For whatever reason people go to Heath a whole bunch for marriage advice. Maybe it's because he's a pastor. Maybe it's because we really like each other. Maybe it's because he's really smart. Whatever the reason, they do it.

What I don't get is why they never do what he suggests! He usually says the same thing. Read some books, here are some good ones. He has even given some of our books to them. Get rid of your satallite or cable. Quit doing so many activites outside the home. Start a family Bible time. Stuff like that. Nothing hard or dramatic, just a few simple things.

No one has ever done any of them. It's insane.

And the more insane part is that then they come back with the same complaints a couple of months later. When he asks how the first things they did worked he finds out they never did them. So why do they come back??

Weird.

I guess they think his marriage advice is going to be eat a bunch of candy??

I'm going to try to start bloging again....again

We just wrapped up a great weekend. Friday night we pitched the tent in the backyard. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and I baked cookies and made hot chocolate and we had a good time around the fire. Then everyone except for LillyAnne and myself went to sleep in the tent; We stayed in the bed. Saturday we woke up and went to Silver Dollar City. The weather was perfect and we took a cousin Caitlyn with us. Caitlyn spent the night then this morning we woke up and went to church where Heath was preaching, then went to Olive Garden for lunch, spent the afternoon shopping at consignment and thrift stores and then came home and I took a nap. When I woke up Levi had a fever of 102 degrees. His throat is sore and his head hurts. And I'm not even mentioning the INSANE STOMACH VIRUS we all (except LillyAnne) suffered through last week. :(

PS. I just spell checked this and could not believe my eyes....marshmallow is actually spelled like this. I spelled it marshmellow. I certainly don't call it a MARSH-MAL-LOW. This is odd.

I'm 32!

I'm 32 now. It's official. My birthday was yesterday. It was a great one. We went to Dixie Stampede. I have been wanting to go to Dixie Stampede since Heath and I had our honeymoon in Branson. It was just as wonderful as I thought it would be.

Last week was VBS. We live about 30 minutes from the church so we just dropped the children off and ate out at Applebees (because it's close to the church) every night last week. Yes, it's excessive, but we said it was for my birthday so that made it all okay.

Then on Saturday (my actual birthday) I said I wanted to eat out again. Heath laughed but complied.

We all went to Cheddars and got the huge delicious piece of chocolate cake, and it was big enough for us all and we still had some left over. We probably wouldn't have had any left over if Londyn had eaten any. Londyn doesn't eat sweets very much.
Is she my child?

Heath gave me three books. Londyn gave me 6 roses. Luke and Levi gave me a new recipe box and some pretty new recipe cards.

It was an AWESOME birthday! I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and for the way he treats me. He really is the best.

funny stuff

I was talking to Luke about dental hygiene and how important it was. I mentioned that in a few years he was going to have to get braces.

He said, "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
I said, "Don't you want nice straight teeth? How are you going to get a beautiful wife with snaggeld up old teeth?"
He said, "Well, maybe I will get a wife with snaggled up old teeth."
I said, "You want a wife with snaggled up old teeth?"
Luke said, "If I have to."

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice.....

This morning we hat cinnamon toast and turkey bacon for breakfast. I held LillyAnne in my lap while I was eating. When I was done I looked down and said, "Oh! LillyAnne is covered with cinnamon and sugar!" Luke said, "Well...that's what little girls are made of. It must be leaking out." What a sweet boy!

true friends

Katie and Reuben came to visit us for a week in MO! It takes true friends to travel 13 hours just to spend a week with you in your hovel. (that's what I call our new, less than magnificent house)

We had a blast! They got here last Saturday and left on the next Friday. Here is a basic run down of the week:

Sat.-We met them at Cheddars (my favorite restaurant) and then went to White Water for a splashing good time!

Sun.-We took the children to Jump Mania, Bass Pro and then we all went to eat at Lambert's (home of the throwed rolls)

Mon.-It was Independence Day. We stayed home all day cooked out and watched fireworks in our back yard. It is a prime viewing location.

Tues.-We went to Dixie Stampede!!! This was a big deal. I had been wanting to go for 11 years. It was my birthday present and it was FANTASTIC! All those billboards were right! It really is Branson's most fun place to eat! (at least the most fun place I have eaten)

Wed.-We went to Cheddars again and then just visited the rest of the day.

Thurs.-We went to the library and then to Olive Garden

Fri.-Katie and Reuben left at 6:00 in the morning. It was sad.

That was the shortest week EVER!!! We had so much fun and it was so good to see them again. Now we won't be seeing them until Thanksgiving. What a blessing it is to have good friends! I can't even say how wonderful last week was!