Rainy Saturday in Northwest Arkansas

It is almost the end of March and it is raining and cold here today.

Ali had her first local softball tournament in Fayetteville scheduled today and Erica, her first softball practice for her team, but they were cancelled due to the weather. We were all disappointed, but an unexpected day at home after our first week back to work post vacation, is not a bad thing. I am actually excited...

One of my favorite shows on TV when I was a young girl was "Happy Days" and this morning while I was waiting for the cancellation of the tournament, I watch the biography channel's documentary of this show. It was really good and brought back so many memories of great TV shows that my family used to watch together. Tuesday nights were "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" and Thursday nights were "The Walton's". We all sat down together to watch. Now, Dave and I do that with our girls watching "American Idol", "Deal or No Deal" and Family Feud on the Game Show Network. I want so bad to have a wholesome drama type show that we could all watch together, but they just don't seem to exist these days, which is unfortunate.

So back to my Saturday, I plan to finish a great book I have been reading, called Yada Yada Prayer Group. It is the first in a series of six books I think. What is funny, is that I bought this book in February while browsing at Lifeway Christian Book store in Rogers to take with me on a trip. I read the first 3 chapters and put it down (because quite frankly, I don't have a lot of spare time to read, unless I am captivated by a book which rarely happens). Well last weekend I was catching up with one of my best friends in the world, Stephanie from California, and she mentioned that she had been reading a series of books about a prayer group, (the same book I bought), I told her my story about buying the first one and putting it down after a few chapters and she encouraged me to pick it back up and start reading it. So I became captivated, I started in chapter 3 on Monday and as of today, I am on chapter 23 (there are 41 chapters in this particular book), so I am really into it now and want to finish, and start the next one. I can't think of a better day to sit and read. If you want a good book to read ladies, I recommend this one...

After I finish it, I will be starting the annual clean out of my girl's room. That is a huge project, one that I like to do alone because I can throw out junk /give away things they don't use anymore and I won't get the "Oh Mom, I was gonna play with that".

My wonderful husband has volunteered to brave WalMart for me today with my grocery list...what a man!!!

Hope you all have a great Saturday, whatever you decide to do!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Happy Easter Everyone! HE IS RISEN!! I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend.

Saturday, the weather in Northwest Arkansas was beautiful, so while I cleaned out the garage, the girls did some Easter art with their sidewalk chalk, played basketball and tried to shoo away a cat from our yard. They told me Dad pets it when it comes around, so that is why it keeps coming back.

Later they colored Easter eggs..beautiful masterpieces!

Easter Sunday I woke up very early, I wanted to sleep in on my last day of my vacation, but just woke up. I hate when that happens, but then again, it was nice to have a little time to myself before the family was up and around.

The girls hunted eggs in the backyard. It was very cold for a late March day, so needless to say, their egg hunt was quick.

I always remember hunting eggs in my backyard as a little girl. We would of course find the real eggs that we colored the day before and then my mom would make deviled eggs with them(I don't like deviled eggs, and no, I have not tried them either). My dad started this plastic egg tradition for us when we were about 8 or 9. There weren't that many, so it was special. Inside one of the eggs was a dollar bill, the rest had coins. Afterward, we would walk to Kenny's Git and Go and buy a bunch of candy with our money. Unfortunately, with the change in the times, I could never let my girls walk to the store, but I have continued the money egg tradition and this morning they had fun hunting them.

I have decided not to cook an Easter feast this year. So this afternoon we are going to go to Granite City for a late lunch/early dinner. The Razorbacks have advanced in the NCAA basketball tournament, so we will be rooting and watching them today too.

I love vacation so much!!! I will miss it next week!

Spring Break in San Antonio

We are enjoying spring break this year in San Antonio, TX. My sister Stacy and her husband Mike live there. They were blessed with beautiful twins in December of 2007, I met them when they were 2 days old, but the rest of the family had not, so we took off Friday after school and arrived about 1 pm on Saturday.

On Sunday, while Stacy and I ran errands, Dave and Mike took the girls to Sea World. They had a great time and enjoyed seeing Shamu and riding one of those rides that leaves you soaking wet.

On Tuesday it was "Girls Day Out". We went to the Bisque Bistro in New Braunfels, TX and painted art pieces that they will fire in their kilns. I made a birthday cake platter, Stacy painted an egg platter, Ali a piggy bank, and Erica did a mosaic of a palm tree. We had a great time and then had a wonderful lunch afterward.

You wouldn't know Auntie Stacy had twins less than 3 months ago, would ya?

Wednesday, we all went to the San Antonio Zoo. Ian and Jillian were troopers, they slept pretty much the whole time, except when they had their lunch. It was a beautiful day, but there were TONS of people there because it was Spring Break and it had rained a couple of days, so people were taking advantage of the weather like we were.

We had a great week and most of the fun was hanging with these cuties!! They are not even 3 months and are sleeping from 10pm to 7am. Stacy has them on a wonderful schedule and they are such good babies.

I see 2 little girls who will be great babysitters someday!

Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. A day to reflect on God's sacrifice of His Only Son for the entire world.

A Week In Review

I was out of town last week on a business trip, which is why I have not been blogging. I, along with my buyer and 9 others took off on Tuesday afternoon to Southern California. I love that direct flight from XNA to LAX, although they are limited. We left snow on the ground and 30 degree weather and arrived safely without much delay to sunny and 70 degrees. Many on the trip know that I am a California native and wondered why in the world I would ever leave that place? Let me just say, I don't miss it at all. I love Northwest Arkansas and was thanking God that I live in such a wonderful place for Dave and I to raise the girls.

My girls were not happy when I told them I could see Disneyland's Matterhorn from my hotel room. We did not hit the Magic Kingdom while we were there, I will always save that for when my family is with me.

Tuesday night we ate at a wonderful restaurant called McCormick and Schmick's, then hit the Cheesecake Factory which was right across the street from our hotel. Tough luck, huh?

Wednesday, we traveled all over Orange County looking at stores and competitive outlets. We hit Rubio's at lunch for fish tacos and then after working the rest of the day,we ended up on the Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach at a place called Coyote Grill. One of the girls in our group was celebrating a birthday that day. Wednesday night we did our store resets (the whole reason for the trip), we started at 10pm when the store closed, and finished about 2:30 AM.

Thursday, we visited more stores and then we headed off to a place called "The Grove", pretty much in downtown LA. It was fun, I was able to hit Crate and Barrel among other stores. We then headed to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and I had my first cupcake from "Sprinkles". It was okay, but what I enjoyed most, was seeing all the BMW's, Mercedes, Porsche's, etc. My dream car is a BMW, so that was a highlight for me. Then we headed to Santa Monica for dinner and ate sushi at a really cool restaurant.

Friday morning we recapped our trip, hit a few more stores then headed to the airport for our 4:20 pm flight. We had Darren McFadden(a University of Arkansas stand out, who is likely to go in the first round of the NFL draft this year) on our flight back. It was an un-eventful flight, we even landed a little early. I was glad to be home.

Saturday was softball tryouts, last Upwards Basketball games, skating birthday party for one of the girls, and errands to Sam's and Wal-Mart.

Today on Sunday morning, Dave and Ali took off to Tulsa for a mini softball tournament, Erica and I went to church to hear Jr. Hill, an evangelist who came to our church about 3 years ago. He was again wonderful and many people came to know the Lord which is great!

It has been quite a busy week and a WONDERFUL weekend! Hope your Monday is a good one!

Beer Roast Sunday

Well, I made a major mistake today. I made one of the dishes on my favorite foods list, took pictures of it before and after to show you and then realized that my camera disk was still in my computer from yesterday when I uploaded new pics of my girls and my hair.

So, I will just have to post the recipe and next time I make it I will include pictures that I actually took.

My mom made this recipe, Beer Roast when we were still living at home, I love it and so does my family now,we usually enjoy it on a Sunday. The smell while this is cooking is the BEST!

Beer Roast
1 Cube of Butter
2 Large yellow onions sliced in rings
5 Cloves garlic cut in quarters
3 to 4 lb boneless roast
Flour
Salt
Pepper
½ can of coke
1 can of beer
Potatoes
Carrots

Preheat oven to 375
Melt butter, saute onion and garlic until soft in a large pan with cover. Dust roast with flour, salt and pepper.
Brown roast on all sides.
Pour in beer and coke. Add pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover
Place in oven, cook until tender adding water as juices cook down, usually about 3 hours
Set roast aside once cooked, wrap in foil. Increase temperature of oven to 400. Add carrots and potatoes. Cook until veggies are tender.

Place veggies in a side dish and cover. Mix cornstarch and water together according to package for gravy. On the stovetop, bring your leftover roast juices to simmering, add the cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened(and long enough to get the cornstarch taste out of it).

Serve the roast, veggies and gravy with a green salad and bread of some sort.

Enjoy and have a wonderful week!

My Stars

Ali and Erica have been playing basketball for the first time this year. The season is nearing the end and today was Ali's last game because she has her first softball tournament next weekend. I took their picture after the games today. I am so blessed to have such wonderful daughters. I can see them growing older right in front of my eyes and I don't like it a bit. Today as Ali and I were leaving the hair salon, I told her that I didn't want her to grow up and go away to college. She says, "Oh that is a long time from now Mommy". I said, "Sweet girl, it will be here before we know it and we will be shopping for your dorm room stuff". We both laughed, but it is so true.

It has been a great day, beautiful warm weather and good time spent with my family. And oh, by the way, I mentioned I went to the hair salon today, well, I finally went "red" with my hair color. My sister has been trying to talk me in to it for years, and I finally had the guts to do it and I love it!!!

Hooray It's Friday!!

Can I just say how much I love Fridays!

I was just chatting with a good friend today about how much we love our Friday nights at home. Our family has so much going on these days, that Friday and Saturday are our nights at home with no commitments. How wonderful it is to come home, get in my jammies, eat dinner, and hang out in front of the TV with my family until bedtime.

I am glad this week is over. I have recently changed positions at work and the past couple of weeks have been brutal getting adjusted to the new role. I have found myself many times questioning whether or not I should have taken this new position. But, what I am finding is, I am challenged again and I have not been in the past couple of years. I am learning a ton and my days fly by - that is a good thing. Once again God shows me it is all in the attitude of my heart. I need to count the blessings I have in my life and have a grateful heart!

Happy Friday To You!