A cute little helper!

A while back, Erinn and I were working at the Learning Center, cutting letters, laminating posters, etc. And a little helper named Noah was there too! ;)

To keep him busy, I started to teach him to throw away the trash. What an easy job! With only one time showing him to throw the extra paper in the trash, he knew exactly what to do. He would come over to me, do the sign language for "more" (Erinn's taught him soooo much!!!) and I would hand him the trash.

Then he would walk over to the trash can, stretch up as high as he could and throw it in there!! What a super accomplishment for him!! Then he'd come back and sign for "more". Ahhhhh.....he's soooooo sweet!!! I love him to pieces!!! :)

"more!"

Here's the trash; throw it away!

Ok, this was the short trash can--we had two. The other one was taller than he was and with a swinging lid! Which he still managed to reach up and throw the paper inside! Smart little boy!!!

Such a cutie!!! :)

And yes, he loves my sunglasses!

What's new in Dodge?!?!?!

Granted, not a ton of world news happens here in western Kansas, but recently there was the grand opening of the brand new event center and convention!! Jena happened to be home that weekend and so we toured the building! Quilt the facility and very neat to see!

gotta love those camera in the mirror pics!! ;)

quite amazing!!!

And since they were handing out free popcorn and pop,
we couldn't leave without our share!!! :)

The balcony is pretty neat too!!!

ice skating!!

fyi--this would be a PERFECT place for a wedding reception!!!
It's beautiful!!!!

What Colorado Springs has that Dodge City doesn't!

Right after Thanksgiving I spent five days in Colorado Springs. Why? Well, there's just quite a few things that that massive city contains that Dodge City just doesn't have!

Cold, freezing air - The first thing you notice about Colorado Springs is the air. It's colder. Much colder. It's really hard to document this in a photograph, so just picture freezing and shivering. THAT'S what it looks like!

Mountains - Yes, those rather large hills are called mountains and I have to admit that seeing this sight while driving around takes a little bit of getting used to. The good thing?! Those mountains always tell me that that direction is west--it helps to keep my sense of direction!


Current Factory Outlet - In my searching of shops for invitations, I found this store! Ohhhhhhh---I love that place already! I knew I'd love that place once I walked in the door and saw a spinning rack of stickers.


My intent was to look for invites there, which I did do. But I also had to wander up and down each aisle to look at everything else as well. Paper, stickers, cardstock, notecards--all that fun stuff!

Shopping, shopping and more shopping - I came to CO Springs with a list. A rather long, organized, detailed shopping list. And this city contains many more shopping opportunities than DC! And Luke and I spent a great deal of time shopping, looking and registry shopping!

See this cute little, itty, bitty casserole dish?! Isn't is sooooo cute?! I love it! It's the littliest thing, but it's so adorable. Granted, it was at JCPenny's which we do have here, but believe me--they don't have that.

Kohls - This store is neat! Especially their kitchen dept. It's filled with fun stuff. Like these cute snowman dishes. Aren't they fun?!?! Yes, you only use them once a year, but still.....I love them!

Parking meters - Oh yes! And then this---the parking meter! One of the places where I was looking at invitations was downtown and you had to pay for parking. And believe it or not, I have never paid for parking in my entire life. Another thing Colorado Springs has that Dodge City doesn't.
Luke - Perhaps the most important thing, or rather person that DC doesn't contain?! Yep, that would be him!

Baking for Christmas!

Erinn & I spent Monday baking and between the two of us we got tons accomplished!!!

white trash candy mix
peanut clusters
chocolate haystacks
chocolate/caramel turtles
chex mix
chocolate chex mix (puppy chow)
lots of chatting! ;)

Piles of clean dishes--they were used
and washed multiple times!

Mounds of yummy snacks!!!

Black Friday Shopping!

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of enormous crowds--especially when shopping! It's something I always try to avoid. Shopping on the weekend is something I normally do not do. But I decided to brave the stores the Friday after Thanksgiving just for fun. I really can't say I was looking at anything in particular, although I did find some good sales! And I was not waiting in line at 4am at JCPenny's for their front door to open! ;)


But surprisingly enough, when I got to Penny's around 8:30, they still had some snow globes left! I was soooo surprised! I've never been there early enough to actually get one! I wasn't even looking for the snow globe freebie stand when Jeanette (a friend I know who works at Penny's and the library!) called over to me and said she was saving a snow globe just for me! :)

It was fun browsing the mall and other stores, just looking around and running into people I know. Some people I see every week at church and others I only see every so often! Or people who work in stores that know you because you are in there often enough. I have a feeling that will be missing when I move to Colorado Springs. :)


I did find my cats a cat bed, which I'm trying to make them use. You see, they tend to sleep/sit exactly where I do not want them to. My goal is to try to train them to sleep here! I put this cushion on the chair where they always sleep and they didn't touch it for a week. Finally when I moved it to the floor, Scamper decided it was hers! And I've seen her in it multiple times. Maybe, just maybe, she'll adopt it! I can hope!

Quick trip to Oklahoma City!

A couple of weeks ago, I was still in full pursuit of a wedding gown, so I made a quick trip to Oklahoma City to visit a couple of bridal shops. Jena and I spent a couple hours trying on gowns and bridesmaids dresses and then started searching out invitations.

Then, Jena's birthday was on Saturday, so after she ran 16 miles that morning in freezing cold weather (she's training for another marathon in December!), we spent a couple hours shopping at the mall--fun times!! It's been a while since we've done that together!

It's so nice having a sister living in a bigger city where I can break into her apartment and spend a few days there!!! And I'm sure I'll be back to do more shopping there in the coming months!

August? Wasn't this month supposed to slow down?

Yeah, that's what I thought too! July--craziness! August--nothingness! What was I thinking?!?!? lol!!! Yes, perhaps not as busy as July, but plenty of things to continue to occupy my time.

It seems as though I've spent weeks catching up on email, business, orders, blogging, photos, sisters, cleaning, cooking and just plain life!! But I have to admit--I wouldn't change one thing I did in July!

Ok, so let's see.....I spent the first two weeks this month recovering from the previous events. You know, when you're physically gone for just about 4 weeks, dust tends to build up, cats tend to get lonely, and mail piles really high! ;)

Luke was here for a few days this month and we spent some time discussing wedding plans, talking, going to the rodeo, laughing, scouting out photo spots all over Dodge and just spending time together! Fun times!!! :)

This week? I'm headed to Iowa to spend a week with Joanna! I'm soooo excited! It's been a whole entire year since we've seen each other! Of course, that can't be too horrible considering the fact that we didn't even know each other the first 19 and 24 years of our lives! :)

The end of the month? Luke, Jena, Ryan and Krissa are all coming home for the weekend! All of us home at the same time--yep, it's been about a year since everyone's been home at the same time! I'm looking forward to it!

Maybe September will be normal? You think?! I'm not sure if I should plan on that or not....;)

CEF Camp Week 1 & 2

Simply amazing!

Crazy!
Hot!
Busy!
Exciting!
Exhausting!
Wonderful!

How can I describe those two weeks?? With many, many words! It was great as always! The same usual routine. A few new additions and friendships made. And most thrilling to see God bring in enough kids to fill both weeks!


This year we taught a new CEF lesson--Beginnings! And I loved it! It was exciting teaching on Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Able, Enoch and Noah! Needless to say that Noah, one of my favorite Bible stories to teach, could have lasted two hours instead of the 40 minutes I had. The first week, I had to skip so much of what I had planned, so the second week I ummm...skipped some details so I could get the whole story, memory verse and review game in that time frame! Oh, but I loved it!

And even though most of the youngest group of campers already know the story of Noah, it's still exciting to see their faces just waiting for the next "event" to happen as I'm telling the story. And then to see their interest in the size of the ark, just how many animals were inside and how long they floated on the water was so neat! Ahhhhh--I love teaching! :)

The first week I taught in the gym! Great--that's my favorite place to teach! The second week Sharon told me I was teaching in the chapel--ok, that's fine! (I have to admit; I was just a tad disappointed to not be teaching again in my favorite spot!) What was I thinking?!?!?!?

Oh--am I now ever so spoiled!!! I told Brian that I'd come back and teach year after year if he could guarantee my classroom remained in the air conditioned chapel! He agreed!! Remember that next year! ;) lol!!! But in all my years of teaching, I've never taught there and still taught the youngest group of campers--it was a treat!

This was a new Bible lesson review game I did this year -- dress up someone on your team!!! The kids LOVED it!!! After all, wouldn't you want a red nose, black rimmed glasses, feathers around your neck or blue hair???? ;)

Our memory verse rainbow was soooo fun! The kids loved seeing the rainbow being built every single day in the dinning room the first week and in the chapel the second week. They did an excellent job memorizing verses! And thankfully I had lots of help taping up all those rainbow sections every day! Whew!! That's a job--but worth it!!



Let's see--what else?! Hmmmm, so much happened during those two weeks. It's impossible to sum it up in one blog post! There were some friends I missed seeing this year (yes, Jenna--that's you!! :)) and then some others were there that hadn't been in a few years! Ruth and Josh--I'm sooooo glad we could all be teachers that first week--what a thrilling week it was! It was great to catch up on old camp memories!! Ahhhh--fun!! So many years spent at camp together and so many good times!!! :)

This year I enjoyed every minute of those two weeks I was there. As that second week drew to a close, I kept thinking, "This could be the last time I'm...

....handing out memory verse prizes,

....standing on the porch watching flag raising,

....keeping score, listening to kids competing in quiz time and laughing during counselor quizzing,

....melting in the dinning room grading manners,

....watching kids file into the chapel for singtime,

....shooting pics during talent night,

....sharing secrets about Miss Ruth, Luke & Nehemiah with Clara all week long,

....listening to the laughter and delight during final assembly when such photos such as Luke & his funny faces appear,

....pouncing on photo opportunities just like this one,

....watching Lauren grow up year after year and now attending as a camper,

....climbing that stack of stairs up and down & up and down again and again,

....seeing campers, counselors, teachers and staff come back year after year!

Perhaps this year won't be the last time, but this year especially I enjoyed every minute! Ahhh--the memories! The good times! The wonderful friendships! The kids year after year! The ministry God has allowed me to become apart of for 16 years! Wow! Amazing! How thankful I am to be apart of those two weeks out of the year every summer!


As Josh, Ruth and I were thinking back on the years we've attending camp together and all the things that happened year after year; it was so fun to look back! I began thinking...what was my favorite year? Hmmm....I'm not sure I can put one year in that category.

I remember that first year of counseling and winning best manners! And one hard year where God taught me just as much as I was there to teach the kids! And the first time I taught both weeks--the lesson of Esther! And then seven years after that--teaching Esther again! Then leading singtime with Ruth as my ever-so-helpful partner! And Bible teacher talks, outings and late night swims. Looking forward to seeing Brian and Sharon and their family year after year!

The years and memories--perfect! Never to be forgotten! I can't help but look back on those times and smile!

More photos from the first week of camp...

More photos from the second week of camp...