AmyEric&Luke

I HEART circles!

2009-10-03T08:18:00.012-05:00

I did not realize how many circles I had in my house until I started looking around. I know when I'm out shopping, my eye is just drawn to them...

This is the shower curtain that I have in Luke's bathroom. I bought the fabric at Hancock's and had it custom made and it was an ORDEAL!!!! But I wanted one that went from ceiling to floor and I love it!

This is a metal piece that I bought at TJ Maxx when we were in Memphis.

More circles in the living room...

Eric picked this clock out a couple of years ago when we redid the house. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but now it is perfect!

Pic of Luke...this came from Pier One. I should buy stock in their company...SERIOUSLY!

This also came from Pier One and it's hanging in my bedroom!

This is my bedding...more circles! In the winter, my comforter is the brown with the circles. It's just too heavy unless it is cold out. Love blue and brown combo as well...

This also came from Pier One and I almost didn't put this picture on here...can you see ALL THE DUST on my furniture!?! GROSS!!! Our bedroom furniture is so dark and it literally needs to be dusted 15 minutes after you finish. Oh well...

Do you have any circles in your house!?!

Best Friends Forever!

2009-07-24T06:51:00.006-05:00

Last week, Sylvan Hills High School celebrated it's 20 year High School Reunion. I cannot believe it has been TWENTY YEARS since I graduated! That just seems crazy.

The morning of the reunion, I was able to meet two of my former BFF's from junior high...Mary Anne and Haley! I don't think the three of us have been in the same room together since 1986. We ended up graduating from three different high schools and just drifted apart. Facebook has been wonderful at connecting people (and horrible for my blogging...seem to spend all my time over there!). We met at Mimi's Cafe and had the best breakfast.

We were cracking up at Haley because she had on such tall sandals! She was towering over me and Mary Anne.

Haley is the mom of four, home schools and lives around here.
Mary Anne lives in sunny Florida and is in Advertising like Eric.

We had the best time remembering our friendship, talking about memories we had of each other, thanking the Good Lord that we didn't end up with former boyfriends and laughing the whole time.

So glad to have reconnected with these sweet friends!

Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times...".

Visiting the nieces

2009-07-05T20:28:00.005-05:00

Here are Leslie and Patrick's sweet little babies. These are our new nieces...Geneva Marie and Lexa Joy. Geneva has the dark hair and Lexa's is blonde (Oh my goodness...I didn't even take one picture of Leslie or Patrick. I was too busy taking pics of the babies-sorry!).

We took took turns holding them even when they were sleeping. Geneva's dress said "Miss Independent". They both had on little Fourth of July dresses. So cute.

Lexa seemed to smile more in her sleep. Wonder what they dream about?

Luke was really sweet with the girls. He's used to being the youngest on my side of the family, so I think he was just amazed at how tiny they were.

So sweet!

Proud Uncle Eric-he loves babies so much.

Aren't babies so fun to watch?!? Lexa and Geneva's due date was actually July 14th, so they technically aren't even supposed to be here yet. But I sure am glad they are!!!

It looks like Geneva is signing "Mommy". I taught her how to do that! :)

Lexa looks like a little baby doll!

We had so much fun visiting with Leslie, Patrick, Geneva, Lexa, Whiskey and Corky! We are sad they live so far away...just have to make more road trips.

Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord...

Vacation Bible School

2009-07-03T23:42:00.007-05:00

Just a quick note to tell about our church's Vacation Bible School this year. We had the Crocodile Dock theme and it was soooooo good. I was a crew leader, which means I had the same group of kids each night (usually 10-12 of them) and myself and a helper would go from activity to activity with them. They had Bible lesson, snacks & games, crafts and music. The music was amazing this year! All of the props, teachers, leaders, games and activities were so appropriate and everything pointed the kiddos to Jesus.

Luke and I picked up two of his friends this week each night. It was a little tiring going straight from work, picking up Luke, eating dinner, changing clothes, picking up his friends and going to church each night but as the week comes to a close it was SO WORTH IT. One of the little girls in our group got saved Thursday night after the lesson! She was from a divorced home and her grandma had been bringing her each night. She was so sweet and it was neat to experience.

Luke is still at the age where the group activities at VBS are very fun! He really gets into the music, crafts, games-just all of it! He loved having his friends Sadie and Jalen with him each night. He really listens well most of the time and only occasionally gets so hyper that I have to rein him in!

Last night, when we gathered into the sanctuary the whole group (approximately 160 kids and 100 adult volunteers) sang songs. The first two songs were pretty high energy. But the last song called "Faith" was slow and sweet with great lyrics about how we have faith that Jesus is going to do great things! Earlier in the night the kids had gotten these little battery operated flame candles that went along with their Bible lesson. As the song "Faith" was being played along with a slide show of pictures from the week, I looked around the dark sanctuary. I don't know how it got started but almost all of the kids had taken their little flame candles and they were swaying their arms back and forth with the music. Just like at a concert! It was funny and sweet at the very same time. I'm usually not emotional at the times I'm supposed to be (i.e. weddings, first day of school, etc.), but I think I got a little tear as I looked around at all those kids singing about Jesus and shining their lights. It was definitely a moment that I wanted to freeze. I thank God for my church and for giving me a little boy to love and take care of. It is my prayer that someday he grows to know the Lord in a personal way. I believe the Lord has great and mighty things for Luke!

Last Day of School

2009-06-02T05:12:00.008-05:00

Ever since Luke has been in kindergarten, I have had him pose on the first and last day of school. It is so neat to see how he grows so much throughout the year.

Here's Luke hanging with some of his best buddies: Sadie, Isaac and Jeremiah!

Luke had an amazing 2nd grade year. The theme for his school this year was God's Top 10:The Ten Commandments. They had songs for each commandment and I pray that they stick to his memory. Luke is such a rule follower and I pray that knowing what God's rules are will help him as he gets older.

Second grade was very busy for Luke. He learned how to carry and borrow 4-digit numbers and even multiply and divide! He finished a history project in the fall and a science project in the spring. He is writing more creatively as well. Last week he had to complete this writing assignment.

Tell what you want to be when you grow up: Ice cream Truck Driver
Tell why you want this to be your job: 1. Because I get to eat ice cream all day 2. I only have to work in the spring and summer!
What can you do now to prepare for this career: Practice scooping ice cream and drive slow!

Ha! We thought this was great! Now ask me again in 10 years if I want him to be an Ice Cream Truck Driver...

Eric and I are so proud of Luke and thankful that he LOVES school.

Good times...

Favorite Foto Friday

2009-05-15T22:41:00.003-05:00

This was us last month at Luke's school when he was the Student of the Week. We were there along with Aunt April, Nena & Papa. He had to show his poster that he made about his interests, we brought snacks and he even brought along his guinea pigs, Bailey & Tulip! Such a neat way to make the kids feel special. We are so thankful for his school!

8 Things

2009-05-14T16:43:00.002-05:00

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Luncheon on Saturday with some friends

2. Going to Branson in a few weeks

3. Going to Wild River Country next month (except for getting in my bathing suit...ugh! Ha!)

4. Getting a tan

5. Retiring! :)

6. My high school reunion in July-Class of 1989!!! TWENTY YEARS!!!

7. Watching Luke in a musical this Sunday at church

8. A day on my calendar with nothing to do

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Took Luke to school

2. Read my Bible (Philippians)

3. Met my sister and thrift store shopped at Savers and Goodwill

4. Ate at Red Lobster

5. Read to Luke's class at school

6. Went to the Mall

7. Almost forgot to pick Derek up for church. Had to circle back around and get him! Sucky sister!

8. Went to church

8 things I would like to do:

1. Go back to Disney World (we were there this time last year)

2. Work 2 days a week instead of 4

3. Be able to focus more time and attention on my Sunday School class and the girls that are in there with me

4. Organize my photos!

5. Scrapbook every week

6. Hire someone to clean my house every week (no...make it twice a week!!!)

7. Spend more time with my family

8. Fit into a size 8

8 Shows I watch

1. Biggest Loser (just had finale this Tuesday...what am I going to watch for the next few months)

2. American Idol (just started watching the last few weeks)

3. That's it!!! No more TV. Occasionally I will watch SpongeBob with Luke, but only if he forces me to! Not my fave!!!!

8 things I do to fill my time (that causes me not to be as productive as I need to be...). Leslie...I added this since I don't watch TV. You know I'm doing something that is wasteful! Ha!

1. Read blogs (notice I didn't say post on my blog...it's virtually nonexistent! Sucky blogger!)

2. Spend way too much time on Facebook

3. Read the Twilight books (I'm on Number 2 right now...borrowed them from my 16-year-old brother...he probably didn't want everyone knowing that! Ha!)

4. Laundry...laundry...and more laundry! Most of the time it makes it to the dining room table

5. Talk on my cell phone

6. Make many To Do lists

7. Rearrange my piles in the house (i.e. mail, magazines, books, pictures)

8. Text

I'm not going to tag anyone on this, but did you learn anything new about me?

I'm getting TWIN nieces!

2009-04-01T17:14:00.007-05:00

Eric's little sister, Leslie, is having TWIN GIRLS! She's already in her third trimester and everything is going great! We are sooooo happy to be having some girls in this family. My immediate side of the family has not had any girls in a long time. My uncle has 4 boys, I have 2 brothers, I have 2 nephews and 1 son! So I'm ready for girls!

I went shopping for the babies this afternoon. Leslie and Patrick aren't telling the names until they get here, so it's just Baby A and Baby B for now. :) Why is shopping for girls' clothes so much fun!?! I had such a fun time looking at all the little tiny onesies, dresses and outfits. These pics aren't what I purchased...just wanted to put some tiny pink clothes on my blog! :)

How cute is this?!? Gymboree has the cutest clothes, but they sure are proud of them! :) Everyone that knows me well knows that I'm a sucker for cardigans! Mentally, I guess I'm 85...Eric swears he is going to bury me in my favorite black granny cardigan!

Spring is my favorite time to buy clothes. The weather has been crazy here and it's still cold at times. I'm so ready for capris and sandals I can't stand it! I love this little white sundress with the flowers on it!

I called Leslie today to ask if I could buy the babies clothes that weren't identical. She said that she and Patrick weren't going to purposefully dress the babies alike all the time. I like that. I have a friend, Robin, that has twin boys and she always does a great job of coordinating them, but not dressing them identically. Eric wanted me to have twins SOOOOO bad. When I was having my first ultrasound he kept saying, "Please let there be two...". Oh well...he gets two nieces! We feel very blessed to have them coming!

Do you have twins in your family? What's your favorite thing about twins?

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-03-02T20:18:00.009-06:00

This is just a crazy post with some really random pictures of me! I've had such a WONDERFUL birthday today! I'm 38 today! It's weird, because I don't really feel like I'm in my late 30s. Whew! I can vividly remember my mom turning 30 and now I'm way past that! :) And something that is weird about being 38 is that Eric and I started dating when we were 19. So I've now spent half my life with Eric! WOW! I'm so thankful for a sweet and loving husband. Eric and Luke got me sweet (and funny) cards, bought me Bath & Body Works stuff and a Fossil watch. We went to Sushi Cafe for my birthday dinner! YUM!!!!

This crazy pic was taken at The Magic House in St. Louis a few years back! My hair was so long! And I'm wearing my Supermom shirt! Nice that my own friends made fun of me for wearing that! I don't care...I'm wearing it again this summer! FYI! You will see it again! Not everyone is a Supermom! But I am! Ha!

The girls at work were SO awesome today! They decorated my office with balloons and streamers! Then we had a very yummy lunch! All low-cal stuff because they know I'm so trying to lose some weight before summer! We had salad, fruit, low-fat chicken salad & crackers, Weight Watcher 2-point Brownies and Strawberry Shortcake. Man! I really appreciate all their thoughtfulness! God has really blessed my life with many friends!

Speaking of friends, I had TONS of friends (old & new) wish me a very happy birthday on Facebook today! So nice!

I'm really striving to walk more closely to the Lord this year! I need to be in His Word more so I can hear what He's trying to tell me! I want Luke to say that he had a godly mother and that does not happen without discipline!

I've had so many pleasant surprises today! I like to drag my birthday out and it even started last Saturday! I went out to dinner with my sister and friend, Kristie in the snow! Today, I had surprises from mom, Grandma, Kelly, Randie & Michael, Eric & Luke. I have no shortage of love ones and for that I'm so grateful!

Has anyone ever told you to look up your Birthday Proverb? You use your birthday month and that is the chapter you look up. The day of your birthday is the verse. So mine is Proverbs 3:2 and listen to this!!!! Proverbs 3:2 says, "For they (God's teachings and commands) will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity". Isn't that amazing? Sometimes it doesn't work depending on your birthday and sometimes they are downright funny!

What is your Birthday Proverb?

My Two Boys

2009-02-22T20:43:00.002-06:00

I wanted to post this picture for two reasons. First of all, Luke and Eric have both been sick with the flu and this has been a VERY LONG WEEK. Luke started his sickness February 5th with a fever and he has had 3 weeks of getting better, throwing up, improving, getting fever, going back to school and this week he just kept worse and worse. He's missed 3 days of school and we've been to the doctor twice. They had to draw blood, take x-rays and finally after Tami-flu and an inhaler he is feeling better! Thank the Lord.

Eric stayed home with Luke two of the three days that he missed. I'm so thankful that we both have jobs that are flexible! It is a HUGE blessing! Well, Luke's germs finally got the best of Eric and he started feeling bad on Friday morning. By Friday night, Eric could barely lift his head off his pillow. He was so weak, nauseated and had fever. Eric is NEVER sick and it is terrible seeing him like that!

So I wanted to post a cute picture of them looking healthy! :) The other reason I wanted to look at this pic is that I AM SO READY FOR A VACATION! I don't know what it is about his time of year. I start getting cabin fever and so stir crazy. We've had a couple pretty days lately (even though I don't think anyone needs to wear flip-flops in February...I don't care how warm it is outside). I've actually bought two pairs of sandals from Target because they were just so cute! But I will save them for April (the month...not my sister, April). Anyway, I love planning for trips. I love searching vrbo.com for condos, cabins, houses, etc. I love planning fun weekend trips and now we are trying to figure out a short weekend trip for Luke's Spring Break. Any ideas?

Favorite Fotos Friday

2009-01-22T21:46:00.010-06:00

I came across these pics of my sweetie, Luke, the other day. These were taken by our friend, Angela, for a First Security advertisement. I think Angela had to take about 300 pics to get the very last one on this page. I'm so glad I have these now. I miss him being this small! This was an extremely fun age...

Loved his little overalls!

He looks like Eric in this one!

Silly Boy!

These pics were taken right before his 3rd birthday.

They were trying to shoot a Fourth of July ad for the bank and this is the picture they ended up using. It ran in the Conway newspaper. This is where he got his start...ha!

Please pray...

2009-01-16T21:41:00.002-06:00

I know a lot of you read Kelly's Korner! She had her baby, Harper, tonight and they really need your prayers RIGHT NOW! Please pray!

Christmas Card 2008

2008-12-18T21:39:00.005-06:00

A sweet blog friend, Faith, came up with an idea for us to all share our Christmas cards online. I thought this was such a neat idea! One of my favorite things about this time of year is running to the mailbox and seeing all the Christmas cards we have gotten! I love the photo cards and seeing how people have changed from year to year. And I NEVER throw them away. They even make it to our real Christmas scrapbook (even though I'm literally 4 years behind...oh well!).

This picture of Luke was taken at Animal KIngdom at Walt Disney World in May 2008. I found the cards at the Inviting Company warehouse sale this fall and I thought they would be just perfect for a Disney Christmas card. I really wanted to use a picture of all three of us in front of Cinderella's Castle, but all those pictures were vertical instead of landscape and I was in such a rush to get my cards in the mail before we left for Colorado. And this is a really sweet picture of Luke! He had soooooo much fun at WDW and Animal Kingdom was his favorite!

Join Faith's Christmas Card Carousel and let me know so I can see your card, too!

Merry Christmas!
Amy

Anniversary Trip

2008-12-12T21:38:00.017-06:00

Eric and I are in Durango, Colorado celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. We are having such a relaxing and fun time! If it wasn't for Luke being at home, we would NOT want to return.

We flew into Albuquerque, New Mexico and drove up to Durango. This drive took about 3 1/2 hours and there was NOTHING out there but pretty mountains and Indian reservations. It looked like something you would see in a Western movie.

YEAH! Colorado-HERE WE COME!

We finally made it!

Here's the road to our house. Eric was SOOOOOO excited that we had snow at our place!

Here's our pretty house and our rental Jeep Commander!

Friday morning we were driving into town and we saw about 15 mule deer standing on the side of the road. We pulled into this apartment complex and Eric was able to take a bunch of pictures- including this one, which is his favorite. Usually when he gets this close to a deer, he is shooting a gun and not a camera...

Riding the train from Durango to Cascade was one of the highlights of our trip. It was amazing to see! We had a little table and chairs looking out a window and it was such a neat way to see the Colorado countryside that we couldn't have seen from the car.

Here we are outside our train car. We met some neat local people along with couples from Mississippi and Wisconsin.

Here I am at the Durango Mountain Resort. We went to check out the skiiers and snowboarders.

We took a road from Durango to Silverton on Friday morning. This was one of the overlooks that we stopped at on our way. The snow was deep-up to my knees in one spot.

Eric finally saw some elk! Well, actually he saw a little bit of them on his plate last night at the Mohagany Grill when we had dinner! YUMMY! Ha!

This afternoon, we stopped at Molas Pass which was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life! It was freezing up here because of the wind.

We have had an amazing time celebrating this special time. Fifteen years is a long time to spend with one person and I'm so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Eric.

Sunshine's Giveaway!

2008-12-02T21:37:00.004-06:00

My friend, Sunshine, is giving away FIVE Hershey's Gift Baskets this Friday, December 5th! She has 3 different ways that you can qualify to win, so run over to her blog and check it out! Although I really don't want you to, because then it's going to decrease my chance of winning one of these...did I really say that?!? Ha!

Halloween Pics!

2008-11-13T05:46:00.009-06:00

Here's my sweet 7-year-old as Indiana Jones! Isn't he going to be so handsome with a beard some day? Although...my the time he is old enough to have a beard, my eyes will be so bad with old age I won't be able to see it! Ha! That's what I get for waiting until 30 to have him...just kidding!

He was really hamming it up for this photo op! Usually it's like pulling teeth to get him to pose. I try to remember that it is not fun for him...

Okay...are you ready for this? My sister, April, always convinces her boys to be creative with their Halloween costumes. This year they went as John McCain and Sarah Palin!!!!

Harlan was a great McCain and it was a little scary at how well Ty pulled off the whole dressing up like a girl to be Sarah Palin! Remember this is what they usually look like...

It took April more convincing to get Harlan to put on a suit than it did for Ty to put on make-up, a skirt and pantyhose! It was hysterical to follow them around church and watch people's reactions! People could NOT believe that was Ty!

Sadly, this did not help McCain and Palin pull out a victory...:)

Bryan must be so proud of his boys! He was just shaking his head all night long! April was grinning from ear to ear!

It's hard to believe that this is Luke's EIGHTH Halloween! He's growing so fast and we love this time with him.

Air Show

2008-10-26T05:17:00.004-05:00

Last weekend, we decided to go to the Air Show at the Air Force Base close by. It's only about 10-15 minutes from our house, but we decided to go the same time 250,000 other people were going. It only took 90 minutes to get parked!!! Eric and Luke are not very patient. Ha!

My brother-in-law, Bryan, was down south setting up deer camp so April was solo today. We had a GREAT time and the weather was perfect!

Harlan and Luke were cooperative with the picture taking. Ty-NOT SO MUCH!!!!

Where are Luke's sunglasses?!? Look how tall he's getting!!!! Makes me sad!

Of course when you go places like this, you have to get some good food! Eric had a philly steak sandwich, the boys had nachos and chicken and I had to get some Kettle Korn. Good thing I got a big bag, 'cuz everyone was stealin' it!

I really tried to get some good shots of the Blue Angels!

But it just wasn't happening! Ha! They were just too fast!

Got them that time...

And again! They are so cool! I think April, Eric and I were more impressed than the boys (although they loved it!). It's crazy how close the planes get to each other and I LOVE how loud they are it! I couldn't stop yelling! :)

Not quite sure what April is doing in this picture, but I had to post the only picture of the Sunglass Sistas!!!!!

Isn't April a great Mama teaching her boys to flash the loser sign at people!?! Here she is in her new FJ cruiser! SWEET!

Me and my sweetie! Fun Times!

State Fair!

2008-10-13T23:36:00.014-05:00

The State Fair is one of my favorite things to do! It's a fun tradition for my sister, April, and I to go with our families and tonight we had PERFECT weather! Eric's not big on the rides-he just loves the fair food! Like corn dogs, fried potato chips, ice cream and a few nibbles of Funnel Cake. Luke said, "Daddy's probably gonna throw up tonight!".

Luke and I got there a little earlier than everyone else, so we had a fun time checking out the rabbits and...

...he especially loved these little baby chicks.

Time for a Family Photo-Op! The boys are getting so big! They are fearless with the rides and I'm proud to say that Luke kept up with them except for a couple of huge rides that only Ty and Bryan rode.

We can't go to the State Fair without Ty riding the mechanical bull! He's been doing this since he was two years old!

Doesn't Harlan look like he's having the best time? He's so relaxed (even though he's about to get tossed off!).

This was Luke's first year to ride. He did a great job considering this bull-riding stuff is all new to him! I'm sure Eric is hoping this is his FIRST AND LAST bull-riding event. I guess April was feeling a little envious of all the boys getting to ride, so...

...she decided to take the challenge! Only when Bryan and Ty were VERY FAR AWAY riding a ride, she decided to be brave and hop on. For all of those that know April, she isn't afraid to say what she thinks (that's an understatement-HAHAHAHA), but she is NOT comfortable at all with the limelight on her. And I'm kinda thinking that with all this yelling she was doing, the limelight was certainly on her for about...hmmm.....was it 5 or 6 seconds? I can't remember, because I was laughing so hard! She did great!

One of the newest delicacies at the State Fair this year was called Pig Lickin'! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?!? BECAUSE I DON'T THINK YOU ARE...It was a big, fat piece of bacon deep fried AND then had chocolate syrup poured all over it! CAN YOU SAY DISGUSTING!?! Bryan liked it, but then I'm sure he would eat a bowl of sawdust if you poured chocolate on the top! EWWWWWWW!

Here's our brave boy, Harlan! He's singing karaoke all by himself. This was his second year in a row to run up on stage and to sing a Johnny Cash solo diddy! Last year was "Ring of Fire" and this year it was "Folsum Prison Blues"! He did a great job and we are always amazed at his love for entertaining!

We kept running into many friends! Here's Christi with us (we discovered last fall that she must be a sister that accidentally got separated from us-we have SO much in common! I know...that is kinda scary. You probably feel sorry for her now, don't you?). Anyway, she was there with her sweet family. (Kelly...Sorry, I didn't get a picture of you. I was too busy laughing at April giving Matt a hard time).

Thank goodness April didn't have pictures of me getting off any of the 10 spinny rides that I rode. April and Eric can't ride anything that spins, so Bryan and I get to take the kids on all the ones that go in very fast circles! I was fine until about ride #9...whew!

I think this last picture just about sums up how our night went. She is so crazy! We had a GREAT time and I'm already looking forward to the 2009 State Fair!

What is your favorite thing about the fair?

Favorite Foto Friday!

2008-10-03T06:45:00.004-05:00

Happy Friday to Everyone! I've had a VERY busy week at work and Eric left to go out of town yesterday morning (for only one night for a marketing retreat). As a speech therapist, my days consist of wiping noses about 67 times a day, changing diapers, feeding babies, going to conferences, calling parents, etc. Oh yeah! And I do therapy (which is why I went to college for 6 LONG YEARS).

Anyway, I got paged to the front yesterday and this is what was waiting for me! YEAH! Eric sent them just to tell me he missed me! I tell you they came at just the right time. I needed some pretty flowers to brighten my day. And they are REALLY getting me in the fall mood. I told Luke that we are going to buy a pumpkin this weekend. I don't usually decorate for fall, but I'm gonna put together something for my front door at home and may get some flowers and pumpkins for the front porch. Who knows? I may even throw in a scarecrow...

Eric is such a sweet husband about doing things like this at unexpected times. He's also very wonderful at helping around the house, being patient with Luke (usually!!!) and he keeps me laughing EVERY SINGLE DAY! God certainly knew what he was doing by pairing us up. I guess I'm gonna keep him around...especially considering in December it will be our 15th wedding anniversary! Can that be possible?!?

My little sister

2008-09-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

Here's my little sister, April, with her family. She's married to the nicest guy in the entire world (sorry...Eric!) named Bryan and she has two little punks. :) Ty is the oldest and he is Mr. Joe Cool. He loves sports, hunting, clothes and entertainment stuff. He has a lot of common sense, but also has a short fuse. I used to spend A LOT of time at April and Bryan's house when Ty was a baby and I pretended I was his nanny.

Harlan is so sweet. He has such a huge heart and he never wants to hurt anyone's feelings (or have his feelings hurt...which is easy to do). He's very generous, loves animals, riding horses, watching television and being the big cousin to Luke.

Luke loves Ty and Harlan so much! April and I always crack up watching Luke watch Ty and Harlan. He thinks they are so funny (really they are!!!)! He doesn't have any siblings, but Ty and Harlan are the next best thing. They sometimes fight like siblings, which is good for Luke.

April and Bryan live on 40 acres, have 5 horses of their own (and board 3 more), have a pond, couple of crazy dogs and always something going on. April is the PTO president of her kids' school, owns her own cleaning business, is my grandmother's power of attorney and TONS of other stuff. She is always up to something. It will make you tired just looking at how much she gets done before 9:00 a.m. I'm very proud of her accomplishments.

April and I have always gotten along (except for a few incidents in which scissors got thrown, hair was pulled, both of us getting scratched or slapped...those are stories for another day). Anyway, I could be mad at April, but don't let ANYONE say anything bad about her or that would send me over the edge. We have always had such a close bond. We don't take this lightly and we know what we have is VERY special. We give our God all the honor, glory and praise for placing us together in this lifetime.

Sometimes when people meet us they ask if we are twins. Other times they are shocked that we are even sisters. When we were younger, we didn't look alike at all. But the older we get, the more alike we look. Our parents thought it would be cute for us to even have the same initials-AJL. April got the cool names (April Janel) while I got the little plain Jane names (Amy Jo). When we were little, our mom would dress us alike. And then we were older we would dress similar, but I would wear red and April would always wear blue.

One of my favorite things in the world to do is just to sit and talk and talk and talk with April. We usually don't complete a full sentence (we are both a little A.D.D.) and we pretty much laugh so hard we almost pee our pants! I'm not kidding.

I love my sister so much!

Do you have a sister? Are you and your sister close (like me and April)?

My Aching Back!

2008-09-10T22:00:00.006-05:00

This is exactly how I've been feeling for the past few days! I don't know if you have ever had any lower back pain, but IT IS NOT FUN! When I was younger, I never could understand when people would say "my back went out". Now I understand! For the past few years, I have little flareups about twice a year in which I will get a little "twinge" in my lower back that will run down into my bottom. OUCH! Not good!

Last year during one of these episodes I went to see a chiropractor. My mom swears by the "doctors" in the clinic she goes to. I went and actually enjoyed the heat/electrode treatment, but getting popped was not fun. I did not like that doctor dude being ALL UP IN MY SPACE! He was creepy. So I decided this week to go see my doctor. He did some stretching tests and 3 X-rays. Other than a little bit of scoliosis, my spine is great! Doesn't that sound like an oxymoron?!? Anyway, my discs are fine. I'm just having some muscle spasms. Sitting is the worst! And guess what I do all day long? Sit in the floor and in little bitty chairs at work while I work with kiddos!
He gave me some muscle relaxers to stop the muscle spasms! These are great if you have the luxury of staring into space all day long! :) But working while taking them is probably not the best idea.

I really, really feel sorry for people that suffer from back and neck pain all the time. I have several friends with chronic pain and I am going to start praying extra hard for them. It is really hard feeling bad physically. It affects you all over.

Have you ever had any back pain?

BAD, BAD, BAD BLOGGER!!!!!!

2008-08-28T21:15:00.004-05:00

Oh my goodness! I have been the worst blogger! I don't know if it's just back to school scheduling, church activities, going to bed earlier or what...but I have not taken the time. Oh well...

Eric was cleaning some files off of our old Dell PC and I came across a TON of pics that I have not seen since 2005. Like this one of Luke's Easter 2005. He was almost 4 years old. I had TOTALLY forgotten about this cute little outfit. So cute! These kinda clothes were so much more fun to shop for than all the camo, hoodies and Crocs nowdays. Well, still doesn't stop me from having fun shopping for his whole fall/winter wardrobe. I hit the jackpot at Savers today! Savers is kinda like a giant Goodwill, only it's clean and organized. I was able to get him really cute windpants, fleece pullovers, long sleeve snap shirts, and jeans for like $2 apiece! I also had to get me some things too, since they were having 50% off everything in the store...

I have friends that would NOT even consider buying used clothes, but I have always had the best luck with finding Luke very cute clothes at consignment stores, garage sales, stores like Savers, etc. I'm all about the bargain shoppin'!

Bowling Night at Church

2008-08-20T21:49:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago, our church hosted a bowling night after church. We had the best time! Kylan, our youth pastor, brought bowling for shirts for he and Eric and they were really playing the part! I'm not quite sure what they are doing here!

Luke LOVES bowling! This was his first time to roll the bowl himself. He usually uses the silver stand in which you simply have to push the ball off. He "grannied" it mostly and had a great time! He was all about tracking down something to eat at the snack bar, too!

Me and my sweet friend, LaDonna! It's amazing that we are only 6 years apart, but I have a 2nd grader and she has two kids in college! I love you, Gilda!

Billy, Kylan, Chris, Eric and Mark

The Three Musketeers! Julie, Amy & Kristie!
It's amazing how three people can be so different and yet be good friends. We discovered that Julie and Kristie are on extreme opposites on lots of personality things and I'm kinda in the middle (of course-AVERAGE AMY...ha!).

I love my church and the friends the Lord has sent me!
Amy

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

Future Profession?

2008-08-07T23:47:00.003-05:00

I was talking to a friend tonight about our Disney trip in May and she asked how Luke enjoyed flying for the first time. As a typical 6-year-old boy, he loved it for the first 10 minutes. After he had checked every thing out, he started with his favorite activity: ASKING QUESTIONS! For example, "How long until we get to Atlanta?", "When we get to the airport, how long will we have to wait?" and "How long until that lady brings me a Sprite?". Ha!

We had the NICEST flight attendant. I think her name was Debbie (?). When she discovered this was Luke's first flight, she came back to our seats several times to answer questions and tell Luke all kinds of neat things. Eric asked if Delta still gave the little flight wings, but since 9/11 they had to stop that. You know...that little straight pin might stab someone...!

Our new friend arranged for Luke to sit up in the pilot's seat, put on his hat and we got to take pictures. I was already imagining the scrapbook layout for this...I think I saw some cool 12X12 paper at Hobby Lobby...Ha! The pilot spoke with Luke for a few minutes and gave him a little card with the picture of our airplane on it. They were super nice!

I was 16 years old when I flew for the first time. I like flying (even though I'm not a fan of heights), but I'm kinda like Luke...the whole waiting thing gets to me. I always take a book and magazines, but there is something about traveling that just wipes me out!

Do you like flying? How old were you when you flew for the first time?

Call on Jesus

2008-08-04T22:56:00.004-05:00

Nicole C. Mullen is one of my favorite Christian artists! She has such a powerful voice and testimony. I love that this song reminds me that I'm not special on my own! Even though I'm ordinary, He can work extraordinary things through me! This song is a huge help to me when I get overwhelmed!

Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 19:26, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

What verses help you when you feel overwhelmed?

Official Sushi Lover!

2008-07-29T19:51:00.007-05:00

While we were in Dallas, we had grand plans to eat at a Tex-Mex place (Helloooooo! We are in Texas...and for all of you that know me, cheese dip and chips is like my favorite thing in the world to eat). But we ended up eating at Reikyu Sushi Bar in Mockingbird Station TWICE...my choice! It was was SO GOOD!

Eric and I have been eating sushi for about 3 years. He is much more adventurous than I am and jumped in with both feet on the whole eating raw fish. For the first 2 years I would only eat California rolls (which include rice, avacado, crabmeat and a little mayo wrapped in little bit of black seaweed). I would also request a knife and fork and proceed to cut them up, because I didn't like putting the whole thing in my mouth at one time! Those waiters and waitresses would look at me like a was a nut. But in the last year or so, I've come to really like some different kind of rolls, but still pretty tame. Basically fried shrimp and rice with some spicy sauce on top. There's a Japanese restaurant around the corner of our house and we eat there at least twice a month.

The picture at the top is Edamame, which are these little soybeans that are served warm with salt on them! YUM! You just put them in your mouth and pop the beans right out! Even if you didn't like sushi, these are really good. We usually get these as an appetizer. Sometimes we will get the clear soup and maybe a salad with ginger dressing.

These are the sushi rolls we had Saturday night. Basically it was crawfish or shrimp with cucumbers, avacadoes, rice and neat sauces on top. Every single bite was delicious. We were so sad because there's really no place back home that has AWESOME sushi like this. There may be, but we haven't found them yet.

Eric does order just plain sushi which is a little ball of white rice with simply a piece of fish on top of it. He usually gets salmon, tuna and others like that. I've tried it, but never ordered it. I like all the bells and whistles that you get with the rolls. Ha!

If all this sounds like something you would absolutely NOT try, never say never! I used to be the pickiest eater in the world. But now I will at least try something (except for crazy things!) once. I have had rolls with eel. If you can get past the fact that you are basically eating a snake out of the sea, it is pretty good! Ha! For now, I will stick with the fried shrimp rolls being my favorite!

Have you ever tried sushi? What's your favorite?

Road trip to Dallas

2008-07-27T22:55:00.012-05:00

A few weeks ago, Eric & I decided to take a short trip without Luke. We were looking for something relatively close by and somewhere we had not been before. We had both been separately with friends, but not a trip together. We knew we wanted to shop and had scoped out some restaurants that we wanted to go to, but didn't really know what else we would do.

On our way, we were talking about Texas and Eric's take on Texas was, "Other than the Dallas Cowboys, Texas doesn't really have anything to brag about! It's just big!" Ha! Our friends, Mark and Kristie, disagree! These transplanted Texans joked with us that we were headed for the Promised Land! WHATEVER! It's just hard for any die-hard Razorback fan like Eric to say he likes anything about Texas.

One thing on our "To Do List" was a trip to IKEA. Oh my goodness! This was amazing! This store has it all! We had a list of things to look for and to get for our house. It is two stories and has an amazing selection of furniture, kitchen stuff, picture frames, kids' stuff, you name it! We were in there for A LONG TIME!

Here's Eric loading up our new computer chair for our office (I'm sitting in it right now...he did a good job of putting it together!). He was trying to be patient with all my picture taking...he knew he was going to end up on my blog. :)

I loved so many things about this place. I definitely want to take a girls' trip back here soon!

We spent a lot of time on I-121, which happened to be a toll road from downtown Dallas to Friscoe. It was weird, because sometimes the toll would be 40 cents, another time 50 cents and then it was $1.00. One time we had gotten off the wrong exit and Eric was trying to figure out which lane we needed to be in and we accidentally (seriously!!!) passed straight through without paying. OH MY GOODNESS-HOW MUCH IS THAT GOING TO COST US? Oh well...just some po dunk Arkansans trying to find their way around. It wasn't easy...

We did pretty good. Like I said, we missed a few turns. I was the navigator and Eric was the driver. We make a great team, if I do say so myself!

This shopping center was called Mockingbird Station and it was right down the street from our hotel. This is the place that had the movie theatre. It also had a Cold Stone Creamery, a Japanese restaurant (we ate there TWO times), Gap, Paperie & Co., Urban Outfitters and West Elm. There are also loft apartments above all the stores. Very urban!

West Elm is a really cool store that has lots of things to look at, but not much to buy on this trip. They are a sister store to Pottery Barn.

Speaking of pottery, here are our new dishes. After using our daily white china with scalloped edges for 15 years, we decided to get something new. We had fun picking out a mixture of solids and prints. Hope they last as long as the Johnson Brothers dishes we received from Dillards in 1993!

Leaving Texas we decided that we loved it after all. Just don't tell anyone! Ha!

What's your favorite thing about Texas?

Foreign films, anyone?

2008-07-26T22:27:00.003-05:00

Eric and I are in Dallas this weekend. We just got back to our hotel room after watching our third movie this weekend. Yes...you read that correctly! OUR THIRD MOVIE IN THREE DAYS!!!! Isn't that crazy?!? We cannot remember when we saw a movie together last! Seriously! So we caught up on our movies.

Thursday night we saw The Visitor. There's a small cinema by our hotel that shows independent films. So this one looked the least "artsy", so I picked it! :) It was very good. Then yesterday, after we were finished shopping, we went to see Dark Knight. Other than Heath Ledger's incredible performance as The Joker, I hated that movie. Don't waste your time. My brothers, Patrick and Derek, disagree. They think it's the best movie ever made. Until next month, when a new action movie comes out. Ha!

So tonight we were going to go eat around the corner and the restaurant just happens to be next to the movie theatre. Should we go see ANOTHER movie? Eric looked to see what movies were playing and said that Tell No One had gotten really good reviews. Did we want to go see that? Sure! Why not? Who knows when we will go the movies again (in the past few years I've seen Happy Feet, Nim's Island, Surf's Up, Wall-E, Horton Hears a Who, The Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, etc.-need I say more?!?). It wasn't until the introduction to the movie (when I couldn't read anything that it said) until I realized that the movie was French and there were subtitles. Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me? I'm watching a FOREIGN FILM?!? This is going to be TERRIBLE! I will be honest and admit that all of these thoughts were running through my head! But it wasn't terrible-it was so good! It was suspenseful, the acting was great and I barely realized I was reading the whole movie! I LOVED IT!

I don't usually blog about current events or movies, but just wanted to share that I had tried something new and liked it! I've been to a few movies at the local independent movie place in time, but nothing with subtitles.

Have you ever seen a movie with subtitles? Did you like it?

Girls' Trip to Branson

2008-07-23T23:28:00.011-05:00

Last month my friend, LaDonna, and I left for our 4th annual Girls' Weekend Getaway! We decided on Branson for a short 3 night trip and it was so nice to get away from work, cleaning house, taking care of others, responsibilities and "TO DO" lists. Here's our little home away from home. It was a cute cabin! It had a great screened-in back porch with a real porch swing. We had so much fun reading, renting movies and playing Scrabble (or Scramble as LaDonna calls it!).

On Friday we later laughingly discovered that we had planned a "Big Boat" theme. First we went to the Titanic exhibit then later it was off to another big boat-Noah the Musical! How funny! We couldn't stop laughing when we realized this!

The Titanic was so cool! When you entered they gave you a boarding pass of an actual passenger on the boat. You had to look for clues about your person throughout the exhibit. Then at the end, you went to the Memorial Room to see if your person survived (My person, Alma, did not live. She and her 4 children perished due to being in 3rd class! Poor little things! LaDonna's character, on the other hand, was a very wealthy woman named Charlotte. She and her son bullied their way on to a rescue boat and made it). See...I told you this stuff was interesting! :)
It was amazing to see how big the ship was and neat to see real artifacts from it.

Isn't this funny? We had just gotten finished eating at the Hard Luck Diner and knew we had to have a photo op here! So cute! I felt so tiny! The Hard Luck Diner is a neat place. It's a 1950s-type hamburger joint in which the waiters and waitresses actually walk around singing in between waiting on the tables. There's a wide variety of singers (male/female, young/older). They all had really nice voices and a few guys had made it to American Idol. Several people sang Christian songs as well. Very fun place with yummy hamburgers!

This is the Sight and Sound Theatre where Noah the Musical was shown. It looked like something straight out of the Bible on the outside and the play was very entertaining with all the live animals. Luke would have loved it!

We decided to picnic at Table Rock Lake because the weather was so nice! It was like that the whole weekend-not hot at all, which is unusual for late June. We actually got kinda chilly sitting here eating and talking and talking and talking....Ha! Well, we weren't expecting the picnic areas to be under water. We found a bench right at the water's edge and it was very neat being so close.

We decided not to sit at this picnic table.

We had a wonderful time of relaxation. Of course, we had to take in some outlet malls and made a trip to the new Branson Landing. We had some Mexican food, sat out by the water and got some yummy desserts. We always have such a good time on our little mini-vacations.
I'm so thankful God has given me LaDonna to be my friend.

Proverbs 17:17a says, "A friend loves at all times...".

When is the last time you took a trip with your best friend?

What's your favorite thing to do in Branson?

Favorite Foto Friday!

2008-07-17T22:14:00.003-05:00

Here's me and my sweeties last June at my cousin's wedding. Luke was Keith and Amy's ring bearer and he did an awesome job! He was NOT very excited about it at all. My brother, Patrick, was our ring bearer and he's 24 years old now. I never served in a wedding as a flower girl...awwww!!!! Don't little girls just love this?!? I love going to weddings and I have only been in a handful...maybe three.

We had a pretty big wedding (at our church, five attendants apiece, 250 guests, etc.) and I loved planning it. There are probably tons of things I would have done differently now, but I love looking back at my pictures and remembering all the work (and fun) it was!

How many weddings have you been in?

How big was your wedding?

Grandma's Flowers

2008-07-11T04:32:00.014-05:00

My Grandma LOVES her flowers! She piddles in her yard ALL day long, every single day! She lives about 10 minutes from us and just around the corner from my mom. Someone in our family is at her house twice a day...going by to check on her and giving her medicine. She loves it when my sister and I bring the boys. Luke loves going to Grandma's house so he can play in her ditch, drink her Dr. Peppers (special treat for him since I never let him order it at restaurants) and go searching for bugs and other critters.

Luke with his rolie polie!

Grandma loves doing crossword puzzles, going to church with her friends, cooking, pulling weeds in her yard, watching game shows, drinking sweet tea and playing rummy!

Here's my mom helping Luke find these...

Can you say YUCK!?!

I don't mind him playing with little creepy crawlies and I'm certainly not a "germ-phobe", but there is just something so gross about a whole bunch of earthworms all wadded up! NASTY! Luke doesn't understand why I don't share this love!

Grandma's hydrangea bushes were just beautiful this year! There were so many different colors: blues, whites, pinks and fuschias! I don't know which ones I like the best...

Maybe someday I will get into planting flowers. Right now I have one potted plant on my back patio. I forget to water it and it is usually drooping. Pitiful, I know! For now, I love going to Grandma's and helping her tend to hers!

Did your Grandma love flowers like mine? Are you good with flowers?

Happy 7th Birthday, Luke!

2008-07-04T23:55:00.006-05:00

I cannot believe my baby is turning seven years old tonight! He was born on July 5, 2001 at 12:26 a.m. I like to tell him that he missed being a "firecracker baby" by only 26 minutes! All day I've been thinking about what was going on that day. We stuck around the house until about 3:00 in the afternoon, having back labor all day and not really even knowing those were contractions (even after attending Labor and Delivery classes at the hospital and reading What To Expect When You Are Expecting 500 times!!!). They induced me and I never did progress like I should. After many hours and a few scares we were headed for a c-section about 11:30 p.m. on 4th of July. I asked the doctor if she thought we could have him by midnight. Nope! We missed it by 26 minutes! Oh well...Luke has his own special day!

I snuck in his room tonight and took this picture of him sleeping and immediately thought about the first picture. The infant picture is when he was 4 weeks old! I took him to Sears (ha!) for his first little picture and he WOULD NOT wake up. So I had them take them anyway while he was asleep. While he is asleep, he looks so much like he did when he was a baby. Sometimes I miss those days!

This afternoon, we went down to Sheridan to visit Eric's dad's side of the family. My father-in-law, Bill, has had this golf cart forever! I used to take Eric's sister, Leslie, on it when she was a little girl. She would drive it all over to visit family nearby and Luke has always loved going for rides in the golf cart. Well, this time he was able to step into the driver's seat. He can finally reach the gas and brake pedals and he asked if I wanted to go for a ride. "Sure!" I replied, "I would love to". So off we went, riding down to the pond, and up to Aunt Janice's house. We looked at birds, he pointed out where he saw a deer the day before and he showed me how Uncle Patrick taught him how to "cut donuts" by spinning round and round. Shhhhh! Don't tell his Pop he is mistreating the golf cart already. Ha! Anyway...as he was driving down the gravel driveway, he looked over at me and said exactly what I was thinking. He said, "Ya know, it sure is weird-me being the driver and you being the passenger!"

My thoughts exactly!

Happy Birthday, Son!
I love you!
Mama

Favorite Foto Friday!

2008-06-27T07:10:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness! I came across about 10 pictures on a memory card from Luke's 4th birthday party that I had never seen before! He and his cousin, Harlan, shared a pirate party and we had so much fun! He looks SO little in this picture!

Before we got our camera I was so anti-digital! I was so scared I was going to lose a bunch of pictures! We are so blessed that that has never happened, but I sure don't get my pictures developed like I used to. Most of them are just saved on my computer. I try my best to back up CDs, but I need to start uploading EVERY single picture to a company like Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak or Flikr.

Have you ever lost pictures? What company do you use to store your photos?

Happy Father's Day, Eric!

2008-06-14T23:56:00.011-05:00

Happy Father's Day, E! Eric and I have been married for almost 15 years! It makes us feel so old to say that! It has gone by SO fast! We were married for 8 years before we had Luke, but I cannot imagine how we filled our time without him. It's hard to even remember when he wasn't with us. People ask us all the time if (and when) we are going to have another child. There was even a time when it was all I thought about, but now I am so content with our little family.

Eric is such a giving person. Luke and I REALLY wanted to go to Walt Disney World this year. I really thought it was something that was going to be several years away, but Eric just came to me in December and said, "If you really want to go, let's book it!". WDW is NOT his idea of a dream vacation, but he was such a good sport and we had the BEST time!

Luke is so much like Eric. His expressions, sense of humor, storytelling abilities and his love of video games! This is the two of them at Disney Quest. It was a FIVE-STORY building filled with video games!!!! After 20 minutes, I was looking for the door. Eric was like a little kid...he looked at me and said, "I could stay in here all day!". Are you kidding me!?! Ha!

Eric is so patient with Luke. He has been an assistant coach on both of his T-ball teams. He's a great teacher and really wants Luke to enjoy playing like he did when he was a kid.

Eric loves the outdoors! He loves hunting (deer, duck and squirrel mostly), fishing and playing golf. This was our trip to Petit Jean this spring and we LOVED it! We have yet to take a camping trip with Luke, but that is definitely on our TO DO list.

People tell me all the time that Luke is Eric's "Mini-Me". Luke doesn't really look like Eric did as a kid...he really looks like Eric now. Their coloring, hair and eyes are the most alike. I love that Luke looks like E.

Eric is teaching Luke through example about how to make God's Word an important part of his life. Luke sees Eric reading the Bible daily. They read the Bible together and pray together. I am so thankful that Luke is learning about the Lord from his Daddy!

We love you!

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Favorite Foto Friday!

2008-06-12T22:03:00.004-05:00

Here's Luke, Ty and Harlan a few weeks ago with their AWANA awards. They love AWANA on Wednesday nights at our church. Each week they memorize Scriptures, have game time, and go to council time/handbook time. Luke and Harlan are Sparks which is kindergarten through second grade. Ty is a T&T boy which is for third through sixth graders. It's amazing how quickly little kids can soak up God's Word. With AWANA they also do activities like Bible Quiz and Grand Prix (where they build, paint and race their own wooden cars).

I didn't grow up in church and I so would have loved AWANA! Especially filling out the workbooks and memorizing the Scriptures. What about the game time?!? NOT SO MUCH!!! I was literally the slowest runner in my whole class all through elementary school (I take that back...there was one girl slower than me, but I think she outweighed me by 75 pounds and that was in 4th grade!!!!). Needless to say, I was not anywhere close to being at the top of the list when kids would pick for kickball. I told you guys I was a nerd!!!!

Anyway, back to AWANA! I'm so glad our boys are spending their Wednesday nights at church learning more about our Lord-Jesus Christ! They are all such good pray-ers! They are so sincere and caring about how they pray for their friends, family and prayer requests.

Did you grow up in church? Did your church have activities that encouraged you to memorize Scriptures?

Great Western Cattle Drive

2008-06-06T22:43:00.005-05:00

This is my sister, April, and her husband, Bryan.
Guess what they are doing this week?

This!!!!

They are on an actual cattle drive in northwest Oklahoma.
They've taken four of their horses and two friends and driven
NINE hours away to herd cattle like this for 30 miles.
They love this trip and have gone for several years.
They took their little boys one year, but it stressed
April too much to have the kids around all those horses.

April says the scenery is incredible and Bryan
has a blast pretending to be a real cowboy.

When April gets tired of riding her horse, she will sometimes
ride in a wagon like this. One year she got stuck in here with
a bunch of crying kids and she said that was horrible! Ha!

Every time someone hears about the cattle drive, they will say
it reminds them of the movie "City Slickers". Its just like that. It's
pretty primitive. April and Bryan sleep in their horse trailer (which is
nice that they have living quarters), shower in the temporary barrel shower
thingies and port 'o potties. YIKES! April says she's going to take me
one of these years, but I'm not sure if I could make it...ha!

At the end of the three days of riding they get to the little town of Vici.
The town has a parade for the riders, a fish fry, a rodeo and a dance
at the town's fire station.

April and I didn't grow up around horses. We had family that owned
horses when we were younger, but didn't get to see them often. It's funny,
because I had much more of an interest in that sort of thing than she
did. I rode with friends when I was younger and took a horseback
riding class at summer camp. April loves her horses and helps Bryan
take care of them (she even gives them shots!), but she will be the
first to tell you that they are not really her cup of tea. Horseback riding
just does not come naturally for her. She got thrown from a horse about
twelve years ago and she has not really ever gotten over that. It may be
a long weekend for her! :)

Do you like to horseback ride?
Would you ever go on a "vacation" like this?

Girls Weekend Trip

2008-06-01T22:34:00.010-05:00

I keep meaning to tell about a girls' weekend trip that I took with my sister, April, and our friend, Christi in February. We drove to Rogers, AR to go to a Priscilla Shirer's Going Beyond Conference to take your relationship with Christ to the next level-experiencing more with God! He wants so much for us and we so often are just content with the norm. She also gave some very applicable ways to study your bible. I've used them in my ladies' Sunday School class.

Here's her praise team. They did a wonderful job of leading this weekend. It's pretty powerful hearing more than a thousand women singing praise songs to Jesus at the same time!

We loved seeing the church's Children's Ministry area. They had an inside playground, full kitchen, aquarium and tons more that big churches like this can offer.

The conference was held at The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers. This area of town has grown A TON since I was living in Fayetteville in the early 1990s. It was literally unrecognizable. We had so much fun! We ate at Noodle's in Fayetteville on Friday night and the yummiest Mexican place on Saturday after the conference. The Mexican restaurant was called Abuelo's and I'm really glad we don't have one here, because I would want to eat there every week!!!

April and I don't get to get away without kids very much at all. We had so much fun with Christi and adopted her as our sister. It is eerie how much we have in common with her.

Here's Priscilla. She such an encouraging speaker! I need to get some of her speaking CDs to put in my car. If you ever get the chance to hear her, make sure you go! Her ministry verse is Galatians 5:1 which says, "It is for freedom that we have been set free".

Yes...I am wearing my pajamas in this picture. You just can't see them! Ha! Had to post one crazy pic from the weekend of laughing our heads off!

We stayed in the nicest motel room for $69 bucks. It was a Hilton Homewood Suites. We were amazed that we had a full suite with granite top sinks, a full kitchen, two flat screen tvs, nice comfy beds with great bedding, indoor swimming pool, fitness room and full living room. We were like little country bumpkins coming to town for the first time. We have decided to take another girls trip to Rogers just to stay there (and we will definitely go back to Abuelo's).

What is your favorite thing to do on a girls' weekend trip?
Have you ever gone to a women's conference that changed your life?

My Favorite Room

2008-05-29T17:38:00.011-05:00

Kelly from Kelly's Korner asked people to post their favorite room in their house. My favorite rooms are my bedroom and master bath (I was kinda surprised that SO many of you guys picked your kitchen. I have to unload/load the dishwasher way TOO many times for that to be my favorite room). Ha! We have had our bedding for a few years and I love it! My son threw up on it a few months ago and I about had a panic attack (I'm seriously just kidding!), because I knew I could never replace it. It was a gift from my sweet mother-in-law and she got it at Steinmart. If you shop there, you know that they don't keep things very long.

I know what you are thinking...where are their accessories?!? Yes, I am well aware that I don't have enough stuff sitting out. We redid our whole house last spring (new floors, furniture, paint, accessories, etc.). Notice that accessories was the last thing on that list. Need to go shopping.
Those black, leather boxes have pictures on the top. My husband bought those and gave them to me for Christmas. One has a picture of Luke at the beach and one has a picture of the two of us.

The walls are the palest blue you can imagine and it's very peaceful. Other than the dusting and floors, this room usually stays cleaner than the others in the house.

From our bedroom you come straight into the bathroom. I picked out the color for the bathroom and I LOVE IT! I told Eric that I wanted this room to be Tiffany & Co. blue and we came pretty close (the colors are a little more vibrant in person). Love taking long baths before bed every night. I love to read and I usually take a book with me! I know...I am weird!

The little statue in the corner was a Mother's Day gift from Eric and Luke last year. It's from Africa and the three little people represent us! Love it!

Our bathroom is almost galley shaped-it's pretty narrow and only has one sink, so we usually take turns in morning (we learned long ago that this works best for us!!!). Ha! After being married for almost 15 years, you learn all kinds of interesting things.

There's Eric's shower right past the tub. From there you walk straight into the closet we share. Notice that is NOT my favorite room in the house. It needs a major overhaul! Wish I could hire one of those companies to totally organize my closet...oh well.

I thought this was a fun post and now it is your turn! What is your favorite room?

Rainy Riverfest

2008-05-26T20:15:00.009-05:00

Friday night Eric, Luke and I went to Riverfest for a catfish dinner and then we crossed the new walking bridge over to NLR (what a trek!!!) to hear some music from someone Eric knew. I guess The Nobility was Luke's first official concert.

Saturday Luke and I went back to Riverfest with my sister April, bro-in-law Bryan, nephews and with a friend Kristie and her kiddos! Here we are enjoying our free drinks and Yarnall's ice cream in the hospitality pavilion (Thanks ER&I!!!).

Here's Hannah & Cody hanging out with the Riverfest mascot (?). Ha! That creature must have been burning up, because it seemed like it was about 125 degrees!

The boys are LOVING their Krispy Kreme donuts. Since they were able to dip them in the chocolate themselves, they had so much dripping everywhere! YUMMY!

See how much taller I am than my little sister! I think we were delirious from the heat.

We attempted to watch the Jessie White Tumblers from Chicago (my favorite part of Riverfest), but it started raining and those guys were slipping all over the mats. So we walked down a little bit and it started raining even more. The kids hung out in the rain, but all of the grown ups were crowded under the Heifer International goat tent! Good Times!

I'm so thankful for my sister's family and my new friend, Kristie! I love you, guys!

Have you ever been to Riverfest? What is your favorite Riverfest memory?

Bring the Rain

2008-05-24T23:36:00.004-05:00

If you have never read Angie Smith's blog and "their" story, you MUST do so - like now. Her post today was exactly the touch I needed from the Lord.
Here is a link to her blog and to the post she updated with last night: http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

Angie is the wife of Todd Smith, singer from the Christian band, Selah.

To read their story of loss, grace, tragedy, faith, and undying hope from the beginning to the end, start here: http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/01/beginning-of-story.html

Favorite Fotos Friday!

2008-05-23T00:08:00.009-05:00

For my Favorite Foto Friday, I usually post one picture, but these had to all be posted together as a series. These were taken about two weeks ago as we were leaving Epcot after eating dinner at Le Cellier in Canada (YIKES! Has it REALLY been TWO weeks ago?!? I'm ready for another vacation!). We had time to go on a few more rides since the park was having extended hours that night. As we were on our way to ride the Finding Nemo ride, we passed by these fountains that had shoots of water that would fly from one flower bed to the next. Luke said, "Can I get just a little bit wet?". Yeah, right!

We seriously took over 600 pictures on our vacation to Walt Disney World, but these are some of my favorite because he is having the BEST time! It was about 10:00 at night and he was TOTALLY drenched, but he does not care! I could have watched him for 3 hours-it was so hysterical!

Eric did a good job of getting action shots of the water actually pelting him!

Love the look of excitement and anticipation here...

Doesn't he look slightly crazy here? Think he was a little delirious from all the water!

He is so content with the water dripping off his chin. I know people that go to WDW and totally stick with their Touring Plans! If we would have been like that, we would have totally missed this! Like my mama always tells me, "Don't forget to stop and smell the roses!". Ha!

So proud...

2008-05-19T22:45:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago, it was Grandparents/Special Friends Day at Luke's school. They sang some songs, presented awards and had their Knowledge Fair. Luke had to make a posterboard about any animal and he chose an anaconda. For some reason, he has a big fascination with snakes right now. Eric is terrified of snakes. He can't even talk about them without getting sick! Ha! This is Luke with my mom, Lee. Luke, Ty & Harlan call her MaLee.

Each first and second grade teacher had to choose one boy and one girl from their class that portrayed Christian Conduct throughout the school year. We were so proud of Luke-he was chosen from his class! Here he is looking at his plaque. He also received a certificate for straight As this year.

Here's Luke and his Pop! He couldn't have been more proud of Luke!

Nena & Papa took Luke to hang out for the rest of the day. I think Luke is holding a roly poly in this picture. He's fascinated with creepy crawlies!

Luke has loved first grade! He writes in cursive, can add two-digit numbers (and even carry numbers!), tell time, understands less than/greater than numbers and reads really well. He loves going to computers and music but most of all he loves recess! SURPRISE!

Proud Mama! Can't believe in two short days he will be a second grader!

Animal Kingdom

2008-05-10T15:52:00.008-05:00

Here we are by the Tree of Life that Luke was so excited to see. Loved the safari and seeing all the animals. We went there first thing,so we were able to see tons of critters. We saw elephants, giraffes, black & white rhinos, lions, warthogs, gazelles, hippos and tons of birds.

This was while we were waiting to see "It's Tough to be a Bug". It surprised me that Luke got so scared in this 3-D show.

Luke is cruising along to Dino Land at Animal Kingdom. Notice his cheeks are bright red. He gets so hot and sweaty immediately. Good thing we didn't come in August.

Cutest little meerkat posing for one of many photos for Eric. He has been the BEST photographer on this trip. He lugs our big camera around and puts up with me saying, "Take a picture of this" and "Don't forget to take a picture of that". Ha!

This was taken at the Wilderness Lodge on Thursday night when we ate dinner at the Whispering Canyon. Loved that place!

We are trying our best to pace ourselves and not get too focused on trying to see everything. We have to save something for next time! :) Of course, Luke loves the pool at our resort best of all...

We Love Walt Disney World!

2008-05-08T21:40:00.004-05:00

Here we are at Epcot this afternoon! We have already done SO much in two days! Luke liked flying and everything went so smoothly changing planes in Atlanta. He even got to sit in the cockpit with the pilot and they let us take pictures (I'm sure I will be posting those later! Ha!).

The weather here is great. It's warm, but so nice and breezy in the shade. The lines aren't nearly as bad as what we had feared. We walked right up to the front for most of the ones today and yesterday, and utilized FAST PASS for the really popular ones that had lines.

We are getting acclimated to the whole Disney way of life. It's crazy how big everything is and how they have everything down to a science. The rides have been incredible (Sunshine, you would be so proud of me. We rode Soarin' today and I LOVED It! No anxiety attacks at all).

Luke is LOVING the characters! We bought him an autograph book and so far he's gotten seven autographs. This kinda surprised us...that he would be so into it.

Tonight we ate at Whispering Canyon restaurant in the Wilderness Lodge resort. That place was beautiful! We took a boat ride over to the resort-that was Luke's first boat ride ever! Isn't that strange?!? Ha!

Well, gotta run! We have an early morning. Tomorrow we are going to Animal Kingdom! Very excited about that!

I just love doing things that aren't on my regularly scheduled day! Staying in hotels, swimming, boat rides, etc. What is your favorite thing about traveling?

Disney Bound

2008-05-06T23:29:00.004-05:00

After more than five months of planning, we are FINALLY leaving for Walt Disney World in the morning! This will be Luke's first airplane ride so he's very excited about that. This is our first trip to WDW (technically I went with my parents when I was almost 3...I do remember snippets of the trip, but maybe it's because I've seen the pictures...).

Eric is CLUELESS about the whole Disney thing. He knows about Animal Kingdom, because Luke has talked about it so much. But he doesn't even know the names of the other parks. I've read so many books and studied for months, but now I'm feeling a little panicked! I want there to be a happy medium of having things planned and going with the flow kind of vacation. I know we are not going to be able to do it all, but we are sure to see a ton. We are staying for 7 days.

I'm excited about seeing everything! I want to ride the monorail, visit the other "countries" at Epcot and ride Splash Mountain (along with tons of other rides). I'm also very excited about the following: NOT going to work, NOT going to Wal-Mart, NOT dropping Luke off at school, NOT making dinner, NOT running errands, NOT cleaning house, and NOT doing laundry. Ha! I'm very thankful for my life, but sometimes we just need a break!

Have you ever been to Walt Disney World? What are some of your favorite memories?

Petit Jean

2008-05-04T00:21:00.013-05:00

I just realized that I forgot to post these pics of a weekend trip to Petit Jean. We went last month and had the BEST time. This was my first time to go with Eric & Luke and explore all over the place. I've gone scrapbooking a few times up there, but when I've done that it's nothing but cutting out pictures and sticking 'em in an album. Plus, plenty of meals, snacks and cutting up with my sister and my friends. No nature walks or picnics on those trips...

We've had tons of rain, so the waterfall was so huge and loud. We walked down this really cool trail that leads to this overlook facing the waterfall. I wasn't expecting to be SO high up! I don't know if you know this, but I have a HUGE PHOBIA OF HEIGHTS!!!! Oh my goodness...it was scary! But I prayed and talked myself through standing there on the deck overlooking the waterfall. I was trying not to act like a freak around my son. Ha! All the while, Eric is trying not to laugh at me.

Here's Lukey on the front porch of our little cabin. I say little because it was really a glorified motel room/duplex cabin with a wood burning fireplace. It was clean and that's all that matters when you are "camping". This is my kind of roughing it!!!

This view is right behind Mather Lodge where we had breakfast Saturday morning. YUMMY!

Me and my sweetie, Luke. He was running a high fever Thursday and Friday and we almost canceled our trip. Even on the way up to Petit Jean, he was sick. He had fever, was listless and had no appetite. When we pulled up to the Lodge to check in, he jumped out of the car, got a burst of energy and his sickness was TOTALLY gone! I'm going to have to remember that next time he runs 101 fever. We will be taking a road trip to Mather Lodge-it has healing powers.

Here's Luke on the turtle rocks. We went to three different overlooks and two 30-minute trails. We will have to go back in the fall to hoof it down to the bottom of the waterfall-I think it takes about 2 hours for that walk. Luke didn't have the stamina for that (plus Eric didn't want to carry him back up the trail).

Looks like a greeting card for Father's Day, doesn't it? Luke sure does love his daddy. Eric has told Luke a different made-up story every night since he was about 2 years old. They love practicing T-ball in the yard, fishing, playing Wii, 4-wheel riding in Sheridan and driving me crazy with weird voices. :)

We ended our trip with a picnic on one of the overlooks (over by Petit Jean's grave). I took a picture of it, but decided posting grave pictures was not something I wanted on my blog. Ha! The story of Petit Jean is very cool if you've never heard it. I loved it, but Eric was laughing at me and said he thought it was all made up and a publicity stunt. Do you see the pattern here? Eric laughing at me!?! Yeah, so do I. The Lord sure did know what I needed when he sent me my Eric. And his little "mini-me", Luke. I love them!

Go Chicago Cubs!

2008-04-19T21:10:00.014-05:00

We are very excited about Luke's T-ball team this year. We are playing at a new park and we saw so many people that we know while we were at Opening Ceremonies today. Luke is playing on a 4-6 year old T-ball team. Most of the kids are new to the game, so Luke is one of the only "experienced" players.

The weather could NOT have been more beautiful. It was sunny, warm and there was no humidity. Perfect!

Eric is an assistant coach. He's helping out Marc and Dawn Baty, who we went to high school with back in the day.

This may be one of my all time favorite photos of Luke. Too cute!

He made it home! He said, "YEAH! I scored a point!" I think he's supposed to say "scored a run". Shocking that I would know the correct terminology regarding a sporting event.

Nena and Papa were on hand to cheer the Cubs on to a victory! Oh yeah...not today! We lost by four runs, but they all played hard.

I may not be a huge sports fan, but there's just something neat about watching your little boy hit the ball and run! He really seemed to have fun today. Go Cubs!

What is your favorite spectator sport?

Luke's Room

2008-04-17T21:21:00.010-05:00

My friend, Leigh Ann, posted some pictures of her son's room and asked others to do the same. Luke's room is one of my favorite places to be. It's very bright, colorful, and eclectic in decorating style. It's always a work in progress. Most of all, it's very comfortable and he loves it. We got his little bed at a flea market. It's probably from the late 60s or early 70s. So cute! I splurged on his bedding (Pottery Barn-my first and only purchase from them!), because I loved the colors. It's a surfing theme and I found the grass skirt dust ruffle at Target which I thought was so cool! His organizational cubes save our life! Luke is a tad bit OCD about his toys getting out of order (i.e. Ben Ten toys are only in the green tub...this tub goes in the top left hand corner of the shelf on the left side of his bed...we may need to get him some medication! Ha! He sure didn't get that from his mama!). The colorful lanterns in the corner and the ribbon trim around the bulletin board I borrowed from my stylish friend, Julie!

My sister, April, came up with this idea for the picture frames (which I got at Dollar Tree) hanging from the letters in his name. Eric bought the easel at IKEA in Dallas! It has been one of our best purchases ever! Luke loves drawing on this. It's usually an action figure, animal or notes to us (my favorite!). Eric stained the toy box when I was pregnant with Luke. It is full of all his big toys like swords and light sabers.

I bought this dresser at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Luke. My father-in-law, Michael, painted it and I found these cute little drawer pulls at Target (the speech therapist in me loves that his drawers are all labeled by pictures). He may be about to outgrow this...so sad. The red wooden plaque above his closet is from 1st Samuel 1:27. It says, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." Hannah's words about Samuel are exactly how I feel about Luke. I feel so blessed to be his mom. His gentle spirit, funny personality and thoughtfulness toward others never cease to amaze me. I love my little boy!

What do you remember about your bedroom as a child? April and I usually shared a room. We had a canopy bed with patchwork bedding. She had tons of stuffed animals, a doll house and loads of Barbies. I had tons of books. Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Box Car Children, Nancy Drew, Judy Blume, and Beverly Cleary were many of my favorites. I used to make April play school and library. She hated it! Ha! I wish I had detailed pictures of my room back then...

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-04-10T20:50:00.005-05:00

Eric and I were at Waimea Falls on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. His mom and Michael were living out on Johnston Atoll, which was a government island near Hawaii. They flew both of us out there to visit and we had an amazing time. We stayed in some incredible hotels right on the beach. We were both 20, but we look like we are in 9th grade, don't we? This was a trip of a lifetime. I had barely been out of Arkansas, so being in a tropical paradise was an eye opening experience. They were all laughing at me all week, because I was in awe of so many neat little things. The beach at Waikiki was the first beach I'd ever been to. One of my favorite memories was both of us trying to stay afloat on a $3 air mattress (in my two-piece bathing suit, no less!!!!). Check out the little Asian guy in the background. Love his outfit! :)

Have you ever been to Hawaii? What was your favorite memory?

Easter Day 2008

2008-04-10T04:59:00.013-05:00

Here's Luke all "duded up" for church on Easter morning. I've always loved picking out his clothes. With him getting older this may all come to an end soon. Just this winter, it was the first time he told me he didn't want to wear something because it looked "too baby". So sad...

Luke loves church, his Sunday School teachers, going to choir, his lifelong friends and AWANA. That's all good, but Eric and I pray that we are pointing him to Jesus each and every day. He has such a sweet heart and it is my prayer that he will come to know the Lord at an early age. I know that the Lord will be able to do great things through this little boy.

I didn't grow up in church and I love that he will be able to say that he grew up in church. He says such sweet prayers. He's very good to remember those we are praying for and to think of little things that I might forget.

I actually bought an Easter dress this year. I'm glad we all ended up wearing sleeves because it was a bit chilly this morning.

Here are my sweeties. Don't they look like twins? Eric is such a wonderful daddy. He is so much more patient with Luke than I am. Luke really gets his funny sense of humor from Eric and everyday he says things that my sister, April, and I say "that is JUST like Eric!!!".

After church, we headed out to my sister and brother-in-law's house for their 7th Annual Luncheon and Easter Egg Hunt. They open their home (with tons of acres, a pond, a barn full of horses and plenty places to hide eggs) every year for this. It's for family and tons of friends who don't have family here for whatever reason. We usually have about 50 people out. For the past couple of years, April and I have taken care of all the food and everyone just chips in to help out with the cost. This year we had ham, potato salad, slaw, baked beans, rolls, desserts and sweet tea. We just have everything out on a buffet in the yard, grab lawn chairs and let the kiddos run wild (in their play clothes, of course!!!).

Here's our sweet friend Kara Lane. Our stomachs usually end up hurting from all the laughing we do with this crazy girl!

Look at these goofballs! Of all the things to do on an Easter day...play in the horses' hay! Most of the kids ended up here at one time or another (at least those without allergies...ha!).

The guys hide all the eggs while the mothers corral the kids at the back of the field and then we let them loose! Craziness-I tell you! Thank goodness we put the little kids in the a special spot or these big kids would just bulldoze over the babies. I think they are all trying to find the money eggs!

What an incredible Easter day! I will never stop being amazed with how much the Lord has blessed me!

2 Thessalonians 1:16-18 says: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

This stuff is amazing!

2008-04-03T06:06:00.003-05:00

After a seemingly long fall and winter, I'm so ready for some summer footwear. I cannot wait to get into my flip flops and sandals! But I can't stand what my feet look like and feel like after wearing socks and boots after 6 months. I've bought some scrubs and lotions occasionally, but have never found anything I love. I remembered my mom using this stuff when I was a little girl. It's called Pretty Feet & Hands and it used to be in a blue bottle. I couldn't find it at Wal-Mart, so I looked online. They've changed the bottle and I found it at Walgreens. It's crazy, because it's lotion like, but when you rub it in, the old and dead skin just starts rolling off! I know that sounds so gross, but my feet LOVED it!

When I was little and even up through my teen years, I hated the feel of lotion on my hands. Now I can't stand when they are dry feeling. My hands (especially my knuckles) get super dry in the winter. I have all kinds of Bath & Bodyworks hand cream that I use at night, but my favorite thing to put on my hands at night right before I go to bed is Vaseline. Of course you can't do that during the day, but it's amazing how it will soak right into your skin and make them so much softer.

Have you ever tried Pretty Feet and Hands? What is your favorite foot product? What's your favorite lotion?

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-03-28T07:47:00.002-05:00

When Luke was three years old, he had to dress up for church. The theme was "What I want to be when I grow up". He immediately said he wanted to be a mailman. We thought it was so funny, because most little boys will say a police officer, astronaut or fireman. Not Luke-mailman it was for him! Eric and his friend, Isaac, went to work on his uniform. They covered all the details-down to the pulled up navy socks and the hat with the earflaps. He got so many compliments and we had a lot of fun with it! Now that he's almost seven, he says he has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up. He loves animals, so we recommended a veterinarian. But he says, "No way...I could NEVER cut open a cute little animal". He has plenty of time to decide. I will be proud of him no matter what he decides.

Are these worth it?

2008-03-27T20:15:00.003-05:00

I saw these new FitFlops on Bath & Body Works website. They are supposed to burn calories, strengthen and tone your muscles and generally help you get in shape just by wearing them. All for the low price of $49.99!!! I'm always looking for comfy flip flops in the summer, so I went to Park Plaza and tried them. I thought if they are that great, I can justify spending the money (somehow!!!!-that's A LOT of money for flip flops!). But I tried them on and I just wasn't impressed. The little piece in between the toes just bugged me!

So I went to the mall this afternoon and got these Adidas Ayuna flip flops for $24.99. They have foam bottoms and they are SO comfortable! I thought I would wear them this summer at Wild River Country or at Typhoon Lagoon at WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!! DID I MENTION THAT IN SIX SHORT WEEKS I WILL BE THERE?!? Oh my goodness! I am very excited!

Would you pay $49.99 for a pair of flip flops? Have you tried either one of these shoes?

Little Wonders

2008-03-25T09:40:00.005-05:00

It wasn't until recently that I realized how much I loved Rob Thomas' music (I listen to K-LOVE 90% of the time). I took Luke, Ty and Harlan to see Meet the Robinson's last year and loved the movie, but loved this song even more. I'm so thankful that I have the Lord with me to help me when I've had hard times. Only He can help me to "let things go". I'm so thankful that the "hardest part is over" and I always try to rely on Him to "let my troubles fall behind me". LOVE THIS SONG!!!!

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-03-20T21:24:00.004-05:00

This is Luke's first Easter in March 2001. He was about nine months old. At this time, he loved Baby Mozart videos! He could crawl and pull up on things, but not walk. When he would crawl, he wouldn't put any weight on his right leg-he would just drag it behind him. It was so weird. He didn't have any teeth. If you look carefully, you can see his little strawberry mark in between his eyes. It would get very red when he would cry. You can barely see it now. He also has one on the back of his neck. When he would sleep in his bed, he would stick his little bottom up in the air. His favorite food besides baby food was Cheese Puffs-sucky mom, huh?

Snow Pictures

2008-03-19T21:47:00.012-05:00

Snow days are so fun! Eric, Luke & I hung out the day that it started snowing and we had snowball fights, made a snowman and took a long walk (without my camera so I would actually enjoy the walk instead of trying to set up the perfect photo opportunity). The next day, Eric and Luke headed down to Grant County to ride on the 4-wheelers with Pop. I don't know which one of them (Luke and Pop) had the most fun. Luke and Eric had to teach Pop how to build a snowman, since it had been so long since he had made one. Newt had to join them for a picture by the snowman. They made the snowman have holly hair and a stick pipe. Good times...

Snow Ice Cream

2008-03-15T20:44:00.005-05:00

I'm so late at posting snow pictures, but anyway...

Ever since I've been a little girl, I've LOVED snow ice cream! I know people that use eggs, sugar and vanilla, but the BEST thing ever is just snow and a can of Eagle Brand Milk. It's just like homeade ice cream that you churn in the summertime. I get so excited and I don't care if there's only an inch of snow I'm out there with my big plastic bowl and a spoon, scraping snow off my patio table. I taught Luke how to only scrape white snow (not yellow-GROSS!!!!) and how not to get any grass or black things in the snow.

So I had the big bowl of snow and the Eagle Brand and I went to get the camera. Eric said, "Looks like she's making a blog entry...". Ha! He's catching on. It turned out perfect-of course! We all sat down to enjoy our bowls of snow ice cream. Eric started in about how this was not the healthiest thing to be eating, but I wanted no part of that. I saw on Yahoo!'s homepage about there being bacteria in the snow, but this is one of those subjects that I just say "Who cares?". I am going to eat it anyway.

Luke gave me two thumbs up on his snow ice cream!

Does anyone else make snow ice cream?

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-03-13T20:49:00.003-05:00

These three girls were my best friends in college and in graduate school. They are Jana, Janice and Mindy. This was taken in December of 1997 or 1998 (I can't remember...yikes!!!) at Janice's wedding shower. We were so different in personalities, but it just worked. We all took a road trip to Natchez, Mississippi one summer and stayed in a bed and breakfast. Sometimes I miss the college life of going to class, hanging out, working on projects, studying with friends, internships, etc. I have a ton of great memories of these girls! Miss you!

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-03-06T21:35:00.004-06:00

Here are my sweet nephews Ty & Harlan otherwise known as "Mr. Cool" and "Mr. Laid Back"-Ha! If you guys know them, you will know that perfectly describes their personalities. They have been greatly different from birth. But you will never meet two brothers that are closer than they are.

Ty and Harlan are ten and eight years old now. I was an aunt before I was a mom and being an aunt has always been one of my most favorite roles. When they were babies, I practically lived with April and Bryan. I pretended I was their nanny. I love spoiling them with little things. They have always been so wild, rough and tough! They love shooting guns, fishing, riding their horses, playing in the mud, etc. They are both great at sports. They've played football, basketball, baseball and Harlan has played soccer. They are growing so much and are changing in looks and personalities.

Luke and I get to pick them up from school at least one day a week. We eat dinner together and head to church for AWANA. Luke doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so Ty and Harlan are his favorite people on earth!

We love you, Ty & Harlan!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-03-02T14:02:00.005-06:00

Today is my 37th birthday! I've been celebrating for the past 4 days! The girls at work decorated my office and they brought all the food for a Mexican Pile-On. They gave me gifts and cards and made me feel so special!

Friday night, Eric and I went out to dinner and had the house to ourselves. Luke spent the night with Nena & Papa.

Saturday, I went out shopping with my sister and my mom. We planned on eating at Mimi's Cafe after running around for awhile, but I was SO SURPRISED that when we arrived there were six of my best friends waiting. We had a great lunch and they bought me the sweetest gifts, cards and LaDonna made a chocolate cake with pecans in the icing! It was so exciting!

This morning, I woke up and Luke had written "Happy Birthday" on his dry-erase board. Eric and Luke gave me funny cards and 5 cute, colorful T-shirts and some cool running shoes that I've been needing. Luke's card had a little button on it that I wore to church. It said, "I raised the WORLD'S GREATEST KID!!!". I don't think I'm quite done raising him, but it was cute.

My Sunday School class was so sweet. They had decorated our room with my sister's help and they brought all kinds of goodies: chocolate covered strawberries, donuts, juice and other fruit. So nice! I feel very blessed to be surrounded by friends and family that love me. I thank God everyday for all these blessings!

Grandma making biscuits

2008-03-01T07:31:00.008-06:00

Last week, Luke and I went over to Grandma's house for dinner. She was diagnosed with Altzheimer's about 3 or 4 years ago. She still lives alone, but one of us goes over twice a day to give her medicines. They need to be locked or she will forget she took them and take them again. So, she has family over at least twice a day. We've noticed subtle and not-so-subtle changes, but thank the Lord that she still recognizes all of us and she's basically just like she's always been except she repeats all of her conversations literally seconds after she tells us something. She'll often forget if someone came earlier in the day, so we keep a communication notebook in the medicine box and we write down anything unusual.

My grandma has always made these kind of buttermilk biscuits. They are flat and crunchy and I just thought that's how everyone's biscuits tasted until I was given a tall, fluffy one. :) My grandma was born in 1930 and she and her brother and sister were raised my a single mom during the Depression. She's got the saddest but uplifting stories about being raised in such poverty. She's from the country and we've always noticed that she still says things like she heard them 60 or 70 years ago. For example, she calls everyone "you-nz" (sorry-I don't even know how to spell that). Like she will say "You-nz come back tomorrow, okay?". She has other words that we've always giggled about, because they are SO Grandma, ya know?

She always took us to church when we would go visit her and she still catches a ride on Sundays to the little Church of Christ church "over yonder" with one of her neighbor lady friends.

She sure does love her great-grandbabies. And her grandbabies... but I think having Ty, Harlan and Luke around is keeping her young acting. Just this week, Harlan had a cold so April let him hang out with Grandma while she ran to clean a house for someone. When April returned, Grandma was hysterically laughing to the Suite Life of Zak & Cody! She always kisses and hugs on all of us when we are there.

When Luke and I showed up to help her cook dinner, she was making fried pork chops, baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, couple of other veggies, and buttermilk biscuits! With sweet tea, of course. I tried not to think about how many WW points I was about to consume and just enjoyed hanging out with Luke and my grandma!

I love the last picture of her and Luke. She's making a face after Luke found a worm in her ditch!

Do you know anyone with Alzheimer's? What were some of your favorite memories of you and your Grandma?

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-02-28T20:08:00.003-06:00

This picture of us in front of the Big Cypress was taken at Eric's deer camp south of Sheridan in the fall of 2004. This tree is gigantic and it's protected by the National Registry (or something like that). Eric couldn't remember the details, but I'm sure his dad knows all about it. This day was so neat. We rode down to the camp with Eric's dad and Scarlet. I was amazed by the roots of the tree that came back up out of the ground. They are called cypress knees. The woods were so cool looking on that day-I kept thinking it looked like something out of Lord of the Rings.

The weather was perfect and we rode around the deer camp on a four-wheeler and it was my first time to see everything. Eric had been hunting there since he was about 8 years old. It's crazy to think that Luke could start hunting the fall of 2009! I don't think so!

I've been tagged!

2008-02-22T10:55:00.006-06:00

My friend, Leigh Ann, tagged me! It was hard to think of seven things that people may not know about me. My close friends may know all of this, but maybe my new blog friends will learn something about me. Here is what I am supposed to do: List 7 random things that people may not know about you. The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I'm obsessed with Disney right now. We are going there in May. I went when I was 3, but barely remember anything. I understand it takes major planning. I've read (and I'm still reading...) tons of books about the resorts, the parks, the rides, shows, restaurants, etc. I know we aren't going to be able to see it all, but I want to have a plan in place. But I'm not so OCD that we aren't going to be flexible and just hang out if we find something fun to do. I am just so excited and love to read!!!

2. I have terrible eyesight. I've worn contact since 1984 and had glasses before then. My family likes to joke with me that I'm like Mr. Magoo without my glasses.

3. I was the first person on either side of my family to graduate from college. I'm pretty proud of that. I've had a few cousins that have graduated from college since me.

4. Red is my favorite color. I've always loved it. From suckers to houseshoes to luggage...if given a choice, I will usually choose red. I just gravitate towards it.

5. I'm very messy person. I'll just admit it, since everyone that knows me well already knows this. I love to be organized and somethings in my house (and life) are, but as a general rule I'm a clutterbug. My purse is usually a mess with Luke's stuff, receipts, gum wrappers and who know what else!?! The trunk of my car is usually full of junk I'm carrying somewhere else (Goodwill, my mom's, garage sale stuff, LaDonna's had a gift in there for about 6 months!!!).

6. When I'm nervous I wring my hands. It actually calms me.

7. I have sensed the Lord drawing me my whole life. I didn't grow up in church and have a pretty dysfunctional family. I heard the Gospel presented clearly for the first time when I was 15 years old. I immediately surrendered my life to Him then and have walked with Him for the past 22 years. I've sure made a lot of mistakes, but He has never left me. He gives me grace, peace, blessings, wisdom (and everything that I don't deserve) but am so thankful for!

I tag: Megan B. Christi, Leslie, Sunshine, Beth, Shannon, Stacy

Luke lost his first tooth!

2008-02-21T05:43:00.008-06:00

Luke will be 7 in July and most of his friends have already lost their first teeth. It wasn't bothering him, but he was very excited when a few weeks ago when we felt the first wiggles. I loved checking on them daily (the two bottom ones). I don't mind wiggling teeth when they are first loose, but I'm not all about pulling them. Fortunately for me, Eric's parents were staying with us last week because they were having some work done to their hardwood floors. Eric's mom, Randie, has been the "official tooth puller-outer" in their family for over 30 years! So she was told to be on standby for pulling this tooth.

Last Wednesday night at church he was eating Fun Dip and when he bit down on the stick, it really made the bottom left one loose. So when he came home, she just grabbed a washcloth and started at it. He's usually a pretty cautious kid, but he was a real trooper. She just wiggled, tugged and pulled until it came right out. He wasn't even freaked out by the blood. He was very proud and immediately had to call Auntie, MaLee & Pop!

The tooth fairy made a stop with $5! Man! We must have gotten a rich little tooth fairy. What's up with the 50 cents I used to get?!? Ha! He was very proud and when he smiles now, he drops down his bottom lip so you are sure to see the little gaps. I said gaps because the very next night, Thursday February 14th, he lost another one! Such an exciting week!

Leigh Ann-This is for you!

2008-02-11T20:35:00.001-06:00

When I saw a friend's "big hair" picture the other night, I immediately thought of this picture of myself. I also have huge permed hair (though not as big as Leigh Ann's-ha!), Brooke Shields eyebrows and the best "come hither" look I could come up with at 19 years old. YIKES! I was so struggling! You can't tell in this picture, but my acid wash jeans had some holes in them. I was bringing a little bit of 80s into 1990! How much eye shadow was I wearing?!? Good times!

What was your most embarrassing fashion trend from the 80s? Which one do you miss the most?

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-02-08T16:33:00.001-06:00

This was one of the only candid pictures of me on my wedding day-Saturday, December 11, 1993. I was only 22 years old. It's hard to believe that this year will be our 15th wedding anniversary. It's funny how styles have changed-I hate to think of my wedding attire as outdated...ha! This dress had a cathedral length train and was pretty heavy. My sister took this picture. She had seen a photo of Princess Di taken like this and she wanted me to pose. I was more than willing to plop down and take a load off. Weddings are tiring-but SO worth it. I would do it all over again...and take Eric with me. :)

Finally Getting Better

2008-02-03T18:34:00.001-06:00

Here's Luke with his inhaler. He's gotten to be quite the pro with it. He's been doing this every 4 hours for the past 8 days. We've been to the doctor 4 times in the past two weeks, he's missed 7 days of school and is fever free today after 10 days. We are so ready for him to be well. We appreciate everyone's prayers. Even though he is still pasty white and coughing some he's going to school tomorrow!

OH MY GOSH!!!

2008-02-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

The Inviting Company is a factory/warehouse here in town that has a clearance sale on scrapbooking paper, diaper bags, plates, napkins, notecards, post-it notes, cardstock, custom stationery, etc. a couple of times a year. I went last March and had a ball shopping for all of that stuff. I wanted to go this morning, but I knew that would not be Luke's favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning. So what did I do? BRIBE!!!! I told him he had to do 3 things this morning and he would earn $10 to go to Target and get whatever he wanted. The three things were: 1) Feed the guinea pigs 2) Don't gripe when it's time to go and 3) Be good shopping (this means he has to stay by me and not ask me "When we are going to leave?" 100 times). He was all about making a deal. He was so good!!!

My friend, LaDonna, went with me and Luke this morning about 10:30. When we walked in there were at least 100 people shopping and the lines to pay were about 20 people long. It was so overwhelming!!! I saw my bunko friend Leslie and Megan's mom both getting some great deals. We didn't have a shopping cart at first, but I realized we weren't going to be able to buy much without one, so I followed a lady with a cart out to her car and helped her unload her boxes to have use of the cart. Then we started!!! :) I love the custom stationery and party goods. They were half off today and each package of plates or napkins was 13 cents apiece! You could buy a box of 10 packages of plates for $1.25!!! It was crazy. I bought some things for a baby shower I'm hosting next month and stuff for 3 more parties! I'm going to have to start inviting people over now! Ha!

They have cute polka dot vinyl diaper bags for $5 and I bought one for a girl at work. I bought all the things you see on my dining room table for $35! LaDonna got out of there only paying $21. She didn't even have intentions on buying much, but then couldn't help it. She says I'm a bad influence-but at least we bargain shop!!!

After our quick trip to Target for (more) Ben 10 toys for Luke, we called it a day! It was so fun! I had a shopping buzz for a few hours-sick!!!! I know it!

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-01-31T20:05:00.000-06:00

This was taken July 20, 2002. We were attendants at Leslie (Eric's little sis) and Patrick's wedding. It was an action packed week with rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, rehearsal on Friday and the wedding on Saturday. Their wedding was beautiful and we had a great time!

HUGE PRAISE!!!

2008-01-28T12:07:00.000-06:00

We just returned from the doctor's office. His pneumonia is still there, but it had gotten better. His doctor said that when pneumonia gets really bad, it actually hardens the lungs (which they DID NOT want to happen). He also got some medicine to help his cough. So Eric is at home with him today. I came to work so I will be able to stay home with him tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers! They worked!

Sick Boy!!!!

2008-01-27T14:22:00.002-06:00

We found out yesterday that Luke has pneumonia. It has been a long week of sickness. He had fever last Sunday night and Monday and we took him to the doctor on Tuesday. She said his lungs sounded clear, ears and throat were good. She swabbed him to check for flu and that came back negative.

He went to school on Wednesday and Thursday, but was not 100%. When I picked him up from Nena & Papa's house on Thursday afternoon, he was acting really tired and he was burning up with fever. He had 102.9. So he missed school again on Friday. We took him to the walk-in clinic on Saturday morning. When she listened with her stethoscope she said his lungs sounded wheezy, so she ordered blood work (via fingerprick-thank goodness!!!!) and an X-ray. His blood work came back normal, but his X-ray showed that he had pneumonia. She said it was pretty bad. She said if he was not significantly better by Monday, they would need to admit him to the hospital. After getting a shot in the leg, he was sent home with an inhaler and an antibiotic, but the fever has not gone away. I knew he was feeling horrible when I offered to take him to Toys R Us for being brave and he said he wanted to go home instead. Man! That is NOT like him! :)

Please keep him in your prayers. I will keep you all posted.

Sorry the picture is sideways! I could not figure out how to turn it around. Does anyone know how to upload a vertical picture onto Blogspot? I know other people have had this problem.

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-01-25T17:11:00.001-06:00

Look at my little beach bum! Luke was almost one in this picture. He was so happy on this day! My friends, Paula & Michelle, at Picture This Photography did an AWESOME job with this shoot (I hope you don't mind me putting this on my blog). It's one of my all-time favorite pics of him and today is my very first time to use my new scanner I got for Christmas. I sure miss him being this small.

Things I love and hate...

2008-01-25T15:15:00.000-06:00

My friend, Leigh Ann, tagged me. I'm supposed to list some things I love and some things I hate, so here we go...

Things I LOVE:

Singing praise songs at church or in the car
Chips and cheese dip
Planning parties, showers, and get-togethers
Snuggling with Luke ("Hold me Time!!!")
Chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven
Sweet tea
80s music
Reading
Taking long baths at night
Hangin' out with my family

Things I HATE:

Stupid drivers
Indian food (curry...ugggghhhhh!!!!)
Liars
Cold weather
Slapstick comedy
Heights
Waking up
Coffee
Electric guitar solos and really heavy metal music
Fighting

What are some of your likes/dislikes?

Disney World-Here we come!!!

2008-01-24T19:10:00.001-06:00

It's official!!!! We are going to Disney World! I AM SO EXCITED! I have been researching all the parks, resorts, touring plans, restaurants, character meals, etc. etc. etc. It's quite overwhelming, but I think I'm finally getting it. We now have an itinerary and dinner reservations each night. I think I'm driving both of them a little crazy with all this, but it takes planning! My friend, Shonda, was a HUGE help with her family's itinerary from a few years back. We are going the first part of May! Luke's really pumped about his first airplane ride and getting to see Animal Kingdom.

Sisters in Christ Party

2008-01-20T21:12:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, the girls in my Sunday School class all got together at Shannon's house. We had a Mexican potluck and the food was great. We had so much fun getting to know each other through some silly games. Thanks girls for putting up with me! We all didn't get together during Christmas, so we all brought dirty Santa gifts. I'm so happy to say that Jennifer ended up with the crazy-eyed Victorian tree topper that I brought. Ha! I love all the girls in my class so much! I pray that we all grow closer to Christ each and every day.

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-01-18T21:44:00.001-06:00

I love this picture of my two sweeties! They look so much alike here! This was taken in Destin Commons in September 2004. It's amazing how much Luke has grown since then. His looks haven't changed that much, but he's just lost that "baby look". He sure has thickened up, grown taller and now has his first loose tooth!

Four Things Friday!

2008-01-18T18:41:00.000-06:00

I saw this on another blog so I thought I would post my answers. Let me know what your answers are as well.

4 jobs I've had:

1. Clerk in the shoe dept. at Wal-Mart
2. Receptionist at a baby wipe factory
3. Child Support Enforcement Case Manager
4. Speech Therapist

4 movies watched over and over:

1. Wizard of Oz
2. Gone with the Wind
3. Pretty Woman
4. Christmas Vacation

4 places I've lived:

1. Paragould, AR
2. Fayetteville, AR
3. Little Rock, AR
4. Jacksonville, AR

4 shows I watch:

1. Man vs. Wild
2. Dog Whisperer
3. KATV 10 o'clock news
4. That's it...I do not watch TV!!!!

4 places I've been:

1. Honolulu, Hawaii
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Ambato, Ecuador

4 people who e-mail me regularly:

1. Stacy W.
2. Heather P.
3. Eric
4. Christy D.

4 favorite things to eat:

1. Cheese Dip and Chips
2. Bread-any kind!
3. Sushi-Spicy Crunchy Rolls
4. Shrimp

4 places I'd rather be:

1. Europe
2. Navarre Beach, FL
3. Ecuador
4. On a cruise

4 things I look forward to this year:

1. Disney World in May!!!
2. Knowing God better
3. Watching Luke grow
4. Growing our Sunday School class

4 people to tag: (I wish everyone would do this because it's fun - but I'm limited to 4 people)

1. Christy D.
2. Megan B.
3. Shannon S.
4. Sunshine C.

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-01-10T21:56:00.000-06:00

Here's the latest pic of Mom with her two girls and two
boys. She's always called us that..."my girls" and "my boys", never daughters or sons. I guess that it was too formal sounding for her. My mom (or Mama as I call her) has a very tender heart. She has been a lot like a friend or sister growing up. She was only 19 when I was born, so we sorta grew up together. She's a huge encourager and is constantly telling us that we are the smartest or the cutest. Mama has never picked favorites with us-we are all her favorite. She loves pretty things, sunrises, taking bubble baths, wearing her robe (ha!) and watching movies. She has made some huge sacrifices for us over the years and I love her.

My sister, April, I are best friends. Many of our friends have told us that what we have is pretty special. We happen to think so, too. Of course, we argue and have physically fought over the years. I'm sure she's probably told you how I threw scissors at her in anger once or that she about killed me when I was 18 by pulling my hair and kneeing me in the gut at the same time! Ha! Man! I DO NOT miss those days. Now we may not always see eye to eye, but that means we only talk on the phone 5 times instead of 10 times that day. I love my sister!

Patrick came along when I was 13. He actually had three mamas growing up. He had the curliest hair as a little boy and was super funny. Mom always dressed him in little sailor outfits and he loved hats. And Transformers, He-Man and Ninja Turtles. Now he loves his computer, working out and his girlfriend Terra.

I was 21 and going to school in Fayetteville when Derek was born. I was so sad to be far away when he was a baby. I came home on the weekends a lot and would rush right in the house and pick him up. I didn't care if he was asleep or not. Derek's friends give him a hard times about having older parents and sisters old enough to be his mom, but we don't care. That just means he has more people to love. And more people to get gifts from...ha! Derek's doing great in 10th grade and it's amazing to me that he's almost old enough to drive. YIKES!!!

I thank God for my family everyday!

Huge Praise!

2008-01-10T21:37:00.001-06:00

My mom-in-law, Randie, went to her cardiologist a few weeks ago for a routine stress test. Unfortunately, she failed it and she was scheduled for a arteriorgram yesterday at Baptist Springhill. While undergoing the procedure (she was totally awake during the whole thing!!!), they found 50% blockage in a very important artery. They were able to put a stint in and everything is going great. She spent the night in the hospital one night and is now home while Michael is waiting on her every second (not sure how that is any different than normal!). Anyone who knows Michael, knows what I'm talking about it. He's usually helping you with something before you even know you need it. The Lord has really blessed my life with these two. They are headed for a Caribbean cruise in a few weeks, so she needs to rest up and start working on packing all those clothes and shoes. Ha!

We give God all the praise and glory for taking care of Ran during this time. I've really been learning a lot from the Lord about prayer and the way He answers us. Sometimes it may seem like He doesn't hear us or isn't there at all, but we just need to remember that His ways are not always our ways. Many times He has a lesson that we would not have learned otherwise.

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-01-02T14:12:00.001-06:00

I've been so lazy with my blog lately. We had a wonderful Christmas! It was 3 full days of cooking, loading the car, going to family's, exchanging gifts and eating. Our church had a wonderful candlelight service. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure.

Eric and I got a new camera (anniversary gift to each other). His mom got him a zoom lens for the camera and he took this picture of Luke the other day before we went for a walk. He's having so much fun figuring out all the different settings. I need to learn as much as I can so I can take cool pictures. I got a scanner for Christmas!!!! Yea! Thanks, Scarlet & Bill! You should be seeing some old pictures on here soon. I'm very excited about that!

My Decorations

2007-12-22T09:00:00.001-06:00

This year I placed all my photo Christmas cards on my mantle. Some of the families are people that I see on a weekly basis, others are family, some are people I see only see once a year, many are people that moved away, but all are people that I love keeping in contact with. I love getting to see how all the kiddos grow from year to year. I keep all of my Christmas cards and scrapbook them in our Christmas album (I know that sounds pretty adventurous, but I'm only about 4 years behind-I should say my plan is to scrapbook all of them). We received more cards this year than ever! I think we have 35 now. I love racing to the mailbox in December to see which ones have arrived. My friend Stacey (who now lives in Arkadelphia) is always the first Christmas card to arrive. I know I can always count on that. I saw an idea on another blog that I may try next year. This girl bought a small Christmas tree and barely put any decorations on it. Then when her cards would arrive, she would punch a small hole in them, string some ribbon through and use her cards as the ornaments for that tree. I'm going to look for a small to medium size tree to do that!!!

Luke has his own tree in his room. It's a 6 foot tree that I rescued from my neighbor's trash. I know what you all are thinking...that I'm a Dumpster Diver-ha! But my neighbors were military and moving again and they were chunking all kinds of cool things. I don't know why she didn't take it to Goodwill or call someone to pick it up, but anyway...she was wasteful and I got a nice tree because of it. Luke has lots of colorful handpainted ornaments that Randie and I worked on about 10 years ago. He also gets a new ornament every year that kinda represents what he likes at the time (when he was two it was Mufasa and Simba, last year was Superman and this year it's Yoda). He also has lots of photo ornaments and handmade goodies. He likes having his own tree. FYI-don't let the Christmas tree cord get too close to your guinea pig cage. I promise they will chew through it! I don't know how one of them didn't die, because the lights were on when they started nibbling. I would have puked if I would have walked in there and seen a fried pig in that cage! But I learned how to splice wires this year-all from help from my mom and electrician brother-in-law Bryan. This could be dangerous!

Next are pics of my Dept. 56 Snow Villages. I have eight total. Most of them were gifts from family (especially April). I have Grandma's cottage, Garage Sale (my friend Julie said only I would have a garage sale in my Christmas Village. Ha! I took her to her first garage sales last year and she loved it!!!), Public Library (to represent my love of libraries and books-I know...I'm a nerd), All Saint's Church, Fishing Cabin, Christmas Store, Hunting Lodge (Eric dropped this one out of the attic about 8 years ago-I cried so hard! But I salvaged it and I just put lots of little trees next to the big hole in the side of it!) and the Ice Castle. We all love looking at them all lit up at night.

The last picture is of our tree. I bought the green ribbon at Holiday House a few years back and really like the color. We have a variety of ornaments. Eric and I used to exchange ornaments every year (I'm not quite sure why we stopped...maybe we were getting too many). Some of my favorites are my Hallmark ornaments. I have several Scarlet O'Hara ornaments, Baby's 1st Christmas, Our First Christmas Together, Our New Home, Luke's Growth Chart Ornament, etc. Eric said our tree is prettiest it has ever been! I love it!

Merry Christmas from our home!
Amy, Eric and Luke

Silly Snapshot Saturday

2007-12-22T08:52:00.001-06:00

Don't you love the title of this post?!? I had to invent it since I forgot Favorite Foto Friday. I was too busy wrapping Christmas presents and watching Christmas Vacation with Eric. He has to watch that at least once a year.

This picture was taken by my very good friend, Kelly. It's of my crazy sister, April. She cleans Kelly's house on a regular basis (that's her career and she's very good at it-no need calling me for her number...she's always booked!). Well, for some reason she thought it would be a good idea to vacuum while holding Kelly's baby, Parker. He looks kinda content, doesn't he? That is SO April. She's always multi-tasking. She can get more done in one hour than most girls I know do all day long. And the whole time she will be on her cell phone (which one you ask? she has two!!!!). That's April and I love her!

Pajama Night at Bunko

2007-12-17T22:02:00.000-06:00

Tonight I hosted Bunko at my house. Last month, all of us decided that it was about time to have a Pajama Night. So we all wore our comfy pajamas and I made breakfast for everyone (Tamara, Julie, Jennifer, Amy B., Leslie, LaDonna and Leah). We had gravy and biscuits, bacon and egg casserole, cinnamon rolls and juice. Later for dessert, we had chocolate fondue (this was brand new for me-I've had my fondue pot for two years and never tried it) with pineapples, pound cake, bananas, apples, raspberries and marshmallows. YUM! We had a great time and may have to repeat PJ Night really soon! I offered to take a group shot, but I don't think anyone felt like seeing themselves posted on my blog the next day. Ha!

God has blessed me with some wonderful friends. The older I get, the more I realize how valuable these friendships are between us girls. I love my friends! Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; if one falls down, his (her) friend can help him (her) up."

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-12-15T00:27:00.001-06:00

This picture was taken in 2004-when Luke was about three and a half years old. We were having our pics taken by a friend for our Christmas card. This was such a fun age with Luke. It was around this time he told me one day, "You are the best mama I've ever had". AWWWWW!!!!
I love him!

Christmas Musical at Church

2007-12-11T22:13:00.001-06:00

Here's Luke singing at church last Sunday. He's the only 1st grade boy in Children's Choir at our church. He seems to enjoy choir. He always wants to play his choir CDs in the car. He usually sings pretty loud and remembers most of the words. But he also rubs his eyes a lot, adjusts his zipper (YIKES!) and yawns throughout most of the songs. We love watching him sing and that's usually the only time we use our video camera. Sucky parents!

Luke's Christmas Shopping is Finished!

2007-12-11T22:03:00.001-06:00

About two weeks ago, Luke's school had a fundraiser called the Christmas Store. We sent money with him and he was able to pick out presents for us and a little something for himself. We sent with him $13. That was $5 each for us and he had $3 to spend on a gift for him. That night, he was so excited and wanted to give us our gifts immediately! We tried to explain that we still had over 3 weeks left until Christmas and that we were to save these gifts so we would have something from him on Christmas Day. He would not take no for an answer. So we celebrated Christmas almost a month early. Eric got a ballpoint pin that said "AWESOME DAD" and I got a white shell necklace. He bought himself a plastic stretchy lizard. He had over $8 left in his envelope. I guess it's good that he's not a big spender. :) Our presents were so sweet and we'll keep them forever!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2007-12-11T21:42:00.000-06:00

Eric and I married on December 11, 1993. We were both 22 years old at the time. We had a pretty big church wedding that was all decorated for Christmas. Our colors were green and red (of course). My dress had a cathedral length train, huge puffy sleeves and gigantic bow on the back. Ha! Too bad I don't have a scanner...I know you are all dying to see those pics! had to get the pictures out last night to walk down memory lane. I had so much fun planning the wedding and would do it all over again (with only a few changes).

I can honestly say I am happier now than I have ever been. Eric was such a support for me when I had five long years of undergraduate and graduate school to go through. He's a great daddy and is a very loving and helpful husband. It's not to say that everything has been perfect and that we haven't had bumps along the way. Every couple has problems and the Lord sure has been with us every step of the way. Remember that the best marriages have three people involved-God, husband and wife. I'm so thankful that He gave me Eric.

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-11-30T21:29:00.001-06:00

This is my sister, April, and her husband, Bryan. It was taken at Universal Studios in Orlando. They took their two wild boys down there for an impromptu vacation last month. They said it was exactly what they needed. They had so much fun riding rides, eating in cool restaurants, going to the beach and hanging out as a family. Ape and Bryan are the most giving people you will ever meet. Luke simply calls them Auntie and Uncle. I love them so much!

Christmas Banquet

2007-11-30T13:09:00.000-06:00

Last night was our Christmas banquet at church. I brought my sister, mom and Grandma. My grandma has Alzheimer's, but it still living at home. She loves dressing up, getting out and listening to music. We had the best time. Billy, Kylan and Dave sang several gospel songs then some Christmas carols. We had food catered by Bene Vita. Christy's mom, Debra, gave her testimony and encouraged us all to be more grounded in the Scriptures. The fellowship hall was so beautiful-all decorated for Christmas. All my blog friends were there!!! And tons more! I am so blessed with Christian friends. I wish we had thought to bring our camera...

Cooking for Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T13:26:00.000-06:00

Today I'm off work and I'm preparing for all of my family and Eric's parents to come for Thanksgiving. We are in charge of making the turkey this year. This last couple of years we've gotten a Cajun one from Popeye's, but decided to make our own. I did research on allrecipes.com and found a good one. After rubbing butter, salt, pepper and garlic on it, put it in a baking bag and pour in 2/3 bottle of sparkling apple cider (or champagne if you aren't Baptist-ha!). It is supposed to be super moist. I'm also making broccoli cheese casserole, sweet potato casserole, brownies and pumpkin cheesecake squares (also a recipe I found on allrecipes.com). Today Luke and I have Ty and Harlan over. So they have been playing Playstation 2, action figures and we've been playing board games in between cooking and laundry. Looking forward to tomorrow! I love having everyone over.

Where's Waldo?

2007-11-18T21:31:00.001-06:00

Can you find my sweetie? I told you he would be working the sidelines, didn't I? He looks like he has LOTS of responsibilities, doesn't he? This picture was in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm so proud...

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-11-16T19:51:00.001-06:00

Here's Luke last year getting for his first (and probably last) soccer season. Did he like it? Not so much! He did like the snacks...

This was a picture of him going to his first soccer practice. Notice he doesn't even have on soccer socks! Oh well, he still looks cute! Ha!

This is for you, Kelly!

2007-11-16T18:46:00.000-06:00

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This has been such an exciting and busy past two days! My sister, April, is the president of PTO at Ty and Harlan's school. After working at my full-time job, I volunteered for 5 hours at their school last night. I was able to help by taking money from parents, moving tables, unloading trucks, cleaning the school and helping corral my sweet nephews. After I left there, I was able attend a baby shower for my friend Holly (You sure did get lots of cute things for the new baby, Holly!).

I am so enjoying my career as a speech-language pathologist. I've been out of school for eight years now (I know...I don't look that old, do I?) and I love working with all the children at my center. After helping with our fall festival at the center where I work, I headed over to Luke's school. I was in charge of organizing his Thanksgiving party. We had a wonderful time. The games I picked out were absolutely perfect! The children in his class are so wonderful. I'm getting to know all of them so well, because I volunteer my time every Wednesday to read to them. Such sweeties! Did I forget to write that Luke is now writing cursive (in 1st grade-isn't that incredible?!?) and has made straight As all year long. I don't know if his school has Gifted & Talented, but we are about to find out.

When I arrived home this afternoon, my amazing husband had cooked us dinner. He grilled barbequed ribs. I love it when he surprises me like this. Like when he sent me "just because" bouquet of roses to work a few months ago. Isn't it crazy that we have been together since 1990 and I love him more each and every day. You may be able to see Eric tomorrow. He'll be on the sidelines at the Hogs game wearing a press pass. He gets the special passes (along with free parking right up front) and dinner due to his friends that he made when he worked at U of A's Sports Information Department. He sure misses interviewing the players and coaches. But now he spends all his time writing and directing commercials and radio spots for his ad agency. But he still loves rooting the Razorbacks any chance he gets. Go Hogs!

I cannot believe in just a few days we will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house. So wonderful to get all the family together at one time. Then next week, decorating the Christmas tree and all the neat things that go along with that. Can't wait!

Well, I'm off to study my Sunday School lesson now...

To all my crazy friends that read this boring blog...just wanted to give you something interesting to read. Some people actually write like this all the time. Please know this was all tongue in cheek! I hope you had fun reading it...

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-11-08T14:52:00.001-06:00

This was taken in December 2004. Luke was 3 years old. I love this picture because he grabbed us and was squeezing both of our necks. He looks pretty mischievous in this picture.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-08T14:43:00.001-06:00

We went to the Harvest Fest at our church. Luke dressed up as Boba Fett. He's a bounty hunter from Star Wars. Luke loves Star Wars and knows lots more about the characters than Eric and I do. He loved playing all the games, taking a hayride and, of course, getting lots of candy. It's hard to believe that this is his 7th Halloween!

Love the sound of a baby laughing!

2007-11-06T22:43:00.000-06:00

I don't even know who this baby is...I just ran across it on YouTube, but it made me smile and I hope it brightens your day as well. Love that sound!

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-11-02T00:20:00.001-05:00

This is my favorite picture of Randie and Michael (aka "Nena" and "Papa"). It was taken last year at one of Luke's soccer games. God knew what He was doing when He gave me these in-laws. I don't tell them enough how much I appreciate all they do for me. I love you, guys!

Time to Christmas Shop!

2007-11-02T00:13:00.000-05:00

I updated my Avatar today and thought I would add it to my blog. I decided that I better get in the mood to go Christmas shopping, since it is literally around the corner. I have already started shopping. Only a few gifts down, but at least it's a start. We are blessed to have tons of family to buy for. Secretly, I love the whole craziness of it. I need to plan ahead, keep my lists updated and figure out what to get Luke!

Favorite Foto Friday

2007-10-28T00:54:00.001-05:00

Here's one of my favorite pictures from my mission trip to Ambato, Ecuador last October. My face is all red from crying, because these little kiddos just broke my heart. On this day, we were bringing supplies to volcano victims. These poor people had lost crops and farm animals (including goats and guinea pigs) due to the volcano Tungurahua. The little boys and girls all had red cheeks from the wind that were now covered in gray soot of volcano ash. They were so poor. One little boy had on two different colored boots and he was having the time of his life kicking around an empty water bottle like it was a ball. I kept thinking of all Luke had in his closet that this little boy needed. All the toys he had at home that I would have loved to have given him. The Lord has blessed us so much and yet we continue to take it for granted.

I met so many wonderful people there. They were so friendly and interested to know more about what we had to share about Jesus. When some people found out we were from Estados Unidos, they would say, "Please take me back to your country. Take my daughter!". Incredible!

I can still remember the sky, the hills, the people's faces and the smells. I miss it!

Amy

Psalm 121:1-2 says:
I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

No Training Wheels!

2007-10-26T08:04:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon, Eric and I took Luke over to the empty parking lot behind our house. After much encouragement and only a few tiny crashes, he rode all by himself! He has the personality that we always have to convince him to try new things. Once he does it, he loves it! We'll have to practice some more this weekend.