Hey Y'all!

We just got back from our trip to Arkansas on Sunday, and enjoyed our trip...this whole experience is so bittersweet for me, cause I have been looking forward to change, but then when it happened I realized that I'd be leaving people behind! So, I'm excited about new, but sad to leave behind old and dear. We leased this great house in Bentonville for a year, and please say many prayers for our house here to sell quickly...I would greatly appreciate it, and anyway there is a 4th bedroom in it, for our guests! :)

Adam had the awesome idea of putting David's bed into the 4th bedroom, so we can sleep as many as 3 people in there! I was like give me 5, like 5 times for that one...great idea! We just need a new futon mattress for the bottom and we're good to go! (we have one, it's just really flat) The boys have picked their rooms and the house is so close to everything...10 minutes from work and high school, and like 5 from the middle school. Very cool! So, since we cinched the house up on Saturday morning that left the rest of the day to explore and stuff.

We looked at Beaver Lake and Adam's boss showed us where he'll be working and also the huge fitness center that is like $15.00 a month for employees, and went to the mall in Rogers. I want to show you what we saw! :) Much love, Jill

This is D trying to give me a heart attack, by sitting at the edge of this platform overlooking the valley we saw. It was just beautiful!

This is what we saw! See the big bird? Can't tell if it's an eagle or hawk, but it's awesome. :)

J and Ad pretending to be an explorer - lol :)

This was a lone sailboat on Beaver Lake. Very peaceful there.Beach area of Beaver Lake. People playing volleyball. This is the bottom of the Ozarks right here.

South Rogers Shopping Center. Much like Geneva Commons. The boys had fun running around.

This is the house we're renting for a year. Pretty huh? I'm standing by the car on the street! Lots of hills in this area. Has a forest across the way from us on the other side of the neighbors.
This is the kitchen in the house. Nice tile and granite...Not a huge kitchen, but who said I was a cook? lol...actually, I'm going to look into some light cooking classes. Hope I find some!

This is the living room. There is no family room, but this is a nice sized room. Our flat screen, when we get it, will go on one of the 2 walls perfect for it :)

Jacccuuuuzzziii tuuuuuubbbb :)

This is the corner of the back yard, looking at the covered deck. It's nice and cozy on that deck :)

There was this subdivision there...and they had these castle looking houses in it! Medieval doors...you know wood with iron crosshatch on them...Adam thought they looked like Hansel and Gretel homes...I think Jacob will be going to school with kids from this subdivision, and we joked what if they come to school wearing medieval garb, wouldn't that be awesome?? lol

Bentonville HS, brand new this year, 9-12, almost 3,200 students and really awesome! David loved it.

This is only part of the campus. That red building is where the 9th graders mainly take classes. They also have a huge band room, choir room and gyms in this building.

This is J's more understated Middle school he'll be attending :) lol...it's connected to the elementary school. It's a 5-6 grade school, so next year he'll have to switch schools again. :)

Friday night game :)

So Friday night was Big D's first high school marching band night...and it was his last with DeKalb, so we had to be there taking pictures and videos...it was bittersweet!

Congratulations Jena and Steve!

My nephew Steve and his sweet girlfriend, Jena are having a baby boy and are due October 10 :) The same day my David was due! He was born on the 19th, but I'm guessing this little one will come on the 14th. So yesterday was the baby shower and it was amazing! I have never seen so many people and so many presents...they are really blessed! Best wishes kids!

When Jena first walks in. It was supposed to be a surprise, but she found out anyway :)

Only SOME of the people :)

Only SOME of the presents!Another view with Sherry, who had the daunting task of writing down all the gift givers and presents :)
Getting ready to open :)

Chelsey helps out with passing the gifts over and looks on with the other girls :)Sherry tells Chelsey to smile cause she'll probably see herself on my facebook :) lol

Here they open Gramma Carolyn's gifts - they enjoyed the album, pillow, blankets and onesies :) Thanks Gramma!!

Smile Gramma Chrissy! HA HA

Day before the First Day of School

So, yesterday was the last day before school started, and Adam wakes up and says "We should do something today..." We talked a bit and decided on Starved Rock. Starved Rock is a state park where you can hike, fish on the river, go on boat tours and rent canoes and boats and the like. It was bought as a state park in 1911. It's called Starved Rock, because approximately 40 or so Indians starved there. Very sad.

Here are the boys leaving the visitors center...we're going to get some bait in town.
David and Jacob, set up ready to fish on the river. The current is strong, and many people are speeding by on wave runners and boats...I couldn't imagine any fish hanging around, but we tried it anyway.
This reminds me of fishing on the river as a kid. I used to go fishing with my dad and grandma.
The current was so strong our lines kept crossing, no matter where we started out from. I gauged my bobber running into Jacob as taking maybe about 30 seconds to do so, so we were constantly reeling in and recasting. After 15 minutes of this the boys lost interest and went exploring. Jacob found a shell. :)
Pretty soon we all got bored...and went for a walk...this area was nice and warm in the sun, and very relaxing.
Finally Ad let the boys wade in the water and a barge comes down the river.

Here it comes :) What do you suppose is in it?

Finally, the first and only catch of the day :) A pretty fish...but it swallowed the hook and it was hard for Ad to remove....r.i.p. little fish.

All in all a very relaxing and enjoyable day. :) Today, the boys both were excited and woke up early to get to school. I hope they had a great day!

Band Camp!

Ah, those days of watching my brother in high school marching band are gone, but it's ok, cause my oldest, Big D, is going into high school and we are back to the awesomeness of marching band once again!

Last week was "band camp" where the kids got together and learned parade marching as well as the routine for the field during football games. :) It's all very exciting and David is happy cause he knows mostly everyone in band already. I really like the idea of band. They get to learn focus in learning an instrument, while also making some pretty close friends in the process. J starts band this year, and we're hoping he gets as much fun out of it as D did...but we'll see! Enjoy the videos, and pics from the Friday night gathering where parents got to see what the kids learned. :) Love, Jill

Above, Big D in the center, playing his mellophone, below is the mellophone line :)

Baker watches the band :)

Here is a video of the french horn line marching forward :) Fun stuff!

4th of July Fishing!

I was feeling sorta blah on Friday...I didn't want to do much of anything...it was so strange! I didn't want the boys to go off somewhere, but I didn't want to go anywhere...poor Adam, he didn't know what to do with me...well, I decided to go and take a shower at oh, 1:30 pm, and when I came down the boys had decided we would all go fishing...not wanting to rain on any parades, besides I love fishing, I decided that was a good idea.

I also decided it would be a lot of fun (after some prodding from Adam) to rent a boat and get on the lake and do it instead of fishing from the sides (there are a lot of weeds on the sides...) So, we rented a motor boat and headed out :) It was a beautiful day!! Nothing better than a nice day of fishing on a lake. Cheered me right up. I also decided to bring the camera, and we had fun with it...taking pictures of the day...

This is me telling Jacob how to operate the camera...this is the result of that instruction...and of course David in the back with his instructions too...

David decided to be obnoxious and continuously remove my hat, so I decided to be obnoxious and hit him with my hat...served him right.David's first fish of the day...he ended up with 4 total for the afternoon :)This is Jacob's first catch of the day...baby croppies :) He ended up with 3 for the day...the lurers they were using worked well for them :)This is David's purdee fish :) I really liked him.
This is Jacob's big fish...and he was fanning out his fins, so Jacob wanted a picture of him :) Dang, now I can't remember which fish came first...oh well, it's a pretty fish anyway :)

My only fish of the day :) It's sure pretty though, and I think I beat out Adam's only fish of the day below, har dee har har! I was using worms...not lurers, so that's my excuse :)
Jacob ruminates on the day...and spins some tales from his creative mind. :)

David and Jacob got to drive the boat around the lake before we took it back they had fun :)