The New Year is just a few days away and here I am with 4-5 months of catch-up.

Why am I at this point, where I've hardly been blogging on what's been going on in my life?

It's not because there hasn't been anything going on.

As I've thought about it, it started with the computer issues I began to have in August.

I was without a computer for weeks,

and then I began to travel,

then school started,

and evening activities started,

and that left me with not a whole lot of extra time.

I got out of the habit of getting on my blog and even reading other blogs that I follow.

So here I am...

The pressure...

This is my children's "records" of what we have done.

So I have to go back and just highlight things we have done this last part of the year,

just so we forever have the memories.

(FYI -- I'm going to antedate some of my posts, so that when I print a book, the posts are in the correct year.)

What!?!?

In the world!?!

It's been a month since I've been on here?

Where has the time gone?

What have I been doing?

Why I haven't I posted anything?

How am I ever going to catch up and get back into the swing?


Maybe I'll have to make it a New Years resolution...we'll see.

Helloooo...

Is anyone still out there reading this? These past few months have been awful for me and blogging.

OK, so right after my last blog...
when I thought all was well with my computer...
it wasn't.

Somehow another virus was found,
and my computer shut-down on me to protect my files.

The computer was taken over to the computer guy that evening.
He ended up having to totally wipe my computer clean
and start from scratch.

It is now like it was out of the factory.
I lost all personalization,

but I was wise enough to have everything backed-up on an external hard-drive.

And a plus is... I have sound!!!

Another good thing...
I have a NEW computer!

Of course it's still in the box
because I got it when I was traveling these past two weeks.

The kids and I made a trip to Oklahoma for a week,
to visit my sister Theresa, the cousins, and I don't want to forget Matt

and their new addition Tia Ramia

(who is a lot like Kaylie but only in dog form.)

We then headed to Kansas for a week,
and had a good visit with my whole family and
we got a special visit from Jeff's mom and sister and
my aunt and uncle from the San Francisco area.

I could have stayed away longer...
to avoid what's waiting for me at home.

So now it is back to getting back in to the "normal" swing of things...
and catching up on my blog for the past THREE months!
That is enough to overwhelm me right there!

Montages are looking pretty tempting right now.

So I haven't had a computer for a while.

After the virus thing happened, we thought we got it all cleaned up...

but no, there was still something causing issues...

not a virus but adware/spyware.

I finally got so tired of spending my time trying to figure things out,

I put the computer aside and told Jeff he could deal with it.

Of course he was in pain from his wisdom teeth extraction,

so it didn't happen right away.

We finally contacted the guy from church who's been helping us out,

and he offered to take my computer to try to figure things out.

The computer was returned today,

I've been on the internet for a little over an hour,

and so far no unexpected pop-ups!

But I have no volume. :os

I put in another email to the computer guy,

so I'm sure I will have full sound soon.

I was using our very old, dinosaur, of a laptop, that I use for KidZone,

and the next thing I know that the power supply kept flickering.

I was sure it was the power adapter,

I was wrong.

Jeff says it was the jack the power adapter plugs into,

so I can't get on there at all because I can't get power.

It sure seems that when it rains it pours.

The past two weeks have been STRESSFUL,

because there is more going on then Jeff and my computers being down.

I'm hopeful to get back to blogging.

I have lots to catch up on.

Time will tell how much I can get on to blog

So now that I'm around,

and have some time to share about our vacation.

My computer is sick :S

It has a virus or something (again).

So I will be trying to get it back in working order...

because I have no pictures available until I do.

Can you blog without pictures???

I don't know if I can.


If you're wondering how I'm typing this...
I'm using our really old laptop,
that I use for KidZone.

I'm Back

My goodness, the first whole month of summer va-cay has passed,

and I haven't really blogged about one thing.
I've not been on the computer as much and when I'm on,
I'm basically checking my email, facebook, and on occasion
I have thrown in a game of TextTwist,
but that is when I'm on the phone so I couldn't really blog at that time anyway.

I believe I'm going to blog on the month of June in categories rather than by individual events.
I have to get it down because my kids will have no "scrapbook" of memories,
this is it for them.

Before I begin the month of June,

I better finish up some highlights we had in May.

ThorntonFest
May 22, 2010

It's almost like a fair, but it's free.
There are lots of booths set up, where you can sign up for things
(and you usually get free stuff!)
<span>My goodness, the first whole month of summer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">vacay</span> has passed, and I haven't really blogged about one thing. I've not been on the computer as much and when I'm on, I'm basically checking my email, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">facebook</span>, and on occasion I have thrown in a game of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">TextTwist</span> but that is when I'm on the phone so I couldn't really blog at that time anyway.</span><br /><br /><span>I believe I'm going to blog on the month of June in categories rather than by individual events. I have to get it down because my kids will have no "scrapbook" of memories, this is it for them.</span><br /><br /><span></span> Where you can buy any type of thing,
usually people's own creations.

There is a big dog area where they have things for your pet,
but most importantly for us,
there were dog demonstrations.




There was a car show.
(Jeff enjoyed it.)

All kinds of activities for kids.


And the biggest thing for us this year was,
the bungee cord/ trampoline.

There was an 1/2 hour line of waiting.


Then more waiting.


Preston was 1st





Tanner was next



Landon was 3rd



Jeff was the finale

It took two guys to get him high.


ALL FREE

There was also "fair" food,
but it's not free.

Okay...

So my parents have been gone for a week...

but I'm busy, I tell ya...BUSY!

I have people to see and places to be.


Monday we spent the day at a lake, and I had a KidZone meeting.

Tuesday we had to go to different libraries and sign up for their reading programs, Jeff had a meeting so it was early bedtime for the rest of us.

Wednesday, lots and lots of laundry, and then me not feeling so good.

Thursday we spent the whole day shopping for fellow brother and sister in Christ who are in need.

Today, I've been doing bank stuff, and getting ready for the Deeper Still Conference.

I have lots of pictures to share from the week with mom and dad and I will get to them eventually.

3 Weeks!

I can't believe it has be 3 weeks since I did anything on here.

It's not that there hasn't been anything going on...
there's just been too much to sit down and take time to think and blog.
We've been to see three different doctors,
Tanner came away with a strep throat diagnosis,
Kaylie just had a virus,
and my appt. was the dreaded one that no woman enjoys and likes to discuss.

We've passed around at least 3 different types of viruses.
1 stomach bug, 1 with a wet cough, and another with a sore throat.

We also had our spring break in there where my sister and nieces came for the week.



We've also gotten two snow falls where we've gotten dumped on.



That's a very short synopsis of our life in the past 3 weeks.

I am going to go back and share in more detail on a couple of the above mentioned events.

I have been a little "green around the gills"...

When not laying in bed I've been getting ready for some special guests!!!

Not much interesting to share, but I have a few things.

I'll will try to find time soon.

Next week will be our spring break!!!!

Time n Touch

This new toy, or what I like to think of as my "school gadget", has been a distraction to me.

That is where I've spent my time, with my iTouch.

Here Again

Here I am again...

It's been a week and a half and I haven't done any blogging. I was even so close to being "caught up" on here. I've started the next post, it's in my draft box.

What's been taking my time?

August 28 & 29 - A Beth Moore simulcast. It was awesome. I always learn lots under her. I went wanting a "revelation" in areas of my life "over here", but instead He gave me revelations "over there". Wow! That took me by surprise...so I've been dealing with that.

School - I've been trying to get into a swing of things... we've started but we're in NO swing.

Just Me - I've still not been feeling "normal". Even though I took some antibiotics for most of my 10 day prescription, I still don't feel right. I have no more pain in my kidney, but I still am really tired, sometimes I just feel weak and shaky, nauseated some. What's if from? I don't know. I'm thinking of going in this week to get re-checked out.


These are the reasons I've not been on here, but one day I will get caught up. I WILL.

I'm Back!

Wow! Has this summer been a different one. As you know, my parents' 10 day trip turned into a 6 1/2 week trip. Their summer was different then planned and so was ours. Because of these "change in plans" my blogging was put on hold. I got dad back home a couple of weeks ago and I was home for a week going every single day and then we went on vacation last week.

We had a very peaceful, beautiful week in a cabin in the mountains. The whole family basically took a "technology" fast. No cell phones (we had no coverage so that helped), no TV, no computer except to download pictures and find out directions to the different Passes we went to. We really tried to make it a point not to go, go, go this trip and come back tireder then when we left...which happens too many times on vacations. I did have the idea of me getting caught up on my blog while we were up there, but most of my free time I didn't have the desire to get on the computer and do it. So that leaves me here now, getting ready to blog about my family's summer.

Even though a lot of our summer was wrapped around hospital visits, dr. appointments, trips to the VA Hospital for lab, home visits from the nurse, physical therapist, and oxygen providers, we were able to slip in some fun stuff too. My goal is to get one or two things blogged about a day until I'm all caught up....that's if there are no more "change of plans" again!

Our New "Coffee Table" Book

I'm published!

For months now I have been working on this project of putting by blog into book form. At times I was consumed with it. Other times I had to take an extended break from it. It all started when my mother-in-law asked about printing off my blog. I had been thinking about wanting to print a copy off for me so my kids would have something in the future.

I did some research on some options. I found a way to print my blog but that would have taken a ton of ink and paper...not only that, one drop of moisture and it's ruined. I then looked at printing it off and then making color copies. That would have been 50 cents a copy. Way to expensive! I then found this website http://www.blurb.com/. They have different layouts and styles of books, you pick what you want and you create your own book. I personally thought they were well priced especially after looking at the cost of printer ink, copies, etc.

I also added photos throughout the year. So this book is not only by blog from 2008, but it's also now a photo album for us. We are pretty pleased with it, I have found a mistake but it was my fault and not theirs (that's why they tell you to order one first, then order more), but we are proud!

(Sorry about the lack of spaces. I tried and tried to fix it, but couldn't.)

A New Look

As you can see, I have a new look...well not me, but my blog.

When the new year came I thought I needed to have a different picture as my header. I LOVE the picture of the kids messing around in the water, I hated to part with it because I enjoyed looking at it every time I got on my blog. But I decided a new year (well a couple of months into it), a new look.

I am going to go print an 8x10 of "the picture" and hang it around my desk, that way I can always look at it. For those of you who don't know what picture I'm talking about...here it is... I LOVE it, I LOVE it, I LOVE it!

Saying goodbye to this part of my blog is much harder then I would have imagined :( But now I get to look at their cute, little feet! I got the idea of the kids' feet off of another mom's blog. I loved it, so I stole the idea!

Scrapbooking???

I was asked yesterday if I did scrapbooking. I was like, "NO! I get too overwhelmed with it." (I really don't like cutting up my pictures and that is the BIG reason I don't scrapbook.) I then realized she was asking me because she has seen me with my camera on quite a few occasions. I then had to let her know that I "blogged". I just have more words and stories then a scrapbook might have, but I guess in many ways this is a "scrapbook online"!

We are home!

We have made it home! We had two long days of travel, on the way to Kansas and the way home. Then all the days between seemed to be pretty busy, so of course we came home more tired then when we left.

I'm planning on catching up / blogging about things that happened while we were gone, and adding pictures to the blogs I've already posted. It may take a little while, because now we have to catch up on all the work we missed while we were gone.

I am sooo glad we are back in Colorado. On a previous blog I mentioned not missing mosquitoes, well we can add chiggers right to that list! I hate chiggers and my whole family has some chigger bites! Those things are worse then mosquito bites, just in case you've never had them. Chiggers are found in the grass, so I know not to sit in the grass. I didn't realize just walking through grass will allow them to crawl up your legs to bite. Now I have the guilt of not spraying bug spray on my kids while we were at the wedding. I guess one more lesson learned with life's experiences.

'Surrendered' and 'Surrounded'

It is my second day and I'm trying to get all my personal info up. I figured I might explain how I came up with my blog name.

"Surrendered and Surrounded"...when trying to think of what to name my blog, it felt like all the good ones were taken. I tried out a couple of different ones and they were already used. So I just said, "God what should I name it?" I was hoping that a verse would pop into my head, something that might have to do with traveling, ie journey, adventure, walk, etc.

The word 'surround' came to me. I use that word often with my kids. I tell them that angels are surrounding them. We, especially me, pray anytime we are out on the rode that angels surround us. I ask that angels surround my husband when I hear sirens go by my house. When I wake up in the middle of the night, for whatever reason. I pray that our home is surrounded my His angels and His protective hedge. When we are trying to work something out with any type of business, we pray that God go before us and that His favor surround us.

Then the word 'surrendered' came to me. I have surrendered my life to the One and Only God, to the great I AM. I surrendered, or confessed and believed in Jesus, when I was a child, but there are times that my flesh fights against that choice that I made. Daily, I try to surrender fully to what the Holy Spirit wants to teach me and to where He wants to lead me.

So...everyday on my journey in life, my great adventure, my walk...I have to surrender myself and lay down all my selfish ambitions and selfish wants at the feet of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Everyday, I am surrounded by His blessings, His favor, His angels, His righteousness. He is my refuge, my strong tower. His protective hedge is around me and my family.

That is how I came to name my blog. I hope as I live my life and I write about it you will be able to see the "surrendered" and the "surrounded" part of my life.

May His blessings surround you!

My Beginning at Blogging

I guess we all have a beginning! This is my first try at this and I thought I would play around with this before I actually invite anyone to read it!

I have really come to love reading others blogs. They are always of people I know, usually friends, sometimes casual acquantences. Blogs allow you to see glimpses of who they are. They definitely let you into their lives, therefore the reader feels like they get to know the "blogger" better then they already know them.

This blog is a small way to let others in my life whom would like to know what is going on in my life, but we don't quite have the time to call everyday to do a verbal up date. Welcome to 'Surrendered and Surrounded', I have no idea how often I'll blog, what they will be about, but may you walk away with one more small glimpse into who I am.