20

Here I am on the eve of my 21st birthday reflecting on my life (specifically last year) The good Lord has blessed me in so many ways. And the crazy thing is I don't deserve any of it. I count all my joys as blessings from my savior.

To say my 20th year was amazing is a huge understatement. I mean it was by far one of the greatest years of my dear life.
I learned so much.
Serious life lessons that have left a huge impact on me.
I saw so much.
I traveled to four different countries.
England
France
Spain
Italy
I met so many people.
Through the church in England
Through the school here in LA
Through the church in Spain.

What a truly wonderful time in my life.

Now let me begin my "20th year" recap.

A little over a week after my birthday I headed to the United Kingdom to study. How lovely it was to live in a new country. I daydream about England so often. England always seems to creep into my mind. I have nothing but fond thoughts of my time there. I would go back in a heart beat.


delicious meals.
sigh looking through this pictures make me miss London even more. How blessed am I to have had such a wonderful experience?
About a month into my stay in London we took a weekend trip to France. It was so surreal. I mean really a trip to France in a weekend?! One of my favorite things about Europe is that your able to do trips like that. Everything is so close. It's fantastic.


well hello eiffel tower


Versailles was one of the most beautiful places I saw in France.

Versailles was one of the most beautiful places I saw in France.

Notre Dame
After the France trip I headed back to England and stayed for another six weeks.



I fell in love with all the lovely buildings and architecture.

O how I miss the sweet London streets so different from the ones I walk here in the states.

Oh and I forgot to mention one of the reasons this time in my life was so wonderful was because I got to share it with one of my best friends, Gabriela. We have known each other since we were little newborns. (were 3 months apart) It was so great to travel this beautiful world with her.

Coming home certainly wasn't easy both Gaby and I wanted to stay longer. But the joy of knowing we would see our families made it alot better.

For about two months I had no job and I didn't go to school. It was wonderful besides not having any money. I spent a good deal of time at home sewing, baking, and doing some major room re organizing. I just loved it. I'm really not one of those people who has to be doing something. I find it very easy to keep myself occupied. I also was able to volunteer with my little darlings in Jordan Downs.

I adore them.

Then I started school to pursue becoming a pastry chef. I was really excited for this new type of learning. It is so different from the traditional college setting. So much better in my perspective. I started making sooooo many different breads and other baked goods. It was lovely.


A week before school started I decided to cut some bangs. Something I hadn't had since I was in first grade. At first I hated them but now I have come to really like them.


Below are a couple pictures of me and the sister. This past year our relationship has grown a lot stronger. What a blessing that has been. We use to fight so much. It was really terrible. But now not so much. It's great. She is a real gem of a girl and I love her so much.
Thanksgiving pre hair cut

and easter with the bangs.


In March I got a job. Woohooo.......not. Sometimes I just can't stand it. But in all honesty I thank God that I am employed cause I certainly need the money. Life is expensive!


A couple weeks after I finished the school year I headed to New England with the family. It was pretty amazing. I absolutely love family vacations. They make me feel like a little kid all over again.

What happiness my family brings me.

I think he is one of the funniest guys around and im not just saying that cause he's my brother.
why am I such a dessert junkie....

By far they are my favorite blessing^

So seconds after I took the picture above I dropped the camera and broke it. RIP Nikon D70 we saw some great places together New York, London, and Paris. I was devestated. I needed a camera quick. So my father and I went to Sams Club in New Hampshire and bought one. Thank the Lord I had already been saving my pennies for a new one. My parents decided to pay a huge chunk of it too as a early birthday present. Well my devestation quickly turned into happiness when I had my new Nikon D3100 in my hands. I love it.
So far these are my favorite photos I have taken with it.


Gosh it was a great vacation. I forgot to mention we got to spend time with my aunt and cousins who live in New York. We did all sorts of touristy things with them. So fun.

About a week after we came home the sister and I headed to Spain for a mission trip. Ohhh it was so amazing. What a wonderful time we had helping at a preschool and elderly home.



My heart was full of joy throughout the entire trip. I truly miss all the people we met.
After we were done serving in Spain we spent a couple days in Italy (again this is why I love Europe)

amazing.

I still can't believe I saw the collosseum.

After we flew back to Spain and spent the day with the friends we made at the church there, it was really great to spend one last evening with them before we headed home.

So basically I started being 20 in England and ended it in Spain. Woah. Dreams really do come true. For as long as I can remember I have been asking God to give me "many travels." Little did I know that he would be so quick to answer.

There are three things I treasure deeply
1. my savior
2. my family
3. my travels (more like the memories I have of the amazing places I've seen)

These three things are what seem to always be on my mind.

Thank you Lord for each one.
I am so grateful for the relationship I have with you. I pray I always find my strength in you. Once again thank you for my 20th year of life. I will always treasure it. What a great year it was.

I adore you sweet savior.
-esther

mimi

gah she makes my day. If you need some joy in your life. Get a dog. Who doesn't like to be greeted by a super excited animal when you get home. Mimi seriously goes nuts whenever I come through the front door. It's like she hasn't seen me in months. I think she is pretty cute! Big ears and all.

Tomorrow is my last day as a 20 year old!!! Where does the time go. Oh how I wish I knew.

Night
xo
-esther marquis

happiness is

listening to Glenn Miller on your new record player.


I've been wanting a record player for quite some time now. I was hoping to get a true vintage one but instead settled for a fifties like remake. It was just to hard to find a real old one and I was getting tired of looking. They were expensive and I wasn't even sure if they would work.
Now I just need to add some more records to my teeny tiny collection. Im going to head over to my Grandpas house sometime this week and see what he has.

Well now im off to work.
Happy Thursday.
xo
-es

Lunch with Jackie

The best part of my day was having lunch with my cousin Jackie. She insisted on telling the waiter that it was my birthday so that I could get a free dessert. I told her not to but she must have told him when I went to the restroom because after we finished our food out came a pizookie with a candle. (thanks jack you shouldn't have..., really!)


Anyways I can hardly believe I'm turning 21?! Where does the time go. All I can say is that the Lord has blessed me in so many ways it's unbelievable. I adore him.

Night
xo
-Esther

sunspots

I love spending time with these kids. The little guy is hilarious and the older one isn't half bad. Jaqueline you know I love you.

I could spend all day with them. Which is what I did on Saturday. We jumped on the trampoline and I decided to take some pictures. While looking through the lens I discovered some sweet sun spots. I don't know why but I love when my pictures have them. I think it reminds me of old photos. Anywho after I made DJ pose with them. He thought it was the coolest thing. As did I.

I guess you could say the two of us are easily amused.
Anyways I love them.

Happy Monday!
xo
-es

happiness is

laying on a quilt in the front yard underneath your orange trees while listening to Damien Rice.


I'm going to post little things that bring me happiness every Wednesday. Everyone needs a bit of midweek happiness. I know I'll need it when school begins.

What makes you happy?

19

Happy Birthday to my beautiful baby sister.
Coryn, my mama, and I went out for tea to celebrate. How lovely it is to sit and sip tea with some of your favorite people. We had a grand time.



Delicious sandwiches and pretty little desserts.

Well I certainly hope that Rynie had a lovely 19th birthday with her dearest friends and family.

Im so blessed she is in my life.

I love you little sister.
xo
-emc

finally

free at last
no more work shirt and apron on the weekends. woohoo
It feels so good having my friday and saturday nights free.
I was able to go to 2 birthday parties this weekend.
pure happiness

now I work wednesday and thursday nights.
I will probably need to find work elsewhere. I really need more hours but the shifts at my job don't really work well with my school schedule.

Im praying I don't have too much homework cause it's going to be tough going to school all day then rushing straight to work, getting off at nine pm, then coming home to schoolwork and having to wake up before five the next morning. Im like a little kid when it comes to sleep. I really need it. Or else I am loopy the rest of the day.

Well I better get some sleep now.
Im exhausted.
night
xo
-es

oh heavens

I am finally going through my Spain photos so that I can show them to you. There are so many im overwhelmed. How blessed I truly am! My heart is filled with happiness when I look through the hundreds of pictures. The Lord has given me so much I can't help but be in awe of him. He never seizes to amaze me. I am so unworthy of all the blessings. Through him I get to see the world he created.
For now I will leave you with just this one picture until I can figure out how to post all the others.

This is Daniela. Daniela and I became fast friends. She is the daughter of the missionaries we worked with. Such a sweet and joyful child. I love her dearly.

Gosh, I miss all my friends in Spain!

xo
-esther

jet lag

Oh adjusting to a nine hour time change is seriously tough. I have been back from Spain for nearly 4 days and am still expeirencing terrible jet lag. I just want to sleep all day. I should have known it was going to be this bad. I was reading over some of the blogs that I wrote after returning from England. Recovering from being gone for over 2 months is way worse then 2 weeks. But still if feel lethargic and just plain bad. Hoping I can completely adjust to the time soon.

Since I have been waking up so early I have taken advantage of the cool morning air.

This morning I got up and picked some tomatos from my garden. Such happiness it brings me.

I love that I can find joy in little things like this.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get the photos from the rest of my trip in order. I have SO MUCH to show you.

I took 1000 of pictures that all need to be uploaded and given discriptions.

But for now I must go to bed.
Night
xo
-es