Camp Fire Father/Daughter Banquet

Thursday night was the annual Father/Daughter Banquet for Camp Fire. The leaders and in charge of decorating the table. We really waited to the LAST minute. The main leader (I am only the assistant leader) asked the girls how they wanted to decorate the table...and needless to say...it was VERY interesting to hear what they come up with....stars, watermelons, Hannah Montana & High School Musical (of course), frogs, butterflies, clouds, flowers, hearts and so much more. So the leader decided to go with the butterflies and flowers. As you can see, it turned out kinda plain, but it all worked out, so that was fine. The daughters are suppose to bring a meal for her and her father to eat. Heath always let Kelsey pick since it is her special night. This year, she chose Taco Casa. As you can see we hot rolled her hair. It turned out so cute. She does not like to do it that often....(she thinks the rollers are too hot on her head. She was excited because we had it cut that day and they really "thinned" it out so it is not near as thick as it was. If we would have known that it would would have made that much of a difference, we would have thinned it out a LONG time ago. I am just so glad that she and her Daddy went to the Banquet and had a good time. I still remember going with my Dad to my Blue Bird Father/Daughter Banquet when I was her age. Hopefully, she will remember this for a long time also......

Getting excited.....

I am getting so excited.....so excited that we are closer to spring & summer. With that said...that means swimming is around the corner!! Last year we found rips in our pool liner. It really needed to be replaced, but when I called the pool company they said by the time that got it ordered and scheduled a date to get it put in, that it would be the end of the summer (since they are soooo booked up & stay so busy). Our preacher, Tommy and his dad were actually so sweet to come over and patch it up for us. They have had a liner pool for years and years. It was so wonderful because that made it where we could still use it. The rips were on the top of the liner above the water.....THANK GOD. Normally this is caused from years of our wonderful HOT Texas sun...!! We decided that we would not mess with it and let it sit thru the winter (and not run the pump which is expensive on our electric bill or clean the leaves out of it as you can tell by the beautiful green swamp looking water) and get a new liner after the first of the year. Then we would be one of the first ones on the schedule for the spring.....Well....that time is here...YEAAAAA!! We picked out which liner we want (you will see pictures of some people's pool that live here in Vernon that I went and looked at)and decided to go ahead and order it. The pool company actually just left a few minutes ago from getting the "exact" measurements to order it. They said it should take about 1-2 weeks to get in, then they will schedule a time to come put it in..........so we will be up & ready to swim as soon as the weather gets nice. One of the reasons we chose a darker color of liner is because we will be able to swim earlier in the spring and later in the fall because the dark color traps the heat! All I know is that what it cost to replace it.....YIKES.....that we want to make sure we get our money's worth....However, I know we will...after the kids jump in for the first time of the year and we see the smiles on their faces...it will be so well worth it! :) As you can see in one of the pictures it has only half of the water out. Because it holds 30,000 gallons of water, it took 3 FULL days to drain it. You should have seen all the water in our neighborhood on the street....people were driving by really slow just to see where the water was coming from. (Makes me wonder how long it is going to take to fill it...and what it will cost?!?!?!) p.s. I will post pictures at soon as the new liner gets installed.

Enjoying the weather----

Yesterday it was so nice outside, so we all went outside to play on the swingset & trampoline. Andrew LOVES to swing and would probably stay out there all day if you let him. I am really looking forward to the spring & summer for more days like this.....

We were in the finals.........yea........:)

Rob & Linda Borchardt
Tra & Molly (a.k.a. GiGi & Pop)
Lauri & Darrell Colbert
Robin & Tracy Taylor
Heath & Tracey
Jeanne & Chris Ballard
Robby & Michelle Spencer


At our church, they do what they call "Home Groups". Some of the ones they have are a "grief" type group, a "youth" group, a "married" group, a "parenting" group and a few others. They started this in order for people to get together on Sunday evenings and fellowship since not many people come back to church that night. We meet twice a month at different people's houses. (We hosted the Christmas party, where we had over 30 people here.....normally EVERYONE comes to the Christmas one since we do a gift exchange!) It is from 5-7 and they provide childcare and pizza at the church in the Family Life Center for the kids. We do the "married" group that is our Sunday School class mainly that our S.S. teacher leads. She is so fun and creative and makes it lots of fun! (She is a teacher!) Tonight it was the "Valentine" one at my in-laws house. (Of course we ate............we always do that..........we are Baptist......lol). We played a game where we blindfolded our husbands and then we shook their hands and they had to guess which one was their wife. Then, the ladies got blind folded and the guys gave us a peck on the cheek and we had to guess who our husband was. Then we played the "Newlywed Game". Normally, every year Heath and I do HORRIBLE....You have to understand...Heath thinks way to hard....but this year, we did soooo good. It was alot of fun! We had 5 questions to answer and then two bonus question in case it their was a tie breaker...Here are the questions...ohhh I might add we had our back to each other....

1. Describe exactly what your spouse is wearing RIGHT now! (You would not believe how many got it wrong like what the shirt said or what color it is...it was funny!)

2. How many pairs of shoes does your wife have?

3. If your husband could do anything for a job that he LOVES and get paid for it, what would it be?

4. What is the address to the first house you lived in?

5. Which one of you, told you that they loved you first?

* BONUS *

1. When your wife wakes up in the morning, what is something of yours that is on something of hers......? (yes, you can imagine how much fun we had laughing to that one!!!)

2. What was the first movie that you saw together?

As you can see, it was alot of fun! It is really neat to get to "know" your S.S. members.....(in more ways than you imagine!!!).....We ended up in the finals this time and had to pick a number closest to the teacher's number, but we did not end up winning. However, we were really glad we went and look forward to next time. From now on we will do a Bible study about Marriage. We do a little lesson and then she gives us questions to take and answer as a couple. Each couple goes to different places in the host's house to discuss and talk about it and then we get together and discuss what we talked about. It is normally questions, that try to improve your marriage. I am so glad that Heath and I make it a point to go (plus I think it is important for our children to see us to continue to "work" on our marriage) and fellowship with everyone, not to mention that the kids enjoy playing at the F.L.C., so it is a win-win situation.

Love/Hate Relationship......

The other day I was sitting in my bathroom hot rolling my hair and normally when I am in there, Mackie always loves to come and eat at that time (I have no idea why.....maybe she get's tired of eating by herself?? lol) Anyway, I look up and Andrew is coming in behind me and walking around and playing in my bathroom. It is fun to play in there, because I normally leave the door shut in between my room and bathroom so he can not get to the food. (Don't worry...Mackie can get to her food thru the other door that goes to the Living Room.) Anyway, as I turn around to check on him, he is over there loving Mackie as she eats. I thought it was so cute, that I tippy-toed out to grab my camera in order to get some pictures of it. The reason I named the title of this a "Love/Hate Relationship"...is because Mackie does "love" Andrew because he shares his food with her almost everyday....but she also "hates" him because of course she is jealous every since he came along.......Oh well....can't win for losing I guess....

Should I be worried???

Okkk....after looking at the pictures of this....you will see why I made that my title! LOL These pictures are from Kelsey's Valentine's party at school on Friday. The one that colored the paper, Trevor is the little boy to the right of Kesley in between the her & Natalie. His mom came up to me at the party and asked me if I looked at the bulletin board in the hall. She said Trevor is crazzzzy about her! Kids are so funny! He is such a precious little boy!(Destiny is a 9th grade cheerleader there at Northside!) In case you can not read it, Kelsey's paper says that she loves: horses....she rode them at Camp Fire camp, her little brother jumping on her, jumping on the trampoline and science. I love the one of Andrew just hanging out all comfy on his sister's desk at her party. (I love how his little arm is up on the desk and his little feet are hanging!) Right after this picture was taken, he vomitted so bad EVERYWHERE!!! I think he got to hot and started coughing and it all came back up, because he was just fine after we got home!

Valentine's pictures

Here are some pictures that I took of Hayden and Kelsey before school on Friday for their Valentine parties. (I know...Hayden should have worn a red shirt, but he was all ready dressed and I think he looked nice, so I could not tell him!) The picture of Heath and I is one that Hayden took of us before the Valentine banquet that we went to on Saturday evening at our church. The one of Andrew is just one I took really fast as we were on our way out the door for a busy Friday!

My First Born

Here you go mommies- a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your your first born! Just copy and paste it into a new note for yourself!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes, kinda....I had just had my 3rd surgery for endometrosis and between that and being in a bad car wreck when I was younger, the doctor told us we might have a hard time getting pregnant & I might have a hard time carrying the baby because of some "inside" problems from the wreck. He suggested we get pregnant ASAP since it could take awhile and a week later we found out we were pregnant......so it "obviously" happened before we had talked with the doctor.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes....barely.....2 1/2 months

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Super surprised & nervous but so excited.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? I think 22....almost 23?

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? A home pregnancy test.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Heath actually was there with me when I took the test and we were unloading stuff from Walmart (where we got the test), so I went back downstairs to get more stuff and I come back in the bathroom and their was nothing, so I went to put the stuff away and Heath went in there and looked and I asked him and he said............"Nothing....still".......I finally realized he was joking with me! Then I called his Mom to talk to her, since I was in shock to make sure it could not be wrong!

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Ohhhh yessss. I am very impatient when it comes to stuff like that.

9. DUE DATE? July 12th, I think

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Oh my gosh yes.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Bacon sandwiches (and I still LOVE them!)

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Gaining weight, not being to sleep on my stomach and being so sick.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I wanted a boy.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN? Really? This question? Gosh, it has been a long time ago.....I think um, 30-35.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER(S)? Nope

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? N/A

18.DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Nothing besides being soooo sick.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? United Regional Health Care Systems, Wichita Falls, Texas

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? Woke up around midnight with a HORRIBLE stomach ache (we had ate at Taco Bell the night before.....need I say more....), then it went to a back ache, so I was in & out of the bathtub for a couple hours. I kept waking Heath up and telling him my stomach hurt really bad and he keep telling me to take some Rolaids or Tums. Then I decided to call the nurse @ the hospital to ask her if I could take something & she said I was in labor and to start heading that way (we lived in Vernon). Got there around 4:00a.m. and had him at 12:15 p.m.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Heath (who I might add...ate a Bacon Sandwich on the way in the car that he got from Allsups while he was there getting gas (long story!)............see question 11.................:(

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Just Heath

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Heck yea......Heath "wanted" me to try to go natural, but as soon as he saw me crying....well screaming......he changed him mind really fast. I had an epidural and it was WONDERFUL!!!

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs 1 oz.

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? July 10

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME YOUR CHILD? Hayden Travis Cardwell V (He is the 5th generation of H.T.C., so that is why he has the V in his name)

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 10 1/2 years old