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. :)

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!

Stone People

My friend and I went playing out in nature...we had a purpose, but we ended up just enjoying the nature spirits instead. I felt very connected, and with I had the drive to go out in the car and do this regularly...but I have to put it on my list of things to do...that's what you do with a family. Anywho! Tina and I came to this place, she said to me, you want to see something beautiful? I sat outside the gravel pit in my car wondering what I could possibly see that was so pretty? She said it's on top of that hill right there...so we, who were so rightly dressed in sandles, with no backs...plodding up a very steep hill, set about finding this beauty.

At first, I looked around and it was pretty, but then I felt urged to check out the rock itself. When I did, I saw all the faces in the rock, looking right AT US. Not just hey we're a bunch of faces, or what looks like faces...but faces looking at US. It was amazing. There were faces from many different walks of life in that rock. My favorite two ladies are in the top picture. They are definitely Native American. But there were all sorts of ancient faces, and I was worried that taking a picture of them they would disapear...but you can still see them! Or can you? Can you? If so, how many can you see...Let me know!