can't think of a title for this post

Brian, my brother, Tim, and a team of mostly high school seniors left early this morning for a mission trip to the Bahamas. It's funny, everyone's first reaction is "rough life," but if you have actually been there and seen the real deal I'm sure you would say it's a great place for VBS and homes to be built. Abby woke me in the middle of the night last night. When I got up I thought Brian was still in bed and was so excited I would get to see him and give him a hug before he left to meet everyone at the church at 4am. I got back and realized he wasn't there, just a pile of twisted sheets. Ah man, I was so bummed, I had my hopes all up. I looked at the clock and it was 4:30am. Oh well, it gave me time to pray for the team. Brian's parent's will be here this week to play with Abby and either distract me from Brian being gone or make me think about him more. It will be fun to spend time with them.

The team went to my parent's house for a day out. Everyone went to the beach, including Abigail. Uncle Tim and Abby had matching shirts, it was too cute not to get a pic.




































Meet Bentley. He is my parent's dog.






















I know what you are thinking... This dog is ugly and disgusting, why do you have a picture of him on your blog? Well, he may be very gross, going grey, a drooler, overweight, big eyed and crooked toothed, but seriously, he is the sweetest, happiest dog you will ever meet! He absolutely loves life! His tail wags all the time, even in his sleep, faster than you can imagine. He loves going for walks and will find every mud puddle to lay in. He is getting old and it's more and more difficult for him to get around. I remember when we first got him. I was a junior in high school, in bed sleeping. All of the sudden I wake up to a little puppy standing on me licking me in the face. My parent's picked my sister up from school and she had seen Benny in a pet store. She twisted their fingers to get them to check him out and once they saw him they were all hooked. He came home with them. He was actually a gift for my dad since he was having health problems, mom and Esther thought he would be a stress reliever. I don't know if the puppy actually relieved stress then, but he definitely does now. I love this dog and he is a true member of the Blankenship family.
Honestly, I took this picture because I was frustrated that my camera was still not working properly and I'm taking the time to post about it because I'm procrastinating cleaning my house.

Six Flags

I had been looking forward to this day for a very long time. I love theme parks and Abigail is finally at an age where she can enjoy them, so I purposely had Brian schedule the youth Six Flags trip on my day off. Abigail and I drove up with our friends Kirsten and Cai. It was great, we went on rides and splashed around in the water at the water park. The kids were really great, they seemed to have fun and we all slept well last night!

It's funny, kids don't understand that you don't go as soon as you get on the ride. They don't get that someone has to go around to every person and check their seatbelt. They are impatient and want it to go right away and this is what happens when it doesn't.






















On the airplane. It went up pretty high. Also made us a bit dizzy.







































The swings were a bit scary and it was nap time.

















The water park was definitely the highlight for the kids. They were so excited, they couldn't contain it, they were running around screaming and giggling.






















They were having too much fun to pose for the camera, which I forgot to change the settings on, that's why the background is in focus and we are not.

good times while we're still young!

Shot a 12 hour wedding yesterday + an after party at the casino, we left at 12:30am. I need to sort through 2,646 images and Brian is working at church. Sleep to come... we are pooped!

Day at the lake

Today I was desperate for a break, so I called up one of my best childhood friends (Laura) to go spend some time at our parent's community beach. Ahh, it was so nice to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. I was obsessed with the white puffy clouds. They were fun to take pictures of.







































































Ahh, so relaxing.

















This... not so relaxing.
















Temper tantrums have been Abby's latest. Not getting what she wants so she throws herself on the floor and cries. Ayi yi yi, what fun.

This is what I have to say about temper tantrums.













This is what Joey has to say.

















We'll see what Brian has to say after he gets home.

Rachel Henderson Photography Blog

It's finally here! A blog for my work. Please check out my photography blog. Not much posted yet, but check back very soon.

Fathers are Wonderful!

Yesterday was a jam packed day for us after a jam packed weekend. Ashley had her baby dedication, we went to the service at Rob and Esther's church. Rob's parents were visiting from NC, so it made it extra special. Afterwards we went to a really nice brunch. Then we headed back to Rob and Esther's home to celebrate Father's day, my mom's Birthday and my sister in law, Jess' Birthday. What a day of celebrations.

youth group cookout

Abby, Joey and I went to visit Brian and the senior high youth group at their summer kick off cookout. Just fun to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather, let the dog roam and run, and get a chance to visit Daddy. It's been such a busy, hectic week because of a tag sale they are doing to raise money for all of the mission trips they are doing this summer. Hopefully it will be a good turn out. They do this every year and have raised over $15,000 before. You can imagine how big this "junk" sale is and all the work that goes into it.