Allegheny Reservoir

Taken from Rimrock.

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I believe that abortion is wrong and you may believe otherwise. This post isn't to argue your stance with me. I'm not condemning anyone who has had an abortion. What I am confused about is how someone can believe that abortion is wrong for them but thinks its a choice for others???? I don't get the reasoning behind this.

Interest-led Learning

We make almost weekly trips to the library throughout the year. We leave with a lot, and I mean a lot, of books to peruse, read, share, discuss, and enjoy. The books come from all sections of the library and we've been known to disappear into those books for the next few days. I thought I'd share our current list of books just to show our family's interests. Yes, all of us, because you never stop learning and besides, its fun.

Exquisite little knits by Schreier & Kimmelstiel

Medieval warfare by Koch, H. W.

The pied piper of Hamelin by Browning, Robert - F. Warne

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Corrin, Sara

Archaeology by Barnes, Trevor

The late Middle Ages

The archaeology detectives

Then & now by Perring, Stefania

The complete idiot's guide to genealogy by Rose, Christine

Genealogy online for dummies by Helm, Matthew L.

Firefly guide to flags of the world

Ever by Levine, Gail Carson

Princely feasts and festivals by Holme, Bryan

Secrets of the Middle Ages by Harpur, James

Goldsmiths by Cherry, John

Unicorns of Balinor series:
The road to Balinor by Stanton, Mary
Sunchaser's quest By Stanton, Mary
Valley of fear by Stanton, Mary
By fire, by moonlight by Stanton, Mary
Search for the star by Stanton, Mary
Secrets of the scepter by Stanton, Mary
Night of the shifter's moon by Stanton, Mary

In the time of knights by Tanaka, Shelley

The last knight by Bell, Hilari
Forging the sword by Bell, Hilari
Rise of a hero by Bell, Hilari

The Spiderwick Chronicles:
The nixie's song by DiTerlizzi, Tony
The wrath of Mulgarath by DiTerlizzi, Tony
The ironwood tree by DiTerlizzi, Tony
Lucinda's secret by DiTerlizzi, Tony
The seeing stone by DiTerlizzi, Tony
The field guide by DiTerlizzi, Tony
Fall of a kingdom by Bell, Hilari

Elements Series:
Nickel by Sparrow, Giles
Titanium by Woodford, Chris
Lead by Watt, Susan
Copper by Beatty, Richard
Tin by Gray, Leon
Silver by Watt, Susan
Platinum by Wood, Ian
Aluminum by Farndon, John
Hydrogen by Farndon, John

Falling up by Silverstein, Shel
Runny Babbit by Silverstein, Shel
Where the sidewalk ends by Silverstein, Shel

Rainbow Magic:
Holly the Christmas fairy by Meadows, Daisy
Ruby the red fairy by Meadows, Daisy
Lauren the puppy fairy by Meadows, Daisy
Sophie the sapphire fairy by Meadows, Daisy
Chloe the topaz fairy by Meadows, Daisy
India the moonstone fairy by Meadows, Daisy

Sleepover sleuths by Keene, Carolyn

The Random House book of poetry for children by Prelutsky, Jack

ER vets by Jackson, Donna M.

Mermaid tales from around the world

Rumpelstiltskin by Zelinsky, Paul O.

Our Date

We got a little dressed up and had the kids take a picture before we left. The background had a lot to be desired so I had to at least fix that before posting the pic ;)



We then headed over to The Porterhouse Restaurant. We each had a salad but Kirk ordered pepper steak over rice and I ordered southwestern chicken with a side of green beans with bacon. It was all really good and of course I couldn't finish and brought home the rest.

Next we decided to go "window" shopping for a vehicle. My van is nearing its end and we need to replace it sometime soon. Some really nice SUVs were open on the Chevy/GMC lot so of course we had to sit in them :) New is not on the agenda but it was fun to look and day dream. I'm favorable to a Pacifica or a Taurus X, probably another van though, we'll see.

I wish there was more to do in our town but its nice not having to drive somewhere else.
Kirk also bought tickets to a Todd Agnew concert on Friday so the fun isn't over yet.

Thanks for all the happy anniversary wishes!

19 Years

Today is our 19th anniversary and we are going out to the new fancy restaurant in town. It was made possible by a very generous couple that Kirk did some work for. How many people get a $50 gift card as a thank you even after being paid for the work? The timing was perfect and I'll let you know how the food and service are.

Thanks Bill and Judy!

Olympics

The kids and I have been watching as much of the Olympics as we can at my friend's house. We've also been watching recaps online too. Noelle and I are enthralled by the diving and gymnastics. To those of you who know my background in gymnastics, this should be no surprise :)

I was so happy for the men's US team to get bronze. Its too bad one of them didn't make the medal stand in the all-around but there are still the individual event finals. My favorite to watch has been Jonathan Horton.

I really get into the women's gymnastics! I find myself getting excited when they do really well and stick their landings. I feel bad when they falter or fall. Even with the controversy about the Chinese girls' ages, I think they are very impressive. My favorite for the all-around was Shawn Johnson but I'm happy for Nastia Liukin. I'm looking forward to watching the event finals.

On a side note:
Our town YMCA is finally putting together a gymnastics team and I'm excited for that, it always stunk living in a small town and having to travel for things like this. I'll be rooting for all the girls and boys who compete for our town. They will have their own facility permanently set up so they can focus all their time and energy on getting better and stronger. The old recreational gymnastics class always had to set up and tear down at every class, not to mention the gym wasn't big enough to set up all the equipment at once.

Its also been really great to watch Michael Phelps, WOW! I love that the men's 4x100m free US relay team ended up smashing the French. Did you see how many calories Michael consumes in a day? Wish I had a problem keeping weight on, lol. Breaking world records and winning gold, amazing!

Has anyone else been watching?

Family Trip to Rimrock

What a view!




A fissure in the cliff with a stairway.


On the trail below the stairway. This is so cool!


Is this a fairie haven? If not, its a good place for a rest.


Kings of the rock!



Big rock! My family look like ants!


A cave!



God's creation is so amazing!!!!!

Satisfaction in Blogging

I received an award from Deanna so now its my chance to award others.

The rules for this award are:

The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

1) Link to the person you received your award from.
2) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
3) Put links to those blogs on yours.
4) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

Here are my nominations:

1. Peace that passes all understanding, life in Christ
2. Stories of Vietnam
3. Akwife's Weblog
4. Unschoolermom
5. Yup, singing, reading, thinking
6. Memoirs of an Unschooling Teacher
7. Nikki's Ramblings

Pied Piper - The Musical

Noelle getting make-up done.


Posing with Kyle, the sound man.


"Rattytatty" and "Dilly"


Posing with best friends!


Sound and Light Crew.


It was a great experience for both of them!