SATURDAY....

was my official introduction to the Women of Faith conferences. I have never felt higher. Then I realized it may have been due to our seats being this far from the ceiling....

and this far from the floor.

The speakers were wonderful. I am a big fan of Sheila Walsh so I really enjoyed hearing her. The dramas were outstanding. But my main reason for sitting for hours were these two ladies right here...

That's right peeps...it is Mary Mary, and oh how I love them. Even if there names aren't really Mary. Thank goodness I wasn't one of the ones who called "Hey Mary!" when I spotted them in the hall. Of course, I never got close enough to the ground to spot them, but I am pretty sure I would have given "Mary" a shout out, and that would have been embarrassing. I was so happy to hear their music and their stories. Real women with real kids who really pooped on her right before she went on stage.

I concluded that the main purpose of the conference was to get away with other gals, and get encouraged. I decided that the next one I attend will be a four day affair. 26 hours is just too fast.

Did I mention I had Starbucks coffee for the first time? From the hotel. The free pack. They can keep it. Also, I rode public transportation for the first time. I felt so citified! NYC here I come!

We had a great time and it was nice to get away. I recommend it for a girls weekend away. Take all four days! You will need it. To wrap this baby up, here I am with the MIL. She so loves her nickname. Kinda like how she loves to say I am her favorite daughter-in-law and then I remind her I am her only daughter-in-law.

Yep, she has jokes.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS....

Friday evening, my MIL and I headed to Dallas for Women of Faith. We knew we would be pressed for time if we got away when we expected to, and we did not. We made good time. By the grace of God found our hotel and got parked. That was the easy part. Seems at the exact moment we wanted to ride the elevators out of the garage, some one decided to test all the fire systems, which made the elevators non-functional. We located the stairs, said our prayers, and headed 5 flights down.

The door then opened up onto the street, which got us completely lost. Fortunately, there were some nice moving men who pointed us in the right direction. We entered the Plaza of the Americas, and got lost again. So again, some nice people pointed us up an escalator, where we found a most gracious young man who could tell these girls were out of their element and walked us to the hotel. We checked in with no problems and decided after all that walking we were hungry. TexMex was our craving, but not within walking distance. We asked the concierge about places to eat. He says "Sure there is a steak house called Dakota's and it is usually pretty good. Let me call."
Don't we feel special now.

It was all a set up.
We walked down to the restaurant and within about 30 seconds knew we were not in Kansas anymore. MIL said "See that woman is casual" to which I replied " Yes, but she isn't Wal-Mart casual". We opened the menu to find NO prices. Bad sign. B...A...D... sign. But we figured since HH and my FIL have splurged on a few meals in our presence we could do the same. Three hours later we finished our three course Restaurant Week Special. The only thing that made me feel more justified was that a portion of the proceeds went to charity. Or perhaps it was a portion of my meal because those servings were teeny tiny. We had a good time watching all the other people though and the food was good. We hiked it back to our hotel, met our rommie for the first time and then we crashed,ready for what Saturday held.

OFF TO WOF

I am off to Women of Faith this weekend with MIL and some church ladies.
Did anyone else immediately go to Dana Carvey?
I am pawning the MCs out.
HH is excited to have some alone time.
He has decided to switch out the exhaust on the motorcycle.
Seems doing it by himself sounded great in his head,
not so much in action.
So he has a friend coming over to help.
Have a great a weekend!

SOMEONE....

is still here.

And someone...

is getting a tad "too comfortable" on my front porch.

* For the record--he is chewing his leg. His bum is clearly on the ground - Becca!

RODEO TIME...

It is rodeo time again! MC 1 was so excited.

His response when pulling into the arena,

"Man, it is good to be back".

MC 2 is eligible to participate,

we are just undecided.

For one thing, it's MC 2.

Him on a horse is an anxiety attack waiting to happen.

Second, MC 2's rodeo starts very early in the morning and last past lunch.

MC 1's rodeo - 1 1/2 hours.

We have a month to decide.

Must say I agree with MC 1.

It was good to be back.

SWING LO' SWEET CHARIOT

I took the MCs shoe shopping Friday. MC 2 was successful, MC 1 was denied. He can't understand why mom won't pay $90 for a pair of shoes.
We started at our local Academy Store. On the way in MC 1 found a deceased butterfly. He laid it on the ground by the truck while we went in. Upon returning to the vehicle known as Ol' Blue, MC 1 decided he wanted to give the butterfly a proper burial. He began using his finger to dig a small grave. I was trying to get MC 2 in the truck because it was HOT. He kept yelling I wanna see! I wanna see! so I relented. During our impromptu moment of silence. I hear a soft voice start to sing Jesus, Jesus.....Seems MC 2 felt the occasion called for song. I expected him to bust out with some Sweet Chariot, and had he known it he probably would have. It was too funny!
Unlike discovering the MC 2 had been going commando all day while we were in the movie theater later that afternoon. That was not so funny.

FLOORS AND FASHION

BIL has been working on our floor.
Remember our floor, that we ripped out nearly a year ago?
Yes, that one.
We were moving along nicely this week until I actually went to Lowe's to purchase the floor.
And let the salesman completely point me a different flooring direction.
Which will frustrate BIL to no end, but he will roll with it.
Has to, I already ordered and paid for the new floor.
Yesterday, BIL came over with my niece and nephew.
I also had sister #1's (by birth order- you other two don't get your knickers in a twist about who is the fav.....I love you all equally!) 3 kids because she and BIL had "BUS DRIVER RECERTIFICATION"....oooooooohhhhhhhhh.
Throw in my two and hello....7 kiddos - 5 boys, 2 girls.
One of my niece's has a birthday coming up so I gave her a gift.
Other niece, who just had a party and received a gift as well from me, walks up and says:
"Uhmm.. you know I had a party and I didn't get a gift from you."
"Uhm.....yes you did. I gave you those two dresses, remember?"
"No."
When I was retelling her mama that story, she replied to said niece with something along these lines,
"Remember, Aunt Rhonda got you those dresses that you liked. Remember, how she did a good job picking them for only having boys?"
Not that I have ever, E-V-E-R, claimed to have any kind of fashion sense, but I do believe I have maintained my XX's enough to know little girls like flowery dresses.
On that note, my friend Casey is a small fashion icon in HH eyes. So much so she is my go to woman when he threatens to send me shopping. I am choosing not to tell him she is about to start a cooking class...he will have me signed up before I can even finish.
Anyway, Casey always looks very "put together" when HH sees her. I have been on retreats with her so I know the truth;) I have seen the no-makeup face. I love her still!
A couple of weeks ago, she came by the house in her casual wear.
T-shirt, some form of stretchy pant, tennis shoes, you know....everyday stuff.
HH was home, or came home, or whatever, while she was still here.
He was floored. Seems he has never seen her like this. He did not know how to respond and it was all over his face and eventually came out of his mouth.
"You went to town like that? I don't think I have ever seen you like that?"
My - how the mighty have fallen.
Casey and I had a good laugh.
Then I went back to put on a clean pair of stretchy pants.
I love fashion!
Have a great weekend!