THANK YOU PINTEREST...

I FINALLY got my jewelry cleaned up and organized, thanks to all the inspiration on Pinterest!

 It went from this chaos...

 to these un-used cabinets in our closet...

 plus a hanger with knobs from an estate sale,
and a few silverware and ice cube trays later...

and I can actually see what I have and it is not tangled up anymore!

It feels good to be organized...at least in some small part of my life.  

QUITE THE CHARACTER...

A Disney character, that is!  Several college kids we know have taken a break from the usual college track to do a semester at Disney world!  I'm not sure how it works, but one of our friends received some college credit while going to "Disney college" and working the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom.  She had a blast!  She'll be returning to OU this fall.  Another one of our son's friends, Jonathan, went to Austin, Texas this spring for an audition and will get to be a Disney character this fall.  He doesn't know just what character, yet, but we are thrilled for him!

Jonathan is one of the most cheerful kids I have ever known!  Despite his family situation, he has a wonderful Christ like attitude.  He always has a smile on his face and is a sharp dresser - he'll be a perfect Disney character.  We went to a wonderful farewell party for him and everything was so cute I just had to share with you:

 The wonderful world of Disney

 M-i-c-k-e-y table

 Princess table

 Mary Poppins table

 Party pics

REGRETS FOR NOT EVER TAKING MY KIDS HERE...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK!

It was the last leg of our 30th anniversary trip.  You must take your kids!  Yes, it's a long way from OK, but so cool and different than anything I've ever seen.  My husband and I had neither one ever been here before, so how could we know?  You have no excuse!  The teacher in me says TAKE YOUR KIDS!  It's a science lesson about volcanoes...and geysers and mud pots and other stinky, weird things.  We loved it.

There's wildlife...

and mud pots

and geysers!

Bacteria

and canyons

and waterfalls!

There's also awesome historic inn - that's me way up there!  

Coolest log cabin ever...

BAPTISM REMEMBRANCES...

When each one of my kids has gotten baptized, I wanted to recognize their decision with a gift.  I'm pretty sure I got the idea from this friend's grandparents - once I saw in her cousin's room a framed print - and his mother explained it was from the grandparents, on the occasion of her son's baptism.  It was a print of a poster from Colorado, where he was baptized.  I loved the idea of whenever a person saw it, it would remind them of the time when they made that special decision!

I went to Mardel Monday morning and found a couple of things that I hope my son will always cherish and remember:

Crosses are popular now, and there will be something cooler in the future...but I feel like he can  put this up in his closet or wherever to see every day!

I pored over the books to find something to meet his needs right now.  I found this neat little book of "100 Three Word Ways to be like Jesus"- an easy read with scriptures to help him continue to transform into a Jesus-follower!

Here's an excerpt!

Just an idea - however little these gifts are - recognizing our family members when they make good decisions is always a good thing in my book!

WE INTERRUPT VACATION POSTS TO BRING YOU..

 A VERY IMPORTANT LIFE EVENT!!!

My youngest son, who is now 18 years old, decided to be baptized Sunday!  It was exciting, tearful, thrilling and just an answer to all those years of prayer for him to choose to follow Jesus.  He had been to church camp earlier in July and came home saying he was ready to be baptized.  Then when we said, "How about tonight?" he said he wanted to study some more.  So we had several small conversations about it throughout the week and he told his Dad Saturday night he wanted to do it the next day at church.

 I just want to say for all the parents who were like me, worried that your child would never get serious about it or think they are too far gone or their heart is hardened, hang in there!  We tried really hard not to harp on it or mention it much once we did a formal Bible study with each of our children at age 12.  You just hope and pray and live it out in your everyday life.  Hopefully they enjoy youth group and have good friends.  I'm just so thankful for good friends and other adults in my son's life who have influenced him to follow Jesus!  So thankful for forgiveness and God's incredible love and Jesus's sacrifice for us and Heaven!

WELCOME TO GOD'S FAMILY, SON!

BIKING IN THE BITTERROOTS...

While planning our trip, I found this awesome bike trail, Route of the Hiawatha.  You get to ride a bike 1.7 miles - yes that's right - almost 2 miles - through an old train tunnel!  Actually there were 6 tunnels along the 15 mile trail.  It was as cool as it sounds!   We had bike lamps so that helped.  There were a few puddles and dripping inside, but it was really fun!  Actually it was thrilling and creepy all rolled up into one awesome ride.  You also cross 6-7 trestle bridges too.

It's gorgeous too!

That's me near the end of the bridge...Don't look down!

Don't try this at home!  :)

We absolutely loved it - even though it was a 5 hour drive to get here - it's right on the border of Montana/Idaho.  When you pass through the first long tunnel on the trail you are officially in Idaho.  The wonderful thing about it was it is a slow grade (since it was originally for trains) and you don't have to pedal all the time!  Great activity for families with kids and even older folks.  It's also been named one of the most scenic bike trails in the U.S.  

Yes, I know I sound like a commercial again...

THIS IS NOT A PAID ADVERTISMENT...

We fell in love with Many Glacier Hotel...a 98 year old chalet in Glacier National Park.  I had no idea when we planned this trip at the beginning of the year that people book this place 1-2 years in advance!  So we didn't get to stay here, but we were about 30 minutes away.  We spent two of our three days in this area, hanging around this hotel.

It's on the National Register of Historic places as the builder of the railroad built it to encourage wealthy people from the East Coast to come and visit "America's Alps"way back when.  So the whole place has a swiss chalet feel and has been restored back to original.

We hung out on the deck twice in the afternoons after hiking...

cool breezes and awesome views.

Mountain goats came by to visit!

During a thunderstorm, everyone went into the lobby and they started a fire in the fireplace.  They also have musical entertainment and a great gift shop.  This place has it all!  Old black & white photos line the halls.  Every day they have a hotel tour and they tell you and show all the history of the place.

We dressed up and ate in the Ptarmigan Dining Room and attended the 

entertainment the last night we were at Glacier.

David Walburn did the show - he played guitar and harmonica, all original songs, 

while telling us the story of Lewis & Clark.  

And finally, another reason to love Many Glacier Hotel:  Bellboys in lederhosen!

Unfortunately, one of the college kids who was working here this summer fell 1,000 ft. while hiking with other hotel employees and died the day we were there.  It happened near Appekunny Falls where we had hiked and eaten our lunch.  We couldn't figure out why a helicopter kept going over there, then heard from one of the hotel workers.  They couldn't find him for a long time and finally recovered his body 6 hours later - around the time when we had come back for dinner - so sad!  I'm still praying for Mike's family.  He was from Florida. Our hearts were heavy with the staff as the mood changed in the hotel that evening.  Mike was 21 years old, just like one of our sons.

I hope we get to come back here some day - as hotel guests!  I heard if you are persistent and call every day you might get in on a cancellation.  This place just oozes with charm!