Hello all my lovelies. How are we all doing today? Well since all my fellow bloggers have yet to write about ASP, I'm going to get the ball rolling. Basically one word I would use to describe Appalachia is beastlyishiss (beast-lee-ish-iss {like hiss without the h}). Just in case you were wondering I made that word up. Anyway, it was awesome. We started the trip off by meeting at the church at 4 pm last thursday. There we found out about what was going to go down this weekend, cars, dinner, etc. In my car was Mrs Gardner, Chris Acheson, Mackenzie Saffin, Bryan G., and myself. It was great time. The whole way down we listened to the Supreme's, and I watched "Just Like Heaven" for the first time on Chris's video IPOD. Great movie by the way. Anyway we arrived at about 10:30 and spent a little time looking around and getting settled in before heading to bed. It was an early 7 am morning so we wanted to get good rest. The morning came quickly and I was exhausted. But I was also excited to get to work. I had been on this trip once before, so I know basically how it was, but I was still a little anxious. We had breakfast, packed the cars, and took off for our work sites. Mine was about 25 minutes away which wasnt bad. When we got there, Mrs Gardner realized we had to go up a steep gravel hill with two wheel drive. Of course shes likes "Yea, we can do it." and I'm in the back seat hyperventilating. Luckily, we made it up after some tossing and turning. After the first time we did that I thought it was so cool and our whole car chanted "You got it!" as we went up the hill everytime afterwards. There were about 12 dogs running around everywhere. I fell in love with a particular one named Beauty. She was a black lab and the sweetest dog you will ever meet. It was hard to leave her! The house we worked on was originally a trailor and the work previously done was a two room addition to the home. Our job was to side, prime, and paint the outside, and lay down wood boards, and linoleum tiles in the hallway and bedrooms. I got to participate in a little bit of everything, and the work is very sticky, and a lot harder than you would think. My main job was to lay down linoleum tile. If you have ever tiled you know that its the stickiest thing in the world. If you havent tiled, you basically have to lay down floor adhesive, and set down tiles on top. By about half way through I couldnt touch anything without sticking to it. And lucky for us we ran out of GOO GONE or turpintine. GREATTT. Well its a week later and my back and knees are still me. I feel bad for complaining because the other group had to dig a 20 in deep water line. My work was easy compared to that. We stayed an extra two hours the last day and finished all our work! It was a great feeling, and the family was so thankful. Oh, and heres a little background on the family. It is a five person family, three people of which are autistic, and three people of which sleep on couches currently. It's been really hard for them and they sure do appreciate all the work we have done. Now, after their addition, everyone will have their own rooms and own beds. Not to add the two year old and I had the same earrings! She was adorable. This year was great for me. I bonded with everyone, and thoroughly enjoyed myself just like everyone else did. This is so overused phrase, but if you didnt go this year you just HAVEE to go next year. Its an unforgettable experience and so rewarding!

Other than appalachia, my life is pretty much consumed with school. I currently have straight A's and I am feeling pretty good about that. If I keep it up I get a new cell phone :D

You all have a good week and I will see you Sunday at SGM!

much love, xoxo Steph