Baci Ceremony

Saturday, Nathan and I got the opportunity to run down to Fort Smith and shoot the reception for a traditional Laos Baci Ceremony.  If you have never heard of one of these ceremonies, it is a way that the Laotian community welcomes a member back after recovering from an illness, or overcoming some sort of obstacle.  Our great friend, Christina, invited us down to celebrate in her mother's recovery from Cancer.  What a sweet and precious family they have!  The people are all so very giving and welcoming and I think everyone had a great time!  At the end, all the ladies did this really cool traditional dance all together in sync!  Take a look.  Thanks so much for welcoming us to share in this special occasion!  Here is your picture preview.  To view the entire gallery click here. (should be up by Wednesday!)

Help us find Gizzy!

Well, it's been a busy week!  I finally got my raised beds built and was very happy with the way they turned out.  Thanks to my friend Jessica who suggested I go to ReStore, I found a whole bundle of 10' long 2x6's for only $25!!  I know you should probably use cedar for something like this so it won't rot, but on a budget, this will do!  And for the cost, I can rebuild another one in a few years!  I'm all ready for a load of compost from the city, and then my strawberries and blueberries can be planted!  

So here is the bad news. . . it was such a warm day last Saturday while I was building my raised beds, I decided to let the cats out in the backyard.  It's fenced in, but in the middle of running the saw, I didn't see Gizmo jump over the fence!!  We haven't seen him since!  :-(  We finally put out a live trap with sardines in it, but still no Gizzy.  I'm starting to get worried because he is de-clawed and is an indoor cat. . If anyone has seen him around the Mt. Comfort/Crofton Manor Subdivision area please let me know!!  fotomichelle@cox.net

Here are some photos of the new beds, and some photos of Gizzy so you can identify him.  He didn't have his collar on. :-(

the lumber wasn't in perfect shape, but not bad for flower beds!

sam checking it out

Gizzy just before he jumped over the fence

Dynamo vs. Freedom!

This Saturday was the first Dynamo girls soccer game of the season!  Yay!!  It couldn't have been a more perfect day.  Sunny weather, warm, and lots of happy kids!  The teams seemed like they knew a little more about what they were supposed to be doing compared with the fall season. ;-)  I guess they have gotten older on us!  Kaitlyn is just growing way too fast for me, and I'm sure all you other parents feel the same way about your little ones!  I think everyone had a great time and there were lots of smiles, celebration dances, and lots of sticking out of tongues!!  So adorable!  Here is your picture preview, and the rest of the pictures should be uploaded here by Monday!  Check back for the entire gallery!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

It seems like there are so many birthdays going around right now!  Nathan celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday!!  Wow.  We are getting old.  Almost in our dirty thirties as Nathan always says.  ;-)  But hey, mine isn't til August so I'm still young!!  ha ha  Well, we started out the week with a birthday party Monday night at Nathan's parents house to celebrate his birthday, and his brother-in-law's birthday.  Silly me. . . I forgot my camera.  Yesterday, my family wanted to do a fish fry for him so we fried up some South Arkansas catfish (thanks to my Uncle Gary for supplying it!) and had a blast! 

Mom made the best baked beans you have ever tasted.  Dad was in charge of cooking up the fish.  He has a double burner homemade fish cooker that he welded up.  Also a homemade pot and basket used to fry it.  Did I tell you that my dad comes from a family of welders?  Well he did.  And down in DeWitt where he is from, fish fry's are just what you do!  So they came up with a design for a fish cooker, and fish pots huge enough to feed large families!  If you ever need fish, just call dad.  ;-)  Thanks for cooking it dad!

I think everyone had a good time, and when we were all done, we were as full as ticks!  Not only did we finish off with birthday cake, we also finished up an ice cream cake that Nathan's sister sent home with us from Monday's party!  Two cakes!  And let me tell you. . . her ice cream cakes are amazing!!  Waaaay better than anything you can buy.  Sorry, no pictures of that because it was eaten quickly!  Hope everyone has a great day and gets out to enjoy the sunshine this afternoon!  Supposed to be a warm sunny day!

 

  

 

    

Ayden turned 2!

This weekend I loaded up in Jennifer & Jimmy's new truck (congratulations by the way!) and headed to the "Jump Zone" in Bentonville for a birthday party.  Wow!  What a great idea!  If you have never been there, it's a large building with huge blow up slides and jumping toys!  I always said kids need a place where they can just go crazy and jump and fall all over the place and not get hurt.  This was perfect!  And I think all the dads and grandpa's were enjoying the slides too!

Little Ayden seemed to have a blast too!  He is the cutest little boy you've ever seen with his chubby cheeks and curly brown hair.  He had a "Gabba Gabba" party and if you have kids you know who this is.  If your like me, and didn't know, it's the big red thing that looks like gumby on that car commercial where the dolls come to life and drive that car everywhere!  ha ha! ;-)  My favorite part is when the sock monkey gets a tattoo that says mom and the guy is sewing it on his arm. Anyways, check out the photos I got!  For the entire album click here.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Soccer is back!!

Dynamo Girls soccer is back finally!!  Last year was a great season, and my niece Kaitlyn had an absolute blast playing!  This Saturday will be their first practice, and a full schedule of Thursday nights and Saturdays at noon will follow.  I should be there to photograph all the games this year, and if you are a parent and want individual pictures feel free to contact me or just catch me at the game!  I'll be the one with the big camera. ;-)  

What I normally do is show a preview within one day of the game, then within 4 days, all of the images will be up on the site for you to view and share with your friends and family.  Here are some images from last year.  All of the girls were just adorable!  

Congratulations to Nathan!

Just wanted to say Congratulations to Nathan!!  He has been promoted at work and we are all very proud of him!  Because of his new promotion we decided to throw him a surprise party at Powerhouse last night.  Nathan is very hard to keep secrets from so this one was hard!! All week I was arranging and he kept asking, what did your sister want when she called, or what did you do with your mom the other day??  Man!  So nosy!  ;-)  

The plan was to tell him I was taking him out to eat at a special place for his promotion and when we get there, the whole family is there with his special cake and gifts as a surprise. I made him close his eyes the whole way so he wouldn't know where we were going, and so he wouldn't see everyones car in the parking lot.  He kept saying I know where we are by where you are turning, so I turned down a few side streets and took the long way!  After we got there, I lead him to the entrance, still with his eyes closed.  I guess I'm a bad leader because he almost tripped and fell in the ditch, then I forgot to say there were stairs. he he he, oops.  I had dad in the entrance with his camera to catch his surprised face!  All in all I think he really was surprised and we all had a great time.  We are very proud of your hard work and dedication Nathan, and love you very much!  Congrats!