To Snatch A Suitor

Listen up ladies far and wide in search of a man! Have I got great news for you! If you have been waiting and waiting for Mr. Right to come along, but alas, he has not or worse yet, he has ridden off into the sunset with another fair maiden, I have the answer! Man-Catcher Brownies*. That's right!

Don't believe they work? Skeptical? Well, allow me to prove to you their effectiveness.
Observe exhibit A. Fair Maiden Jane offers the bait to possible prince charming Jack. The temptation is too great for Jack. He takes the bait......
...he consumes it.....
....hook, line and sinker! Hoorah, Hoorah! He can no longer resist her chocolate charms. He drops to one knee and the date is set for August 9, 2008.

Ok. Who's next? Take your pick, bake a brownie and then enjoy the results!

* If anyone wants this recipe, let me know- they really are yummy! I got the recipe from my friend Bonnie's blog, www.generalismo.com

** In case you didn't realize, this is meant to be satirical. In no way do I ensure matrimonial bliss for those who bake and attempt to lure with these delicious morsels. Please do not sue or send hate mail if it does not work for you!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

I love you little man! Happy 5th Birthday! I can hardly believe it's been that long since you were born, but it has been such a blessing being your big sister!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

Happy 21st birthday* Kayla! As Angela and Josiah said, now you can drink and buy your own ammunition! (she would not do the former, though) You are a super sister and I am so blessed to be called yours! I love you!

* Actually her real birthday was yesterday, July 13!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful summer weather! Dad is on vacation starting today, so we have some fun water plans for this upcoming week! The last week has been spent shopping for the BIG EVENT, organizing for aforesaid event and quilting for... well, you get the idea. We got to visit with friends a bit and go to prayer meeting, but we're just so busy doing wedding stuff that there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel!!! Just kidding! I'm quite enjoying it!

Anyway, all of that to say that over the next few weeks I will probably be doing very little posting because of all of the preparation and vacation activities. Keep stopping by, though, and leaving me some comments- I love comments, it's my favorite part of blogging! : )

You may be wondering why I put a picture of a yellow fish at the beginning of this post. Well, many of you know that we are big Finding Nemo fans and I've always wondered what the name of the yellow fish who was obsessed with and quite possessive of bubbles was. Surprise, surprise, his name is none other than Bubbles. My cousin Renee, who is a bit preoccupied with bubbles herself, will be thrilled at this discovery. Anyway, Bubbles is a Yellow Tang and he costs about $25 at a pet store (looks like any future fish I get WON'T be him)! Thought you'd enjoy that information! If you ever have a question about virtually anything, just Google it!

Family Camp Days 6 & 7

On Thursday some of us had a volley ball tutoring (we called it a clinic) by Rhonda, whilst others participated in the fishing derby. Fishing is fine, especially on a quiet day with a good book to read while you wait, but alas, I lack a pole and I needed very badly to learn how to play volley ball. You see, our church plays volley ball a lot and I think it would be good to actually know how to hit the ball, rather than just wack it to protect my face! Rhonda was a great teacher and I learned a lot! Although, I haven't been able to practice once since camp. Bummer.

That evening we had a campfire near our cabin. It was so nice. Campfires are delightful. The Smiths always have fun bon-fires, but I haven't been able to make it to one yet this year. Maybe another one Lori... hint, hint! At our campfire we roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, swatted mosquitoes, took goofy pictures and sang songs. Pat played his old trusty gee-tar while we sang our usual songs, like "Big House" and worship songs. Josiah sang "Wicked Sharp" to Kayla (great song- all about Maine love... hehe) and then George dedicated a song to them entitled "Sippin' Cider." It was slightly shocking, but very funny!
On Friday we had our actual volley ball game, which was lots of fun. I don't remember who won or such like, but I remember doing plenty of falling on the ground (that's me) and laughing. After the big game was done some of us girls played against three of the guys and they had to use their heads and legs and weren't allowed to use their hands. We were. We lost. But it was a rip-roaring good time, despite. (Good for the guys' ego too)

After the volley ball game George invited some of us to a fierce game of Scrabble. He won considerably, but Josiah K, Emily and I didn't do to bad either. It was good for the brain!

In the evening, awards were given out (of the chocolate kind. Yum!) and we were told the winner of the week....... The Den of Knights! Kudos to them! They worked super hard to memorize verses and Sarah was an excellent drill Sargent (I think she was called the Memory verse Nazi)! We VIPs didn't lose by to much. We weren't the very insensitive pilgrims, but tried to be the very illustrious pilgrims (not exactly the word to use, but you know what I mean to say, I hope!). After that we all got out our cameras and viewed a slide show of the week, complete with musical accompaniment!

Camp was such a blessing to our family this year and I pray that it will continue to bless those that attend in the future! God is good!

*I hope you've enjoyed this journaling of my camp experience. If it's bored you, I'm terribly sorry, but now it's over, so you can jump and cheer!*

Strawberries

On Monday and Tuesday we went strawberry picking. I really enjoy strawberry picking. I'm not quite sure why- perhaps it is because there is something singularly beautiful about the shining, red berries, plus, unlike a grocery store, you get to actually "try them out"!
Mom said that strawberries are one of the most photographed fruit- I can see why, they are gorgeous. There is nothing like sinking your teeth into a sweet, juicy strawberry. And it really can only be done once a year, because they aren't as good when they are frozen and then thawed. Strawberry shortcake, strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp, strawberry smoothies, strawberry ice cream, strawberry jams and jellies, strawberries dipped in chocoalte..... am I making your stomach growl? If you want to see something really cute you should go over to Lori's blog and look at her little boys covered in strawberries- now that is a great photo! Despite all of the sweet things you can do with strawberries, it can actually help whiten your teeth!
So, have a wonderful Independence Day and go sink your nice pearly whites into a delicious strawberry!!

Family Camp Day 5 part 1

On Wednesday we had our big ping pong/foosball tournaments. Kayla and I played as a team against Sarah and Katie and it was soooo much fun! I don't even like foosball, but we all kept missing the ball or hitting it into our own goals. We were in hysterics laughing (well, at least I was)! Katie and Sarah won, but I think it was the closest game I played! That was only because of Kayla, though. Then I played Hannah in woman's singles foosball- I was soundly beat. Enough said. I think Hannah was the runner up or maybe she won, I can't remember. Kayla and I played against each other in ping pong and I did alright, but Kayla beat me. Needless to say, there were no candy bars for little old moi!



That's ok, though, cause I have this wedding that I need to be able to fit into a dress for, don't ya know!


Most of the people in our church like to play games and even if they don't, they are good sports about it and join in when we're doing group activities! There is certainly the risk of making a fool of oneself when playing these sorts of games, but hey, it keeps us humble and everyone else laughing!

Here's Marissa's thumbs up! I think this is such a cool picture- John-boy took it, along with several other goofy pictures! Aren't digital cameras great?

Family Camp Day 5 Part 2

In the evening, after our session, we performed our skits for everyone! It was lots of fun. Our skit was, well, interesting. We ended up starting over and then when it came time for Ethan to say one of his lines he said, "again?"It was pretty cute. Then he kept telling each of us our lines! It was rather cute, but I'm not expecting any awards!

The Knights did the Fiery Furnace. Marissa was supposed to play one of the three (Shadrach, Meschach or Abednego), but she didn't want to, so then ended up pulling in Micah as an understudy! He was so cute. It was a great play and they did so well, complete with many laughs!
The Dennys did the battle of Achan and another person that whom I can't remember. It was the most action packed skit- they had several sword fights, Rhonda was killed twice (how did she manage that?) and Josiah was killed once. They did a superb job!
The Wardwells was the best of the night- they get the Academy Award for most creative and funniest! They did David and Goliath with Cindy as Narrator, John as the narcissistic brother and also the Pa Grape Jesse, Hannah as the umbrella obsessed brother and also a sheep, Emily as the haughty, yet funny King Saul, George as the Terminator-like Goliath and Stephen as David, with his trusty six-shooter (a.k.a. water gun). I laughed so hard I was crying! I don't think I could relay their performance to do it justice so I'll just leave it at that! I can't wait to see what they have next year.

After that Kayla and I did the "Honk if you love Jesus" skit, which was fun to do. Then Pat did King Ooga-Booga to John, Dave, Josiah K and finally dad. I won't tell you much about it, other than he pretends to be some sort of savage tribal chief and you have to copy everything he does with a suprise for one person at the end. But I won't tell you what it it, just in case you every want to try it yourself!

So that was our "Very Imaginative Pilgrim" evening and it was a grand one!

Family Camp Day 4

Tuesday was a pretty laid back day. We had our usual morning sessions and rounds of ping pong. After lunch we worked on our skits. Each family was to pick a passage from the Bible and set it to play-form. We chose the feeding of the five thousand. Rehersing our skit was so much fun! I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time- my stomach ached afterward!! Messing up my lines, Kayla re-reading parts over and over again, Ethan repeating his lines incorrectly, Dad trying to deepen his voice and over act while playing Jesus, mom's interesting attempts to be a blind woman- it was all too funny. (I guess we could say that Dad's version of Jesus was what William Shatner's would have been like- I thought you'd enjoy that Ali)

While walking to the shower room in the morning, Emily, Hannah and I came upon this lady slipper! So lovely. They are endangered and you can't find them just anywhere. I took Katie and Shay up to see it later. I'm so blessed by young ladies who appreciate and notice the little things in life as God's hand and His masterpieces!
In the evening, we played this great game called Mission Impossible. This game includes 2 riddle solvers per team and runners. There is a truck in the middle of the "playing field" in which there stands a person with a flashlight and a person holding the riddles. Runners must make it to the truck without being identified by the man with the flashlight (Pat). When they do, they get a clue from the riddle lady (Rhonda). Then you take the clue back to the riddle solvers. Once they solve a riddle you must take it back to the riddle lady without being caught by the man with the flashlight. And all of this is done in the dark! Got it?
So the Den of Knights chose Tammy and Josiah (D) as their riddle solvers. The VIPs (tonight we were the Very Invincible Pilgrims) chose George and Cindy. It was all a bit hard in the beginning because we weren't quite sure how to go about doing it, but we eventually discovered a grove of trees and ran to them and then made a mad dash for the truck. Well, I was so excited about this brilliant idea that I was chuckling to myself while running sneakily to the trees. Whilst I was doing so, I ran right into a low-hanging branch and fell flat on my back- yes, yes I know! Pride comes before the fall. Needless to say, I lay there on my back trying to supress a laugh, while sounding as if I was crying. It was great! Pat kept confusing Hannah and I for each other, so we kept making it to the truck for clues. The other team switched shirts everytime they came to the truck- this was a good idea and most of the time they were mistaken. They switched even to the point of Lance where Katie's sweater, which was about ten sizes too small for him- it came up to the middle of his torso and halfway up his arms- it was hilarious. Seth also wore Sarah's hoodie, not realizing till later that it was covered in a bunch of little hearts!! Poor mom- she kept getting caught and then laughing about it. I don't think she made it to the truck once! The last time she got caught she said, "well, I'm trading in my sorrows!" You could always tell when Josiah K was coming because you could hear the clomp, clomp, clomp of his skateboard shoes! In the end both teams ended up tieing, so we were each given the same clue and the team that figured it out first won. We gathered around and threw out our ideas, but in the end Banana girl (aka Hannah) firgured out the clue and we won! It was all terribly exciting! : )