YEAHHH!!!! The "new" look.....

Well.....we can finally say we are finished.....finished and ready for swimming season! Here are the pictures of the pool. As you can see it "WAS" GREEN! We did not run the pump this winter since it is expensive to run and we knew we were getting a new liner the beginning of the spring! Here it is less 30,000 gallons of water...BUT lots of leaves. Here are the guys getting ready to put the new liner in. They also smooth any section that may have got rough! Here we are filling it up. It took over 50 plus hours to fill it up! If you would like to send donations for the water bill, please do so!! LOL Here is the new beautiful finished product!! Yeah...we are so excited! I think it changed the whole look of the backyard! We are looking forward to getting the deck restained, a bunch of potted plants and putting out the furniture to complete the new modern look! Then all we will need is our friends to join us and we will be all complete! Wa---laaa.....:)

So proud of him......

Here are some pictures that were taken while Heath was working on getting his auto sales license. It is a very lengthy and time consuming process. They are sooo picky! You have a checklist of all this stuff you have to do BEFORE you apply, like have a outside sign made. Not so bad huh???? Well except that the sign has to have certain things listed on it and the letters even have to be so many inches tall! You also have to take pictures of the inside of your office. It has to show that you have a phone, a desk & at least 2 chairs. You also have to have the hours listed on or near the door (you have to at least be open 5 days a week and for 8 hours). You also have to take pictures of all this stuff to send to them, plus TONS of paper work.....work history, our personal financial statement, the note on the building, your "floor plan" which is were you have been approved for loans to buy the vehicles, insurance, ohh and don't forget the $800 it cost to apply (then a yearly fee to keep it current), not to mention a whole bunch of other stuff. The sad thing is............what if they don't approve you?? You also have to wait at least 8 weeks to get your license in the mail & you can't really do anything until you get them, or they will fine you daily until you get it! Anyway....luckily that did not happen to him! I am so proud of him and all he is doing. We all know that Heath was born to be a salesman! I always say...."He could sell ice to an eskimo!" I keep waiting for him to trade me or sell me.....but he jokes that he can't....because he is too "upside down" with me!! lol His business is going so wonderful. We have been so blessed. It is always scary to go from a guaranteed income to ????, especially when he is the sole bread winner of 5 people, but Heath has done amazingly WONDERFUL. We have been so blessed! We both say we wish he would have done this a long time ago, but all the experience that he received in management was great too! We are all SOOOO happy that he LOVES what he does and is so less stressed! It sure makes a difference in a person when they like what they wake up to do all day. I pray that everyone could have a job like that! I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you have prayed for us or done business with us! We really appreciate all the love and support.

Princess Kelsey & Princess Natalie

Kelsey and Natalie were invited to a friend in Kindergarten's (their teacher's daughter) Birthday Tea Party so since Natalie was spending the night with us, they both got ready at our house. Natalie had to borrow an outfit from one of her cousin's friends. Kelsey had to wear one off of her old BIG BIG Barbie! She did have tons of dress up clothes, but now that she is getting taller, they don't fit her anymore. I would have been happy to go buy her a new one, but since she does not ever play dress up anymore...I did not think it was worth it! (They have a shirt under them because they are sooooo ichy!) Anyway, they went to the party and they had a great time so that is all that mattered....however, it is kinda sad since this is probably their last "dress-up" birthday party! Awwww......

You know you grew up in TORNADO ALLEY if.......

You know you grew up in tornado alley if...

The first thing you do if you hear tornado sirens during the day is check your watch to see if it's noon...or run outside to look.

You don't get worried unless the sky looks "green".

You use the word "tornado" as a verb.

You chuckle at all the facebook groups called "I survived the ___ tornado."

You might go indoors when there's a tornado, but you won't "seek shelter" for anything less than an F3.

You know what Doppler radar, Hook echo, wall cloud, and rain-wrapped all mean.

You've never exactly memorized the tornado precautions, but you've heard them enough times that you know them by heart anyway.

Watching the weather is entertaining. And red on the Doppler radar is exciting.

The phrase "Tornado on the ground, take your immediate tornado precautions" sends exciting shivers up your spine.

You've seen photos/videos of tornados and said, "Wow, that's a nice one!"

You can feel/smell tornado weather brewing a few hours before the storm actually begins.

There's an odd feeling as though you've misplaced something if you make it all the way to June without a tornado warning near you.

You think people that live in earthquake and/or hurricane prone areas are crazy.

You know what people are talking about when they mention the "May 3rd/Moore" tornado and the "Greensburg/May4th" tornado.

You watch the movie "Twister" just so you can point out all the inaccuracies in it.
When you hear the tornado sirens go off, you go outside to watch the storm and take pictures.

Most of the tornado video footage comes from everyday people with camcorders instead of from actual news/weathermen.

You're sure there's a giant tornado magnet hidden somewhere in Moore. And that there are smaller ones distributed throughout trailer parks.

You know that the four seasons are actually: summer, late summer, winter (if you're lucky), and tornado.

You don't consider it windy until the windspeed is faster than 30mph.

You are highly entertained by people from outside tornado alley when there is a tornado watch.

You learned that some other states don't have tornado drills from this list.

There's enough random stuff in your tornado shelter that you could live there for a year.

You stand under your carport or open your front door to watch hail and/or thunderstorms.

You know the difference between a basement, a cellar, and a storm shelter.

The weather is a completely acceptable subject for conversation, at any time, for any occasion.

Your local mall has "tornado shelter" signs posted.

It doesn't bother you the next day to find out that your area was under a tornado watch the night before and you had no idea. Unless, of course, it caused you to miss some interesting cloud formations.
You can get together all your most important possessions in 2 minutes flat.

When tornado sirens woke you up in the middle of the night...you rolled over and went back to sleep.

You've ever tried to reassure someone by saying that "if anything forms it will only be a little tornado"...and couldn't understand why this didn't calm them down any.

It's normal for your area to be under a tornado watch for multiple days in a row.

When looking at houses/buildings you give them a "tornado survival ranking". i.e., how big of a tornado it would take to destroy it. Also, if you are in a new building or house, you evaluate in your mind the best place to take shelter.

You've ever asked (probably w/ disdain) "Don't they know the difference between a warning and a watch?"

You know what towns/cities a tornado normally passes through before coming your way.

From watching radar maps, you've heard of almost every small town in your state. And you know what towns are around them, but you have no idea where in the state they are.

You laughed at everything in this list, but you also respect a tornado's power. And you know that after it's over, clean-up and re-building has to begin.

Getting to "play" in the basement/cellar/storm shelter numbers among your favorite childhood memories.

You keep matches, candles, and candleholders in more than one place in your house.

Your town will never get hit by a tornado because you're between two rivers or because an old Indian legend says so.

You complain about severe weather reports that interrupt the TV show you're watching.


****I found this and I thought it was way to funny not to post.....especially if you grew up in TORNADO ALLEY and you can relate to so many of them!!****

Coloring with Color Wonders Markers

Andrew likes to color so I thought if I bought the Color Wonders markers and book it would be perfect for him to do it on his own in his highchair while I am cooking dinner. So, the other day at Walmart we made it a special point to buy him one of his very own (he has colored on one of Hayden & Kelsey's before). The only way the markers work is if you color on the black paper. He liked it for a few minutes and thought it fun since he got to do it himself without Mommy's help, but then he wanted to turn the page and "try" to color on the white pages.....which did not work. Oh well, after a few more tries he "might" understand it only works on the black pages, however I can understand how it would be confusing for him to understand.....as it is for me to explain it to him how it works.

A Day at the Park with Andrew & Cooper

Last Thursday we had our Moms Club at the park. Here are a few really cute pictures that I took of Andrew & Cooper. I am so glad that they are only 4 mths apart in age. We are so blessed to live in the same town so they can grow up together......however, I think that Molly Beth and I are going to be in for a wild ride with these 2. It is so much fun to see them interact and play with each other. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for them both. My prayer is that they will always be close....

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.