My Summer In Photos // 2018

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Guys, I can’t believe that summer is almost over! It seems like it just began. O_o How has your summer been? I hope it’s been great!

Last year I wrote a summer recap that included photos from throughout the year, and I decided to do something similar this year. I hope you enjoy reading about my summer, and I’d love to hear about yours in the comments below!

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I played a ton of music.

Over the summer, I continued to learn a fiddle tune a day as often as possible. I also taught myself to play the ukulele, which was so much fun! I’ve gotten much better at strumming and I can play quite a few songs now. 🙂

I went swimming.

As usual, we went to the pool almost every week over the summer. It’s such a fun way to escape the heat! I taught my little brother how to swim this year, and he only half-drowned me a few times. XD

I won a photography contest.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the summer! I entered a state-wide photography contest several months ago, and I was extremely shocked when they called me last week and told me that I had won first place. O_o I’m really honored that they chose my photo!

pen-pals

I sent and received many letters.

I’m afraid I’ve been rather slow to respond to my pen pals’ letters this summer, but I’ve loved reading them and I’m working on replies! Getting a letter in the mail always makes my day and I love decorating envelopes and sending replies. 🙂

I began writing a novel.

I’m so excited to finally be doing this! I’ve had the idea for this book in my head for a while, and I’ve finally started to put it down on paper. I’m hoping to have a first draft finished by the end of the year.

I read 70 books.

I’ve been pretty motivated to read all summer long, and as a result, I’m nearing my goal of 100 books much faster than I thought I would! I’ve read a lot of good books this year, which you can read more about by clicking here.

I took some college classes.

I took a college class right at the beginning of the summer, and now I’m starting two more. One of the classes I just started is Music Appreciation, and it’s actually been pretty interesting so far! I’m glad to have the opportunity to take these classes and get a head start on college, even if they are pretty time-consuming.

We celebrated Independence Day.

We had a relatively quiet July 4th this year (well, as quiet as you can get with your neighbor blowing up things next door). We watched fireworks in the backyard and played with pop-its and other such loud things afterwards, which was a lot of fun. 😀

I kept my succulents alive.

My three little succulents, Newt, Florence, and Edison, have fortunately survived under my not-so-skilled care since I got them in the spring. Edison has grown so big that I had to transplant him to a bigger pot, and the other two have grown a lot as well. I love having them on my desk – they’re so colorful!

I did a whole lot of cooking and cleaning.

My mom had to get a pretty major surgery at the beginning of the summer that had a long recovery time, so the older kids had to take over all of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. for several weeks. It was a ton of work, but I learned a lot, and my mom is doing much better now. 🙂

I worked on starting a small business.

I can’t say too much my business yet, but I’m really excited about it! 😀 I should be able to post more details in a few months once everything is ready. This is the first time I’ve actually put one of my business ideas into action, and I really hope that you guys will enjoy it!

I placed second in my library’s reading contest.

The biggest library near us has a summer reading program for teens, and I ended up placing second in the end-of-summer contest for who had read the most pages. I won a bag full of candy and a few really weird books. XD

braces-2

I got my braces off.

WHEW, I’m so relieved that my braces are finally gone! I’m am glad that I got braces because my teeth are so much straighter now, but it was definitely a long and painful endeavor that I’m more than happy to be done with. 😛

We visited the CNN center.

When we were in Atlanta a few months ago, we decided to go on a tour of the CNN center. It was such a cool experience! The building was enormous and so pretty, and I learned a lot of interesting things about how a news broadcast works.

I solved the peg game.

I’M SO PROUD OF MYSELF. I worked on this thing for hours until I finally uncovered its secret. It was extremely fun and now I can impress people with my secret talent. XD

We played dozens of games of CLUE.

After my mom had her surgery, some following complications led to her having to go get infusions every morning and night at the hospital for a whole week. My dad went with her every night, and my siblings and I spent a lot of those nights making pizza and then playing CLUE. We got pretty obsessed with the game, so we kept playing almost nightly in the weeks that followed. We’re pretty much experts by now. XD

This lovely human ^ accidentally injured me with a pitchfork.

This was most definitely not one of the highlights of my summer. XD We were outside in the yard cleaning up grass clippings, and Laura swung her pitchfork around in a circle and accidentally slammed it into my arm. We thought it was broken at first, but it turned out to just be an extremely painful bruise, much to my relief. My arm has since recovered and I am plotting my revenge Laura has been forgiven. 😉

I saw a movie in a theater for the first time.

Believe it or not, I’ve never seen a movie in the theater until this summer! We went to see Incredibles 2, and it was so much fun. I loved the movie and I managed to make my popcorn last almost until the end. I hope we can go see another movie sometime soon!

We celebrated my little brother’s birthday.

We had a lot of fun decorating for my baby brother’s birthday and celebrating it with him. He’s getting so big! *cries* He loves going on adventures, so we came up with a game in which we hid various stuffed animals throughout the woods and he had to follow a trail of painter’s tape to find and rescue them. It was very entertaining. XD

I helped my younger sister redecorate.

My sister Laura decided that she wanted to revamp her walls, so I helped her do so over the span of a few weeks. We spent a while on Pinterest finding lots of DIY ideas, because we wanted to try to make decor instead of buying it. It was super fun to make everything, and I’m really happy with the finished results! Laura will be posting more photos of the finished walls on her blog in the near future. 😀

We celebrated 10 years on the farm.

I can’t believe that it’s been ten whole years since we moved here! To me and my sister, who were born in the city, it was like a dream come true. We’ve had a lot of crazy adventures since then, and I’ve learned so, so much about caring for animals and just rural life in general. I’m so thankful that we have the opportunity to live where we do. ❤

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Overall, I had a great summer! I definitely didn’t end up doing a lot of the things I thought I would, but I still had a lot of adventures and made some great memories. 🙂

What were the highlights of your summer?

P.S: Olivia is celebrating her blog birthday by giving away a Visa gift card! Click here to check it out!

Published by Clara

Hey, I'm Clara! I'm a photographer, writer, and Christian who loves road trips, music, writing letters, and playing with my dog Maude. See more @ clara-and-co.com. :)

51 thoughts on “My Summer In Photos // 2018”

  2. I love this post! Your ukulele is very cool. Congrats on winning the photography competition! I’m curious, what were the weird books you won? Ah, the peg game! I got it as a father’s day present for my dad, and he has since solved it too! I have yet to do, but hopefully will one day so I can also impress people. ;)) Yikes, I’m sorry about your arm, that sounds painful. That’s so fun about watching Incredibles 2! I’ve never played Clue before, but now I want to asap.

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    1. Thanks so much, Annie! 😀
      Ahh, I’d tell you, but I don’t remember the titles (and I’ve already given them away)! I do know that one of them was Pride and Prejudice told through text messages. It was actually pretty hilarious. XD
      Ooh, that’s awesome – I hope you’re able to solve it soon!
      You should definitely play Clue – it’s so much fun! 😀 Thanks for commenting!

      -Clara ❤

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  6. It looks like your summer was pretty great! Mine is sadly over, but I still enjoyed reading about yours. 😉 Congrats on winning the photography and library contests! Prayers for your mom as she’s recovering from her surgery, and I’m glad she’s doing a lot better.❤️Also, A BUSINESS, that’s so cool! And I love Clue too, it’s one of my favorite games to play with my family.

    Also, thank you SO much for sharing my giveaway! I shall add your extra entry. 😉

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    1. It was pretty great! 🙂 Thank you so much, Olivia! ❤ Ooh, that’s awesome – it’s a super fun game. 😀
      Oh, you’re welcome! Congrats again on your blogiversary!

      -Clara ❤

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  10. You seemed to have accomplished a lot! Awww, I’m glad your momis feeling better ❤
    Congratulations on the contests! Oooh, business? I can’t wait to see! Have a great day!
    ~simplyag.weebly.com

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    1. Thank you so much, Madison! ❤ I’m glad you’re excited about my business – I can’t wait to show it to you. 😀 Thanks for leaving a comment, and you have a great day too! 🙂

      -Clara ❤

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  11. Sounds like a great summer! Ivy and I went to a week long camp, I helped in our churches vbs, we got a new kitten, my mom read most of the Narnia series aloud, and we went on a mud run for my 16th birthday last week. I’ve also barely posted, and made my ag doll a ninja costume, and severely missed Madi grace’s posts. And I’m about to start karate!!!!!😃😃😃 I’ve also read a TON of books, and built a huge house in minecraft. So I think it was a good summer.😁
    Most crazily, ~Olive

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    1. I did have a pretty great summer! 🙂 OOH, it sounds like your summer was pretty epic! Wow, have fun with karate – that sounds super fun. 😀 Thanks for leaving a comment, Olive!

      -Clara ❤

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    1. It was a pretty fun summer! 🙂 Haha, yeah. XD
      Ooh, good luck with braces. :[] I’ve had some teeth pulled and it actually isn’t that bad!
      Thanks for commenting, Christina!

      -Clara ❤

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  14. I loved reading about your Summer (and seeing all the pretty photos)! Congratulation on winning a photography contest! That’s so cool. I’d love to see the photo you entered. 🙂 Also, it’s great that you’ve discovered the amazing-ness of the game Clue. I love to play it with my siblings, though we aren’t able to play it as much as we used to. Which character do you play with? I’m always Mrs. Peacock. 😉
    One of the highlights (or at least one of the most memorable things) from this Summer was playing with my siblings at the gospel bluegrass night at our county fair (as a warm-up group). It was a pretty great experience, since we had never done anything quite like it before. 🙂

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    1. Thank you so much, Sassafras! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
      Thank you! Here’s the photo I entered:

      Haha, yeah, it’s an awesome game! I usually play with whatever character my siblings aren’t using. 😛
      Ooh, that sounds like so much fun! 🙂 Thanks for commenting!

      -Clara ❤

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  15. CLARA NOOOOO SUMMER IS NOT ALMOST OVER WE STILL HAVE A MONTH LEFT. WHYYYYY? I’M REBELLING AGAINST FALL SEND IT BACK SEND IT BACK! takes breath composes self Ahem.

    AHHH I LOVE YOUR UKE. Ha ha, it’s got such a 70’s hippie flair!
    AHHH SWIMMING. SUCH FUN.
    You won a photography contest? That’s fantastic! Congratulations, dear! I’d love to see the photo you entered!
    You’re writing a novel! That’s great! What is it about, or are you not revealing that yet?
    AHHH WOW 70 BOOKS IS GREAT. Good for you, Clara!
    What college class did you take at the beginning of the summer?
    I’m sorry your mom had to have surgery, but it sounds like you got quite a bit of experience cooking! Did you basically know how to cook before, or was it pretty new? For 5 days in a row I did all the cooking (and planning and shopping) and AHHH IT’S A LOT OF WORK.
    Ooh, I’m excited about your business too! I can’t wait to see everything when it’s finished!
    YOU GOT YOUR BRACES OFF, YAY! AHHH I know how that feels. CONGRATS.
    OH NO. YOU GOT INJURED WITH A PITCHFORK? Dear dear, bad Laura. XD I’m glad you’re fine now and it wasn’t anything serious, though!
    YOU’VE NEVER SEEN A MOVIE IN A THEATER BEFORE THIS SUMMER? Girl, that is CRAY. ZY. I mean, I’ve only been in a theater like 2 or 3 times, but STILL!
    AHHHH YOU’VE BEEN ON THE FARM TEN YEARS? Isn’t farm life just incredibly amazing? AHHH I LOVE IT. We’ve been on the farm for five years, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other kind of life.

    So, the highlights of MY summer? Well let’s see, since summer OBVIOUSLY isn’t over, here’s so FAR:
    1) I GOT TO MEET ALLISON AND STAY ON HER FARM. Definitely a highlight. Kind of like, the highlight of my life? Like the best thing ever? Like help now I miss her worse than before?
    2) I learned how to play guitar!
    3) WE’RE GETTING A SWIMMING HOLE HOPEFULLY BY THE END OF THE WEEK. We have some guys coming to dig it out. rubs hands

    Other than that, my summer’s been pretty calm. Just farm work. Lots and lots of farm work, and Watermelon Club, and oh yeah, I slipped and fell down a hill and couldn’t breathe for probably 30 seconds and then couldn’t breathe properly for the whole day…THAT WAS FUN. Heh.

    Anyways, it sounds like you’re HAVING (note: summer’s NOT OVER YET) a fantastic summer! You’ve started back to school, right?

    -This comment is 437 words.- O.o

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    1. But… but… Aria… splutters aren’t you looking forward to crunchy leaves and cool weather and THANKSGIVING?? shakes head in disbelief
      Haha, thanks! I like my ukulele too. 😉
      Aww, thank you so much! 🙂 I’m was really excited to win! Here’s the photo I entered:

      AHH THE DREADED QUESTION. hides Heh heh, I don’t have an official description for my novel yet, but basically it’s about small-town mysteries and fluffy rabbits and adventure and… other things. It’s not exactly organized at the moment if you didn’t notice. XD
      Thank you so much! 😀 The college class I took was American Government. It wasn’t too bad, but I definitely didn’t love it. 😉
      Haha, yeah! Well, I knew how to cook some basic things before, but I definitely learned a lot of new things and gained some experience. 🙂 Ahh, wow, that must have been a ton of work! O_o
      Thanks so much! I can’t wait to show it to you! 🙂
      YES! HOORAY! It’s such a great feeling. XD
      Indeed I did. XD Thanks, I am too!
      I KNOW, RIGHT? I hope we can go see another movie sometime soon!
      Yessss, farm life definitely is amazing! ❤ Ooh, five years – that’s so awesome!
      Your summer sounds quite lovely! 🙂 AHH HAVE I MENTIONED HOW LUCKY YOU ARE TO HAVE MET ALLISON? sad sigh I want to meet her and Megan so bad. XD I can’t even imagine how wonderful that must have been! 😀
      Ooh, guitar! That’s so neat, Aria! I tried to play one the other day and it sounded quite horrible.
      AHH YAY! SWIMMING! That’s so cool – is the swimming hole finished yet?
      Oh my goodness, slipping down that hill does NOT sound fun. O_o Thank goodness you’re okay, though!
      Yes, I certainly did HAVE a fantastic summer! Well, I never really took a summer break in the first place, so yep. XD
      Thank you so much for the lovely 437-word comment, Aria! I loved reading it! 😀

      -Clara ❤

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      1. NO I AM NOT. I mean, Thanksgiving is okay, but SINCE IT’S IN FALL AND AFTER FALL COMES WINTER, NO. NO, MA’AM.
        Ooh, that’s such a lovely photo! I love it. 🙂
        OOOOKKKAAAAYYY I ALREADY LOVE YOUR NOVEL. It’s sounding very nostalgic.
        Oh, yeah…I like history but that wouldn’t be the most enjoyable subject.
        Aha, I see, wow! Heh heh, I bet you did. Yeah, it was, but I’m feeling much more prepared now, for when I get to be a housewife full time 😉
        OH BELIEVE ME I KNOW. I can hardly believe that we met, even after a couple of months. IT WAS SURREAL. AND WONDERFUL. AND YES, YOU NEED TO MEET THEM TOO.
        Ha ha, oh DEAR, Clara! Ha well, was it in tune? I find it super easy – once you just know the chords. nods encouragingly
        NO! Sadly it hasn’t even been started on yet…oh well. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I’m thinking? As long as this warm weather holds on longer – the past few days I have been QUITE ready to jump in a swimming hole, believe me. (And we’re in the mountains! Like 10 degrees cooler than the valleys!)
        What, you didn’t take summer break? CLARRAAA. SERIOUSLY? DEAR DEAR, HOW AWFUL.

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  16. I LOVED THIS POST, CLARA. It was so fun to read about your summer, and the pictures were FABULOUS, as always. 🙂 One of my favorites was actually the flower on the oven/stove. It was so unique and cheerful – it looked like a stock image!
    – EEEP, you won a photography contest? That’s super exciting, dear! I’m so happy for you! And I agree with Sassafras – I’d love to see the picture that won. 😀
    – I cannot WAIT for you to announce your small business. rubs hands It’s such a good idea!
    – Oh dear oh dear, bad Laura. XD I’m so glad your arm wasn’t broken! At least you didn’t step on a pitchfork like Megan did… O.o
    – You saw the Incredibles 2?! I really want to see it, but we haven’t yet. Was it good? (And yeah, I went to a movie theater for the first time last year, I believe. XD An official movie theater, at least.)
    Welp, thanks for the beautiful and entertaining post, dear! ❤ I was so excited to read it. 🙂

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    1. HOORAY! I am so glad you enjoyed it, Allison! 😀 Thank you so much, and wow, really? That’s really interesting that that photo was your favorite – it was actually one of my least favorites! 😛 It’s always so cool to hear how my photos look through someone else’s eyes. 🙂
      YES! Thank you!! Oh, sure! 🙂 Here it is:

      EEP, I can’t wait either! 😀
      Indeed. XD Goodness, yes, I’m certainly glad that didn’t happen. O_o
      Yes!! It was actually really good – we all loved it, even my parents! I thought it was very funny and well done. 🙂
      You’re welcome, and thank YOU for the lovely comment! ❤

      -Clara ❤

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      1. You’re so welcome, dear! Ha ha, really? It IS interesting!
        OOH, that picture is wonderful, dear! I love it!
        😀 😀
        Hoorayyyy, I’m so glad you liked the movie. I’ll bet we will too. 🙂
        Sure thing, dear!

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  17. Why do I feel like I just posted a comment on your end-of-summer post? Was that a year ago already?? Whaaa?!
    Anyway, sounds like you had a super exciting and eventful summer. (tbh I can’t wait to get my braces off!! :p)

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    1. I KNOW! I feel like I was just writing it. O_o Where has the time gone??
      I did have a pretty exciting summer! 🙂 Ooh, that’s awesome – how much longer until you get them off? 😀

      -Clara ❤

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  18. Sounds like you had a pretty productive summer! I’m so happy for you that you won a photography contest and a reading contest!
    I’m super interested in this business that you started. I’m thinking about starting a business, but what is all involved?

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    1. Yeah, I think I did! 🙂 Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
      Hmm, well, that’s kind of a hard question to answer, because I’m still figuring that out myself! However, something that I know is important is having a good website + social media to promote your business. You can find a lot of great tips online if you search something like “tips for starting a business”. 🙂

      -Clara ❤

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  19. sounds like an amazing summer, clara!! ☀ congrats on winning a photography contest, you obviously deserve it 🤗 your aesthetic is beautiful

    oh my gosh you figured out the peg game?? that thing is insane, i can’t figure it out at all 😛

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  20. I loved this post so much!! It definitely sounds like your summer was filled with fun and amazing adventures! But congratulations on keeping the succulent alive, haha!! I could never do that, I don’t have much of a green thumb, so to me that’s huge!!

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