Trying out blogging from my phone ...

Well I never post and once again I recognize that will probably not change, but I thought I might try it from my phone just in case. ;)

So, let's go with our date last night!
We were getting ready to head down to Hot Springs for General Conference weekend and decided we should have a little date on our way down. We planned to play some disc golf, ride bikes, and have a picnic at Burns Park ... But then came the thunderstorms. (That's the kind of thing that will happen when you don't watch any TV - including the weather.  And also I don't know how in the heck we ever thought we could cram that in before it got dark regardless . . . ) I was pretty bummed because it's not often we make time to go out and do something. I just kept hoping the rain would stop long enough for us to do something. Well, it didn't, but I convinced Dave to play frisbee golf with me anyway! I had on my jacket and rain boots and ran around jumping in puddles like a 5 year old! We probably only played for 30 minutes before it got too dark to see, and then David set up the picnic he had brought. It was dark and freezing, but I'm pretty sure it's a date we won't forget! :)

Happy Mother's Day and Heritage Makers

So first of all Happy Mother's Day! Especially to my Mom, who doesn't read this, which is why I can post this . . . . http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectId=1301448&productId=5&projectSponsor=438878

That's the book that Emily and I made for Mom for Mother's Day - with help from all the kids. It was so easy and so fun! I'm excited about giving it to Mom. I think she'll really like it. I went to a conference a few weeks ago called Time Out for Women, and while I was there, I found this company called Heritage Makers. It is a company that encourages you to preserve your stories and pictures together in ways that are useful and fun. They make photo storybooks like this one we made for Mom, digital scrapbook pages, calendars, recipe books, greeting cards, announcements, invitations and all kinds of other super cool things! Everything is completely customizable down to the specific pieces of digital art you use to embellish your pages. But they also have pre-made templates that you can just use to drag and drop your pictures and text in. It is really neat. Heritage Makers works a lot like Pampered Chef or Mary Kay in the way that we have parties, or as we call them, workshops to show people the products and a little bit about how to make them. I am having my Grand Opening workshop this week - one on Tuesday night at 6:30 and one Wednesday morning at 10:00. So if you live anywhere close, come on! I am super excited! If you aren't able to make it, but want to learn more, I can come show you more about it or do a workshop at your house so you can earn free products! My website is www.yourstorybookconsultant.com so you can check that out to see more about Heritage Makers. Let me know what you think!

While I'm in the Updating Mood . . .

These pictures were taken on Christmas Eve . . .

We got up and opened our presents to each other and then decided to go to the mall to do a little more shopping . . . why we decided to go to the mall on Christmas Eve I will never know . . . I'm crazy. I knew the mall would be pretty crazy, but what I didn't know was that all the rain we had been getting was causing extreme flooding. I called my mom to ask her something when we were almost there, and she told me that the roads were supposed to be bad, so we started listening to the radio. They said there was water over the freeway and it was slow going, but we decided to keep going because we assumed the road would be closed if it was really bad . . . Not true . . .

This is the first picture I took as we started to see all the flooding on the service road

This was my view out my window . . . I felt like I was in a boat . . .

I don't know why we didn't get in the other lane . . . almost no one was driving in the right lane, but I don't know that the left one was much better . . . You can barely even see the lines on the road

The service road was closed and completely flooded. Some how people were still driving on 67/167, but I don't know why. Once we saw how bad it was, there was no where to turn around. I was really scared while we were driving through it, but somehow we made it. These are the best pictures I have, but they weren't even in the worst parts.

I love a good Snow Day!

It started snowing yesterday morning and snowed most of the day and night. It was still snowing a little when we woke up, but has stopped now. Our yard is covered with a thin layer of snow, and I guess the roads around here got pretty bad. The bridge between our house and my parents' was closed due to some accidents there last night.

We enjoyed staying up late playing Battleship and Scrabble, drinking hot chocolate, and eating cookies. We received our phone calls confirming that we wouldn't have school around 9 and 9:30 last night which was nice. This morning we were planning to get things done around the house first and play in the snow later, but the sun came out and we were afraid it might melt, so . . . .

we got out and built a snowman with Trent, Tristan, and Trinity, my cousins who live on our street. So, I know he's pretty wimpy, but we got cold and tired, and there isn't THAT much snow. We're old . . . This snow is so powdery and light and sparkly. You can really see each flake! I've never seen snow like it in Arkansas!

It's so nice to have an extra day to get settled in and get a few things done before we get back to work. The past week has been pretty busy. Days like today remind us how glad we are to work for schools and close to home.

Memories . . .

I have been trying to organize all my pictures and documents on my computers and hard drive . . . a huge task, and I am not anywhere near finished. But, I have started downloading some of the best/most important pictures on to my new computer and have enjoyed seeing all my favorite pictures again. They bring back so many good memories of vacations and time spent with family. I thought I would share a few of the ones I have come across so far . . .

This is Emily and I saying our good byes before she left for school in Idaho. All I can say is, I'm happy she came back :)

Spring Break of this year. I got to feed dolphins at Sea World - it was awesome!

(Don't know why this text is weird, but I can't figure out how to fix it, so it is . . . )

After running the St. Jude Marathon - wow, I can't believe I'm still alive.

David and I in San Francisco this summer. We had such a fun trip.

What a slacker . . .

Wow. I'm updating my blog . . . although not really. Especially since there will be no pictures :) I was just sitting here reading some of my old posts and wishing that I had posted more, since I'm a huge slacker at keeping a journal as well. I'm telling myself that now that I have a new, fast! computer (also a Mac :) ) that I will definitely update more . . . . probably just wishful thinking though. I have had the computer for over a week now and still don't really have any pictures on it . . . I'm working on it though. There just always seems to be so many other more important things to do. I have actually put up my Christmas tree and decorations, and even wrapped all my presents. Maybe I'll put some of those pictures on here soon . . .

Road Trip!

We are about a third of the way through our 3+ week road trip out west. It has been super fun, but so busy! So far we have been to Moab and Provo, UT to see family, Salt Lake to see the American Idols concert :), Lake Tahoe for our 4th anniversary, Yosemite National Park, the Oakland Temple and Visitor's Center, and San Francisco. We are currently in Monterey because I want to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We will be driving down the coast today and eventually make it to LA and then San Diego before heading to Arizona to see family and go to my family's reunion. We have taken so many pictures I haven't even been able to pick through them to find some to post . . . . hopefully I'll do that sometime soon. The highlights have been parasailing over Lake Tahoe, hiking to the beautiful waterfalls and other mountain scenery in Yosemite, including star gazing on a big rock dome with just the 2 of us, seeing deer and other animals in Yosemite, and walking around San Francisco, especially the Golden Gate Bridge - it's all been awesome. We can't believe we have the opportunity to see all of these places all at once - it's incredible.

American Idol Finale! Go Kris!!

Just wanted to share some pictures of us in our t-shirts and all our excitement getting ready for work and then the final performances of this year's American Idol! We are voting for Kris!!

An Awesome Saturday!

Last Saturday we decided to go watch a matinee showing of X-Men Origins - Wolverine. Stuart and Whitney came with us. We all really like the movie, but decided we weren't finished hanging out . . . we went back to Stuart & Whitney's to decide what to do. We settled on using the 4 free games of bowling David has been carrying around in his wallet for the last year. We ended up bowling 2 games and it was a ton of fun! It has been forever since we've been bowling! As if we hadn't had enough, we went out for ice cream and then met Stuart, Whitney, Grace, Paul, Mary K, and Spencer back here in Rose Bud to watch "Taken" at Grace & Paul's house. We had a fun filled Saturday! Thanks guys!


Stuart & Whitney getting ready to bowl!


This is the look I make when somehow I knock over 4 pins and it turns into a strike . . . apparently . . .

This is Dave trying to make sure his foot does that "thing"

Thanks Stuart & Whitney!!!

Women Can Run 5K

There is an organization or group or whatever you want to call it called Women Can Run/Walk that sets up small "clinics" in any town that wants to participate. Rose Bud has participated for the past two years, and this year me, Mom, and Natalie did it with them. You meet two nights a week to run/walk together (there are schedules set up for walkers and beginning, intermediate, and advanced runners to help you train for a 5K). We have been meeting since the end of February, and this Saturday was the 5K we have been training for. We had a good time training and running, but I am still terribly slow. I'm planning to keep running and hopefully get faster!


Me & April - she runs with me and tries to get me to go faster :)
I'm happy to have her with me!


Nat, Mom & Me after the race


Natalie with her medal and certificate - Go Nat!


After waiting for the final pair of shoes to be given away, we all headed to Chili's for lunch! It was a lot of fun. And it's a good thing we stayed for the door prizes - out of the 19 or so of us there, we won 2 pairs of running shoes, a t-shirt, a fancy back pack, and two Road ID gift certificates.

Kris Allen comes Home!

If you do not know who Kris Allen is, you are no longer my friend. Just kidding, but seriously if you don't know, you should find out :) Kris Allen is from Conway, Arkansas and is in the Top 3 on this season of American Idol. He came home to Little Rock and Conway this past weekend. I was able to go see him at the Rivermarket in Little Rock with Mom, Cindy, Emily, and Kendra which was really awesome. I also went to see him that evening in Conway with David. We really had a lot of fun, except that it was extremely hot and sticky in Conway. I think I liked him even more live than I do on the show!


This is us when we got there around 11 am.


The crowd during the concert - there were a lot of people there!


Kevin from Channel 16 talking to Kris.


This is my favorite picture I took - I think he was singing "She Works Hard for the Money"


Some nice person took a picture for us on our way back to the car, so we could all be in the picture. :)



We were standing in Front Street in front of Mike's Place for the Conway concert - I liked their sign.

Fun with Friends

Last Friday night, we met up with some friends in Conway to go out to eat and play a game. We went to eat pizza, then went to Colby and Katie's where we had brownies and played Yahtzee. It was fun to see them again and be back in Conway for a while.


Me, Katie & Celeste


Colby, Joe, & Dave

Valentine's Weekend

We are lucky to have some good connections :) Mom & Dad bought into a time share a few years ago, and they have different resorts all over the place that they can use points and stay. They happened to have quite a few points left over that would expire next month, so they let us use some! The closest place to us is in Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. It was the very first resort the company built, so it is older than some of the rest, but it is really neat, and there is surprisingly a lot to do! We and Emily & Jake went up Friday night and stayed through Sunday morning. We went out to eat for dinner both nights, went hiking to a "waterfall", went swimming, and just tried to relax the rest of the time. It was a lot of fun!


Jake, the detective. "It's moss . . . "


Emily, sitting on the tree she climbed.




Behind the waterfall


Just David . . . .








Emily & Jake at the restaurant on Valentine's Day