Went looking for adventure, we found it!

My family and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and set out on an adventure. We started out slow, a paved trail that is 1.25 miles long at the WV Wildlife Center. Several of the animals were out in the enclosures, but it was obviously nap time. The birds of prey were the most active of the animals. The gobbler struted his stuff and showed off, until I wanted to take his picture, and he deflated rather quickly. The bald eagle was also in rare form as he stretched and screeched.
We had our picnic lunch and then headed to Holly River State Park to check out the Upper Falls and also the Lower Falls. My girls were up for an adventure, so we decided to hike the Potato Knob trail. And, HIKE, we did. 2440 ft. straight up! We climbed tree roots, rock cliffs and straight up trail. When we finally got to the top, it was beautiful. We were eye level with the vultures that were circling overhead and Kevin snapped a couple great pictures of them. It took us 2.5 hours round trip, but we made it. I made it. I felt like Rocky Balboa in the Rocky movie where he trains in Russia. LOL
So, got out there and get some fresh air. You won't get that kind of workout in a gym..

Let's Go Fly a Kite!
One of the best memories I have of my childhood is flying kites in the fields with my sisters and my Papaw. We would stand for hours on windy days and fly butterflies, plain diamonds, birds of all sorts and gliders. There was only one tree in our field, and more often than not, the kite always landed in or near that walnut tree when the wind would die down.
This past weekend, my family and I restarted the kite flying. Alivia and Kevin both had kites that soared high into the sky. Jordan and I had a cheap kite and it was crippled. It would only fly sideways. That didn't stop or deter the laughter. (That was fixed! We bought new nylon gliders! )

Mary Poppins had it right, "Let's go fly a kite!" It does lighten your mood, and makes you feel young again.

Decorating on the Cheap

Our annual Girl Scout cookie celebration is coming up fast. This year we are incorporating the 100 year birthday celebration and our cookie sale success into one big bash. Since we are in a very rural area, money in the service unit is sparse. Thanks to all of the neat ideas I am finding on pinterest, I am sure we can decorate our city building on a $25.00 budget. I took left over green and white balloons and an old wire hanger and made a birthday wreath. Total investment (had to purchase more balloons) was $4.00 and sore fingers from knotting 240 balloons.
Several pintestet pins offer free printables. I found an excellent one yesterday with a Ruth Bell Graham quote about a happy marriage. I printed off the template, purchased a black picture frame from the Dollar Store for $1.50 and viola! I have a cute, whimsical picture for my bedroom.

Will post photos later.....

That is Pinteresting!

My recent obsession with the website Pinterest has actually garnered quite a few awesome creations. I love to cook anyway, and baking is one of my top hobbies. I am teaching my girls how cooking requires using Math. Fractions are what they are working on in math in school. So, measuring ingredients has helped them both out.
We have made a pretzel reese blondie pie, rolo cake bars, and Jordan has made awesome monkey bread that she used to meet one of her 4-H project requirements.
With the cost of everything going up, I have found that the DIY projects are going to save my family some money this summer when it comes to remodeling and redecorating.
I will post some Pinterest photos soon!

Healing

I haven't posted a blog for a couple of weeks, and so much has happened. I think that we have had another 7 inches of snow and the winter just keeps going on.

Kevin, Jordan, Alivia and myself in addition to my mother-in-law went to Disney on Ice in Feb. Our girl scout troop went (47 total) and we all had a blast. Then we went to the Clay Center for a Women in Engineering Day. We made very tasty ice cream, a rubber ball, snow and pryamids out of newspapers. We saw the science fiction costume display and now the girls all want to be Wonder Woman.

I have been sick for about 2 weeks now. I have had at least 3 ailments. I go back to the surgeon (Dr. Short) on Thursday to see what we do now. They think I have a tear somewhere and hopefully it will heal itself. I feel better than I did, but I am not fully restored. I am so thankful for all of the prayers that have gone before the Lord in my name. I am a true believer in the power of prayer.

I am looking for places to vacation during the summer. We know that we want to go to the beach somewhere, just not sure of when. Either OBX or Myrtle. I don't care, I have been to both and I just want a nice quiet and cheap vacation. I don't know if they make such a thing.

I hope that each of you have a wonderful week and that God Blesses each of you.

The Camera Explosion

I didn't know that digital cameras could explode. I wonder if Samsung knows this? This past Saturday night I took a picture of Kevin's first pie. He used self-rising flour instead of plain, and it grew and grew and grew. IT was everywhere in the oven. I took a picture of it and then I shut off my camera and it made a popping sound, like a 22 and that was all she wrote for it. When you shake it, it sounds like a light bulb that has shot. I am so disappointed. I haven't even had it for two years. I guess I am now in the hunt for a new camera. We went furniture shopping yesterday and I am amazed at how much furniture actually is. There was a set of queen size mattresses that cost almost $3,000.00 and I almost lost my breath. I can make my house payments for almost 10 months with that. Bunk beds for the girls cost as much as a bed for me and kevin. Maybe this is why so many people are struggling to buy these things, they are overpriced. I can see paying 1,000 for a real oak bed and a dresser and mirror and a nightstand, but when they say 5 piece and they are talking about the rails, and footboard and headboard for a 1,000 and they are made of chipboard, then I would rather just buy a metal frame and forget about it. It is CRAZY!!!Just for kicks I thought I would post the pictures that killed the camera. Believe it or not, the pie was very good, it was my favorite....chocolate chip pie. The other pictures are from our boredom when the power was off for several hours and the jewelry box workshop that the Girl Scouts did at Lowes' on Saturday.

God Bless each of you this week.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone. My plans for a nice dinner were cancelled, as if that was a surprise. An outside force plus a serious sinus infection were to blame. I did still enjoy my day though, as much as a snotty nose would allow. This morning the girls and I went to a Lowe's Create and Build Workshop and made jewelry boxes. I am not a carpenter, but they turned out very well. They earned a patch from it for their tunics. I did take a nap, because the sinus meds I am taking are a killer. Through all of this, I think of I Corinthians 13. It tells us what LOVE is and what it is not. I have to read this chapter quite a bit about how love does NOT act. I read it as a reminder of how I need to love my family, my husband, and even myself. The part about being rude is especially for me. If I don't get my way, then I can get so rude with Kevin that after the fact, I am so embarrased. Today is a day to think about the Bible verse John 3:16, Jesus was God the Father's Valentine to us. We get Him everyday, not just once a year. In that verse is the word VALENTINE. Write it out, and look for it.