TGIF!

UPDATE: Check out Lindsey's pictures!

You might think I've been MIA for the past few weeks, and I guess I have. Last weekend, I went to Fayetteville with my college girlfriends, but didn't take any pictures. Lindsey did though, so once she posts some, I'll link them here.

This week, I've been fairly busy with work, school, and extracurricular activities. The class I teach at PTC has been a struggle this semester because the students have a larger amount of apathy than I have had in the past. It drives me insane! I had one that asked me just about every night if he could go home early, and I finally snapped. I said "No, you cannot leave early, and don't ask me again." But I've got two more weeks, then the final exam, so the countdown is on.

Then Wednesday night was Awanas, and the kids are still wound up. Our kids are well-behaved, but by 7:00 at night, they are bouncing off the walls! It is still fun though, but I'm ready for a break from that as well. We usually don't get out of there until 7:45 or 8:00, and that makes for a really long day (because we don't get to go home before Awanas begins).

Last night was Dessert Club at Katy's house, and I love getting to catch up and visit with my Sunday School girlfriends. I haven't been to church in three weeks (because we've been out of town), so it was so good to see them!

This weekend, I am looking forward to hanging out at my clean house and maybe working out in the yard. We haven't been to Home Depot in a while either, and I am itching to look at flowers. We're still thinking about doing a bed out back, so we'll see. Oh yeah - and Monkey is coming to see us after a long hiatus in South Arkansas. I can't wait to see her!

So yes, this is kind of a random update, but now you know what all we have been doing. I can anxiously awaiting Summer Break and all the things that come with that!

Hoppy Easter!

I couldn't resist the cheesy tag line! We left Friday after work and went to McGehee for the Easter weekend. I hadn't seen my mom, dad, or sister in at least a month, so I was glad to see everybody. Friday night we ate hamburgers (cooked by Josh), and looked at pictures from Israel. All 500 of them to be exact. Then on Saturday, we all took a long walk around the neighborhood, and then watched video from the Israel trip. Saturday night, we had a good dinner of smoked pork, and then rode the loop after getting ice cream at Sonic. Brent and Josh humored us, but we rode down a bunch of streets and talked about who lived where and what people were doing.

Sunday morning, we got up and found out that the Easter Bunny had came the night before! The EB still does a really good job of making cute baskets. There was chocolate and fun things like flip flops for me and Sarah, and iTunes cards for Brent and Josh. There was even a few things from Israel. Funny how the EB works, huh!

Brent and I visited our friends' Sunday School class and then worshipped with our whole family, including Nannie and Ma. It was so nice that everyone was together. FBC McGehee just finished a production of "Heaven's Gates, Hell's Flames", and they said so many people asked Jesus into their hearts. How awesome is that! There were at least 12 people joining the church on Sunday, so be in prayer for them as their discipleship ministry begins. It was so awesome to see God working in that church.

Branson or Bust!

This past weekend, we headed to Branson with four other couples from our Sunday School class. We had a blast, and it was great to get away and enjoy some time with each other and out of town. Brent and I rode up with our good friends Austin and Michelle on Thursday afternoon, and the rest of the group met us on Friday. We did tons of laughing, shopping, and eating!


Austin found this awesome house on the Internet at a 50% discount, so each couple had their own master suite! It also had a basement game room with a pool table and Wii, and every room had flat screen TVs. The screen porch was nice, but it was a little chilly when we got there. From the other direction, you can see Table Rock Lake through the trees. Also, this place is about a 1\2 mile from Silver Dollar City, so very convenient to all of the fun things Branson has in town.

This place is on a steep hill - it was tough getting in and out of the cars!

Thursday night, we went to the Landing and enjoyed some Famous Dave's BBQ. And yes, we got the order that came in the trash can! This is Brent's BFF Austin, or as we like to say "a brother from another mother."

Here are the girls waiting on the steaks to finish cooking.

Apparently it takes all 5 of them to grill!

That night after dinner, we celebrated Brent's big birthday. The cake was yummy and turned out very cute. I got it at LaDelle's Sweet Shop in the Branson Mills.

He was acting like he was shy - ha!

What a ham!

Austin, Brent, and Jacob decided to play Monopoly, which prompted everyone else to go downstairs or take a bath. Before this, we played a rousing game of Phase 10!

John Paul looks like he's playing the bongos! ha! We had our own band, but the players kept rotating. It was too much fun!

The next day, we ate breakfast and watched TV, then the girls got

The Burkes

The Hills

The Steelmans

The Rhodes

Saturday night after shopping and hanging out, we went to the Landing for dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. It was good food, and not too bad prices either.

The girls

I see this face a lot.

Here I am playing with my camera outside at the Landing's fire show. It was pretty neat, but it could have lasted a tad bit longer. We waited on the show to begin for about 15 minutes, and the show lasted about 15 seconds.

We made our way back to the house and played some more Wii and enjoyed the house for a little bit longer. The next morning, we packed and cleaned and headed out of town. Brent and I wished we could have another day to recover from the short vacation, but it was right back to the grind. All in all, the trip was fabulous and we can't wait to start planning our next one!

Happy Birthday Brent!

Today is Brent's 30th birthday. He is an amazing husband and my best friend, and I can't wait to see what we will see in the next 30 years.

I love you honey! Happy Birthday!!!

Randomness

So while the laundry is going, I thought I'd write a few things about what's been going on with us the past few weeks. It's kinda been crazy. At work, I was extremely busy during the first part of March working on launching a brand new Intranet named The Circuit. I'm very proud of the name because I came up with it, but the entire project was like running a marathon. We worked very hard to meet the deadline, and the launch party went off without a hitch. But I was worn out - completely! So the next Tuesday, I go to a meeting with my boss and the director of HR. Turns out, they had been talking, with some other people, and created a new position and offered it to me first. I was shocked and so flattered! I took it right away, and by the end of the week I was no longer a Communications Specialist, but instead was a Corporate Services Specialist in Human Resources. And I have loved every minute of the past few weeks! It's doing more PR-type stuff like helping with events and organzing different projects. It's right up my alley! I have been so busy this week, but I love that the days go by quickly. Also, a change of scenery after two years of doing the same thing is a great blessing. I really feel that God orchestrated this, and I am so thankful!

I am also thrilled that Ronnie and Linda have made it home safely from their 13 days in Israel. I talked to them yesterday when they got back to the States, and they were glad to be home but had a wonderful time. I can't wait to see their pictures/videos! This was a trip of a lifetime for them, and I'm so glad that God healed Dad so that he could go. We are very fortunate to have God smile on our family.

We've got a fun weekend coming up, so stay tuned to find out how we spent Brent's 30th birthday weekend!

OK - gotta go switch the laundramatics.