Tyler is home!

Tyler made it home...but his bag did not... Chelsea's flight curse has changed targets... Bummer.

Our butterfly friend

This little guy lives in our flowers and he was kind enough to poise for me. Isn't he pretty?!

Look who I adopted!

I found him at Kohl's for $5 and I think he's adorable. Welcome to my classroom Skippyjon Jones!

Nikki gives good hugs!

My parents' dog Nikki sat on my lap today, which she never does, and kept leaning her head against me like she was giving me a hug. She's such a cute sweet dog!

My new toy

My family switched to Verizon's Share Everything plan, and in order to get rid of my internet card, I had to get another phone. That made my sister happy because she got my old phone. Now everyone, including my parents, has a smartphone. Mom isn't quite sure about it just yet, but we're convincing her everyday.  ;-)

Rainbow!

Long day at church. It was essentially a Herring/Dudley family show. My sister and I got there early to practice a song. Then I played a piano/organ duet of I Know That My Redeemer Lives. My cousin and grandma spoke, then my sister and I sang a duet of Rob Gardner's arrangement of Savior Redeemer of My Soul. After sacrament meeting, my mom and I both taught primary.

After my home ward was over, we stayed for the single's ward since my dad is in the bishopric. One of my other cousins spoke in their sacrament meeting, and I gave the closing prayer. I played the piano for relief society. Then we stayed for Munch and Mingle taco salad that my parents (with a little help from us) provided and prepared.

After cleaning up, racing home to put the food away, let the dog out and change clothes, we headed to Grandma's!

Just another Sunday at the Herring's! The rainbow on the round-about ride home was perfect! :)

I caught a fish!!!!

My very first fish ever! I cast the line, set the hook, and reeled it in all by myself! He was a croaker, he made sounds like a frog. When my uncle told me to kiss the fish and I was posing for the fake picture, the little bugger tried to kiss me first, and freaked me out.
It was a great day, even if it ended with a broken boat and a broken trailer. Don't worry it will all be fixed on Monday. As my uncle said, "If nothing's wrecked, you weren't doing anything!!" I like that philosophy!
I took lots of pictures and learned to edit them on my camera. Here's an album to check out if you want to see our entire adventure:
I Caught a Fish!

I have a fishing license!

So, for years I've been wanting to go fishing with my dad and my Uncle Glen on his boat, but schedules have never worked. Well, the stars have aligned and we're going tomorrow!
I guess we go deep sea fishing? I don't know exactly what it's called but I DO know that this is on a boat, in a river or off the coast, and it involves some nasty bait I intend not to touch!
In order to go I had to get a temporary fishing license - my first such license ever!
Well, enough blogging for now. We're leaving at 3 AM!!!! So I need sleep.

From epic pinterest fail to pinterest triumph!

So last night we tried cookie cups using store bought cookie dough without looking at the post for the recipe. It was a epic fail.
Tonight, however, we tried apple quesadillas. Pinterest triumph!!! They were super tasty!!
Recipe can be found here.

We had a visitor

A small, orange, warty visitor... Nikki sure wanted to meet him, but that wouldn't have been good for either of them!

I taught cub scouts tonight!

My dad was working late, do I led cub scouts tonight. In an hour and a half we completed:
Wolf requirement 10 - family fun
Webelos family member achievement
Heritages belt loop
Heritages pin
Faith in god learning and living the gospel #8

All in all, a very productive evening with the Marsh boys!

Tiffy got her learners!

My cute cousin got her learners permit today, and we caught up with them right after. Her mom didn't make her drive home like my dad did. Hopefully her first real driving experience won't be as traumatic as mine was. I hit a cardinal (our state bird) on the highway. There was screaming and lots of, "that's a sign I shouldn't drive, let's pull over and switch"! Something tells me Tiff will be much cooler and much calmer than that!
Congrats Tiffany!

Last night with my favorite cousins!!!

What a whirlwind week and a half! I'm going to miss this cute family! It's going to be awfully quiet. It has been so much fun having them here! I love the Holloways!

Chocolate Fountain!

There was a chocolate fountain at Woodgrill tonight. Jarrett decided to make s'mores with his chocolate covered marshmallows. YUM!!

Happy Fourth of July!

After a day at King's Dominion, no one in our house moved until 11 a.m. Well, no one except my parents who made the famous Dahle waffles for us for breakfast. It was yummy. Then we lounged around and lounged around until about 5, when we left for Gordonsville to meet the fam for a picnic dinner and fireworks at Shenandoah Crossings. It was quite fun, and I got some great pictures!

The glowstick-decked clan enjoying the show!

View more photos at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100540357121969.2543214.17803337&type=3&l=26fee5253e



King's Dominion

Tuesday, a bunch of us went to King's Dominion. I think Grandma would be proud of the sheer number of us that were there and how well everyone got along. I spent the day with some of the older littles, enjoying the milder rides - I'm not a big fan of speed and heights, in spite of the fact that my mom and I rode the WindSeeker at the end of the night! I think my favorite part, though, was watching the fireworks from the Eiffel Tower with Chase.

Photo disclaimer: None of these are mine. They are begged, borrowed and stolen from the internet since my good camera was too heavy to take and my phone was dead.

The Windseeker - It was A LOT higher up than we thought, so, I closed my eyes the entire time, and enjoyed the wind, pretending I was A LOT closer to the ground than I actually was!

 The Eiffel Tower

 

A print screen photo from someone else's youtube video of the fireworks from the Eiffel Tower - the view is awesome!

70 Years - That's Something to be Proud Of!

So, in spite of the heat and lack of air conditioning, I think the 70th Anniversary Party/Family Home Evening Extravaganza turned out great! :)
Grandma and Grandpa loved every minute of it, and Grandpa was more engaged than I've seen him in a while! I loved it!

 Decorations

 Centerpieces

 Photo Coloring Pages Courtesy of Crayola's Lights! Camera! Color!

 The Happy Couple, courtsey of Christina - Grandpa said afterward, "Just as good as it was 70 years ago!"

 The whole gang! To think we were missing 26 of us!

More pictures from the party:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100540348648949.2543212.17803337&type=3&l=2aa8f62e05

Sunday on the Skyline Drive

As I'm sure many people have heard, there a huge storm came through Virginia on Friday night, uprooting trees and knocking out power across the state. My parents' power lines are underground, so, we kept our power, but most everyone else we know were out of power for at least a day or two, and some still are.

Since there was no power at the church on Sunday, church was cancelled, so, our whole family went up on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park for a picnic. It was 21 degrees cooler up there, not to mention beautiful and fun! Afterward, we headed down to my grandparents' farm for dessert and hayrides. My camera battery had died by then, so we'll have to get pictures/videos from Taryn and Chelsea. Here are a few from the Drive, though:

There's a reason they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Just a few photos were taken...

One of my favorites I took

More pictures from the Drive:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100540325151039.2543201.17803337&type=3&l=265b469151

Dudley Reunion

Today was the Dudley reunion. It was the biggest turnout we've had in quite a while, even though there was a storm last night that left most of central VA, where we live, without power, and it was supposed to be quite hot. Luckily, it was cooler than expected and we all had fun.

My cute grandpa and his sweet sister. Love them!

More pictures from the reunion:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100540292376719.2543192.17803337&type=3&l=7945af7054



She's been called to serve!

My sweet cousin Brittany received her mission call today. She will be serving in the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission, Spanish speaking. She reports to the Provo MTC on October 10. We are so excited for her!!



Better pictures of the whole event:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100540288494499.2543191.17803337&type=3&l=2a26c958ad