Brooks' 5th Birthday Party!

Now, when I think about a "picture perfect" birthday party, I think this is a good start...







I mean, even the dog looks perfectly positioned LOL! ;)



Brooks is our nephew (Josh's sister Jessica's oldest son) and he had a pretty sweet birthday party with his own snow kone maker!!! ;)





All the adults had to have a try at making snow-kones!!






















I'm not sure that the kids were too confident in the adult's snow-kone making skills...





LOL!!!!







But there were lots of other treats to be had. Brooks (Big Brooks) made hotdogs, and there were cupcakes for everyone!












Here's Brooks blowing out his birthday candle!











Kids vs. Cupcakes.....cupcakes lost....




















Everyone had a blast in the bouncy house...





but some preferred to watch from the outside...












The party was a ton of fun for the kids, the adults, and even the dog too ;)





























I'm wondering how Jess and Brooks are going to top this next year ;)

A Long-Time Gone

Helloooooooooooooo From Ooooooooklahoma friends and family!!! It's been a long time since we have written in our journal, shame on me, but we are glad to be back! Since I have written, we have moved to Oklahoma, and Josh is playing with the Double A team here--the Drillers. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity and that health has been on our side this year!


Oklahoma is a state I have never really visited, much less lived in. Here is where we are on the map...






Here are a few things I have learned about Tulsa, OK in the past few weeks:
1. The people are really nice
2. It is very flat
3. It is Windy. Very, very windy.
4. It is Humid
5. There aren't as many cows as I would've thought
6. There are some GREAT churches
7. It is home to a beautiful baseball stadium that we get to be in {almost} every night.
8. There is the greatest Mexican restaurant in walking distance to the stadium. The wives eat there {almost} every night. ;)

Here is proof of #7:








and here is my second home...(#8 on the list)





I'm so thankful for the group of wives/girlfriends this year....





and when I say GROUP, here is what I mean...


(thanks Katie Colton for the 2 group pics)

So fun!

I'm really excited to get to visit most of the stadiums and cities in the "Texas League" this year. You will definitely be hearing about all of them.

Closing notes: (you are going to hate me for this one....)

The song,

"OOOOOOklahoma!
Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain
Where the waving wheat
Can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain..."

is the song that they sing every 7th inning stretch and is forever etched in my mind....and now etched in yours ;) Ahhhhhhh!!!

Josh Pitching Videos 3/2011

Before and Happily Ever After

Let me start by saying that my husband took my prior idea of a DIY (Do-it-yourself) project to a WHOLE new level.

Josh is a pretty handy guy, and there isn't much in life that he can't do, but when he told me he was going to renovate one of our rental properties all on his own, I was trying my best not to act skeptical. Now, the house definitely needed some updating, even for renters, so when he said he was going to do a few things "here and there" I thought it was a great idea! We have watched our share of the DIY network and HGTV renovation shows, and I've done a few DIY projects myself, so how hard could it be, right? .......After a few days into the renovation and seeing this:



.....I was really a little worried. A FEW THINGS HERE AND THERE?!?!?! Was this even a bathroom anymore?!? You don't even want to know the look on my face when I saw this. However, I know my husband, and once he sets his mind to something he is going to do it, and do it well, so I put my game face on and wandered aimlessly marched into Home Depot.

The amount of trips to Home Depot are enumerable. I can confidently say that after this experience I could become an employee of Home Depot. I know the EXACT layout of the store, isle by isle, product by product. I know there is a huge difference between sanded and non sanded grout, I know exactly what consistency is needed to achieve the perfect mortar, I know all of the materials needed to lay a new sub-floor, and I know the exact size of way too many plumbing parts needed to repair an old house.

Okay, so now onto the fun part. Here is what the house looked like when Josh purchased it as a rental property almost 6 years ago.

This was the kitchen...








This was the living room, notice the carpet...



Here was the bathroom. I love pink, don't get me wrong....but I'm not sure it's so great for tile all over a bathroom....







As you can see the house was in great shape, but very a little outdated.


Here are a few photos of the demolition...


The kitchen:





The Living Room:



The Bathroom:








**In case you are wondering, it is REALLY fun to whack a sledge hammer as hard as you can into a wall. Very fulfilling.**


Like I said before, Josh is a pretty handy guy, but he has never even laid one piece of tile, much less put in sub flooring or drywall, but it was time to start to putting the house back together again and Josh was doing a great job! Here are a few of the "in between" pictures.






After a couple months of hard work, and lots of perserverence... the house was complete for the new renters. Get this-the renters are actually the first renters who ever lived in the house 6 years ago! The husband works for a church who was able to move him back to Little Rock this past month, and the timing for them to move back into this house couldn't have been more perfect. The Lord works in mysterious ways!!! We are SO thankful to have such great renters back in that house!


Okay, enough talking lets get to the AFTER pictures!

Here is the Kitchen with painted cabinets, and new tile floors.





Kitchen Before/After







And here is the Living Room: No more carpet, and refinished hardwood floors and fresh paint....



Before/After





And finally, the bathroom...with new EVERYTHING.......




Josh did this by himself!!! So proud of him...





Bathroom Before/After









Didn't he do a GREAT job? The renters are going to be so happy. I think Josh just made his honey-do list a LOT longer now that I know what he is capable of doing ;) I will say that if I don't have to paint one more wall or one more cabinet EVER again, I would be okay with that.

We owe many "Thank You's" to Josh's cousin Ed. He let Josh borrow all of his tools (and it was a lot of them!!!) He also was there any time day or night to answer questions, and helped with some of the difficult welding/plumbing!! When Ed would stop by, Josh would get a second wind and fresh outlook because Ed helped him put each task into perspective. Ed is an expert at this sort of thing! THANK YOU ED!

Also, thanks to Josh's mom, dad and brother, Jake. They were there many times to help with some of the labor intensive tasks. Josh's mom always made sure we were fed, and rescued me with things that "HAD" to be done, to get me out of that house ;)

So there you have it. This DIY project didnt make it on the show "DIY Disasters" after all...but there were definitely some "disaster moments." On the last day, Josh was physically drained, and I was mentally drained, but all in all it was a GREAT accomplishment, and I'm really proud that we can say we tackled this project.

Though, if I were you, I would not try this at home. :)

The Only Place It's Acceptable to Walk Around With a Jumbo Turkey Leg...

Yep, you guessed it... THE FAIR.

The Little Rock Fair was full of the usual: funnel cakes, carneys, rides, and fun. However, as I get older, the rides are not what they used to be. They are still scary and large, don't get me wrong. It's just now all I can do is think about not getting sick on the person in front of me during the entire ride, which makes the carney games all the more enticing!!




Jake (Josh's brother) and his girlfriend Courtney rode a ride that I was happy to be taking pictures of and not riding myself, but they had fun ;)




Meanwhile, Josh and I tried our luck at the "Ring around the coke bottle" game.





This is what lured me in to playing this IMPOSSIBLE game...




and these





But, with no luck at ringing the coke bottles, we moved onto the next game...



DROWN THE CLOWN!!!




The clown was being so mean to people that I MADE Josh and Jake play the game. I figured if two pro baseball players can't dunk the clown, who could?!








I think they were more nervous to "Drown the Clown" then they are pitching a baseball game! Luckily though THEY BOTH DUNKED HIM!! It was great ;) BUT, they didn't win a prize, so of course we had to try another game ;)




This one was called "Fool the Guesser"
The Carney had to guess Josh's weight within 2 lbs high or low. He guessed 198 lbs.
Josh stepped on the scale and....




He weighed 208!!!! The Carney was 10 lbs off so we won an alien!!!!!



It kind of looked like Josh...




Okay, so the plastic Alien was no stuffed Tiger, but our nephew Brooks LOVED it, and that's all that matters ;)




The fair was such a fun day spent with family, and we were all actually sad it came to an end!

Baby Will was especially sad...




So, Josh gave him some ice to chew on and once again, all was right in the world.





**Note: My camera went kaput during our travels in the Giant forest due to the Bug Incident. Josh's camera is taking fuzzy photos, so we are looking forward to getting a new camera soon! I'm looking forward to sharing higher quality photos with you very soon! xoxo