Ya'll... It's Christmas!

   So people... It's Christmas! Can you believe it?? I'm still recovering from Thanksgiving! Jk.
But really though. This season has been a complete blur for me. (I think most of my family can agree...) ☺

   But, even though I can hardly keep up with the craziness of this time of year, I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an even better New Year!

  I'm so thankful for all of you in my life, and I'm glad you've decided to follow this random blog of mine... (I can't believe you actually enjoy reading about me and my life.) All the same though, thanks for being a part of my 2016 and helping to make it great! I really do appreciate all of you!

  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and don't forget to take the time to remember who and what the Christmas Season is all about. Jesus!

  Also, take the time to enjoy and appreciate the people the Lord has put in your life.

  The Lord is at work always, and I'm excited to see what lessons He wants to teach me, and the adventures He'll take me on in the coming year.

  Thank you, holy Jesus, for being born into a world full of unholy sinners so you could save us all. Thank you for your amazing love, mercy, and grace. May I always be thankful for such gifts. ☺

Merry Christmas everyone!

Makayla♥

I'm Thankful For...

*So... I actually started this before Thanksgiving... but, it obviously didn't get posted in time... So! Here is my Thanksgiving post... a few days late! ☺*



Well... It's Thanksgiving.

And of course, it's time to sit back and count all of our many blessings.

I have to say, I'm am completely amazed at how utterly and truly blessed I am. I have so much to be thankful for, and that is why I'm going to share with you all Seven things I'm thankful for this year. 

1. My Family...

 I think I can always say that I am truly thankful for my family. We do life together. I think that speaks for itself. So, to all of my amazing family reading this, I'm so thankful for you! Thank you for loving me and putting up with all of my craziness... 😜

2. Friends...

You know... the type if people who really make life flavorful. I'm so grateful for all of my amazing friends who are so supportive and loving. Most likely, if you're reading this, you're a friend of mine and I'm so thankful for you! 

3. The good old USA

Yes, I know there is a lot of controversy over the election and all sorts of crazy things going on right now... But I can truly say that I am extremely thankful for America! I'm also thankful that we have  a democracy and that we can vote our leaders into office. God Bless America!

4. Police...
These days, no one seems to be able to realize just how hard a Police's job is, and they seem to want to do everything they can to make it even harder. But, I hope I'll always be the first to say, "Thank You!" I'm so grateful for the safety and order Police bring to our society. Thank you to all of the Police who get up in the morning and get ready for work, knowing that it could be the last time you do so. I appreciate everything you do... Your good deeds do not go unnoticed. 😊

5. Teachers... (Yes... This includes you, mom.) 😉
I'm so grateful for all of the teachers in my life! Whether you teach me piano or how to properly do a water bottle flip... I consider you my teacher, and I appreciate what you do! I'm so thankful people are willing to teach me new things! So to all you teachers out there... Thank You!

6. My Church...
I am so thankful for my church and all of the amazing people who challenge me to grow spiritually! I'm also thankful to go to a church that takes God's Word seriously. As the years go by, I see more and more churches turning away from solid biblical truths, and it makes me even more grateful to go to a church where God's Word is God's Word and not something that should be taken lightly or tampered with.

7. Jesus Christ...
I am increasingly grateful for My Savior and what He's done for me and the rest of the world. I really can't explain in mere words what He means to me. All I can say is... Thank You, Jesus! Without you, there would be no blessings to count this Thanksgiving... or any year for that matter.

      Well! That concludes my list of things I'm thankful for. Of course, there are many more things I could've added... but, I just wanted to share a few specific things. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't forget to eat a lot of pie!

Cheers!
Makayla♥

Book Signing...!!!

 Hey Everyone!

So! As you can probably guess from the title of this post... I went to my first Book Signing! *Claps obnoxiously for ten seconds*

If you've visited some of the other pages on this wonderful site you've probably come across a list of my favorite books... Well! *Drumroll* Friday night I got meet the wonderful Shannon Messenger! (Author of the 'Keeper of the Lost Cities' series)

These books are some of my favorites! They've got plenty of adventure, action, and all kinds of crazy stuff that keeps you interested. Shannon Messenger just released her fifth book in the series and has been on tour as a result, so, I was super excited when she announced that she would be coming to Minnesota!!

Anyway! I was surprised at the way it turned out... As I said before, I've never been to a book signing before, so it was a new experience anyway... But I guess I always imagined a HUGE restless crowd waiting in line to get their book signed... Now don't get me wrong, there was a decent size crowd, but they had lots of chairs set up so people could sit while they waited, and they had everyone grab a ticket so you knew when it was your turn. Then they had a Q&A when Shannon got there so it seemed a little more like you were getting to know more about her and stuff about the books. Overall, it was a pretty cool experience!

Bailey and I were super excited to meet her!

  We were the last people to meet her... Which was worth it because we got to talk for like ten minutes and she gave us the last of her posters and stuff. So that was super cool!
So! Yeah! That's just a random thing that happened that I thought was worth blogging about!

Hope you enjoyed!
Makayla♥

Just some thoughts...

People... The new school year is slowly coming upon us. (For some, it's already started.) What shall we do? I can't believe it's already so near! It feels like just yesterday we were looking forward to last year's school year!

Just think, we only have four more months in this year left. *Jaw drops* It's mind blowing!
But! I am determined to enjoy every moment while it's here.

We went to the State Fair the other day! I've always loved the fair... but, Oh Boy! There were a LOT of people! It seemed busier than ever the day we went!  But still, we went and had a great time! Ate a lot of fried food, walked until we couldn't walk anymore... The usual!
 Does anyone else have a tradition of going to the Fair every year? I'd like to know!

Just a question... Am I the only one who thinks this weather has been strange? One day it feels like it barely hits 50, and the next day it feels like someone dumped  a truckload of water into the air and turned on a heater!☺

 Anyways, I just had to bore you with that little spur of randomness. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things... Blog wise.☺

Oh! If you have a minute to listen to this song... Do! It's amazing! 

 

Until Next Time,

Makayla♥

Roadtripping...

Well... I'm back! Finally! (At least for this post...)☺

So, most of my readers know that my family was away on vacation for the last ten days. Well, I've decided to post a bunch of pictures and tell you a bit about our adventures!

The Grand Canyon was our destination, but we ended up seeing many different places.
We took a round about way to Arizona and were able to visit Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Let me just say... It was Amazing!

       At the beginning of our trip, we drove through North Dakota... And it really is flat.

   But the closer we got to Montana, the more hills, and even rocky canyons we saw... We stopped at Teddy Roosevelt National Park (In North Dakota). It looked like a mini Grand Canyon!

 We eventually made it to Montana... And Mountains!

    When we got to Yellowstone, I was amazed at all of the trees and mountains! The trees grew so close together, I'm not sure one could walk through them!

    Old Faithful (one of the many geysers) was a must see once we were there. We also got to see a few other geysers around the park, and some deep holes in the earth filled with boiling hot water, and spewing gases. It smelled like burning eggs... But I guess it was just the sulfur we were smelling.
You had to be careful not to step off of the boardwalk, because you could accidentally step on an extremely thin sheet of earth and go down into a hot pool of water! The Buffalo obviously didn't get the memo though, and you could see their footprints in the hot mud.

                                              (A smaller geyser...↓)

Here is a pool that was filled with Boiling Water... You could see bubbles coming up from the bottom!

   Most of the trees around the geysers and pools were dead...

Old Faithful... It only shoots out once every hour and fifteen minutes or so.

                            
  Just talking a Sunday stroll... In the middle of the road!☺

   Another hole going deep underground... You could hear the gas and water pushing their way out.

A Waterfall... It was absolutely Amazing!

 More Mountains...

We eventually made our way through Idaho, and then Utah. We stopped at The Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was sorta weird... Just a huge Salt Lake! ☺ The only things that live in the lake are algae and brine shrimp (they're REALLY tiny!). The lake shore was covered (and I mean covered) in tiny flies that eat the shrimp and algae. Wherever you stepped a little cloud of flies would shoot up! They were everywhere!

Arizona!! Land of desert, more desert, and... Is that a tree??! Jk... Sorta. ☺
So, I was messing around with my camera and discovered I could switch the setting so that the red in the rock really came out in the pictures. I was pretty excited!

There actually was more vegetation in the desert than I was expecting. There was still a lot of rock and sand, but still, there where a lot of shrub type plants, and more grass than I thought was possible.

The Grand Canyon was Absolutely Gorgeous! When people say that the pictures don't compare... well, they're right! It was so deep and wide and just downright Huge!

 We got stuck in a hail storm on the second day. When it passed us you could see it drifting over the Canyon!

We ended up hiking down the side of the rocks a little ways on one side... which was a tad bit scary to say the least. My dad and I got so close to the edge of a cliff, we could almost see straight down!☺

  We made our way toward New Mexico and ate at a really cool Mexican restaurant in Sedona, Arizona. The view was amazing!

 This hummingbird was just hanging out around the flowers outside...

New Mexico!

 White Sands, New Mexico... You could see were they had used plows to make a road through there!
We got there in the evening the first day, which was perfect! The sun was just going down and it wasn't too hot. We ended up going back the day after... and although the sun was behind the clouds for the most part, when it came out, it came out with gusto!

After White Sands, it was time to head home. We had to drive around seventeen hours in two days to get home. Great Fun! Lol! I actually enjoy being cramped in the car on road trips. It's cozy!☺

We drove through Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa to get home. It was an amazing trip!

People, God is Great. God is Good.
  I am so extremely blessed to be able to go on such an adventure with my family. I'm also extremely blessed to be able to explore God's Oh-So-Vast creation. I'm so Grateful we made it home safely. And, I'm so thankful for Jesus. I was reminded on this trip again and again just how much He loves us. And not because of anything I've done. Just because.☺

I hope you all are having wonderful adventures this Summer. And I hope you catch a glimpse of Christ in this wonderful Season!

Until next time,

Makayla♥

P.S. Shout out to my Dad who drove us all that way! It wasn't so bad... was it? By the way... how much was the coffee bill?☺