Grape Escape!!!

I am one blessed girl. I have amazing friends, one of which is Heather. She has invited me, 2 years in a row, to incredible celebrations for HER birthday. This year, for her 40th, she wanted to take a few of us up in a hot air balloon over our beautiful wine country, here in Temecula. She's always wanted to go, and I've never wanted to go. Honestly, I said yes just because I love her. Then I fretted about it for a month. But I also wanted to go to get myself out of my safe little box I live in. I thought I was really wild when I parasailed in the Cayman Islands in my teens. That's the craziest thing I've ever done until this. And I do realize ballooning is very safe. I just don't like heights. Kimberlee doesn't either, so I was thrilled she agreed to go also. Here we are, December 23rd, 2010, in the truck, on the way to our take-off spot. Ready or not....


It was nice to meet Heather's high school friend, Katie (left). She's an OBGYN from San Diego.



Waiting patiently (and a little nervously) for our balloon to be ready... but not the Birthday Girl! Heather has NO fear. Just look at the excitement on her pretty face!


Here we are with our pilot, who happens to love New Mexican green chile as much as I do! His wife is from Albuquerque. Small world!





And we're off! We left from the beautiful South Coast Winery.


Here's our church: The Barn! It's the Calvary Chapel in the wine country.



The fire was so hot that I wondered if my hair-sprayed hair could explode. I think in the 90's it actually might have. It didn't help that I was wearing high-heeled boots. I swear I planned on wearing my flat(ter) ones, but since we were still in the middle of our move, I couldn't find them.






BEAUTIFUL Temecula!!!



Wow... and WOW!!!


Lake Skinner


Ok... Now this was a tad scary. Kimberlee and I both said this was the first time we felt like there was really nothing between us and the ground, 3,000 feet down, except for a basket! Yikes!





We soared above the clouds and sang, "How Great Is Our God." Heather is so wonderful and just loves Jesus so much. She brought each of us a rolled paper with this hymn printed on it, held together with a ring. She's so sweet and asked us all to sing at 3,000 feet! She belted it out, louder than all of us. If our pilot thought we were crazy, he didn't say anything. ;)




The crazy rainstorm we just had left this gorgeous, snow-capped mountain! As we started to descend, I loved these shadows we made.



We landed near Wilson Creek Winery, where our continental breakfast was awaiting us. I can't even believe how awesome this was!


We ended our spectacular morning with a light breakfast and a toast with Wilson Creek's famous Almond Champagne. YUM! Thank you for an amazing time that I will NEVER forget, Heather!!! I hope your 40th birthday was all that you dreamed it would be.

The Truth About Nutcracker

After only a couple of months in ballet, Sulli and her pre-ballet class got to be daisies in The Truth About Nutcracker, a beautiful Christian twist on the classic ballet. In this version, a family death urges Clara to lean on Christ, as she learns He is the Prince she has always been waiting for. It's just amazing, and we were so thankful Sullivan got to be a part of it. One sweet woman told me after the shows, with tears in her eyes, that she had never seen someone dance with such joy as Sulli does and to please never let her stop!



My girl loved having her make-up done. I was surprised she could sit so still for tedious jobs like mascara and red lipstick! She felt very glamorous. I love the profile shot.






After hair and make-up, it was time for pictures! Where did she learn to pose like this?!?


Ready to go!


We were at the auditorium from 1:00 in the afternoon until around 9:00 at night. It was such a long day for me and Sulli. She is used to a nap, so I expected a melt-down. I mean, she only got to dance about a total of 4 minutes out of that 8 hours! But she was a trooper and enjoyed playing games and coloring with the other daisies in between performances.


Here's our daisy, watching the first act of the second show. I helped out with the little girls for the entire first show, and ended up staying with Sullivan for the second act of the second show. So, I only got to see one act... but I loved watching it with her. She was so interested in all of it and adored the beautiful dancing! Our whole family had great seats for the 6:00 show in the middle of Row 2!


Zane, Titus and Levi were so proud of their little sissy and SO excited to see her dance! When it was her turn, they cheered out loud. This made my heart happy.





And here is Sullivan's performance! In this scene, she and the other daisies are dancing to a worship song, for Jesus who is sitting on the throne. It was precious! I actually took these photos on rehearsal night since no cameras were allowed the night of the performances. On the night of the actual performances, Sulli, the tiniest daisy, did so well! It was such a long and tiring day, but each time she was going on stage, she perked right back up. The 2:00 performance was awesome; she didn't run off stage after the dance, with the other daisies, like she was supposed to. She stood there with Clara. When Clara sweetly pointed which direction she should go, she finally happily scampered off and the crowd laughed and clapped. So many people told me "She stole the show!"



And here's our little star with her adoring fans... namely her brothers. Thanks to the McIntosh family for coming and showing their support. Sulli just loves Matt and David ("MooMooFarm")!

Thigh-highs

This gives a new meaning to Christmas stockings! There's nothing my glamour girl won't try on. Yes, we actually put up Christmas decorations, even though we were in the middle of a move. How could we not? This place was our Christmas gift from God.