I've been everywhere man....I've been everywhere!

Wow...July has flown by and I've been doing some traveling!  I wanted to do a better job of blogging, but it has been busy around here.  I'll try to back up and recall the events of this month!  The second week of July was spent in Hot Springs attending the Miss Arkansas pageant!  One of our friends Miss Abby Turner was a contestant in the pageant and she represented her area very well.  Not only did she look beautiful, she was talented and smart as well.  She made the top 10, which is a great accomplishment!  Congrats Abby!  One of Natalie's sorority sisters Sloan Roberts won.  She too will be a great Miss Arkansas! Savannah enjoys going as much as I do.  Fun week watching all the beautiful and talented girls! 

The very next week we headed to Branson for a week of dancing!  It was Showbiz Nationals and Savannah's studio MKDS was competing!  I was so proud of each and everyone of these dancers...they were amazing.  They ended the week with 4 of their dances winning 4 1st places...I know crazy!!  Plus their musical theater number "Coffee In A Cardboard Cup" won the highest award, the Icon Award for best overall dance!  We also won the Sportsmanship Award! Excited to say the least!  We also did some serious shopping while in Branson.  My girls and I are really good at this "sport"!  :)

Sterling and Savannah....not use to seeing them with black wigs on!  Cuties!

Monsters...so funny to see them so serious!

Their trophies!!

Dancing Buddies...so proud of them!

Ms Karen and Savannah!  The best dance teacher ever!

The winners!!Yea!

Saturday, while in Branson, I got to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my cousins Teresa and Dina!  I had not seen Dina in 35 years and Teresa only  a few times in the last 30 years!  It was so fun to sit and reminisce about our years of growing up on Barren Hollow!  I enjoyed spending the day with them so much!  Hoping to do it again soon..not going to wait 35 more years!:)

When we got back from Branson we spent one day at home before taking off again!  We celebrated Paul and Jessica's birthday on Monday!  I love having everyone over for family celebrations.  I feel so blessed that our children live close! 

My sweet hubby's birthday!  This is his favorite chair in the whole house!

Matt and Jessica aka the birthday girl!

Ben and Natalie watching everyone opening their birthday gifts!

Paul and Ben showing off their new shoes they got for their birthdays!  Ben got his early...his birthday is not until September...but he needed this now!:)

Tuesday we packed up and left for a road trip with Savannah and her friend Eden.  Our first stop was Nashville, TN.  We started off going to the downtown area and seeing all the sites.  We had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.  It was my first time to eat there and the food was delicious!  The next day we spent the day shopping at the outlet mall next to The Grand Ole Opry!  It was one of the best malls ever.  We ate at The Aquarium.  Another wonderful meal...plus it was so cool to see all the fish and sharks floating around us!  That night we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  Rascal Flatts and Lauren Elaina were there just to mention a few!  I loved it!  I grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, but had never been.  I will definitely be going back!  That was such a fun time and wonderful memories for us!  The next day we left for Gatlinburg, TN and Asheville, NC.  We ate at some more wonderful restaurants and took in the downtown areas.  There was a festival going on in Asheville called the Bele Chere, pronounced (bell Cher).  We walked the entire downtown area and took it all in!  And boy was there a lot to take in!  Kinda reminded me of the 70's with all the hippies that attended the festival.   We had another great meal at Mellow Mushroom!  I think it was the best pizza I have ever eaten and trust me I've eaten a lot of pizza in my life.  If you ever get the chance to go to one you will not be disappointed! After Asheville, we headed to Franklin, TN.  The Harpeth Festival was the happening thing there this past weekend.  It was a bluegrass festival going on in the downtown square.  Lots of good food and arts and crafts. Again we had a wonderful meal at Pucketts on the square.  This place had a lot of character!  The weekends require a reservation and it stays sold out.  They have live entertainment Wednesday thru Saturday!  Such a neat place.  Sunday we headed back to Little Rock.  Home Sweet Home!

I love vacationing and I love coming home! ( Only the laundry is about to get the best of me!)  So much to do today that I must get off and get busy.  So thankful for this beautiful country that I live in!

The Olympics is going on now!  I am so impressed with these athletes dedication.  (Makes me want to compete...not really:)!)

Abundantly blessed...Lisa     (A few pics from the trip!)

The Smokey Mountains...breathtaking!

Rascal Flatts and Lauren Elaina

Gatlinburg, TN..such a beautiful town!

Grand Ole Opry...Savannah and Eden

Riding the ski lift in Gatlinburg!

Savannah and Eden at Leipers Fork...near Franklin TN!

Me, Paul, Savannah and Eden after the Grand Ole Opry!

Let Freedom Ring....

The week of the 4th has come and gone!  We celebrated the day lounging by the pool with some friends and then more friends and family came over for a fresh vegetable dinner that night.  Paul did not feel like grilling, since the temps that day were over 100 degrees.   He opted for a trip to the farmers market. Lets just say we  "ate good"!!  Our dinner included  fresh peas, fresh cabbage, fresh tomatoes, new potatoes in a cream sauce, cornbread and squash casserole!  I did some baking!  We had strawberry trifle and fruit kabobs all decorated in the spirit of the 4th....red, white and blue!  It was a very fun day!  Nothing like the sweet laughter of friends and family filling your home!  I did remember to take a few photos of the day!  I am trying to do better about documenting our lives!

Joy and Savannah keeping cool at the pool!

Savannah, Eden and cutie pie Miller!

My sweet, beautiful Savannah!

Miller kept us entertained all morning!

Lots of pool time!

Patriotic fruit kabobs!

Another angle of food...notice the cute table runner my sweet mom made me for the 4th!

These folks make me happy!

Strawberry Trifle..yummy!

These were delicious!

Pam and I!  I bought all the girls matching shirts.  I have this thing for matching patriotic shirts!




 Hope everyone had a blast celebrating our freedom!!

Abundantly free...................................Lisa

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!

Summer is flying by and boy is it ever HOT!  We have had record breaking temps that have stayed between 103 and 107!  The air is so hot!!  90's would be like a cool front now!:)

Father's Day weekend we spent at our cabin.  It was such a fun time that went by too fast as usual.  Matt and Jessica came up on Friday and spent the weekend with us.  Ben and Natalie came up only for the day on Sunday!  We celebrated on Sunday at Paul's brothers house with a cookout and big family get together.  It was Paul's dads 90 birthday celebration so we combined it with Father's Day!  It was fun to see everyone.  There are many new additions to the family...some we had not seen before.  At one point I could not count all the little bodies that were swimming in the pool.  Thank goodness it is a large pool!!

While we were there, I called my mom and asked if she would like to come down on Saturday!  She did so we (Savannah, me and my mom) hit the back roads to Mtn. View to see my cousin Lucretia's new home.  My Aunt Norma joined us in Mtn. View on the town square, where we enjoyed delicious food and lots of fun shopping.  The day flew by but we crammed as much fun into as we could!  We dropped off my aunt around 6:00 and headed back to the cabin where a delicious meal was waiting on us!  Paul is learning to make homemade tortilla's! We had fish tacos and boy were they delicious!!

While we were there, my brother brought the rest of our cabinets that he is building for the kitchen!  It looks so good!!  So thankful for such wonderful brothers and family!  

On the home front here, I have been cleaning out and freshening some things up!  It always feels good to move things around a little bit!  I keep trying to clean out....I have decided I have too much stuff!  There will be another garage sale in the near future!

This past week we attended the Ms Teen Arkansas pageant!   Two of Savannah's good friend were in it!  Raygon Sylvester and Laura Leigh Turner.  Raygon was 2nd runner up and Laura Leigh was the winner!  We enjoyed cheering the girls on all week.  They both did a fabulous job!  So proud of them!

Well today is the beginning of a new month!  As I've said before, there is just something about starting over.  I love new beginnings!  So this month, I am setting my goals for more family fun!

Abundantly blessed ...Lisa