Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from the Spain family!!!
We wish all of you a most blessed Christmas and wonderful times with family and friends.

Play the video below for a few pictures of us in 2008...and turn up the speakers of course! (Yes, I am SURE the banjo will embarrass the boys...must be why it is so fun to do!)

Katie Graduates!

Katie, our wonderful and beautiful future daughter-in-law received her bachelor's degree from UCA (Conway) at the December ceremony on December 13th. She started out as a Hog at the UA but tranferred last year to pursue her master's degree in occupational therapy. Along the way she picked up this degree and we'll be attending another graduationfor her in a year or so. It was a wonderful day...met Brad, Katie and her parents, Jeep and Patty, for lunch and then headed for the ceremony. Afterwards Katie went with her folks on a trip to Houston and we took Brad back to Little Rock...had a great time checking out possible places to host the rehearsal dinner next October....yeah, I think we're going to have to go back and eat our way through the town again!!

Here are a few pictures that I took at the graduation....set to appropriate music of course!

The Dewey Roundup---100th Anniversary

On Sept 20th we attended the parade for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Dewey Roundup in Dewey, Oklahoma. Once one of the three largest rodeos in the world it was discontinued in the 40's after a grandstand collapsed. On Saturday some of the old cowboys and cowgirls were on hand for the parade and a Wild West Show was performed on Sunday. We didn't get to see that but had a great time at the parade and watched Uncle Bill give autographs for a book he wrote on the history of the event. The video that follows has a few pictures of Bill, the parade, and impersonators of Pawnee Bill and Tom Mix with Tony the Wonder Horse of course. The music is by John McCutcheon whom we got to see perform the previous day at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas....what FUN!!!

Cub Scout Resident Camp-2008

I had the good fortune of being asked to help out with this year's Cub Scout Resident Camp at Rogers Scout Reservation (RSR). The director and long time friend, Jamie Bowerman, asked me if I could do the music part of the Webelos Showman activity pin. Well, OF COURSE I could!!! I took all of my home made instruments and banjos and spent Friday and the weekend having a blast with the kids! I didn't take a lot of pictures but here are few set to my words for the tune "Two More Miles to RSR" (borrowed from Grandpa Jones' tune "Eight More Miles to Louisville")

Brad asked and Katie said.......

The big moment arrived...and Brad asked Katie if she would marry him!
If you want to know just what she said you're just goin to have to listen to the video!

Squirrel Heads and Gravy---plus a twist!

Our church had a "talent show" yesterday and I was actually asked to play the banjo! I played "Squirrel Heads and Gravy" and just for fun added another tune with it...the Doxology! It was weird how they fit together on the banjo. I'm not sure if anyone really heard the tune but if you click on the video below you will get the chance!

Nick and Sarah

On Saturday, May 24th, Nick Hiatt and Sarah Pierce were married at the historic Clayton House in downtown Fort Smith. The wedding was gorgeous and everyone had a wonderful time at the outdoor event. Nick, an Eagle Scout, and family have been members of Troop 110 and Venture Crew 1111 longer than the Spains even! Sarah has been a member of Venture Crew 1111 for years as well and is also a Gold award winner in Girl Scouts. Zack Hiatt furnished home brew for the occasion which was just fabulous!!

To honor this wonderful couple and family friends I created the scroll saw portrait as a gift for the couple as well as one for each family. Hope they like it!!!

Wood Badge SR-890 - THE PUZZLE!

Wood Badge SR-890 is now in the history books! It was a wonderful course filled with such wonderful and dedicated Scouters. More about the course later...I wanted to show you the puzzle which we presented to the Scoutmaster as a gift. What made this gift unusual was it was a scroll saw portrait of him but the pieces were trickled out to him in all sorts of creative ways over both weekends of the course.
Here is a picture of the portrait as it started out.









And here is the finished puzzle:









The pieces were hidden, hung from ceilings, put in film canisters and scavenger hunted with clues. Participants and staff all had pieces to present or hide. The final face piece was presented at the final summary session along with a another framed copy with the SR-890 council patch underneath. It was truly a fun time and a unique gift. A final pic here of the Scoutmaster, Boyd Darling, trying to assemble the pieses:

Quilt Shop Hop 2008

OK...well, no I didn't want to go but Suzanne did and "suggested" that I go with her. I'm talking about the Spring Fling Shop Hop put on by 9 Northwest Arkansas quilt shops. The shops had two custom fabrics printed, a rooster and a diamond for Arkansas of course, and each made a block 9 times. These were sent to the other shops who each made a quilt with the 9 blocks. I'll admit it was pretty cool.....and enjoyed the drive thru parts of Arkansas I had seen like Sulphur Springs, Gravette and even downtown Bentonville. I put together this little slide show (with music!) of the special quilts. Enjoy!.....(and don't tell Suzanne I thought it was fun...might have to go again next year!....oh yeah...my presence did help keep expenses down!)