Merry Christmas!! :-)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

12 Days of Christmas Day 12- The Christmas Story

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

12 Days of Christmas Day 11- Music

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

12 Days of Christmas Day 10- Nativity Scene

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

12 Days of Christmas Day 9- Something Red

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

12 Days of Christmas Day 8- Lights

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

12 Days of Christmas Day 7- Hot Chocolate

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

12 Days of Christmas Day 6- Warm

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

12 Days of Christmas Day 5- Glittery & Gold

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

12 Days of Christmas Day 4- Wonder

Bill of Rights Day

Happy national Bill of Rights Day! The Bill of Rights Institute is trying to get as many Americans as possible to read the first ten amendments today, in honor of the holiday. You can go to www.BillofRightsDay.com to read them and sign the pledge as well, if you would like to do so.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

12 Days of Christmas Day 3- Christmas Cookies

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

12 Days of Christmas Day 2- Presents and Packages

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

My sister challenged me to do 12 Days of Christmas with pictures, following the guidlines she received wth a course she did last year. The 12 days of Christmas started yesterday, but I will catch up on that picture now. ;-) Each picture must be in by midnight of the day of the assignment. So, here is Day 1- a Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving Pictures

I know, I know- this post is incredibly late!! I've been pretty busy lately, but I wanted to post these pictures, anyway. ;-) We had our grandparents (my mom's parents) over for Thanksgiving, and here are some pictures of the table settings. Let me know what you think of the pictures- can't decide if I like all of them or not...

I made these placecards, and then enjoyed taking pictures of them later. ;-)

The back of the placecards.

Wordless Wednesday (Almost :-))

Need I say more??

Day after Thanksgiving Shopping

Well, there are been debates around our house on why it was called "Black Friday" to begin with... Unfortunately, as it was on our way to shopping this morning, we had no Internet or other way of finding it out- I'll be doing research on it later, to appease my curiosity... ;-) However, my theory is that they call it "Black Friday" on account of the gazillions of people who are crazy enough to get up at unearthly hours to go outside where it's pitch black outside, and go shopping in order to make it back home while it's still pitch black outside- there seems to be a contest, as though everyone's afraid of the sun!! Or, well, it's probably more like the freezing-cold 20-degree weather... :-)

And yes, I was one of the crazy people this year... Just got back from shopping, and spending over 3 hours in JoAnn fabric, just waiting for Allison's number 81 fabric-cutting number to come up... It was dark when we went inside, but when we came back out again, it was time for the sunglasses!!

It all started yesterday, actually, when my sister Allison had declared first thing that she was not going shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Well, all of that changed when my grandparents came over for Thanksgiving lunch, and brought the newspaper, which brought tidings of great deals everywhere! And some not-so-great deals that they tried to make look as good as possible, too.

So, after some deliberation, we decided that we 4 girls (me, my 2 sisters, and my mom) would go shopping. But then came the decision of "what time should we leave?" Well, as the first store we wanted to go to opened at midnight, and the next store at 4, it was decided to leave at 2 o'clock in the morning in order to make the half-hour drive and be done in the first store before heading to the next one when it opened.

Carolyn and I opted for no sleep at all, and just watched movies on our laptops in bed, instead of sleeping... ;-)

At the dreaded 2 o'clock freezing time of the day (or rather, night), we bundled up to brave the cold and go shopping! We ended up being way ahead of schedule, and sat around in the nice warm car for over half an hour waiting for Target to open, and finally gave up to go to Sears before Target. By then, the thermometer on the bank downtown read 19 degrees... Brrr!!!! Thank you Target for having a Starbucks inside! ;-) Had a yummy peppermint white chocolate mocha... Enough said on that point. ;-)

We finally made it through all of our stores to spend a whole 3 hours in JoAnn, with the reason stated above.

Did any of you go shopping today, on the day after Thanksgiving (still my preferred name for the day- Black Friday sounds so dismal, and to be dreaded- maybe for good reason, though...)?

"Moses"

Lately, I've been thinking of the words to a song called "Moses", by Ken Medema. This is a song that we sang in our NoteWorthy choir back in July/August. The words have really been challanging me as I sing it to myself, so I thought I would share the lyrics with you. The words in italics are the narrator, in bold is God speaking, and normal is Moses speaking, figuratively. ;-) Unfortunately, I don't have a recording of our choir singing it, and haven't found one anywhere else that like, having sung it with an amazing choir myself. I sincerely hope you will all get a chance to hear it sung well sometime, though- the music that goes with it is amazing. It was by far the favorite song at NoteWorthy. :-)

"Moses"
Ken Medema (C) 1971 Word Music

Old Moses, way back there in the wilderness.
Saw some smoke... came to the bush, and the bush was burning!
God said, "Take off your shoes, Moses, you're on holy ground.

Moses, I've chosen you to be my man.
Moses, way down in Egypt land!
Moses, I've chosen you to work for Me,
Moses, I've chosen you to set my people free!"

"Not me, Lord, don't You know I can't talk so good?
I st-st-stutter all the time!
Do You know my brother, Aaron?
He can sing like an angel, t-t-talk like a preacher!
Not me, Lord, I can't talk so good.

And another thing: How will they know that I've been here with You?
How will they know what You've sent me to do?
Don't You know in Egypt they want little Moses' head?
Don't You know in Egypt they want little Moses dead?
Don't You know they'll never hear a single word I'll say?
Maybe You'd better get Your dirty work done another way!
Not me, Lord!

"What's that in your hand, Moses?"

"It's just a rod."

"Throw it down, Moses."

"Do You mean, like, on the ground?"

"Yes, I said, throw it down, Moses."

"Lord, don't take my rod away from me!
Don't You know it's my only security?!
Don't You know when you live here all alone
A man's gotta have something he can call his own?
Not me, Lord!"

"Throw it down, Moses."

"But, Lord, I..."

"Throw it down, Moses."

"But..."

"Throw it down, Moses!"

Moses threw the rod on the ground, and the rod became a hissing snake!
Well, Moses started running... well, maybe you'd run, I know that I'd run!
He was running from a hot rod! Running from a hissing snake!
Running scared of what God's gonna do, running scared He'll get a-hold of you!
And the Lord said, "Stop! Pick it up, Moses, by the tail!"

"Lord, You have not lived here very long,
Lord, You've got the whole thing wrong!
Don't You know that You never pick up a hissing snake... by his..."

"Pick it up, Moses!!"

"Oh, God, it's a rod again... it's a rod again... it's a rod again!"

"Do you know what it means, Moses?
Do you know what I'm trying to say, Moses?
The rod of Moses became that rod of God.
With the rod of God, touch the rock and the water will come.
With the rod of God, part the waters of the sea.
With the rod of God, you can strike old Pharoah dead.
With the rod of God, you can set my people free."

What do you hold in your hand today?
To what, or to Whom are you bound?
Are you willing to give it to God right now?
Give it up, let it go, throw it down.

Found on Ken Medema's project Yesterday Revisited
(C) 1989 Briar Patch Records

What do you hold in your hand today? Perhaps God wants to use it as an instrument for the furthering of His glory. All we have to do is throw it down at His feet- are you willing to give your dreams, and things very dear to you to God, for Him to use as He pleases?

Mid-way through NaNoWriMo

Well, it's November 15, an infamous day for NaNoWriMos... Today marks the halfway point for writing our 50,000 word novels. I have been writing as much as I can, as I am rather behind at the moment. :-/ Well, about 9,000 words behind. Quite possible to catch up in about a week, if not less than that. I just have to get my story along far enough that I can start writing about parts that are supposed to happen later on in the story, but haven't come up yet. However, some of those parts are being written out of order, and I am getting to the "meat" of the story, so to speak. Hannah Jean has been quite helpful, in telling me what she thinks should come next in my story, to mix it up some. :-) Well, I'd better start writing on my book instead of my blog... Get that word count above 16,201 (currently), and on towards the 25,000 (supposed to be by the end of today) goal. Enjoy the great weather today, before it cools off again!

American Royal Barrel Race

Well, we're back... With a really banged up knee, saddle sores, a chunk out of a finger, and a few bruises, but we're here!! We basically did horrible this year... My best time on either horse was an 18.188 on Velvet on Friday. And that one was over 10 out of the money, anyway...

Rudy
Well, Sunday was the best day for us... And that's pretty bad, since on Sunday we only got an 18.193... But on Friday we knocked over the second barrel. On Saturday we knocked over both the second and third barrels. And then on Sunday, I did meet my goal, which was to not knock anything over. ;-)

Velvet
Friday was the best for me and Velvet, with an 18.188. Saturday, she went way too wide on her barrels, and only got a 19.329, and a 19.901 on Sunday... It seems to me that normally it's best to get better with each day, but I guess Velvet's backwards in that as well as her barrel pattern... ;-)

UHH
On Saturday, I also ran Velvet in 2 events in something called "Unbelieveable Horse Happenings". We did poles first, in between barrel runs at the barrel race, ad got a 25.??? and 7th place- our best run of the whole weekend, and she hasn't even done poles in over a year, if not longer than that!! We then did barrels a little bit later, and disqualified in that one, as she couldn't seem to figure out where the third barrel was, and turned before she got to it, after attempting to turn it the wrong direction.

Trail Class Disaster
Just for fun, on Thursday after we got unloaded and everything, Velvet and I had signed up to do an open ranch trail class. What a way to start the weekend!! We did absolutely horrible, but had fun anyway... You're only supposed to use one hand on the reins, so I was attempting to not ride two-handed, which is normal for me, and what Velvet incredibly prefers. We also had split reins, which we hardly ever use.
Well, first off, she decided that she had forgotten how to back up in an L shape, and couldn't figure out how to work a gate, which we had done numerous times back at the barn. We finally made it through the gate, and she decided that she could no longer weave through cones, a feat that she has been amazing at many times before.
Once we went back and got the cones we had missed, she decided that she was deathly afraid of mums, and would not go even as close 4 feet to them! They were on either side of a bridge that we were supposed to get on, then open a mailbox that was by it, take out the paper that was in it, show it to the judge, and go on. We ended up completely skipping that obstacle, as we were taking too long, so the judge said to go on.
She then did the best thing of the entire class- she stood there semi-calmly while I took a lariat and swung it at a stationary steer. She was a little hyper, so she didn't do as well as she normally would have.
We then started loping to get to the next spot, and Velvet decided to go visit the judges- up close and personal! She ran straight for the judges chairs, and I couldn't get her stopped until she was probably only about 6 inches from them!! The poor judges were both flying away from their chairs... The looks on their faces were priceless, though. ;-)
Once we had apoligized to the judges, we turned and went toward the haybales that we were supposed to jump (side note- neither of us had ever jumped anything before, unless you count a little stream on a trail, that neither of us was prepared to jump, and she landed in anyway). She declared that she was not going to jump over those things- when we were less than a foot from them, and she shied to the left, almost leaving me to jump them on my own!
We then went around, skipping the jump, to the sidepass obstacle. You were supposed to line your horse up over this pole that was on the ground, sidepass across it, with front feet on one side of the pole, back feet on the other, then turn at the end of that pole and do it across a pole that was perpendicular to that one. Velvet decided that she had completely forgotten how to sidepass, although she'd done it perfectly on our way down there. So, we ended up with me giving Velvet a little training session on how to sidepass, and exited the arena as gracefully as we could.
So, overall, it was horrible. :-) We did have fun watching another girl and her horse, though.
They had cornstalks on the gate for decoration, and while the other girl was trying to get her horse to cooperate so she could open the gate, he suceeded in pulling about 3 or 4 complete cornstalks out of the decoration, and completely tearing it all up- it looked like a tornado had come through when he was done with it!! Then at the jump, he decided that the straw looked yummy, picked up the middle bale as they were loping, and carried the whole bale with him for several feet before dropping it!! It was so funny to watch...

Well, I think the most disastrous thing, the trail class, ended up with the longest description, by far!! :-) I'd better go for now, though, and I'll post pictures later- I didn't get very many, but Allison came and got a few on Saturday and Sunday, so I'll see if any of them turned out okay. ;-)

P.S.- I love comments!! ;-)

American Royal Barrel Race

Well, it's that time of year again- I'm headed to the American Royal Barrel Race again in the morning! I'll be leaving at 7:30 AM on Thursday, and won't be back till late Sunday sometime. I'm staying there, in our camper, so I won't be able to update the blog each night like I did last year. :-) If there's something really important/exciting that I want you all to know about before Sunday, I'll call Hannah Jean and have her post something for me.

There will supposedly be a live webcast again, on which you can watch the whole barrel race from start to finish. I'm not completely sure if it's working this year or not, but if you go to the barrel race homepage www.americanroyalbarrelrace.com, there's a link on the front page about webcasting. If there's a change in the webcasting address, and I don't find out till I'm at the race, I'll have Hannah Jean let you guys know.

So, I'm off- hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll let you know how it all went when I get back!

NaNoWriMo begins!!

NaNoWriMo begins!! http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I'm doing this event again, for the 2nd time. :-) Should be a lot of fun- I've got a much better, more detailed story line this year!! Let me know if you're doing it, too. ;-)

New Cowboy Hat

Just got a new cowboy hat yesterday- yeah!! :-) Here are a few pictures of it- I love the hatband!!

At Hannah Jean's

I finally got to see my cousin, Kendal, while at Hannah Jean's house!! Here are a couple of pictures of me with him. :-)

Me and HJ writing down a song she wrote

At a music workshop we went to


Playing spoon at the Kientz's house- down to Heath and Suzanna!! (Heath won :-))

BTS Stolen Treasure

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything! :-) I'm at Hannah Jean's right now, working on finishing filming for the movie. We've only got one, maybe two, days left of filming, then the editing! :-) I thought I would post some pictures from our latest shoots on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Me trying to get dirty, but my skirt wasn't cooperating- it didn't look dirty at all, till I put water on it, then the dirt!! ;-)

Time to get dirty- dirt fight!! :-)

Typical- me talking on the cell phone while in costume... ;-)

My shoe fell apart!!

Anna petting the Williamsons' cow

Anna feeding the Williamsons' bull

Director with actresses :-)

Doing voice-overs

Anna and Fluffy

Me and Anna

Oh, how cute!! :-)

I love my hair in this picture- my favorite hair-do with my favorite dress of the movie!! :-)

Me and my "little sister" Anna :-)

Aunt Cindy's double, Heidi

Exhausted actress...

Moving furniture around for a scene :-)

Quick Update

Hi! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while... I've been busy with other things and completely forgot about it. :-) But, my dad is now home, and doing well. The surgeon did have to go in again on Friday, the day after the surgery, to fix a small bleeding point. However, that went well, so my dad was able to come home on Tuesday, only one day later than originally planned. I'll update more on his recovery soon. :-)

Through the Surgery

Yeah! The surgery is over now- it was over just a little after 12. Praise God- it took less time than they anticipated to do the surgery! The surgeon was able to repair, rather than replace, the heart valve, as well, and he was very pleased with how the surgery went. Please continue to pray for the recovering process to be speedy. And also for my mom, who is planning to stay here for the rest of the time he will be here in the hospital, while we kids take turns being here with them. :-) Hopefully, my dad will be able to come home by Monday- it depends, of course, on how quickly his recovery is going. Thank you so much for all of your prayers- the surgeon was grateful for the prayers, as well, once my mom mentioned it to him.

In the Waiting Room

Well, my dad's off for pre-surgery things and then the surgery at 8:30... The rest of us are now in the waiting room at the hospital- we won't see my dad again till after the surgery. We had to get up around 5:15 in order to get around and get here to see him before they took him back. Thanks for your prayers! :-)

Thursday

Yes, I know it's not Thursday yet... :-) But, I wanted to make sure I could post this. My dad's surgery is scheduled for 8:30 in the morning, so we kids will be at the hospital bright and early... Hopefully the waiting room we will be in will have WiFi, so I'll try to keep you updated, if we do- I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to do so. ;-) The surgery is normally an average of 5 hours, ranging from 4 to 6. So, you can be praying that my dad will keep calm, and keep resting in God to help him through this, and also for my mom, that she won't be nervous the whole surgery, and that she would also continue to trust God to handle it all. Thanks for your prayers, and I'll try to keep you updated... :-)

At the hotel...

Well, we 4 kids are sitting in the hotel room now... We stopped by the hospital first, to see our dad. Our mom is staying the nights tonight with him. I'll keep you updated!! ;-)

Hospital Update

Well, as promised, here's the first update on my dad. The open-heart surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:30. However, he and my mom headed in to the hospital this morning, around 6, for pre-surgery tests of sorts. Those are supposed to start around 8:30 this morning. This afternoon, they are supposed to find out more details about the surgery. Thanks for all your prayers, and I'll try to keep you updated! :-)

Do We Really Mean What we Sing?*

• We sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and pray only a few minutes each day.

• We sing "I Love to Tell the Story" and seldom mention Jesus to anybody.

• We sing "Blest be the Tie" and let the slightest offense sever it.

• We sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and wait to be drafted.

• We sing "Serve the Lord with Gladness" and gripe about all we have to do.

• We sing "Cast Thy Burden on the Lord" and then worry ourselves into a nervous breakdown.

Something to think about, for sure- I know that I don't mean what I sing a lot of the time. Do you?

*Taken from a slip of paper from a magazine (not sure what magazine- this just showed up on the fridge and I thought I would share it :-))

NoteWorthy Music 2010

Here's a link for the solfege assignment that my team and I did. I downloaded it onto Picasa Web, so you can all see it. :-)

http://picasaweb.google.com/100107238450841139540/SolfegeVideos02#5506101406865903618

NoteWorthy Music 2010 Pictures

More pictures of NoteWorthy!! I'll probably post more later, once I get more pictures from other people, but here are some for right now. Enjoy!! :-)


My children's choir team :-)

We got a little tired of writing songs/orchestrating (not sure which one we were doing :-)), and decided to sit in the windowsills and watch the amazing thunderstorm... Tons of fun :-)

The whole class (plus Josh, one of the teachers) in our matching T-shirts that we made

Last-minute working on orchestrations

Me, Becca, and Natalia

Me, Becca, and Natalia again :-)

Natalia's turn to conduct our orchestra!!

Most of the class after the concert...

Bethany Bergeron- our amazing accompanist for choir!!!!

The 2 lone guys, Donald and Jonathan...

Christa, Elizabeth, and Kate

The only brother/sister team of the class :-)

Fun picture (from left to right- Anna, Elizabeth, Rachel, with Victoria in the front)

Several of us relaxing after the final concert!! :-)

Me and my roommates after the final concert