boone and stephe

Since this is the third post about last weekend, its safe to assume we had a good one. It was a weekend full of seeing friends who have been out of the state for the whole summer, including Sarah and Daley at Heather's house, and then Jason and Stephen came to stay with us Sunday night!!! Now, Kaelyn is next on the list. I need to see you!!

Jason and Stephen - my graduation

They got to our house early afternoon and we just talked and ate orange rolls for a long while about everything they and we did this summer. They did a lot. They were in Johannesburg, Egypt, Lebanon, and Kenya. I might be missing something but are you impressed yet? Their dream is to do some sort of ministry in a third world country, probably through establishing an adventure camp, someday and this trip was kind of a "training"... kind of. They did sports ministry for about 6 weeks in Jo-berg (yes, they went to several World Cup games) and then went to a month long (I think) seminar in Egypt to learn sports ministry. They already are very involved in it here in the States, working at T Bar M camp and playing soccer with refugees in Abilene weekly. Anyway, needless to say I am very proud of them and can't wait to send my kids to work at their camp in South America someday. Or Africa. Or India. No, probably not India.. Then they topped it off with hanging out with Andrew Conway's family and seeing what they do for their ministry they have there and then climbing Mt. Kenya with Andrew, Kaelyn, and Daley. Jealous.

Then Kanyon and Zeb and I all took them out to show them Kanyon's fields. Kanyon even got some free labor out of them at one point. I just played with the puppy. Duh. I'm not working on the weekend.

That night, we decided to hurt treat them with Chihuahuas from the Sky Vue Drive-In! They are a special Mexican sandwich that I may not describe to you until you come out to try them yourself lest you write them off immediately. We stayed to watch The Expendables. Do yourself a favor and just watch Oceans 11 again. Its basically the same storyline but much better. Sylvester Stallone is looking old.

When we got home, it was 10:30 and Kanyon and I were feeling young again so we stayed up late! We took the fire pit out and sat around it for a while before I finally went to bed at a whopping 11:30 on a work night.. I don't even know when they finally went inside. But they got up the next morning after I left for work and had to go home. Hopefully Kanyon convinced them enough that they should come work for him for a couple months during harvest! That'd be awesome!! I'll make you all the orange rolls you want, Stephen.

Happy birthday, Heather!

Friday was one of my best friend, Heather's, 22nd birthday!

Heather and I did Young Life together. When she was assigned to Wylie HS, I was team leader at the time, and felt like God was leading me to her. I knew that I needed one of the new girl leaders to come help me be a leader to my group of girls because I was graduating early and wanted to leave them with a great leader. Well, God delivered big time. Not only did Heather click so well with my girls, she clicked with several girls that I hadn't ever been able to get to hang out with me (ha)! We became a team right off the bat and she was leading so many girls to God so well. A lot of our girls graduated last May and started college last week and a lot of leaders take that chance to back away from Young Life but Heather is still in it full force, making friends with girls left and right. I am very proud of her.

But even outside of Young Life, Heather is such a great friend. I can literally tell her anything about me or what I'm thinking and she will understand. And she is hysterical. I laugh pretty much constantly when I'm with her if we're not having a serious conversation. She spent a lot of this summer in Africa so we didn't see her for a while (we being Kanyon and I) but a couple weeks ago, she came to see us!! We ate dinner and did nothing but talk and hang out. I loved it. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you happy birthday, Heather, and tell you that you are loved!

On Saturday, I drove to Midland (where she's from) because she and a bunch of my college friends came to stay with her family for her birthday. A couple of those friends, Daley and Sarah, I had not seen all summer because they were in Kenya and Colorado! It was so awesome. I finally got to meet Heather's family and I plan on being back because her mom makes great breakfast casserole. And I was greeted by a huge mustang mascot when I walked in the door. Kinda shocking. Oh, AND I got to go to a health food store and buy terra chips! They don't sell those within 60 miles of Welch!

goin' to the ropin'

Friday afternoon, Kanyon called me while I was at work and asked if I wanted to go to Lubbock that night. YES! (It usually means we get to eat out.)

He told me Landon had called and said he was going to enter into a ropin' (you can't say roping, it just sounds weird) and Kanyon jumped on that, too.

Kanyon and Landon have been ropin for years but I have only seen them do it once before and not at an actual ropin' event.

It was a lot different than I expected. I kind of expected more of a rodeo scene, but maybe it was more like that earlier on in the night considering I didn't get there until about 9:30 because Kanyon was in the second group to go and they started around then. There were more people in the arena than watching, which is the opposite of what I was expecting. The arena was FULL on cowboys on horseback while an announcer would call two names, the two guys would ride up, they'd let the calf go, the men would rope it, and then it would start over. And over. And over.

I know this doesn't look like a lot of guys but this was the second round of the second group so a lot of guys were done at this point.

I got to sit in the box up top because an awesome surprise was that one of our really good friends Ashley (Adamson) Martin was workin the thing! Her husband was the one who supplied the calves so I got to go up and sit with her and chat while I watched and probably distracted her from doing her job more than I should have.. Ashley is a few years older than me and I met her at Summer Excitement (the camp where K and I met) when I was little. She was one of those awesome beautiful girls that all the other girls wanted to be best friends with. She still is, of course :) But we had one (very important to me) thing in common.. Young Life! She was involved in it too! Anyways.. moral of the story - I love her and was so glad to see her.

The ropin ended long after we left at 10:45 and we were pooped but now I'm a little bit more country having been to a ropin'.

sunflowers

A few weeks ago, I was on my way to work leaving Welch and turn to my right and this is what I see:

 What! Where did yall come from!?

I have been (rightfully) accused before of being the most non-observant person ever before.. I have gotten better but in the beginning of our relationship, Kanyon would wait all day for me to notice and say something about his haircut or his new hat.. It never came. At the end of the day, he'd have to finally tell me he got one.

I'm much better at it now .. but seriously.. how long have I been driving by a huge beautiful field of sunflowers and didn't notice them!?

I'm pretty sure that they must have just bloomed about the time I finally noticed them. I've been meaning to take a picture of them for a while now but I'm almost always caught without my battery or my memory card. Or both. But not yesterday!

The poor girls are a little windblown but they sure can make even the most non-morning-person (me) have a good start to the day.

hump day

I'm raising him to love Chacos.

It's a Wednesday. Nothing spectacular has happened since my last post. So I'm going to give you a good laugh.. I found this on my friend Shelbi's blog and had to share. Hilarious!

Random Thoughts for the Day:

(Author unknown)

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection....again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? ) but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day " Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

oklahoma weekend

*Note to self - it does NOT take only 4.5 hours, as previously thought, to get to Oklahoma City.

Now that I've forgiven myself for that.. I can tell you with little bitterness that it actually takes 7 hours.

Moving on.

Kanyon and I took a much needed (for me) trip to see my family in Edmond (outside of OKC), OK, where I am originally from. (Sorry, Kanyon, for admitting to the world that I was not actually born in Texas.)

Both my parents grew up going to rival high schools in OKC, which means both sides of my family are all from there as well! We went up to see my grandmother primarily because I am ashamed to say it has been probably a year and a half since I've seen her. She is 92 years old, although with not one grey hair! She is living in a nursing home which has been caring for her for a while now because she has dementia. She is an extremely sweet woman (unlike other residents who scream at me to get them cream and sugar) and has the most beautiful name - LoRee. Not exactly how you would say Lori but Lo-Ree. I am fortunate enough to wear hear beautiful engagement ring. Kanyon took the original ruby from it (after asking of course) and redesigned the band and added a little more bling :) He might could be a jewelry designer?

I just realized I don't have a picture of what it looks like with the wedding band we had sautered to it, but just imagine a band with little diamonds all the way around that fits perfectly to it. Yes, the diamond in the ruby was original with Grandma's ring - I get asked that a lot.

Anyway - we got to go see her for a little bit, talk to her about what I've been up to and she also made sure that I don't have to pick the cotton for Kanyon "because I had to do that for daddy and I hated it!". I assured her he didn't make me.

Since we were only there for basically Saturday, we didn't get to see a lot of people that I'd like to see but maybe once I earn some more time off I will. So if you live in OKC and you are thinking that I am so rude for not calling you.. I'm really sorry! 

On Saturday, we woke up at my cousin Emily's house after not getting there until 12:45 am the night before and headed over to my Aunt Jenny's for the day. We laid around the pool all day and had a cook out for dinner. Some more cousins came over and brought their babies who I had to reacquaint myself with since it'd been so long since I've seen them! It was so good to see Amy and Briana and Brent and their kids. Just please look at this:

You better believe she was in my arms when they weren't burning from holding her so long or Kanyon didn't steal her from me. She is an exact replica of her mommy.

On Sunday, sadly, we had to leave after grabbing breakfast with family friends, Brent and Valerie, and mom, and then head out of town because - again - the trip was 7 hours. Not 4.5. It was a great trip!

And maybe some of you are wondering where Zeb was during all of this? He got to stay with our good friends, Kasha and Al Crisp. You've seen their baby, Tac, on my blog. Well.. turns out Zeb loves baby toys.. more specifically pacifiers!

He really is just a big baby. He got to play with Tac all weekend and run up and down the stream that they have built in their backyard. So don't feel sorry for him being left behind :)

"hey there.."

*wink*

Zeb's a flirter.

 

gallery wrap

Some of yall that have been to my house have seen Kanyon and I's Gallery Wrap picture on the wall at our house of one of our engagement pictures on the hay stack.. It is beautiful and I have been asked several times where I got it.

Well I wanted to share with you where I got it because they are having a special today and tomorrow on Gallery Wraps! Here is the ad:

Gallery Wraps are by MPix (and several other companies). They take your picture that you have on your computer and they place it on a canvas, where the sides 'wrap around' (hence the name) the edges. They are beautiful.

This is how we displayed our's.

To make one (or to even play around with it and preview some of your picture on a gallery wrap) go to the Mpix website and click 'Get Started' to create an account. After that you'll upload your picture by 'Create An Album' and then click on Specialty Products. They sell lots of cool stuff. I love Mpix Gallery Wraps because they come out very high quality and they are so affordable compared to other companies.

I'm thinking about making a Gallery Wrap of this picture I took in Israel two years ago:

There's my tip for today!

the weekend

This weekend was the first weekend in a while that Kanyon and I got the chance to just be at home on a Saturday afternoon and night.. It was wonderful. Although Kanyon did have to make 4 trips to check his water 10 miles away. Two of which Zeb and I went with him so don't feel too bad for him. Anyways..

On Friday, we went to Lubbock for the Quaker Avenue Church of Christ Homecoming. Quaker Ave hosted Summer Excitement (the camp Kanyon and I grew up going to) all these years and a lot of the people there are our very good friends and even some family. Kanyon's dad used to sing in a quartet called New Creation for 17 years and many of the members of the quartet go to that church. So at the Homecoming, New Creation got back together to sing again. It was amazing to me to hear my father in law sing so beautifully. Of course, I've heard him sing sitting next to him in church but never like this.

That's him in the middle.

On Saturday, Kanyon had to work in the morning but we got to do some postponed house projects -- he put this star up that we got in Fredericksburg in the beginning of June.

See it? :)

And we also finally put up the roman shade and a curtain up on the window above the sink that was delivered a good three weeks ago. And then reaching even further back.. Vaughn and I got these rustic little decorations for the blank spaces next to the oven and under the sink probably about SIX months ago.. and we just now put them up.

You can't see the roman shade that well because you can see through it but its natural color bamboo shades. The curtain is brown and white paisley.

The curtains I ordered for the other two large windows in the kitchen match this small curtain.

I also realized that I haven't put up a recent picture of Zeb in a while! He has probably doubled in size since we got him about 4 weeks ago. 

This is where he usually is - in Kanyon's truck "working"

His little porch where he sleeps. He's looking so old!

Hope yall had a good weekend!

"No, Geb!"

(Let the records show I tried to load this yesterday and it was still loading when I left from work!)

Jada and Nick (who have been in Russia to lead a marriage seminar for a church there) left their kids here with Nana and Papa (Vaughn and Kalith) for a whole 10 days! It was a lot of fun to see the kids a lot even though I didn't get to see them as much as I wanted.. I had a trip scheduled to Colorado and I ended up sick with a fever last week and then work as usual all kept me away. But the time I did get to spend was a lot of fun!

Emry loved Zeb. She called him "Geb" and squealed everytime she saw him.

I won't mention that she would scream "E-ka" and run to me everytime I walked in because I don't want to brag.

Here is a video of Emry with "Geb". You'll hear her squeal in the beginning and later reprimand him for wanting to play too rough :)

I already miss them! It was a lot of fun with them staying. Of course, I didn't have to give the baths or feed them or put them to bed.. I just got to be the fun aunt who brought the puppy.

In other news, Mom and I are planning a weekend just for the two of us in September! We are planning on spending it in Cloudcroft, NM - mostly at the spa. I'm so excited... I need a massage right now.

Also.. "Geb" turns 9 weeks tomorrow and he is house trained as far as we can tell! He's not inside much because he's out in the field all day with Kanyon and then he sleeps and eats outside so he only comes in when we are just wanting to play with him and only in the kitchen or living room.. no carpet and no furniture. He's a good pup and very loved.

Last weekend was a lot of fun! A couple of my Young Life girls called me last week and said "Can we come visit you this weekend?" YES!

 Me and the girls at their last Winter Formal

Peyton and Madi are about to leave, or actually move across town, to college. They just graduated and will start at ACU in a couple weeks. I'm so jealous.. I mean, excited for them!! I loved college.

I didn't get any pictures though, because, honestly.. we were lazy. I think we watched three CSI episodes in a row on Saturday. But we did make pizzas Friday night and then Sat afternoon, we went and checked water with Kanyon. Before they left, Kanyon and I decided they couldn't leave Welch without driving a tractor.. so they did. I wish I had grabbed my camera before we left!! They left Saturday around 5:00pm.

Then that night was the last night of the Lamesa Rodeo! Kanyon and I went to Lamesa for dinner at Savannah's and then headed over there. It was a lot of fun. A lot of our friends were there and I was running around sitting with different people the whole time. Its pretty fun going to a local rodeo.

It was way past Emry's bedtime at this point..

But she did manage to take a good picture of Kanyon! Pretty good for a 2 year old!

Kanyon with his cousin Laurel's daughter Adyson (sorry if thats spelled wrong..) and his niece Emry.

Even though she was tired, Emry and I had a lot of fun cheering for the "horsies" :)

Then Cole and our friend Kenli came and had dinner with us on their way home from a summer in Colorado Sunday night! It was a great weekend. Hope your's was great too!

our farm dog

"This is serious farm business, Mom."

We had company last weekend so we all tagged along with Kanyon and Zeb to check water so they could see the cotton.

I was amazed at the difference between Zeb in the pickup three weeks ago to the Zeb I met a couple days ago. A few weeks ago, he was freaked out by the diesel engine and the moving and shaking down the dirt roads. Now he is aaaall seriousness! I guess spending the last three weeks on the farm with Kanyon has given him purpose!

At home just five minutes before, he was a rowdy puppy and then -bam- it hits him as soon as he gets in the truck and no more playtime. He sits on that console as if its his throne.

It was hilarious. He's still definitely a puppy, though, because near the end of the trip, he got too sleepy to be serious and fell off the console and landed like this -- and stayed like that the rest of the time. You're gonna have to excuse the poor photo... I cut off his head cause I took it from above lol.

thoughts

I'm thinking about a lot of things this morning.. So I'm probably just going to ramble in hopes that some of yall may comment and respond to these ramblings.

For some reason, I have always felt that greenery in a house was really not my thing so I have tended to steer clear of the whole business and not even put fake flowers in the house. I have been thinking lately that this is silly. Because there are some really cool flower arrangements out there. Example:

(borrowed from The Magic Brush Inc blog)

I don't even know if Hobby Lobby has funky stuff like this.. I'm totally un-schooled in this but I'm gonna check it out.

I am also trying to figure out a schedule for myself to get on top of my homework. "What homework" you ask? Well.. I started really missing school being at work because both Chris and Harris are working on higher degrees right now. All their talks about writing essays about this and projects about that got me wishing I was back in school. So I enrolled to start taking online courses at the Bible Institute that Dad and I took a class at when I was in high school! I'm excited to be learning again about my favorite subject. I'm taking Genesis right now. They offer so many classes online and I decided I'm gonna take all of them! Or maybe just pick and choose what I want to take. And since its all at my own pace.. I'm takin my sweet time. If you are interested, the classes are FREE and they are very high quality. I grew up going to church with school's former president and then ended up marrying his great nephew :) Then his son, Kanyon's uncle, took over. They are both brilliant men and have made all the course materials. You will learn so much in just one lesson. The website is www.shbi.org. (South Houston Bible Institute)

(I am not getting paid for that advertisement.. although I wouldn't mind, Uncle Kirk... PO Box 15)

Denver

Last weekend, Lauren and I flew to Denver to go see Cole and visit our friends at Young Life camp.

The good news: It was a GREAT weekend.
The bad news: I left my camera battery on the charger.

So if you're one of those people that don't really like a blog post if there are no pictures.. sorry, dude. Jackie did get a picture of us at camp though so I have a few that I stole off her facebook!

Lauren and I landed in Denver at 2:30pm, where Cole (bro) and our friend Kenli (also working in Denver this summer) picked us up. We went straight to CROOKED CREEK RANCH!!

Let me explain to you why I love CCR. First, I was a baby freshman camper there 8 years ago. I fell in love with Young Life there and it has been a great relationship ever since. Four summers later, I worked there for an amazing month. The same month that Kanyon and I started our long distance relationship, where he sent me a love package and made the other girls on Work Crew squeal. So this place is very special to me, needless to say. Also, Cole has been a camper there (I think) three times and Mom and Dad have been Adult Guests and Hosts there a couple times. My family <3 CCR.

I haven't been able to be back since then, since I've worked at some other YL properties and took my Young Life girls to a different camp. But we reunited at last last weekend!

(This picture is kind of embarrassing but I feel its necessary to show our excitement.)

We happened to get there on Banquet Night which means steak dinner with big cookie for dessert. You have not lived until you have this meal. I hung with my girls for a couple hours and toured the new stuff before going to Club that night and got to dance with my girls before hearing a great talk about Jesus. And then the time came where we needed to head home because it was an hour and a half back to Denver. We said goodbye to some great friends who are leaders that I haven't seen in a couple months and headed out for a (nauseating) drive back down the mountain.

Miss yall so much!!

Warning: no more pictures.. sorry.

On Saturday, Cole, Lauren, and I woke up and went to Panera for breakfast before she headed to Littleton to see our good friend Sara Snelson. Cole and I hung out all afternoon, hitting up REI.. twice, walking around 16th Street Outdoor Mall, going to (I think) two more sandwich places because I miss gourmet sandwiches out in Welch, hanging out with the homeless people he works with for Dry Bones (I'm pretty sure I had a sore throat Mon due to the amount of hands I shook that day), and just plain ol' good talkin.

Cole is seriously my FAVORITE kid in the whole world. (Landon is also. I don't have to have one favorite.) He has grown up so much in the last 3 months. He even looks older. I'm just so stinkin proud of him. He's hilarious, caring, incredibly genuine, so fun, and a lover of Jesus. Yes, I wish he would wash his bed sheets a little more often but in the things that count, I wouldn't change a thing. Mom has always said he has had a huge heart from the time he was in pre-school, defending the nerdy kid getting picked on. And its shown true that he still has it as he hangs out with people on the streets who get looked past everyday. But not by Cole. As we walked down the street downtown, he pointed out several homeless people to me that he knew and told me some of their stories. AND thats not even his job to know them. He is a mountain intern, which means he's not required to go to the events with the homeless people on the weekends.

I can say that I'm selfishly thrilled that he has become so mountain trek-savvy. Cause now when he lives there later (his plan), I'm totally hitting up the trek guide we'll have in the family. I can't wait to go backpacking again! And I even asked him if I could send my future kids to Uncle Cole's house to go backpacking for a couple weeks. We all know those kids will love some Colorado time since Welch has zilch mountains. Not even hills. Plus I'll have somewhere to wear my Chacos.

Seriously, it was a great weekend. I got great time with Lauren, got to see my girls at CCR, and spent very quality time with my brother in the city that he has come to love. I'll end with this:

Love you Jackie!!

p.s. why didn't you bring Cooper?!?