Wordless (Day After) Wednesday

Anniversary Trip

For our fourth anniversary, Dan surprised me with a trip to St. Louis.  It was a great time.  Soli spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa while we got to stay out past 9!  It was crazy.  Here's some pics-

 This is the awesome dessert we got at Bailey's Chocolate Bar.  It's the most amazing and romantic place I've ever been to!

 The view from our hotel looking down into Busch Stadium.

 We tour the Anheuser Busch Factory.  It's really fascinating.  Here is one of the 200 hundred Clydesdales the Busch family owns.

 Inside the stables

 Some cool statue on one of the buildings

 Friday we took Solomon to Grant's Farm.  It is a great place to take kids.  Soli was a little skeptical of the giant horses.

   Thank you, wonderful husband, for my amazing weekend!  Love you

Excitement

Wordless Wednesday

"Someone get that baby!"

We had to keep a close eye on Soli in the pool while we were at Big Cedar this weekend. He had a few traumatic episodes but he had a blast otherwise!

We forgot our camera so the pictures are limited.
Playing on the coin rides while mom shopped:

Eating a baby-sized cone at Andy's Custard:


This marks the end of our vacationing this summer. So sad.

Soliless in St. Loui

Grama and Grampa Bevans graciously agreed to watch Soli while we went on a date to St. Louis yesterday. We were going to use their season passes to try to get in to Six Flags but we chickened out. Instead we went to City Museum. It's like a Bonkers on steroids. We had a lot of fun. We're anxious to take Solo when he gets older!

Vacation Fluff

Since 'erbudy's seen lots of pictures of bison and bears, I'm gonna post about the non-yellow part of our vaca.

On the way home we stopped at Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug and the Omaha Zoo.  We left Sunday morning and got home around 10:30 on Tuesday night.  It was a great trip aside from a few fussings from the boy in the back (Solomon had a few moments too)!

Mount Rushmore is definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities... You only need to see it once in your life.


Speaking of big faces... Isn't this one SO cute?!



After Rushmore, we drove over to Crazy Horse to find that it was almost 3X as much to park there as it is to park at Rushmore. So we took a quick picture out the window as we were turning around.


We stopped at Wall Drug for dinner. It's changed a lot since I was there 15 years ago. Soli loved the robot dino just as much as Caleb did when he was little!


The next day we drove...

Tuesday we went to the Omaha Zoo. It too has changed a lot since I was there. The big thing then was their indoor jungle.


Now their big thing is the Desert Dome, which, by my judgment, was way less cool than the jungle.


My favorite was the polar bear. He was swimming right next to the glass!


The aquarium was also cool. They had a tunnel!


Soli found a trusty steed at the petting zoo. He preferred it over the bronze Orangutan.



I'll include this one just for the blood, sweat and tears I shed trying to get Brittany to pose!


And that's the summary of our trip home! I've got lots more pictures, so if you want you can go to the album and check 'em out!

Afternoon Activity

It's been raining a lot.  Yesterday happened to have a dry time and we went out to play.  He managed to still get soaked :)

Inlow 10

Finished my 3rd year of doing video for Shaun's youth camp. I was up till 5:30am working on this last one. The most exciting thing is that I filmed the whole week in HD!



The whole week can be found here.

Chicago!

Last weekend we took the train up to Chicago, kidless! It was lots of fun.


The train was fun. We watched movies on the laptop so the ride went by quickly. They kept the car cool.



We got to the hotel at 10:45pm, then walked to Giordanos and ate a whole stuffed pizza!  Very cheesy and very good!



Friday we walked over 2 miles to Shedd Aquarium*, very cool.  My favorite was the dolphin/beluga whale show.




Next we went to the Planetarium* and watched a sky show on constellations.



We stopped at the Buckingham Fountain and the Cloud Gate (bean) on the way back to get dressed for our night on the town!




The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup a few days before we got to Chicago so it was Blackhawk hysteria everywhere.  I was taking this picture of the hockey lions outside the art museum when Brittany spotted Vince Vaughn walking down the street!  We followed him for awhile to confirm his identity, then I looked back at this picture and realized he was in it!



We went to Al Primo Canto for made-on-order-all-you-can-eat Brazilian food. The lamb was my favorite.



We then went to the John Hancock building observatory*, then after nightfall we went back up to the 96th floor and got a seat along the window. I was sitting by a guy from France who offered to take our picture.




After that we walked Navy Pier and rode the ferris wheel. We went to bed after 1am!



Saturday morning we ate a huge breakfast at Houlihan's, then walked to the Field Museum* (behind my head).  My favorite section is the dead stuffed animals. Brittany liked the dinosaur skeletons.




After the museum we walked back through cloudy downtown to Xoco for lupper.




After lupper it was time to leave so we walked back to Union Station and returned to our child!


We had a great time, I recommend taking a trip there!

*Side note: If you're planning on going to the aquarium, planetarium, Hancock building, Sears tower, Field Museum, or Museum of Science and Industry, you should get a City Pass. Its $70 per person, which is probably less than you'd spend at two of those places without it, and it gets you in to all of them!

Probably Mine

Debt

We recently watched some Dave Ramsey DVDs in our small groups about being wise with money.  I was surprised at how much he incorporates the Bible into his strategies.  He frequently references Proverbs with passages like, "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has," and "Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." 

One Proverb he referred to stuck out to me was Proverbs 22:7 - "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." This caught my attention because it clearly shows the spiritual nature behind borrowing money. Dave went on to say that when someone borrows money, the person/organization that lent the money becomes master over the borrower.  That is why, if someone borrows from a friend or relative, the relationship tends to become awkward, even if the borrower is paying back the loan.  I think the analogy only goes so far; a lender doesn't have ultimate control over your life, but I thought it was an interesting parallel.

Another thing I liked was his debt snowball plan.  It didn't seem to make much sense at first, but the more I look at it, the more it does make sense.  In a nutshell, you pay off your smallest debts first, then use the money from the first debt to pay off the second (plus the extra), and so on.  You do end up with a large payment towards the end, but the increase has been gradual and each debt paid off is a small victory.

We have a couple in our group that were deep in credit card debt and weren't bringing in much money. They found the debt snowball plan, started using it, and now, just a few years later, they're just about free.  They also told us they were able to get several of their credit card companies to settle for less than they owed, which made a huge difference.

It seems to me that getting out of debt is kind of becoming a trend.  Since the 30s, each generation, as a whole, has gradually borrowed more and more money.  And now, I think the debt trend has reached its breaking point.  If our economy holds, we will begin to see a downturn in the number of people who are in over their heads. That's only my opinion, I wouldn't suggest taking it to the bank... Cool picture huh?

The Secret Dancer

The Griffin

 Isaiah 31:4-5
⁴ For thus the LORD said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
   and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
   or daunted at their noise,
so the LORD of hosts will come down
   to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
⁵ Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts
   will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
   he will spare and rescue it."


God hunts down his prey and draws them to him. Once they are His, He stands over them and jealously guards them and watches over them.

More Crafties

Here's some more of my new creations.  Dan's favorite is the black and red one.

A comb

 

These are bobby pins

A headband

A headband

A comb

A comb

Thankful at 26

I turned over-a-quarter-of-a-century yesterday.  I feel over the hill in youngness now, like 25 was the peak and from now on I can't be referred to as "young" any more.  It's okay though, John Piper says that he doesn't understand people who want to look young because signs of age are supposed to be marks of dignity.  Not that I'm showing signs of old age, but need to remember that birthdays shouldn't be seen as a loss of another year of life, but one step closer to present and future sanctification.

Brittany made me this sweet cake this week. She actually meant to make it a drum set cake, but it didn't work out.  Then she had the audacity to think that I would be upset that it wasn't cool enough!  I assured her that I was perfectly happy with her creation. 

Although I think she was silly to worry about my like or dislike of the cake, I can understand why she would be unsure about my feelings toward it.

In truth, I am not a very emotionally expressive person. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have been outwardly expressive of the way I'm feeling. And most of those times would be when I was mad at Bindy for getting into the trash while we were gone.

Last Sunday night, Matt, a friend from church, preached a sermon on loving God.  He emphasized the need to have strong emotions towards God and people (Matthew 22:34-40).  While love isn't just having emotions, emotions are just as much evidence of love as actions.  For example, I can do loving things for my wife 24-7, but if I don't ever show her any loving emotion, my actions won't amount to anything. I think this is part of what Paul meant when he wrote "though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

What is one way that I can use emotion in a way that magnifies the Gospel?

One of the easiest ways to express emotion is to be thankful. God has given mankind absolutely everything that they have, see, and experience.  I can take this fact and use it as a means of emotional response to God.  I can thank Him for this tree, that car, this person, that dog, this trial, even my last breath; for anything at any point in time!

Also, like Paul I can also be thankful for people and how they impact my life. In this way you can convey your feelings towards someone while giving credit to the one who really deserves it.  There are many people in my life that I don't thank enough. Imagine the difference it would make if I regularly took the time to look those people in the eye and express my gratitude for the way God has used them.

By the way, thank you God for Brittany and her desire to show her love for me by making a cool cake!

Brit's Crafties

My mom is a very artsy lady. Growing up, she was always painting and drawing and creating decor for our home. Tristan inherited most of her crafty genes but I managed to get away with a artsy bone or two. Poor Tara got nothing...just brains. I tend to hop from hobby to hobby. This week, it's hair accessories. I was super pumped about it for a few days. I was going to be able to earn some income from home doing something fun. But Dan became the voice of reality and let me know that it would be a huge endeavor to ever make a profit. So, now I'm just doing it for fun and presents. I bought about 50 headbands so if anyone wants one, just let me know! Here's a taste of what I've done so far.

I sewed roses from ribbon I found off an old shirt and turned it into this cute comb.

I had a belt buckle I bought ages ago that I never used. And some spiffy material from an old shirt.

 I sewed roses from material and added an old, pearl button.

 Made roses from black ribbon and added a butterfly!

 This is a comb with a petal and twirly thing. Added some white roses and button.

I'm sure there will be more to come.  I can't seem to think about much else these days.  Let me know if you have any neat ideas!