haha. yep. nice.

Haha. yep. nice.
The three words above are what make up my sisters conversations.
I have watched her IM in the last half and hour, and those three words add up to more than any other word she has spoken in that time.
I have laughed at this. Almost cried about it. Due to laughing. I have now come to the decision that I should be worried. Very worried.
Haha. yep. nice.

Love the concerned citizen,

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

It is that time of year again! The time in which the Christmas decorations are brought back out, and the gift shopping goes into full swing.
Every year we get our artificial tree out of the attic the weekend after Thanksgiving, so my parents got it down last night while Bee and I were at the barn! YAY! (Note: we used to have a real tree, but it died. haha. just kidding. we can't have a real tree. I guess some of us have an allergy to what the tree farmers spray on them...)
Since the tree is down and standing up in it's 9 foot glory, the next step is to "fluff" the tree. Basically that means you take the branches and spread the out to make it look real, and cover up the "branches."
After that step is complete we will fix the lights on it! We leave the 18bazillion strands of lights on the tree when we put it in the attic, but have to arrange them a little after we get it back out.
After that it is on to the decorating! We start with the "filler" ornaments. Those are solid color ornaments that aren't very pretty. We put them on the inside portion of the tree so that when the white lights come on, it reflects all of the colors. While Bee works on the "filler" ornaments, I work on the very top of the tree. In other words... I stand on a six foot latter and put little quarter sized ornaments all over the top of the tree.
With those two major parts done we move on to the decorative/blown glass/special ornaments that go all around the outside of the tree.
It is so beautiful when it is completed. it will take a couple of weeks before the tree will be fully completed. I will post pictures of the progress as we go along!
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, you take up so much time!
Sing with me now!
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, you take up so much time!
I love it!

I have a little story to tell you right now. You will laugh, and I will cry. You will laugh, and I will laugh. You will laugh, and I will harrumph. Basically...it isn't what I call a good day at the mall. (not that I like the mall anyway....cause I don't)
My mom and I went to the mall today to return something to the phone store. We made a couple other stops while we were there, and on our way out (on the second floor) we stopped to look down at the first floor. Santa was there... I was texting Riah and was going to send her another picture...
Santa waved at us. We waved back. He called for us to "come down and see me." My mom said sure. She asked me if I wanted to go say hello.
"Sure, why not. It doesn't hurt to say hi..." I said.
We get down there. He wants us to have our picture taken with him. I open my phone and get a picture of my mom with Santa. I thought we were done. Nope. I had to sit on Santa's lap to have my picture taken. How tragic. It was funny. But not. It was interesting. But not. My mom was enjoying herself. The words "oh my gosh" replayed over and over in my mind. I may have said in a couple of times too. That was the second time in my teenage years that I had to get my picture taken with Santa. The first time it was planned by my lovely parentals thanks to Bee...
I hope you enjoyed that little story. I hope it won't ever have an encore...

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

I am going to have to pay for this...

I am doing this for Riah. I am doing this because I want to. I am doing this... just because.
The "this" I am referring to is.... **drum roll please**
A post about Dr. Quin Medicine Woman!
(Riah please read through. Don't stop here. Please.)
Yes, a post about Dr. Quin Medicine Woman. You read it correctly.
This show is amazing! I love it. I used to watch it all the time when I was younger, but then it didn't air on TV anymore. Recently, I (well Bee actually) found it on TV! It comes on everyday, and I have watched each episode! It is right up there with Little House on the Prairie for me.

The cast!

Jane Seymour is a wonderful actress! She's pretty, too!

This looks like the perfect family. Have I mentioned that this show is awesome???

A perfect couple! Sully is so very handsome! hehehe.

Just for you, Riah... this picture is just for you.

Love you.

Much love and knee slappin' laughs,

Recap.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! My family usually doesn't leave the house at all on this holiday, but this year we broke the "tradition." It was harder than it sounds... breaking a tradition, that is. In all of my 17 years I cannot remember ever being away from home, even if only for a few hours, on Thanksgiving. I am sure you can see how odd this was for me.

This year we were invited to go to the "greenway" to ride horses with our friends from the barn. I think we were invited to go last year also, but bowed out gracefully.

I woke up at 7:30 am yesterday morning, and was at the barn an hour later getting horses loaded into the horse trailer. Roughly another hour later we were on our horses ready to go! I purposefully didn't go into details of the preparation. It is very detailed and could possibly cause boredom. Consult doctor before reading details.

Wait. Haha. Just kidding... about the doctor part.

I love this shot for some reason. It's like seeing things from a horses perspective...

I was already mounted up even though it doesn't look like it. I held the camera down for this shot! Oh! This horse is Lady! She is amazing!

It was crazy foggy yesterday morning. It had been raining all week, but yesterday it was just misty fog. The horses look really cool in the fog. :)

THIS is my all time favorite picture! Okay, maybe just from this bunch of photos. But I still love it! It looks very rustic... old... serene... beautiful... foggy... muddy... wet... fallish... ya get it.We rode for five, yes five, straight hours. That was the longest I have EVER been in a saddle before.

This beautiful girl in the front is Sassy (she's mine... or so I like to think... I adopted her in a non-official way). The handsome boy in the back is Rascal. He's a cute lil' thing. So sweet!

Here's Rascal again. We were taking a break. Mr. B. was riding this cute thing right here, and got off because he dropped something. I snuck in this photo! YAY! hehehe. Ain't he just the cutest lil' thing you ever saw?! His expression is just adorable. "Uh, hi. My name ith Rathcal. I like to wun and pway and go on wides. Happy Thankthgiving fwiendth."
Hhehehe hohoho hahahah! Are you laughing yet?
No?
Maybe?
Well get ready to laugh hysterically.
Ready?

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No comment.

After the ride my mom and Bee went home to throw the turkey (which Bee and I named Albuquerque) into the oven.

We ate around five or six, and then lounged in front of the fire watching TV. Ah... the wonderfulness of it all! I then slept. Like a rock. Except alive.

Speaking of sleep... excuse me while I do just that. I feel like I haven't slept in a month.

G'night!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
I hope your day has been as memorable as mine has. (Trust me... you can't ever forget a 5 hour long horse back ride! It was AMAZING!)
More on that tomorrow. For now, it's off to sit in front of a fire in the fireplace, and enjoy the remainder of Thanksgiving '09 with my family!

G'night and happy Thanksgiving,

Randomness Wednesday!

Here we are again! It seems like it was just Wednesday a couple of days ago! Time has gone by very fast!
So, here is what I am thinking about. It's kind of busy.

• Thanksgiving
• Food prep.
• The trucks outside
• My irritating socks
• Dr. Quin Medicine Woman
• Our Many Blessings

That's the majority of it! Now I am going to explain...

• Thanksgiving: Well that's obvious. It's tomorrow!
• Food prep.: We are starting the food preparations today.
• The trucks outside: There are irritating trucks that have been going up and down the road all day long.
• My irritating socks: I couldn't find any of my own socks to wear today, so I borrowed a pair of my dads and they keep sliding down. Grrr.
• Dr. Quin Medicine Woman: I am watching this show right now. It has been years since I have seen this show, and now I found it on TV! I LOVE it!
• Our many blessings: God has blessed everyone of us so very much! We all have so much to be thankful for!!!

That is it for the Randomness Wednesday!

Psalm 92
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Another Award!

Morgan (who awarded me with the last award) informed me that she was also awarding me with the "Favorite Blog Award."

Isn't she soo sweet?!

I read the rules and such, and saw that they were all the same as my first blog award that Riah gave me.

So... with that said... if you want to read my answers/rules for this award read: Thanks Riah from "Purity and Petticoats"! .

Thanks Morgan :)

NOTE: Hannah Miller, I tried to leave a comment on your blog, but it said it was restricted... HELP! thanks!

Award!

Thank you Morgan for giving me this blog award!!!!! That was very kind of you to think of me!

:)

The Rules are...

1. Thank the person who awarded you

2. Copy the award post it on your blog.

3. Post it on your blog.

4.Tell us seven things your readers don't know.

5.Link 7 new bloggers as recipients

6.Notify the winners of the award with a comment on their blog.

7.Keep on shining the light of Christ with others

Here goes...

1. I love the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

2. Old wars fascinate me. World War I and World War II are my "favorite" to learn about.

3. I am am a slight romantic. :) Love a good historical fiction/romance novel.

4. I used to take guitar lessons.

5. Tigger is my favorite Winnie the Pooh character of all time.

6. I love old movies.

7. I am very creative.

I am awarding...

1. Hannah at Aspire

2. Hannah Miller at Banana Blog

3. Ashley at Cowgirls for Christ

4. Riah at Purity and Petticoats

5. Katie at A Daughter Of The King

6. Becky at Petticoat Junction

7. Mariah at A Jot of Me: My Random Thoughts

Congrats to you all! Thanks again to Morgan!!!

I'll post comments on the winners blogs as soon as I get another spare moment!

Funny Fact!

My dog loves candy canes!
It's rather funny! We give her a few licks whenever we get the treat!
Hey, it makes her breath smell good!
Thought you'd wanna know...

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Photo / Give Thanks - part 2

Isn't that cool?! I didn't expect the picture to turn out like that, but I'm glad it did!

Give thanks part 2: Scripture!

Psalm 100
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1 Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

Giving HIM all the praise and thanks,

Truly Amazing.

I was rereading a book called "The Inheritance" by Tamera Alexander, during the last few days. It is a wonderful book that I have read four times now.
The heroine had a lot going on in her life. Her prayer was mostly: "Break me, God, until I am wholly Yours."
When I read that single line, I paused in my reading. Break me, God, until I am wholly Yours. That is a truly amazing prayer. It is something that we should all want. To be wholly HIS! I can't think of anything better than that! God is truly amazing!
Tonight as Bee and I were doing dishes (again), we were listening to the music on our ipods. We didn't have them playing in sync, or even on the same CD. I was listening to an older Hillsong United CD called "King of Majesty," song "Everything to Me."
(You can look it up on You Tube or something.)
As I listened to this song, the lyrics changed from a song to a prayer for me. Jesus, You're everything to me! ... And I will never stop praising You for all the things You've done for me, and I'll be Yours forever - Jesus You're EVERYTHING to me!
Here are the two words in which I can describe this...: Truly Amazing!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Southern.

Ever heard the saying:

American by birth; Southern by the grace of God - ?

Well, if not, now ya have!

I bring this up because of a moment that my sister, Bee, and I had tonight. We were doing dishes (as usual) and we both had our ipods playing on the same song in sync. It was Carrie Underwood's "Carnival Ride" CD. After we finished dishes we sat down on the kitchen table (not something we should do. Not something that is proper, but something we did anyway), music still going. We were lip singing and having a big 'ole time! I then laughed. As in a full blown laugh. As in a knee-slappin' laugh. We had cups of sweet tea (for all of you who don't like sweet tea...you are missing out), we were listening to country music, and we are just true born southerners.

So I turn on the southern drawl big time.

"Ain't this funny. We are really being southern listenin' to country music and sippin' sweet tea."

Bee and I had a good laugh over this. (not that doing those things is uncommon... because it isn't).

It was more funny if you were there. I think "funnier" sounds better than "more funny."

Oh well.

Now to the train story...

I have never been close to a train before. Ever. I have always loved trains, and the railroad. Not the new kind of trains. Those aren't what I consider the "real deal." The one I saw today is the closest kind of train to the ones I like that I think is used... Make sense?

As soon as I saw the train coming from probably a mile away, I was ready! I was sooo excited. Just ask my mom. She was there. We were exploring a quilting shop and an antique shop. Both stores were over 100 years old and had original lighting/floors/counter tops/shelves. It was neat. But that's not what I am telling you about. The train was what made my day!

I did not zoom in for this picture.

I was actually working my way closer!

I could feel the vibrations even before it was close. It was the most amazing thing. When it was as close as you see in the picture above, the whistle sounded. It vibrated deep to my core. I couldn't stop smiling. It was like Christmas morning! You might find it weird that I think that about seeing a dirty train that close, but it's true!

OH, WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT!

These train tracks are well over a 100 years old. Think about the men who shed blood, sweat, and tears to make it. It is a piece of history that is apart of the present, and will be apart of the future!

Can you feel my enthusiasm?

There were probably near 200 cars on this train!

They were almost never ending!

This one of my favorite sights! If the road wasn't crossing over it, it would be even better!

I was able to stand about 5 feet from the train! Ah the amazingness of it! I still can feel the vibrations of the ground under me as the train went along. I want to ride a train.

Before I close... I want to give a shout out of encouragement to Riah and her family. As I posted earlier, they have been baking all day in preparation for tomorrow. They are still baking, and cleanin' up the kitchen!

Ya'll can do it! GO! GO! GO!

And then get some awesome sleep!

Love ya'll!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

"Zemon Lest"

Have you ever been on the phone with your best friend while they are cooking?
I have.
It can be scary.
Trust me.
This afternoon while I talked to Riah, (I'm sure you all know who she is by now), she and her family were baking and cooking stuff for their family Thanksgiving tomorrow. They were all giddy. Laughing. Joking. Being wild. Ten hours of sugar will do it to a person... I have witnessed this.
Becky (from Petticoat Junction /Riah's mom) had been in the kitchen so long she mixed up her letters... Instead of saying "lemon zest" she said "zemon lest."
Riah told me this only a few minutes before we had to hang up. I laughed. It was one of the few things I could understand of our conversation through all of the peels of laughter.
I will stop the story now. I think Becky or Riah... or both... might have a fit if I post anymore about their silliness.
As I said before: it can be scary.
(I still love you Ri and Becky!)

Later on I will tell you about my first time being close to a train! It was soooo fun!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Is it really that time of year again?

One week from today is Thanksgiving day. Can you believe it?! We have so much to do! The menu needs to be planned (we usually do that a couple weeks before, but this year we fell behind).
The house smells like Thanksgiving and Christmas combined! Or it did... when we had the candles lit, and stuff in the oven.
Even though this year has flown by very quickly, I am excited about the warm and fuzzy time of year!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Give Thanks - part one.

1 Chronicles 16:34
34. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Seeing as how it is coming close to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to post about giving thanks. I might just post a scripture, or I might do more than that.
God is good; His love endures forever!

Giving HIM all the praise, honor, and thanks,

Randomness Wednesday!

I have officially decided that every Wednesday is going to be Randomness Wednesday.
You are going to get a live view of what is on my mind at that precise moment! Amazing!
Here is what is on my mind right now:

• Rain
• Music

Need details?

• Rain: It is raining again. At least we had a few day break from it...
• Music: because I am listening to music, and it makes sense that I would be thinking about it. (Hillsong and Hillsong United Faith+Hope+Love CD)

There are other little things on my mind... such as what I'm going to eat for lunch. It is a very good question...

(Don't forget to read my post from earlier this morning)

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

"...Fa-A-rm Livin' Is The Life For Me..."

I told you I would post pictures from my afternoon at the barn...

I didn't get actual "barn" pictures...

But I did get these:

Is it just me, or do I look really tall?

Think of Peter Pan and his shadow.

My shadow says hello! LOL

See all the hoof prints in the sand?

This picture was originally in color.

It was originally super dark.

It originally didn't turn out.

Un-originally it is black and white.

Un-originally it isn't super dark.

Un-originally it turned out.

I love photo shop...or what I have that thinks it is photo shop!

Hay anyone?

Slackin' Off Act One Scene Two...

I have slacked off on blogging.
The end.
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Not the end.
This time I was not sick.
This time I was not stuck inside.
This time I was actually enjoying the company of horses and nice people!
This time I was able to hold a little baby for the first time in over a year.
This time I slacked off because I could!
I will be going back to the barn in about an hour. I will try to get some awesome pics to post!
Thanks for having patience!
The end.

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow...

This morning we were blessed with about an hour of sunny skies! Today makes day four of gray dullness.
Gray happens to be my favorite shade, but when it is stretched across the entire sky it can get rather boring.
SO! With my small hour of blue, sunny sky, I took a bunch of pictures! Some of them turned out so well that I wanted to jump up and down! (Exaggeration...maybe).

This picture is my absolute favorite from the 100 pics I took today! It looks like it was taken in a creek or a pond, but it was actually taken in a puddle of water in the bed of our truck! Amazing!

Another fave! Doesn't it look really cool?!

I love close-ups!

See the leaf on the bottom right hand side?

I think it makes this picture what it is!

That was the last blue sky I have seen today... so very sad. I am a blue sky fan. I love it. It makes me smile. God knew what He was doing when He created such beauty! I love Him sooooooo very much!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,

Goin' Courtin'

Wanna know my favorite musical movie of all time?
Sure ya do!
Ready...
Ready...

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers!

It is the best musical I have ever seen!

Here's Adam Pontipee lookin' for a bride!

This movie is the best musical I have ever seen!

Have I told you that before???

Here he is again talkin' to Milly.

He's trying hard to convince her to marry him. He goes on about how if they were livin' back east he would walk her home from church every Sunday. Have dinner with her family. Six months later he would ask to court her all nice and proper. But out in the west there wasn't time for proper courtin'. He had livestock to tend to, and a farm to take care of. He needed a wife right then and there. One who could cook, clean, and work right along side of him. Romantic right? haha.

"I'd have to finish my chores first."

Now, isn't that sweet!

The Farm.

Ain't it cute!

The newly weds arriving home for the first time as a couple!

It all looks secluded, and quiet.

But wait! There's more...

More... as in people.

As in brothers.

As in seven brothers.

"Ya'll live 'round here?" Milly asked.
"Not 'round; here."

Oh...

Time went by and Milly Pontipee saw Adam's brothers as her own brothers!

The brothers (Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frankincense: Frank, and Gideon) wanted their own wives...

The pictures above is when Milly is teaching them about goin' courtin'!

A dance off to see who wins the ladies hearts!

I'm votin' for the mountain men.

That's all I posting about the best musical I have ever seen. I wouldn't to ruin the whole movie for you, now would I?!

If you haven't seen it... you've missed out. Watch it at your earliest convenience!

Much love and knee-slappin' laughs,