Crafty Nights with Ari #2, Week with the Sing+Ma "Fam", and 4th of July | #WeeklyWednesday

Please consider yourselves forewarned that this post is long and packed with pictures. lol

Just to give you a quick run-down of the different topics that will be covered (in case one interests you in particular):
- Crafty Nights with Ari #2
- Blueberry Picking with the Neos
- Operation: Surprise Ming Wei (with Stevenney)
- 4th of July

To "jump ahead", just hit "Ctrl (or Cmd for you Mac people) + F" and type in the EXACT title. The search should allow you to jump ahead :)
Aren't I just so considerate? XD

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Crafty Nights with Ari #2

From the right going around
Elissa, Mrs. Neo, Ming Wei Neo, Anu, Sunny, Oyu, Mei

I'd like to thank the Neos, Anu and Oyu (Anu is a Mongolian girl who works with me in the College of Business Online Undergraduate TA office, Oyu is her older sister), Sunny (our MPC: Most Productive Crafter for the night), and Mei (Chinese girl who works in CoB office with me and Anu), and Elissa (who came last time, but had to leave early, so now she's working off the deficit because I've fed her twice XD) for coming to help out this time.

We had lasagna soup and pesto bread! (photo is actually from when Ash and I ate more the next day (with different pasta) because I was so busy the first time that I didn't get to take photos of the food!)

Here are a couple more photos from crafting!
I'll share some photos later on in the next couple of weeks of where I'm at with all of these origami things I've been getting help with (since I'm sure at least SOME of you are curious and want to see).

While they fold, I glue.
The pile on the left is what the assembly line hands me when they're "finished" with folding.
The small pile on the right is what they look like after I glue. I promised I worked hard too, okay?
Most of mine were in the blue cart under the table and were transported upstairs when the cart was full.

Proof of Sunny's MCPness lol XD

Not pictured here, but the Quahs helped me make MORE origami flowers during their stay with us (what we're talking about next). So THANK YOU to Bryan and Stevenney!! <3

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Blueberry Picking with the Neos
Lo and behold, the ONE day I have to pick berries in the morning (and don't have work till the afternoon), it rains. It pours. And I was like "God, if this is going to happen, you're going to have to make it happen. This is the ONE day in my schedule where I could take the Neos to go blueberry picking. Something Ming Wei hadn't gotten to do in a long time, and something that her mom would probably never get to experience otherwise. And so we prayed and God worked a miracle. 

Can I get an amen for how awesome our God is?! Because IT STOPPED RAINING right when we got to the blueberry farm. WHAT.

'cause I'm a child and I love blueberries :P

SUCH a good day

I amazingly picked more than the Neos combined lol XD
4 lbs for them, 5 lbs for me.
They kindly paid for the berries <3

My amazing sister brought out THIS delicious haul when we got home and gave her berries.
Thank you, Jesus, for giving me a sister who makes pancakes :3 Me likey <3

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Operation: Surprise Ming Wei (with Stevenney)
You all know I LOVE surprises (so long as they're planned and don't hurt anyone's feelings). Hence why I HATE pranks (no, I'm so serious, if you prank me and I'm emotionally hurt by it or if you scare me enough, I will legit hate you, cry, and depending on how bad it was, may never talk to you again. Fair warning). 

But this was probably one of my FAVORITE surprises ever.

Stevenney (Ming Wei's long time friend since being friends and roommates at SIUC), decided to drive up from Nashville with her new husband to surprise Ming Wei.
We didn't tell Ming Wei she was coming. Mwahaha

Click here to see the video of what happened. It was the BEST.

Some pictures after lol XD

Meal #1

Meal #2

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4th of July

Our last day with the Neos ended in a healthy lunch and a few games of mahjong (so surprising, right?).

Needless to say, Ashriel and I were pretty tired after so many days of hosting and entertaining. Not that we don't love the people we were hanging out with (Quahs and Neos if you're reading this, we love you dearly!), but we just needed down time. 

And so, we "skipped out" on the church picnic and were blessed with an unexpected invitation to Alex's (Ash's best friend) house for a 4th of July meal with her family.

Look at this lovely outdoor (screened) porch that her grandmother has at her house!
Nice scenery, minimal heat, and *gasp* no mosquitoes. Best outdoor event I've been to in a while XD

Sorry, the angle's a little weird in the photo because I was sitting in the corner :P

Photos of the food (because as we all know at this point...I'm a foodie lol)

Hot dogs (those were really good), baked beans, devil eggs (which Ash and I typically dislike, but these were good), potato salad (again, something we don't normally like, but this was delicious), and burgers.

DELICIOUS homemade chocolate cake by Alex's grandmother

Thanks for having us, Alex and fam!
Ash and I went home and crashed out on the bed later, but the dinner was great!

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We're finally getting some good quality time with Danae + Olivia Price! YAY!! :D

Next week's #WeeklyWednesday is more than likely going to be packed with fun, so subscribe in the upper right hand corner with your email if you haven't already! You don't want to miss it!!

On another note, I'm starting my summer class next Monday. Please pray for me!
Due to unfortunate circumstances of my program being too tiny and thus not being able to offer a graduate level class for the summer, I was able (by the grace and favor of God) to request to join a photography class (graduate level, because that's the stipulation for my assistantship). HOWEVER, I'm an amateur photographer at best and I've never taken a formal photography class before. Couple that lovely fact with my recent upgrade from a Canon T3i Rebel that I've used for a few years to an Olympus OMD EM10...with new lenses that I haven't really gotten to play with just yet, you could say that I'm nervous.

I'll be sharing some of my photography assignments on upcoming #FeatureFridays (if I like them...) to see what you guys think.

Talk to you all soon!

~Byee!