St. Jude 5K

This weekend was the St. Jude 5K Run in Memphis, TN. Beth Murphy, Julie Bridges, Connie Davis , and I stayed together. It was such a great experience!! I am not used to staying away from my family but these ladies made this trip worth it. We left on Friday and registered and then ran on Saturday morning. It was SOOOO cold that morning. We warmed up some after awhile. I was so pumped when the race started and seeing all of the runners and families on the sidelines was such a rush for me. About half a mile to the finish line, there was a lady with a sign with a picture of her grandson that said, "Thank you for saving my grandson" and I just lost it. I was running and crying, it did not help that I was listening to the song, "I have Been Blessed" by Martina McBride. We are so blessed. When I was done, I immediatley knew I would do this again. We got our shirts and medals but most of all, I felt a feeling that overcame me that was THANKFULNESS. Most people know I am sensitive but when it comes to children, my heart is just mush, there is nothing like the love of a child. Brady Burford is a little angel and I was happy to run for his team. His parents are such wonderful people and I was glad to get to know them.

Lanee's 8

Taking time to catch up

Well, I am just taking some time to catch up. It has been a busy few weeks. I have been traveling several times a week for work. First of all,the girls had a great Halloween. Jessie was Cleopatra and Lanee was an Indian. The Indian costume was one that Jason wore when he was her age. She was excited to wear it.
I had a Giddy Up program for Girl Scouts. It was fun. I think all of the girls enjoyed it also. It was held in Monticello and I had asked a horse trainer to work with me on this and he did a great job!
Lanee had her 8th Birthday. We had a Hannah Montana sleepover party. There were 20 girls to begin with but only 17 stayed the night. I had little girls everywhere. They had a good time and that is what counts. We made Body Glitter for each of them to take home. Both of my sisters stayed and helped me until 1:30 am. I appreciate how much they care for my girls and want to participate in things with them. They dressed up, watched movies, ate pizza, made body glitter, painted and jeweled up fingernails and toenails. It was a blast. She only turns 8 once.

New Friends

My Jess has a new friend, Emma. We had so much fun this weekend. She came and stayed the night on Friday, they stayed up till 1 a.m. Saturday morning, I went for a run with Beth while Jason and the girls were asleep and when I came home, the 3 of them were ready to roll. We went and rode the horses that afternoon and decided we wanted her to stay the night again. We went to church, Nonna's and had to take her home. She was a joy. I love seeing my girls play and be happy. I can't express how much my girls mean to me. I can't imagine them actually leaving home one day. Jason hates for them to be gone when he is home now so I know he feels the same. Jason and I both love to go on "dates" but we also come home early most of the time. Try sitting with your husband and NOT talking about your kids, impossible. Tried it, ended up laughing about how funny they were. Here are a few things that make my girls special to me.
Jessie-she looks just like her daddy(good thing I adore him) I will never forget when I first saw her and her eyes opened and even the nurse said "she is her daddy made over" I was not even out of recovery from the C-section, she loves to read(she actually got that from me), she is helpful when she needs to be and she is very passionate about the things she believes in, she wants to do her best. I see this with her school work. She loves to be outside and ride horses. She is her daddy's closest thing to a boy (besides Alex) and I am happy for that. She killed a ten point last season. Boy, he was proud!!

Lanee-she has always been her own person and knew what she wanted since the day she was born, she has my love for children(I often think she should have had a younger sibling, she loves to see little ones), she is a Momma's girl. She likes to help me with anything she can and she likes to ride with me to work out of town when it is something she can attend so she can keep me company. Jessie likes to stay with her daddy to go hunt, ride, anything but being cooped up in a car. Lanee will talk to me the whole way. She loves to flip everywhere. Her nickname is "Monkey" she had so much hair when she was little, it was too cute! When she was able to move around, she climbed, flipped, got in to everything. She is resilient, she has overcome so many setbacks with her hearing, mouth reconstruction and most people cannot even tell. She looks like me, so I hear,lol! It was nice to get some credit from one of them.

I can't talk about my girls without saying what a wonderful father they have. He spends lots of time with us and he loves them and has no problem letting them know this. He is always thinking of fun things for us to do. He makes sure they have cute clothes since I do not like to shop,(how many dads know their kids clothes and shoe sizes, he knows mine too) he bought them horses and all the things that go with them just because they love to ride. They will never know how much he does for them.

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

A Camping we will go, we sure did. Darcy, Krista and I took 18 girls camping at Yale Camp last weekend. I completed the Outdoor Training for Darcy and Krista, that is part of my job. I love camping! Let me tell you, they knew how to camp before now. This is not the first campout that Darcy and I have done for the girls. We did all sorts of things like roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, making candy necklaces, carving candles, decorating cookies and tye dying T-Shirts (Darcy saw this in the Family Fun magazine, too cute) and lots more. I also showed the girls how to make a carboard oven and bake brownies with a box, foil and charcoal. They actually got to eat one. Darcy, Krista and I went to Wal-Mart on Friday to buy the supplies, we were in there for way too long! Darcy had our list made out thank goodness. It was all worth it. The girls layed down after 3, and woke up by 7. I know they were tired little girls when they got home. They got pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Camping is something we will all remember!

I'm a big girl now!

Well, my girls are participating in the Buckle Series every Saturday for several weeks in a row. As most of you know, Jason works shift work. It just so happened that the day I had my program at the camp, the girls had a barrel run. They actual are entered in 4 events. I had only pulled the trailer once myself but I had never taken the girls to a run without Jason. I depend on him way too much sometimes. I did it all from loading up, to driving to LA, to grooming and saddeling and guiding the girls and back home. We did not finish the last event until 1:00 am and home we went. I took them back to the truck and let them sleep between events, it got chily that night. Boy, after that, I really felt like I had done something but it was good to know that I could do it on my own. My girls did really good. I am so proud of them.

Exploding Diet Coke

I did another Science program at Yale Camp in Crossett. I have a good picture of me about to put the Mentos in the Diet Coke and the one of the actual explosion. It was so much fun! I love this type of fun, the messy kind.

Fair Fun

A week or so ago, Jason took the girl to the ArklaMiss Fair in Monroe. We had lots of fun. We did take them on a weekday but that was the only day Jason could go so after school, off to the fair we went. They had the good rides. I cannot ride the rides but they had so much fun and I had a blast watching them. I also got to try the amazing FRIED SNICKER, how crazy is that. It was wonderful. All in all, we did not leave there until late and then went to the IHOP, yep, on a school night. Jason had been working graveyards and I had traveled at night several days in a row so we took turns taking care of the girls but needed some "family" time and Jason had heard about the fair. What better way to have fun!!

Science Fun

I love my job! Most of you know I am the Membership Marketing Specialist for Girl Scouts for the lower 6 counties of Arkansas. I recruit and train leaders and girls. I also do programs around these areas. I have fun coming up with these ideas for fun learning experiences. With each program, they earn patches or badges. Last year, I did Birds of a Feather and Discovering Bugs so I tried out something a little different this past weekend is Lake Village, I did "Science Fun". We did 10 different science experiments, 3 different science crafts and they got to make their own snack. It was too fun and I have awesome leaders there who allowed my girls and I to stay with them since I went up the night before and did a leader meeting and training. We had a fun little slumber party with our girls. Girl Scouts is a great organization to work for and I know God has placed me in this job for a reason.

Baking Babes

We decided to chill out last Sunday afternoon and make cupcakes and let the girls decorate them. Jason made a huge, homecooked meal and the girls and I made dessert. They helped from start to finish, I think the best part was the "finishing". We used different types of candies like gummies, sour straws, red hots and pretzels. It was fun and messy. They are getting so big, they barely needed any help. Jason even taught Jessie how to crack an egg for the batter. It was fun for us all to work in the kitchen together. Jason also picked us up some movies so when we finished our meal, we watched some movies. Wonderful days!!

Play Day with the Clayton Kids

Michael and JoAnn Clayton came and spent the day with us last weekend and we had a blast. First things first, Michael and Jessie went out in the backyard and Jessie was showing him the inside of the trailer and Michael slipped down in horse poop! YUCK!! I put his clothes in the washer and he had to wear some of my PJ boxers and Jason's t-shirt but this did not slow them down a bit. Lanee and JoAnn are the girly girls so they stuck together while Michael and Jess played outside until it was "Concert Time". They got out the guitar and made a stage on the porch, they even made some signs. I thought it was too cute! I gave the camera to Lanee so she could be the photographer. Fun, fun, fun!!

Nonna's Birthday Party

Nonna's Birthday was on the 6th of September. We had a party at the Buck's house. We had a host of family and friends. Both of my sisters, my parents, Josh and my family were there along with the Pellow's and Aunt Janey and Uncle Wayne Buck. Uncle Wayne cooked hamburgers and she had 3 cakes so we were set. Happy Birthday Nonna!

Lanee's Broken Finger

Well, out little gymnastics queen decided to brave the front hand spring and broke her pinky finger. It was all sorts of colors so I took her to the doctor and they put it in a splint. She has always been a daredevil, she was doing cartwheels at 2. Her daddy taught her how in the backyard. She has been flipping ever since.

Creepy Creatures

We are fasinated by animals and creatures around here. We found a softshell turtle that is now our pet and we found a really cool zigzag spider that makes a zigzag pattern in its web. How cool is that? Jessie also loves tadpoles! We found a huge one.

Giddy Up Cowgirl

We had a Barrel Run this past Saturday night. Jessie and Lanee both competed in 4 events: Barrels, Quads, Flags, and Poles. We were so proud of how they both did. I know it has to be nerve racking to run into the arena and control a horse while everyone is hooping and hollering. They had several patterns to remember. It was Lanee's first time to do quads and flags but she did great. Jessie had a great time on quads and barrels. They have a friend Nikita that they ride with. They had so much fun. Jason had to leave at nine and go to work and they were not finished so I had to load up and dirve the trailer home myself from the arena. That was a first for me! I was so proud of myself.

New York

This July I went to New York on business, what a trip! I had not flown since a child. The airport was just crazy. The security guard randomly chose me to be searched but necessary. They even emptied my purse and carry on. It took forever considering I was inbetween flights that were an hour apart. I was with a fellow employee and friend, Patricia. We had a great time together. I missed my family dearly, I left on Sunday and came home on the next Saturday. I met lots of fun people and had a great time in the Big Apple. I got to go down to Rockefeller Plaza where they film the Today show. That was a biggy for me since I watch it every morning. I got to ride the train into Grand Central Station. That was an experience in itself. The door shut on my head because I was too busy looking at the crack inbetween the train and walkway. I had a bruise the next morning. We worked alot while we were there but they made up for it with awesome food and great accomodations. I felt like I was in another world when I saw all of the people pushing and shoving down the sidewalk. Who knew that many people could cram into such small spaces. I am sure they could tell was visiting by the look on my face. I brought back lots of stuff for the girls. I wish they could have gone with me. I wonder where they will send me next summer?

Crazy Cowgirls

We love animals around our place. We have 4 horses and the girls adore them. They love to barrel race. Matter of fact, they start the Buckle Series this Saturday. Last year they both participated and recieved a belt buckle. We hope this year they will be able to do the same. It is amazing how such a small little person can control such a large animal. Jessie loves her Buck and he loves her. Lanee has Missy. This year Lanee will ride Thunder. He is new to our family but he does great with the kids and I enjoy riding him myself.

Hurricane River Caves

Jason and I took the girls to the Hurricane River Caves. It was really neat but a little scary at times. It was a tight squeeze through some areas and it was dark. We had a tour guide to show us around and she was great. She said they found the remains of a sabertooth tiger in there and the remains of an Indian boy that would have been in his teens. Jason came up with the idea to go to the caves and it was a blast. He is always finding us fun things to do. What would we do without him?

Messy Girls

Jessie, Lanee and I went to the "Back to School" Girl Scout party at the hut on the Sunday before school started. They had a slip-n-slide with vegetable oil on it and then they had a shaving creme fight. It was too fun. Of course, Darcy, Krista, Kerri and I got in on it too. My girls LOVE messy things so this was perfect. We all smelled very clean when we were done. We washed off with the water hose and some dish soap. We all had a GREAT time!

Buffalo River

Well, we went for a short vacation before school started this week. We went to Marshall, AR floated the Buffalo River. We were gone for 4 days. We went and stayed in the Blonde Cabins. It was really nice and rustic. Right up our alley! They had goats fenced in across from the cabin and the girls loved calling to them and watching them run up. When we floated the Buffalo River, we all four got in a canoe and took off down the river with our two paddles and our ice chest. We left at 9 am and we got to the end at 5 pm. Jason had packed us all sorts of snacks and lunch stuff so we stopped and ate while he did some bass fishing. It rained about 2 hours in all but we packed rain gear. Jason got some small mouth bass and the girls loved the water. I really enjoyed watching them. Jason mapped out the whole trip so I felt like I was just along for the ride. He even packed and planned our meals.

We also took the girls to explore the Hurrican River Caves. That was fun. It was amazing how nature creates such wonders. We took some good pictures. We had a tour guide that helped us. The girls were so braved, they never acted scared. We picked up some cool stuff to take home. We went to lots of little places along the way and made lots of fun memories.