Woo Pig Sooie!

Kendall is on hour three of her nap, resting up before the big NYE party tonight! :) I'm getting a lot of blogging completed! Less to do when we get home! :)

Evan and I love going to games together. In fact, it's probably one of my favorite dates with him. We spent a lot of time when we were dating and in our first two years of marriage cheering on the Hogs. What a treat to hang out at Bud Walton last night, watching the HOGS beat #4 ranked Oklahoma! We had so much fun and our feet were sore from standing up all night long! I had cramps in my toes from being on my tippies!


Evan hates cheesy pictures. He gets really embarrassed when I ask total strangers to take our picture. I told him that someday he would treasure the pictures of us with the stadium/arena in the background-you know when we are like that 70 year old couple in front of us still climbing stairs to go support the team! (I love seeing senior citizen couples at games! One of my favorite things!) :)


I love the Arkansas flag cheer. It's my favorite. You always know what's coming, but the crowd cheers everytime. The William Tell Overture is my other favorite. I like to watch the student section.

When we got married, the rehearsal dinner was Razorback themed. Even Pork Chop, Sooie, and this guy were present! It was a huge surprise to Evan and so much fun!

Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're an

ARKANSAS RAZORBACK FAN!

GO HOGS!!!!!

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a few days following...

After spending the night at Laura and Jesse's house, we loaded up and headed to Stuttgart to spend a little more time with Mammaw and Pappaw. Before going out to the farm, we made a stop by the Pond's house to see Mr. Kevin, Nana Ann, Auntie A, and Lauren. We had a yummy fajita lunch with them and had fun visiting and catching up on life. I love this family so much!

I'm also really glad we got to spend a little more time with Mammaw and Pappaw on Christmas Eve. My daddy and his sister, Marva, were out there, too, and we had fun playing dominoes with them. Later that afternoon, my Aunt Marva and I took my Mammaw to Belks, which was fun to get out and about with her.

Christmas morning we headed to Fayetteville, which was the last stop on the Christmas Express. Evan's sister, Meredith and her family were here for a few more days with us, so watching all the kids together was a lot of fun. Uncle Larry and Aunt Loretta came out to visit on Saturday, and we always have so much fun spending time with them. Larry and Loretta LOVE Evan and Meredith (and all the little ones) and are just so sweet to all of us. They also have the best stories and the most contagious laughter.

We always love coming to Fayetteville and have enjoyed getting to be "home" for a while. Beware...the pictures are still coming! We've had so much fun visiting our friends and family, going on a couple of dates, and just being out of our normal, everyday routine. Kendall has been the best little thing, too...I'm not sure she'll know what to do when we get back home and her only attention is Mommy and Daddy! I've told her a million times since we've been here that she just doesn't even know how loved she is by so many...which is exactly how Evan and I feel when we come home--very loved and very blessed!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas. Happy 2009!

Christmas Eve's Eve

I accidentally loaded these pictures in the opposite order...sorry.

Aunt Judy and I decided that we just didn't get to see each other long enough on Sunday, so Evan and I drove over to Little Rock on Tuesday morning. We left Kendall with Faith and her friend Lindsey for a bit so he and I could go eat lunch with Jill. Then we just hung out at Aunt Judy's house all afternoon, Jill included. We literally sat on the couch all afternoon, talked and played with Kendall. I love my Aunt Judy and am so thankful for the relationship I have with her, especially since my mom is not here anymore. I was also really glad to hang out with Jill for an afternoon. I also got to see Jill's wedding pictures for the first time since the proofs on the internet. It's the coolest storybook thing starting with their engagement pictures.

Later that evening, Evan and I crashed some of my cousin's Christmas dinner. :) Really, I don't think they minded! My cousins Laura and Lance were getting together to exchange gifts between their families and their mom, so we went over to Laura's house to eat and watch them open gifts. They ordered chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel with all the yummy sides and I contributed by going to the gas station and picking up some M&M's, Reeces, and Sour Patch Kids for dessert. :) (Except Laura and I didn't share the SPK's.) We then spent the night with Laura and Jesse, staying up too late talking (girls) and playing video games (boys).


This is Tatumn, Laura and Jesse's little girl. She's adorable. Don't you love the upside down sunglasses picture???

We were trying to get a picture of Tatumn, Gunner, and Gwen in their Christmas PJs, and I thought this one was hilarious! All the kids are of course, doing their own thing. AND, you couldn't get Gwen off her new tricycle!

Laura made these super cute monogrammed shirts/onesies for the girls. I've been really impressed with her craftiness lately! :)

We were trying to get the girls together for a picture and Tatumn was being Miss Bossy Britches. It was hysterical. She was dragging them into the living room and trying to get them all lined up. So funny! Whose side of the family does she get THAT from?!?!?! Surely not the Henderson/Simpson side!!!

Kendall had a lot of fun playing at Aunt Judy's house on Tuesday. Aunt Judy, Faith, and Jilly just loved all over her. She did a lot of going back and forth from the living room to the kitchen and (as seen in the above pictures) randomly calling the Hogs.

What a fun day with my family! Wish we could do it more often!!!

Christmas-Round 1

Yesterday while Kendall was napping, I downloaded 136 pictures off our camera to the computer. With that many pictures already, I thought I'd better get a head-start on our Christmas posts, so I put together this little slide show with our pictures from Christmas at my dad's house.

The Sunday before Christmas, we (sister and family, Aunt Judy and family, Mimi, Gran, Evan, Kendall and I) all went to church with my dad to hear their Christmas cantata. Mammaw and Pappaw (dad's parents) then met us for lunch at my dad's house. We had a yummy Petit Jean ham (can't beat those!) and lots of fixings. I told someone the other day that I think the last time we were all together like that was the Easter when Evan and I were dating, and that was five years ago! In a season where things are changing and often seem so un-normal, it was great to be with ALL my family.

Kendall racked up on gifts with a new baby, books, clothes, money, gift cards, and even her first tricycle. Of course, she seemed to have more fun with the packaging and paper than the actual stuff!

I'm so thankful to have such a sweet family that enjoys being together and having fun!

Dance Party 2008

FYI...I'm playing a little catch up here. We are leaving for AR on Friday for two weeks and I wanted to put some of these videos and pictures on here now, because I'm sure once we get back I'll have more pictures than I'll know what to do with!!! Anyway, we are excited about our trip home, a little apprehensive being the first Christmas without my mom, but looking forward to seeing EVERYONE!! I also want to throw out that it's inevitable that before any kind of school vacation, I always stay up WAY later than I should and regret it the next morning. I've stayed up past my bedtime every night this week. Why do I do that to myself?!?!?!

Back to the dance party...I can't even believe that I'm about to put these on here. The videos don't capture the true "fun-ness" of the whole thing because Evan got to the camera before I could (have you seen his moves???) and the other reason is because I look like a fool. But, whatever. I think that's what happens when you become the parent, you get subjected to all kinds of things to make a memory. But the videos make me smile, just because we were having so much fun.

Kendall loves music. She bops her head and claps to the beat all the time. So precious. She loves our evening dance parties! This one was on Monday, so we had Christian, too. He got in on a little of the action, although I don't know if you can see him on the videos very much!

LOVE HER!!!

One of the coolest (and scariest) things about being a parent is watching this little person develop right before your eyes. It's so cool to see Kendall's little mind develop, but so scary because as her parents, Evan and I have so much to contribute to that process. We can pretty much make or break her! How frightening! Anyway, I was just telling my cousin Laura on the phone yesterday how it seems like Kendall says a new word or does something new daily...not just out of accident, but because of learning. It's just unbelievable to me how quickly she changes and grows.


Kendall is a delight. I mean, sure, Kendall has her moments, but really, she is a very happy and good natured child. I often wonder why God chose to bless us with such a child, when we are so undeserving. Even on her worst days, she brings us such joy. I pray often that her personality will stay this way throughout her growing up.
Kendall is a girly-girl. She loves shoes of all kinds and anything that has a handle becomes a purse. Even the rings for her ring-stacker toy become bracelets. I love it! (Now, explain to me why she won't leave a bow in her hair?!?!?) :) Yesterday, my school keys (that are on a pretty, beaded lanyard) were on the table and Kendall immediately picked them up and put them around her neck! How does she know this already? We certainly didn't teach her!!!

She is constantly learning new words. Currently we hear "bath," "yucky," (at dirty diapers and trash), "please," "uh-oh," "bye, bye," (with the backwards wave...anytime we get on the phone, put coats on, or get out keys), "num, num" for food, "mil" for milk, and something that sounds like thank-you. Kendall is a bundle of energy, very curious, but rarely destructive. She loves to climb, and we are working on making sure she sits on the furniture rather than stand. :) And she knows. She just likes to test the waters! Last week, she figured out that her crib was on rollers and started pushing it in her room. We nixed that one fast!

I'm telling you...if they are all like she is, we will take a houseful! The hard days and rough moments don't compare to the joy that fills our soul from being her parents!

Jack-in-the-Box

When Evan's parents were here, his mom found this jack-in-the-box for like $1.50 while we were out one day. At first, Kendall was scared to death of it, and cried. Now, we play with it and this is what we get...every time. She watches it all the way to the "scary" part, then runs away. We think it's funny.

Let the Parties Begin!

This weekend was the weekend of parties! Saturday morning was the preschool Christmas party. Beth did a wonderful job putting it all together--complete with games, blow-ups, face painting, Happy Birthday Jesus cake, and even gifts for everyone! So much fun! Kendall probably would have had a great time, except that she had a traumatizing experience with mommy as we were trying to climb up the big, bouncy slide. Don't know if any of you have ever tried climbing blow-up stairs with a baby in tow before, but it's not the easiest thing to do. At any rate, we fell down, and Kendall was not her normal, happy self for the rest of the party, as you will be able to see from most of the pictures!

I wish I had a better picture of Kendall in her ADORABLE Christmas outfit! The shirt and tutu were birthday presents from Aunt Meredith and crew, and I ordered the babylegs off Etsy. Kendall was oh-so-cute, even if she wasn't the happiest of campers. I'm quite certain, however, this won't be the last time for the tutu this month, so maybe I can get some better pictures later!

We attempted to paint Kendall's face. Every time Miss Rose put the brush to her face, Kendall thought it was something to eat. So we tried to dab on some snowflakes. This is what we got...you can tell Kendall was quite thrilled...

Katherine and Maggie are Kendall's "big girl" friends. She LOVES LOVES LOVES them! When Kendall sees either of them, she gets so excited. Kendall actually has several "big girl" friends that love to play with her at church. I love it because I know in a few years, I won't ever hurt for good baby-sitters! :)

After the exciting preschool party, we came home and attempted to rest up for our ABF party later in the afternoon. Kendall, of course, slept all of about an hour. (She has been quite the bear the last couple of days--complete with not sleeping well at night, which is completely out of character for her--so I can only think her teeth are hurting.)

We had such a fun time hanging out with everyone! The food was all wonderful and Dr. Betts, of course, had fun games for us to play. I think a great time was had by all!

Baby Eva was decked out in an outfit that was right up my alley! Not the greatest picture below, but her little onesie had a Christmas tree made from green chenille, complete with some red jewels! Oh, so precious! (The outfit AND the baby!) :)

Evan being silly...(and yes, that would be the Florida-Alabama game on in the background...)

Not only do we play competitive games, but we also have a table decorating contest between our care groups. Most tables have some sort of Christmas theme, like these:

Well, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas and the SEC Championship game on Saturday, our table's theme was "A Tailgater's Christmas" with all our respective teams represented. When Evan first told me of the idea, I was like, "no way," but it actually turned out pretty cute! While the gingerbread table beat us out, everyone thought ours was pretty creative!

While I don't have pictures, we rounded out the weekend with a SS party for my first graders. All I can say is thank the Lord for a great teaching team! We planned for a story, a craft, and food, but had no idea that the craft would take as long as it did and be such an ordeal! Kendall was keeping with her theme of crankiness today, and I was summoned to get her from the nursery. (Which hasn't happened in MONTHS!) All I know is that by the time I left church today, I was ready for my nap!

We skipped out on the children's choir performance this evening (although I'm sure it was wonderful!) and have enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening at home, complete with Evan making tacos for dinner and baking homemade chocolate chip cookies! It's been a fun-filled weekend, but I must say that I'm not sad to see it end!

Feeling Old/Paying it Forward

So, I've been feeling really old lately. I know, I know...I'm still a year and a half away from 30, but I've just been feeling really old. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that a girl that I started babysitting when she was a few weeks old is now a SOPHOMORE in high school and found me on Facebook the other day. Or that another girl I started babysitting when she was in SECOND GRADE just graduated COLLEGE with an accounting degree and is getting married in June. Or that my "sister" from my adopted college family (who was in junior high at the time) graduates college this month and is headed for law school. It just isn't right. I think I see new gray hair every morning when I look in the mirror!!! AAAGGHHHH!!!

Moving along...

When I was in college, I got a care package every semester from my mom. (Well, except for one year, because she missed the deadline and I was devastated!) :) Anyway, I loved it. She always sent the sweetest cards with handwritten notes about how much I was loved, etc, etc, and the goodies were always the best. (I think she actually ordered the package from the Chi-O alums, so it wasn't "her" stuff, it was just good stuff.) Anyway, I looked forward to my package at the end of every semester.

This year, I decided to "pay it forward" to a couple of my special people in their first year of college. I need to add a couple of things to one of the packages, but here is the stash...

I'm realizing more and more how special my mom was and how much she really served other people, even when she was so sick. I could sit around and let it make me sad and miss her because of it more than I already do, but I just refuse, even as it goes against everything inside me. I just have to use her life as an example for my own! I'm so excited about sending these packages, just because I know it's just my mom's legacy living through me. Hopefully, I can make it a tradition as long as these two are in school, and possibly add others as time passes! Hannah and Hunter...it's not much, but I hope you enjoy!