WARNING: Picture Overload!!!

Well, sorry! I've been meaning to post a bunch of these pics for the last couple of weeks so there are so many from me catching up...Anyway, these are all from our 'Southern tour' at the beginning of August...there were just so many fun, great pictures that I couldn't help but want to share them with you.

FLYING:

my little heart melter...doing just that!
Tom rigged up Taylor's beloved "Puppy" so she'd be tied to him with Max's blanket...
cute huh?

Max almost looks a bit yearning here of Taylor's snack. Food, drinks, pictures of dogs...we used whatever we could to keep Taylor happy on the plane...
cute kiddos.
Taylor loves to swaddle "Puppy" as seen here.
me and my little guy doing some cuddling.
and Taylor deciding to join in! :-)

DRIVING:

So Southwest lost our carseat for while hence the borrowed carseat. Taylor didn't sleep a wink on the plane (go figure) so she crashed once we got in my mom's van within minutes.
Max did too. I love those cute lips!
Heading to Nashville from Little Rock. I think this is such a funny, cute picture. Notice that we got to bring all of Taylor's babies with us on our trip: "Maggie" the pig (it's on Tom's lap...Taylor named her this all on her own), "Baby" the baby, and "Puppy" the er...puppy.
This guy cracked me up! Does this look funny to you...or is it just me?
Grandma and Taylor taking a snooze...Tom was driving, I was making hair clips and we were listening to the last Harry Potter book on cd.

Mom saying bye to Max right before leaving Nashville. Tom, the kids and I drove from there to Georgia and my mom drove back to Little Rock. I have such a wonderful Mom!

AT GRANDMA'S IN GEORGIA:

I LOVE going to my Grandma's! This is Taylor playing in the same tub I used to play in when I was a wee one...my GRandma has always had a large selection of laundry detergent lids to play with and to this day they are my favorite kids' toys for the tub!
Aaahhh! Rainbow cakes! This is a childhood family favorite for me and all my sibs and cousins! My sweet Grandma rounded some up for Tom and I (and my Uncle Gary of course ;-) and it was wonderful...good thing I was eating sugar b/c these things are packed full!!! They are the best, little, colorful cakes in the world!
my great cousin Jenean and Max...we had so much fun with her! You're awesome Jenean!

MAX & HIS BUDDY GRANDMA:

These two entertained each other our whole visit!

Max found Grandma to be quite captivating!
at breakfast...Grandma, we had such a great time with you! You are so sweet and kind and we appreciate and love you so much!

GRANDMA, GRANDMA, and GRANDMA:

my Mom...Mom, thanks so much for being such a fun, loving Mom and Grandma! You are always so great to talk to and be with and I appreciate your love and goodness.
my Dad's Mom
my Mom's stepmom (my Grandma)

Our kids are so lucky to have four amazing Grandma's...Taylor did great at soaking up the time with each one and she called each one Grandma.

my Grandpa and Grandma (my Mom's parents)
Max and my Grandpa made each other smile and laugh...it was so cute and sweet.
new outfits from Grandma...(my dad's mom...confused yet?)


I wish so badly that our country was the size of Delaware so we only had to drive a few minutes to visit family...it was so great seeing all of these super special people to me. I hope less time passes before we get to do it again.

Here's to the South and the great people residing there!!!

National BSA Conference

So, the conference was held August 2-5 in Nashville at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. I LOVE conferences like this! It is such a fun, exciting environment and it reminds me so much of my FFA days full of conferences and conventions. We met lots of great people. Tom saw a lot of people he has met at previous trainings. It was so nice having my mom there with us. She got to have lots of Grandma time and I got to participate a lot in the conference too. Boy Scouts is great about including spouses and families in on things. Anyway, here are some pics from the conference.
This is us at the beginning of one of the sessions.
That's my mom in the middle on the right. That was our room. It was so small so we felt pretty crammed...but the beds were comfortable. Mom spend a lot of time out on that balcony reading, talking on the phone and knitting while Taylor napped.
Happy Max
Taylor took my nursing cover and carried her baby around in it. She's so funny and is a really good mom to her lucky little babies.

After a swim. Taylor's hair and eyebrows were crazy wild! I love this pic of her with her little head and feet popping out.
This was at lunch with my mom...there were these southern gentlemen sitting at the table behind us who offered to help when I was carrying a tray full of food and Max...well they caught Taylor's eyes. She would turn and look at one over one shoulder and grin and then turn and look at the other one over her other shoulder and grin. She was definitely flirting. It was pretty cute...It's cute now while she's not a teenager! :-)
flirting and loving every minute of it...later that night Tom and I ran into one of the guys in an elevator and he said "Your daughter is so beautiful!". I guess she caught his eye too! :-)
This was the inside of the hotel. It was huge and so beautiful. We did tons of walking during this conference but everywhere you went, you walked through these amazing atriums.
He's so sweet!

This was a 'show' the hotel did everyday. Just these gals that would blend in with all of the plants and then walk around and do neat tricks. We were all mesmerized by them.
This was also inside the hotel.
downtown Nashville, quite the happening place. There was live music being played and sung all over.
Ready for the conference.
Taylor being sung to.

Dr. A, Bonnie and the guy that looks like my dad...

Here's some of the many pictures from our recent trip. The following are pictures of my former professor from SMSU (or Missouri State) and his wife Bonnie. I hadn't seen them in almost 8 years! Bonnie and I
Tom and Dr. A
all four of us after the closing dinner at the national BSA conference
Tom and I during the dinner. It was so nice to be able to spend some 'kid-free' time together thanks to my wonderful Mom.
This is one of the teachers/presenter for one of the classes Tom and I went to together. He looks so much like my dad! His class was on prioritizing your time/stress and health. It was very good and interesting. While he spoke, he would raise his eyebrows and make expressions that look just like my dad's!

litte miracles...

I definitely believe in miracles. They happen all the time! Sometimes we just have to open our eyes to them and acknowledge what's really happening. Anyway, our little family just got back from a week and a half long trip to Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia. Tom had a national (Boy Scouts of America) BSA conference in Nashville so we flew into Little Rock stayed with my mom for a couple days and then drove with her to Nashville. She stayed with us to babysit b/c there was a spouse program that I got to participate in at the conference and then my cousin Jenean drove up from Atlanta and we drove back with her to my Grandma's and we stayed there for a few days. Anyway, on our trip there were a few little experiences that I thought made neat little miracles.

My former professor from Missouri State (Dr. A) and his wife Bonnie were also at the conference (Dr. A now works for BSA as well). I hadn't seen them since before my mission almost 8 years ago and I was so excited to see them and Tom was excited to meet them. We had exchanged phone #s before so we could be sure to meet up. We kept running into other people we'd met over and over again but never Dr. A or Bonnie so two days into the conference I called Bonnie to see if they were at part of the conference celebrations. They weren't so we said we would have to meet up the next day. The next morning Bonnie called me to see if I was going to the spouse brunch. I was lying in bed with both of my kids at the time and poor Taylor was feeling sick and had a fever so I wasn't sure if I'd go or not. So, we just said we'd meet up later. Well, Taylor laid down in her crib to rest and I thought I should just get ready and hurry to the spouse brunch with Max so the room would be quiet for Taylor (my mom was there). I got to the brunch a few minutes late and started to walk in to this huge conference room (HUGE) full of people. There were some tables in the back that were empty so I started walking to them. One of the tables was half full of ladies so I asked a person with an empty seat beside her if it was taken and she said it wasn't....the cool thing is is that that lady was Bonnie! It was just too ironic! There were probably close to a thousand people sitting in this room! So, Bonnie and I got to sit there and talk and have breakfast together. It was so great! I love this lady! She is a great example to me and was such a positive influence back when I really needed one. Towards the end of our breakfast Dr. A came in to say hi. He too was such a positive influence to me when I really needed one. I remember conversations with both of these people that really opened my eyes to some important things. It was so great to see them! We met up later in the evening so Tom could meet them and we took some pics so I'll post them when I get a chance.

The next cool little miracle happened back here in Colorado while we were in Nashville. Our friend Amanda who is our friends Jared and Rochelle's sister stayed at our home and took care of our dog (Maddie) for us. Well, last Sunday night I got a call from a guy with an accent who said Maddie was at his apartment which is across from a pretty busy street from our apartment I told him I would call Amanda and give her his phone # so she could come get Maddie. So, I called Amanda and she said her and her nieces (Jared and Rochelle's girls) had taken Maddie out and when they got back inside the door didn't shut all the way and Maddie bolted out the door and took off. So, I gave her this guy's phone # and told her to call me back when she got back home (b/c I didn't know if this guy was a weirdo or not and wanted to make sure she was okay). She called me back after a few minutes and said that what just happened was such a miracle. She said that when Maddie bolted outside and took off that she and her nieces said a prayer and asked God to help them find Maddie. She said that as soon as they said Amen I called to tell her where Maddie was. It really is incredible b/c Maddie will take off when she gets loose and run away from people but she happened to run right to this guy. Also, Tom and I had been up at the conference and my mom had just called to tell me that Max was upset so we left to go back to our rooms. Had we still been at the loud conference I wouldn't have answered my phone when the guy that had her called. Anyway, thanks Amanda for taking such good care of Maddie and for that cool experience!

Lastly, and this one is much shorter but on our way home Saturday night from the Denver airport our battery light came on and our hood started steaming! Thankfully though we were only about 2 miles away from home and our car safely pulled into our parking lot for us. It could have been sooner and been a very hard, long night with car problems. Well, maybe that's more of a blessing than a miracle. I don't know but I sure am grateful for all of our blessings!