State fair and Birthday party!

  Lauirsa entered some of her artwork in the Greater Gulf State Fair this year! Saturday morning, she went to see if maybe on her art pieces had won. Before she reached the art section, she looked at some of the other exhibits at the fair.

This was a chicken that one either first or second place. 

This cock won first place! Check out his huge comb!

Laurisa had to take a picture of this chicken which was her favorite, "not because it was beautiful, but because he was so dorky and feisty." xD

One of the heifers

Isn't this a neat display? (:

After Laurisa looked at all those sections of the fair, she finally spotted the artwork displays...Wait is that..??.....It is!!!! =D

↓

She won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place!!!!!! Each art piece she entered won!!! :D

We were all so happy when she called with the awesome news!

This is her piece (called Moonscape) that won third place!

The second place winning piece is titled "Jazz is the color." Doesn't it look great?!

Mom is amazed how Laurisa was able to make the saxophone look brassy!

And "Sunset Prayer" made FIRST!!!! (Insert more ↓ here!) 

The proud artist/winner with her winning art pieces! :)

Here are a few pictures of the pumpkin contest at the fair she took pictures of that I thought you might like to see. Isn't that clown pumpkin cute? =)

Shoulda guessed there would be an "angry birds" pumpkin. xD

The top winning pumpkin! 

A few hours after Laurisa returned from the fair, we all went to a birthday party for my cousins Laura and Jonah. :)

The birthday girl--4 years old! 

Instead of having pizza, the menu consisted of sub sandwhichs, baby sausages (with or without barbecue sauce), fruit, chips, and finger foods of that sort. It was delicious!! 

Mom helping get the food ready

Laurisa holding cousin Elijah. Ain't he such a cuite?! :) 

Little cousins having a chat

While waiting for the party to move onto the cake and ice cream stage, the kids wanted to go outside..so with nothing better to do, we decided to join them! :D

The majority of the time that we were outside, we took turns pushing the munchkins in this little car.

Look at that game face! =O          
          

To make it seem even more entertaining for the kids, we also had one person running in front of the car so that the kids could chase them while 'driving' --

Uh-oh!!! Somebody call the medics! =o               
                                  

She was *waves hand* fine. ;)

In the meantime, the boys were playing a war game.

Grandma showing the women how she makes butter out of cow's milk.

Lavi and Grandma

Laurisa's turn to do the pushing!

Then came time for the heart of the celebration!

Their family picture

Laura waiting to dig into her cupcake!

After all the other presents were opened, her parents had a surprise for her! Aunt Sharon making sure Laura doesn't peak while it's being brought in. ;)

When she turned around and her eyes fell upon the gift, her face lit up with a smile as she dashed over to it for a touch! She didn't say anything, but it was clear to see she was absolutely thrilled to get a kitchen set!
  

She had wanted one for some time! (:

Got dressed up in her Cinderella dress and crown and got to cooking! (;

Check back soon for another post! :)

Overview

Where to start..where to start..How about from the beginning?  Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. --Wait, let's not go that far back. Better fast forward a couple thousand years..*fast forwards* Whoa, whoa, whoa! HOLD IT! Went a little bit too far.. =D *rewinds* *stops* Here we go. :)
           This post is going to be a compilation of several pictures summing up some happenings in our lives from the past couple months. My sisters and I were given the huge blessing of getting to attend a Still Waters Camp this year!! Closest place to heaven on earth, if you ask me! It is so nice to be able to get away from things of the world and get alone with God for five days. You can feel His presence as soon as you walk into the camp...and if you go expecting, you're in for a huge amount of blessings and refreshing of Spirit! I am so thankful He laid it upon Bro. Joseph's heart to do this for the young people..and also for providing the funds for hundreds of youth to be able to go!

After we got back from camp, about the middle of August, there was an anniversary to celebrate!

 Their children decided to throw a surprise 50th anniversary party for them. One of their daughters and her husband led my grandparents into the room blindfolded, the lights out, and the room silent. As soon as my dad flicked on the lights, everyone let out a hearty "SURPRISE!!!!!" My grandparents were so overjoyed! :)
Alot of work went into turning the ordinary room into what looked like a wedding reception, as well as all the little details that went into it....right down to my ironing the table cloths! :P It all turned out so well and our work was more than paid off when we saw the happiness my grandparents were filled with. :) 

Marianna made this AWESOME raspberry cake...Doesn't it look good?!? 

Some of their children who now live out of state came so we also got to spend time with our cousins! :D

Some serious picture taking going on here! ;)

Me and Laurisa

About a month later, we went to GA for some Labor Day meetings! We had such an awesome time!! 

(Sorry didn't really get many pictures of it.)

A few weeks after we got back, one beautiful Saturday we took a small family trip about an hour and forty-five minutes away to Orange Beach.

Yes, it was beautiful!

We spent hours soaking in the sunshine and listening to the crashing of the waves upon the sand.

My awesome parents I'm so blessed to have!

Sisters!

Esther and I decided we weren't too old to play in the sand ;)) so we made some sand people!
Unfortunately, the camera didn't pick up their features all that well, but they were adorable! xD

The camera just made this sand person look like a glob of sand, but there's Esther!! :D

My bro. :)

Laurisa was helping out at a horse farm at the time so she wasn't with us when we went to the beach.


The following day, Esther turned nineteen!

A few of our relatives were invited over to celebrate. (:
Singing "Happy Birthday":

Yep...my awesome big sis. ;D

 Esther got a cello a couple of weeks ago! She had been wanting one for a long time, and then she finally found the right one. :)

Right after it arrived and she got it set up to play...

She got her graduation pictures taken a couple weeks ago! 

It took several hours, but after I got done editing alot of them...she had approx. 118 pics to sort through! :P

   
Dad's been going fishing lately now that the weather's not been so hot anymore, and Mom's been doing home improvements so whenever I can get a hold of the pictures I'll post them! :) Check back soon, and we'd love to get some comments from ya!