the best summer ever // summer ’23 recap

hey everyone! it feels like its been forever, but with the summer just now ending for me (school wise not weather wise lol. welcome to tn 😂) I finally have had some time to sit down and write posts. I really wanted to be able to sit back and just enjoy this summer, and I’m really really glad I did because it was probably the best summer of my life..and also felt like the shortest summer lol.

fuge camp 2023 recap // union university, Jackson, TN

day 1 // monday, june 26th

departure from church was at 9:45 so we headed out from my house around 9:15 so I had time to get checked in, get my shirt, load up on the bus, etc. I was sooooo excited and had like 3 donuts 😂

we left around 10:00 and I sat next to my friend James and across the aisle from Eli and Noah, who were playing magnetic chess. on the bus. 😂 these are my friends guys.

I listened to music for most of the first half of the bus ride, and then. we stopped for lunch and me and Noah and Eli stuck together. we went to Taco Bell to get Baja Blast because I’d never had one (laugh all you want) and then went to Hardees to get actual food. Oh and Eli can’t eat mayo and there was mayo on his sandwich so he couldn’t eat. lol. then we went to this gas station and got a bunch of candy and snacks for the rest of the bus ride and the week. then we ran back to the bus so it wouldn’t leave without us and got back into our seats. we watch teen beach movie aka teen cringe movie and cringed and laughed the last hour ish of our ride. when we arrived at Union, we had to go get checked in and get our name tags and we were instructed specifically to put our church and first and last names and my friend Grant literally put Grant W and had to hide his name tag lol.

then we went into the worship center and wrote down the tracks we wanted and then played some games.

then we unloaded the buses and the guys helped us unload our bags. my friend Eli was staying in the dorm next to ours with our friend Zach, who is in a wheelchair, so I made him carry my bag and his bag haha.

then me and my girlfriends got all dressed up and did our makeup for dinner and then I met my soon to be best friends who are actually Eli’s friends from his homeschool tutorial 😂

we only hung out with them for a little bit and then headed to dinner! we all had pizza and ice cream for dinner but we never had the pizza again because it was nasty lol. after dinner we had more free time because dinner was 2 hours long haha.

during that 2 hours, we went back to the dorm and played Uno and Julia and Emma put tinsel in my hair and then we put purple tinsel in Eli’s hair. XD

then it was time for opening celebration!! I was soooo excited because this was my first church camp and I was so excited! they played a bunch of just fun songs at the beginning and then the worship leader, Micah, came up and jumped into We Praise You and the I Thank God and everyone ran up front to jump and dance.

Then after that, we had church group time, and the went outside and hung out with Eli’s friends on the huge swing and he and Ari (who is a guy) pushed me, Kennedy, Ellyana, and a few other girls who had all squeezed onto the swing and then I lost my Birks lol. then I fell off and landed on rocks. and it DIDNT HURT. lol

then me and Eli and James headed back to our dorm and threw the frisbee around while Emmie and Julia and Sophie played Taylor Swift in the background and I fell asleep in the grass and they had to wake me up cause it was past curfew and we had to go in our rooms but then me and Zoe ding dong ditched the boys for like another hour

then we finally went back to sleep.

day 2 // tuesday, june 27th

our leader started our day by banging the crap out of our door at 6:00 am. yayyyyyyyy. lol. I got ready and only put on mascara and moisturizer cause my face was already burnt and then read my bible in the courtyard area outside our dorm room. then Eli came out of his dorm and I stole his hoodie because I was freezing and we walked to the cafeteria across campus and I had fruit loops with no milk cause I’m allergic to milk and then OJ. then we chatted with some other people and then me Emmie, Julia, and Sophie went fake husband hunting and to the Starbucks that is on campus. Then we went to morning cel, and I sat with Emmie, Julia, and Sophie and Shaq, the speaker, did a great job opening for the day and then we went to our Bible study groups for rec and played a few games and then went to rec rally which was the absolute craziest thing I’d ever been involved in. like, people are on the ground barking ike dogs, jumping and screaming, complete chaos.

after that, we got water and went to our Bible study room and did the study for the day. after that, we found out what tracks we got and then had lunch. after lunch we had to go right to track rally and luckily, I was in defending your faith with my friends Annabelle and Mady and then For Girls Only with Annabelle and Karlie, one of my new friends who lives in IL! After tracks, we had hang time until dinner and we played a really fun game of signs by Barefoot Joes, the not Starbucks coffee shop on campus! If you down know what signs is, look it up because its really hard to explain 😂. after that we went to dinner in the cafeteria and I forget what I got to eat 😂. then we went to our dorms and the walked to worship! we got to sit really close to the front and the guys are hilarious and so fun to sit with 😂

then we had night life, and it was red carpet themed. I didn’t dress up, but my friends did, so we went and took pictures and walked the red carpet! then I walked around campus and ran around with Eli, Noah and Grant who were riding around on their ripsticks and got snow cones with Emmie and Julia.

day 3// wednesday, june 28th

today was the second full day, and we went to breakfast and the guys played chess. morning cel was really hype today, and it was Christmas themed for some reason (🤨) and we threw around toilet paper like snow and I got hit in the head 😂.

then we went to our Bible study groups for rec and played a couple, games, one of which being a volleyball with a sheet game lol. then we had rec rally and I think I lost my ability to hear, and then we went to our Bible study groups and played a trashketball game. we went to lunch and my friend went up to the speaker and asked him a question about something he had taught on and he got a free hat 😂. For lunch there was chicken and hush puppies and mashed potatoes with cheese and I actually ate everything on my plate 😂. then I had to re fill my water bottle with sprite haha.

then we headed to track rally and in defending your faith we shared our testimonies and asked questions which was cool and then in for girls only, we got to ask the man track leader all of our questions, and it was really funny. our classroom was right down the hall from the FUGE store, and we wanted some merch lol so we ran down there and got in line first. we actually ended up waiting for like 15 minutes and then I got 2 fuge bracelets and one of the t shirts that was special for this year. then we played signs again and then went to dinner.

after dinner, me and my friend Eli walked around for a bit waiting to be able to go into service, and then we had a great worship session and sermon. after that, me and a few of my friends walked around campus and hung out until it was time to head to bed.

funny story of the day:

so earlier in the day when I was hanging out with Eli, I mentioned to him how earlier in the day I was confused on why no guys were asking for my snap similarly to some of my other friends…then I realized it was because I’d been hanging out with him the whole week 😂 that night tho, as I was walking around with my friend Mady and telling her this story, we walked by the dorms of some of the boys who were at basketball camp that same week, and a whole row opened their windows and yelled “can I have your snap!!” we died laughing in the middle of campus and ran back to our dorms 😂

day 4 // thursday, june 29th

today was the second to last full day and you could tell everyone had realized that and was sad about it 😂 breakfast and morning sesh seemed to fly by and then we did rec and bible study. afterwards, we headed to lunch and eat outside because there was a nice breeze coming through :)) then me, Eli, and a few other guys went to go fly ultimate frisbee in the courtyard before track rally. we did that for a while and then all the guy pushed me on the huge swing which was a lot of fun 😂

tracks for the last two days were different that for the first two, and I got sports track and percussion, which I was pretty excited about! sports track was first and I was so relived when I realized that there was a girl my age from my church in it with me because I was really worried I was going to be alone, because the rest of the track was all high school guys 😂 now if yall know me, I play soccer. I am such a horrible softball player that me and one of my friends has a inside joke about how I dont play softball because I can barely ever throw anything with any aim and I’m extremely afraid of a ball being thrown at my head and hitting it with a metal bat 😂 and guess what…today in sport track they decided we were gonna play softball 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 so that was a interesting experience to say the least 😂 I caught the ball a few times and hit it after like 5 tries, but im glad it was over 😂

after sport track, I headed to percussion who I also had with of my friends from our church, and we got to make up our own beats with a group and present them at the end of the class which was a lot of fun, and I also got to make new friends with some people from other churches. after tracks, we played signs again, and then headed to the coffee shop to play some games. after a awkward situation (lol if u know u know) we headed to dinner and I met some great friends of a friend who helped me out with a extension of that award situation, and then had ice cream and chatted with my friend Eli cause I was really stressed, and at camp on the 4th day, all the girls are exploding with all this drama so I couldn’t really talk to them at this point 🤣

Eli walked with me back to my dorm cause of that weird situation, and we grabbed our stuff and headed to the patio to chill until session time. *I definitely didn’t cry cause I was very overwhelmed at this point* after I had a good long cry, we played signs with a few of our friends from another church thats actually close to ours, and then headed to the sesh!

after service, we walked around campus with a huge group of our friends and one of our friends started jumping over bushes and got in trouble but it was really hilarious 😂 after that, we headed back to our dorms to get a good full night of sleep before mega the next day

day 5 // friday, june 30th

ok. this morning was SO HYPE. and it wasn’t just due to the leaders-all the kids were running around screaming, everyone was so excited for mega relay I think we forgot it was the last day 😭 morning session was so fun tho, and the worship was amazing, the chicken lightsaber fights were dead drop hilarious, and it was one of the councilors birthdays so we sang to him and then sang Justin Bieber for some reason lol

I honestly am going blank about what else happened today 😂

lunch was fun but also bittersweet-our last lunch at union 😭 everyone was so just running on adrenaline and that was literally all because we were so exhausted. tracks were so so fun-in sport track we got to play football and I love playing football 😂 it was supposed to be flag football but with a bunch of high school boys it didn’t stay flag football for long 😂 I didnt kind though because I’m as tough as they come…most of the time lol. in percussion we got to bang on drums and be as loud as we wanted to so ofc I enjoyed that 🤣

at dinner, we did face paint for mega and some of the boys got creative 😂 after that last session *😭😭* we headed out to the courtyard to meet with our leaders for bible study and get ready for mega. we signed up for our events (I did the spinning one, the soda one and the fireman carry one 😂) messing around with my friends on other teams and making faces was so fun and just the adrenaline was so I don’t even know it was amazing 😆 we didn’t win, but we did second for the middle school age group 😂 afterwards, me and a few friends had a ice fight because they literally had HuGe coolers full of ice for literally that purpose so we decided to take advantage of it 😂 about 30 minutes later we had to start heading back to our dorms and we had a hilarious interaction with another camper and a hilarious conversation about the randomest things-we were all so tired 😂 said friends where actually from a different church so I headed back to my dorm after that and me and my church friends had a party and made microwave popcorn and drank soda and ate candy until like 1 am 😂 then we had to clean up lol. that was fun 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

day 6 // saturday, june 31st // last day 😭

we were scheduled to leave at 12:00 so when I say that the last 5 hours on campus were so full and crazy, they were. we all left our dorms extra early for breakfast so we could spend as much time together as possible, and I had all my friends sign my shirt! after I walked around with the signatures on the back, a bunch of other people started doing it 😂 im kinda known to start trends at my church lol. after breakfast, we had a hour of free time before the closing celebration, and me and my friends spent that time outside on the huge swing and climbing trees and running around playing tag and running up the hill. we had to rush to our bible study groups for our closing study, and then headed to closing cel. I ended up sitting with my new friends from another church, and we had so much fun while it was all quite bittersweet. everyone was putting their all into the funny dances, and we just had so much fun. after the cel was over (and plenty of hugs were exchanged and tears were shed) we headed outside to grab our luggage and head to the bus…and it started POURING. and I mean pouring. sheeting rain. and torrential downpour. it was WET. and me over here in my af1s that got soaked as well as my bible and my luggage xd. to add to that, the buses went to the wrong dorm so we were out in the rain for a while 🤦🏻‍♀️😂. by the time we finally got on the bus, we all had to change clothes we were so soaked 😆 I was freezing so I had to borrow a friends hoodie cause I didnt think to bring one 🤦🏻‍♀️ the bus ride home was full of tears and also happiness-everyone was still so hype on that camp energy. we stopped at the same place for lunch and loaded up on candy and snacks and spent the last hour jamming to music, dancing in the aisle, and…one of the 6th grade boys got ahold of a pair of dirty underwear and started throwing it around 🤦🏻‍♀️😬 that was a interesting end to the trip 😂

s u m m e r r e c a p

• leading worship at vbs and meeting some of my best friends
• messing around in the sound booth
• ice cream 2+ times a week 😏
• sonic with friends
• babysitting all the time :)))
• moving my blog to wordpress.org!
• Sunday mornings in the district
• pennyboarding in the park
• getting in a habit of working out every morning :))
• chick fil a milkshakes after the pool
• preschool even volunteering with some of my best friends
• hats 😏
• homemade strawberry slushies 😋
• 13th birthday week (s) 🤣
• Sunday morning sermons and frappes 😂
• church camp!
• falling asleep in the grass
• ice cream every single day at camp 🤭😂
• late nights walking around campus
• new friends
• MEGA RELAY!
• random trips to downtown
• extra random photo shoots 😂
• fresh flowers
• fireworks with friends
• rolling down a huge hill
• wayyyy too many caprisuns
• hanging out at the church playing gaga ball and swinging for hours
• messy games 😂
• Be Real with Oli 💗
• morning trail runs with the dogs
• youth group events
• chocolate chip cookiessssssss
• dumping sprite on peoples heads 🤣😏
• lots of long days tanning and swimming
• making a morning routine
• hanging with the “country kids” and learning some new not-grammar
• more late nights playing gaga ball and hanging out at the park 🙂
• youth group starting again!
• I”M GOING TO A THOMAS RHETT CONCERT IN SEPTEMBER!!!! he’s one of my favorite country artists and I’ve literally wanted to go to one of his concerts since we moved her like 3 years ago 🤣 I also literally found out yesterday 😆
• the last days of summer with my top 5 😭💗
• yall have no clue how emotional im getting rn writing this 😭
• Fridays that were supposed to be pool parties that turn into rain days messing around on the farm, surprising friends, and chilling in the bonus room 😂💗
• hair-dos and pictures 🤣😏
• being able to wear hoodies without sweating to death 😆
• make your own pizza nights 😋
• double bestie walks with the doggies 🙃
• graduation Sundays at church
• the last pool parties….
• conquering fears
• soccer starting + winning our first game!
• tutorial starting!
• table of 8 that turned quickly into table of 18 😂
• first day of school pics, selfies and BeReals 😂
• spending hours jamming to my favorite songs that hold so many memories swinging in the backyard and deer watching 😂
• the randomest photos and videos from after youth group but that remind me of so many happy things 😆
• Friday soccer games under the lights
• mudding in the backyard 🤣
• Sunday morning lunches with friends <3
• porch swing afternoons :)) I have a porch swing obsession lol
• hatssssss 😂😏
• afternoons spent lifting in the gym 😆
• my crazy weird friend group 😂
• plenty of babysitting 😂

b l o g + l i f e u p d a t e s

so over the past couple months I have been almost completely absent, which I apologize for 😂 I really wanted to enjoy this summer and soak it up, I definitely don’t regret that, and I am so glad I did, but I am very excited to be back! over the next few weeks I will have a bunch of back to school content, as well as a few very fun posts! I will be posting once a week-not on a specific day so hopefully that will help to keep me consistent and back on track. now that were jumping back in to structured life, I’m hoping to put out more helpful and inspiring content, and more of what I wanted to start putting out at the beginning on the summer when I moved my blog to wp.org. think: more routines, healthy recipes, workout ideas and tips, and of course, all of the content yall are used to as well!

plus, I’m going to be changing up the style of my emails and possibly of the blog itself, so don’t worry if there’s visible changes-and all the old posts will always be here.

well I think that’s it! I’m so excited to be back and interacting with you all again, and I’d love to hear how your summer went in the comments. as always, feel free to shoot me a email through the contact form if you have any post ideas, tips, prayer requests, or just wanna chat!

thanks for reading ;))

mayim <3