VBS went great even though we had several days over 100 and everything was outside. I had to get creative in what I wore under my robe to try and stay cool. There were a couple nights that we had storms and I remember waking up during the night, praying we wouldn't have too much to repair come morning! Stacy Godfrey and I were the Toga Shopkeepers and we had a ton of fun helping the kids try on tunics, wigs, armor and head pieces from the Roman days. Stacy would then take their picture in front of a beautiful backdrop that we "helped" paint. The week after VBS was busy for Chris with the wedding of Kyle and Rachel Williams on Friday night. After the stressful week, we both were ready for a trip to Haviland the next week to visit family and for Chris to attend Ministry Conference at Barclay College. The kids and I had so much fun hanging out at Mom and Dad's with Marcy, Stacy and their families and Chris got in his time with the little nieces and nephews on his breaks from the conference. We also visited with Chris' cousin Jennifer Lee and her family, who have recently moved to Haviland to work at Barclay College. The kids had so much fun together it was hard to end our time with them. Chris managed to find time to go deer hunting with my Dad, too. Dad had been given five damage permits from a farmer and the boys were very happy to fill them! Chris shot a doe the first morning out and then Dad and a college student from Barclay took three more does in the next two days.

Saturday night was the Chandler Rodeo and we were very excited to get to go this year! Last year at this time we were working on packing up our house in Rose Hill and moving to Chandler. Can you believe that is has been a year already!? The rodeo was great but the heat made holding a squirmy two year old very exhausting. We were sitting on the top row of the grandstands and I didn't want her falling through so she sat on my lap most of the time. Chris finally took Emma home after she got her fill of the horses and calves and she started saying by the end, "comes next one" as she waited for the next calf to come running out of the gate. The boys had a blast and Isaac even went out and tried to catch a calf with a ribbon on it's tail. He was fast but didn't get a ribbon. Ian hung out down by the fence the whole night and only once did I have to yell at them to get back from the fence when a very unfriendly bull came charging past. He had already seriously injured the bull rider and then tried to gore the pickup horse with his horn, knocking the cowboy to the ground and chasing him up the fence in front of us. It was pretty scary and it took them forever to get the crazy bull out of the arena!

Another scary moment happened during the barrel racing. A six year old girl came out of the gate and her horse took off too fast for her. She was bouncing all around in the saddle and was about thrown from the horse but she finally got control of the horse at the opposite end of the arena and was able come back and run the barrels. When the announcer said that her THREE year old sister was coming out next, you could hear people in the stands groaning but she was on a nice calm horse that trotted around all the barrels and then easily galloped to the finish. It was pretty cute but everyone was nervous after what happened with her sister.