I Wanna Be A CowGirl Bay-Bee...

Sorry, it's a song that's been stuck in my head since I saw Kaylee on a horse. Even though Kaylee was wearing a white helmet and not a cowboy hat.

We all got up a bit earlier this morning and went to church in town. This is a really big church, and has quite a few Nashville celebrities that attend. In fact, "Hannah Montana" Cyrus went there and was even Morgan's bunk mate at camp, which ought to impress Kaylee when we tell her tomorrow. lol When we walked in, I was still kind of waking up, but the music took care of that and woke me up in no time. :) We walked in and there was a full band up front with drums, electric guitar, keyboard and piano, back-up singers, and a young man with a mohawk and a fantastic voice as the lead singer. There was a laser light show happening, stage fog, background images, the whole works. I leaned over to Steve and shouted "I feel like I'm going to a rock concert!" He yelled back "What??" And I shouted "Exactly!" Personally, I enjoy visiting this church, and it also made me laugh a little today, in a good way. They played one song "Jesus Paid It All", which is one that many of you reading this blog probably know. But I'll bet you don't know the version where they come in with an electric guitar 'riff' halfway though. I kept picturing a lady named Maxine playing that on the piano very properly. :o) Anyway, the sermon was *really* good, and I enjoyed it, too. He's funny, very intelligent, slightly sarcastic, and puts things in a different way than you may have thought of them in the past. He's just an excellent speaker and it was a good message. And Kaylee did the time-honored tradition of doodling on her bulletin quietly during the sermon...though she did also take a few notes with her cousin Tanner's help on spelling, which I thought was sweet! (I also did find out that even more comfortable dress shoes aren't good on a damaged toe if they slant inwards at all, kind of squeezing said toes together too much. Ouch.)

For lunch we went to Jake's Deli, and everybody had giant baked potatoes with stuff on them except for Kaylee (mac & cheese of course!) and me (Chicken panini). Excellent food, as always!

We came home, and I kind of crashed for a little while, and I have no idea what anybody else was doing while I did that. ;) But what finally lured me out of bed was Kaylee going out to ride Bean the Horse. It was way too pretty of a day and way too rare of an opportunity for me to not go take photos. Alonna rode her horse nearby and Kaylee rode Bean. She started off being led by Morgan, and eventually she felt comfortable taking the reins herself and wandering around a bit. She wanted to try a cantor, was a little disturbed at it the first time, and then with Aunt Cathy running on one side and Morgan on the other, she decided that was pretty fun. "Bumpy", but fun. I have to admit, it was cute. And you couldn't ask for a better backdrop. The hills in the background, the blue skies, the sun getting low, the girls having fun, the parents and grandparents enjoying the view. It's an almost idyllic scenario, and one that left me feeling rather thankful again for family, for relaxation, and for the opportunities that Kaylee has yet no idea how lucky she is to have.

We came in for some hot chocolate, masterfully prepared by Mr. Tanner, watched a football game, ate, I worked on uploading Cathy's photos to my card, just did...stuff. Watched the Colts game, had snacks, worked on photos some more, gave Kaylee a much-needed bath, and then everyone headed off to bed except me, the Night Owl Who Had A Nap. It was fun! I suppose I'll try to go to sleep so I won't be the last woman up by TOO long tomorrow morning.

Oh, if you're happy that the background image is no longer off to the left but is back in the middle where it's supposed to be, you can thank Justin. Of course I may be the only Obsessive/Compulsive person out there who cared, but it Wasn't Right and it Was Bugging Me, so I'm glad it's fixed anyway! :)

Kaylee's going to be hard to live with when we get home in a few days. She absolutely thrives on human contact and interaction; she's a complete socialite who never tires of being around people and sometimes bossing them around. I've jokingly called her a "black hole" before (not said to her), because no matter how much attention you lavish on her, she can take it all and never be filled, even if it's midnight of the 6th day of straight playing with her all day long. :) She's had the undivided attention of her Grandma Chiles for days in a row first, and now the undivided attention of four cousins for days in a row. We're going to get home and she's going to really be missing the attention! Even so, I'm glad. She's a very lucky little girl. You only get to be an innocent child once, and every day that she can spend with a sparkle in her eye and the unconditional love of family is a day well spent in my opinion. She'll have plenty of time where the world doesn't revolve around her...like when vacation is over with...so let her have her joy. :)