A Book Review- Chasing the Sun by Tracie Peterson

Chasing the Sun by Tracie Peterson is a good, captivating read from beginning to end. Young Texas frontier woman Hannah learns that her father is missing and feared dead from his law partner Mr. Lockhart, who desires to marry Hannah. Hannah suddenly finds herself not only in charge of her younger brother and sister whose mother died during the birth of the youngest child, but also in charge of running their ranch.

While a marriage of convenience to Mr. Lockhart could ease Hannah's situation, along comes William Barnett, the original owner of the ranch, home from the war. As he fought on the side of the Yankees, he was considered a traitor and his ranch stripped from his family and awarded to Hannah's father as a reward for work he had done for the Confederacy.

 As William returns to live on the ranch with the intention of regaining ownership, he and Hannah cannot deny their growing affection for one another. With threats from the Indians and from Mr. Lockhart, William and Hannah must protect each other, and the ranch, at all cost.
With suspense, a touch of romance, and unwavering Christian faith, this book was excellent from beginning to end.

This book was provided free of charge from Bethany House Publishing in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way.

Instagram

I was so excited this week- Instagram for Android was released. I haven't yet gotten an iPhone, but I have been eagerly awaiting my upgrade date so I could. Now the wait will be a bit easier. Here are a few of my new Instagram shots ( I've only been slightly obsessed! ).

Attempted photo shoot with Princess P

I call this an attempted photo shoot because every time I shoot P it usually ends in yelling and pouting because she is as uncooperative as can be on purpose. I put her in my wedding dress and did my best with her. This is what I got:

Well, that's my princess all dressed up in my wedding dress. She doesn't like the camera as much as she used to when she was tiny. But she liked wearing the dress- that was the only way I could even convince her to let me take her picture today. But now she has pictures of her tiny self in the dress I married her daddy in.

7th Birthday

Today is my son's 7th birthday. On Saturday we had his boy party. I made him a dinosaur cake and cupcakes.

Then we blew up a big inflatable movie screen and watched Puss N Boots outside after it got dark. Popcorn, soda, candy, lawnchairs, and blankets. We definitely needed the blankets- it was cold! Hopefully he liked his party.

Trying out some new phone stuff

I have been looking for an Android app that is comparable to Instagram for iPhone. I have been messing around with Lightbox and Streamzoo. So far I think I like Streamzoo better. More editing options. I am also doing my very first blog post from my phone- so forgive me if there are any major spelling errors.

Here are a couple of pics I have edited with Streamzoo.

Valentines

Valentines Day is next week and this year I decided to make homemade instead of doing store bought. I got my ideas from Pinterest so they are not original but here are my versions.

For this one, I just took a quick pic, changed it to black and white (I just liked it better that way), and added the text. After I got them printed I poked a hole on the top and bottom of his hand and stuck the lollipop in the holes. Inexpensive, personalized valentines.

For these I cut out four hearts per flower, punched a hole near the bottom, glued the hearts together to form the petals, and stuck a lollipop in the center. Easy peasy.

I found the instructions for these here: http://www.marthastewart.com/267672/sweet-tidings-handmade-valentines-for-ki?czone=holiday/valentine-center/valentine-cnt-gifts&center=276967&gallery=306836&slide=181233

First Lost Tooth = Excited Little Boy

As he comes out of school he tells me he thinks something is wrong with his tooth. Before I could ask what was wrong he grinned at me...

He was SO excited. He still even had cupcake on his face that he had eaten in school.

It was pretty easy to wake him up this morning, too- he had to check under his pillow to see what the Tooth Fairy left him (a dollar).