Happy New Year!

2012 ended with Stephen replacing the battery in my car before he had to go to work.  I then finished up some work, and the boys and I stayed up until midnight playing "Risk".  We had fun, even though we missed Daddy. 

2013 has started off with me getting to sleep in, the boys are actually still sleeping, my hubby is on his way home and just let me know that he took off tonight so he can be with us (since the boys go back to school tomorrow).  Yay!!!! 

So, do you set Resolutions??? If so, what are you resolutions for 2013? 

Holidays

Can the holidays be over yet?!  I love getting together with family, but it is also a very bittersweet time.  My husband has worked EVERY holiday lately.  While everyone else is off having fun, visiting family, and enjoying the holidays...we are working, just like any other normal day.  It's hard not to feel a little depressed and lonely....  I'm just ready for things to get back to normal.  I think I may ban myself from facebook tomorrow, and just work and then play games with my boys.  I don't want to read about everyone's new years eve fun/family get togethers....it just puts me in a bad mood and makes me resent my husbands job.  Seriously, I am so extremely proud of him and what he does.  I'm thankful for his steady, dependable job, and healthcare.  I just sometimes hate the hours/stress/worry. 

So, did you get anything for Christmas that you really loved?? 
I did! Yay!!!  My mother got me my very first ever "Coach" purse.  I still can't believe it!  I LOVE it.  Then my darling husband got me a cushy executive type office chair for my home office.  LOVE IT!!!  My mother in law got me a "weight vest" with adjustable weights.  It goes up to 30lbs! woohoo!  I also got sports earbuds, gift cards, perfume, fitness magazines, etc.  I was definitely spoiled.  :-D 

On another note:  Do you have a smart phone that you just LOVE and would recommend?  We are up for an upgrade at the end of January and are trying to decide what type of phone to get.  We both got Androids the last time.  It was Motorola Atrix phones.  Neither one lasted even a full year.  Stephen's of course wasn't because of the phone, it was because he dropped it in the road and it got ran over multiple times.  Mine, the touch screen went out in less than a years time.  I have had an Iphone in the past.  I liked it fine, but don't like iTunes or that you have to pay for so many apps.  Where as with android there are way more apps and a lot of them are free.  I am just trying to decide whether to go back to iPhone with the 4S, or maybe go with another android....  any suggestions on what you love/recommend?   

PASSED!!!!

Wow, have I really not posted anything in 7 months?! 
I finished all of my classes (finally) and just took my FINAL exam yesterday.  It only took me 5 1/2 of the 6 hours allotted time. LOL.  But I am excited to say that I PASSED!!!!!  Yay!!!!! 

Is it Spring Yet??

Wow, where does the time go?!  They are right, time flies when you are having fun. This fall was extremely busy with school/college/baseball/basketball/holidays/etc.  There were never enough hours in the day.  But finally, it feels like we can breathe again...if just for a little while. 
We are taking the boys to spend the afternoon at the lake today.  Fishing, grilling, playing, etc.  It will be a wonderful day of quality family time.  I can't wait! 
Seriously, I should be working on my "online school".  I have two classes left to finish....can you tell that I really don't want to be doing it.  This class I am currently on is B-O-R-I-N-G!  Therefore it is taking me forever to get through it, because I keep procrastinating.  (it's an inherited trait! Thanks Dad! Ha!) 

Where does the time go?!

It's been a whirlwind since school started back, and college started back.  Levi is playing "fall baseball" and is in kid-pitch this year.  He is the catcher and is REALLY GOOD!  I am Soooo proud of him!



Here is my catcher! :-)

Seth has been begging to do Karate for over a year, so we finally got him signed up.  He has been going for a few weeks now, and LOVES it! 



My handsome "Karate Kid" 

This was the boys on their first day of school.  Levi started 4th grade, and Seth started 2nd grade.  I love these silly little guys.  :-)

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  I love these boys.  They make life fun, that's for sure. 

Okay, back to work. 
Later gater!

Boys:

We got the boys back from Stephen's parents, had them one night, and they left for vacation with my parents.  They were gone for another whole week!  They had a blast though.  They went through a cave, to sea world, to the Alamo, to the ocean, etc.  They had a huge, fun filled week! 
I met my mom late on Monday afternoon, and picked up the boys.  They were full of stories and talked my ear off, the whole way home! LOL! 
(We had about 3 weeks without the boys! Wow!!!  It was nice to be together, just the two of us, and remember why we fell in love with each other all those years ago.  We did miss the boys terribly though.  But we knew they were having fun, and that made it easier.)
Tuesday evening, we took them to buy new school shoes, backpacks and lunchboxes.  Whew, that was a chunk of money.  But they are finally all ready for school.  (we had purchased their school supplies while they were gone). 
This week has been busy, work wise.  But they are being good sports.  This will be our last free weekend before school starts on Monday.  Unfortunately this is Stephen's weekend to work.  But Levi and I celebrate our birthday on Sunday!!!! :-) 

15 years of marriage!

We celebrated 15 years of marriage on July 27th.  Wow! Where does the time go?!  For our anniversary, we decided to take a motorcycle road trip, and also go back to Branson (where we went for our honeymoon). 

We had sooooo much fun together!!!  It was an amazing trip, and just having that quality time together, just the two of us, was priceless!!! After this trip, we decided that we seriously need to make "date night" a priority.   

Sorry, these pictures are not in any kind of date order...

Here is a photo of us as we were leaving out on Thursday morning.  :-)

Here we are in Branson, on Saturday morning, having Breakfast at the Baldknobbers before heading to Silver Dollar City.  

Riding a huge coaster at Silver Dollar City...it took us upside down 5X! It was SOOO much fun!!!

My view, from the back of the motorcycle.  :-)

 Friday morning:  we had spent the night at the Queen Willamena Lodge, and on Thursday afternoon it had started raining and the temperature was 75! We were freezing!  So we knew Friday mornings trip on up to Branson was going to be cold, so we bought us some long sleeve shirts.  This was us, right before we left...it was very foggy and cold that morning.

this was thursday.  We had arrived at the start of the Talimena Drive.  We basically had the whole road to ourselves.  We only saw one other motorcycle and one car, going the opposite direction...it was an amazing ride! 

On the way to Branson, after we got hot and ditched the long sleeves! LOL!

The tourist center, at the start of the talimena drive.  The lady who worked inside, was from a town very close to where we live.  Small world!

 At silver dollar city, we went on the Marvel Cave tour.  It's been 15 years since I've been in this cave.  It was so fun to go through it again! It's a one hour tour with over 600+ stairs!

On our way home. We stopped at Hot Spring and spent the night, to split up the trip. Good thing to, because on the way to Hot Springs, we kept having to pull over due to the pouring rain! We were FREEZING!  Here we are just laughing and trying to wait it out.  We couldn't do anything but laugh, and say "we are making memories!"  Once we got to the hotel, we showered and ordered pizza/salad.  We didn't want to do anywhere else in that cold/wet weather.

When we were in Branson, we also went to a Wax Museum. It was hilarious.  We got some great photos of each other.  I loved this one! "Men In Black"! 

We have more photos on Stephen's phone, I just haven't had the chance to download them yet.  Hopefully I can soon.  :-) 

A very SPECIAL Thank You to Granny and Papaw for keeping the boys, so that we could do this trip together.  We love you!!!  



Busy Summer

I LOVE Summer time.  It is a very busy time of the year, but it's my favorite season.
Tomorrow night, the boys have a pool party with Levi's baseball team. 
Saturday we have a 10K Race, and a Family Fun Run...and baseball practice. 
Sunday we have some friends coming over in the afternoon, after church, maybe...
Monday Levi has a dentist appt, and Stephen's parents and sister are coming down. 
Tuesday-Six Flags!!!!!!!
Then we have Wed and Thurs free, but Friday-Sunday we have a Baseball Tournament...and a friend of mine may be coming down from OKLAHOMA!!!! I SOOOOOO hope she gets to! 

This is basically an example of our weeks busy-ness, up until August.  Something going on, every week...all week.  I LOVE summer.  It's full of activities, quality family time, and fun in the sun!!!!  Bring on the Vitamin D! 

update...

sorry I've been rather M.I.A. lately. Life's just busy and blogging isn't at the top of the priority list.  Here's a few things that have been happening:

*My parents celebrated 38years of marriage last week! Congratulations!!!

*My husbands parents celebrate 40 years of marriage this weekend! Congratulations!!!!

*I went on Levi's field trip with him last week, to the bowling alley. They had so much fun!

*I've been walking with a friend a couple of times a week, and running also.  last week alone, I logged over 41 miles! Yes!

*Today my cousin is having her twin boys, so I am going to the hospital to visit her this afternoon.  Can't wait!

*gotta purchase my last three appraisal qualification courses, so I can get these done over the summer...

*kids last day of school is next week, Thursday.  they are pretty excited...

MacroEconomics

It is OVER!!!! Yea!
I finally found out my grade on Exam 4. I had made a 104! 
I had my Final Exam on Monday.  I just found out how I did on it; I made a 91! Yea!!!! 
So my overall grade for this class is 98.10%!!!! YES!!!!!

Only 1 more college class to go.... Thank Goodness!

Update and Relay for Life!

To read about the Relay for Life, click HERE!

Update on the washer:  I have the MOST AMAZING husband ever.  He came home from work, and took the washer apart, found the broken part, searched and found a new part (close to where I was working), so I went and picked  it up. I got home, he put the new part on, and $25 later has my washing machine working like a charm!  Praise God!!!!  I am one HAPPY Momma!!! Who knew a working washing machine could make me so giddy! LOL!!!!  I'll try to remember this, and not complain about how much/how often I have to do laundry again.  At least I have a washing machine to do that hard part of that job. :-)

Why not.... :-(

Last night, the washer stopped agitating/spinning. :( why not....like enough stuff hasn't broken/need repairs. I'm really struggling to keep my chin up. Don't know how much more of this I can take....

Long overdue update:

Wow, where does the time go?!  Oh yea...baseball, baseball, and more baseball! LOL!  But we are having fun and living life, so what more can we want. 

Macroeconomics:  current average 98.47%! Yes!  I have Exam 4 tomorrow (say a prayer!), and then the final exam on May 9th.  After that, I'll be done with this class. Yea!!!

My Car:  Road Hazard struck.  Literally!  I was driving down a two lane hwy, and as a big truck drove past me going the other way, it's tire threw something at me.  I saw a flash of black, and screamed as it hit the hood of my car.  It made a very loud noise.  All I could think was "thank God that didn't hit my window!".  I didn't think another thing about it, until I got home later.  I turned around to look back at Levi to make sure he shut the car door good, and I saw this: 

a HOLE in the hood of my CAR!  NOOOOOOO!  So I went and got an estimate. It's going to cost over $400 to repair it.  Just great....

-Our dishwasher isn't working.... lovely... why not?! 
-a storm came through and broke one of the red oak trees in our front yard, snapped it right in half...could have been worse I guess.....
-but even in the midst of all of this turmoil...I refuse to be defeated.  I'm working extra to try and make the extra money needed....and I'm holding my head up and praising God for saving us from "what could have been much worse".  :-) 

Macroeconomics

All is going well with my Macroeconomics class.  A few days before we left for spring break, I had my second exam.  I just checked the gradebook, and I made a 94! Yea!  I made a 93 on the first exam.  I thought I hadn't done as well, but I guess it was okay after all.  My overall grade is currently "A (97.01%)".  YES!  :-)