Wordless Wednesday

Not Me Monday

It is once again time for a "Not Me Monday" post in which I admit to all the craziness that is my life while at the same time denying it all. "Not Me Monday" is where I inform you of all the insanity of the previous week! To take part in all the goofy fun head over to MckMamma's blog to get started and to see what everyone has NOT been up to!


I did not forget to write "Not Me Monday" posts 2 weeks in a row after saying I was going to try to do these every Monday!


I did not have a fabulous time with hubby and friends on Valentine's Day and I did not get sick after trying sushi and gorging on appetizers and I certainly was not unable to eat my main course!

I did not convince my husband to wear a tie for our Valentine's date night. And it was NOT the first time I've EVER seen him in a tie! And he didn't look absolutely fabulous either! He has also not sworn he'd never wear one again, especially after seeing that he was the only male in our group in a tie (thanks Guys!!!).

My daughter has not learned that if she needs something sewn right away and it's late at night when she remembers this that Mom can't be counted on. She has not got the best dad that takes care of her sewing needs and he hasn't been doing that since she was a little girl. And her daddy didn't come through for her again when she needed to figure out a way to get a hat to stay on her head while dancing! And said hat certainly did not fall off her head at the beginning of the routine during Saturday's dance competition!



I did not tell my daughter not to breathe on me when she was sick all last week. Really, how unsympathetic would that sound anyway???



My husband did not have a blowout on a rear tire, on a motorcycle no less, recently. He did not manage to keep the bike upright and did not have such a wild ride that cars around him were getting out of the way. I was not thankful that my daughter or I were not on the bike at the time. I am not thankful and it does not put me at ease that he's a skilled rider.



My daughter does not at all enjoy the days that her daddy takes her to school. She does not enjoy showing up at the high school on the back of the bike or walking into the school carrying her helmet. Nope, not her!



I am not ready for winter to be over and summer to arrive with trips to the beach, swimming in the backyard pool, roasting hot dogs over the fire and all that summer around here entails!!!

I did not have a cancelled photo shoot Friday because a bride did not budget money for photographs of her wedding. I did not take the planned afternoon off anyway and I surely did not use the time doing much needed housework because how boring would that be to spend time off doing that???

I have not been wasting too much time lately on facebook, neglecting my blog and even my housework. Nope, not me!

Starsteppers SHINE!

Yesterday Heather and all her Starsteppers team mates left very early in the morning to head to Austin for the 2009 American Dance/Drill Team Lone Star Sr State Championship.

We didn't leave until later in the day so we could watch all the dances Heather competed in with her team. As tired as we were arriving back home after 1:00 in the morning, I can't imagine how tired the girls all were having had an even LONGER day and dancing for so much of it!

We are so proud of all the teams and our girls did a superb job!

The girls' first number was their Team Kick routine to a Michael Jackson medley of songs. This was my favorite, but I'm partial to their kick routines. I am always amazed at how high those girls can kick. It's said that you've achieved the perfect high kick if you leave lipstick on your tights! I know several of our girls have achieved that!

As you can see by this photo, early in the dance guess who lost her hat??!!! None other than my daughter!

After the first number the girls had quite a bit of time before their next performance. Marty, my friend Ilene, her son Boone and I roamed the halls of the host high school to check out the vendor booths and to see which t-shirts our girls wanted. We found our girls in a hallway practicing their next dance.





Ashley, Heather, the teacher Cathy, Brooke and Valerie. (Ashley, Heather and Brooke have been dancing together since 2001 and we loved that they were found practicing together and still such good friends after all this time!)

Ashley, Brooke, Heather and Valerie just goofing off.

Heather and Chelsea as they performed "9 to 5"



Heather

This was a very cute number!

Congratulations on a job well done girls! The Starsteppers were Sweepstakes winners, State Champions, and were awarded the Gussie Nell Davis Award which is given to teams and individuals who recieve scores of 90 and above from every single judge in every single category.

Blessings

Some of you know the trials my family in Missouri has been facing. For those of you who don't, I will give you a brief synopsis so you can see how God truly is working in their lives.

On Wednesday, January 28 my sister Regina and her family lost their home in an electrical fire during an ice storm that swept through the midwest. This is the 2nd time their family has been devestated by fire in 3 years. I can't imagine how I'd feel in their shoes but am so thankful they have not wavered in their trust in God.


The following week my brother Davy was injured when he was cutting a tree in the aftermath of the ice storm. He said he saw the tree coming at him and he believed it was going to hit him square in the chest. He slipped on the ice and the tree fell on his leg. He was taken by helicopter to Springfield for surgery and is now recovering at home. He sounds amazing when I talk to him and is thankful to God that all that was hurt was his leg. He tells anyone who will listen that he knows Jesus was holding his hand that day.


Regina called me yesterday and told me of some of the blessings being poured upon her family this week. A family member has made a house available to them while they rebuild their own home, and they are able to live in the house rent-free the first 2 months. In addition to that when they arrived at church Wednesday night it was to a surprise shower their church family had planned for them to replace many of their belongings.

My sister in law Lis phoned me this week also and told me the teacher of her and Davy's Sunday School class had just told her the whole class will be at their house Sunday morning to have Bible Study there since they can't travel to church yet.



Here are some photos taken of the last time ALL my brothers, sisters and me were together (Christmas 2007)

Grandma and Mom





My sisters and me (Me, Lacey, Regina)










My sister in law Lis and me

Davy

Levi and Lacey walking together.

We do serve a mighty God!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so I'm late and I'm way behind in Wordless Wednesday posts....AND now it's not wordless.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate Valentine's Day we went out with 3 other couples (Bill & Denise, Jason and Erica, and David and Susan) for dinner and coffee in San Antonio. Of course the big dilemma for the ladies for such an outing was....WHAT TO WEAR???? We had all decided to dress up really nice for the occasion (and I even convinced Marty to wear a TIE...which he NEVER does!) When a cold front blew in some changed their minds about what they were wearing so they wouldn't freeze. I opted to freeze anyway knowing Marty was going to be uncomfortable in the unfamiliar tie and if he was going to dress up so was I.


Doesn't Marty look FABULOUS in a tie?!





We all gathered at Bill and Denise's house where we dropped off Heather to watch 4 of the kids while we all went out. Before leaving we all took pictures as a group (thanks Bethany!) and pictures of each couple....ahem...even David and Jason posed together for one disturbing photo all in good fun! Then we all piled into the Suburban and hit the road.



All of us at Bill and Denise's. Left to right: Susan, David, Denise, Bill, Erica, Jason, me, Marty






Bill and Denise

David and Susan

David and Jason

Our plan was to eat at Bennihana's but not one of us confirmed that the restaurant was still in the location it was believed to be. As we tried to locate it we passed Tokyo Steak House and after determining that Bennihanas is no longer in the location nearby, we all decided we'd just eat at Tokyo Steak House instead. We knew there would be a long wait wherever we went. A quick phone call to Bennihanas proved that we'd have to wait 3 hours for a table. Thanks to Jason's determination, we didn't have to wait too terribly long to be seated at the steak house. I'm sure the wait would have seemed much longer had we not been so entertained while we waited. The men were a riot and kept us laughing the whole evening.

While we waited David decided to check out the sushi bar and ordered some for all brave enough to try it. I always swore I'd never try the stuff...it just never sounded good to me! I decided why not, if I didn't like it then I just wouldn't ever eat any more. The Sushi we tried did not actually contain raw fish, which I had assumed all sushi was. The California Rolls we ate consisted of cooked crab, cucumber, and avacado rolled up in seaweed and rice. I did not like the seaweed and handed it off to Bill but actually liked the rest of it.

The sushi was pretty!

Our Sushi Chef!

Proof that Erica tried the sushi. (and we tried this thinking it really was raw fish and found out later it was not after all)

I even tried it but was very unsure at first!

David tried his sushi with chopsticks!

While we waited for a table we were entertained by such things as David and Bill playing

rock, paper, scissors.

We were seated in a small room and joined by one other couple who I'm sure thought we'd all lost our minds! We laughed and joked and carried on so much! I can't remember the last time I had such a good time.

We asked an employee to take our photo for us and he handed the camera off to someone else but at least we got one!

David and Susan enjoying their appetizers.

Erica and Jason (apparently when taking all the photos at Bill and Denise's house the only photos I took of these two was with ERICA'S camera and not mine! I was sure I had some...till I uploaded all mine and found them missing.) :0(

I've never seen anyone crack an egg by tossing it in the air and cracking it in two with a spatula...till now! Pretty cool!

I was too busy photographing the fire to see it come directly at me across the grill.

Our chef kept us in stitches as he prepared our food before us. Erica and I were teased for all the photos we took...even of the FOOD...but we didnt' care! I simply said, "this is what we DO!!!" As the food cooked all the smoke blew directly in Jason and Erica's faces, making the rest of us thankful we were seated where we were! ha ha

our food on fire

In honor of Valentine's Day our chef fried our rice in the shape of a heart. Awwww.



Our too-funny chef even had a rather creative way to put out the fire from the volcano! I'm sure my grandpa had a toy like this that pees water and that's what this chef used on our food!! But it didn't deter any one of us from eating well!

Our original plan was to roam along the Riverwalk after dinner but it was much too cold so we opted to head to our favorite Starbucks instead for hot coffee!

Thanks everyone for a great night and I can't wait to do something together again soon!

Nine to Five

The Starsteppers Dance Team, of which my daughter Heather is a member, are gearing up for competitions that begin next week! Yikes! In preparation for that, the team performed one of their competition routines at half time in tonight's basketball game. As the title of this post suggests, their routine was to the song "9 to 5." It's a cute dance and the girls will be spending every night in the upcoming week polishing this and their other dances. Good luck girls!!!




Heather and Chelsea

Crystal, Bianca, and Vallerie

Break a leg next week girls!

The Big 40

My friend Erica's husband Jason turns 40 today! Happy Birthday, Old Timer! I wonder if this means he'll be too old for ice skating and go karts???







Jason I hope you have a Fabulous 40th Birthday!!!

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Also having a birthday today is one of my best friends, Dar. Dar was my room mate when I moved to Arizona to go to school. No matter the time and space between us, we never run out of things to talk about! I miss you Dar and hope you have a super 38th birthday!