Catch Up

Ok, the next couple of posts will be of things we did this past year. Since I finally downloaded the camera I have pics to go with them.

HELLO!!!

Sorry I haven't written in so long, but we have been quite busy here. I am leaving tomorrow for Arkansas where my dad is speaking in a pastors conference. The rest of the family (besides Nick) are staying home. We will be there till late Saturday and have not decided yet if we will try to make the drive home (8 hours) that night. We have already been to this church about a month ago when we went for their missions conference.

We had a fun time last Thursday when we went over to our grandma's for the NFL Draft. We stayed in her basement where she has a sweet set up with some beds and couches. It also has two TVs there, which we hooked our Xbox 360 and PS2 too. We watched the draft on her big screen TV and I was jumping off the walls when the Chiefs (my favorite team) pick Tennessee Safety Eric Berry who in my opinion is the best player in the draft. We had Papa John's for dinner and she had Ice Cream and other treats for us boys (Nick, Alex and myself) to snack on. After the first round of the draft we stayed up till 1:30 playing Indiana Jones on our Xbox 360 (We also threw in a little NCAA 09 and Madden 10).

The next day we had delicious waffles (made by our grandma) and got ready to go out with her. We went bowling and after having not so good of a game I finished with a 98 score. We also had King Louie's (that's the name of the bowling alley) chili cheese fries which in my opinion is the best out there. After that we headed to Target to gorge on their Jelly Belly selection. We all picked out the different kinds we wanted (My favorites are Sour Green Apple, Cappuccino, Sizzling Cinnamon and Dr. Pepper). As we snacked on our Jelly Belly's we dropped my GameStop to see if they had any good deals on their games (They have some pretty good prices). On the way home we got Taco Bell and I got their Chicken Quesadilla with a Pepsi (Coca-Cola can't even try to beat the taste of Pepsi).

We watched the second round of the draft before heading home and to my satisfaction the Chiefs picked up two more talented players in Mississippi, WR/HB Dexter McCluster and Alabama CB Javier Arenas.

Well, I better get to packing so talk to you guys again soon.

Please Pray

A friend of ours Jared Boyd has Cancer and is getting treatment at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. He is improving but I wanted to write this post and ask for prayer. Pray that his platelet level will not drop anymore so that he can finish his cancer treatments quickly.

CLICK HERE to get linked to his website.

An Update of a Fun Week

Well, we just got over a week long visit from two of Ally's friends. We had tons of fun and it felt like the week only took 2 days.

The Girls at Fritz's.

The first day we went to Crown Center Mall in Kansas City. For lunch we went to this really neat cafe called Fritz's. It is a restaurant where all your food is brought to you by a train that runs along the top of the wall. As the train is passing your table a little gate comes down and slides the basket full of food off the train and onto a little elevator to your table. When you order your food you use the phone next to your table to call in your order. Just for fun Nick ordered for us using a British accent and after he order he remarked "Oh, if you would...could you please turn down the music it is giving me quite a head ache". The man didn't say anything and then the music (which was rock) was some how seemed to quite down:-)

A Fritz's Menu.

After the restaurant we went through the mall and finished at the Chip Chocolate factory where they had big slabs of fudge. Only problem was that each one was 7 dollars so in the end we decided to share one:-) Also on our way out we took a walk through Union Station.

The Girls making funny faces while resting in the mall.

That night we played Ping Pong and had a delicious Cuban meal made by my dad. After dinner and ping pong we played 7-up which was quite fun. We finally went to bed at 1:00am that night.

A neat shot of the ball coming off my paddle.

Tuesday the girls went to Victoria Trading Company (a Victorian store) while my brothers and I watched the kids. After they got home we visited the Santa Fe Cemetery (it is located two houses down from our house) and got to see the grave that is labeled HORSE THIEF. After dinner we where about to start a movie when Kate (we don't know if it was an allergy or the flu) had to lay down and by night fall surrender dinner.

The Grave Stone.

The next morning the girl spent in Ally's room nursing Kate and using their computers (they all have one). After a while Kate felt pretty good again so the girls did some thing where you put chocolate, sour cream and other nasty things on your face (I didn't participate:-) which is some how suppose to help your face. That night we went to Church and the girls sang a special. That night when we got home we started our movie that was postponed by Kate's illness. We decided to show them the BBC vision of Wives and Daughters and as we finished the first episode Kate conked out:-) We soon woke her up and the girls decided, just for fun, to go over and sleep at my grandma's house (which is next to ours). So, at 12:30am we hauled over all of the girls stuff to our grandma's and then we went home and hit the sack.

Thursday Morning the girls woke early and went shopping at the Plaza (needless to say they couldn't afford anything since most clothes there rang in the hundreds). Meanwhile the boys and I watched the kids and helped the little girls get a tea party ready for the big ones. I helped Belle make Rice Crispy treats and biscuits. At 4:00pm the girl returned and they had the Tea Party. That night we got Pizza for dinner (although Kate kept to Banana's, Toast and Serra Mist:-). We also finished the remaining 3 episodes of Wives and Daughters and after the movie the girls went to packing. They finally got packed at about 1:30am and after that they decided to play PIT so we all went down stairs and played PIT till 3:00am.

Friday Morning we left for the airport at 8:00am (which meant everyone had to get up around six). We played Write a Story on the way there and once we got there we checked Tori in and got her to her plane. But while going through security she forgot to take her keys out of her pocket so she had to have a pat down by security:-). After that she got on her plane and we headed home again. That afternoon Kate and Ally talked until 4:30 when we had to take Kate to the airport. Kate had an uneventful security check and she got through fine.

All of us at the Airport.

Then we went home and that was the end of the week:-(

Note: We have not downloaded our other camera yet so I will post the other pics once we download the camera.

A Child's Faith

We where watching a movie about when Jesus ascended into haven when Joe (he is five) was wondering how (before Jesus ascended into haven) he kept appearing everywhere. So Ally told him "Jesus is everywhere, he is with daddy, Mamaw and us" to which Joey replied "Is there lot's of Jesus"? Then Ally answered "No there is only one". Then Joey replied "He sure most walk fast".

Travel Update

We just returned from Tennessee where we had a great missions conference. It was the first missions conference we have been to that was 8 days long. We had a really fun time despite being plagued with snow the whole trip:-) They did take us on (praise the Lord) which is good:-) We stayed in a Ladies house, while she stayed with some friends so we had the whole house to our selves which was very nice.

They have a Christian School at the church and a REALLY nice gym which I was able to play 2 games in. I had a total of 9 points in the game which wasn't great although I did sink a three right as I passed the half court line so it wasn't a half court shot but it was close:-)! I also had 3 steals in my last game and 4 rebounds which is ok since I was playing against a guy that was like 6 foot 3 inches and I am only 5'9. There was also a men's BBQ on Monday and Bill Rice the 3rd was the special speaker.

Then on Friday they had a missionary parade and after the parade each class did a funny skit and during each skit they would find a funny way to give the missionary's the money they had collected. In all the school collected 16,000 to give to the missionary's.

The rest of the week went great as well and we where barely able to leave because it snowed Sunday night and we had to leave early Monday morning.

But we are home safe now and off for two weeks until we go to Arkansas for our next meeting. Praise the Lord for his provision!

One of Many Family Pictures this Year

Names from left to right

Top Row: Josiah, Nick, Ally, Myself and Zachary.

Middle Row: Addy, Emma, Belle and Alex.

Bottom Row: Mom, Ben, Prissy and Dad.

PS: The reason some of us are looking the other way is because their where two people taking pic's at the same time. Also the reason Zach has his bottle in his mouth instead of looking at the camera is that as we walked to the wall to take the pic he fell and cut his lip (don't worry that's normal:-)