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 ~*~*~*~*~*