Fun in Sherman!

Feeling overexposed? A little motion-blurred and occasionally out-of-focus? You must me the owner of a new fancy camera that you don't quite understand yet but still attempt to use!

That's right, kids... it's the amateur gallery! We had fun in Sherman today, and I decided to post some pictures even though they have issues here and there. You'll forgive me, won't you? ...I'll take that cyber-silence as a "yes." :)

Thanks for our June Tuesdays, Jen... they've meant more to me than you could know.

YES! We have our new camera...

A few friends asked if the two Summer pictures of the girls in my earlier post were made with our much-anticipated new camera. Well... no. They were made with the old one, and I just tried a few Photoshop things on them that made them look a little better. But YES we have our new camera now, so the pictures on the blog should be MUCH improved soon! ...hopefully...

We still know very little about it or how to use it... we're learning. Here's a picture I caught yesterday as I was trying to play with it. We love our backyard critters... I'm crazy about the textures in this picture. Avery was so curious about what I was doing and it provided a really cool opportunity to talk to her about tree bark and lizard scales and how God made our world beautiful even down to the SMALLEST details that our eyes may not even be able to see. (Click on it to enlarge it and see what I showed Avery... you'll see what I mean.)

It's addictive... tons of fun.

We love Summer! :)

A visit from Aunt Betty!

LIFE. Anyone who is in this game knows that it's a mix. Good things, bad things, wonderful things, terrible things, exciting things, terrifying things, tragedies and miracles. Were it not for this incredible contrast, life would have a lot less pain, but it may also have less depth and sweetness. So, we live and take the bad with the good... always searching for the silver lining of the rain clouds.

Our visit with Aunt Betty was definitely a silver lining. Collin's Dad, Norman, has been seriously ill for the past two weeks. During his first week in ICU, his sister (Collin's Aunt) came into town and we got to steal her away from the ICU waiting room for a lunch together with the girls. We don't get to see her near often enough. In fact, the last time we saw Aunt Betty was before Avery was born! She lives in a small town and doesn't like to drive herself in cities such as Dallas, so we really need to be diligent about going to visit her on occasion since it's very rare that she can make it to us. Aunt Betty is such a treasure and she and her daughter, Jan, go to great effort to love on our girls from a distance. It was so nice just to get to sit for a quick couple of hours and visit with her.




Norman is now out of ICU and was stable enough to move to the VA. It is terribly hard on Collin to see his Dad this way, so please keep lifting him and all the kids up in prayer. And we'll be praying for all of you out there who are also searching for the "silver" among the gray right now.

We love you, Aunt Betty! Thanks for playing with us!

40 Years of Sweet Memories

On June 6th, 1969, Mom & Dad married... and on June 6th, 2009, we gathered together in Sherman at the Bossens' house to celebrate with food, family and fun!

It was a beautiful night made so sweet because of all the family who drove up for the festivities. Jennifer & I had a BLAST with our party-planning. Their house was absolutely beautiful and made the perfect setting for the party. It was the most fun just catching up with our cousins, Aunts and Uncles, and getting to watch Mom & Dad be in the spotlight a little bit. What an honor it was for me & Jen and our husbands to have been a part of an evening like this. We love you, Mom & Dad! As I said that evening, I am so thankful you chose each other 40 years ago, and that you've chosen each other every day since then. (Thanks again to Sara Macha for the wonderful pictures she made!)

The decorations...

The cakes...


The festivities...

The hosts...

One of the most fun things about preparing for the party was looking at old pictures that were assembled into a photo-montage video. Check out some of my favorites:



Now there's a title every girl wants: "Miss Grain & Sorghum" ...but you rocked it, Mom...



Nice moustache there, Dad...


I think I like this one because Collin & I have been married 5 years, and this was taken on their 5th anniversary...


And this one I like because I'm coming home from the hospital as a newborn to the house my parents still live in today. This is also for whoever it was that I was telling the other day that I was NOT a cute newborn... Here's the proof! :) Old pictures are fun.

Our Daughters...

LOVED these pictures that were made at the anniversary party we threw for Mom and Dad...

Sara Macha is a friend of my sister's in Sherman and she came to the party to take pictures so that we could have one less thing to worry about that night. She calls herself a "hobbyist photographer," but I think the images speak for themselves. Isn't she great?? Thank you, Sara, for catching such cute moments with our girls!

Ahhhh, Cloudcroft...

It could have been a DISASTER.

With 10 adults (3 of which were pregnant) and 8 kids (6 of which were toddlers) in one cabin in the mountains for one week-- it could have been a serious, red-lights-flashing disaster. (...well, come to think of it, we did see our share of flashing lights when we had to call the paramedics for Julia one day, but we'll ignore that for now...)

We were warned, and everyone who we told about the trip (prior to going) asked us if we were sure we wanted to go on this trip. Despite all the raised-eyebrows and doubtful remarks, we headed to the mountains for the week and we are SO glad we did. It was a BLAST. Ok, truth be told, it had it's moments of stress... probably the most memorable stress moments were when Lydia made a midnight trip to the nearest hospital to find out that she was in pre-term labor (at 34 weeks) and when Julia threw a temper-tantrum and hit her head so hard that I had someone call 911 for us... OH! And did I mention that the dishwasher was broken the entire week? :) But drama & stress aside-- it was FUN!

The best part was getting to be with our good friends that week and hang out together. We lived for the "after-bedtime" hours when we could all shed the capes of "Mommy & Daddy" and just be adults together. Playing games. Drinking coffee. Laughing so hard my belly hurt during a very intense round of Catch Phrase. Singing praise & worship songs to acoustic guitar. ...Totally worth it. Treasured memories. A HUGE thank-you to Glen & Lydia for inviting us to go along, and to Dan & Linda for letting our crew invade their peaceful home-away-from-home!

Ice Cream at the "Sweet Shop" in downtown Cloudcroft:




White Sands National Monument:







Kids' Kingdom Community Playground in Alamagordo, NM:





Pistachio Farm: (We visited this place on our last trip when we were pregnant with "Pistachio Poage") :)




Cloudcroft Mayfair:




Movie Time!


On the golf course with Daddy:



Memorial Day... our last day on the trip...
Avery's bee sting on her finger & a night out in Ruidoso: (Wish you could have stayed another day, Mitchells! We missed you!)