Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday we had one of my favorite youth events- the Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt. This event is fun because it's very low-key, inexpensive, and doesn't require traveling! We start out by meeting at Shakespeare's Pizza for lunch, then we split up the kids and give them two hours, a digital camera, and a list of 50 things to take a picture of downtown. Some of them are just things or places downtown (a dogwood, an alligator, an indian, a bowling alley), some of them are actions (doing the chicken dance, the electric slide, blowing a bubble), and some require great skill and creativity (your group with a squirrel, a person with the same shirt, a person in uniform). Anyway, it always results in embarrassing, hilarious stories AND, since they have to take pictures of everything, it's all captured for public viewing! It's funny because youth kids are usually too cool to do something like the sprinkler on the Quad on campus. But, because it's a competition, they can't resist! So, because I want everyone to get the enjoyment I got... here are pictures from the two groups who had my cameras!

the aformentioned sprinkler...

a touchdown dance on Stankowski Field... the weakest touchdown dances ever, since all they did was spike the ball, throw their hands in the air and say "Woohoo"

A cowboy not in your group... this group actually stopped this guy driving down the road and asked if he'd get out and take a picture!

Moonwalking across a crosswalk

Pretend fishing in a fountain

Doing the Chicken Dance

Rolling down a hill

Enjoying some much needed ice cream after it was all over! :)

You'll notice I'm not in the pictures... I love being a leader! :)

Wedding Weekend

Well, Josh's best friend, Bob, got married last weekend, and Josh and I got to go to Texas for the wedding. It was kind of a funny situation, because Josh was in the wedding, so we were there for all of the wedding party stuff, and I was there, but I knew Bob, and not really Robyn, the bride, so I wanted to be with the boys, but wedding ettiquette doesn't really allow for it. But we worked it out, and I just kind of hung around and made myself useful when and were I could! I guess best to start from the beginning...

We went to the rehearsal on Friday night, and got to see the church for the first time. It was a really beautiful church. It was actually part of the Texas Christian University campus. It was almost completely white inside, except for the red carpet, and had beautiful light fixtures, great lighting, and awesome acoustics. I kind of decided to occupy myself by taking pictures, particularly of the moments the photographer wasn't there. Of course, there were a multitude of aunts, mothers, uncles, etc, thinking the same thing, so I tried to take the pictures no one else was taking. That means that my pictures are random, but I really took them for Bob and Robyn, not necessarily to remember the day for myself. Anyway... my favorite picture from the rehearsal was this one...


I tried several times before I got the two of them centered with the cross, if not with the frame of the picture! I just thought it was such a neat picture, to see the two of them ready to start this new adventure, and fitting to have them start it at the cross. I'm sure it looked much cooler when they were dressed up during the actual wedding, but I kind of liked this picture with the normal attitude and attire. Much more fitting for an actual marriage then the pomp that happens on the wedding day!

But that wedding day did arrive, and they had BEAUTIFUL weather for it! It was an evening wedding, so Josh and I got to start the day with lunch with his relatives that live in Ft. Worth. We had lunch with them, and just generally caught up, which was cool because we see them very rarely, typically only once a year. After that we headed to a mall, because Josh had to pick up his tux. Funny story about that...the guys actually went to try on tuxes the day before, and Josh had apparently measured himself wrong. When it asked for pant length, he measured his inseam when they wanted his outseam, so his pants were actually capris! Not quite the look Bob was going for at his wedding! Thankfully, the shop ordered a new pair of pants, we just couldn't pick them up until Saturday afternoon! But once the new pants were procured, we were off to the chapel! I mostly just hung out, helping where I could. My remedial sewing skills got put to good use, though, when five buttons popped off of groomsmens' vests! So I actually spent much of my downtime sewing buttons! Then I watched while they took pictures, and got a very important assignment from the bride. Robyn wanted a picture of Bob's face when she was walking down the aisle. The cool part was that I got a 2nd row seat, which was pretty sweet (though I felt like I had to explain why some random girl got to sit in front of half of Bob's family... but oh well!). It was actually a really neat experience. Everyone in a wedding turns around and looks at the bride. No one is watching the groom. But I had a job (and couldn't see the bride anyway) so I set my camera on its continuous setting, and snapped away. It was truly awesome to watch the parade of emotions on Bob's face. He went from teary to smiling to sticking his tongue out (apparently to keep her from crying) and back again. It was very cool. Not all of the pictures came out very well, but these are my favorite 3.

Nearly crying...


Almost smiling...


and truly Bob... always joking!

The wedding was very pretty, and fun to watch. The boys (Bob and his best man, his brother Brett) kept sticking their tongues out at the bride (Robyn) and her maid of honor, her sister, to keep them from crying. Meanwhile, they competely flustered the pastor, who tried to go through the vows twice, and asked Bob if he would take Robyn to be his husband... But everyone laughed, and the vows were said (always the mots important)!

After the wedding, we headed to the Ft. Worth Club in downtown Ft. Worth. We were on the 12th floor, with a beautiful view of the sunset and Ft. Worth. We ate, hung out with the other groomsmen and the one other wife-of-a-groomsman who was there. The boys even let Abigail and I tag along to decorate the car! Afterwards, we sent Bob and Robyn off to Florida with bells, which was really a pretty neat way to do it. The wedding and reception were both really neat, and I really enjoyed getting to see a friend get married. It was a very cool weekend, and I'm excited for Bob and Robyn!

Some of my favorite pictures... although they're random! :)

The first dance

Decorating the car

Josh, Elmo, and Abigail, sending them off with bells

Discarded flowers on a messy table after the party

Long Time, No Blog

Well, I realize it's been forever since my last blog... baby or otherwise. But I've been busy and tired. By the time I get home, I don't even have the energy to think enough to write a blog! But life here has been good... so it's been a good busy.

On the church front, we had Young Christian's Weekend, which is always one of the best weekends of the year. It's one of our favorite youth trips all year. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures, which is a major bummer. But we did have a great time. Because of the whole baby thing, I couldn't ride any of the rides, so I mostly shopped and ate and walked around. Josh did ride a couple of rides, including Powder Keg. Apparently, he forgot to listen to the "Please remove all loose articles' speech, and he left his cell phone in his pocket. Well, as the man running the ride said (after Josh told him he'd lost his cell) "At 65 mph, EVERYTHING falls out." So, after taking his information and promising to "mail the pieces," we were pretty bummed for the rest of the day. BUT, God is awesome, and the next day when we went back just to check, they had not only found the phone, but it was still on and didn't have a scratch on it! So we were pretty excited, and Josh got to (loudly) tell how awesome God is to our youth in front of tons of people. So that was cool, and everyone made it home from the trip alive, so we count that as a victory. I am going to miss riding rides this year, though... I couldn't even go across the wobbly bridge!

Speaking of babies... on the baby front there have been several firsts... I bought (and wore) my first maternity clothes. I bought a couple pairs of capris to wear to YCW. They were pretty hot, since they come up to about my armpits. I bought underbelly ones, but since I don't have much of a belly, they ride a little high! Ruth was thrilled to be seen with me! Of course, since then, we've been breaking records for cold in April, so I can't wear my capris, and I'm running dangerously low on warm clothes that fit! So I also had my first wearing of Josh's clothes to school, AND my first day of leaving my pants unbuttoned and keeping them up with a belt and a rubber band! Isn't pregnancy grand?! :) Besides clothing issues, I am actually enjoying pregnancy right now. I wish I looked a little more pregnant, I want to be cute and pregnant, but I do get to eat almost anything I want, and I don't throw up (much). I'm not really sick anymore, but if I get gagged by something, it's no pretty. Josh and I are both enjoying the ride, though! :)

And, to add to the changes we're making, we have set a closing date for our house, and we are signing the contract on Sunday. We're buying the house from friends of our's from church, so it's been pretty easy. And we're getting a good deal. I love the house, I actually lived in it in college, so I'm very excited. Once we get a fence built for the dog, it'll be perfect! But it's such a huge change, and there are a lot of changes going on right about now!

Anyway, that's the update on our lives... I'll try to blog more frequently, and I'm sure I will next week, I have a doctors appointment and a trip to Texas!

Baking Success!

We had a bake-off at church last weekend, and I actually managed to win a category! :) I made dark chocolate Thin Mint cheesecake, and it did come out pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself! Mom won the cake category with Italian Cream Cake. We had a good time, and, hey, I got an apron out of the deal for winning! :)

My cheesecake is the dark one with the circle around the edge. The yummy looking strawberry cheesecake was Ruth's... and it was pretty darn good, too. :)

Birthday Present

Josh's birthday present from me was a trip to see Toby Mac, one of his favorite Christian singers, in Kansas City. Toby Mac sings mostly rap, and actually puts on a really good show. So we headed up to KC Friday as soon as Josh got out of work. We made it to the church just as the opening band was starting. We listened and shopped for awhile, and actually managed to find really good seats for the show (most of the actual seats were taken, and the aisles were even full!). The pictures don't do it justice, but the show was really good. He does one song called "Catch a Fire" and the whole stage has these fake fires all over it (see the picture on the left). Anyway, despite the fact that it wasn't my favorite kind of music, I really enjoyed the show. So, needless to say, I think Josh had a blast! :)



After the show, we decided that we didn't want to drive all the way back to Columbia, so we splurged on a nice hotel. We figured we won't be able to just spur-of-the-moment stay overnight somewhere anymore, once we have a baby to take care of! So we stayed up late, eating "breakfast" (at midnight) at IHOP and acting like we were in college again! :) Then we slept in a REALLY nice king-sized bed... we could both sleep in it and not even touch eah other, it was awesome.

Anyway, I think it was a fun trip for both of us, and I hope it was a good birthday present for Josh! :)

Triple Birthday

Well, so obviously I have been a terrible blogger the last couple of weeks! I just can't seem to find time and/or energy to do it. But I have some good pictures, and it's Spring Break, so I'm sitting down to catch up!


A couple weekends ago, Jess was in town, so we spent Sunday afternoon at Mom & Dad's house celebrating Jess, Josh, and Ellen's March birthdays. We had stromboli (the best) and, of course, 3 cakes. Or, 2 cakes and some cupcakes. With three birthdays to celebrate there were...

lots of candles...

therefore, lots of smoke...

and, since the whole family was there, LOTS of presents! :)

We had a great time telling stories and laughing. It's always fun when Jess is in town, even if the stories typically turn to nursing subjects (much to Josh and Dad's displeasure). We talked about dogs and babies and moving, and the boys played football outside! :) And, of course, Aunt Jess started off spoiling her new neice or nephew with a really soft blanket and adorable clothes. Anyway, we had a great time just hanging out with family!

Wedding Shower!

Well, as most of you know, our friend Bob is getting married in April. They were back in town for the weekend to have a shower, and we got to go! It's really exciting to see our friends getting married because most of the friends we had separately before we got married are still single, and we have nothing against single people, but we like to see them settled down! :) And it's fun to have couples to hang out with. Of course, Bob and Robyn live in Texas, so it's a little hard to hang out on a regular basis, but we still really like spending time when they're here! Maybe they should just move back! Anyway, we did have a good time, although we were by far the youngest ones there (except Bob's little brother... who is 22, which is not little, but I have a hard time remembering that. He was drinking a beer and I really wanted to just take it out of his hand, and I kept having to remind myself... it's legal!). We also didn't get a lot of time to hang out with them since we weren't the only guests, but we played some fun games (boys vs. girls, of course... the girls dominated) and there was lots of good food and we got to see them open fun gifts! Josh and I got them a bbq basket. We took a laundry basket and filled it with fun bbq stuff- tongs, a mitt, fun sauces, a lighter, and, of course, a bag of charcoal to repay him for the 17 bags the groomsmen gave us at OUR wedding! They seemed to really like it. Anyway, I am excited for April, when we get to go to TX and head to their wedding! I get the feeling it is going to be unlike any wedding I've seen... but it'll be fun! :) Here are some pics of the happy couple!

Cheesing for the camera:

Trying out some of their honeymoon gear (they're headed to the FL beaches!):

Check out the baby blog for some good news for a change! :)

Grown Up

Well, as if having a baby wasn't grown up enough, Josh and I have decided to buy a house, too. Now we can officially say that we are totally adults! :) We have even found the house, which was a total God thing. At this point, we plan on buying the house I lived in during college. Stacey's parents decided they wanted to sell it, and we jumped on it! It saves them the hassle and cost of listing it with a realtor. And I love the house. I love the layout; how open it is and airy. And it will be so much nicer then living in a duplex! No neighbors through the wall, no neighbor's annoying dogs, and way more space! Plus, the master closet is huge! :) We won't close on it for several months still; Stacey and Shelley are still living there. But we are already planning nursery stuff... and we are going to have to fence the yard, so we are trying to price that, too. Not to mention getting the loan and that sort of stuff. Speaking of which, I am very excited about all this... but I am VERY nervous about paying for it! As long as I don't think about it. If I think about it...

Baby update... I am officially 12 weeks now, and still feeling sick. But not as bad as it was. So hopefully I'm on the tail end of things! We also got our first baby outfit; Ruth bought an adorable turtle sleeper. She couldn't resist and I don't blame her, it's adorable. Now if only I could believe that I'm really going to have something that fits in it soon....

Baby Blog

Well, I said I was going to stop posting on the baby blog now that it wasn't secret anymore... I've changed my mind. So, if you want more specific details on life as a pregnant woman, you can visit my other blog. But, beware, as it is unedited! :) It may be a TMI zone!

www.babylooblog.blogspot.com

Family Weekend

This past week was conferences week (not my favorite time of the year), so I had half of Friday off. So, naturally, Josh and I headed to Springfield for a longish weekend. We didn't really have anything to do, we just wanted to hang out with family and relax. So, that's what we did! :) We went to see the new movie, Amazing Grace (http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/) on Friday afternoon. It was really good. It's sort of about the song, but it's more about the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. It was very good, and it was nice to go see a movie where one of the lines was "I have learned two things. One, that I am a great sinner. And two, that Christ is a great Savior." So Josh and I really enjoyed it.

Anyway, then we just hung out at his parents house and had bbq. Saturday we slept in, laid around, and finally decided to go on a tour of Springfield. Josh and his dad were supposed to go fishing, but since it was snowing, windy, and a high of 33, they decided maybe not! :) So we went and saw where everybody worked, the Springfield Cardinals ball stadium (where Jess now works as a member of "Team Louie"), and, of course Bass Pro. Where, since he couldn't go fishing, Josh decided that he would buy TWO new fishing rods instead. I'm still a little fuzzy on how that all worked, but I do know he appeased me by saying one of them was mine, and I'm holding him to it! ;) Josh going to Bass Pro with his dad is like me going to Target with my sister, Jess... they leave with nothing and we have 43 things we didn't go in there for but somehow discovered we couldn't live without! Anyway, we watched a movie and hung out Saturday evening, then Josh and I had to leave early Sunday for church. All in all, it was exactly the weekend we wanted- we just lazed around, and we got to see family! We also made our first baby purchase. Nothing big, we just found a cute, yellow blanket that said "BABY" on it at Deals and, since it was $1, we bought it. Josh's dad bought us those plastic tipped spoons, too. So we're started on collecting baby stuff! :)

As we drove around Springfield on Saturday, I was amazed at the leftover scars from the ice storm in January. I mean, we got frustrated with how long it took the ice to melt up here. Down there, the ice is gone but the damage is still very real. Many streets we drove down had piles of brush as tall as a man lining them. People still had limbs and sticks covering their yards. But what struck me most was the trees that were still standing. I've always loved the shape of most trees against the sky- the trunk goes up, then splits into more and more branches, getting smaller and spreading out until it looks like the pictures we used to draw in kindergarten. That isn't true of the trees there. I don't think I saw a tree in the entire city that hadn't lost at least part of it's top. Silhouetted against the sky, many looked more like the dead trees you see surrounding swamps in horror movies then like the trees kids draw. Lots of them still had branches hanging in their uppermost limbs. It was pretty crazy, and I guess I just expected that, once the ice melted, everything went back to normal. I will be happy to see it in spring, when new branches start to grow, and leaves begin to restore that kindergarten shape! I wish I had taken my camera with me, but instead I found this picture of a brush pile in someone's yard in the newspaper. A month and a half later, and still much clean up to do!