More from the trip

"I saw some people driving almost that fast when I was coming back from my buy in SF yesterday. Whew!" IS THAT IT???? You're not gonna say anything else?? What do we have to do to get a rise out of you people... Sheesh!

No, we were not driving that fast. Our speedometer wasn't working. Again. On that piece of junk suburban. That we pay a fortune to drive. At that time, it showed us going between 30-40 when we were sitting still. Most of the time, it messes up the other way and shows us going 0 when we're traveling about 30-40 mph. Makes driving fun.

These are some other pics I wanted to share. The first is Hadley and one of her awesome kicks. She really has some power in those legs...

Notice the next one... David was holding our place in line while we looked around and took some pics. H & L were looking in the moat and I took this one. Didn't notice the "bonus" until I loaded them onto the computer. David looks nice holding a purse, eh?? :)

The next one is in the huge foyer area inside the castle. There were several gift counters, two bars, a small museum, etc. Then, we have Lance getting "knighted"--love the look on his face!! Worth every penny of the $20 it cost. Every penny.

The next 2 shots are looking down our table. The flags were in our mugs and we used them to wave and cheer for our knight. (The red and yellow knight.) He ended up being the hero of the day! **ETA: Hadley wanted me to say that we all thought our knight was a loser because he didn't do well in any of the competitions. He really only came back in the end to save the day...Ha!

No silverware here. We ate everything with our hands. Lance kept burping out loud--I think he thought bad manners were called for... Fortunately it was extremely loud in there and I think I'm the only one who heard. LOL! We saw lots of hand-to-hand "combat" and some jousting. It was pretty cool. Lance, especially, loved it. Afterward, he got a sword and had all of the knights autograph it. Here he is with our knight.

All in all, it was a nice trip. David and I were both exhausted going into it, but we were still able to enjoy the fun. Great to be home, though... I wish Tyler had been with us. I know he would have been bored stiff during the soccer tournament, but I think he would have enjoyed Medieval Times. Maybe next time.

Speed and Curls....

I'll have more pics to share from this weekend, but I thought I'd share these for now.

Do you think David was in a hurry to get home today??? We made it home from Fort Worth in record time. Hmmmm...

Lance was looking down at the moat at Medieval Times last night and I noticed just how curly the back of his hair was getting... Crazy! Dad--have you noticed his new favorite hat? It's the one you got him in Seattle. Lately, he wears it all the time!!

2nd Place!!!

Had to brag on Lance a bit... He was in a UIL competition last week doing oral reading. He read two really cute poems for it. I got to watch. He was fantastic! Anyway, he was competing against 15-20 other fourth graders and made it to the final six. They competed again, but we didn't find out the results until this week. He got second!! This is the medal he won. We are very proud. He was full of great expression and was just wonderful. We played a bit on the trampoline to get the top pic--I wish you could see all of him, but I had the wrong lens on for that... Anyway, it was fun. Yay Lance!

SCORE!!!

WOOO--HOOOO! We played the other contender for first place in our league today. We beat them 1-0. This kick you see is the 1! As most of you know, Hadley plays sweeper--the last defender before the goalie. She is REALLY good at it, but she misses scoring so much. If we play a weaker team and we're winning, occasionally the coach will let Hadley play up. But if it's close--like today--she only plays in the back. Well, there was some sort of penalty in the middle of the field and he called for Hadley to take the kick. See the blue lines near the bottom of the pic? That's midfield. Anyway, she launched it--right into the goal--and it's a LONG field. It bounced once right in front of the goal and over the keeper's head and in. Sweeeet! It was pretty exciting. Of course, we were really proud. She played great defense, too, so she really did her part today. Yay Hadley! (All results aren't in yet, so we are not certain we won the whole league, but think we did.)

The second pic is of Hadley and Gigantor. She is huge... and has a twin! (We not-so-lovingly call them the "twin towers") They both play on this team, but the other one wasn't at the game today. And, actually, this pic is a little deceiving. Hadley probably comes to her shoulder, but wasn't standing straight up. I wish you could see Hadley's face in these, but... anyway, it's a funny shot.

***For all of you at the reunion... I'm a little jealous! I hope you're all having a wonderful time and all arrived safely. We love and miss you all. Take lots of pictures so we can see the fun times!

Egyptian Rat Slap...whatever that is!

Tonight during Lance's treatment, the 3 of them played this card game. Lance learned it at school and I have no idea how to play. I took this pic just because they were having so much fun... Have a great week!

Celebs at bunko!

I posted this one on my photo a day blog, but I wanted to share it with family... We had 80's bunko night and this group went all out!! We had so much fun! They even performed for us... :)Hope you are all having a good week. Happy Friday!!

**ETA: I finally posted pics from that engagement shoot that I did last weekend. They are on my little slice of life blog--the link is on the right. All in all, I was pleased. Of course, I made plenty of mistakes and learned a lot from it. It was really fun once I got over my EXTREME nervousness!

Happy Easter!!

Today was a really nice day... We went to church--wearing warm clothes because there was snow on the ground!!--and then to Anita's after for lunch and easter egg fun. She had cooked up a feast for us, of course and then the kids dyed eggs and we had a "mini" hunt in the living room. These are some of the shots from today. **Notice the headband David is wearing... LOL! I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Just to show you what I sometimes have to deal with when I try to take a picture... Ha! We had this really cute program at school yesterday and I tried to get Lance while he watched... He wasn't havin' any of that! If you'd like to see the clown pics, click on my photo a day blog link at the right. They were lots of fun!

Just playing around...

This came in the mail today. It's the real thing--no more piece of paper. Wow!! He's having a blast. Yesterday was just gorgeous and he took the top off the jeep and drove around with a friend. He was grinning from ear to ear!

In other news, if you're interested, check out my new photoblog. I set it up for business purposes. It's a spot to show off some of my stuff and hopefully convince people to let me take their pictures. I'm having fun with it right now, but it will be nice if I can pay for some of my toys this way. Camera equipment is expensive! And, I think I inherited my dad's champagne taste. I seem to have a knack for picking out the priciest stuff! I actually have an engagement shoot scheduled in 2 weeks. I'm a little nervous because it is a first. (And it is for a BIG name. I won't type it here... Ask me later! :) ) Happy Monday!

What a day!

Today was a stormy day around our parts. Hadley had her first 2 soccer games scheduled today in Lubbock. Right after half time in the first game, the site officials came racing across the fields in a golf cart yelling at everyone to vacate the fields. There had been 2 tornadoes spotted on the ground at the south edge of town. (Her fields are at the north edge) We had already been rained on and were watching cloud to ground lightning, so I was relieved to leave the field. Honestly, the game never should have started! Games were canceled for the rest of the day, so we headed home. The storms were moving slowly toward home and we were pretty far ahead of them, so we didn't have any troubles on the way. Meanwhile at home, Tyler drove Lance to church--yikes! and to lunch after. All went well, but I was pretty nervous... After we got home, a posse of boys showed up on bikes and wanted Lance to ride around with them. He went and was gone for a couple of hours. When he came home, he looked like this!! That shirt was very white when he left... Anyway, he had a great time. Thought you would enjoy the pics. Happy Sunday!

Watch out world, here he comes!!

Well. It's official. Tyler has his driver's license. He is so EXCITED! Me, not so much! :) It's very nerve-wracking...He's out right now in his jeep visiting his friends. Of course, he's been old enough for several months, but wasn't ready. We gave him specific expectations and said when he had met them, he could get his license. Well, he did it. So. Here we are. At first, he will be pretty restricted. If there aren't problems, we will loosen those a little at a time. Yikes. I just can't believe it! Anyway, thought you would enjoy seeing pictures.

Cupcakes

Hadley's "boyfriend" broke his arm on Monday. So, today, we made cupcakes to take over to him. I thought they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! I did most of the baking. She did all of the decorating.

Murder and Poodle Skirts

Hadley has a murder mystery dinner tonight--with a 50's theme. So, here she is just before she left. She was excited--I'm sure she'll have a great time.

Seems like she is the only one pictured on the blog lately. I think it's because she doesn't mind getting her picture made as much as the rest of us do! Anyway, enjoy...I'll try to post some others later. We're havin' a family get-together this weekend, so there ought to be lots of photo ops!

Bball

Just about to leave for church, but I thought I would post a new pic before we leave. Hadley had an awesome game yesterday!! The game was extremely close. She played so well--coach didn't even pull her the entire second half. She was tired after that game--but not as tired as I would have been... ha! They ended up winning by one point! :) Go Hadley!

Hadley's new "do"

Hadley has been bugging me about a haircut for at least a month. So. I finally got her an appt. for today. This is the result! It really makes her look grown up. Yikes! Anyway, she really likes it and I thought you'd like to see it, too.

Bball game

Hadley had her first bball game for this league. They didn't win--the score was 23-9. Hadley scored four of those nine points. I got a few pretty decent action shots. The bottom pic was one of the shots that she made. The top pic is a pass she intercepted. Anyway, thought you'd like to see. More later!

Grooooovy Love Turtle

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Thought you would like to see the groooovy love turtle that Lance bought for his valentine. (He is her secret admirer) Cute, huh? You dropped a bomb on me.... :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Weekends

Lance had a friend over to spend the night last night. Before they came to our house, they went with B's family to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Lance loved it, of course! Here they are doing morning treatment and playing PS2.

Tyler went to a lock-in from midnight to 8 a.m. He came home and crashed. Hadley is at a friend's house. Haven't heard from her yet! Kind of nice. No games this weekend!! We do have a few commitments, but nothing big. Yay!!

Ace

This is a pic from last weekend's tournament. Her serves have always been strong. Wish you could see more of the ball. It's pretty tricky to get the focus on her, freeze the motion and catch her face and the ball all at the same time!

During practice this week, she was playing around with a jump serve. She was pretty consistent with it and her coach told her to do it in a game. Not sure if that's the way to go, but oh well. It's only volleyball! :)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Tried a new recipe today that I got off the internet. Sweet potato biscuits. They turned out a little dry, but pretty yummy. Thought I would share the recipe:

1 3/4		cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
2		tablespoons light-brown sugar
2 1/2		teaspoons baking powder
1		teaspoon salt
1/2		teaspoon baking soda
6		tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus 1/2 tablespoon melted butter and more for pan
		1 small can sweet potato chunks (mashed)
1/3		cup buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon
		1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-sized lumps of butter remaining. In a small bowl, whisk together sweet potatoes, buttermilk, vanilla and cinnamon; stir quickly into flour mixture until combined (do not overmix).
		2. Shape the biscuits: Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together but is still slightly lumpy, five or six times. (If dough is too sticky, work in up to 1/4 cup additional flour.) Shape into a disk, and pat to an even 1-inch thickness. With a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Gather together scraps, and repeat to cut out more biscuits (do not reuse scraps more than once).
		3. Bake the biscuits: Preheat oven to 425°, with rack on lower shelf. Butter an 8-inch cake pan. Arrange biscuits snugly in pan (to help them stay upright). Brush with melted butter. Bake until golden, rotating once, 20 to 24 minutes.

Just for kicks: Mix 1 TBS honey with 1/4 cup margarine. Top biscuits with butter. Delicious!

Happy Thursday!

This is what I had for breakfast today... YUMMY! Cinnamon chip bread and coffee. (No, I did not eat the whole loaf--just wanted you to see it! And, my coffee is always that color. ha!) We have this new bread store--Great Harvest Bread Company. Delicious! Have a great Wednesday!

Book Emperor?

Volleyball Queen

Hula Hoop King

Was playing around with my blog and realized that only registered users could comment. No biggie--no one has to comment, but I did change it so that anyone can comment. Sorry if you tried and couldn't.