I picked these carrots today!

Notice the fork.....these carrots are HUGE! I can't get my hand around a few of them! God's abundance and awesomeness displayed in carrots.....yes, in carrots. We are very blessed indeed!
Shelly

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanting to wish everyone a happy valentine's day! We are all so blessed with the love of our Savior who loves us even when we are unloveable! Grace, amazing grace......love, perfect love.
Have a blessed day!
Shelly

Fort Worth Stock Show!

getting ready for the show

now getting Alec's hair ready

READY!

in the ring, with her game face

time for both to relax after the show

helping Jill get Maggie ready

Jill is ready

game face

Bret, Kayla & I, along with Kayla's friend Jill, drove to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on Thursday, January 19th. It was an all-day thing to check in and get to our spots. We were soooo ready to go to our hotel after we fed the animals at 7pm. These pictures are from Saturday. We arrived at 5:30am to begin getting Alec and her "hair" ready. :))) Her show was around 11:30am. She place 5th of 12, because she did not have a calf yet. Then it was time to help Jill get ready for her show. She showed around 5pm. It is always a long afternoon of waiting! Sunday we enjoyed watching other breeds show. Then bright and early Monday morning we packed everything up and headed home. Much easier journey home. All in all, a great time was had by all!
We even got to go visit Bret's cousin, Kim Pedroza, and her family one evening. What a blessing! They also came to see us and Alec, that was very special.
Shelly

Christmas with the Hastings in Arkansas, 2011

Enjoying some frisbee with friends at church

all us girls received a scarf handmade by Sandy!
priceless!

also received some bath gel & fuzzy socks!

Stephen's shirt to go with his GI Joe men

Sarah's new shirt, you can't see the socks & bracelets

Andrew, where are your shirts?

Seth, everything looks better in Ford!

Nathan has super powers!

Luke will be sporting at AR Tech

fuzzy socks to go with her bling! :)

A new book for David

matching scarves, hot chocolate & smiles......perfect!

They can't be serious for long! But we wouldn't want it any other way!

Besties!

We had a lovely trip to Arkansas to visit our friends the day after Christmas. The time always goes by too quickly, but we are thankful for whatever time we are given. It seems the children always find plenty to do, even with so many different ages. And being together are times that we all feel encouraged and treasure.
Thanks Hagestings for a wonderful visit!
We love you!
Shelly

Christmas Day!

Alissa's gifts from her sisters

Bret's gift from his girls

kitchen stuff for me from my girls :)

Erica's new picture for her room

Kayla's gift from her sister and parents

Bret was excited......maybe he didn't realize there would be work involved ;-)

Erica's gift from her sisters

Kayla's new shelf to hang trophies and ribbons from Shows!

Merry Christmas! Not pictured is the pink ipod nano Bret gave me along with a fish styled James Avery ring.....all very lovely. It was a day to remember how blessed we are to have a family and be together and to know Jesus our Saviour and worship Him and share Him with the world.
Hope yours was a day to be remembered and you spent it with the ones you love.
Shelly

Decorating Sugar Cookies at Christmastime

Well, our sugar cookie decorating happened entirely late this year......and "all the girls" did not come over - very sad day! Maybe we can have them over to decorate sugar cookies for Valentines Day instead?? Anyway, the creativity of my family is amazing as you can see from the pictures. A fun time was had by all and even more fun as we ate them!! :)))
Shelly