Bright Lights, Small Town

Once a year, Butler Amusements rolls into my town for the Nevada County Fair. Maybe it's the bright lights, the laughter, the spinning rides, or the end-of-Grease feel that makes me love the fair so much or maybe because it's also the time when my eldest sister, Ashley, visits from SoCal. Either way it's a week filled with fun right before school starts the next week.

After Ashley,my niece Emma, and Ashley's sister Sierra arrived on Tuesday; I ditched them Wednesday for a solid 13 hour day at the fair. Joined by my friends: Maddie, Isabella, Sam, Megan, Anya , Kaely, and Chris we enjoyed amazing food and plenty of stomach-flipping rides.

Matching shoes because we're cooler than all ya'll

The 'Footloose'...almost as amazing as the movie(the original one obviously)

Chris excited about the ferris wheel, then again who isn't?

The Zipper...my personal favorite

Refueling with cotton candy at about 10:30...

Although the fair was chock-full of fun, I had to say ta-ta to my friends until school to spend the rest of the week with my family. Although a majority of the week was spent undocumented (bad Jewel), we had tons of fun going to the river, the lake, Lake Tahoe, downtown Grass Valley and Nevada City, and the fair(one last time).
While we were on the lake my sisters and I took a shot at wake-boarding, which is actually a lot harder then it looks. Although Kenna was by far the winner going a good 1/4 a mile down the lake, Ashley and I gave it a good shot.

Sunning my toesies

Emma modeling the windswept hair 

Mi familia bella

Rafting is fun at any age...from 5 to 29

Kenna and I went on a slightly wilder ride, gliding over the water at terrifyingly fun speeds

A few days later at the fair...again looking fabulous!

What's cuter then a Sierra and an Emma carrot?

 Overall, it was a great week with family and friends and I cant' wait until next year when the bright lights of the fair and the bright light that is my sister rolls back into town. Jewel.

Girl's Camp...in the running for the happiest place on Earth

This last week I went to a Girl's Camp about 45 min. from beautiful Lake Tahoe. This camp is through a Mormon church and accompanied by three of my best friends and a giant duffel bag I headed up for my fifth year at this beautiful forest oasis. As a fifth year at at the camp, I was considered a 'big sister' meaning the 1st-4th years were the 'little sisters' and two years of 'big sisters' watched over them and helped them out with skits and the like. Each group of 'big sisters' gets assigned one group of 'little sisters' with a theme. My 'little sisters' were all fourth years and sadly didn't need as much help as the first years or second years per say but I still loved helping them with their skit for their theme...Alice in Wonderland. Before they arrived we decorated their 'bunk house' and their table in the dining pavilion(which feeds us A-mazing food).

A table isn't a table without a Cheshire Cat

Tilt your head...and look down the rabbit hole...

I'll fix this pic as soon as I can...

Camp is such a great experience every year, starting from the first moment you step on to the ground you're swept away by the kindness and true caring you feel. You meet these amazing girls your first year and every year you go back they're there and sometimes you become friends with them outside of camp, and there you go, you have a new best friend. I'm lucky enough to have three of my best friends; Megan, Kaely, and Isabella; coming with me on my mountain adventure with meadows and ponds galore. 

The mysterious...'FREMONT' on the bridge

Megan being the 'big sister' theme: Lost Girls of Neverland

We heart...

Girl's Camp!

Breathtaking isn't it?

And then we have Isabella's alter ego... the Isabeast

A highlight of camp is to come up with skits for 'campfire'. For our 'Alice in Wonderland' skit we appointed all the girls from our unit to be a character from Disney's version of AiW. We were lucky enough to have identical triplets in our group and they became the three white rabbits...so they could say 'I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date' in unison of course! All of our characters did a great job at campfire, but here's some pics of the rehearsal!

"It's a Golden Afternoon!" for these flowers

Three white rabbits?

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum with pillow tummies

I'm so happy I was able to enjoy the beautiful people, landscape, and lessons learned at camp once again this year and I can't wait to go back next year and do it all over again! and of course see these amazing people:

My amazing 'little sisters'

Lookin' sharp Kaely and Jessica!

Until next year Girl's camp and until my next blog people of the internet(hint it's about my wonderful sister Ashley's house!) Jewel.

LET IT SNOW! Oh, wait it did...

"Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people's legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.” - Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen 
"“When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure.” -Alice Hoffman
        On Friday night, most people had plans but the weather seemed to have other ideas. Jack Frost swooped over my town and most of Northern California with only a grace and dignity he can uphold,and blew puffy gray snow clouds our direction. These soot-stained clouds made the weather drop considerably three days before the real fun and left everyone with rosy cheeks and way too many layers. Although the calm before the storm left the air chilly and full of static and every radio and weather channel told everyone the snow was coming there was still absolute panic. 
        "OH NO! We are going to be snowed in for less than 24 hours! We need to stockpile- TO THE STORE!" I'm pretty sure that this was the overall consensus of my small town, as when I went grocery shopping Friday evening the shelves were clean and cart traffic jams were happening left and right. Funny how a change in the weather leaves everyone panicked as if they would lose all connection with the outside world once that fluffy frozen water started coming down...and come down it did. I happened to brave the cold at about 10:00 to snap some pictures:

       Surprise, surprise the weather channel was right and I woke up Saturday morning to 5 inches of glorious, glorious snow. I pulled open my blind and what did I see? A world awash in white, sparkling at me like a freshly painted fence.(funny how we have to compare natural things to man-made creations and vice versa isn't it?) 

We're walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!

I think my favorite part of the snow is how it looks on the trees...

I think someone has some cold coffee... ya you're right that wasn't funny.

       I quickly got up and threw on the warmest outfit I could put on and set off with my Dad to drive around and see the snow! Unfortunately, our old car broke down at the gas station...so why we waited for someone to jumpstart us and the snow started to fall again and much harder then it had the night before...

I amused myself with an icicle and picture taking of course!

Lucky for us within five minutes someone pulled in and helped out and we were back on our way... we drove all the way up a small mountain and wound our way back down to do some errands before heading home.

SNOW! SNOW EVERYWHERE!

 Once home I armed myself with my camera and set out to do the one thing you are never too old to do...build a snowman. I don't want to hear that I am 15 years old and shouldn't be building snowmen because I don't even care.

His name is Howard(courtesy of Maddie and her mom) and he is adorable.

I happened to catch my cat, Olive,(yes, her mother's name is Pizza) tromping through the snow, snow-leopard style.

WARNING: Snow angels make you ridiculously cold.

Rattlesnake Creek was a sight to see and made me fall in love with Winter a little more...

I hope everyone stayed warm(wherever you are) and that you are able to enjoy the snow as much as I have! It is officially starting to feel like the holiday season!(my favorite time of the year) I can't wait for Christmas and hopefully more snow(not likely)as of now all that snow has turned to ice and I'm pretty sure the high for today was 38(I suggest layering, a lot of layering). I would love to hear your snow-covered experiences!(these parentheses are just for fun because I have a whole bunch in this paragraph). Jewel.