Countown to Halloween

 

 

I love my little pumpkins!

 

 

 Andrew and I heading to a murder mistory party.

I was Janis Joplin.  Andrew was Elvis Presley.  He would have made the king proud.

 



Bums

I can't get enough of this guy!

 



Civil War Buff

One of the most beautiful places I have seen here in Arkansas is Pea Ridge Military park.  I knew that it would be a good place to take Grandma Bailey because of her love and knowledge of the Civil War. 

 

We had so much fun there.  It really was such a beautiful place.   



A couple of weirdos

 

As I was growing up, I noticed that I seemed to be a bit different from others...

Marched to my own drum perhaps? 

 

Things that were so funny to me, no one else laughed at....

There were always funny things to me.

 

My sense of humor is a bit different, maybe off. 

 

 

As I grew older and I started to date, I noticed that not everyone shared my sense of humor.  My idea of a good time, or a funny joke was not shared with them.

 

And then I found him..........

 

 

 

He gets me.  He always has.  I knew it from the moment I met him, interviewed him.  He laughed at all my dry sense of humer jokes.  As we began to date he listened to me.  He really listened to me.  I knew he was the one for me when my stomach constantly felt like I had the best abdominal workout from laughing so hard with him. 

I know that there is nothing that I could ever do to make him change his mind about loving me.  That is the best part of our relationship.  I know that he will love me no matter how I look, talk, or the mistakes I make.  He doesn't just tell me, he shows me.   

He is always up for an adventure.  He is always up for a party, hanging out, scrabble game competition, or Wii bowling tournament.  We always have a pretty good time.

One of the hardest things that I have ever had to do is live a year apart from this guy.  Although he wasn't with me in person, I never felt alone.  He was there for me everyday.  He made me feel just as loved, and he also made me laugh just as much.

I know that we might be a bit strange.  We tend to be shy in crowds.  We act immature at times.  We still have the "baby of the family" mentality.  But at the end of the day we are in love.  We have come so far in our marriage together.  We have learned how to work hard to accomplish your dreams and take care of your family.  We have learned how to communicate with one other. We have learned how to deal with stress and illness, and balance a budget.  We have learned how to love one another through our short comings...His: not being able to repair things around the house.  Mine: being a back seat driver.  His: not covering food when he puts it in he fridge.  Mine: Leaving my water bottles all over the house.

What I want my children to remember is this:  Love isn't perfect.  It doesn't matter how much money they make, or if they keep a perfect house, or have perfect grades.  All that matters is that you feel like you can be 100% yourself with them, and that they will love you always.  You need to feel nothing but love and support from them.  If you have that you can fix all the other stuff with time.  Sometimes lots of time....But in the eternal perspective those things are not important.



 

And to Andrew:  Thank you for being the best.  At times the worst....but I am grateful for those times when we are less then endearing to one another, because they have helped our marriage to grow.  Thanks for the good times.  Thanks for helping me forget the bad times...

 

Now hurry home from work so I can kick your trash in Scrabble!

Fall According To My Backyard

We have the coolest back yard.

28 big, full grown trees

 

 

 

As Brinlee would say "it's raining leaves"

 



Its Beautiful, but its probably going to take three boxes of industrial size garbage bags to clean them all up.

But at least the kids had fun

 



And of course, some dirt eating.

 

 



 It reminded me of all the times when Brinlee was little and I had to clean the dirt out of her mouth.  She would make mud pies, and forget that they were "mud" pies and eat it.

Which is why she was probably such a support to him in the clean up process.

 

They are the best~

 

 

HAPPY FALL TO ALL

Racing In The Ozarks

At the end of September, I ran in the Winslow Arkansas half marathong.  It was by far the hardest half I have ever ran.  HILLS!  All in all it was a great experience.  I am so thankful that I am able to still run.  It is a true passion of mine that I am planning on always doing.  I am grateful to Andrew for supporting me, and letting me go out to "practice running" as Brinlee calls it. 

 This is always my favorite part of any race.  When you cross the finish and see the people you love the most!

 Christy is my sweet running buddy, and I would have just ended it all at mile 11 if it wasn't for her.  It has been a blast training with her.  I can honestly say that my closest friends in life have been my running buddies.  You know who you are :)

I'm so glad Andrew's mom was up visiting us and was there at the finish line.  She has watched me do, and go through some pretty painful and  hard things!  Some I choose to put myself through (like marathons) and she may not understand why someone would want to spend a half of a day running up and down mountains for fun, but she has always supported me in everything that I do.  I am so grateful for her! 

Being active has saved me.  There is power in exercise!  Running has taught me to set goals and achieve them.  It has trained my body to keep going no matter how painful things are.  It has trained my mind to be a powerful tool that can change feelings from negative to positive.  It has also given me some nice calf muscles! 

Flying

 

I feel that one of my greatest accomplishments in life is successfully flying alone with my children.

 

It helps that I have really great kids.