Princess of Quite A Lot

Tastefully Delicious

I love Tastefully Simple!  They are a company that sells spices, mixes, etc to make your life in the kitchen easier and your food taster yummier.  I usually host one party a year to stock up my cupboards and to help my friends stock up theirs.  I am having a party on Thursday, July 31st at 6:30pm at my house.  I would love for any and all to come.  The night is filled with sampling the different food and learning how to incorporate them into your cooking. 

Let me know if you would like to come and I'll email you my address!

Remembering

I love memories, good and bad.  I have recently become obsessed with Facebook.  It has been great connecting with old friends and seeing what everyone is up to.  One person that I have reconnected with is Don Crosswhite.  He is one of the most talented guys I know.  He is super creative and makes you laugh till you pee your pants.  He has created a great website called Remember Life Center.  It is full of old pictures, bulletins, and more.  I can't wait to see what he will add next.  Thanks Donnie for all the great memories.

How Was Camping?

That is the question I have been asked since we got back from camping on Friday.  I so badly want to say, "Amazing, everything that I needed."  However my answer has been, "Rough".  First, I was sick with stomach issues and a bad cold.  Second, I have a 14 month old that is not quite walking on her own but thinks she is.  Third, the campground was infested with yellow jackets and I got stung for the first time in my life.  My finger swelled up, I couldn't move it for almost 24 hours and it hurt REALLY bad.  Trying to keep Emma, the kids, and the other adults away from the yellow jackets was tough.  Laura, Larry, and Emerson all got stung over the week.  We even resorted to eating in tents one night because they would not leave us or our food alone.  Luckily I bought some traps that helped a bit.

Now to the good things.  Lopez Lake is a great campground.  The weather was perfect.  I love the surrounding cities, Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo, and Pismo.  We had fun visiting all three.  Doc Burnsteins is the cutest ice cream shop I have ever been too.  Emma was great.  Dylan had a fun time.  It was good to escape the reality that was happening back at home.  The company was perfect.  

Even with all the calamity good friends make up for all of it.  Hanging at the campfire, singing songs with the kids, sharing stories, eating smores are memories that will never be forgotten.  Watching the kids all play together like family is priceless.  Seeing all of God's glory around us, deers eating feet away from us, beautiful surroundings, and even the skunks and yellow jackets makes me feel so blessed. 

On Tuesday I said I'd never camp again.  Today I am thinking where will we camp next year. 

   

Loss

I have not experienced a lot of loss over my life.  The hardest of course was when I lost the baby.  I did not go to my first funeral until I was 19.  I have now been to funerals for babies that never got to live a day on this earth, a friend that died of cancer, people I went to church with, a childhood friends dad, and now I will be attending my mother in laws funeral. 

My mother in law passed away this evening after being on life support for a couple of days.  She has been living in great pain for as long as I have known her.  The past year her health has gotten worse.  I am so sad for my father in law, brother in law, extended family and friends and of course for my husband. 

Darrenn loved his mom.  He has lots of stories of how he would drive her crazy, make her laugh, and make her cry.  She also loved him.  She was so proud of him.  She had a poem that he wrote framed in their last house, she would brag about him to anyone who would listen. 

I loved her stories, her generosity, and her love for her friends. Friendships are very important in my life and I loved that she held the same value. 

I know that she is up in heaven, dancing around, pain free.  I look forward to the day I will get to see her in heaven that way. 

Fourth of July Parade

Want to experience a good old fashioned Fourth of July?  Every year my mom and her neighbors host a parade on the fourth.  You come with a decorated mode of transportation, your bike, skateboard, scooter, stroller, wagon, you get the picture.  Line up is at 9:45am and the parade starts at 10am.  You can bring a snack to share after the parade.  Please no pets.  If you would like more information or the address leave a comment with your email (if I don't already have it) and I'll get it to you.  Hope you all have a great Fourth of July!

Great Week!

We just had one of the best Vacation Bible Schools ever!  The volunteers were amazing, the kids had fun, the location was great, and God showed up.  If you have never sent your kids to VBS they are missing out.  I still remember going to a local neighborhood church when I was little.  The memories will never be erased. 

So many pictures were taken but I don't have permission to show everyone's kids on my blog so I will show you a few from families I hope won't mind. 

  

Ready For Some Power?

Tomorrow starts one of my favorite weeks of the year, Vacation Bible School.  Today an amazing group of people showed up and helped us load up trucks and minivans with all the stuff it takes to have an amazing week teaching kids about Jesus.  After lots of sweat, forgotten items, a trip to Target, pipe and drape, beakers, test tubes, tshirts, and more we are almost ready for the kids to show up.  A huge thank you to everyone that came today.  I guess I could have done it without you but VBS wouldn't start for at least another week and it would not have been as much fun doing it alone and it wouldn't look that good either.  So thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You tranformed a boring building into a amazing science lab.  Pray for the volunteers and kids this week.  I am off to work a little bit longer. 

Third Times a Charm

Thanks to an amazing husband and daddy, Darrenn, Emma's blood got drawn successfully.  I was very busy working on Vacation Bible School stuff, which starts Monday, and was stressing about the blood draw.  After a sweet phone call to Darrenn he left work and took Emma to the lab.  He said the technician was sweet, Emma screamed, blood drawn, stickers refused, unless Darrenn gave it to her.  Yea, hopefully by Monday, June 30th we will have some answers.  Please keep Emma in your prayers.

On a side note, thanks Michelle and Jen for all your help today with VBS.  I have never felt so stress less a couple days before the big event!

Fragile Flowers, Poop, and Needles

Some of you might know that I have been referred to as a "fragile flower" by some of the people living in my home.  I have been replaced.  I had a fear that my princess status would be taken over, no, not yet.

Emma has been dealing with sensitive skin issues since birth.  Then came the food sensitivity.  We, the dr. and I, decided no dairy.  Then another doctor decided no more soy.  After months of explosions happening in Emma's diapers I decided to cut out wheat this last weekend.  Explosions in the diapers then got worse and more frequent.  After a call to Auntie Nicol we made ANOTHER doctor appt. 

On Wednesday night as our Life Group arrived I could be found in the bathroom with a tongue depressor in hand, shoveling poop into four plastic containers.  Being the gross person I am, I kind of enjoyed it.

Today I took Emma to have blood drawn.  After a couple of attempts, lots of tears and snot, no blood was taken.  So off we will go tomorrow to another lab hoping and praying that it will be a success. 

Till then...

A Night of Murder and Mystery

Every year at Revolution Church the staff honors the volunteers for all of their hard work over the past year.  We held our annual event on Saturday night at Bethany Church (thanks Bethany)  There is always a theme, yummy food, fun people, and lots of craziness.  This year was no different.  Our staff decided on a 20's themed Murder Mystery Night. 

Evan and Christopher worked very hard at creating characters for the staff and writing an amazing silent movie and planned the details for the murders and mystery that would take place live in front of the volunteers.  I had so much fun preparing for the night.  Dave Gaw filmed all the scenes for the movie, he is so talented.  I forgot how much I love to act.  I was cast as the diva, some say it was type casting. 

I hope all of our volunteers enjoyed the evening.  We will never be able to thank them appropriately for all that they do but hopefully they had a good time.  Here is some of what our volunteers saw.  The first video is introducing all of the cast and showing a little behind the scenes action.  The second video is the silent film that was being shown at our "Movie Premiere" on Saturday night.  The third video is our thank yous to the volunteers.  On Saturday there was a lot of live interaction setting up the murders.  I was murdered first, then Christopher and Evan, and lastly Jen.  Darrenn was the murderer!  It was really scary going home with him that night.