What a weekend....

Darrell's parents came up this weekend to watch Aimee for us when we went to Magic Springs with our youth group. His parents are so good to us! Thanks Mom and Dad!

We got to Magic Springs and we waited FOREVER in lines. 2 hours JUST to get into the parking lot, 1 hour to get tickets, 2 hours for food and this girl tried to fight me for a table, 1.5 hours to get food for another student, and so on and on....it was CRAZY.

We did get to hang out a long time with our students though. This is the best group of students that we have ever worked with. They are just so much fun and desire our friendship and that means a lot to us. They ROCK!

Sunday was this last Super Summer of Fellowship which is where we get together for church and eat. We also invited the Fire Dept and Sherriff's dept and gave them an offering that they can use for bullet proof vests or whatever they desire. Then it was the last softball game of the season, adults verses youth. Our youth showed INCREDIABLE integrity. When it was the last hit of the game and they were down by two, they still allowed one of the students who is not a good player to bat even though they knew it would cost them the game. Can I say how great these students are????

Then Aimee and I came home. My cell phone was on top of some papers that got wet when her waterbottle turned over. Now I am going to have to replace my cell. I hate having to spend that money on a phone. UGH.

It's been a L-O-N-G weekend!

My sweet sister....

Here is a picture of my sister and my niece or nephew. I am so excited for them. I love you Carol! She is 17 weeks pregnant in this picture.

I caved....

and bought a cute pink binder from Wal-Mart. Do you know how hard it was to make a decision???? I had about 3 to pick from but at almost $4 a binder, I really only could justify purchasing 1 for my social work exam prep. Speaking of that, I paid $175 today to take an exam to complete my licenseure as a Arkansas Social Worker. I am going to have to continue to study for this thing because I can only take it one time for that price. If I fail, I have to pay another $175 so I just can't afford to fail.

Kudos to my wonderful husband who brought me a Cherry Vanilla Diet DP today from Sonic. I love Diet DP and it brightened my day. I am so thankful for a husband like Darrell who spoils me because he loves me. He's my everything!

Now....I just need to find some more things to go into binders. I shall keep working on it!

Summer days

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over. We have enjoyed our summer here with our students. I think overall, that this is the best group of students as a whole, that we have ever worked with. We have been pretty busy with them this summer because we spend a lot of time hanging out with them.

We go to Magic Springs a lot also! This picture is one of my most favorite pictures of the summer. It was taken on our way into Magic Springs. Aimee grabbed Darrell's hand and I snapped it quickly! Then later on she wanted to make some funny faces for me. She is such a little kidder. I can't believe that she starts school in 20 days! Pretty soon she will be ready for makeup and dating....Which will SO NOT happen. She's not dating until she is out of High School!

We are praying for Aimee to have a good year at school. Sometimes we are a little concerned because she has the natural curosity of Darrell and her mother's childhood energy. We are praying that she will have a strong Christian teacher that can channel her energy into postive behaviors and challenge her academically. We had considered putting her in private school but in the end, we are going to send her to the Math and Science school. We attempted to enroll her in the Drama and Arts school (which would have been a good fit for our little Drama Queen) but we were unable to get her into this school. Most of her friends from preschool will be attending that particular school which will be good for her.

Now, let's see if Mommy and Daddy can do as well as she does!

Some news

Some of this will be old new to some of you but some of you will not know this.
I have finally decided to come out of the closet about something that women do NOT want to talk about. Are you ready????

I have lost 40 pounds! I am really excited about this. I actually hit the 40 pound mark about a month ago but I am just now posting about it. I actually have at least another 20 pounds to go but right now, I am just trying to get there day by day.

I have a good friend, Erin, who challenges me and loses weight with me. She lives in North Carolina so all of our challenges have been online and/or Yahoo Messenger. We give each other prizes when we meet our mini goals and so she supports my journal and frilly shopping habit!

It's neat to see how things have changed in my life since I have lost weight. People actually notice me now or I am more aware of people noticing me. I guess for so long I have put the "I am not pretty enough" tag on, that it's hard to get out of it if you know what I mean. It's amazing to see people who haven't seen me in years and remark on my weight loss. With me being so short, it's very noticable but for me, I don't really notice it and I guess that is because I see myself every day.

Now, don't ask me what I weigh because I will NOT post it. I will also not show pictures of what I used to look like 40 pounds ago until I have lost all the weight that I need to lose. If you do want to send me gift cards to support my journal habit though, I WILL give you my address....

Carol's news!

I never update this because I don't think that people read it but Carol informed me that she reads it and I forget that my HP girls and MIL read it also!

So, I am once again updating!

My sister Carol is pregnant! Her and Ryan are expecting in January. I am not sure whether we (listen to me), they are having a girl or a boy but we will know on August 28th! I can't wait. I am just so amazed about this. My SISTER having a baby. Most of you don't know how close I am to my sister but she is just so awesome. She is one of my closest friend and I am just so excited that she is having a baby! She has wanted her own baby for years and if she spoils of her baby as half as well as she spoils Aimee, well, look out cause that baby won't be put down for 2 years. I know that she and Ryan are going to be great parents! Congrats to you guys!

We are doing well in El Dorado! We have really gotten into the swing of things here and are really enjoying our church and we have the best group of students that we have ever worked with.

Well, I need to get to getting dinner for tomorrow night so more later!

My weekend!

It rained on Saturday, all day.I am SO tired of rain. All it ever does in Eldo is rain, rain, rain Anyway, being the good housewife that I am, I decide that I am going to really clean my house. Side note....my mom did not clean house growing up. It was really bad and scarred both Carol and I for life. Needless to say, our houses are always clean and we never go to bed with dishes in the sink!

The house didn't need much work, just the deep cleaning stuff. After we cleaned the house, I made lunch and then we headed out to see Ratatooule or however you say it. Anwyay, the movie was lame for an adult but Aimee liked it so that is all that matter.
We get home and D decides he wants sushi for dinner so I go make it. He has to run to the store and when he came back he suprises me with this...... http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4939215

Can I say my husband ROCKS! I have wanted one of these since I got my Ipod. I have priced several different ones but he found this one for me. So, I am now waking up to my own music and not the radio. You can wave your hand in front of the thing and it even snoozes without you touching it. I am sooo spoiled to this. I think I will want to stay in the bed all day now.

Cleaning the house and making sushi sure pays off!