I forgot to put the meat out...

So, being out of school for the summer is wonderful, but I forget that the other things in life continue. Such as me making dinner. Well it was suddenly 5:30 this evening and I found myself staring at the cupboard attempting to make dinner materialize. ( I had forgotten to put out any of the meat that I has so meticulously zip-locked and stuck in the freezer the night before.) So I thought that I would make spaghetti and sauce since it would be easy and quick. Spaghetti, check. Sauce...... not so much. So I stood there another little while staring at the cupboard trying to make sauce materialize. And would you believe that it worked?!?! It did! It had a little help, but it materialized. I was thinking about one of my favorite dishes at an Italian restaurant in town and how I could make an oil based sauce. So I started with olive oil and added chopped onions and let that simmer a while. Then I grabbed a can of garbanzo beans and chopped some of those up and threw them in the mixture. I went back to looking in the cupboard and grabbed a can of stewed tomatoes (they were Mexican style... so it was an Italian/Latin meal I guess). It smelled kind of weird once the tomatoes were in and I thought I had ruined it, but I kept going. I added garlic powder because I didn't have any of the real stuff and then went out and grabbed a couple of leaves of basil off a plant and chopped them and added them to the mix (I don't think they did much of anything).

So the final review from Aaron? He liked it!!! The only thing I have ever made from scratch and my own ideas besides Marshmallow Surprise and it was a success!!! I'm so happy!!!

Ode to Pilgrim Pines

We are going camping with a group of friends over Memorial Day Weekend. I love camping. I love just being out in nature enjoying God's creation without TV and without the computer. I love being able to detach and relax.

When I was growing up my family would go camping every summer for about a week at a place called Pilgrim Pines. It's a family camp in W. Swanzey, NH. It is my favorite place in the whole world. I have the best memories from there. We would set up our tent and that would be home.

I remember one specific trip we were laying in our cots one night watching the shadows from a neighbors fire flicker on our tent. Then our neighbor started playing his violin. It was amazing.

Pilgrim Pines is a sacred place in my memories, as is Camp Squanto. Camp Squanto is the youth camp affiliated with Pilgrim Pines. I went there as a child and I was a counselor there in college. There is no place like it.

Lounging at Swanzey Lake all day, eating Snickers ice cream from the Snack Shack, and playing games at night. All of them are dear to my heart.

Keene, NH is also near and dear to my heart. It is the town that us counselors would retreat to when the campers left. Also, the closest town for your camping and dining needs. I still crave Armadillos and Brewbakers.

So as I sit thinking about this upcoming camping trip, my heart aches just a little for my beloved Pines. So here's to you you Pilgrim Pines.

Storms

I LOVE STORMS.

Especially thunder storms! Some of my fondest memories are laying on a sidewalk with a friend during a storm and letting the rain soak us, watching thunderstorms roll in at college for hours at a time, and flying in an airplane right next to an electrical storm watching the light show.

I think I love them so much because they reflect the power and awesomeness of God so much. In Daniel 10:6 it says that Christ's face looks like lightning. I can't even imagine!

The sound of rain on a roof is one of the best. During my summers in college I worked at a camp in New Hampshire and the cabin that I lived in was in the woods. When it would storm the rain would fall and 3 of my 4 cabin walls were mostly screens so I could hear the rain dripping off the trees and hitting my roof. It was serene.

We had some good thunder here today but not much. Very short abbreviated storms. I'm sure we'll get more though!

A Fantastic Weekend

My wonderful husband and I are PBR fans. PBR=Professional Bull Riding.

I have a feeling I know what kind of image may be popping up in your head, but please try to restrain it. We have all our teeth and shower regularly.

This weekend the PBR Built Ford Tough Tour was in Wichita and a couple months ago, Aaron (AKA my wonderful husband), decided we should go and make a weekend out

of it. PROPS TO HIM!!!

So, Friday i picked him up for work and we drove down to Wichita. We checked into our hotel and hoofed it down to INTRUST Arena.

(educational moment: Bull Riding events generally have 3 rounds. The first round will be one night with the second and third rounds on following nights. This time the second and third rounds were on Saturday night. In the third round the riders' scores are added from the first 2 rounds and the top 15 proceed to round 3. Those 15 riders get to pick their bulls.)

One of the best things about the PBR is that they pray before every event. I love it! The next best thing is the cowboys. Now cowboys are pretty cool in my book. If you have the guts to ride giant, agile beasts that really only want to throw you 30 feet in the air and then step on you, kudos. Then you have the bull fighters (the guys who actually step in front of the bulls after the rider is either thrown off or has dismounted). These guys don't get nearly the respect they deserve. They are phenomenal. So, major kudos to them. Then you have the clown. He is the entertainer for when they're getting bulls ready and riders ready. Some are not so funny. Flint Rasmussen is very funny!

Ok, back to Friday. They open the event with a very cool pyro show.

Then, then highlight the top ranked riders. Forgive the pictures, but I couldn't bring my good camera.

I love the fire, the excitement and the loud music!

After all that the event begins. We had a fantastic time! We saw a bull buck a cowboy out of the arena (don't worry the cowboy was fine). Travis Briscoe ended up winning Round 1 that night.

Saturday was wonderful. We slept in then went to Old Chicago in Old Town for l

unch. I'd never been there.... the pizza was so good!!! 5 stars in my opinion. Then we went to Sheplers (a western wear store). We both got cowboy boots which we have been wanting for a long time. Then we got to meet 5 of the top bull riders!!!! I hate to

admit it but I was star-struck.

This is Robson Palermo and Guilherme Marchi.

One of the cowboys we met was Wiley Petersen. He was really nice and talked with Aaron for a little while. I think I'll start rooting for him.

Later on that afternoon after a stop at Gander Mtn. we went to Cafe Moderne. We had some great coffee got a light dinner before heading back to Intrust.

The event again began with prayer, and then something really different. A new group of airforce recruits got sworn in in front of everyone. So cool to witness. And then the cowboys and the loud music and everything. It was a lot of fun.

Austin Meier ended up winning the event. Travis Briscoe, Chris Shivers, and J.B. Mauney(my N.C. native) were all injured. Chris broke a bone in his hand Friday night on his first ride, then proceeded to ride again that night and once more on Saturday night. J.B. got a partially collapsed lung from a bull hitting it's head in his chest. I believe Travis tore his ACL.

Anyway, we had a blast. It was so great to get away from the norm for a weekend and do something that we really enjoyed. It was such a blessing!

A New Era

I've never really understood blogging... (who has the time?)

until today.

A beautiful revelation came from reading an old college friend's blog post today (thank you, Kacia).

I do have stories and I do have time. So... here comes the new era. It could be dangerous with my random thinkings flying around, but bear with me. I think it'll be good.

*My blog title stems from a comment I made yesterday as I was walking out to my car after a wonderful Mothers' Day celebration. "It sure is windy in paradise." It was true, it was windy, but it's always windy in Kansas. The weird part was paradise. I never thought I'd live in Kansas, I even told God I wouldn't (that didn't work). But this flat land where I live in a wonderful home with a more than wonderful husband around loving family in a beyond-words church family is paradise. As unlikely as it may be.*

So, I think I'm excited to venture into this era of blogging :)