Home from the Holidays

Would you believe that I left one of my favorite item in ABQ when we went to AR for the holidays....my camera! Well, I'm sure glad I brought my most favorite people....Nathan and my kids! So, not one picture was taken for the 2010 holidays! Sad news.

We obviously had a great time seeing family and friends but the time is never long enough. We got home early Friday morning the 23rd and left friday the 31st.

On our way home we were able to pull over outside Amarillo and meet Abe and Lori with the girls! They were headed home from their ski trip! So great to see our close friends breifly! I miss them soo much!

Kaleb starts school again in a couple days so lots to get ready for.

Uncle Jim and Aunt LaLa's

Nathan flew in Thursday night...first time since January that he'd slept in his own bed and seen his house! So, he enjoyed just hanging out with the kids and I. We did get to see some family and some friends. One night we ended up and Jim and Laura's for some fellowship. We love spending time with them and our kids love their kids...can you tell?

Bryan Family Photo Shoot

It'd been awhile since the Bryan's did a photo shoot so we attempted one today! We only had 2 missing! Great memories!

Kittens

Guess who got kittens? Yep, the kids. Nana had some she wanted to hand off and she choose her grandkids! The last thing we needed but actually it worked out great. The man taking care of our house and Callie was glad to take care of some kittens. We need them around for all the mice that we get. Kaleb named his Zach and Mariah named hers Salley....no telling where they got those names - probably daycare friends!

Time with Friends

We spent today with some friends at the pool! Kaleb misses his old buddies and Mariah always loves to hang out with the older girls!

Momma Time with Friends!

I spent Tuesday night (last night) eating out with a dear friend, Dalene! We stuffed ourselves with Italian food, had ice cream and then talked the evening away! What fun with no kids to distract us! It's amazing how much you can talk about with the kiddos away!

Today, I met another dear friend, Lori, for lunch! So fun to catch up with her too! It's wonderful to have amazing friends to walk through life with. I am thankful for each one that comes into my life.

River Rats

Nana Sandy brought the Ohio grandkids down and what a blast all the cousins had at the river! Wow! Look at that mud! It was funny to watch how different all the kids responded to mud! Of course it didn't help that we teased them about it being cow manure! Who knows....maybe some of it was! =) They had a great time together....lunch beside the river and an enjoyable afternoon!

Seed Ticks

Friday night we went out to Aunt LaLa's and Uncle Jim's....well, the boys played Air-Soft and a couple of the boys found the seed tick patch. The sad thing is...he went straight to bed Friday night because he fell asleep in the car. He woke up Sat. morning and said, "Mom, I feel awful, I itch all over." I took off his shirt and to my surprise hundreds of seed ticks all over his body. I felt awful. I remember mom picking ours out with tweezers one by one. So miserable because it took forever. So, I experimented with some of the YL Essential Oils....I took a couple strong ones and wiped it on his body. Then about 5 mins later I took a dry rag and wiped off the ticks...they had died! It worked great! However, he was left with their poison inside and all his bites got very red with pus heads on them. We used Peppermint Oil for the itch and Purification and Lavender for healing and pulling out toxins. He had them a few days but they healed up nicely.

Seeing the Cousins

Today we saw sweet precious Allie and the rest of the sweet cousins....they were too busy playing to take pics! =) Mariah was all taken up with the baby!!!

On the Road to AR

July 29th: Today found me on the road again back to Arkansas. Kaleb will be starting kindergarten in less than a month and I need to get a few things for winter (yep, I said it...winter just finished for us here). We need to meet Ms. Allie and just check on things back home. Plus, who knows when we will be able to make it back to Arkansas to see everyone. I'm thinking there will be a huge reality check for us once Kaleb is back in school.

The Storm

A huge storm rolled in while trying to get ready to leave the farm. Tornado warnings and the clouds look ever so amazing. Better get back inside!

We spent the evening down at the creek enjoying cooler weather, nature, and time together. A simple meal thrown together couldn't of been better! I love my family! Gpa Harold joined us....Sherese and the girls...Nana and Poppa.

Arkansas - Gettin' my Babies

Today I left Austin and drove back to AR to pick up my kids from Nana and Poppa. I talked to Mariah for the first time yesterday....she sounded so grown up. We've never left them this long...thankfully I have stayed busy so I haven't thought about missing them too much. From the sounds of it they didn't miss us much either...stayed busy also! Good memories created for them...very thankful for grandparents and family!

After an 8 1/2 hour trip I finally arrived! Funny thing was, everyone was gone out to eat! So, I sat in an empty house for a bit. My sister-in-law, Sherese, came up and I got to meet my new niece Allie! Precious little thing! Got my fill of baby before my babies arrived. I was glad they were sooo happy to see me! They look like they've grown a foot and are talking sooo big. I got to hear 100's of stories....Mariah had to show me the garden and the horses. Kaleb had to show me his dog named, Kaleb and show me his tricks on his scooter.

I stayed out at the farm for 2 nights before I made it back to my own house!!! I guess I've disassociated with my house since we've been gone from it for so long.

Allie Cheri

Dad and Kathleen in Arkansas

Kaleb, Mariah and I flew home from Sacramento on August 28th...we will be home a few weeks. Rogers convention is coming up soon. Dad and his girlfriend, Kathleen, came to Arkansas August 29th and stayed through the weekend (Sept 1st). Grandpoppy had fun playing with the kids and fixing my lawn mower...don't know if that was really called fun. Any how...it was nice to get acquainted with Kathleen a little more. Kaleb has loved playing tennis! We've been playing back in Sacramento with the Bryan kids; Chris and Shawna Richtsmeier; and several others. Sometimes Nathan and I will take Kaleb over to the tennis courts at the gym and hit balls. It's a fun family outing during the week after Nathan's work. Mariah loves playing in the daycare since her space is limited in the RV!!! =)

Bye Uncle "Urn"!

We will miss you!  SO much fun having you around and helping us on the Branson project!