Journey to Narnia!

SBTS has a fall festival every year that is a pretty big deal, and is for families of students, staff, etc at the school.  This year, the theme was Narnia, and they went ALL OUT.  Everyone said it was going to be pretty amazing, so we didn’t want to miss it.  Best part- it was all free- the food, the activities, admission, everything.  Pretty sweet, huh?! 

Anyway, Josh worked until 5, so we left Etown about 5:30, and got to the shindig at about 6:30.  When we got there, it was pretty amazing- tons of bounce houses, tents all over the main grassy area, food everywhere, and tons of people.  This picture doesn’t really even begin show how crazy it was!

We started off with dinner (provided by Chick Fil A, of course), which had a ridiculously huge line.  So we had the bright idea for Josh and the girls to go play in the bounce houses for awhile while I waited in line.  Which was a good idea, until it was time for the girls to leave the bounce house… apparently, instead of coming with Daddy, Miss E. decided it was a better idea to start bolting in the opposite direction with no shoes on.  Yeah, Daddy wasn’t happy, and this is what I saw walking towards me:

I guess every time he set her down, she ran off again, so he just picked her up and took her to me, and then went back for the shoes and the stroller.  It was pretty funny, and entertaining to the family behind us in line, too! :)

Mostly, we chalk the issues up to low blood sugar and over excitement, b/c she was fine and happy to eat once we got the food!  Can’t let a Looten (or a Price) get hungry!

After we ate we stopped at the White Witch’s sleigh for a quick photo op:

And then headed to the coronation platform, where they could decorate their own crowns, and then they could be part of a coronation ceremony, where the girls got little wands and the boys got swords.  Here are my beautiful girls in their crowns:

We didn’t actually do the coronation ceremony, b/c the line was long, the show was about to start, and, let’s be honest, the girls didn’t really care anyway.  Laney just wanted her wand!  And, because SOMEONE ELSE in the family (not naming names cough*daddy*cough) wanted a sword, we got Audrey a sword.  Which, to be honest, she was totally happy about and thoroughly enjoyed.  And then I had the bright idea to take a sibling picture with crowns and wands/swords.  Yeah, two girls, two crowns, a sword and a wand… like that was going to happen!  But we gave it the old college try, and actually ended up with this good one: (although I wish I had taken the time to clean the ketchup off of Laney’s face!)

But, lets be honest, most of the shots looked more like this:

Just thought this was a cute shot of Laney… sometimes I forget what a big girl she’s getting to be!

And maybe this is why Audrey enjoyed her sword so much… everything is a teething toy!

After we decorated crowns and got wands/swords, it was time for the show to start!  It was a pretty neat show, it was set up like a joust with guys really on horseback and throwing spears (at hay bales) and such.  Laney watched it from Daddy’s shoulders, and Audrey and I mostly listened from a little farther back!

All a girl needs: a wand, a crown, some cotton candy, and a good seat on Daddy’s shoulders!

Audrey and I had our own cotton candy, of course…

The show was a little long for the girls, so when Laney’s attention span and Daddy’s shoulders were about to give out, we headed off to see what else we could find.  We found funnel cakes (DELICIOUS) and face painting.  Laney hadn’t ever had a face painting done, and she was a little hesitant.  They were painting most people all over their faces to look like tigers or other animals, but Laney wasn’t all about that.  She decided on a blue flower and a pink flower instead.  She was nervous in line and while they were doing it, but happy as a clam afterwards!  Love watching my girls try new things…

And she looked pretty cute with them done!

After face painting, we ended up back by the bounce houses.  Although, they really can’t be called bounce houses since there were slides and games and rock walls and cliff hangers, just about everything you could think of!  We played for a little bit in the little kid ones, and then took Laney to see the bigger ones.  What is it about a kid and a bounce house, they both just LOVED them.  Especially the slides, where you had to climb up this rock wall/ladder part, and then go down a huge slide.  Laney and Audrey both loved it… fearless!

Audrey goofing with Daddy in the toddler bounce house

Laney on the giant slide.  Going up…

…and coming down, with a huge grin!!

Audrey and I made a few trips down the slides, too!

Headed back to the car after the party was over, tired and happy, with crowns, face paint, sodie, and a big smile… oh, and giant Tiana socks!  She didn’t want to put her shoes back on after the  bounce house!

And the sure sign of a good family outing?  Passed out kiddos by the time you make it home!  I’m gonna have a million of these pictures by the time these kids grow up!

After putting the girls to bed, Josh and I made the brilliant discovery that we can stream ESPN on our computer because of our internet provider, so we got to watch the MU game, which didn’t START until 10:30… so we were up until 2, and totally exhausted the next morning!  But, definitely a fun day all around!

Just as a quick update on life in general, I do have a full time job.  It’s not exactly what I wanted; it’s basically a computer tech position at an elementary school.  I actually like the work, and the people, and I am learning tons, which is always fun.  But it is only 25 hours a week, and the pay is not great.  So I was hoping to be able to have a position like that for the next couple of years, but it looks like I will have to be applying to go back in the classroom next summer again.  Hopefully some experience in a local school will help me get a job this time!  In the meantime, things will be a little tight, but God will make the ends meet, and I’ll learn lots in this job, which will be good experience.  With our house fixed, school started, jobs started, and the girls in full time daycare, we are finally starting to feel settled.  Incredibly busy (especially Josh, with school and two part time jobs), but settled, which has done wonders for us!  So, we’re settled in for this adventure!  No telling what God has planned for us…

Josh’s Ordination

Obviously this post is a little past due, since it happened in mid-August… but life is still crazy around here, and since I didn’t take any of these pictures, it kind of slipped my mind to post them!

Anyway, one of the first things that THBC did when Josh started serving was ask if he wanted to be officially ordained.  And, of course, he did.  So they set up his ordination service for August 13th.  Josh’s Mom, Dad, and Grandma came for the service, as did Brother Dave and Nancy from MHBC, which was really cool.  It was a quick and busy trip for his parents, but we had fun showing them a little of Etown, and they got to see our house all (finally) fixed up and put back together!  Which I still owe you pictures of, but, well, it has to be clean to take pictures, so it might be a bit…

But back to the ordination… church that morning was pretty normal, and then Josh had to head back to church for the ordination council, which is basically where any ordained man can come and ask him questions to judge whether he is suited for ordination and ministry.  Since Dave was there, he got to be a part of it, too.  They weren’t too rough on Josh, and they had no trouble seeing that he is definitely called to ministry.  After the ordination council, everyone was invited to his ordination service.  He got to pick out all of the songs, Pastor Nathan spoke, as did the head of missions for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and then all of the men who had been a part of the ordination council laid their hands on him and prayed for him.  It was a very cool ceremony, very solemn, and very meaningful.  The church historian took pictures, so these are his pictures… he got some good ones!

All off the ordained men, during the laying on of hands.  They all kneeled down and prayed with Josh one at a time.  It was very cool.

Pastor Nathan praying with Josh.

And, of course, my favorite- Bro. Dave praying with Josh.  Dave has been such a huge part of Josh’s spiritual growth that I was thrilled he could come and be a part of the ordination service.  Watching him just wrap Josh in a bear hug and pray with him totally made me cry, though…

And after the ceremony, the party began!  We had an ice cream social to celebrate!  Lots of people, and lots of the youth, came, which was really neat.  We had a good time just hanging out and talking and laughing with everyone.  And it was a good chance for Josh’s family to get to meet some of our new church family.

Josh’s certificate, signed by all of the men who were a part of the ordination council, and the Bible they got for him, with Rev. Joshua Lloyd Looten on it.  Pretty cool!

Grandma Jo & Audrey, enjoying some ice cream

Laney, mooching cookies & ice cream off of Grandma & Grandpa Looten… who were more than happy to share! :)

Audrey and Paige, one of the youth, who has taken a real liking to our girls!

After the ordination service and ice cream, we headed back to Mom & Dad Looten’s hotel, which had a pool.  True to form, our girls were absolutely water babies, despite the fact that the water was pretty cold!  We got Laney a noodle, and she realized she could kind of lay on it and kick her feet and swim around, and she did about a million laps.  Audrey just wouldn’t keep her face out of the water- she’d duck it under, then pull it back up, gasping and grinning like a maniac, and then do it all over again.  She is so crazy when it comes to water.  When it looked like it was going to rain (and the grown ups were pretty much done swimming), we headed inside and ordered pizza from Snappy Tomato, which Josh and I had been wanting to try.  They have a GIANT pizza, which was really good. 

Josh’s Mom, Dad, & Grandma headed back to Missouri Monday morning, so it really was a quick trip for them.  We are excited for them to come back and stay for a more relaxed visit, but are thrilled that they could make it for Josh’s ordination service.  It’s pretty cool that Josh is officially The Reverend Joshua Lloyd Looten!  I’m so proud of him, and I know that God is going to do great things through him. I’m just along for the ride! :)

Whirlwind STL Trip

Slowly but surely, I’m catching up! :)  The week after our trip to Holiday World, we went on a whirlwind trip to St. Louis.  My aunt, Kim, was getting married there, and we wanted to go.  Since St. Louis is about a 5 hour drive from Etown, we decided to make a day of it.  We got up and out the door early, and headed to St. Louis to meet Charlie & Ruth at the Science Center!  None of us had been to the Science Center since we were in school, so we were kind of excited to see what had changed.  The answer is… well, not much!  But it was fun revisiting the old classics, like the giant T Rex, the bridge over the highway (where you can see how fast the cars are going), and the build-an-arch activity!  And, of course, it was the girls’ first time, so it was all new to them (although the reading about the eras of the world… not so interesting for them.  Weird.)

Anyway… onto our adventures at the Science Center…

Of course, one of the major things to remember from the Science Center is the giant T Rex that moves and roars!  When we first got there, Josh was looking at the map and trying to decide where to go, so I took Laney over to the railing to show her the dinosaur.  Right as we got to the railing, it looked over at us (seriously, it really did look like it was looking right at us, and I knew it wasn’t, but Laney sure didn’t!), opened its mouth, and roared.  I thought Laney was going to climb me!  It was pretty hilarious.  She was quite interested in NOT going anywhere near the dino for awhile. 

But, eventually we got a good pic of her and her daddy with it!

Like I said before, everyone remembers the build-an-arch activity, so we had to give it a shot…

Laney was actually a help- she could find the numbers for Josh and Charlie.  Audrey… well, she mostly sat on the blocks! :)

Daddy and Charlie, dropping in the last “stone.”

And then, disaster struck: the arch still wouldn’t stay up!  Engineer Charlie had to keep adjusting to figure out why, of course.  Meanwhile, I was trying to get a picture of the three of them underneath it, whether it would stand up or not.

Laney and Daddy, ready for a picture.  Charlie… still fidgeting with the arch!

And finally I just gave up and settled for a picture of Josh and Laney… note Charlie in the background, STILL trying to fix the arch!

The other crowd pleaser was, of course, the bridge over the road.  Laney thought it was way cool that you could look down and see the cars going by underneath.  She was a little small to do the speed thing (or to understand what it meant) but just looking at the highway seemed to entertain her.

No fear whatsoever!  My brave girl…

No fear for Miss A., either!

And then there’s the gift shop… where Josh just had to be Josh! :)

While we were at the gift shop, we had to pick up a bag of astronaut ice cream, because it’s not a trip to the Science Center without it (at least not for me- I bought some EVERY TIME I went when I was a kid).  Good news is, it’s still delicious!

After the Science Center we went to Ted Drewes, a St. Louis ice cream place that Josh had heard was really good.  We are seriously lacking in frozen custard around Etown, we pretty much just have DQ and Baskin Robbins (not the same as Andy’s or Randy’s or that kind of thing…).  So we were excited to get to eat some good frozen custard… and it was good!

The girls… yeah, they TOTALLY passed out on the way there, so they didn’t get to try it.  Trust me, they needed the naps way more than they needed the ice cream!

So, after Ted Drewes we headed off to the main event of the trip, which was the wedding, of course!  It was held at Kim’s new sister-in-law’s house in an old neighborhood in Kirkwood.  It was a beautiful neighborhood and house, and a great place for a wedding.  It even stopped raining for the wedding (although it was a touch on the warm side!).  I’ll admit, though, that I was a little fried (and a lot warm), so I didn’t take too many pictures.  Plus, at weddings I kind of like to let the photographer take the pictures!  Just a few I took…

Audrey and Grandma Price… check out the hair on Audrey, we made the mistake of pouring a little water on her head to cool her off and then she wouldn’t let us stop!  Water baby extraordinaire!

Since the only nap she got that day was the 30 minutes she slept in the car at Ted Drewes, Laney was a bit of a monster… so she spent a lot of time at the wedding under the table. Oh, well!

Anyway, like I said, I didn’t take too many pictures.  But we really had a good time at the wedding, just visiting with family.  We got to see lots of people that we don’t see very often, and it was fun catching up, since lots has happened in the last year or so!!  We headed back that night, so it was definitely a long day, but totally worth it to see family and wish Kim & Charlie well on their marriage!!  Congratulations, you guys!

Holiday World

Yeah, so I’m running about a month behind in the blogging world… it’s been a little nuts around here lately, with trips to STL, new carpet, ordination services, new jobs, etc… and I have a wicked cold (or my allergies are acting up), so it’s been hard to get motivated to get caught up on my posting.  But I am crazy behind now, so I’m gonna do my best! :)

Towards the end of July, our church went to Holiday World.  It was really kind of a nice set up, we could caravan or drive on our own, and head up whenever we wanted.  Then we had a meal together as a church while we were there, and could stay as long as we wanted.  So it was some good time together, but there was also a lot of freedom.  Which I guess is what you can do when you're taking the whole church, and not just youth! :)  Anyway, we’d never been to Holiday World, and we’re always up for a theme park, so we packed the car and the girls and headed towards Santa Claus, IN!

This park (as the name suggests) is broken up into sections based on holidays- 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  It also has a water park section, called Splashin’ Safari, kind of like Six Flags in St. Louis.  Probably the coolest thing about how Holiday World is run, is they don’t charge for drinks.  There are all of these buildings with “Pepsi Oasis” signs, and you can just walk in, grab a cup, and fill it up with whatever you want to drink.  So that certainly saved some money!  

Since it had a water park, we had the girls wear clothes and packed swim suits.  Knowing our girls, we should have just put them in the swim suits, because we should have known they’d find water wherever it was… and they did!  We started the day off in a section called Holidog World, which was designed for kids.  It was like a giant jungle gym/play place, with a big water mat/sprinkler in the middle.  Yeah, guess where our girls were… the sprinkler!  They went straight in, clothes and all…

We left this area for a little while, and went off to see what kinds of rides Laney could ride.  We found this bird ride first, and she was all about it.  So, she and Daddy hopped in.  I thought it was hilarious that she made him sit in the Jayhawk colored bird…

While we were at the birds, we ended up running into Pastor Nathan, his wife, daughter, and granddaughter, Angel.  Angel is about the same age as Laney, so they are, of course, immediate best friends.  Cara (Angel’s mom) wanted to do some big kid rides, as did Josh and I, so we passed the kids off to Nathan and Tammy, and Cara, Josh, and I hit all of the roller coasters.  And, let me tell you, there are some roller coasters at Holiday World!  They are all wooden, and they are really long.  The Voyage, in the Thanksgiving section, was the first we rode, and was my favorite.  It just kept going and going, underground, up huge hills, around corners… it was crazy.  Anyway, after some grown up time, we went back to relieve Nathan and Tammy, and found our girls absolutely soaking wet.  So we just gave in and changed them into their swimsuits.  Next time, just swimsuits and shorts! :)

We stayed around Holidog World until it was about time to eat, and I think the girls could have stayed there forever…

MUCH happier to be in a suit!

There was no off/on with these sprinklers… it was just on all the time!

Every half hour or so these characters would come out and do a dance for all the kids… Laney LOVED it, and by the 3rd or 4th time she saw it, she worked up the courage to go talk to them.  Of course, she liked the girl in the sparkly dress the best!

Loved that my girls played together and had a blast!

We stayed in this part of the park until it was time to go to our church meal, which was actually really good.  After the meal, we headed off to Splashin’ Safari to enjoy the water park.  I didn’t take a single picture, seeing as how there was water everywhere, but OH MY GOSH did the girls have fun!!  They had a kids area with probably 6 or 7 little slides, and both girls just went crazy for it.  Audrey made the lifeguards nervous because she just kept sticking her head under water, coming up sputtering and spitting, and doing it again!  It was a walk-in pool, with the water under the slides still only 2 or 3 feet deep, so Laney just paddled around to her heart’s content.  It was an awesome time, and I’m going to have to make sure I keep my camera closer next time (it was in the stroller, which we parked near the front, before finding the slide pool all the way in the back of the park).  Our kids are such water babies…

Anyway, by the time we all played on the slides and in the water for another couple of hours, we were wiped and ready to head home!  We stopped on the way out for a treat (Laney chose a chocolate covered apple, with sprinkles, of course) and to let Laney ride a few more of the kid rides, which were all in one place by the exit, and had no lines. 

Meanwhile, Audrey worked on Laney’s apple…

Further proof that Laney is Josh’s daughter (as if there was any doubt by now)… this little girl was standing next to her in line, and Laney just decided that they were going to ride together… and promptly started “helping” (aka, bossing) her!

Instant best friends! :)

P.S. Chocolate apples are delicious!

Our last ride, the seahorses (that is one tired and happy kid).

And we were headed home, exhausted, a little sunburnt, and happy!  It’s a bout a 2 hour drive home, so by the time we got there, our little girls looked like this:

And NOBODY MOVED when we unloaded them and put them to bed.  They were totally worn out!  So, overall, Holiday World was a lot of fun, and definitely worth a return trip!! 

Trip to MO: Columbia Edition

Well, after our trip to Springfield, we headed north to Columbia to hang out with the Price side of the family. One of our youth girls was getting married on that Saturday, so we went up for the end of the week so we could go to the wedding. One of the coolest things was that Jess actually knew the groom, so she and Mike came in from CO to visit at the same time. We so rarely have the whole family together at the same time, it was pretty awesome! Other than the wedding, we didn’t plan too much. Mostly just hanging out at Mom and Dad’s, doing some of our favorite things (or the girls favorite things, since they’re way more opinionated!).

So, some of the girls favorite things…

Wrestling (or beating up on) Uncle Charlie!

Pedis with Aunt Jess! (Audrey’s first)

Watching movies and hanging out with Aunt Ruthie!

And four-wheeler rides and hanging out on hay bales with Uncle Charlie! Yes, even Miss A got a few four wheeler rides, albeit very SLOW ones!

Jess & Mike brought the girls a slip and slide, so we broke that out one afternoon (it was certainly hot enough for it!). The girls are such water babies, that even the colder-than-a-well-digger well water didn’t faze them. Their lips were blue and their teeth were chattering, and they just kept playing. They weren’t actually so good at the sliding, so they had to be pushed down the slide (which means mommy got just as wet… too bad I wasn’t dressed for swimming!). Although Audrey mostly wanted to just stand there and get sprayed by (and drink) the sprinklers coming from the side. However they played, it was an absolute blast, and they loved every second of it!

Just a couple of random pictures…

Audrey’s first ponytail… pretty sad-looking! :)

Sticker-face Laney!

Like I said, Saturday we went to the wedding. It was the 4th wedding we’d been to since March, so Laney has learned all about weddings, and LOVES them (of course). She was so excited to get to go. And it was fun to get all dressed up as the whole family and go. And it’s always cool to see our youth kids grow up and start their own lives. Not quite like it will be when it’s our girls, but something like that… Anyway, on with the pictures!

The Looten family! :)

Laney and Jess… check out the veil on Laney!

We were having some trouble keeping Laney entertained (and off the dance floor) after she was done with dinner. The reception was pretty formal, so there was a full dinner, and Laney was done well before everyone else. To distract her, I grabbed a baggie of mints off of the favor table, and when she had eaten them all, we made the netting into a veil. She was quite thrilled! It’s the simple things in life!

Audrey… not as interested in dancing, much more interested in cake!

Lucky for Laney, the dance floor did eventually open, and she could make her presence known…

Including by dancing with the groom, who didn’t even know her… hilarious. Totally outgoing… which is totally NOT ME! :)

She also danced with her Aunt Jess, though. We didn’t get to do too much dancing, because it was after 10 before the dancing started, and that’s getting towards little girl bedtimes!!

Sunday we went to church, and then went out to Shakespeare’s (yes, please, I miss that pizza!) for lunch. Always a good time… and then it was time for good byes. Which are harder with this side of the family, because we’re not used to living far apart yet.

But, before goodbyes, we had to take a sibling picture, of course… always a good time, as evidenced by this, this, and this previous attempt to get a family picture when Charlie’s involved! (Oh, look, here's another sibling mauling...er, picture)

This time it was my turn to take an elbow to the face (better than when Ruth got keys to the face, I guess).

And then once we were all sufficiently mangled, he finally cooperated for one good picture…

Like I said, the good byes are still pretty hard with my family, but thankfully Charlie always knows how to break the emotional tension…

Anyway, it was a great visit, so nice to see all of our families… and so awesome to have a week to make it a nice long visit. Can’t wait to see everyone again!!