Texas!

We had so much fun in Big Sandy, Texas last week... ;) By the time we were back home, some certain people in our family were saying "y'all" instead of "you guys."

Hmm. Something's wrong here.

Peer pressure?

Or is it just the constant heat that messes with your mind and makes you say weird things? :)

Even driving down was fun! I personally think that it's more fun to sleep for

most of the ride, but others put their time to better use, and played games.

Here Mom, Sarah and Kelly are playing Probe, a guessing game.

Danny was pretty proud to finally be able to sit in the front seat.

Look at that grin...but what you can't see in this picture...

...are the pillows. :) You know, like a super comfortable booster seat. Looks good to me!

So, after 16+ hours of driving, you tend to get very bored. So, what is there to do? Play "I Spy" with yourself, trying to find as many ancient oil drills as you can...count the Corvettes cruising down the highway (Kelly counted 27--in a row!)...stare out the window, or even better, take random pics out the window!

Here is a fine example of the beautiful housing in Oklahoma. No, but seriously, this is the average house down there. I have a new appreciation for Minnesota and its "class"!

When we were finally in Big Sandy, Dad parked the RV while Angela, Kelly and I went to orchestra rehearsal. (Yes, they actually DO have an orchestra during the four days that we're down there, and we were cramming to learn the music in time for the concert! One of the boys in the orchestra actually wrote an entire score for piano, full orchestra and choir. He did a really good job on it--it was amazing, but it was definitely challenging!)

Natalie and I playing cello in the orchestra!

Anyways, when we got back from our rehearsal, we kept walking...and walking...and walking...turns out our campsite was about 1/2 mile from the Convention Center (which is the closest thing to the campground)! Throughout the week, we got TONS of excercise. Believe me. We were walking miles every day. :)
Good thing for friends (and that category includes sisters, of course)!


Here's a part of the road leading to the Convention Center. See any people in this picture? Can you even see the car? Neither can I. Let's zoom in a little...

There, that's better. :) Now, do you see the people? Yeah, barely. Just a little glimpse of what a walk it was every time we wanted something from the RV! ;) And hey, you still can't see the Convention Center from here!

Nobody really took any pictures the whole time we were there, except for Friday night. :) So you don't get any pics of the DELICIOUS food, the LONG rehearsals, or Student Sessions.

Deal with it. But here's some pictures of the program presentations to the parents on Friday.

Children's Institute (Danny's the only one who's young enough to be in CI...*sniff sniff*)

Pre-Excel (Sarah and Betsy are on the top left--just in case your eyesight is so good
that you can actually make them out!) :)

Commit did something different this year. They don't normally go up and perform; they just play a slideshow of pictures from the week. But this year they all went up and sang "Be Thou My Vision." It was really pretty. (Kelly says she was surprised it turned out so well, because when they practiced it, they only got it right ONCE. haha) 

Angela and Dad watching the Alert Cadet program.

(Notice the Alert dude standing at the end of the row. :) lol)

The Cadet leaders

Mr. G and his sidekicks ;)

The orchestra and choir perform.  We had three songs, and for one, they didn't have an orchestra score, so we got to sing along with the choir. From our chairs. :) Nah nah, guys, we get to SIT! :) haha

Dad, Betsy and Danny after the program. Notice Betsy's beautiful Pre-Excel attire...

During the orchestra/choir concert, Mr. Gothard had the Bates family come up to sing a song.

(In case you haven't heard of the Bates family, they're alot like the Duggars. They have 19 kids and they're pretty neat. In my opinion, they beat the Duggars. They're even starting their own TV show this June! Pretty soon there'll be a huge family show on every TV network...)

Anyways. Another rabbit trail.

So they went up on the stage to sing their song, and afterwards Mr. G asked them to stay up. Mr. and Mrs. Bates went up to the podium, and all of a sudden this van comes rolling into the room! It wasn't really a surprise for anyone, though, because earlier in the week they had placed a collection box at the door for a new van for the Bates. So Mr. and Mrs. Bates were thanking Mr. G and everything, then something caught their eye and they turned just in time to watch a second vehicle roll in! I looked behind me at the rest of the family, and most of them had tears in their eyes. It was something I'll never forget. There were also several people in the orchestra who were crying. No one expected that! It was like God said, "I'm blessing you, but wait...now I'm blessing you AGAIN."

Afterwards, everyone went up to the vans and oohed and aahed. The Bates were laughing with their friends, looking in the vehicles. The younger Bates boys climbed in the front seats with their friends, laughing. It was such a great night!

Oh...and as a side note...they were both Fords. Of course.

Angela with two girls from her Journey, Sarah and Hannah Hulin.
 Their family is AWESOME.

On Friday morning, we played Ultimate with Sarah, Hannah and their brother, Joshua (he played cello in the orchestra too). It was like THE greatest game of UF, because we had 3 people on our team, and they had 4. Guess who won? We did, of course. :) However, no thanks to me...when I was waiting in the endzone, I missed Joshua's pass THREE TIMES in a row. Hmmm. :|

Kelly, Kendall and I at our campsite

Kendall was at NoteWorthy last summer with us. It was really good seeing her (and her dad) in Texas! The funny thing is, though, Kendall and Kelly had never met before last week, but they've been talking on the phone ever since NoteWorthy, when Kelly would call Ang and I like every night.

They really hit it off when they finally met! :)

It was great seeing some friends from Journey and NoteWorthy. Kelly saw several of her Journey friends there, too. It was really fun to do some catching up.

Kendall and I. She tried the bunny fingers, but it obviously didn't work too well... :)