Point of Grace Winter Wonderland Concert

For many years Point of Grace has been my absolute favorite group, so when I found out they were going to be in town on their Christmas tour, I was SOOOOO excited! I was even able to talk some of my great girlfriends into joining me! I left work a little early in order to get there in plenty of time...yeah...I was pretty much the first one there & sat in my car for quite awhile! HA! Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up being 2nd in line to get inside. By the time they opened the doors (15 or so minutes late) Letisha & Rachel had joined me & we were able to get FRONT ROW SEATS!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I was SOOOO excited! I got some pretty decent pictures, so I thought I would share a few on here! Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Leigh, Denise & Shelly

Leigh & Shelly's girls sang for us...SO cute!

This is what I like to call their Santa dresses ;-)

Ronnie Freeman joined them for a few songs & did a couple of his own. He was great!

Last outfit change, last song :-(

Letisha & me

Oleta, me, Rachel, Darla & Letisha...so glad you gals came with me! Love you all!

Me with Ronnie Freeman

Me with POG

can i help you find that file???

some updated pictures of my "baby"

he loves getting into things...

...especially in places he's not supposed to be :-)
he loves to be anywhere close to where we are

his highness decided he wanted to help me with a project

less than thrilled to have me interrupt his nap

better late than never...

HAPPY __th BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! ;-)

Saturday the 27th was my dear mother's birthday. However, since I was on vacation, (& we don't yet have a laptop to take with us all over creation) I failed to get this posted until now. I know, I know...I should've done this on Sunday as soon as I got home...but I didn't...so here it is now! :-)

My mom is truly one of my best friends & I wish we lived closer so that I could see her more often. (Hopefully someday!) ;-) For now daily phone calls every morning on my way to work will have to suffice. I have to say that she is the best mom in the whole wide world & I don't know what I would do with out her. I only hope that I can be as good of a mom someday that she has been to me...& I'm sure that she hopes that I start that soon, so she can start being the best nana ever...hahaha! I realize how completely blessed I've been to have such a wonderful example & appreciate her more & more with each passing year. I think that this poem that I found expresses it much better than my words ever could...

My Mother's love
believes in me,
laughs with me,
helps me cope.
My Mother's love
advises me,
inspires me
to dream, to hope.
My Mother's love
has touched my life
in ways I can't begin
to say.
My Mother's love
is still a gift
I treasure
every single day.

Mom, I hope your day was wonderful & that you have many many more years to come ~ you're the bestest in the westest!!! ;-) I love you ever so much & miss you bunches. XXOO

Company, Kitty & Vacation...

My Uncle Mike & Aunt Sandy were able to stop by on their way home from their vacation in Branson. We missed being there at the same time as they were by mere hours, but were very happy to get to spend a few hours with them.

Of course no visit would be complete without a few games of Mexican Train Dominos! We had a lot of fun & we each won a round...WOOWOO!!! ;-)

TJ was also VERY interested in our game & kept trying to play...heehee!

He finally got bored though, & went to lay on the floor...he blends in quite well to the floor, don't you think???
Before they left bright & early this morning. :-(

Kitty has discovered the joy of boxes. He LOVES them & we figure that it's fine with us...cheap entertainment! haha.

Well, this time tomorrow we'll be in Branson enjoying the first few hours of our vacation. I'm VERY excited to be getting away for 8 days (though I'm sure I'll miss my little baby kitty) & I'm sure it will fly by & we'll be back to "normal life" all too soon. Hope ya'll have a good week!

never, ever...

...forget...

introducing....

the newest member of our "family"! ;-) this is the exciting news here for the week! :-D

and sharing an updated photo of the other "baby" ~ TJ is ornery as ever & he's growing like a weed! :-D His favorite thing is to be with us no matter what we're doing...unless, of course, it's time for his bath! :-)

a special day...

Happy Birthday to an awesome friend that i'm so glad to consider one of my best friends! Tish, i'm so blessed to have you in my life & i hope you have a wonderful, fabulous & superb day! love ya girl!!!

my honey

1. Who is your man? darric :-D

2. How long have you been together?almost 5 1/2 yrs

3. How long dated?around 15 months

4. How old is your man?31

5. Who eats more? him...usually! ;-)

6. Who said “I love you” first? he did

7. Who is taller? him :-)

8. Who sings better? me ;-) but he sings better than he thinks he does

9. Who is smarter? he is...most of the time...ha!

10. Whose temper is worse? not sure...i think we both take turns, depending on what we're angry about

11. Who does the laundry? me, of course! ha!

12. Who takes out the garbage? both of us

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me

14. Who pays the bills? he does...it depresses me to much...thank GOD for a hubby that's an accountant! lol

15. Who is better with the computer? definitely him

16. Who mows the lawn? thankfully, he does

17. Who cooks dinner? usually me...unless he gets inspired to rustle up something ;-)

18. Who drives when you are together? he does! :-)

19. Who pays when you go out? usually him...but occasionally i do...not that it matters so much since we have a joint account!

20. Who is most stubborn? definitely depends on what the issue is!

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? we are both pretty good at admitting we're wrong...when it happens! ha!

22. Whose parents do you see the most? his

23. Who kissed who first? uhm...well we were both there...lol

24. Who asked who out? well, i guess, technically, i did...but by the time we went to the event that i had asked him to, we'd been dating for 3 months because he called & asked me to lunch after church! lol

25. Who proposed? he did...over a *fancy* dinner of kraft macaroni & cheese, sitting in front of the fireplace in our house

26. Who is the most sensitive? hmmm...if you know me...what do YOU think?!?! lol

27. Who has more friends? probably me...

28. Who has more siblings? we both have only 1 sibling

29. Who wears the pants in the family? well, this implies that we would have a boss/employee relationship, but we try to live by the biblical principles of love & respect instead

30. How did you meet? mutual friends...attended the same church...oh, & his mom was my supervising teacher when i did my student teaching! lol

my honey ~ i love him! ;-)

Good News

My brother had an appointment with his radiologist yesterday & I got the update from my mom this morning. The good news is that the only thing detected on the CT scan from last week is only PEA sized & the dr. said that it could even possibly be just scar tissue.
They are still going to do preventative radiation, of course, to be safe rather than sorry -- we certainly don't want this stuff to come back!
He has to do 20 treatments that will be 5 days a week for 4 weeks & will be starting that on the 25th of this month.
So, thats the update for now...what a ride the last 8 months has been for our family & we're very excited that there seems to be a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel!
Here's a pic of Jeff & me when I went down to Virginia in the Spring. Hopefully I'll get the chance soon to post a few pics from dad, mom & Jeff's summer visit out here to Kansas! :-)

A new family member...

Introducing Thomas Jefferson (TJ for short) my new kitten. He was supposed to be the "quiet, timid one", but since he's gotten comfortable in his new home, it seems he has quite a set of lungs on him...wonder where he gets THAT from...haha! Anyway...hope you enjoy the pics of my new little baby!!!

Update on Jeff

I talked to my mom earlier today & they got the results of my brother's ct scan he had on Tuesday. Apparently the mass has shrunk to 5.3 x 3.6 (it started at 11.1 x 9.8) & the Dr. is thrilled. Unfortunately Jeff still has to do one more cycle (4 treatments) of chemo before he goes on to the radiation therapy, but we are really happy & thankful that he's made it this far & that the mass has shrunk so significantly -- what an answer to prayer! So that's the scoop on that.
Anyway, I'm starting to get excited, because Jeff is flying out here to see me on July 1st & then Mom & Dad will be here on the 3rd (they're driving). We haven't gotten to spend the 4th of July together in a long time, so I'm REALLY looking forward to it! Plus I'm taking a whole week off work ~ YAY! :-D
So, that's my update...I will try to find time sometime soon to post more pictures! Thanks for all your thoughts & prayers! Love ya!!!!

busy girl

I thought it might be easier to just do a slide show to catch you up on everything that's been keeping me busy...of course this isn't everything, so I'll try to do another one soon! Enjoy! :-)

Tagged!

Rules: Answer the following questions, then tag 5 other people on their blogs.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
This makes me feel old...I was a sophmore in college at GBS

5 things to do today:
Work
Grocery shopping
Laundry
Download pictures from vacation
SLEEP!!!!!

Snacks I enjoy:
Chocolate
Chips/Crackers
Chocolate
Fruit
Chocolate
Cheese
Chocolate

If I were a Billionaire:
Make life easier for my family & friends (that aren't already billionaires LOL)
Buy a lot of stuff (house, cars, etc.)
Quit work & start my family. :-)

Bad Habits I Have:
Eating too much
Not exercising
Watching too much tv...
oh...& I'm the Queen of Procrastination! haha

Places I've Lived:
Winchester, IN
Terre Haute, IN
Cincinnati, OH
Achilles, VA
Overland Park, KS
Shawnee, KS
Olathe, KS

Jobs I've Had:
Librarian
Cleaned houses (maybe THAT's why I hate cleaning my own so much! lol)
Nanny
Taught music & preschool
Drove School bus (yes, I really did!)
Worked at a hospital & then a cancer center...
Currently I'm a Clinical Data Coordinator for a clinical research organization.

5 people I'd like to know more about:
Keri C.
Tawnya S.
Carrie C.
Erin E.
Margaret G.

Easter Sunday

Darric & me Easter 2008

Just me :-)
Darric looking good all dressed up!
With the nieces...the boy didn't want his picture taken at the time!
But he was happy to smile now...he was about to get his Easter basket! :-)

Good Friday!

"Ladies who lunch" - Tawn, Tish & me after lunch...we missed our 4th "muskateer" Oleta, but still had fun! :-) (just ask Tish about the "tuckey sandwich! LOL)












Here's a picture of the outside Webster House where Darric works & where we had lunch












Tawn & me after Curtis worked his magic on our hair! :-D

time for a new post...

So, I don't know about any of you, but I am past being sick of this winter weather. I have decided that I'm ready to MOVE!!!!! LOL I was pretty irrate with the snow that fell on friday, but I had to be grateful that I don't live in Ohio! ;-)

The beginning of last week was quite interesting for me starting at about noon on Sunday. I was in the middle of making Sunday dinner when I stepped in a big puddle of water. I then discovered that something I had just taken out of the freezer wasn't quite as frozen as it should've been...needless to say, our refrigerator had apparently bitten the dust at some point during the night. After we frantically unloaded EVERYTHING into our deep freezer & coolers, I ran to the gas station to pick up ice. Then, we proceeded to go shopping for a new fridge...Lowe's, Sear's, Home Depot...here we come! I found & fell in love with a REALLY nice Samsung at Lowe's, loved that they could deliver on Monday, but didn't like the price. So on to Sear's. They had "my" fridge (but a step down), but couldn't deliver until SATURDAY! NO WAY JOSE!!!!!! LOL! Home Depot had nothing interesting, so back to Lowe's we went to see if we could get a "deal". Well, get a "deal" we did -- AND I got exactly what I wanted -- YAY!!!!!!! :-) Here's a pic of my beautiful NEW "BABY"! ;-) Thankfully it got delivered on Monday (which was another andventure in & of itself, that I'm NOT going to go into! LOL) Anyway, I'm very happy to have my new fridge & glad I didn't have to wait a whole week to get it! :-)

I also wanted to post this pic of my wonderful, sweet friend Anna & her new baby boy Kyler Lee. He is SO adorable! He joins 15 mo old Killian, so pray for Anna...Killian wasn't too sure about baby brother when he met him for the first time! :-) (there you go, Mom!) ;-)

Well, I think I'm going to go for now...here's hoping that Spring arrives soon & that we don't get any more snow!!!!!!! :-D