Weekend in Review (Sept. 11-13)

Wow... once again we had a busy weekend.

I had been working overtime all week, so when I got home on Friday, I was tired. I started putting that Gold City footage I had shot at SDC the week before on my laptop. While that was running, the kids watched veggietales, we ate supper, and played a bit. After the kids went to bed, I edited a few songs for upload on to youtube... they took for ever!

On Saturday, we were being lazy. Lydia and I tried sleeping in... the kids didn't let us! But we did get some sleep. BJ called and let us know that they were coming over for a visit. So we quickly got dressed and enjoyed the visit. The kids got to play with their cousin for a bit, which really thrilled them.

That evening, I picked up Noah, and we met Sam and Greg (and his family) at Snyder Music Park near Halltown, MO. We had been asked to sing for 45 minutes at George & Friends First Annual Homecoming. We seen a few others that have heard us sing, got to visit with a few people, including the Bryants themselves. Oh, and our set went very well. I was able to get it on video, and I have posted one of the songs on youtube.

On Sunday, it was the usual. Vans in the morning. Morning services. Home for lunch. But, later that afternoon, Sam picked me up and we headed to Strafford, MO for their Route 66 Days festival. We had the privilege to sing at their main tent at 3pm for 45 minutes. There weren't very many people in attendance for our singing, but we had several people stop by and peak in. I think they were wondering what they were hearing! lol! While there at the festival, Sam and I got to visit with our former employer Chris Fortner at the Pineapple Whip stand that was located right across from where we were singing. Amazingly, we were able to make it back to church in time for choir practice, and then evening services.

Like I said... what a busy weekend!

~Matt

Our Anniversary/Branson Trip (Get-A-Way)

I meant to post this over the weekend, but I hadn't gotten it finished, and then I forgot. This trip happened Labor Day weekend!

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For our wedding anniversary (Sept. 2), we were given free reservations for The Suites at Fall Creek in Branson. It is a nice resort. The place were were given to stay at had two master bedrooms, to bathrooms (with Jacuzzis), a full kitchen, dining room, living room, and two screen balconies/porches! It was awesome.

The resort had an outdoor and inside pool, a put-put course, sand volleyball court, plus many other things! Each room had a big tv with cable, and above the beds say an iHome... so I was able to put in my iPod and we could listen to music! We didn't use it as an alarm clock, we decided to sleep in!

Our trip went well. Paulette came over and watched the kids while we were away. She took them took them to church on Sunday.

We left the house around 5pm on Saturday evening and headed straight to the resort to check in. After we checked out our "apartment", we headed over to Silver Dollar City. Gold City was there for the Southern Gospel Picnic. I took video and pictures.

We got to the suite, ate pizza and went to bed. We slept in the next morning. It was great not having the kids! Around noon we went to Panara bread to get us a frozen mocha and use their wi-fi (we're nerds). We visited a few shops, went swimming, enjoyed the whirlpool, watched a movie, and enjoyed the day together.

On Labor Day, we took the kids to SDC and let them ride the rides. Before leaving, we saw Brian Free & Assurance. The kids slept trough the concert. When we arrived home, we were tired...

Lydia and I had an enjoyable time, and wish we could get a way again... sometime soon. Unfortunately, I think this is a one-time-a-year thing!

~Matt

Tagging your Facebook status!

According to an article put out by the AP yesterday, facebook will soon allow you to "tag" your friends in your status posts! It's just like what you can do with photos!

This can be a useful tool, and yet... an annoying one!

The coolness factor:
When mentioning a friend (or true relative) in your status, by tagging them, both the friend and their friends will be able to see it. Everyone is able to keep up with each other. I can see it also helping out couples, like Lydia and I. I make a status update about us both doing something, tag her, and it updates on her page as well. Cool.....

The annoying factor:
You get tagged in stupid status updates! You know those updates like the false amber alerts? I can see them being this... "An amber alert has been released for ____, abducted by green truck, plates _____!!! Tag all your friends!!!!"

*groan*

And so the facebook wars will ensue! There will be those who hate the feature, but will put:  "bring back the old facebook (tag all of your friends!)" lol!

~Matt

Update on Mysia's Forhead

It's been over a week since Mysia gashed her forehead on a table at daycare. So I figured I'd better post an update.

Mysia's forehead is doing good. She visited the doctor on Wednesday and got the sticker/bandage off. The Doc said that it has healed up nicely, just like it would have with stitches, and that there is a good chance that there will be not much of a scar.

I'm happy that it wasn't serious. Right now, Mysia is sporting a band-aid!

~Matt

What Obama is reading now....

"The Faith of America's Presidents" .... now wouldn't that be interesting read for our President!

Unfortunately, the photo is a misrepresentation. I did some photoshop work on it, using a book authored by my friend Daniel Mount. I did it for fun, and to make his day! All I did was change the cover of the book.

The thought of "photoshopping" this image came about when I received an email about Obama reading a "pro-muslim" book! The email went on to say that the book is against America, etc.

So, I did research, and the photo attached to the email was real, not altered. The president is holding the book: The Post-American World

However, the book's description given in the email was wrong. Here's what I've found:

"In the book, Zakaria argues that, thanks to the actions of the United States in spreading liberal democracy across the world, other countries are now competing with the US in terms of economic, industrial, and cultural power. While the US continues to dominate in terms of political-military power, other countries such as China and India are becoming global players in many fields."

Perhaps this is what he should be reading!!! (but I wonder if he just was holding it for show...)

Of course, I think he ought to read my friend's book as well!

~Matt