stacey4blogs

Colorado Adventures- Photo Overload!

2009-06-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some pictures of the fun we had in Colorado....but I couldn't pick just a few!!! We have tons of adorable pictures of fun stuff we did around the house! We played tons of games, had skit night, dance parties and enjoyed our vacation....but for this post its all about the adventures!

Colorado Sand Dunes!
This place is really cool (actually its hot..the sand at least!) Its a National Monument located in the middle of the beautiful Colorado Mountains! The sand looks fake as you drive up to it! We walked, and walked and played in the sand!

Drive In Movie!
I have never been to a drive in! Honestly I didn't think there were any left!! When we saw it was Showing Night at the Museum 2 we had to go! It was awesome! The kids loved the old fashioned playground! We bundled up and enjoyed the stars, mountains in the background and a funny movie!

Rafting!
Yes, we actually took our 7 kids white water rafting!! We took the mild course down the Rio Grande! It was awesome!!! We've got more pictures but they are on Susans camera!

Explored the Countryside!
We took lots of time to play outside and explore the mountains! These pics are from a scenic drive we took one day! MaryCate and Trey made a canoe out of this old stump! And Jim found some old jaw bone from some animal!

Pagosa Springs- Natural Hot Springs
This place is AMAZING!!! Greg grew up camping in Pagosa Springs! It has to be one of the most beautiful places in Colorado. The kids loved the natural hot springs! We got in each and every pool...even if we only put a toe in some! (Some were up to 117 degrees!)

While in Pagosa we got some fake facial hair from a toy machine!! We got more laughs out of these fun .50 items! Meet my son, Mario or Luigi!

Snow Sleding!
We heard there was still snow up on the mountain so we set out to find some!!! And waaaa la! It was at the Great Continental Divide and we had a blast playing in the snow...in JUNE!

Campfires and Cookouts!

Mining for Gold, Silver or any other shiny rock!
We were only a few minutes away from a mining town, so one day we went to the mining museum & looked for treasures of our own!

Colorado Vacation, The Beginning!

2009-06-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

About 8 months ago we began planning our family vacation to beautiful Colorado this June! Time passed so quickly and before we knew it we were loaded up in the car and headed for the mountains! On the way we stopped in Childress to visit our good friends the Hendersons! John (sitting next to Greg) was our best man 14 years ago!

Next we met up with the Newhouse family in good ole Amarillo and decided....if you've gotta eat it might as well be at the Big Texan! That place was SO hick, it was hilarious to imagine what tourists must think of Texas when they eat their!

THE HOUSE!!!

I just have to show off this gorgeous house! It was donated by a generous and awesome family from Saturn Road to an auction we had back in November benefitting little Lia Stone. Greg was the second highest bidder and the family honored his donation to the Stones in exchange for a week at their home! The Kitchen was awesome!! It was actually fun to cook in! On a side note, the diamond fell out of my wedding ring while we were there and actually found it (thanks Jim!) on the wood floors of the kitchen! thank goodness!

Madison and her roomie for the week! (And someday at ACU we hope!) Ashton Wilburn! Ashton is Jim and Susan's niece and she and Madison have become good friends! Ashton lives in Tulsa with her family so she and Madison don't get to spend a lot of time together but they keep in touch with the greatness of cell phones and computers!

The "Bunk Room"! There are beds in this room you can't even see from the picture! But how cool is that?? The room also had a sitting area w/ tv and sofas so the kids had their own "hang spot" upstairs in their bunk room!

An arial shot of the living rom! Greg and Jim hanging out!

Jim and Susan in the GIANT Copper bathtub!! That thing was awesome!! That is a steam shower next to the tub, which was also incredible!!!

MaryCate Posing on the back porch that leads down to the stream!

Susan and Stacey, nice and relaxed just hanging out in Colorado! Where its a perfect 65-75 degrees outside!

Hot Tubbin!

Kids playing in the river! It was to chilly for them to get in but they threw a million rocks into the water!
Greg's favorite spot! Relaxing on the porch swing!

Next, I'll post some pictures of all our adventures while we were there!!! We packed our week with lots of fun!

Sports Stars!

2009-06-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

We've wrapped up our first season of Girls Softball! McKenzie joined the Pink Panthers team this year and brought along her daddy as the pitcher! (they play coach pitch) McKenzie continues to prove to be our little athletic girl! She loved playing softball and loved having her daddy out there with her! It was great to watch her give her advice and spend lots of time throwing balls to her in the front yard! I'm sure those are memories that will last for her! Could they be any cuter in their pink shirts??? I think not!
Maddox Jay played his first ever season of soccer! This boy loves sports!! He was a maniac out on the field! He was by far the smallest, but that didn't stop him. He was aggressive and got right in the middle of things with those big ole boys! He scored a bunch of goals and each time took of running across the field to his daddy to give him a high five! That million dollar smile in the heat, and he played an entire game in the pouring rain....seriously at this age you would think they would call it, but no, we played on!

No Training Wheels!

2009-05-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

Maddox has been asking for several weeks to remove the training wheels from his bike! We were up at the church working and had a bike that was awaiting some repair on the training wheels (preschool's riding toys). Well instead of repairing the training wheels I took them off first and let Maddox have a shot at it! And "Waa-La" he started riding on the first try!

How many kids learn to ride a bike in the halls of the church?? Fun fun!

LTC

2009-04-23T16:13:00.001-07:00

Each year over Easter Weekend the kids participate in Leadership Training for Christ competition at the Anatole in Dallas. They spend so much time preparing and rehearsing all their skits, songs and other talents!

Madison and her Puppet Group!

Saturn Road All Girls Chorus

A couple cuties I saw hanging out in between events!
How great to train our children in church leadership! They participate in tons of activities from Bible bowl, bible class teaching, bulletin board making, song leading, scripture memorization, puppets, drama, and more!! Greg and I love it b/c we get to see tons of our old friends from ACU and our young marrieds class at Saturn Road.

Youth Retreat & Madison's Bday

2009-04-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was our combined Jr High/High School Youth Retreat. Greg and I had been scheduled to go as chaperone's for months and been really looking forward to it.

Earlier in the week we had a scare with Greg's grandmother and thought his parents (our pre-arranged babysitters for the little kids) were going to make a trip to Indiana, plus McKenzie had a softball game, Maddox had a soccer game (and pictures!) and there was a girl scout campout...so we decided it would be best for Greg to stay home and tend to the flock. He did make a day trip out to retreat and was able to hang out with us for the day!

I have about 30 pictures of this exact jump shot.....they were sweating by the time we finished!

Happy Birthday to my girl!! She turned the 13...a TEENAGER!!!

We brought a HUGE cake and decorated her bunk with all kinds of fun party stuff and little presents! She was a good sport....having your mom around with 130 other teens I'm sure can get a little old...but we got along GREAT and were able to spend some good times together throughout the weekend.

Thanks to the youth ministers for letting me tag along! I think I earned my keep throughout the weekend! It was a BLAST and makes me remember how great youth retreats were as a kid! I broke out my old scrapbooks and looked up some old pictures on the old Altamesa vans, at DQ in Whitney and good ole Iron Springs! Fun times!! I'm thrilled my kids are able to experience the greatness of a big, strong youth group.

JBF Sale!

2009-04-01T06:34:00.001-07:00

We just wrapped up our 14th Just Between Friends sale! Those of you who have known about the sale for a long time can remember the days when we had 5 strollers and a couple racks of clothes! Well....those days are behind us! This sale we had 850 registered consignors and 36,000 square feet of selling space! It was wild! All four Dallas News channels sent camra crews out to film the sale and interview us about what could be found! We also got 2 articles in different newspapers. I stand in awe myself of the magnitude of our sale! We spend so many years praying and praying for some kind of free publicity about the sale and BAM..this sale we got it all! It's because of the economy, everyone is looking for a way to save money, and make some extra money!

So....if you haven't heard of JBF check out the website: www.dallas.jbfsale.com for more info! We are planning for a Back to School Sale the end of July!

Wedding Weekend

2009-03-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

Rehearsal Dinner: We had a wonderful fajita buffet for the rehearsal and Travis played some Spanish Guitar for our entertainment! Very Cool! It was a great time for stories, and relaxing before the big day!!
My oldest and youngest! Hanging out getting pictures taken before the wedding!
Madison was the junior bridesmaid and Maddox was the ring-BEAR as trey called him.
The 2 most excited girls in Texas! McKenzie and MaryCate were SO excited to be the flowergirls! They looked adorable and are thrilled to have Aunt Sara in our family!

Me and my little brothers!!

Look at this boy! Doing the Happy Tuxedo Dance!

Yay!! My new sister in law! Sara looked gorgeous!

I love this picture!

Silly face! The stained glass in the background was made especially for them! you can see their monogram in the top circle.

The Mr & Mrs on their way to New York for honeymoon!

It was a beautful wedding! They shot off confetti cannons when the preacher announced them husband and wife! The whole auditorium was covered in gold and white confetti!

Whats Up?

2009-03-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad blogger!! We've been busy with our regular crazy, four kid schedule and I haven't stopped long enough to post a few pictures of our activities! My Brother Trey is getting married next week, so we have been busy getting stuff ready for the big event! All four kids are in the wedding, so it should prove to be an interesting show! I really think they will do great, I'll be sure to post pictures!!

Here is a little of whats been going on in our house!

The Legend had his first soccer game! Whew...was he excited!! He loves every second of it! Their schedule is kinda crazy and now we have this long break until April before our next game. He is always eager to practice kicking that ball! Also in sports news...McKenzie has started softball. She is on the Pink Panthers, I'll post pictures soon! Her team is sponsored by none other than: Just Between Friends! Woo Hoo!

Chloe is getting bigger!! She is a sweet puppy, we are all loving having her in our family! Just look at the adorable face!

This goofy girl was nominated as a Class Favorite for 7th Grade at Webb Middle School. Momma's gotta brag....I'm proud of sweet Madison. She has always been a great kid and has always been nice to everyone, even people that are different from her. I really think that Christ-like attitude is what sets her apart from other kids...she isn't into all the drama and spends most of her weekends hanging with the fam or up at the church. I wish I could freeze time right now!

We spend another long weekend at the Holly Lake cabin. Loving every second of it! Heres a pic of our Putt Putt experience! Maddox got a hole in one, McKenzie was also really good, MaryCate....is like her momma!
That's all for now....

Holly Lake

2009-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend at Holly Lake in East Texas relaxing and having some family fun time! Aunt Chi & Uncle Craig bought a house that our family gets to sneak away to for some R & R. The kids had a blast collecting pinecones, watching the deer, learning to skip rocks and more! I didn't do a very good job of taking many pictures! But I'm sure there will be lots more pictures in the years to come!

Singin' in the Showa'

2009-02-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

Maddox is a big time shower singer. If I am trying to get ready a lot of times I will put him in the shower and he entertain himself and somewhat get clean. So today I put him into the shower and he immediately starts singing:

"Be to our God, Foreva and eva. Be to our God, Foreva and eva. Amen" He must have sang that line about 60 times during his shower. Each time I sat and listened to him and thought how sweet he sounded. So, in an effort to help myself remember him singing in the shower I decided to post it for all eternity!

My sweet boy, I hope you always sing to God in the shower! Whether you can say your "R's" or not!

Chloe!

2009-02-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of our sweet puppy!!! The kids have been spoiling her rotten!! They fight over who gets to feed her, open her kennel, take her outside, etc. I'm sure that will wear off but it does prove how bad they wanted this puppy!! We have had her for 3 full weeks and she has continued to be a great puppy! She sleeps all night, goes outside to potty the majority of the time, and loves to play!!

This picture if from today, she is 11 weeks old and has grown so much!

Her "official" AKC name is: Chloe Bella La Bambina- "Chloe My Beautiful Baby"

Trip to Tahoe

2009-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a wonderful "getaway" trip to Lake Tahoe. I've heard how beautiful it is but until you see it there is no way to discribe it!!!
We skied the Heavenly mountain and the views were amazing! See the Lake in the background, surrounded by mountains. The mountain is divided so you can choose to ski in Nevada or California. California was by far the more beautiful side of the mountain.

We ran into the Blues Brothers so I stopped for a pic.

After skiing our bodies were SO sore!! So we opted for a dinner sleigh ride for our last day in Tahoe. Our driver was great and gave us lots of neat facts about Lake Tahoe and we saw more beautiful views!

New member of the family

2009-01-06T18:34:00.001-08:00

Well....we finally bit the bullet and got a puppy! The kids have been begging for months now (McKenzie for years!) This little lady is the newest member of our family! We will offically pick her up next week!
She seems like a really sweet puppy in the time we've spent with her. We met her mommy and daddy. There were only 2 puppies in the litter, one boy and one girl.
We are taking name suggestions...so bring them on!

Let the fun begin!

A few of our favorite things!

2008-12-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

When I look at this picture all I think is "My kids are getting so big!!" It feels like Madison should be about 5 years old and the others just babies!! But, they aren't!

What a great Christmas we had! Here are just a few of our favorite things: McKenzie got her own DS! Woo Hoo!! She has played that thing constantly!

Hanging with our cousin Trent!

Smile Madison!

Happy Birthday to Granny!

Cute new clothes!

Maddox loves his pop a shot!

Spending time with family!

American Girls! Kit & Molly from Mimi and Grandy

Cookies and Milk for Santa
Look at what Santa brought us!

Smile!

Maddox and "Aunt Sara" (my bro Trey is engaged!! Yippee!!) trying to put the train track together!

Party, Party, Party!!!

2008-12-20T21:05:00.000-08:00

This has been the week full of parties!

I hosted my staff party for a fun night of games and yummy food! These ladies are some of the best cooks!!! Look at all those happy preschool teachers!

McKenzie and Mary Cate hosted their 2nd annual Girls Christmas Party!

Here are a few of the precious faces that attended! This year the girls brought a gift that we wrapped and donated to a family in need! They loved being a secret santa!

Maddox invited Trey to stay and enjoy some of the girly fun!

School Parties!!!
Here is Mary Cate at her "holiday party" at Luna! They had a gingerbread themed party! She had a great time playing the games and making the crafts!

I snapped this cutie at his preschool christmas party! He enjoyed pizza, a book exchange and decorating cookies!!! Yummy!
I am the room mom for McKenzie's 2nd grade class, so we had tons of fun at her party!
Some of her friends with their Santa Beards! (McKenzie is on the back row in the middle)
Last but not least, McKenzie's friend Brianna and her family are moving this weekend.
McKenzie and I hosted a going away party for her at the school playground. The kids are so sweet and I know everyone will miss Brianna!

So I guess that wraps up all our parties!! Now onto Christmas!!!

Books of the Bible

2008-12-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Mary Cate! She said all 66 books of the bible yesterday and earned her brand new "Adventure Bible". We are so proud of her and all the practice she did to learn all those books! Some of those are really really hard to pronounce! Way to go Mary Caters!

2008-12-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Losher Christmas Card 2008

I gotta give credit to Uncle Craig, he designed & printed our cards for us this year! I just told him what I wanted it to look like and wha-laa it was done! Woo Hoo, its great to have talented family members!! I love, love, love getting Christmas cards each year! So many of our old friends from HS and ACU we don't see except through christmas cards (and now the greatness of Facebook). So, if you don't have me on your christmas card list, please add me! I'd love to hear from you this season!

Birthday Boy

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my big FOUR year old boy!!! What a wonderful four years we've had with our little brother! He is 100% the typical little brother, he loves to annoy his sisters!!! He is a total clown, always working for a laugh. Maddox is also a smart, loving boy and I have loved getting to spend lots of one-on-one time with him this year with all the sisters in school.

To celebrate the big day we had a Pirate Party and Chuck E Cheese! It was fun to see all the pirates running around CEC all dressed up! He had lots of friends and family come celebrate with him!

Cute Kids

2008-11-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures of my super cute kids!!

MaryCate lost her first tooth! She didn't even know it was loose and it fell out during lunch with Pa & Granny! Come to find out her other bottom tooth is super wiggly too! She is looking forward to her first visit from the tooth fairy!!!

6th Picture

2008-11-06T17:56:00.001-08:00

I have seen several blog posts lately that are a tag to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder on in your picture files. I went in to see what mine was and I couldn't resist posting this precious shot:

Madison & Aunt Chi (Greg's sister Kim)
at Madison's 3rd birthday party!
1999

Halloween Cuties

2008-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from the Losher kids! Madison is away for the weekend at a church retreat, so she didn't participate in our dress-up fun this year, she's getting to old for us :(McKenzie- Hannah Montana Mary Cate- Mulan
Maddox- Superman!

Things you don't say to your wife....

2008-10-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Check out this video.....Hilarious!!!

State Fair- Girls day out style!!

2008-10-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

My little girls had never been to the state fair...can you believe that?? Actually, I had never been until Madison was about 4 and we took her. Growing up in FW I guess it wasn't a big deal, we didn't get "fair day" for school. Well, it was a must this year! So we decided to head out to the fair for a girls day out!!

Feeding the animals! MaryCate is such the little animal lover! She could have stayed in there all day long! It was cute and all, but I'm just not an animal person.
We rode the sky rail, it was great! We could see for ever! The best part was you got a free return coupon, so we walked around that end of the fair then rode it back to where we started!!
Both girls gave this yellow roller coaster (I can't remember the name, it started with a Z) 2 thumbs up!
You just gotta have a funnel cake! Mmmmm!!
I love hanging with my girls! they are such great friends (right now, I'm hoping it lasts!)

San Antonio Weekend

2008-10-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

GISD was smart enough to put fair day and staff development back to back so we get a 4 day weekend each October. We headed down to good ole San Antonio for the long weekend.
Sea World - this was our 3rd trip as a family (and our last until we have grandkids- 20 years from now!!) It was awesome, the weather was perfect, the crowds were minimal, the shows- the same as the last 2 trips!! But....the kids LOVED It!!!

Feeding the dolphins, very cool! Our friend Flipper
We let Madison bring a friend along for the weekend! Sweet Alyssa was such a great guest, she tolerated the little ones great! She is the youngest of four kids so she is used to being on the other side, she got a real taste of what being the oldest feels like!

I think this picture is hilarious!!!! Greg crawling out of the tunnel...the kids crawled through tube after tube after tube! McKenze and Natalie on their first "BIG" roller coaster!
Here was there final verdict:
Our hotel was AWESOME!!!! We got an Awesome deal at the Hyatt Hill Country's Wild Oak Ranch. They have a sand beach, lazy river, water slides (the water was headed!) and our room was HUGE!! Even the big girls had their own space!

McKenzie coming down the slide! Everyone did it, even my baby Maddox! We could see him flipping and turning all the way down, but he came out smiling! (after the first time, I made him ride with mommy or daddy...I was afraid he was to little)

Floating in the lazy river!

Cute Kids!

What is San Antonio without some good mexican food???
Look at all those kids!!!
MaryCate!!!!
The big girls!!!
Grego enjoying fried ice cream! We know how to party!
We had an awesome trip with our buddies the Newhouse family! Our kids are such good friends, and so are we! That makes for a great travel experience!!