Denim & Diamonds

On Sept 16, Daddy and I had a chance for a little grown-up meal, with our Sunday School department and several others from church. It was billed as "Neiman Marcus meets George Strait", meaning us girls could dress up if we wanted, and the guys would be okay in Stetsons and boots. A winner for all parties! I found a $10 dress at a local resale shop that I was really happy with and borrowed some shoes from a friend. I even did my own hair, with some major pointers from a scrapbooking/hair dresser friend. I think it turned out pretty well. We enjoyed the meal at a local steakhouse, even though we ended up being around 30 mins late due to Daddy's work. Sigh, but oh well - I was just glad we got to go. After a steak dinner, we had a couple speak on marriage from another class - it was extremely well done, on the things they've learned from their marriage. (Like always make time for yourselves, etc) Then we played the newlywed game, with one couple from each dept - newlyweds, our dept, and then the next two up from us. It was hysterical - the newlyweds won, and the couple that had been married the longest came in deeeeeeaaaaaaaddddddddd last!!

Oh, and I forgot...

One of my favorite sets of pictures from the kids lately was right after Labor Day. It had rained almost 3 inches that weekend, and the Monday after, they were playing outside in the backyard. I told them they could get muddy if they wanted, but it would involve baths later. Apparently they took it to heart, starting out in the mud puddle to the point of not being able to determine their color of clothes they were wearing. Pretty cute, especially as they tried to see how high they could splash the mud in the air. After getting some pictures, I went inside (with the windows open so I could see and hear things) to finish dishes. I later heard hysterical laughter by both parties, so I stuck my head out to see what could be so funny. After seeing the black lab that was now a chocolate mud brown, I noticed a pile of muddy clothes on the ground. Yep, I had a couple of streakers in my midst!! Apparently when you get that muddy, it doesn't matter if you are wearing clothes or not. And yes, I got more pictures, for future dates and rehearsal dinners, before having to take the hose to them, just to get them inside to head straight to the bathtub!!

When pictures work again, I'll post them to the appropriate posts, I promise!

Balloon Festival

The next weekend, we all went to the local balloon festival - which is quickly gaining popularity in my house as a family tradition, akin to the Pumpkin Days fest in a local town. We all had a blast as usual, despite the requisite 6am wakeup call to get there.

We arrived right on time, just like last year, to see the crews starting to work on getting everything ready. Last year only about 3-4 balloons got up, due to local winds and weather, but this year it was perfect weather!! The kids love to walk around and guess which balloon will go up before another. There were more balloons overall this year too, not just more getting in the air. If I remember right the Remax balloon was appropriately the first to go up. It was followed by lots of bright colors, which the baby loved! The two the kids really got excited about were the local bank one (shaped like a buffalo) and the other bank one which had my alma mater's emblem on it. "Guns up!"

We then took Daddy to work, and the kids and I went to the local Cowboy Symposium. Great fun, and fortunately the weather waited until this event to get kinda soupy. We found great spots for the parade of the horse, which featured, duh, Horses!! pulling all shapes and sizes of wagons/buggies/etc. We also wandered around all the exhibits and really enjoyed the smells of the chuckwagon cookoff contest. Plus the lcoal Native American association was having their pow-wow next door, so we enjoyed that. Puzzling thing though - last year they welcomed pictures and encouraged audience enjoyment. This year, their behavior was odd, almost as if we the audience were interrupting their private religious ceremony. (Which was just wierd, as they had chosen to have it on public grounds, next door to a very public event...)Anyways, the older 2 wore their cowboy hats, and loved every minute of it.

Labor Day weekend

Can't believe I didn't post about this....but hey, I'm only about another month behind, huh? Well, let's see what I can catch up with while the girls are napping still.

Labor Day weekend, my sister K and her fiance M came into town. My brother T was also there, so it was a great weekend, as it was the first time since Christmas all 3 of us had been home. Also the first time for us to meet M, and I am pleased to say, he is absolutely a keeper!! Treats my sister as the princess she is, seemed to be getting along pretty well with the family (or putting up with us anyways!) and what I was most impressed with - really got along and played with the kids. Aiken played Nintendo to his hearts' content, and the girls loved having someone else to show off for. Plus Saturday night, K,M,T, and hubby and I went to a local place to just hang out, and really got to talk amongst ourselves - I thoroughly enjoyed it! (although I really hope T didn't feel like a 5th wheel...)

Funny story... Sunday night I had to work, and everybody was spending the night at my parents' house. Before my break, I had gotten 2 phone calls - one from my hubby, one from my mom. The voicemail from hubby said something like,"Don't worry, the policeman was great, and everything is fine, but you might want to give me a call when you have a minute." So I freaked out and called immediately. Turns out, Az4 found herself in GranDaddy's office alone, and started pushing buttons on the phone, happening to hit the preprogrammed one for the police. She had a lovely 5 minute conversation with the dispatcher that went something like this: "Hi, what's your emergency? My name is Ariel the little mermaid. How old are you? 3. What's your real name honey? Ariel. Okay, where's Mommy? At work. Where's Daddy? In the living room. I'm at grandmommy's house." The dispatcher figured she was okay, just playing with the phone, but still sent an officer out just to be sure. He rang the doorbell, and after someone opened the door, Az4 ran to hide, knowing exactly why he was there. After hearing the story, I died laughing!! And Az4 will tell you now that we don't call the policeman unless it's a "mergensee".

Pictures aren't working - will try again later.