Farewell! (by Kendal)

Y'all are likely wondering about the blog title. As most of you probably guessed, I am handing the blog over to Kelsey. (Who, BTW, happens to be rather better than me at expressing thoughts with the written word.) However, my main reason for quitting the blog is just a matter of priorities. The blog, as y'all may have guessed, due to my lack of posting, never was very high on my priorities list. It has mostly been merely a fun way to communicate with friends, especially those that I rarely see. I have often thought that I should be more "serious" about my blogging, but then when I did blog I never had time for truly thoughtful posts. [Coming up with the proper way to express exactly what I'm thinking through the blog takes me FOREVER. Maybe that explains the {long} time it takes for me to write a good paper.:) ]
Well, anyway, I wasn't making time for worthwhile posts.
Since school, next to work at The Chicken, is what is taking the most of my time, I'm thinking that after I graduate I might find myself with some extra time on my hands, and so I may start a new blog then. We'll see!
In the meantime, I hope that y'all will enjoy Kelsey's blog! I might write a "guest post" once in awhile, but don't count on it. :) I'll still read and comment on y'all's blogs, of course.

Well, au revoir!
~Kendal Marie Butler

What do you measure your productivity by?

What do you measure your productivity by? Or what are your thoughts after a day has ended or just begun? Is it, "how was I able to bless others today?", or is it,"I wonder what I can get out of this social event/time with church family." Or even, "I wish I had been able to have some more free time, or do something for me today." As human beings we are so selfish and in general such takers, instead of givers.(and quite prone to exaggerating, though some more than others) I'm sure at some time or another we have been guilty of this, and even recently I have caught myself thinking "I hope this will be fun for me." It is so worldly to be thinking this way, and even acting on these thoughts. Especially since it is opposite of what Jesus did in his daily life. He was always giving of himself and sacrificing his will and even daily needs even until his very last seconds on this earth. I especially see this shown when Jesus is dying on the cross and he asks John to take care of his mother, he was constantly seeing to the needs of others.

I'm sure we can all do more to serve others instead of ourselves. Is it not part of being a Christain, everyday dying to ourselves and following Christ?

It is such a sad and empty life when people serve themselves constantly, instead of others. I'm sure that if you are paying attention to life around you you have found that the people who are most enjoyable to spend time with are those who are servants to others, and the ones who seem to enjoy life to it's fullest.

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful week,

~Kelsey

I hope everyone has had a great week, and I hope you also have a wonderful weekend! I took this picture earlier this week of the sunset, after that strange and unexpected snow~thunderstorm. that is why the sky appears to be glowing, because the sun is shining through the thick clouds. ~Kelsey

Sunset pictures

I took these pictures were earlier this week. ~Kelsey

Christmas day

We had a wonderful Christmas! We didn't do what we had planned for Christmas and New Years, or in other words what Kendal and I hoped to do, but we had fun anyway. On Christmas Eve we were planning on going to our church's Christmas Eve service, but some of the little ones came down with strep throat or something so we stayed home. We watched The Ultimate Gift instead, which was a really good movie. On Christmas morning we opened our presents. Here are some pictures.

We didn't actually take this on Christmas morning.
Joy opening her freshwater pearl and sodalite bracelet
Mary really wanted a watch for Christmas

Noah loves Veggie Tales, so Mom and Dad got him A toy Larry, Bob and Jr. Asparagus



Aren't thease the cutest things ever? They look like Yankee candles but they're really tiny thing of lip balm

In the bottom of a box with many different things in it were handfuls of organic lollipops!

This is a box of staitionary with butterflies all over it. the box is really neat, it looks like a book, but when you open it it's a box!

This is Kendal's graphing calculator

This is a really neat toy that you make moterized cars and things with

Mom opening her package of lip balm

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! ~Kelsey

That Global Warming is Really Kicking In!

We just measured the snow, and it's about ten and a half inches! This picture is actually from one of our other two or three snows. It looks like Narnia outside, that is before the spell was broken. What a great Christmas present! It is so beautiful outside, it's unbelievable! Speaking of Christmas, we had a very good one. We will post some pictures soon! ~Kelsey

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all, from Kendal and the other Butlers.

This is one of my most favorite pictures ever. That is until I fell in love with this one I took the other day.

The picture above is of plumeria, the kind of flower I hope to use should I ever get married. Isn't it beautiful?

Yes those are real snowflakes. I think it was the prettiest snow I've ever seen. It was a very powdery one, but those are always the best for pictures. Mama used it as a new blog header thingy.
Nearly every time it snows we take a microscope out to look at snowflakes, but we didn't get any really good ones yesterday. So I just snapped this one real quick, without the microscope not even realizing that the snowflakes were showing up so well until I saw it on the computer! It truly is real, I'm not joking. And I really did take it, just ask Mama.

Two weekends ago we went to Meredith's and Steven's wedding. It was quite beautiful! The church had a lovely organ and the music was so beautiful. It still seems odd that Meredith is now married. We are all so happy for her, and Steven. Anna, Joy, and Mary were some of the 20 or so little bell~ringers. It sounded so neat when all of those little girls walked down the aisle before Meredith came. The reception was very nice also, although it was quite cold. After everyone ate and had Cheesecake most of the younger people went to the barn to dance, which was quite fun.

Well that's about all for now. I hope everyone has a blessed week and a Merry Christmas! ~Kelsey PS. I'm actually writing this December 20th, I just started the post on the 12th, and haven't finished ti until just now. ;)

Hello everyone!

This week has been a very busy one for the Butler household. This week Mama, Kendal and I completed ten skirts for our Christmas Eve service along with seventeen sashes. We had a deadline to meet and met it , and had a bit of time to spare. Thank you, Lord! Also Mama's birthday was on Monday and Kendal's birthday is today. Happy Birthday Mama and Kendal! You are the best and most favorite mother and older sister I've had yet! Oh, you're the only one! Well you're still the best and I love you both. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving also. Our Aunt and Uncle were supposed to come, but were not able to. So our good friends, the Larums saved the day. Thank you guys, you're the best. You saved us from a day a misery and despair. (and agony)We always have the best time with them! The food was good to of coure, but I always enjoy the visiting part best. Well I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week. ~Kelsey

picture by Kelsey

This is one of my favorite pictures from "the big snow." I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Hello! By Kelsey

Hello everyone! I've been trying to think of a good blog name, so if y'all think of one, leave a comment and let us know! Kendal and Kelsey Butler was actually supposed to be temporary. ;) I hope y'all enjoy the pictures. One or two of them might have already been shared, but enjoy them anyway! ;) Isn't the picture below the coolest! Actually, it was really really cold! I went out really early in the morning to take it.

This picture (below) is similar to the one from my last post, Gavin. But this is the one and only other one like it.

I think that might be me in the picture, but I'm not sure, it's sorta hard to tell.

This is the creek water from the waterfall. When it's warmer we like to play in it. But we are also famous for loosing shoes in it! ;)

Didn't God create a beautiful world?! ~Kelsey

It's Me! (Kendal)

I thought I would do a post on what I have been doing lately and such...

We've been somewhat steadily working through the school books... this school year has been a busy one for Mom- for the first time she has six students, and only two are at the same grade level. (Daniel and Anna) That doesn't make for a very easy job! Fortunately, Kelsey and I do nearly all of ours independently, and we can help the younger children. Despite it being my senior year, I don't have a ton of time-consuming subjects, which is nice, especially since I'm working during the day. This year I'm taking Advanced Biology (human anatomy), vocabulary (very quick and easy, even fun, too a degree) Writing and Grammar, (This happens to be my least favorite subject, next to anatomy, but I would like to improve my writing skills.) Accounting, (it's not difficult, just boring), and History from the Civil War to Vietnam (definitely my favorite subject). I'm grateful for the great education that I've received over the past twelve years, but at the same time I am really looking forward to finishing high school!

I'm still enjoying work at Chick-fil-A, [sometimes known as "The Store", "The Chicken", or CFA :) ] although the "new experience" part has worn off. It started to feel like work after about six months, but it became a job in my mind at about the nine month mark, when I had to start getting up at 5:00 in the morning three days a week, in order to be at CFA by 6:00. It's early, but I get off around 2:00, which is great during the week because I'm getting in hours at work, and still have time for school and stuff at home. It's not the greatest on Saturday, but I could stand the discipline of getting up when it's still dark and cold. :)

Oh, now that I'm on the subject of CFA, some stranger commented on this blog and said that I should post about funny things that happen at work. I think I'll try to do a short post once in awhile about that kind of thing. I'll call the stories "Chronicles of The Chicken" :)

I've been trying to start on making some fall/winter dresses; I have a pattern that I will probably use, and I also designed a dress, but I don't know how it will turn out yet, we'll see. It's always fun to draw a dress and have the real thing turn out like the picture, but I'm not really good enough at designing clothes to do it quickly- it's pretty time consuming. Hopefully I'll become more efficient with practice, I think it's a good skill to have with such a shortage of modest clothing.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

-Kendal

Vacation pictures! by Kelsey

All ready for some shootin' Well maybe not, considering we are already late for breakfast with Grandad. ;)

On the way back home I took this picture. Look! It's a mouse! Actually it was a dead mouse. It must have died of poison, because it was flexible. We fluffed it up and set it on a rocking chair, and it scared the mess out of Mama! I don't understand people who are scared of mice, what is there to be scared of?
Howdy partner! ( Those are real guns)


I'm hoping to frame this one.

That's a lot of apples! We picked quite a few, and I would sit on the porch and peel them each morning for breakfast. Yum!

I think this is sorta funny. That's me, in case you were wondering. The best apples were up high, so I drove the four~wheeler under the tree so we could reach them.

These are the Fox grapes we picked. We picked the rest on the creek bank.

I think this is so cute!

That's how we got the grapes out.

Our Grandad Thurman took us up here. Isn't it beautiful? Mr. Hylton and Joy.

Grandma Brenda and Joshua.

This is Isaac and I on the way to the cabin from the campground. It was really cold! We had just finished picking grapes on the creek bank. That's why my hair looks so crazy!

This is Molly, isn't she cute?

Mama took this picture of a woolly bear.

I took this picture on the way back home.

Awww, how sweet.

The more the merrier!

This is the lake.

Hey, look it's Dan the Sailor Man!

Anna is holding one of the newts they fished out of the lake with a fishing pole.

This was right before our very bumpy and scary ride. I came along to make sure no one fell out. To bad no one did that for me! It was so bumpy because we had a flat tire. That little girl is Maggie, Mr. and Mrs. Hylton's granddaughter.

Whoops! It looks like someone fell in the lake! Anna dived headfirst out of the boat. She was trying to get a newt, and well, misjudged her aim.

What a nice vacation! ~Kelsey