Soccer with S,S, and S

I got to go watch a great soccer game with three of "my girls" playing in it (Sara, Samauree and Savannah)! AND I got to take some fun pictures... how lucky am I?? I liked this in black and white, because then you can't tell so much that Sara and Samauree are on different teams. (They tied, so that was good for me! I can be happy for both teams! :) Oh, and don't those girls look FIERCE? :) (The only bad thing about the black and white is that you can't see Sara's awesome ORANGE socks. I loved them, because it was so easy to find her!)

I'm thinking Samauree may not like this picture, but I think she looks awesome! This, my friends, is putting your whole self into the game!

Savannah and Samauree... running a blue streak. I loved how none of their feet are touching the ground in this picture.

Thanks, girls, for letting me come and watch you play! You are all great soccer players! Sara, sorry I didn't get to take any pictures of you actually BEING the goalie... next time! :)

Cooper's Baptism

Just a reminder for family and friends:

Cooper's baptism will be this Saturday, May 2, at 1:00 p.m.
Let me know if you'll be coming, so I can get food and stuff planned! :)

This is your last chance to attend a baptism of one of our kids! ;)

Our Yard's a'Bloomin'!

I can't believe how fast everything pops out in the spring! We have quite the yard... I think we'd call it the "overgrown half-dead" style of landscaping... we work really hard to accomplish this! ;) Our cute little pear tree has beautiful blossoms right now!

I love these happy yellow flowers... they look soft enough to lay in, but I'm worried I'd smash them and they'd never recover...

I don't really know what this is, but it's old, and it has beautiful colors. That's enough for me to take a picture of it! (This is what I mean about our landscaping... there are a lot of things here and there that might have been here forever, or might just be junk... who knows? ;)

I LOVE apple blossoms! I hope we actually get some apples this year!

Apparently we're pretty good at growing seashells. They are ALL over the place, and the kids have had fun lining them up.

We're also good at growing little teeny tulips. I don't know if they're supposed to be small, or if they're just not getting what they need. (Have you got the idea yet that we have NO clue what we're doing? )

And, the cherry blossoms. I already showed you the apricot blossoms a few posts down. Yes, we have a bazillion fruit trees.

Last, but not least... we are AWESOME at growing these cheery yellow flowers ALL OVER the yard! I see so many sad plain green yards... maybe someday I'll teach them how to give their yard that extra bit of color. ;)

The Sweetest Gift

I am now the proud owner of a handmade rug... and just because I'm lucky enough to be able to teach the Silver Sneakers class at the gym. I am often told by these amazing "older" people how much they enjoy the class, and how much it is helping them with their arthritis/weight/bursitis/bloodpressure/surgery recover/legs/energy/alzheimers... etc. I LOVE that I can do something that is really helping others, and I love getting to know the people in the class. I really love them all!! They are inspiring, funny, and just great people. Anyway, one of the ladies, Barbara, told me she wanted to give me one of her rugs that she makes... and look how beautiful! It's just icing on the cake... I really love my job!!

A Good Reason to Be a Runner...

According to the new Fitness magazine that I got in the mail today....

"Joggers have a 40 percent lower risk of dying than people who don't lace up their sneakers, according to Stanford University researchers."

Oh my... I can't stop giggling. Somebody needs to let them in on the little secret over at Fitness magazine and Stanford University that everybody dies.... I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription.

Hello, Spring!!

It was such a gorgeous day today, and I had to get away from Brandon's swearing as he was putting our kitchen floor in (so kidding... he was actually quite patient, especially since he worked on it for 12 hours straight) soooo... I went outside to take some pictures in our yard. The few brave tulips that decided to come out are already done. Poor little tulips... I wish they stayed around longer!

This one was a fun experiment in manual focus. I like it.

Then... I found this little bee, and spent the rest of my time chasing him around, trying to get him in focus. It's not as easy as you might think. They don't say "busy as a bee" for nothing. ;)

(Click on the picture if you want to see the detail on the bee!)

Okay, I know... enough already. :)

There... the bee is gone. Are you happy now?

Just remember... these blossoms don't last long. Enjoy them while you can! :)

I'm done. For now.

Crazy 8

tagged by Melanie...

EIGHTS

8 things I am looking forward to this Summer.

1. Spending more time outside

2. Making the kids spend more time outside

3. Watching my kids play baseball

4. Making homemade ice cream

5. Camping!!

6. Lazier days

7. Grilling hamburgers and using our gigantic picnic table

8. Our yard being pretty again

8 Things I did Yesterday

1. Slept

2. Watched Jane Eyre

3. Read a magazine

4. Checked the computer

5. Spent some time in the bathroom

6. Whined

7. Talked to Jason and Mom on the phone

8. Went to Rachael's for YW

8 Things I wish I could Do

1. Fix up my house how I want to

2. Travel more

3. Be a better mom

4. Be a famous photographer

5. Play my violin in a real band

6. Go back to school to be a nurse

7. Live closer to family... like next door

8. Live in the country

8 Favorite Shows

1. America's Next Top Model

2. What Not to Wear

3. American Idol

4. Veronica Mars

5. Wings

6. House Hunters

7. Seinfeld

8. Biggest Loser

8 people I tag

1. You

2. You

3. You

4. You

5. You

6. You

7. You

8. You

Weekend Away

We spent the weekend on the farm (Brandon's mom and dad) and it was GREAT!!!! Way too short, as usual, but great! I had to find a picture for the "vintage" challenge over at mission24, so I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the old dump truck. (And trying to find other stuff... this worked out good though.)

I took graduation pictures for Tanner. He's one handsome guy... he looks a lot like his older brother. ;) They would've turned out better if he would've got his lazy bum out of bed at 8:00 a.m. ;)

Oh, the sky. It was beautiful. Just beautiful!

Cooper lost ANOTHER tooth, and had fun with his skateboard. (No, he didn't lose his tooth riding the skateboard!) I love my little jack-o-lantern!

Lynda had beautiful flowers here and there! So springy and pretty!

Lauritz told me to stop taking pictures of him. I think he should stop doing cool farm things then. ;)

One of my vintage attempts... I love this old chair!

I also had fun chasing the chickens. It seems that nobody likes their picture taken around here! I also took pictures of that awesome barn in the header... I WANT THAT BARN!!

I'm 8!

Cooper turned 8 today!!! AND he lost a tooth last night! He made the sign this morning... cute, eh? Well, we're off to Idaho for the weekend! Yippee!

My Baby

My little baby boy is turning 8 tomorrow. I can't believe how fast he has grown up! He's finally growing taller, and growing out of all of his pants, and he's finally on the verge of losing more than just the bottom two teeth. If I had my way, I'd keep him little for quite a bit longer. In fact, I'd like to go backwards a few years, if I could!

He wanted me to take a picture of "his" building. Cooper is such a great kid. He gets along with other kids well, he's funny, and he's never bored, which I LOVE about him!! I'm so glad that he was able to come to our family, because we really thought #3 would never happen... long story, and boring to most everyone. ;) I'll just say that we feel extra blessed to have Cooper, and I can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday, buddy! :)

Sneaky Peeky

Just a little peek for Kristin... and I've only just begun!

Meet sweet little Quinten Nicholas, born April 3rd. He might possibly be the best baby ever!

That's right, little guy... just a peek!

Sharing... for Sha

Getting Back at Myself

I really wanted to share another picture of my dad, because I think he's super cool. Isn't the shirt awesome?? I love these pictures.

So, in all fairness... I'll share a picture of myself. Obviously we thought this hairdo was particularly great, judging from the pose. Sigh... the 80's.... gotta love it!

Catching Up

You know how it is when you haven't talked to someone in forever, and when you finally do you have a bazillion things to say, and you can't stop talking? This post might kind of be like that. I've been computer-less this last little while, and I've missed sharing stuff. This is just a teeny bit of what I wanted to share... but I have to go to bed sometime! I finally got to see my wonderful friend, Marci's house, and it was everything I hoped for and more! I seriously have not been so inspired in a long time. I only wish I could hang out at Marci's every day for awhile and soak in the feeling.

Marci and her adorable little girl, Peyton. She was so cute, and a little shy... I hope I get to take a lot more pictures of her someday!

Marci had the neatest things everywhere... she has the kind of place that you could look and look, and it always feels fresh and fun.

Her kitchen sink was to die for!!! I love love love it, along with everything else.

And I promised I wouldn't share the pictures I took of her sewing room, but I had to... sorry, Marci! ;) Don't you just want to spend all day in here creating? Ever since I saw it, I keep thinking where on earth I could stash a creating room for me in my house... I've come up with nothing...

I got new shoes. BUT... that's not all. I also got ANOTHER pair of new shoes and a new skirt. I'll have to take pictures of those later. (My mom is amazing... she always finds the best stuff, and I get to be the lucky recipient a lot of the time!)

Melissa, Landon, Josie, Payton, and Haylee came to visit us. It went by SO FAST, and I cried after they left. We had so much fun, and the best thing is that we didn't really do anything. We just were together, and it was the best weekend I've had in a long time. I still get the giggles when I think of little Payton streaking through the living room, pantsless, and waving at me, saying "Hi, Mindy!" I love these kids. Just look at my Haylee! Sigh. I really really tried to get them to leave one of the kids, but it just didn't happen.

Melissa did Josie's and Aubrey's hair the same... they looked so cute!

My mom and Aubrey and I looked through old pictures when I was there. I took pictures of some of them, in hopes of preserving them from fading further. This one was already blurry, so don't blame me! ;) I just loved it... it's me and my dad.

And this picture.... it's legendary. I'm really sorry, Dad. I couldn't help myself.