Cotton Bowl 2012

Friday, January 6, 2012 the Razorbacks played against Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl.  My first and foremost preference would have been to be in Dallas that night, but since school started back just two days before it wasn’t very practical for me to take off.  We decided on the next best thing.  Being avid Hog fans, this was an opportunity to bring out the decorations and throw a good ole tailgating party of our own.  I made special cupcakes…(keep in mind that I am NOT a cake decorator for sure!)  They are pretty rough around the edges, but you get the idea!

I don’t think I did too bad for my first attempt! 

We set up, cooked up a bunch of goodies, invited our friends over, and had the game on every TV in the house!  :) 

Most of the time, the guys watched the game outside around the fire pit, and the girls watched in the house.  Regardless of where we watched, the game was GREAT!  Now, we won in spite of the FOX commentators.  Talk about a biased bunch!  Even after the win, they talked about Kansas losing instead of the HOGS winning???  REALLY FOX?  We really could have used Paul Eells on that panel….he would have shown them how the cow eats the cabbage for sure!

Jessica and Clint decided that they would make it a gawdy Razorback night by putting on every random HOG thing that they could find in their closet.  We are not poor on Razorback paraphernalia in our house, that’s for certain!

Could they BE wearing any more random things?  ha ha

Even Mali has HOG attire!  Like I said, we do love our team!

I have no words….  :)  Really glad we WEREN’T in Dallas…baaahhaaaaaa!

Large fun had by all….Love our HOGs!!!!   Thanks for a wonderful season!  WOOOOO PIGGGGG SOOOOOIEEEEE!!!!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe that 2012 is here! Last year was very exciting and productive. I took at trip to Charleston, South Carolina, Spent a couple of weeks at the lake, Flew in a plane for the very first time, traveled to Honduras to teach an overseas Bible school, began my 24th year of teaching, our daughter, Jessica, got engaged to our new soon-to-be son-in-law, Lyndon Waller, and had 365 days of wonderful times with my perfect family and my wonderful friends! I'm looking very forward to 2012! We will spend the first 10 months planning our daughter's wedding that will take place on October 13th, in June, Jessica and I will join a few of our dearest girlfriends for a few days in New York, ...now that I will fly! :), in July, I will again travel back to Honduras for another chance to share Jesus with those precious children there, in August, I will begin my 25th year of teaching, and in October, I will see my beautiful daughter marry the man of her dreams. I cannot wait to see what the next 364 days will have in store for me!

Last week, Jessica and I traveled to Brinkley, AR, to purchase her wedding dress. She was a real trooper! She had a few requirements for her dress, but really didn't have many pre-conceived notions of what her dress should look like. The first two tries were dresses that didn't fit the bill...or her body for that matter! :) The first dress she actually PUT ON, was the perfect dress. We all stood there with gapping mouths, as my eyes begin to fill with tears. It was absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever seen....(not just the dress, but HER in that dress!) She stood in front of the mirror and said, "This is the dress; no need to try on any other!" 20 minutes...we were done!

Here it is...stunning, isn't it? ha ha....if you want to see what it looks like, you'll have to save the date (10/13/12), and attend the wedding! :)

Where did the time go? Wasn't it just yesterday that she was playing "wedding," making a veil from a bathtowel, and the only man in her life was her daddy?....

Yes, I'm also planning to do a LOT of crying this year. They will be happy tears from a mother who has two of the greatest kids on the face of the earth, (Lyndon will make three...), a fantastic husband whose been by my side for 27 years, and a God that loves, blesses, and saved me in spite of myself. I will probably be very sappy this year as I try to journal my life journey. If you don't like sappy...you may want to move on.

May God Bless you and yours throughout this new year...slow down, pray, spend time with Jesus, your family, and friends....I sure plan to.

First of Christmas 2010

Ok….I know I’m WAY behind on keeping my blog updated, but let’s face it…I’ve been a little busy!  Enough with the excuses.  I’ll try to fill in periodically with things that I’ve missed posting later.

Tonight was the first of our Christmas Extravaganza.  Beginning the Christmas season was the Weldon Family Christmas.  We had a ball eating (of course) and opening gifts, but most of all enjoying each others company.

Here we are…all the Weldons.  Front Row:  Me (Sylvia), Bill Bill, Jackie, Beth.  Back Row: Chip, Jessica, Clint, Sarah, Russ, and Chuck.

Here’s Jackie and Bill Bill with all the grands:  Jessica, Clint, Russ, and Sarah

Now this is the true picture of the grandkids….(we try to keep them under control!)  ha ha

See, if we feed them, they will usually calm down!

The food was great!  Thanks, Jackie for a fantastic meal…(that I didn’t have to cook!)   :)

Then on to the gifts!  Jackie likes hers!  Bill Bill gets a new heater for his camper.   Now, Clint.  You COULD be paying a little better attention!  We’re opening gifts!!!

Chip’s turn.

Mama joined us today.  Jackie gave everyone a scratch off lottery ticket.  Mama won $3!!!

Sarah didn’t win the lottery, but she did get a money machine!  (I had to try to top last year’s Geico money idea).

 

Jessica was the big winner with the lottery tickets.  She won $20!!!

Aunt B opens her gifts with gusto!

Lyndon gets in on the action.

 

I try my hand at the scratch off, but guess what?  NOTHING!

Russ has a very “MAGIC” Christmas this year.

Chuck gets new golf supplies.

 

Clint loves his new shirt.

 

Mary Ann joined in with the fun today….her tickets were not successful either!

 

We can’t leave out Lyndon!

Here’s a picture of Mama with Jessica and Clint.  I thought this one turned out really well!

Lots of fun was had by all! I love these people!

Men and Their Toys…

You take the task of moving a shed across the yard, and mix it with three men, a couple of backhoes, and a dump truck….well, you’ve got quite a Saturday morning!  Our new place had a “dog yard shed” right up close to the house that blocked my view of the pond and pasture on the left.  We wanted to move it to the right side of the house on the other side of the little dirt road that runs through our place.  Now I ask you…would you want to look at this every time you stepped out onto your back porch?

So Chip and his two buddies, Steve and Joe, set out to move that shed to the other side….

The idea was to tie pipe to all sides and lift it with backhoes.  Clint is checking it out, but he had to go to work today.  (I think he was thrilled, for once, to go to work! :)

They tied up to the shed and started to move…looks simple enough…right?  :)

The spot is looking better already!

This is the new concrete slab where the shed is going…

Here’s Chip driving the backhoe…(men and their toys)….

This is the view from the back of my house.

ALMOST!!!

YAY!!! Task completed!

Now they had to move everything back under the shed….Chip knew he didn’t want to unload and load that firewood again!  (I knew he’d come up with something!)

Then the task of busting up that concrete slab at the other place.

My new view out my back door!!!!  MUCH better!  Thanks guys!  I told Mama this morning that Daddy would have eaten this up today!  He loved being in the middle of things like this.  I sure miss him and wish he could have seen our new place.

While they were working, I began my first attempt at landscaping.  One SMALL flower bed down, and many, many more to go!

New House!

June was a very busy month for me this year!  As I was preparing and packing for our cruise, Chip was out house shopping!  He called on Thursday afternoon before we were leaving on Saturday and asked if I would come out long enough to “look” at something.  So I headed out to a house about a mile and a half from where we lived at the time.  He met me at the door and asked if I’d ever want to move.  MOVE?  Are you crazy?  Never an option!  He told me if I liked this house, we would buy it.  Wait.  Buy a house?  Had we EVER talked about buying a new house?  Had we ever talked about moving?  Had we looked at ANY other houses?  No would be the answer to all of the above! 

Well, I was trying to focus and wrap my head around what he had just said as I entered the house.  One: the living room was great….Two: the kitchen was fabulous!  I told him that he’d better not be pulling my leg because I had just fallen in love.  I didn’t even need to see the rest of the house!  (It was pretty cool too!) 

Here are some pictures of what it looked like that day…

If you look very carefully you will see the rainbow over the top of the house….guess that was a sign that this was meant to be!

Ok…now after a couple of months of moving and decorating, I THINK we are completely moved in and settled. (Still no landscaping, but that will have to be later!)  Here’s what the house looks like now…

The dining area

The kitchen..

The laundry room….

The master bath….LOVE my big shower!

The master bedroom…

Clint’s room…

  Jessica’s room….

Entrance….

Guest bath…

The back porch…BIG plans for this porch!  It will be a long time though before we get that done!  :) 

We are so blessed to get this new place.  I never thought I’d move, but I’m sure glad we did.  This is a wonderful place for Chip and I to grow old together!