Emily

The Adventure begins

Saturday May 28th the family all meet in Hot Springs! We decided after some discussion to go to Lake Catherine for some outdoor fun!

There was lake swimming, but unfortunately I forgot my bathing suit. But I just swam in my clothes :O) Jennifer brought her suit but was foolish enough to believe we would allow her to wade in the clothes. Foolish wet sister :O) So mom had to buy both Jennifer and myself shorts so we could go hiking.

The path was pretty and all we wanted to do is hike the 1st third of the trail to get to THE WATERFALL!! As you can see Jen is a real swinger :O) heehawed

When we finally reached the waterfall we realized it was not so much a waterfall as a tricklefall :O) But there was beautiful nature all around!

This is just a cool picture and yes that in Jen and I slipping on the rock ~~ that was caused by my sister thinking it would be funny to try to lick my ear ~~ but we lived so that is all that counts. It was a fun 1st day!

Family Reunion

Sunday May 29th was the BIG family reunion and 90th birthday party for my Grandma Smith. We drove from Hot Springs to her home were the whole Smith side of the family was waiting.

This is the family reunion t-shirt that my mom designed and my sister Jennifer drew :O) It has everyone on there ~~ I thought the color was fantastic.

Here is Grandma Smith shining brightly on her 90th birthday (well her real birthday is June 3rd, but we are willing to overlook it) She got some great presents and her cake was beautiful and delicious :O)

Here are the Potter's ~~ the family just keeps getting bigger ~~ I only had to take 4 pictures to get this one that at least was decent.

The Russell's ~~ I took 6 pictures and still could not get a perfect one. But this one is as close as I could get ~~ this is my mom's sister's family.

The Smith's ~ I only took two pictures of this group and I think this one turned out quite well :O) This is my mom's brother's family!

The sat outside in the heat and grilled and sweated. The women talk and talk both inside and outside. The kids played with their toy provided for them for the reunion as well as a sand box. They had a lot of fun. We ate burgers and hot dogs, chips, and just had a wonderful time catching up. Though to really catch up one would have to have like a week, but what are you going to do. My mom brought a cow for everyone to sign. See my grandfather had a white bull he called Ole Oscar that I remember from long long ago. So we signed it to remember my grandfather who was there in spirit :O)

Explore Hot Springs

So here we are on Memorial Day ~~ it was the day to explore and see Hot Springs.

Unfortunately Mom woke up with a bad headache. So we had to get her some medicine and view the city without her :O( But she was not forgotten ~~ here is "the crew" beating up this piece of art that I have titled "THE TENSION HEADACHE" See mom you were not forgotten :O) We then went to the visitor center and toured and old time bath house just to see what things were like back in the day. I have some great picture, but one can only put so many pictures in one blog. I must say it was sad how much better the men's side was as compared to the women’s.

Then we walked along the Promenade and found the actual springs. The water came from the ground at 134 degrees!! So even on the hot day (and it was HOT) there was steam coming up from the water. Anyway as you can see the boys found the natural rock to be a lot of fun!!

Here are all the adults by the "Hot Spring" :O) we were going to have the boys in the picture but they found they had better things to do :O)

After that "the crew" decided to go for a "short, BUT steep" hike to the peak. It seemed like a good idea at the time seeing as it was only .5 miles ~~ but with the high humidity and my flips well about half way through Jen and I both wondered why we were crazy enough to do it. At the top of the peak was an observation tower which ended up costing $6 per person to go up in ~~ so we just took in the view from the gazebo. The land was very beautiful. We also managed to make it down before the rain started to poor :O)

We had a lot of fun but my legs are tired!!!

Random Pictures

I just thought that these were some cool, but random pictures :O)

Mom has always wanted Jon to get rid of that Ferri hat!!

CJ really loves Ole Oscar ~~ very cute!!

Here is Emma just lookinf cool!!

Scarborough Faire

Yesterday was Carmen's Birthday and so we (being Shawn, her boyfriend, me and Kane) took her to Scarborough Faire. For those who do not know this is a Renaissance Festival where people dress up in costume, there are jousts and shows, and of course lots of shops with unique things in them.

I though this was really cute ~~ the little dragon which you can find allot of at the festival.

Kane and Shawn decided to do some sword fighting. It was a narrow battle fought with much courage, but in the end . . . . well someone lost :O)

Of course this picture is just fun and I thought most appropriate :O)

Here is Carmen sporting a most becoming hat ~~ I thought it look quite cool with the hat and wings that I got for her :O)

Carmen and I also got our hair braided ~~ they did a very good job seeing as the braid is still in my hair today. Other then that we ate, sang, and shopped until we were all too tired to walk anymore. It was allot of fun and a good birthday if I do say myself.

Mother's Day Weekend

Well Kane and I went up to Goldwaite for mother's day weekend. We visited his family and just tried to relax :O)

Kane, his mom, and his baby sister Kharissa. She came down to visit all the way from Lubbock (yes funny isn't it?) We just hung out and talked.

Then we went to his Grandmother's House to see both his grandparents.

Kane's grandmother got a new little puppy. She thought it would be fun to try and play with Kane and the helicopter. It was quite cute. You know Kane says he does not like dogs :O)

Anyway we played catch-up and Kane had everyone watch King Kong ~~ which in my opinion in a horrible movie. I just can not enjoy it and I hate movies that leave you crying :O( But it was a great visit ~~ Kane and I roll on to the next thing.

The Boys come visit

Well Mom brought the boys to see me after preschool :O)

Kyle went fishing for cats ~~ and caught Punch more than once.

CJ had fun playing with the dinasaur and running from one room to another!

We had a fun time. We played with glow in the dark bracletes and found the cat under the bed. We also run down to the pool and looked at the water. Anyway it as fun for them and myself and Grandma got a little break!

Eureka Springs

Well after much planning and preparation my friend Chrissy got married this past weekend. Kane and I drove down to Eureka Springs Arkansas. I put together the flowers which I must say turned out well :O)

Though a little bit chaotic and having to change the location inside. Things turned out well and Chrissy is indeed now married, so that is all that is important. Here is a picture during the ceremony. My camera ended up running out of batteries and so I had to use Mom's. But it all worked out.

The area was beautiful and we had a great time. There were several very pretty shop and lots of artists. The hotel was wonderful! They brought us breakfast in bed in the morning, complementary wine and cheese and crackers, and cokes. There was a HUGE tub that could fit two people. We had a wonderful time.