Today is back to real life.....what a great weekend we had!!!!

I left on Friday morning for Nashville with my greatest friends.....and we met up with another of my greatest friends. We went to the MTHEA conference. It was my first homeschool conference...funny....we're in our 11th year of home education and I finally went to a conference! I listened to Mary Hood a couple of times. Can't say that I'm a huge fan after listening to her, but she did bring up some good points.

The best speaker? The lady from In The Hands Of A Child! She re-ignited my fire for lapbooking! We've done notebooking (thanks, Cindy Rushton!!!) many times...but I never got completely into the whole lapbooking thing. Well...look out...cause we're SO going to be adding lapbooking into our school work next year!

I will say that the conference was a bit lacking. The food.....oh what a less than stellar thing that was. We waited in line for nearly an hour to pay WAY too much for a burger and fries. The speakers were in rooms that had no doors, so the outside noise from the walkways was way too much. I don't think this was the first time the conference was held at the fairgrounds, so surely they have heard these complaints before??

A couple of us are thinking about attending another conference elsewhere...  though I'll have to wait awhile before I ask my family to allow this again. They did great on their own but told me how they missed me so! Those words were sure wonderful to hear. And I was exhausted tired Saturday night. Mary and Natalie told me how red my eyes were..then told me that under my eyes was blue. Yep, I took a shower after eating and went to bed. I haven't slept that deeply in a long time. But the tired-ness was sure worth it to get to attend this conference...and have a great time with such wonderful friends. We stayed up way too late talking Friday night. And someone got us up way too early Saturday morning. No names....  to protect the innocent....

We ate at Outback Friday night. What a hoot that was! The drive there was masterfully executed. The back seat driving was incredibly funny. The meal and service were both outstanding. Another drive back to the hotel was just as fun as the drive there! On the way home Saturday, we explored Nashville...not that it was our intention to go exploring, but in looking for Trader Joe's, we saw LOTS of Nashville. My first time seeing Music Row, the Parthenon, and oh so much more. What a tour guide we had! We hit Costco on the way home and had fun there too.

Ahhhhh....friends....aren't they the spice of life? I'm so thankful that the wonderfully flavorfull friends FAR outweigh the ickily flavored ones. God is so good to me. I am incredibly blessed by both the best family ever and the best friends ever. Who could ask for more????

Yet, life is more than a conference...there's real life to live too...

We took Thomas to town to meet up with his shooting coach yesterday. He went to another gun range and had another practice. I'm so thankful for his coach. He went so out of his way to get Thomas there. What a blessing. Thomas had a great time.

At home, Toby, Rebecca and Mary moved the cows to the driveway so they could do some mowing for us. When it was time for me to leave to pick up Thomas, Toby moved the cows into the next pasture. Mary is Daddy's shadow....it so reminds me of Thomas when he was a little guy....always out working with Daddy. So sweet....

This week is another busy one. We're home today...thankfully....laundry, school and all the normal Monday stuff...including some baking. Must get some bread baked...and some treats. Tomorrow is a busy day...Thomas goes to the orthodontist in the morning...and Honey goes to the dentist in the afternoon to have the pins from his latest crown to bite the dust pulled out. I've been organizing a used book sale for about two months now. The big day is Friday...which means I need get my butt in gear and get these books priced to sell!!!

The washer has stopped for the second time this morning. The sun is peeking out...so it's time to get this laundry hung out on the line. I haven't done this in awhile...it's been so rainy and overcast lately...but today, we go back outside!

Oh yeah...the garden needs some weeding too.....always something to be done, eh?!