Happy Birthday Jesus

 

This year we tried something a little different for our annual gather 'round the Christmas photo shoot.

Not pictured:

Lulu and Nana
Allen and Cheri, Camryn, Brooklynne, Connor, and Britton
Mrs. Thomas because she is actually WITH Jesus...

"Uh, Houston, we have a problem..."

 

...Emma's own words. On this day, that is.

On the road again...

Sorry, folks, it's been so long since I've written, but life's been a little full. So, in honor of my Dad, I will give it to you in memo form:


1. A couple of weekends ago we started our adventures with a quick trip down to OK to visit my Mom. I fixed her a full Thanksgiving spread complete with homemade cranberry sauce, greg did some yardwork, and we just got to enjoy spending a little time with her. Pleas PRAY for her, she is hoping to get a 2nd liver transplant ASAP. I talk to her everyday and she sounds fine and her spirits and good, too, but I know she is miserable and wants to do anything to feel better and live a "normal" life again. More on that later, I'm sure.


2. Went to Mizzou for Lauren's swim meet - The Reynolds, Rogers, Tiltons, and many SPA families were there. She did awesome and shaved time off each race. Maybe I'll actually post a pic when I get home. It was a blast!


3. We left only 2 days later (just long enough to do laundry and repack) for our 2200 mile, 7 day, 3 kids, plus Nana roadtrip to SC and NC to visit family for the holidays. Again, thanks for praying.

4. This now brings you up to date... we are now on day 5 of this particular adventure. Hotels every night and never in the same one for more than 2 nights... I feel like I'm in a traveling singing group or a circus. Maybe even debutation. Oh well, we thoroughly enjoyed Columbia, SC and the family there. Ron and Pam, if you see this - THANK YOU! I so wish we lived closer together.

5. Now for a random thought: I bought sunglasses again the other day. I opted for cheap and stylish instead of the polarized kind for driving. Keeps me young.

6. PEOPLE! If I go to all the trouble to make you a personalized calendar for Christmas - USE IT. Write all over it, scribble things out, and put stickers on it. It's not a keepsake album to store in the drawer. Thanks JoAnne for having yours up and wearing it out.

That's all for now, sorry this was long, but if you really read it, thanks. You're my friend.

Autumn Promises...

 

Is there no end to Betsy's creativity???

Portrait Time Again...

 

 

It's been a good season, and now it's over... Not just baseball, but going to the Pool, late nights, late sleep-in mornings, the lake, berry picking, birthdays, and road trips. I know there's a few more weeks of summer, but after labor day it all changes. I am trying to convince the kids (that includes my husband) that Autumn is wonderful and there's so much to look forward to. So far, I'm not getting too far. Hey - what's your favorite thing about Fall? I need all the help I can get!

Gratefulness comes in small packages

Summer is so wonderful. Tonight, as we drove home, I thought of how happy I am. The windows were down, letting in the warm air as it whipped my hair all around, beatiful music played, but it only barely covered the tree sounds of the locusts singing... the sky was clear with bright stars against a black velvet background. And to top it all off, I had an Andy's Heath bar concrete in my lap. I almost cried. I needed that moment and I thanked God for it.

Summer Highlights... so far

 

There is still a little over 2 weeks left of this crazy summer, and still several things on our "to do" list. For instance, you may notice there are no pictures of a chicken coop, and no chickens either. The fish tank still sits dead and empty (I prefer it to stay that way forever), and the canoe is in the barn, not a creek. The kids have not yet had nearly enough whiplash from tubing at the lake as they would like. We have, however, stayed up late every chance we get, renewed some old friendships, hugged on our grandma's, and swam so much it warrants the green highlights in Emma's hair.

So, here is an explanation of the pictures you're looking at:
1. Discovery Cove in Florida. One word: Wow.
2. Busch Gardens in Tampa with the Eastin's and the Hoffman's
3. My Bday - goin' out to dinner
4. Father's Day at SDC
5. Lauren's 13th (oh my gosh I have a teenager) birthday!
6. Makin' plum jelly the old fashioned way
7. our 17th on the 7th day of the 7th month of 2007 - cool huh?
8. Just a bunch of kids (it's the Hoffman boys, Roy's and Reynold's)
9. Emma's 9th bday - and No, that pink is NOT from the chlorine in our pool
10. Piano recital - the only really responsible thing we've done all summer
11. Hike on Fox Acres
12. Mom's 67th BDay - I took her to "Cattlemen's" and made her a Tres Leche cake topped with strawberries!
13. Dinner out with the Reynolds and Eastins: we saw Big Smith at the Landing where we had Gourmet Mexican. "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" could never have sounded better.
14. That's my sweet Mom... and doesn't she look great?!
15. A visit from the Armstrong's!! We talked all night, swam all day, learned to ride the 4 wheelers and played the Wii. Whew!
16. Swimming, swimming, swimming...

7/7/2007 = 17 years!

 

... all this luck and we didn't go buy a lottery ticket!

By the way, to my Matron of Honor, THANK YOU for the flowers - they're beautiful!!!

Too many powdered donuts

Before:

 

After:

 

Have You Ever Chased My Dog???

if you have ever had to chase my dog maddie, i would love to hear your story! yes, i know that ther're many many stories about our little westy. (good idea, Lauren!)

We took her to the Vet this week, and the comment Dr Vet gave on the report was simply, "get her teeth cleaned ($$$) and she gets so excited!"
We have dealt with that for 12 years now and she is still going strong. Chasing that dog through many fields and backyards, it's a miracle she has not yet dashed in front of a truck... but some of you have AND have lived to tell about it. So, please do....

A Week in May

 

SCHOOL IS OUT FOR ROGERSVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOMORROW IS THE VERY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!

ONLY A HALF OF A DAY OF SCHOOL LEFT!!!!!!!!

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Best Job Ever

I thought about sitting around and moping because I couldn't even see my precious Mom on Mother's Day. Hallmark induced guilt. No thanks. I will get to see her very soon, and we'll go get our toes painted, and eat till we waddle away from the tea room. Instead we stayed home and had a lovely day honoring... me. I rec'd hand made projects from school from Emma and Nathan, really good ones, too. And a very sweet, heartfelt card from Lauren. Sat. night I took a long soak in the tub, painted the toes myself, and read myself to sleep. Gotta love that. On Sunday we went to SS and church, and went home to kill some time and watched Greg play poker with the kids! We ate a late lunch/early dinner at Riverside Inn where the food was great, but the service not so... After that we came home, put on our swim suits and jumped in the pool. The kids did cannonballs as close to their Nanna as they could in hopes to get her all wet. I didn't stop them either.
Of all the things I could do in life, the achievements I have made, and the ones yet to make, nothing can compare to the absolute joy that motherhood brings. No money can buy it, no degree can prepare for it. It is without exception, the best job ever.

5 AND HALF MORE DAYS TILL SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!

School's almost OUT!!!!!

The governer finally signed it and there is only 7 and a haif more days of school!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!

UPDATE

So my daughter took over, yes, but I'm still here... waiting, watching, posting once in a long while. Life is a little too full to keep this current for my faithful readers, but maybe if I share the blog with La La Lauren we might have better luck staying on top of things and always presenting you with interesting and fun articles for your literary pleasure.

I liked Hillenblog's recap of his month, list form. It's how my Dad always functioned and I now carry on his legacy by writing a LIST. So, here goes a list of the Roy family highlights and RANDOM Thoughts:

*Me and hubby went on the best vacation ever to Cancun. Read 3 books each, gained back any weight I might have lost pre vacation, and got a tan. The tan is almost gone.

*Mers and Betty chased the kids and a calf while we were gone. Those silly calves...

*I got a new camera! Been researching this for a year and finally splurged on a Canon Rebel XTi with an awesome lens. Pictures to follow!!! Now accepting portrait bookings for summer! :-)

*Track in now over for Lauren. She hated it at first and wanted to quit, but just couldn't let down her team. By the end, she was sad it was over. Always stick with it, people! Ya never know what might happen!

*Reading a study on the Holy Spirit. Wow, do we really understand His presence in our lives on a daily basis? I know I sure don't. This is a great time for me to be learning, too. I'm not in any huge emotional distress, no grief going on, things are going pretty well in general. I can clearly learn and seek Him, actually thirst for Him, just because I want to know Him. Not because I need something major. It's a great place to be in, just asking God to teach me to recognize His voice. It's also pretty cool to pass this on to the kids, who really are mystified at the concept of hearing God's voice.

*American Idol - go Blake! No, I actually mean, GO!
Jordin's got it already, she is incredible.

*Only 2 weeks left of school! I knew we moved to LogRog for good reason.

*Planning a major road trip to Florida the first of June with stops in Atlanta (maybe), Ocala (Hello to the Eastins and Hoffmans!), Orlando ( Discoverycove.com ),
Tampa for Busch Gardens, and a beach somewhere on the way home!!! WHEW! And just in time for gas prices to go up.

*Gotta go kill the brown recluse spider I just saw running under my computer desk. Now, why did I move to LogRog???

Roywife

2 weeks in the Ozarks:

what do ya'll think???

So, how do you guys like LAUREN'S blog?????? Yup, this blog is now officially mine!

Question??????

Ok, so who thinks that I should take-over my mom's blog?????

that is all for now

~*~*~*~*~*~ Lauren ~*~*~*~*~*

Bored

wow, i am really bored. Let me see how many times that I can write that word:

bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored

I am too bored to go any further.
by the way, i think that was 51 boreds.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Lauren ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bowling

So, we went bowling on saturday at the Lighthouse Lanes... I must say that I did pretty good! I got a score of 84.... WITH bumpers, thank-you very much! Yup, i used bumpers.... it was a blast.... well long story short, I lost to Camille Reynolds who scored a 117!



~~~~~~~~Lauren~~~~~~

Rascal Flatts

I Have Been Singing Rascal Flatts all Day!!!!! I love that one called Stand.....

~~~~~Lauren~~~~

Apologies

Please excuse my mother's absense...... hopefully she will realize that her standings in Hillenblog's rating system is going down..... maybe we will finally hear from her sometime soon.... again, I apologize for her.

Sincerely,
Lauren

Baseball Season is in FULL SWING!

What I Love About Winter

As we all start throwing open our windows, going to the parks, taking walks on something that doesn't tell you how few calories you have really burned in 45 minutes... I am reminded that we are not far from saying goodbye to Ole Man Winter for the first part of 2007. I say, "good riddence!" But in my efforts to remain a positive person and always striving to think the best, I will share with you what I will miss, come Spring:

Scrapbooking (yeah right)

A fire in the fireplace that burns the REAL wood

A predictable, although full, schedule

A Big Cedar cabin getaway, complete with movies, hot chocolate, and plenty of stuff to read, sprinting to the out door hot tub with the kids, and yet another fire in the fireplace. Yeah, I love that.

NO PESKY HOUSEFLIES!!!!! I forget, they will be coming back soon, and I will cry on that beautiful, sun drenched day when I spot the first one in my house. Oh please, God, spare Roygersville of this plague!

That's all for now, I would list 10 things if I could think of 10.

Ode to Lauren

Being a Mom is an awesome trip and I have the most amazing 12 1/2 year old girl on the planet.

She is strong willed and a little stubborn, yet tenderhearted and concerned for the needs of others. She the type of girl who will always stand up for what is right even though it won't be easy. She is daring enough to ask those really hard doctinal questions that send me running to my husband for the words to explain it. She has endured 6 years of parent imposed piano lessons even though she doesn't want to, and she is quite good .
On top of all this, she is an awesome swimmer!! This weekend she went to the Div. II swimmeet, where teams from MO, AR, and KS come compete and try to get Div. I times so they can move on up to the really big meet in Wichita. Not only did she qualify for the meet, but she WON the 100 yard breaststroke!! Out of approx 30 girls in her age group, she won 1st place! Way to go Lauren!! We are so proud of you and all your hard work! Although this blog will probably embarrass you, it's just my way of announcing to the world how wonderful you are! However, you will never have to win a medal or make all A's to get us love you any more than we already do, you are incredible just the way you are.
I know that you can do anything in this life that you want to, if you set your mind to it and God leads your way.

I am so glad I get to be your Mom.

One Man Band

I have nothing of interest to say today, so I'm just gonna dig through my archives of pictures and find something that will make you smile. Ah Ha! Here's one...

"Tho none go with me, still I will follow..."

:-)

Blogger blessings via my sister:

Go here to read a story about a precious little baby, friends of my sister's family. But don't do it without a Kleenex box ready. You will be encouraged by the faithfulness of God to this family, especially at the bottom where the Dad quotes scripture about the child with some beautiful pictures. Go ahead now, click on the link...

http://www.xanga.com/NateDogg34

Summer longings...

Just study this picture and remember... Summer is coming. Though it may not be right around the corner, it is coming.

But for now, with numb fingers and a cold nose, I'll put on my running shoes and hit the treadmill... inside where it's warm.

Day 13,696

I am pensive this morning. I just finished reading up on many other bloggers out there, and I am amazed at the extremes. I read about missionaries and their travels, friends finding a dream home, watched the Rachel adoption video (quite a tear-jerker), and even read about a teenager dealing with serious health issues. As I read through the poems and pictures, I felt as though my day is quite uneventful. That can be a good thing, really. And I'm not depressed, just feeling small, I guess. This world is huge and there are so many people out there, some experiencing sheer delight while others deal with pain. I have been in both places and somehow, it makes me thankful for my ho-hum day of buying groceries, planning my calender, picking up my kids from school, and going to choir practice tonight. Funny thing is, I know that it's all in God's care. The mammoth events as well is my kids homework. I am reminded, though, that each day is a gift, it's also a number, too. If, Lord willing, I have 27,300 days to live (75 years), then I am currently somewhere around 13,696. So, whatever I do with my day now, I should do it well. I should set my goals and work hard to reach them. I should run that 1/2 marqathon this year, I should finish college (someday). Because, at best I have only 13,604 days left, Lord willing. :-)


So, this is what my day holds...

Meeting Shannon at "Social Supper's" to book a date and try out a meal, more on that later...

Getting a space heater for Nathan's room becasue it is so cold in there.

Watching over Greg and a friend tackle the double oak tree that collasped on our fence and let 4 cows and a bull out onto our front lawn last night. They even made it to our front porch!

Kids home from school, homework, dinner, church, and finally bedtime.

It may be ordinary, but it's my day, and I will love it.


By the way, a huge CONGRATS to the Burch's. What a JOY to bring that baby home!!!

Happy 10th Birthday, Nathan!

Disclaimer

After that backlash of comments on my most recent post... ahem... I thought I should clarify something. My perspective on the Great Ice Storm of 2007 was very "cushioned," you might say. I know that and was not trying to take away from the sufferings of so many other people in our area. Many of you are still without power and I have offered a warm place to sleep for as long as you like. Some are dealing with the loss of trees, and major damage claims. To that I do not turn a blind eye. For that is my husband's main job right now, handling all that who have business with his company. He is, in my eyes, up for sainthood after last week. My heart goes out to all of you who have shivered in the dark for 10+ days. It is quite creepy to drive by certain neighborhoods of Springfield after dark. I so wish I could help them rewire and be normal again.

So for those of you who happened to read my last post, [and I know you have because I have the counter ( thank you Hillen)], I was just trying to show how much fun we had in the middle of a trial! Really people, let it go! Know that I am the eternal optimist and I try to look for the party in the midst of disaster. By the goodness of kind hearted friends and family, we found some fun!
My Dad always said, and I think this is from Ronald Reagan, too... "If you enter a room filled with manure, start diggin'. Why? Because with all that manure, there's gotta be a pony somewhere!"
So that brings up a question for you, my readers for whatever reason: what blessing did you find? Did you see character blossom, or recieve help from others? did you find a good meal or a hot shower because someone else was nice to you? let me know what you think, if you dare to find the good, if you dare to comment... :-)

Ice Storm 2007: How we passed the time

Oh, I'm so glad everyone I know is still alive! How we have suffered! We lost power for 6 whole days, but are now up and running at full capacity. This is what happened in memo form:

*Pre-ice storm... Our precious Duke got kicked by Cheri, the overprotective Mom of Presley the calf and broke his leg clean in two! Well actually it wasn't so clean, more like 6 chards of bone. This is now Greg's main sidekick, next to me, of course, so Duke had a 2 hour surgery to repair the leg. He will soon be able to do amazing things.... being bionic and all.

*Big breakfast with the card guys who stayed over, that was fun, cooking on my gas stove, I felt so pioneering.

*"When the going gets tough, the tough go to the CHATEAU!" Yep, we really did. And a big THANKS to HelterShelter, I loved it and I am not embarassed to say so!!! You see, we thought this whole power outage scam was about a 2 night deal, so we thought we'd have fun with it, there's stuff for the kids to do AND they allow dogs! It was a white dog convention everywhere. But don't worry, my dogs were the ones NOT wearing sweaters.

* Day 3, out to the Rodery's in Roygersville - fun, games, and my first try at sleeping on a water bed. very sloshy, but so warm!

*Days 4 and 5, back down to Branson, this time we were at Big Cedar! Another shout out to the Lennards for providing this fun, warm, place to sleep, complete with an empty your freezer protein feast one night, a new dressing called "Power Outage Viniagrette," and endless hours of swimming for the kids. I haven't laughed that hard during a game of Taboo in a very long time.

*Day 6, Dinner with the Reynolds, TACOS, yum. But I'm sorry we ate so much! :-) The kids had so much fun there, it just feels like home. I stayed with Greg's Mom while Greg babysat the generators and eventually got to unhook them! Yeah!!

So, Friday we were back up and running, Saturday Nathan had his awesome 10th birthday party, 10 boys, 10 light sabors flashing everywhere. Sunday we went to Nakato to celebrate again!!!

There you have it, our ice storm woes. I have learned to say "yes, thank you," when someone offers me a blessing and I am eager to return the favor any chance I get. I just wish I could do even more...

Finally, my first post of the new year! Some of you consistant bloggers are way ahead of me. However, I personally had a bit of a rough start to 2007.
Here you see a picture of my kids in snow gear - yes, we went skiing the first week of Jan!! A huge shout out to our friends, the Lennard's, for taking us to their place in Beaver Creek, CO. It was a tight fit for traveling with all 11 of us (equalling approx. 15 suitcases) but everyone had a blast. What an awesome place! It's beautiful, so much to do, lots of people from all over the globe, fantastic dining, healthy, more natural lifestyles... I'm wondering if the Lord needs my family's help in starting a church there... Ha.
I could show you many pictures of happy smiling kids, friends, mountains, etc., but the truth is, I didn't take but a few. So all the shots I have are courtesy of Miss Suzanne who happily hosted my week. She cooked all the meals, gave me medicine, picked up a sick Nathan from ski school one day, and flat out took care of all of us. I now call her "Mother." It's hard to be so sick when on vacation, I only stepped outside the condo into that fresh mountain air 2 times in 5 days. I regretted both times. Bronchitis set in deep with a fever and quickly the highlight of my day came when I could take another dose of Tylenol. I traded in my lift ticket and all my gear for a nice visit with a Resort Doctor who came to my room with the much needed antibiotics, and left with my right arm. ($$$)

Ahh, but it's Colorado, and how can you go wrong there??? Although I was sick, I still think the entire trip was well worth it. The kids went to ski school for 3 days, Lauren only 2 days. And here is my quick thought on that: it may be expensive, but WOW, it was worth the investment. All 3 had a great time, loved their instructor, and now can enjoy it anytime we want to go. They each have the basics down and will just build on the skill level every chance they get.

Greg's highlight - skiing all of day 3 with his 12 year old daughter who not only kept up with him, but even beat him down the mountain a few times! Green slopes no more, they were hitting the Blues!! and Lauren with NO POLES!

"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; O Lord, thou PRESERVEST man and beast." Psalm 36:6 I'm not sure who the beast was last week, but we all were preserved and made it home safe!!

So we're all home now and settling into this new year, a new schedule, new challenges, goals, and dreams. Rough starts can be just that, a rough start and ONLY a rough start. There were just too many other great things that happened to our family to think of it as a bad sign. Here it is, Jan 10th, and I am resolve not to make any resolutions, but I will set goals. I may even share some of those with you here in my online journal... But for now, let's just get started.

Have a great day!!