Yes!!!!

It's the moment I have been waiting for ALL summer!!

THUNDERSTORMS!!!!!

It rained for like 5 seconds here, but it's been thundering here for about a half an hour. Now, some of you are probably thinking "Becky, you crazy girl you, thunderstorms are no big deal. They happen all the time!"

Well, I'm here to tell you where I live, they happen once in a blue moon. Once summer hits, I dream of amazing thunderstorms with flashes of lightning and the beautiful sound of thunder. Usually, I'm left in disappointment when a summer passes with no thunderstorms to be seen or heard. But this summer I finally got my wish. Today folks, I got my thunderstorms.

Now I'm gonna go back outside of my office for a little bit and listen to the thunder. Just pray I don't get struck my lightning.

It's Feastin' Time

Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?
Eric. I love the fact that I can go to him to talk about anything and everything.

Soup
If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?
I would love to have seen Babylon when it was in it's heyday, especially the hanging gardens.

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?
I don't think I've ever witnessed anything exciting.

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?
I could say I'd be scandalous and steal Johnny Depp away from Vanessa Paradis, but that would be un-Christlike and I could never see myself doing that. Even if I were a celebrity! however If I really were a celebrity, I'd go into hiding for fear that the paparazzi would sell pictures of me picking my nose or something like that.

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?
It all depends on the person having the child. For me, I have no idea. I don't think age is the issue, but the maturity of the parents to be.

Being Thankful

Psalms 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

I recently found out about Thankful Thursday's and I love the idea. Since there are a few life situations I'm unhappy about, I need to always remember to be thankful for what God has blessed me with. If the main thing I'm unhappy about is my location, I'm in a pretty good place and I should just suck it up. If I focus on the good things in my life, I won't have to dwell in my dis- contentedness (is that even a word?)

I am thankful for:

• A God who loves me unconditionally and even sent his only son to die for me.

• A husband who puts up with my scatterbrained antics.

• A family who is so sicking-ly close we actually like hanging out together.

• A stable job where we are paid enough to meet our needs

• A beautiful lightning show at 2 in the morning. We never get stuff like that here, so it was nice to just look out my window and watch the show for a little while.
  

Oh How I Love the David Crowder Band

There is No One Like You:



You are more beautiful
Than anyone ever
Everyday You're the same
You never change, no never

You are more beautiful
Than anyone ever
Everyday You're the same
You never change, no never

And how could I ever deny
The love of my Savior
You are to me everything
All I need forever

How could You be so good?

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

Everywhere You are there
Earth or air surrounding
I'm not alone, the heavens sing along
My God You're so astounding
How could You be so good to me
Eternally I believe that'

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

You, You, You, You, You, You

How could You be so good to me?
How could You be so good to me?
We're not alone, so sing along
We're not alone, so sing along, sing along, sing along

Here we go!

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like our God, yeah

Another Giveaway!!!

This site:
http://musingsofahousewife.typepad.com/musings_of_a_housewife/2007/08/eliza-grace-giv.html?cid=80875371#comment-80875371

Is having giving away this fabulous handbag




























All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog and then link back to it. Isn't it beautiful? I REALLY want to win this thing, however knowing my luck I won't.

Domestic "Stuff"

I don't know if it's because I have been reading some really uplifting home keeping blogs or what, but I've really been in the domestic mood lately! I even cooked a meal from scratch, people! My house it still a bit messy (I'm working on that) but dang did we eat well over the weekend.

Friday we, along with my parents, went down to my grandmother's old apartment to pick up my China and China hutch. It has been my grandmother's wish that I get her China when she passes away. She hasn't passed away yet (I think we still have a few good years left with her) but she has moved to a really nice assisted living facility and there is no room for her China hutch, so she told me to come pick it up! While we were down visiting her in Westminster, we took her to dinner at the Claim Jumper (Yum!) and went back to her new place to visit. We had such a wonderful time and I think Grandma is finally getting used to her new place. It really is a whole lot nicer than her old apartment.

I meant to take a before picture of the hutch, but I forgot and now, after spending 2 hours cleaning the lower portion of the hutch, I found out I'm going to have to re-finish the whole thing. Cleaning it took off the original finish and now it's almost down to bear wood. I have never, ever re-finished a piece of furniture before so I'm counting on my husband's fabulous internet research to figure this out for us.

Anyway, I was able to get a picture of all the China and the other numerous pieces that she has given me. This is all of it stacked nicely on me new( to me) kitchen table:




























Here is a close-up:















I don't know if you can see the detail, but it's just beautiful. It's white china with a white lacy pattern on the rim. It's from a company called Fashion Manor and the print is called "Lady Elegant". Isn't that a pretty name?

Since I had this beautiful China, I figured I had to get some use out of it, so Saturday night I made oven friend chicken from this recipe:http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1726,135176-250193,00.html
and I made biscuits from scratch from this recipe: http://thesparrowsnest.typepad.com/the_sparrows_nest/2007/01/biscuit_making_.html

The biscuits came out thinner than they should have been, but they tasted delicious. Next time I won't roll the dough out so thin. Just to make you hungry, and to show off my new China, I took some pictures of this fantastic dinner.

























































Another thing I received from Grandma was her box of recipes and recipe books. Eric and I went through it together and we found a carrot cake recipe in there. Eric's favorite cake is carrot cake and since yesterday was his birthday, I thought I would make it for him. It turned out really good and when I can remember, I will post the recipe.





























So that was my weekend of being domestic. I told Eric not to get too used to it.

Camping!

Last weekend we went camping with my brothers and their families as well as my cousins and their families. For the past 3 or 4 years we have been trying to make it a summer tradition to get away for a weekend and go camping. The past couple of years, we froze our rears off in the mountain community of Julian, so this year we decided to try beach camping again. We had gone before, but it's very difficult to get a couple of camping spots at the beach.

My awesome cousin Lisa, being the awesome person she is, made the calls to the campground so that we can get our reservations for us. To let you know how difficult this is, she called 6 months in advance to get us the reservation and was online as well as her phone hitting re-dial multiple times until she got someone. She was able to get us 2 camping spots. One was right on the beach, and the other was across the little road from it. Thanks Lisa for your hard work! It was so worth it!

Here are some pictures of our trip.

Eric setting up our tent:















Our "home" for two nights:















The main camping spot:















Our view from the main site:














My niece enjoying the beach sand:














My nephew's not to sure about this beach thing:














My little cousin playing in the water:














This dog was so cute playing in the waves:














My niece again:














My nephew's making a sand castle:














My husband said he was "enjoying the beautiful scenery"














Justin can't wait to play in the ocean!















The three "old guys" have fun in the ocean too















Makin' the s'mores














Note to self: Being in the shade all day does not equal being completely protected from the sun. This is also a public service announcement to remind you to use your sunscreen!

Ha! I love it!

Surely?

Can I have her?

Well, We Did It...

We canceled our satellite service. Since we are working on being more frugal, we decided that we were paying too much for a service we rarely ever use. I've also decided to finally give up my acrylic nails. Honestly, I don't miss them. They got in the way more than anything. So far, our savings with no satellite and no nails is about $90.00/month. I feel pretty good about this decision.