The Texas Ards

Christmas Card 2011

2011-11-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

Count Our Blessings Religious Christmas Card

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Our backyard project

2010-05-18T17:00:00.001-07:00

Before.....

During.....

And, After....

We hired a landscaper and this is what he did...

We really didn't like it, so this is how it looks now....

We have a drainage problem to deal with and then a flowerbed in the back corner and then we'll be FINISHED! Yay! :)

Disney Cruise trip - Day 6

2010-02-01T07:17:00.001-08:00

Day 6 - Wednesday
Today was our “Day at Sea”. We slept in a little later this morning. We got notification yesterday that we had been one of only 2 families chosen from the entire cruise for a “Magical Memories” thing to have some special privileges like ordering the restaurant food from the room service menu. We also got some special appetizer plates that were delivered to our room. We decided to take advantage of this and order some breakfast from room service the next morning. This was a fun experience and the food was incredible!! After our fun breakfast and a little homework, we headed out the pool for some more soaking up the sun and relaxing. And, more food of course! :) We enjoyed some sushi for lunch and also had some yummy Mickey ice cream bars. Those were our favorites when we have gone to the Disney Parks, so we were very excited to find them on the cruise as well!! Kelsey and I had some relaxing laying out time up on the top deck. Allie decided to go play at the Oceaneer Lab and got to participate in a show that they did to celebrate the end of their time together. After watching Allie's show, we went to get ready for the last Live Show of our cruise. The name of it was “Disney Dreams” and it was truly amazing!! There were scenes from Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Lion King, and lots of other favorites. The special effects were SO creative and we enjoyed the show so much! .

Our dinner this night was in the Triton Restaurant which was more formal than the other restaurants and had a sea theme. The food was great and we got to say our goodbyes to our dining room servers, Joel and Daniel. We enjoyed sitting with a mom and her twin sons each night, so we also had to say goodbye to them. We were sad to start saying goodbyes, but knew that the time had to come. When we got back to our room, we were greeted with a certificate and a gift basket of snacks and goodies as part of the Magical Memories package that we were chosen for. We were required to pack up our luggage and set it out by the door by 11:00pm in order for it to be taken down, so we did that and then went to bed. The next morning, we got up, had breakfast and squeezed back into our rental car to head for the airport. It was a VERY MAGICAL vacation and we will never forget the special memories that we have made!!

Disney Cruise trip - Day 5

2010-02-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Day 5 - Tuesday
Today we enjoyed Disney's private island called Cataway Cay. We got up early and watched the beautiful view of the ship approaching the island.. Then, we had breakfast and got off the ship. We walked toward the beautiful sandy area on the island and met Chip and Dale along the way. We found the perfect spot on the beach and then began enjoying the beauty around us. The girls swam and played in the sand, Kelsey went to a Yoga class on the beach, the girls all got their hair braided, and we saw some cute sing along shows with the characters. Allie hooked up with a friend that she'd met on the ship and had a great time playing with her. Jason and Adysen swam out to a playground/ropes out in the water. There was a wonderful BarBQ lunch provided by the staff of the cruise ship and drink and ice cream machines were also available. It was a long day of fun!!

We came back to the ship, got our showers and got dressed and went to a showing of Disney's new movie, the Princess and the Frog. It was held in the big theater where they did all the live shows and we all enjoyed the movie.

That night, the dinner was Pirate themed and there was a big Pirate Party afterward. We didn't bring pirate outfits or accessories, but some families went ALL out for this event! There were Pirates everywhere! Our waiters even had their pirate outfits on that night. The Pirate party was a loud and festive outdoor event followed by a beautiful display of fireworks over the ocean. After that they set up an elaborate buffet of food. Kelsey and Allie were able to eat a few bites, but the rest of us were still stufffed from dinner!! It was the end of another magical day on the Disney Cruise.

Disney Cruise trip - Day 4

2010-02-01T07:02:00.001-08:00

Day 4 - Monday
Today our ship docked at Nassau, Bahamas. Adysen and Allie and I chose to stay on the ship while Jason and Kelsey decided to get off and explore a little. Allie and I started the morning with some time on the balcony and a visit to the gift shop since we were the only ones awake. We got the girls all some autograph books and fun pens. I brought some photo mats that we dropped off at Guest Services to be signed by the characters and returned to us and thought that would be enough since we have done autograph books at Disney parks in the past, but the girls were really disappointed not have books, so I decided to give in. We also found an awesome little beach bag for me that I LOVE and we got a great deal on some beach towels too.

Next, we had breakfast together and then the girls and I came back to the cabin for some study time. After about an hour, we took Adysen to check out the Oceaneer Lab and she stayed there while Allie and I went to the pool. Soon, it was time to make Flubber in the Oceaneer Lab, so Allie wanted to go too. I dropped her off and enjoyed about an hour of alone time. I got to go lay out at the adult only pool which was very peaceful and nice!! Jason and Kelsey returned and Allie and I joined them for lunch while Adysen stayed in the Oceaneer Lab. Jason and Kelsey had a good time shopping in Nassau and found a few good souveniours.

We enjoyed lunch and more swimming and then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had some family pictures made tonight. There are SO many great opportunities to have pictures made around here!! We also had the chance to meet some characters and get some autographs. We went to the Live Show which was the Toy Story musical and it was just incredible!! The actors were wonderful and the costumes were really amazing! After that, it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay where we enjoyed some Jamaican type food. It was great and our waiter also performed some magic tricks for the kids and they loved that!! Tomorrow we are looking forward to having a great time on the beach at Castaway Cay!!

Disney Cruise trip - Day 3

2010-02-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Sunday
What a long, fun day we have had today!! We got up early this morning to leave the Nick hotel and headed for Port Canaveral. We were SOOOOO excited to see our cruise ship there and couldn't wait to get on!! We got to the port early, but still had to wait for a little while. We met Mickey while we were waiting, though, so that was fun. We got to board the ship at about 12:15 and LOVED seeing everything that we had seen on TV in person!! We headed straight to a restaurant called Parrot Cay for lunch and then walked around and explored the ship. Our room was ready then, so we came to the room and changed into our swimsuits and then headed to the pool. It was a great time to swim since the pools weren't too crowded yet. After some hanging out time, we came back to the room to put our clothes back on and then went to the Sail Away Party!! We got to see lots of characters and had a great time!

In the evening, we went to the “Golden Mickey Awards” show. It was a Live show featuring dancers and characters and big video screens, etc. The special effects were wonderful and we all enjoyed the show! It was dinner time after that. We are assigned to eat in a different restaurant each night and tonight we went to Animator's Palate which was the one we'd been looking forward to the most!! The room begins as black and white and things change into color as the meal goes on. Toward the end, there is a video show and then everything lights up in color. The waiters even change into colored vests! It was very entertaining!! After that, we headed to the lobby to meet Princess Tiana. She was just beautiful like she is in the movie and we got some great pictures with her. Now it is bedtime and we are all ready after this busy day!! We are all having a little difficulty adjusting to the rocking of the ship, but we are hoping that the ship will reach some calmer waters soon and it won't be in motion quite as much tomorrow.

Disney Cruise trip - Day 2

2010-02-01T06:47:00.001-08:00

Jan 23, 2010 - Saturday
Today was full of Nickelodeon fun!! We started with a character breakfast this morning. We got to meet Cosmo, Wanda, Ming-Ming(a duck from the Wonderpets), and Dora. They walked around and met everyone at each breakfast table and we got lots of fun pictures. The big excitement came when Spongebob showed up!! We got lots of pictures with him and the girls were SO excited!! The food was really good too which was the exciting part for Jason, Kelsey and I! :) After that, we came back to the hotel room for some study time. The girl's teachers sent some work with them so that they won't be as far behind when we get back. They were not to thrilled about the idea of doing homework on vacation, but they had to learn that this is the tradeoff for missing 4 days of school!!

Next, we headed down to the pool. There were 2 big pool areas and luckily, they were both heated. The weather was in the mid 70's which was nice when the sun was out, but did get a little chilly in the shade. The heated water felt great!! Jason wrote a silly story for the “casting call” for a show that they were having in the evening, so we gathered by the pool at 3:30 to see if we were chosen and we found out that we were one of the 2 families chosen to be in the show! They only needed 2 adults and 2 kids for each family, so Kelsey was designated to be the photographer. Jason was very excited and the girls and I warmed up to the idea after a while.

At 4:45, the girls and Jason headed to the pool to get under a big bucket that poured out green slime! They had a great time getting all slimey!! After that, we went to the food court area for some pizza and then we went to the area where the show is held. It was a game show format and we (red team) competed against another family (blue team). I “got to” dress up like Mama Chicken and hatch some water balloon eggs and we also watched some audience members play some games and we answered some trivia questions. It was a tie up to the very end and then the other team won! The captain of the other team got to get slimed, but our captain (Adysen) got a cream pie to throw in her Daddy's face!! That was a pretty good consolation prize! We headed back to the room to hang out for a while and then Adysen and Allie went to see a 4D Spongebob movie. What a fun day!! We are excited about tomorrow when we will get up, pack, and head over to Port Canaveral where we will board the Disney Wonder!!!

Disney Cruise trip - Day 1

2010-02-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

Jan. 22, 2010 - Friday
Today is the first day of our long awaited Florida/Disney Cruise trip. The girls have only been waiting since Christmas, but Jason and I have known about this plan since September and we have all been SOOO excited!! We picked up the girls from school, rushed to the airport after school and ended up making it in plenty of time. Jason left his phone in the car and I left my wallet on the counter at home, so we were a little frazzled when we got there! I was SO mad at myself for leaving my wallet because I had spent so much time planning this trip and getting all the details in order and that was definitely an important detail!! Jason had his credit cards and debit card, so we were able to find an ATM to get more cash and it all worked out fine. Our flight was uneventful, thankfully, and we arrived in Orlando at about 8:15pm. We rented a car and started the drive to the hotel. After stopping at Olive Garden for dinner, we located the Nickelodeon hotel where we had reservations. Adysen and Allie both love Nickelodeon but Adysen is a HUGE Spongebob fan, so she was seriously excited!! We paid a little more to get a Spongebob room and he and Patrick were on the walls which thrilled her, of course. We were up late, but plan to have a good nights sleep and a really fun day tomorrow!!

Happy Labor Day!!

2009-09-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Adysen, Allie and I were sitting around watching TV Sunday morning and saw a commerical for the Gaylord Texan. I pulled up their website and saw a "teacher special" that they were running for the summer and Sunday was the last day for it. So.. we woke up Jason and Kelsey, packed up and went!! We had a great time and made some special memories.

First Day of School

2009-08-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

I have gotten SO behind in posting... things got crazy! I'll try to go back and catch up with our end of summer stuff later. But, for now, here are our beautiful girls on the first day of school today.
Allie is starting 3rd grade and still loves to have her picture made....

Adysen is in 4th. She is embarassed to have her picture made at school now! :( I tortured her just a little, but didn't insist on going into the classroom like I really wanted to. We settled for this picture at the front door.

And, I REALLY can't believe it, but Kelsey is a Senior!! Oh MY!

Allie's Birthday....

2009-08-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

8 years ago today, we recieved a phone call that changed our lives forever and our sweet Allie became such a special part of our family!! We always say that God dropped her straight in our laps because that is how it really happened. This year, we celebrated a few days early with waffles for breakfast and a dinner at Medieval Times - SO fun!!

Happy Birthday Adysen!!

2009-07-30T13:37:00.001-07:00

I just can't believe it was 9 years ago today that we got the surprising call (she came a few weeks earlier than expected) that our sweet Adysen was being born. We love to talk about and remember the excitement of that special day! We will always be grateful to her birthfamily, specificialy her birthmom, Brooke, for blessing us with her!! God's hand was definitely responsible for the way it all worked out and we will always be thankful!
We are having a party in a couple of weeks for both girls, but we had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and went to Chuck E Cheeses for lunch.... Adysen's choice and idea of the perfect place to go! :)

Who needs a pool?

2009-07-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

We have been discussing putting a pool, but have found a much cheaper option!!

Ecuador

2009-07-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Kelsey and I were blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Ecuador with a group of 50 from our church. It is such a GORGEOUS place and we had a wonderful trip!!

Here we are at the airport in our orange shirts... having a whole group of 50 people wearing these in an airport was quite a sight!! It was handy to be able to spot everyone, but we got quite a few stares along the way!! :)

This is one of the "casa's" where the children live. There are 3 of them built now with hopes of many more to come. They are beautiful homes and it's so neat to see the children who get to live there and to hear their stories.

We were getting ready to go work on the first day. We spent 4 days working doing lots of different project. Kelsey was on the paver crew who loaded 16 TONS of brick pavers into a trailor on a tractor and the tractor pulled them up the hill. My crew, then unloaded them and stacked them and evetually we began helping to actually build a road!!

Kelsey and her friends - cute huh? :)

These are some of the people that Kelsey met while she was out door knoocking in the community.

Kelsey and I

I got a chance to go on a field trip with some school kids and we hiked up to this gorgeous waterfall!

The market where we shopped.

GORGEOUS mountains! This one could only be seen at certian times becuase the clouds coverd it most of the day.

Most of our mission team.

The very large city of Quito:

This was one of the highlights of our trip... we drove/walked to the top of this HUGE mountain - the elevation was 15,000 feet - higher than any mt. in the US (other than one in Alaska) and had a church service Sunday morning. The lake is actually the crater of the volcano! It was cold, but awesome!!

Here is a funny picture that Kelsey and I had taken:

And, of course, the Guinea Pig or Cui as they call them in Ecudador. In the US, they are pets... in Ecuador, they are FOOD!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

2009-06-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

It was a little early, but we have learned that it's easier to celebrate Kelsey's birthday at the end of May instead of the end of June because of her schedule as well as her friend's busy summer plans! We had an "Asian sushi" night this year... it was SO fun!!!! I have a hard time believing she is almost 17!!!

Sleepover!!!

2009-05-31T05:41:00.001-07:00

The little girls have been dying to have a sleepover for a while and I must admit that we have tried it a few times before and it's just not my favorite thing. They are getting older, though, so we tried it again this weekend and they did GREAT this time!! We had 3 friends over and all 5 of them enjoyed pizza, playing outside, ice cream sudaes, a movie and at about 12:15, they FINALLY went to sleep!! Allie's 2 friend's moms said that they had the risk of being homesick and wanting to go home, but both of them were fine and stayed all night! Here are some pics of the fun!

Memorial Day Camping Trip

2009-05-24T19:19:00.001-07:00

We had a great time camping this weekend out by Mineral Wells. THANKS to Opa and Nan for letting us use their RV!! I think RV camping is sort of like "cheating" when it comes to camping, but it sure is fun! :)

Is this dog patient or what?

2009-05-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

The girls can do WHATEVER they want to Maddox and he doesn't care. As long as he can be with them, he is happy! :)

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T19:39:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter today! Celebrating the Risen Savior, pretty new dresses, Easter Bunny surprises, hunting eggs, and family fun... doesn't get much better than that!

She's driving ALONE!!

2009-03-26T15:01:00.001-07:00

Kelsey started driving to school alone this week... she is very proud of herself and I am very proud of her too!! :)

Happy Birthday Jason!

2009-03-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jason's birthday last week and surprised him by doing it 2 days early. We had sushi waiting....

and then a gorgeous gormet cake made by 2 awesome little chefs.

Then, we completely surprised him with a basketball goal for the driveway. It was something he'd mentioned wanting once or twice, but he defintely didn't see it coming!! :)

A New Car!!

2009-03-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have been looking for a good car for Jason that gets good gas mileage since he drives so far to work every day. Kelsey has been in a hurry for us to find him something too since he has been driving the car that was given to us for her. So.... here it is!!! He looked and looked and this was the perfect one... it's a 2008 Honda Civic with only 18,000 miles on it and a low price tag - EXACTLY what we were looking for!! It's not fancy, but we are proud of it! :)

"Sermon on the Mound" Musical

2009-03-12T04:10:00.000-07:00

The girls were in a musical at church last night called "Sermon on the Mound." They had only been practicing on Wed. nights in January, so I was honestly amazed at how good it was! Adysen was a cowgirl and Allie was a cheerleader. They were SO excited about it and had SO much fun!!

Mom according to Adysen and Allie

2009-02-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

This was a little thing that was on Facebook.. I did it with the girls and thought it was cute enough to post here too! :)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Allie: Go make your bed or something.

2. What makes mom happy?
Adysen: when we say yes ma'am
Allie: Chocolate

3. What makes mom sad?
Alile: When we're not listening

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Allie: by tickling me
Adysen: when you telll us Spongebob jokes

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Allie: I have no idea
Adysen: You were small with puffy cheeks and you used to walk around and stuff.

6. How old is your mom?
Allie: 38
Adysen: 37

7. How tall is your mom?
Adysen 65 inches, I don't know
Allie: Taller than Adysen

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Allie: make scrapbook things
Adysen: Go to the market and buy chocolate

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Allie: Shop
Adysen: go on a vacation with dad

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Allie: uh....singing

11. What is your mom really good at?
Allie: making pictures for scrapbooks
Adysen; typing on the computer.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Allie: setting up the Wii
Adysen: there's really nothing... I don't know how to put this, but you are good at everything!

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Allie: SPEECH!!
Adysen: make money

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Allie: sushi
Adysen: sushi, no.... chocolate

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Allie: making more money so we can go on vacations.
Adysen: whenever it's chilly outside, you get to drive us to school.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Allie: I would think you would probably have to be like.... the mighty Bee
Adysen: Tweety Bird!!

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Allie: sometimes we make projects for school.
Adysen: hang out

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Allie: We both have the same color hair and we both wear glasses.
Adysen: we both like video games.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Adysen: you don't believe in aliens and I do.
Allie: I don't have the same skin as you.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Allie: by kissing me every night when I go to bed. '
Adysen: cause you love me with all your heart cause you kiss me and hug me and tell me good luck and stuff.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Allie: Guam, no, Japan
Adysen: Super Target.

Butterfly Kisses

2009-02-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

Jason took the little girls to the annual "Butterfly Kisses" Daddy/daugther dance at our church last Saturday. The girls loved dressing up and everyone had a great time!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-21T06:47:00.001-08:00

Allie was sick on Valentine's day this year! :( She tried going to school, but ended up throwing up in class, so she had to miss her party. Mimi went to Adysen's party and they brought Allie's box home which helped her feel better. Adysen's box that we had decorated at home got an award for the "best red box" or something like that. She was very proud! Kelsey didn't get to have a Valentine party this year for some strange reason!! :)

Long Overdue Reunion

2009-02-17T04:10:00.000-08:00

My first cousin, Debbie, came to visit us last week and it was SO good to see her!! It had been WAY too long since we'd all been together. The little girls had actually never met her and Kelsey was 3 last time she saw her, but they fell in love right away!! :) She brought them sand art, which was a huge hit, and they even got to have a cup stacking contest! We got to be together for a short time, but it was so good to reconnect! Thanks for coming, Debbie!!! :)

It's not much, but we'll take it!

2009-01-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

We have been waiting all winter for some SNOW since it's been so long since we've seen any! Yesterday we got ICE which isn't quite as fun, but it was enough to cause school to be cancelled, so this is a good thing!! :) We enjoyed such a wonderful lazy day at home and were happy to see any sort of winter, even if it wasn't snow!!

Before and After

2009-01-12T09:09:00.003-08:00

Our "formal" living area has been almost empty since we moved in, but we finally got some furniture for it. It's exactly what I wanted and I love it!!
Before we moved in....

Before the paint job and the furniture.....

NOW.....

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T15:29:00.000-08:00

Well, things have been a whirlwind around here, but we sure did enjoy a wonderful Christmas! Here are some of the highlights:

Mimi came on Friday and we went to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags

We went to Grandma and Bill's house in Athens.

Santa was very good to us! We had our Christmas on Christmas Eve morning since we had other plans for Christmas day.

We had Christmas with Opa and Nana (and a about a million other people :))

Nonna and Papa came to visit and we enjoyed an evening with Kelly and the boys and Meme.

On Sunday, we had about 30 people from the Ard Family over for lunch. It was crazy but fun.

Whew! Now are exhasted! :) We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful to have such a wonderful family and are very glad that we got to spend time with everyone this year! We are blessed!!

Doing some Decorating!

2008-12-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting a new tree ever since we moved to our last house that had tall ceilings in 2003. Then, when we moved to Guam, we were thankful for our small skinny tree. This year, we have tall celings again and I really wanted a new tree and I found THE perfect one!! It's HUGE and gorgeous!!! It's 9 ft tall and has 1800 lights and I Love it!! We all had a wonderful time decorating it tonight. The only problem came when it was Allie's long anticipated turn to put the angel on the top and she couldn't reach it! She was too scared to let her Daddy pick her up, so Adysen took her turn. Adysen couldn't exactly get it straight, so Dad had to fix it. I think we need a taller ladder for Christmas. We also think our angel SHRUNK!! She looks SO tiny up there!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

I know that people say it all the time, but we are truly amazed at how much we have to be thankful for this year!! Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving fun. We are blessed with such a wonderful family and we are thankful for the ones we got to see this Thanksgiving and also for the ones that we didn't get to be with. We had lots of relaxing times and the girls had a great time with their cousins!!

Happy (late) Halloween!!

2008-11-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

I know it's late, but I wanted to share these Halloween pictures. I was shopping in Canton on Halloween, but Dad did a great job with the girls and a good night of trick or treating was had by all. We had a SuperGirl and a Spider Witch this year. Kelsey had a friend over and they answered the door, but
didn't dress up.

Thanksgiving Traditions

2008-11-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

Allie had an assignment this weekend that gave us a good laugh. She was supposed to make a flow chart about our family’s Thanksgiving traditions. This would have been our last 2 Thanksgivings...

Thanksgiving 2006
First, we drove to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Next, we ate Chinese food. Then, we went to the Pacific Island Club resort for the weekend. Last, we swam in the pool and in the ocean and had a fun weekend!

Thanksgiving 2007
First, we got on a plane and flew to Bangkok, Thailand. Next, we went to our hotel and looked around for some turkey. Then, we couldn’t find any. Last, we ate hamburgers for dinner.

What we actually wrote.
First we get out our Fall decorations. Next, we decorate our house. Then, we cook lots of yummy food! Last, we have our cousins and family over to eat.

So… our flow chart is sort of fictional, but I suppose more along the lines of what they wanteda and more like how our Thanksgiving will be this year!! :-)

Soccer girls

2008-10-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

I got some new pictures last weekend of our soccer stars that I thought I'd share. They weren't able to get back on the teams that they were on before we left which made us sad, but they are both on good teams with good coaches, so we are thankful for that.

Camping Fun!

2008-10-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

The girls and I were out of school for Columbus Day, so Jason took the day off and we enjoyed a camping trip this weekend. We left Saturday after the soccer games and got to stay 2 nights. Camping is always a LOT of work, but it's fun enough to be worth it! :) Thanks to Opa and Nana's "new" pop up trailor, lots of good camp food, and gorgeous weather, we had a great time!!!

An awesome Essay....

2008-10-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Kelsey wrote this for a school assignment and I thought she did a great job. It's interesting to see the recent events of our lives through her eyes.

Living in Keller, Texas for the majority of my childhood, growing up with many of the same friends and knowing where “that restaurant” was and “this shopping mall” was seemed perfect and only expected in my every day routine life. The “routine” factor of my life, however, quickly changed when I was told I was going to live on the island of Guam for my first two years of high school. The day my mom called me, explaining how she had received a job at one of the elementary schools on the Guam air force base, I didn’t know if I could take her seriously. Soon after, I began to really believe that my life would fall apart. I had not traveled outside the country, besides going on mission or vacation trips to Mexico occasionally, so I was secretly looking forward to the travel, yet determined to be negative by repeatedly whining about leaving my friends and all I’d known.

Arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the way to our final destination in Guam, I soon began to think everything might turn out “okay”. Looking around me at the cerulean colored ocean and swaying palm trees, and finally landing on Guam, enjoying luxury after luxury in what I believed to be paradise, I figured I could handle anything about that life. The scenery and tropical climate was nice and definitely adjustable; I only feared going to school. I wasn’t used to making new friends because all I’d ever known were the friends I’d had since elementary and intermediate school. I decided I would get through those two years focusing on school, enjoying the beach every now and then, and not worrying about friends so I could return to Keller and everything would be the same. I grew stronger in my faith, turning to God when I wished for a friend or thanking Him for what I saw.

However, even on the brinks of my first school year on Guam, I realized I wouldn’t have to suffer completely, ignoring a social life as I had planned to do, as I easily made friends with those around me, being accepted quickly by kids who were used to moving around and starting over. It was still difficult to think about home in Keller or my family in Texas and not break down emotionally. Yet, that first year of high school, as different as it was, really began to take effect on the way I viewed the world I knew so little about. I met kids my age who had traveled from all over the world and I slowly began to enjoy my life little by little.

My freshman year, I received the opportunity to travel to Okinawa, Japan for a school yearbook trip. On family vacations, I got to travel to different places such as Queensland, Australia, Bangkok, Thailand and Tokyo, Japan. The whole way, I was tasting new foods and learning about different cultures, such as religion and languages. I experienced the Japanese culture heavily as I took Japanese language both years, hearing stories form my teacher and learning with my classmates. Even at home, I experienced living on an air force base and making friends with people whose dads were in the military.

Although I seemed desperate not to leave my comfort zone and enter a foreign land, I now see the world with new eyes. I have many more places I plan to visit but I’ve at least seen a sliver of the huge world we live in. I don’t know everything that’s out there and I do know that there are kids my age who have experienced more than me, but I feel blessed to have witnessed military life, islanders’ cultures, and how it feels to have frizzy hair constantly. Even though it seemed as if I wanted nothing to do with these options, that two year experience was a new chapter in my life and has forever affected my beliefs and imagination. At times, I do wonder if life would be easier, would I have just stayed in one spot and not become attached to two different places in the world, but I do know that for anything, I wouldn’t have traded those two years, no matter the pain and vulnerability I sometimes find myself with. The situation kids my age sometimes come across when they get to a crossroads may seem incredibly hard and strenuous, but they just might end up benefitting from a life-changing experience.

What's going on....

2008-09-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

Things are a little crazy around here with school and all the other activities that we are involved with.

Kelsey just finished up a driver's ed course which met EVERY day Mon-Thurs. from 4:30-6:30 for FOUR weeks! We are very glad that is over. Now she will schedule some "drive times" and get some more practice and when Februrary rolls around, she can get her license. She had her permit from Guam for almost 6 months when we moved back, but when we had it switched over, they started the "time line" over again, so she has to wait 6 more months. It will give her more practice time which is a good thing, but she is really ready to get her license! School is very time consuming for her. She is taking 2 AP classes and also has to have a Physics class which has already been very challenging. We could use your prayers over her school year for sure!

Adysen and Allie are still enjoying school and they are both taking gymnastics and playing soccer. Although it keeps us busy running around after school, they love them both. Most of our Saturdays are spent running back and forth to the soccer field as they rarely ever have games at the same time or even close to the same time. I haven't taken my camera to a game yet, but I'm sure I'll do that soon.

Maddox is still adjusting well to the family. He has had some challenging stomach issues, but we are working on those and they have improved. He still amazes us with how smart he is. I took this picture Saturday night. We had movie night and the girls sat on the floor with a bowl of popcorn. Of course, he ran over all excited when he smelled it and coudln't wait to have a bite. I said "Maddox, NO!" one time and he laid down and watched the girls eat it for the rest of the movie! Amazing!!

Kelsey and I had fun doing a little shopping and deocrating for Fall last night. We missed the changes of seasons SO much in Guam and have really been looking forward to Fall this year, so that made it especially fun for us!

Of course, we had such gorgeous Fall weather last week and now it's back to feeling like summer again, but oh well.... it will get here eventually!!!! :) HAPPY FALL!!!!

Welcome to the family, Maddox!!

2008-09-01T10:00:00.001-07:00

We are proud to announce a new addition to our family.... a sweet 7 month old black lab/mix puppy named Maddox.

As many of you know, I am not the biggest dog/animal lover, but the rest of the family is, so I am outnumbered!! :) We decided to look for a dog that was a little older this time as we have done the puppy thing 2x before and it has been challenging for us. We answered an ad on Craig's List and it all just fell together.

Maddox belonged to 2 young girls from Lubbock who got him from a rescue agency after he was left on a porch in a box at 6 weeks of age. They had a house and room for him, but have since moved to an apartment in Dallas and just don't have room or a yard for him anymore. They took exceptional care of him - his teeth and coat are just beautiful and he is a very trusting and loyal dog. The girls were SO sad to let him go. They told us that they had received many calls in response to their Craig's List ad, but that Jason's was the first message that they had responded to - they didn't like the sound of the other people's voices! :)I have kept in contact with them via email and even sent soem pictures so they could be assured that we are taking good care of Maddox.

He has been SO sweet and gentle with the girls who are head over heels in love with him of course. He is up to date on his shots and is house trained which are 2 of MY favorite qualities about him!! :) We are amazed at how calm and well behaved he is and he is also very smart and easily trainable. He fits right into our family and acts like he's been here forever!

Here are pics of 3 girls and a Dad who are very much in love.....

The First Day of School

2008-08-25T15:00:00.001-07:00

Here are our sweet girls starting school today. Kelsey is a junior this year, Adysen is in 3rd grade and Allie is starting 2nd grade. Kelsey wouldn't let me follow her to school and take pictures of her with her teachers for some reason.. I don't know why! :)

The big party!

2008-08-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

We had Adysen's 8th and Allie's 7th birthday party this weekend. We rented an 18 foot waterslide and had a TON of fun!! We woke up to a big storm and a lot of rain on Friday, so I was SO nervous that it would rain on Saturday, but God heard our prayers and the weather was absolutely perfect! The party lasted for 2 hours and then the kids stayed on the waterlide for 3 more hours with their cousins. They had so much fun that they didn't even stop to eat!

Even the big kids loved it!! :)

More Summer Fun

2008-08-12T06:18:00.001-07:00

We enjoyoed our yearly trip to NRH2O with Aunt Suz and Meagan and Jared last week!

We took some time to take some new pictures of the kids that evening since it's been a while since we've taken any and these kids sure are growing FAST!! Here is what they used to look like:

And, now.....

Here are Kelsey and Meagan then and now...

Wow! It sure seems like they should still be small, but we are proud of the "big" people that they are becoming! :)

Wonderland

2008-08-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

The little girls spent a few days with my mom and dad in Amarillo. They had lots of fun and made some really special memories. I went to get them and stayed a couple of days and my mom and I took them to Wonderland.... we had a great time!

Happy Birthday Adysen and Allie!!

2008-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Adysen and Allie left yesterday to spend some time with their grandparents. They will be gone on Allie's actual birthday, so we celebrated both their special days on Adysen's birthday - July 29th. We started out the day with some birthday pancakes...

and then we looked at baby pictures and talked about the events of the days when these sweet girls were born. As almost all of their baby pictures have been in storage for the past 2 years, looking at the baby pictures was really fun for the girls.

After that, there were some gifts to open...

Jason took the day off, so he had the chance to come with us to Adysen's diving class and watch her. After that, the girls chose Chili's for lunch and were given special birthday desserts. I didn't have my camera then, but we took pictures on Jason's cell phone - if I can figure out how to upload those, I will post them here! :) Next, we told the girls we had some "furniture shopping" to do, but we drove to Six Flags instead. They were SO surprised and SO excited as you can see here.

It was blazing hot, but the crowds were small and we had a wonderful day of fun at Six Flags. Adysen was scared of NOTHING and she was tall enough to ride everything and she and Jason had a great time riding the biggest and craziest rides there were!! Allie and I had fun on some smaller rides, but she did work up the courage to ride the Judge Roy Scream and loved it!!

We have a hard time believing that our little ones are 7 and 8 years old now, but we continue to be SOOO blessed and thankful to have them in our lives!!! Happy Birthday sweet girls!!

One more house project

2008-07-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend painting the living/dining room. The color came out a little more orange-y than I was hoping for, but I think it will work. Those rooms have solar screens on the windows, so they are a little dark, so this color lightens them up some.

OK, enough about houses...

2008-07-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

it's on to birthdays now. As we have a child with a birthday in each month of the summer, June, July and August are busy months for us!! Kelsey's 16th birthday was in June this year. It's just SO hard to imagine that she is 16 already!! We gave her a surprise party the first week that we were back in town. We went to a really nice restaraunt in Southlake called "Brio Italian Grill" and Where we had a party room reserved and her friends waiting. She was really surprised and it was a fun night!

We suprised Kelsey with a hot pink laptop for her birthday. She was VERY excited as you can see! :)

A few more pictures

2008-07-24T06:50:00.001-07:00

We didn't do much to the kitchen, but here are some before and after shots of it along with the breakfast nook area.

Here is the outside of the house while the new floors were being laid. I need to take a good picture of the outside now, but haven't done that yet.

This is the girl's bathroom... it's hard to get a good picture of a small bathroom, but I tried!

Finally, I am back!

2008-07-22T12:22:00.001-07:00

Things have been VERY crazy around here for the last few weeks, but I am hoping to get back into blogging very soon. We closed on our new house and moved in June 21st. We had some new wood floors put in and did some painting and so things have been very busy! We got our first shipment the week after we moved in which was our household goods and had all the big furniture and things that we had with us in Guam. The next week, we got our stutff that had been here in storage and the week after that, our express shipment arrived. So... about the time we'd get settled in a little more stuff would come!! It's all hear now, though, and we are getting the house organized and fixed up. The garage is still a mess, but we have to tackle things one at a time.

I have lots of pictures....
Here are Adysen and Allie's rooms. Adysen's was a cream color and Allie's was NEON yellow when we moved in. Here are some before and after pics.

Here is Kelsey's room before and after. It was already painted the blue color and we liked it alot, so we bought her bedding to match the paint. Anything to keep me from having to paint more is a good thing! :-)

The biggest project we did was having ceramic tile taken up and new wood floors laid in our living/dining combo room and the entry hall and family room. It was a big job, but worth it! We love how it turned out!! We have before, during and after pictures of that!

A new blog!!

2008-06-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't figured out how to connect this blog to our other one, but will hopefully figure that out soon. We figured that since we have left Guam, we needed a new title for our blog, so here it is!! Check back for more updates and pictures coming soon!