It has been a while!!

I have totally been slacking at updating this... I have been totally busy trying to get ready for my trip. I have 21 days to go!! I can not wait!! I promise When I get home I will have tons of posts to show for it all!! The kids are on spring break right now... Not that we did anything with them. The time they have spent home they cleaned then the time they spent at Grandma's they did what they wanted! I will update more soon I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still around. I have just been really busy with Church, School stuff for the kids, Getting ready for vacation, and other things. 

Nothing is promised!!

A Friend of mine died over the weekend. It was VERY sudden and totally unexpected! We were not close friends. I actually dated him for a short time in High school and was really great friends with his brother during high school and his sister-in-law and I were BFFs growing up . I have a lot of nice memories of the time we spent together. He was a great guy! I am not going to get into what happened and how he died. His family is having an extremely difficult time right now ... understandably so! I can not imagine the grief that they are going through at this time. I am thankful that I know that when this life is over that we can still be together in the Heaven. I wish that his family could know these truths as well and I pray they will someday! I am saddened to know that his life was cut short and that he will never know the joys of having the children that he dreamed of, but I know that he is whole now. I pray that his family will find the comfort and peace that they need! 

Mormon Helping Hands

A couple of weeks ago we had the worst Ice storm this area has ever seen!!

The cleanup is still needed very much even today!

I can not believe how many trees were damaged!

Today our ward got together and put on the bright yellow shirt of the Mormon Helping Hands! It was so awesome to get together with the rest of the members of the church and provide service in our community.

I have heard about the Mormon Helping Hands in places like Utah and Colorado and California... But I have NEVER heard of them doing things out here!! 

We had quite a few Priesthood holders and their sons and even some of the Relief Society sisters ( myself included ). We went to assist members and non-members, young and elderly. While we drove from one pre-determined location to the other we looked for other opportunities to serve as well!! One house there was an 80 year old women who lived by herself and had a rather big yard. Her Yard was COVERED with downed limbs. I can not imagine what was going in her mind and what ideas she was trying to come up with to clear her yard. 

The best thing about it was.... When we went there you could see how discouraged and worried everyone was and by the time we left you could tell how totally grateful and relieved people were!  We used chainsaws, rakes, gloves, ladders and brooms... more importantly we used perseverance, love, and compassion! I have NEVER had a more meaningful and enjoyable day of service!! I will not be able to move tomorrow, because I can barely move now but I am thankful that I was able to participate in such an awesome experience!!

Signs of spring??

Just last week we had one of the biggest Ice storm in the history of 

Northwest Arkansas. 

We are still in the process of cleaning up after the storm. 

Today I noticed several signs of spring....

I noticed a Robin eating the bird seed that I put out during the storm

I noticed one lone Daffodil flower standing by itself!

If that wasn't enough the Ice cream man started making his rounds today!!! 

Are you kidding me?

Is it really that warm?

I THINK NOT!!!!

How nice of them!!

Some old friends of mine decided to pay for a Carribiean vacation for myself and my bestest friend!  You want to know who these nice people are??? 

That is right the IRS!!!

My bestest friend Angel filed her taxes and decided to pay for her and I to go on a much needed and much anticipated vacation. She decided a cruise would be perfect! Who am I to complain? I mean it is free on my part. She picked me out of all the people she knows.... because she loves me!

Today.... I got some awful passport pictures taken and then went to the post office and applied for my passport. Then we did some other errands that we needed to take care of then Angel got on the computer and paid for the trip. So it is official.... We will leave April 11th and drive to Galveston Texas then board the ship on April 12th.

April 12th is Easter Sunday. I feel super bad about abandoning my husband and kids and missing Easter.... BUT I really want to go, so we will just have plan something before I leave! I can't wait to go!!!

Ice storm 2009

Tuesday January 27 ...

We woke up to absolutely chaos.  The electricity was off and everything was icy! 

The last time we had a severe ice storm was in 2000. I didn't loose electricity during that storm and it was nothing compared to what we were in store for! Over the next couple days we experienced spotty electricity, loss of heat ( when we did have electricity), loss of phone service, and sadly loss of Internet!! 

Thankfully the apartment we live in has a gas stove and oven so that even when the electricity was off we were still able to cook hot food and keep the apartment rather warm! 

I did venture out a few times to take pictures and 

This is a picture of some of the limbs that broke off right beside our bedroom window!

This is a picture at the Asbell... The pine tree bent completely over.

I thought the ice was very pretty... It was absolutely beautiful!

You can actually see how much ice is on the branches.... 

These branches were actually rather thick!

All that Imanni did during her week long furlough was read the twilight series!

Kiannah wanted so bad to go outside, but once she was outside she didn't like it so much!

Asbell school driveway... Lots of cleaning to do after the storm!

Johnathan ventured out also.... More limbs that broke off trees littered the playground

I thought the Pine trees were absolutely beautiful !!

Straight forward and to the point!

Recently I was reading something and came upon this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley:

"In my 90+ years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out!"

I love how President Hinckley was straight forward and to the point about everything. He knew exactly how to speak to people and make them understand the importance of everything. I figured that a lot of people that I know could use this quote. It is a real testament to not stressing about things you have no control over and allowing Our Father in Heaven to be in charge of our lives. 

A lot of times our negative outlook and our stresses affect how things turn out... It is hard to always remain happy and content but Our Father in Heaven will always take care of things if we let him. I guess we can look at it as  Maybe Heavenly Father wants to do for us to just because he can... and if we don't whine and cry about it, it will get done but if we whine and cry about it... then we can do it ourselves ...I know I do that with my kids ... Maybe Father does that with his kids sometimes!