men's prayer advance 2008

so pretty much.. i came home from FL sunday night.. then left again for VA on thursday morning.. talk about fun stuff.. but this time.. instead of leaving for vacation.. i was leaving to work.. and we worked hard (as usual)..

virginia is BEAUTIFUL.. even from pictures taken inside a moving van.. lol

i could totally live here..

the gym was so huge i couldn't get the entire thing in the picture.. but there is seating for 715+ men right there..

we woke up on friday morning surprised to find everything covered in ICE.. apparently overnight some huge ice storm had blown thru and everything had a nice coating of ice on it.. very pretty.. but extremely hard to walk around in.. especially when we girls leave our cabin at 6am and its pitch black outside.. and we have no clue its icy.. UNTIL we try to walk down the steps.. haha

but the sun did eventually come out.. and during one of our breaks i was able to snap some picture of how pretty the ice was..

so i think water is going to be my new favorite thing to take pictures of.. i just kinda snapped this one with a low shutter speed and i wished i could have gone back to take some more pictures of the little steams that ran all over the camp down there.. sooo pretty..

this was our guest.. when we walked into the gym friday morning bright and early.. this owl was flying around.. i'm not sure how he got in.. my guess is he was in there thursday night too and we just didn't realize it.. b/c he stayed in the gym all friday and all of saturday.. he was very small yet cool to watch..


the AM cooks: taylor.. carole.. myriam..

the PM cooks: ashley.. ellen.. rachel.. and david is showing them how to make mash potatoes for 715+ men.. yeah.. that's a lot of mash potatoes.. lol

LEAH ! she's a sweetheart.. i've worked with her every single year i've worked at a MPA..

if you want a photography challenge? go into a room.. lit solely by little green lights.. and try to take decent pictures WITHOUT A FLASH.. yes it is as hard as it sounds.. b/c if you lower the shutter speed to allow more light in.. then pictures blur very easily.. but you can't have the shutter speed too high or the pictures are dark.. so its all a balancing act: balancing the shutter speed.. aperature.. and ISO..

this is john.. who looks like a young version of john travolta.. lol i'm not kidding tho !!

stephen vaugn.. who is now taller than me.. totally unfair.. >.<

ellen.. matt hypes.. and ashley.. matt is sooo cool.. he's a chef and was in charge of dinner thursday and friday nights.. VERY cool guy.. and i was shocked to get him to pose for a picture.. b/c normally he RUNS from the camera.. mwahaha

jennny & julia.. the snack shop girls.. they're very sweet..

if i didn't know better.. i'd probably pick out myself as the youngest person in this group.. i'm definitely the shortest.. rhee is only 14.. then me.. then brooke is 16.. they were the newbies this year and i tried to help them out as much as i could..

the Men's Prayer Advance 2008 kitchen staff.. and this is a pretty complete picture.. i think there are only 1-2 people missing.. pretty crazy if you actually stop and think that this small group not only prepared.. but cooked.. and served 715+ men for 3 days..

the people who run the camp always compliment how hard we work.. b/c normally for a group the size of the one the MPA brings in.. they require many more workers.. and yet every year we pull it off.. sure we're all dead tired and sore when we leave.. but we always have the best time..