2 Blogs in 1 day?

Can you write 2 blogs in 1 day? Well I am only because I have not written in a month! Here are a couple of pictures from the Austin trip at Oasis.

Me and Shelley
Me and Debbie

The next weekend I went with some church friends to Six Flags in Arlington and Hurricane Harbor! I had so much fun!! Unfortunately I have no pictures from that trip to share :(

This last week I was in Annaheim, California for the National Drug Court Conference and had a blast! I do have pictures and will update later this week..we had some famous guest speakers throughout the conference!

No time!

I literally have had no time to do anything! I've been a busy bee the last month! Memorial day weekend I went home and spent 4 fabulous days in Austin (where hopefully I will be returning one day!) I got to see Terri and her precious baby girl~Avery (so cute!). I also got to visit with a dear friend from ACU and a short visit with a good friend from high school, Jenny! Most of my time was spent with my sister who is truly my best friend, even though we still have our moments!

The Bachelorette

OK so I swore I was done with the Bachelor after what happened on the last season..but we all know I can not not watch that show! So tonight I will be watching the season premiere of the Bachelorette. I am not too enthusiastic about who she is (she was not one of my favorites on the last bachelor) but it gives me something watch on Monday nights!

Anniversary

Yesterday was a busy day at work but looking forward to spending time with James made it go by fast! James took me to lunch at a mexican restaraunt (I love mexican!). Then we went bowling...there is only 1 bowling place in town and it is not the most glamorous place to go and you have to keep your own score. BUT it was fun doing something different. We then went to a place called Samurai which is a sushi restaraunt. I don't eat Sushi but we have never been there so we tried it. I still didn't order sushi but James ordered some beef dish where the beef was not all cooked, needless to say I did not try it! We also ordered chicken friend rice!

It was a nice evening! Thanks to those that wished us well yesterday!

3 years

Today James and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary. Last weekend I was scrapbooking and going through pictures from the wedding and reception that didn't make the scrapbook. That was such an incredible day! We had cameras on everyone's reception table and it was so funny looking through those pictures!

A couple weekends ago James and I went to Lake D'Arbonne State Park and had an early Anniversary celebration. We did a lot of trail walking on Saturday. It was nice to get away for a couple of days! (I'm not good at blogging still so see picture above)

Best Friend's Birthday!

I should have posted this yesterday but it was a crazy day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRI!!!

Terri and I have been friends since 4th grade with Mrs. Lee (I think that is who it was, wasn't it Terri?). Through multiple moves she and I remained good friends and I've experienced a lot with her..ahh the good ole Wells Branch days! When I get to go home I walk the trail behind my house and just think about all the crazy summers we had! All the dumb boys (Jeremy) that we hoped to get attention from. Terri has always been there for me and I know she will continue to be there for me (I hope!). It's hard being in a different place away from good friends and family. I have met some great people here in Louisiana but when you've known someone for 20 years that is a hard friendship to be away from!

Busy

James' birthday was March 31 and I picked him up from the airport with Happy Birthday Balloons (which I don't think he was excited about) and then we went to eat at The Warehouse and a few of his cycling buddies met us there. You can kind of see the balloons!

Then that Sunday MercyMe (my favorite Christian group) was holding a concert in Bossier and Jeremy Camp, 10th Avenue North, and Hawk Nelson were all playing. It was such an amazing concert and I was totally uplifted! It was so awesome to see so many kids there jumping up and down and praising God!

I passed!

I got my results yesterday in the mail that I passed the LMFT exam!! I am so happy and proud of myself because this test has been a huge struggle for me! Now comes the application process so I can officially be a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist!

1:46 a.m

So it is 1:46 a.m. and I got home from working my part time job a little after 10:00 p.m. I changed into my pj's and started up my computer. I checked my email and facebook and then started writing my reports (you know the ones I was supposed to do Friday). I'm too tired tonight to finish all my reports but I did a majority and have maybe 5 left which shouldn't take me that long to do tomorrow!

I also need to say HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MADALYN!!!!! I know it is now the day after your birthday but I thought about you today and I hope (actually I know) you had TONS of fun!!

This was taken at our Abilene reunion. Someone else has a picture of me and Madalyn together but they have yet to send those pictures to me :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

Busy

With 19 kids now in the program it is hard to find time to do anything. I've come up to work the last 2 Sundays to write reports but I have every intention of getting that done today so I can enjoy my Sunday! The weather has been really nasty here (cold and rainy) and I'm ready for the sun to come out with warm temperatures! James had a race last weekend and did really well! He turns 30 March 31!!! Oh my gosh where has the time gone! In May we will have been married 3 years. I will have been in Louisiana for 5 years in August (longer than I wanted-believe me).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Congratulations!

My best friend from high school (pictured to the left of me) delieverd baby #4 yesterday! A baby girl named Avery! As I promised in an earlier post I will be making a trip to Austin to see her precious daughter! I can't wait to meet you Avery!!

Congratulations Terri!

just can't do it

I know these blogs are supposed to be happy....but I'm just not. As a friend said God is testing my faith and I have prayed to become closer to him and I have prayed more than I have in a long time, so I guess this time is a test. I just want the hurt and the stress to go away! There is a reason God brings people in your life and takes them away, it's just very hard to accept especially when they have the type of friendship you had wanted with that person with someone else.

I have also been upset about the situation I left little samson in. I returned him to his owner to only leave him by himself with another dog locked up in a wooden deck with no visitors. She says someone goes by the house twice a day but I have yet to see a car there and have seen no food or water the past couple of days. I did file a complaint and the officer went out there twice and says the dogs are being cared for. I too have to stop going by the house because my heart breaks everytime I see him.

I hope my next blog I will have something happy to write about :)

Valentine's Day!

What are your plans for tomorrow's special day? I unfortunately have to work at Academy so James and I are celebrating Valentine's Day tonight by going to one of my favorite places~Olive Garden. My mom gave us a gift card so thanks mom! I think tomorrow before I go in we may go to an early afternoon movie. I would love to see He's Just Not That Into You, but I doubt James will go for that so I'll have to see what else is out? Any recommendations?

So I never updated you all about what happended with the little dog I found. Surprisingly last week I got a call from this lady who said "I think you found my dog". I met her at her house and I think I was more excited than her so I handed him over and just prayed she was the rightful owner. Well wouldn't you know that I drive by her house about 4-6 times a day and not once seen her car there. I pulled into the drive and there is a room I can see from the front that I heard 2 dogs barking. The one I could see was a dachsund. I thought I heard little sammy and called his name but nothing. I don't remember if I told you but this dog was not in the best condition~his hair was matted and when I bathed him the water turned completely dark. So I plan on calling her today to ask if I could come see him (because she offered if I wanted to see him I could) and find out why is she never home and is she taking care of him!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Bad Blogger

So I have not been the best at keeping this up the past couple of weeks. I've been extremely busy at work and honestly should not be taking time out to write this. I've been a little down the last couple of days and without revealing the exact nature of what's going on I'll try to say what I can. It's never fun losing friends, especially when you didn't really do anything. I get sad every now and then about this person and I'm sad right now. I especially get sad when I'm watching the Bachelor because we were definately bachelor watching buddies. I get sad when I drive by this certain place we used to meet to eat lunch. I wish this person knew just how much I missed them. I may be wasting my time cause they may not even care that I miss their friendship. This person has befriended someone else and unfortunately I have to see that person almost every week which is very hard for me. If you will please pray that this hurt will go away because it has been almost unbearable these past couple of days!

Wednesday night church

You know how i talked about friends in an earlier post, well I have become friends with 2 girls that I met working at Academy. 1 of the girls was watching Sammy for me. But I have invited them to church the last 2 Wednesdays and they CAME! Actually 1 of the girls was supposed to work last night but she called in and when me and Jessy showed up there she was sitting on the couch! I pray that a seed has been planted in both of them and they continue to seek more knowledge and understanding about God. Jessy states she is a Christian but I'm not sure if she has ever been plugged into a church. Aislinn came to church with me awhile ago but hadn't been back since, but I started a bible study with her on the book of Matthew. That has kind of fell to the way side so I need to get us back on track.

So for all the Christians reading this please pray that God will continue to work on their hearts and that they find a home to worship, whether that be our church or another church! Praise God!!

Ohh and tonight I am chaperoning 7 teenagers along with one of our counselors for the drug court to watch the Harlem Globetrotter's! So I will post about that with pictures tomorrow!

Little Sammy

Last night after I got off from Academy I went to my friend's apartment, who is keeping little Sammy and told her I was going to take him home. He has been with her for a week! I brought him home and it didn't go over so well with James but today~to my surprise James took him out when he came home for lunch! This relieved a lot of my stress and anxiety about him being somewhat ok with the dog at our house. Now the question is how long do we keep him to find his owner and if we can't do we take him to a shelter or try to find someone to take him? I know he has some medical issues but I'm not sure what and how much it is going to cost to take care of anything. So stay tuned as I will report more on little Sammy!

Friends

So my visit back home was productive but I wish I would have had more time to visit with friends and my sister. I did get to visit my best friend from 4th grade! She is due March 3 with a baby girl (finally!!! love you Terri) and they are naming her Avery which I think is such a sweet name! I'm hoping to go down there soon after she is born. I was around for her 1st son's birth but was not there for her younger 2 sons! So I am making a point to come see Avery when she arrives! It was so good visiting with Terri too because we have been friends for so long that she gets me (and seriously I started crying while writing this)! She does not judge me, we may not talk for weeks but when I call it's like no time has passed and that is the friendship I miss! I have friends here but I often think if James and I moved back home would they still keep in contact with me, would we visit each other? Keeping those friendships definately takes work but for those that are worth it are worth the work! God puts people in your life at certain times and I'm so thankful that Terri has been a friend that has been with me throughout my entire life!

While I was home I spent time with my sister and got to visit my dad for awhile. Saturday night the three of us went to Chuy's, which is by far the best Tex-Mex place ever!! It was nice visiting with the both of them. We then went back to dad's and started watching one of the new James Bond movies but we were all tired so me and Deb went back to her apartment and crashed! I took Rascal along with me on the trip and he spent most his time with my dad. My dad loves rascal and I think rascal brings him joy which he really needs!

Busy week

Sorry I have not posted in awhile (actually I'm not sure who all reads this, it could just be me~although I know Kirsten keeps up with it sometimes!) But anyways my birthday was last Friday~thanks Faith and Kirsten for the birthday wishes~ Kirsten yes I did get your card and it was great! OK so for my birthday I asked James if I could go on a scrapbooking retreat and he said yes and it was so great! I got a lot accomplished and it was just nice to stay in PJ's for 2 days and be crafty!! Here are a couple pictures from the retreat: this was the cake one of the ladies brought and they had candles on it (thankfully not 29!)

This is sweet Asher. His mom is a really good friend of mine who I met at church. She actually got me back into scrapbooking after I finished the MFT program. He was blocking the light from his face while he took a nap!OK on to more serious business! On Monday I found this sweet dog roaming a busy road and my heart just went out to him. So I stopped my car got out and called him to come to me and he came! Ohh dog why did you come to me? Now I must do something with you!! I first went to my vet because he was literally around the corner and the man was completely rude! So Anna and rascal will no longer be in his care! I sort of panicked because I had a meeting I had to be at in about 15 minutes so I ran him home and put him in rascal's kennel. When I got back me and a friend gave him a bath because he was filthy and his hair was completely matted. I also found good size mass on the inside of his lower leg :( So then we went back to where I found him and started knocking on doors. NO LUCK! Not one person had ever seen him and a couple people said ohh yeah i think he belongs to that person or this person...well no he didn't! So yesterday I was a little more pro-active and I made flyers and posted them at 3 surrounding vets (including my ex-vet), a local grocery store, and Academy! I also called and placed a found ad in our paper which will run for 3 days. So for all you Christians out there I need prayers! This dog belongs to someone, although they took horrible care of him (by not grooming him) because he does not bark, he is house trained and he is SUPER lovable! Please pray his owners see the ads and contact me!!! Here are a couple pictures. I named him Sampson after my sweet little sammy I grew up with!

I am going to Austin today through Sunday so I may not post until next week so happy weekend everyone!

Pictures~finally!

So these are from my Abilene reunion that I kept promising to send pictures~you'll notice my hair was longer because I just got it cut this past Saturday. Could anyone tell in my picture with Ben? Ok so this picture is of me and Melody. She lives in Nashville, TN and has a private practice.

Here is McCain on the big screen!

This is the proud graduate and his family! Kirsten, Jason, and precious Madalyn~she was precious! This was also the graduation Senator McCain spoke at.

This picture is my side of the booth at Red Robin! This is also where we saw who won the Heisman Trophy. It was not the dude from UT, which I was bummed about!

The picture above was right before I attempted to play the drums in Rock Band~did not do very well! I think I did so poorly that I made the whole band stop. So Liz took over~what a good friend!

As I said in a previous post I had so much fun this weekend and it was so good spending it with woman who I love and have the love of God! I miss you all so much and can't wait for our next get together!

Cincinnati Bengles

So this is Ben Utecht from the Cincinnati Bengles. He and another teammate, Andrew Whitworth came to West Monroe and gave their testimonies at a church. The story with Andrew is he is a West Monroe graduate and then went off to LSU, after LSU went to the Bengles. The story of Ben is went to University of Minnesota, then went to Colts, and is now with Bengles~but there is more to Ben Utecht's story. His father was the preacher at the church we went to when we lived in Hastings, MN. My grandmother still attends and attended while Ben's dad was the preacher. So before Ben got in the big leagues my grandma got to hang out with him. She sent me a picture for him to autograph that was of her, my great uncle Gus and then Ben and his wife.

They both gave amazing testimonies and truly live their life for the Lord. It's awesome how God can play a huge part in a professional athletes life~cause you don't see that too much! It was an awesome and inspiring night!

Today is turning out to be a much better day than yesterday! Thanks for letting me vent though! I normally work at Academy Tuesday nights but someone worked for me because the left side of my mouth is still a little sore..but it was interesting to see what shows I do miss Tuesday nights. I kept flipping in between Biggest Loser, Privileged, and before that I watched the Border Patrol Show-which was really interesting!

OH James and I did have a lunch date yesterday at this new restaurant, Coda. I was not that impressed. I ordered some fried pickles (thanks Mel to introducing me to those) and for $4 I got about 10!!! What a rip off! I just might have to complain! There is one place in town that gives you a complete basket full of fried pickles for a lot less!

OK also I brought my camera so hopefully if I get some free time I can start downloading pictures to post up here!

Have a great day everyone!

Horrible

I know I'm horrible!! I have not written or posted any pictures in awhile! Christmas was just chaotic, although it was just James and I and then New Year's week I had 2 wisdom teeth pulled~ouch! I'm still recovering. Then it was back to work yesterday and it was our court day so it was just crazy!! I have been a little frustrated with work lately...it seems as though someone who's almost 30 (I'll be 29 in a couple weeks) I would have some respect in the workplace..yet the parent's I work with and the kids I work with don't seem to see me as an authority figure! So at what point do I go into the "authority figure/adult" category? I wish I could give you examples but I can't..I guess it's a double bind also because no one wants to get "old" so maybe I'm doing something to maintain that I'm still young and hip? Who knows!!!

On a more positive note our Christmas was good. James got me some clothes from my favorite store and a Tom Tom which I was super excited about! I got some things for the house and some more clothes and gift cards. James' sister got me a Coach purse which I was also excited about~thanks Jen!! James got some nice dress shirts and I got him a cool coffee maker! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's!