let me brag about my man

So day 2 of our trip we got to watch Chris and Lindsey compete at the Colorado Star Ball!  I am so proud of them!  They were AMAZING!  They competed in American Smooth Professional Rising Star the first night.  Which is for new pro couples.  I don't remember the exact numbers but there were so many couples they started with two rounds for each dance.  

They kept getting called back and in the end they wound up in third place!  THIRD PLACE!  Their first time on the floor.  That's just insane!  I'm so proud.

The last three couples standing.

Happy Dance!!!

You can watch them on You Tube. Here the first night.  And here

and here the second night.  The second night they competed in the open pro category and got 6th place!  Seriously! They have only been dancing together 5 months!  Wow. I can't wait to see what they can do in a year!

TN to Co in 22 hrs.

Well, we did it!  And we survived, sort of.  A little sickness of course cropped up.  But honestly I was expecting some sort of disaster that would be funny to recount.  It was surprisingly uneventful on that account.  We listened to books on tape.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Stuart Little.  some others...
We made a ton of food ahead of time so we wouldn't have to eat fast food.  Bread, cookies, pasta salad, muffins, granola.  And fruits and veggies of course.  So pretty much just eating and listening to books on tape. 
Oh and my favorite part was listening to Buffy sing lullabies to Eli.  She has the voice of an angel.  

road trip!

OK.  It's after midnight right now.  I'm still packing.  My sister-in-law Buffy and I are leaving at 4 a.m. with our 5 kids.  We are going to try and get all the way to CO, watch Chris and Lindsey compete and then on to UT.  We will be gone for 3 weeks!  I'm so excited.

Things are about to get a lot prettier around here I just got a new camera!!!! hallelujah people! I will try to keep you updated.   As there are sure to be some funny stories over the next few weeks.  Wish us luck!

rained out

Today was not the best day. boo. And I took my kids to the pool for a play date with friends.  The minute we got there it started to thunder and lightening.  So we took one little friend with us and headed home.  When we pulled up my neighbor was out running around in the rain with her kids and singing.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE my neighbor?  She has made living here sane for me.  She talks to me like I'm an old friend thank heavens!  Small talk makes me crazy.  She had gone to the pool also and gotten rained out. So her husband manned the hose and we all ran around in it.  It was so great!  Just what I needed.  To feel like a kid again.  Even just for a little while.  

My neighbor's name is Annie.  When I first met her she was outside redoing a chair.  I knew I had to introduce myself.  Then when she told me about her love for yellow and how she thinks it really is a neutral...I knew I would love her.  And she used to be a ballroom dancer.  How random is that.  She's quirky in a lot of the same ways I am.  A million crazy ideas running around in her brain, too.

I tried to take a picture of us but the camera fogged over.  It was super humid out there.  So this time you'll just have to use your imagination.  Just picture lush green everywhere.  Soggy underfoot.  Lots and lots of laughter.  Lightening shmightning!

us

Thanks Rose!

Popo and his grandsons

You know my sisters are nuts by now, right?  Well...They gave my dad the nickname of Popo and it stuck somehow.  So that's what all the grandkids call him.  He is such a good grandpa!  He came and stayed with my kids when I was off making my dreams come true at quilt market and he takes Zeke and Malachi fishing all of the time.  He's a great guy.

Rose

My little sister Rose...She's gorgeous.  FUNNY.  Has a great voice!  And is a fabulous aunt.  




This is Eli.  He is a great nephew and has a sweet set of cheeks.

The Bentley Fam

Sam had to skip out early so I didn't get as many pics of these guys as I would have liked.  But we still got some cute ones.  And I will have plenty more opportunities since Buffy and I leave in FOUR more days on a THREE week road trip to CO, UT, and ID!  I am SO excited!  

Katie and Preston are Hot!

And Everett and Lincoln are pretty cute, too.
Found a puddle to play in!
Everett could not resist the water!  He stripped down to his skivvies and jumped right in!


See what I mean!

Katie and Rose

My sisters are so funny.  When we were kids we all shared a room.  I used to sleep on a double bed on the bottom of the bunk and they would sleep on the twin bed at the top.  Whose idea that was I don't remember.  But I do remember their giggling every night.  I would say, "YOU GUYS BE QUIET!" because I was older and getting up at the crack of dawn. Katie would say, "ROSE!" (Because Rose always starts the laughter when she is around.)  Then we all would yell, "MOM!!!!"  

So now Katie and Rose are both living in the same town across the country from where we grew up.  And one day Katie was dropping Rose off at school.  Rose looked at Katie and said, "Can I wear your jacket?"  Katie took it off and gave it to her.  Then she said, "and your hair thing?"  So she gave that to her, too.  It just cracks me up.  I don't know why.  But that just shows how close they are. I think it's adorable.   

Plus I love the way Katie is looking at Rose in this picture with that "your nuts and I absolutely love that about you" look.  It's classic.

mi familia

When we went to visit my family on the coast back in May we decided to take the opportunity to take a family picture.  We knew it would be our last chance for a while since Rose is headed to freezing cold Canada for a year and a half.  Things got a little crazy.  Mainly because I forgot my tripod.  I borrowed my dad's camcorder tripod and tied my camera to it with my sister in law's stash of yellow yarn! Then....after everyone was in their places I set the timer and ran like crazy to jump up on that tree branch.  It was surely comical in that long dress.  It was really fun, too.  My family was all saying, "CHEESE" so loud it was really cracking me up!  Normally I take a day or two to edit a photo shoot.  This one took me about a month! It's so hard to try and edit yourself.  And I also had picked about 70 favorites.  Kinda of a daunting task to edit.  So now I've edited about 24 of them.  :) Here are a few of them. 

Oops, I just realized I forgot to do my own family picture! 

couch time

I'm not usually a big fan of the ol' bube tube (or is it boob tube?).  But...there are exceptions.  Like the Oscars.  And So You Think You Can Dance.  Holy Awesome.  We got Tivo again just because of you.  And it was SO so worth it!  Isn't it amazing what a strong healthy body can do!  I'm in awe.  What can I say!  

summer, summer, summer time

My dad came to visit us right around the time of my last post.  Just for a few days.  But it was great.  My kids were total angels the whole time.  I kid you not.  No whining, no crying.  They were perfectly happy little angel children.  We did a lot of walking and riding bikes.  Got caught in a huge thunderstorm.  Just fun.  Every night my kids say what they are thankful for.  It's supposed to be something specific from that day.  But Bentley always says "Daddy and Milk."  Always.  Now, however he has branched out and he says, "Daddy, Milk, and Gwampa!"  They really had such a great time with him.  My dad is off to London now doing some really cool work that I can only pretend to understand.  :)  No really, I understand it, but I couldn't explain it to anyone else.  OK.  Now I'm embarrassed and I have to try and explain it.  He's a cultural anthropologist and he has started these plant clinics all around the world.  They help local farmers determine what bugs are eating their crops and what to do about it.  Is that right, Dad?  Anyway, they have really taken off and are getting some pretty cool attention.  He's a cool guy.  And I'm glad he's my dad. 

After he left I FINALLY did what should have been done about a year ago and weaned Bentley from his nightly bottle.  Then he got step throat.  Aye-aye-aye!  

But we are good now.  Back to normal.  Headed to Knoxville to do a family photo shoot with super cute Cally and co. tomorrow!  So excited!

You know even though the crazy summer schedule has totally thrown me for a loop, I think I'm thankful for it.  I needed a shift in perspective.