Craftasticly Junky

I started my Saturday by updating my facebook status.

(R really does say that about everyday. My facebook picture really is fraggle rock. Yes, I've been informed fraggle rock doesn't count as a cartoon character.)

I ate breakfast with some fabulous women. Since R wasn't around, it was my turn to say the blessing. Yes I say things like "Hey, Jesus" and "craftastic" when I pray. Sometimes I even call him "dude." I don't think He minds.

Breakfast was followed by a morning long meeting with the SUPER CRAFTERS. Yes, they are amazing women. (No, we didn't make the capes for ourselves. Yes, we made better stuff than capes but those are top secret until after Christmas.)

H, Kari, Ashley, Jen

Jaren, Lisa, Anne, Molly

After crafting, J&I went on some Jolly Junking. She's really good about supporting my junk habit. She's patient with me, pushes me on great deals, and holds me back on too crazy ideas.

On the way home, my fairly new tire blew. Yup. I saw the thing flying away through my rear view mirror. Luckily, we were still pretty close to the Junking which is pretty close to our good friends' house. Jaren's husband, Nick (whom we had just been talking about that morning as not being the sweetest guy in the world), came to our rescue. He had us changed and on our way pretty quick. He may not be the sweetest guy in the world, but he'll drop anything to help you out when you need him.

Once we finally made it home, my adorable neighbor girls came over to trade some adorable smiles for some crafting supplies.

We really are blessed by the people that surround us. We have some really great friends. With friends like ours, even a day with a flat tire along the side of the interstate can be the best day.

PS- Craftastic Days are not invitation only. Just let me know if you want to come to the next one! We are planning to do a kid friendly one soon too! It's gonna be sew much fun! ;)

Today deserves a lot more of a post than this quick recap.... I'll get to the rest of the story later.

But for now, know that my morning was craftastic and my afternoon was 'junk.' :) I have good people in my life.

No Tricks. Just Treats.

Did you have a great end to October? I'm having a REALLY hard time believe October is over.

Our last weekend in October was fantabulous. R had his coaches clinic all weekend (more on that later). I love having visitors over the weekend that he's gone. Hopefully we'll continue to have visitors over Halloween!!!

Friday I ate dinner with Ang and the boys and we met my sisters and Mo&Madd at Living History Farms. Saturday (after pictures) (and a nap for Maddox) we took Maddox for some trick-or-treating in the next town over (ours was Sunday and he wasn't going to be here). When we got back, we carved a pumpkin and Uncle R had some tricks for Maddox. "All in Halloween Fun" was Maddox's favorite saying of the night. :) He LOVED his pirate-o-lantern and showed his appreciation with BIG hugs. Made me feel good considering no one else can probably tell what it is a picture of! :) I'm curious- a lot of the kids we know wore different costumes for different Halloween activities. Is this pretty common or do I just have great friends that know the importance of good dramatic play?

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Side note:

Now that October is over, we've pulled out our November Blessings calendar again. Are you going to do one this month? Or do you do something similar year round?

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

No, this post is not a movie review.

Yes, I'm aware that I've blogged multiple times today and that you've probably never heard of the aforementioned movie.

No, I don't think with the hint I'm going to give you that you'll be able to guess who it is.

Ready? Here's your hint:

Updated:

Okay.... here's another hint. This is his son:

Yes, those are G's books up above (but you can just call him Shawn Johnson). He asked R to pick them up from the library for him. He claims it was for PE but I'm not convinced.... ;)

Blessed

Blessed.

I am.

I am blessed with the best friends. I know a lot of people say they have the best friends, but I actually do. Really. I have pictures to prove it. And I'll work up a post one of these days about all the life that's been happening around here lately. When I have the gumption. (Actually, my friends have taken care of everything else... maybe one of them will take care of that too. Ha. Just kidding. Unless one of them wants to go to work for me tomorrow (wait... one sort of took care of that for me today too.....) Man, they really are the best!)

I am blessed.

Happy Birthday, Kari!

Thanks for a good laugh tonight. You are such a beautiful person inside and out. Happy Birthday, friend!!!

(and don't worry... I won't tell anyone how 'old' you are!)

Cheerleaders

I was never a cheerleader (unless you count that 6th grade phase where us girls would sit on the sidelines of the big recess football games and copy the high school cheer girls).

I'm not really great at it. (And by not really great, I mean I would make a terrible, no good, very bad cheerleader).

But God urges us to cheer each other on so 'give me a rah' I try.

I'm not the best at it. Especially lately. I've been pretty absent. ie: I've gotten emails from friends addressed to "my elusive friend." Gosh I'm thankful they still call me friend. :)

I've always known I have great friends. But lately, I've realized I have an amazing cheerleading squad. I've gotten sooooo much encouragement and love from some amazing people in my life lately. I appreciate it. I need it. I'm so grateful for it. You guys really are the best. And I'm going to have a friend party to thank you all just as soon as you know when. :)

Love to you all!

P Fest

Our town festival was this last weekend. Maddox came up for his birthday pictures on Friday. We got some fun pirate pictures and a few 'Maddox pictures' too. :)

He was really happy for pictures to be over and loved getting to roast his own marshmallows that night. He talked about it for quite a while.

We got up early in the morning for the 5/10k. (No.... we didn't run it. But we did cheer on Sara and Uncle T!) The race route went along the street behind our house so we didn't have to go far to get to a good spot to cheer!

Since we've been in town, we've started a tradition of heading downtown during Prairie Fest for most of our meals. Some people we know (but Maddox had never met) sat down next to us at the pancake feed and Maddox quickly decided their little boy was his best friend. I love the age he is at right now!

Sara was up there and we (I?) made her put on her medal from the race for the obligatory photo op.

Cy made it down for the parade.

R skipped his duty in the dunk tank this year. I think the questionable condition of last years dunk tank scared him off. We did briefly check out the craft fair and other things going on. We went back up in the evening with the P family for the Hog Roast. The boys checked out all the emergency vehicles.

We stuck around for the magician and the atmosphere. Once we got home R started another fire pit and brought a mattress up from the basement for a makeshift wrestling ring. It also made a good sitting spot to watch the fireworks from our yard. I love that we can see our town and the neighboring town's fireworks without leaving the house.

Today we are bumming around, getting geared up for another week. Happy Sunday!

Independence Day

Life. Liberty. Pursuit of Happiness. Dirt Roads. Watermelon. Laughter. Friends. Red, White, & Blue. Steak. Sun. Road Trip. Contagious Giggles. Bare Feet. Cute Kids. Sweet Corn. Swimming Pool. Pond. Bags. Horseshoes. (Waiting) Zipline. Lounging. Walks. Trees. Laughter. Fire Pit. Fireworks. Country Music. Small Towns. Side Trips. Food. Fun. Freedom.

Happy Fourth of July!

Lots and Lots

I have lots and lots of updating to do. I haven't even posted a picture on the Hickstionary in forever way too long. So hopefully before the busy weekend I'll get a chance to get caught up around here.

Starting with Mo.

Can you believe she'll be FIVE this month? I cant. And I'm not sure how I feel about it.

She came for her 5 year pictures and did a fantastic job. She's such a sweetie!

She even had her own ideas about where and how she wanted to do her photos. "You know, Heidi. I was thinking we should do my pictures down by the big jungle and the treasure." (Remember our treasure hunt from last time?) :) And she's full of unsolicited poses. At one point I asked her why she had her hand in front of her face (she was pulling at her mouth). She said, "I'm trying to make it a BIGGER smile!" :) So definitely check out her pictures. She's a doll. I may be a little biased but I think you'll agree.

Not much of an update on Dakota. He's been out of his kennel for a few months now and he loves it. So far he hasn't messed a single thing up being out (not that he ever did before) so it may be time to officially retire the kennel. He doesn't even go into it on his own anymore like he used to. He's still not so sure about all of these people at our house and he's definitely not sure about all the cute puppies that have been around. Especially the one next door that gets way more attention then he does. We are trying to decide if he is bike ride trainable. I got a new bike so R & I have been going for lots of rides. So far we haven't taken Dakota along. Poor guy!

R & I have been staying super busy with work. {captured by} heidi has taken off 100x bigger than I ever dreamed. I've exceeded my original goals and am now set on bigger sights. God is good. R has been working with the basketball program and for his friend Nick. I'm working on a little page for them. Check it out: West Central Tree Service. (And call them- unless you have a neighbor with a hitch and a video camera for youtube!) ;)

We've been trying to get as much sun and fun in as we can. Hopefully I'll remember to take some fun pictures of this weekend. Happy 4th!

summer lovin'

There's so much I love about summer.

Here's a tiny part of it. In no particular order.

Sun. Lunch dates with R. Lunch dates with J. Swimming. Plates of Banana Bars. Sun. Fun. Watching R work. Bike rides. Bike baskets. Junking. Thrifting. Shooting. Designing. Free Tanning. Sleeping in. Peaches 'n cream. Fire pits. Lightning bugs. Tomatoes. Flowers. Friends. Family. Sun. Porch swings. Pet rocks. Being outside. Catching up with friends. Tuesdays. Sundays. Mondays. Yes, Mondays. Sunsets. Smores. Corn on the cob. Uncle Doyle's ice cream. Walks. Roller blading. Lemonade stands. Sun.

i. love. summer.

blog roll

If you don't check out all of the awesome blogs in my blog roll to the right, you should take a gander.

And if you don't read Team Sullivan, by all means, check it out.

They are our neighbors (well not really, but in a town this size, we're all practically neighbors) and they are adopting from Ghana. It's a great time to pray for them!

Hey, Sisters!

Back in October I posted about Sister Party.

Then Christmas stuff came up and life got busy. Spring wasn't much better.

But summer.

Summer is coming.

And it's the perfect time to get together with girlfriends!

Girlfriends that have been there for me through a lot. Girlfriends that bring me flowers, pray over me, call me on my way to work (and talk me into going in), wash my dishes, bring me halloween oreos, literally catch my tears in their hand, make my bed, kneel in front of my Lord with me, support me in every crazy venture I do, and just love me. And all my crazy self.

You've been really good to me lately. Always. But especially lately. Even when I don't deserve it, I'm so blessed to have such a strong support system. I appreciate you so much!

So (for real this time), let's have a sister party! Who's in? :)

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Because it's so much cooler to say than, "May the fourth be with you."

But.

Did you know that most people in Mexico do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo? It's mainly celebrated in the state of Puebla and the United States. It is not Mexico's Independence Day. It is the celebration of an unlikely victory over the French army in the Battle of Puebla.

Or.

Just a really good excuse to have guacamole and cerveza mas fina con buenos amigos.

Sing Sing Sing!

To say this has been a crazy week (okay, month), would be a gross understatement.

But.

As I was walking into work, thankful for a Friday, I was determined to choose joy. I was singing His praises.

Then.

I got an unexpected piece of information within minutes of walking in the door.

"My God is still the same God as he was before."

But I had a really bad attitude anyway.

I'm so thankful for friends that have weathered this storm with me this month (and continue to do so). And put up with my bad attitude.

And I'm so thankful for His new graces everyday. And His unending love for me. Even with said bad attitude.

For that, I can sing.

(You know, after spending the last 7+ hours with lots of great people!)

VEISHEA

I love VEISHEA. I've celebrated so many of the different parts of VEISHEA over the years, but one of my favorite VEISHEA activities (besides pancakes and cherry pies) are the horse rides after the parade. There's just something about illegally signing away a child's life that doesn't belong to you and seeing their face light up when they are on top of such a tall animal. We used to get to ride horses growing up. We had horses right outside our front door. We don't anymore so this is a fun way to get to share this experience with our niece and nephews. Without having to scoop poop. Ahhhhh VEISHEA.

(Sorry for the bad picture, but it's the only Cy sighting from the day!)

Maddox really enjoyed the Ames High Marching Band.

Two of our favorite girls got to join us (three counting their mama)!

Mo figuring out what the surprise that required her boots (vs flip flops) was- and very excited about it!

Both of them did such a great job and I think they really loved it!

Ahhhhh VEISHEA!

Right now isn't the easiest time for a lot of my friends. And when I walk away from some of them, when they cant see me, the tears come to my eyes.

And I cant imagine if I'm feeling this way, how they must be feeling.

And flowers cant fix it.

Today, as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw one of my friends walking to her car.

And I could see the pain on her face. And my own tears started rising up.

I said a quick prayer (again) for her (and my other friends). And then I prayed that God would grant some comfort to me over it as well.

ThenIturnedtheradioupandwantedtoforgetaboutitallforjustalittlebit.

And of course the song that came on made me cry. And made me talk to Him.

Flowers cant fix it.

But. HE. can.

And He will.

"No one will ever be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I have been with Moses, I will also be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

Jay Peasley Live

I got to shoot another member of the P family today. Check out Jay's music here then check out his pics below. We got some good shots and didn't even get asked to leave anyone's property. I'd say that's a successful day. Thanks, Jay!!

{more jay shots here}

Our Other Family

I'd been begging this beautiful family to let me take their pictures for a long time. Judging by the fact that I drug them out into the cold for outdoor shots and they had to be very patient with a lighting issue I was having... it will probably take a lot of begging before they'll let me do pictures again. Ha. Thankfully, they are some of our bestest friends and we love these guys. So I'm hoping they'll forgive me soon. :) Thanks for yet another fun time, P family!