Random happenings

Thought I'd post some random things that have been happening around here! 

This video actually should have gone with the Thanksgiving post, but anyway, Laurisa sang a special the Sunday following Thanksgiving and Timothy accompanied her on the piano! Enjoy!

So as for what's been going on with my parents:

Mom's been visiting a chiropractor every third day since her birthday due to a pinched nerve in the higher back area below the neck. Her pain is now 80% gone! 

After Dad's nice week-long vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday, he's now gotten back into the swing of work and has also been doing more recording lately for VGR! Here he's listening to what he already recorded and also editing.

About a week ago, Gabriel and Esther had sword fight outside!

Contestant #1...

Esther made Gabriel the shield in the bottom right of the picture a few years ago. She spent a long time carefully cutting out the lion and turning the cardboard support for a pizza into a shield.

Contestant #2

And one of the many fights..
Who says he needs a big brother when he has Esther?! 

Sunday after church, we were invited along with everyone else to Matthew and Daniella's house to see their new patio! After supper was cleaned up, Dad, my sisters, and I headed over. :)

It was our first time to see their dog Dixie! She was alot different than I had imagined but actually very pretty.

An adorable picture of my cousins Laura and Lilia!

My cousin Brianna--official owneress of Dixie. ;) 

(Okay, and in case y'all are wondering why the dog is looking dead on its side with it's eyes open in each pic--nearly every time someone walked over to her, she'd get down on her side like that for rub.:P)

Yet another sweet picture of them.

Okay, (so finally), here is what we came over to see--the patio. It was pretty nice!

Then moving on to days following..

Gabriel and I hanging out

Gabriel playing Metal Storm on the iPad...

And Laurisa doing an artwork sketch after work.

Lately we also started to put up some Christmas decorations!

and

Just today Gabriel set up the village Mom bought! She finally got out and found a clearance on village pieces.  Here's the beginning of her collection.

(A closer look...)

Mom is hoping to add more decorations this year if she can just get out and is able to find the sales. :) 

Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves too! =) Our company arrived Tuesday night. It was so nice to have Ina, Jonathan, and their children here again for the holidays!

Wednesday morning: Mom and Ina fellowshipping in the kitchen over tea and coffee

 This little man is so much fun!! (;

For a few hours that day, some took turns shooting the .22 :)

Late Wednesday night, after we got back from church, Mom and I started preparing one last food dish for the Thanksgiving feast the following day--jalapeno poppers! 

After Mom cut the peppers in half, I filled them with cream cheese!

Thanksgiving morning, Ina and Mom began wrapping the cream cheese-filled jalapenos with bacon! Mmm!! (They. were. awesome!) Thanks for your help, Ina! :)

We rented a different place for our Thanksgiving this year because the other place (super nice) was already rented. :(( This one had a much larger eating area, and we still had a gym (and a volleyball net! :D) so it sufficed just fine!
Hanging out while waiting for the others to arrive

Esther and Emma!

And some more cousins..Brianna and Abby

This gym was very different from the other one, but it served its purpose. :)

Cousins--Kaylee, Laura, and Lilia!

Wednesday I found out that Chantel (ma PA fren!) was coming to visit me over the Thanksgiving holiday! Needless to say, I was tremendously excited that I would get to see her again (it had been over a year and a half since meeting her at SW camp); I was constantly watching the door to the building we rented, awaiting her arrival. :D


My precious friend Chantel and I

Uhmm...Laurisa???

My cousin Laura holding onto my leg to make sure I wouldn't leave her up on the tracks by herself. ;)

Esther usually takes her boomerang with her on Thanksgiving day because the places we rent have large open fields--perfect place to throw a boomerang. ;)

The fun time of playing Apples to Apples!

We teens next played Balderdash!! (We played alot of that over the holiday xD) Most hilarious game to be sure!

Dad and Mom invited everyone over to our house Friday for volleyball, fellowship, and food. While we were waiting for everyone else to arrive, Timothy had us listen through his new headphones, and I must say: the sound quality..is amazing!

Timothy--the guy that adds so much laughter to our Thanksgivings! :)
(Check out his youtube channel to hear some awesome piano playing!
http://www.youtube.com/user/MusicalComputerGeek7?feature=watch
You won't regret subscribing!!!)

We spent most of the day playing numerous games of volleyball!

When it got dark, Dad built a bonfire in the backyard. Laurisa, Esther, and I played two songs on our instruments at the campfire for the family. The adults wanted all those who attended camp to teach them Still Waters campfire songs..we agreed, on one condition: that they participate by doing everything we told them too. ;)

After this, everyone ate hotdogs and ice cream and then gathered back around the campfire..
well..almost everyone. =D We went inside and played more balderdash!

Saturday, we and our other relatives who were down here, went to the Cogdile's for a birthday party, and then afterwards, to just hang out.

Sunday, the Mellemas left (sadly) shortly after service..but they did have a long drive ahead of them. It was so nice to meet your whole family, Chantel; and I'm very glad we got to spend Thanksgiving together--it made it extra memorable! =)


Before they headed out, we got a picture of Chantel and her siblings. The Mellemas are such a sweet family! :)

Friend picture! =)
(Miss you, Chantel!)

Our traditional group picture with our cousins Timothy and Hannah!
(Miss y'all too!!!)

Check back soon for another post! :)

Family trip!

Last Thursday, a little after 5 a.m. we all began our long journey to Ohio to spend time with family and to celebrate two birthdays! :) 

It was really nice to get to see some leaves changing to colors other than brown! :P
On the way home, the leaves were changing even more. There were so many different shades of color on the trees--solid gold, a variety of reds and orange, even pink!!

Towards the top of AL and also in TN, we always enjoy getting to see the rocks! Just..something about rocks, I guess. xD 

About an hour or so before we reached Aunt Lisa's house, Esther and Gabriel started slow dancing in the back seat... o.O

Yes, it proved to be a rather entertaining part of the trip..especially when Esther purposely swung Gabriel's hand into my eye. *sigh* The way siblings' express love. ;)

After we arrived and hauled our luggage and instruments inside, I chatted a couple minutes with Jared in his room and then my siblings, he, and I all headed down to...the Man Cave. ;) 

WHOA!

Alright..Girl cousin..verses ...guy cousin. Let's see what they can do. ;) 

Come on, Jared! Don't give up yet! You've almost got that eight-pound weight in one hand! 

He had a little bit better luck the next time..Looks like with some effort, he was able to lift the 3-pound weight. (;

'Prepare to fight!!'

'Surrender or suffer the consequences!'

It got pretty intense! ;)

Well don't smile any bigger, y'all. =P

Hey, I always knew my brother was a monkey! 

Foosball challenge!

Gabriel was having a hay-day playing with the legos! :)

Friday morning, not too long after Aunt Lisa and Uncle Sam got home from work, we all drove to High Banks Park to hike a few miles! 

Cousin picture! =) 

My wonderful parents <3
They really enjoyed getting to be out in the sunshine!

Family picture :)

Me and Jared

The "dude" pic ;)

Okay, this picture does not do this ravine justice. It. was. huge. And wayyyyyy down. It looked soo cool from the path that Jared and I were talking about how neat it would be down there! A short while later, Dad decided to make his way below! =D Only three brave souls (Dad, Jared, and I) dared to pick our way down and into the ravine. I tried encouraging the rest to follow, but they were afraid there wouldn't be a way for them to get back up. You had to be really careful when making your way down.

First off, if you went down pretty much any other area, you would slip before you had gone two yards annnd..let's just say someone tumbling down that great distance would be pret-ty messy. So we were making our way into the ravine by going down a bit of a trench..It was still a bit unsafe because you could easily slip still if you weren't careful, and also you couldn't always be sure of your footing because the leaves were piled so thickly in the trench it took a bit of feeling before your foot would hit solid ground. After hanging onto what trees there were along the trench, crawling under or over a small fallen tree or so, a bit of sliding, and whatever else it took to get down, we made it! The view..was amazing! So you can't see who's who all that well in the picture because we're so small..but I'm the tiny orange 'thing' next to Jared (wearing the white), and then Dad in the black.

That's Gabriel returning from the bit of progress he had made. (Mom didn't want him going down.)

I think the camera was zoomed all the way in (it has really good zoom) and look how tiny Jared and I still are. Like I said..far way down. ;)

The rocks down there were ALL amazingly smooth. Even next to the stream, it looked like cracked mud for the bank--but it was pure rock! So awesome down there! =)

Cousins!

Jared being like his older cousin. ;D

After we got back from the hike, NERF GUN WAR!!!!

Later, back we went to the man cave to play some Mario kart!

Saturday morning, Lisa had Esther and I make these treats for Jared's surprise party that night!

Laurisa in the banquet room in which we celebrated both Aunt Brenda and Jared's birthdays about noon Friday!

The birthday people--Brenda and Jared :)

Playing games
(I believe this game was "Who Knows Jared Best?")

Mom and her dad

Brenda wearing her first birthday gift--her high-fashion bifocals! ;)

                            Lisa, Jared, and Sam                          So glad we were there to celebrate with you!

I hope your birthday was everything you wanted and more, Brenda!  We're so glad we got to celebrate it with you! :) 

After the desserts, the gifts were opened!

Right after the gifts were opened, we all packed up and headed to Lisa's house! The rest of the day was spent hanging out, eating, and volleyball!! Sorry we didn't get any pictures. Hard to break away from all the fun to get the camera! My sisters and I played our instruments together for the family that evening and then for a special at church the following morning. I think somebody was taking pictures of us playing at Lisa's house, but it wasn't with our camera, so although we didn't leave til Monday morning, the party is where our picture taking stopped.

Thanks so much again for having us Lisa and Sam! We really appreciated your hospitality and thoroughly enjoyed our stay! It was a blast! :)