and of course my mama :) You guys make me feel loved!! ♥

      ~KJ

Whats Up?

Hey anyone who might happen to read this :) I know I have like one follower, so I'm probably just writing this for myself, so I would really appreciate it if someone would read my blog!

Anyway, Driver's Ed. classes have been going really well and when I go out driving with my parents I think I'm doing pretty good, or at least getting better! I haven't crashed into anything yet if that's a good sign! I get to do my first scheduled drive with an instructor this friday, but I'm kind of nervous...haha I just hope that I won't do anything stupid.

Urg, my school has finals this week and I'm kind of worried. I think I'm ready and I've been studying a lot, but there's still that fear in the back of my mind that I'll forget everything once I see the test :( I guess it's just nerves...Well, our first final is math on tuesday, so wish me luck!

My sister Jamie is home for a visit (yay!!) but...she's leaving tomorrow for Michigan again. She went to the doctors while she was here, but she's leaving too soon to really have it make a difference or get anything done to make her better. All because she misses her boyfriend! :( From what I hear, he still isn't working, and Jamie said that she's not happy in Michigan. But of course, she's gonna go back because she's "in love." I know that she feels like she really is, and it's not that I don't like that she's found someone to love, but I can't be happy for her because of her situation over there. And she gets so upset when we ask her to stay home or when we try to talk to her about her boyfriend that we just don't know what to do anymore...She and Jennifer fought quite a bit while she was here, and of course it was all because of Chris (her boyfriend). I don't think that even if Jamie ever does come home for good that the twins will ever be as close as they used to.

Btw, if anyone is looking to read a really good book, I just finished one called Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. It's a little strange, but it's really good :) I'm kind of a book worm, always looking for good books, so if anyone knows of a good one, you should recommend it!

Well, gotta get back to my studying so that's it for today :) And I hope that somebody will read this!
      ~KJ

I GOT MY PERMIT!!!

AHHH!!! I got my permit today!!! :) I've been really looking forward to this! I'm going to start my Driver's Ed. classes next week on monday, and I'm really excited to start driving, but I'm kind of nervous too...All of my friends have been making fun of me because I'm only 5'2"! They keep on saying that I'll never be able to see over the wheel :( It's kind of depressing since I haven't grown for awhile XD But I don't really mind, I like being short! Anyway, after school, my mom took my brother and I to the liscensing department place for him to take the test to get his permit (since he's 17 and hasn't taken Driver's Ed.) and for me to get my permit for the classes. It's kind of funny cuz when we got to the place, I saw someone I know from school! I know it's not that uncommon or anything, but it was kind of nice because there was a long waiting time so he and I talked for awhile. He was there to take his test so he was kind of nervous. I think that talking helped a little. After that we were finally called up to the counter (finally!! that place is famous for its long waits) and my brother was sent off to take his test and I had to get my picture taken for my permit. Of course, as always, the picture on the permit turned out horrible even though my mom said it was fine...Isn't that how it always happens though? On pictures that you really want to look nice in, it turns out horrible, and random, around the house pictures always turn out the best. It's just plain wierd...haha. Anyway I was really happy to get my permit! :) Can't wait for classes to start!!

I'm really excited for this weekend too! My dad's side of the family is taking our annual cabin trip up to somewhere around Packwood. It always turns out to be pretty cramped because our family is so big, but it's probably one of the only times that almost the whole family gets together, so we all enjoy it! :)

Well, I know it's a little late, but since I haven't written in awhile, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!! :)

      ~KJ

Christmas Along With Everything Else...

It's been a while since I posted, but I've been super busy. I finally got all of my Christmas shopping done yesterday, and I'm almost done making that pair of socks for my mom. I made a couple mistakes in the first sock, but they're not that noticable, and the second sock turned out just fine so far.

One thing that I always seem to notice about myself when I go shopping is that I'm very frugal...just like my dad. I seem to get most of my traits from my dad and my brother gets his from our mom. You'd think it would be the other way around. Anyway, I have this habit of finding something I really like and I'm thinking that I'm about to get it, but then I make myself look at the price tag before I absolutely fall in love with it and it turns out to be some stupidly high price, so even if I can afford it, I'll put it down and walk away. My brother on the otherhand, if he finds something he likes and has enough to afford it, he'll buy it with a lot less hesitation. I guess either one can be good in its own way, but I always end up having more money...haha I guess I'm just wierd like that :)

Anyone who has read my previous post would know that I absolutely love to cook, which I guess isn't very strange for a girl. But I tried making something new today (I like trying new things) - caramel flan! It looked really easy at first, but I think I made it more difficult than it really needed to be...it took me three tries to get the caramel right. I ended up going on google (haha) to figure out how to get the sugar and water to turn into a nice light brown caramel. Finally on the third try it worked, and it really wasn't that hard. The flan just came out of the oven and is cooling off. I hope it'll be good! I put way to much effort into making those little custards for them to not turn out right!

On a more serious subject, I'm not sure if I already brought this up, but my elder step-sister, Jamie (18 years old) moved to Michigan a couple months ago to live with her boyfriend. None of my family or hers approved because she met this guy online when she was 16! Not only that, he's a whole 10 years older than her. He came down here to Washington to visit us once before Jamie moved, and we didn't really like what we saw. As much as we tried to persuade Jamie to stay, she was set on leaving, so now she lives in Michigan. She says shes doing good down there, but I'm guessing (well, it's not so much guess as it is fact) that she's not doing as well as she says. There are a whole bunch of problems that she's not letting us know very much about, but my other step-sister, Jennifer (Jamie's twin), is hinting about. To top it all off, Jamie has some very serious health problems that have been going on for a long time. She's been sick for a while now in Michigan, and we can't exactly help her since we're all the way over here, and I don't think she really knows what to do either. She says she's going to see a doctor, and I really hope she does. Her boyfriend doesn't seem to be taking very good care of her either, and I think she's working way to much. She's been working over 40 hours a week, which I know is normal, but think, she's not feeling good at all, and her boyfriend apparently isn't working very much, which puts everything on her shoulders. I'm really worried about her...Please, if you have read this, pray for my sister to come back home, or at least get better. I love you Jamie ♥

I always appreciate comments to let me know you've read. Thanks!
      ~KJ

Peanut Butter Balls!

Well everyone I tried making something new today! Peanut butter balls! They're for my best friend Koryna, who's birthday is tomorrow! I always try to make something for my friends on their birthdays because I love to cook :)

It was kind of interesting because I had never heard of chocolate-flavored confectioners' coating before this, so I was just planning on improvising by melting chocolate morsels that you would use with chocolate chip cookies. My mom actually called while I was just thinking this out and asked how it was going. She said that she could stop by the store on her way home and just pick up some dipping chocolate, but the problem was that neither of us knew what "chocolate-flavored confectioners' coating" was. I had to google it (gotta love Google :P ) and try to explain what it was over the phone. It turned out all right though and the chocolate worked perfectly. It was actually kind of fun trying to figure out how to dip the peanut butter balls because I've never made anything that requires dipping, and neither has my mom. But I think they turned out pretty good considering it was my first time making anything like this. I just hope they taste as good as they look! Well I guess I'll find out tomorrow! :)
      ~KJ