Fort Worth Stock Show 1/31/2009

Steve LOVES to go to the Ft. Worth Stock Show every year. I think it brings back memories from his childhood. Blake and Camille already had plans for today so we took Grant and headed back in time. Grant loved having his picture taken with the animals. Here they are having a demonstration of the milking machines. I have never been a milk lover as I was also a farm girl. Too much warm whole milk for me in my youth I guess....but every time I see this demonstration I wonder why I drink milk at all!! I am beginning to think dry cereal sounds pretty good.

We loved seeing all of the miniature horses. Many of them were the size of a dog. Here Grant poses with the horse named Charlie.

OK so I was thinking...........If you put a steel ring in someones nose they would pretty much do whatever you want them to. Isn't this animal cruelty?? What we do in the name of beauty. This cow was getting a hair cut for show time.

We enjoyed watching some of the young kids show their animals. I came from this kind of background and it brought many good memories back to mind. Not that I ever showed animals because I hated getting my hands dirty....I did however have to change water lines, butcher chickens, haul hay, feed the horses, pigs, cows etc. My Mom use to tell me all the time that out of all of her kids I was the one who just did not like the farm life! But what I have come to appreciate is what it takes to live that kind of life. These are good down to earth, hard working people. In many, many respects I wish my kids had opportunity to grow up on a farm! Grant was soon ready to head home. After all...after you have seen so many cows they all start to look the same.

You know you are raising a CITY BOY when you ask Grant, what are these? and he says..cows! Just for the record Grant these are sheep. Oh you should have seen the look on Steve's face. I could read it loud and clear..We have failed our kids! :)

This cow was massive. Steve said Isn't that a beautiful cow? Can cows be beautiful I asked??

Blake and Camille went with a group of kids last night to the big Rodeo and said they had a blast. We tried to get tickets for tonight's rodeo but it was all sold out. Maybe next year!

ICE DAY!

Who doesn't love an ice day? School was canceled today because of bad weather. You should have the heard the cheer in my house last night when the kids learned that school had been cancelled. We all stayed up late last night just like it was a holiday! It was raining ICE! Blake's friend Colton came over last night for a couple of hours and when he went to leave his car doors were frozen shut. Give it a day or two and we will be back in the 70' or 80's and I am not joking! ;)

Blake and Grant had fun doing donuts in the ice.

Blake had a few close calls!

Who doesn't love a day that includes hot chocolate?

I am thankful for ice days, hot chocolate and the noise of the kids being home! What a great day it has been.

"And five of them were WISE...." Jan.22,2009

We had our first Enrichment night of the year last Thursday. It was the new Presidency's kick off of the new year and theme...which is, "And five of them were WISE..." taken from the parable of the 10 virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. It was a fun night full of food and FRIENDS.

The evening started off with some time for socializing. It was fun to have time to sit and talk with each other. We had 49 sisters there. My friend Deeann opened up her beautiful home to all of us and was so gracious and giving. It was the perfect setting for the evening. After a about 45 minutes we had a short program that introduced the the special interest groups we were starting. Merlaine introduced the groups and group leaders of each group. 1. Cooking group 2. Service group 3. Explore DFW 4. Literacy group. We had a lot of interest and I think the sisters were excited to get involved in "filling their lamps."

Then my friend Dina sang a beautiful song in titled "When He Comes for Me". She is a master at performing and has such a gorgeous voice. It was very moving. Thanks again DINA!! This is the final song for the program that we will present to all of the sisters at the end of the year to conclude our theme.

Our New President Christine did a wonderful job teaching us to fill our lamps one drop at a time. WE are the virgins...there is good in each of us, but will we be prepared? Are we spending our time on the things that will fill our lamps or do we put off getting oil? At the end of the evening we gave each of the sisters a book light with the theme printed on it. We thought that it would be a great reminder through out the year as the sisters read.

This was such a fun night for us as a Presidency to put together. We struggled at first as to which direction to go but as we prayed a studied and searched, the theme came and it all fell together. I believe that the Lord is in favor of this work. He wants us to be ready. It is my prayer now that we as a Presidency will inspire each of us as sister to have a desire and feel the urgency and the need to fill our lamps with oil.

(To see a complete explanation and pictures of the evening see my friend Dina's blog. She has it mastered! I would copy and paste it if I knew how! ha:)

Blake Graduates from High School! 1/8/2009

Here is a picture of Blake at about 4 years old. (This is a perfect example of my lack of computer skills as I cannot get the photo any bigger or scanned in... in the right size. I am trying to learn. If you click on the photo it will enlarge.) There is a song called "Sunrise Sunset" that makes me cry every time I hear it. "Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play....I don't remember getting older. When did they?" My darling baby boy Blake Taylor Williams graduated from High School ( mid year) on January 8, 2009. What a time of mixed feeling as a parent. I am thrilled for him and the new adventures that lay ahead. Don't we actually prepare our kids for this very day? To step out and be successful on their own! But the emotions of them actually growing up and leaving home are pretty overwhelming. I guess I would cry MORE if they NEVER left!! Why is it as all of the other parents and grandparents are sitting there yelling and screaming for their kids, I sit there with tears streaming down my face?!

Blake is my third child. I have sweet memories of him as a child. He was an easy going baby. A fun loving kid who loved to work with his dad in the yard even when all of the other kids tired Blake was still there. He was our comic relief and his personality drew many to him. He was a generous happy boy with a gravely voice that was so unique to him. This does sound a little like an obituary doesn't it! :) Just let me reminisce..............

Blake's Senior Picture. (Mom's favorite picture)

Most of you know Blake has his own landscaping business. This is one of his prized lawn mowers that he calls the "The Haas".

Grant was at the graduation photo shoot with Blake and so they had a few pictures together. They are the best of buds and Grant will be lost without Blake when he leaves....if the truth be known I am sure that Blake will be lost without Grant as well.

The moment of freedom. Blake was the tallest graduate that night.

Blake and two of his buddies all went out and bought blue and Yellow (school colors) bow ties for the evening. They were the hit!

The family at graduation. Grant slept through the whole thing!

Blake getting ready for graduation. Why do boys always strike this pose?? It is a boy thing.

After graduation we all went to dinner at a fun little Hibachi place to eat. Notice in the background the table of stalkers that just happened to show up after we started to eat. It was actually really funny and they added to the fun of the evening!

Camille and Blake

Blake getting a dessert sent to him from the next table of "women admires" ! HA

Those are some dang darling women admires! (HA and great friends.... thanks girls! ;)

*Blake, We are so proud of you....Now go make the world your own!!

OK so call me Nieve 1/3/009

I was at a Sara Brightman concert a couple of months ago and saw that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra would be in town in January. I thought Steve would love that, so I bought tickets for us as a Christmas gift. My friend Rebecca also bought tickets for her husband. I was so excited for the evening because I thought I had such a great plan. Steve kept asking me who they were. I said they are like Mannheim Steamroller but with a big light show.... Isn't that what you thought? Come on side with me! We sit down and the base comes SCREAMING out!! It was terrible!! It was so LOUD and did not sound much like music at all. It would classify as SCREAM-O. I am sitting there thinking what on earth have I gotten us into. Steve's reaction was priceless as I know he was trying his best to be grateful but hating every note of it. The first half was a Christmas show and they played Christmas songs with a hard rock twist. Somehow it felt very wrong! I wanted to leave so bad but was not sure how to escape....and of course we were stuck in the middle of a row with one way out and the couple next to us were very large. I was about ready to crawl over chairs! Really. The second half did calm down a bit but not much. We left after only a few minutes. When we got out Rebecca said, "I thought they were like Mannheim Steamroller." THANK YOU... I said ME TOO! Rebecca sent me a write up in the paper about the concert that said, Heavy Metal Rock Band TSO really delivers! Yes, I took my husband to a Heavy Metal Rock Concert! Please don't tell me kids especially Blake!! (For those of you who know the whole concert history! HA) What on earth was I thinking! I will do a bit more research next time. We did have a nice dinner afterwards but we all needed Advil first!

The Joy is in the Journey

Over the past few days I have made several posts in order to get current before the years end. As I sit here and reflect on 2008 I realize that we have had many ups and downs just like the rest of you. Life is always good at giving us challenge and lessons to soften and strengthen us. But ..oh how grateful I am for those lessons that change us and make us better. I feel an immense amount of gratitude for the blessings that I (we...my family) have in my life. The Lord had been so kind to me. As I look back on some of the post of this silly little blog I started as a way to journal our everyday lives , I am a believer that the JOY is truly in the JOURNEY.....

New Year's Eve 12/2008

The kids all had great plans for an eventful night. I must say that as a Mother this night ALWAYS puts me a little on edge! Carly was headed to the young single adult dance and then to her Friend Cory's house for an after party. Thanks to Camille,Carly had a dress to wear. She definitely sparkled...just look at the picture.HA

Blake........well what can I even say? A picture is worth a thousand words. Blake was all decked out to go to the youth dance at church. He wore his shirt his Dad brought him form Africa and his emergency preparedness whistle that he sported in his mouth for the stroke of midnight!

Camille was also headed to the youth dance and was a bit more "normal" than Blake. Check out her darling new sweater. She and Blake even danced together doing all of the dips and turns that Blake wanted to do. Finally at about 2:30 they were all home and I could finally go to bed without worrying. I was so grateful they were all home safe and sound.

Brothers Day Out 12/29/08

Blake bought Grant some legit golf clubs for Christmas. This was the day they headed out to test them out. How darling is this picture?

Blake is a great big brother and so good to always tote his brothers and sisters around. He will be missed once he is gone. Blake is the comic relief of our family!!

FIGHT NIGHT at the BISHOP"S house!! Hummmmmmm 12/27/08

Boys will be boys.......... Some of Blake's friends in the Ward decided to have a fight (boxing) night and showed up to one of the leaders home who thought they were coming over to watch a game. Of course it was a night full of great stories of who whooped who. The videos were very telling as yes... STEVE (BISHOP) was right in the middle of it all and could be heard on the tape encouraging them on. Many of the more refined parents were shocked at even the thought!! :) Of course Jackson and Blake BOTH wore their 'Victory Suits" the next Sunday because they both thought that they won... even though they fought each other! HA This night was the re-match. Steve once again was in the middle. I was a nervous wreck and told them that they were limited to 2 one minute rounds. They both got some pretty good hits in and again they both wore their victory suits to church the following day. LET'S RETIRE THE GLOVES!! PLEASE!! :) Hummmmmmmmmm...shouldn't he be trying to stop this??

Just call us the CLAMPETTS!! (as in Beverly Hillbillies) My kids don't even know who the Clampetts are...really?? 12/26/2008

We spent the day after Christmas "cleaning up". We raked leaves in the back yard, cleaned out the garage with all of the boxes that Steve put there from the office, of course all of the Christmas junk and just the day to day living during the holidays. Just look at the end result! My kids were so embarrassed that they would not even invite friends over until it was gone. Steve was some what shocked that the garbage men really did take ALL of it. Poor guys..we should have run out there to tip them but we were all too embarrassed! ;) Carly celebrating the completion of the job!

We actually filled Blake's truck up a few times!

Working together.

Steve looking like an official leaf blower.