Chloe set her timer to get this shot.....we thought we'd get more of the mountains but...

August's eyes are closed dang it!

August's 2nd birthday party at Rancho De Chimayo near Taos

In Jeanie's new expedition...Stella, Chloe and August in the back

Whit, Stella, August and Chloe in Sante Fe....Whit loves to mess up my posed photos....

Waiting for our table...

We had a table in the middle of this restaurant, the decorations were cool and the waiter said they loved how much
fun our table was having!  lol

At the top of a hiking trail overlooking Sante Fe...the sun was so bright the kids said they were "DYING!"

On Palm Sunday all the churches traditionally walk around the downtown square...Chloe got a few photos....

Skiing in Taos (it's about 2 hours from Sante Fe) Stella, Whit and Jackie...I'm not sure where Chloe is...

I was so impressed with Whit...he hadn't been skiing in two years and just put on
skis and went down blues with me (Jackie and Chloe stayed on the bunny slopes)

Good photos on the ski lift

Whit

This is Al's Run, a black slope that when Jackie and the cousins came to ski in Taos back in the early 1980s,
Martin and Benton got stuck on it and had to come down on their rears.  It is very intimidating don't you think?

Someone on Al's run

The view from Al's run down the mountain

Whit, Stella and Chloe.  They all ski without poles

We hiked from our hotel to this park that overlooks Sante Fe.....and we witnessed a marriage 

I think it was good that all the kids got so see two men getting married.  They didn't give it a second thought

 Friday, March 18, 2016

We left Friday about noon to head to Sante Fe with a stop in Amarillo.  Martin left at the crack of dawn with his crew and we rode with Harmon and Jeanie.  We had so many laughs on the trip....many of the quotes came from that car ride.  I kid you not, it was non stop laughing.  We got to Sante Fe in time to see the Farmer's Market and have lunch on Saturday.  Sunday we all attended an outdoor Palm Sunday Service at the Cathedral Basilica at St. Francis of Assisi.  It was a beautiful church and morning.  Monday, Kara and I went to a taco class at the Sante Fe Cooking School and the boys took the kids to ski Sante Fe.  Tuesday, we went to Taos on August's birthday to ski and got some holy dirt from Santuario De Chimayo.  About the historical church from their website: El Santuario de Chimayo is a 19th Century Roman Catholic located in Chimayo, New Mexico. The shrine is considered as a national historic landmark and one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage site. Every year more than 30,000 pilgrims from around the world visit this church, especially on Holy Thursday and good Friday. For more information, log on to their interactive website. 

Then we headed home Wednesday morning.  It was a fun trip!

Some of the quotes from spring break:

"Well we almost made it," Jeanie referring to the fact that we pulled out of the hotel in Amarillo heading for Sante Fe, Martin pulled in as we pulled out so their kids could ride with us.  LOL!

"We've got a milkshake right here for you," Jeanie handing Chloe's 8 hour old Chick-fil-a chocolate milkshake when Harmon said he sure wouldn't mind stopping at the Bulldog on the way back home (this was at hour 12 in a row, it got quiet in the car until memaw offered him up Chloe's old milkshake so we could get on home).  Harmon drank it and said, "this is like chocolate milk, I can't look at this," then Jeanie replied, "put a different lid on it so you don't have to look at it"...lol!

"Let's get on the red buzzer and let everyone else in the hotel know that," Chloe to Jackie after he literally ran out of the bathroom on the Taos ski day, announcing he wasn't wearing long underwear...lol!

"Drink wine much?", "Where's the party girls?", "You need my room number?", the comments Kara and I got walking two blocks back to the La Fonda with our New Mexico wine Gruet...we laughed all the way back....

"Is that the movie Keeli got at the gas station?", Grandad said after Memaw, Chloe and I watched the hilarious and great movie Me, Earl and the dying girl....hahahahahahaha!  We got it at a Red Box somewhere in Texas....

"Here, try this.  We're cleaning out the car," Memaw said offering a 2 day old pastry when Jackie asked if we had any candy.  Grandad ate it right up...hahahahahahhaha!

"Were you in a convertible?", Memaw to Martin when he announced at lunch on the first day that he forgot his hair gel.  His hair actually looked like he had the top down....

"He's got a FORD!" Memaw to Grandad who couldn't figure out how to turn off the air conditioner...lol

"12 count nugget MEAL with an unsweet tea..." Jackie ordering at the Shawnee Chick-fil-a.....

"Look at Dad's walk, his tail's got a flutter," Chloe to me following behind Jackie in Sante Fe, we were referring to him as a Meerkat trying to get us on the right street.

"That's the first time I've ever seen someone fall out of a wheelchair", me in the car when we actually saw a guy push a lady in a chair and it got tripped up in the street and she literally fell on her face but was totally fine....

Stella cracks me up!  Chloe got this photo

Chloe wanted to get some action shots of the kids running through the park

At the church Palm Sunday 

Chloe cracks me up!

August's 6th Birthday, Jonesboro and Santa Fe

I took Chloe and cousins Stella and Katie to see the Wynne High School play, "Little Mermaid" in March. It was a
fabulous play and the place was PACKED.  This was during intermission .....

So cute!  And Chloe's screen saver on her phone....:)

The youth choir at church did a spring recital...it was great

Whit (long blond curls) and my BFF's daughter Julia Shepherd (front row, long brown curls)

Katie Bradshaw, Stella, middle front row, and our pastor's daughter Lane Frances
(Those are flowers from Winnie Bob's yard, I had flowers that Sunday)

August at Sumo for his birthday party.  Kara makes the best cakes ever!
We then when to see Zootopia, it was a great movie!

August is so cute, DANG camera!

SO CUTE

How I got this one is crazy!  Chloe eating cake with chopsticks goes to my
BFF Wendy in Chicago who taught her how to use chopsticks...

In Taos, New Mexico skiing.  Here's August, Stella, Chloe and Whit

We ate at Rancho De Chimayo on our way back from skiing in Taos the last day of the trip.  It was wonderful and
Jeanie and Harmon enjoyed it more especially since it was one of Winnie Bob and JH's favorite spots.

I love his excitement in this photo.....

March 22, 2016

Happy Birthday August!  My nephew is so stinking cute.  We enjoyed the many parties for him this year.  I threw in some extra photos from events recently on this post.  Next birthday up is Chloe in May and Stella in June.

April Fool's Day 2016, Birdeye

Chloe wrote this in ketchup in Martin's office shower....LOL!  

This wasn't an April Fool's joke but she left this for me two Saturday's ago when I left for
work and left her a list of chores (as I always do)....she's got a great sense of humor

Kara did this... she put this up at the four way at Birdeye.  She spent a lot more than I did on her prank....And
she left this up until Tuesday of the next week.  THAT WAS a little EXTREME!  I got one phone call from a lady
on Monday (after it had been up since Friday morning).  The lady was laughing so hard when she said she wanted
a custom toilet from me....

Chloe put vaseline on every light switch and door handle in Martin's office....

We got Stan and Kyle, our two next door neighbors, with ketchup and vaseline....Chloe also wrote a note to Kyle and
put it in his desk that said, "welcome to the neighborhood".  She put vaseline on his coffee pot too....lol

Friday, April 1, 2016

Chloe and I've been planning pranks on Martin, Stan and Kyle for the last several weeks.  When we finally pranked him at his office on Thursday, we laughed so hard!  I plastic wrapped and duct taped his toilet, Chloe wrote in ketchup and we vaselined every handle, switch and the arms of his chairs in the office.  I had also planned to turn the power off but Jackie intervened and wouldn't let us turn the power off to the entire building.  WHATEVER Jackie, that would have been fun! We've got next year's prank ready....and it's better than me trying to give away his dog on the radio, stealing his truck and putting a for sale sign in his yard....get ready East Birdeye...

Easter 2016, Birdeye

Buddy provided snacks and water during the baseball game

I cannot take it that Chloe and I are both in heels and she's nearly as tall as Jackie

Chloe and August set this photo up because it's like one from 3 years ago in the exact same spot on Easter morning.
I''ll have to dig it out and do a comparison...

I had the kids turn and look....Stella then Austin, Trevor, Whit with his back to us and Eli Boone

With the Huff's out of town we had 26 come for this year's Easter lunch.....

I got a photo of Harmon giving the blessing.....it's a tradition that goes back to Jackie's great grandfather Bex Shaver

Somehow I got this shot of Harmon and Jimmie Barham

This table had some laughs...I cannot believe I got 12 around my dining room table
(Jackie, me and Polly sat in the living room with the kids)

Oh the infamous Easter Baseball game...here's August batting...thank GOD for the net that catches the balls!
Julie and Matt brought the net, bases, bats, balls and gloves, thank you!!

My Russian Egg Roulette game was a hit again...we give a dozen eggs, partially raw and partially hard cooked....

Austin Boone

Right after this, August got in Chloe's bathtub to wash his hair....I guess he probably should have just not played the game lol!

Bob Hardin (Kara's dad), Tyler and Mick Raffety

Another view of the prayer

Lots of fun

Eli is a really good baseball player, Stella's pitching

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Chloe had Buddy, the poodle, cart around snacks and water during the game

Sunday, March 27, 2016

We had a great time at church on Easter Sunday and then for our traditional Easter lunch afterwards.  Great food, family time and games made the day so fun.  And the weather held which was nice as it was supposed to rain all day and it never did!  A shout out to Jeanie, my mother-in-law, who always brings the ham and knows that there's a quiet competition between Polly, Kara's mom, and me for the ham bone.  Four years ago, we were cleaning up the kitchen and I see Polly bagging up Jeanie's ham bone to take with her back to Russellville and I literally just stopped and watched her...she didn't know that I love a ham bone for my navy beans I make in the winter.  She realized how sad I was and let me have the bone, thankfully.  So this year Jeanie found out you can buy ham bones at the Honey Ham store and got both Polly and I one.  THANK YOU JEANIE!!