The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy July, my friends! I hope, hope, hope, if you're in the dangerously hot parts of the country, that you're staying safe and cool enough this weekend!

This week can mostly be summarized in two words: choir practice. LOL! This weekend IS the big patriotic performance Ryan's been practicing so hard for over the last two months. We have two performances down and one to go, and it has been spectacular. Definitely moving for this girl's heart!

But here's a little peek at the week, choir and otherwise!

* Last Sunday at lunch, Ryan made me a mini sundae with yogurt, pecans, syrup, and a mini peanut butter cup on top. It was the cutest little thing in the world! (Sundaes on Sunday for the win!) As we headed to choir practice that night, we passed a retention pond right on a busy road - and there was a deer getting a drink! I was so excited!! We've NEVER seen deer at that pond because it's not a quiet area. So, so cool! We got home from practice in time for a sunset walk, and it was so lovely!

* Monday was a HOT one here in Indiana, and yours truly overheated while mowing the yard. Didn't feel good the rest of the day, actually. Womp, womp. I had to power through, though, because we had a meeting with one of our pastors and another practice that night. We took salads with us to eat in between and I resorted to creating them in 8x8 baking dishes so they would transport. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

* Tuesday I practiced a new braid (desperate to learn how to do SOMETHING with my hair for the weekend! At lunch, Ryan and I did some hard-core brainstorming for a conference we're speaking at (together!) this fall, and that night, we had zoodles for dinner! It was our one night off this whole week, so we had to pack in all the things we would normally do on other nights...into this night!

* I had a podiatrist appointment on Wednesday, so I had to do the pre-podiatrist-pedi before I went. LOL! Crash pedi! After that, I had to shop for black pants for this weekend. Who knew something as simple as finding a pair of black pants could be such an excruciating experience!?! I finally found a pair and though they were hot, hot, hot for the weather, they fit and worked. That night? You guessed it. More practice.

* Thursday morning I had another little reading camp here at home with the kiddo I'm working with, and we had a great time. She rocked the games! I made a chicken/zucchini/squash dish for dinner and I know you can't see it in the black and white picture, but the veggies were green and yellow. That happened to be our school colors, so I named it the Eastern Comet chicken dinner. LOL! Thursday night was our big final rehearsal with the full band and extra people...it was wonderful! (This picture Ryan took of me narrating while having my picture taken cracks me up!)

* Friday night was the first performance! I thought I was going to be sitting backstage in between my narrations, but I was actually out in the audience, so I got to sneak a few pictures! We had some friends and family come that night, so it was fun to see familiar faces in the audience! And I may have to write about this separately later, but when all the veterans and active duty members went up on stage for a song....ahhhhhhh. Bekah did the ugly cry.

* Ryan worked yesterday, so I worked at home, and last night was our second patriotic performance! Most of Ryan's family came that night...he had parents and siblings everywhere! We had a great night. (It's going to be so strange to not have this be such a big part of our lives anymore.) After it was over, we all went out to IHOP for dinner.