"I don't care how long the picture takes if it means we get to hug longer!"

Tonight was Trunk or Treat, my church's Halloween event. Groups at our church get together to dress up in costume and decorate their cars, then we all park in the church parking lot and hand out candy to the kids who come. It's like trick-or-treating, but way easier on the 4-year-olds who get all the candy without all the walking. My small group, the senior girls, dressed up as cowgirls and we had a blast. I love all these girls a whole lot and can't wait to do life with them the rest of this year.

 Alex, Kristin, Kate, Lauren, Katherine, Samantha, Michelle, Kendall

You can't tell but we are really cold! Even though it was insanely frigid, I was so excited to see how many cars there were with people passing out candy, and how creative people got with the themes, just to make sure the kids had fun. There must have been at least 200 kids who came up to our car! Love my church.

Super candid. Do cowgirls have lassos? Beats me. Probably. Somehow our cowgirl theme became a cowgirl-lumberjack-desert theme. Our car was decorated in cacti, we all donned flannel and boots, and I kept warm in a lumberjack hat. So basically, a successful evening.

Obviously we were all in for a picture with Webster, Lauren's new puppy. I love these two girls and would never have expected that Kate's and my friendship with Alex, which started with taking selfies at Lake Michigan over the summer (I know what you're thinking...but selfies rock.) would turn into us all being such wonderful friends. 

Shenanigans. I love Alex. This happy girl never fails to make my day and I'm so glad she drove an hour out of her way to come give out candy. She is a blessing and I'm so glad she's a part of our small group.

So excited to see Michelle, my favorite sophomore! We danced together for a couple years when we were both in middle school and I am so excited that I get to see her all the time at school now. I love her enthusiasm about life and that she is always so smiley. I'm sad I won't get to hug her lots and lots next year when I'm away at school, but I know she's going to continue to do wonderful things at New Trier. 

It feels like a perfect night to dress up like witches, tourists, Twiggy, rednecks and ghostbusters.

Please play this video on repeat while you read this post. It has been the soundtrack of my life for the weekend. Like, seriously. I typed "repeat" after "youtube" in the link (you're welcome!) on Friday afternoon and haven't stopped listening since.

I am also glad I have a solid 6 years until I am too old to sing Taylor Swift's "22". 

Ever have weekends that are just a ball of fun? That's this weekend. It must be something about people being hyped on candy and everyone wearing costumes (tourist, anyone?), because I feel like everyone's in a good mood.

Friday was WyldLife costume bowling. We may or may not have bowled right next to a 4-year-old's birthday party that was also costume bowling. Hilarious. I can't think of a better way to spend the night.

Thankful for super great kids and super great leaders that let me fulfill my tacky touristy dreams and take pictures of them all night. We had so much fun dancing and scarfing down pizza and breaking the bumpers and being pretty terrible at bowling.

Thankful that my best friend is now 18 after a solid month of saying "Well I'm ALMOST 18, so I'm just going to say I am." Thankful that she is hipster as ever with her hot new nose piercing and thankful that she is still the best friend I could ever ask for even though we are polar opposites.

Thankful that middle school boys are absolutely hilarious and think of shenanigans I could never even dream of. Yes, someone is pushing him through a tunnel of friends. Thankful that after approving the pictures I took, Bruno proclaimed, "I obviously look the best out of all of us." Hilarious.

Thankful that this happens when middle school girls get ahold of my camera.  Love the hippie and butterfly costumes. I'm still laughing about these gems. Love love love these hilarious girls!

Thankful for the lovely ladies of Magnolia for the Monster Mash 2012 and that I got to spend time with such wonderful people. Thankful that other people took pictures because my tourist costume died when my camera did. I love Mal a whole lot and I'm glad we make time to take pictures together every time we see each other because every time is special. Love that Adam and his popcorn box are in the back of this picture. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEKEND!

Hope yours was full of friends and fun.

Things to smile about

This week has been an off week (maybe because it was our first full week of school in 6 weeks? Just a thought...Go NT.) and I thought I would make it better by remembering all the great things about the past week.

★ Getting pie with Carolyn because it is tradition. She is wonderful and I love her.

★ Listening to RED on repeat. I don't care what anyone says, Taylor Swift sure is something. Pretty sure TSwift will be one of the defining qualities of my teenage years when I get old and reminisce about the good ol' days. Besides Begin Again, also listen to Everything Has Changed feat. Ed Sheeran. Love love love.

★ Slumbying at Alaynah's on Friday night. I am sad we didn't take any sassy selfies but I can tell you that there was a lot of middle school music, big cookie, and laughing involved. I am glad that she is so great and that I get to hang out with her.

★ Hanging out with the greatest people on earth on Saturday for the YL banquet. It's weird to think that this is the last North Shore YL banquet I will attend as a high schooler. But so crazy and amazing to think of all the YL ahead of me!

Katharine, Justin and I dancing to Love On Top. We may or may not have been doing this instead of cleaning up. Crazy shenanigans like this happen after all the guests leave.

Cheesin' with Erin. She is so super great.

So glad that Carolyn was home for the banquet. I am really really really glad that she loves college but sometimes Young Life doesn't feel right without her smiling face, and I'm glad I get to see her so often.

★ Doing some much-needed Facebook stalking and finding some lovely Work Crew pictures. I miss Timber Wolf so so much.

Selfies with my buddy Jake. I miss the wonderful Welcome Days where all 50 WC kids were twinning in blue shirts and sweating up a storm and serving kids. Best feeling in the world.

Exploring with Lys and Kayla (among others)! I love this picture and love that I can remember everything about this day. I remember how hot it was and how excited we all were and that I had just gotten my bow in the mail and was so jazzed to wear it. 

Love this selfie with Maddie from our last Work Crew night at TWL. I get to stay with her for the weekend in EXACTLY a week!!!! I cannot wait to be reunited. 

Hope you can think of happy things to smile about from this week. Infinite xs and os to y'all. :)

(Technically I am stealing Christi, Abigail, and Maddie's pictures by putting them up on here. But I love them and didn't have my camera at the banquet or on Work Crew so I hope they don't hate me for that.)

"Will I wear pants?"

Before anything else, I would just like to direct everyone reading this post--a grand total of about two people :)--to this wonderful video we watched at WyldLife club tonight. This kid is full of so many gems, I might just be quoting him all day tomorrow.

My personal favorites:

"Will I wear pants?...I sure hope so."

"The time to be awesome is now."

"Sometimes people try to throw things at ya...dance anyway."

Really hope you watched the video because otherwise I just ruined it.

Anyway I hope you are having a great week. I sure am. It has been chock-full of fun places to go and wonderful people to see.

 I love this picture because it is really awkward. I love awkward things. 

These are not our real-life smiles, promise.

Welcome to Maddie and Kendall's Skype karaoke show. 

No need to tell us we're gorgeous, we already know.

On Sunday night I Skyped with Maddie. But whenever I type her name I really think of it as "Maddddaaaayyyy" so you should totally do that too. We told ourselves we were going to Skype for only a few minutes and ended up talking for two hours. Good thing we're besties and I get to cuddle with her in just two short weeks. I love Maddie and singing to middle school music and reminiscing about sitting in my bed at work crew talking until 2am and planning the reunion, which seems sooner than ever. I couldn't be more excited. I love that we are still friends two states away. 

On Wednesday before rehearsal I Skyped with Serena and Andria. I love Serena and Andria is her best friend so obviously we should be friends too. I love that even when we don't talk for awhile it's still like we were just together yesterday when I talk to her again. I love remembering how many laughs and meals we shared during our month at Timber Wolf. I love that Serena has a Romans 1:16 sweatshirt and I love that the two of them are so full of energy and funny stories. I wish I could have been sitting right there with them in Minnesota. I love being updated on Serena's life and can't wait until I visit (soon, hopefully!).

Tonight was WyldLife club. Please note the letters drawn on everyone's feet. Yes, we did play Foot Scrabble (may or may not have just made up that name). Yes, we ran out of letters for the word we wanted to write so one person was assigned to be the exclamation point for every single round. Hilarious. And yes, I was assigned to writing the letters for the boys' team. Aka middle school boy feet. Aka I really don't like feet so that was hilarious too.

I like that at WyldLife club it takes about 10 minutes to get set up for group pictures. I like the laughter and craziness and how hyped up on sugar everyone was. I like that Claire and I got to randomly pop out of the closet in Halloween costumes and get excited to hang out with these kids even MORE!

You may or may not know that everyone involved in this post I know from Young Life. I love it that way. I think God brings out the best in people through Young Life. If you weren't made for that, I don't know what you were made for. :)

Also I feel like fall pics are tradition by now. Here's a rainy fall pic. I love rain. Too bad this was gloomy rain and not crazy wonderful thunderstorm rain.

"I can't give you a nickname because I already forgot your name."

(also known as the six things I don't want to forget about this weekend)

★ The spontaneous dogpile that occurred at WyldLife leadership on Thursday night. I love Gabbie, Heather and Christi and how excited they are about WyldLife on the North Shore - I want to make my last year here last because I get to spend so much of it with such a wonderful group of people. I also love Sarah and Justin but they were too cool for the dogpile. :)

★ Spending my entire Saturday with Katharine, who is spunky and hilarious and my favorite oddball. A day with us is usually spent with one stop at my house, one stop at her house, and blasting our newest favorite songs during the car ride in between. This day was no different. In case you're wondering, our newest favorite songs are without a doubt Taylor Swift's new ones: Red and I Knew You Were Trouble. Go listen. Now.

★ Buying a new bow. If you know me you know how important this is to me. It is big and pink and from American Apparel. I may or may not be wearing it right now...no I did not sleep in it. :)

★ Going to Homer's with Lans and Gnomes on Thursday. I like them and that we did impersonation's of Claire's "creature" and that Alanna started doing choreography on the floor of Homer's and that my stomach hurt from laughing so much. I like that we are Kinesis veterans and seniors, which means almost second-semester seniors, which means hitting up Homer's a LOT more often.

★ Playing elegant Chinese checkers while babysitting Rynn and Eleanor on Friday. Eleanor and I struck our fanciest poses and sipped imaginary tea for the game while Rynn bounced off the walls like a crazy woman. I'd call it a successful night. I love them a lot.

★ Making a humongous fort with Katharine, Owen and Will yesterday. I love O-Man and Will already and I barely know them. We threw literally every single pillow we could find down to their basement and then padded the floor and hung blankets all around...just so we could watch The Muppets Christmas Carol. I know what you're thinking and no it is never too early for Christmas. :)

I hope you love fall pictures because here's one more. 

(Title clarification: this is what Owen said when I asked him to give me a nickname, because he told me how super great he is at coming up with them. I reminded him of my name but I still don't have a nickname. Shoot.)

"I don't believe in emo."

Hi! I'm Kendall, I am a senior in high school and I want to remember my life. This is how I am going to do it. 

I like the name momentous because I want to remember the moments in life. The little moments and the big moments. They are momentous: important, meaningful, prominent. Get it? Yes of course you do. I like bad puns, no big deal.

This weekend was wonderful, and it's not even over yet. The highlights of my weekend were:

★ Babysitting for some of the most joyful girls I know on Thursday night. Rynn and Eleanor are nonstop giggles and I love spending time with them. If I'm stressed for even a second when I walk into the Littles' home, it washes away in about two seconds. I love that we always play Chinese checkers together and that I got to play mom by helping them with homework and that I always get to read them Bible stories before bed. I love them.

★ How gorgeous the first weeks of fall are. Happy October, by the way! Step one foot outside my house and this is what you see. I love fall for a lot of reasons, but mostly because the leaves are so beautiful.

★ Visiting Carolyn at Marquette. I took the train up to Milwaukee on Friday afternoon and spent most of the weekend up there. I loved meeting her friends and seeing her future apartment and eating dorm food at random times of the day and everything about being there. Carolyn is super special to me and I love that we are still friends even when I can't see her every day or every week. 

★ Going to my second Needtobreathe, Parachute, and Drew Holcomb concert in two weeks. The first time was in September at Wheaton College with my wonderful friends from work crew - Maddie, Kacey and Serena. Friday night I went to see Needtobreathe again in Milwaukee with Carolyn and her friends Lexi, Eric, Max and Colleen (aka Beanz). 

 ★ Spotting (literally) some lovely ladies from Kairos while at Needtobreathe. Before the concert started, I looked across the theater and did that totally sketchy eye-lock thing with Emily. Turns out she and Maggie, who are freshmen at Marquette, were at the concert too! Maggie was one of my leaders on Kairos 38 and Emily was a retreatant like I was. They are so wonderful - I can't explain how happy I was to see them and give tons of hugs, just like on 38.

★ Meeting Will Anderson, the lead singer of Parachute. Let's be honest, I'd marry the guy in a  second. A solo photo op was definitely necessary and may or may not have made my night, especially because we were super far away in the balcony for the first Needtobreathe concert.

 ★ Meeting Drew Holcomb, of Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, who also opened for Needtobreathe. Drew is super hilarious but also super chill, something I can't pull off. I love that his jokes are still funny to me the second time around and that we casually chatted about his new baby (due in November!!!) and that we ended up taking three different pictures with him at three different points of the night. I don't love that his Christmas tour is only around Nashville. Shootskies.

★ Hanging out at the Shymanskys' house on Saturday night. The Shymanskys are a Young Life family in Whitefish Bay, WI, right outside of Milwaukee. Catherine Shymansky, the mom, has got to be one of the wisest and most hilarious women I have ever met. I'm not even kidding. We spent hours talking about Young Life, including having YL babies. Seriously give me any excuse to talk about YL and I'm in.

Now, get ready for the best part (actually debatable: there were a lot of best parts) of my weekend...

BIG COOKIE!

★ Big cookie is a Young Life camp tradition, and Max, Eric, Carolyn, Tommy and me being the good YL kids we are, it was a no brainer to make it. Good big cookie is half baked, covered in ice cream and doused in chocolate syrup. I also loved seeing Tommy, a super great kid from my work crew who lives in the same area that Max, Carolyn and Eric lead in. I loved reliving some WC memories with him and it made me even more excited for our big reunion in January.

★ Going to Impact for the second week in a row. I'm on a roll, right? I love my small group and the girls in it. I love that we are intentional in supporting each other in struggles and celebrating in joys. I love that after Impact, Grace went to Panda for food, I went to Steak n Shake, and we ended up bringing our food to Chipotle. I love my girls.

still trying to figure out how to sign off of this thing,

Kendall

P.S. The title of this post is a Cath Shymansky gem. We were flipping through a mood-a-day calendar and when I flipped to emo, she let us know how she really felt about it. I think not believing in emo is a pretty great life decision though.)