yellow belt

 

 

 

 

yeah! he did it, cole got his yellow belt in karate. he was so excited to get his belt until he saw the crowd of people watching the ceremony. he got a little nervous but did just great. cole just missed the last ceremony to get his yellow belt when we started him in the class so he has been waiting for a few months for this. congrats cole!!

before & after

wow! the changes that happen in 2 years in the life of a teenager are colossal compared to an adult life. yep, the girl got her wish, the braces are history! 2 years flew by and now she couldn't be more pleased with the results. money well spent!

9 is so fine!!

"every single one of you a devil inside" it's lyrics to a song, this picture brings it to my mind for some reason he he!

 

loves his pokemon cards

 

speechless over this little do-dah, it'a game for his psp

 

 

cole did it, he turned 9 years old (ugh, sigh) we can hardly believe it too. time flies by when your having fun. we had a birthday party at the house (another sigh) and it was fun but can't say we'll do that again. from the moment of arrival it was screaming, running, chaos! we played a couple of games, ate cake and opened presents and after that i was exhausted but cole was a happy camper. we love you coley!

spring is in the air

 

i took this picture at the temple in dallas aren't they pretty. i just love the temple grounds, wish the grounds crew were for hire at my house! makes me think of the primary song "in my pretty garden the flowers are sing... how do you do today?" it' playing in my head right now.

what have i been doing?

 

 

i've been playing in the crafts. i discovered google reader which is pretty neat. you just subscribe to what ever it is your interested in and each day when you go to read it, it will bring up the latest stuff people have put out there. well, since i contribute to the mother huddle which is blog dedicated to moms and doing that job just a bit better everyday, i am constantly checking out other mom blogs. i have come accross the most talented and amazing people in the blog world, if your looking for a self esteem boost (checking out crafty blogs won't do it). anway found out how to glass etch from notsoidlehands blog (love that girl who crafts on there). i made this little jar for st. patty's day and i plan to give it away tonight at church for a relief society mtg. the great thing is that the jar was recycled, it was a cheez wiz jar and i painted the lid. the bad news is i spent a small fortune finding enough green candy to go in that tiny jar but not like brad and the kids won't eat it (left myself out on purpose cuz i'm trying to be good). hope you like the idea for the jars just check out the blog i mentioned for the know how. happy st. patty's day!
p.s. i'm tired of writing w/ caps so i'm not

Christmas 2009

What a great year we had and wonderful Christmas too. We first celebrated here a little early with the Platt family. We did our now annual white elephant gift exchange and game and it's always fun. On Christmas Eve we flew to California to celebrate with my family. We weren't sure we were going to make it out on time because of bad weather this side of the country. We did make it Christmas Eve just 2 hours before Christmas, although our luggage went to another airport. We were just happy to make it there at all, the ham and dessert were still there waiting along with the rest of the family. It was great to visit with family and just relax with Brad. Brad leads a very busy life with work and church responsibilities and doesn't get much down time, so he especially enjoyed the visit.

Primary- Family Service Project

 

 

 

 

In Novemeber the Primary at church asked each family of a primary child to pick thier own service project to do and to document it with pictures so they can hang them up on the bulletin board in Primary. What a great idea this was since it was the month of giving thanks it also really helped our family do something together.

Brad is the sewer in the family so I coridnated the project of making school kits for the Humanitarian Aid Services our church does. At lds.org we found the idea and instructions for the kits. The kids learned to sew a little and decorate the bags. Cole helped me shop for all the things we put inside the bag. We talked about how these bags will help kids who don't get supplies like these for school and how they have to walk to and from school, nothing like our kids who can ride a bus or car.

Sitting on Santa's Lap

 

Kara and I enjoying telling Santa what we wanted for Christmas! about 1973

Relief Society Christmas Dinner 09

 

 

 

Christmas was in the air at another successful Relief Society Christmas dinner this year. The food was delicious and the Bishopric did a fabulous job on the speaking assignments. Libby Elliott made a sweet video of pictures with music about wisemen still seeking Christ, it really invited the spirit into the meeting. The decorating was very nice, special thanks to Cori and Louise. The table settings were done by several sisters and it was fun to see others style of decorations. Socializing with such good friends who seem like family is always the highlight. The Presidency made tiles for all the sisters who came, they said "Wisemen Still Seek Him" which was our theme for the evening. Thanks to Heidi Miller and her board for the planning of the meeting. Thanks to all who came and participated I know you went away feeling uplifted like I did.

Christmas Parade 2009

 

 

 

We got into the Christmas spirit by braving the cold at the Ashdown Christmas Parade. Cole and I just barely missed the Ashdown High School band where Victoria was twirlling her flag with the other color guards. We did see many creative floats go by and as you can see even horses and beauty queen's (didn't know there was such a thing as a Mrs. Senior beauty queen- there's still hope for me after all)even Santa came at the end on a fire truck. Santa was too shy for a picture maybe it was due to his cheap suit, or the amount of weight he's lost lately, anywho, he left the real suit and rain deer back at the North Pole. We survived the cold night and Cole came home with a beanie full of candy.

Thanksgiving Fun 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as usual. We had lots of people 26 to be exact, and tons of great food. This year we played a few fun games that got us more lively instead of wanting to roll over and take the afternoon nap. I found these games on family fun website and they were so funny. The first games was a orange race. Two or three people had a cut off pantyhose with a orange in the bottom of it and they tied it to their pants so it would hang down in the middle. Then an orange was set in front of them and they were to try to cross the line by hitting their orange with the one hanging from the middle of their pants.



The second game was really fun too. It was a tag game with a sock at the end of the pantyhose then you put the hose on your head and try to catch people by pulling off their hose. This game really loosened up people but unfortunately Brad fell and twisted his knee pretty bad. So then it was back into the house for a game of Apples to Apples game and watching football and of course pies. I didn't get a picture of all the desserts we had, it was probably like 12 or so. They were delicious too. Even though Brad got hurt & I woke up with a sore throat that morning it turned out to be a good day.

Addicted to fiction (and chocolate too)

I have to admit I am addicted to fictional novels and chocolate but that's a different story. I usually have a book I'm reading and listening to at the same time. The listen to type is light and easy to follow, for the most part, and the actual novel I'm reading is a little more in depth. Well, I decided I have been reading too much (napping too, comes with the teritory) and not getting as many things done around the house. The last book I finished reading I told myself that's it for awhile until I get some things done around here.(ie. clean out my cabinets, oil them, organize closets, etc.) Do you think it has worked? No, I just feel lonely and out of sorts without them.

The lesson I learned: books are big part of my life now and I would hate to be without them. I have a greater appreciation for my site and ability to read the written word. With that in mind how could I put myself on a diet from books especially fictional novels and be truely happy.

It's time to turn off the guilty feeling of house work and start reading. Any favorties that you could recommend?



These are my 2 latest picks.

My Sister "Kara" the geneologist & writer

Nathan's Poem

Along a quiet,red clay..Kentucky road, searching through trees for small grey stones of history and family past. A short steep hidden hill..tall thick brown grass, obscures my view..moving through the scared ground..I fall upon a weathered wooden fence, over grown with trees and shrubs, soft pale yellow light shines through to show me my treasure found. With tears of joy at the site, I kneel and pay my most humblest of respects. Surrounding me are three more stones..a wife whom he loved and lived and children who served with him in those years. My mind races with breathless remembrance of who, how and what this man was.

A seven year old drummer boy in a "Revolution", in the year of our God, 1778...A single red rose seems hardly enough. As a man he was the first to plant apples in this place. A thinker for many and a employer for more, he is smart and creative with all he bore. A grist mill, a planter, a justice too..how I wished to know you.

With Charity, his wife he begot so much..a hard worker till death in 1829. A grateful people erect a stone to remember him, while Charity goes threw a long life alone. My treasure is secure with pictures and writing.. a small flag next to his head, I know he's watching. I quietly thank him for all his sacrifice, so that I can live a much better life. I'm so proud the tears keep flowing..I promise, I will do all I can to share what I know. In loving memory of my 5th Generation Grandfather Nathan Futrell.



I didn't ask permission but once you post stuff on facebook it's free for the taking!! Just thought Kara deserved some credit for doing the family genealogy and being talented at writing about it. Thanks Sis.

Directional Change

I've totally neglected my personal blog due to busy lives, boredom, thoughts of who really reads this blog anyway. So I am starting a new attitude about blogging and a fresh new approach too. I have been doing lots of different things lately but one in-particular is contributing to a new website that 7 women have put together with the vision of my friend Destri who is the brain child of the whole thing. The name of the website is The Mother Huddle (cute name huh) I am contributing to the weekly feature "Make it Monday". So for some strange reason(desperation) Destri thought I could be the craft and the DIY girl. I am sometimes crafty but "DIY inept" when is comes to big projects. If it is copying of an idea about home decorating then I guess you could say I do some of that. In short "Make it Monday" has been stressing me out and making me get out of my comfort zone which is good, we all need some of that.

Now about the boredom thing- I was getting tired of posting just about my family life thinking who wants to read this stuff any way. But then I was reading in the magazine family fun about how blogging has helped her kids to journal. I thought that could be interesting to see what my kids and Brad might want to say and then it wouldn't be just me. In the future I plan to have them do a post once a week so
look out.

Since getting involved with The Mother Huddle I have been able to visit many different blogs and websites out there. I've come to the conclusion that there are a ton of very talented people out there and I'm glad they are sharing their talents with the ciber world. I plan to feature some of peoples' talents on my blog too so you can see what gets people inspired about life.

For the few who read my blog your probably thinking "this is the longest post ever, she never writes that much" but mostly because I think who wants to read this much stuff...not me.

Surprise!!

Brad and Victoria surprised me for my 40th birthday! Victoria gathered some friends & family of mine to get video about me. Then with the help of a good friend Mark Shirley he put it all together in this fun video. When I figure how to get his video to be on here I'll put it on. But for now this was some pictures that Victoria shot of the party. They told me we were going to pick up my cake the the college where some culinary student had made me a cake...Lies! I wasn't going to get out of the car because I thought we were meeting the family at "On the Border" Mexican restaurant and we were running late. But Brad insisted that I get out and help him with the cake. So I did and when I we got to the place and opened the door there was the family and the Shirley's saying "surprise"! I was surprised for sure. We ate Mexican food there and had yummy ice cream cake from the Marble Slab (my favorite place). Then they played the fun video and we all got a good laugh. What a fun birthday it was, and it made 40 fabulous!! Thanks, Brad & Victoria and everyone else who were a part of it.