Blessing Pictures and more...

Ok, so I don't know why some of the pictures uploaded sideways... but they did. Enjoy! (and Liz, if none of Cooper turned out the way you like, we can try again :) Just let me know!)

Just look at these adorable munchkins!

This one is for Dad. He mentioned he needed pictures of the boys!

This is my favorite of Cooper. The green grass and his cute outfit...

#1 of Mom and Cooper...

#2 of Mom and Cooper...

For Dad...

That's my boy!

So my 7th grader, David, is number 26. He played like a star in yesterdays game. He made two of the four touchdowns for St. Johns (even though one of them was called back). St. Johns beat Mogollon 30 to 0. Go Redskins!

Also, if anyone is interested, I {try to} keep up a blog for the football team with pictures from practice and games and such... check it out for more pictures. www.sjmsfootball.blogspot.com.

Until Next Year...

The Apache County Fair 2008 is over. It certainly was more interesting than last year. I did something new this year. The rest of my family LOVES the fair. They can walk around and look at things all day - no really - ALL DAY! Me, on the other hand, I like looking around for about an hour, maybe sitting down and listening to the high school kid with the guitar for a while, then I'm good to go. But this year, I decided to volunteer to help. My thinking? Well, I thought if I was more involved, it would be more fun for me. It worked!

On Wednesday, I took the day off of work to help with "Registration Day" in the "Art Department". I was at the BUB (Big Ugly Building) from 11am until about 9pm - with a break at 3:00pm to pick up Josh from school, and a break at 5:15pm to pick up David from practice. Along with Myrna (the Dept. Chairperson & friend), and a few other volunteers, we registered close to 300 people and easily over 500 pieces of art during that time. For any of those who know me, I'm an organization FREAK (although not at my house - hmm.) which I believe helped in this situation! The next day, when I dropped by the fair to pick up the kids (Jon had dropped them off earlier in the day), Myrna asked if I would take over the Art Dept. for her. Her husband was the Fair Manager this year (1st year) and she ended up helping him out A LOT too... so for next year, she joked that she would either have to give up the Art Dept. or her husband - lol. She lovingly gave up the Art Dept. I'm pretty excited... I will have to plan for the time off of work next year so I can use paid time off, but it should be a good time!

As you can see from the last post, I also entered some photographs in the fair. Next year I plan on entering WAY more... I'll be more prepared, knowing kind of what the judges will be looking for.

My kind gesture of 'volunteering' also brought me the blessing of heading up the "Mutt Show". I was quite nervous until it actually happened... but when it did, it turned out to be pretty fun. It was a laid back kids dog show with categories like, "Worst Groomed", "Prettiest", "Longest Ears", "Smallest Dog", etc... and the 'handlers' had to be 15 years or younger. I think I did things the 'easy' way... but no one seemed to notice. I even got some moms coming up to me talking about how this was their kids first year here and how they were already talking about what they want to have their dog do for next year... and thanking me. It really made me feel good :). It was a few hours on Saturday - I will be happy to do it again next year!

I was also very pleased to have the support of Jon. He supported 100% and was ok with me being out late (of course I had the boys with me - lol) and didn't say an angry word about me saying "Oh, I've got to go do this now..." or "I can't leave just yet... I've got to go help with this...". He was happy to let me and he was happy to wander the fairgrounds stopping to talk to friends along his way. I'm blessed to have an awesome husband (and kids)who loves and supports me!

Until next year... (when I'm hoping to have more enteries... cupcakes, zucchini bread, butter, etc.)

Award Winning Photographer

So these are the 4 photographs that I entered in this years Fair (my 1st year entering anything).

My mailbox picture won 2nd place in the "things" category!!! Woo Hoo for me :) I'm now officially an award winning photographer ;)!

Oh, I was also asked to take over the Art Dept. (drawings, paintings, etc.) at the fair next year. I'm a little scared to say yes... but I know I can do it! I've still got the 'Mutt Show' to head up tomorrow and we'll see how that goes. It certainly has made the fair more interesting for me, which was my goal!

1st Cavalry & 4th Infintry Division Museums

The museums at Ft. Hood were awesome! I was bummed that we couldn't go on the grass (to get close up pictures of the tanks, jeeps and choppers) but you get the picture... (ha ha - no pun intended). There are a bunch more pictures to post, but these are the only ones ready... enjoy!

Topsey Ranch, Topsey, TX

When we were deciding on something to do Saturday afternoon, Sam mentioned Topsey Ranch. So we found a phone book in the hotel room and gave them a call... and off we went. It was AMAZING!!! It was an awesome opportunity to take some unusual pictures. I want to go back!

Too much for one weekend...

Billy and Crystal (Jon's oldest daughter) got married this weekend. I got some good pictures, but haven't had time to mess with them yet. Isn't she beautiful!Samantha (Jon's youngest daughter) is gorgeous in this picture! The sunlight was beautiful.

I'll have more pictures of our other TX adventures soon!!!