I’m Back…Sort Of

HELLO!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 I’m sure you all have been wondering since the end of March, “Man, where did Sunny go??”.

Well, I’ll tell you. First, my family went away for Easter break. Then when I got back, I had a ton of schoolwork to catch up on. Then, after that, I wanted to start posting again. But guess what happened??

My tablet (where I write all of my posts) died. AGAIN. (Remember this post??)

Soooo….I had to mail my tablet back to Acer for repairs. It is currently getting fixed up in Texas! 🙂

I am writing this post on my family’s laptop. I don’t get to use this baby very often because…well…it’s the family laptop. (Which is why I haven’t been able to write a post till now.) My tablet should arrive back home around Memorial Day, so my next post will probably be then.

I just wanted to check in with you all, just to let you know that I am still alive and am still blogging. 🙂 I love you all and I will see you soon—with the next part of the Q & A….finally!!

Till then!! ❤

 

Sunny’s Q&A: Part 1

Hello! Last week to celebrate my blogiversary, I announced I was going to be having a Q&A, and asked for you all to comment questions for me to answer. Well, I’m pleased to say that you asked me many questions, so many that I’ll have to split this Q & A into multiple parts. So if you don’t see your questions in this post, you’ll see them in one of the other parts!

The first few questions are from Katie:

Do you have any pets?
Yup, one dog named Gracie!

What are your hobbies outside of blogging?
I love to read, write stories, spend time outside, bake, take pictures, do arts and crafts, spend time with my family, travel to new places, and shop my little heart out!

Biggest pet peeve?
Ooh. That’s a hard one. Well…this is kind of a silly pet peeve, but it really bugs me when parents give their babies their smartphones and tablets to play with. 😛 You never know what they’re gonna do with those…like, one time I heard a story where a dad gave his phone to his kid, and they ended up buying him a car. XD Plus, tablets and smartphones are really expensive things…they’re not just toys that you casually hand over to your ten-month-old whenever you want to.

What’s your favorite movie?
I really like Anne of Green Gables!

Who’s your favorite singer?
I have sooo many favorite singers! I really like Rebecca St. James, though. 🙂

The next question is from Maddie:

Have you ever been horseback riding or wanted to?
No…except I did ride a horse at an amusement park when I was eight. XD But I don’t think that counts (plus I barely remember it). I would definitely like to go horseback riding sometime, though–my mom told me the story of how she went riding while on a trip with some friends years ago, and she had a great time! (She was really sore the next day, though…LOL!)

Grace’s questions:

If there’s one thing you’d like to add to your blog, what would it be?

I’m not exactly sure what this means…but maybe a shorter URL? (mine is pretty long….everythingfununderthesun.wordpress.com….kind of a mouthful!)

Also, favorite Christian song? (traditional /and/ contemporary)

My favorite Christian traditional song would probably be Table of Plenty, because it’s the first song I ever remember singing/hearing in church. 😉

And as for my favorite contemporary Christian song….grrr, that is sooo hard! I don’t think I could pick just one. But I really like There’s Only One (Holy One) by Caedmon’s Call, Unspoken by Jaci Velasquez, Be One by Natalie Grant, Let It Fade by Jeremy Camp, all of Matt Maher’s songs….see, I told you it was hard! XD

Rutvi‘s questions:

Favorite animal?
Dogs, of course!!

Favorite song?
I love so many songs, I really can’t pick a favorite. And it’s always changing. But one of my favorites right now is Be One by Natalie Grant.

Do you like pie? XD XD XD (tomorrow’s pi day and I’m excited, can you tell? :D)
I *LOVE* pie! Especially apple pie, cookies and cream pie, chocolate cream pie, pumpkin pie….and yes, I can tell you’re excited. (Hope you got to eat lots of pi on pi day! Get it??)
By the way, most of you probably know this, but Pi Day is March 14, 3-14. Get it? Because the first digits of pi are 3.14? LOL!

Do you like pegasi? (LOL)
Um, sure, I guess! I always wanted the Webkinz Pegasus when I was younger, even though she was retired by the time I found out about her. And I liked the Barbie Magic of Pegasus movie when I was younger, too. 😉

Tulips or roses?
Roses!

Why did you start blogging?
I wanted to share my opinions about everything with the world.

Favorite book series?
Well, I’m not finished the series yet, but I love the Anne series by L.M. Montgomery. 🙂

Now, for Samantha‘s questions:

1. favorite blogging friends
Aw, come on, Samantha! I don’t play favorites here! And even if I did, I could never pick a favorite blogging friend! Every one of my readers is my friend. 🙂 But I guess instead, I’ll list the blogging friends I’m closest to at the moment: Christian Homeschooler, Maddie, Jaclynn, Megan, Allison, Heather, and Koko. 🙂

2. candy or soda?
Candy!!!

3. Favorite female artist (in music)
Rebecca St. James! I never get tired of her songs. I also like Moriah Peters.

4. Favorite male artist (In music)
This is HARD, but I have to go with Matthew West. There’s not one song I know by him that I truly dislike, plus I always feel good when I listen to one of his songs. But I also really like Josh Wilson, Jeremy Camp, and Matt Maher. 🙂

5. Do you like storms?
Yes! Except when they wake me up at 2 a.m. 😛 And as long as they’re rain storms, not snow storms. But if I’m awake, yes, I enjoy them! They’re fun to watch.

All right, well that wraps it up for part 1! Because of Easter, I will be posting the next part next week sometime. 😉

And Happy Good Friday, everyone! (Well, I guess it’s not all that happy…) Keep in mind that today is the day Jesus died for us, so that we would be able to get to Heaven one day. ❤ What a wonderful sacrifice! Thank You, Jesus, for what You went through for us!

*Sunny

The Music Tag…Again ;)

Megan nominated me for the Music Tag! (Thanks, Megan!) I did this award before, a while back, and had so much fun that I was hoping I’d be tagged again! And now I’ve gotten my wish. 🙂

OK, so here we go!

Rules:
Write ten songs that come on shuffle (no skipping).
Write your favourite lyric from each song.
Tag some peeps.

Sounds easy enough. 😉

TobyMac-Beyond Me-You gave me the stars, put them out of my reach/Called me to waters a little too deep/Oh, I’ve never been so aware of my needs/You keep on making me see/It’s way beyond me

Out of Eden-Soldiers-All they throw at me, I’m not falling for it/They think I’m alone, they got it all wrong!

Avalon-In A Different Light-Don’t be afraid/Of the twists and the turns of the road that we’re on, just believe/There’ll come a day/When our faith turns to sight and we’ll see His face/While we’re here, the heartache’s hard to ignore, so for now we’ll keep our eyes on the Lord!

Rachael Lampa-You Lift Me Up-You lift me up/I’m touching the blue sky/You lift me up/I’m on top of the world/You lift me up/I’m getting closer to Heaven in every little thing I learn/You lift me up

Avalon-All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name (Live)- O that with yonder sacred throng/We at his feet may fall!! (I had to look the lyrics up, BTW. I couldn’t understand what Cherie was singing. XD)

for KING & COUNTRY-Without Love-When the future becomes the past/You will see that it is never gonna last/I’ve got something to tell you (By the way, Joel and Luke actually performed this song on Rebecca St. James CD aLIVE in Florida. They weren’t actually for KING & COUNTRY yet. 😉 They sound sooo much younger in this song!)

Casting Crowns-Courageous-We were made to be courageous/We were made to lead the way/We could be the generation that finally breaks the chains/We were made to be courageous/We were made to be courageous!!

ZOEgirl-Forevermore-Peace like a river/Joy like a fountain flow/Wherever you go

Building 429-Where I Belong-All I know is I’m not home yet/This is not where I belong/Take this world and give me Jesus/This is not where I belong

Capital Kings-You’ll Never Be Alone-I’m the streetlights that guide you home/I’ll be the GPS when you’ve lost your phone/I’ll be the song that’s rocking in your headphones/I’ll show the signs to let you know/You’ll never be alone

And….I decided to add a bonus song, which is Breakfast by the Newsboys-When the toast has burned and all the milk has turned/And Cap’n Crunch is waving farewell/When the Big One finds you/May this song remind you/That they don’t serve breakfast in hell!

So there you go! If you’d like to do this award (even if you’ve done it before) feel free! ❤

Have a good night. 😉

*Sunny

One. Year.

On March 13, 2015–exactly one year ago today—I sat down at the dinner table and announced that that night was going to be The Night: the night that I would finally start the blog I’d been planning on starting for about two months.

So, right after dinner, I logged onto WordPress.com, started an account….and BOOM. Everything Fun Under The Sun was born.

In a year, I have gained:

–72 followers
-about 2,000 comments
-about 8,000 views
-about 1,000 likes

I would not be where I am today in the blogosphere without every one of you lovely readers! YOU are the reason why I keep blogging! ❤ ❤ Thank you so, so, so much for your awesome support…I really don't know what I would do without all of your kind words and encouragement. 😉

And for my one-year anniversary, I will be holding……..

*drum roll please*

A Q & A!

Yeah, yeah, I know that there have been so many Q & A posts going around the blogosphere these days, but I myself have never done one! I have wanted to have a Q&A for a loooong time….but, I decided to wait for my one-year blogiversary to hold one!

So! You all know the drill: ask me some questions (as many as you’d like)! But please, no personal questions (like “where do you live”) and of course no rude stuff (though I know none of you would ever write anything rude! 😉 )

I will be answering all of your lovely questions in a post next week, so stay tuned!! 😀 😀

Here’s to another great year filled with sweet comments, uplifting posts, and TONS OF FUN! ❤

*Sunny

What I’ve Been Up To Lately #4!

Hey folks! If you’ve been wondering, Hey, what has Sunny been up to lately?, well, wonder no longer! I am back with another life update (hehe, don’t I sound like a newscaster?!)!

Anyway, here we go…

Reading-My sister and I had to read Tom Sawyer for school this quarter, and last week we finally finished it! I didn’t care for it very much, there was pretty much no real plot and it didn’t start getting good until close to the end. So I’m glad to be finished with it….but now I have to write some essay questions about it, so….yay. 😛

Writing-I am SUPER excited right now because I started a new story last night and am really liking how it’s turning out so far. I think it just might be my best story yet, if I do say so myself. 😉 It doesn’t actually have a title yet…(I am really bad at coming up with titles)…but hopefully it will soon! It’s another Avalon/Cousins Next Door story: Cherie is really feeling down because no one is paying any attention to her accomplishments. I’m hoping to post it on here once I get it done! (And no, I haven’t forgotten about posting the next chapter of Dare To Be Different…I just have to find the written copy (in that bottomless pit that is also known as my room 😉 ) and then type up the next chapter. It will be soon, promise!)

Listening To-Recently I have gotten hooked on Phil Joel, who is a Christian singer from New Zealand. He used to be in the Newsboys as the bass player, then went solo, and now has his own band called Zealand Worship. I’m listening to one of his solo albums on Spotify as I type this….I really like his voice and music style! I am especially in love with his song God Is Watching Over You….the words are so simple but it has really helped me when I’m feeling scared or sad or just whatever! XD

Watching-I try to watch The Waltons as much as I can, which is hard because it’s on at kind of a bad time, and it seems like every time I do get to watch it, it’s a boring or war-related one. 😛 But last week I watched a few episodes, and they were so cute! (They were also episodes from the second season, so that explains why. 🙂 ) The episodes are soooo much better when John-Boy is in them. I ❤ John-Boy. 🙂

I also watched an episode of Little House the other day….it was the one where Laura had just gotten engaged to Almanzo and they were trying to figure out where to build their house once they were married. 😉 And also Eliza Jane, Almanzo's sister (who's kind of an "old maid"), fell in love for the first time….but the guy who she liked was sort of uncomfortable around women (but still talked to her), and preferred to joke around and tell funny stories with Almanzo. I felt bad for her. She had never had a "beau" (as she called it 😉 ) before, and she was pretty old….can you imagine? 😉 Anyway, the episode was sooo good, and even though I kind of had a good idea about what was going to happen, I wanted to see the end. But…my family had to go somewhere so I missed the last ten minutes. I was like, "Nooo! I have to see the end of this episode!". LOL!  To make matters worse, it was a two-parter and I knew I was going to be busy at the time it was on the next day. So I have no idea what happened! Grrr! XD

Other Stuff-This weekend has been kinda chilly, but it hasn’t been too bad. Next week it’s supposed to be REALLY warm where I live, which I’m looking forward to! I’m going to be spending so much time outside the next few days (not tomorrow though….it’s going to be frigid…bleh. 😛 )

My mom started using this new laundry detergent…and wow, I just love the smell of it! It’s kind of like a mixture of flowers and men’s cologne. Weird, I know, but it smells so good.

I have discovered a new love for sriracha sauce (it’s like hot sauce). My family went out to breakfast the other day, and there was a bottle of sriracha nearby, so I poured it on my scrambled eggs, and wow…it was so good! I also poured it on my (dry!) Cheerios (in honor of Phil Joel, I heard he likes sriracha and Cheerios, and ever since I’ve been wanting to try it to see if I would like it too) and well…it wasn’t all that bad. 😉 It was pretty good. I don’t know if I would have it again though. 🙂

Alright, so that’s what’s been going on in my life! By the way….if you’ve written a comment on my blog anytime between now and November(!) and noticed it never got published, don’t worry. I just found a whole bunch of unpublished comments in my “WordPress Admin” that I have never seen before and am going to work on approving and replying to them in the coming days. 😉

Ta-ta, lovelies! 😉 (Where did that come from? XD)

*Sunny

Songs of Encouragement

Hi everyone! Today I thought I’d give you suggestions for songs to listen to when you need to be encouraged. I know when I have been down and have listened to these songs, they have really helped me. 😉 Enjoy! (And if there are any songs out there that you listen to when you need to be encouraged, feel free to tell me what they are in the comments! ;D)

Josh Wilson-Before The Morning (Josh Wilson deserves to be first. Simply because he’s Josh Wilson. 😉 )

Stars Go Dim-You Are Loved (I LOVE this song!!)

Rebecca St. James-You Are Loved (not the same song as the one above 😉 )

Love And The Outcome-He Is With Us

Moriah Peters-You Carry Me

Phil Joel-God Is Watching Over You

for KING & COUNTRY-It’s Not Over Yet

TobyMac-Get Back Up

Mandisa-Overcomer

I really hope these songs will help you to remember that God is always with you even in the hard times!! Nothing is impossible with God!! 😀

*Sunny

BIBPC Collage!

Hi!! Here is my promised BIBPC collage that I mentioned the other day. Megan, I hope you don’t mind that I used a photo collage app that I had on my tablet already instead of Picmonkey. 🙂

I’m pretty proud of this….I think it’s the best collage I have ever made, if I do say so myself. 😉

I really enjoyed BIBPC! Hopefully there will be another contest like it in the future! 😀

Alrighty, see you people later! Have a good night!

*Sunny

The Happy Tag!

Hi! I was nominated for this award by Clara–big huge thanks to her!!

Books:
–Frindle by Andrew Clements
-The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
–Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
-The Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary
-All of the American Girl/A Life of Faith books

Words:
-smile
-sunshine (duh!)
-giggle
-noodles
-sprinkles!!
-rose

Movies/TV Shows:
–Little House on the Prairie
–The Waltons
-Leave It To Beaver
-The Brady Bunch
-Godspell
-Anne of Green Gables
-The Sound of Music
-Beauty and the Beast
-The Prince of Egypt

Songs:
-Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) by Casting Crowns (my VERY favorite song!!!)
–Fly Away by FFH (my other very favorite song!!!)
–Welcome Home (You) by Brian Littrell (my other, other very favorite song!!!)
–Make It Last Forever by Avalon
–God Is Watching Over You by Phil Joel
–It’s Not Over Yet by For King & Country
–3 Minute Song by Josh Wilson
–In The Blink Of An Eye by MercyMe
–What My Life Is For by Ginny Owens
–Something Beautiful by the Newsboys

Scents:
-fresh laundry
-brownies/cookies baking
-my cucumber melon body spray (the smell of summer!!)
-perfume/cologne 😉
-flowers
-freshly cut grass
-my lavendar-vanilla “Sleep” lotion from Bath and Body Works
-new books
-CHOCOLATE!!!

Miscellaneous:
-The Peanuts comic
-dogs
-koala bears
-family get-togethers
-friends (blogging friends included!! :D)
-the outdoors
-long, flowy skirts
-jean jackets
-fun, dangly earrings
-mood rings (they really work!)
-dolls
-electric blankets
-the library
-Jesus!
-food! ❤

If this post made you smile, consider yourself tagged! ❤ Have a great night! 😀

*Sunny

BIBPC Entries 6 and 7!

Here are my two final entries for Megan’s Boring Into Beautiful Photo Contest—I hope you enjoy! 🙂

Entry 6 (Light/Water):

This  is a picture I took once of a hotel’s indoor pool…and you can see the light from the huge windows nearby shining on the water. 🙂 (I just realized that so many of the pictures I’ve used for BIBPC are from vacations! LOL!)

Entry 7: Plants

A shot of the rosebush outside of our home (though it sure does not look like that right now!). By the way, sorry for the random doll hand–this picture was part of a doll photoshoot that I never ended up posting on here. 😉

Alrighty, I might make a BIBPC poster (and if I do I get four extra points for my team!!), but I have to go to bed now so I’ll have to try doing that tomorrow. Have a great night, all! ❤

*Sunny

Ways To Have Some Fun In The Winter

Even if you don’t consider yourself to be an expert on finances, there are still many simple things you can do to take control of your finances this year. These past few weeks, I have come up with several ideas about how to save money and still have fun during the chilly winter months. Here are just some of them for you. I hope they’ll be helpful to you! 🙂

1. Check out books from the library.
This is a terrific way to save money. When you check out books from the library, you don’t have to pay a single cent to take them home…plus, you can come in and get new books whenever you want! 😉 Going to the library is a great way to find new stories and discover old favorites—and it’s a warm, cozy place that’ll keep you warm on those days when it gets below freezing! 🙂

Not the best picture, I know...but it was all I could find. 😉

2. Get active!!
I know that in winter, for the most part, no one wants to exercise, and no one wants to go outside, for sure. When the snow is falling and the sky is gray, watching TV on the couch sounds much more appealing than going out in the cold. But you can still have fun and stay active inside! If you have a big laundry room, garage, or basement, take advantage of them and use those rooms to play fun indoor games. Drawing a hopscotch board on the garage floor with chalk is a good idea. Even just using a basketball and tossing it around (or playing a quick game of basketball, haha!) would be great. If you get tired of playing inside, taking a walk around your neighborhood with your family is always an option (just remember to bundle up!!).

3. Have some family time.
I love spending quality time with my family, especially in the winter when we can all cozy up inside. 🙂 Watch a movie, play a favorite board game (Apples to Apples, anyone?), or just sit around and chat. You may be cold at first, but I guarantee that by the end of the afternoon, you’ll be all warm inside from all the love that’s surrounding you! 😉

I hope that these free, fun ideas will help you through the rest of the winter! Remember that you don’t always have to spend a fortune in order to have a good time. 🙂

*Sunny