Domestic Pleasures

Not pregnant anymore

2011-06-02T22:28:00.002-04:00

Um, so wayne was looking at my blog and I noticed my last post was my belly shots and i was like wow, i am not pregnant anymore(although you can't tell), maybe i should update my blog! so here it is;

I had a beautiful baby girl, Ava Lynn Holloman on march 22 (which carla would probably like to me mention that was her birthday as well).
Her nickname has been baby bird since before she was born, and i think it has stuck
When carson and landen where coming to the hospital to meet their sister for the first time carson turned to landen and said "landen, let's go see if she's really a bird" (hope he wasn't too disappointed)
Landen and Carson are great big brothers and the only time they get in trouble over the baby is when they won't stay out of her face because they always want to be with her.
um, this maybe strange, and carson will be quite mad when he is older, but carson went up to wayne, lifted up his shirt and said "my boobs have drinks in them...you want some!" we almost died. and then he tried to nurse ava once when he was holding her! this coming from the same child that when i first got pregnant pointed to my chest and said "i like those!" YIKES!!! i think it is just because there was nothing there before, so i was probably thinking, yeah me too! oh well all good things must come to an end. (this post is getting weird)

So in closing

Ava was blessed on May 1st and it was a beautiful blessing. She was blessed to be a virtuous young woman, to have an education and gain knowledge, and have a close and special relationship with her mother. (unfortunately that is about all i remember, but i know there was more)

Well this is my update, and hopefully it won't be so long before the next one.

belly shots with my boys

2011-03-03T00:12:00.003-05:00

Okay so normally I avoid the camera when I am prego. However, my boys are so excited about their little sister that I thought I might regret if I didn't take pictures. Still I wish I would have taken then about a month ago before i doubled in size! My friend tricia took these for me, and she actually took more that i posted on facebook, but these were my favorites. Thanks Tricia!

New Family Game

2010-12-11T11:11:00.003-05:00

I guess these are the kind of games that you come up with to play with boys after you have grown up with 3 brothers! don't worry my kids like it, they didn't feel abused!

Kids' Sports

2010-12-10T08:42:00.003-05:00

I think kids sports are so funny! for the most part the kids just chase the ball and it becomes a form of organized chaos! But it is good exercise and they learn about the game, and as long as they have fun that is the most important thing. This is Landen and Carson's first time playing basketball and Wayne is the coach of Landen's team (which ironically enough is Duke) and the assistant coach of Carson's team (the green gators).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-06T22:44:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again, Christmas party time!!! I have already been to 2, and plenty other ones to come! Each of my pregnancies have been over the holidays and even though that means i won't be able to stay within the 25 pounds the drs suggest, at least i can blame it on the baby vs. me just being a pig ;)

Also it snowed this week, which seemed early but definitely brought in a Christmas feel! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Awards Ceremony

2010-12-03T21:01:00.003-05:00

Today was the awards ceremony at Landen's school and we received a note that he was receiving an award! I was so excited I invited wayne's parents and aunt and they all came. It was a short ceremony and I am proud to announce that Landen received the Math award. I rubbed it in Wayne's face that he gets that from me. Because Wayne is always telling me how Landen is just like him, but there is no debating that he gets his math skills from me!! However we are working more on his reading and writing now, so maybe he can win that next time!!!

And the Winner Is....

2010-12-01T10:30:00.003-05:00

CARLA!!!! I literally assigned everyone a number according to when they left a comment, and then I rolled a die (dice? unsure of singular from) and it landed on the number 1! So congrats and I hope you enjoy your elf on the shelf (even if he is just decorating your house for right now!:)

Introducing Baby Ava Lynn Holloman!

2010-11-30T14:38:00.004-05:00

If I am completely being honest I was really nervous about the ultrasound this morning. I love my boys, but I really really wanted a girl this time! So when the ultrasound started I was looking like crazy, and the second she landed on the bottom, i was like is that...is she...it's a girl?! The boys and I both cheered and wayne was stunned. He was like how sure are you? and the lady was like um 99%, so she kept checking and when she printed out the pictures there were 3 different shots that said it's a girl!

I was so excited, i have only been able to think girl ever since i got pregnant. I had my name picked out Ava Lynn(my mother's name), and all my decor. I am going to use a bird theme that i thought was really cute, and it was fun because ava means bird.

Everything at the ultrasound checked out good, but they said the baby was bigger than they expected and since size is due to age right now, and not growth they changed my due date from April 23rd to April 2nd. But I know that I recorded it right, so I am not getting my hopes up. Seriously how bad would that stink to be expecting a baby around April 2nd (note my other two came early) and then ended up waiting until the 23rd!!!! So the doctors can count me as 22 weeks all they want. i am sticking with 19!! :)

100th Post Giveaway!

2010-11-27T15:36:00.004-05:00

Okay so I am probably going to get in trouble for saying elf on the shelf, because really this is nothing more than my cheap remake of the product! But all the same I love it! So for any of you that are unfamiliar with the "Elf on the Shelf", it is a book that comes with a doll elf (that I personally do not find very cute), however the book and the concept are extremely cute. The book tells the story of Santa revealing the secret of how he knows who's been naughty or nice. He sends an elf to your home to keep an eye on you and report back each night. Then each morning he pops back to a different location in your home, and the kids have to find him. Then on Christmas Eve he goes back for good to help Santa with the toys that your children told the elf to tell Santa they wanted.

So keeping with this same general idea, and keeping my $30! I found this cute little wine bottle holder (which i didn't even know that is what it was until i read it on the tag), and decided it was a much cuter, and cheaper elf. So I got it and hid it until the friday after thanksgiving when the doorbell rang, and landen and carson went to answer the door to see this cute little elf staring up at them. It carried a note that said from the north pole, look inside. Inside there was a letter from santa explaining how the elf worked (only thing i really changed was that each day they were good the elf would report and bring back a treat from santa's workshop) which when they found the elf each morning they also get to look inside and find their treat, or...as was the case this morning a note saying they need to work harder on not fighting. i proudly announce that we have had a wonderful day of getting along and playing together nicely!!! i love this elf! They also got a certficate to name the elf, which they picked the name jingle bell.

So since i am so very much in love with this elf, and since this is my 100th post, I have decided to giveaway one of these elves complete with personalized letter from santa and naming certificate. if you are interested then make sure you are a follower of this blog, tell your friends, and leave me a comment to be entered for the random drawing. I realized some of you don't have children or that maybe they are too young or old for this, but it can also make a great gift as the elf; or you could put a bottle of sparkling cider inside and give it away. Whatever you would like, but to win you got to say so! Contest closes on the last day of November, so no more entries accepted after Tuesday at 11:59pm.

Blogworthy

2010-08-25T21:26:00.003-04:00

So I don't really seem to blog much anymore, and I guess I just don't have very many things that seem blogworthy. But this definitely is!!!
Landen's First Day of Kindergarten!!!!!!!
He just picked out his backpack and lunch box yesterday because he really wanted a carolina hurricanes (hockey team) backpack and lunch box but I couldn't find any.

All dressed up and ready to go!

No I didn't cry...I'm just not a morning person, yikes!

This was definitely a family affair, we all took Landen in for his first day.

Landen doesn't look all that excited here, and so I asked him why he wouldn't smile so I could get a good picture, and he said because he was ready for all the parents to leave so his class could get started...lol, so I was like 'BYE'!

Finally able to get to work!

Carson couldn't stay for school with Landen, this is what he thought about that!

I am so proud of Landen, he is such a smart boy and I know he is going to excel! Most of all I am glad that he loves to learn, it made it much easier leaving him today. My little boy is all grown up (or at least is getting there faster than I would like.)

Little Graduate

2010-06-01T22:14:00.003-04:00

This post is dedicated to Landen Holloman...

My little graduate!!!

3! what!?!

2010-05-16T13:45:00.003-04:00

So my baby just turned 3, and that seems crazy!! I can't believe that it has been that long! He is my little sweetheart, and such a momma's boy!! For his birthday we just did a low key dinosaur party where I read them some dino books, dug in sandboxes for dinosaurs, colored pictures, played a matching game and used a parachute for a dino cave. Then we ate some dino shaped chicken nuggets and snacks, cake and ice cream and the end! but i think i enjoyed this one more because i didn't try to do as much. I was also really excited that my sister in law and nieces came up for a few days, I loved watching the boys play with their cousins. And it is so cute because they already miss them. A huge thanks for Carla and Jacob taking pictures, it is nice to not have to worry about it while I am trying to entertain and serve food. Anyways happy birthday to my little boy!

in need of suggestions...

2010-04-30T20:35:00.002-04:00

So for Mother's day I want to make wayne's mom a video that will play pictures of back when wayne was younger, but I need a good mother-son song. I can't think of any songs that the lyrics would go well. it doesn't have to be specific mother-son, basically just sentimental, something like remember when by alan jackson, but not, because i already used that when i made joan one for christmas.
also i need to know how to use my lightscribe, or whatever the thing is called to print a picture onto the top of the cd, so if anyone knows how to do that, i could use some help!

Thanks!

Oh my it's that time again

2010-03-11T17:42:00.001-05:00

This one came out sooner than the others. And sadly I am not sure that this trailer looks all that exciting. but let me know what you think.

Buy 1 get 1 free photobook

2010-03-04T12:19:00.002-05:00

Hey for anyone who is interested snapfish is doing a buy one get one free one their classic photobooks. the promo code at the end is SPRINGBOOK and it ends on March 9th, so hurry if you want one. also the promo code for free shipping is 30FREESHIP, but you have to spend at

least $30 and I don't know if I am going to do that or not. But I thought I would pass on the info!

One Lucky Girl

2010-02-28T15:07:00.003-05:00

One day, years (and years) from now one lucky girl will get to marry this boy. I am sure that is what all moms think but this one really is extra special! I have been pretty sick the past couple of days, some bug is going around here, wayne's mom and dad have had it too. so today i was getting to know our toilet up close and personal and carson came in and sat on the floor next to me and said "mommy you sick?" I nodded my head "yeah" then he laid his head on my lap and said "i make you feel better"! It was really sweet. Then he got up and sang popcorn popping to make me feel even more better! This is one of the sweetest little boys I have ever met, so I guess his future wife is going to have a hard time taking him from me. it's days like these i wish they could stay small forever. :(

I'm Back...for now

2010-02-25T22:38:00.004-05:00

So I am not the most consistent person, it is a yellow personality trait to start lots of new things but never stick with any of them. And honestly i don't have much of a life anyways so i didn't have anything to blog about. Until now, i have two things to tell about. First...

Landen Turned 5!!! We had his birthday party at the putt putt place since he has been talking about it since june. However it was a saturday nite and it was packed, and it ended up being even more packed than i thought it was going to be! Landen really enjoyed it, but it was too much chaos for me, when we first got there it was so packed we literally couldn't get to the party room, the workers had to come and ask people to clear the walk way. and since there were so many people it was hard to find my people to tell them when i wanted to eat and do cake and stuff. so it was just crazy. it also didn't help that within the first couple of minutes of me being there i accidentally bumped into someone and she got mad and said she was going to smack me. so i lost my temper and told her to try it, and i meant it. but she didn't do anything else so i went outside and got my stuff. and tried to cool down and came back in and told her that i was sorry that i bumped into her but that it was an accident but that i didn't appreciate her saying she was going to smack me. then she was like you could have said excuse me. and i was like ma'am i did, and then walked away, while she kept yapping and cussing me out (ps i didn't hear her or there would have been a fight!jk.) But anyways, i am so proud of my little boy, he is growing up so fast and i love him so much! This picture is really funny though, the sun was bright and he can't really see!

Second...

I went to see the black eyed peas in concert!!!! It was by far the best concert I have ever been too!!! (and cindy, it was inside so i didn't get rained on or stuck in the mud!) my pictures are terrible because I only have my phone camera, so sorry. The stage was really amazing though, and they did more than sing, they really put on a show which really drew in the crowd. and we only had to pay $20 a piece. otherwise the cheapest tickets were $50 each!

picky palate giveaway

2009-11-17T22:17:00.001-05:00

okay so anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with toys that teach!! being a teacher i guess that is no big surprise, but here is a delightful surprise. There is a giveaway over at picky palate for a $50 gift card to a fun online store called out of the toybox. So head over there and check it out!

Octoberfest!!

2009-11-12T21:37:00.002-05:00

What a busy and fun month! here are some of the exciting things we did...

Hockey Season has started and it is Landen's favorite! It is so fun to watch the boys get into the game, even if we are terrible this year! We also went with some friends to the hurricane street party and my favorite part was watching the kids play street hockey, landen is actually good!! another funny part was when landen and carson went sledding down a manmade snow hill, it was awesome, but carson cried:(

A fun thing about fall is going to the pumpkin patch! but vollmer is like the mother of all pumpkin patches! it was the best I can't wait until next year to go back, I am afraid that the picture doesn't even capture all the fun things there are to do, and I couldn't get my videos to upload. After we left I was sad to find out that there were even more things to do there that I missed!!!

We also went to the state fair this year, but it was different from the other years we've gone, usually we spend a lot of money on food and just a little on some rides, but this year carson was big enough to ride too and so we spend a lot of money on rides and a little on food!! the kids had a great time, but i am not going to lie, i missed my food!

Halloween was so great this year, i love the age my kids are at, it is so much fun!! This year they were batman and robin, in case any of you were wondering, no seriously... no one knew who carson was, some people just called him superman and others were like what does the R mean!?!? are you kidding me?! who doesn't know who robin is!!(that's it, next year landen gets to be the forgotten side kick and carson gets to be the hero!) this year has been ridiculous for me I keep getting reminded that I am getting old! But all the same we had a great time we went to several parties and trick or treating, I love Halloween!!!

who needs money anyways?!

2009-10-22T15:05:00.003-04:00

So about a week ago was when i was in the car accident (posted about below) and since then we have received tons of junk mail from lawyers, chiropractors, insurance companies...etc. And for whatever reason whenever i get junk mail i usually rip it up, or at least in half (just a weird habit). So then today I checked the mail and there was something in there from an insurance company and it was addressed to wayne, so i was like that is weird and ripped it in half. As I was walking to the trash can to throw it away I glanced at the return address and it was from raleigh. Which was even more weird because the accident happened in town. Then somehow I remembered that the guy who came to check out my car from the insurance company had said something about being on 64 (probably from raleigh!!). I began to panic and yanked the stuff out of the envelope and sure enough it was MY CHECK to get my car fixed!!!!! I had ripped my check in half along with all of the information i need for getting my rental car and my car fixed!!! I was freaking out, so i called the guy that did the inspection and asked if i could get a new one and he gave me a number to call. But looking at the check I noticed I didn't mess up any of the numbers and so i threw the kids in the car and drove to the bank where i talked with a friend of the family and she taped it back together and we were good to go, whew!! but now i am having to tape back all the report papers, wish me luck!

Fender Bender

2009-10-16T23:43:00.004-04:00

So I was in my first car accident on Wed. I had taken Carson to the doctor and then put in his prescription. Since I had to pick it up in an hour I decided to pick up some hot coco and donuts and take them to the golf course to visit with wayne for a bit. Then as we were heading to get the medicine I had to stop just passed the pizza inn for someone to turn left. BAM! I never even saw it coming! So I pulled off to the side of the road and checked on the kids. They weren't hurt but Landen was a little scared. The guy was nice and came and checked on us and we decided to pull out of the way. So as I was turning around to park in a parking lot I saw a police officer and flagged him down. I got out and saw that it had cracked (yes, cracked...is that weird?!) the bumper. It must have been a cheap one. The sad thing is the exact same thing happened to Wayne a couple of months ago. I know the guy that is going to fix it is going to think we are crazy drivers! I wasn't hurt but my body is a little stiff. The boys have not complained about anything so I think we are good. I am grateful, car accidents can be really bad, so I got lucky. I know the Lord answered my daily prayers for our safety and protection.

Bake Sales and other crafty things

2009-10-13T19:36:00.005-04:00

So I had my first bake sale. and I am not going to lie, it made me feel really old!! I don't know why but I was like, hm, i don't like this, this is what little old ladies do! obviously not, but i still felt old, and like a real mom. I can't believe i have been a mom for 4 1/2 years! funny how a bake sale can be a reality check. Well anyways, so I made rice krispie treats and brownies, and i wrapped them in saran wrap and put a ribbon around them and a cute label...or at least i thought they were cute. that was until i dropped them off and saw all the other SUPER cute things that the other moms (who probably have more experience at the whole bake sale thing) made!! And then I was setting up one of the tables, and it made sense to me, everything was grouped in catagories, and then one of the other moms came over and redid the whole thing!!! ha ha ha, i thought it was hilarious, she did a much better job than I did, it looked really good see...

Speaking of cuteness, my friend has an etsy store where she sells watches. She gave me one as a gift and I love it. I also LOVE the one in this picture which she made and donated to be auctioned off for a breast cancer fund raiser. Click the pic and it will take you to her store. Seriously, check it out!

I've got spirit, yes I do...

2009-10-11T17:31:00.003-04:00

I've got spirit, how about you?! (does anyone remember this ridiculous cheer from their cheerleading days?) What a wonderful week it has been! I realize I am probably posting about General Conference later than everyone else, but I have other things to discuss too.
But starting with GC, It was amazing! There were so many good talks it is hard to pick a favorite, but I will say wow to Elder Jeffrey R Holland's talk which was given with such boldness and conviction. I thought it was amazing. He is always one of my favorites. I really loved when Elder David A Bednar was talking about having family home evening with his family and how his kids would be like "make him stop looking at me! He's breathing my air!!" and how his kids would giggle and poke during prayer (and at that exact moment my kids were poking and giggling) so I was grateful to hear that his kids really were listening.
Also this past week I had the opportunity to teach seminary!! That was really exciting! don't get me wrong I was really tired and had to take a nap everyday! but it was such a wonderful start to my day, I learned so much and was excited to teach it to others. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be though, because you don't have a lot of time to prepare the lesson.
I also just got a new calling as the laurel and miamaid advisor, which means I teach their class and work with the YW President on any needs the girls have. And the good news is I get to keep my calling as a RS teacher. They just decided that the Sunday I teach in RS the girls can just go with me :)
I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood! Landen has had the croupe (SP?) for a couple of days and last night was really bad, he was coughing so bad that he couldn't breathe, no exaggeration. I called Wayne's dad and asked him to come assist wayne in giving a blessing. Things got really bad before he got here so i started getting landen ready to take him to the hospital. Since the night air is suppose to help we decided to wrap him up and wait outside. They were able to give him a blessing and things got better and he was able to get a good nights sleep. I know the priesthood is the power to act in God's name and that Landen will be fine.
thanks for listening to my stories, i promise to blog about more exciting things soon.

More New Moon, of course!!!

2009-09-15T15:19:00.001-04:00

technical difficulties

2009-09-14T22:33:00.004-04:00

I feel like I have been out of touch with the outside world! My phone broke and it took me about two weeks before I got another one, and during that time for about a week I didn't have a computer because it got a virus!!! so i was definitely having some technical difficulties! So really we didn't do much because i was afraid to go anywhere, i thought for sure my car was probably the next thing to go and i wouldn't have been able to call anyone to come rescue me! So here are some pictures to show how we spend our time at home.

But something else I have been working on is a new blog...surprise! I have like a billion of them. But I am really excited about this one. It is a recipe blog! I hope you will all check it out and participate is either giving ratings or variations. Also if you have a recipe you would like to share and have featured on my blog then please feel free to email it to me so i can try it out. There is not much on it yet because i am just getting started. So anyways the site is http://www.dinnertimecritic.blogspot.com/, spread the word!

Dessert #1

2009-08-18T13:52:00.002-04:00

So I made this for a friend's birthday gathering, and i thought it was a little on the sweet side, but that might just be me. So in my opinion i would add less chocolate chips then in calls for, by anyways here is my dessert recipe:

Smore Bites
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 pkg graham crackers (not one box, just one of the inside packages), broken into bite size pieces.

line a 9-inch baking pan with foil
heat cream in medium saucepan over med-high heat for 1-2 minutes or until bubbles appear around edges. Remove from heat. Add morsels; stir until smooth. Cool, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 min. Add marshmallows; stir to coat. Gently stir in graham cracker pieces until combined.
spread mixture into prepared pan; press down lightly.
refridgerate for 2 hrs or until firm, cut into bars

if anyone else has a dessert they would like to share that would be great, and let me know what you think.

Recipe #1

2009-08-11T13:08:00.002-04:00

Thanks to those who left a comment on my last post, and as I promised here is a recipe in return. Actually I think I am going to start posting recipes and I would love to know what you think of them, and if you have any that you would like to add, that would be even better!! So I know I am not going to be able to please everyone cause everybody likes different things, but here is one that i like to use up some ground beef:

Rice Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 box chicken flavored rice
grated cheddar cheese

Brown beef and onions. Cook rice according to package directions. Mix soup and beef. Add rice. Mix and pour in 13 x 9 casserole dish. Top with grated cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Easiness Level: 1 (doesn't get much easier than this!)
and it will easily feed a family of 4-5, well depending on how much people eat. Also I usually just serve this with bread and some broccoli as the side. Well let me know what you think, or if you have a recipe you would like to leave, that would be great!!

I need a hamburger helper!

2009-08-05T18:32:00.002-04:00

okay so this happens to me all the time, i try to make different things for dinner so we don't get sick of just having the same ole' things all the time. however whenever it comes time to make something with hamburger i spend over an hour debating what in the world to make!!! so i need some help, does anyone have a recipe that they like that calls for hamburger? PLEASE! leave me a comment with the recipe, i need some new ideas! In return, i am going to start posting recipes that i try that i like, fair deal?

More New Templates

2009-08-04T14:52:00.002-04:00

So if you have never checked out shabbyblogs.com you are totally missing out!!!!! she has just added more backgrounds and this is one of them!!! but the even more exciting news is that one of her backgrounds is titled LANDEN!!!! not landon, but landen as in my baby's name! so of course i grabbed that one and put it on my boys blogs!!!! oh yeah and there is one called new moon, can't forget to mention that one!! so head over there and check them out!!

My Musical Crushes!

2009-07-29T18:04:00.004-04:00

Okay so wayne has been obsessed with Taylor Swift for like forever! However, if we are being honest he really only likes her because of her undeniable good looks, because anyone that heard her at the CMT awards knows that in reality she cannot sing (bless her heart!). However, I too have musical crushes, but unlike my husband mine are not based on appearances (seriously, you will see what i mean). Nonetheless, I have always loved music and for whatever reason these are guys whose voices reach out to me and even their songs are just my type i guess. There is just something in their voices that i love, and so i would like to present my top 4, which is a random number and they are in no particular order, but all the same this is who i love! P.S- It is also extremely important for me to have musical crushes because i might as well admire those that can sing, seeing as how everytime i start to sing my two year old begins to cry!

Alright ladies now it is your turn, who are your musical crushes?

Beach Week

2009-07-20T19:28:00.008-04:00

We just spent last week at indian beach at wayne's parents' condo! It was a ton of fun!! Joan also rented a place for her and wendy and her clan. Crystal and Brandon came to stay the first nite with us, but then in the middle of the nite Landen got sick, so Monday we stayed in (which it rained anyways), but i swear my kids always get sick when i have something fun planned.

Tuesday Landen was better so we took him to the aquarium. i was surprised that both of my kids touched the sting rays, but wayne wouldn't go near them. Then we went to the pool and beach (landen preferred the pool, and Carson loved the beach). While we were there we also went to treasure island to ride go carts and play putt-putt (3 times). On Wednesday wayne headed back so his parents could come down. I also tried to get a few beaches photos of my boys, and wendy wanted me to take some for her. these are just a few of my favorites, the rest are on my facebook page, so check them out and let me know what you think. So let the scrolling begin!!!

Wendy's Family

My Boys

(I was so proud he didn't even ask how to spell these, just did it himself)

Swimming!!

Putt-Putt

Go Carts!

More Swimming

Beach Fun

Aquarium

Recap

2009-07-08T22:14:00.004-04:00

So I think that this is the longest i have gone without blogging. Things have just been super busy! so instead of writing a 500 page novel on what has been going on the past couple of weeks i think i am going to just bullet point some highlights.

We got our first family pet- a rabbit! her name is cami, named after cam ward the hurricanes hockey goalie. not my first choice for a pet but she was free!

Taught Landen to ride his tricycle (finally!)

Took the kids to Williamsburg, VA: went to water country! It was the best, we had a great time and there was tons for the kids to do. They both loved the rides!

My new niece was born weighing 10 pounds 11 ounces! Her name is Taylor Aurora Howard, and she is beautiful!!

I turned 26

Landen is starting to read!!

pictures for last post

2009-06-24T15:43:00.002-04:00

Our summer activities from top (left to right) and then bottom (left to right)

1. feeding the duck and geese and the city lake, i hate the geese they scare me! They are too use to being around people and they are aggressive!

2. Carson's face after eating a cone with chocolate ice cream on it.

3. The boys riding the train at sunset park! they love trains, we rode it several times!

4. Hanging out with friends and eating suckers after playing at the spray park!

5. Landen's face after eating a cone with orange sherbet on it.

6. Well they say life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about dancing in the rain...so we thought we'd try it!!

These pics are mostly taken away from our home, but the video of wayne is at our house, where during the summer we swim in our kid pool, have water fights with squirters and balloons, swing, play in the sand box, play sports, and play bummer cars. Summer is definitely my favorite season when it comes to things to do, but i am more for fall temperatures!!

Hooray for summers!!!

2009-06-23T14:20:00.003-04:00

I love being outside, and Rocky Mount has a fair amount of fun things to do during this hot and humid month!! So this is how the Hollomans beat the heat!

okay so here is a video, i also have pictures that right now blogger won't let me upload so i will try again later.

More Growth!!!

2009-06-16T22:11:00.005-04:00

Just keep growing, just keep growing, growing, growing, growing, growing!!!

5 down...an eternity to go!!

2009-06-13T20:21:00.003-04:00

So this was going to be a great post of our five year anniversary with lots of pictures of the beautiful city of Charleston, but genius (that would be me) here forgot to actually put the SD card back in my camera before we left! So here are some fake pics...

This is the view from the restuarant at the top of the hotel where we had our dinner and breakfast the next morning. After dinner we sat for a while and watched a serious thunderstorm! There were lightning bolts everywhere, it was really pretty, but kind of scary too

This is the hotel where we stayed, 14 stories high, we were on the 12th floor!

We were only able to stay one night so we just went to the beach and swam, walked on the pier, walked around downtown and saw the historic sites (it was extremely humid, so walking was not that much fun), shopped on king street, went to the aquarium, then headed to north charleston, ate at smokey bones, which is a great place, and then headed home. It was a lot of fun, thanks for planning everything wayne, i love you!!!

NEW MOON!!! NEW MOON!!!!

2009-06-02T15:17:00.002-04:00

I am so excited!!! this is the first trailer i have seen!!! Hurry new moon, hurry fast!!!!

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

family portraits

2009-06-02T09:44:00.002-04:00

so we just had some family pictures taken recently for mother's day. some for marsha, and some for me!!! You can find the pictures here. I would view them using the slideshow (link on the right hand side). so check them out and let me know what you think!!!

Parenting 911!

2009-05-25T14:17:00.002-04:00

So this is my so called emergency, i have a child who will not stop touching things! of course this has caused me many problems (i.e.- shopping and him wanting to grab candy, or toys, or other fun things. Also when we go to the golf course and he touches the clubs, or knocks them over...you get the idea!) But today the touching has reached it's peak! Landen decided to pull a fire alarm! wow, i don't even know what to say. So here is the story. Sofia invited us to go hiking and we were waiting in the visitor center for everyone to show up and there were some things to look at and touch for kids. Then we went outside to walk around a little and on our way back in landen just pulled the alarm! The alarm scared him and carson to death. everyone started exiting the building and sofia took my kids while i stood at the desk apologizing and trying to see if there was anything i could do to make it right. the good news is that it wasn't the first time that it had happened. but embarrassing all the same. the rest of the day went well. landen loved the hike and stayed in front to be the leader while carson of course held everything up, and i had to carry him most of the time. but it was good exercise. we had a picnic after and then i had to leave for nap time. but seriously any suggestions on teaching kids to NOT TOUCH!!?

Shabby Blog Shout Out!!

2009-05-21T22:43:00.002-04:00

okay so i probably change my template and layout more than anyone i know, but i couldn't help it, as soon as i saw this one i had to grab it!! if this doesn't just radiate happiness, i don't know what does! Thanks meg for the way awesome and happy feeling background, which by the way was free and super easy to use!!! check out shabby blogs and get your own peeps!!

My 2 year old baby!

2009-05-18T22:58:00.004-04:00

So this past friday was carson's birthday!!! So my baby is 2!! I can't believe how fast time goes by. The picture of carson in the flowers is a perfect example of him being two...he is in there because he is throwing a fit! he was mad that he had to let someone else have a turn on the wagon, so he literally just dove into the bushes!! oh my!
So here is my party recap...it all began with cute fire truck invitations that were cut out using an ellison dye cut machine and some silly rhyming instructions! Then i decorated the golf course with red, white, and yellow balloons, streamers, and table clothes. We ordered tons of pizza, and my cake...well let just say i will not be getting any awards anytime soon.
So I am not sure you can see these pics very well, but i am going to talk about them anyways. So for activities we had a radio flyer wagon ride, water tubes to "help put out fires", fire truck decorating, pin the tail on the dalmation, and fire truck/station/people toys!! Also my friend's brother brought his fire jeep and got into gear and let me take pictures of him and the kids, and the kids could sit in the jeep with the lights going if they wanted to. of course we did cake, ice cream, and presents. and then i gave each of the kids a personalized goodie box, that said (name)'s fire fighting kit! they were cute, i was proud!! It was a great party, I had more fun at this one than Landen's (probably because it was less work!) But all the same Happy Birthday Carson!!!

Perfect Days!!!

2009-05-12T15:38:00.005-04:00

Don't you love when you have several great days all in a row! The past couple of days have been like that for me. don't get me wrong there has still been the occasional tantrum and defiance, but overall there have been great moments. so here are some pictures with a few recaps of the days.

On Friday the city hosted a day of fun so we got to jump in those big blow-up things and ride a train and other little rides, and play in the water. then we rode down to raleigh to meet up with Amanda and her sweet new baby Julia (I love this picture by the way! Super cute family!)

After visiting with the Mc Ewen's we rushed back to RM and ate a ton of mexican food to celebrate cinco de mayo! Wow the food was wonderful and i even had horchata!!

The next day was mother's day which was a ton of fun! I received a mother-child necklace and a bookmark from my boys and we are having family portraits done next week as the other part of my gift. We also had church (I taught RS), and we ate dinner at wayne's cousins house.

Monday I spent the day going to the library, getting stuff for carson's birthday, and cleaning so...

WE COULD GO TO RALEIGH!!!! Wayne (the king of things that are free) got us a 2 nite stay at the Residence Inn. He did have some stuff he had to do down here with a tourist something or other, but all the same, it was a free vacation for me!!!! We came down late monday nite after i got all of my stuff done and then tuesday we ate our free BUFFET breakfast, and then i visited with my friend jen who works at a lake and the kids loved it (definitely a place i would recommend for family outings...lake crabtree!!!). then we had a picnic at the temple (i cannot leave out the fact that i ate a sandwich from schlotzsky's deli!!!), and we went to the temple bookstore! Later we are going to the mall (so i can actually shop!) and landen and wayne are going to the hockey game while i enjoy some quiet time and American idol! Yup, life is great!

Growth!!

2009-05-08T21:37:00.004-04:00

So I planted my first garden ever about a week and a half ago and i am so excited to say that there is already some growth!!!! The bush beans are growing like crazy! other than that there are only a few sprigs of what i can only hope is marigolds and broccoli. There have not been any signs of carrots, basil, or leaf lettuce as of yet. the green peppers are the largest but they don't count because i used a plant that was already started instead of a seed. So I decided to do the square foot garden which means that i built a box (okay so my father-in-law built it) and filled it full of my own soil mix (so really my father-in-law just dumped compost in there). So really nothing went as planned with my box because i was also going to paint it and put up super cute signs and cute little gadgets! but none of that happened. my box is made of ugly scrap wood, my garden decor doesn't look that great, and the dirt is already in there so i didn't get to paint it. but the good news is...the stuff is growing, cute or not cute there is definitely some growth going on!!!

**Funny garden story- Wayne was helping Landen with his prayers the other nite, and before they started i asked them to pray for my garden. and it went a little something like this...

Wayne- bless the garden

Landen- bless the garden

Wayne- help it be able to grow

Landen- bless the garden...but it is alreadying growing, i think. Except for the lettuce, it's not doing ANYTHING!!

Okay so that is probably one of those "had to be there" stories because his voice inflections made it even more funny!!! but it is still my favorite garden story...so far!

Great Find!!!

2009-05-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

okay so i got this link from megan (of course!) and from now on i am calling her megan 'the great'! it is her new title because she is great and i am super excited about this site she told me about, for many reasons! So check out kevin and amanda and let me know what you think. My favorites are the free fonts and the recipes, they make me hungry just looking at them!

Tee Ball Mania!

2009-04-30T21:25:00.002-04:00

HELP! Have you read this?

2009-04-20T08:06:00.007-04:00

Hey i need some serious book reviews if anyone has read anything off of this list. I have been looking for some good stuff to read and i had some different people recommend different things, i have never even heard of any of these before, so i don't know if anyone else has either. but i am pretty picky about what i read, i am mostly looking to see if the content is okay, i don't want to read things with a lot of cuss words (especially the BIG ones!!) YEah i am still five so lets keep it clean my friends! Also i don't want to read any sketchy stuff either, i can handle kissing but any further than that and i will be seriously blushing! Wow now that you all know what a loser i am, please still help me out. Let me know if anyone has read any of these. or if you would like to make a suggestion of a good clean book to read that is an awesome book (because i also don't want to read anything boring, i fall asleep easily when reading!) please feel free to leave a suggestion! told you i was picky! Anyways here is the list:

Stand alone books
the girl that could fly by victoria forester
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
The Shack by William P. Young

These two go together but are not really a series
Life as we knew it by susan beth pfeffer
The dead and the gone by susan beth pfeffer

Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers:
Book 1 A Voice in the Wind
Book 2 Echo in the Darkness
Book 3 As sure as the Dawn

Chronicles of the King by Lynn AustinBook
1 Gods & KingsBook
2 Song of RedemptionBook
3 The Strength of His HandBook
4 Faith of My FathersBook
5 Among the Gods

The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
1 City of ashes
2 city of bones
3 city of glass

for cindy

2009-04-18T15:03:00.002-04:00

this is for cindy, what can i say cousins make the best of friends, and so do sister in laws!! (but i am not going to hold your hand, sorry cici!!)

Breaking News

2009-04-16T15:19:00.002-04:00

Okay so this is only exciting to those of you who took my advise to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and liked it! So after doing much research I have found this cover for the next book and that the predicted release date is September 1st! Which is a whole month earlier than I thought. Also there was a small summary of this book...
Plot
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry, and they want revenge.
I am so excited for this next book to come out!!! I don't want to give anything away, but definitely read the first one so we can chat and predict what is going to happen in book two!!!!

Easter Fun!!!

2009-04-13T08:29:00.006-04:00

Easter was a ton of fun! We usually do easter at my house and so I painted and did some serious spring cleaning this year, and then we had it at the golf course!! ha! oh well, it was still really fun! Isaac, Cindy, Noel, and Bella(the dog) came up on Friday and we just hung out and had dinner and then they went to their hotel. Saturday we played, went to the store, got lunch, went to an easter egg hunt, and made breakfast for dinner. Beth met us over at the church of narzarene for the easter egg hunt, and helped out with the kids. The easter egg hunt was crazy!!!! There were so many people there we had to stand in line to register, and then they gave the kids wrist bands to put them with their age group and did the different groups at different times. So we were trying to find the orange group for Landen and right when we found it they started so we had to push landen through the line of adults watching and he was way behind everyone else and ended up getting NO eggs!!! There were a lot of older kids in his group, and i think they grabbed everything, it was ridiculous, and of course landen started crying because he didn't get anything, so they were getting ready to start the next group which was the younger group under landen, and i was like i am just going to put landen in here. So he did that hunt and got a ton of eggs, and i thought he probably got too many so we went around and landen gave some of his eggs to kids that didn't get any or many, i was really proud of what a good job he did of sharing. Then I got yelled at for having him in there, but i didn't feel bad because i felt like i did the right thing by having him share. Then i saw my friend Jennifer and she was furious because there were people taking eggs out of her son's basket!!! i would have been upset too. So then i took carson to the baby group and he got four eggs, which was good, but i couldn't believe how many mom's were rushing to grab the eggs for the babies. It was crazy and i probably won't do it again next year, but at least i tried.

Sunday we went to church and had an interesting day, there was some debate about the service project we were doing, and then some interesting stories shared when i was teaching Relief Society!!! oh my! After church we ate a hot dog to hold us over until we ate a delicious Easter Meal at the golf course at 2. Then we had our own easter egg hunt which was a lot of fun and all the kids got plenty of eggs and candy...probably too much!!!! Then we all hung out until everyone had to leave to travel back home. I was so glad that everyone was able to come down, it made this year extra special!!! One of my Favorite things was that my niece noel was not afraid of me, as a matter of fact she was very loving and would come sit with me and give me hugs!!! I seriously wanted to cry!!! I love her so much, and i would love to have a little girl of my own! But if not I still have this sweet little girl who loves me as my niece, i only hope her little sister will love me too!! It was also fun to have them bring their dog, landen and carson love animals and they had a blast getting to play with bella, landen was so upset when she had to go he refused to say good-bye to anyone, how sad. I was glad beth came; it is always good to see her and get to know her better and she was so sweet and helpful with the kids, especially at the easter egg hunt, i probably would have lost one of my kids without her! Isaac and Cindy have always been great, if only i could talk them into moving to rocky mount!!! My family is so special to me, and it is always great when we get together.

Spiritual Thought

2009-04-07T14:10:00.004-04:00

Doctrine and Covenants 1:38:
What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

I love conference, I love getting to listen to the servants of the Lord. During this session of conference we sustained a new member to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I was extremely excited to know that it was Neil L. Andersen. His last conference talk in 2008 was one of my favorites (You know enough). I really connected with that talk and would advise everyone to go back and read it.

This conference (like most) I enjoyed the talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. I think I love him because he seems to pick topics that are very straight forward, and I love it. Last conference he talked about how we should behave in Sacrament Meeting, and this time spoke about being less selfish! And I loved it, all around the whole world we see exactly what he discussed. People that want to know what they are going to get out of things, and how the world owes them because they exist. I am not excluding myself, that is probably why I liked the talk so much. So for family home evening yesterday we talked about serving others and decided that our own family was a good place to start. So we each got a different person that we have to do a kind act for this week. And hopefully we will go from there and serve others everywhere. I hope that through my own actions I will be able to teach my kids service.

I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who gives us a Prophet to lead us and guide us in these latter-days. It is so easy to get caught up in the things of the world, and conference is such a refreshing experience that inspires me to work harder. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is our Prophet today, and I am grateful for his words and all that he sacrifices for us. I am grateful for the scriptures (Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Convenants) and I know that they are truly the word of God. I am grateful that my Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers and for the Holy Ghost that I am able to know that these things are true. I hope that I will be able to keep this resolve to be a better person. If you did not get to see all of the conference talks you can find a link on lds.org. I would encourage everyone to listen.

Jumping Monkey!!

2009-03-20T22:18:00.003-04:00

We had so much fun today at a place called the jumping monkey in Greenville, it was really cool and the kids had a great time! Actually so did i! the only sad part was that i wasn't allowed to jump too!! Here are some videos from our day, they really did have more than just the slide, i just forgot to take picture after a while, i was too busy chatting with everyone! But sidebar, check out my other blogs because i finally updated them after what i think could only be defined as forever!

White Rabbit

2009-03-10T15:54:00.005-04:00

So if i were a disney character, this is probably who i would be. i am always in a rush doing something, it seems like there are even times that i feel rushed when i have absolutely nothing to do. don't get me wrong, i am not complaining, i love doing all of the things i do. Teaching RS is one of the best callings i have ever had, doing preschool with landen (and carson joins in too) is super fun, running the playgroup for the city of rocky mount has me wondering why i wanted to be a high school teacher when i love toddlers so much, my own toddlers keeping me cleaning all the time, and can't forget that i still have a be a wife and mom too! Breathe

But in all of my running around, I have to work hard at remembering to not miss all the small and simple things. Because all of those things melt my heart and truly make me happy! Here are some of my favorite things:

Landen's Laugh

The way Carson hugs with his entire body

Carson's gappy teeth!

The way Landen jumps up and down when he gets excited

The way Carson copies everything Landen does

The fact that Wayne is Landen's hero

the fact that Landen is Carson's hero

The way Landen says I love you

The way Carson says 'et tu!' after i tell him i love him

Landen's extreme southern accent

Carson's sweet voice when he babbles and learns new words

The way landen thinks he is sharing when he gives away carson's stuff

The way carson says high five and holds his hand back until someone gives him a high five

Landen carrying around his bobble head of a hockey player

Carson's favorite phrase 'ma mits' which translates into more milk

or in other words...

I love these kids!!!

Post 2: The Birthday Party

2009-02-27T08:44:00.028-05:00

This is going to be an extensive look, at the work behind the scenes for throwing a four year old jungle party. Many pictures will not be shown, because I was so busy throwing the party that there were somethings I forgot to ask for a picture to be taken. Pictures shown are credited to Ashley Cone and Myself, I don't remember which picture is which. Thanks for your help Ash! Side Note: Please ignore weird spacing I tried forever to fix it, and had no luck!

The Invitation

The Craft (The binoculars were to be used for the safari at the end of the party, when they when searching for their goodie bags) we also did wild animal coloring pages and animal name tags

The Menu

So just in case you can't really see the picture here is what the menu for the night was:

Live Worms (sliced hot dogs)

Beetle Wings (potato chips)

Dried Ants (dried cranberries)

Snake Eggs (green grapes)

Croc Teeth (apple slices)

Jungle Juice (green kool aid, which did not go over well, I thought all kids liked kool-aid, oops)
AND...................................

The Cake

The Brother(down under this picture!!)

The Other Friends and Family (below)

The Games [This is only one of the games, the tree frog toss, it was the one that I was running, so I didn't get to take pictures of the other ones, which were: animal charades, feed the lion (which was throwing balls into a bucket with a picture of a lion on it), and elephant ring toss (which was throw rings trying to hook them on a blown up elephants nose)] I also regret not taking pictures of the tree frog layout, i made vines out of paper bags and cut out leaves from green card stock, and the kids threw sticky frogs and tried to get them on the leaves, it was really fun!!!! There were also sticky frogs in their goodies bags later!

The Presents (Landen really got a lot of great stuff and we literally didn't leave the house for a couple of days just so he could stay home and play with them all!! Thanks everyone!)

The Goodie Bags (inside was candy, a balloon, safari animal stamper, safari animal stickers, sticky frogs, and a safari animal notepad)

My Little Four Year Old!!!

2009-02-24T23:15:00.003-05:00

Okay so this is a couple days overdue, Landen's real birthday was on Feb 22, but things have been so crazy that I have not had any time to do much with my pictures, or blogging. But I have to say happy birthday to my little boy even if it is late.

4 things I love about Landen:

1. His love for life, he is always excited!

2. The way he tells me he loves me to stay out of trouble (it always makes me laugh!)

3. The way he says his prayers

4. What an amazing big brother he is, just like I always wanted him to be

Wow only naming four was really hard, Landen has made the past four years of my life better than I could ever have imagined. His sweet spirit is a huge blessing to our family, I love you Landen, and Happy late Birthday!!!

I will try to get my stuff all together and post about his birthday party soon...I hope.

Pay it forward

2009-02-13T13:55:00.005-05:00

So I literally copy pasted this from my friends blog. I changed the name dan to wayne but anyways...

My friend is doing this and I think it is a neat idea and a fun way to keep in touch. Everyone should join in. It's okay if you don't have a blog. Comment anyway. I'm not going to do the first 3 people -- just 3 random people. I'll probably make Wayne pull them out of a hat or something. Anyhow -- Totally Awesome!"Here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well-before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!"

um, i will announce the winners next week so that i can get addresses and give people enough time to see this and comment, if you would like to comment and you don't have a blog, leave a message from anonymous but be sure and leave your name in the message.

Family History

2009-02-10T22:44:00.008-05:00

Okay so I am the world's worst at doing my family history, however, my uncle started sending me pictures of my dad's side of the family and it has been a lot of fun seeing the pictures and i now feel much more motivated to do my family's work. So that will definitely have to make that one of my March goals. So here are some of the things that I have recently been sent.

My Dad as a baby, he was at least cute at one time...

My Dad in elementary school (for those of you that have met my siblings, which one of us kids do you think looks the most like our dad?)

This is a picture of my grandma (Mabel, in the back on the right) and her sisters

This is a picture of Rachel Jane Taylor, after whom I was named, so this one was a fun one to get, because I really don't know anything about her. Also I am about to have a little niece that is going to be named Taylor, and I hope she is just like me, that would make it extra special!! In the picture Rachel is the adult woman

Okay so this is the last one I am going to put up here, but seriously people, i know this is my family, but this picture scares the mess out of me!! They are all like "children of the corn", not that i know exactly what that means, but i think it is suppose to be scary, and they are. I am not trying to be mean, and i feel bad, because they were probably excited to be able to take a family portrait, but i can't help but be freaked out, do you know what i mean?! Well all i can say is i better make sure their work gets done because they are probably going to let me have it on the other side for trash talking their portrait, so hopefully they will forgive me if i seal all of them together!

Sir Mixalot's Dream Girl!!

2009-01-30T19:47:00.002-05:00

The Newest Addition to our Family

2009-01-28T14:14:00.002-05:00

Our extended family that is!! Wendy just had her first baby boy, after having four girls!! His name is Evan O'brien Mayo and he was born on Jan. 23 via C-Section, and he weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces, and was 20 inches long. We are so excited to have him in our family he is so cute! I predicted that he would look like Caroline, and the votes are in...I was right!! he looks like caroline looks now, not like she did as a baby. He also favors danny much more than wendy. How much fun to have a new cousin!! Speaking of new cousins!!!!!!!!! Cindy and Isaac just found out what they are having today! And i am not going to steal her thunder so you will have to look at Cindy's Blog if you want to know!

A Holloman Snow Day!

2009-01-22T23:05:00.004-05:00

So wayne had a free two night stay in at the local Holiday Inn, which is really nice by the way, and so we went there and got snowed in, and this is how we celebrate our snow days...

That's right, swimming!!! we could literally look outside and see the snow falling, and the craziest part of it all was i ran outside in my barefeet and my bathsuit to grab some snow, three different times, once to throw a snowball at wayne, and then once so i could eat it, and the next time so the kids could eat some!!! yeah, it was cold, but fun!!! There are some more pictures of us having fun in the snow (not in our bathing suits) on my other blogs, Little Harvard and Holloman Boys.

Book Tag!!

2009-01-21T17:28:00.003-05:00

Okay so i got tagged, or at least think i did, she may have been talking about another Rachel but i didn't see another one on her list, so i am doing it!!! However, i did cheat, kind of! When i first read the tag, i was staying at a hotel and i didn't have any books with me, of course there was a phone book in the room, but i didn't think the names on page 56 would appreciate me handing out their info!! So i got home and grabbed my favorite book (for right now) and then opened the tag again, so it was the closest book to me!! okay but none of you are going to have that happen to you, so you may not cheat!!!

The rules:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!

The Hunger Games, By Suzanne Collins
Page 56

Judging by the fumes, it's some kind of spirit. I don't know Haymitch, but I have seen him often enough in the Hob, tossing handfuls of money on the counter of the woman who sells white liquor. He'll be incoherent by the time we reach the Capitol.

I realize I detest Haymitch. No wonder the District 12 tributes never stand a chance. It isn't just that we have been underfed and lack training. Some of our tributes have still been strong enough to make a go of it. But we rarely get sponsors and he's a big part of the reason why. The rich people who back tributes - either because they are betting on them or simply for the bragging rights of picking a winner - expect someone classier than Haymitch to deal with.

"So, you're supposed to give us some advice," I say to Haymitch.

"Here's some advice. Stay alive," says Haymitch, and then bursts out laughing.

Okay so i did more, but i couldn't help it!! I want everyone to read this book, i love it!! So here are the people i tag:

1. Catherine (i am dying to know what book you have closest to you out of your library)
2. Amanda
3. Alice
4. Beth
5. Tanya

Fabuloso!!!

2009-01-15T15:06:00.006-05:00

So I have received my very first blogging award! And here she is baby!!! Isn't she a beauty! I could not be more proud!!!! ha ha, wow!!

Actually I am honored to receive this award from my blogging idol megan! and what great timing since i have just started back watching my show...American Idol!! First of all I would like to thank everyone that made this possible for me to receive such an honor, for those who have starred in my pictures/stories, you make this blog what it is!!!

My 5 fabulous addictions

1. Family

2. Church

3. Hanging with friends (especially playing catch phrase!)

4. Music (i love it all)

5. Books (namely twilight and the hunger games)

Now the moment you have all been waiting for, I hereby pass along this award to these very special receipents:

now that you have been given this award, here is what you need to do...

1. Pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.

2. List 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

3. Copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

Rules and Instructions:

Upon receipt of this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as well. To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog. So there you go!

In Recovery

2009-01-08T09:00:00.004-05:00

Meet the Wisdom Tooth

Not my wisdom tooth but an agravating tooth all the same. So i have been needing to get mine out for a while, but of course i have been putting it off...until yesterday. now i am wishing that i had been one of those people that never had wisdom teeth. Sure i only had one, so i have it better than some. but i always have to get several shots to get numb, and when they took the

tooth, i am not sure that i was completely numb because i FELT it!! okay so not all of it,

but still it hurt. but at least it is over, and now i am in the recovery stage. yes my mouth hurts

but the worst part is i have to eat cold food, and can't drink hot chocolate! and last nite was definitely a hot chocolate day!!! oh how i miss good food!! and today i have to start the salt water rinse! ahh!! have any of you poured salt on a wound! or gone into the ocean after shaving your legs, it burns!!! so i am in for a super fun day!! so wish me luck and pray the tooth heals quickly!!

Newest Hobby- Digital Scrapbooking

2009-01-06T22:07:00.004-05:00

So my friend megan introduced me to digital scrapbooking and i am totally hooked. wayne bought be the corel paint shop for christmas and i can't stop playing with it!! So i have not learned how to do everything that it can do yet, but i will get it down and then i will be crowned the digital scrapbooking queen. okay so maybe not, but i am having fun, and there are a lot of websites that offer free kits. my number one inspiration...

Shabby Princess

I mean look at the picture, how can you not want to follow somthing so cute!!

Wrapping things up

2008-12-31T21:04:00.002-05:00

Well this is it, the end of 2008!! It has been a fun year with lots of fun memories! Christmas was no exception, it was definitely memorable!! Landen was totally into the whole santa thing, and carson followed landen's lead. (check out holloman boys in the right panel for more about landen and carson's christmas). Marsha, wayne's mom, also had a birthday and every year i make her a family calendar. This year i did too, but my friend megan helped me and i thought it turned out great (megan really did most of the work! Thanks meg!!) So i thought i would post it because i thought it was cute!

So here is to the new year, i wish every one the very best!!!!

My uneventful life!!

2008-12-18T15:42:00.002-05:00

I saw this on another friend's blog and decided to do it too!.

To participate, just copy and paste the list in your own blog, and color all of the things YOU have done - use any color you want. Things you haven't done will be in black. Have fun and if you have your own blog you might want to post your results there for the rest of us to see.(for mine i also added comments to make it more fun since i really have lived 25 years and done nothing, i think they will consider me a burden on society!!!)

I HAVE...
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars (i think i fell asleep when i was supposed to be watching a meteor shower, oops, but i am counting it!!)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (there was one i stayed awake for)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity (there was one time, but it is not because i am nice, it is because i can't say no, and i was in college and had no money, or at least i ended up with no money after i donated it)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (does it have to be a big mountain? i mean this wasn't Everest or anything)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (it was technically a duet but i had my only solo part in it!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (not one of my favorite moments)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables (with assistance)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (slept on a train, don't think it was overnight)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked (bummed rides, but not by thumbing them down, scary!)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (i wouldn't mark this even if i had!!)
27. Run a Marathon (how long is a marathon?)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (my brother has, i was so jealous)
29. Seen a total eclipse (i think)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (and photographed it)
31. Hit a home run (is this in real baseball?)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (how far down the line?)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (i can't even learn one when someone else is teaching me, but i thought about teaching my family elvish, ha ha, seriously kidding!)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (is there such an amount?)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (does it have to be a real rock?)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (it was very bad! sorry to all present)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing (I think, it was some kind of out there fishing)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain(shower) (is this saying kissed in a rain shower, or in the rain or in the shower?)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (and quit after my first day because i was the only girl in the class)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (jaime says i am a whale, and i watch myself, does that count?)
63. Got flowers for no reason (once upon a time...)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (oops!)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (from the temple bookstore!!!!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club (didn't last long)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (2 of them)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant (almost, there was one at the fair but wayne wouldn't let me do it!!)

wow 46 out of 100, i failed! i wish i could travel and see and do more of the things on this list, well that was fun all the same!

Family of dancing elves!!

2008-12-10T16:49:00.004-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Okay so i stole this off of beth's blog, sorry beth, but i laughed so hard when i saw it that i had to make one too (i am such a copy cat!!). Anyways, i want to see everyone else's so Elf Yourself!! Merry Christmas!!
PS- pause the music at the bottom before playing!!

Mommy moments!!

2008-12-06T15:56:00.006-05:00

So my friend sofia took some pictures of me and the boys the other day, and they turned out wonderful!! I picked my top favorites (click on the image and so you can see them larger and let me know which is your favorite) but i am sure she will end up posting them on her photography blog "sofia's photography" (the link is in my list on the right) so just keep an eye out for them. She is a great photographer, i even showed one of the pics to a couple of professionals and they were impressed as well!! One of the best parts about these pictures is that they serve as a reminder that being a mom is fun!! it has its crazy moments, but over all it is the greatest thing ever! (of course it helps when your kids are as cute as mine!!!)

It's time for Christmas!!

2008-12-02T14:30:00.004-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Okay so we are those people that have to wait until after thanksgiving to start celebrating Christmas, i mean come on we have to give the turkey his day too! but thanksgiving has come and gone and we are ready to go!! so yesterday we went over to Wayne's parents house and ate dinner, then we all got into our PJs and watched the polar express while we ate christmas treats. It was a lot of fun, and i am so excited about Christmas this year! Landen is old enough to be really into it, he was last year but this year seems better, and carson is excited too! they both helped wayne's mom decorate the tree last nite and it was really funny to watch their faces. we had a great time, and i have to say i love watching my kids enjoy christmas, it is more fun than when i was a kid.

I am thankful for family...and food!!

2008-11-29T17:11:00.003-05:00

Okay so i promise these were my pictures from thanksgiving, but since we always do Christmas in Rocky Mount, we decided we would go ahead and let the kids open their presents so my aunts and grandma could watch them. Also these are not pictures of the whole trip, it seemed like anytime anything was going on i didn't have my camera on me. So anyways we went up wednesday and stopped in radford to go to the roanoke mall with abe, ben, and beth. (BETH!!! i just remembered i owe you three dollars! i promise i will get it to you) Then we stayed with my grandma. On Thanksgiving we ate at my grandmas and almost all of my family was there, it was the first time in a long time that we have been together. That nite we (ben, beth, abe, isaac, cindy, me, aunt cappy, and aunt sherry) played apples to apples and catch phrase. Catch phrase is one of my favorite games ever, it totally cracks me up!! it was so much fun spending time with my family, the kids were so cute, i just wish everyone lived closer so we could get together more.

At least i could win the loser award!

2008-11-19T20:13:00.004-05:00

So yesterday i went to raleigh and spent the day with sofia before we went to the twilight sneak peek! Her grandmother taught me how to make tortilla soup! my favorite! and then we headed to the movie theater, there was not a line when we got there so we went to one of the near by stores and then went back to check in. It snowed some flurries a couple of times and so we decided to go ahead a line up so that we would be some of the first ones and get to line up inside. So it was about 2:30 and we were the first people in line. but it ended up okay that we were there that early because we just sat around and read and talked. Okay so they were going to have a contest for the best dressed vampire or whatever and i thought for sure that there were going to be a bunch of teenagers and they would be all dressed up, but i really wanted the cd of the soundtrack that they were going to give away and so i decided i would dress up at least a little. so i put on pale makeup, bright red lipstick, and glitter. Then i wore my sun glasses and vampire teeth, still i thought for sure there would be people decked out more than that, and i was wearing the tshirt i made. um, no, i was wrong. i ended up being the only person that really dressed up, everyone else decided that they were just going to wear tshirts!! oh my! i looked ridiculous! sofia at least put her teeth and sunglasses on long enough to take a picture, so here we are waiting in line...

So then about 5:30 or so they started passing out free stuff, we got posters, a bracelet, and cards with the characters on them. But i was still holding out for the cd, knowing i was going to win because i was the only person in costume!! we had a great time talking to the other people in line, i love meeting new peeps to discuss twilight with! and then at about 6:30 they started letting us in to get our seats, and i was the first in line to go!! hooray for waiting for four hours! so then at about 7:15 they did the costume contest and had everyone that dressed up come to the front, so mostly me and everyone with tshirts came up. then i thought they were going to have a judge pick but no...they did it by pointing the person out and having the audience cheer. (terrible idea if you ask me). Sofia and i were both terrified that they were going to ask our age, i seriously considered removing my wedding rings and going with 17!! But they didn't...anyways, so i knew when they decided to do the clapping from the audience i didn't stand a chance, there was a little girl, and who wouldn't cheer for a kid!! and then there was a guy with long hair, not attractive but the long hair made it obvious that he was comparable to Jacob. So the Jacob look a like got the grand prize (because all the girls were screaming for him) of a shirt, apples, and MY cd :( then the little girl took second, and i came in third and got a shirt, hooray). So the movie started at 7:30, and i don't want to say a lot about it because i know everyone hasn't seen it, but call me when you do and i will be more than willing to tell you what i thought.

Double Blog

2008-11-13T21:20:00.003-05:00

Okay so i have two things to blog about today, one is my game test, and i am a boggle. even the name seems to fit me. the best things i could get out of this is that i am strange, check! the only thing that did not seem to fit is that i don't follow directions, if i can listen long enough to get them i am totally one that plays by the rules. so anyways here it is...

You Are Boggle

You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person.

You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done.

You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions

You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes. You're constantly inspired.

What Board Game Are You?

second i wanted to invite anyone that wanted to attend to a showing of road to zarahemla this saturday at 7pm. i have not seen it but i hear it is good. tayna and alice especially, you guys are within driving distance, so i hope you can make it, sorry it is such short notice. it is going to be at fern's house, here is a copy of the invite...

shout out to sofia

2008-11-10T12:58:00.004-05:00

Top 3 Reasons I love Sofia...

3. She invites me to her house for tortilla soup!

2. She looks way cool in this hat!

and the number 1 reason i love sofia...

SHE WAITED IN LINE AND GOT US PASSES TO GO SEE TWILIGHT!!!

what more could you want in a friend!

Thanks Sofia!!

Sneak Peek at Twilight the Movie!!

2008-11-05T09:17:00.005-05:00

Okay so Marsha found something in the paper about the movie being shown in Cary on Nov. 18th, which is just a few days earlier then its actual release, but it is free!!! The only catch is you have to stand in line, twice!! Once to actually get the tickets, and then you are not promised a spot, you have to stand in line again to get into the theater!!! But i so don't even care, i love being a nerd and i am totally going to try to go. I am excited about going to see it first and i am excited about dressing up!!! Sofia and i made t-shirts and we are going to put glitter on us so we will sparkle, and i was going to get some red contacts but i don't have a prescription and they are seriously expensive!! so maybe not! all the same i am excited!!! so happy twilighting to everyone!!

I'm Purple?!

2008-11-03T16:57:00.003-05:00

So i saw this on a friend's blog and i thought that i would do it too, and i actually ended up the same color, so i wonder if this thing is rigged!!! well here are the results, i am purple, i am not sure if i think this describes me or not, the only thing that i felt fit was that i hold myself to a high standard, i am pretty tough on myself, but the rest...i am not sure, let me know what you think!

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors.

You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful.

People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you.

And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off!

Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Yes, another book

2008-11-01T13:08:00.002-04:00

So i just finished reading the book the hunger games, and i really enjoyed it. I didn't like it AS much as twilight, but i don't know that there will be another set of books like those. however this book just recently came out and no one told me that it was only book one!! the book is pretty suspenseful so i am having a hard time with not being able to continue on with the story!! however i would love to know if anyone else has read it, and hope others will read it so that i can analyze the book with them, so let me know if and when you read it!! by the way it is another young adult sci-fi book, oh my i am becoming a sci0fi nerd which is funny because i used to be so anti!! oh well i have not started watching the sci-fi channel yet so i guess i am still okay!

Surprise!!!

2008-10-29T19:42:00.003-04:00

So I am what i call an exactist, not a perfectionist; i just do things exactly as instructed. Especially when it comes to cooking, my friend Milissa will attest to this truth as she spent many nights trying to teach me how to come up with different concoctions in the kitchen! There have been very few times that i have been brave enough to come up with my own variations of food, and even fewer times that they have turned out edible!! not exaggerating! But tonight, my friends, i would like to announce that i have finally done it! I was terrified up until time to try the first bite, and have to admit at first i thought it smelled terrible (before it was cooked) and already had a backup plan for dinner. and the best part was that it was super easy to make. I put frozen chicken in the crock pot and then mixed good seasons garlic and herb dry salad dressing with about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of water, and about 1/4 cup balsamic vingerette. poured it over the chicken and turned it on low and cooked for 4-5 hours until no longer pink. Then we had just classic veggies and sides but it was pretty good! or at least we liked it!!! Let me know if you decide to try it, it doesn't get any easier than this!

PS- check out my new blogs, holloman boys and little harvard, the links are under my list of other blogs.

Beaches!!

2008-10-23T23:23:00.003-04:00

Okay so i am super sleepy so this is going to be a quick story, but earlier this week i went down to visit my aunt down in Supply NC, which is right in between wilmington, and myrtle beach. She has lived down there for a while and has been asking us to come and see her new home so i invited my friend sofia to come with me. She has a beautiful new home worthy of being shown in a southern living magazine (and she is trying to do so!!) So sunday nite we arrived a little earlier than we thought we would so we drove around wilmington and carolina beach, and walked out on the pier. it was a nice cool nite, and then we ate dinner with my aunt and uncle and got into some serious political discussion. Then we slept down stairs where we stayed up almost all nite (a serious girl thing) giggling and talking about just about everything. The next morning we got up and i went running and about froze. Then we got ready and went to Myrtle beach. We went to broadway on the beach, Barefoot Landing, and Ocean Blvd. We of course hit all of the shops, ate lots of great food, and laughed the whole time too!! some quick highlights were going to the speedway and sofia kicked my butt in both go cart races, at first i thought my cart was slow so i picked another one and was still slow and i crashed a lot so it must be my driving!! we also played air hockey (sofia cheated!!) and basketball (i finally won!!). Then we went to a haunted house, which was so cool!!!! i totally screamed the whole time, i get seriously freaked out!! Then we ate at Dick's resort where our waitress was rude to us (they are suppose to be). It was really funny!!! Then we went back to my aunt's and watched a movie, the next morning we got up and photographed the sunrise, and spent some more time with my fam. then we headed home totally wiped out!!! It was a ton of fun!! and since a picture is worth a thousand words i am going to let my pictures fill in the rest!!

Lucky by association

2008-10-14T18:23:00.005-04:00

So you have all heard about being guilty by association, but i am lucky by association, because on my own i have never really won anything, not that i play the lottery or anything, but still i don't really get a whole lot of lucky brakes. But then i married Wayne Holloman who by definition is a four leaf clover!! And now i get to have all sorts of cool opportunities like going to see willie nelson in concert for free, eating places for free, getting into various events for free, and the latest event getting into the carolina hurricanes. which sounds like no big deal because we go all the time, but this time we had $150 tickets and we got to sit with all of the big wheels!! We sat in leather seats along a countertop that had televisions built into it's surface so we could see close ups of certain plays. We also had a waitress who brought us sprite to drink, and got to eat from the sandwich bar for free. Wayne got a BBQ sandwich and i ordered a roast beef and even landen got his own plate, technically, wayne really ate it though. And seriously, it tasted a lot better then it looks in the picture, the pic looks like we slapped some road kill on there:{ It was a lot of fun, even though the hurricanes didn't win you can't argue with free entertainment. Wayne even ended up with an extra ticket which he sold to cover some of our gas!! So I am living the sports high life!! Now if i could only get wayne to find someone to clean my house for free then i would know i was doing good!!!!

Taking it back...way back to 1985 (maybe)

2008-10-10T21:46:00.005-04:00

Okay so my friend megan taught me how to do digital scrapbooking and then how to put it on a blog, so i am practicing to try out my new hobby!! Although i don't know how to make it not have the white around it (megan HELP!!). But i made my new banner or title, or whatever you want to call it, and was pretty proud too!! So i thought that since i got tagged and had to show my fat baby picture I thought i would try to redeem myself and show some pictures of when i was not quite so fat!! and i thought i would take my brothers down with me!!! Actually the one of me and isaac hugging has always been one of my favorites, he is my bestest friend and this picture just reminds me how much i love him.

So i think i am two or three in these pictures so it is either 1985 or 1986, i am not sure, i think the swimming one was when we lived in Korea. I am not 100% sure though. Anyways, i would love to see some pictures of everyone else when they were young so i am going to turn this into a tag and tag anyone who reads this!!

This is not a political debate!

2008-10-09T21:11:00.004-04:00

Okay so this is just a story of events that wayne and i did, not an invitation to talk about politics. Tuesday nite wayne and i went to greenville to ecu where sarah palin was speaking in the basketball arena. he got tickets from a friend and the tickets instructed us to be in our seats by 6. so of course we get there at like 10 till and have to find a place to park which was crazy!! and had to walk so we were a couple of minutes late, but a lot of others were still heading in too so we thought it would be okay, she wasn't really speaking until 7 anyways so we thought we were good. so we get there and there is a huge line!! and people all around us selling buttons and tshirts, which of course wayne tried to bargain with them with no success, and then we were being taunted by obama fans (who were dressed like gothic hippies! seriously scary!) but then there was some preacher guy yelling at them and condemning them and so he was even more scary!!! i really don't like contention it makes me nervous, but the line was moving pretty fast so i was like okay we will be out of here soon. so we get up close to the building and everyone is walking into the football stadium, and we are like what is going on? apparently the basketball stadium was full and they were putting us in the overflow to watch it on tv. Wayne was really mad!! he thought that because we had tickets that we were garaunteed a seat. so i started talking to one of the secret service guys, not one of the ones on the roof, and he said that they pass out like 10,000 tickets but there are only 6000 seats, so that way they can be sure that all the seats are full, just looks better i guess. i was really disappointed but at least i was willing to go and watch it on the tv, wayne was so mad he refused to. so i stood outside by the entrance with him for just a little while, and there were some scary women who were really mad!!!! they were telling off the SS and talking about how they were going to go vote for obama now. the SS was pretty rude and told them they didn't care, all they knew was they were not stepping inside the building. while i was asking what time people started lining up (which was at 11am!! so we never stood a chance at getting in) the ladies started yelling around me, and i was like ahh i don't want to be a part of this and the SS guy i was talking to was like no you don't, it was creepy!! so anyways i watched her speech and i liked it, and then wayne and i left. on our way back to the car we stole some mccain-palin posters, that now decorate our yard, and then got stuck in serious traffic, they had blocked off like half the town so she could be escorted out.

so wayne and i went to olive garden to wait out the mess, and i ordered the chicken marsala, which by the way is wonderful!!! and wayne ordered the endless pasta. well he starts off with the alfredo and then asks if he can try the five cheese marianara. a guy, not our waiter, but a waiter, brings wayne his refill and sets four huge bowls of different kinds of pasta in front of wayne, and i started busting up laughing, because i was like, he didn't order that. and wayne just looks up at the waiter all puzzled while the waiter looks back at him like he is a pig, which makes me laugh even harder, then finally wayne is like i didn't order all of this! and the guy is like, well all i know is that is what your waitress asked me to bring you. so i am just cracking up because wayne looks like a whale with tons of food sitting in front of him, and it turns out three of the bowls were for the table next to us and the waiter just got confused. so good news was that we got to take all the food home, it made a great lunch and dinner!!! Wayne and i had a great time, even though we didn't get to go in to see palin, we turned out to be a really fun date!!

Tag- FOUR!!

2008-10-06T21:31:00.004-04:00

Okay so i know that i have already blogged today about conference but i got tagged, and i just can't resist a tag!!!:) So the way this works is you go to your pictures and post the fourth pic in the fourth file, and this is what i found...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! cindy you are so fired!!!!!!! i will never do a tag again!! wow who can believe i have this in my computer! so this is a pic of me with my grandparents on my mom's side of the family!!! did anyone guess i would be so fat! well while i am shaming myself i might as well spill all of my embaressing secrets. Today i took a quiz on which friends character i would be, and honest i thought i would be monica or pheobe because i am crazy but no, worse, much worse...

that's right! Ross, i am not even female, something seems seriously disturbing about that!! but at least it said that i was smarter than all of my friends, so i am really sorry to everyone else!!

So moving on and back to the tag i tag my four peeps: dejah, amanda, sofia, and creela belle

General Conference

2008-10-06T14:13:00.003-04:00

Okay so trying to keep kids quiet during conference is a serious task and i didn't really hear all of the talks but i did want to comment on some of the wonderful things that i did hear. First of all, i have always loved Elder Dallin H. Oaks because he cracks me up!! he always picks topics that normal people would keep out of regular conversation for fear of offending someone, and then he just lets everyone have it, no candy coating, and i love it!!! When he told people to stop texting in church i almost busted up laughing, cause seriously, that has got to stop!! of course i would never come out and say it to anyone (except wayne), but since he did i don't mind saying that i agree!! Sacrament is a really scared time, and i thought he gave an excellent talk and made it clear what the Lord expects from his saints. I also loved Elder Joseph B. Wirthlins talk, when he told his crazy stories and said that we need to learn to laugh even when things seem bad. As much as i love to laugh i found that this talk really spoke to me as an individual. I laugh about dumb things but if things don't turn out the way i plan then my life is over and the world is coming to an end. I really think this is true with being a mom, i can either freak out everytime my kids make a mistake or i can laugh and enjoy this part of their life. So far in my life i have not encountered any mistakes that can't be fixed, so why stress? I always thought Sister Hinckley was a good example of this too, and i hope that one day i will be able to have this as a characteristic too. The third talk that i adored was of course President Monsons, he is such a great prophet and i loved how he focused on being happy and that to obtain happiness we need to focus on the important, and thus eternal things such as temple marriage, college, and serving missions. I think a lot of times i get caught up in silly frivolous things and forget what is truly important. Sorry didn't mean for this to turn into a self help blog, i just really love general conference and thought i would share what things touched me. And seeing as how i didn't get to hear all of the talks, i would love to hear some of your thoughts on conference as well!

A Wonderful Day!!

2008-10-02T22:19:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day! I am not really sure that anything out of the ordinary happened today, but something was different, it must have been something in the air. Oh yes, and i mean literally!! i love fall and cool weather! I love to be outside, and i love to play. So today we went to Landen's playgroup which was fun, and then we went shopping, ate lunch, and took naps; well at least the boys did, i had tutoring today. So doesn't sound to exciting but the day was filled with laughs and smiles, and not a lot of whining (which always makes for a good day). Then we ate dinner and went for a family walk, which is always nice, i pushed carson in the stroller and landen walked, or ran, according to the game of red light, yellow light, green light. He thinks he is playing, but really i am controlling how far away he is allowed to be while we stroll through the neighborhood, pretty smart:) Then the kids played outside a little while, and it just struck me as really cute and sweet! I love my boys and watching them play and laugh together is the best thing ever!! I guess they decided that fall wasn't coming fast enough and decided to start taking the leaves off the trees themselves! I didn't get the best part on camera because i was laughing and staring for too long before i thought of it, so this is the winding down (if you can believe that!!)

PS don't forget to vote on my poll i am changing the boys blog and I need a cool name for me to record everything about their preschool days! and if you want to be able to view it i need your email address so i can invite you.

2008-09-29T08:25:00.002-04:00

We went to wayne's ten year reunion this weekend and it was a lot of fun, friday nite we went to part of the homecoming football game and then met up with everyone at ruby tuesdays, where we stayed until they literally kicked us out. i met a lot of wayne's friends but we mostly hung out with the boys from his tennis team. of course i already knew a few people there, but i met alot of really nice people too. and some seriously funny peeps!!! the class president bruce was hilarious! and then there was some guy named larry that just about had me rolling on the floor! so we got home some time after midnight and then i probably fell asleep something after 1! then i had to get up at 5:30 for a yard sale that i had planned with a friend! it was crazy i was so tired!! but at least i got rid of a bunch of junk!! Then i went to the golf course where they were having lunch and some games and the kids got to bounce in the big jumpy thing, so that was fun. i met a few more people but wayne went to the duke football game with his friend kyle (who i played a prank on to try to get him to come to the reunion, but it didn't work. but at least i laughed really hard, i text him and pretended to be a girl from high school that had been waiting ten years to see him again. At first he didn't know it was me, but it didn't take him long to figure it out! dang it!) So it was kind of weird going with out wayne to meet his old friends, so i pretty much hung out for the food and then left, i had to go put the kids down for a nap anyways. So i went home and got ready for the actual reunion and then marsha calls and said that everyone was really dressed up, i was like crap!! so i had to change and just wore a black dress that i had and took a gold sash and wrapped it around me. however the pictures that were taken just didn't turn out good so i deleted them. anyways we had a good time and i made some new friends, i really enjoyed talking to the wives of wayne's friends, emily and randi, they were sweet. too bad they don't still live in the mount!! oh well, all in all we had a great time!

Elder Howard II

2008-09-25T08:44:00.005-04:00

So last friday my little brother Abe came home from serving a mission in Vancouver Canada. I am so excited and so proud of him for this accomplishment. It was so fun to see him and see how grown up he is, both in years and wisdom!! He is such a great guy and served an honorable mission, who could ask for anything more, so ladies, read 'em and weap...introducing my little RM!!! Elder Howard the second!!

Okay so i am sure that you all expected to see him still dressed in his suit, but the sad news is that i am notorious for having my batteries die in my camera at crucial times and this one was no exception. So i have no pics of when he first got home, actually this one was taken right before i was about to head out!!! how sad!

So here are a few more pics from the time that i spent in Va, mostly i just hung out with family and played games and ate good food! It is always nice to go on a vacation and visit family!

Carson and Landen playing on the neighbors toy tractor

Beth, Ben, and Abe

Carson and Kailyn (I am not sure if that is how she spells it, so sorry Vanessa if that is wrong). These two were so cute, everytime they hung out they would hug and hold hands!!

Carson and Grandma, Carson is always bringing somebody a book to read to him, or your shoes, it is really cute!!

Ben, Landen, Abe, and Carson getting snacks before we hit the road back to the mount

Back in Business

2008-09-16T20:49:00.002-04:00

okay so it turns out that it was not my battery that was messed up, just that the entire computer was gone, the starter burned out or somthing. so wayne bought me a new computer!!!! i am so excited!! so this is kind of what it tooks like, i couldn't find the actual make a model. i really like having a new computer, my last one was so old that it seriously didn't have all the perks like cd burner, and playing dvds and being able to stick in my sd card from my camera, so i am sure that these are all things that all computers do now so i am just glad to be caught up with the times!! well other than that i don't have anything too exciting to write about, so i will have to up date again later, but i am excited to be back in the blogging community!!!

broken

2008-09-04T17:44:00.001-04:00

so i think the battery in my laptop has died so i will have to update later, i have not forgotten everyone! catch ya later!!!

HELP! new template

2008-08-27T22:22:00.005-04:00

can anyone see anything other than the pink page? I can't seem to get the actual template to fit into my screen. I was wondering if it was just that my computer screen is small or if no one else could see anything else either. there are suppose to be flowers and some pink and green polka dots on both sides. I have no idea how to change the html so that it will show in my screen, if anyone knows how to fix this please let me know. Is there a way of shrinking the template so that it will show on my screen, i really like this one, but what fun is it if you can't see it!!!!

Stephenie Meyer's biggest fan!!!!

2008-08-26T11:47:00.003-04:00

ha ha ha, okay so there was a girl in my high school that always wore the same mariah carey fan club button, one of those big ones, to school every day! And i am so wishing i had one for stephenie meyer!! ha ha, okay just kidding, i am not that obsessed, although wayne would argue other wise. I just finished the host and i loved it!! i have already read all of the twilight books and am now just waiting for the movie, and for all of the other fans out there, the movie is now coming out on nov 21 instead of dec 12, hooray, i don't know how they expect us to wait so long anyways! Okay so i thought that uploading her picture would make this blog kinda funny, but really i think that it just makes it kind of creepy, which of course to me then makes it hilarious!!

so anyways, i loved the host and i can't wait for her to write some more books, because now i have nothing to read! So if there are any suggestions of great books, not just okay books, but fabulous you have to read this kind of books, i would love to know!

READ THIS: Causing a scene!!!

2008-08-22T16:11:00.003-04:00

So wayne knows a guy at the pizza inn, of course, and back when they were having the veterans tournament this past april he donated a lot of coupons for free buffets, which was really nice. wayne has known this guy for a long time now and they are pretty good friends, close enough that if he is there when wayne goes there to eat he usually doesn't charge him. i don't think i have ever officially met him but i have seen him when i eat there with wayne.

So wayne gets a call yesterday from this guy and he tells wayne that he really needs to talk to him. So wayne goes down there and the guy is starting his lunch rush so he pulls wayne aside and is like did you know that youR wife was here a couple of days ago and she tried to use about 10 of those coupons to pay for her and all her friends, but they were expired and when the cashier tried to tell her that they were unable to accept them because they were expired she threw a huge fit and caused a scene right here in front of everyone! Wayne was like what!? he didn't know what to say, and of course told the guy that he must have been mistaken. And the guy got even more upset and told wayne he was not mistaken and that he knew it was me and that that was what happened. So wayne calls me and asked if i had been at the pizza inn lately, which i had not been there for about two months, and the last time i was there was with wayne and the boys!! So wayne calls and tells me what is going on and i am absolutely floored!! number one i would probably be too embaressed to even use a coupon and if they had told me it was expired i know i would have blushed and then immediately started apologizing and given them their money right away and then probably slipped them some extra to not tell anyone that i had even tried!! So after i talked to wayne and assured him it was not me, he went back to tell the guy that he had just spoken to me and that it was definitely not me. That upset the man even more who then told wayne that he was not going to argue with them, he had made up his mind and the conversation was over. So wayne left, not knowing what else to do at the time, but then called the man back and left him a message saying that this was all a big misunderstanding and that they needed to resolve it. So the guy called wayne back and told him that he would be in the store all day and that he could come back and talk with him but that he was absolutely not to bring me with him!!!!

So i have been banned from the pizza inn, and i didn't even do anything!!! how funny is this, so wayne and i tried to figure out who it could have been, and what could be going on. here are some of our theories, let me know what you think, or if you have any of your own theories, i would love to hear them...

1) That i have an evil twin here in Rocky Mount!!

2) That it was wendy, wayne's cousin, because sometimes they come with us to lunch with the girls (which i don't think she would throw a fit either but i don't know of anyone else that could have been mistaken for his wife because his mom and aunt joan are probably out of his age range)

3) That Herb, the guy that owns the TV station that wayne is on, is starting his on version of punked and wayne is their first target!! (i hope so, i would watch that show!!)

4) that the guy is really just mad that wayne comes in there and mooches free buffets off of him all of the time so he needed to come up with a reason to be mad at wayne

TAke a vote or give me your own theory!!!

a chicken little day!

2008-08-13T22:00:00.003-04:00

So i woke up monday morning and i went to open the blinds so we could get some beautiful wholesome sunshine in the house and as i opened them tree branches were staring back at me. I was like ahh the sky is falling, then realized not the whole sky just the tree! note, this is not the first time this tree has broken and fallen on the house, the first time it was about the fourth and this time another third or fourth of it. And all i can say is that praying for our house to be kept safe at night is the only explanation for how it has not done any damage. I thought everyone might be interested to see the big tree on my little house...

As a side note, i was pulling out some of landen's old 18 month size clothes for carson and found this outfit, and i was so excited, this was always one of my favorites so i am so excited that carson is in it, ofcourse he is growing so fast that i don't know for how long but for the time being, i am excited!!!

2008-08-11T09:09:00.006-04:00

NOEL'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!

So this weekend the boys and I drove down to South Carolina for my niece's first birthday! It was a lot of fun, and the party was really cute, i was thinking that my sister-in-law, cindy, and i should go into business throwing parties, would life get anymore fun than that?! Cindy did a beach theme that started off with cute fishy invitations that she made, and then they made cupcakes with blue icing and sprinkles top off with a candy fish...

They also had a cake pictured above with Noel, that my brother, Isaac, made. It was really cool he used blue icing and did a good job of making the water look wavy. Then he added an island and a pirate on a raft, then added the candles to say happy birthday noel. He has always been very artistic! They also served little hamburgers, home fries, and punch which were all very good, but my personal favorite was the cute cups and plates that they had to use...

It was fun playing outside they had a slip-n-slide and a little pool, then isaac bought some water balloons too. Cindy's dad filled up some big water balloons and then when isaac went inside for something i passed them out for when he came back out, of course he figured out what we were doing and he ran passed us so fast that he only got hit by one of the balloons, so cindy took a bucket and threw water on him so he picked her up and jumped in the baby pool where he slipped and they both ended up soaked!! It was pretty funny!!!

I think the punch that they served was spiked!!!

"HMMM...This is good!!"

"um...i think i've had enough"

All and all it was a great party, props to cindy!! Also a shout out of a happy birthday to noel, we love you very much!!

Beach Bums!!

2008-08-04T22:43:00.010-04:00

Family Time at the Beach!!

So it took me forever to put this up because the computer wouldn't upload the pictures, but last week we took a family vacation down at indian beach, nc. Wayne's parents own a condo at summerwinds and so the boys and i rode down with them, monday and then wayne's dad went back on wednesday so wayne could come down until friday. we had a ton of fun, the boys loved the ocean and carson especially enjoyed the sand (or at least the taste of it! he was shoving more in his mouth everytime i turned around!)

Ocean

We played a lot in the ocean, Landen loved to jump the waves! The current was pretty strong and one time it pulled him right out of my hands, that was scary but we didn't go out far so it was easy for my to grab him. Carson liked the waves to, he was sit and let the waves barely splash up against him, so i thought oh lets move him closer to the water he's barely getting wet, and then as soon as i did a wave came and pushed him back up to the shore and then dragged him back out toward the ocean so i had to grab him real quick and decided that was not a good idea!

A Bunch of Crabs!!

We went to the aquarium, one of landen's favorite places, on tuesday and on friday. We saw the sharks, landen's fav, and touch the sting rays! there is really a lot to see, and they had even more things then they did last summer. we try to go as many times as possible while we are there because we have a family membership and so of course wayne wants us to get our money's worth! So at the end of the tour they have this crab so you can take your picture so i made everyone take a turn, but i forgot to get one of wayne when we went back friday.

Other Events!!

We hung out a lot at the condo especially in the afternoon because the boys had to take a nap. We also watched the dukes of "howard"(hazzard) as landen calls it. when wayne came we took the boys to play putt putt and ride the go carts. Marsha and i went shopping with carson and the cart had a little car attached to it so i let carson sit in there a play which only lasting a couple of minutes and the cart of huge and hard to push around so i am not sure that it was worth it!

Videos!!

Comments about invites

2008-07-22T00:31:00.001-04:00

okay so the thing above is to just look at, here is where you can post about which of the invites you like that best, or tell me that you don't like them at all and they are dumb, whatever you want to say. here you go...

Good Times Blog!!

2008-07-15T19:37:00.000-04:00

First things first, Happy Birthday Sofia Lung!! May we have the best quarter-life crisis ever, just to have a great story to tell of course!!

Do you remember the time....
I saw this on a blog that I stumbled across and thought it looked fun.
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. I think it will be pretty fun to see the responses.

Found My Place!!

2008-07-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

Okay so i took a quiz on http://www.findyourspot.com/ and it was fun if nothing else. You take a quiz and then it picks out the best places for you to live, it goes into quite a bit of detail though, i am sure that my places would have been different 5 years ago. I was a little disappointed in some of the places that it picked for me but for the most part i was kind of excited. I did however hope that my number one place would be san antonio, tx, but is wasn't, it was norfolk, va!! I almost died! As fast as i hurried to get out of VA the stupid test put me right back in there, so Andrea come on because looks like i'll be there too!! well norfolk is a different place from anywhere i was in VA so i guess i could give it a try (as if i am going anywhere, i guess it is just fun to dream). I think one of the reasons that this is my top appointed place is because of the school system, and that is important to me. so here are the pics of my new pretend home and then the list of all the rest of the places given.

Norfolk VA
Nashville, TN (I am just not that country!)
Oklahoma city, OK (no plans of becoming a cowgirl. but i love the musical)
Knoxville, TN ? not sure
Little Rock AR ? not sure
Indianapolis, IN (I think i would like this one)
Baltimore, MD (Nice place, but maybe to cozy)
Providence, RI ? not sure
Carlisle, PA ? not sure
Cincinnati, OH maybe
Portland, OR Andrea, i am going to follow you around apparently
Charlotte, NC Amanda wait for me!!!
St. Louis, MO could be fun
Cleveland, OH ? not sure
Seattle, WA (I would love this if i weren't afraid of having poofy hair all year long due to rain)
Toledo, OH ? not sure
Albuquerque, NM ? not sure
Philadelphia, PA probably not
Long Island, NY maybe
Hartford, CT ? not sure
Chesapeake-VA Beach, VA maybe
Washington DC I have always love washington
Lexington, KY ? not sure

So the truth is that i don't know a lot about most of these places, hence the ?not sures. and the other fact of the matter is that i am not really willing to be far away from family not matter how much smack i talk, so if i had to pick my top five they would probably be, and these are not in order, washington dc, norfolk, charlotte, va beach, and seattle (just had to throw that in there). These may not be my dream places, but if it were even a possiblity, they would just be the most probable. Go and take the quiz i would love to see where everyone else would end up, of course then i will only cry because we won't be in the same place and then i will probably also be jealous that you have a cooler place than me, but i am just like that!

Clueless in Rocky Mount, NC

2008-07-10T10:20:00.000-04:00

na·ive or na·ïve
(nī-ēv', nä-) adj.

1. having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information

2. Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment

Synonyms

1. green

2. gullible

3. innocent

4. simple

5. unschooled

okay so i don't have any pictures of me by myself so i am not saying that sofia is any of these things, but i have decided to send this off to webster and have him insert me into the dictionary beside the word naive!!
I am seriously clueless!!! so i had a friend that has an account on tagged, a single friend just to note. and so i thought i would just go ahead and make an account so that i could keep up with her. well then i started getting a whole bunch of emails, and at first it was no big deal because all they said were someone said yes to being your friend, or someone has added you as a friend. and so i was like okay, and then i deleted them because i was only trying to have an easier way of communicating with the friend on there that i knew, not making any new ones. well then i started to get emails from people here in rocky mount, and this time they came with pictures and messages, oh my. well they were from guys and i started to get creeped out. they had messages containing things such as sexy pic, and beautiful. oh my but my absolute favorite was the one that said hy princess. no that is not a typo. really it said hy, H-Y!!!!! wow that is crazy, maybe that is just the new cool way of spelling hi! and so i would think that it was a typo on his end except for the fact that he was foreign, so i just don't know. but i was like oh crap only something like this would happen to me, and the worst part was that i even had a big girl with small clothes email me, and that was gross and scary!!!!! so i don't know how i keep getting myself into predictiments like this but it just seems to be my life!! so needless to say i cancelled my account on tagged and of course told wayne about my scary experience, so i guess the moral of this story is that naive people should not get into things that they don't know anything about because then they get themselves into trouble. of course i think this is mostly just me because i am always slipping up and saying things that could be weird but the fact is that i really am just clueless in rocky mount!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

2008-07-07T23:23:00.000-04:00

So my birthday was today (july 7th) and it was one of my best birthdays ever!!
We spent the day at emerald pointe, waterpark. It was Me, of course, Wayne, Landen, Carson, Ben, Beth, Sofia, and Isabelle! We had a great time! or at least i did. Ben and Beth got lost on the way and so they were a little late, so wayne and i just played with the kids in the kiddie section until they came.

Sofia totally surprised me and showed up at the park after she told me that she was not going to be able to make it. I didn't even see her sneak up on me. Someone behind me was like happy birthday, and i didn't even recognize her voice. Being the dummy that i am, i just started looking around to see who else was having a birthday! (which happy birthday to those that share a birthday with me) She was standing right behind me and i about had a cow!! I was so excited and glad that she could come. Although after spending the day at the waterpark we have sadly decided that we have seriously aged since we first met when we were 18. I only rode a couple of rides but they were fun. I mostly spent my time playing with the kids, but i am super thankful for everyone pitching in and helping with them so that i could ride the rides. but the funniest thing was when i got in the lazy river and i held carson in the float with me, and he kept closing his eyes to keep the sun out of his face and then he ended up falling asleep!! I took him on so many rides, little ones of course, but still. i went down some little slides with him, and i even put him in the intertube with me and went down one of the bigger rides that wayne took landen on. It was funny, everyone was looking at me like "what kinda mother are you putting a baby on this ride", but whatever, i had fun and carson laughed, so he must have liked it too!!

Wayne went to go ride some rides and one of the slides slammed him up against the wall of the slide and he came back injured with either a bruised rib or a fractured one, not sure yet which it is! So we packed it up and headed out, which was okay because it was about time to go anyways. The boys were so worn out from playing all day that they crashed when we started driving back home. Definitely a sign that they had a good time!!

Also you should check out my latest post on hollomankids.blogspot.com i think that it is a really cute one of a kids, it makes me laugh! It is titled the couch potato and his sidekick the couch tater-tot, let me know what you think!

The Bachelorette

2008-07-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

Okay so i am sure everyone is wondering what kind of loser watches this show? ME!! I love it, can't help it! So i only stumbled on to it because landen loves the letter game (aka wheel of fortune) cause otherwise i don't really watch tv, and after that episode i was hooked. now moment of truth i really thought that jeremy was hot and so that is why i watched it. but i have to say after having seen the past couple of shows i am glad that he is gone. he is really hot, but seriously creepy! did anyone else think that he was way too needy!! and i he was missing the most important quality, a sense of humor, did the cat laugh at all...no fun!! sorry buddy good looks will only get you so far! going along with this sense of humor i think that deanna is probably going to pick jesse for that reason, and i am not saying this because I like jesse, because i would totally pick jason, and really for one reason...his nose...oh i mean kid! although he nose is really hard to miss, he is still cute, i am just saying. as if i am one to talk about anyone's nose, i could be kinned to the "real boy" pinocchio himself! anyways, I love jason, i think he is totally sweet and that kid is so cute, but i don't think that she will pick him because he is not as funny as jesse, and jesse is also more competitive in sports and such. now i will admit i do like jesse a lot more than i did when the show first started, his "dude" jargon was "ridiculous". those words can only be said so many times before becoming annoying. well i have definitely talked about this way too much, so good nite!!

Shout out!!

2008-06-25T13:57:00.000-04:00

So this is a shout out to all of my peeps!!! So i know i am a serious dork and am always talking about how i don't have any friends, but i have come to realize that the truth is that what i mean by this is that i don't have all my lifelong friends living here in rocky mount with me. because i really do have a lot of friends, and the best part is that they really are friends that i have had for a long time. pretty much anyone reading this is probably one of those people: you know the kind of people that you can not see or talk to in a long time and then when you do see or talk to them again it is as if you had been been away from each other. They can be across the entire United States or in the same state...you could have not really lived near them since the 7th grade but every time you hang out you end up acting like you did in the 7th grade!! it is so great!! i really have been blessed to have friends that just seem to never change, no matter where they go...of course i say where they go because i never seem to go anywhere!! but i just wanted to let everyone know that i am glad that you are all my friends!! cheesy i know, but i don't want people to be offended when i say silly things like i don't have any friends, cause really i say it just because i think that i am funny!!

Speaking of great friends...i spent last weekend with two wonderful friends amanda and sofia, and of course all of our spouses were there too. but it is funny to me how when girls hang out they are slightly pushed to the side, just slightly, they are still loved, but girls like to talk!! or at least i do, poor wayne!! we went comedy works where they put on an improv show. it was really funny!! amanda use to work there which i could totally see because she is so funny! sofia raised her hand for something and then they asked her name and she yelled out "Rachel!" i was like what, no it isn't! it was pretty funny though because later they asked rachel to come up and i just sat there like a bump on a log and then turned to sofia and was like aren't you going up there? i thought they were talking to her because she had said that rachel was her name...it was for birthdays and i was not even thinking about the fact that mine was just a couple of weeks away. okay well enough jabbering here are the pictures for comedy works, and don't worry we do not promote underage drinking...it's just black cherry soda!! and i don't drink either i don't know what is up with my eyes in that one picture! also a huge shout out for armadillo grill for some great steak tacos and queso!!