Oh the Joys of Having a Girl!!

Hello. My name is Sara and I have a problem. I LOVE braiding hair - I love feeling the hair as I braid it, I love the look of braids, I love to have my own hair braided. And so, when I found out I was having a girl, I was sooooo excited for the day that I could braid her hair!!! :) Well, obviously baby girls don't typically come out with braid-able hair but just about a week ago I decided to give it a whirl. I love it!!!

Here is a back view of it. I know I know they aren't even and they don't look great, but hey - her hair is only about 3 inches long and is still really thin and wispy. The braids stayed in all day!! Is she cute or what??

Spraypaint Pictures

About 5 years ago I taught seminary for church. I only had 1 student - we were studying the new testament. I LOVED it - it was lots of fun to teach seminary. But that was the year I got pregnant for Joey, so I decided not to do it the following year since I was going to have a new baby and didn't really know what to expect. I think someday I would like to teach a larger seminary class - I think it would be fun. Probably shouldn't say that too loud tho... ha ha!

Anyway, the girl that I taught was Tiffany Smith. Recently I've caught up with her on Facebook and I started seeing the AMAZING artwork she was doing! She is soooo talented!! I saw in her spraypaint pictures that she did a horse one, so I asked if she could do one for me. She said she could!!! I even got to go watch - and yes - she uses real spraypaint! The kind you would buy at the store. This is the horse one she made - it's unbelievable!! It only took her like 10 minutes max. I even watched it and it's hard for me to believe she did it.

And she also did this one for me too... turn your head to the L to get the full effect. SO cool!!

Thanks Tiffany!!! I can't wait to frame them and find a place to hang them!!

Another year older! Another year wiser?

The above picture is just a random one I found on the net... thought it was cool! Not sure if I'm breaking copyright though... he he! So last Tuesday, October 13, I turned 27!!! Even after all these years, I still find something magical in my birthday. Of course my kids birthdays are much more fun for me now, but it's still exciting when Oct 13 rolls around every year. It amazes me I'm 27 already.... I swear just yesterday I was turning 16. I can't believe how fast time goes!! And you know what? I like being 27. It still sounds 'old' to me, but that's ok. It's just odd to me that I really am an 'adult' LOL - even though I have been for the past 9 years it still gets me because so often I still feel like a teenager.

But you know, I am very happy with where I am in my life right now. To repeat something my sister Amanda said in her blog on her birthday, I am more comfortable in my skin now than I have ever been. I am coming to know who I really am and am learning how to improve myself every day. I am learning to take things as they come. I think motherhood has taught me soooo much more about who I am than anything else. Anyway - here is a sampling of what I recieved on my birthday. I must say I was feeling very loved this year!!

My sister Amanda got me the flowers on the L and she bought me lunch at Subway (my fav!!) and came to my house and kept me company on my birthday since I had to babysit. My friend from church, Diana, showed up at my door with the flowers on the R and a card and a happy birthday wish. It made me feel so special!! Really put a smile on my face. My friend Laurie got me the book Evermore (which I finished in 2 days), pre-ordered the New Moon soundtrack for me AND took me out to dinner at TGI Fridays. My sister Julie got me a target gift card which will certainly be used on clothes!! My parents gave me money, which is ALWAYS appreciated and I got many cards and happy birthday wishes. :) Kris, as I posted about a couple posts ago, took me to see the So You Think You Can Dance performance and dinner at the beginning of the month.

So what does it feel like to be 27? No different than it did to feel 26. I don't feel older. And really, when I think about it, it feels like the last 27 years has been a long time!! And to think in another 27 years I'll only be 54, which is a strange thought. I wonder what the next 27 years will bring me... :)

Happy birthday to me!

Joey Chatter

At the barn, upon seeing a new pile of fresh sawdust (which he LOVES to play in)

"Look, Mommy!! There's a HUGE mountain dew of sawdust!! I'm gonna climb that mountain dew all the way to the top!!"

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Today while driving:

"When I grow up I'm gonna be a race car driver! And you will be a horse back rider, and Daddy will be a golfer, and Savanna will be a dancer. Ok Mom?"

LOL - I'm glad he has that all figured out! What's funny is Kris enjoys to golf, but I think he's only gone all of two times in the 6 years we've been married!! And I would love to be a horse back rider when I 'grow up'!

What a cute boy.

So You Think You Can Dance

Last night Kris and I went to the 'So You Think You Can Dance' Season 5 tour at Nationwide Arena! Let me tell you what - it was soooooo AWESOME!!! What fun! We both watched season 5 together and so when the tickets went on sale and saw they were coming to Columbus around my birthday, I figured it was worth the ticket $ to get a rare night out together and enjoy some amazing dancing in person!

I didn't know what to expect - I didn't know if they would do new dances, or the ones from the show, or what. I was pleased that they did have a couple of new dances, but over all, it was some of the best dances from season 5. And they were SO good! Over all, the narration, which was also done by the dancers, was a little cheesy and over-rehersed - I mean hey - they're dancers -not actors! But the dancing more than made up for it! It was awesome! And it was so fun to have a night out to relax and enjoy something other than diapers and temper tantrums! A huge thank you to my sister Amanda for watching my kids!!! You rock!

Her are my top 3 dances from Season 5. I took these from You Tube, so not sure if it's legal, but enjoy! They are great! I love a dance that has a story - and all 3 of these have awesome stories behind them!

This first one is about addiction - the woman is an addict and the man is the addiction keeping her 'trapped'. It brings me to tears.




This next one is about breast cancer and the struggle. It speaks for itself.



And this one is just cute - it's about a couple that are mad at eachother and can't sleep because of it - but they make up by the end. :) This one also is done by my 2 favorite dancers and season 5's winner - Jeanine.

New Albany Classic and Family Fun Day

Horses like this are why I would LOVE to be a mounted police officer.

Last Sunday I went to the "New Albany Classic Grand Prix and Family Fun Day". This was the 12th annual classic. I've heard of it in years past, and have considered going, but never got around to buying the tickets because they have to be bought in advance from ticket master. Thanks to my bestest friend Amy, she asked if I would like to go with her. So, Amy, Alyssa, Micahel (her 2 youngest kids) and Me, and Joey, and Kara (Joey's aunt) went to the classic Sunday!

OH MY GOSH it was amazing!! I was shocked at how awesome it was! The tickets were only $15 for 12 y/o and above, and children were free. There were tons of stuff to do! There was lots of carnival rides, and 'all day' rides was only $5, huge bounce houses that were free, face painting, hair painting, fake tattoos, sheep herding competition, and a ton of other stuff just to say a few. Then, we got to watch a concert put on by 'tween brands' - I was shocked at the line up! The performers were the OSU traveling band and cheerleaders and brutis, Mitchel Musso, and Jordin Sparks!! Then on to the grand prix jumping - what a good climax to the day!!!

My camera crapped out, so the following pictures are stolen from a friend's facebook page, but hey - I saw the same stuff!! :) here's a little taste of the New Albany Classic - and every reason why I'll be back EVERY year from here on out!!!

Look carefully at this horse's butt... the owner has shaved a perfect 'check board' pattern into it! LOL!

There's just something amazing about watching 1200 lbs of pure muscle flying over 5 1/2 foot jumps like they're nothing!

The gray horse was my fav, but not the winner! She did get 5th place out of 25 though!

A porche I think... they had about 5 super cool cars there like this that you were free to get into and look at and drool over and stuff.

A reindeer - what do reindeer do the other 364 days of the year? Why go to places like the New Albany classic to be petted by adoring kids. Their antlers were HUGE!

The 'Tween brands' jump - the whole even was sponsored by the Wexners... who have more money than should be legal! All the proceeds went towards the 'coalition against family violence' although w/ the line up and all the stuff they had there and how cheap the tickets were, I'm surprised there was any proceeds!!

The winner of the New Albany Classic Grand Prix - Armani! Yes - the horse's name is 'Armani'. I can't remember the rider's name - but who cares about the rider? It's the horses that are awesome! And what did the rider get for winning?? A $24,000 check and a 2 year lease on a Mercedes!! There was once a saying I heard that said "If you have made a small fortune riding horses, you started out with a large fortune!" soooo true - horses are so expensive!

All in all it was an amazing but exhausting day! And what a deal!!! I told Kris I'm gonna make him go with us next year!

Dehydrated apples

Last Saturday, I went with Joey and picked about 10 pounds of these...

Since I technically can't eat them right now, and Kris isn't a huge apple fan, and Joey can only eat so many apples, I was kind of wondering what to do with them? But some lovely ladies at my church had been jarring apple pie filling and dehydrating apples and making applesauce, so I asked one of them to help me learn how to do one of those things. She said dehydrating them is the easiest and a good place to start. So she came over yesterday, brought her dehydrator, and taught me how to use it. This is how it looks all loaded and ready to go! (I started just doing half rings because it fits more!)

And by the time they're done, they look like this:
And are absolutely delicious!!!! I made 2 batches yesterday, each one having about 5-6 apples each and realized as I was putting the 3rd batch in last night, that the first 2 batches were already gone!!! Where did they go? Well, Joey had a few and Kris had a few, and I gave a few away, and I guess some gremlin came in and ate the rest because I certainly did not eat THAT many!!! LOL anyway - I have fallen in love with dehydrating stuff! The apples and bananas are great and I can just imagine the possibilities. Kris really wants me to try to make him beef jerky some time. SO if anyone out there is wondering about birthday/christmas gift ideas.... I want one of these!!! ;)
Thank you soooo much Tanya for helping me and letting me borrow your dehydrator!!! You may or may not get it back!!! he he!