This is *H O M E*

     Lately it has been so gorgeous here in Huntington Beach, and the crowds of tourists are rolling in like crazy. It's days like this that make me so grateful for where I live. So the morning our little homeschooled spring break began, my family hopped into the car for a fun day on the town. Now, it's not like we have never been downtown, but we have an obsession of soaking in the sun, people watching, and just enjoying each others company.

     First we had stopped to get a bite.. or I guess a lick.. of ice cream. A little company called Thriftees you just can't beat!

After we had enjoyed our cones, we took a little trip down PCH. Seeing the coast line of California with the windows rolled down and smelling the ocean breeze, it just never gets old.

 All in all, it was a perfect day. It's the little things like this that make me love my family, the things we do, and how blessed we are to live where we do.

~Abbie(:

Welcome to Dallas, Texas!

      So this trip had been planned M O N T H S in advanced, because it wasn't for casual fun. My family, as well as over 700 other people hopped in cars and on planes and headed to our destination, Texas. We are all performers in a choral group called MCO America. (Mormon Choral Organizations). We were invited to perform at a choral directors convention (ACDA) and were thrilled to accept the offer! We performed songs in Hungarian, German, English, and Spanish, and the crowd went wild! It was an amazing experience to be there. Now let me tell you.. Downtown Dallas is filled with Cathedrals and churches that are open to the public. If you know me, you know I love to go inside any cool place I can! I mean.. we were in a different state I had never been to! We had to do it! Here is one of the Cathedrals we went inside. It was gorgeous!

     In the middle of the city, they had rows and rows of different food trucks with awesome designs on every one of them. I captured a few as we drove through(:

      My older sister, my younger brother, and my mom all had so much fun there, but we are not the kind of people who would want to go back there for fun. Haha we have bad luck in Texas (Its a curse we posses;) but we try to stay away as much as possible! We were lost most of the time we were there, due to the GPS that was given in our rental car. It had no idea what it was talking about! ( Its the curse. Im telling you!)

     The performances we did  were phenomenal though! It was worth every second we spent in Dallas. Our group didn't even begin to compare to any other sized choir there participating. I grew so much closer to my choir friends, and made so many new ones!

 Now just one more thing. After two shows in two days, and midnight to one o'clock rehearsals every night, the leaders decided to give us a break. We went to an amusement park (and ditched our banquet dinner after the convention.. whoops!) called "Zero Gravity." Now this place was SO COOL. It was filled with rides that let you free fall, with or without harnesses into nets and pads on the ground. 16 story drops, human slingshots, flying like superman hundreds of feet in the air only by a small harnace.. now this is my kind of place!    

 

 All in all, it was a fabulous trip, loaded with spirituality, fun, and thrills! 

Culture is right outside your door, you just need to open it!

So yesterday I got to go to downtown LA. Now you may know, it's a really busy town filled with buildings, cars, and clients walking side by side. Having lived so close to it, I never really felt the need to explore this fancy downtown area. (A very big mistake on my part). As we drove, all I could think about was "what will the food be like?" Or "are all the people in Chinatown Chinese?" I had never known these answers. I love culture, and anything new there is to try or experience.. I'm

As we ran a muck throughout the town, we had a blast! Who knew completely different cultural experiences were right outside our door?

We tried new foods (I realized I would most likely starve in Asia..), played with stray dogs, bought souvenirs, visited flee markets, and saw everything there was to see! Anywhere you live, I'm sure there is something like this you can find. Take your kids, or go with some friends to go experience it! You won't regret it!(:

We took lots of silly pictures.. But some were just too embarrassing. Haha but we had lots of fun!

We found some pretty turquoise doors, and I just had to stop for a picture. My pose is a bit "happy", but I guess it just fits my personality!

Do you have any experiences like this? If so... Share!

You and Me Pal!

I have not been scrapbooking lately due to all of the overwhelming activities I participate in.. including swim, plays, mutual, friday parties, church dances, and much more! My life is busy for a 14 year old.. I know. But there is not one boring moment :) Today I finally was able to sit down and scrap.... until I realized I had no photo paper.. or ink. Soooo.. after an hour of shopping at Target with my mom, I finally (for real this time) got to make just ONE layout... And here it is!!

Crazy Hair! (Talk about spirited!)

So, a few weeks ago, my family had the opportunity of bringing in an 8 year old foster child named Stephanie. She is so fun, spunky, and pretty :) Her and I share a room and she is beginning to learn all of the crafty lessons in life. Well, this is her!

 A few days ago, she had her spirit week at school. She came running down the stairs saying "Abbie! Abbie! Can you make the craziest hair for crazy hair day??" I took this as a serious challenge. I took her upstairs and we brainstormed. At first, I wanted to give her a big pink fohawk. This didnt turn out so well, so we just leveled down to this! I cut a piece of card stock and made it a cone shape. (Make sure it is big or small enough to cover with their hair) Then I just brought the hair up around the cone and put it in a ponytail at the end. I let her pick a bunch of flowers that I made, and that I bought, and we made a collage of them. We had lots of fun doing it, and she definately had the craziest hair in her class! There were lots of kids who wanted to touch it and asked who did it. Her reply? "My crafty sister!"

Teen Talent Search Results!!

So, this is quite the exciting news..... I fot FIRST  PLACE in the 2011 Teen Talent Search Contest for Creating Keepsakes!! Oh my goodness I am so happy :) Thankyou everybody who voted for me! I love you all! Also congrats to Brook, Elisa, Teanan, and Sofia!! Your projects were amazing!! You can go and check out everybody's layouts at http://www.creatingkeepsakesblog.com/. This is my winning layout.

Once again thank you to everybody who voted for me!!

Temple Walk

 So the Young Women leaders in our ward decided to do a Temple Walk. It was 9.1 Miles. We started at 8:30 am and walked from the beach to the Newport Beach Temple. It took about 4 hours.. but every step was totally worth it! It was such a wonderful experience and it helped me get to know the girls a lot better! I heard about a group of girls that walked 22 miles.. After that.. I felt their pain! It was hard, but it was really fun!!