Trip to West Texas

We have officially begun our speaking assignments at churches! Our first church was Second Baptist Church in Lamesa, TX, so we got to spend the weekend with some of our closest friends, the Phipps Family, and also Blu's great-aunt and uncle! It was a whirlwind weekend but we had tons of fun!
Plains, Texas is known for its delicious watermelon--Cambree could eat a whole watermelon all by herself!

The kids got to go to the farm and ride Uncle Jim's tractor!

This December is 20 years that me and Whit have been "together." :) I love this pic of her and Matt!

Had to stop for ice cream on the way home...

Baby Cason has discovered Dairy Queen!

So precious :)

Caedmon and Hannah playing dress up

9 months old!

The highlight of Cason's weekend was his ride on Andrew's belly!

We had an amazing time and God really blessed the orphanage through Second Baptist in Lamesa! Can't wait to see what next weekend holds for us!

High Tech World...

Blu has a tradition where each night he tells the kids an elaborate bedtime story. They help him come up with the story, and it usually involves dinosaurs, BB & Joanna, a key, a tent, a rope, a rocketship, and bodily functions. The other night, Blu had started his story and 4 year old Caedmon realized that he didn't have his blanket. He ran out of the room yelling "I forgot my blanket!! Pause it, Daddy!!!"

COLORADO!

When Big Maw said she wanted to keep all of her grandkids at the same time for a week this summer, it wasn't hard for the rest of us to figure out that this would be a great time for a sibling vacation! So me and Blu, Cloud and Samantha, and Shade and Caity took a road trip to Breckenridge, Colorado! We laughed so much and all bonded in more ways than we thought possible ;) Here's some pics from our trip...
The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs (my 3rd time to visit this--I refuse to go ever again!! :) No, really it was neat because Shade was in the Air Force so it was cool to see things from his point of view. He was shocked when the recruiter told him that at age 26, he's "too old" to enter the Academy!)

We had a VERY nice meal at the Blue River Bistro

Proof that Blu does know how to do the dishes!! Each couple cooked one night for everyone else! We had homemade pizza, grilled chicken, and green enchiladas!

Those handsome Tidwell boys :)

Our cabin was supernice, except that the hot tub was broken. :( It was at 11,000 feet and we all had trouble breathing after a game of ping pong or walking up the stairs!

Air Force Academy Chapel

Cloud and Sammy at Blue River Bistro

Fishing at the Reservoir - we were skeptical as to whether or not there were really fish in there!

The view from our cabin's balcony

My Blu :)

This hike was completely straight down, and me and Sammy had on flip-flops!

Post-hike..we were laughing so hard!

Cloud and Sammy bought us all massages at this spa in Breckenridge!

Shade and Caity (expecting baby #2!)

A random snowman..

"The Bangs House"

Well, our journey to Zambia is underway, in a sense. We completed our last Sunday as youth pastor at our home church and spent the last week moving and getting our "new" house in order. We are living in an old house in Bangs, Texas built in the 1930s that Blu's dad has been renovating. It is such a cute house with lots of character...I had to share some pics!!
The Gingerbread House

My Coca-Cola Bedroom




Living Room


Apple Kitchen


Cute entryway from living room into dining room

Dining room

Cambree's girly room



Boys' Room


My Texas bathroom



The house also has an upstairs carpeted space with low ceilings and dormer windows--too cute!! God has definitely blessed us by providing us with this neat home to live in while we prepare to head overseas!