Fruit of the Spirit

As most of you may know the verse that mentions the fruit of the spirit. Well these are the verses that Mia has as a memory verse, so the whole Swinney clan is trying to memorize it to help her out. Here is how the verse goes in case you don't remember:

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23.

Now here is a video of Mia rehearsing the verse:






And now copy cat Jules who you never knew could recite such things. (You may have to turn this one up she was talking very softly)





And here is a picture of Mia doing her school work at my kitchen table. She is doing so well in kindergarten and I am so proud of her.

I love hanging out with these little girlie girls...they are so fun! Even if they did decide to make sand angels in our sand pit of a back yard and had to get a bath. I actually like bath time with them, because they both act so silly it is funny and then it is like you fed them pure sugar, because afterwards they are running around like crazy wild screaming monkeys or something. And they smell so sweet after their baths that is another thing I like.


Oh and I like hanging out with their parents too...Connie and Levi truly are great friends to Chris and I, but for some reason they don't get mentioned as often as their two crazies. I wonder why that is...

Fall, Fall, Love IT!!

I love, love, love the cooler weather...I am so ready to bust out my halloween decor. And yes, I did actually get it down the other day, but I have yet to decorate with it. I really don't have that much stuff, but I did buy a few cute items last year after Halloween on clearance. I plan to do the same this year.

Chris and I enjoyed a walk around Watauga Lake the other night and plan to do the same tonight. Yippee! I even spent part of my lunch break during my seminar today walking around the hotel. I am hoping I walked about a mile, but who knows! I LOVE FALL!!

Snickerdoodle

California

As most of you know, we went on vacation the first week of September to California again this year. We stayed with Chris' Aunt Linda in Mission Viejo which is south of L.A. in Orange County. The first day we got there (we arrived in CA around 9:00 AM on Saturday Aug 30) Dan and Linda took us Paddle boarding. This basically consists of standing on an over-size surfboard and using a paddle (oar) to paddle yourself out and back. Don't let this fool you...it requires lots of balance and concentration. We had fun doing this though. Here are a few pics of that:



Linda & I

Chris next to the pirate ship

Chris & I on the beach

The next day (Sunday Aug 31) we went to Rodeo Drive with Linda and Michael. Rodeo Drive was beautiful and just as ritzy as imagined. I found a hair clip for $25 in one of the stores and decided to not enter any more. One street over there were some shops more in our price range where we did a little bit of shopping. Here are a few pictures from that:

I love this dress...I wish I could wear it...just once!

Infamous Rodeo Drive shot

Chris, Linda & Michael in front of Harry Winston's















Monday, Labor Day, we did more paddle-boarding and then we hung out with Dan and Linda the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, Chris wanted to go to Trestle's Surf Outlet. This is a place where they sell a lot of the "surf" wear/brands that Chris likes best, for very cheap. We did shopping there, went to the mall and had lunch, window shopped and then went back to Dan and Linda's and took a nap! If we had a choice, Chris and I would probably take a little nap every afternoon. Anyways, that night we went to Hollywood with Michael. Hollywood wasn't as impressive, it was kinda dirty and I had a VERY strange man wearing a red & black lace corset, a skirt with slits all the way up the sides with only a string thong on underneath (and YES you could see his butt cheeks...NASTY) make weird faces at me as Chris, Michael and I were eating at a nasty Mexican restaurant on Hollywood Blvd. All the freaks start coming out at night...this man was not the only weirdo we saw. There are also lots of people dressed up as characters that want you to pay to have your picture taken with them (ex: Marilyn Monroe, Captain Jack Sparrow, etc). Here are some of the nicer things we got pics of while we were there.




Us BEFORE the above mentioned nasty man made faces at me in the window.



















Hollywood Blvd


















Michael & Chris next to John Wayne's footprints, hand prints, and signature





















Gotta love Bing!

















That Wednesday we went to Newport Beach. I love this beach. It is filled with lots of cute shops on the beach, a very well kept beach and pier and you can look at all the condos that have ocean front views and dream of staying there for just a few nights. Ahh...here are some pictures from that day:

Chris on the beach

Chris & I

Waves

Chris under Newport Pier

Me under Newport Pier

Looking off the pier

Chris pretending to pet a seagull















The final day of our trip we went to Trestles beach. This beach is undeveloped and you actually have to walk a mile to get to the beach from the parking area. It is a state park. This beach is completely uninteresting and WAAAAY to long of a walk to get there if you are not interested in surfing. That is why people go to this beach...it has awesome waves. Chris begged that we go there because they were holding a surfing competition there on Sunday (after we left - he was so bummed) and he was hoping to see a few professional surfers practicing. Now we saw a lot of people surfing...only one professional though that we actually recognized. I think he is called "John John" he is like 16 years old and has been professionally surfing for several years now. I do not naturally know this kind of stuff...I learned all of that mumbo jumbo from Chris...he loves surfing (watching it that is). Here are some pics from that day:

yes that is a train track on the beach...we had to walk under this to get to the water.

Find Out Who Your Friends Are...

I heard a song on the way to work this morning...I have heard it before, so it wasn't some new revelation, but it made me realize something. I don't really care what type of friend other people want to be, it is what type of friend I want to be that matters. I hope that my friends realize the lengths I would go to, the things I would overcome and items I would put off until later to be there for them. All they have to do is ask and I will be there (sometimes I will just show up without being asked, so be prepared for that too). This song is SOOOOO country but it represents the type of friend I want to be!!

Artist: Tracy Lawrence
Song: Find Out Who Your Friends Are


Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie

{Chorus}
You find out who your friends are
Some body's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

Everybody wants to slap your back wants to shake
your hand when you're up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way then you slide
back down look up and see who's around then

This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off

{Chorus}
You find out who your friends are
Some body's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

When the water's high
When the weather's not so fair
When the well runs dry
Who's gonna be there?

{Chorus}
You find out who your friends are
Some body's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

You find out who your friends are(yeah, yeah)
You find out who your friends are

Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
(Well man, I've been there)
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare
(Man, I've been there)
Man, I've been there
Oooh yeah.

Over It

Thanks to all of you who sent encouraging comments after my "bitter blog". I have been feeling pretty down since this past weekend, so it felt good just to get that all out. I am better now. I want to post a blog about my vacation, but that will have to wait for another day...I need to get in the shower and go to bed now.

Love to all my beautiful girl friends...Connie, Laci, Jamye, Anjolee, & Kari!! Sweet ladies I tell ya!

Fed Up

Currently I am fed up.

Fed up with people who pretend to be your best friend, but in turn are a fair weather friend (you know only seem to care when it benefits them).
Fed up with always being there for people to always be disappointed when they don't return the favor.
Fed up with never having any "extra" money and things always coming our way to set us back.
Fed up with being the last to know about anything important, but instead having to read about it on the internet with 5000 other people.
Fed up with being so irritated that it ruins my day.
Fed up with blogging, myspace, and everything else I take the time to update when no one reads them or at least no one leaves a comment to show that they read it or even looked at it (if it is a picture).
Fed up with being the only one truly committed to something while others take it so lightly.
Fed up with loved ones who you wish to be close to but they always push you further away so you feel like you don't even know them.
Fed up with my stinking dog who seems to always revert back to orneriness when I know he understands what we are saying.
Fed up with my living room carpet always showing stains that appear out of no where.
Fed up with always letting my anger out on my husband when he is not the one who deserves it.
Fed up with the fact that I never can seem to get anything done around my house during the week, but have to use my free time on the weekends to do it.

I am in a terrible temperament lately and just wanted to share my thoughts, even if they are grumpy ones.

I am thinking of deleting this blog and my myspace page, because I am sick of taking the time to care when others don't.

That's all.