Good Morning from Michigan

We are on vacation in Michigan! So beautiful! More pics to come...

New Ride

Well, Gene and I have been arguing about this for a month, and I finally lost the fight!

It's shiny...

It's loud...

It goes really fast...

And, I hate it!

Please say a little prayer that my husband stays safe on this thing!

Liebster Award!

I've just been awarded the Liebster Blog Award! "Liebster" is German for "favorite" and Julia at All You Need is Love chose me as one of her faves!

Here's the rules:

1. List 11 things about yourself..
2. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you
3. Choose 11 bloggers
4. Create a set of 11 new questions for the 11 people you tag.
5. Absolutely no tag backs
6. The bloggers have to have fewer than 200 followers.
7. Go inform them that you nominated them for the award

11 Things About Me

1. My husband and I work in the transportation industry.
2. I have a 10 year old stepson that I claim as my own. He's amazing and I love him to death!
3. We have a malti-poo named Macey who rules the house.
4. We live in a small town and I love everything about it.
5. I love to read, but don't do it as often as I like.
6. I like to scare my husband and kid. I hide in dark corners and wait for them to come along...never gets old!
7. I also like to make them laugh.
8. I have a smart mouth that I'm trying to control.
9. Family is hard sometimes, harder than it should be.
10. So thankful for my best friends.
11. Would love to start my own business one day!

Julia's Questions:

1. Your house is on fire. All your family and pets are safe. What do you save? My camera and iPhone....not sure how I could live without them!
2. What is your first memory? I'm not sure what my first memory would be, but I have a lot of memories with my granddad who passed away when I was 7.
3. What can you never say no to? Wine
4. What's the one thing you would change about yourself? I hold grudges...over silly things.
5. What's the one thing about yourself you wish more people possessed? The ability to pretend like I like someone, even when I don't. I hate confrontation!
6. Money aside, what's your dream job? Working in a hospital nursery!
7. What is your favorite thing to cook? Breakfast, but only on the weekends.
8. Other than money, time and sleep, what do you want more of? More wishes? Just kidding, I wish we had another kid or two :)
9. What are the things you do for your kids that, prior to motherhood you'd never consider? Giving up my social life! I never thought that it would be so hard to find time with friends. I have found that I have my few best friends of course, and a lot of friends that are James' friends parents. I guess that is natural, I just didn't realize how little time I actually spend doing what I want to do :)
10. How do you want to be remembered? As someone who would do anything for anybody. I always try to put everyone's needs above my own.
11. What else do you want us all to know about yourself? I think I portray myself as snotty sometimes, but really I'm just super shy! If I'm sitting in a room with a stranger, I'm ok with the awkward silence. I'm not good at just getting up and starting a conversation.

My Nominees(I don't really have that many friends IRL who blog!)

• Cookie Baker, Muffin Maker, Dinner Creator
• Happily Ever After
• Journey of Life
• Meet the Jechs!

My Questions

1. If you were to have another baby, what would you name him/her?
2. What did you want to be when you grow up?
3. Favorite vacation spot?
4. Favorite drink (alcoholic or non)?
5. One thing you admire about your spouse?
6. Who is your role model?
7. What celeb would you hang with for a day?
8. Favorite beauty product?
9. Least favorite thing about your job?
10. What's your signature meal?
11. Inspired by the rain today...what's your idea of the best lazy, rainy, day?

Snapseed

I love a great photo app and Snapseed is my new fave. It's slowly replacing Instagram! The options are endless. I'm not sure if it's still free, but you should check it out!!

Football!

Practice started today! We are excited for a great year!

5th Grade

Our sweet boy starts 5th grade today! I cannot believe he is this old. This is the first year that he's said he's excited to go back to school. I hope that excitement lasts more than 24 hours. He gets to switch classes this year, and I think he got really good teachers. Here's to a great year! 

Do red and neon blue go together??

Sooo excited :)

Me and my boy

Family Shot: Best I could get at 6 am :)

Neon

We've done lots of shopping this weekend and one big trend I've noticed? Neon! Everywhere!

My friend and I were making fun of all the neon colors and look what my boy picked out...at least I don't have to deal with neon leggings...

Mike

***** I've held on to this post for a few days...debating whether or not to share it. We all miss Mike so much and I continue to pray for Jackie and the girls as they will be the ones who struggle most. I love you all!




On Saturday, August 4, 2012, we lost a dear friend, Mike Bonds. I first met Mike and Jackie through an ex boyfriend about 8 years ago. Their friendship outlasted that breakup and as I brought Gene into their family, they were just as accepting. I practically lived at their house weekends and summers during college and came to love Jackie as a sister and the girls as my own.

I have so many great memories with this family. Before their girls could even say my name, I was Jenner to them and he never let me forget that name. He also deemed me the Jennerator (and later Gene as the Gene-erator). Mike always loved to play jokes on everyone. Yes, he played a few on me too. I think he took great joy in showing me what a Long Island Iced Tea was on my 21st birthday. He once took a worm from the fridge and dropped it in my hand, laughing at my meltdown. You could tell when he got really tickled, he would just put his hands over his face and laugh and laugh until he was red. They taught me how to play poker and it became a weekly activity. Mike was always better at it than the rest of us, and we teased him about having the 'house' advantage. 

When I started bringing Gene to poker night, I'll never forget when Mike gave him a glass of sweet tea. He didn't know at the time that Gene was diabetic, so when Gene started feeling a little shaky, Mike felt awful. However, the next time we came over, Mike was quick to offer Gene some sweet tea. It became a little joke among the 4 of us. Mike, Jackie, Me and Gene went caving a couple years ago. I was nervous to go anyway, and the bats were kind of scaring me. At one point, we had to crawl down a small area. Little did I know, my ponytail had actually nudged a bat, and it was swinging from the ceiling. Gene told me it was everything him and Mike could do not to laugh. I was completely unaware until after we left the cave. Memories like these keep a smile on my face.

As much fun as Mike was to be around, he was also there for the hard stuff. I remember one night in particular, I was struggling with some issues, and Mike told me not to worry, better things would come. I could do better than my current situation. I never forgot that. He was always giving me advice when I didn't think I needed it. Mike was a great friend, wonderful husband, father, and teacher.

Mike and Jackie's love is like none other. I've heard several times the story of when Jackie was 14 and saw Mike working in her daddy's hayfield, she knew was going to marry that boy some day. Whether I knew it or not, I was looking for my own "Mike." I wanted to marry someone who took time each day to show his wife he loved her. Luckily, I found him and I'm glad I waited for the right man (my something better).

I loved to watch Mike with his girls. He loved them so much and was always teaching them something new or playing games with them. He taught them to hunt, fish, and most important, to stay away from boys :) 

Katy and Mike

Lily and Mike

Lindsey and Mike

He caught some trophies...

He was even proud of the small ones :)

Most recently, Mike became the shop teacher at the school. I remember hearing him tell us how he didn't know if he would get the job. There was another candidate that may have been more qualified, but they didn't have as much heart as Mike did. Eventually, the students petitioned for Mike and he was offered the job. He treated each of his students like his own child guiding them in life skills and matters of the heart.

Mike, you were loved by so, so many. You were like the big brother I never had. I knew I could count on your for anything. You taught me about life, more than you ever knew. We love you so much and I hope you continue to guide us from up above. 

iPhone Catch Up

So, once again, I've let my blog slip away. I can say that I will promise to get better, but I really have to believe it for that to happen :) So, my last post was in June. Since then, we have been busy! We finished up baseball, finally! The boys won a few, lost a few more, but we are proud of them and are gearing up for football now!

We celebrated the 4th of July! Following family tradition, we watched the town's firework show from our back deck.

Everything was going great until our neighbors caught the grass on fire. We have been in an extreme drought, so it was a little scary. Luckily, the fire department came quickly and put out the fire.

We did a lot of fishing, which I think is safe to say is my boy's new favorite summertime tradition. We caught a lot of babies, but those are the most fun :)

Gene and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary! He brought home these beautiful flowers. We didn't go out to eat like we usually do, but I'm hoping we can make up for that soon. Happy Anniversary Baby! Love you!

We went mudding, in true county folk fashion. I didn't partake, since I forgot to bring extra clothes, but I gladly watched from the sidelines :)

My studly man driving the granny 4-wheeler {my personal fave}

James came to the realization that all mud is not mud in the country...oops! :)

I hit a deer! My little pop can spent 3 weeks in the shop! As a side note, I think the deer are a serious problem in our town. I actually hit this one about 2 minutes from my house, still in city limits. I know they must be starving to be stirring so much in this heat!

Lots of time pampering this mutt...you see what happens when she doesn't get her way?

I got my hair done, love it!

I pulled out the ole boots and went to the rodeo with my momma. Just me and her, loved it! We need more girl dates if you ask me!

We had an awesome lightning storm the other night. Not much rain, unfortunately! I took this with the iLightningLite app. It actually detects lightning and I think it's pretty cool, plus it's free!

Well, I think that just about sums up everything! I am off work for the next few days, so I plan to soak up lots of time with my boys and prepare for school to start. August 20th isn't far away!

Laters {Yes, I've read it}

This Boy

Loves to swim...

Brightens my day...

Melts my heart...

Drama, Drama, Drama

I saw this and decided it was so true! People create so much drama on Facebook. They are either too happy, too depressed, too perfect, too f*cked up, too pretty, too skinny, over-worked, under-paid, overwhelmed....

We all feel these things at some point or another, but come on. Have some dignity, don't broadcast it for the world to see, we ARE judging you!




OK, RANT OVER :)

A Win and an X-ray

James had his first ER visit yesterday. He got hit on the thumb while batting. Poor guy just dropped to his knees and I knew he was hurt. It was bruised a little and swelling, so I thought we better get it checked out just in case. Thankfully, nothing was broken, just jammed pretty bad. He had to keep the hospital bracelet as a souvenir ;)

James had to sit out his last game. He was pretty bummed but I talked to him about being there to cheer on his team and having a good attitude even though he was upset. There may have been a little bribing with a hot dog, but he was great. His team won 9-5 against Pea Ridge! Their first win of the season!! We are so proud of our boys!!

Summer Catch Up!

So, it's been a while since I've posted. What have we done, you ask? Lots of baseball!

James made the All-Star team. We have been traveling and havings lots of fun!

James has been pitching and making us pretty proud. He's such a great little ball player. I love to watch him. We are moving up to a bigger field next year, so I'm trying to enjoy every minute.

Macey got a haircut.

Gene and I spent an evening in Branson. Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and walking along the boardwalk. We even saw the little lights show at the Landing. If only we'd had more time!

 And, of course, lots of hanging out with little man and enjoying our summer!