Salient in Birmingham

Salient played in Birmingham last night and we got back a few hours ago. They played at a Youth in Action Conference at the Sheraton conference center. Through a Glass was the opener and Kutless was the headliner for the show.
It was one of the ideal venues for them to play for us to go with them. The organizers were really willing to work with us on everything. We were able to check into the hotel early in the afternoon, the kids were able to nap and play while soundcheck was happening, and I was able to get to know our bass players wife a little bit better. After the guys soundchecked we went to the sports grille at the hotel and had dinner, then headed up to the green room. Once again it was ideal for us because I could stay up there with the kids and hear everything really well. I could even peak out and see the guys on the big screens. There was another little girl there that played with our little girl for a long time.
Once the kids were ready for bed I was able to take them back to our room and put them to bed.
I love events like this that are well thought out, detailed and everyone knows what is going on. I love going to concerts when we can. Sometimes it is not possible just because it is too late for the kids to be out or it is too far away. We want to be part of it while we can because in a couple of years we won't be able to. Our little girl will be in Kindergarten by then and we won't be able to just up and go whenever we want.
Trips like this are great too because we get to see new places. We drove through the Civil Rights District, past a park and right through the heart of downtown. We took the kids to the Mcwane Science Center which is right downtown. They had a fantastic time playing in water, turning knobs, playing with air, and flying airplanes. They were not however impressed with the dinosaur display. We thought that they would both love it but the dinos were animated so they made them cry.
After 2 long days the kids crashed pretty quickly tonight...Now if they would just sleep in later than 7:45 tomorrow we would be good to go. :0)

Merry Christmas!

I hope Christmas was really special for everyone that celebrates it. We had a wonderful day. There has been some debate about churches being closed today but I wonder how many people really went. We went to our Christmas Eve service last night but opted to stay home with our 2 little ones to read the account of Jesus birth out of Luke, eat burned muffins, and open presents this morning. We remembered why we read the Christmas story Christmas eve instead of Christmas morning though when our little girl was chomping at the bit to open presents.

We have thought about instituting a 3 gift policy for the kids to represent the 3 gifts that Jesus received but it didn't happen this year. I have to say our kids are spoiled rotten! Santa brought a Star Station (Santa had a hard time finding that thing!), mommy and daddy gave the kids a Dr kit and a Thomas the train pop up toy, grandparents gave books, videos, t-shirts, cabbage patch doll, Dora leap pad cartridge, xylophone, aunts and uncles gave cars, videos, roll around ball, see and say and school time Dora. It was fun opening everything and seeing the kids having such a good time and they really have played with a lot so far today. Hopefully that will continue. :0)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

One

One
1 MINUTE AGO: Trying to see if there are any Pampered Chef Blogs set up

1 HOUR AGO: Rocking my baby boy before his nap

1 DAY AGO: shopping for my hubbys christmas presents

1 WEEK AGO: Laying in the couch sick as a dog

1 MONTH AGO: We were in Texas for Thanksgiving and were at Sears getting family pictures taken. That was fun let me tell ya!

1 YEAR AGO: Once again we were in Texas. Hubbys parents flew us down so we could all be together before my husbands brother got deployed.

1 DECADE AGO: I was a Junior Music major at Azusa Pacific in Ca. I was also a Student Orientation leader, was in band, handbell choir, worked at Payless Shoe Source and the mail room at school.

1 SCORE AGO: I was in 4th grade and moved from Illinois to California. I was a Junior in Girl Scouts and started going to Awanas.


1 QUARTER CENTURY AGO: I was 6 and in Kindergarten. My teacher was a little person. I remember thinking it was so cool that I was the same size as her!

What is real?

Tonight we went to Chickfila to see Santa. The one we go to is owned by a family in our church and the Santa is the same one we saw last year. He is a friends father in law who may be getting into Santa school in Canada. Anyway, we got to see Santa and a giant cow and a clown. All of them came right to our table. Our 18 month old showed a ton of progress. The last time he saw the clown he screamed and cried, would stop and look to see if the clown was coming and start screaming again. Tonight he cried when placed on Santas lap and when the giant cow came to our table. The clown almost didn't phase him.

So, we got to live in a world of make believe tonight. When we got home we headed up to get the kiddos ready for bed. We do jammies, books, teeth, prayers, goodnight. We have recently started leaving the gate off of our little girls room so she can go to the bathroom if she needs to. We are not worried anymore she will fall down the stairs in the middle of the night. Unfortunately she sometimes has a hard time settling down and going to sleep.
My hubby went up to check on her and she had put her gate up in the doorway. He asked her if she put her gate up so Dora couldn't get out (Dora is a pillow that is almost as big as her). She replied "Doras not real!" So he asked why she put the gate up. And she said "So the bunnies can't get in!" There were 2 stuffed bunnies sitting in the hallway outside the gate. He came down trying to contain himself because the entire conversation was so funny. It is amazing what goes on in the mind of a 3 year old!!

Happy 8th Anniversary to James and Aerika

oh yeah and to us! :0) That was one of those weddings Bobby and I couldn't make it to as we had plans ourselves.

It is so fun to reflect on what our wedding day held. That was the day we found out that the annual Glendora Christmas parade goes down Glendora Ave and onto Foothill right by Vons and right past the hair salon where I got my hair done. We did go to it the following year but as a frantic bride in torn jeans and button up shirt and my hair done with my veil I stopped a cop who got on his radio to find out exactly what the parade route was so Bobby could go pick up our cake at Vons. He became the master of alley way driving that morning.

When I arrived at the church the flowers were just arriving. My bouquet was beautiful but the rest of the flowers were much smaller that what had been shown to me so back they went to be fixed.

Then there were the things I didn't know about until later like Bobby was supposed to order pizza for the handbell choir that was playing for us. Rosy took care of that for us. Also, we have no idea what happened to our piano player. She was at rehearsal and at the reception but was not there for the ceremony. All I can think of it that it was LA maybe there was terrible traffic. Our good friend Mike stepped in and played for us even though he was not a fan of our trumpet player.

It is so fun to look back at our wedding pictures and see how young we looked and at the excitement of what was to come. I feel so blessed to have a husband who is rooted in his faith. God is really the foundation of our marriage. I just pray we can raise our kids to know God and find spouses that believe in God with all of their hearts.

So, for our anniversary, we were planning on going out tonight. We had a babysitter lined up and everything. On the way home from physical Therapy this morning my 18 month old puked all over the car. So we are renting a couple of movies and putting the kiddos to bed early. Maybe another time this week we will get out to see The Chronicles of Narnia.

What I should be doing..

We got home from church and hour ago and I have been wasting my time on the internet. My baby boy is taking his nap before we head back for our connect group fellowship and my little girl is hanging out with daddy in the office.
I should be doing the dishes and baking cookies and cleaning the living room and dusting and vacuuming and blah blah blah....I would rather be doing this. I will go clean the kitchen and bake cookies in a few minutes.

The sermons at church have been really good this month. They are all usually good but these have been about really focusing on what Christmas is really about. Our pastor is a good story teller that can keep your attention while getting his point across. Sometimes I think I can't hear past the thoughts in my head that keep saying "all the southern Baptists think about is church growth...Must get more people to come to church so it grows". Our church is concerned about that but they are also really concerned about the spiritual growth of the members. The point of the connect groups is to make sure there are people in your life that will encourage you to be in the Word and to educate you further in your spiritual walk.

Back to what I am supposed to be doing...My girl just came out of the office and is intent on me pretending to be grandma from Little Red Riding Hood. I guess I better hurry. Of course playing with her is not something I am "supposed" to do, it is something I LOVE to do. :0)

The pic is from a day when daddy was on the road when we were busy not doing what we were supposed to.