one month from today

michael and i will be on our way here:

our hotel looks like this

we've got 5th row tickets for this

and for

where we'll see two shows...

 Tracy Reese 

and

Betsey Johnson!!!!

we also got tickets for this :)

can i just say... whoa baby!!!! i absolutely can not wait!!!

fourth flava

of the whopping 22 video clips i captured of the quirky fourth of july parade in arroyo seco, this is about the best one i got...

the one i really wanted to show you (the pirate float & gypsy jazz band) only shows the backs of people's heads. but this one shows you a little taste of the parade we saw on the fourth:

part 2: fourth of july

road trip!!

to our favorite place in the world... taos, nm

yep, we camped out... 

the tent was so massive, it was dubbed the "taj mah tent"

the kids **loved** it!!

this little town north of Taos called Arroyo Seco has a fantastically charming yet quirky parade we like to go to... michael rigged up himself to hold our umbrella. the bottom of the pole was stuck in his back pocket. people took pictures. usually we're the city folk at the parade as we marvel at all the characters who are mostly locals. but this year, people stopped and took pictures of michael!!

(ps... i've got some video of the parade. i'll share soon!)

and since uncle spencer and auntie sophia live so close, we hiked back to their casita.

and you can't visit taos without having outback pizza

... and way2cool root beer

spencer took isaiah, michael, and dad fly fishing

(spencer's my brother, btw... he is a fly fishing guide in taos. what a life, eh?)

isaiah caught his first fish!!

while the boys were fly fishing, sophia took my mom, sarah and i for a rafting ride on the rio grande!

michael had my camera, so i have no pictures to share. but we had a great time!!

remember our favorite toy store?

thanks spencer & sophia for a great weekend!! 

so... yeah...

i guess it is beyond time for me to let you people in on what we've been doing all summer. okay, fine.

here goes part 1:

Sarah's Dance Recital

i think if i was required to wear makeup like this, i'd make the same face too

san antonio part 2

on our way back from san antonio we stopped at wildseed farms outside of fredricksburg

we saw lots and lots of plants and fields of flowers

i was dissappointed that the poppy field had no poppies. and no yellow brick road running through it.

and we saw more butterflies!!

sarah was in heaven.

~~~

okay so i've been saving the best part of the trip for last. 

on the way down to san antonio (remember it was on our tenth anniversary?) anyway, michael was driving and loaded the ipod with a playlist. we're driving along. the kids are saying "mom! momma! i need the yellow marker!!" etc etc.

"with or without you" comes on, and because that's the song we played at our wedding during the recessional (perfectly timed to start right at the kiss)... i got the warm fuzzy "awwe" kind of feeling and just sat there enjoying the song (and trying to ignore the noise coming from the backseat)

and michael hands me this book

taken aback, i begin looking through it discovering that it is full of pictures from our last 10 years. memories. moments. snapshots of the magic that is us. 

(yes that's us at age 13... pay more attention to his skinny black leather tie than my hair & outfit)

is he not the most amazing husband ever? completely magical.

intermission

okay, so i will have san antonio part 2 posted later this week... (i know you can hardly wait)

but tomorrow i am going to ceta canyon to speak to a couple hundred 8th and 9th grade girls at one way camp and i thought i'd just ask for prayer from you. mainly that their hearts will open and that my words will not be my own, but God's.

the title of my seminar is "friends, lovers or nothing" but it's really just "evan sanford's guide to life, love, and boys". i'm taking some ideas from "captivating", wisdom from experience, and of course, God's Word. i have two goals: to inspire them to seek healthy relationships throughout their life... never allowing those relationships to get in the way of their relationship with their Creator; and to encourage them to seek who their Creator says they are, not who friends/boyfriends say they should be.

if you have not read Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge... I highly recommend it. If you are married, have your husband read it too. Another good one by John Eldridge is Wild at Heart. A great Father's Day gift :) If you are married, read it. If you have a son, read it. If you want to understand men in any way, read it!!

san antonio part 1

In addition to wedding festivities, our trip to san antonio included the typical "family vacation" activities. While Michael took his brother "The Groom" to Fiesta Texas, I took the kiddos for lunch and a movie. Aunt Jerrie and Uncle Dean joined us for the fun! Lunch at Sugarbaker's made it necessary to get these incredibly ginormous cookies for dessert :)

We then saw Shrek 4. I did not intend on seeing Shrek 4 because the previews didn't seem very good... but it got good reviews, so we decided to give it a shot. I'm glad we did... it was really good! 

Saturday was consumed with wedding stuff... which I got no pictures of. But go here to see some!! You can spot michael, myself and the kids in a few of them. 

As you will see... beautiful location, gorgeous bride... all was perfect!!

We spent Sunday at the San Antonio Zoo. 

I think the highlight was definitely the butterflies...

quite possibly Sarah's favorite thing in the world.

This butterfly was born that morning. It had not flown yet. It's some sort of African-type butterfly... but as you can tell... was HUGE.

Sarah got to hold it!