Monday, August 23, 2010

My babies

I have wanted to be an aunt, probably as long as I've know what an aunt was. And being the oldest child in my family I always knew it could be a very long time before that would happen. But when I married my wonderful husband...Caden came into my life, and just about a year later I was blessed with Kinley. They are 2 of my favorite little people in this entire world. I absolutely love and adore them. I can't ever get enough of them! They have changed my life in so many ways already. They make me laugh, and completely melt my heart.

Caden has an imagination much bigger than he is. His little laugh is so contagious . He is SUCH a boy and loves to jump and run and fight and wrestle....and then just when you least expect it, he gives you a big snuggle and tells you he loves you in the sweetest little voice.....He is growing up way to fast, he is way to smart...and turns more and more into a little man every time I see him. Kinley is so adorable. Her big blue eyes are so incredibly beautiful. Her little spirit is so sweet. She's a really good eater just like her aunt Cassie :) She is so much fun and loves to run around and laugh and play and snuggle. She's such a good baby and is always so happy! I miss them so much and can't wait to see them in December! Right now it just seems to far away and I'm sure they will have grown up way too much...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Banana Cupcakes


Great Grandma Schurter's recipe...I have LOVED these ever since I was little....The only way to eat them is to tear off the bottom...eat it first and save the top for last.... :)

1 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Shortening
2 eggs
Mix

1t. Baking Soda dissolved into 1T. hot water

Mix w/ 4 medium bananas mashed


Alternate 1 1/2 C. Flour and banana mixture into shortening mixture.


350 F for 20-25 minutes


*45 minutes if putting into a loaf pan

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Arkansas so far.....

Well we are here in Arkansas! And have been for about a month. So far........it took us about 30 hours of driving to get here(a bird just smacked into the back window and scared me to death! I checked on him....He's ok! ) anyway.....Michael came with us and helped drive and move in, he was a lot of help! It was so good to have him here with us and made the transition just a little easier on me. It was still really hard....but I'm doing ok!

So.....Arkansas.....its really green....HOT and humid....I think I have sweat more this month than I did all last year. There is no such thing as peace and quite here, the locust never stop buzzing, and they are REALLY loud! I have seen some armadillos, although none of which have been alive yet.....we went to a fish fry, have met some great friends and some interesting people :) had a scary spider crawl across my lap, we've eaten some good BBQ, I saw an opossum wandering across our yard, I had a girl tell me the other day she could tell I was from the north because of my "accent" :)which made me laugh and...Joel started school yesterday!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

To Grandma's House We Go!


After driving clear across the country and getting somewhat moved in we headed back to Kansas and took Michael to the airport, sad day :( and then spent a nice relaxing week at Grandma Hyson's house. She lives in the middle of nowhere....and I love it! It really feels like I go back in time and time slows down there. On our way we stopped at Uncle Bobby's house. We got to see his remote control cars and matchbox car collection....the picture I have is just a very tiny portion of his collection! He has soooooooooooooooo many!!Then we were off to Grandma's! A wonderful week filled with quick scrabble, swimming, long dusty dirt roads, looking through piles of neat old family pictures, good food, knick knacks, crossword puzzles, sitting out under the stars listening to all the locust and catching lightning bugs, rumikub, the chicken shack, a flat tire, rhubarb cobbler, listening to old stories, thunder storms, frogs, lizards, turtles, and lots of creepy crawly things, watching huge spiders spin huge webs.....
The world's most delicious chicken....

This Spider would spin a huge web from the tree branches to the ground, just to cut it down before morning and start all over again the next night.....This is Tina....isn't she sweet......


This is the house grandma grew up in, just a few miles from where she lives now And this is the house grandpa grew up in not too far from Grandma's, such beautiful houses.....

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Whole Hog

Our first little southern BBQ adventure was to the Whole Hog Cafe. They had cute little pictures all over of baby pigs in little wagons, and sitting in little chairs with little sweaters on and little sunglasses.....which kind of made me feel a little bad for eating a pulled pork sandwich......but.....I got over it and it was delicious!

Monday, August 9, 2010

28 hours to Arkansas.....

First we got to stop in Utah to spend the night with Byron and the kids....sadly we got a way later start than we thought we would and the kids were already in bed :( So we only got to play with them for a couple hours in the morning....they were so cute....

Then on to Wyoming...................Colorado................I was pretty impressed with my photography skills, holding the camera and shooting while driving 80 MPH....dangerous? Maybe......but it was a long drive......Kansas......................
Oooooookalhoma.................
And Finally......a little blurry....but..........ARKANSAS!!!!!!!!
This one made me laugh.....oh Arkansas.........