Life Hacks

Hiii guys it's Ellie. BTW, 11 days until Christmas. WHAAAT?!? I'm so excited.
So..I'm talking about my favorite life hacks.

This one is obviously super helpful. Funny story, just this week I got a new pair of jeans. After a couple times wearing the jeans I wanted to take them back cause they were to small. Unfortunately, I accidently got a mysterious grass stain on it. So, now I can't take them back. lol the life of a kid I guess. ;P

 This sounds kinda weird, don't really know if it's true, but it just sounds funny.

 This sounds impossible, but it would be SO COOL if this was real. I might try it out.

 Okay, this works. Well I think. When we were at six flags this year, that's all me and my dad were doing. hey, it felt good. lol

 THIS IS SO COOL. I checked it out, and it's really true. SO COOL.

I tried this, and it worked. I love this hack because those weird looking sandwiches do not look good.

This is also another cool one.


So there you are! Hope these are as helpful as they were for me.


Thanks for reading!

bouncing in to say bye,
                                bernie (or Ellie)

My Morning Routine

All photos in this post courtesy of Unsplash.com

My morning changes a lot, but here is how it typically looks: 

7:30: I get up and get dressed. 

7:40: I make my bed, then I read in my bible.

8:00: I feed the dog and then I do my workout program 

8:30: I eat a breakfast typically of watermelon while checking my email, and all social medias.

9:00: once I'm done catching up on reading blog posts and what everyone else is doing, I write my own blog posts and long emails. 

9:30: this is when I typically have my reading time. Or I write letters. I read till lunch. 

And that is my morning routine, whats yours? 

5 Health Tips

Hey guys!!

It's Ellie!!

Today I'm here to talk about my health tips.

Although I'm not an expert on this subject, I thought I'd just share my opinion on some tips!!

1. Drink Water.

Yes, Emily already said this, but I just to say it again!! It's super important to drink water. I know I always want to drink sugary drinks other than plain old water, but it's important that you drink water. I usually drink it right after I work out or when I'm really hot. Just sit down, take a breather, and drink some water.

2. Stretch

Now this is a little bit of a sports health tip, but really I think it's super important to stretch even if you aren't doing a sport. Stretching helps you become more flexible and fit.

3. Exercise.

From running to get doing 15 pushups a day it's important to exercise at least I little bit a day. Exercising helps you become stronger which is important. You don't have to have a six pack. You're muscles don't have to be giant and muscular. You just need to exercise at least a little bit. :)

4. Eat a good breakfast.

I always like breakfast to be my good healthy meal. Sometimes I don't always eat a big lunch so it's important to have a big breakfast to help you take on the day!! It doesn't have to be the healthiest meal ever. It just at least has to be something big to help you have energy for the day!! And not a lot of sugar either.

5. Make goals for yourself.

This helps you accomplish these tips to make you healthier. Making goals for what I think will push me and help me become stronger really helps. Whenever I make a goal, I'm so determined I hardly ever do less than that goal. Goals are very helpful. Don't make them impossible, but don't make them super easy. Just make your goal to where you think that would challenge you. And then do it!!

I hope these tips help you!! I really enjoyed doing this post.

Thanks for reading!!

And if you ever need a motivational workout buddy. Or a person to do goals with. I'm here. I'd love to do it with you!! So give me a holler in the comments! It'd make my day!!

bouncing in to say bye,

                                                           Ellie or Bernie (it's my nickname) :P

Halloween

Ok personally, I love Halloween. It is one of my all time favroite hallidays. I get to dress up and I get candy for free. Like is there anything better in life????

This year I decided to be a vampire princess. The only thing that I did for my costume was paint my nails with glow in the dark nail polish, put on the dress, put on some makeup, and add a couple of fake tattoos to my neck. Nothing too flashy 

This year for once we actually started at my house. Usually my family goes to one of our friends houses. 3 families came over and after having a dinner of hotdogs we set of trick or treating. 

I had a lot of fun with my friend and I would say I got a good amount of candy. Not to much but not a small amount either. 

What did you guys do for Halloween? What did you dress up as? Watch any scary movies?

DFA: 10 Ways to Memorize Scripture

Hello, everyone! 

Emily here, and I have a Dragged From the Archives post to share today. This was originally posted on my blog, A Purpose and A Promise, in February 2016. Enjoy! :)

Today, I have some tips for making Scripture memorization easy and fun! It is so important to memorize God's Word, but I know sometimes it can get a little monotonous. You can sit down ready and excited to memorize a verse, and then ten minutes later get up distracted and bored. I hope you can find some ways to make your time a wonderful time with God!

(Note: I am using the word verse, but if you are memorizing more, please adapt as you need to.)


1. Write it.
Yes, really! Sometimes, writing things over and over can help you remember it better. You can write your verse several times just to practice (and tell your mom you did penmanship :D), or write it out once, really fancy, and use it for #8.

2. Give it a tune.
Do you think you'll ever forget the alphabet song? Seriously, music is a great way to remember things. This works especially well if you're trying to memorize just a verse or two. Just make up a tune, or use one you already know, and make the words fit in. Then sing it to yourself until you have it! :)

3. Teach it to others.
If you have younger siblings, you can offer to teach them a verse (or more!) It's a great way to learn it yourself, and help others learn it! If you don't have any siblings, try a neighbor or friend. Oh, and make sure you teach it in a creative, fun way! :)

4. Challenge Yourself.
I probably use this one the most often. Set goals for yourself, and stick to them! For example, say you want to memorize Psalms chapter 1. Set a time goal for yourself (maybe a week, or two weeks), and work on a little every day. (My example was just a personal one. Use however much time you need, of course!) And if you have a friend (see #6), you're even more motivated!

5. Draw a Picture.
If you're the creative and artsy type, this might be your favorite. Drawing can work the same way as writing it. Think about the passage you're trying to memorize, and just draw it! You can do one big picture, or several small ones, or incorporate it into #9. (And  you artsy people: make sure to comment and add your input!)

6. Grab a Friend.
Ask a  friend if she wants to memorize with you! If you are trying to memorize a large portion (a long chapter, or a whole book),  this will keep you both accountable, and make it fun as well! Plus, having a partner makes you motivated to finish! :)

7. Fill in the Blank.
Write out your Scripture passage, and then go back and erase every third  word (or every key  word, etc.) Then try to fill in the blank parts. If you get it right, make it harder by doing every other word, or removing whole chunks, and trying to fill them back in from your memory. 

8. Look at It-- A Lot! 
Use the neat copy that you wrote of your passage in #1, and hang it up in a place where you will see it a lot, like above your bed. Or write it on your bathroom mirror. Or use it as your phone's lock screen. Or do them all!

9. Make Mental Prompts.
You can do this mentally, or literally. If you do it in your head, simply think of a picture or symbol for each key word in your verse. If you make it unusual, it will help you remember better. Or you can actually write the verse down, and draw in your little symbols.


10. Make Reviews Fun 
The key to learning pretty much anything is practice. So reviewing the Scripture you're leaning is very important. Make it fun! For example, you can make a crossword puzzle with the words, make a matching game to play with your siblings, etc.



I hope that you found a helpful tip in one of these! Did one of these ideas help you? And what is your favorite way to memorize Scripture? Comment below!

Tips About My Favorite Hobby

Hello! Mikayla here, and I’m going to share with you my top five tips on photography!

1. Often times the same photo at one time is a complete flop, 

but if you wait for the lighting to change, becomes much better. So watch your lighting and make sure it’s really how you want it. Cloudy days are especially good because you don’t get a lot of shadows!

2. Try new stuff. 

Whether you’re a newbie, or you’re an old pro, or anywhere between, trying new stuff is always good. It helps keep your photography fresh and you inspired. Try creative blocking, or a whole new angle, or photographing a subject that you’ve never done before. 

3. Don’t let others get you down. 

When I first started photography, I was encouraged by my family a lot. But after a few years, I started having other people criticize my photography. They told me all my photos looked alike, I took too many, and I had to learn lots of technical stuff to take a decent photo. You can’t just throw what they say out the window. Think on it some. But guys, photography is an art, and you have to find your style. Some people aren’t going to like that. I’m not saying their wrong, just that you have to decide for yourself. 

4. Start where you are and use what you can. 

Despite what people will tell you, or you may believe, you do not need a fancy camera to get great photos. Weather you own an Iphone, a small camera, or a camera worth hundreds of dollars, just start with that! You can generally get out of cameras what you put it. I was told lots of times that I could cox more out of our little family camera than anyone else could. That was because I played with it until I got the result that I wanted. So start where you are, use what you can, and then you can start thinking about upgrading. 

5. Sometimes it is necessary to look ridiculous for the cause. 

It’s sad but true. Sometimes you have got to lie on your stomach in wet grass to get a photo, or crouch really low. Sometimes you’ve got to make a silly face to make a kid smile, sometimes you’ve got to stand on beds. Sometimes you’ve got to hang over a railing, and you have to sit down in the oddest places. In rare cases you may even have to stack chairs and books on top of each other to take a family photo. But guys, its worth. Every soaking outfit and cramped legs and weird look was worth it because that’s what it takes to get a good photo. One of my best photoshoots I had to sit down in running water to do. 

The Pros And Cons Of Blogging

Today I'll be sharing the pros and cons of blogging - at least mine that is - so let's just get into the list...

Pro- I don't know about you, but I love the fact that I get to decide how to design my blog. It's just so fun to be creative and design it the way you want to! (Obviously you have to compromise that on a joint blog, but to tell the truth, I'm pretty satisfied with how this blog looks)

Con- Blogging is definitely fun, but it does have it's more stressful moments. Such as posting last minute something you promised or stressing that you can't post because your just too busy. (Yes, sometimes I get stressed because I can't post)

Pro- It's easy to start. All you have to do to begin a blog for yourself, is to press a few buttons.

Con- You have to post sometime. If you haven't been able to tell this is a big one for me. A lot of the time it's really easy just to keep procrastinating. But to have your readers looking forward to your new posts, you gotta post the new posts.

Pro- You get to choose what to post. If you want to post a tutorial, you get to post a tutorial. If you want to post your beautiful fall photos, you get to post your beautiful fall photos. If you want to rant, you get to rant. Get the picture? :D

Con- It's hard not to have a niche. I personally don't have one and it can be hard to want to post things that just don't go together. This is why the pro before this is an awesome one for me!

Pro- Blogging builds skills. Blogging can do a lot of good things for your, but it especially helps you (well, at least me) improve your writing and photography skills. Which are both awesome things to know how to do!

Con- Tags and Categories. As you probably know tags and categories both make it easier for people to find your blog and for your readers to navigate through your blog a little easier. But for me personally, this is what happens: I get exited that I finished my post, I'm about to hit the publish button, then remember that I should add tags and categories. Then the excitement that I had when I thought I was all ready to hit publish goes away because it's still not finished and I have to think of them all. Obviously this isn't a big con, but it's a little frustrating when you forget this until literally the last second. (Which happens to a certain forgetful person who's name I won't mention every time she posts)

Pro- You get to connect with other bloggers. A lot of the people that I admire and connect with in the blogging world I would've never know if I hadn't started a blog! This is by far my favorite part about blogging.

Con- It takes time to grow. Sometimes you feel impatient and feel as if your not growing at all. Two things to remember when you feel like that is one, It really does take time to grow, and two, the numbers don't matter. If your having fun blogging, then don't focus on the numbers but instead focus on the fun that your having!

That wraps up this post! What are some pros and cons of blogging to you? Tell me in the comments!

~Katie