Oh, I am soo smitten with her...

This is Mandy. She's my niece. She's a girl. (Obviously.) And she's my new muse.

My sister let her come stay with her Auntie Cyndi for the week.

I was in heaven.

I'm surrounded by boys every day. Boys I love dearly and totally have fun with. But, still, they are boys. And I'm a girl. Sometimes I long for girly things. That's where Mandy comes in.

She's so feminine. She has this little soft, voice. She loves having her hair in pretty ponytails and braids. And playing house. And looking at shoes. (Owen likes shoes, too, haha.) And she LOVES her Auntie. She's oh so sweet. And she loves to sit quietly and snuggle in my lap. And she loves the color pink. And she likes pretty things. Like butterflies and flowers.

And, she's breathtaking. How beautiful and precious is this little face?

I had so much fun with her. I seriously loved every moment. She's such a good little girl.
We played in the backyard and she held her own with the boys (while still being soft and sweet.) And we went to the park and played in the creek. Tell me this isn't the cutest little face ever! I dare you. You can't. It's impossible. It IS the cutest little face ever.

Here she is being silly for Auntie.

She's a little fish, too and she had so much fun in the water.Oh, and since we all know I think feet are beyond adorable, check out her little feet.
Aren't they so cute? I took her home on Friday and I miss her terribly already. I wonder if my sister would let me borrow her one week a month? I wish. =)

Mother's Day 2007

Me and my boys... (photo by Clayton)

This Saturday we had our own little family Mother's Day. I'm not really one of those moms who wants to get away and go to a spa somewhere for Mother's Day. I just want to spend the day doing stuff with my kids that makes us happy as a family. And for me, this Mother's Day was perfect.

First off, the weather was GORGEOUS. It was really hot (mid 90s) all last week, but cooled down just in time for Saturday.

My boys love to go to the park so we picked up some lunch and went and ate it at the park and then they played, and played, and played. We brought their bike and scooter and they had so much fun riding around the playground.

Here's my Sam in all his gappy cuteness.

Here they are looking for four-leafed clovers.

The typical, "Boys give each other a hug, so Mommy can take your picture together," shot.

See the duck in the background? We got to see lots of fluffy ducklings, too! =)

I told the boys to smoosh their cheeks together so I could get a close-up of them. This is what they thought I meant. Haha! Go with the flow, mom. They crack me up.

After the park, we all went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and the boys painted a flower pot for Clayton's mom. There was pretty light in there, so I had Clayton snap a few shots of me with the boys.

They are both very serious about their work.

When we were done at the pottery place we walked over to the movie theater to see Meet the Robinsons in 3-D. (The movie was really, really cute. It kept Owen entertained for over an hour an a half, so that says a lot.) This is them outside the theater. Notice how they both wrapped their leg through the fence.

Sam making his "Tough Guy" face. He's a funny kid.

Oh noooo! A picture with flash! Aaaahhhh! Haha. I'm trying not to be such a natural-light snob. (That, and it was too dark in the theater to catch Owen in his 3-D glasses without it.) Oh, and no, I didn't take this during the movie. This was pre-movie, before everyone else arrived.

This has nothing to do with Mother's Day, but it was cool, so I'm throwing it in. It's a display at the theater for the new Fantastic Four movie with the Silver Surfer. I like pretty much any movie based on a super-hero or comic, so I'm looking forward to it. =)

I hope you all had a Mother's Day that was wonderful!

If you have a spare minute and want to giggle...

I saw this on another blog and thought I would try it. --Have I mentioned that I love reading people's blogs?--

Go to google and put in your first name, and then the word "needs".

I'm sure you'll find out you need more than you thought. Haha.

Cyndi needs...

...another coffee mug

...to gain more weight (HA! YEAH RIGHT.)

...to sing her own songs

...to sing you a lullabye or something

...Cyndi needs to look up Captain Lou Albano for career advice

Steve Irwin was so cool.

I was a huge Steve Irwin fan. (I even have the Crocodile Hunter board game!)

Anyway, I saw this video on a blog and had to share it. Sit back and have a good laugh! =)

Worship--God does inhabit the praises of His people

This morning at church was wonderful. While we (the worship team) were practicing this morning before the first service, I found myself longing for us as a team to spend some time praying and worshipping together.

That sounds funny because we're the worship team, so let me explain. Of course we worship together all the time. Every time we practice. Every time we lead the church in praise, we truly are worshipping together. But during those times it's usually more structured. We are leading, so even though we are worshipping, we are also paying attention to where the rest of the musicians and singers are going with the music and the lyrics and making sure we're all together. But this morning I found myself longing for us to just spend some time with the Lord as a team, without the rest of the church. I was hoping we would do something like that in Pastor Anthony's office. (We usually meet in there after leading the first service. We fellowship together, sometimes praying, sometimes just talking and laughing.) By the time I got back there, the whole team was already there and Anthony was sharing out of His bible and encouraging us in our faith as a team and it was really cool. (I hadn't said anything about what I was feeling during practice.)

So the first service ends. I spend a few minutes greeting some new friends who got there early for the second service and then rushed back to the prayer room to pray with the team before going out for second service. The door was closed and when I opened it, the most beautiful sound filled my ears. Our team was in there, in that tiny room, singing and worshipping God. It was private and personal and beautiful. Some had their hands raised, some were on their knees. They were all just loving God with no one else there to see. That was exactly what I was longing for. For us to just worship Him. Not because we were leading anyone else, but just because we love Him. So I joyfully joined in. It was so wonderful. God was there. I know it's not about feelings, but I could just feel God there. My spirit recognized His. Ah, I love His presence.

I think He was the One who placed that longing in my heart. And He placed it in the rest of the team, too. Isn't that awesome? I love it when we're of the same heart.

So anyway, after a few minutes, it was time to go out and start the second service.

IT WAS AMAZING.

I can't even describe it. We started a song called "You Are God Alone" and before we even joined, we could hear the whole church singing and worshipping. That right there is my heart's desire. To see God's people worshipping Him together. It was so beautiful (I know I keep using that word, but, hey, it fits) that I didn't want to spoil it by joining in on my mic. I was so blessed by it. Funny that hearing my Lord be blessed blesses me, too.


So that was my morning and my heart is still so full of praise. God is with me. I am so glad for that.

Wow. God is so amazing. Seriously.

I am just so overwhelmed by the greatness of my God. He is so much bigger than I can imagine. So much wiser than I could ever understand. So much more beautiful than my eyes or heart could ever fully realize. His love is so deep. He is so true. He is so faithful. His power knows no limits. Nor does His mercy. His grace is so precious. He's compassionate. He amazes me. The more I think I know about Him, the more He tells me there is to know. He is deeper than I could ever fathom. He is righteous. And just. And kind. He is so far beyond my thinking. He is God.

He is holy. Think about that word. He is holy. And He made a way for me to be with Him. He is the lover of my soul. The One who loves my soul and the One my soul loves. He is God. The One who made all things. And He loves us. Loves us so much. My brain can't even fully wrap around that. He is above all things, yet He draws so near. All I have to do is call on Him and He's right there.

My heart is overtaken by Him. I want to sing His praises and make known His love. I can't help but worship Him. How could I not?

Ah, I have so much more I want to share. Really, I am so in love with Jesus. He is so wonderful. I'm so thankful. So grateful for His grace. For what He did. For who He is. For His love for me.

Our Anniversary...

Yesterday was Clay and my 8th anniversary. Wow. That sounds like such a long time, but it doesn't feel like it's been eight years. It feels more like three or four. But 8 it is and I am so thankful for it. I've learned a lot about life, a lot about love, a lot about myself, a lot about being a parent, and a lot about being a wife in these last 8 years. And Clayton has been here for all of it. He's grown with me, mellowed with me, had fun with me, cried with me, relaxed with me, encouraged me, and loved me through all my ups and downs. And I love him all the more for it.

So this weekend we went out of town sans children (thank you Gran and Grandad!) for an adventure. Clayton had tried to plan out a romantic weekend, but I vetoed that idea for a more spontainous getaway. I was needing to get out of Bakersfield and just be somewhere pretty. (Bakersfield is not the most visually appealing town unless it's one of the 9 days or so a year where the air is clean and the sky is actually blue and you can actually see the mountains all around. Then it's quite pretty. But alas, those days are few and far between.) And I didn't want a schedule that we needed to stick to or a place we had to go to or anything like that. I just wanted to go wherever we felt like going at that precise moment in time. So we did!

After dropping the kids off, we headed out of town via Highway 33 towards Ojai. Man, that is a pretty drive this time of year. Everything was green and there were wildflowers everywhere. I wanted to get some pictures, but the road was very windy and my sweetheart drives very fast. Haha. Anyways, I had never been on Highway 33, but the last time Clayton was on it, he had his now infamous motorcycle wreck and I have never had the nerve to go see where it happened. So he showed me the approximate area. Let me just say, "Thank You God for protecting Clayton." He was very high up and crashed near a VEEEERY steep embankment/cliff. So that was interesting to see.

We ended up driving through to Ventura. It was so nice to just drive with no real destination. Seriously. We stopped and ate at a nice local restaurant called Winchesters. Mmm. It was good. And then we went and drove around until we found a hotel we wanted to stay in. (The Mariott in Oxnard is quite nice if you're ever in the area. It's very clean.)

The next morning after some shopping at Fryes Electronic Story a.k.a techno geek heaven, and some furniture store shopping (we desperately need a new dining table and chairs) we headed over to Solvang, the Dutch capital of the United States! It's a nifty little tourist driven town where all the buildings have a dutch look to them and there are windmills and TONS of cute little shops for everything from quilting to kite-flying, and lots and lots of bakeries. We hadn't booked a room in advance and unfortunately most of the hotels had no vacancies. Except this one...... The Viking Inn.....

Don't ever stay here. Just trust me. Ha ha. Yeah. Moving on....

I was trying REALLY hard not to be obnoxious with my camera and hence didn't get any good shots of Solvang with the exception of an AWESOME antique store near the town's center. This place was A-MA-ZING. Seriously.

I love old things. They had all the cool old pocketwatches. Check out the price on pocketwatch with the painting on it....Yikes!

And there was gorgeous old jewelry just a dripping and glimmering everywhere....

There were even jewels dripping off of lamps and chandeliers.....

Lots and lots of jewels..... Yes, I am such a girl. =)

There was so much stuff in there I could have spent hours and hours. They had this really neat cabinet thingy that had two violins in it and you put a coin in and I think it makes the violins play. I say I think because I was plumb afraid to touch it because if was one of only 4 in the whole world and was priced at $174,000. I'm way to clumsy to stay in close proximity to something that expensive for very long, so no photo.

This is the window outside the antique shop. Isn't it pretty?

Basically, we had a great time. And I'm happy that we've made it eight years.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! =)