Free Food Is Moo-sic To Our Ears!

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. If you dressed like a cow you could receive a free meal. We love Chick-fil-A and I knew the girls would love dressing up, so we did it. I printed off a costume kit from their website and Avery and Abby enjoyed cutting everything out. They were so excited. It was funny!

The service there was amazing, as usual. It seems like whenever we go to any Chick-fil-A anywhere the customer service is excellent!

Thank you Chick-fil-A for lots of fun and great FREE food!

Zenith and Beaver's Bend

Summer is in full swing around here with lots of youth activities, camps, as well as some fun times with the fam.

At the end of June we headed up to Oklahoma Christian for Zenith, a camp for high schoolers. The girls went to Wes's parents house. This was the first year they did not come to camp with us. It was a little weird. I was able to spend more time with our teens, but I sure did miss the girls.

Zenith was amazing, as usual. Hearts were broken and hearts were transformed. There were over 500 teens there. There were great classes taught by the youth ministers and great times of worship with wonderful lessons from Mitch Wilburn. He really knows how to cut to the heart. God has given him a great gift! One afternoon, a group of us got to help out at a pregnancy crisis center. It was neat to get to help out, but it was also rewarding to see our teens get so excited about serving and loving on some children. It is also nice to fellowship, laugh, and cry a little with all the youth ministers and their wives at camp. There is a neat bond between us that I consider such a blessing.

One of the best things that happened at camp is that Jessica was baptized. Yay!!! Happy Birthday girl! About ten others from other youth groups were baptized during the week as well.
Praise God!

Wes and Jessica before the momentous occasion.

Getting ready for worship to start.

Pumped about camp!

Our entire gang from Denison.

Karla, past youth group member, a wonderful friend, and now a fellow youth minister's wife. Love ya, girl!

After Zenith, we were home for two nights and then we headed to Beavers Bend in Oklahoma with the Chownings and Slechtas. We rented Finch's Nest, a beautiful log house in the woods for four nights. We had a blast swimming in Broken Bow Lake, canoeing and splashing in the river, horseback riding, and much more. All the kids enjoyed playing with each other. Poor Mylen, being the only boy, had to play some princess games at times, but he survived. The adults had fun playing games like Apples to Apples and Scum. There were also movies to enjoy (OK, so I kept falling asleep during them. What's new?).

Our home away from home.


The guys went to play golf one morning. The rest of us went paddle boating in the river and then back home for some slip n' slide action.



Mylen is relaxing. Unfortunately, for us moms, the kids legs were a little too short to reach the paddles, so we did the hard work ourselves. That's OK, we can handle it.


The hot kiddoes were ready for a drink and a break from those pesky biting flies.


The guys took the kids one evening to a go-cart race track. Janet, Carrie, and I enjoyed the break and went driving around the state park.




The kiddoes getting ready for their first canoe ride ever.

Our canoe members. Abby really did have fun. She was just in a funk for the picture.


During our canoe trip we stopped to take a break in the river. It was chilly!


Aaron ventured off toward the middle of the river, slipped and fell, and this is what happened.


Little cold there bro?


Little Aivlyn trying out the river water. She loved Abby on this trip. You could often hear saying, "Aaaaabbbbbbyyyyy! Aaaabbbbbbyyyy!" It was pretty cute!

Team Chowning.


Team Slechta.

Avery and I riding on King. It was funny, before we started, we joked about who would get stuck with the stubborn horse. Well, Avery and I definitely did! King wasn't terrible. He just liked making his own trails through the woods even if it meant scraping his riders up on trees and brush. We forgive you, King. It made for an adventurous ride!


Wes and Abby riding on Frosty. Abby looks like she is frightened, but she had a great time. We did see a little deer that actually let us get pretty close.


After the horseback ride we went on a ride through the forest on a train.


The girls enjoyed getting to ride with Sybil in our car.



Let's get our miniature golf game on! Should we keep score. Nah!


Pink ball and putter, of course! We couldn't have it any other way.


Avery thought it was a race. She kept hurrying through the course.


The Chowning clan resting from the game for a bit.


The kids had a ball playing in the hot tub at our house.


Aivlyn wore Aaron and Janet out. She has no fear of the water and was perfectly happy jumping in the water, going under, and being fetched out by her parents. This hilarious cycle was repeated tons of times.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of us swimming at the lake. I guess it was because we were too busy having fun in the water the entire time. The girls decided this was their favorite part of the trip. I think it was mine too.

This was a great place to visit. I am sure we will be back to visit in the future. The day we left all the kids kept saying, "I don't want to leave."

Soon after our trip, we headed to Blake and Katy's to celebrate the 4th of July with Granny, Ernie, Chad, Miranda, Ranger, and Jeff. Blake grilled for us and we all brought side dishes. It was yummy! I especially enjoyed the homemade ice cream. Katy, you really shouldn't have sent some home with us. The only pictures I got were of this cutie who just recently started crawling and pulling himself up. Way to go Tripp!

He is on the move, now!

Yay, you made it! This toy was one of Abby and Avery's favorite toys that we got from Karla's family. I am glad Tripp is getting some use out of it, too.

This past Sunday we had another exciting occasion. Cody Scott, another member of our youth group, decided to be baptized. I think half the church was balling out of tremendous joy! Woohoo!

I am looking forward to seeing God work the rest of the summer!

Avery Looses Her Tooth

On Sunday afternoon Avery lost her first tooth. What a milestone! I can't believe she is loosing her baby teeth when it just seems like not too long ago she was a baby getting her first teeth. Time is going by way too quickly!

Wes got to do the pulling. I was glad he eagerly jumped at the chance to pull it because I did not want to have to do it. I figure I bore two children, (one with no epidural), so he can pull the teeth. Right?

Avery was very excited about it all and shows everyone we come in contact with her new smile.

Swimming Lessons

The girls have been going to swimming lessons at the pool that is just a few minutes from our house. It has been neat watching them improve each day. Abby's teacher is one of my old fourth grade student's sister. It is a small world.

Each day after the lesson they excitedly tell me the things they did and learned. I guess they forget that I am right there watching them. I even give them thumbs up signs and clap quietly when they do well. Too funny!

I wish I could jump in there with them everyday. It is an indoor pool. Part of the glass roof can be opened and there are sliding glass doors that are opened, but it still feels like you are in a sauna.

Yesterday, I was watching Abby and she started pulling the bottoms of her tankini right off her bottom. She was swishing water in and out of her bathing suit. I immediately jumped up from my seat to see what her deal was. Her teacher was busy with another student and didn't see (at least, I hope that is the case) what Abby was doing. Abby told me she was cleaning the pee out of her bathing suit. I am sure she is not the first 4 year old to be peeing in the pool. I quickly took her to the bathroom to finish up her business. Oh my, when does it click that it is not okay for everybody to see your hiney and private parts or to pee in the pool? Ha! I felt better when I sat down and the lady next to me said that the other girl in Abby's class had just walked out of the bathroom back to the pool completely naked because she couldn't get her bathing suit on. I will have remember this story when I need to embarrass her in front of her teenage friends.

Happy Birthday Wes!

Yesterday was Wes's 32nd birthday. We celebrated with the Encalade clan on Saturday and then we also celebrated yesterday.

Abby is saving some cake on her face for later.


Daddy, can I help you blow out your candles?

Last night we went to Cheddars as a family to celebrate. We had a fun time on the way home. The girls wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to Wes, so we all sang it together. Then Abby stated that she wanted to do it by herself. (Surprise. Surprise.) She sang the monkey rendition. Abby is such a ham. Avery followed with the normal song, and I made up my own tune. Yes, we are pretty goofy.

I made Wes's favorite pie, Custard Pie, in honor of his birthday. I love you, honey! I hope you enjoyed your birthday!

When we were about to drive into our garage we spotted a snake (hopefully, not a harmful one) that quickly slithered into the garage closet. We closed the closet door and stuffed towels underneath the door with tool kits on top. We are hoping that it will die in there. Has anybody else had a snake in their garage? Any ideas of what we should do?

Summer Is Here! Yipee!

I feel like a little kid. I am so pumped about summer! Avery is out of school now, we have some fun trips lined up, and youth group activities are in full swing.

Abby and I ended school with a fun little program. It was a little hard to have to keep my class under control and enjoy watching Abby perform at the same time. Oh well, that is part of the job. Abby did a terrific job! Her facial expressions always crack us up whether she is performing or just telling us some random thing. You can usually tell how she is feeling just by looking at her face. She has some pretty silly faces and then she has some scowls which let you know to stay out of her way. Unfortunately, Avery doesn't always pick up on the latter one.

I really did not get a very good picture. Luckily Wes caught the performance on video. Check out the girl in the front. She is digging in with two fingers! Abby is in the middle of the picture with the denim skirt on and a huge smile on her face.

A couple of weekends ago, Wes and I painted our bedroom furniture black. I had entertained the thought of painting it for a while. Now, I wish that we had done it sooner. Our night stands and chest of drawers were all light wood color while our armoire was a darker tint of wood. We were both tired of the light colored wood and also the fact that all our bedroom furniture did not match. I was so proud of Wes. He jumped on the sanding right away the night before our big painting day. We were surprised how fast we accomplished the job the next day. We used Behr paint with primer in it and only had to do 2 coats. By the way, I will only use this paint from now on. We used it on several rooms when we first moved into our house 3 years ago. It is a great paint and we only had to paint one coat. Three years later I can still open the old cans and use it for paint touch ups and it blends in with the rest of the paint on the walls beautifully. I love it! Back to the furniture - we were quite pleased with the outcome and have been enjoying our "new furniture".

Wes hard at work.

You got a little somethin' on your forehead there...


And a lot of somethin' on your butt!


The finished product.

The end of the school years brings our usual activities like Senior Sunday and attending graduations and graduation parties. Senior Sunday is always bittersweet. I am proud of our Seniors for coming this far and I am excited about their future college careers. But I will sure miss them, and I can't believe that it is already time for them to leave the youth group. This year is especially memorable because several of the seniors were members of my first fourth grade class at Hyde Park. Sniff, sniff... Anyways, at the Senior Sunday luncheon I always get to read a children's book. This year I chose I Knew You Could: A Book for All the Stops in Your Life by Craig Dorfman. I am always looking for new ideas for books for this occasion. If you have any ideas please pass them on.

Our graduating seniors. We love you!

The Denison High School graduation was pretty cool. Captain Sulley Sullenberger, (the pilot who glided the plane into the Hudson River), spoke and did an amazing job. Captain Sulley grew up here in Denison and graduated from our high school. They also had a parade for him and he spoke downtown. Have I mentioned before that this town has a parade for everything? The valedictorian was one of my past fourth grade students so that was pretty neat. The salutatorian is a member of the Western Heights youth group a group that we do a lot with. Both students mentioned God and one even read scripture. I was proud of them shining their lights.

On Avery's last day of school she had an awards ceremony. She got several awards for the last 9 weeks of school. They do 9 weeks instead of 6 weeks report card intervals. She received awards for being a good class citizen, hard worker, making all A's, and perfect attendance. She got two separate awards for the whole year. She was the Top Reader out of all the Kindergartners at her school. Yay! I am so proud of her! I was on a high for days. Is that silly or what? I am thrilled that she loves school and enjoys reading. She also got a T-shirt as a reward for having perfect attendance all year long! That is right! She did not miss a single day of school. She was the only kindergartner who had perfect attendance all year long. I have been thanking God a lot lately for both girls' health and their eagerness to learn. It is truly a blessing.

Receiving her trophy with the Hyde Park tiger.

Her first trophy ever - and it is for reading! I love it!

Proud of her new T-shirt.

I have to brag on Abby too. She has been quite the little helper lately. She especially likes to help around meal time by putting the napkins and silverware on the table for us. She gets upset if Avery happens to be around close by, and I ask her to do it.

The nice weather has brought about fun outdoor activities such as bike rides, walks, and swimming at the water park. Last week, on one of our family walks in the neighborhood we ventured off the road down a path into the woods behind our neighborhood. It was so cool. It felt like we were way out in the country deep in the woods. The girls loved it, but we eventually had to leave our adventure because it was getting close to dark, and we were being eaten up by mosquitoes. As we were going up one particular slope I made the comment to the girls that this was like Wilderness Trek that Daddy and I went on where we climbed a mountain with a heavy backpack on. I asked the girls if they would want to do that someday. Avery immediately said, "Yes!" bounded up the slope, ran down it again and said that she wanted to practice for when she did Wilderness Trek someday. Ha!

The girls started swimming lessons on Monday at the indoor pool just a couple minutes from our house. Abby's group has three other students. They have been bobbing their heads under water, jumping off the side of the pool, and swimming above water and underwater (a very short distance) to the instructor. Avery's group has been swimming longer distances, diving for rings, and jumping in the water then swimming to the instructor. They are both doing great!

Last night, we had Sybil over to spend the night. I am just realizing that I forgot to take a single picture of this first sleepover experience with their good friend. They played, ate dinner, watched Heidi, and then hunkered down in Avery's room. I kept checking on them every so often, reminding them to go to sleep. They weren't playing around in the room, just whispering and moving around on their beds. At 10:15 or so I thought they were asleep. I hadn't heard anything while I was watching TV in the living room. At 11:15 I headed to bed and I heard whispering in their room. I couldn't believe it! All three girls had swimming lessons that day followed by a trip to the water park. You would think they would have dropped like flies. They are such good friends and have such a good time together, I guess they were too excited to go to sleep. I had warned them the last time that I had checked on them that if they did not go to sleep I would have to separate them. Keep in mind that I knew that all three had swimming lessons and a birthday party the next day and would be missing their usual afternoon nap. I kept my word and separated them. They weren't being terrible, but I knew that they had a big day the next day and I didn't want it to be miserable from lack of sleep. I thought about how my mom and my friend's moms must have felt all those times when we all stayed up so late talking and giggling. Despite the late night and being separated the girls had a great time with their good friend.

Today, Avery woke up with her first loose tooth. It is her bottom left central incisor. So how much money is the tooth fairy giving these days? Also, I noticed that her two permanent incisors are coming in right behind her baby teeth. Is that normal? I thought they were supposed to come in under the baby teeth. I plan to ask some friends at church who are nurses, and maybe I will even catch one of our elders who is a dentist.

See them coming in behind the baby teeth? Normal? - I am not sure???

What Do I Title This?

Yikes! It has been a long time since I posted last. Somehow updating my blog always gets pushed down to the end of my list of things I should do. Seems like there is always laundry, cleaning, kids to bathe, feed, read to, play with, preschool stuff to do, errands to run, youth group activities and much more.

My life will slow some after Monday. Tomorrow is the last day of preschool. Well, I must say, I did enjoy my first year of teaching 2 year olds. It went a lot smoother than the first year I taught 4th graders. It will be sad to see my kiddos go. They really have been a great group. Tomorrow night we have a special program where the kids sing some songs and we have refreshments. It is hard to believe that Abby has just one more year of preschool before heading to kindergarten. It has been neat being at school with her, seeing her with her friends, and watching her during chapel. She is full of facial expressions.

A lot has happened since I last wrote, and I will try to not leave anything out. Back on Easter weekend we headed down to Dallas where we watched our youth compete at Leadership Training for Christ (LTC). They were great! I was proud of them! This year we decided to take the girls with us. They enjoyed staying in the hotel and watching the big kids sing, do their puppet shows, and their drama skits.

We got back from LTC just in time to go to the Easter Egg Hunt at church. The girls had lots of fun gathering eggs with all their friends and showing off what they found to Wes, Grandpa, Gina, and I.

Abby and her friend, Sadie, with Gina and Grandpa.

Look at all the eggs. Yes, we are still trying to eat that candy.

The girls in their Easter dresses.

Avery had a kindergarten program at the beginning of April. She was given two paragraphs to memorize which she did so quickly and easily. This play was right up her alley. Not only did she memorize her two paragraphs but she learned everyone else's lines too. (During the program she would often mouth other people's parts which was pretty cute.) She had a blast practicing at home for the big day. She sang her songs and read her lines so much at home that Abby memorized many of them as well. Before the program started a mother of one of the boys in her class came up to me and told me she had a cute story. She had told her son that she was going to bring her camera to take pictures of him during the program. He replied, "OK mom, but can you get some pictures of Avery too? Because she is fine!" Ha! We didn't tell Avery, but we laughed about that for several days.

Avery and the other flowers.

The whole gang. Avery's class has 14 students and the other kindergarten class has 12. I am hoping the classes stay that small all through out elementary. Isn't that great?

During the rap song they all put on their sun glasses. It was pretty funny!

Avery is quite the performer!

We have been having the middle schoolers and high schoolers over for small groups on Sunday nights and the high schoolers over on Monday nights for Word Up. It is always nice to have them in our home. It is during these times that I can really fellowship with them and get into their lives. I had missed that over the 3-4 months we weren't doing it it because of everything going on with Wes's cancer.

Speaking of cancer, Wes got another fantastic report from MD Anderson. They didn't find anything! Praise God! Such an answer to prayers! They recommended a plan of surveillance which will include regular scans, X-rays, and blood work. Wes has healed very well. He feels great. He has almost all his energy back. There are times like when he mows the lawn or goes on long walks that he doesn't feel quite the same, but for the most part he feels great. He has gained some weight back. His hair has started to grow back some. It is a little fuzzy, which makes it hard to know if he should shave his head and wait for it to come back fuller. His mustache area started first - which is kind of funny. Once again, I want to say a HUGE "THANK YOU!" to those of you who kept us in prayer and offered encouragement. We feel extremely blessed by all our friends and family.

I started a new job this month. I have been working out at my friend Wynn's gym in town for about 4 years now. In the past, Wynn had asked me if I wanted to be trained to teach step or weight lifting classes there for the adults. I wasn't very interested in that, but recently she asked me to teach a kid fitness class. I agreed and have loved every minute of it. Basically, the class is for K-5th graders, and we do all different sorts of physical activity- from obstacle courses and relays to games and lifting weights. We have a lot of fun. I get to crank up the music and wear a one of those cool wireless mics. I would have loved on of these in my fourth grade classes when I was teaching. Avery loves it and gets excited about going too. It has made me start thinking about teaching PE sometime in the future.

The biggest event we had recently was my Dad getting married. YAY! Dad and Gina, (my "Mother-in-Love" as she calls herself) got married on May 2nd. The rehearsal dinner was a blast. It was at an Italian restaurant downtown. We had a hoot dancing, visiting, and laughing at people dancing. Every time someone clanged their glass Dad and Gina kissed. I think that was their favorite part. They were hoping to get married in our beautiful prayer garden at church, but the rain changed those plans. It still turned out beautifully in our church. All the grand kids got to walk down the aisle before Gina was escorted in. Heather was the photographer and I can't wait to see her pictures. Our friend, Henriann, took some great engagement pictures in the prayer garden. It was neat visiting with everyone at the reception. All the cousins enjoyed playing with each other during the wedding festivities.

The two love birds!

A few days before the wedding Abby stated, "After Grandpa and Gina get married they have to become parents." Avery chimed in with, "Where are they going on their honeymoon?" I responded with, "Africa". She got so excited and shouted, "Can we go with them? Can we go with them?" I had to explain that people go on honeymoons by themselves.

Two weekends ago we took our Seniors and Juniors on a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. This is traditional trip we take before our Seniors graduate, but this was our first time to go to the Great Wolf Lodge. What a cool place! I highly recommend going there. We had a great time at the indoor water park. They had huge water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river and fun play areas for young children. Avery and Abby spent the night at Nana and Paw Paw's house then joined us Saturday morning. Avery wasn't tall enough to go on the scariest ride, but she was able to go on some big ones that start 6 stories high. When we got done riding it together for the first time, she said, "Can we do it again?" That's my girl! When we piled on with 3 others from our youth group we went especially fast. Wes and I thought Abby would be able to ride on the raft with us, but she was just an inch too short. Some of the other life guards had been letting children her height go, but when we tried there was a strict lady up there. Abby was so sad she cried. She did go down a smaller ride and had a blast swimming/floating down the lazy river over and over again. I am so glad my girls love the water as much as I do.

Wes and the girls on the snake.

Ready to float?

Avery and I and some of the gals.

How was the ride, girls?

Some of the gang in the wave pool.

Avery has started taking piano lessons. A couple of years ago Granny had given us her piano thinking that the girls would enjoy playing it some day. I did some research and found out that is best to wait until they are six. Avery likes her teacher and is enjoying learning to play. Sure, there are days when she doesn't want to practice but once she gets a song down she really does have fun with it. She knows Mary Had a Little Lamb by heart and can play several other songs as well. I usually take her, so in a way, I am learning how to play as well. It helps that I played the flute for 4 years. Thanks Granny for making these lessons possible! What a fabulous gift!

Thursday night I was invited by one of our High Schoolers, Lauren Hurley, to the 2009 "Scholars Among Us" dinner at the Tanglewood Resort on Lake Texoma. The Denison ISD Education Foundation honors the top 10% and Socrates scholars of the Class of 2009 graduating seniors. Each student got to invite a teacher/educator who has had the greatest positive influence in their life. Lauren was in my first group of fourth graders that I taught and has been in our youth group since 6th grade. I felt so honored to be her guest. It has been a joy to watch her grow up into a beautiful Christian lady, and I am thrilled that she will be heading off to ACU in the fall. 14 out of the 51 of the students being honored were in my classes at Hyde Park. They are all grown up now, but of course, I have not gotten older at all. :) It was neat to see them and give them hugs. They played a video during the event which showed pictures of the students and teachers. The students had also been recorded saying some special things about why they had chosen their particular teacher. What Lauren said made me cry. "Mrs. Encalade is one of the sweetest, most sincere, Christ-like individuals I know. As a teacher, Mrs. Encalade made English a fun subject and encouraged students to work to their full potential. As a mentor she has been a great friend. I've been so blessed to have her as a role model." I am so proud of you Lauren, and I know God will use you even more as you continue to seek Him and live for Him. Love you, girl!

Love you, girl!

Friday was our tenth wedding anniversary. We didn't celebrate that night, because we had Relay for Life. This is from the website:

"Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society's signature event that brings more than 3.5 million people from 4,900 communities across the country together each year to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much. Relay For Life is a fun-filled, overnight event that empowers everyone to help fight cancer by raising money and awareness to support the American Cancer Society’s lifesaving mission. Teams of people camp out at local high schools, parks, or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Relay For Life symbolizes the hope that people lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face the disease have support, and that one day cancer will be eliminated."

We had team of 62 from our church attend the event. There were maybe a thousand people there in all. Wes led the opening prayer for the event. They had different activities such as the survivor walk, survivor/caregiver walk, and fun little contests. It was incredible to see so many people gathered for a great cause. Our church raised over $4000.

Nana and Paw Paw took the girls home late that night and for the rest of the weekend. It was a nice treat to get a break from the girls. Usually when the girls are gone for a while we are busy with the youth. This time Wes and I were able to sleep in, relax, get some errands run on Saturday and then we celebrated our anniversary by going out to eat and watching Angels and Demons. We ended our anniversary with some yummy ice cream from Coldstone. Happy ten years, Bookie! I love you! Thanks for a great date! I am so blessed to have a husband like you! Can't wait to see what God has in store for the rest of our life.

Ten years ago on May 15th.

Sunday at church we had our ground breaking service. We are adding an additional building that will have a gym, large youth suite, classrooms, and large kitchen. It is exciting!