Summer Conference!!

Alright. Summer Conference! What a beautiful, amazing,  adventure-filled, week. It was crazy. Full of love and laughter, early mornings, late nights (I think 11 is late??) coffee, walks, classes, Chinese food, and bonding with kids from my area. A solid month of being gone, and it all came down to the best four days of the month. During summer conference, We got to the OSU campus in Corvallis, and take some fun filled classes, bonding with kids kids from all over the state, and building leadership skills, as well as getting to find out what its really like to live in a dorm. We have two county meetings a day, one that is run by a state rep for Oregon 4H, and the other is run by the chaperones that come on the trip. Henry was our rep for this year. He was really fun. At the meetings, we got to know kids from counties that were close to us, reflect on the day, and eat pizza (even after we had dinner!). 

The classes I took this year were mostly focused on physiology and leadership. Our guest speaker, John Beede, taught a class in 7 characteristics of charismatic teens. We had to memorize them, then interact with people using all 7, and seeing how others reacted with us. I really loved the class. It was light-hearted and fun, as well as educational. I took another class called "Make Up Your Mind" that I also enjoyed a lot. It was about the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset. We did workshops on different things, almost like an IQ test. Some of the kids were good at some things, others were good at other things. The whole purpose of the activities was to see whether you got to the challenge and said "I'm not good at math, I cant do this" or if you though "Okay. Lets read the problem and try to figure this out", and that, folks, is how I found out that I am not totally horrible at math. 

AHHHH BUT THE PEOPLE WERE SO FABULOUS. OK? Wowwww.  I met this girl named Kate, and she is like, so great. OMG. We hung out a lot, we got Dutch Bros together, and also in the quad a lot. Same with Lucy, Daytona, Ashlie, Marle, Donovan,  Haylee, Mercedes, Charlie, Tanner, Cinch, and soooo many more people. It was really fun. Everywhere I went, people knew my name. A bunch of us had a random dance party on the quad, with no music. A bunch of others were singing, honestly, we just had a blast. There was not a second we weren't all laughing, smiling, drinking dutch bros (BTW, a kid from our county named Carson can make AMAZING coffee, its called a chocolate brew. Its amazing). There was a dance, and it was amazing. Like, lit with like, two T's. The food was also amazing. I ate with a lot of different people. I had a lot of rice noodles and veggies because I cant have gluten, and it was really amazing. We all had way too much bacon in the mornings, and lit burritos for most other meals? I laughed so much. Thats what I remember most of. I had my first Swedish Fish, learned how to play pool a little bit I guess, and made a lot of friends that I think are gonna last a long time. 

Saturday Morning Brunch!!!! We were all killing it ;) #slay

We recreated last years photo #transformation_Saturday

Charlie kindly got a photo of me jumping, because i begged for one 😂

😂

Charlie and I on the day of the fun run, when i was killing the hair and makeup game 

Me, Zack, Foxx (uber cool guy, and name!) and George, all playing pool (kinda) 

#strike_a_pose Having fun during session! 

Our guest speaker, John Beede #8secondsofawesome

Again, killing the game on a beautiful Saturday morning 

can we get out of these clothes? 

Okay! Now its time for some photos of the fun run/walk. We actually got lost and wound up going like a million more miles than we should have. However, it was still AH-MAZING. It was really cool to see kids dressed up. We were supposed to have music stations and stuff, but because we got lost, we actually didn't. However, thank you Donovan, because he brought his phone and we sang Britney Spears and Spice Girls and tons of throw backs. We walked down the street fan-girling over the throw backs, discussing nail colors, and sipping coffee while we strolled in the million degree heat. Lucky for me, I bumped into my mother, who happily took some great photos of me :) (wink wink momma <3) 

Me and Donovan walking together with Zack and Charlie 

Strike a pose 

mid dance move 

also mid dance move 

more fun during session! 

The guy in the USA tank is my brother, standing next to his friend, Grant. They are also standing next to the guy who won the whole thing

So much is happening here I don't even know how to caption it right
feat. (starting left) Shocked girls, Winner of the race, Jacob, and Grant.

I really enjoyed the whole week, and I hope that if you guys ever get the opportunity to travel with clubs you are in, you take full advantage. 4-H has helped me grow as a person, given me so many opportunities, and broadened my horizons. I seriously had so much fun. It took a lot of courage to sign up my first year, because I was scared of people, scared of possible being without my mom (she chaperones, so I'm all good). Next year, I plan on going to Washington DC, and taking so many other adventures. My summer is only a third done, but most of my traveling is over. I hope to see the friends I made this week,  through out the year as a do different camps and retreats. I seriously encourage you guys to take that 15 seconds of courage and just take the trip. It could change your life.

Who are you when your done being everyone else?