I'm Back!

Safe and sound and with LOTS of exciting things to share! In case you don't watch the news we had a very bad storm and a tornado while I was in St Louis. Honestly, I didn't even know it was going on. We were in the dome doing training at the time the storm hit. The downtown area didn't have much damage - some signs down and things like that from wind but nothing real major. But in a different part of town they had over half a million people without power. This was on Wednesday night and sunday morning when I left they still had 400,000 people without power!

Anyway, on a FABULOUS note - conference was AWESOME!!!! The new fall and holiday product line - WOW! Let's just say they never let me down! I learned a fun new show demo that I can't wait to try out later this week and came home with over $370 worth of product! Woo Hoo! The hostess specials are awesome - the new fragrances rock - have you booked your show yet?

4:29am.

Wow it's early! I'm off to St Louis for my PartyLite National Conference. See you in a week!!!

Good Times.

Remember the old rope swings at your grandparents house? You don't see too many of them around anymore but my girlfriend has two in her back yard because she is blessed with a HUGE tree that can support them. Tanner and Grace had a blast!!! Yes, I said Grace too. I was so scared that she could not hold herself on but she did and she had a great time. CJ pushed her pretty hight too (at least I thought so for a 2 year old!)...

Mertopia.

Ever heard of it? Not me. My girlfriend asked me to make a cake for her daughters birthday and said she was having a "Mertopia" theme. Huh? Well, turns out it's like Fairytopia (which, by the way, I had not heard of either! I'm so out of tune with the new hip kids toys - mine are still too young to care) only with Mermaids. Anyway, here's how it turned out...

Fun. Fun. Fun.

CJ's mom and dad came down for 10 days and we had a blast! We flew little wooden airplanes...

They brought three - one for each of the GRANDkids. Guess who had more fun - the KIDS or the GRANDkids? At one point Beth said, "Brian why don't you share the airplane with your daughter?" To which his response was, "that's what Papa Dave is for!" HA!

We blew bubbles, we flew kites....

Once again, the adults for the most part much more excited about the kite flying than the kids, but there was lots of fun to be had by all. We hunted grasshoppers....
Played in the sprinkler....
And on more swingsets than one could count....

Tanner is really proud of himself because he can swing by himself now - no pushing needed! All in all - good times.

So Darn Cute.

Grace's first pigtails. While I was away at a PartyLite workshop my mother-in-law put them up. When I saw her it literally brought tears to my eyes I thought she was so darn cute. That's retarded isn't it - tears over pigtails - but it happened. My baby girl.

March 4, 2007

Long time no blog.

Hey! We've been so busy enjoying our visit with CJ's mom and dad that I haven't made time to do much of anything else! There will be pictures to come, but first I have to get my computer back in working order - another part of the reason why I haven't made any posts recently. My cursor has been hijacked by a Trojan Horse. Anybody know how to fix that?????? HELP! It is jacked up and it's making me crazy! You can e-mail me with the fix or call me would be better because right now it's at the Trojan Horse's will that I am able to navigate my computer. Aaaaahhhh! And, yes I have Norton Anti-virus and Zone Alarm firewall and anti-spyware. They both say my system is fine but it is obviously not!

One More.

OK, though it strikes me kinda weird when you read it - I think it's pretty stinkin' accurate. Tell me what you think - is it me?

You Are a Bright Star Soul

Like a shining star, you have no trouble being the center of attention In fact, you often feel a bit hurt when all eyes aren't on you You need to be number one in everything, no matter how trivial And it's this ego that both hurts your confidence and helps you acheive You're dramatic and a powerhouse of pure energy You posess a divine quality or uniqueness that's hard to define A natural performer, it's likely you'll become famous in some circles. Just learn not to take everyone's reaction to you so personally! Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul and Prophet Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

This is me...How about you?

Got this from my girl Angel...It made me laugh.

You Are Big Black Boots!

You can be best described as: attitude You've got lots of it - and you love to give it A guy has to be pretty gusty to hit on you But if he's your type, you'll warm up... a little

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

A Jedi.

It's hard! So many things to do - to keep from spinning takes complete concentration.

We found a PERFECT peice of property we want to buy to build our next house on (yes, we bought some property last November, but with CJ's new job it's too much of a commute so....) we need to scrape up the down payment money.
We need to get the house ready to sell.
We're trying to get the last credit card paid off (never ending battle).
We want to start putting money in a savings account.
We want to invest some money for the kids future.

To put the list in order of importance - to stay focused - to complete tasks - makes me feel like Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. You know where he has to stay focused, block out the battle that's going on around him and make his shot at a very small target. That's what I feel like.

By the way, CJ's mom and dad are coming in today to visit and will be here for 10 days - we're all very excited!!!! There's sure to be some pics coming...

Quit Waiting.

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left behind by those who hustle.

It's time to quit waiting for...
Perfection
Inspiration
Permission
Reassurance
Someone to change
The right person to come along
The kids to leave home
A more favorable horoscope
The new administration to take over
An absence of risk
Someone to discover you
A clear set of instructions
More self-confidence
The pain to go away

Get on with it already!

Cowboy wannabe.

All of us live in ranch country,
where everyone learns to ride.
Where every boy is a cowboy...
every girl a cowboy's bride.

A friend of Beth's had box seats to the Parker County Sheriff's Possee Rodeo and so we got to go. CJ, me, Tanner, Grace, Brian and Lily.

The kids had a GREAT time. Grace loved seeing all the animals. Not only did she want to pet one goat she wanted to pet them all! It was hard to tear her away.

At one point they invited all children ages 6 and under into the arena for a goat scramble. For those of you who have never experienced this before I will tell you that those were a couple of terrified goats! They let the kids chase the goats around the arena trying to get a tag off the goat. The kids who recover the tags win a prize. Tanner in his usual fashion wanted to go, then cried because he was scared and wouldn't let CJ put him down, then cried some more when the event was over because he didn't get to chase the goat. SO typical! Lily on the other hand - not scared and had a blast running around after the goat!

There was a really neat father/son team who made several appearances during the night. It was so cool. The little boy was maybe 6 years old. He was so at ease on his horse. You could tell he had probably been riding since he was old enough to sit up and hang on. He rode around the arena, waved at the fans, and even tried ropin' a coupld of calves. It was awesome. CJ sat in his chair, shook his head, and said, "Lucky sucker." The look, the words, the sigh said it all. How he wishes that was him and Tanner on those horses, livin' that life. In his mind there couldn't be anything more perfect. For now, we're just cowboy wannabes.

To have your cake and eat it too.

We want it all! Is that possible? Most of you know me well enough to know that I don't require a lot of things, but when I want something I want the best. You may be surprised to know that CJ (though he swears he should have been born 100 years ago during the time of chuck wagons and campfires) has always wanted more out of life. To settle for "the norm", being the "average" American, has always made him crazy. Having a stressful job, working late, coming home with such a headache that he can't enjoy being with the kids isn't the way he wants to live his life. Don't get me wrong - he loves building houses, that's why he went back to it - but he just keeps thinking there's got to be a better way.
He wants to fish, I want to scrapbook. Not at night after the kids go to bed, or on the weekends when we could be spending quality time together as a family but at Noon on Wednesday- or whenever we want for that matter!
We want a medium sized FABULOUS house, to always have vehicles that are reliable and a 19 foot Skeeter with a 200hp motor, to not only be able to spend time with the kids, but to be actively involved in their activities, to be able to provide a college education for our children if that's the path they choose, to be able to retire earlier rather than later and not have to worry about the finances in our later years, to pay the bills and have money left in the bank - LOTS, not just a little, to give back to the community, to be happy doing what we love and loving what we do, to NOT have to be stressed out and work crazy hours for the next 20 years and miss out on all the little, yet oh so important things, in life in order to make this happen. Don't get me wrong we're not afraid to work, and work hard - but I believe that work should be rewarding, fullfilling to the spirit, and inspiring to the mind. Not just something you have to do every day.
Is it possible to have your cake and eat it too?
I'm sure some of you are sitting there thinking "yeah, that's what all of us dream but it'll never come true."
Straight out of the mouth of Jack Canfield "I believe each of us is born with a life purpose. Identifying, acknowledging, and honoring this purpose is perhaps the most important action successful people take. To be "on purpose" means you're doing what you love to do, doing what you're good at and accomplishing what's important to you."
Success doesn't happen over night, major changes don't happen over night, but changes they are a comin'! I challenge YOU to find your purpose in life and live the life you've always wanted. "You see, without a purpose in life, it's easy to get sidetracked on your life's journey. It's easy to wander and drift, accomplishing little."

Fresh.

There is nothing like fresh fruits and vegtables from your own garden. Fresh produce from the grocery store still not quite the same and if you've never experienced it you're missing out on a wonderful part of life. I just picked the second RED tomato out of our garden. I've already canned 11 pints of green beans and in a few short weeks I'll be doing tomato juice. Yes, I said "canning". In todays modern age it's an art that very few people practice, but I'm proud to have learned from my mom, who learned from her mom. It almost takes you back to a simpler time and a simpler life. And if we're really going to have two MORE kids it's the easiest way I know to save money! It cost pennies to grow a garden, and hundreds of dollars to buy what you would harvest at the grocery store. So, here's to homegrown!

Lots of exciting things!

Water Fun. Last wednesday our MOMS Club group went to Central Aquatic Center in Hurst and we had SO MUCH FUN! Super cheap - only $4 per person to get in and worth every dime. Tanner was off and running as soon as I had him lubed up with sunscreen and his life vest on- Grace, surprisingly, a little more timid. They had slides, a diving pool, a pool that was zero entry to 4 ft., and a kiddy pool that was zero entry to about 1 ft. deep and had a playground in the middle. The playground in the kiddy pool was awesome, things you could crawl through, steps up to 3 platforms with slides and lots of places where the kids could move a handle or turn a wheel and either activate or shut off huge water fountains. About 30 minutes before we left Grace finally decided it was cool and would run around and get wet and play. I'm thinking to myself "sure! We've been here for almost 4 hours and it's been torture getting you in the water - now you like it and want to play! It's time to go, sucks to be you." All in all it was a SUPER FUN day!


Drive in Mania! When was the last time you were at a drive-in theatre? Well we went friday night and it was FABULOUS! It was the Opening night for "CARS", there were six families all together in our group, we caravaned down there, parked next to each other and let the kids get crazy. My good friend Stephanie surprised me with cupcakes and a super cute card for my birthday (yah for me!). Turns out - we had the party truck! Between "I want in" and "I want out", "I gotta go potty", "I need some more popcorn", and "where's my drink" I really didn't see much of the movie but it was still a rockin' good time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Saturday was my birthday and I spent all day Scrappin' with my girlfriends! Aaaaahhhh. Perfect! I picked up Katina at 7:00 in the morning and we took some classes, scoped out all the latest and greatest in the scrapbooking world, and did some shopping (of course!). Angel joined us later for dinner and the crop. Have to say - we didn't get much actual scrappin' done but we had a darn good time! (trying to upload pics of us but it's not working - crap)

I told you so.

I'm still learning! I was informed by one of my girlfriends yesterday that I had my settings so that only other "Bloggers" could leave comments - sorry. I think I have it fixed now though. Anyone should be able to leave a comment. On with the good stuff...

GRACE IS TWO!! I know, it's hard for me to believe as well. Anyway we had some friends over for her birthday/Memorial Day and it was really nice. All in all 9 adults and 9 kids - fun, fun. So, honestly, I was so excited about the cake that if I could have I would have taken it around the world to show everyone!

The inspiration...


The Cake...

And, of course The Princess...

In CJ's own words, "she's SUCH a girl!" And that she is. She loves her jewelry, purses and shoes, and takes every moment to tell you how pretty she is. By the way, I did not teach her that! It was born in her - gotta be in the genes! Last but not least Grace had to have a 4-wheeler of her own. Hers only goes half (maybe) as fast as Tanner's but the chase is on.....

it's official.

TANNER'S PLAYING FOOTBALL! Yep, I was driving through Azle last week and saw a sign that read "AYA football registration - ages 4 - 11" - woohoo! We're in! (Don't worry - for 4 & 5 year olds it's only flag) Practices, games, fundraisers, working in the concession stand, getting to know other parents - I'm SO excited I can hardly stand it. It's also very hard for me to believe that I've reached this point in my life. We're filling out all the forms and CJ says "why didn't you turn this one in?" (It was a form asking for people with special talents, skills or services.) "uh, because I didn't know what to put." His reply "CJ - works hard, Staci - good on the phone and in the kitchen. I guess we don't have to jump in head first this year, but it won't be long before we're on the board." And so it begins.....

here goes.

I've been working on this awhile, I'm nervous and excited so here it is - my first post! I'm still learning the ropes with this so check back often - probably it will look different everytime you check it. I'm really excited to be doing this. My goal is to let anyone who wants to be in on the little things in our lives in. We don't always get to chat when fun things happen because of time differences, J-O-B-S, and everything else so this way I can post it here and you can check it at 6am or midnight or anytime in between. Especially for our family - the blog won't replace the phone but it will let you "experience" the little day to day things with us. I may not be able to post every day but it is my goal to share our lives with you several time each week.

I love you all and I'm so excited about this new venture - enjoy!