Random Update . . .

Sorry that I have no pictures to post, but my camera got messed up over Thanksgiving and Best Buy has yet to return it to me! ;-)

So far the new year has been pretty good to me . . .I have had some good girl time, my baby turned 6, I am going to be 34 in a few weeks, and everyone in my family is healthy and happy!

Feeling blessed as of right now . . .hopefully 'this too shall NOT pass' . . . hee hee

I realize that if we are 100% honest with ourselves, everyone in this world is jacked up (except my dad) and I just feel sorry for those people that don't have someone that they can be 'real' with. I think it is rare and very special to find that person, that 'other half' (not to be confused with soul mate) that allows you to be yourself.

And why is it that we feel like we need someone else to 'allow' us to be ourselves?? Why don't we just allow ourselves?? I will tell you . . .I think it is because we can't handle our 'real' selves by our self. I think if you put me and my real self in a room by ourselves we would either self destruct or go crazy. . .which explains why there are so many people in this world that are crazy and self destructing!! I know that sometimes the 'masks' that we would wear (and still wear around some people) make us feel safe and they are familiar. They also protect us from those people who are so scared of their 'real selves' that they are critical and judgemental about us being real, but in the long run, they hinder us from being what we are capable of being.

So now my dilemma is this . . .how to teach my children to be real and comfortable with their real selves without making them open to judgement from others. Maybe the point is to make them comfortable enough with who they are that the judgement just rolls off their backs like water . . .OR have them find out that their real selves are not about themselves at all, but rather about their Creator who makes them realize what their true selves are about . . .

. . .and so on that note . . . I leave you here to go 'home school' my children, not just reading, writing and arithmetic, but about . . . LIFE . . .

A new year . . .a blank slate . . .

Family Pictures . . .A first since 1995

We haven't had a family picture made of the ENTIRE family since 1995 . . .I should scan the last one in, but I can't find it. Mark and I were just newly married, and Harmony and Curt were only engaged . . . No grandkids and Ben was still a kid himself!

Here we are in all of our glory! God has really blessed us with an amazing family, and for that I am VERY thankful!

I am going to include all the individual families so that you know who belongs to who!

Here is mom and dad (Dennis and Bonnie) Married for 35 years.

Mark and I (married 13 years)

Here we are with the kids, Madison (8), Ethan (5.5) and Garret (9)

Harmony and Brian (married in Feb 2008)

Here they are with thier kids Kelsey (18), and Nate (11) and Lexi (9)


Here is Ben with his wife Heidi (married 6 years) and Summit (almost 2!)

Here are a few more of my favorite shots . . .

Okay, so Madison's birthday was a big success! Except for being on the coldest day of the year as of then, everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves!
Mark had the tractor and trailer all set up and gave several hay rides, and he also had a nice fire in the fire ring to keep everyone warm as well as assist in the cooking of the hotdogs and marshmallows for smores!


Nate took this picture of Mark and I together . . .I thought it turned out nice!



Hayride Riders . . .LOL



Madison's Horseshoe cake . . .and we had cupcakes too! Plus, Mark made some amazing chili and it was ALL gone (He made 2 crock pots full!)


Here is Madison with Julie and Tess . . .Madison LOVES animals so she was really happy that Julie brought Tess!



I made 'Ho-bo' bags for all the kids that had glo sticks, candy, pencils and erasers in them . . .they got a big kick out of those!!!

Time to get serious again . . .

Okay, it is the time of year when I decide to get serious about blogging, losing weight and exercising . . . I will let you know how it all turns out. I am going to start blogging here on a regular basis instead of xanga (but you can go there to read previous posts). I will make this more personal as time goes by, but make sure and check out the other blogs that I read because there are a TON of people that are WAY more interesting than I am!!

My weekend ... pictures at the end if you make it there!

Okay, Friday night was pretty uneventful, we headed over to Brian and Courtne's to play Jokers and lasted until about 9:00 pm before we decided we needed to head home. (Mark had to be at work at 5:30 am Saturday morning).

Saturday started out kind of lazy, just bumming around until 9:00 am when I take the kids down to my mother in laws. She watches them every Saturday morning from 9-1 to give me a break, and visit with the kids. They do ALL kinds of things at Granny's. They get to eat junk food, drink pop, burn things, throw things, cut things (all of this is done SUPERVISED) LOL

While they were gone, I started getting ready for a yard sale. I want my life more simple, and the only way it is going to get that way is if I (THAT MEANS ME ONLY) do something about it! I have three boxes of stuff so far . . .I had 7 cake pans . . .SEVEN! Who needs seven cake pans? I saved one and am getting rid of the rest. Coffee mugs that never get used, tupperware that never gets used, but that I have kept 'just in case'. It is ridiculous. I am almost ashamed. I was able to clean out an entire cabinet to store my candle stuff in!! I was very proud!

Mark calls and decides to come home early and wants to go eat lunch. I was glad to spend time with him, but it was 'throwing off my groove'. LOL I also got a call from my upline director in Partylite, and she had a show that she wanted to dovetail to me because her son ended up being in the basketball finals that night. No problem, I had a show scheduled at 3 pm in Springdale, and hers wasn't until 6 pm in Lincoln (40 min away). PLUS, the kids had a birthday party in Rogers at Chucky Cheese at 5 pm!! My friends stepped up and took the kids for me, they are so awesome!! The kids were really excited about it and didn't want to miss it (and Mark wasn't about to take them! LOL) I was running late to the 3 pm party, and she didn't have a table for me to set up on (I really need to start asking that in advance), so we used the floor and the kitchen table and it worked out pretty good. They helped me get packed up quick and off I went to my 6 pm show. I stopped and grabbed a chicken sandwich and got some gas and made it in time to be a little bit relaxed at my next show. It was a great group of people, they were cracking me up!! Plus, one of the girls wanted to book a show and wanted to know if she could 'request' me. (since originally someone else was supposed to do the show, she wanted to make sure that I would be the one doing hers). It made me feel good. And even though I don't care what people think about me, I do want people to like me, but who doesn't?

I didn't get the kids back until 9:30 pm and we had ice cream at the local gas station (don't laugh, it is good ice cream!)

I was hoping that Sunday was going to bring time to relax, however, someone had other plans. We got a phone call about 9 am from a neighbor that noticed one of our cows was down and the newborn calf was running around. We all got dressed super quick and went to check on her. The momma was dead, she prolapsed. When we saw the calf, we completely understood how it happened, he was HUGE!! Mark and I picked him up and put him in the back of the truck and took him to the barn where we unloaded him and then rushed to Tractor Service Supply to buy colostrum and milk replacement so we could feed the little one. We got back, and it took me an hour to get the bugger (affectionately named Skid Row) to eat 4 pints of colostrum. Mark finally headed to the house with the kids and let me finish up by myself (he just doesn't have the patience for it). I got to the house, fixed lunch and we put in Lonesome Dove to watch. For 2 hours I was relaxed, then we had to check on all the cows/calves again, everyone was doing fine. Mark's cousin's called and we ended up heading to Fayetteville with them to eat at the Golden Corral. . . that place is so busy all the time, and the food isn't all that great, but I was happy to not have to cook. Got back home around 6 pm and went to feed the calf again. Madison came with me, she just loves animals and she did a really good job too! I got him to drink only 2 pints, but by that time, we were all exhausted!

This morning at 7am, I headed down to the barn again with Madison in tow (the boys wanted to watch tv instead which was FINE with me!) I got him to drink 3 1/2 pints before I got tired of wrestling with him . . .He is super sweet though and still a little unstable on his feet, but I think he is going to be just fine!

Here are the pictures I took from the first feeding . .



Mark trying to teach him how to suck . . .



He was finally getting the idea, but it was still a struggle, and the kids jumping all over the hay bales was very distracting!



His first few steps in the barn . . .He is VERY big for just being a few hours old!



So, meet Skid Row!
(Mark wanted to name him Lucky, but I told him we couldn't call him that and still sell him to the feed lots when he hits 500 lbs.! LOL)