Blessings from Summer 2018 Tag

Happy Monday, friends!  I was once again privileged to be tagged by Anna from Annie Writes for a blog tag!  (Thank you so much, Anna!  You’re the best!)  Anna was ingenious to create this Blessings from Summer 2018 tag, and I can’t wait to get started!

First, here are the rules:

*Please thank the person who tagged you!

*Please include these rules on your blog!

*If it is past the summer, for example: Winter 2019, you can use this tag as “Blessings from Winter 2019 Tag!”

*Write 10+ blessings from God during that season in your post!  Include pictures!

*Tag 4 bloggers!

*If it’s a new season, bloggers can re-tag those who were already tagged a previous season!  (So if this tag circulates, instead of potentially dying off, we can keep it going by using it again each season.  Like, if a blog friend of yours doesn’t get around to doing it till mid-fall, they can re-tag you to do it again for fall 2018!)

Make sense?  Here we go!

We always get the summery season kicked off right with my birthday in June. ;)  Haha!  This year we celebrated early and then spent the actual day out of town as a family.  Unfortunately, I have no exciting photos to share from our little vacation. :(

Hop forward a couple weeks, and we celebrated a high school graduation in the family.  Although the day was insanely busy with several of us participating in a huge choral even that weekend we managed to fit in a fun afternoon celebration and I got in on the decorating.  We went with a blue, black, white, and gray theme.

After months of debating changing my blog profile photos, one day it just worked out perfectly to get new blog photos done!  You’ve already seen most of the photos from our fun little session, but here is another just for fun.

Family time is always a blessing, and in my family of 9, things never get dull! ;)  One of my brothers and I enjoyed an early morning hike this summer.

My dad took us 4 oldest to a water park before the busy school season begins again.  4 out of the 5 of us overcame our fears and rode a 70-foot high water slide – the kind that is a straight drop.  What fun! ;)

At another point, a brother and I sat outside the car in a parking lot one breezy summer night to get some photographs of a majestic lightning display on the horizon.

I was also blessed to enjoy a couple beautiful summer evenings out at the ball field, watching my handsome oldest brother about kill himself by sliding valiantly into third and soaring into the fence to catch a ball and win the game… but the sunsets were gorgeous. :)

I managed to get in quite a bit of photography practice this summer!  Annie Writes hosted a super fun photography contest which provided a nice boost of motivation to get me outside and clicking away!  Below are some favorites I’ve snapped this summer.

Volleyball took an unexpected turn, but I won’t complain here.  Let’s just say, this has been a fantastic experience to learn and grow in many different areas. ;)  (Oh, and our jerseys are the coolest!)

ICE CREAM.  Shall I ever fail to mention my glorious ice cream?  Never! :)  Devastatingly, I have not one single photo of ice cream from this summer. *Bawls eyes out*

Over the summer I was blessed with many opportunities to grow in my musicianship, even while taking a break from lessons.  New music is always fun!

I completely bombed my summer goal of uploading a YouTube video every 2 weeks, but I did manage to get um, well… 2 videos up.  Whoops.  View them here: Slavic Tale, Pirates of the Caribbean.  I have plans on getting a 3rd video (and possibly a 4th) up before summer officially ends on September 22nd.

And as always, there have been some valleys, but God remains faithful!

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:24, KJV

Now for the nominations!  I tag…

Rosy at Rosy’s Writings

Grace at Don’t You Know That I’m Singing

Laura at Flowers In My Basket

Alyssa at Here is Love

What are some blessings from YOUR summer?  I’d love to hear!