Dear Photograph....

I have to make mention of this new site I found from one of the ladies on a scrapbooking site I like to browse....

It is Dear Photograph..
It is hands down the most inspirational photography site I have seen!

I urge you to check it out...you might need a tissue...I used one..or two  ;)
but then come back here and let me know what you think...

It makes me want to go to my mom and dad's  and
.........first.........
tell them how much I love them....and how much they have helped me and how much I appreciate it and I never ever ever want to leave anything unsaid....My life hasn't been all peaches and cream....but it made me who I am ...and with all my heart I think it taught me how to be a better adult and parent...and that is something I take pride in
......second.......
I want to search for old family photos and then find the place they were taken...I want to learn my family history....see who I am ...who came before me....I want to be able to tell Lyla where she comes from and let her know that we are a "family"...but she has so much more family than just mom and dad...we have a history ....

Let me know what you think.

2011 photo challenge

As I was pinning....while I should have been cleaning.....I came across a lovely little blog called Oh So Lovely

The author Sherry is teaming up with one of her friends and having a photo challenge in the month of August.

Just 30 days

a photo a day

easy enough....

Here's the plan:

I am just gonna use my Iphone...something quick and easy

You can use whatever you want ...a big camera, your phone, a polaroid...doesn't matter

On Sherry's blog she has a few ideas of how people before us have done it....so you might wanna swing over there and take a look....

I love this idea...so i am jumping in....

Starting in August ....I'm gonna snap a shot from my phone...then post it on here....it will be cool to see what August looked like a few years from now.

Join me..I wanna see your pictures too!!

Our WDW resort...

Here is Gregg and Lyla finally making the stroll into the Lobby so we...and my we..I mean ME...can check us in.

The Lobby....it was beautiful!!

Loved the giant doors that lead into the Dining Hall....GREAT food!!!

This was our little boat docking station...you could get on one of those boats and ride around the little river that went all the way around our resort in the picture below....so relaxing!!

The grass so green and so plush that you could just lay in it..I didn't ...but you could of!

Cute little gazebo that we had planned on taking pictures in..but got to exhausted during the week and on our last trip by it to go to the car to head home I asked Gregg if he wanted to stop and get a picture..Lyla and Gregg at the same time said NO..Let's just go home! LOL! They were getting tired of me taking pictures.

How sweet was this little walk way!!! love love love it!!

The spirit of Mickey Mouse was everywhere!!

Our Room!

As soon as we got there..we walked across the pool area to see what it looked like then went up to our room....which was a mistake because then Lyla said about 457 times...Let's go swimming....Let's go swimming...

So within 15 minutes of driving 19 hours and finally reaching a nice comfy bed....we were in the Big Pool swimming like Nemo!

In the picture above you can see that her feet are hardly even touching the steps....She was pretty much air running to get to the pool while Gregg held her up...she was so excited...but....she is the reason we went so the goal was to make Lyla have FUN...no matter the cost (money or sleep) for mom and dad!

I have to apologize for the pictures...I havent edited any of them....there is so many...i think i took like 900 pictures

I didn't want to miss anything!

So some of these pictures are while I was walking....some Lyla took.....some Gregg took.....but you get the idea. 

Family Saturday Movie Night

I'm taking a break on vacation posts for just a minute ....
beause last night was stinking cute.

Gregg had to work yesterday ....so when he got home we had a good supper *rib eye steaks, mashed potatoes, corn and pound cake for dessert* then sat moaning while we were all stuffed full!!

As we were flipping through the channels on TV...which is rare because I hardly ever watch live TV anymore since the invention of the DVR...we found Beauty and the Beast.

We found right at the beginning so Belle was in her blue dress and Lyla argued with us for almost the whole movie that that woman was NOT Belle because we just took a picture with her and she wore a yellow dress!

That girl knows what she is talking about!!  And she will stand firm...no matter what...which is good i guess.

We really really liked the movie right up until the Beast was mean to Belle...then she made us turn the lights on in the living room.

I had to explain why the Beast was a Beast and that he will be nice her to later and turn into a wonderful prince...so she took me at my word and watched it.

I gonna whisper this next part .......ssshhh
*Gregg watched it with us...probably more intenly than Lyla did....ha ha.....when the commercial would go off...it would be Gregg yelling, "Belle is back on!"**

And if he tell me that one of you told him I posted this ...I will delete this post and call you a liar!!  :)

So of course I had to snap just a couple pictures of Lyla watching the princess she took a picture with....

I love the seriousness in her face!! She is really concentrating...and when I took this picture....I don't even think she knew I was there because she never looked my direction.

And ...here is our picture with Belle in her YELLOW dress!!

Blogger is slow & more WDW

For some reason Blogger on my computer is running way slow and not uploading pictures the right ....so some might be turned sideways...because blogger isn't turning them like i had them...wierd...nothing can be easy for me....i should have been prepared for this!! lol!

So here we are ...We made it!!

Lyla is such a good traveller...I can't brag on her enough! Once the car gets going..she is out like a light! She slept pretty much the whole way..and when she woke up she watched a few movies. She never really whined or cried...such a big girl! She kept telling us that she wanted to go to Mickey Mouse House and we would say, "We're getting there..slowly but surely!"

Well the other day we were going to Chuck E Cheese for my nephews birthday and we were riding with my mother in law...Lyla said " I wanna go to Landon's birthday party" ....my mother in law said, "We going..slowly but surely!" ..... and Lyla replied, "oh ...don't say that!!"

I don't think I have ever laughed so hard!!!

Anyway...here we are at the hotel!! We stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside. It is made to look like old southern Louisana back in the days of Mark Twain. All the hotels looked like beautiful southern mansions. There were gazebos, ferns, and flowers everywhere!!!

Moving on with my vacation posts...

So we followed our friends Trish and Tyson to Florida...

*note to self: find my own directions! ha ha...

Trish failed to mention to me that she was using a thing called an atlas

**laughs loudly**

Does anyone know what that is?

Back in 1842...the pilgrims used a thing called an atlas ....

just kidding...

We were making fun of her .... but she is a strong woman....she stood by her atlas!

We never got lost...we just went through some major-ly little towns....and I admit I was a little afriad to walk around the side of the building to go potty

Here's Trish's family...aren't they so cute!! Look at Trish's hands up in the air..saying...Yay...We're Here!!!

On the road ...

First of all bear with me...because this vacation was a kind that we don't take often.

We don't hardly ever take vacation...so this was pretty special.

It's gonna be a long story...but I'm gonna tell it...because I don't want to miss a memory or a thought or a feeling...

So it's gonna take a few posts!!!

Gregg usually works all the time...Lyla and I are busy with school and playing so it is rough for us to have non interupted family time.

So we took the plunge and booked a trip to Walt Disney World!!

We were so excited because our good friends were going with us..so not only were we gonna get to hang out together as a family...Lyla would have friends to play with and we could actually have adult conversations!!!

yay!!

but first ....was the 19 hour drive from Arkansas to Florida

So we had to have dinner on the road...She didn't mind...she thought it was cool!

And here we go....off off and away!!

Testing to see if my mobile blog works and if my blog goes to Facebook .....

Waiting on mom~

This is Ms Lyla patiently waiting on mom to pack everything so we could leave for Mickey Mouse House ...aka...Walt Disney World! She is such a good girl!!

The WHOLE Bible in 90 days? I can do it!!

So i was completely wasting time the other day surfing on the internet while i should have been folding laundry ... but i came across Mom's Toolbox and seen the new post about reading the Bible in 90 days.

I have seen YouVersion and have the app on my phone ....
I have sifted through all the reading plans and seen the one where you could read the Bible in 90 days..but I always thought that was a little crazy!!

I mean...the first day you read 16 chapters!!! Nuts!!

My church always has a program that we call the Bread Program where we all as a congregation try to read the Bible all the way through in a year..then at the end of the year the ones that did it...get a certificate and a picture of the group. It's always the same people...Everyone knows who is more than likely gonna be up there....
but this year
i wanted to be up there!!!

I wanted to read the Bible all the way through...and TRY to enjoy it!

I love my God...but something about reading those thin pages make me so bored!

I saddens me to say that...because those are God's words...Jesus spoke those words straight from his mouth...from the cross that hung on to SAVE ME!!

How rude am I to say that it bores me!! How disgusting!! How could he love me??
I don't know....but he does...and I am so thankful for it!

Sometimes its the only thing i know i can bank on in this life!

So now that I am already so behind on our yearly reading schedule....I am jumping full force into Mom's Toolbox's 90 Day Reading Plan!!!

There are groups..with mentors...
so much excitement and enthusiasm....
How can you not be excited!!??

I know it is all goody goody now on Day 1....but what about Day 47?

This is how I plan on handling that.....

Pray!

I'm gonna have to make that a forefront in my prayer life...for God to remind me that THIS is important...more important than alot of the other things i do during the day. That I have to make this a priority. And to keep the devil far away from me and my family and my readings...because to be honest..Satan HATES it when you want to do something for God. The more of the Bible you read..the more he has to fight..and weasel in your life...because the more you know the more you can fight him off with God's Word!!! 

So let's get started!!!!

we are free!!

I have completely enjoyed my three day weekend with my family. My husband doesnt get very many weekends off so if we are blessed with one..we take full advantage!!

Friday...like every other Friday...my cousin Brittany and her little girl Alyssa come over. The girls play...we craft ...sit at the table and talk about what we wanna craft.
ha ha
This Friday I actually made some hair bows and she cut out fabric to make checkbook covers.

Like them??? Know how to do them different or better?
LET ME KNOW!!
I wanna practice making them!

Saturday...we went over to my dad's house to shoot fireworks and eat some AMAZING meat that my good ol daddy smoked outside...
I love love love my daddy's cooking!!!
and so does everyone else in town...because when they start smelling it..the start visiting!!!
I didn't get any pictures of Saturday because after we ate my little brother was of course excited to get the show started...and unbeknownst to me..
Lyla STILL hates fireworks
So i was huddled up in the house with her like we were in a war ....
but we made it through
and had fun!

Sunday was church...we only had a morning service because alot of our congregation was going out of town to spend time with family. I love that my church is so close that we know everyone and know when everyone plans on going out of town. So morning church was Patriotic Sunday...and some went completely overboard on the Red, White, and Blue...but it was fun! They took a vote for Most Patriotric and Lyla won 2nd place in her age group!! ***Mom Confession: I didn't even dress her up to be in the competition because I though she would throw her normal hissy fit to stay with her daddy then i would have done all that work to make her look cute and patriotic for nothing..so i saved my time and darned if she didn't get second place! ugh!
After church...we just relaxed around the house for a while...then went over to our friends Trish and Tyson's house to play dominoes...LOVE that game!!

Monday, I felt super blah! I mean super blah! so blah that i went back to the bedroom and laid down again...not ever in a million years thinking that my wonderful husband and lovely child would let me actually rest....but ....they did!
I was amazed...
but actually felt better when i woke up
see what happens when you get rest?
you feel better afterwards
I'm gonna have to try that more often...hopefully they don't catch on!
We kind of missed going to our city's annual Freedom Fest...but it was like 106 degrees that day...so I don't think anyone was upset.
We had a get together planned for my husbands side of the family at 6 that night so I had to get up and start making a birthday cake for my mother in law...I was going to try to suprise her...because no one else had thought of making her one...but i got a call about two hours before saying that my sister in law is making one too..oh well!! Two cakes are better than one!

Everyone had to help blow out candles!

I like that you can kinda see the smile on her face...I think it was still a surpise that I made one...I mean who gets TWO birthday cakes on thier birthday!!

Miss Lyla had to help take the candles out.

After some yummy chicken and sausage shish ka bobs, corn on the cob, pasta salad..then cake...we all sat outside to let our food simmer down in our full bellies while the kids ran around...then off to fireworks show!!!

We are lucky because from where our house is....we can walk right across the street and have  a perfect view of the fireworks.

Even thought the whole time...Lyla was saying "I just wanna go inside.....I am getting to tired....They are done now..lets go in"

Yep

She hated them!

They lasted for about thirty minutes...and it was pretty good!!

Maybe next year Lyla will like them.

I can't end a Fourth of July post without saying a big THANK YOU to all the soldiers and the families of soldiers who help protect and manitain our freedom.

We live in an awesome country...simply and solely because of our brave military!

Thank you for my freedom.

Thank you for my child's freedom.

Thank you!