Since my Last Post

This has been the absolute longest I have gone between posts! This wasn't a planned absence, but started after the laptop had to go into the shop for a couple of weeks. With the laptop gone, I thought it would be a great time to start rereading the Twilight saga to get me ready for New Moon. Well, I didn't just stop at the second book, I had to read all four plus the Melissa Marr trilogy books. By the time the laptop came back, Forrest and Sadie devoured it and I just didn't feel like fighting for it. Since the last time I posted, I was involved in someway or somehow with the following activities:

*spend 4-6 hours at the middle school doing my treasurer duties for the band each week

*I've substituted several days for the band director. I absolutely loved it!

*Went to my sister's house in Georgia for Fall Break

*Helped put on a Stake Barn Youth Dance for our youth at church

*did my VT each month

*took Forrest and Sadie to their orthodontists appointments each month

*after school band practices

*more monthly Band Parent Mtgs and weekly treasurer duties

*Helped with the Band Fundraising Rock-a-Thon and stayed up all night long rocking in chairs!

*helped mom and Dad put up some shelves and watched the Bama game

*more substituting for band and a 6th grade class

*Painting bedrooms and bathrooms to get ready for family at Thanksgiving

*Saw Twilight by myself and then took sadie later that night-we both loved it!

*Forrest's orientation to begin working on his Eagle Project-YEAH!

Family over for thanksgiving and shopping on Black Friday!

*Helped put on a band Spaggetti Dinner and Auction. It was a huge success!

*JUde Collins tutored forrest in his math class. Fo played a little too much in the first semster!

*Went to several holiday concerts

*Hosted a band Holiday Dance

*soccer conditioning after school

*george working overtime

*I have rediscovered the joy in writing in my personal journals again

*taking care of my beautiful young women at church

*Our youth at church decorated 120 Christmas cookies as a service project

*made my sister and mom Christmas cards (but none for me! Lol)

*went to the Christmas Festival for the first time this year. It was beautiful!

*3rd Annual Cookies with Cay last weekend. we had a last and left with tons of goodies!

*Getting Forrest and George off to winter camp this week

*Participated in my first cookie swap last weekend. Note to myself: too many cookies to bake!

*I was suprised with a visit from my brother and his family this past weekend . My sister's family spent Christmas in salt Lake Sity, UTah and will be coming home tonight

*I was able to make a card of two during the last couple of months but I haven't scrapped or
even taken more than a picture or too since my last post but I've looked at tons of sites for when I'm ready to scrap!

So there there you have the watered-down version of what we've been up to in the past several months. We are alive, happy and I'm a day younger today! Yes, it's my birthday today ,but I'm only getting younger, not older!I hope you had a beautiful Christmas with your family and friends and please know that you are always in our thoughts and prayers during this Christmas season.

More to come!

Closet Creations

I did these pages during Feeling Scrappy's Sketchapaloza class a couple of months ago and I wanted to share them with you. I had a blast creating these pages and with each challenge, I would discover more joy in the creating process of scrappin'. Since this class, I

haven't scrapped any pages because I have found a new kind of joy in making cards! I love learning new techniques and the thrill of making cards in bulk. I'm so thankful I have an outlet to go to or I should say, a closet to run to! It's been two years now since I converted the livingroom closet into my scrappin' closet and I officially named my closet Closet Creations. In the next couple of days, I'll post some cards I've created along with some of the cards I'm making in Feeling Scrappy's class "Simplify the Season".

Father & Son Tree Service

When George bought a chainsaw last year, I had no idea what was in store for our property. The main attraction of our property use to be all the trees and the shade and privacy they provided, but not anymore! George has cut down a few trees in the back yard, but after the county came and cut down three mature bradford pear trees in the front yard (in the power lines) he has directed his attention on the front yard. A couple of Saturdays ago, my Father & Son tree service cut down two trees in the right side of the front yard (bottom picture). George tied his repelling rope around the tree and on the back of his Samari and had Forrest drive the Samari forward, guiding the tree to fall in the right direction as George did the cutting. I wished I had this on video as it was a sight to see! He and Forrest had this particular tree cut down, branches to the street and logs cut and stacked within an hour!

So far, George has cut down fourteen trees in the front yard and we still have a couple in the back yard to go. I have to admit, I do like the property better now than before. I asked George how much we have saved by doing this ourselves and he said on average, it's $1200-$1800 or more to have a tree cut down (depending on size of tree) so we've saved a a big chunk. The best part about cutting down our own trees is having stacks of wood for the stove during winter time. By the time it's all said and done, we'll have 5-6 years worth of fuel for winter!

THursday Night Football

Look at how much fun Sadie has at the middle school football games! The 7th & 8th grade band students play during the middle school football games on Thursday nights and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed at the songs they were playing! I wanted to do some dancing like Sadie and grab a sax and play my high school songs, but then that would have embarrassed her! THis Friday night, the middle school band will play with the high school band at their football game. I think that is so cool! Being around the band and the students are making me feel young again and I like that!

Manna from Heaven

As you all know, my purse was stolen mid-July at Youth Conference in Troy, AL at Troy State University . But what you don't know, is that exactly one month to the day it was taken, manna from God was dropped from heaven in the form of a Fed-Ex box on our front door step. Forrest and Sadie ripped the box opened to find my purse had been found and returned! I screamed with joy in amazement at this wonderful blessing from God. My purse hadn't been rummaged through or damaged in the slightest! Even my half- empty bag of peanuts was there! lol. The only thing missing was the cash.

I have to admit, I suprised myself by recognizing how I was feeling the minute I discovered my purse was stolen. I was extremely calm about my purse being taken and not the total opposite. I had the feeling this was in Heavenly Father's hands, not mine and for some unknown reason, I knew in my heart this would work itself out. I have often had the thought that this wasn't my test, but a test for the individual who took my purse. This person failed the honesty test by taking my purse and failed the Good Samaritan test by not shutting my trunk for me!

I will forever be grateful to the person(s) who found my purse and turned it so that the Troy Police could return it to the rightful owner, me!

No Words Neccessary!

What the BLog?

What the blog is going on here? Has anyone seen my blog because I sure haven't! THis summer has come and gone so fast that I haven't had time to blog some weeks and I thought I would never miss a beat with my blogging! It's been very busy around here. June and July flew by and August is on auto-pilot. My calendar is so busy I can't even pencil in scrappin' time!

School started last Monday with seminary starting the next day. Mom had her other knee replacement also last Tuesday so I have been traveling back and forth to see her and Dad in Athens. My sister MK came up to help out with Dad this past weekend and Sadie and I got to hang with her and we had a blast. (I didn't realize it's been almost eight months since I have seen her!) Sadie and I will bust mom out of rehab this Saturday and bring her home. She is doing such a fantastic job and is such a trooper! Grampie misses her so much and can't wait for her return.

Forrest turned 15 on August 8th and on the same day as mom's surgery he skipped school and took his learner's permit test-and PASSED! He's doing a great job driving but I swear, it's driving me crazy! I stress too much. The thought of putting my life (and his) and my car in the hands of a 15 year old scares the *&^%$ out of me! He gets good practice time by driving to seminary every morning and to school. ( there's not much traffic going in our direction! lol) He'll get in more driving time when soccer conditioning begins in the next couple of weeks. He and Sadie are growing up so fast! Just this past weekend, Sadie opened a Facebook account. Both of my babies are social networking!

I began my official duties as Sadie's middle school treasurer/secretary today. Football season starts next week with Sadie playing in the pep band. Believe it or not, I haven't picked up my camera in the last couple of weeks. I only realized I needed it ofter the fact. Oh well. Life happens.

Even though life is busy right at the moment, we are not loosing out on family time. I'm making sure we get in our time together and having our family dinners and hang out time. Family is all that matters in this crazy world and I will not loose them to craziness! Well, you know the 411 on us and hopefully the next blog I'll have a picture to post if I don't forget my camera! lol

Proud Moment

Forrest receive his Life rank in BSA last Wedensday along with several merit badges he has earned this summer. After he earns a few more merit badges during the next six months, he'll be ready to begin working on his Eagle! My favorite part of the Court of Honor is when Forrest escorts me to the front of the room and he pins me with the mother's pin every time he advances a rank. It's really a special moment when Forrest says thank you to me for all the help and support I give to him. Now if I can only get him to help me sew the badges on his sash!

Sadie's Turn

Sadie has been asking me for the last six months, "When am I going to get my braces?" I never had an answer to tell her until last Wednesday after her consultation visit with the orthodontist. She doesn't need major work like Forrest did, but it is enough to warrant metal in the form of brackets on her teeth. While Forrest was getting his six week check-up , Sadie and I had the consultation with Dr. Walker (no, we're not related) and it was then I was finally able to tell Sadie, "It's this Tuesday". Her reaction was priceless. She was happy, excited and nervous at the same time. She did really well during the two hour visit on Tuesday and came out wearing a big metal smile on her face. I was able to answer one question and hopefully it will be awhile before I hear her next question of "When am I going to get by braces off?"

Headed to EFY

I beleive this is my earliest post, as it's 4:15am this morning. I take Forrest and four other youth from our ward to Especially For YOuth (EFY) in Bowling Green Kentucky. It's a week long youth conference that really boosts their testimony, values and friendships amoung peers their ages. I'm so excited Forrest is able to go this year. The youth had two yard sales to healp raise the money, but fell really short. Each person costs $415 and we only raised about $650, which comes to $119 each youth. Our Bishop didn't give up hope and wrote to the EFY in Kentucky and told them our situation and they replied, "Send us your youth and your money". What an amazing blessing theyouth received, so here we come!

The Challenge

Our Relief Society issued a challenge of reading the Book of Mormon back in June and our family has taken has taken the challenge of reading two chapters a day (and I am also reading it personally.) To help motivate us to press forward and continue in our reading, the sisters were invited to watch John Bytheway's "Heros: Lessons from the Book of Mormon" last night. What an amazing video! Bytheway has such a talent in sharing his testimony and telling stories that keeps his audience's attention and wanting more. I'm so thankful I brought my scriptures so that I was able to follow along. (it also helps my mind not to wonder!) In our last televised Stake COnference in January, Sister Beck challenged use our Book of Mormon as a workbook. I have no problem marking and highlighting in my scriptures and by the time the movie was over, my poor marking pencil was so dull! Lately, I have discovered I'm marking in every chapter I read. I am so happy that our family is reading the Book of Mormon. With everyday that we read, we are increasing our testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and moving closer to our goal of finishing by mid-September.

Down and Back Again

As my last post said, my purse was stolen last weekend and I was headed back to Troy, Al to make a police report. On Tuesday, we began our journey. I was able to find Troy State University with out any problem and went straight to the campus Police Station. The sergant who took my report was great and after finishing the task we came to do, we celebrated by eating at Ruby Tuesday. When it was time to leave, I wasn't aware I hadn't reversed my directions from the way I came and after traveling over an hour, I realized I wasn't seeing any familar land marks . After we passed an aviation college the sergant had told us about and remembering he also said the beach was only two hours from Troy, I had the feeling we may be going the wrong direction. Luckily, the next exit was a rest stop and it was there I was told we were only 38 miles from the Florida state line and 105 miles from Panama City Beach! When Sadie heard this, she begged me to continue in that direction! We all laughed at our situation and it was then I decided to take our picture to document this adventure was had gotten ourselves in! After getting us back on track and going the right direction towards home, we settled in for theride home. Those six hours passed by very quickly. We talked about everything and anything and more of the same. It was truly the best time I have ever had with my mom and daughter. After being gone for thirteen hours, driving for twleve hours, one police report and 700 miles later, we were home! We can honestly say we drove "down and back again"!

(this trip was the equivalent of driving to my sister's house in Lagrange, Ga twice! Lagrange is located on the right-hand side of the ALbama map above. I'm sure Mary Kate would have loved for us to visit her instead! lol)

My Purse is GONE!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here with Sadie and I going to camp and and this past weekend George and I chaperoned our youth to Troy State for Youth Conference. It was Forrest's first time and the whole experience was a blast, but the ending wasn't a blast for me-my purse was stolen! I remember putting it in the trunk of the Civic on Friday along wtih my camera so I would'nt have to carry it around with me during the workshops and when I came out an hour or so later, my trunk was opened! All I could think about was my camera. As soon as I noticed it was there, I drove off. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I noticed I couldn't find my purse. WHen I went to fill up for gas, it was nowhere to be found. It was then that I remembered that the trunk on the civic wasn't closing correctly when I packed the car and George took care of it and so when I opened the trunk to put my purse and camera in it, I guess it didn't close and so someone helped themselves to my purse! (I'm so thankful my camera wasn't taken. It would take me a over a year to replace it.) They got away with a good amount of cash and my favorite purse! (looks similar to picture, lol) Today I went and closed my bank accounts and opened new ones and renewed my drivers license. BOth sets of keys to my van were in my purse so I will need to get those replaced. They might be expensive because they have a chip in the key and will need to be programed. I still have lots to do to recover my identity. Sadie insisted I call the Social Security office Saturday night when she said, "I do not want to loose my identity at age 12!" She's so funny! I couldn't file a police report over the phone, so my mom and I will make the four hour journey back to Troy State University tomorrow. What a hassle it is to loose something so private and intimate as your purse. I'll be drinking a case of Sundrop tomorrow as I'll be gone for about 12-11 hours. Wish me luck!

Off to Camp!

Tomorrow Sadie and I will head out to our Young Women Girl's Camp for the week. Our church bought the land and built this camp especially for the girls between the ages of 12-18yrs old and this year is Sadie's first year to attend. She is so excited and has been packed for a couple of days now. I wished I could say the same as this year procrastination and family affairs have taken my time when I should have been packing. I went out today and bought all the food and supplies and have the majority of my things packed. This is my fifth year going as Camp Director and my second year going as both Camp Director and Young Women's president. I'm very thankful it will be 10 degrees cooler than last week. I'll take 90 degrees over a 100 anyday! Off we go!

Under the Influence

I created this page under the influence of my friend Rachel. She is an awesome scrapper who has been such an influence to me for over the past couple of years. I absolutely love everthing she creates and am amazed at her talent. I needed some inspiration for my layout and thought to myself, "What would Rachel do?" So I went to her blog The Scrappy Side and decided that her Week 1 Challenge called "Magical" hit the spot. I went to scrappin' and after three hours, I was done with my scraplift. Thanks Rachel for your influence!

The journaling reads: Sadie absolutely loves Mustangs. She goes crazy everytime she sees one. This Mustang show brought tears to her eyes as she told us, "They're beautiful!"

Cookies & Obstacles

I've never been a cookie lover and up until a couple of months ago, I have been very satisfied with Keebler and Nabisco taking care of my family's cookie needs. But since I became a stay-at-home mom this past year, I thought I should fulfill my motherly duties and learn how to make cookies! I was really impressed by my friend Ashley and how much she enjoyed baking cookies weekly for her family. I do not enjoy cooking, much less baking, but after watching her in action and the joy she has making cookies for her family, I decided I wanted the same joy for my family. After adjusting my attitude towards baking and learning through trial and error over the last couple of months, I can honestly say I am totally in love with baking cookies! Seeing my family gooble up the cookies I make and hearing the words, "Thanks mom!", I am hooked. The best part of adjusting my attitude toward baking, and the most unexpected, is the change in my attitude toward cooking for my family. What a blessing it is to finally overcome two obstacles in a couple of months that have plagued me for sixteen years of marriage. Never would I have guessed it would come in the form of an oatmeal-butterscotch cookie!

(btw, we didn't eat all of these cookies. I gave most of them away! lol)

And It Came to Pass...

Happy Father's Day Dad! You're the best dad ever.

I love you! (And you too, Mom!)

Forrest gave me a big hug when I picked
him up from Boy Scout Camp. He earned several merit badges
and is close to begin working on his Eagle.


Forrest wasn't thinking of the consequences of
eating the first piece of Sadie's birthday cake
without asking. He made her another cake
to make restitution! Sadie forgave him.


I absolutely love Willowtree, so I thought Sadie's 12th birthday
was the perfect time to give her her first Willowtree.
I picked out the "Spirit of Giving" because Sadie has so
much to give to others!

Sadie has been waiting to turn 12 so that she could
"graduate" from primary to Young Women at church.
She was very excited when we came to kidnap her
for good!


Up the road from our house is a new subdivision
that has only two houses and a one mile loop that
I allow Sadie to drive around. She is actually
pretty good! I can see her being a soccer
mom in her future!



Sadie and I thought it would be fun to look up our marriage
license while we were in the Fayetterville, TN courhouse.
It's been 16 years and the memories were there as if it were yesterday!

The past couple of weeks have come and gone so fast that I was thinking only a week had past from coming home from my sister's but in reality, it has been two weeks! "Business" has really crept in along with a calendar of events and that has left me no time to be on the computer. Entertaining the kids is an art and is neccesary so that boredom doesn't set in!

The pictures above are just a couple of things that have filled the days in the past couple of weeks. The kids and I went and stayed a couple of days with Mom and Dad this past weekend. I cooked dad a Father's Day dinner and spent some time him and mom. Sadie is officially 12 and with that she is officially a teenager! She is really loving being in Young Women at church and not in Primary with the little kids. Forrest is working on merit badges to get done with Scouting. THis weekend, he and Dad will go on a camp out and he'll finish a couple of merit badges and will only lack two from being able to start on his Eagle. Last week, George was able to build shelves for my scrapbooking closet and I was able to slap a coat of paint and I am so ready to make some time for myself!

THe next several weeks will be filled with the following: next week, Sadie and I will be going to Girls Camp for the week, the next weekend will be Youth Conference at Troy State, the weekend after that, we'll head back to my sister's and when we come back from Georgia, I'll drive Forrest to Especially For Youth in Bowling Green, KY. When he comes back, we'll have a week before school starts back to shop for school cothes and supplies. And in between all of the above, I'm going to be scrapbooking!

Home Sweet Home!

We're headed home today to Sweet Home Alabama! After two weeks in Georgia, it's time! We have had an absolute blast living my sister's identity while she is away with her family visiting in the Phillipines. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so we are Bama bound! (Thanks Chris for entertaining us! love ya!)