Pumpkin Painting

Before the mess began

The artist at work

He did so well about painting right on the pumpkin

CHEESE!

It used to be kind rainbow-ish until they all got mixed together

 

This was one of the three sides of my pumpkin

Side 2

Side 3

Derek's pumpkin of course

Derek's pumpkin side 2

He had to paint one of the small ones too

The final product. A kiss pumpkin, a three sided pumpkin, a gray pumpkin and a half orange half gray pumpkin.

Day 14 Oof 30 Day Blog Challenge

A Picture That I Love

I have more than one that I really love so I'll post a few of my absolute favorites

Day 13 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 13: Goals



-Save up for Stratton to have a nice car, and pay for his college
-Upgrade to a bigger house so we can fit a family of 4 easily
-Get a better job than what I have (my dream job would be working for the
SEMissourian)
-Save up for a retirement so we don't have to die while we're working
-Get Derek a new vehicle (Nissan Xterra)
-Get completely debt free
-Graduate from College
-Get a few raises at work
-Get a degree for graphic design online
-Have another baby and not gain 50 lbs while I'm pregnat
-Run a half marathon or do a true triathlon
-Do more benefit runs around town
-Find 1000 geocache with Stratton
-Have another healthy happy baby
-Get a dog (someday)
-Be a good mom
-Be a good wife
-Cook at least 5 times a week
-keep up with the laundry
-Graduate with my BFA (if I can)
-Go camping at least 5 times a year
-Visit my grandpa's grave more often
- Call both of my grandma's more often
-tell my family I love them more often
-Learn how to slackline
-Go skydiving
-Make a bucket list
-Watch less television and go outside more
-Drink more water every day
-Go outside and enjoy at least 5 minuets of fresh air
-try to get Derek to quit smoking
-go hiking at least 3 times a summer with Stratton AND Derek
-Spend more time with Derek and Statton and less time working
-Learn how to play guitar
-Go to church more often
-Read as much as possible

Day 12 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 12: What You Believe

I believe...

that I'm a good person

I'll go to heaven when I die

my tattoos are beautiful along with the stretch 

marks I got while I was pregnant

that killing with kindness is better than talking trash

my heart knows better than my head at times

you should always give to those who aren't as fortunate

as you. You never know what could happen to you someday

that love and family should always come first

in the five ball method to living life 

(if you don't know what this is please ask me)

in miracles

you should never go to bed angry or upset with someone,

you never know what could happen to them overnight

God has a plan for me and my family

even though I don't  go to church every Sunday,

I still walk close with God

God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason

(listen twice as much as you talk)

God gave us Stratton so my family would be closer

you have to have a little rain to truly enjoy the sun

men should have the utmost respect for women

life is good as long as you live it to the fullest

More Geocaching!

We have been making a lot of trips to St Louis the last couple of weeks for this and that so I figured what better to do when you go somewhere new? FIND GEOCACHE!

09/26/2010 In the Neighborhood GC1Y3Z9

I didn't get a picture for this one. It was cold and rainy so I was happy just to find it and be able to get back in the car to where it was warm. I didn't even get Stratton out of the car for this one. We were on our way back from an OTA event. Stratton stayed in the car eating french fries from Steak and Shake and I looked. Fun. 

09/29/2010 River Despair Cache  GCVW4A

Grandma Kathie found this one. She did so good!

10/10/10 Bike Racing-St. Louis Hills Francis Park Criterium GC2EHCH

I got Derek's step-dad Jim to come help me look for a geocache down the street from his house.

It took us a good 45 min to find this one. It was up under a tree under a stump that was fake. 

This is by far my favorite find yet. It was SO cool!

Day 11 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

I don't get to watch very much TV unless it's late at night so I always have to record the shows I really would like to watch.

With Stratton my favorite shows are:

Spongebob Sqaurepants

Chuggington 

Dora the Explorer

&

iCarly

When I'm by myself:

L.A. Ink

Teen Moms

Hoarders

Anything on TLC

Life (World?) of Jenks

The Buried Life

Addicted

Intervention

CSI

I don't like watching TV with Derek because all he ever watches is sports and sports center.

Day 10 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 10: Something You Are Afraid Of

I can honestly say that there are only a few things that I'm truly afraid of. 

1. Someone breaking into my house and trying to hurt me or my family.

2. Something/Anything bad happening to Stratton or Derek.

3. Losing family members as I get older.

4. Spiders...I HATE spiders. They freak me out.

5. Zombies...not really. Just remember to double tap.

Other than that I'm really not afraid of much. I mostly fear for the well being of my family. Other than that I remember God is watching over me and will guide my way.

Halloween

I hope that you all like the new header and the pretty music and the beautiful background. I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday of the year. I love the fall weather, the falling leaves, the oranges, reds, yellows, and browns that come with fall. I love the smells. I love everything about this time of year.

Derek, Stratton, and I are going to be painting pumpkins tonight so keep an eye out for the pictures to come! Hopefully they will turn out well.

Day 9 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 9: A Picture Of My Friends

Here are a few pictures of my best friends.

 This is my friend Maggie. We met through my other friend Lauren.

 

This is Lauren. As you can see Stratton is in love with her.

Maggie and Lauren are two of my best friends. They are always there

for my no matter what and always so supportive and willing to 

listen to me moan and groan about day to day stuff. Lauren gets to 

moan and groan to me too about the same kind of stuff. I love both Maggie 

and Lauren like sisters. I'm so glad I have both of them in my life.

 As you all have read...my sister and I haven't always gotten along 

but lately we have become close. I'm so glad we are finally able to 

be close friends and close sisters.

 Marcus is my big brother. He has always been there for me 

when my heart has been broken or when some jack@$$ 

tries to hit on me. He truly is family and no matter what I 

hope that he will always be a part of our family.

 

Corny as it might be...Derek really is my best friend. 

I spend more time with him than I do anyone else. We have 

truly been through so much together. We didn't start off our

life together as nicely as we would have hoped but we 

have tried our hardest to be good parents as well a good

husband/wife to each other.  I love him so much and I'm

so thankful for everyday that we get to spend together.

Day 8 of 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 8: A Place I've Traveled

I've been very fortunate to have had such great parents. When I was little we may not have taken awesome extravagant vacations but I can always remember having such a good time wherever we went. I remember having to share the gameboy games with Casey and having to have a time limit on each game so we could both get turns playing the "good game" (which was Mario Bros). There's SO many different places that we went that it's hard for me to pick just one. Look.

  Any state that has a blue star is where I have either visited or driven through. I can remember every state too. I remember what I was doing and how much I either loved or hated the weather. 

I remember going to Grandfather Mt when I was little and getting to go to the highland games. That was always my favorite growing up. I remember doing mission trips in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Colorado. I remember going to Colorado for my senior trip with my dad and the a.c. breaking in the middle of Kansas and the temp being almost 110! I remember going to visit a boyfriend in Texas for the first time by myself. I remember going to California on my first trip alone with Stratton. I remember going to Washington D.C. with my mom and sister. I remember going to California to visit family and getting to play with the puppies on the pecan farm. I could seriously go on and on about all the different places we went while I was growing up. There were SO many. 

The summer between my jr and sr year of high school I was fortunate enough to get selected to go to Europe with an elite group of students to play my violin in 7 different countries. 

  Here are a few pictures from that trip. I had SUCH a great time!