Happy Memorial Day!!

We want to say a HUGE "thank you" to all those who have served or are serving our Country right now. Thank you for everything you have done to keep this a free Nation! 

May God bless you richly and abundantly now and forever. 

With much appreciation and respect,

~The Sanfords

Dandelions on a beautiful day...

My siblings are so goofy sometimes and come up with the most random ideas to do. The other day when it was beautiful outside Adrianna, Zach, and Elaina went out and picked a bunch of dandelions and made them into a heart as you see bellow in this artsy picture they took...

After making it into a heart they decided to put a smiley face in it as well. I thought it was really cute and that's why I'm sharing it. :) 

There ya have it. A peek into the beautiful life we live over here. And now if you don't mind I'll get back to it. *smiles* 

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Fellowship with friends and horses! :D

This past Sunday the Niesen family invited my family over after church to fellowship together and just to have fun. They are one of the families from church that we have known the longest and been friends with. Through the years our two families have just gotten closer and we all love to just spend time with together. :) One of the many things we love about them is that they have some beautiful horses that they let us ride whenever we come over. *grins happily* So once we got there Sarah tacked up some of them and we started riding together. 

Elaina and Jane posing for a picture together. 

Sarah, the girl who is amazing with horses and knows so much about them. 

Cara is an amazing horseback rider! I'm jealous of this girls abilities. *nods* 

My goofy-adorable sisters. 

The mothers watching as we girls have a good time riding. And Stephanie is just being cute. ;)

The dad's and Garrett talking about whatever guys talk about. 

The girls riding...

Me being a goofball... lol

The girls love to ride double on Shanta and they do a really good job staying on and having fun. 

The guys practiced shooting a little.

Zach petting the ever so gorgeous Remi.

Us girls eating some ice cream and cookies while freezing outside. lol :D We had such a wonderful time with the Niesen's and cannot wait to hang out again! We made soo many inside jokes that night that it made it all the more fun! *knowing grin*

I love my friends. Every single one of them. They are what makes my life amazing, awesome, and just plan old fun. *grins* I'm so glad God blessed me with all of them and having too many to count is such an amazing feeling too. *smiles* 

Hope y'all enjoy the rest of your weeks and have fun with this super-hot-gorgeous weather we are having! 

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Starbucks and going out on the town

This past Sunday Jesi and I were talking about her family coming over for a visit so that we girls could all hit Meijer and check out the skirts over there. We Sanford girls have always enjoyed clothes shopping there because of the long skirts they sell. So anyway, we convinced our parents that this was a great idea and then set up a shopping day on Wednesday. I had almost 3 full Starbucks gift-cards that I hadn't used yet so I decided that if we were going to go out we should blow my gift-cards on ourselves to make the day even more enjoyable! :)

Here we are before Starbucks...

...at Starbucks...

...And after Starbucks. 

Once we were done drinking the deliciousness of our different coffees we headed over to Meijer to shop all afternoon. Here Jesi and Adrianna cannot make up there minds on which hair clips to buy. 

I apologize for this picture being fuzzy but Adrianna and Cara are just too sweet looking to pass up. I asked Cara if she was having fun with us older girls shopping and she said, "Yes I am! And this is the first time I have been shopping without my mom." Then I asked her what she thought of shopping without her mom and she said, "Oh, it's fun!" *laughs* 

Since Bloomington is almost an hours drive from where the Ryken's live we asked them to stay for dinner at our house since we didn't want them to have to drive all the way home on an empty stomach. While we waited for the guys to get back from work we played volleyball and "knock out". 

Rebecca and Ashly looking great while watching from the sidelines.

Jesi and their adorable dog Henty got a picture together. (Jesi, I thought I'd post this one instead of the other picture I got *grin*)

Cara and I getting a picture together. That girl is pretty much the sweetest you'll ever meet. :)

Rebecca was going to get yet another self portrait but Jesi jumped in to save her from looking vain. Then Adrianna thought she'd tag along and get in the picture as well. :) Annnd it turned out very nice looking too. 

We all had an absolutely amazing time and didn't want the fun day to end! But alas all good things must come to an end so that more good things can come along, right? :) Thank you for coming over Ryken's!!! We will have to do that again soon! :)

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Meli

Flowers and the Bible

"Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."  ~ Genesis 1:11-12

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." 

~ Psalm 103:1

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] is come.." 

~ Songs of Solomon 2:12

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth." 

~ Psalm 57:11

 "...The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of the Lord stands forever.” 

~ 1 Peter 1:24-25

"Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen." 

~ Ephesians 6:23

Blessings to you all on this beautiful Friday.

~Melinda

Softball game!

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."

My Daddy use to play softball for State Farm every week. 

But he stopped once he kept hurting himself and he didn't have the time but he 

still missed playing. So when he got a call from a friend he jumped on the

opportunity to get back in the game. Only this time it was for one 

night and Peter got to play as well. :D

Here they are stretching out before the game...

It was pretty chilly that day but we had fun watching the game anyway. 

Some of the team.

Daddy got to pitch cause he is amazing at it!

Peter up for the bat. 

Daddy batting. 

An action shot of Dad throwing the ball.

 A sorta artsy shot Zach got of Dad hitting the ball. 

And I end with this cute picture of Nathan and Rebecca. <3 

Dad and Peter's team ended up losing but Dad still took us out to Ice Cream at Culvers anyway. :D It was a great night and fun to get back into the swing of things. *cheesy grin*

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Melinda