I love this picture. My little baby boy looks like such a man!! He is standing 5'7" now...That is as tall as I am!! He is such a good kid and I am so very proud of him!!

Paden had a tournament last weekend. His first as a Brown Belt. This means he is now an "advanced" competitor. He put on a good show...Very LOUD and as you can see, very intense also. :) At his first competition as a brown belt, he didn't walk away with his 1st place trophy that he is used to, But He had more people to compete against. Brought home a 3rd place in sparring and a 3rd in forms. Nothing to sneeze at...We are proud of him! In forms, he was tied for 2nd place and had to have a "tie breaker". The other kid took 2nd. One of Paden's instructors was his judge. He told Paden in the next class, " I couldn't tell you at the tournament but can now, watch where you put your reaction hand. In this picture, his left hand is on his belt, right where it should be. During the tie breaker, it was much lower than it should be.

Paden recieved his Brown belt in August 2009.

Spring Pictures 2009 8th grade

Tae kwon do
Chris and Paden are both in Tae kwon do. As you see their instructor (rt) put them together Monday night to work out......I think Paden was a little nervous about his dad throwing kicks at him and Chris was using this as a stress reliever....LOL

Father's Day 2009

Hey Grampy....This one is for you

I wanted to show you guys something funny. In today's paper, there was an article about a woman who crochet's things from plastic grocery sacks. Three times today, girls from work brought me the article and said that I "should have kept crocheting because I could be in the paper." This last June ( I looked on the date stamp on the pics) I made a couple of bags out of none other than plastic grocery sacks. So I thought I would post the pictures of the bags that I made. I just make a few more because I still have people wanting to see or to have one.
Anyway, Here they are.

Guess what. I am going to the prom. Yes, you read that right. THE PROM!! Remember that night when you spent a insane amount of money for a dress that in most cases you wore that one night. I went to both my Junior and Senior year prom. Junior year...My friend Mary was my date. My original date, Todd Mosier dumped me about 2 or 3 weeks before the prom and then took someone else. eeerrrgggg. (I AM NOT BITTER!!) I had my dress and I was going. Nuf said! My senior year my date was Bert Johnson. I have to admit I had a good time. But now 25 years later, I am going to the prom again. My Church is having a fund raiser. We are have an adult prom. Yep, a Prom. I am kinda looking forward to it. My Husband, Chris never went to his prom so this will be a first for him. I wonder if I will get a coursage? Some of the ladies in church were talking about it today before the service. They thought they would wear real prom dresses. Maybe get the ones that were popular when they were in school. EBay is amazing. You can find vintage prom dresses there.... As round as I am now....I will just have to make myself a dress. I picked out a Navy blue crush velvet material. I think it will look just fine! I didn't pick Red. I didn't want to look like Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales....I do like Bob though.

Nothing New...Thank the Lord

Nothing is going on. Absolutely Nothing. Praise be to God! Nothing.
The holiday's were terrible....
Don't get me wrong. The holidays with my family was wonderful! Had a great time. Enjoyed everyone's company. Got shot with Nerf Darts. Giggles, Giggles and More Giggles. The kids love to shoot me. I think it is because I shoot back..WAR!!!!! Spent time with my Grandparents. Even cooked a meal for them. Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a cook. But they seemed to like it.
The holidays seemed to just be awful for alot of families around me. We lost Maria. A nurse that I work with lost her son on Christmas day and another nurse I work with...Her house burned to the ground on New Year's Day. My cousin lost her Uncle on Christmas eve. So much loss and pain in such a short time. So I prayed for peace. Thank God for his peace. Again. Nothing is going on and I thank the Lord for it. I pray that nothing is going on in your life too :)

Maria

(Pictures taken at her youngest baby's shower)

My friend Maria that I work with, got up the day after Christmas with a bad headache. She got up to take something for it. Things went bad quickly. She had brain aneurysm that ruptured. She was rushed to the hospital and declared brain dead. When her family all arrived into town, they took her off life support and she passed away last night. Why I am writing this is to ask that anytime you might read this blog, please remember her 5 children in your prayers. They need prayers for comfort from the pain that they are feeling and the knowledge that the life they knew has ended and the hope of the new one to come. Things will never be the same for these children. Christmas should always be joyful and these children will always be filled with pain because this is the time of year that they lost their Mom. So if you pray for them now or 5 months from now, or even 10 years from now, please just pray for them. There are 3 boys and 2 girls, ages 15 to 3. Thanks for the time that you give these babies in prayer, I know Maria would appreciate it.

God Bless

Family Picture Christmas 2008
Tiffany, Jinky, Chris, Me
Chris, Tylen, Kaige, Paden

Wreaths across America

When Chris was a teenager there was a man that took him fishing and hunting. Chris began to look at him as a "grandfather figure". Mr. Lloyd Winscott served in WWII. He "sold" Chris the buoy knife that he carried during the war. Chris is now 47 and still has and uses that very knife. He plans on giving it to Paden when he is older and appreciates the story behind the knife.
Anyway, we participated in the "Wreaths across America" Saturday. This a program that honors our Veterans that have served or gave their life for our freedom. Chris and Paden had the honor of placing a wreath on Lloyd's grave. It was much more emotional that I ever expected. Chris cried, I cried and Paden was very somber. I wouldn't have missed that moment for anything in the world. I have pictures to preserve the moment and thought I would share them with you.

He's thinking...if only these weren't my cousins!

My young Man at Thanksgiving 2008

Laundry supplies

I have now done 2 loads of laundry. The towels aren't as soft as I used to but not bad! I made my fabric softener out of vinegar, baking soda and water. I was kinda worried that my clothes would smell like vinegar. I was really amazed that the baking soda got rid of most of vinegar smell. Once the clothes came out of the wash, no smell at all. Nothing, Nada!! I happen to like the "fabric softener" smell so I bought some essential oil from Hobby Lobby (Ocean breeze) and hope it works. The next load will tell.

Oh yeah, I got the recipes from the Internet.
Easy,Easy,Easy!

Something New

OK, anyone that knows me knows I am all about conveniencee......I decided to try something new. I made my own laundry soap, fabric softener and dryer sheets. Easy enough, but not as easy as going into the store, dropping a "few" bucks and walking out with everything I need. But this time
I decided to do it differently!! I made my own. Chris has been having reactions to laundry soap and such lately. I don't know if he is getting more sensitive in his "old age" or actually developing an allergy. So I thought I would do double duty. Try to take care of the allergy and save some money at the same time. Making the laundry supplies wasn't hard at all. Actually VERY easy. Little supplies, Little time. But now for the real test, do they really work? HA!! As soon as I know I will get back with Ya'll.