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Well, after a great time last year in Savannah, my friends Stacy, Stacey, and I decided to do the SITE conference again this year - this time in Albuquerque, NM. Our first act as tourists was to ride a tram up to the top of Sandia Peak. There's nothing like hanging over a mountain in a little cable car crammed full of people to make you appreciate the good 'ole ground when you get back down! The views were spectacular, though, and made it well worth the ride up (and down).
We also squeezed in a trip to Santa Fe and were happily surprised to find out we had arrived on a very special day. Each year, a procession carries a statue of La Conquistadora, the oldest statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary to an old campsite, where today stands a chapel known as the Rosario, built in 1806 to replace the temporary shelter of cottonwood and juniper branches erected annually for her novena. It was explained to us that the week before we came, this procession carried her to the Rosario and on the day we arrived we saw the procession bringing her back to St. Francis Cathedral where she is enshrined in the Lady's Chapel. It was a fascinating thing to see!
We also took a tour of Old Town Albuquerque. We stopped to get a couple of pictures of the scenery on our way to a restaurant where we had a chance to have some very authentic southwestern food. To make the experience even better, we got to sit by a tree that was growing up through the middle of the old home that had been converted to the restaurant.
While doing a little shopping, I noticed this bar and just had to take a picture. It really appealed to the reader in me. The book titles are hard to read in the picture but they are: "Gone With the Gin," "Tequila Mockingbird," "A Midsummer Night's Drink," "The Wrath of Grapes," "Lord of the Onion Rings," and "Partying 101." Funny thing was, I noticed on a following night that it was a biker bar - interesting, huh?
On our last night there, we dined with the convention group...you guessed it - more southwestern food. I was as happy as I could be. There were beans EVERYWHERE!!! Here's a shot of our dinner group, one of me with my Stac(e)ys, and one of my food (it's becoming a tradition for me to capture a shot of a good meal, it seems!
I had a great time with the girls - AGAIN!!! Can't wait for our next trip together!
We had lunch on Christmas Day with Amy, Delmar and Emily. It was so nice to spend time with them. This winter, the weather has been yucky and we've all been hibernating. So, while the food was great (thanks, Amy!), the company was even better.
We exchanged presents all around and the kids really seemed to like their gifts. Harrison got a Photokins, which is a digital picture frame in the belly of a stuffed monkey - too cute! And, Amy was thoughtful enough to go ahead and add some pictures. Harrison LOVES it! I think Emily liked her room sign, too!
Looking back on all our Christmas activities, it seems we celebrated for weeks. And, in reality, we did! But, we got to see most of our family and many of our friends which is how it should be. Through it all, though, we never forgot the most important reason for Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Harrison wanted to make a birthday cake for Him, so we did. It was simple, and not really very pretty (I've never claimed to be good at that), but it tasted good and shared the most important message of all:
No, it's not the latest Disney cartoon team...it's Harrison and one of his most favorite people in the world! Lori has been Harrison's babysitter and a great family friend for years now. She's been as involved in his life as we have - and we couldn't be more thankful to have her as part of the family. It's recently come to my attention that as much as she's been around, we have very few pictures of them together. So, we took this picture for Christmas:
In keeping with tradition, Thanksgiving was spent in KY. We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at my mom's house and then again on Saturday at Chris's parents house. At my mom's, Janey (my big sis), Chris and I worked on the stuffing...and there was of course a need for some supervision as well. Here's me supervising Janey:
Janey's turn supervising Chris:
I'm happy to say it all turned out great!
All of Harrison's cousins were there and they had a great time playing kick ball outside (in the interest of confidentiality, I'm not including any photos of them). We did get a photo op with my mom, brother, and sisters...don't be mistaken - the camera angle only makes us look like giants. We are actually average-sized people!
At Chris's parents, we also got an opportunity to get photos of the entire clan...back row: me, Chris, Dale (Chris's dad), Barb (Chris's mom), Roma (Barb's mom), Joan (Barb's sister), Nikki & Johnny (Chris's cousin and his wife...AND their baby was born just a couple of weeks later - congrats to them!). Front row: Craig, Leslie & Katie (Chris's sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter), Drew, Harrison, and Suzie (Chris's cousin). I'm not sure why we've never done this before, but it's the first time I can remember us getting a picture of all of us together.
Also during the weekend, I got a chance to see some old friends. Here we are at O'Charley's where we met up for a cocktail and conversation. Left to right is: Denise, me, Toni, Debbie, and Janie. It was great to see them again!
We had a busy, but very fun weekend - and it was a great reminder of the many blessings God gives us. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, too!
On November 7th, I had the opportunity to attend my first-ever scrapbook night. A group of ladies from our church got together from 5:00pm - midnight to share food, fun, and scrapbooking! I took my Cricut, as did Amy, and one other person brought one to share. So, after a short Cricut tutorial we were off and running! And, I should probably add that there were a few of us who didn't actually get out of there until after 1:30am...
It was so great to spend time getting to know these wonderful women. I only wish I'd thought to bring my camera! You will need to check out Amy's blog to see pics of who was there (the link to her blog is on my site - check out "A Day in the Life of the Sandages").
I did take some pictures of the pages I did. I know it's a little hokey, but it was my first time scrapping outside of my remodeled bedroom and I was just a little excited - I never dreamed how many great ideas could come from just chatting with other women who are as passionate about this as I am.So, my first page was my "Cowboy" page...after Harrison's choosing to be a cowboy this year for Halloween, it just seemed to need a page of it's own:
I also chronicled Harrison's various Halloween costumes over the years - this is something I've had in mind to do for quite some time. Instead of creating several pages, I wanted to put all the pictures on one page, just to see him change over the years. I was happy with the result of this one:
We also had a couple of "make and takes" that were brought in by Angela Bowman and Amy. Angela's fall page was fun to put together - and because I knew ahead of time sort of what they were going to be, I was able to bring pictures and complete them that night. Here's the layout that Angela brought - I loved the use of colors that she put together and also got to use some sponging and ink on the embellishments...something I'd never thought to do before!
Amy's offering was a Christmas layout and it was very cute! I was especially excited about her use of ribbon and clips on the page. It just added a little more dimension to the page. Again, because I'd see the layout prior to going, I brought along some pictures that worked very well with the colors/patterns she brought for us to use:
I think as much as I enjoyed getting 4 pages done in one night, I especially enjoyed looking at the work the other ladies had done. We had such a good time sharing stories about our kids, husbands, family vacations...and more (don't worry, Ladies, your secrets are safe with me - smile). We are talking about continuing to do this once a month and I sure hope we do...it was such a blessing to share with these women! And, as one of my friends has reminded me in the past, God blesses PLAY, too!
Harrison's choice for a Halloween costume this year was a cowboy...please note the resemblance to Howdy Doody. If you don't know who Howdy Doody is, don't tell me - that only means you're too young! By the way, Chris made the belt buckle by printing a picture off the computer, painting it with a silver paint pin and mounting on a piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil. It looked VERY real! The boots were a loan from a friend at work (thanks, Victoria!) and the hat was our most treasured find at a flea market on our trip to Paducah a few weeks ago (see previous blog on that trip for the rest of the story...)
Here are Harrison and Emily - we actually caught up with Emily between Trick or Treating events, so I got a picture of them in our front yard.
I had planned to blog the decorations in the yard along with our trip to the pumpkin patch, but those photos have disappeared. If they ever turn up again, I'll just post the blog a little out of sequence. In the meantime, Harrison and Emily dressed up the yard even more. (For those of you not in the "Elmo scene", Emily's costume is Abby Cadaby, Elmo's best friend.)
A little later we met up with the ever-popular Hannah Montana (Gracie), a beautiful nurse (Ellie), and - just to make sure we were safe - the red Power Ranger (Tommy). Harrison and I did our big Trick or Treating round with them and their parents and we had a GREAT time with LOTS of candy to show for it!!!
Along the way, we met up with Kyla, who just happened to be a cowgirl!
So, of course that was the perfect photo op:
We also ran into Lilly, who was the perfect Dorothy Gale. I definitely would have followed her down the yellow brick road - too cute!
We had a wonderful time with our friends - hope you all had a Happy Halloween, too!
Some of you may have noticed my weight counter on the right side of my blog...I've been "chipping away" at the pounds, especially since mid-June. I have had a struggle with my weight for many years, but it wasn't until I added God to the equation that I started seeing success. My prayer life has included many requests for God to keep me from the temptation of snacking...yes, I'm addicted to junk food! But, through the power of prayer, Weight Watchers, and my dear friend, Amy, I am seeing success.
Here I am last year at almost my peak weight:
And, here I am today - as of today, I have officially lost 30.2 pounds with still another 1.8 pounds to go to reach my end goal.
I have never had this kind of success before, but I know the difference is my support system - Chris cooking healthier meals, Amy being my "point-counting best friend" and God's power in my life. So, maybe I'm bragging a little...but I hope you will excuse me this once!
We spent the last weekend in September in Paducah, KY as guests of John and Kathy Stubblefield, friends of ours from church. The Sandages went as well, so we were a party of 8...6 adults and 2 kids. Yes, the adults were outnumbered! (smile)
Amy and I went down in their van with Emily and Harrison. Here are Harrison and Emily just as we were pulling out of the driveway...they did great on the road, although it's safe to say they were this happy the WHOLE trip:
John and Kathy have a trailer out in the woods of rural KY - it was AWESOME!!! It was great to be out in the boonies for a few days! Delmar and Chris were "initiated" by John right away. Note the "gold" chains - a first-timers tradition with John for any man who stays at their cabin. The guys had to wear these all weekend long!
Harrison also had his first experience sleeping in the top bunk of a bunk bed - he LOVED it!
Friday night was spent on the deck, just winding down from the drive and spending some time together. There were LOTS of laughs, as usual. (For a peek of Delmar's party wear, see blog titled "Some Day My Prince Will Come". Please note we have John to thank for this...)
On Saturday, we went to an outdoor flea market and Harrison found a cowboy hat - it will be perfect for his costume in our church play (Harrison's role is the toy cowboy...rumor has it he will be patterning Howdy Doody).
After the flea market we went to a barbecue festival in downtown Paducah. I tried to stick with the diet by eating chicken, but the food smelled delicious! Harrison went on a pony ride and Chris got in touch with his "inner Jamaican, Mon!"
We drove past the Kentucky Dam and Chris got this picture:
Saturday night we went to "Patti's 1880 Settlement" for dinner. The food was fantastic, but the atmosphere was even better. We took several pictures there. Here are just a few:The boys 
The girls
The butterfly chair (a big hit):
Delmar, Chris, and "Dad" (aka John)
A family photo that turned out very well if I do say so myself!
Sunday morning we went as John's and Kathy's guests to their church, The Potter's Hands. It was a wonderful service and everyone was so welcoming. Harrison had a fantastic time at kids church and said he can't wait to go back to church there again.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend full of lots of fun and fellowship. The only "bad" thing that happened was Harrison's first bee sting - right before we left to drive the 4 1/2 hours home! Fortunately, he showed no reaction to it, other than the trauma of the "bee attack".
We really enjoyed our "KY Vacation" and hope we will get to do it again sometime.
Much thanks and blessings to John and Kathy for being the best vacation hosts EVER!!!
Oh, and the part I liked the most...Dad made birthday doughnuts!
Later that night, we went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner (Harrison's choice) and he got his "big gift" - an Albert Pujols jersey. He was very excited about that!
A few days later, on the following weekend, he had a birthday party with some of his best friends from school. The original plan was a swim party at State Farm Park, but due to the weather we moved the fun to Chuck E Cheese. The boys had a great time - Harrison especially liked playing skee ball.
Dad had some fun as well...
And what birthday would be complete without a good birthday spanking (yes, he got it at Chuck E's place):
The boys all had a great time - at least they seemed to from the noise in the van on the drive back. Note to parents...4 boys in a van for a 30-minute drive after a night at Chuck E's requires LOTS of concentration!
So, that was the first TWO rounds of Harrison's birthday. There was more to come...but I'll save that for another blog.
