This is so good!

What is your cardboard testimony? I don't think they make cardboard big enough for mine.

Weddings!

My family loves a good wedding. We love to get dressed up, love seeing old friends and family (the young ones too), we love the food but we especially love the dancing.

My nephew got married this past weekend in Austin at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was a lovely location for a wedding. The wedding was short and sweet and I missed most of it as a bug flew in my eye and I had to keep asking Heather for updates.

We had a wonderful meal of chicken medalions with jaberno cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes (my nephews favorite) and the most delicious salad with spinach, strawberries and candied pecans ( I considered that my dessert).

Once the dancing started though my kids were ready to go... they were bummed they had to wait until the bride and groom, bride and dad, groom and mom all had a dance ( the nerve of them) but once that was over they hit the floor. I did discover my kids are not real fond of country and western and kept wanting to know when the "real music" was going to start.

At the end of the night Seth informed me this had been the best day of his life.... and wanted to know when the next wedding was, hopefully not too long.

GREEN SMOOTHIES!!

We have recently discovered a new health food fad that is going over great in my home.....Green Smoothies. I read about a 30 day challenge on a scrapbook board and decided to try it myself. The first thing I did was purchase a Magic Bullet blender (don't forget to say blender or people look at you funny). I LOVE this thing! I can't believe I went so long without it.

The first batch I made was SO green I was afraid the boys wouldn't even try it so I called them "Incredible Hulk Smoothies" and the boys drank them right down... no complaints! Later that day Seth told Hunter he couldn't cross the monkey bars at the park at which Hunter reminded him that he had drank the smoothie and what do you know?.... Seth went right across the monkey bars!

So what makes it so green you ask..... spinach. Yes a huge handful of spinach. I mix that with various other ingredients and it taste great! Our favorite recipe right now is-

1/2 a banana

4 chunks of frozen mango

2 large strawberries

scoop of pineapple with juice

large handful of spinach

I also add a few pieces of ice, 1/2 cup of almond milk, a couple of scoops of ambrotose and a scoop of organic vanilla yogurt.

You can mix this with pretty much any fruit and other greens to use are parsley, aragula, or kale. I am going to try parsley tomorrow.

Be sure and leave me a comment to tell me what you think.... especially if you try one yourself. I would love to hear of other recipes.

Family Traditions

I am a big believer in family traditions and one of our favorites is Family Camp at Camp Arrowhead in Glen Rose, Texas.

I went as a little girl and my parents took a pop-up camper and we stayed all week. I have such wonderful memories and am still in touch with many of the friends I made on the campground.

When I got married and had children we would pop in for a night or two but when Jordan was a baby the camp opened the new lodge and I decided to go and stay all week.

We have been going every year since. My parents go, along with both of my sister in-laws which means the kids get to spend all week with their cousins.

We head up on Monday morning with a 1 1/2 hour drive. The kids know the way by watching for landmarks -turn right at the canoes, hay bales, nuclear plant, huge ant hills, honk at the birds and we are there!

The younger kids go to their own services in the morning much like a VBS and the teens have a bible study at 9 am. We have church services at 10:30am and again at 7:30pm. The teens get back together after the service for fun and games while the younger ones run the grounds looking for frogs.

We spend the afternoon swimming, chasing frogs and hiking nature trails. One afternoon the teens float down the Brazos River and we try to get to the Black Hole at the Paluxy River on another day. The week is always an incredible time for the whole family.

This year we had such a special time as one of the speakers was our former pastor, Dwight Gunter. It was so good to see them again. We celebrated Caleb's birthday at the river and no one wanted to leave. It was a very peaceful week with some wonderful messages that spoke to all of us. We came home with two frogs, tadpoles, a butterfly and a dragon fly.

We can hardly wait until next year!

Hunter's birthday

Hunter had a special birthday this year as it fell on Memorial Day. We decided to do it up big patriotic style. It started with this amazing cake....

I found the recipe at Pioneer Woman's Blog- http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I also made her brisket recipe and it was yum-meee!

The spread! Hunter picked out all his favorite foods.

Katie made a completly organic 7 layer dip that I will have to post later.

Hunter opening gifts. Heather had painted a large star on his face.

We all dressed in red, white, and blue.

Pinata time!

The candy scramble

The party ended with a water balloon fight and then swimming at the community pool.

More pictures from the Outcast Conference

We are still excited from this incredible conference... it has really energized the youth group and we are looking forward to next year already!

JUMP!
Heather and Travis partying "Jesus style".

What could I say....what could I do but offer this heart of mine... completely to you.

In my life... be lifted high, in my world... be lifted high, in my love.... be lifted high.

Heather signing with Travis leading worship in the background.

At the Zoo

I haven't been to the Dallas Zoo in several years... in fact I have made the effort and traveled over to the Ft. Worth Zoo as I had found it to be quite better. Well the Dallas Zoo has come a long way! I was very pleased with all the new exhibits and especially the children's area. The best part of the day though was Sting Ray Bay where we got to feed and pet the sting rays. They were so friendly and gentle... we are already counting the days until we go back, it is our goal to go once a month.

Can you tell he is SO happy to be here!?

Petting a white rat!

"This is the best job ever"- Caleb

A monkey?

The butterfly garden was incredible!

OTTERS!

Feeding the sting rays

Riding the rails

Well the price of gas has increased the DART business and my family is helping them out. A few weeks ago we decided to take a trip to the Dallas Zoo and we rode the DART rail right up to the entrance. I am often surprised how few people know where all you can go on the DART train. Chris and I took it to the American Airlines Center and had a blast... that is the only way to go!

The kids thought it was quite an adventure and it sure saved on gas. Heather and I have decided to take a DART field trip every couple of weeks. Our next trip will be to North Park mall to check out LUSH and the artwork. I will post all about these trips and of course my review of the Lush products which I am dying to use!

Pictures from the trip-

Heather made me a new header...

Heather has decided to join the world of blogging and she actually had a cuter header than I did so she sweetly made one for me and I think she did a GREAT job!

Be sure and check out her blog!

http://snugglebabe11.blogspot.com/

Drill Now, Drill Here, Pay Less

The price of gas is out of control and I have joined in the effort to change this. This video explains how we can fix this and help bring energy indepedence to America.

Did you know China is drilling just 50 miles off the shore of Florida?

Did you know the average price of gasoline is .12 a gallon in Venezuela?




Please go to www.americansolutions.com and sign the petition.

Fell behind in my blogging

Well I have learned that when you get behind on the whole blogging thing it is hard to catch up. I got so sick that I fell behind on alot of things (especially my laundry) and then life got really hectic.
In the midst of all the chaos our church had an awesome youth conference called Outcast... it was 3 nights and we had over 700 attend. The music was incredible and Heather got to sing, sign but the highlight of the week was this-