High Five for Friday

1.  Famous Texans Day  In fourth grade, McKay is studying Texas history.  Each of the kids had to select a famous Texan native, learn about his life, and do a brief presentation for the class.  I brought Megan and Emma along with me to see McKay as Nolan Ryan.

2.  Flowers.  Last week, my friend's daughter realized at the LAST minute that she was LATE for a field trip at the high school.  I was available, so we jumped into the Jeep and drove like the wind to meet the bus.  We had to hunt it down, but we found it, and she made it to her field trip.  Later that afternoon, my friend came by with these gorgeous flowers to thank me.  SO unnecessary, but SO appreciated.  I LOVE fresh flowers.

3.   Finished Painting.  It's a really bad iPhone picture, but it's an update on the major redecorating project that I took on right before my in laws arrived.  I LOVE the way the dark walls warm up the whole room.  There's so much more to do, but this room, and this warm little corner with my dad's beloved angel painting, make me infinitely happy.

4.  Drop Sites at the elementary schools for Oklahoma tornado relief.  The things we're able to give individually are small, but combined, it's enough to fill many, many trucks.  

5.  A Full Dining Room Table.   I LOVE having people in our home.  I LOVE that we have abundance to share.  And I LOVE looking around at a dining room table filled with family we adore.

Try to ignore the swatches of fabric and paint all over the walls, and the fact that Savannah is no longer capable of taking a serious picture.  (ugh...)

Hope it's been a great week for you, and that you have something fun planned for the upcoming long weekend!  <3

Adventures

I almost accidentally titled this post "Six Flags" until I remembered that I don't actually LOVE that place.  But I wanted to document the fact that I did something scary and adventurous last Friday.  

A few weeks ago, the choir director at the middle school sent out an email begging parents to sign up to be chaperones for the annual band/orchestra/choir Six Flags trip.  He said he desperately needed parent volunteers or the choir would NOT be able to participate in the trip.  He offered FREE ADMISSION to any parents willing to ride the choir busses and spend the entire day at the park.  (I have come to know this man well enough NOW to know that things are a little more urgent in his mind than they actually are in reality.)  Emma took up the cause that week and pled with Craig to PLEASE chaperone this event so that she would be able to go on her first official choir trip.  Craig said yes.  And then he somehow coerced me into going with him.  (...ugh...)

I've been around a few blocks to know that there are some things in my life that I dread at first, but then end up loving after they actually happen.  

The Six Flags trip was not one of those things.   

Here are my reflections on the day, after surviving the bus ride home, taking a HOT shower to dissinfect all the park germs, and loading up on a mega dose of Claritin/Zyrtec...

And here is the evidence that I did ride some rides, and I did attempt to be adventurous.

SUPERMAN...I'm not sure what possessed me to get on this ride...probably the fact that there was no line.  It was insanely scary for about 4 seconds when that little vulnerable seat shot up into the air about 10,000 feet.  And then another 5 seconds of sheer terror when we just hung out at the top and looked out over all of Dallas.  But the rest of it wasn't too bad, and the guy sitting next to me was very patient with all my screaming.  :)

CRAZY LEGS...this one might not look insanely terrifying, but it's deceiving when it's at this part of the ride.  This thing gets pretty dang high and comes ridiculously close to those low hanging trees over there on the right!

An ocean of hot, sweaty, exhausted 7th graders while we waited for the busses to take us home.  And that man in the middle is the choir director.  He is a saint to be responsible for all these kids.  A little intense and high strung, but a saint nonetheless.  :)

I'm happy to be able to report that I WENT on the trip, that I fulfilled my chaperoning responsibility, and that I rode some scary rides.  But I'm also hopeful that I will never have to go on this trip again, or ride a school bus again, or report on any more roller coasters.  :)

Southwest Airlines

You know, there are some things in this life that I would just never get to see or do without a handful of strategically placed relatives in just the right careers.  We spent the afternoon touring the Southwest Airlines headquarters today thanks to my pilot brother-in-law, Bret, who was in town for his semi-annual training.  

I had no idea this place was so cool.  

We spent just long enough in the corporate office to see the lobby and to have lunch in the amazing cafeteria.  I didn't get a picture of it because I was busy eating, but holy crap! this place was so seriously employee friendly, I considered for just a second starting a new career.  

Here's the view from where we sat:

Downtown Dallas on one side.

And the Love Field runway on the other.  

Unfortunately there were only a few planes taking off today because of inclement weather, and I couldn't get all my camera settings ready in time to catch them.  But how cool would that be to get to watch planes take off everyday while you eat lunch!?

We also got an impromptu tour of the dispatch area.  Bret found a super nice man who offered to give us a tour of the area and took so much time to explain everything including highlights from his 33 years at Southwest.  SO interesting!  (That's where I'd want to launch my second career!  Think 43 is too late to be an airport storm chaser/dispatcher??)  They wouldn't let me take any pictures in there so you'll just have to imagine dim lights, and a handful of cubicles with tons of giant computers monitoring weather radar and flight paths.  Amazing!

After the short tour of corporate, we walked over to the training center with Bret.

Also very cool!  We watched flight classes in progress, water evacuation training, and flight simulators in motion!

And this was my favorite part of the whole day...

These goofy little rubber chickens are hanging from all eight of the flight simulators.  Wanna know why?  Well, when the original sims were put in, they kept breaking down.  So someone had the great idea to hang the chickens there for good luck, to ward off evil spirits, and to keep everything in good working order.  

CHICKENS = no problems with the sims

Sometime later, a subsequent head simulator guy thought the chickens were dumb and asked that they be removed. And guess what!

NO chickens = tons of problems with the sims

The chickens were replaced and remain there to this day.  And there have been no major flight simulator problems since.  

Moral of the story:  DO NOT mess with the powerful mojo of the rubber chicken.

I LOVED hanging out at Southwest today.  Everyone was so nice to us and we had SO much fun.  Craig's parents were sufficiently impressed with Bret's knowledge and expertise, and they were so happy to have coordinated their trip to DAL with his training schedule.  

It's been a great week with the Grs.  

Baseball with the Grs

McKay had an amazing game this afternoon.  After the first inning, when I showed up, they were down 5-1.  

McKay played first base until the third inning and made an awesome play.  I have to say, I totally held my breath the whole time he played first.  He doesn't usually play that position and I was a little worried.   When they got up to bat again, they hit 5 runs and were up by 1.

Some amazing hits later and two awesome pitchers and we finally won the game, 13-12!  

Holy cow!  That was the most intense baseball game I've ever been to.  So MUCH FUN for the Grs to watch him do so well.  

High Five for Friday

1.  A Great New Book.  I LOVE reading.  I LOVE finding great new books.  I LOVE Maya Angelou. This one is awesome.  

2.  Lego Creations.  McKay helped Megan build this steam ship for a history project at school.  

3.   Redecorated Refrigerators.  This is an idea I stole from Pinterest, but it was such a good one!  And since I was redecorating the whole house anyway, why not include the refrigerator, too?  Those are IKEA placemats that I cut down (just a little) and used as fridge shelf liners.  Isn't it so happy and cheerful in there??  :)

4.  Concert #2 with the Grs.  Megan had her Spring Orchestra concert last night and it was amazing!  They played It's Time by Imagine Dragons.  And a whole bunch of other stuff that was equally impressive.  

5.  FOUR. STRAIGHT. DAYS. AT. THE. GYM.  This could be my new favorite way to relieve stress in my life...even AFTER my in-laws are gone.  

George W. Bush Presidential Library

A week ago when we were talking to the Grs about what they might like to do while they're in Dallas, my mother-in-law said she would be interested in seeing the new Presidential Library.  What a great idea!  This amazing museum and tribute to President Bush recently opened at the beginning of the month, so the Scout Master and I were excited to see it, too.

 Craig and his dad helping my mother-in-law with her audio device...it's an iPod!  Coolest thing ever.  Everyone gets one as they walk into the museum along with a brand new set of earbuds.  I asked what they do with all the used earbuds and the guy at the help desk said they sterilize them and send them to local, underprivileged elementary schools.  

I LOVE technology!

 

The 9/11 tribute was the most difficult to walk through.  It was like being there all over again. But it was so beautifully done and the memorial wall was so moving.  Everyone cried through that entire exhibit.

Actual cross beams that were hit by one of the hijacked planes.  

We all loved spending the morning in this beautiful museum.  It filled all of us with patriotism and a great respect for the office of President of the United States.  

Visitors

The Grs came in yesterday afternoon to visit us for the week.  

So far, one or both of them has gone to lunch (twice), to Savannah's choir concert, to the Scout Shop, to the outlet mall, golfing, to mutual to help corral squirrelly Deacons, to McKay's golf lessons, and to run various errands around town.  

I think we've worn them out already...and they still have 6 more days!  

Mother's Day

Here's how my day started...

flowers from McKay

a card from Craig, but made by Emma because he couldn't find anything good at the store

a green smoothie made by Savannah and Megan

everyone ready on time for church...hooray! 

After church, we found these things leftover from the party last night, so we HAD to use them!

And here was the best part of the day...

Twice a year, on Christmas and Mother's Day, the full time missionaries in our church get to call their parents via Skype and connect with their families.  The missionaries in our ward had made arrangements to go somewhere and call their moms today, but plans fell through.  We happened to have Skype at our house.  We also happened to have tons of food since the Scout Master did all the grocery shopping yesterday.  I happened to have the table set for 8.  And we happened to have no special plans after church.  So we invited the missionaries to come over for dinner and Skyping.

I can't tell you how overwhelming it was for me to listen to these two sweet boys talk to their families.  Elder Pruitt's family was SO excited.  He had cousins and siblings and a whole boatload of family gathered at his house to talk to him.  And Elder Maldonado's family was just as cute.  I overheard his grandma ask him if he was eating well and tell him that she would make sure he always had enough money in his account so he didn't have to starve.  (...sniff..)

They talked to their families for an hour and a half!  So I took a much needed Mother's Day nap while we waited for them to come back downstairs.  

And they emerged so grateful and happy that they had the chance to hear familiar voices just for a little while.  I so wanted to hug those boys and run back up there and tell their families how awesome they both are.  What an amazing experience to get to overhear these two boys who work so hard, who eat, sleep, and breathe the gospel of Jesus Christ, telling their families about their awesome (and some not so awesome) experiences in the mission field.  I love missionaries.  And when I have one out on Mother's Day, I hope some nice family will invite him (or her) over for dinner and let them call me.  I'm totally gonna be a mess.  I don't know how they do it.  Parents with missionaries are as amazing to me as the missionaries themselves.  

I loved today.  I love the mothers in my life.  I loved listening to those missionary moms.  And I love that we belong to this incredible church that provides opportunities like this for all of us to learn, and testify, and grow, and transform.   

Happy Mother's Day...especially if you have a missionary out serving in the mission field right now.  I think you're amazing!  <3