September 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

August was a "quieter" month with weather over the hundreds every day for over 8 weeks in a row (the average was around 105° to 108°)! Thankfully it's cooler now... mid 80's. Anyway... on to pictures. I'm sure if you wanted to know how hot it was you would have gone to a weather.com and not this blog...

An evening with the Howells. I think Haddasah is the same brain type as Mom

Enjoying the swing set to the fullest

Peek-a-boo

A delightful evening indeed

"How did you find me in the wilderness?"
"I saw you from the village."

The epic attack of the dead fish

I think Marscel likes his hair like that so he can look the tallest

A perfect example of cause and effect: no rain, dry ground

If the dirt wasn't red, the air smelled like sea weed, and the lake was an ocean, I could almost picture it being like New England

I spy...

Can it be?!? Sea shells in Oklahoma!!!

These two decided to brave the cold water (it was a beach after all... till they started sinking in the mud. They sunk quite a bit just standing for this picture

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"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!"

Turns out the lighthouse is a replica of one from the 1700's in Massachusetts

I always thought these kind of pictures were fun to capture.

Love bugs

It was one of those unexpected evenings where nothing was planned and everything we saw and did was so much fun and relaxing. Such a blessing!

I thought it was so cool how I caught the bird so perfectly in the picture until I was trying to see where it flew off to and only saw a kite.

Medal's and a nazi flag... what could this be?

Oren Lee came over to share some of his stories from WWII

It was such a privilege to hear his tales and learn lessons from such a man!

Lillian loved his metals

A nazi flag that Oren Lee took home as a souvenir from an airport they took over. Since he was the highest officer there he took it and had the other guy with him sign it. It was great how he would just toss it aside like an old rag.

He was a Sgt at the time he took the flag. He retired a lieutenant colonel.

We always thought she was a doll. She saw our doll chair, sat in it, and pretended to eat.

My first crafty project in a while... a magnetic chalk board

One sheet of metal cut to size

Rough up the surface a bit

Paint with chalkboard spray paint

Place in frame with backing...

and write a message!If you have any picture-less frames it's a great way to turn it into something pretty and useful

Congratulations on graduating Malena!

Even if it's only over night it's always a lot of fun with the Mairas

Marscel, Alina, and I needed pictures for our different photo projects. The wall was very obliging to be used as a prop.

Marscel's art

She didn't want to leave so she hid in the trunk. As short as the visit was I'm glad you guys could come!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

"I do set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth...

And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the rainbow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."

Marscel entertains himself on the way home

Yup, that's Tayla.... we were able to have her over for awhile

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Helping out at the 45th Infantry Museum

We met Art Levine who flew in the 101st Airborne division on D-Day

Showing us the New Testament he carried with him. You can read more about him here

We were blessed to have Mr. and Mrs. Niednagel stop over on their way from Texas. We always learn so many interesting things from them!

What is Matthew Kenny's? An all raw restaurant for two such enthusiasts.

May we present guacamole with raw chips...

and some sort of kelp salad. They said they loved it all!

The fancy little deserts

and a visit from Matthew Kenny himself!

For all of us that didn't go we enjoyed Mom's raw tiramisu cake upon their return. I'm sure it was just as good or better then anything they tried!

One of Mom's scrabble creations.

Off on the town

Spoons turned straws

Work day at the Benders

Helping out is most fun with such a tool

Tortilla time!

Enchanted with the little darling

Without having rain for a while it was nice to actually sit and enjoy the new green grass together

We couldn't all fit around the big table so they wanted to all squeeze around the little one

Enjoying the effects of rain... as little as it may be. Unfortunately our camera died right after this and I couldn't get a view of his face. He loved the mud!

Back home we got the same storm. Everything was pretty dark and then everything had a yellow hue.

The quickly changing sky

It started lightning in the distance and Tayla and I tried capturing a good one for over an hour. This was my favorite one I captured. Sometimes the whole sky would light up without being able to see the bolt since it was behind a cloud.

My favorite lightning by Tayla.

Some of our other attempts

Fun crazy times in the kitchen preparing for...

The arrival of the Thomsens!!!

Watching our life flash before our eyes... well almost. Thank you for the beautiful scrapbook, Sarah!

In case you ever wondered where the boys got their...uh... creativeness at a thrift store. Here's your answer.

A view on the way to...

Waynoka... they were so welcoming there weren't they?

These two seem to make friends wherever they go (can you tell what was in Waynoka by their hats?)

The winds were rising and the sky darkening. Mr. Thomsen kept us up to date on where the storm was heading

The wind was so strong it started knocking some of the vendors things over. We helped them take them down so they wouldn't lose anything.

In case you didn't guess by Mom and Taylas hats, we were at a rodeo!

It rained off and on during the show. If it had been in Massachusetts they would have canceled it before it even started!

Tayla and I had a lot of fun trying to capture good action shots

Gotta wonder what happens if they miscalculate and the calf changes directions.

A super fun game of the evening was musical chairs. When the music stopped they had to mount, ride, and be the first to sit in a chair on the other side.

The little calf thinks it finally has it's freedom when all of a sudden before it knows whats going on it has a rope around it's neck and is pinned down with it's legs tied. So much for freedom.

We heard a man announce that whoever was the loudest won a ticket. Guess who won?
It was a tie.

The lady behind us let us borrow her umbrella. Us girls were very thankful, but the boys weren't so keen on the water dripping on their backs off the top of it.