Happy Birthday, Whitney...

"You've had a birthday, shout hurray. We want to sing to you today. One year older and wiser, too. Happy Birthday, to you!" "Happy, happy birthday, Whitney-dear, happy days will come to you all year. If I had one wish then it would be, a happy, happy birthday to you from me."
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Whitney, happy birthday to you!"

We can hardly believe that our little Whitney is 17! Her birthday week-end started out with her going with some friends to Rashid mall to eat sushi then swimming at one of the friends compounds in Khobar. She had a great time. Thursday morning (which is like Saturday in the U.S.) the girls from church "kidnapped" her and one of their leaders cooked breakfast. They nabbed her at 6:30 a.m. Couldn't believe they could all get up that early!! When she got back we headed to Bahrain. We went to one of the malls and saw a movie. We saw "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage. It was pretty good, just a bit weird. But we enjoyed it. Left there and found a restaurant called Ric's that we've been looking for everytime we go to Bahrain. This time we had better directions and actually found it. It's a restaurant that all the American's like to go to. They have a Louisiana Cajun Shrimp night, Texas BBQ night, etc. It was really good. We also met another family in there that lives near us in Aramco and we enjoyed visiting with them. Left there and Brad and Evan needed to check out a scuba dive shop then we headed home. We got on the causeway around 8:00 and it only took us maybe 45 minutes to get back into Saudi. Not bad at all. The traffic is usually terrible on weekends. When we got home I made Whitney the cheesecake she requested and we went to bed.

Happy 17th, Sweetie! We love you tons!

Who are you?

Can I just say how much I love blogging?? And besides keeping up my own blog, can I say how much I love reading all of yours? I really have to limit myself to a set time to read blogs because I could really waste alot of time if I let myself. I would rather read blogs than watch t.v. or read magazines (which I almost NEVER do)~ that's how I justify.

(photo courtesy of google images)

I am just interested in people, their lives and their stories. Not in a creepy way. More in a "Wow, what an awesome family!" kind of way. I love it when somebody tells me they read my blog. I love comments. Thanks to those of you who leave them. Here's the thing: I can tell by my live-feed map that many, many people read that I don't know about. There are visitors from countries and states where I don't know anybody. I would LOVE for you to tell me who you are. So come on friends, show your face! Leave me a comment and introduce yourself!

Our trip to the camel market.....

Yesterday our friend Rusty called to see if we were up for a trip to Hofuf today. He and another family were going to drive there. (by the way, the other family is from Vinton, Louisiana~ that's right down the highway from our town!) We met at Rusty's at 6:30 a.m. and headed out. Whitney didn't go. She had a better offer. The weather was awful. And usually in Saudi when you say the weather is awful, it means that the wind is blowing and the sand is stirred up and hitting you in the face! It was about a two hour drive. When we got to the market we got out of the car for a few minutes but had to get back in, the sandstorm was so bad. Brad had to take out his contacts and put on his glasses. We got to drive around and look at the hundreds of camels that are for sale or trade!There were camels of every color, shape and size
This little lady gets the "best dressed" award for her lovely Persian rug with a hole cut out for her hump! Look at her smile. She knows she looks good!

This camel was laying down when Evan decided to jump out and pose by it. It leaped up real quick and Evan about fell over himself trying to get away. We laughed pretty hard. After that, this was as close as he would get. It would have been priceless if the camel had spit at him but no such luck.

This was a stubborn one! These four men tried and tried to get him up and into a trailor but he just refused. We watched from our car and were amazed that these guys were working as usual without any attention to the horrible sandstorm. You can't imagine the awful noises the camel was making!

After we left the camel market we headed to the gold souqs to look around then some treasure/junk shops that I always love. I loved the old doors and shutters.

Next we headed to the "caves" which really aren't caves at all. There are these really awesome rock formations that you can walk through. Actually not "through" because there is one way in and the same way out. It was beautiful and Evan and the other kids had a blast climbing all over them.
Here is Evan, Brad and Rusty visiting with a new friend we met.

The last stop was an old place that they do weaving and pottery.

The potter was the sweetest man and you could tell he loved his work.

We really had a fun day!

Sometimes I forget I live in a desert...

Last December we moved to the other side of the world to the DESERT! I visualized nothing but sand, dust and heat. Although there are plenty of all three, I can't help but notice and appreciate the beauty that is all around me. They really go above and beyond to make our community nice! These are all taken by the "duck pond"/walking track that is very close to our house. We enjoy it daily.

I want to take some more with the actual track in the pictures. I've been taking a fun photo class and so I've been snapping lots of pictures. Just wanted to share.