A Little Catch Up

Can anybody tell me WHERE the month of June has gone?  Really.  I just told someone tonight that June was so packed full of stuff that I feel like it should be the end of summer already.  But we still have two months to go!  I think that's a good thing. 

Last weekend I was back in Athens again (for the second time this month).  I'm not complaining though.  I love me some quality Alabama time.  There were 3 girls getting baptized.  Baptisms are few and far between there so to have three on the same weekend was awesome.  I carried my camera around the whole weekend but only took one picture.  Saturday afternoon a few of us went to my favorite little ice cream stand for a treat.  It was a quick trip, but good and refreshing nonetheless.

My niece is turning 4!  That one is hard to believe.  Friday night was her birthday party and they had a cowgirl theme.  I just happened to find this hideous dress tucked away in my closet a couple months ago.  I bought it more than ten years ago on a vacation in Phoenix and had all but forgotten about it.  But when I pulled it out I knew it would come in handy eventually!  A quick shot of me and the little cowgirl before the festivities begin:

The food was A-maze-ing and the decorations were so cute!  My favorites were all the Wanted posters.  Everybody that came had one.

One of the games we played tested our skills with a six shooter.  When it was my dad's turn, Laney (who looooooooves her "pampaw") came over to take a turn too!

Haley got a kitty for her birthday!  Kudos to her mom who apparently can't hardly stand them:)  But kitties are some of Haley's absolute favorites.  She was pretty excited!

We ended the party with "the aunts" picture.  Our original plan was to get one of these every year.  Same lineup each year.  So far we've only gotten newborn, 1st birthday and 4th birthday.  Pretty soon Haley's going to have to stand instead of being held:(

It was nice to just be home this weekend.  I did have plans to go out of town again but becuase of the birthday party and because I'm just plain tired of going, I stayed home.  And it was good.  I'm leaving for vacation on Wednesday so if I don't post until I get home... so long!

New Tricks

Who's The King Of The Jungle?

Hoo! Hoo!

Girls Camp 2012!

Well it's late and I'm tired but I really wanted to write about girls camp quick before I went to sleep.  As usual, it was great:)  I absolutely LOVED my girls this year!!!  They were so cool!  And I'm not just saying that because I think they might be reading this;)  I really did love my cabin.  There was a lot of maturity in the group.  The more outgoing ones were really good about including the quieter ones.  Everybody got along and we all enjoyed just sitting and talking with each other.  Throw in a few ditzy moments and we had ourselves some great laughs too!

Sorry girls, I put the "looking into the sunshine and squinting" picture up.  Just because it's the best close up I got of all your beautiful faces.  Here they are- the Serving Stars cabin with representation from Gridley, Roanoke, Bluffton, Detroit, Atlanta, Princeville, Washington, Leo and Peoria.

For our skit we did a modern day Good Samaritan story where all my old bridesmaid dresses came in really handy.  (Along with a couple thrown in from my co-counselor)  Don't we look B-E-A-Utiful?!?!

Well, maybe later I'll post more.  But I just wanted to talk up my girls real quick!

Cruisin'

I don't know about all you other small town folk, but in mine we have an official "cruise route".  Yup, we're that cool.  Pretty much it's the route all the high schoolers drive when they're out cruising in their cars.  Although I don't think there's near as much cruising going on these days as there has been in years past.

Sidenote: When I turned 16, gas was $0.87 a gallon.  *insert big sigh here*

So, due to gas no longer being 87 cents per gallon, kids find other sources of entertainment besides cruising.  But the other night after a birthday party, I had the job of taking my aunt and cousin home.  We weren't quite ready for the night to end.  Someone- I don't even really remember who- suggested taking a lap on the cruise route.  You know, for old time's sake.  So we did.  Rolled down the windows and turned up the music and everything!  The music selection was Selah- a bit different from the drums and guitars we heard booming from the speakers back in yesteryear:)  And since we were doing something so cool, we had to stop and take a picture.  So here we are, showing off our coolness as we take a lap on the cruise route!

Don't you aspire to be like us?

Refreshed

Over the weekend I went down to Alabama for the Athens/Atlanta VBS.  I was living there for the first two they did together and it was a highlight of my year both times.  They didn't have one last year because of tornado cleanup.  I was down there in January when they were starting to plan and after clearing my throat loudly and smiling sweetly I was extended an invitaion:)

The first order of business was to spend some time with Devin.  I hadn't seen him since January.  We did our usual lunch and putt-putt date, then we made cookies that I took to VBS.  I gave him some too of course.

Friday night as usual was getting settled and rekindling old friendships.  And playing euchre until 1:15 in the morning.  Saturday morning we had the group talk.  Our theme was The Solid Rock.  The group activity was to build a city with paper, toothpicks, popsicle sticks and tape.

Once our cities were built, we took turns being the "storms of life" to the other team's cities.  We tried knocking them down by blowing q-tips through straws.  There was only one team whose city really stood the test.  Not only did they have a firm foundation (the rest of us did, too) but all their buildings were banded together with popsicle sticks.  Thus creating another spiritual analogy of unity in the body of Christ.

Then we split up and the adults had discussion time and the kids had their lesson time.  I got to teach the younger kids.  We had 13 kids ranging from the youngest cutie patooties to the 10-11 year olds. 

It was a fun lesson to do, complete with a demonstration of a house on a rock vs a house on sand and what happens when the rains come.  Or in this case- a pitcher of water.  We also had the inevitable discussion of "Sarah, how old are you? 29?  Almost 30?  And you're not married?!?!?!?!"  Which led to the boy on the left offer to play matchmaker.  How thoughful of him:)  They were a great group of kids.

After lunch was the much anticipated lake time!  I have yet to do the giant iceberg.  It's so high and steep!  After the fact there was just the slightest twinge of regret for not bucking up and doing it.  Maybe next year I'll conquer my fears!  I did do the slide though so it wasn't a complete loss.  The blob as usual was a big hit for the kids.

After swimming we did a group "build-a-boat" project.  We were divided into teams again and each team was given a pile of junk to build a boat with.  This is an activity set up by the camp we go to.  They said that roughly only 10% of boats actually float.  So we were pretty excited when all five teams were successful. 

Each boat was put to the test then.  My little matchmaker was on my team and since he was the smallest one he was dubbed captain of the "Cuban Cruiseship".  We had a race, too, against all the other teams.  I feel no need to mention the fact that our team came in 5th place.....

Saturday night we played volleyball and putt-putt, shared testimonies, ate lots of snacks, played more euchre and enjoyed more sweet fellowship which resulted in a 2:15 bedtime.  Needless to say, the 10.5 hour drive home was looooonnnnng and tiring.  And Monday morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

And then throw in one more picture of me and Bekah.  I wish I would have taken a few more people pictures but that's okay.  Most of you probably don't know them anyway and I know what they look like I guess:)

Even though the nights were short and the roads were long, it was so worth it.  I definitely came back feeling refreshed inside.  Got my calendar marked for next year!