I'm Alive // 2016

Woah where do I even begin?! I've been absent from this little corner of the internet for well over 2 months. I'll do my best to recap bits and pieces of my life, and hope you don't get too bored.

I did survive my first semester of college. Barely though. It was a great feeling walking out of my last final and then realizing it was officially Christmas break! I then proceeded to basically pack up my entire dorm room. Break was an entire month long and even though I worked about 40 hours a week - it was nice to not worry about school for a while. Before I left campus I did two things.

Snapchat my mom this picture and and then laugh at how pathetic MN looked in December.

Christmas was amazing this (last?) year. I got to spend my first Christmas with Derek and just being surrounded by everyone I love made me realize how grateful I am for this life. My parents have never made Christmas all about gifts. Instead they've reminded us to be thankful and happy for what we have. It was also fun having Josi with us this Christmas - We were one big {happy} family!

(I'm not really sure what it is with my little siblings and their shirt sleeves)

Things I enjoyed over break:

Being with my family

Date night with Derek

Catching up with high school friends

Hanging out with my dogs

Babysitting

Laying around and doing absolutely nothing

Shenanigans with Erin

Finding out I was going to be a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding

Just to name a few...

Hope you enjoyed the pictures friends! My life is even more chaotic (how is that possible!?) right now than it has ever been. Thanks for following along!

xoxo,

~Michlyn

Reflecting.

This is a post mostly for myself. Something that I need to write down so I can come back and remember. If you want to, go ahead and read along but I warn you - it might get a little long and be a tad boring. :)

Looking back on this year, it has been a year of growth and struggle. Good struggle & bad struggle. A full year of fitting pieces of a puzzle back together, erasing scars of my heart, and opening new doors. I look back and realize that I fit a lot into this past year and it brings nothing but joy. I had a lot of stressful moments but I had support and comfort after the storm. And that just brings joy that overpowers all the hard times. For that I'm thankful.

But something else I've noticed is that I have not grown in my faith with God. And that's something I've really struggled with in the past 2 years. You can go read this post and that gives you a little smidgeon of info. We lost our youth pastor around that time and it's been hard ever since. (We do have a new youth pastor now and he is super awesome! Just losing the one before him was pretty rough for a while) Someone really special to me asked me the other day "How is your walk with God?" and all I felt was disappointment. In myself. In my church. In my heart.

My faith has been tested a lot over the past 2 years and I've realized that I rarely turned to God when I needed something or was hurting. I turned to my friends or raged at my parents or cried alone in my room or complained to God. I never prayed to Him or thanked Him or cried out to Him. And I'm SO THANKFUL to everyone in my life who has and will always be there for me in hard times. Whether it's girls from my team, my parents, my best friends, or my grandparents. But most of all I'm so thankful to have a God that is so forgiving, so loyal, and so selfless. If it wasn't for Him not giving up on me or letting me give up on myself then I'd be in a lower spot in my faith than I am right now.

I'm the girl that tries to always have a smile on her face, who hates letting people down, and has a positive outlook on life. My life is beautiful. And there are times when I think "my life couldn't get any better" and times when I think "my life couldn't get any worse". But whether it's good, bad, or beautiful - it's not perfect and I'm not perfect.

So reflecting back on this year it's been an adventure. A crazy one. In 2014, I want it to be even crazier. I want to be crazy for God and for the life and future He has for me. Not the plans I have for myself but the plans that HE has for me. I want to strive to learn about Him and to seek Him in all that I do.

"But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me." 2 Timothy 4:17

xoxo,
~Michlyn

2013 Year in Review

Wow, can you believe 2013 is already over?!

One year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. Already in the rear view mirror of our lives.

This year, 2013, has brought unbelievable blessings and trials. God has shown me time and time again that no matter what we go through or how great our life seems to be, there will always be new adventures coming our way. Those adventures have shown me that God is the only one in charge of our lives and living it to glorify Him is going to be way easier than trying to do it our own way.

So cheers to 2014 and the great journey it will bring!

JANUARY

Snowdaze 2013 which you can read about here and here!

Braces came off for the second time! You can watch the video here.

 FEBRUARY

February photoshoot with Beka here.

Basketball games with the best friends ever! They became my life! Love supporting our school :)

MARCH

 Scenery from our dreadfully long winter here. I also decided to take a blogging break around this time - I usually take one or two a year.

APRIL

Had a blast at the youth conference District Blitz!

MAY

Finished Sophomore year!! Reviewed that in this post.

JUNE

Big sister got married!!!

JULY

Highlights of Summer 2013!

Little sister's 3rd gotcha day! You can read about our journey here and here.

AUGUST

Valleyfair 2013 with The Posse! :)

SEPTEMBER

Volleyball Season 2013!

Highlights of our season can be found here. So proud of these girls!

OCTOBER

 My cousin Kressi got married in October and our whole family was able to be there on her special day.

NOVEMBER 

I turned 17 this year! Read about some parts of my crazy life here and here.

Posse night in...Love my crazy group of friends!

DECEMBER

Merry Christmas and blessings in the new year! :)

xoxo,

~Michlyn

Volleyball Banquet

My volleyball banquet was in the beginning of November, so I'm posting this a little late but I wanted to go back and look at the memories we made. :) The girls are my second family and some of my best friends...the teach me life lessons, make me laugh, and work harder than a lot of girls I know. When ever I felt down or upset, one of my co-captains noticed and could always make me feel better. The bus rides to away games were always my favorite and we always had conversations that made us laugh until our stomachs hurt.

Looking back and thinking about the banquet not only makes me smile but brings tears to my eyes. I'm sooo proud to be one of the captains of this team and to see how hard they worked this past season. I LOVE YOU GIRLS SO MUCH!

Here's to the 2014 season!

xoxo,

~Michlyn

K + K -Wedding October 2013

Last Saturday, on October 12th, 2013 - My cousin Kressi married Kyle. It was a beautiful wedding and we loved being able to spend their special day with them! Congrats to them and we wish them a happy ever after! :)

Aunt & Uncle - Also her godparents.

Welcome to the family Kyle!

xoxo,

~Michlyn

Two Years of Small Town Girl

Can you believe it? 6 days ago, it marked 2 years since I sat down and decided to start my own blog. With not much experience and a small spark of interest in design...I put this blog together and appropriately named it 'Small Town Girl'.

I've gone from no followers to 57 followers! 57 people who actually take the time to read and care about my life. Whether it's the trials, fun adventures, or crazy photoshoots - you guys leave comments that make my day. I know it sounds cliche, but it's so fun to hear from new people who follow along and I love how they can become some of your greatest friends!

This blog is my happy place. I feel content and comfortable writing down every bit of my life here. I can't wait to see this blog grow and I'm even more excited to keep posting my adventures! Happy 2nd Blogiversary!

xoxo,

~Michlyn

God Bless the U.S.A. {2013}

Our family doesn't have annual 4th of July celebrations.

In the past we've gone to a Christian camp with friends and our families spent time together celebrating with a cookout, s'mores, games, and late fireworks. Everything to the max. RED WHITE & BLUE.

Sometimes we'd go visit with family and buy some fireworks. Or go to my grandparents' cabin on a lake and swim and grill food.

Last year, Erin and I were blessed to be able to go on a youth trip and enjoy a few fireworks in New Orleans, LA.

But this year...we kept it low key. And that's what we need most times. I had a few things in mind and waited for the sun to finally set in our nook of the neighborhood.

And soon it was getting a little more golden...deeper...darker. Then the sun said it's final goodnight and I started getting things set up.

We attempted to start a bonfire (didn't last very long), and make a couple s'mores.

Also bought a handful of sparklers and those went pretty well. Now I sit in our cozy & cool house, smelling of bug spray, and thanking God that I get to live in this country. For our fathers who built this country and that God was our foundation in the beginning. 

"Because there is no doubt, I love this land...

...God bless the U.S.A."

xoxo,

~Michlyn

Celebrating My Dad {2013}

Wow. And Father's Day is here again already. 2013.

My dad is awesome. He works hard. He's a follower of Jesus. His sense of humor is unique and he makes me laugh everyday. He is loved by everyone. He's a helper. He's a good cook. He could fix anything. He loves old cars. He puts others before him. He loves his family & we love him!

Dad, I don't know what I would do without you. You're always there to cheer me up and give advice.

 You're the BEST dad I could ever have been given. Love you!

~Michlyn

My Beautiful Mom

Today is Mother's Day...

Celebrating every wonderful mom who works hard to keep their crazy kids in line.

And my mom...she is awesome! A one of a kind, laundry folding, car-pool driving, kid loving, dishes doing, soccer watching, MOM! :)

I couldn't imagine my life without her wisdom, patience, spunk, and kindness she shows every day!

LOVE YOU MOM! Hope you feel extra special on this day!

~Michlyn

2012 Year in Review

Well this year sure has been an adventure!!!

It started out really great and there were some definite bumps in the road.

God pulled me through and lo and behold - a new year is just 12 hours away! :)

Here's my year in review for 2012!

January - I had one of the best nights of my life! Our school's annual Snowdaze Dance 2012 was a hit! You can click here and here to read more.

February - I enjoyed the Valentine's Dinner at our church and then one of our youth group's favorite conferences EVER; Dare2Share!

March - I ventured on an 8 hour drive (each way) with my choir and band from school. We made our way to Chicago for 3 days. Which you can read more about here, here, & here.

April - I took a little blogging break, but still brought you a few pictures from the morning sunrise to showing you Polyvore and my best friend.

May - My family and I celebrated the 8th birthday of my angel baby sister and my other sister turned 14. Another fun youth event was our end of the year party w/ inflatables!!! (school year)

June - In the beginning it was rough. This was probably the worst part of 2012...I shared that we had lost our youth pastor, but were preparing to leave for one of the biggest youth conferences EVER in 4 days!  This trip ended up being soooo amazing! God really pulled through, and I'm super excited to go back in a couple years. I REALLY encourage you to watch the video of our trip right here! :)

(Some clothes I was loving [still am] from Pinterest)

July - This month I finally got a Pinterest! Wooohooo! I absolutely love it! If you want to follow me, you can click on that button in my sidebar. :)

August - I celebrated my 1st blogiversary & my 200th post! My blog has come a long ways, and now I have 44 followers! It's been a great ride so far and I hope to keep blogging for a long time!!

>Here's volleyball, school, and instagram all in one!< :)

September - It was the first full month of my Sophomore year! I love school & seeing my friends! I just hate homework and presentations. haha :) I also started playing volleyball and got an Instagram. Some of you have asked, but I haven't wanted to share yet...Anyway if you want to follow me now you can at michlynk_fisher.

October - This was definitely a break month for me, and I got a lot of sweet comments that people were missing me. So I brought you some pinterest faves, school moments, & a little of my life.

November - I turned 16 this month! I did share though that it wasn't exactly a sweet 16. Since this is also the month of Thanksgiving, I started "Insta-Week". So through Instagram for a whole week, I posted a picture of something I was thankful for. Here is day 1, and then you can just go to the next one from there if you want. I also decided I was going to get a haircut.

December - This month was soooo busy! I can't even believe that it has gone so fast. I'm kind of glad it did though. My sister and I played some powder puff & volleyball ended for me. I also told you some stuff you didn't know about me and welcomed you to the northpole. Since school projects were due, and I had numerous things to do...I took a little week vacation until Christmas break arrived. My best friend Beka & I have been best friends for 2 years. Then I brought you my crazy blessed Christmas!

Here's to another great year ahead! May God bless you in many ways!
~Michlyn