Snow Camp

Last weekend we took a group of 11 high school students, with 6 adults to "Snow Camp" at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp near Colorado Springs, CO.  It was a weekend retreat, with worship, a speaker, and of course games!  There wasn't much snow left, but the kids still got to play broom ball, Foosball, ping pong, take hikes, and go rappelling.  It was a fun time to connect with the youth, and we got a lot out of the speaker and worship ourselves!

 

We stopped at the Garden of the Gods on the way to camp.

Broom Ball! (A little hard to catch your breath at that altitude!)

The rest of the pictures are from the adventure of the trip home.  We traveled to camp in our 15 passenger church van, following in an SUV with all the kids' luggage.  On the way down the mountain we noticed some smoke coming from the van, and the smell of burning, so we found an auto shop to stop at in Colorado Springs.  The brake caliper on the front tire needed to be replaced.  Luckily the part was in a store nearby, so 2 1/2 hours later, Austin had changed the part and we were back on the road.

 

About 20 miles down the road....

we noticed the front passenger tire was shaking so we pulled over at a rest stop to check out the problem.  There was a nail in the tire, and a bulge, so we put the spare on, and kept going.

 

About 10 miles down the road.....

we had another tire blow out.  So the kids sat patiently in someone's driveway, playing cards, while we waited for a tow-truck.  By God's grace, Sears was having a special "family and friends" weekend, and was still open on a Sunday night.  We took the youth to Walmart to waste a few hours.  We finally got back on the road, and arrived back home at 4 a.m.

It was quite the adventure, but we were very blessed in spite of the circumstances.  We sure came home with a story to tell!

A baby quilt...

A couple weekends ago I went to a baby shower for my sister Carrie.  She and her husband Nathaniel are expecting their first baby in April.  They are waiting to be surprised as to whether the baby will be a boy or girl.  We are so excited to meet our new niece or nephew in the next few weeks!

I had been wanting to learn to quilt from my mother-in-law, as she makes beautiful quilts!!! She has been a great teacher, and my first project was to make a baby quilt for my sister.  Here is the finished project.  I pieced it together, and had it machine quilted.

 

Love you!

D & J's is Open!!!

Spring has arrived! That doesn't mean that the weather is warm yet.  In Harper, that means that D&J's is open! D&J's is a little drive-in that has the best cherry limeades around.  We stopped by for nu burgers today after church....and went back for chocolate malts this afternoon! :)  We went out to tour Drew and Annie's new place.  It was fun to explore their place, it will be so fun to have them down here.

We went cosmic bowling Saturday night down in Anthony.  I forgot how much fun it was! I also got a project finished and on to the next step...so excited!

An update on life...

Life has been a little crazy lately!  Work is starting to pick up, which I love.  These have been a long past couple of months since the rush of giving flu shots has been over.  We spent the last two days helping with Kindergarten Screenings.  Those little kids were so cute, and so excited to go to school!  If I was not a nurse, I think it would be that age of kids I would want to teach!

This is the newest update to our house...a new front door!  Now the whole neighborhood can't see what we're watching on TV, and our storm door doesn't look like a big spiderweb!  It took all day to install, so the guy will be coming back down in the next couple of weeks to install the patio doors and put up our trim.  So excited for these changes! :)

The rest of our time has been filled with MYF servant auction, supper, and pie sales.  The kids are getting excited about going to snow camp in a few weeks, and to Pittsburg this summer for convention.  We also snuck a trip in to Caldwell a few weeks ago to watch Dan Jantz coach basketball.  It was an exciting game, and we had a good time catching up with friends.

My Sweet Sweet Nana

On February 19th, my wonderful Nana went to be with the LORD.  I flew out with my family for the funeral last weekend.  Not a good reason for a reunion, but still wonderful to see family all the same.

My Nana was an amazing woman.  We got to see her this last summer with a trip to the beach, reminiscent of the yearly vacations when we were kids.  Not many people would think that a beach house filled with 15 people and kids running around sounded like a "vacation," but she always said we were "making memories."  She had a great sense of humor, and wonderful Southern sayings that would always make me smile.  She will greatly be missed, but I smile to think that she is with Papa in Heaven, sitting on the front porch of their mansion in their beloved green rocking chairs.