The Latest & Some Thankfulness

We were really busy last week, but had a good week. Jay has been working really long hours trying to drum up some more work for both companies. Calvin was away at youth camp. Dave had runner's camp every morning. And he and I were trying to do a bunch of service type projects.

We were blessed to have a sweet couple of college guys stay with us this weekend. Their music group from college was visiting our church this weekend. They were amazing and wonderful and it was such a blessing to have them in our home. If you ever get a chance to hear them, go forth and enjoy. Heartsong from Cedarville University.

I made a perfect blueberry pie, though my Daddy still didn't come to town to enjoy it. It was delicious and the crust was perfect. (that hardly ever happens anymore with my pies.)

The boys finally got to have a fun play date with their buds Grant & Brian yesterday and I made them 'breakfast' for dinner. Theresa stayed long and chatted with me and it made for a great ending to our weekend.

Today was doctor appointment day and made Sweetie and I feel completely old. But the good news is we will live to see another day! It was the boys first 'official' summer break day and they loved it.

Our Thankful List For Today:

1. The extra sleep we all got last night.

2. The chatter I had in the waiting room today, it's one of the things I love most about living here, doesn't matter where I am, if you're waiting with some other people, you're all talking and sharing your lives.

3. The Keurig coffee I had this morning in the waiting room, that stuff is straight from heaven above. Delish!

4. The huge rain storm we got today, I LOVE summer storms.

5. That we all got to hang out and be together today as a family.

6. David actually asked if he could make dinner tonight. He's a total keeper.

7. The Cedarville University Heartsong Live CD that I bought at church yesterday, blasting in my car, loved the worship time.

8. The video store had 'Madea Goes To Jail' DVD in, I can't wait to watch that movie, love me some Tyler Perry.

9. I'm getting my haircut this week and I'm so excited. Wait for it, tomorrow I'll be giving you choices to vote on. I want something different, so brace yourself.

10. Looking forward to a fun and relaxing week.

Hope y'all are feeling thankful and had yourselves a good weekend.

Happy 4th of July

Good news, the price to repair my camera was the same as buying a new, next model up one. So I bought a new camera. It's hot pink. I'm thinking that might keep the boys from playing with it. One can only hope.

We started our celebration by going to see our town's fireworks. We were told by some very close friends (we won't mention any names, but it might have been the Havens) that you can see them great if you park in the Kohl's parking lot. Well, they are now fired from being our activities directors. We saw like three sparks over the tops of the trees, very sad for all the little children that were also waiting in the parking lot. And our friends, yeah, they didn't go there, they drove an hour to the 'nice' fireworks display. We are no longer talking to them. (Just kidding, we still love 'em to pieces).

The next day we met our dear friends, the Havens and went to our town's little parade. Such a fun time and we've made it our tradition (since it's the second time we've done it).





Turns out that the only patriotic clothes that Sweetie and Dave have are their Angels tshirts. But aren't they cute?



We took Winston this year, he did a great job. And hey, check out what Calvin is wearing. Yep, that would be your Army jacket, Uncle Jim. Just like what my Dad would have worn too. My Dad and Uncle Jim were both in Vietnam. (a few years ago my Uncle Jim sent a bunch of old dress up stuff that his boys used to love to play with, Calvin thought it'd be fun to wear it to the parade, it was a big hit.)



A picture of all the kids at the seminary. Half way through we met up with Michael & Stephanie and their girls. I didn't get a picture of their family, because I'm a loser and didn't think of it, so here's one taken back in February. Your welcome.



The parade finishes at the community house with some arts and crafts for the littler ones then we go to Subway for lunch.

That night we went back over to the Haven's house and had a yummy dinner and let off some fireworks in their driveway, tried to get pictures, but apparently my new camera ain't all that and I think I need to read the instruction manual. Lovely.



Their front porch was all decorated and looked gorgeous as usual.

It was a special and fun day. We are very thankful for such precious friends to share the day with.

She Was Such a Good Camera

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. My little preciousnesses broke my camera and I don't know how to blog without there being lots of pictures. I was all ready to give you the next room in our tour of homes. The boys quarters, oh yeah, it was going to be that good. Plus, I was going to show you our sauna...that's right people we are THAT fancy and have our very own sauna. But nope, no pictures, so no blogging.

We're thinking the camera is finished. They broke it while I was in the shower, apparently they needed to be taking a video of themselves while they did their schoolwork and then because they are boys, they got into a 'play fight' and the camera lost. Thing One thought, what with him being all knowledgeable and stuff, he could fix the camera. And Thing Two thought those little springy things were a lot of fun to stretch as far as they could. Hence when I finally rescued said camera, she was sad and tweaked and all in pieces.

I'm taking her to the camera hospital today, but I'm thinking, what with today's health care, there really won't being any hope of saving her without having to sell something valuable. And even though Thing One and Thing Two are at fault I still can't bring myself to not totally love their preciousness, and the fact that Calvin thought that he could buy me a new camera with the $7 in his wallet. Yep, he needs more consumer math. But isn't he sweet?

So, I'll keep you updated as to the status of said camera, but really, so far, it's not looking too good.

Happy Mornings

Visions of what happens in our house every morning.


Calvin having his morning cereal. The cat normally comes to the front door about this time for his breakfast. No, I don't normally let the kitty on the kitchen counter. Right after I took this picture I yelled and screamed at him to get down.


Every morning they check their baseball scores and banter back and forth about who has the lesser team. But this is always where Dave sits.

Dunder-Head Dena

Again, I'm just here to make you feel better about yourself.

Not long ago, I joined facebook. I had no clue what I was doing or what it was all about. (that's my excuse)

Shortly there after I received a special message that someone had a crush on me. Well OF COURSE I clicked on it, dying to find out who my secret admirer was (had NO idea WHAT I was going to do with the information). Somehow, I ended up giving them my cell phone number (yes, I'm aware I need to take some 'safety on the internet' course)

Well, as you can guess, I really don't have a secret admirer, no one has a crush on me (surprise, surprise). But I'm now getting texts everyday that tell me nice little flirting tips and 'how to keep my boyfriend' tips. (very helpful, to this happily married mother of two)

So today Sweetie had to call Verizon to get some stuff taken care of on his phone. The nice helpful lady went over the whole account with him and noticed that there were some extra charges on my number. So he got me on the phone so she could walk me through taking it off. Turns out that $9.99 fee on my bill last month was not David having too much fun on my cell phone, it was those lovely flirting texts. So then I felt like a total gooober when I had to explain to this lady AND TO MY HUSBAND what it was and how it got there. Geesh!

So we got it all taken off, I will no longer get those helpful tips, and then Sweetie had her put a block on my phone so I can't 'accidentally' do it again. What am I 13? Apparently so.

The Master Suite

Welcome to our Master Suite, this is where all the magic happens, and of course all the napping.


Sweetie got us this furniture for our 16th wedding anniversary. This is my dresser and quiet time corner, my sweet $25 chair that is so cozy for sitting and being quiet with the Lord.


On top of my dresser sits this favorite photo of the boys. Our first trip to Disneyland with them. They were 5 and 3 and they did so great, and it was so much fun to see the 'Happiest Place On Earth' through their eyes. A precious day with just the four of us. My perfume bottles sitting atop a cake plate, and a sweet little box from Sara to hold treasures.


This is the bookcase that holds all of my books. We found this years ago at an estate sale. Those are the doors going into the bathroom.


Our wedding photo, yes, my dress was very big. It was the early 90's people, it was very gorgeous at the time. Can you see the rather large bow on my backside? It was lovely.


Sweetie's side of the room with his dresser, see it's tall, I can't even see into those top drawers, who knows what secrets lurk in there.


My favorite picture of Jay, lookin' so handsome on our wedding day.


This is Sweetie's favorite photo of us, we were on a cruise for his 40th birthday.


My side of the room.


This photo was a gift I gave to Sweetie when we were just dating. It is entitled 'Sweethearts', which is what Jay always calls me. And the boy is giving the girl strawberries, which Jay often did when we were dating. This photo has always hung in our bedroom.


And this is my favorite wedding photo, they were all so posed but this one was purely us, him kissing my hand and me just loving it.


The master bathroom, this tub is such a blessing to have. And that's the 'water closet', not quite sure why they call it that, I certainly don't go in there for the water, though I do sometimes find the cat in there getting a drink.





This is Sweetie's side of the bathroom. His stuff is not normally all put away, I go through everyday and put it all back in the basket, and then he brings it all out and leaves it all over the counter. Sheesh, men!


And this is my side of the counter, I'd like to think that I don't have that much stuff on the counter, but I'm just way to high maintenance to not have a counter full of 'neccessities'.


And this is the funniest part of this room, doesn't every house have some quirky thing? This is ours. It's the robe hook on the back of the bathroom door, I don't really want to change it, I've grown accustomed to seeing it every morning, especially the green rhinestone eyeballs. Very charming.

Happy Birthday, Marcie!!!

Today is my OLDER sister's birthday. She's 40 today. She'll try to tell you that she's actually the younger sister, but everyone knows the truth, she's old. I'm not, I'm still just 37.


This is her again, she wasn't always this cute, see below.


The cheesey grin, she might have been a ham. The lovely pants that I think my mother made. Nice.


There's that cheesey grin again, and I KNOW my mom made that nightgown. I totally remember that bouncy Mickey Mouse. Oh and there's her Mrs. Beasley doll, she loved that thing, and I was VERY jealous of it, I always wanted one.


See, she liked me, this is her greeting me when I came home from the hospital. She was the epitome of a great big sister.


Not quite a grin, more like an uncomfortable something in her pants, and the pants, wow, not quite sure what to say about those things, except it might explain some phobias we have of letting our Mom do our clothes shopping.


Yep, she's pretty much the cute one. And she knows it. Totally annoying.


Seriously Mama, did you not love us? Though I'm thinking that if I still had those pants I'd probably have a better golf game.

Marcie's the best older sister a girl could have.

She spoke for me for the first three years of my life, making sure I wasn't left out of having any dessert or anything. She never said anything mean to me, though she might've written it in her diary, not that I looked. Tried to teach me her mean dance moves, to no avail. Was always willing to give me her hand-me-downs. Put up with my obnoxious phone conversations with Sweetie when we were in High School. Let me drive before I had my license. And bawled like a baby when she got married because she was going to miss me. :o) I loved that one.

She's super-duper funny and silly and we always have fun together. She's a great Mom to my niece and the crazy Auntie that always tries to kiss my boys. Love you Marcie, thanks for being so wonderful, hope you're having a great day!