Home!

I'm home!!!! I flew home Wednesday and slept in my own bed!!! Yeah! I got sick and haven't felt the best the last couple of days but I'd rather be feeling puny at home than at school....

Last night as one of the family Christmas gifts, my parents took the family out to see the Bar J Wranglers, as pictured below....

They sang many different Christmas songs, including 'Winter Wonderland,' Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer' (cowboy style!), 'Let It Snow,' as well as 'Mary Did You Know,' and 'O Holy Night.' They did a very good job of honoring our military personel that were in attendance. They also gave Christ the honor and glory of being the true reason and meaning of Christmas.

As part of a western type of family, I greatly enjoyed the yoodlin' and such! =)

They guy in the light blue shirt (Donnie Cook) is a master at the banjo, the steel guitar, flat-top guitar, and dobro. All the guys did a great job last night!

Well, I think that's all for now... my room looks like a tornado attacked... again! I've only been home 3 1/2 days!!! Not good! =)

Later

Ty's Wedding

My cousin Ty got married on November 28 on the beach in San Diego!

Here are some pictures of him and Mary.

(Aren't they cute??!!)

Congratulations, Ty and Mary! Welcome to the family!!!

Thanksgiving Break Picts!!!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving. I sure did because I got to fly out to Colorado and spend it with my family! We went out to my grandparent's home in Kit Carson, CO (waaayyyyy out east in CO). Here are a couple pictures from the trip:

All the kids with Nana, my mom's mom. I was still in CA at this point, thus why I am not in the picture with the rest of the kids. lol

Okay, check this out. This picture is from this Thanksgiving, 2009.

This picture is from Thanksgiving of 2005. We've changed and grown up a bit, huh? =)

Rise and Randall (my cousin and her husband) had a baby girl a year ago and I got to see her for the first time at Thanksgiving. Little Aubrey is soooo sweet!!!!

(Okay, she's making a weird face in this particular picture but she had an adorable smile)

Well, that's all the pictures for now. Later!

Busy in Windy California

Hey everyone!

Things have been going pretty good. I am working four days a week with Autism Response Team (ART), which is a different agency than the company that I was working for last year. (California Psych Care) These kids are just higher functioning and have less behavior problems. =) (I like that part!) It is going very well.

I am also working blue crew (cleaning crew!) on Saturdays which is fun. I have gotten to know new people through that.

Parks is also going well. We have a couple families from our parks ministry coming to Round Up Sunday tomorrow which is such a blessing! We have had one parent saved (a week or so ago) and today one of the college guys went through the plan of salvation with a teen. He didn't want to respond to it so pray for him (named Louis).

Other than that, things are going as normal. Midterms are coming up here soon, which is crazy because it doesn't feel like half the semester is over already.

Gotta run. Later

Wellsville Rodeo

My mom hiding from the camera

Maria riding a calf

Maria being put in the shoots


Maria and her famous grin =)


Juan getting ready to rope the goat

Juan with his lasso

Joey being put in the shoots

Joey and his cute face (lol)

Joey caught a chicken!

Joey holding his prize. Good job Joey!!!

Let me explain some of these photos. My family went to the Wellsville Rodeo a couple days ago and had a good time. This is the first time that the kids have ever participated in a rodeo and they did great!

Juan tried roping a goat with a lasso. Go Juan!

Maria was in the calf riding contest. She held on for the full 8 seconds - for those of you that are unfamiliar with rodeos, 8 seconds is the length of time you strive to hold on for when bull riding, bronco riding, sheep riding, calf riding, ect. She did an excellent job!

Joey was in the mutton bustin'. That is basically when you put innocent little kids, who probably don't know any better, on sheep and see how long they hold on. =) It is so much fun to watch. We went to the Logan rodeo and most of the kids were standing in line with their moms holding them while they cried after they were done. I know, I know, it sounds mean, but it is so cute. Joey apparently got pitched pretty quick once exiting the shoots.

After that, he participated in a chicken chase and caught a chicken (as you can see him above, holding his prize high).

*Those poor, poor, innocent chicken.... lol*

Anyway, thought you all would enjoy that!

Kaitie*Jane

Hello from Sunny California!

hello everyone!

I am back at West Coast beginning my sophomore year of Bible college. Classes (the one day of them that I have had anyway) have gone well. This year I am taking Pastor's Wife, Child Development, Romans, Daniel & Revelation, Philosophy of Christian Education, Life of Christ, Choir, and Christian Womanhood. Dan&Rev and Romans are both going to be intense classes I think, but I (think!) am ready for the challenge! lol =)

(Check on me in a couple weeks and see if I am saying the same thing. I am reading the book of Romans 15 times and outlining Dan&Rev verses by verse! Those are only two of the projects I have this semester!)

So, want to hear how my drive out to CA went????

WELL..... my parents allowed me the privilege of driving out by myself this semester. It is a 10 hour drive, give or take - I made it in 12..... how, do you ask, did that happen?

The drive through the middle of Utah was kinda boring - pretty flat and not much to look at - and I got sleepy a couple times(it was warm too), but it was okay. I got to the south and things got much prettier, especially around the Moab and Bryce Canyon areas. Then I slipped through a tiny piece of Arizona, which was also very pretty, before entering into Nevada. At my first glance around in NV, I thought that the drive would be much easier because of the scenery.... PSYCH! (lol or just kidding) It became very flat - again. lol

The real adventure began when my car over heated about 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas. I called my dad and he told me to roll my windows down, turn the heater on, and pull over at the next exit.

The next exit was about a mile away and when I turned off, I was looking at a medium size building. I later found out that it held the gas station, a truckers' lounge, an Indian style restraunt, a general store, and a casino. I found a security guard who was able to help me with my car and he had me wait for about an hour so that my car could cool down a bit. He didn't want it blowing up in our faces when checking the radiator and whatever else he was going to check (I am NOT car - literate!)

So I hung out a while. Apparently the guard thought I was at least 21 because he told me that I was welcome to the casino in the back (weird, I know).

After about an hour, he (I'm sorry - his name is Eric) came back and we went out to go check my car. I didn't loose any radiator fluid (which is surprising, I guess) so he said to continue on to Vegas and to stop if I had anymore issues. He also asked me to turn the car on just to make sure it all sounded good. I put my purse into the car and came back out with a tract. We talked for a few minutes and it turns out that he goes to a Christian church on the reservation (his words, not mine - no idea what kind of church it is, but he took the tract). We said our good-byes and he walked back into the building. I turned to my car to open the door that I had shut after getting the tract. Guess what I found out?????

Yep, I locked my keys in the car......it's really embarrasing, but I did it. My car was running and the heater was still going from earlier. I hadn't cried up until this point but I was now. (Cry baby or not, I was annoyed with myself) I called my parents and my dad said to go back and get the security guard to come back and let me back in. Thankfully, my dad had told me to roll the windows down earlier, so Eric was able to open my door. I left soon thereafter before anything else could happen.

Dad said I would be laughing in 30 minutes after it was over (he told me this while I was crying on the phone). It wasn't 30 minutes later, but I do laugh about it now. (So do my friends....)

Well, that was the exciting part of the trip. My car is fine and hasn't overheated since. We think it happened because it was about 115 degrees and I had my AC running. Who knows. If anything, I have a good laugh-at-Kaitie story that will be used for illustrations in the future.

I did make it to Victorville, where I spent the rest of the weekend with some family friends.

Well, got to run, but I will blog more later. Night

School Starts Soon!

Hey everyone!

Well, for those of you who don't know, my parents went to Washington D.C. for a long weekend as part of a business trip that Dad had. Talked to them tonight as they were standing on the grounds near the Lincoln Memorial. I think it would be so neat to go visit D.C. and to see all of the historical sites that are dedicated to those in the history of this great country. I told Mom that it sounded like she was having too much fun and that I was very jealous!!! ;) lol

Well, as far as school, my first day is August 31! I talked to my old job with California Psych Care today and they are hiring me back on again which is great! I have also signed on with Usborn Books. You know those Mary Kay parties? Or Scencey? Well this is along the same lines, just with books! Which, frankly, I think is a lot better, and being such a book lover and avid reader myself, a lot more fun! The neat thing about that is that I am a consultant for the rest of my life and I can back off of it if things get too crazy for me.

Please pray for me. I have a lot going on and a lot of decisions to make. Life is just crazy!!!

Well, I gotta get up early in the morning so I will post again later. When my parents return, I will post D.C. pictures that they brought home!

Night =)