to the 4th of July and New Friendships

Well, this 4th of July started out as any other day. We woke up with no plans...none. A few people told us they may call, but by Sat. morning, we still hadn't heard anything.

My phone rang, and it was our new friends. Heather and Tate. They invited us to the lake with Tate's family. We love new people, so without a thought we said yes. We spent the day just hanging out at the lake. It was such a relaxing day and now we have new friend! When fireworks started we were surbrised to find out that not only could we see one fireworks show, but 3. It was awesome!

Thanks Heather and Tate!

This is 2 of the fireworks shows!

This was taken at about 9:30pm. It was so dark! The "Kids", (heather) were lighting sparklers, so I was able to find a focus...when I did...VIOLA! By the way, I was able to take this photo becuase my in-laws bought me an awesome tri-pod for my B-day! Thanks Scott and Anne!
This is Tate and Heather, and Finley. We met heather first at her boutique. Catfish & Tater. you have to check it out! Blog and Website! check out the website! also, she has an Etsy!

Tate and Finley

This is my hott husband Andrew on the 4th of July! Just Chillin in his new shorts! I love this man! Hope you had a fun and safe day too!

29 and dont feel a day over 18...

This is me, yesterday, at worlds of fun in line for the Mamba...yes, that is how I chose to celebrate the Day of my birth! ROLLER COASTERS! I was listening to a birthday message and I was much happier than my face shows! Thanks to everyone for sending out a message! I am truly blessed to be in the place that I am. I have a brilliantly amazing husband, a family who loves me and supports my life, a ton of precious students who I love and who love me...and I serve a living Savior that gives my life hope, meaning and purpose..."who could ask for anything more!"

Beard Family Reunion

This is the lineage of Granny, all her kids, grand-kids and great-grand-kids...minus Heather and Ben. Back in the day, before cell phones, granny used to set dates by "meeting under the clock in union station". Happy 85th Granny!

you may think this is cool...

We had a Bible study at our home yesterday morning. Somehow, the conversation started between us and 2 girls about scripture they were studying and struggling with a little bit. The first one says, "the one I was looking at is Acts 8, where Philip is called by the Holy Spirit to speak to the Etheopian about what he was reading...here let me look it up."
At this time she pauses to look it up, and I flip it open and scan it while the other girl begins, "The one I was struggling with is in Isaiah 53, who is this servant who has to take on all this sin...Jesus wasn't around yet."
So I explain that this was a prophecy...but as I begin explaining, I continue to read...and as I was doing that I stopped, flipped back to the passage that the Etheopian was reading in Acts and read it outloud.

The scripture that the Etheopian was reading and struggling to understand "unless someone explained it to him" in Acts 8...was Isaiah 53...

Goosebumps anyone?!

Post-It attack!

So, Ben and Taylor are known around our neck of the woods for pranking us. We just got back from camp and came home to this.

If it wasn't so amazing, it would be a pain in the butt! They basically painted our walls with Post-It notes!

Hey there, where have you been?

It is sort of sick, I know. Where have I been?

Let me just say that if you are genuinely concerned about my whereabouts on the ole' blogspot, maybe you should consider writing a check for me to purchase a working computer for my home. Work and blogging do not go hand in hand for me quite like the FB and work. So that is where I have been. So Andrew brought his work computer home, so I thought I should catch up just a little! (but only a little, cause I don't have many photos to share...I have about 4 photo shoots to edit, however, Photoshop is on my computer that has crapped out!)

Since March..

• We took the 10th grade girls on a retreat
• My cousins Tammy and Tyler came to town and we got to hang out in April, that was super special.
• We went to Springfield for Blast from the FN past. A little Icthus reunion.
• We have had a hundred youth events
• My BF Jenny came to town for the week, which was awesome! It was awesome to have her visit my home for the first time.
• I went to Austin for a quick "visit"
• I had my Nephew and Michelle staying with me for 2 weeks! (Which was a bitter sweet treat-I will say without much detail)
• My mom and Dad came to see us.
• We worked after prom-which was pretty fun
• We redid our back yard and now have an awesome out door space to hang out in.
• We started doing these one day mission projects in the summer!
• We went to the lake with a fam. from church-but it was so stinkin cold, I didn't get in. (but good news, we are going to the lake tomorrow)
• we went to see my all time favorite band...311 along with Ziggy Marley with Andy and Bridget from Springfield.
• I got to see Amber, Titus and Justus.
• and we got back from camp in PCB Florida on Monday. We took 45 people for a week.

and since we got back on Monday we worked a 12 hour Tuesday and a 15 hour Wednesday! SOO...we aren't going in today!

Now we are planning what is next! Today we purchased our hotel, car and plane tickets to California for Chris Sturgeon's Wedding! we cannot wait!

I have a few photos on this computer to add so enjoy what I have for now, and I will definitely hook up my hard drive and add some more later! Excuse how horrible they are I have not put much time into the "art" lately!

I love you all!

this is an older photo and my hair doesn't look much like this anymore!

this was a Lock out that we did. We took the students out from 9pm to 8 am. went bowling, to a movie and to play ultimate Frisbee. We finished off the night with breakfast!

this is a shot from an Easter photo shoot that I did with John , however I haven't had a chance to edit yet cause of the whole computer debacle.

This is from the girls retreat!

I will be back soon with some good stories and with some photos that are actually decent!

Ski trip

So, we just got back from Colorado, Winter Park...We took 23 people, 9 parents, 2 kid sisters and 12 boys. It was soooo much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!!

I spent a whole day taking photos of the boys boarding. We did have a few accidents though! 2 broken wrists, a mild concussion, and 12 stitches...our motto became "Go Big, or Go Home...or to the infirmary". We went with Student Life, Steve Fee came out and led worship, which was wonderful and David Rhoads spoke, which was also amazing! The last day, we got to the mountain at 8:30 and skied till 3, we then waited for some stitches to get finished, and then we headed to Denver, ate, and then continued on our way! We got back to KC at about 8:00am and then we all went to work and school! We are a little crazy and I am a little tired, but here are some un-edited photos that I took of our boys!

Thanks for stopping by!