Steptoe Butte

After almost 50 consecutive days of work, Dwayne was able to be home with the family this weekend! Woo hoo!

When I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to go for a drive (really??? You've put thousands of miles on your truck in the last few months just driving around looking at fields for work. And now you want to do that on your first day off???).

So, we loaded up the truck and drove to the middle of nowhere to Steptoe Butte. Having been there as a child, I knew the view was beautiful and it was fun to hike around the hill.

The kids loved it. Simple pleasures. Picking weeds and finding rocks and sticks. Eating PBnJ and doritos. Watching paragliders hurl themselves off the hill (that part was REALLY cool). Basically hanging out together-- good times!

Here's a few pictures to share the experience.

Church Sermon Demonstration

At my church this morning, our pastor had planned a fun demonstration to show the height of Goliath (the giant that David slayed).

When I realized that several family members and friends were going to miss the demo due to serving elsewhere during the sermon time, I decided to tape it. (Especially for my friend Anita's husband John who is the base of the "man-stack" in the video-- thought he'd like to see himself!)

I hope you enjoy it-- it's educational AND entertaining for people of all ages.

Not-so-curly Redhead

So my middle child has the most beautiful red curly hair. I remember coveting red curly hair as a pre-teen (A red-headed blue eyed Miss Oregon won the Miss Teen USA pageant) and wished I could be so lucky.

Then God gave me a beautiful, curly red haired daughter. People comment on it ALL the time.

But she's decided she doesn't love the curly hair. She wants it to be straight like her mom and sister's hair. So, to humor her, we tried straightening it this week. And she loved it and showed it off to everyone.

I sure hope she'll learn to love her red curly hair. But it seems the grass is always greener, right?

New Game for your Kids

It's called "Phone Hide and Seek". Does your cordless landline phone (in my case... my ONLY phone) have a "PAGE" button on it? You know-- the button that, when you press it, makes the handset beep so loud that you'd be able to find it anywhere?

Well, a couple days ago, my 2 year old discovered this fascinating feature. (Who needs a cell phone, right?) So, we made a little game of it! He'd sit and count, eyes covered, while mommy would go hide the phone. Then he'd push the "PAGE" button and go searching for the phone. Sure enough, it kept us both busy for quite awhile (and I learned that the tougher the search, the more free minutes I had to pay bills!) Worked like a charm-- you oughta try it yourself!

Sadie's Spring Recital

For the family members who chose to skip the hour long recital of all kinds of kids you don't know...here's the one minute video of Sadie performing her piece, Roses from the South, Waltz 2 from Das Spitzentuch der Konigin, Opus 388 by Johann Strauss II, arr. Edwin McLean.

Notice the three note chord at the end of the song-- that's a big first!
(Turn off the background music at the very bottom of my blog to hear this better.)