The Trip (Part SEVEN...HOLY COW!!)

This is FINALLY the last post of our End-Of-March-For-The-Wedding-Trip!!! Lots of road time, lots of family time, lots of fussy time, and this last day was some great time for Jon and me to get to hang out with the kids before returning home...like a vacation from our vacation! :)

Well...after almost 2 weeks on the road, out of town, we finished off our trip on the drive home by stopping off at the Nashville Zoo. Sunday night we made it to about an hour away from the zoo. We woke up and the morning was rainy, but we decided to just get there and see how it looked. By the time we made it to the zoo, the clouds were almost gone and it turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day! As with all of my latest posts, BEWARE! This is a MPP-a many picture post!!! :)

Lawson's First Tee Ball Game!

Awesome day!

Today was just a great day! I thoroughly enjoyed all of it! Some friends came over to visit and hang out this morning, and my kids love getting to play with their friends. Then, after naptime we were so excited b/c it was Lawson's first tee-ball game!! We got some very cute video and pictures, which I will try to post later this week (too tired now), and Lawson really had a lot of fun. After the game we got pizza and went over to the park with Jason and Sunny. The kids and the dads ended up running around playing soccer and football and it was really neat for me and Sunny to sit at the picnic table watching our kids acting so big!! It was also nice to just sit and visit and talk. I just LOVED this day!

Tonight, Lawson said the sweetest prayer. Many months ago he was in the phase of thanking God for EVERY LITTLE THING, but lately it's been a one or two phrase prayer and that's it. Tonight, though, out of nowhere he said,

Dear God,
Thank you for the sun and the clouds in the blue sky. And thank you for my frog and thank you for giving me my monkey. And thank you for my Mommy and my Daddy. And thank you for my great day with my friends.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Ahhh...there's nothing sweeter.

I second that thought....Thank you God, for this great day! :)

I've been tagged...

...by my friend Anna. Here goes nothing...

*Maybe I should...keep a cleaner house...but why?

*I love the smell of...freshly cut grass, food on the grill, vanilla extract...

*People would say that I...am usually late and a very cluttered, messy person

*I don't understand why...people don't use their signals when they are going to turn,

*When I wake up in the morning...I think, "Here we go again...How long til naptime??"

*I lost my will power to...um...I don't really have any willpower for anything...I think I'm too tired!

*Life is wonderful with...the security I have--with God, my husband, our friends...I feel blessed...

*My past made me...strong in some areas, weak and angry in other areas, skeptical of some people and resistant to help or vulnerable situtions

*I get annoyed when...I get woken up before I'm ready to get up

*Parties are not...much fun for me because I'm not a fan of fake small talk

*Dogs are...slobbery, hairy and usually smelly

*Cats are...boring

*Tomorrow I am going to...have some friends over for a visit then go to Lawson's first tee ball game!! It's going to be a great day!

*I have a low tolerance for...people who don't do jobs the right way

*I'm totally terrified of...something happening to Jon and feeling completely alone

*I wonder why I thought my life would be...not sure...I'm cool with my life

*Never in my life...would I have thought I would be a paper girl!

*High school was something that...was fun but the end was a welcome sight!

*When I'm nervous...My face gets red and my stomach gets upset.

*Take my advice...if a child is asking you to read a book to him or play with his cars, put the dishes back down in the sink and go sit down.

*Making my bed is...something I do if company's coming over and I think there's a chance they might go upstairs.

*I'm almost always...tired.

*I'm addicted to...diet dr. pepper, chewing gum, looking at what time it is, brushing my teeth and q-tipping my ears :)

*I want someone...to slow down enough that if an opportunity comes up to help someone they have time to take it...

I tag Jamey, Whitney, and Bethany...ONLY if you have time and want to! :)

The Trip (Part Five)

Okay...finally I am posting the pictures from the personal shower, wedding and last pics with my family. These are from that trip I took in MARCH.. I have just come to terms with it--I am not a "get-it-done"-er!!! I put things off and put things off...Anyways...these two posts are some pics of my and my family and friends...hopefully soon I'll get the pics of our last day of the trip at the zoo--this this trip coverage will be finito!! :)

The personal shower was at a spa--wonderful!! If you are throwing a personal shower do this b/c it is a great idea! Everyone signed up ahead of time for what they wanted, and it worked out b/c everyone in the wedding wanted to get nails done anyways. Others got massages and waxes and things like that--so much fun!

This is the mother of the bride, Sandy

Lynnette getting pampered at her personal shower

Me and Whitney...This is way better than the one she put on her blog!!

Me and my mom..this may be the best picture of us, ever....

Me and my friend Linda

My friend Christina and me

Lynnette and Beth

All this snow in the 2 hours we were at the shower... it was still coming down heavy when we were leaving. Lynna had just gotten her nails done so Beth and I were gonna scrape her windows. Well..between all of us there was just one scraper, so I thought, "If I open then slam the door, maybe the snow will fall off..." Well, it didn't work but Lynnette thought it was very funny so she re-enacted it for Beth. This is her pretending to slam her door shut.

Oh, well....guess you had to be there! :)

Driving home, this is the freeway by my old house where I grew up

Almost back to the apt, but these roads are crazy!

FRIDAY EVENING--REHEARSAL

This is Lynnette's niece, Nola, and her grandma. I just thought this was a sweet picture!

Lined up outside the "practice room"--there was a wedding in the acutal conservatory that the real wedding was going to be in.

Jon and Justin had to 'sit in' as bridesmaids for two girls who couldn't show up. They couldn't be prouder!

Here's Lynnette overseeing the rehearsal...looks like everything was going ok!

Trip to Michigan, (Part 6, I think)--The Wedding

Okay...here are some pictures of The Wedding that I went to Michigan for...I'm posting some pics of my friends... Ididn't take any pics of the wedding b/c I didn't have my camera, but go to my friend Whitney's post about it b/c she did a great job and put up some great pics!


It was Saturday morning. Saturday evening we went to eat dinner with Mom and Grandma and my brother Eric, then Jon, Me, the kids and Eric went to say bye bye to my Dad...

Me and my mom at Lynna's wedding...

Me and Lynnette...the photographer took a real picture and a silly picture with each bridesmaid. I blinked on the shot Jon took of the real one, so here's the silly one...Lynna is about 9 inches taller than me, I think! :)



Me and my hubby



My friend Christina and me. Don't mind the fact that I look awful and didn't take a good picture the whole week!

Me and my dear friends Danny and Linda Lawson
After the wedding Saturday afternoon...These are my 3 closest girl friends from church growing up...Jon's sister was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding, but these girlies were my other 3!

My dad and brother...their boyhood pictures look ALIKE!
I can so see my dad in my brother and my Granddaddy in my dad!!

My dad and the kiddos...They were both VERY tired and grumpy at this point...

My brother, Eric, and me. He's 1 1/2 years younger than I am.

Me and my dad on Saturday night

Right after church on our last day in Michigan...Here are 4 generations... After church we stayed for a potluck then headed out!!! INSANE--but we were almost home!!!

MichiganCutie Cooks

Hey everyone! I have been contemplating this for a long time...I decided to post my most favorite and popular recipes in a new blog.

When traveling, I always seem to need one of my recipes but never have them with me. Also, occasionally I am asked for a recipe for something I make. I decided the easiest way to handle this is to just put them out there for me and everyone else.

Now listen..I'm no Pioneer Woman b/c I'm not married to a cowboy and I don't take pictures or anything. Surely you know from previous recipes what 1/2 cup of butter and a can of baking soda looks like. :) I do, however, put some notes on most of the posts about things that do or don't work for me about the recipe.

Anyhoo...I spent some time today typing recipes out and will try to periodically add more of our family favorites--Check it out or don't--I just wanted to let you all know it's out there and available if you're interested. I'm putting a link here now, but in the future it will be listed in my "Websites I Visit" section on the sidebar.

MichiganCutie Cooks

Lots O' Pics...

Every day it seems I tell myself that I need to post something to my blog...sometimes I even think of ideas or things I want to write about. However, in the morning I am usually trying to come out of my daily coma. In the afternoon, I am either trying to get other stuff done or trying to rest while the kids do. Regardless...it's been a couple weeks, I think, since I posted. I basically just dumped all the pics on my camera onto the computer then went through to get a summary....It seems this is all I ever do anymore is a picture summary! :)

A few weeks ago on a cool night I decided to try to get a picture of the kiddos in their Dora/Diego Jammies. I'd been meaning to do this all winter, but never seemed to get around to it...So....after an interesting photo shoot I actually got a cute one...then they started getting very silly. They both turned around and perfectly posed this shot for me:

A couple weeks ago we went to another park...(I've been told I should do a post about all the parks in the area...maybe I'll work on that) Here's a pic of my kids climbing the little rock wall.

Any 'photoshoppers' out there who want to fix this for me??? In each pic a different kid is looking and smiling beautifully for the picture!


Here's Lawson the day he got his tee ball uniform. His team is the Cardinals and he has been practicing and enjoying it a lot. A couple of his good friends are on the team, so he looks forward to seeing them, and I look forward to getting to visit with mine! :)

These pretty flowers just popped up last week! They're HUGE! Aren't they pretty?
Um...speaking of plants/flowers...I feel I should update on the recent quandry about our planting project...I potted all the plants in good potting soil in larger containers until I could see how they were going to do. Good thing I didn't dig up any of my yard, b/c the only things that survived are the Sugar Snap Peas, and they are looking rough!! :)

A couple weeks ago, Jon got a new--an unfortunate word, b/c it's really very old--truck! He bought it from some friends at church to replace his Brown Bomber that he's been driving...It's old, but a lot of work has been done to it and we're hoping he can get lots and lots of use out of it!

I REALLY wish Lawson hadn't blinked in this picture...This would be one for him to have when he's older of him and his daddy in the truck. Lawson LOVES this truck! When Jon gets home every day he comes running to tell me that Daddy's home in the Big New Truck!!! A few nights ago, Jon came home and told Lawson that if he would eat a good dinner that just the two of them would go in the truck to get a slush. OH MY! That was the very best thing Lawson could have heard that night, and he LOVED every minute of going out with Jon!
Maybe Jordan will be better at driving a stick than her mommy! I sure hope so!

Last week before a tee ball practice I gave the kids ONE stick from a KitKat bar. 5 minutes later, this is what I found....She had the actual wafer part pinched in one hand, with ALL of the chocolate removed by body heat! She was licking the chocolate but I don't think she actually ate any of it! WHAT a MESS!

I found this in the trash last week. I'm not sure why it was in the trash--the only thing wrong is one missing sticker. I easily wiped it off and sprayed it with disinfectant. SO...now we have a "woody" style mini-van in our vehicle collection! By the way...Jordan is sitting all smooshed up in the "trunk" area.

Jordan thinks she is a big girl--you could not convince her that she is not as big as her brother! She's also quite the climber. If she can get her shoulders onto ANYTHING, she can get her whole body on it! Lately I have been finding her in some interesting places...

This is them watching the garbage truck yesterday...