Storms

Last week we had a supercell storm come through and direct hit Rotan.  We had a very small tornado or two and about 4 inches of rain fall in about an hour.  It was intense!  Here are the girls while we hunkered down in the guest room as a shelter!  They were troopers and loved it...we made it fun and brought blankets and snacks and played farkle!

When the storm was over we looked out the door and this is what we saw...the parking lot was flooded, the barditches were full and the road in front of out house was flooded!  I have never seen that before!  

The next day we drove around some to see more of the damage and flooding.  This is where part of a road was washed out by where some of our friends live.  They still have the road closed because it tore up so much of the road that it is not safe to drive even though the water is not high anymore.

Here is the main road coming out of town...it was completely flooded still in parts, but the night before most of it was underwater!

This was a field...now it looks like Lake Rotan

This is one of our friends' barn.  They parked their farm trucks under them to protect them from the hail...not sure if this turned out to be any better

We lost power through all of this starting around 5pm on Thursday evening.  We didn't get power back until Friday night around 10pm.  It made me so grateful for the privilege of living in the USA.  So often I take for granted power, the ability to take a hot shower bc of hot water heaters, the ability to keep perishable food in a refrigerator, air conditioning.  There are so many places in the world where these are luxuries and yet I was miserable bc I was without for 30 hours.  It definitely put things into perspective.  

Needless to say, when these guys showed up on Friday night to start fixing our poles, we were very excited!

Bffs

Last week, Cheyenne spent the week with her Nana in Abilene.  We weren't able to go out there til Friday, but we met them at the Abilene zoo...our zoo pass allows us to take in up to 6 which was perfect!  As soon as they saw each other there were big hugs!!!  

They walked around holding hands most of the day!!

I had Baby Emery with me...this is how we roll!!!

And you can't forget Dakota!!! She was so enamored with Emery....

...and the waterbottle!!

These girls are so precious!  I love them and I love that we live close enough to Abilene to meet up and stay in contact!  They are bff's and I think they always will be as long as we are able to stay in touch!  That shouldn't be a problem because I kinda like hanging out with her mom too!

Recital

A couple of weeks ago we had our girls' recital.  We did ballet with Ballet Abilene and we have loved our experience there!  This was our first big recital experience!  The recital was at the Historic Paramount Theater in Abilene.  It is a gorgeous venue!  Dress rehersal was Friday night and we planned ahead to stay in Abilene that night with my parents since we figured it would be a late night. This was the first time I have done stage makeup for my girls.  It is a lot of makeup!!! But they looked gorgeous!

We had to get to the rehersal at 4 for Bria but she didn't practice until 645!!!  Her group was towards the end of the first half.  She fell asleep in my arms at one point for about 30-45 minutes!  It probably helped her get through it all!  When she woke up she had a cookie waiting for her that daddy had gone to get.  Doesn't get much better than that!

I got some pictures of Bria during dress rehersal, but not MK, my phone died and I grabbed the car charger instead of the wall charger....doesn't do me much good if I am not near or in the car!!

Here are the girls on performance night!  In my noviceness I didn't pack clothes that are easy to have tights on underneath and easy to change out of, so that afternoon we went to Kohl's and got them these cute and brightly colored sundresses!  I love them!

Here is Bria about 5-10 minutes before she went on stage!  Cutest.Lion.EVER!!!!

And here are some of her other lion friends...sweet girls!  Next year Bria will move up to the next age group class!  It will be fun for her as she lives for Ballet and will be able to get into more technique!

And here is my sweet doll, MK!  She still has not decided if she wants to do ballet again next year or if she wants to switch over to gymnastics!  Either way I know she will do great...when she sets her mind to something, she does it!!!

And here are some of her fellow dolls!

Overall we loved this year and are so excited for next year!  But before that we will have ballet camp for Bria with a special friend coming as well!!!  Cheyenne will be joining her for it!  

Snakes

Sunday afternoon I took the girls to Walmart to look for birthday presents for Mike.  We got home and Mike was still at the baccalaureate service for Roby High School.  While we were at Walmart we also got a hummingbird feeder.  We have ALOT of hummingbirds and the girls really wanted to get a feeder so that we could see them more up on the porch.  We got home and went into the house, wrapped Mike's present and filled the hummingbird feeder.  We went outside to hang it.  We decided where to hang it on the porch and MK went in to get me a stool since I am short.  As I was standing there waiting watching Bria play by the front flower bed, I looked over to the right and noticed a rattlesnake!!! This is the first rattlesnake live or dead that I have seen since we moved here outside of the roundup.  Bria was great...she was only about 4-5 ft away from the snake.  I immediately told her to get in the house bc there was a snake...she obeyed beautifully!  We went inside and I grabbed the gun...unfortunately when I grabbed the magazine to load it, it was empty.  I tried to overcome my shaking hand to load the ratshot into the magazine and went out on the porch.  I shot it and it didn't move much.  I am not sure what I was expecting.  So I shot it again.  In my franticness I only put two rounds in the magazine, so I went inside and put a few more in.  I didn't want to take chances that the snake was only wounded or that somehow I had missed.  I shot it again and 2 more times....never too many times for a snake I say!!!  Of course 5 minutes after I killed it Mike came home!! I made hime do the dirty work and cut off the rattles for me!

Here is a pic of the snake after 5 rounds of ratshot...it was dead!

Before Mike cut the rattles off, he let MK practice using her bb gun and she shot it a whole bunch and then he took the shotgun and shot it close range twice to make extra sure it was dead dead and done!

Here he is holding it up so we could see about how long it was...We figured out it was about 38 inches or so without the rattles...the rattles add another two inches...pretty bit snake...and old!

Bria was being brave and holding the trash bag for Mike while he disposed of it!

And here are my rattles...they say that each rattle is a year of its life since it sheds its skin each year and that forms the rattle.  This particular snake had 11 rattles...quite the old snake! 

On a side note, I am so thankful I saw the snake sitting there before Bria got any closer!  She likes to come up on the porch between the two garden beds and had she done that the snake likely would have bitten her. Also, I am thankful that the snake was pretty calm.  The sun had just dipped down behind the house enough to shade the garden beds and the snake was sleeping in the shade.  We hadn't disturbed it (until I shot it)...it was not defensive.  It was minding its own business.  God was looking out for us and protecting us I know!

32

I have a bunch of posts that I want to post but I have no internet and I need to post them from my computer.    So tonight I will leave you with an ode to my husband on his birthday!   Since he is 32 today here are 32 reasons I am thankful he is alive and mine!
32. He kills spiders
31. He takes out the trash
30. He has an awesome beard that he keeps bc I love it!
29. He has such a strong faith in God
28.  He is always encouraging
27. He Loves God with all his heart and soul and mind
26. He teaches our daughters to do the same
25. He sets a great example for our girks for how they should be treated
24. He always treats me wuth love and respect
23.  He gets that I am a little crazy and unpredictable and..
22. He loves me for it
21. He puts up with all of our girly stuff
20. Family is 2nd for him only behind God
19. He seeks Godly wisdom
18. He strives for righteousness
17. He likes to cuddle
16. He knows the importance of reading Gods Word daily and tries to do so
15. He is big and strong
14.  He puts up with and supports me with everything I overcommit to
13. He is willing to explain everything I ask about all the sports we watch and he does so with patience and love
12. He is silly...and silly with me and silly with the girls
11. He loves to have fun
10. He makes discipline and self control and integral part of his character
9. He strives to live above reproach
8. He takes his responsibilities to our family very seriously
7. He preaches the Word unashamed, allowing God to speak through him regularly
6. He is incredibly hot!!
5. He treats our girls and me like princesses
4. He is the perfect balance in character for me
3. He understands more about me than sometimes I do
2. He love, cares, and prays for the members of his church like they were family
1. He loves my cooking and I love to cook for him!

I could go on...but I guess I have to wait for him to get older!  I love you babe...Happy Birthday!

Goodbye dear friend :(

I am going to have to say good bye to one of my best friends soon....and before you get too emotionally involved, I should warn you...it is not a person! 

7 years ago I recieved my beautiful cuisunart 7 cup food processor for christmas from my sweet inlaws.  From that moment on we were inseparable, whipping up countless sauces, pastas, even all of Brianna's baby food!  We have been there through thick and thin...literally, pasta dough can get pretty thick!  

About a year ago I noticed the plastic on my blade beginning to crack and I thought...I may need to get a new blad at some point soon.  I hadnt thought much about it since.  Today I got out my friend to whip up some pasta dough for pasta rollatini.  I thought again about replacing the blade and went about mu business mixing.....UNTIL.....

....it wouldn't turn on!  I pressed the button on then pulse then off....unplugged...plugged back in...it went finally...then the next three times it wouldn't...then it worked one time ...then the next three times it didn't....

I am sad...and grieving this great loss ...I love to cook and my cuisinart is used several times a week (which is probably why it is about to die)!  So right now I am waiting for it to die...it could be tomorrow, it could be next week...only time will tell!  Now to convince hubs (and the budget) to let me get a new one...I have a feeling he will be easier to convince than the budget...he really likes pasta! 

R.I.P. my cuisinart...you've been a good friend!

Almond milk and almond flour

Almond milk is not my favorite.  Especially store bought almond milk.  However, I wanted to try making it and I love using almond flour in certain baking products.  This recipe makes almond milk homemade and then you use the rest of the pulp to make almond flour.  

Start with 3 cups of almonds.  I used these almonds bc its what I had...but literally, use what you have or what you prefer.  I don't mind using the skin, but if you prefer not to, then either peel them or buy peeled almonds or almond slivers, or whatever you prefer.  

Pour 6 Cups of boiling water over the almonds and let them sit for about 1 hour.  If they sit longer its not a problem...you could also use room temp water and let them sit for 6-8 hours, but why make the process longer than it has to be...Right!

I added about 1Tbs of Vanilla to the almonds and water to give it a slight vanilla flavor.  I really liked that addition, I think in the future, I might add a vanilla bean into it cut open.  You could also add some prunes to the almonds and the water to soak to add sweetness to it.  Whatever you prefer.  

After the almonds have soaked, take the almonds and water in batches and puree it in a blender.  If you use an actual vanilla bean, I would not puree it, take it out before you puree.  It should look something like this:

Once all the almonds and water have been pureed, place a double or triple layered cheese cloth over a bowl or pitcher and pour the thick mixture over the cheese cloth. You want to be careful that none of the pulp leaves the cheese cloth and all the liquid is squeezed out of the almond pulp.  I got impatient and started squeezing before I adequately secured the cheese cloth and I had to strain it twice!

This is the almond milk...easy peasy!  This recipe left me with about 36 oz of almond milk.  I put mine in a bottle and used it as needed.  I actually liked it a lot better than store bought almond milk.  It had a better flavor!  Just remember to shake the almond milk every time before you use it.  It has a tendancy to settle and separate as it sits in the fridge.  

So now what....well, all that pulp that you strained out, put it on a baking sheet or two and preheat the oven to the lowest it will go (about 200*) and let it dry out for about 2 hours or so.  When I do this again, I will use two pans.  One pan seemed to take forever to dry and I didn't quite dry it out completely which I could tell when I took it out, but I didn't figure it would matter much...and it doesn't, except that by not getting all the moisture out, I ended up with moldy almond flour after about a week.  So...very important to get ALL the moisture out.  

Once the almond pulp is dry, run it through a coffee grinder or food processor.  You are left with this!

It was delicious!  I made pizza crust out of it and flatbreads out of it...Great!

1st softball game

Saturday was a busy day for us!!! We had a t-ball game at 11AM here in town.  Here is Mike and his team in their after game huddle!

While we were waiting for Mike to finish packing stuff up from the tball game, this little daredevil was convincing me that she is no longer scared of heights!

We left the tball game and headed straight to Mk's first softball game.  We picked up Subway for lunch on the way.  The game was about 25 minutes away.  When we got there we all donned our Diamond Diva shirts to support our team!  Before we knew the name of the team or colors or anything we had the opportunity to order parent shirts to support the team.  So we did, I figured it would be fun to support the team!  I talked to Mike and we ordered one for each of us and one for Bria.  About a week later Mk received her uniform and we started to wonder...will the shirts be the same as her uniform shirts...hmmmmm...and then yes, yes they were, so now my sweet husband who would do anything for his girls has a big old hot pink shirt with a tiara on it!  

So Mk has never played baseball or softball before...but she LOVES it!!! And she really isn't bad at it...in her first game she went up to bat 2 times and got a hit both times...the first time she was stranded on base with outs.  The second time, she was able to score a run!  

This little miss was so over the hot sun and baseball...after her tball game and sissie's softball game she was ready for a nap...

Softball is really cute because of all the little girlie touches that it has...for instance...after every game, they do high fives just like baseball, but then both teams circle up at the pitchers circle and do a little chant/cheer together!  Its great!

All in all, we had a lot of fun, Mk loves the game and is looking forward to the rest of this season and also to many future years of softball!

Since this game on Saturday, they had games on mon,and tues, and they have a game tonight!  This weekend is the girls' ballet recital and Tuesday was the last ballet class.  We have all enjoyed ballet this year, but I am glad to have at least one thing off our plate for now!!!  So bring on the softball and tball games and the end of the year!!!  

Enjoy these pics of us and the girls from after the game!

This week

This week was so so busy!  It started off with a trip to dfw to do some hair...I did 17 clients in a little over 24 hours!  Crazy...I know!  But I love it!  The rest of the week was our usual grind of ballet...tball...softball...ga's...school...watching Emery...housework...etc...etc...but here are a couple pics of our week:

I didn't get to run all week, but finally made it out tonight.  Its amazing how much progress you lose when you lose a week of training.  However, I am more motivated than ever to keep going.  Halfway through my run I stopped to take a drink of water, turned around and was greeted with this gorgeous sunset!  Thank you Jesus for the ability to run and the beautiful Earth you created for us to enjoy!

My bookworm daughter decided to check out the dictionary from the library...for FUN!

Friday night I made chicken and waffles from scratch for the first time ever....it was DELICIOUS!  The girls and Mike agreed!

Mk had a sleep over and I was surprised...they were just as happy to play phone games next to each other...I made them not play the whole time...they also danced in the rain!