Baptism 7.11

Hey everyone-  I have a really busy couple of weeks, so my blog will be hit or miss until August. 

We did have an amazing night last night celebrating several baptisms with our friends at The Ransom.  Wanted to post these before I left.

Summer Nights.

Remember this?


Movie Nights are back!

The Recap.

OK.  I know you were dying to know how it went.

Thursday I dropped the kids off with Grandma, came back to Sioux Falls, and went to some garage sales, then I bought groceries, and Lily and Grace's birthday presents.

I got home, washed and sorted all of the kids' summer clothes from the storage tubs, and sorted/switched over their closets for spring/summer. 

When Jim got home, we did miscellaneous tasks, made lists of what we wanted to get done over the weekend, then drank a bottle of wine and watched Glee.  It was a good day.

Friday morning we got up, got organized, and started working.  Jim fixed our doorbell, changed a headlight, fixed the railing on our basement stairs, ate lunch with friends, and did some other things, I forget.  We also steamed all the carpets in our house.  So, most of the day, our house looked like....

When things were dry, everything was re-organized, cleaned, and put back where it belonged.  Then, totally tired, we went to Target to buy new sheets for our bed, because that was my motivation to finish, grabbed some ice cream, and came home to drink another bottle of wine, and watch The King's Speech- which was incredible, and I have since geeked-out with the DVD special features.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to meet friends for coffee, then we helped our church move it's offices into our new building- I'm really glad we could be there-  it's a pretty big deal. 

We grabbed lunch with everyone, then headed over to see some of our African friends.  Here's a video from that afternoon....

Then, we ran home because our dogs had been left inside all day, and Jim went back out to head over to our other refugee family's house, so he could take them out to buy seeds and garden supplies, and give them advice about when to plant things (it's a little colder here than in Africa, go figure).

Saturday night we went out with a couple of great friends, who also flew sans kids for the weekend.  We ate steak, then went to the Wild Sage for dessert, and Touch of Europe for drinks.  We were out until like, midnight- it was fantastic.

Sunday morning we picked up coffee, breakfast, and Lily's birthday balloons- Sunday was her 5th birthday- and we headed to MN to grab the kids, and have Easter dinner/ Lily's party with Jim's family, which was also great.

And then it was all over and Monday showed up as usual.

LifeLight 2010

I was incredibly excited to see John Mark McMillan and his band in person- he played in the afternoon, a lot of older people were busy planting their lawn chairs and getting good seats for later, and had no idea who he was- but he had a faithful small following near the stage. 

So, I saw JMM, check.

They played a much cooler show later that night, but I couldn't stay for it.  I saw a bit.  It was awesome.

The Ransom Praise Team played at LifeLight too- They were awesome, and it was fun in general.  We have got the greatest friends- and we're so thankful to be a part of something like the Ransom along with them!

Look how excited Grace was.  Wow.  Her blood sugar was low.

And finally- FINALLY- I saw David Crowder Band live!!! 

I have waited 11 years for this.  Always checking, every year- and this is the first time they have ever come to South Dakota- ever.  Seriously??  It's not that I wasn't devoted enough to travel to another city, but, it never worked out.

Honestly, this was a huge deal to me.  It was really significant.  And hallelujah, we had perfect seats, and my kids caught their second wind and rocked out with me until 11 PM. It was really, really fun. 

Just Awesome.

RKC

Ransom Kickball Club Game 1. 

Ended in a tie, Jim smacked a girl, it was fun.

Jack Johnson for Ray Charles

Our friends Lissa and Jesse throw out of this world backyard movie nights.

They hosted one Saturday night. Basically, it was the sizzle.

Just a bunch of people getting together, eating some snacks, chilling out, and enjoying the general old school backyard ambiance.

Honestly, all night long I was drunk on the ambiance. Picture that sequence in The Sandlot when the boys are running through their neighborhood under the Fourth of July sky. The neighborhood. The nostalgia.

These movie nights are like that. But they traded Jack Johnson for Ray Charles... And frisbee for baseball.

It's also exactly like this movie-themed party featured in Martha Stewart's magazine forever ago that was lodged in my brain somewhere far back. But, this was for real.


Concessions were a steal.

Everyone hung out for a while, talking, playing, having fun.

The homemade screen worked really, really well. If you want tips from Lissa on setting this thang up, click on her link up there and drop her a line.

This is Lissa...

Invites are simple. Just invite every facebook friend you have and let them RSVP for an idea of who's going to make it.

They used our church's equipment. Simple. Worked SO well- the sound was amazing, even outdoors. See? You can do this.

And when the sun got low, it was show time.

This was so much fun. And, we have good word there's more to come this summer.

Thanks Murawskis! You really know how to throw down an awesome cinematic fiesta.

I ♥ Faces Week 37: “Completely Candid”

I grabbed this little guy at a church BBQ a few weeks ago. I sat down on his blanket to talk to his mom, said, "Hey buddy!", which made him quickly turn to see me- and at first sight of my camera, he instantly flashed me this sweet smile. I know, I know- probably camera shy...

What Cows Do on Weekends*

We totally saw it. It was great, you know, as far as Tween movies go. Way better than I expected. And the songs are still in my head. You can judge for yourself whether that's a good thing...or a bad thing. We had some church in the morning, ate at the Perkins across the street for Easter dinner (we're talking easy here, I'd worked the day before). So, back to what I was saying...we had some church. We go to church in a movie theatre, see?

OK, so again, then we walked over to Perkins, then walked back over to the theatre to see Hannah Montana. Then we went home. And took naps.

Then we hung out, and after bedtime, Jim and I went out on a date, and Uncle Brian stayed home with our sleeping kids.

We ate some Sonic, then saw Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D. At the same theatre. We like to support that one. And even after the Sonic, in the name of supporting them, we got $6 nachos. They were good. It was the first time I've had nachos since the time Jim and I ate nachos at a sports bar before seeing The Pursuit of Happyness when I was pregnant with Hudson, and I travelled to the bathroom 3 times to vomit. I hate that movie.

The nachos: the girl was all, "Do you want cheese in a cup, or on top of the chips, or in a cup and on top of the chips?" (She was being really serious). I was all, "Um, of COURSE in the cup and on top of the chips." So awesome. Totally worth the $6, as much as any movie snack can be "worth" it's price. Definitely too much chips for one, and just right for two of us. And hello extra fake cheese. Thank you, Carmike.

And after seeing the second 3D movie to leave me dizzy and nauseous, and after Jim seeing his first 3D movie to leave him the same, we firmly agreed to never see one again. Our vision thanked us. So I still ended up getting sick despues de nachos, but no problemo, they weren't to blame. So getting those again.

*do you get it?! Ahem.