the county fair with rachael!

This week Rachael came in town! We had a great time with her. Here I'll show the pictures of us at the fair. :)

Tuesday was fair entry day! So after all the stress we enjoyed some time at the local soda fountain. The Simpsons were at the soda fountain too.
Friday night we volunteered at 4-H food stand with Julia and Samantha. I love working in the food stand, it's a blast!

The cowgirl pose :)

After our shift we played Bingo :) Another one of my favorite things to do at the fair

We got to watch a little bit of the rodeo too.
'rope 'em cowboy!'

Saturday Rachael did the animal scramble and she got a chicken! Yeah rachael! Spencer caught a goat! Nice work!

Happy Fathers day Dad!

You're the bestest Daddy!

Luv ya!

A blessed mother's day!

I hope that all of you had a blessed mother's day celebrating our moms. :) I know that we did! Here is an overview of our day...

Mom wanted to go hiking on mothers days, so we went to Hitchcock nature center. We had a wonderful time observing the flowers and birds.

This bird is a Rose breasted grosbeak. Isn't he lovely?

This bird is a eastern Towhee, we think. :)

Afterward we went to the small town of Missouri valley, and guess what?! They had a wonderful little ice cream place! Their tornado's (similar to dairy queen's blizzards) were excellent!




I was privileged to make my mom a flower arrangement for mother's day. :) This bouquet is the second real bouquet that I have made, the first one was some flowers my lovely friend Hannah bought for me to arrange for my birthday (all the non-bouquets were just buying a 6.99 bundle from the grocery store and re-arranging it). This time I went straight to the flower shop, and I had a clear idea of the flowers that I wanted for the bouquet in my head. When we got home I put together the bouquet, following directions in a library book I checked out. Let me tell you, the entire time I was buying the flowers and arranging them I was sooo excited and thrilled to finally be making a real bouquet!

Here is the finished product!

The bouquet was made up of purple daisies, green mums, lilies (the lilies are not open yet), babies breath and bells of Ireland (one of my favorites!)

I Love you very much mom! You are the bestest mom ever! I hope your day was special, because you are soo worth it. :D

today is national day of prayer

This is a prayer written by Franklin Graham:

Lord,
We are thankful for the abundant blessings You have bestowed on America. Our forefathers looked to You as Protector, Provider, and the Promise of hope. But we have wandered far from that firm foundation. May we repent for turning our backs on your faithfulness.
We pray that this great nation will be restored by your forgiveness.
From bondage, You grant freedom.
Through Your own sacrifice, You offer salvation.
From the state of despair, You offer peace.
From the bounties of Heaven, You have blessed - not because of our goodness - but by your grace.
You have given us freedom to worship You in spirit and in truth as Your holy word instructs. My our lives honor You in word and deed. May our nation acknowledge that all good things come from the Father above.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that our nation should set apart a day for national prayer to confess our sins and transgressions in sorrow, "yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon..." announced in the Holy scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
"We have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our own hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own... we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us! It behooves us then... to confess our nation sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
Help us to pray earnestly for our president and leaders who govern, that they will humble themselves and seek Your guidance so that everything we do will shine the light of Your glory in a darkened world. May our prayers as a people and a nation be heard and blessed for such a time as this We make this plea in faith, believing in the mighty Name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen

Happy Easter!

Jesus is my king!

I hope that you are having a great Easter, remembering Christ's death and resurrection for you, so that you can be free!

My 14th birthday celebration

While we were in Utah Grandpa John and Becky threw a very pleasant birthday party for me! They served New York Strip steak with baked potatoes and salad. Afterward there was cake and ice cream.

Isn't it cute?

Grandpa John and I.

Dad and Elliot serving the cake at lightning speed.

Blowing out the candles!
Thank you everyone for the wonderful memory of my 14th birthday!

a great valentines day visit

This weekend our family came in town we had a fun time together. Please start reading from the bottom of the post to the top. :D

After dinner we had chocolate fondue! Very good!

Mom and I.

Oh yes, and we got tips for exceptional serving. Rachael was very excited about her 4 dollars!

Elliot and Mom.

Us with the food. New York strip steaks, seasoned rice, green beans sauted in bacon and broccoli with lemon juice and olive oil.

Elliot looks just dashing!

Awwww

I did all the cooking for the night, besides the grilling Dad took care of that. :)

Rachael looked soo adorable!

I went up to talk to Elliot about what we were going to wear and I said "You can just where a nice shirt and jeans with a belt on." He said, "Nope, I'm wearing my suit coat and tie." So that's what we did and Rachael and I had to dress according to his high standards too. :)
Later on that night we (elliot, rachael, and I) made a fancy dinner for Mom, Dad, Pat, and Tracy.

Finally it's on!

That thing was painful!

Swimming at the pool. I decided to were a swimming cap. :P Rachael thinks this is hilarious.

We were all having way to much fun. :P

Playing Catan, the greatest game ever!