A Little Backtrack

These pictures are from "The Rock-n-Worship Roadshow" that we went

to back in February. For the longest time I thought I had posted them

and then realized that I hadn't!! What a shame! I guess our computer

was having troubles uploading photos then, but now its not so here's

they are! A few hours before we left we called Drena and got her

to come with us!

The evening started off with a few songs from 'Anthem Lights'.

They are a new young band that I'd never even heard of, but they

really did well! It was a pleasant surprise :P

Next up was Matt Maher. He had a unique style.

Then 'The Afters'. When I found out they were playing I thought

"Oh cool, but I don't really know much of their music..." Well, it ended up being

great! They played almost all the songs of theirs that I knew!

(Drumroll please) then was Disciple!!!

Um, lets just say the younger ones in our group were excited

about them... We were the only ones in the group who were excited though...

The following pictures should give you a little clue into the atmosphere of our

group and their response to this band :D Well... Little bit of a pained smile...

Whoooo this is so awesome!

Jared was excited too we just didn't get a good picture of his positive response.

Like the way he's trying to make sure his heart is beating okay??

It was hilarious to watch mostly everyone around us, not just the other ones

in our group sit. Rach and I were standing on our chairs!

Aunt Amy is telling us about how the lights mixed with the beats of the

music made her eye feel like it was coming out of socket... Okay, maybe

not, but that's what it looks like!!

And then the evening finished off with MercyMe!

We've seen them in concert quite a few times, and every time they are always

just so good! I mean, I've heard all their "hit" songs, and we have all their cd's so

its not like it is a surprise what the songs will be like, but they just are never boring!

I never get tired of hearing the songs. That takes some talent there!

Oh, and they shot off confetti and streamers :D

It was a good night!

Sunny Afternoon Walk

Devyn has been staying with Josh for a little while and while

he works she comes to hang out with Rach and I for a while :) Her latest

thing that she wants to do is take "Caffey" as she calls her for walks.

So a few days ago, even though the temperature wasn't very agreeable

we went out and took Caffey for a walk.Smile, this one's blurry but I really like it.
I love getting to hang out with "D".

We have a great time together, and I'm glad that I can

be around and available so she can come to our house :)

Ahhh, how I love this girl...

Birthday Dinner!

To celebrate our birthday with each other Rachel and I decided

to take advantage of Fiesta Cancun! A resturant that just opened in

Dixon. YUM! It was so good... They have the coolest decorations. The

colors are all bright, it is a happy atmosphere.And instead of breadsticks (like the Olive Garden) their little

appetizer is homeade salsa and tortilla chips! It is wonderful!
We went on the opening week so all the waiters and management
were coming by just about every 10 minutes to check on us and make
small talk. It was fun! Ordinarily it would be annoying, but this time
it just sort of added to the evening.
Before we left we got our waiter to take a picture of us.
We were going to go see a movie afterwards, but the one we wanted to see
wasn't playing in any theaters near us, so we had to take a rain check on that one...
Oh, and should I add, that the food there is WONDERFUL!!!
You should find a Fiesta Cancun and go to one :)

Pretty Much Pictureless...

A couple of weeks ago (doesn't it seem like all my posts lately have that

same opening... I guess it's been a while), Mom and I went and spent the night

with Lauren. Wolfgang was in Germany visiting his family and so we went

and had a girls night. The next morning we went to the Woodfield Mall and

wandered around and found these massage chairs!! Look at Laurens face!! Her

chair had these pocket things that you stuck your arms and legs into, then they

filled with air and kind of like "locked" you in and the chair would start moving!
It was like a stretch thing. It was sooo weird!!!

And later, after having lunch at Red Robin (yummmm) with Laurens brother, we went to the Rainforest Cafe and looked at the fish. They were pretty!That's it for pictures. We did lots of talking, and playing with the dogs, and coffee, and really just had a great time hanging out. Mall shopping, a Willow praise service, dinner with Mary Sue and Billy... Lots of stuff packed into a short amount of time. But it was so much fun!

Thanks Lauren for having us!! :D

Ice Skating.

A few weeks ago we got to join a bunch of our friends for

the greatest girl day we've had in a while! 13 of us in one vehicle and 4 in

another. We went ice skating!! It was so much fun!They had the lights down, the music up, and all of us together...

Um, there's not much more you could do to make it better!
It was all for this girls birthday! Our friend Anna wanted to do something
fun so ice skating was what she decided. We all had smiles all day.

A couple of us taking a break.

And talking :D We did a lot of that...

Goin' Home. (Day 7)

Saturday morning was bright and sunny... But we had to leave :(

We got to the airport and said goodbye to Mourey and Marge. Their flight

wasn't until later. :D My parents had no problem wandering around the

Brownsville airport because it was so small :)

And the clouds were so thick underneath us! They looked so cool!
You couldn't even see any of the ground for quite a while.And once we got on in Dallas to head back to O'hare I slept pretty
much the whole flight back. I had a book I was trying to read but didn't
get through much of it ;)
Here's Mom, Dad and I waiting for baggage at O'hare.
Isn't it funny, we had a week in Texas bliss, and just this quick it was over...
4 little pictures sum up our entire stay and now it's over?
And then my Mom's nephew Lewis, (I swear this guy's gotta
be a saint, or angel or something :D) he took us to O'hare the day we left
and picked us up and took us to Aurora *where my parents are more comfortable
driving*.
Thank you Thank you Lewis!!!!
And then it was all over. Back to the real world...
Home again home again jiggity jig. Or however that goes.
It was such a wonderful trip!
Thank you Mourey and Marge for having us along!!!
And it was such a fun way to get to spend our birthday week... :D

:( I Don't Like Goodbye's...

Aunt Louise. I will miss you. You were such a special and unique part

of my life! I love you. And I certainly will never forget you ;)Gone - flitted away,

Taken the stars from the night and the sun

From the Day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart.

~Alfred Lord Tennyson~

Dayyyy 6! And, Our Last Full Day :(

On Friday, our last day to go "do" stuff, there was a landmark that

certain parties wanted to make sure us girls got to see before we left ;)

So, Friday morning we got ourselves together and headed off to see the Rio Grande.

Now, it is a hilarious story, and you HAVE to ask sometime. It is so funny!

But anyway, we saw this and just HAD to get a picture by it especially for

Wolfgang! Look! We found a big blue tarp!! It was covering part of the wall

that was being built around the Rio Grande...And there it is...
All of us except Marge (who so kindly took the picture) in the little
overlook area. It was so warm and sunny out that day... (sorry I only have
a post or two left to brag about the warmth...)
And this one is especially for T. Mourey actually pulled over and parked
to make sure we would get a picture to have for you of this... And he wanted
us to text it to you just to rile you :P
Next up was lunch. We decided on a place called "Dirty Al's". That sounds
very reassuring and appealing doesn't it!? There was a guy on the plane that
my Dad was talking to when we flew into Brownsville and he told us we had
to make sure and go there because they had the "best" seafood...
Oh my goodness he was so right! Not only was it wonderful but it was huge!
The shrimp were the biggest ones I have ever seen, and everything was
delicious! And I don't even like seafood very much!
And of course where there is a body of water, there will be seagulls...
Dirty Al's was right next to the shore so we took our leftover french fries
and bread and fed it to the birds.
I 'sort of' freaked out when they would get too close... So I opted for just taking
the pictures and recording... :D
After feeding the birds we headed off to the beach! We spent the rest

of the afternoon there, and when the sun started going down we said our

goodbyes to the beach and got a group picture.
Isn't it a nice picture...?

We really don't want to go... :(

Then after getting back to Brownsville we 'had' to stop at this little

ice cream place. We passed it every time we went to the beach and figured it'd

be a great "last hurrah" to finish our day.
It was.

Then the last stop of the night before heading back to the condo to pack

was Cavender's! Rachel really really wanted to find a western store while we

were in Texas so she could buy a hat... We had to search a while but finally found

a store closeish to us and went. Let me tell you, that store was so cool! Rach and I

decided we could just live in a store like that!
And she found her hat :)

Friday was definitely a success.

Day Five! Goin' a Visiting.

Day five we got a pretty late start. It was nice to just relax and have

an easy paced day. We left Brownsville and took off to our first stop,

which was supposed to be a visit to Betty and Larry, but it ended up being a

gas station :P We all had our morning coffee's and. And of course the sign

out front of the station was advertising icee's... I succumbed :D
After stopping at the gas station we felt a little silly because we literally
turned the corner and were at Betty and Larry's campground.
They were well, and it was so nice to see them. Heh, you like it how we in Illinois have our little flower boxes, and the
Texans have their cactus boxes :D

The campground they are at is beautiful! There are lots of really tall

palm trees, and well, its just so nice!

Betty even let us accompany her to the "Jam Session". It's a once-a-week

happening there and she really enjoys getting involved.

Annnd look what I found!

My favorite! Traffic cones :D

Some roadside cotton plants. Crystal decided we need a few pictures.

And I never got tired of seeing the orange groves. I wish we had some around here.

Um, this was from one of our little 'adventures' on our way to the

cemetery and before visiting Rich and Jill. But, it'd take way to long to

explain the whole story on here, so if you are wondering, you'll just have

to ask sometime :)

And the last stop of the night was visiting Rich and Jill!

The campground they are at is really cool too!

And they also fed us a wonderful cook-out supper!

It was a wonderful day five :)

We stayed there with them way past dark, and they gave us a mini concert

and it was lovely getting to visit them.

Thanks all for yet another wonderful day!!