Last Day of Summer

Really the actual last day of summer is September 21. But in my children's eyes, today's the day. School starts tomorrow at 7:55. Derek is having mixed emotions. He's excited but knows he's going to miss staying up late and sleeping in. Me too! I am not sure how Austin will act tomorrow. He begins 4 yr. old preschool. He gets dropped off at 8 and picked up at 11:30. I have missed the quite mornings with Brylee that we enjoyed at the end of last school year. It will be great to have those back. Also, it's going to be much easier to make it to the gym just getting Brylee ready. It has been a struggle to get all 4 of us up there these past few weeks.

The agenda today is to wash clothes and clean the boys room (with their help). We are going to take the boys bowling today, too. One more afternoon of fun before summer ends. : )

Pictures from our vacation

Ok...once again, I know you all are used to this...these pictures are in the opposite order that I wanted them in. You'd think I would remember from time to time how to do that. Oh well! Here are some pics from our time in Branson and Lake Norfork.

The fam in front of Sight and Sound Theater.

Waiting patiently for the musical to begin.
This is inside Marvel Cave.
The wound before stitches.
Jason and Kent tubing.
Austin helping Jody drive.
Brylee and Jarett enjoying Fred's Catfish. Yum, Yum!
Sweet boy lovin' on his momma and daddy.
Beautiful sunset on the lake.

A nice time away!

Our family just returned from a wonderful time away from our usual rut. We left town Sunday after morning services and headed to Lake Norfork. We spent two days with my immediate family playing on the lake and eating some delicious steak and catfish. I know...I'm headed back to the gym on Monday!

On Tuesday the five of us drove 2 hours north to Branson for some family fun. We went to see "Noah the Musical". It was really fantastic. The play lasted 2 1/2 hours and both boys stayed awake the entire time! That tells you how spellbinding it was. Brylee was entertained for the first hour and then fell fast asleep for the remainder of the time.

Wednesday was spent at Silver Dollar City. We were there when the doors opened and left 30 minutes before they closed. It was so fun and the boys had a blast and behaved so well! We explored Marvel Cave, too. Over 600 stairs and 550 feet below the Earth's surface. Really cool!

After we got back to the hotel the boys, though tired, were ready for some time at the pools (one indoor and one outdoor). We all put our suits on and headed out. One hour later we were in the Skaggs Community Hospital ER waiting for Austin to have 3 stitches put in his chin. He was having a great time in the hot tub and was changing sides, when he slipped and hit his chin on the outside of the tub. He was a real trooper. The Branson ER is an interesting place. Lots of tourists...grandparents and their grand kids, moms and dads with kids in tow (like us), etc. It doesn't take too much to fill a waiting room when you have to bring the whole family. We were there for 3 hours!!!!!!! But we made a memory!

Thursday was our departure day. We went to Playtime Pizza and spent over 3 hours before heading out. I'll post some pictures soon. I haven't even downloaded them yet. Today was spent washing clothes and putting things back where they belong. All in all, it was a wonderful time spent with my sweet family. Another great vacation in the books!

My life according to Google

My friend Kristi had this on her blog, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Type in the following and choose the first choice that appears on the list (that goes along with the question).

1. Type in "[your name] needs" in Google search
Cara needs a condom.
OK....I just about fell off my seat laughing! I promise that's what it said, try it for yourself if you don't believe me. So, my friends, we know this isn't true. We have no need for protection since my tubes were tied after Brylee :)

2. Type in "[your name] looks like"
Cara looks like she had fun.
That's an ok one.

3. Type in "[your name] likes"
Cara likes muffins.
True...blueberry to be exact.

4. "[your name] says"
Cara says Torres is the best.
This apparently has something to do with European soccer, so I'm not sure if he really is the best.

5. "[your name] wants"
Cara wants steak.
So true....I've been eating a lot of chicken and turkey lately. Yum...a good steak sounds great!

6. "[your name] does" (I'm a little scared to do this one)
Cara does the leekspin.
No clue what this means.

7. "[your name] hates"
Cara hates Christmas.
NO WAY...it's my favorite holiday of all!

8. "[your name] can"
Cara can spell her name.
Funny cause I'm not known for my wonderful spelling ability. Actually I'm a horrible speller.

9. "[your name] goes"
Cara goes to the Accio Bodyguard shows in AL....
Nope, never seen a bodyguard show in my life. Sounds interesting ;0

10. "[your name] is"
Cara is a popular girl's name in the local area and in Scotland in general.
I did not know this fact about my name.

Hey, if you want to give this a try go ahead. It's kinda fun.

Fun Weekend

We had a great weekend. We left for Bentonville Friday morning. We stopped in Little Rock for a wholesome lunch at Chuck E. Cheese. What a blast! When we went through Fayetteville we stopped and let the boys see the stadium where the razorbacks played. Now they're ready to head up for a game in the fall.

The reunion was a lot of fun, too. We ate tons, so the weight loss didn't go so well this week :)

We all love our Krispy Kreme.
Austin and Brylee with their "builder bears" as Austin calls them.
Derek was awarded $1000 from Murphy Oil Co. for making advanced on his SAT test. He got a $500 check and Murphy puts the other $500 in a savings account to be withdrawn when he graduates high school. We are so proud of him!
Here's the group of first graders.
Derek and Ben. Ben goes to church with us.

Sorry these pics are out of order. This is back in Bentonville at Chick-fil-a.
Messy Brylee
We got to spend a couple of hours with Danielle and Ellie Balentine while in Bentonville. It was too fast a visit, but great to catch up. We miss you guys!
We attended a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game Saturday night. It was a lot of fun, but way too hot!
Here's the gang from the reunion.

Derek's 8th birthday party

Derek opening presents. Tina, I think he was just as excited about the Dr. Pepper and candy as the money. What a GREAT water slide. Thank you Hammock family for letting us borrow it. The boys had a BLAST!
Black light bowling. Of course from this picture you can't tell we were in black light. It was so cool!
Such a sweet group of boys!
And I thought I'd throw in a pic of the babies. Doesn't Brylee look like she's in the middle of a nice conversation with Jarret?!? This cracks me up.

We had four great boys sleep over at the house last Friday night for Derek's party. They ate pizza, played on a water slide, went bowling, played Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, went to sleep around 1:30 a.m. and woke up around 8 a.m. to play on the slide again. It was a great party. One I'm sure Derek will want to repeat for next year.

Enjoy the video of Kent and the boys sliding.

Lots to blog about

Ok...these pictures are so out of order, not sure what happened there! So much has happened since I last updated. UpLift was good. Lots different since we weren't in charge. Brylee did great and the boys had a blast with nana and poppa. Also, I got to spend some time with one of my roommates from college. Sara, you have a beautiful family!

From HU Julie and I plus the 4 kids headed to Pocahontas for a Wilson family reunion. It was well attended. Mom and Dad you guys did a great job planning this event. Brylee and Jarett got to experience swimming for the first time. The water was COLD. Jarett loved it, Brylee did not!

We had been away from home for 9 days and I was longing for my own bed. We got home on Sunday afternoon and were greeting by Kent, Bryan, Emily, Amelia, and Andrew. We had a great visit with the Michigan Jobes. I wish y'all lived closer to us!

Kent and I also bit the bullet and bought a new van! YES!!!!!!!! I am so excited and would be out just driving for no reason if gas wasn't so expensive. It's a beige '07 Grand Caravan w/ 9800 miles and we got a great deal. I've never had a vehicle with a warranty and under 10K before. God is good!

Yesterday and today were spent celebrating Derek's 8th birthday. He invited 4 boys to sleepover. Pictures from that in the next post.

Amelia's not too sure what to think about her crazy cousins.

The 5 Jobe grand kids.
Just the girls
This is from the Wilson reunion. Derek, Hailey, Jody, and Austin singing karaoke.
Sweet smiles

UpLift babies....Mia Baker, Jarett, and Brylee
What a model!
My grandma (Mom Wilson). I love this because they have matching clips in their hair!
The Jobes (Austin..oh Austin!)

Oh, and we've also entered into a wager with the Michigan Jobes. Biggest Loser Couples! 20 weeks of healthy eating and working out. The couple with the biggest % lost wins $200. I'll keep you posted!