Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Card


We had a pretty eventful week leading up to Christmas. My grandmother was admitted to the hospital the week before on December 18th, during my work Christmas party. She had a terrible neck pain and couldn't move around on her own. It got really hard on Granddad helping her to the bathroom and such. On the 21st, Grandmother was scheduled to be discharged but about 9 am she called me and said that a nurse had taken granddad to the ER. Turns out he was trying to pass a kidney stone. They admitted him about the same time that they discharged Grandmother! What a day! Well Granddad passed his kidney stone early the next morning much to our relief; he was then released just a few hours later. I was happy to have them both home!

Our Tree


Dad, Mom and Jeremy arrived on Wednesday afternoon, I was so excited to see them! I had been quite homesick for them! They arrived a week after my cousin Sarah told us that she is expecting a sweet miracle from God and also on this Wednesday she had her first ultrasound. I love having my family here! I love getting the rooms ready for them, planning meals (well sometimes we just eat out and that's fun too!) I love waking up to find one or both of my parents sipping coffee in the kitchen. I wonder if Dale and I move closer to them will we lose that magic or will we have more of those special times?

The Mantle


I think he was VERY happy about this gift!

Race for the Cure 2009

Yesterday was Race for the Cure in Little Rock. The sixteenth year, but only my second. I had a really good time with our group: Becky Horton, Christy Ruby, Kim and Sidney George. Thanks Ladies!

Afterward we got lunch at On The Border (who opened early just for the race) and went shopping.

Madison's Karaoke

Dale's cousin Madison has been in a karaoke contest. She competes 4 Fridays in a row at Karaoke Palace in Judsonia. With 2 weeks down and 2 to go she has done amazing! I am not sure how true a test of talent this contest is since the crowd votes with the tickets they receive upon entry. The first week she sang Gun Powder and Lead by Miranda Lambert and All I Want To Do by Sugarland. The second week she sang Sounds So Good by Ashton Shepherd and The Climb by Miley Cyrus. The video is of her singing The Climb. Sorry about the quality and my voice in the background.

Family Vacation

Dale Wayne and I went on vacation with my parents, brother and nephew in July. We spent the Fourth of July with my aunt, uncle and cousin at their lake house. We had an amazing time and Hayden learned to knee board and loved it.

The temperature was extreme everyday so we took some time out to go into Marble Falls and do some shopping. I took the Miranda and Hayden to play mini golf. The place had an arcade too and we all know I love arcades. It had so many fun games! My favorite was the mini bowling.




We really enjoyed our time at the lake and hope to return for a another long weekend. We left about noon on Sunday and made our way to New Braunsfel. We arrived at our resort and were a bit surprised; it wasn't at all as we expected. We loved the pool area and spent all of our free time there. We swam, played ping pong and the boys snorkled in the freezing cold Comal. We went to lots of our favorite places from our childhood visits. We ate at Pat's Place, Clear Springs and twice at the Gristmill. I have always loved Gruene and it was great being able to share it with Dale. After eating at The Gristmill we had a drink at Gruene Hall and then did some shopping at the local shops. We spent two days at Schilitterbaun, and Hayden loved each ride more than the last. On Wednesday we went to San Antonio. We went to The Alamo, The River Walk, The Indoor Market, ate at La Tierra and went to The Children's Museum. We had a really great time.



The plan was for Dale Wayne and I to bring Hayden home with us after him having spent two weeks in Alabama. Thursday morning when we were getting ready to head back to Arkansas we discovered that one of the tires on our car was really low. We put some air in it and took it to a tire shop where they discovered two nails in the tire. We decided to get some breakfast with Mom, Dad and Jeremy while we waited for the tire to be fixed. Thankfully that was the only problem we had on our way home.

Just Getting Started

We decided to start a blog to keep better in touch with our friends and family. I hope to keep up with it regularly! After this initial post I hope to add some thoughts and photos from our vacation this summer.