First Piano Recital

Yesterday my daughter had her very first piano recital. She did such a great job and really handled being nervous like a pro. The recital was at the Hearthstone which is an assisted living facility. There were quite a few kids that played and everyone did a great job. The kids were encouraged to dress up so she went as Sharpey from High School Musical. I am thankful that she enjoys piano and I really hope that she sticks with it. She played a piece titled "Hopscotch Halloween".

Weekend Getaway and 3 Goals!!

This past weekend, Dan and I were able to attend a conference in Idaho. I have to admit that it was not quite what I had expected, but never the less, it was still very informative. The conference was entitled "Strategic Perspectives Conference: Intel, Insight and Inspiration". It was hosted by the Koinonia House and we were able to see one of our favorite speakers Chuck Missler. We have been listening to his material for quite a few years now and find most of it very fascinating. We listened to people speak on quite a few different subjects, and all of them were extremely passionate about what they spoke on. My personal favorite speaker at the conference was a pastor from California named Steve Berger. He spoke about the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation. It was such a great message because they were a church that had it all. They were doctrinally sound, morally upright, and were doing great works of service. Sounds like a perfect church, until you see the the grievance that God has against them. They had left their first Love! It was a sobering reminder that you may think that you have it all together spiritually because of what you "look" like, but really matters is your heart! I loved hearing that message. I have never ever thought that I had it all together spiritually, but I often times forget about the heart issue of loving God first because He first loved us! What a great truth.
So, after all was said and done, we both walked away very challenged to seek out answers scripturally as to what was said, especially with the last speaker, who was actually an ex PLO terrorist and had his own personal security guard with him. He was very interesting to listen to.

Our kiddos had a great weekend as well. They stayed with a couple of our good friends ( Thanks again Liz and Pam!). My daughter had her last soccer game of the year, and I was so bummed that I missed it. She scored 3 goals!!!! I was so proud of her!
It's good to be home and getting back to a normal routine again. (Is there really such a thing?)

Tagged....Twice!

I was tagged by my good friend Autumn and then by another good friend Alisa!

Autumn's tag was to post the 4th picture of my 4th folder... and here it is. Renee is about 3 years old and riding Dr. Pepper with Grandpa Jerry leading. This picture was taken in Pony, MT on a beautiful winter day.

Alisa's and Jessica's tag was to post the 6th picture of the 6th folder ... and here it is. This picture was taken 2 summers ago at the end of the year gymnastics party at one of the owners home. The kids are 3 and 6 and are riding our horse True Grit. I think it is especially funny that my daughter is wearing her swimsuit with her healey tennis shoes on and also riding a horse in the same saddle as her brother!

Must be a horse theme or something?

O.K., I tag everyone who is reading this, but specifically I tag Kelly, Erin, Beth, Caryn, and Michele. Have fun ladies!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

At 1:00pm eight years ago today, God gave me the most precious gift, a baby girl! I remember that previous night and morning very well, but the rest of the day, after 1:00 is mostly a blur of amazement and wonder. I still stand in amazement and wonder with this wonderful gift from God.

OK, So I got this idea from another blog and I thought it would be fun to do. Since she turns 8 years old today, I want to list my 8 favorite things about her:

1. I love her kind and generous spirit.

2. She makes good choices when faced with difficult decisions

3. I love her beautiful eyes and hair.

4. Her smile and laugh are wonderful!

5. I love her sensitive spirit.

6. She has great fashion sense!

7. I love that she delights in friendships and family.

8. And most importantly, I love that she loves and honors Jesus!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday RGO, Happy Birthday to you!
Here is a slide show of her party that we had last Friday night at the bowling alley. It was a blast!

The next day her gamma gave her a great present. She opened the bag first, to find one of her own shoes! This was rather perplexing to her until she read the card. The card said that her birthday present was a shoe shopping spree! A little background on that.... A couple of months ago my daughter had a dream and she came running into my room the next morning to tell me about it. She said, "Mom! I had the best dream! I dreamt that we were rich!" and I said, "How did you know we were rich?" and she said "Because I had lots of shoes, just like gamma!". Thus, the shoe shopping spree.

We all drove to Tri Cities that day and she picked out 2 pairs of boots (really cute ones!) and a pair of converse tennis shoes.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I LOVE YOU!! XXXOOO

Lowe's!

For the past 6 months we have been eagerly awaiting the grand opening of our new Lowe's store. We drive right past it every day on the way to and from school, so we were able to track it's progress. A couple of weeks ago, a much anticipated postcard arrived announcing the grand opening and my kids (husband included) were so excited. So, needless to say they were there on the opening night and came home with a great stash of goodies.

Bean Boy!

My son LOVES refried beans! What a crazy kid! What a smelly house!

Every time he eats them he sings:

"Beans, Beans, a cowboys fruit.

The more you eat, the more you toot.

The more you toot the better you feel,

So let's have beans for every meal!"

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we loaded up the van and drove to a wonderful country store that was hosting a harvest festival. They had everything from huge hay bale pyramids, to a petting zoo, a corn maze, and best of all about 3 acres of a pumpkin patch. None of us has ever experienced a "real" pumpkin patch and we had a blast! It was so much fun walking through the fields and trying to find the best pumpkin. We even found a bunny rabbit that was trying like crazy to blend in and not be caught. Dan did his best in chasing it down without stepping on any pumpkins, but in the end it disappeared.

I love Fall! It is by far my favorite season. It is interesting how diverse our family is in their favorite seasons. My son loves winter and my husband loves spring. I think that my daughters favorite would be summer, but not the part where it's too hot to be outside. Looks like we are well rounded.