Halloween Pictures, Finally

I'm finally getting around to posting a few pictures from Halloween. I have been so busy lately that I have had no time whatsoever to download pictures onto our computer.

Halloween has come and gone. Katie decided she wanted to be a cheerleader for Halloween. We found a High School Musical cheerleader costume for her which was even better than being just an average cheerleader. Katie thought it would be a good idea if our dog Lacy dressed up for Halloween as well. We found Lacy a Razorback cheerleader outfit which matched perfectly with Katie's costume. Jeremy was not happy.

The day before Halloween we took Katie, Rachel, and Lacy trick or treating on the square in Fayetteville. All of them were dressed up as cheerleaders. They were so cute. Lacy was a really big hit because that was homecoming weekend and there were plenty of hog fans out trick or treating. So many people commented on the cute dog in the razorback cheerleader costume. Jeremy was still not happy, and slightly humiliated to be walking a dog with clothes on.

Here are some pictures of Katie and Lacy.

Now that Halloween is over we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it. I can't wait.

Florida Trip

We took a quick family vacation a couple of weeks ago to Destin, Florida. I have been so bad lately about updating this blog that I'm finally getting around to downloading our pictures from the trip. Jeremy and I had decided back during the summer that we wanted to go to an away Razorback game sometime this year so we decided that since Katie had never been to the beach that we'd go to the Florida game.

We left Tuesday night about 6:30 p.m. and drove all night to Destin, Florida where we spent two days on the beach. The drive was not bad at all. I started out driving and drove until about 3:30 in the morning which is the time I get up on a normal workday while Jeremy slept. We had made it all the way to Birmingham, Alabama by that time. Just a note of caution.....never, ever, ever stop in Birmingam in the middle of the night for gas or to go to the bathroom. We had to stop for gas though and we stopped in the middle of the ghetto. I was praying the whole time that we woulnd't be shot and decided then that we weren't stopping in Birmingham on our way home no matter what time of day it was. I didn't end up going to the bathroom in the middle of the hood. I made Jeremy pull over on the interstate after we were out of Birmingham. He ended up driving the rest of the way to Destin. We made it there by 8:30 in the morning and we were able to check into our hotel that morning.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Katie had a blast building sand castles with Jeremy. I don't know how many they built but I think she had more fun destroying them than actually building them.
The water was so nice, and the weather was perfect.

Katie buried in the sand.

View from our hotel.

We had an awesome time at the beach just relaxing and laying in the sun. It was a much needed short vacation. We ate some great seafood while we were there too.

On Friday, we headed to Orlando to see one of our best friends from high school. Him and his wife are both doctors in Orlando, and we had so much catching up with them. Saturday, we headed to Gainesville for the football game. It was so much fun. We got harrassed on the way to the stadium. Katie didn't appreciate all the gator chomping that was directed towards us. She couldn't figure out why everyone was being so mean to us. Even though we lost the football game we still had a blast.

Tour de Cure

Today Jeremy and I did something we've never done before together, we ran the Tour de Cure, which is a half marathon. Jeremy is not an avid runner like I am. In fact he really hates it. He finds it extremely boring and would much rather be doing anything other than running. He used to act like he enjoyed running with me. Of course he pretended to like running when we were in high school and had first started dating. I could get him to go on 4 or 5 mile runs with me all the time. However, after 12 years of marriage that is no longer the case. But one day he over heard me telling some people that I really didn't think he could run a half marathon. Being the man he is he spouted off that of course he could. So I told him to prove it.

Well, today he did. He ran the entire 13 miles without stopping, and I was very proud of him. I was especially proud of the fact that he didn't have to stop and find a tree to hide behind so he could go to the bathroom. I knew he could do it, and I really enjoyed having someone to run with me. I'm a little disappointed though that during his short training period that he didn't fall in love with running. I doubt he will ever run a marathon with me, and he probably won't run another race period. So I will continue to have to train for my next marathon by myself. But at least I got to run one race in my lifetime with my sweet husband. Thanks for making my day sweetie.

Here's a picture of him before the race. You can see he can barely contain his excitement. I think he's secretly hoping and praying that the urge to go to the bathroom doesn't hit in the middle of the race. I, on the other hand, was jacked up and ready to go.

I had to post a few pictures of Katie and Lacy in this blog as well. We're all decked out in our razorback gear today and we're getting ready to watch the Hogs play tonight. Even Lacy has joined in the Razorback spirit.

Yes, our dog does have a Razorback cheerleading uniform on. Isn't she precious? Katie and I love to dress Lacy up just to make Jeremy mad. He hates seeing dogs wearing clothes. Katie always laughs when we dress Lacy up. She says, "Mommy, daddy is going to look at Lacy and shake his head and say poor Lacy what have they done to you now? I'm so sorry that they are putting you through this." She's always right because that is exactly what he does.

And, last but not least, I couldn't help myself but I had to take a picture of our tickets to the Razorback game in Florida. We are leaving in a little over a week for a quick trip to Florida and are so excited. I know our chances of winning against Tebow and the Gators are slim but we still love our hogs.

My First Grader

Summer is officially over. Katie had her first day of school today. She is a big first grader. I can't believe it. Where has all the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was taking her to work with me when she was a just a baby. Now I'm taking her to school. She was a little nervous about her first day but extremely excited as well. She talked nonstop on the way home about everything that had happened. She felt so "big" to actually have homework. She told me that she loved having homework. I will have to remember that a few years from now when she's complaining about all the home work she has.

My Big 1st Grader

Vacation

It seems like it has been forever since I have updated our blog. Summer is almost over, and it seems like it only just began. Katie starts school in two weeks....unbelievable. Where has all the time gone? We have been spending most of our summer hanging out at the pool and going to the park. We did head down to San Angelo, TX a couple of weeks ago to visit my sister and her family. Katie had a blast playing with all her cousins. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Aaron, Katie & Josh

Katie and the boys.

On our way back home from San Angelo, TX we stopped off at my grandparent's house in south Arkansas for a visit. The kids had a blast playing outside on the bales of hay and in the garden. Here is a picture of the kids with the "scarecrow", Joe. I personally think Joe looks more like Jason from "Nightmare on Elm Street". Jeremy and my brother-in-law, Matt, invented a game called "hay tag" that the kids absolutely had a blast playing. They played tag while jumping from one hay bale to another. If you were tagged you were "it" or if you fell off the hay bales you were automatically "it". What could possibly go wrong with this game?

Jeremy after falling flat on his butt during "hay tag".

Katie leaping from one hay bale to another.

Other than a bunch of scratches and a few bug bites no one was seriuosly injured. Thank God.

AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN....

As many may have guessed, the Annual Thompson/Langham Fireworks Extravaganza was not included in the Obama Spendulus Plan. Due to lack of funding we had to reduce the sparkler bomb size to a mere 330 sparklers, tightly wound together with duct tape. It still turned out pretty good. Enjoy the show.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

Jeremy I just want you to know how much Katie and I love and appreciate all that you do for us. We are so proud of all that you have accomplished at work, and we know that God has so much more in store for you. Thanks for a being a wonderful father and husband. We love you so much. We hope you have had a wonderful Father's Day weekend.

Leaky Windows

For those of you who don't know I am terrified of heights. I hate them. I refuse to ride on ferris wheels because I cannot stand being stuck at the top of the ferris wheel while other passengers are being let off the ride. I love to hike in the mountains but will not get close to the edge and peer over the side of a cliff because I get dizzy, nervous, heart palpitations, sick to my stomach, feel like I'm going to puke, begin hyperventilating etc.... So there is no way in the world I would do what my husband did today.

We have been needing to recaulk our windows because some of them have been leaking due to the heavy rain we've been getting. We have a two story family room in our house that has a ton of windows in it. These are the ones that needed to be recaulked. See the picture below.

Jeremy had to get on a ladder 20-30 feet off the very unlevel ground in order to fix the windows. It's bad when your husband has to find a rock to stick under one of the legs of the ladder in order to try to get the ladder level. Did I mention that he really hates getting on this ladder?

I was outside keeping an eye on him while he was working. He was muttering things like, "This ladder is going to be the death of me"....."I'm about to crap my pants"....."Please make sure all the pictures you are taking are in black and white so no one can see the urine that is running down my leg right now"....."I hate doing this". Needless to say I was very entertained.

Notice the tongue sticking out of his mouth. He's extremely focused right here and trying to keep his balance 30 feet in the air.

And of course, he has to show off his manliness.

Lacy and Maggie

He's still out there right now working away and hasn't fallen off yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully he's got everything fixed so we won't have anymore leaky windows.

Katie: The Snake Hunter

This weekend Jeremy, Katie and I went on our first camping trip together. We have been wanting to go camping for the past several weeks but the rain has kept us from being able to go. Since the weather man was calling for a beautiful weekend we decided we'd head to Lake Fort Smith to go camping. We had an absolutely amazing time. I would highly recommend going camping there. They have an awesome playground area for kids and a swimming pool that has waterslides and a special area designated for toddlers. And their bathrooms were so clean--which is one of the reasons I loved the place.

Saturday, morning after we made omelettes for breakfast we headed out to go hiking. We hiked for almost two hours without any complaints from Katie or our new puppy, Lacy. They both were real troopers and kept up with us the whole time. I think we hiked about 4 miles with Katie leading the way most of the time.

We were really looking forward to seeing the waterfall that was on the Ozark Highland Trail....unfortunately the waterfall was pretty much nonexistent. See the picture below and you'll know what I mean.

The highlight of the hiking trip was when Katie found this green snake on the trail. Jeremy had to move it out of our way before we could continue our hike. Katie was a little sad that she wasn't able to play with it. The child has a little bit of a fascination with snakes.

After we got home from camping while we were unpacking she came across another slithery creature in our front yard.

This time her daddy let her play with it. She's much braver than I am. When I was a little girl you could not have paid me to play with a snake. She's started calling herself a "snake hunter."

Tooth Fairy

Over the past several months my child has pleaded with God and begged Him to let her lose a tooth. I'm not sure why it's such a big deal but she has been chomping at the bit to be able to say that she has lost a tooth. I think she may be the only child in her class at school who hasn't lost a tooth yet. Well.....she finally got her wish last night. You would have thought the child had won a trip to Disney World. It was like Christmas morning in our house last night. She screamed, she squealed, I think she may have even jumped up and down she was so excited to finally be able to say she lost her first tooth.

Jeremy pulled her tooth without letting her know that was what he was doing. He acted like he was just playing with some dental floss and seeing how loose her tooth was. As Katie said her prayers last night she did pray that her daddy wouldn't try to trick her anymore because that just wasn't very nice. I think she forgave him though because now she can proudly display the gap in her mouth. I'm sure everyone she comes in contact with over the next few weeks will be told the story of how she lost her first tooth.

Katie quickly forgave the tooth fairy for taking her tooth when she realized that she had left her $5.

Mother's Day Weekend Extravaganza

The mother's day weekend extravaganza officially began on Friday afternoon. Friday night Jeremy and I dropped Katie off at church for free child care and were finally able to go on a bike ride together since it wasn't raining. We had so much fun riding the trails around Lake Fayetteville. We rode our bikes for about an hour and half, and after we were through we headed to Maggie Moo's for some much needed ice cream.

Saturday morning I got up and went running and then we headed to Katie's last soccer game of the season. After her game Jeremy took me to Mellow Mushroom--my absolute favorite pizza place where we ate lunch. That evening since the rain had stopped we headed to the park for a picnic to let Katie practice riding her bike.

Things got even better on Sunday. Katie gave me this wonderful picture that she had drawn of me at school. I absolutely love the blue mascara and the blue lipstick. I'm not sure why I have brown hair or why I look like I'm wearing clown makeup. I also happen to love the fact that my shoulders are the size of a freaking football player. After church on Sunday, we headed down to Alma to pick up a new puppy. Jeremy knows Katie and I have been wanting another dog for awhile now so he caved in and got us this beautiful Australian Shepherd puppy. Katie is absolutly in love with her, and so am I.

I love you sweetie, and thanks for making me feel so special this weekend. Oh, and thanks for the new Blackberry as well. Here are some pictures of Katie and Lacy.