I'm off...

Tomorrow morning I am leaving to go camping with some friends. I'm excited to be going. I didn't come to Michigan with thoughts of going camping, but here we go. I really only found out about it last week and decided to go a few days ago. But I really am looking forward to spending time with Becky and Ali. Especially since I don't get to see them very often. Well, I'll try to write more when I get back. I'm rather tired and have to get up early. Happy 4th of July...a bit early!

Just for fun...

I saw this somewhere, and I thought it was neat...

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Now wouldn't that be fun...

Father's Day

So, for Father's Day, I bought my dad & I tickets to the Nascar MIS (Michigan International Speedway) Race. I called him in April, one day before I left school, and said "Happy Father's Day! Where do you want to sit?" After repeating this a couple of times, he figured out that I meant MIS, and he was excited. So, I told him all of the possible seats I could get and he said that the Pit Terrace sounded good. The Pit Terrace is the small grandstand behind the pits. Well, I was able to get row 14, which we thought would be in the middle, but it is actually the 3rd row from the top. This means, that our seats were terrific!!!! My whole family is into racing - my dad used to race and then worked on a dirt track team - so we grew up with it. During the summer, after coming home from church, my dad would have the race on, so if I was going to watch tv, I would have to watch the race. So, inevitably I learned what was going on and what was happening and I seemed to always be asking why they were doing something and my dad always had the answer. A few years ago, my Shawn made me pick a rookie to cheer for, and so I did and he has become my driver. Everyone in my family has a different driver to cheer for, this goes from my dad down to my niece, I think my mom even has a driver to cheer.

So, yesterday my dad and I headed out early and started driving out to MIS. Dad had mapped out the way he wanted to go and so we went through some of the back roads of MI and found the entrance we wanted, or at least it was better than a few years ago. We arrived at the track about 10:30am and had some time to spare. So, we sat in the back of dad's new car and "tailgated". There was a group of fathers & sons parked next to us from OH, and continually offered us their snacks. It was quite comical. After a while, we went into the track and found our seats in the Pit Terrace. And it was SO cool!!!

Now, I would have thought it was neat no matter what drivers were in front of us, but it happens that we were only a few feet from the first pit box and directly behind the second and third pit boxes. Now, this was so great, because... my driver won the pole during qualifying and therefore had the first pit stall, and then the next few drivers were ones that we liked. So, we had Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Scott Riggs, and Carl Edwards right in front of us. We also had a pretty good view of Yeley, McMurray, and Petty. We could also walk down further and see more. It was just pretty neat... I enjoyed it thoroughly!

I enjoy watching racing, but in these seats, you had other funny things to watch and look at and it was really neat to watch the stops and just how fast they really are. We also were able to see them get everything ready. What was the most interesting was the interaction between the pit crews and with the officals. I was watching as we were on caution laps, and the cars were on the backstrech(sp?) and infront of us there were some of the crew from the #99 team sitting on th wall talking. One of them must have dropped his helmet onto the other side of the wall and offical comes "running" at him as he reaches for it and semi-tackles him...now not really, and after reaching the helmet, they continue to laugh and joke around and well... be boys... (i don't have another way to describe it). Now, this was just interesting to me. So often you see/hear that the "Nascar offical ruled..." and well I just think they have a lot of fun. And that is what I saw. It was cool...

Now the race was cut short because of rain, we sat through several showers...I stood under the stands for one of the harder rains that delayed the race. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad, I had brought my jacket with me....BUT I left it in the car... I asked dad if I should bring it...and at the time it was sunny and warm...and he told me I could, but then he said I should be okay without it....so I left it! And then...IT POURED!!! And we walked back to the car in this rain and I was drenched. However, even being wet...It was absolutely a great time! I really enjoyed it!!! I don't know if I can really describe how fun the day was...

Well, here are some pictures from the day.... Here are my dad and I before we left and as we were "tailgating". It was a bit windy, if you can't tell.

Before the race we walked around a bit, and here is the first pit stall...and then peeking over dad's shoulder.

This is the view from our seats.... It was sweet!

And the start of the race!!

The red crew and the offical are the ones my earlier story is about. Here they are getting ready for a pit stop.

It was pretty neat to see the pit stops so close...oh...and I figured out what a "catch can man" does... it was one of those questions I wondered, but I never asked.

At last the race was called for a rain delay, and then finally called...and here is the WINNER!!! Wohoo!!!

Now...it was raining and we couldn't stand under the grandstand forever...so...we walked...and walked a bit more and this was when we finally got back to the car...the spots on my shoulder...that is rain...I was DRENCHED!!! Really, WE were DRENCHED!!! But it was quite fun...I just need to take the jacket next time, if there is high chance of rain... lesson learned!

Ode to Grilling...

One of my favorite things about the summer, is grilling. Now, I am not talking about just fire up the grill and throw something on it, nor am I talking about barbeque, like in Memphis. I am talking about my dad's hamburgers. Now, this is just some frozen hamburger pattie thrown on the grill and after a while it is called done. No, it has now become an art! My dad's hamburgers are plaid, yes plaid! It makes them taste so much better! And I like mine cooked with a bit of barbeque sauce, and then the hamburger bun is toasted on the grill...and boy, is it delicious!!! It is better than any other hamburger I have ever had! Really, I don't usually take pictures of my food, nor of me and my food, but this time I did, because I was so excited and it was so delicious!! And then I also included some of those eating with me (also known as my family). So, here is my hamburger...and then me enjoying my hamburger. I loved it! Even two days later, I still loved it!
This is my hamburger....

This is me and my hamburger...

This is me eating my hamburger...oh is it terrific!

This is my plate after dinner...I don't think I could have gotten it much cleaner.

This is me being very full after my absolutely fantastic dinner -(it really isn't a great picture... but then again, I was taking it of my self...and well it is also after we got home from the water park )

Here is a picture of one of the plaid hamburgers... This wasn't mine...it was lacking barbeque sauce. But, it is a picture of the plaidness.


Here are some others...


I was definately thinking of my sister, while I was enjoying dinner and taking these pictures. I am sure she will enjoy it tremendously!!! :-D

Water Park

Thursday, my sister-in-law, nieces, nephew, and I went to the water park. It is only a few minutes from my brothers place and so we met my sister-in-law, Emileigh, and went out there. It was just a bit after lunch when we got there, but we played for a while and then got something to eat there. I gave Rayne and Darian money and told them to go get something thing to eat and also to get something for me. This could have been a bit scary, but they did really well. I was waiting for Brenna and Emileigh to get back so that I could get Brenna something to eat too. I started with going to the lazy rapids/river (whatever it may be called) with Brenna and we were then heading to the slide and I asked if she wanted to see if Em wanted to go with her, so we headed over and asked and so Emileigh and Brenna went off down the water slide and around together. It was very cute. They were gone long enough for me to dry off completely from the sun, and also get quite a nice sunburn. It wasn't until later that I realized how red I was getting. Rayne and Darian enjoyed the day running around together, and I had a ton of fun with Brenna. After we ate, Bren wanted to go down the waterslide...okay, I wanted to go down the waterslide, and I hadn't gotten to go yet. So, Brenna took me and told me all about it and how to do it and which we should do first. We went down the skinny one first, and it was quite fun, and went fast - I even got the lovely nose full of water when I hit the pool. Then we did the "fat" one, with out the tube, because we gave the tube to the little boy infront of us. I didn't like it - I got kinda stuck and didn't go so fast. Then we did it again with a tube and it was GREAT!!! I really like waterslides! We then headed for the wave pool - and had to wait for the bell to ring for the waves to start. In the mean time, I watched Bren swim and flip and do all kinds of things. We grabbed two inner tubes and got in them right as the bell rang. Then, I held Brenna's tube for as long as she would let me and then "miss independent" asked me to let go. So, I did, at least sort of... I at least have enough power to swim and guide us. Yes, brenna (with the inner tube) got us all the way to the 6 1/2 feet area - (K- it's okay, I didn't let her out of my sight!). She was so BIG!!! and was having so much fun! As I was getting more sunburned, I decided we should get going, so I found the kids and told them to go down the slide a couple more times. Here are some pictures from the slide. As, I was coming back from getting my camera, Rayne bumped her head on the slide - and so, sadly, I don't have any pictures of her. She is alright, but it hurt - so here are the pictures!



That little black spot under the waterfall is Brenna swimming!

Look! She's floating on her back!!!

Rayne, Darian & Brenna

So, here are some pictures from the last few days. We went and picked Rayne up yesterday, after school, and now all 3 cousins are now together. Here are some of the pictures from the last couple days.

When we got to MI, Brenna could not WAIT to go on a motorcycle ride with Poppa. So, Monday morning, she was up bright and early and dressed in her Harley shirt ready to go! If only Poppa was ready so early. She finally got to go on her ride and here are some of my favorite pictures.






















While Brenna was taking her motorcycle ride, Darian we finding other things to do. He started with the comics and then he found badmitten stuff in the garage and so we started to play that in the front yard. It was quite comical. He started betting that he could hit it past me or that I couldn't hit it. His over had serve was quite good. Overall it was just fun to play. One of the time, I hit the "birdie" to him and he went to hit it back at it got STUCK! He couldn't stop laughing. Darian also hit it so high and hard that it got stuck in the gutter, it's okay, I got it out - that picture is not here.















Then yesterday, Nanni, Darian, Rayne, Brenna, and I played volleyball. I don't have pictures of my mom playing but it was definately a fun time. Here are some of Brenna, Darian and Rayne.

















It was all a lot of fun. Next time, I will work on formatting the whole this better. But this was the best I could do for now.

Changes

So many changes. Although it can be exciting coming home, it can also be a bit sad. I know that I live my life everyday in Memphis, and that I change because of the experiences I have, but it is also sometimes hard to realize that things here continue to change. It is not that it is bad that it changes, but it seems to continue to remind me that I am not quite part of things.

I have had several of those encounters today. It is not bad, but it sometimes makes me a bit sad. Yet, I have enjoyed living my life. I enjoy being the person who I am. However, it is still hard to talk to someone and see how much their lives are changing. Things like people getting married and having children - they are great things, but yet things change. It is good that it changes, but it is kind of sad that I have been missing so many things.

Now, does me missing so many things make me want to move back to MI? I'm not quite sure yet. I don't know that it means I want to stay in Memphis either. However, it does make me think about what it is I want to do - yes, part of that involves teaching, but the where part is the question. I don't know if living in Memphis fulfills all that I want it to - I thoroughly enjoy teaching at Harding, I love the students and people that I am involved with, but is that the only thing I want to do? Where else is it that God is leading me? Should I be taking these job offers seriously? Could I better serve God in one of those places? These are all questions that are running through my head, now if only I could find some answers.

I guess my life continues to change too...

I went driving in my Dad's new car tonight. He doesn't know, but I got to drive it last night when he wasn't here... my mom said I could. Well, tonight Dad said I could drive it to go find dinner for my niece and nephew. Althought I wasn't sure that I liked the car from the outside, I really enjoy driving it. It is great!

So, as I was driving, with Brenna & Darian in the backseat, I asked them what they thought of Papa's car - They said it was cool. Then they continued to tell me that Papa was cool and that he has the coolest things. They were talking about his motorcycles - Yes he has 2. They enjoy riding them, but I thought I would show it to you with the cool pinstriping. It is kind of hard to see, but it is rather cool.

Well, sometimes things get a little silly around my parent's house. So, I thought I would share. First, this is my niece's dog, Tipper. Tipper lives at my parent's house.


These are pop rocks... my mom had some for me that she found somewhere so my niece, nephew and I were eating them.


...So, Tipper was standing around...and well... I just wanted to see what would happen


So, Tipper had some Pop Rocks. And he really, REALLY liked them.
As you can see, he ate them all!!!
There was nothing left on my hand, expect for some dog slobber.

Now, just so you know, I do not go around feeding dogs pop rocks, but well, I just couldn't resist this time. Did you know that PopRocks pop in a dogs mouth too? It is quite amazing. Now, I am going to finish my Pop Rocks.


Oh, here are Brenna and Darian. Brenna was going for the "chipmunk" look, trying to store cheese in her cheeks, while Darian is taking after my dad with the "biker" look.