Soooooooooo these are some pictures of my precious lil sthweetie's 1st birthday party. (This is what you do when you dont have kids) She had 5 other puppy friends come over and play which sounded like a good idea until the first puppy T-CO came over and scared the pee out of her.. like literally... scared the pee out of her. So my poor little lamb was anti-social for the rest of the night.

CHURCH KIDS ON THE BLOCK

I would like to introduce you to: THE CHURCH KIDS ON THE BLOCK
remix of "I'm on a boat"

My thoughts on a few things: Scorpions, Kohls, Weather, and the Bachelorette

First things first.... Last night as we were about to go to bed Andy finds a SCORPION in our home! Ok, so it is bad enough that I live in the DESERT, but really, do I have to also deal with the critters that come with this life? So anyhoo.. it was in the hallway and thank goodness Andy found it and killed it. It was probably like 3 inches and looked EXACTLY like this little picture. UGH!

Kohls.... In a previous post I talked about how Kohls couldn't fool me, and ya know what? THEY CANT FOOL ME!!! Because guess who got a 30% off coupon in the mail? ME.. I DID!! ha ha... eat that Kohls!

Weather.... For the past 2 weeks it has been "hotter than blazes" here (not sure where I got that phrase from, probably my grandma) Yesterday I passed a sign that said it was 117... once again.. hooray for the desert...

Bachelorette.... why do I continue to watch this show??? Really... did she have to get rid of Reid? RIDICULOUS!!! I hope she picks Kipton now... Ed sucks!

"THAT BIRD HAS NO LEG" - My thoughts on the Bachelorette

Sooooooooooooo, I've been watching the Bachelorette and I think Jillian is a moron and Wes is a jerk. I CANNOT believe that she kept that slime ball this entire time. I think Ed is a doofus, Kipton is a goober, and I hope she picks Reid. Here is a taste of my awesome microsoft paint skills and a tribute to Wes.

Kohls can't fool me!

So, Kohls is pretty much the only place in Casa Grande that has awesome deals. Tuesday I went in to "browse" because I got one of those flyers in the mail that informed me it was time to use my 20% off coupon... So I went to see what I would purchase on Friday when the coupon started. Well this morning when I got my mail THERE WAS ANOTHER KOHLS FLYER! Except this one didn't start until June 24th. This big promotion is my favorite... or so I thought. It is the spend $50.00 get $10.00 back promotion, which makes me automatically think that I am punking them and taking their money, but when I figured it out in my head this morning I realize KOHLS WAS PUNKING ME!
If I spent $300.00 and had a 15% off coupon I would only be saving $45.00
If I spent $300.00 and had a 20% off coupon I would only be saving $60.00
but if I spent $300.00 and had a 30% off coupon I would be saving $90.00
If I spent $300.00, I would only get $60.00 in Kohls cash AND I couldnt even use the Kohls cash that day, I would have to come back in ANOTHER TWO WEEKS to use it, and we all know I would end up wanting something that was $75.00 and then I would end up paying Kohls another $15.00.
What is the moral of this little story today! DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO FIND A 30% off coupon, and together we can PUNK KOHLS!
YOU CAN'T FOOL ME KOHLS! YOU CAN'T FOOL ME!!!

Jr. High Camp!!!

Last week Andy and I were in Prescott for Jr High Camp at United Christian Youth Camp. I LOVE UCYC!!! We had so much fun with our students! I think my favorite thing about camp is getting to see kids experience God like they never have before. Sure there is paintball, the climbing wall, mountain biking, team games, and fun bands, but when it comes time for worship it is pretty sweet!

Chicago fun

The ALL STAR TEAM

Lil Tracy Theissen got married last weekend... woot woot

Speed Walking In Chicago

Hot....

Ummm its like 1 billion degrees in Arizona right now. Someone send me a pool asap!

Do you work out?

If you are constantly eating and never working out bad things happen.. Your spiritual life is the same way. You can go to church all you want and get spirtually fed, but if you never work out what you learn in church you're missing what putting faith into action is all about... So my question to you is.. do you spiritually work out? where are you connecting and ministering to people? Where is your spiritual gym? My goal: To look like this guy with my spiritual workouts

NEVER turn your back on the enemy!

Andy & I are doing a Beth Moore video series together on Monday nights called "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things." Last night she was talking about putting on the full armor of God.

Ephesians 6: 10- 17
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Did you notice as you read this that there is NO armor for your back? I had never realized that before. Beth told this story about how she was in Africa and she was able to pet these lion cubs. She went on and on about how cute they were and how they weighed about 100 pounds and their paws were bigger than her hand.. yadda yadda. When she was getting up to leave the area that they were in the Lion keeper said "TURN AROUND"... she had her back to them as she was walking out. Again he said "TURN AROUND" after she did he went on to say "Never turn your back on the enemy." This hit her really hard. These animals may have been only cubs, and they may be cute but they are still predators and they will often attack from behind.

Satan is the same way. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8

So Beth draws attention to that fact that we can put on the full armor of God daily.. but we must still be aware of our unprotected backs. NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THE ENEMY!

Let us take from this to always be on our guard against Satan. He often attacks ourselves and those we love when we least expect it.

See you in a couple weeks at camp Coyne Family!

My favorite thing...

Like a Whale at Sea World......

So, I go to water aerobics at the gym twice a week. I started going to this class because my friend from church was pregnant and didn't have a "buddy" to go with. So I went with the mindset "this will be a piece of cake" .... WRONG! I was SWEATING IN THE POOL!!! The next morning after class I felt like I have paddled down a river for like a year. Anyhoo... I've been all about water aerobics UNTIL last night at class something became very clear to me. The pool is located in the FRONT of the gym and has windows to the outside and windows to look into the pool AT THE FRONT DESK... which means that EVERYONE WHO COMES IN AND LEAVES THE GYM LOOKS IN!!! After about the 50th adult and 20th child stood at the glass and stared and pointed, I realized I'm no different than a whale at Sea World. Everyone gathers around the glass to look at the creatures in the pool... Me and Shamu.. we have something in common!

Its too stinkin hot here!!!

It is going to be 102 here today... that is ridiculous! There is nothing worse than getting into my vehicle in the middle of the afternoon and burning my hand on the steering wheel and then on the metal of my seat belt! UGH!

The "WORST TONGUE BITE" ever!

Cup of Wonder

Just wanted to give a shout out to my FABULOUS Venti Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks.. Thanks for bringing joy to my mouth this morning! Without you... I'm sleepy. Quote of the day: " I want to live my life in such a way, that when I wake up in the morning and my feet hit the floor... Satan shudders and says, "OH NO! SHE'S AWAKE!" - Boo ya Satan!!! - Stacey

Tiny Dancer

Can you see why every day at the Hall House is fun when Sthweetie is around???

You're Beautiful God!

I was at work today and we have the most incredible bright yellow tree that I can see out of my office window. Of course I had my camera with me, so I went to go take some pictures and as soon as I walked up to the tree I could hear this humming noise. At first I thought it was some sort of motor off in the distance.. but then I noticed it was coming from the tree. I looked up and there were hundreds of bees hanging out on the blossoms. Normally I am afraid of Bees, but not today.. They weren't bothering me, they were all just doing their own thing... So, I went back to taking some pictures and I was just overwhelmed with how beautiful God is, and how he gives me beautiful presents to look at everyday in His creation. He had the sun placed perfectly above the tree so that the light could peak through and show off the beauty of each of the thousands of blossoms. So God... thank you for today's present, as usual... You're Beautiful God!

A good idea ... gone BAD!

So... there was this one time... when there was an Ostrich Farm in our town, and we took a tour. I found out that an Ostrich Egg weighs about 3 pounds and has the equivilent of 25 egg yolks inside. Also, on our fun little tour we learned that an Ostrich weighs about 250 pounds and can SIT ON THE EGG without busting it. Yes... that is right... an egg can withstand 250 pounds. To reinforce this fact we saw someone that weighs over 200 pounds stand on the egg without breaking it. I decided that for Easter, I wanted to make the largest deviled egg like.. ever. So, in order to do this I would need to boil the egg for 2 hours. I was so excited.. I picked out my egg and took it to the church to show Andy. We were outside on the patio of the church and an older couple walked up and OF COURSE I needed to make a big deal about my sweet egg idea! I gave them all of the fun facts that I learned about the egg and then went on and on about how you can stand on it without breaking it. SOOOOOOOOOOO what do we do? WE SHOW THEM OF COURSE!!! SO Andy stands up on the egg and the WHOLE THING EXPLODES UNDER HIS FEET!!! Now keep in mind, Andy probably weighs about 180 (sorry Andy) and this thing still busted! You should have seen our faces! I'm not sure the old people knew what to do... they didn't know if it was a joke or what! So..... we were left to clean up the egg remains that had exploded about 4 feet AND... my awesome idea was no longer awesome! (wa wa wa...) - Stacey

My Easter Princess

Sthweetie and her little pink Easter dress...

I LOVE deviled eggs!

I have a weakness and it is my wife's deviled eggs! Every time we are going to a church function or an event where we have to bring a side dish, Stacey whips up a batch of her Amazing egg creation. She ends up having to make way more than we will bring, all due to the fact that her husband has sneaky fingers. I find myself sneaking into the kitchen without her noticing (well in my mind she doesnt know) on a top secret mission to rescue these poor helpless little eggs of wonder from the grips of the masses. There is nothing like sinking your teeth into the creamy yellow stuff with the paprika sprinkled on top. As you can see, I really like deviled eggs. - Andy

We are finally cool!!!

So, after much thought ..... we have decided we want to be "cool" & "trendy" and the only way to accomplish that would be to make a blog, so here we are. Should we have a blog warming party?