Happy Halloween

I hope that everyone enjoys a nice evening of trick-or-treating (trunk-r-treating!) and that there is a nice variety of candy this year!! : )

I'm Back!

Hello blogger friends! I am back after some wacky last few days. I had a ton of work to get done before I left for Washington D.C. and on top of all that I got a nasty cold...CRAZY!! I just got back last night from a great trip and run. For those of you who don't know, I ran in the Marine Corps Marathon this last Sunday. I ran with my aunt. We had a lovely time. The weather was wonderful and I was happy with how the race went. I am still a little sore, but it gets better each day. The race route was beautiful. We ran through all the momuments, in a great park and then past the pentagon. I am glad to have it over with and am looking forward to working on a new goal. I am thinking maybe snowboarding. I have never tried that. Anway, I am back and hopfully I'll be better at keeping up on my postings.

Overwhelmed.

As the Marine Corps Marathon draws closer, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. It is coming at a very bad time for me. I leave for the race next Thursday, but before I leave I have a big family/wedding week-end this week-end, 2 observations, a school carnival, report cards to get done, and other radom demands on my time. I truly am tring to take it a day at a time and not stress about it too much.

I am looking forward to going to Washington D.C. with my aunt and uncle and spending some nice time with them. Knowing that helps me get through the next few days!

Happy Monday Dad!

Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules:

1. Be neat and clean.

2. Be courteous and polite.

3. Always obey your parents.

4. Protect the weak and help them.

5. Be brave but never take chances.

6. Study hard and learn all you can.

7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.

8. Eat all your food and never waste any.

9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.

10. Always respect our flag and our country.

My Chains are gone!

I had a great talk with my good friend "H" tonight and this song came to mind as we were talking. Sometimes I forget that my chains are gone.

Love you sister!!

** Love this version of Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin **

Fall Fun

On Saturday night our small group got together for Bible study and a fall party. It was a wonderful time. We dined on some tasty chili, cornbread, pumpkin muffins and popcorn. After our study, we carved pumpkins. I haven't carved a pumpkin in a few years and I felt like a kid again. Of course T. H. is the only person I know who would carve a pumpkin with a power tool. It was a fun night filled with laughter and memories being made!

It does matter!

I was given the "Nice Matters" Award by my good friend. She is one of those people that I was lucky enough to get to know and share life with, even if it was for such a short time. I do know that we will always be friends and have a connection even from far away. Miss you friend!!

I am passing the award on to my friend 5 Hearts. As a busy mom of three and trying to finish a 5, 000+ square feet house with her husband, she is kind enough to let me chat with her on my drive time home from work and even lets me crash at her house on short notice on a late nights. She has a willing and a "can do " attitude! Thank you T for your friendship!!

Foto fun!

My brother and his family came this last week-end. Jason was doing a financal workshop at church and I got to "babysit." If you can call it that. It was Saturday morning and I had had a long week, so I put the baby down for a nap, put in a cartoon for the girls and fell asleep on the couch. When I awoke from my slumber, the cartoon was over the the girls were a little bored, so we painted toes and nails and took silly pictures. It was a fun time!

Thanks for letting me have some time with the kids J and L. Just let me know when you would like me to babysit again!! : )

How refreshing!

On Tuesday afternoon I went through my purse and took out all of my credit cards (but one) and cut them all up. What a refreshing feeling!! My brother is a financial planner and counselor and has been helping me and giving me great advise to help me with a budget (such an ugly word sometimes.) He had talked sometime back about getting rid of my cards, but I just couldn't do it, but I just had an urge to do it on Tuesday. Okay, I didn't get rid of all them, I did keep one just in case! Baby steps right?

Excuse Me...Come Again?!

Laugh of the week and the weeks to come!

The other day in class we were working on the /K/ sound as in kite. Well, I sat down by my little Devon to work on this sound with him and pointed out the pictures on the paper. It had pictures of a kite, king, key, kittens and a few others that I can't recall. He took one look at the paper and said, "Oh, I like your titties!" My jaw dropped and all I could do was just look at him. He said again, "I have two titties." "I like to pet my titties." He then proceeds to point to the kitties on the paper and says, "I like that tittie the best?" Oh, you like kitties!! Of course!

I will be referring him to speech.

Every time I think about it I laugh hysterically.

Ew, Yuck!

This last Friday as our day was drawing close to an end, I saw a little boy do one of the most disgusting things...he spit on another child!!! Not just a little spittle, but a full blow, all over the face, not once but twice SPIT. I drug his little 5 year old butt down to the office and he was out of the classroom for the rest of the day. I don't know what possessed him to do it and he couldn't even say why, but to me there isn't any good excuse for doing something like that. I'm hoping that our Monday will be a little better than Friday!!

There is never a dull moment in a Kindergarten classroom!!

What??

I have been waiting for the last 41/2 months for the season premier of my Thrusday night shows just to find out that "they" have double booked two of them. This has been my run down for the last few years:

My Name is Earl
The Office
Grey's Anatomy
ER

Well!, I am so ticked off that they have put The Office and Grey's on at the same time. Now I am going to have to learn how to record off one channel while I'm watching another channel.
How rude that ABC and NBC don't coordinate their shows and times a little better.
I tell you if I were a drinkin' girl... :)

Will wake-up for...

One of the things I miss the most about living in a big city is my Starbucks! I would drive by countless Starbucks on my way to work out in Meridian and think nothing of it, but now I have to set my alarm extra, extra early to get my "fix." There is a stand-alone store here in Gillette, but way out of my way on the drive to school. I will trick myself into getting up early with a Starbucks coffee as my treat. In fact, I'm on my way to bed now so I can have my prize in the morning.

Night all.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Fall is my absolute most favorite time of year. This past week-end my mom and I got to spend Saturday going through the Black Hills and Spearfish Canyon and enjoy God's beauty. I've included a Robert Frost poem entitled October. It just seems to fit this time of year and also it has been windy something awful here and it won't be long and the leaves will be all gone.

October

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

one from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if the were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

For the grapes' sake along the all.

Stinkin' Cute

These are my two most favorite pictures that were taken this last week-end at Betsy and Trent's wedding. Oh, by the way, I did catch the bouquet...

ENJOY!!

DON'T FORGET!!

I hear people sayin'. We Don't need this war.

I say there's some things worth fightin' for.

What about our freedom, and this piece of ground?

We didn't get to keep 'em by backin' down.

They say we don't realize the mess we're gettin' in

Before you start preachin' let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten, when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside goin through a livin hell

And you say we shouldn't worry bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

You took all the footage off my T.V.

Said it's too disturbin for you and me

It'll just breed anger is what the experts say

If it was up to me I'd show it everyday

Some say this country just out lookin' for a fight

Well after 9/11 man I'd have to say right.

Have you forgotten, how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside goin' through a livin' hell

And we vow to get the ones behind Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers

Who've gone away to war

you can bet they remember just what they're fightin' for

Have you forgotten

All the people killed

Yes some went down like heroes

In that Pennsylvania field

Have you forgotten

About our Pentagon

All the loved ones that we lost

And those left to carry on

Don't you tell me not to worry 'bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?

wedding week-end{s}

This last week-end Miah and I made our way to Dupree South Dakota...in the middle of nowhere...for his bosses wedding. Jesse Studt and JoAnna Murray were wed on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 in a very nice ceremony. Although the weather was crummy the atmosphere was splendid. Saturday morning dawned cold, wet and windy. The wedding wasn't unill 6:00 in the evening, so all of us (Miah and his friends and myself) crammed into a 5th wheel trailer and hung out for the day. Nothing screams fun like stuffing 6 adults and 2 kids into a cramped space. No, it really wasn't too bad. The wedding dance was one of the best ones I've been to in a long time. Miah and I cut a rug and danced into the wee hours of the morning.
I'm looking forward to Betsy's Wedding next week-end that Miah is also in.
It is our month for weddings I guess.

Will we be sleeping?

As I sat in church today and Pastor Matt read some verses in Romans (we are going through the book on Sunday mornings) I thought of this song by Casting Crowns. The message today was to take our Christian life seriously and know and heed that we are in a spiritual battle even if we choose to ignore that fact...it is very real. What we do as Christians truly does affect the body of Christ be it good or bad. The line in the song that says, "As we are sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children..." Think about that. How true is that, that our thinking is so screwed up that we care more for trees and plants than for a human? Where we spend eternity is very real. Pastor Adams used to say: There is a heaven, there is a hell, there is a hurry.

Please take time to listen to this song. It is 5 mintes, but really listen to the words and think about what is being said.

Will we be sleeping?

WIndy Wyoming and a triathlon.

Well, the first few days of the new school year is over and I must say that I'm ready for the week-end. I forget from year to year how little the incoming kinders really know...not much! It will take a few days to get routine and procedures down, but once we get them we'll really start cookin'.

Anyway, I forgot how windy Wyoming really is. I've been standing out at recess duty the last few days and the wind just howls and the dirt flys and after 15 minutes I am sweaty and gritty. Nice.

Tomorrow morning I am headed out for my first triathlon. It is a team sprint race. There are three of us. Linda will swim 1/2 mile, Joyce will bike a 20K and I will run 5K. This is going to be a great time. Maybe it will be an annual event...hopefully!

A very happy Friday night to all.

The {f}PHAT Friend.

The past few months I've been struggling with my body image. I know that at some time or another every female deals with these sort of "issues". Throughout last spring and then into the summer it seemed that everyone I was hanging out with was much smaller and skinnier then me and I felt like the "fat" friend. I started my summer trying to "diet" which just doesn't work for me...I even tried some diet pills. Not smart. Anyway as the summer progressed and as I ran more, I was able to drop a few pounds. I say all that to say this, I listened to a Beth Moore program that I borrowed from a friend and the subject was on the struggle of body image and trying to fit the image that the world wants us to keep or be.What a wrong way to think and in actuality we are in bondage to the world when we get caught up in that thought process.
When I find myself falling into that train of thought, I remind myself that I am beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of Christ. Psalm 45:11 says that the King is enthralled by your beauty. My desire is not to be in bondage to the world, but to know and keep in my heart and mind the way the Lord sees me and be satisfied in Him and by Him.