Hello...hello...is this thing on?

Surprise! We are still alive! You wouldn't know it by reading this blog though! Well, my parents did come to town (see last post) and although we had a great visit, the meal was sub-par and no pictures were taken. Growing up we always had corned beef for St. Patrick's Day, and even though I was a horribly picky eater, I loved that spicy stuff. Since Joseph and I have been married, I have made the traditional (to me) corned beef, mustard sauce, boiled potatoes, corn, strawberry salad meal. The past couple of years it has turned out great. This year, when we had visitors, not so much. The meat was awful...my parents were gracious guests and pretended like it was edible.

Since then not much has happened that is blog-worthy. Then again, some of my favorite blogs tend to just chronicle real life, not the big events, just the stuff we all experience. So I am REALLY going to try to be better with this blogging thing....at least once a week is my goal. Anything above that is gravy...so don't get your hopes up too high!

Last week my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces came for a visit. They hadn't been to Conway before, so we had a bunch of fun showing off our home and town. The first night in town we had a pool party over at the Kravitzes (trying to match-make Spencer and Sophie...who cares if they are only 4!)



Don't they look like a match made in heaven!?! I think the only problem is Spencer was more interested in Kaylea! I guess he has a thing for older women.



Kaylea was getting her hair wet and Spencer wanted to be doing whatever she was! TOO cute.

The kids all swam, (swim, swam, swum, is that right?) the grownups ate and chatted, and a good time was had by all.

The next day was a busy one. Spencer invited the girls to be his guests for gymnastics class, so we went to watch them jump, bounce, roll, and mug for the camera...



After that, we said goodbye to our Kravitz friends and we headed to Little Rock. It's fun to see your town through the eyes of a tourist. We did things in Little Rock we've never done before, even though we go there every day for work. We rode the downtown trolley, the girls played at the splash pad (FREE FUN!!!), and visited the Heifer Project's interactive village. The day ended with dinner at Chick-Fil-A and movies at home.

The next day we all loaded up and started the trek across Arkansas to the bootheel of Missouri to attend the annual Sweetcorn Festival and Tour De Corn bike ride in East Prairie, Missouri. The car ride was fun - the girls took turns riding in our car. Kaylea primarily read a book and sang Carrie Underwood songs she listened to on her headset. Sophie entertained us with "Grizzly Bear". Excuse the bumps, I filmed this while Joseph drove on the highway.



We arrived in good time at Grandmon's where I got Kaylea to pose for some pictures by the flowers in the front yard....America's Next Top Model watch out! That girl LOVES the camera, and it LOVES her too!




Ethan, Kaylea, and Uncle Mike were the only ones dumb enough brave enough to do the ride in 1839283749% humidity with a heat index of 2390. (Actually, I think it was about 105-ish.) My point is that it was HOT and MUGGY. That didn't discourage over 740 riders from getting out and riding through the corn fields in southeast Missouri. Joseph and I were the official family photographers and were thankful for air-conditioning in the car! Here are the cyclists at about mile 8.



Ethan sang and spoke at the Saturday Night Live service at the local Methodist Church that evening. Kaylea joined him on the last song. I don't know what I was thinking...it was the only time all weekend I didn't have the camera on me. They sounded great and it was really nice to hear Ethan's original songs performed live. He has found his niche in the ministry and it shows.

Later that evening we all met at Uncle Mike's and Aunt Patty's house for a big dinner and family pictures. Our family had decided to attempt the impossible (get 8 people smiling and looking in the same general direction) while wearing coordinated clothing. It took about 200 frames, but we got one shot that is a definite keeper:



Sunday morning Joseph and I left the family and headed to Hughes for Bailee's 9th birthday party. The party was out at the pool and it looked so pretty. Juju had a ton of potted flowers that were in full bloom. Anyway, I can't believe she is 9?!? She's more like 9 going on 19. I didn't get many pictures, but here is a good one of sweet Miss Bailee...



We relaxed in Hughes for a day before heading back home and back to work.

So there you go, a REALLY long post, full of pictures and video...hope that makes up for a 4 month lapse in posting!