Random

Random #1

Earlier this week I had a great responsibility.  I was elected to babysit my niece's cat, Bella.  Now, generally I'm not a huge cat fan.  But Bella is still in her cute little kitty stage so all was well.  There was one night though where she escaped to her hiding spot underneath a giant pine tree.  I spent about five minutes on my knees saying "heeeeerreeee kitty kitty kitty" until I thought to bring her food bowl over to the place she was hiding.  Sure enough, she couldn't resist and within about 20 seconds I had her safely back in my hands.  I think I'll be re-elected for the job again in a few weeks when they go visit family in Michigan.  I gotta admit, she is kinda cute...

Random #2

Tuesday night I got home from work to find my dad taking a nap.  In the kitchen.  The carpet had gotten a good shampoo that morning so everything was misplaced.  It was funny though to see him sleeping there:)

Have a great day!

The Bruise

 Out in Denver, my cousin decided to punch me one night.  Hard.  Out of the blue.  Just for the fun of it.  I guess he was reverting back to the days of being a pesky younger brother?  Not really sure.  But it hurt. 

At first I was a little dissapointed at how little of a battle wound I had from the incident.  Just a very light bruse.

But things progressed nicely.

Pretty soon it was big and ugly and everyone was asking about it.  I even had a client who was concerned I was in an abusive relationship and wondered if she should call a hotline for me.

It's healing slowly, but over two weeks later, I still have a good story to tell!

Escape to Denver

Going to the Aquarium with Jared:

Otters

       Cute lil seahorse

Big ol fish.  Glub glub.

Mermaids are real!

Shark tank- I think it was my favorite exhibit.

Cool jellyfish

Me and Jared standing in front of a huge shark jaw that you can't see because the photographer was way to close.

Out for ice cream and/or supper after church.

Next up... The Science and Nature Museum with Boni, Mike, David and Jared:

Smiling for the camera!

 The Geico gecko

 Trying to lift a (fake) anaconda.  That thing was HEAVY!  The heaviest one on record is 232 lbs.  Now that's a big snake!

 Mike and Dave ready to watch the 3-D IMAX:)

Then, checking out a little place with Boni demonstrating life on the prairie:

 We loved the little school house!

 Wearing the dunce cap:(

More friends:)

These got out of order.  The teepee's were at that prairie place, too.

 Using a yoke to carry water buckets.

 A good time was had by all!  I'm so grateful to Ed and Boni (my uncle and aunt) for their hospitality.  I love to visit them!

Celebrating Independence

Some nights I just LOVE Roanoke.  Tonight was one of those nights.  Strolling the Cruise-In on Main Street, seeing lots of people we know, getting ice cream, watching fireworks.... gotta love that small town goodness:)

Enjoying the company of good friends-

Watching fireworks with sheer amazment-

Or a little apprehension at first!

I was always the apprehensive child.  I wanted to see the fireworks but I HATED the loud boom they made!  You could usually find me sitting in the car, peeking out the rolled up windows with my fingers in my ears.  Now I love the boom!  Happy 4th everyone!  Enjoy celebrating your freedoms!

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!