School days...

One thing our school does is have a picnic at the beginning of each school year.
Being in a small town, you get to see everyone and their mama.





Tug of War and gourmet food.







The Boy with his favorite sister and his best friend.



The kids have a "pie" eating contest... which is really just pudding and whipped cream. But what a mess!!


On the way home, we had a sunset that looked like we were in the Sahara desert.


I say it all the time, but I love small town America!

My weekend with Pioneer Woman.

On Saturday morning, ReeRee and I had a girl date.

It was the premier of her Food Network show!
Lilo wanted to watch too, in case her boyfriend Charlie ended up on tv.

She was very excited about the show.


She was riveted.


This was the part where Ree looked at the camera and said, "Beki, thank you so much for being my best friend. You're lovely and wonderful and skinny and beautiful. Your support means the world to me. I sure hope you don't have a glare on your tv that will block out my face!"


I asked Lilo, "Sooo? What did you think of Charlie? And did you see Walter?"


Saturday night we had some other friends over.


We sat out by the fire, under an unbelievable sky, laughing until midnight.
And that's a little glimpse into my ultra exciting life.

How was your weekend?

*********
p.s. The winners of the recent giveaway are Heather and Katie. Please email us at therustedchaininfo AT yahoo.com.

Makes me wanna take the back roads...

There's a country song out right now that says that.
"Makes me want to take the back roads. Makes me want to take the long way home.
Put a little gravel in my travel..."

I think of it every time I'm driving to my home out in the boonies.

On our trips to Missouri, we take some back roads too.
And one of them is the old Route 66.



While I love seeing rustic places, there's something melancholy about it as well.



It makes me wonder what used to be there.
What types of people walked through those doors.
How many laughs were shared there.
Why did someone finally decide it wasn't worth keeping it up anymore?

Have you ever seen the movie Cars? It reminds me of Radiator Springs.



If you haven't taken any back roads in a while, I suggest it.
You never know what you'll find!
You might see pretty scenery. You might find interesting people.
You might find a little diner. You might find a great little mom and pop shop to support.

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of god
So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in.

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints. Be sure to link back here so others can find the entire list of participants!
2. After you've posted your blog, sign the Linky below. Have fun exploring the other links as well! Please only sign in if you're participating. Hopefully this will make us look at things through fresh eyes throughout the week!
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I know we have quite a few hot days still ahead of us, but we're starting to see glimpses of Fall and I love it!
My pumpkins are just beginning to pop out. I hope we get TONS of them.
I can never have too many pumpkins.

There. I said it.

I love frozen burritos. There, I said it.

And I like them dipped in ketchup. There, I said it.

I have jowls. There, I said it.

I'm a complete magazine junkie. There, I said it.

I wish I had more time for decorating my house. There, I said it.

I'm way too hard on myself. There, I said it.

People who wake at 5:00am on purpose and say things like "I can sleep when I'm dead!" are clearly messed up in the head. There, I said it.

I don't think I'll ever be a runner. And I'm good with that. There, I said it.

Even at 34 years old, if someone's mean to me I cry. There, I said it.

Cilantro should be removed from the face of the earth. There, I said it.

If Old Navy ever stops making the Sweetheart cut jeans, I'm living in yoga pants for the rest of my life. There, I said it.

I love living in the country. There, I said it.

When I stop, take a look around, and realize how blessed I am, I cry. There, I said it.



Just a few things I needed to get out.
This is like a group therapy session.
You're next.

Golf.

Over the weekend we had a golf tournament.
Not "we" like we hosted it. But The Man played in it, and I was the photographer for it.

It's a charity tournament for cancer awareness. They collect prizes from loads of sponsors and hold auctions and raffles, with all the money going to good causes.

It started bright and early on Saturday.


Here's a little story for ya...
Do you remember when I blogged about the Kenny Chesney concert a while back?
During the concert, Kenny pulled a little girl out of the audience up on stage and sang to her. It was soooo sweet!
Over the next few days, the story came out on the local news that the girl was fighting cancer.
Kenny didn't know it when he pulled her on stage. It made her day! Okay, it made her year!
Well we didn't know until this past weekend that the organizers of this charity golf tournament were at the concert too.
They were right next to the little girl, Carrington, and her family.
They were the ones who snapped the photos that ended up on the news.
They sent some to Kenny Chesney and told him the story and he autographed them for her.

As of last month, Carrington is cancer free!!
So she was the VIP guest at the golf tournament. As horrible as it is to see someone struggling with cancer, it's amazing to see a survivor.
And it's amazing to see a bunch of grown men golfers tear up at knowing this money is truly going to help people.

Here's Carrington with her mom, a table full of exhausted guys, a couple of pretty girls, and the tournament banner.


This was hole number 17.


What's that little sign say? Oh yea, this hole was sponsored by Me!


There were pretty girls selling beverages, a free massage stand (I went here. Twice.), golfers, and more golfers.


A train track runs right through the middle of this course.
Guys get a leeeetle crazy as the day goes on.
There was plenty of yummy food at the end of the day!


The Man is a really good golfer.
Me? I've swung a club 2 or 3 times and missed the ball every time so I gave up.
I stick with hiding behind my camera.

*****
Do you know how to golf?

New pretties... { Giveaway! }

We have some new jewelry listed...
So pretty.
Pretty things make me happy.

And free things make you happy.

2 people will win a $50 gift certificate to our shop!

Love Never Fails necklace

Kansas City Chiefs necklace

Betty earrings

Celebrate Family necklace (Pennant flags!! YAY!)

Faith hope Love necklace

I have Fall on the brain big-time lately so to enter just leave a comment answering this question: Are you a football fan?

For additional entries:
Facebook it.
Tweet it.
Blog it.
Pin it on pinterest.
(please leave additional comments for each of these you do.)

We'll draw 2 random winners in about a week.

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of god
So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in.

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints. Be sure to link back here so others can find the entire list of participants!
2. After you've posted your blog, sign the Linky below. Have fun exploring the other links as well! Please only sign in if you're participating. Hopefully this will make us look at things through fresh eyes throughout the week!
-------------------

After a brutal summer and a long drought, we've had just enough rain lately to make the soybeans start popping up.
They're so pretty with the deep green leaves, and sweet lavender flowers.

It's here.

The first day of school.

We have an end-of-summer-tradition of getting ice cream the day before school starts.
So yesterday we went out and got our yummies!




I will take salty carbs over sweets any old time.

But I did have ice cream too... Moooo.

Our local ice cream shop is super cute, styled like a '50s diner.


The kids are super excited about this school year!
Last year Lilo jumped on the bus with them.
This year she didn't. Sully got scared of the big yellow bus and ran away wimpering.




We think we have some great teachers this year.
I always have plans to help out in the classroom, and yeah.... that doesn't always happen.
We'll see if it happens this time.

We're back to a schedule with early mornings, hot coffee, and lots of golden yellow sun.
I'm excited! Now I'm ready for Fall.

Wide Open Spaces.

We've had some amazing sunsets lately.







One of the best things about living out in the country?
Everything is so wide open we can see The Man's truck coming from almost a mile away.
It gives The Kids and I enough time to jump up and do a quick clean up, start some dishes or laundry, even take a fast shower, and make it look like we haven't been lounging around all day.

Not that we would do that... you know... but if we wanted to, we could.

I love wide open spaces.

5 Things.

1. Last night our power went out for several hours. It frequently goes out in a storm. We played games and told stories by candlelight and it was lovely! After game time, The Man and I sat out on the swing with a candle and the cool wind.
We should lose power more often.

2. My kids start school this week. I have mixed emotions. I love how excited they are! I love that it means we're closer to Fall. I love getting back into a schedule.
But I miss the little boogers. I really do love having them around in the summer.

3. Since "Pioneer Days" began, my life has been a whirlwind. I really thought it had been 1 week since our feature went up, and in reality it's been 3. Things have been beyond crazy. ReeRee is still a sweetheart and I'm happy to call her my friend.

4. I added a bunch of new links to the I like, I like column on the right sidebar. I haven't done a great job updating it lately but I'll try to continue.

5. The Man and The Kids laughed like maniacs the other day when I did this. Apparently they'd never seen my Cousin It impersonation.
And apparently all these years, they didn't know just how weird I really am.
Hm.


Happy Saturday!

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of god
So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in.

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints. Be sure to link back here so others can find the entire list of participants!
2. After you've posted your blog, sign the Linky below. Have fun exploring the other links as well! Please only sign in if you're participating. Hopefully this will make us look at things through fresh eyes throughout the week!
-------------------



Deuteronomy 12:7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

I hope you find time today to rejoice!

We have monkeys.

The other day we were out walking by the creek and Lilo started having a conniption fit at the base of a tree.

We looked up and The Baby spotted them... monkeys.


Lilo wanted them. Bad.


There were at least 4. A mama and 3 babies. But they kept moving and I had a hard time getting photos of them.




Aren't they cute little monkeys??