surprise party!

very cool, thanks Jim and Lynn


John and Tammi sent a very cool scrapbook with pics and Scripture and a HILLARIOUS "feline" picture pillow with pom poms . . . Beth will be sure to put a pic of Cleo in it :)


the 30+ crowd


the two 30 year olds in the group, Ben's 30th was in April

My cousin Beth is up visiting this week before she heads out on her second deployment to the Middle East. Last time was to Iraq and this time to Afghanistan. She is an ICU nurse for the Army.

This past winter she was transferred from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC. We prayed for a transfer to Fort Richardson in Anchorage BUT to our dismay that didn't come through . . . HOWEVER, she did make it to Madigan Army Medical Center in Seattle, WA. That's as close to AK as you can get w/out being here. We were pumped to have her close for the next three year stint and soak in some long weekends together. Shortly after her transfer she was given the news of a pending deployment, bummer. Big bummer. But we will pray her through this deployment as well.

After some begging and twisting her arm we (Ben and I) got her to spend some of her precious pre deployment leave in AK before she leaves. Beth turns the big 3-0 on June 8th so we had a surprise Burdine birthday party for her Saturday night. Some of the other cousins, aunts and uncles mailed b-day packages to my parents for her to open to celebrate together across the miles.

Beth is my cousin from my mom's side of the family . . . the family that does HUGE triennial reunions all over the country. I LOVE that our family is close like this and pulls together to do special things for each other even across the miles. Thanks Burdines! And thanks Beth for spending some of your time off with US! We are LOVING IT!!

Graduation

It's high school graduation week! Here are a couple pics from Houston High's graduation this past Wednesday. Garrett Elder, one of our youth guys was the valedictorian for HHS. For those WBC people looking at this you'll recognize Heidi Doner with him. Garrett is commercial fishing this summer at Clam Gulch with Peter and the Doner clan. Small world. :)

ballet

Emma, me, Cheyanne





the Stahle crew


Connie, Hannah, Grandma Hogan

This morning I went to a ballet recital in Anchorage that one of my youth girls, Cheyanne was performing in. I actually ended up knowing several girls in the recital some from FBF and some from WBC.

Years ago I was in ballet and I LOVED it. I'm not artsy in many aspects of life but I love, absolutely love music and dance. One of my favorite "fun" things to do is go to performing arts events and recitals. My parents and I drove in to Anchorage together b/c they wanted to see the Hannah Stahle and Emma Burris perform.

Cheyanne, one of my girls here at FBF is going to Utah for two months this summer to a ballet academy to study ballet with professionals and do some performances. Yep, she is AMAZING, leaps and bounds better than I ever was. Emma and Hannah are incredible too. It was a morning well spent!

This is a random after thought, as I was posting I remembered a time when I used to baby sit Hannah and her older brother Wade when they were first born. Now Hannah is just shy of 6'0" and is a junior in HIGH SCHOOL! When did that happen? She is a beautiful, accomplished young lady. I can't believe she will be graduating next year!

green thumb?

So I am attempting my first garden this summer. I'm optimistic but not setting my hopes too high because I kill most house plants. My one bonus to doing it is there are several people at FBF (my church) who are master gardeners and they have promised to help answer my questions and give pointers as I set out the end of this month to move it all outside.

Not wanting to out do myself my first shot at it I started my plants inside the beginning of April but I'm cheating and planning on buying flowers from a green house to put out in the yard. I have three beds around our house (youth building) that supposedly do really well. Two of the beds are south facing and get tons of day light all summer. Soooooo, we'll see!

The pics are of my winter squash selection (butternut and spaghetti squash) and tomato plants. I'm also planning on planting summer squash, zucchini and lettuce along with an herb garden.

Sunday shooting . . .

Alyssa and Colton


my handsome hubby

A couple of Sunday's ago Ben and I spent the afternoon with his relatives in Willow shooting. His cousin Luke bought a new place that is being "remodeled" gutted and rebuilt is more descriptive, but right now it is the perfect place to go shooting b/c there is no one out there and you can shoot into a gravel pit 500 yards out. We had a great time sighting in a mass artillery all the Conner cousins, aunt, uncle and grandmother were there. It's rare to have the whole crew together with work schedules and slope jobs. We loved our time together!