Our Swimming Hole

Well, the kids have been missing their swimming pool in AL.......

This wasn't exactly what we were hoping for.....but I guess it will have to do!!! HA-HA!

We have had an abundance of rain in August, which is great for the valley. We are working on landscaping issues required by the county and the rain has put a kink in whatever they were trying to do here!! Mike and I are working on painting trim today. We are closer but still have some work to do. We don't have as many volunteers helping out as we had hoped so it is taking a while. It'll get done!!!>......eventually

First Day of School 2010

Tuesday, the 24th was Landon's first day of 4th grade and Mason's first day of 7th grade. While they were both sad to see the summer come to an end, they were both a little excited the first day. They both, without knowing the other had, picked out this outfit but they attend different schools so Mason wasn't humiliated!

Last year's picture......


Maybe they've changed a little bit but not too much. Can't believe they're as old as they are....time is fleeting so love those around you and have no regrets!

Our Little Gymnast

Haven has followed her brothers around for 4 1/2 years, going to ball games, drum lessons, school events, etc., so now it's her turn for a little fun! She started gymnastics at Bayfield Gymnastics last Monday and loves it! She takes 2 days a week for 6 weeks in this first session. This is a new business to Bayfield and the owner/teacher has just moved here from AZ this year. She is a Christian and even prayed with the kids after the session! Love her!

Here's some pictures from her day at gymnastics today.....

Soooo adorable to watch!

Meet SOCKS.....

Meet Socks....our first indoor kitten!

He is so cute to watch. He loves playing with my shoe strings. It's such a simple joy, but I feel so much joy when I watch him play....he's sooooo adorable!

However....he also can be VERY irritating. This is his favorite spot....

But this girl sure loves him! We've never had an inside cat before so I HATE that he gets on the table and counters so we are trying to spray him off every time to break him. But can you really ever break a cat from that?

Potty training a cat is a breeze compared to dogs. We brought Socks back with us from Alabama, and got him from Mike's parents' neighbor. While he had a total of 5 accidents on the way back to Colorado in the car, we all survived and he appears to love his new home. He and Lucee get along well, although it bothers the kids to see them playing because it looks like Lucee is hurting the cat when they play. Poor Lucee....hope she survives all these new adjustments!!

Because Socks is not the newest member of the family as of tonight.......look what we just rescued!

I think we have lost our MINDS!!!

Summer Trip to Alabama 2010

Our trip to Alabama this summer was FANTABULOUS! ( New word meaning a mix between fantastic and fabulous!) Mason, Haven and I left on Saturday the 24th from Farmington, NM, because we had a baseball game the night before and that put us an hour and a half in to our trip. I failed to mention that we have a friend here that owns a home in Farmington that is on the market and she let us stay in her home as much as we needed during the whole baseball tournaments. What a blessing that was!!! So we arrived in AL on Sunday afternoon (by car) and was thrilled to see Landon even though he wasn't half as thrilled as we were. I won't bore you with all the details of my trip but I did get to spend my 37th birthday there, shopping in Tuscaloosa and my mom took me out to Red Lobster for lunch......

It was an awesome birthday!! It was hot, hot, hot in Alabama so just about every day there was spent in the pool at Mike's mom and dad's with my niece and nephews, Carter, Caleb, Parker, and Sydney. The kids have so much fun together. Honestly, our camera is acting up so I did not take very many pictures at all the 2 weeks we were there so I won't have many to post. We are hoping a new camera is in our near future!!!

On Wednesday, we went to see my brother Kerry and his family in Fayette, AL, where once again, we spent fun times in the pool with our cousins. We brought Lucee with us because they have 2 of her siblings so it was cute to have sooo many daushunds around! This picture is Haven with Lucee and her brother Bandit.

On Thursday afternoon, we went up to see my brother Mike and his family in Caladonia, MS,and got to try out his new in-ground pool where Haven learned to do this......

I took the boys up to Holly Pond on Friday and they stayed until Monday, visiting and spending the night with some of their friends there. They loved every minute of it and thanks again to you out there who welcomed them in to your home. On Sunday, I attended church with my mother at FBC Gordo at the 8:30 service, then went up to my Daddy's church to the 11:00 service and attended church with him for the first time ever. I got to see my friend Appi and her husband Mike's new home in Coker, Al, on Sunday night and a big CONGRATULATIONS to them on now owning a great home with great property!

I went back to Holly Pond on Monday and got to spend some time with friends Dawn, Tracy, and Meredith, picked the boys up (plus Chandler, Mason's best friend who came back to Gordo with us), and then picked Mike up at the airport that night. He had a wedding to perform on the 31st so that's why he couldn't join us on our trip out. On Wednesday, Mike golfed with Johnye Horton and Ed Bullard while I took Landon to his zoo day. While Landon was at the zoo, Mason, Chandler, Haven and I did a little shopping and ran into my nephew Colton in the Galleria! What a surprise! We then all went back to Holly Pond where we got to see many of our Grace family after church on Wednesday night. It was great to see everyone and meet the new pastor there! We spent the night with our friends Tammy and Jeff Silvey, listened to the same old stories (Ha-ha...only Tammy and I understand the hidden meaning in that statement!!), and on Thursday, had lunch with friends Bonnie and Shane Bowman (Thanks for the awesome pizza Bon!). We headed back to Gordo on Thursday and on Friday, Mike and his nephew Brent went to Georgia to play golf with his cousin Jake and Uncle Herman. While he was in GA, I got to see Cathy Bell during lunch and then spent the afternoon with my Aunt Debbie and cousin Ashley and her kids in their pool (I'm telling you....LOTS of WONDERFUL POOL TIME!!!)

On Saturday, we hung out with Mike's wonderful family and Sunday, Mike preached at his dad's church, Emmanuel, in Gordo. I got to see friends Angie and John Junkin there and the rest of their church family who makes us feel like we are family, even though we have never attended or served there. Mike preached at Evergreen Baptist in Vance on Sunday night and it was such a nice church. Billy Hubbard from CACB had asked Mike to preach there when he was out here working on our church building so he did but we missed seeing Billy because he was sick with Vertigo and wasn't able to attend. Many of the other CACB member came though so we got to eat with them after church and spend a little time with them.

We headed back to CO on Monday and did a straight 24 hour drive. Having 2 weeks there for me was wonderful, although I still didn't get as much time with most of you as I would have liked. I did spend a lot of time with mom which we both needed in order to make it to the next visit at Christmas. I have the best in-laws a girl could ask for and got to spend a lot of time with them as well. To my Alabama family and friends, I cherish you and although I may not have spent much time with some of you, seeing you briefly blesses my heart and reminds me of how fortunate I am to have you in my life. I don't have very many friends here which makes being there even more special for me. I love you all and would love to show you Colorado so come on out and visit!

Landon's First Trip Alone

Landon was soooo excited to leave for Alabama before everyone else! He left without any hesitation and had the greatest week in AL, getting all the attention from his grandparents and cousins. It was hard for us but we were so happy for him to get to do something alone and to get to go to his favorite place in the world!!

While in AL, Landon got to pursue his passion and participated in the Zookeeper of the Day Program at the Birmingham Zoo. Knowing he was going to be scooping poop, we wondered if this would make or break his desire for a career in the zoo. Well.....HE LOVED IT! He got to go behind the scenes with many of the animals, helped to feed them, and even scooped poop but said "you know....scooping poop is not half as bad as you'd think!". I sent the camera with him and he didn't take any pictures and I sincerely regret not taking a picture of him in front of the zoo with his Zoo keeper Louis. I'm so glad he got a chance to participate in something he loves and it was worth every dime to see how much he loved it afterward......we love our Landon!!

Awesome Baseball Season!

Just to give an update of what happened to the Bayfield Phillies after their awesome accomplishment of winning the State Tournament, they went on to play the Regional Tournament which started July 20th-24th in Farmington, NM. They introduced the teams (we looked like the Bad News Bears because we were not in full uniform), presented the flags, and played the National Anthem which was a cool first for us!

Tuesday night started with some individual competitions and a cook out so Mason participated in the Home Run Derby. They threw each kid 10 balls and Mason took the lead with one home run. A kid from Dallas caught up with him so there were only 2 out of 32 kids to hit one. They then got 5 balls thrown to them to break the tie and while Mason didn't get one this time, the other kid did so the Dallas kid won it. Mason came in 2nd and we were just as proud!

These are pictures of him during the derby......

So we played our first game on Wednesday, Mason pitched and we won against a Farmington team. On Thursday we played against the Dallas team and they slaughtered us. We played on Friday against Moriarity, NM, and beat them, and then played again that night against the other Farmington team and got beat out.

Look at the difference in Mason and the 3rd baseman! They had an awesome season and were the first Bayfield team to ever win state and make it to Regionals where we came in 3rd. Dallas was the team that won it, and they were what they called a ball club where they travel all over the US playing. They entered our league, played the minimal amount of games necessary, forfeited the rest, won their state tournament so they could get to the World Series in Puerto Rico, which they won also. I just found out this, that it cost them $1,000 a kid to try out for this Dallas team (if you didn't make it, you lose the money), and they use that money for traveling expenses. They were unbelievably talented and play baseball year around.

Anyway, back to us, we played, it was a long season, they were awesome and it's now over--YAY! We hosted the team party last night in the church yard and had a blast as the kids played volleyball and baseball.

Now.....on to FOOTBALL......(SIGH)....no, I love it...I really do!

Old Friends and New

OK so first I'm going back to the Central Al Christian Builders and introduce you so some of our new friends. Each week was great but I happen to enjoy the last week the most because of the Reform, AL crew that came. Thelma and Lee Plowman were in our first pastorate church, Arbor Springs, with us and Thelma is one of the most loving people I know. She reminds me a lot of my own mother because she is constantly hugging us and telling us she loves us....I sure needed and enjoyed all that LOVIN she poured on us!

Henry and Gypsey Helmers are from Reform First Baptist, where Mike was a youth minister for around 2 years before we got married.

They are such a sweet couple that serve the Lord faithfully and have been a part of CACB for many, many years. They brought along with them their grandson Jake Shelton who is from Douglasville, GA. He is a computer genius and he sure came in handy while he was here!!!

Also in the picture are Dennis and Barbara Pugh who are also from Reform FBC. We had Dennis' daughter Crystal in our children's group while we were there. His first wife, Charolette, died of cancer several years ago and she was an active part of CACB and FBC. Dennis has remarried to Barbara and we met her for the first time this trip and she was such a nice person. Dennis has also been a part of CACB since the 9o's.

The director of CACB is Johyne Horton who was a bi-vocational pastor as well as a high school teacher for many years.

He is an awesome man of God and one that is easy to love as soon as you meet him. After retiring from school, Johyne felt led to make CACB his full time ministry so now they work year round with volunteers from 19 different churches, assisting churches with building projects so that those churches can spend more of their money ministering to the lost. His wife Bit came for 2 weeks and I also fell in love with her also. They live in McCalla, AL. I really hate I didn't get a picture of Bit or a better picture of Johnye......

This is Glenn and Ginger Blake......

Glenn is the contractor over the projects or the "main man " that gives instructions and makes sure everything is done properly on the worksite. Ginger works alongside Bit in making sure all meals are provided and boy can they cook!! Glenn and Ginger stayed all 4 weeks and they live in Woodstock, AL. I love this couple...they are so precious to us!!

This is Billy and Alyce Hubbard and they are from Vance, AL. They also stayed the whole time and are very hard workers. We fell in love with this couple as well and Mike even preached at Billy's church this past Sunday night while we were in Alabama......

The last two are Jimbo Rice and his mother Peggy. They stayed all 4 weeks as well and if was their first time to be here for the whole project. Jimbo's wife and children came the first week but had to get back. Jimbo constantly cracked us up!

We enjoyed getting to see all our new friends Sunday night as they came out to Billy's church to hear Mike preach, and then took us out to eat afterwards. They all LOVED Colorado and say they are all coming back for a vacation soon.

Here is an updated picture of the new add-on.....

It's up to the church family now to finish and they are currently working on tiling the floors. Not many are showing up to help so it may still be a while before we get to use it. Landscaping issues outside with parking have to be completed also before moving in. It's looking good and now we need God to send us some children to fill it up!

Where did summer go?

I know you probably also feel this way because summer break is almost over and it passed way too fast! We just got back from our vacation in Alabama (which was fabulous by the way) and I've got some catching up to do on the blog posts. So slowly but surely, I'll update and get caught up as things are slowing down here some. But first, meet the newest member of our family (who happens to LOVE the laptop and jumps up here the whole time I'm trying to do something on it!)

This is Socks and she made the trip all the way from Gordo with us (along with Lucee). She/He is awfully cute but incredibly annoying as well....believe me, she will have her own little post soon!