2 Days

I am very excited. We have 2 days until we hit the road, and I think the anticipation will kill me first. No more picture posts until i get to Florida, there aren't enough hours in a day. We are almost all packed, still trying to catch up on laundry though. 3 of the 6 cargo totes are already in the back of the truck. How many of you have ridden 32 hours in the back seat of an extended cab with a space-hogger of a dog?? Not fun. Actually it really isn't that bad, as the back seat is a bench seat, so Mandy dens under it. We have a little charger thingy that plugs into the power port, so we use that to plug the laptop charger into and we watch movies all the way down. We are stopping in Georgia to see Pastor's daughter and her family. From there we will go strait to the campground. I can't wait. But the fact I can't play the beloved game "ninja" for 4 months haunts my dreams. I am an emotional wreck, and that stupid sinus cold doesn't help the matter at all. A quick shout out to my Dad's cousin. He and his newly wed got in a huge care accident. He is alright, just a badly broken arm. But Ashley on the other hand, has a crushed pelvis and I think a broken spine. She will probably live but they don't now what kind of brain damage the wreck did. Keep them in your hopes and prayers. Alrighty, well this might be the last post untill we get settled in Florida, so until then Bye!!!!

Jumping and Crying

Who knew that dreams could effect everyday life? Well, I sorta did, but not like this. We were sitting on the couch like a normal family, while discussing what Oh Princess was to bring for entertainment in the truck for the agonizing 32 hour drive to Florida. All of a sudden mom stands up and says "Oh my goodness! I dreamt this conversation!!! Only, instead of leaving on Sunday at 6:00, we left today!!!" Dad stood up and said, "Than why don't we?" Mom replied, "Because we don't want to be out in the middle of the highway pushing the truck because we ran out of gas. I don't save people's lives for no reason." Yet that wasn't enough for Dad. " Than we will pick you up from work Saturday and beat rush hour as well as an extra day of sun." So it was decided. We are now leaving for Florida at 11:00 PM on Saturday the 9th. I will miss friends and family, but I am psyched. I can't make up my mind!! You can have mixed emotions, can't you?

I Am Tired

How many viewers are cat-lovers? Do not be offended by this, but I really do not like cats. And I can guarantee that you won't either if your barn cat climbed up 2 stories to claw and yowl at your window like some possessed Romeo. Now, I guess that wouldn't be a reason to flip your opinion of cats if you need a laugh while your getting ready for bed. But when you are unwakable, practically comatose, at 2:00 in the morning, especially if you are me and don't like being woken up, this is not a pleasant surprise. I was not happy. In fact, i was about to rip the head off the stupid kitty. I had just been able to fall asleep after thousands of cough spasms, not to mention milions of trips to the basement to replace several tissue boxes as my nose didn't like me. So not the best time to wake the sleeping bear, Cat.

My Poor Dog

No one realizes how much of a child my mother is, while she is near her "Baby. Poor Mandy. No offence, Mom, I do love you but these pictures are so priceless. And I am getting yelled at by Sam for the fact that I never make fun of anyone but her. So, Ma, please laugh along with the rest of us.

Get them off. Please.

Maybe if I don't look at the camera she'll stop.

Okay, now I'm just plain annoyed.

I hope you have pitty on this poor dog.

That's all for now, folks!!

Syd

My Spectacular Trip

As most of you know, I recently got back from my trip to Baltimore, Mary-land. Now, if my blog is popular, there may be strangers who are reading this (I highly doubt it). So for you guys, I will explain. Lovemercy, the name of the convention, is a get-to-gether, up on the farm we call it a "hootenanny", with some of the Wesleyan youth groups around the area. There were 4 this year, one in Baltimore, for the north eastern country. One was in Charlotte, for south eastern. Another was in Denver, for the Wild, Wild West, and the other one was in the Land of Unknown, as I have know idea were they Central hosted theirs'. I know that we had the least amount of company in the audience as the other 3, but it still gets you when you see 850 teenagers expressing their love for God. I want to say thank you, people, who either is family, or is really really close, for letting me come over and work for you. Your contributions were greatly appreciated. Thank you others, if there are any of you, for your thoughts and prayers, as I got in a few "why am I here" moments and it was good to know that I had all your support.
Words cannot describe my feelings, but I will try not to break the computer by crying to much as I recall the trip.
Tuesday, we had an assignment, we had to "Give Back to Baltimore" and act justly to the community. Out of the 29 people that went, 14 went out on the streets, me included. Our goal was to help the homeless by buying 20 cheeseburgers (thanks Micky-D's) and we each had a little New Testament pocket bible. So we were giving out Burgers n' Bibles. Catchy, ain't it? We passed a bunch of strikers and didn't think anything of it. We kept going, unfortunately, down into the Red-light district. Being the youngest, several occasions I had a few hands slapped over my eyes as we passed. We found one homeless guy who was shivering. So we gave him a burger and a bible. He was very grateful and said "thank you, God Bless" numerous times. We kept walking. And walking. And walking. finally we decided they were all at some "Hobo Hideout" so we headed back. We found ourselves back at the strikers'. So we thought maybe God put us here for a reason. So we pulled aside a man and asked him what they were doing. He told us they were protesting about something that I can't remember. Don't worry, I know am 100% embarrassed because today at church as I was saying my part in the trip, i forgot in front of 100 people. Real good for my image I know. So by chance, if there are any of my fellow teens and/or leaders who are reading this, could you leave a comment? Please? And for those who want to know what they were protesting about, check out the comments. Now back to the story. So we told him that we had 19 burgers that we wanted to give away as well as 13 bibles. He held up the bag of burgers and shouted "WE'RE EATIN' TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!" There were maybe 10, 15 people, and out of that i heard one "BURGER!!!!" and the rest were all "BIBLE!!!!" so I found it cool that they weren't hungry for burgers, but bibles.

Well thank you for falling asleep of boredom, and for your support. So Ta Ta for now!!!! Syd

How You Know When to go to Florida

Sometimes God uses things to give you signs. Sometimes the things you do give you hints on your next step in life. In my case, actions can result in How You Know When to go to Florida.


You know you need to go to Florida when:



- after 3 days of negative temperatures, your sister comes in and says, "HOLY COW!!! WE'RE HAVING A WARM SPELL!!!!! IT'S 10 DEGREES!!!!!"




-Your daily goal is to expand this:

-when your dog gets blown into a snowbank form a gust of wind

-when you find yourself on the floor balling your eyes out because the hot chocolate packs are gone and you are freezing your butt off

These are some signs of when you should morph into snowbirds and fly south for the winter.

Ta Ta for now!! Syd

Christmas Trip

For Christmas every year we go to 2 places. The Sunday before Christmas we go to my mom's brother's house. Which, yes is the house of "pretty boy" (check out post My Cuz) who, if you were unfortunate enough to read the post, gave you all those side effects. Here are some pics of what goes on over there:

This is My Cuz.

This is me trying to beat my record of speed stacks, (currently 63.98 seconds which is an achievement to pat myself on the back for, considering i have no coordination whatsoever)

Man, Andrew, CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!!!!

That's my other cuz, in the background. Quinn. Now forgive me if i am not 100% accurate, I think he's 7 years old.

Okay, I am warning you, This picture is about 100000000 times more scary than the one of My Cuz, and sadly, it is a picture of me.

Alright, prepare yourself for the most embarrassing picture of me that will ever go out on the Internet ever again,

"Sumo Babe"

Merry Christmas All!!!!!!!

And a haaaapppppyyyy neeeewwwww YEARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DA DA DOM.

Ta Ta for now, Syd

Countdown to Christmas

16 days until Christmas, and in this house, the anticipation is building. I asked Ma and Dad if we could have Duck Ala Orange. they said if I helped make it, i could have it. So I get to cook duck!! yea!! I'm excited. I love cooking. There are 2 presents under the tree that were sent in the mail from Wally World. the chimp and I got to wrap them. We are out of scotch tape, so we used medical tape. Very pretty. I just finished watching Julie & Julia the movie. It was really good.
Well gtg
Syd

My Cuz

My family and I went to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving. while there, I took of my brand new hat. When we got home, we had a message on our answering machine from my uncle. He asked "Is Syd missing something?" I didn't remember leaving anything there. We called him back and he told my to look at my email. " A picture is worth a thousand words" was the last thing he said before he hung up, and man, was he right

WARNING LOOKING AT THIS PICTURE COULD GIVE YOU MULTIPLE SIDE EFFECTS

SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE:

-immiediete vomitting

-eye damage

-brain damage

NOT FOR THE SQUEEMISH.

Ta ta for now! Syd

Christmas Comes to The Rayder Household

Here are some pics of our "Christmas-ized" house.

Of course, we have the Christmas Tree

Next, we have the Nativity that lives under the Tree.

Now, because I can read minds, I know you all will ask, "Where do you put your presents?" And the answer is on the side of the Tree.

And What's Christmas without a Reindeer?

That is all!!! Syd

Groundation Stinks

For all the teens or children who have a hard time listening to your parents, take this piece of advice. Listen and obey immediately without question. Don't tell your parents, or even any adult you would look up to, what your going do, rather suggest. But of course this only applies when it is not being used as an objection.
EX. "Mom, is it all right if I use the computer after you are done with it?" instead of-"Mom, I am going to go on the computer after you." -and the result, groundation.

That is why I have not posted in weeks.
See Ya! Syd

O Sick One

Sam has been sick for the past week and bringing misery to me, the poor girl with twice as many chores to do. Just as much drama as mucus and saliva spray was displayed throughout the week as these pictures say:

Sam's Slippery Slide of Slime

Last night Sam went upstairs to brush her teeth before bed. Soon after she got to the top of the stairs we hear "THUMP SWISH THUMP" then "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" "I STEPPED IN PUKE!!!!" "IT'S SQUISHY!!!!" "IT'S GROSS!!!!!!" As mom, dad and I are rolling on the ground in laughter and realization of where Hunter, the dog with a sensitive stomach, had been. Sam cleaned her sopping foot of the source of putrid odor. The pile was a decent size, and being the same color of the rug, was just as good as invisible. Straight through the middle was a streak where Sam's heel slid across the pile of disgust. Fun night for Sam.

The culprit hanging his head in shame.

Ta Ta for now!

Syd

Aunt Heidi Comes to the Farm

We are dog sitting our friend's 2 yellow labs. My mom's best friend brought up her German Shepard fora play date to the dogs. Here are some pics of them.

ROLE CALL:

JAEGER

pronunciation: (ya-ger)

"present"

COOPER

pronunciation:(coop-er)

"present"

HUNTER

pronunciation: (hun-tur)

"present"

MANDY

pronunciation: (man-dy)

"present"

COOKIE POSES:

CLOSE-UPS

AAAWWWW'S

How many of you have ever had 4 big dogs that can't sort out the pecking order running around your house? You might say "I would just let them outside" except we don't want to be drowned by a title wave brought in by the rain on the dogs constantly shaking bodies. Joy. Fun little visit.

Ta ta for now!

Syd

Yesterday, Sam and I went for a ride. We took the horses in the back pastures and jumped over logs and creeks, it was alot of fun. Bareback is the best way to go. It was very cold, as you can see with the layers we have on. Mom snapped this pic when she came out to get the dog.

Well ta ta for now, Syd

Music Video

I just made a music video of my favorite song with a slide show! See if it works, if it doesn't, I give you permission to yell at me through your comments.

Ta Ta for now!

Syd

Sam's Fun Day

THIS IS NOT AN ALIEN!!! This is my sister in pain. Mom gave us highlights in Florida and dad snapped this photo of her. It looks like the poor kid is dying. Appparently mom forget to tell Sam to brush her hair, so when she stuck the little "pull-the-hair-through-the-little-hole" tool through the little hole, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was all that could be heard throughout the entire campground. Fun day for Sam.

Fish Creek

Again, I was looking through my old picture folders on my laptop, and I found our summer vacation trip we took this year. We went up to a little town cut of from civilization, Fish Creek. Sounds like a highly popularly area, you would think, with a name like Fish Creek, right? The campground we stayed at had a little hardware store up at the front, cute little place. We were meeting our friends there, so we could spend some time with them. So let me stop explaining and post these pictures.

This is me trying to have a nice, relaxing paddle bout ride. Oops... I forget the paddles!





REACH!!! REACH!!!! I'VE GOT IT....

WA. I FELL. BOO HOO. BOO HOO. WHINE. WHINE. WHINE.

It says "Fish Creek /09"

These pics were all taken before my mom DROPPED THE CAMERA IN THE WATER. Yes she dropped the camera in the water. It still works, but not like it did. That was a fun little episode.

Alright, Ta Ta for now!

Syd

What Sam Does With Her Spare Time

Hi again. I was just going through some of my pictures and I saw a group that I think you will enjoy. I really do love my sister and this is not picking on her in any way, but she wanted to be famous.

This is a barbie house. Creative,isn't it?

Shhhhhhhh! I think they're sleeping!

Sam, I really do love you and you wanted to be famous.

Ta Ta for now!

Syd, the great sister.

The Sunsets On The Mountain

Hi, just continuing the fact that I am extremely lucky, just look at this sunset. That isn't even a sunset! It is actually in the direct opposite sky! Up here the sun sets in the east, this picture was taken in the west. It was a coloration mixture of the clouds and sunset in the east. So now you have to agree, who wouldn't want to see a sunset 5 times greater than this picture? As i said before, I am extremely lucky.

Ta Ta for now!

Syd