Big PBR Night in Orlando!

There it is... Me and one of my favorite bull riders Mike Lee. He didn't manage to git-r-done last night, but I forgive him! Everyone's allowed an off night.

















This is Brendan Clark. Aussie rider from Beyond the Bull fame. Nice accent. Bull riding.... well, we'll cut him some slack...




















This is the big opening! "This is no rodeo..... "THIS IS THE P... B.... R....!" Insert grand pyrotechnics and screaming fan noise.















This is Tater Porter, local boy done well in professional bull riding (despite Silver Spurs and others, Florida is not really known for producing a lot of bull riders). He was the host of last night's show.



















I didn't manage to get a good picture of my very favorite PBR rider ever... JW Hart. Unfortunately, he didn't ride his bull either. That's okay. I'm a loyaly JW fan and he's still my favorite.

Running a close 2nd, is Austin Meier (as far as my favorite riders go). He's doing so well for being so young! Unfortunately, last night was not his best either. His first bull was a total loser. He stayed on and got a re-ride. They didn't say the bull score or the total score, but if I was a judge, I would have given that bull (named Vickie Did It) about a 10. Seriously, it was sorry. Poor Austin was not a happy cowboy. Alas, the re-ride was not kind to my rider Austin and he ended the night with a no score.

The short go riders were as follows: Clay McIntyre, Jay Palhke, Greg Potter (great ride for 90 points), Tyler Thomson (a promising young Canadian), Jake McIntyre, Steven Shelly, Jason Bennett, Luke Dotson, Jared Farley and the big news of the night... Adriano Moraes. In the long go he rode and got 71 with the option of a re-ride. Took it. Guess what? Next ride, re-ride city. Can you believe Adriano had to ride 3 in the long round. Final score on the last bull 87. Gets him into the short go. Short go he shows us why he's the 2 time champ with a beautiful ride for 92.5 points on the bull Niagra. And takes home the prize!

Is that enough commentary for you? Bet that's more than you ever wanted to know. This fun filled and exciting night was a birthday gift from my favorite cowboy ever... My wonderful, sweet hubby Pete. Thanks for the funnest birthday ever. 

They love me, they really love me...

Yup, here's what the Bible study gals brought me for my birthday. In case you can't tell it's a slurppe with a big bow on it. Do they know me or what? I had a great dinner at Pam's, another feast at my moms and breakfast in bed on the morning of my real birthday. With the exception of getting sick(ear infection, sinus infection, throat infection) is was a great birthday and a good year. In addition, my hubby is taking me to the Challenger Series of the PBR on June 10th to watch some bull riding. YeeHaw! 

Oh Sweet Girls Night Out

Yup, we did it again. This time manis and pedis and dinner at Macaroni Grill. How good is that. There was lots of girl talk and laughing. And of course coffee to top it all off. How about those green toes! They were the bomb! Can't wait for the next time.


 

The end of an era and a school year...

Here is Lilli officially finished with her first year of school. Kindergarten. She is very proud to be a First Grader and doesn't quite get the whole summer break thing.








Parker is finishing 5th grade and is headed to a new homeschool group for middle school. He will also be doing some school on the computer this fall.














Katelyn is off to the same middle school group as Parker. She is looking forward to branching out socially.














Katelyn will hate moving on without Coach Benz, quite possibly the best math teacher in the universe. Although Katelyn found him to be a little too "military" at first (what do you expect, he's a West Point Grad), she quickly grew leaps and bounds in her math ability and her appreciation for just the right teacher. She's not sure how math will be without him, even though he assures her she's ready for Algebra.
 

Family Time

We felt great need for family time. Dad was on his way to Sioux Falls, SD. Who the heck goes there? Right? Anyway... We decided to go bowling. We had a great time! Lilli darn near beat us all. The computerized scoring and bumpers are way too cool. This in something we need to fit in a little bit more.


 

Oh yea...

about the ice skating? Kendall is officially convinced that we have all lost our minds! 

Trying something new

Our end of the year homeschool party this year was at a skating rink. What a fun thing to do with a group of Florida kids! They thought that I was crazy when I told them they needed to take coats with them. It's the middle of May in Florida. Very quickly the were assured of my sanity. Thankfully, their mom hasn't always lived way down south and soon became the official skate lacer. (got to get those ankles tight!) There was a lot of wall hugging going on, but everyone was ready to try it again soon.
 

Our Musical Stars

Yup, it was that time again. Time for the Kickstart Musical. I'm so thankful that Ms. LeeAnn takes this on. The musical was the "Amazing Jerusalem Makeover" The kids did a great job and we were all very proud of them and their hard work.
 

A 13th to remember...

Can't believe it was 13 years ago that my sweet first born came along. Where did the years go. I guess I blinked. We celebrated this monumentous occasion by a trip to Daytona Beach. It was a great time. Here she is in all her glory, the birthday girl.

Kendall enjoyed the cake. I'm sure she'll be 13 all too fast too.













What a way to enjoy the view.












Here's the gang doing a little shopping and eating at Johnny Rocket's.


It was a fabulous weekend that we will all remember and tresure. 

Invaded!

By Mumaws that is. These are relatives that we don't often get to see. How to explain? My grandma's (in the center) brother's children and grandchildren and spouses. Ohhh.... You got it now, right? It was great to see them and all the kids. It was a short, but fun visit. 

Bible Driller Extrordinaire!

That's our Parker. He went to the big Bible Drill and went all the way to Super Drill and made a perfect score. How great is he?! We are proud of all the hard work he has done.

 

Sniff.. Sniff...

They're getting so big and grown up. Here they are all polished and spit shined for Easter. Parker is complete with blue hair gel. What's not to love about these great kids? 

Baby from the hood...

See what happens when you let at 13yo, 11yo, and 6yo play with a 1yo? Please don't call the fashion police on me!
 

MIA....

I've been MIA from blogging. A lot going on and nothing going on at the same time.

On a sad note, my friend Donna passed away. There's a whole lot of good stuff I could say about Donna. Truth is, I'm missing her. In the past couple of years I didn't get to see her nearly enough. That bums me out. I will miss her laugh, smile and her stories. I'm thankful I had the chance to tell her I loved her before she died. I'm sure she knows how we all feel. My text in this post is purple in her memory.

So creatively I've expanded my repitoire a bit. Hooked up with some Creative Memories folks through Stampin' Up! and have been to some crops. I got all 3 kids' baby books done! It felt so good! Like a giant weight has been lifted. I can feel like a better mom, knowing they have baby books! Crazy, huh? I was seriously impressed with how the company has changed. No more boring Mrs. Grossman's stickers! So if you need to or are curious, I can hook you up. Going to another overnite crop at the end of April. Call me. You'll get a lot done. Really!

Next thing... I went with my friend Pam tonight to a knitting store and learned to knit. I loved it. I'm not gonna say what I'm making cuz it's for Easter. But I'm really diggin' it. Big shout out to Pammie for letting me hone in on her peeps! Just what I need, another addiction....

BTW, if you're ever in dire need of a slurpee... send Pam into 7-11. Here's what she'll come out with....


Well, darn it! I can't upload the pic for some reason, but it's a 64 oz Double Gulp size slurpee! The poor clerk didn't quite know what to do with her. He told her that they usually didn't do that. Pam just told him she doesn't usually buy the darn things! He let her go ahead and only charged her $1.39. Heheehehehehe. I had a great laugh over that one. I haven't even had half of it, but I bet I'll be up all night in the bathroom! hm..... Maybe that will be a good place to knit!!!

Gotta go take some Motrin for my sore knitting muscles. More later...

Something I Bet You Didn't Know About Me...

Okay. I'm gonna make a world wide web public confession. I am a PBR (no not Pabst Blue Ribbon-Professional Bull Riding) fan. Make that Fan (with a capital F). I am not a redneck. I don't listen to country music. I have all my teeth and don't smoke or chew. (have I broken down all the stereotypes yet? I used to think of all those stereotypes too!) I would like to own a pair of cowgirl boots and a hat. A girl's gotta accessorize you know.

So last night, my wonderful husband, and our youngest daughter and I drove to Daytona Beach for the Enterprise Invitational. This is the Minor Leagues in the PBR. The Built Ford Tough Series is the Major Leagues. I'm guessing that this is probably way more info than you wanted. Too bad! It's my Blog!!! 8)



Here are my pictures (or at least the best ones). The joy of riding and getting off safely and the agony of defeat. The poor cowboy sitting down hurt his knee and most definately had a hitch in his get-a-long! And last but not least me and my forever corrupted daughter who now knows how to cheer for the cowboys and stand up to look and make sure no one is hurt!

Some more info. Although the crowd was small, it was diverse. From the way older than me to the very young. All types of people. And they started with prayer. Nice to see all those cowboys on one knee with their hats off and heads bowed. Guess you feel pretty strongly about talking to God when you're about to get on a 1500-2000 lb bucking bull.

So there it is. I laid it out. Love me anyways and maybe next time you should join me!

(btw, PBR can be seen every Sat and Sun night at 8pm on the OLN (outdoor living network). It really is a sport and there's lots to learn about bull riding)

Where Have I Been?

That's a really good question. Truth be told, busy in the day to day grind of life. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

I have decided to step up my Stampin' Up! business. This too is a good thing. Unfortunately, blogging has suffered slightly. I'm feeling busy with classes and projects. Hanging with good people, enjoying it and making some money. Ah....

The kids are all doing well. Growing up. Being independent. This is a weird thing. I'm still adjusting to the changes. I think they'd like me to hurry up and get with the program!

Here are a few favorite things at the moment:

1. My crockpot. Did you know you could cook a meal in a crockpot every single night of the week! Fabulous! The less time in the kitchen for me, the better.

2. Scrap 2 It. My favorite local scrapbook store. Great things to look at, great people.

3. Soduku Puzzles. I'm addicted. Try it... you'll like it....

4. My new haircut. The stylist cut it with a razor and I love it. Nothing like a good razor cut.

5. Donna Downey's year long scrapbooking class at bigpicturescrapbooking.com. Worth every penny and heaps of fun projects. Hard to keep up with the weekly assignments, but I do my best.

That's about it for now. Hope your favorites list is long.