Mother's Day 2013

Last year on Mother's Day weekend, I went home to see my parents.  While I was in town, I also met with a doctor regarding my issues with infertility.  That appointment resulted in the decision to have surgery which removed tons of endometriosis.  I am soo thankful that God led me to this doctor and Scott and I decided to have the surgery.  Because of that, I spent Mother's Day this year as a MOM!!!

My parents came down for the weekend and we cooked out and did lots of projects around the house.  My dad built me this awesome planter.  Now I just have to find something to put on it to tone down the brightness of the paint.  But hey, I scored that paint for $5 at Lowe's because it was apparently the wrong color or someone didn't like it.

I am soo grateful for this little guy and I am soo happy I was able to spend my 1st Mother's Day as a mom with family.  The weather was great and we spent lots of time outside.  

Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend was my mom's birthday.  She turned the BIG 6-0 so Scott and I headed to NE Arkansas Friday after work to celebrate.  Friday night we met my parents and my mom's boss's 5 year old daughter for dinner at Upper Crust Pizza.  This is one of my favorite pizza places at home.  Dinner was full of excitement with a 5 year old whom I have not seen in a long time.  She entertained us all very well during dinner and afterwards when we ran a couple of other errands.


Saturday was my mom's actual birthday.  We headed out around 10:30.  My parents ran by and got their hair cut and washed while Scott and I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby.  We had lunch at another local spot in Jonesboro that has the best cheeseburger I think I have ever eaten.   I also ran into a friend who I had not seen in years.

After lunch we decided to do a little shopping.  We stopped by a local shop that sells a little bit of everything...razorback stuff, home decor stuff, and baby stuff.  We picked up a baby book for Carter and what is hopefully our last piece of wall art for Carter's room.  After that we decided to run by a couple of furniture stores.  Scott and I have been on the hunt for new barstools for a couple of months.  We knew exactly what we wanted, but couldn't seem to find them anywhere.  We walked into a furniture store and there they were right by the store.  Fortunately they have them in counter height also which is what we needed.  She called their other store that was 45 minutes away and they had 3 left that were not already sold.   We bought them without hesitation.  My mom also found a really nice zebra print storage ottoman to use in front of her couch.

We ate lunch with my parents Sunday then headed back to LR.  We barely made it home and got the car unloaded until it was time for me to leave again.  We had a baby shower for a church member before church Sunday night, so I had to be there early.

I ended up taking off work on Monday because I have had a nagging sore throat for 2 days.  Luckily, I think I am finally over it.  I had my mom put our old barstools on a FB yard sale page and she sold them in about an hour.  Hopefully the person won't back out by the time my mom picks them up this weekend.

Looks like we are in for a stormy afternoon/night here.  Hopefully it won't start until after I get home.

Life Lately

• Scott and I spent the week of the 4th of July in Seagrove, Florida on the beach.  It was a much needed vacation.  The weather was awesome, in the 80's everyday.  It rained a few days we were there, but we were able to always get a least a half day in on the beach.  We spent one rainy afternoon at the outlet mall in Destin.  We didn't take many pictures, but I will try to eventually post a few that we took.


• My new shoes finally came in and I got to try them out on Monday at Crossfit.  I LOVE them!  I hope this solves all of my ankle rolling problems. 



• To show you that I am a clutz, we were packing for our trip to Florida and I had laid the suitcase in the floor in the bathroom.  On one of my trips through the bathroom to get clothes, I ran straight into the wheel of the suitcase.  Needless to say, my little toe turned blue/purple.  And to top it off, it was the same foot that already had a bum ankle.


• Since we took our vacation seriously, we didn't work out once while we were there.  So after 11 days off, Monday was our first day back at Crossfit.  It was brutal!  My calves are still soo sore 2 days later.
• Here is a rundown of the WOD:
• 1 mile run
• 150 double under's
• 800 m run
• 100 double under's
• 400 m run
• 50 double under's
• Finish time: 30:43 rx!


• While at the beach, I started readying Fifty Shades of Grey.  I didn't know much about the books going into it except that they were racy.  I had several blog friends and friends on Facebook talk about how great they were, so I thought I would give it a shot.  I'm about 60 pages into the 3rd book now and all I can say is WOW.  These books are good, but I'm not sure I will ever read something like this again.  Luckily, the 2nd and 3rd books don't seem to be as explicit as the 1st book.


• The first week back to work after vacation is never fun.  I am counting down the days until Friday!!  Happy Wednesday!

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

What better way to start your Memorial Day weekend than with a Black Tie Affair cupcake from Cupcakes on Kavanaugh?  And they even put red and blue star sprinkles on it and a flag?



After work on Friday we loaded up the car and headed to the lake.  We were up early Saturday morning and Scott, Scott (my brother-in-law), and I went to hike Sugarloaf Mountain.  This was our first time climbing it and the views were awesome from the top.



















Afterwards, we headed back to the house to eat lunch and pick up everyone else.  We eventually make it out on the lake for a late afternoon ride on the boat and swim.  The water was a little cold for my liking, but I braved it anyway.  We grilled steaks Saturday night and went to bed early.  Sunday morning we hung around the house for a while, then headed out again shortly after lunch.  The water was STILL cold, but we managed.  Scott and I decided to come back home on Sunday night after dinner.

Ollie LOVED the ride home in the Jeep with the top off

We got up Monday morning and went to CrossFit to honor all of the fallen soldiers with "Memorial Day Murph."  You can read more about Lt. Michael Murphy here.  We had a great turnout for the workout.  We were given 3 options:

• Murph: 1 mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, 1 mile run
• sMURPH: 1/2 mile run, 50 pullups, 100 pushups, 150 squats, 1/2 mile run
• sMURPHette: 1/4 mile run, 25 pullups, 50 pushups, 75 squats, 1/4 mile run

Most of us opted for the sMURPH, but there were a few who decided to tough it out and do the full MURPH.  I finished sMURPH in around 23-24 minutes.  There was a little issue with the clock about six minutes in, so it was a guess at the exact finish time.

We spent the rest of Memorial Day being lazy.  It felt great after a busy week.

Easter 2012

I've been very lazy about downloading the Easter pics from my camera, so this post is a little late.

Our Easter weekend started with a Friday night trip to Gusano's to listen to one of our friends play.  We stayed until about 11:30, then like the crazy people we are decided we would go home, pack up the car and drive an hour and a half to my parents house.  Needless to say we had to stop for caffeine on the way.  We finally made it about 1:30am.

We got up Saturday morning and after breakfast we were hanging out when Oliver decided he really needed a drink of Scott's milk.  Below is what happens when you give him the chance to get a drink.  Do you think he liked it?

Later on we headed to Jonesboro to check out an estate sale.  Not much was going on there so we didn't stay long.  Saturday night we headed to Batesville to eat a Josie's.  The weather was great so we got to sit outside and had a great view of the river.

Sunday morning we got up early and had time to snap a few pictures before we headed off to church.

Mom and Dad

This is what happens when Scott is told he has to get his picture made.

Finally acting normal

As you can see Scott can't act serious for very long

me and mom

me and dad

As you can see from a couple of the pics above, somewhere a long the line Scott found a stick that he just couldn't put down.  He decided to bring it along on the ride to church.  After poking everyone in the car with it, my mother decided to retaliate with the clothes rod.  My dad eventually broke the stick and then my mom eventually broke it again.  In the end, Scott lost.

Somewhere in the past several years my parents have decided that eating out on Easter is better than cooking a big dinner at home.  We celebrated Easter lunch at Ruby Tuesday. 


Scott and I may be grown adults, but my wonderful parents still gave us Easter baskets.

Like Mother, Like Daughter?

Happy birthday to the best mom in the world who has also been one of my best friends my entire life.  I am soo glad we had a close relationship as I grew up and have maintained that bond well into my adult years.   I hope you enjoy today!

On another note.....
So a bunch of my mom's friends on Facebook have been making their profile picture a picture from the 70's.....so my mom decided to post her Senior picture from HS on Facebook.  She got a tone of comments saying how much they think I look like her.  Do you see the resemblance?

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving lasted 2 days this year and I was worn out by the time it was over.  My parent's came down on Wednesday afternoon and we did a little shopping, ate a great dinner at Bonefish, and ran to the grocery store to get last minute stuff for Thanksgiving.  We didn't get into bed until almost midnight.

 

Thursday was a very busy day.  That morning we got up, went for a walk, painted a table (more to come on this later), cooked lunch (we had non traditional Thanksgiving food since the real meal was gong to be on Friday), prepared food that would be cooked on Friday for Round 2 of Thanksgiving, decorated the Christmas tree, ran to Garden Ridge, and to see my cousin and her 3 sweet boys.  Scott's parents and his sister, her husband, and my niece all arrived last Thursday afternoon.  We didn't do much Thursday night and I crashed pretty early.

(I know I know....this food is SOO unhealthy, but it was SOOO good)

 

 Even Oliver was worn out by the end of the day.

Friday was another fun filled day.  I got up at 6:45, got in a 7 mile run before everyone else was up, came back and cooked a Cinnamon-Sugar breakfast ring (Thanks to Pinterest), cooked my part of the meal for round 2 of Thanksgiving.  We set of goal of eating at noon and I can't believe it but we actually sat down to eat at straight up noon.  Scott's grandparents and Great-Aunt joined us on Friday also.  After lunch was over and the mess was cleaned up it was time for the main attraction.....Our #3 Razorbacks took on the #1 LSU Tigers.  Although the game started off really well, we got our butts beat pretty good.  The rest of Friday we just relaxed and hung out.

 

Another huge meal.....

Scott and I

Mom and I

Eliza-Grace

Uncle Scott and EG

Dad and I

EG and her great-grandpa

EG and her Pop

That is Scott's 97 year old Great Aunt in the Yellow.  She does not look 97.

Eliza-Grace ridin' in style in her to wagon was is meant to be pushed or pulled.

Saturday morning everyone left and Scott and I enjoyed the rainy day indoors.  He watched football....I watched cheesy Christmas movies.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!  Any yes...my Christmas decorations were up for Thanksgiving.  Since we didn't celebrate until Friday, I decided to put my tree up on Wednesday.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best dad ever!  He has taught me soo many wonderful life lessons.  He helped a great deal in making me the person I am today.  I didn't get to spend Father's day with him this year, so mom and I celebrated without him.  I did give him a call this morning to tell him I loved him and I missed him.  Hopefully we will get to have a make up Father's day soon. 

While today is a day of celebration for most people, my thoughts and prayers are also with those who don't have a dad in their life, those whose dad is no longer here on Earth with them, those Fathers who have lost a child or children, and those men who long to be a father.  Today I say a special prayer for all of them.  We sometimes get wrapped up in the celebration of Father's day that we forget that it brings sadness to many people.  I pray that God will bring peace.

Branson 2011

Several months ago a group of the women in my family decided that we should plan a trip to Branson.  We set a date and then I impatiently waited for April to get here.  Well last Thursday we finally made our trip.  There were 10 of us that went....me, my mom, my grandma, Aunt Terrie, Jackie, Aunt Sue (My grandma's sister), Jodi, Paige, Micha (3 of Aunt Sue's daughters), and Johnna (Micha's daughter).  Aunt Sue, Jodi, Micha, and Johnna arrived in LR on Wednesday and spent the night with us.  Everyone else (except Paige - she flew into Springfield) left from my hour Thursday morning.  The weather was nice on Thursday which made the trip up very good.  By the time we arrived in Branson we were STARVING!  We decided to have lunch at the Fish House at the Branson Landing.  Well, we got there and it was closed due to all the flooding.  The only restaurant open at the Landing was Cantina Laredo and they were serving a limited menu.  Even with little to choose from the food was still good.  Afterwards we did a little looking around at the landing, then went and check into our hotel, went to Tanger Outlet for a little bit, and finally ate dinner at 9pm.  Again I was starving by the time we ate.  We went to Landry's and the food was awesome.  Johnna and I split the Cinnamon Bread Pudding for dessert and WOW it was good.  I am pretty sure I was asleep withing 2 minutes of my head hitting the pillow Thursday night.

On Friday morning, we went to the BODIES exhibit.  My father-in-law and brother-in-law had gone in Vegas, so I kind of knew what to expect.  It was really cool, but all of the bodies were of Asian people so that was a little weird to me.  I can't even begin to describe everything, but it something worth seeing.  In addition to full bodies, there were also body parts in cases and a little right up about it.  One of the coolest things I saw was of an arm and they had cut off the skin and muscles, but the nerves were still in tact.

After the exhibit, part of the group went to Silver Dollar City and part of us went shopping.  Of course I went shopping.  If given the choice between paying $50 to get into a place and buying $50 worth of clothes, I chose clothes!  We had lunch at Fudrucker's and it is one of the best cheeseburgers ever.  We did lots of shopping.  Actually I bought more clothes for Scott than myself, but it was still fun.  That night the 4 of us that went shopping went to the movie to watch Soul Surfer (loved it! loved it! loved it!) while the rest of the group went to a show.  They went to SIX and said it was awesome.  I am not really into the shows.

On Saturday morning, we went zip lining.  OMG it was soo much fun.  I hate heights and hate the feel of free falling, but this was totally not like that.  The worst part was climbing the 65 ft spiral staircase.  Once I made it everything was fine.  The funniest part was when Aunt Sue was coming across on about the 4 set and the guy was yelling "BRAKE! BRAKE! BRAKE!" and Aunt Sue totally did not break and went slamming into the guy who went slamming into the padded pole.  It was so not funny when it happened, but once it was over an everything was OK, we all had a good laugh.  On the last run on the zip line the guy told us we wouldn't have to hold on or brake at the end because you end up slowing down yourself when you come in and you are pretty close to the ground.  With this being said I decided to try to hang upside down on the last one.  It was soo much fun but I kept trying to flip back up.  My grandma wasn't able to zipline because she couldn't climb the stairs but the people at Adventure Ziplines of Branson were soo nice and they left her do the training zipline.  This way she didn't have to climb any stairs, only onto a box.  She was sooo excited that she was able to zipline. 


After we finished, we decided to home an Old Time photo made.  We ended up having to wait 2 hours to get the picture made...who knew you needed an appointment?  Let's just saying getting the picture made was pretty funny.  As soon as it was over, I had to run back to the outlet.  I had a couple of things I needed to buy and had a 30% off coupon that was good for Saturday only.  Again we ate a pretty late dinner and I was asleep within 2 minutes after my head hit the pillow.  I would like to thank the Hampton Inn for your awesome beds!

We woke up Sunday morning to nasty, cold weather.  I had the privilege of driving the 3 hours back in the rain.  It was NOT fun.  By the time I got home, I felt like I had been in the car for about 10 hours. 

This trip was soo much fun.  I can't wait to see if we do it again next year and if so where we will go.