Together Again!

I'm back and I'm happy to report that San Antonio was every bit as fun as I had anticipated. I wasn't super impressed with San Antonio as a vacation destination but get this group of girls together and we can have a blast anywhere! We were just as silly and just as giggly as we were as teenagers and boy did it feel GOOD! It was a weekend of self-indulgence including pedicures, manicures and my very first container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
We took a tour of some awesome caverns 250 feet below ground. The stalagmites and stalactites we saw were incredible. I felt as though we were looking at art created by a Divine sculptor. Amazing. Due to recent rains, the cavern was a bit flooded and we had to wade through knee high water a couple of times (you might have been wondering why we are all holding our shoes and have our pants rolled up!). This just added to the adventure!
One evening we headed down to the Riverwalk. There is a river that flows through San Antonio and many restaurants and shops have built along it's edges. We ate at this colorful Mexican restaurant and were even serenaded by a small mariachi band...for a price.
One of the highlights of the trip was the segway tour we took around the city. For those who have never ridden a segway, find one and try it! It is so much fun! They are controlled by your balance. You lean forward to go, backward to stop, and you dip the handle from side to side to turn. It feels strange at first but becomes easy quite quickly. Our tour guide took us on a five mile tour and shared with us some of the history of the downtown area. At the end of the tour we had the opportunity to race down a couple of city blocks and play around in an empty parking lot. We were a spunky little group but I think our tour guide got a kick out of us. If not, then I'm sure he was glad to get rid of us! Yep, that is the Alamo we are gathered in front of. Somehow I imagined it larger...
Of course meals are always something to look forward to on vacation. Here we are enjoying homemade root beer at a German deli. We also had BBQ at a place that was recommended to us. It wasn't too bad except for the cockroach we saw scuttle across the counter!

I was truly sad to see our trip come to a close because I know it will be quite a while before we are all together again. It has been two days since we parted and I am already missing them. Rachel, Jodi, Mandy, Leah, Thorey and I truly have a friendship made in Heaven and I am so thankful that we are still close after all these years.

Let the Fun Begin!

Well, I finally kept my word and have attended a photography class the past two evenings. It's just a three night workshop that covers all the basics but it's a start. Last night we covered manual operation of the camera and I began to feel a bit overwhelmed because I knew this was something I wouldn't learn to do quickly. Then I reminded myself that I don't need to learn it quickly and felt much better. Most people go through many years of training and education preparing for their chosen career and photography doesn't have to be any different. I'm excited to finally be moving forward now toward achieving my dream.

Well, tomorrow the big day finally arrives. The day that I have been looking forward to for a year. The day I have mentioned in probably at least five posts. The day I leave for TEXAS! Hurray, it's finally here! I can't wait to hang out with my friends and play for four days. San Antonio, here I come!

Cruise Night

One of the biggest events of the year in our town is Cruise Night. This is the night that everyone brings their classic cars out and cruise up and down the two mile stretch of our main street. Back and forth they drive, revving their engines and doing burnouts for at least six hours. Of all the cars we saw, this one was my favorite. A little pink and white Metro barely bigger than a Matchbox car. So, so cute!

Although the whole street can be described as a town party, the main events happen here, at Roe Ann's Drive-In. The cool thing about Roe Ann's is that it is a real Drive-In (not to be confused with a Drive Thru) and it has been continuously operating since the fifties. Every year they have a band playing oldies music and they hold dance contests and limbo competitions. The girls and I had fun boogie-ing the night away but the men in our family refused to be dragged onto the dance floor. Maybe NEXT year we can get Aaron out there to do the "twist" with us. I know, I know...keep dreamin'.

Got Corn?

Late this morning my friend Angie called and said, "Hi! Do you want to come over and do corn?" The city girl in me struggled to think of what exactly we would DO to corn. Unable to come up with anything, I had to ask. Early this morning Angie and Kelly, another friend of mine, had gone to a nearby cornfield and picked a ton of corn. They were now getting ready to shuck it, blanch it (boil it for 5 min), cool it in cold water, cut the kernels from the cob and bag it up in Ziploc bags to be frozen and used in the coming year. Of course I wanted to DO corn! One more lesson to learn about country life. For the next 4 hours we all worked as a team over the corn and had a ton of fun doing it. Our kids all shucked themselves silly, then had fun feeding the husks and stripped corn cobs to Angie's cows and pigs. Angie sent me home with not only a new skill but enough fresh corn to last us a year.

Almost Famous

I'm robbing the post that my sister-in-law Meggan put on her blog today so I can share the coolness of it on my own (hope you don't mind, Meggan). Meggan's husband Derek is my husband's brother and as I mentioned in an earlier post, Derek works for Oakley. Apparently there is going to be a TV show called Corporate Cribs, which features large name brand companies like Oakley, Etnies, and many others. My brother-in-law is going to be in the Oakley episode, which I think is really cool! Here is the link for the TV show trailer and Derek seems to be the star of it. He is the dark haired guy in the green army-like jacket that they show several times. Check it out! http://www.corporatecribs.tv/

Horsing Around

Yesterday afternoon, for lack of anything else to do, the girls and I went for a little drive. We were out roaming around the more country-esque parts of our town when we came upon a pasture of horses. This particular pasture caught my eye because two of the horses were running and there is nothing more majestic than running horses. As we came closer and closer I realized that they weren't just running, that one was chasing the other. Then before I knew it they had stopped running and were actually fighting! That did it. I had to pull over to watch this, as horrifying as it was. I couldn't believe it when I saw them rearing up and crashing into each other. They curled up their lips and bit viciously at each other's heads, necks and legs. They looked like dogs fighting, only on a gigantic scale. I was relieved when they finally separated and one trotted to another part of the pasture. However, it was only a moment or two before one of the horses was charging back towards the other horse for round two. I wondered what the one horse had done to tick the other one off so badly. As I sat there watching I thought about the things my friend Sonja had taught me about there being a head horse who holds control and about social behavior within the herd. Someone had obviously overstepped some boundaries and stepped on another's hooves! I was feeling a bit smug about the new found knowledge I have about life in the country when I decided it was time to go. As I prepared to pull back onto the road I took a second for one more glance back at the horses. It was then that I became instantly humbled. With that last glance it became very obvious that what I had witnessed was not just the disciplining of an out of line horse, it was more of a...mating ritual. I guess I still have a lot to learn.

In Love With Book Club!

One of my favorite things in life is book club. Yesterday was my one year anniversary of attending the book club my friend Nikki holds in her home. She invited me to check it out and I was instantly hooked. I love that it has pushed me to read books I know I would have never read on my own (War and Peace!). I also love gathering in a room with this bunch of really smart people and listening to their thoughts and ideas. It always amazes me how many different views people can have on the same book and the book club experience has reinforced in my mind that people can think differently and nobody has to be wrong. The best meeting of the year is in July. That is the month we pick all the books we will be reading in the coming year. I have been giddy with anticipation all week while waiting to find out which books would make THE LIST. I am really excited about the list we came up with. I'm looking forward to this next year of great reading and thought provoking discussions!

Visit with the Koffords'

I meant to write this post after my original California trip post but I guess I got side tracked. I don't know what I was thinking letting all this time go by! One of the fun things we did in California was go visit Meggan and Derek (Aaron's brother) and their cute little family. This was one of the most anticipated activites on our trip list because my kids LOVE to visit their cousins. It was even more exciting because we finally got to meet their new baby, Dylan. Dylan is so smiley and happy and has a natural mohawk that just cracks you up. Derek and Meggan really showed us a good time while we were there. First we ate lunch at In N Out (yum!), a must have in California. After lunch Derek took us on a tour of the Oakley factory/buisness offices where he works. Apparently Oakley does much more that make sunglasses and the tour was very interesting. What a cute bunch of cousins!
Bree and Edie were so cute when we took their pictures because they just smile and smile and don't quit 'till the camera is put away. A photographer's dream, I'm sure! You've got them trained well Meggan! Believe me, Lauren was making us work for the smiles that day.
The kids also got to go swimming which of course, was a big hit. Look at these bathing beauties. They look like they could be sisters!
Thanks Derek, Meggan, Bree, Eden and Dylan for such a fun visit! Can't wait to see you again next time!

Independence Day

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early to attend our ward's pancake breakfast at the city park. I wasn't sure that I would be able to get the kids to wake up in time since they've been sleeping in 'till 10:30/11:00, but we managed. We enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. Us women agreed that it was especially enjoyable because we didn't have to cook it or clean it up. It was nice that the men handled all the dirty work. Even better than the breakfast was the short, touching talk that was given on the meaning of the holiday we had gathered to celebrate. My heart swelled as we sang the Star Spangled Banner and I felt truly blessed to be an American.

Later that evening we went to my friend Nikki's house for a BBQ and our own personal fireworks show. As the sky began to darken the children were all gathered onto the lawn and lined up to light sparklers. My friend's husband John did the lighting....with a blow torch. He sat on a little stool holding the torch while the kids ignited their sparklers in the flame.
Of course, Aaron, biggest kid of all had to get in on the fun. He waited his turn in line, then stuck 5 sparklers into the flame at once. They immediately ignited into a huge ball of fire that singed the hair off his arm (and probably the eyebrows off John face). In an attempt to put the fire out he began waving the burning bundle of sparklers wildly back and forth, sending a shower of flames across the yard and dangerously close to innocent bystanders. Yep, that's my pyromanica husband for ya. I guess he figured if one sparkler looked pretty cool, five sparklers would be truly awesome. After the sparkler fun, John lit off his beautiful display of fireworks. Fireworks displays we have seen from a distance in the past have been fun to watch but it is another thing entirely to have an shower of colorful sparks right over your head. Now THAT was truly awesome!

Toothless!

The Toothfairy made not just one but TWO stops at our house last week! Check out this toothless girl!
Just in case you couldn't see that gap well enough...