Church Family Retreat - Post 1

We had our 2nd annual church family retreat this weekend. I took SO many pictures, that I will have to break the weekend up in several different posts. We rented a 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom cabin 12 miles north of Broken Bow. The cabin was SUPER nice. It was 2 floors, and had 2 living areas and nice big kitchen. Becky Blackburn and I headed up there early Friday afternoon to prepare some food and get things ready for when everyone arrived. We could not have asked for a more beautiful weather. The whole weekend went great and everyone who came had a great time. We are already planning our retreat for next year, which we have decided to keep on Columbus Day weekend.

A picture of the front of our cabin. The cabin is built in to a hill. The top level is actually the main level which has a living room, kitchen, laundry room, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The bottom level had a living area which also had a sink and refrigerator, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Friday night we celebrated Autumn's 7th birthday, which was on Thursday. Friday was also Becky's birthday.

Michael & Earl in the living room

Friday night we played the Amazing Race game and it was SO much fun. We divided everyone into 4 teams by drawing names. Here is team 1 - Rod, Lenita, Reese, Ryan & Butler. Melanie was there judge.

Team 2 - Michael C. and Shianna, Michael and Courtney. Becky was their judge.

Team 3 - Earl, Lanny and Erin. I was the 'judge' that traveled with this team.

And team 4 - Ben, Amy, Scott (who was the judge), Dolly and Ethan

One of the clues was 'Over the hill and thru the woods to grandmothers house we go. Find the gravel road and turn left. Go to the end' I believe my team and Becky's team are the only ones that went through the woods, the others went down the road which took a little longer. Earl & Lanny making their way thru the woods

And one stop, they had to move the hula hoop around them without letting go of hands

They also had a ROADBLOCK at this stop, and Earl had to do 25 jumping jacks. And they all had to say their ABC's. This was toughest for Lanny - who is an elementary school principal...lol

At the final stop, they had to find the cabin closest to a tree with the #10 and a tee pee, and knock on the door of the nearest cabin and sing the national anthem. They somewhat figured out that it would be someones cabin they knew - and it was, the Adams and Backus cabin. My team was the first to reach their Final Destination.

We hid out in the bedroom while we waiting for the other teams to arrive and find out what order they placed. The team that Michael and Courtney was on, knocked on the wrong cabin door (another cabin that had a tee pee) and soon realized they were at the wrong cabin. Luckily, no one was home!

Eventually, everyone reached their 'Final Destination'

Evan trying to explain to Lenita why she lost. She doesn't like to lose. At all!

We went back to the cabin and laughed at every ones stories.

Erin, Shianna, and Courtney

A cabin in the woods is not complete without a campfire.

Michael and LannyJohn Henry, Ben, and Rod

Rod, Chuck & Evan

Reese & Ryan playing ping pong

We are still in the processing of moving, so I'm not sure when I will get to update with more. I have lots of funny pictures from Saturday!

Catch up!

I have had a busy couple of weeks, and haven't kept my blog up to date. I should be packing/moving right now, but instead I will do a quick run down of the last couple of weeks:

Two weeks ago, I went to my 3rd cake decorating class. We learned to make rosettes and mums. It was fun. Last week would have been my final cake decorating class of the session, but I skipped it to work in our new house. Yes, I am a cake decorating class drop out, but my sister in law graduated. So she will have to tutor me on what I missed during the last class.

Here are some basic flowers that I made during class on my practice board.

I forgot what this flower is called and I have my book packed away - but it was easy to make.

I took my mom to see her heart doctor in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, and my grandmother went along with us. We stopped to eat at On the Border before hitting Target and TJ Maxx. We had a good 'Girls Day Out.'

Last week we became homeowners again. And what is the first thing we do when we buy a new home? Tear it up! The house we bought had tile counter tops, and I wasn't sure how easy that would be to keep clean. The grout was already kind of dingy looking, and I scrubbed and scrubbed with bleach and could barely tell a difference. So we thought it would be easiest to fix it before we moved in.

Rod and Evan beginning to rip out the counter tops

Michael and Caleb had to join in on the fun

I should be getting my new counter tops installed tomorrow.

This past Saturday we had our annual work day at church. Courtney went with me and did a good job helping out. She cleaned lots of windows and blinds. Now, if I can just train her to do that at home!!!

After we finished cleaning up, Mel and I decorated cupcakes for a baby shower on Sunday. Evan even helped us! We had a lot of fun decorating together, and I can't wait until we do it again in a few weeks for a wedding shower!

After our busy morning at the church building, we went to our new house to work. They delivered my new furniture, but since we still had some drywall repair and paint to do, I had them leave it in the plastic so it wouldn't get messed up.

Michael, Molly and Courtney testing out the new kitchen chairs

Mandy working hard. We took down the border that was in the kitchen. It took myself, Mandy, Molly, Melanie and Rod all taking turns working on it to get it down. It was not a fun process.

Sunday was the baby shower for Heather. I made a Texas A & M themed diaper cake to give to her as a gift.

The cupcakes Mel and I decorated for the sports themed baby shower

I am off tomorrow and Friday. I am working on packing/moving tomorrow. And Friday we head north of Broken Bow for a church retreat. I can't wait!

Lesson 2 - Cake Decorating Class

Last night was lesson 2 of the cake decorating class I am taking. We each took an undecorated cake, along with 2 batches of icing. It was so much better than last week when all we got to do was make stars on cookies. I made a couple of mistakes on my cake, but I learned from them, so next time should be a lot better.

Here is our instructor, Luann, demonstrating how to ice a cake with the icing tip. SO much easier than using a spatula!

This is make cake after I iced it, but before I smoothed it. The trick is to let the icing set up, and then use either waxed paper or a paper towel to smooth the lines out.
Becky with her cake in North Lamar colors. I am sure Seth and Hudson loved that when she got home :)

And my cake. I messed up on the blue part of the cupcake, but learned from my mistake so hopefully I will get it right next time.

Next week we will learn to make flower. Can't wait!

Class of 1990 - 20 year reunion

This past weekend was my 20 year class reunion. WOW - that makes me sound old! We had about 90 students in our graduating class, and 23 showed up at the reunion, all but 3 of them had their spouses with them. It was fun visiting and catching up with everyone. Even though I haven't seen some of my girlfriends in years, we picked up just like it was yesterday since we had seen each other. Lisa (Harris-Pence) and I started working on the the reunion back in April or May with a couple others, but in the end it was pretty much left up to me and her to finish it. We were able to get in touch with all but 11 classmates. I thought that was pretty good. We were a little disappointed that only 23 RSVP'd, but that is as many, if not more, than we had at our 5 year and 10 year reunions. Everyone there agreed they wanted a 25 year reunion in 5 years.

Just for fun, here is a picture of what extremely cool hair looked like in 1990! The trick was to use lots of hairspray and spritz (do they even make that anymore?) and a blow dryer to get the sides to stick out. Looking back, I really don't know what we were thinking... I am on the left, Angie Black Hughes in the middle and Melinda Harris Oats on the right.

Toy showed up Saturday morning to help us decorate. We had the reunion in the banquet room at the Ramada Inn.

The display table. I didn't get a picture after we finished it, but here it is in progress.

Since we really didn't have any extra money to decorate with, we chose the easy and cheap balloons to add some Patriot color.

After a 6 hour work day (felt more like 10!)

Amanda (Lewis) Coleman. She is currently living in DeSoto. She is a researcher for the UT Center for Brain Health and a Professor at Brookhaven College. She is currently working on her PhD.

Justin and Rod. I don't know if either of these two would have survived the evening without each other.

Toy (Varner) Wicker and her boyfriend.

Standing in the buffet line.

The Gordon's: Justin & Lezlie

Ahh....8th grade graduation. It was quite the event back in the day. I am 4th from the left in the beautiful blue ball gown and white elbow length gloves and the big hoop trying to escape out into the middle of the gym floor. I believe my mom still has that dress. Never know if the occasion may arise that someone needs to wear it.

Looking through old pictures

Me and Damon Clements. Damon was my next door neighbor growing up. He has an older brother the same age as my brother, and younger twin sisters the same age as my little brother. We use to all hang out together. Damon's band was the entertainment for the night.

Kandy (Reid) McIntire and her husband. Susan (Richey) Ballabina and her husband Eddie.

Me and Lezlie. One time while spending the night with Lezlie (we were Freshman), we thought it would be cool to ride her next door neighbor's dirt bike. Not a smart idea since I had never rode one before. I made the mistake of not asking where the breaks were before I got on. Drove it straight thru a barbed wire fence. After 40 stitches in my neck and 20 stitches in my side, I found out where the breaks were. Needless to say, I am not fond of dirt bikes.

Shane, Rod and Justin had loads of fun. Just look at them!

Me and Susan (Richey) Ballabina. Susan was one of my very best friends. She was Valedictorian of our class. So it is no surprise that she has a master in communications, and a PhD in public affairs. She is the Regional Program Director for Texas AgriLife Extension Service. She went to Tarleton, and every since she found out that is one of the schools Michael is considering next fall, she is pushing for him to go there. I really do think he would like it there. Susan has a 3 year old and an 11 month old baby.

Me and Lisa (Harris) Pence. It was a lot of fun planning the reunion with her. She currently lives in Quitman. She is a stay at home mom and a full time student working on her teaching degree.

Teri (Shelby) Moody and Camille (Sparks) Click

Me and Trevor Upchurch. Trevor and I attended the junior prom together. He now teaches at Prairiland and has Courtney in his history class this year. He is the same Trevor he has always been - crazy!

Me and Melinda (Harris) Oats. Melinda and I were pretty much glued at the hip all 4 years of high school. We had so much fun together and did a lot of goofy things - like dressing the same for school almost every day(and it wasn't even twin day)....ha

Michael Alberts and his wife Brenda. Michael currently in remission with Stage 3 brain cancer.

Damon and his band "Days of Gray." Damon has unbelievable talent! It really wouldn't surprise me if he becomes really famous some day! They put on a great show for us.

Forced smiles. Shane, Rod and Justin

Me and Brandon Oats. Brandon was Courtney's basketball coach last year. Brandon won the award for least amount of hair.

Damon talked Amanda into singing with him. She agreed only after he said he would play a gospel song. She sang "Amazing Grace" and it was awesome! I literally got goose bumps!

Clowns will always be clowns. Trying to get a group shot of all the classmates.

I was pleasantly surprised that Rod stayed the entire evening. Even when he had his own ride there and could leave whenever he wanted. He helped tear down decorations and load them in the car. He is such a good husband. Even though I know he only stayed because Justin didn't have a vehicle there and couldn't leave. So, basically, he was staying for Justin, not for me. But...he did stay :)