She Might Even be a Rock, uh, Country Star

From the time she was a baby, Alysa grew up hearing and seeing her older brother, Perry, play the guitar and drums, going to his gigs and developing her very own desire to perform. She use to grab the antique popcorn popper by the fireplace and pretend to strum it like a guitar while she sang along to her favorite songs on the radio. She got a beginner guitar several years ago for Christmas which we thought would probably satisfy her desire to learn to play. It was just one of those things every child dreams of.....for a while.....and then moves past......we THOUGHT. She kept nagging us, though, so we'd been telling her we'd get her a guitar and start her on lessons since before we moved to Kentucky. In the back of our minds we were still thinking it was just a "shallow" want, not anything that would really last. But her persistence has continued and with all the young talented artists on the scene today, we decided if she was willing to seriously pursue it, we'd do what we could to support her, just like we did for her brother. So yesterday when Mark got off work, we made a surprise visit to the music store and purchased her first real guitar (a Hanna Montana) and signed her up for lessons, to begin this coming Monday after school. She is absolutely tickled. The guy at the music shop let her choose a bunch of picks she liked. She keeps them all ligned out on her dresser, least favorite to favorite, and has already chosen the one she is going to take with her when she plays at the Grand Ole Opry (that would be the dark purple one on the far right). Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, friends. 'Cause one day you just might hear and see our sweet girl playing and singing her heart out on stage.

Movin' Right Along

As many of you know, we are building a new house. We are so excited to be doing this together. It is a real adventure and something we've wanted to do for a long time. I want to share our excitement with all our friends and family by posting periodic updates of the progress being made each week or two. The project was started sooner than we expected and every time we visit the sight, we are just amazed at how much has been done since our previous trip. Looking around at how this thing is going up, we are continually scratching our heads at the skill it takes to be in the construction field. When there are things like basements and "tall crawls", the work seems so much more involved than starting from a level cement slab, which I could visualize a little easier. Anyway, here's what's been done so far, 3 weeks in to the project.

A Mother Venting

Almost any of you reading this know my sweet Alysa. She's 8, almost 9, and in the 3rd grade this year. She made wonderful friends last year with a little girl she met on the playground who was not in her own class. We'll call her "H". They have remained best friends and were both heartbroken when they didn't get the same teacher this year either. There is a third girl ("L") in "H"'s class who wants "H" to play with her more and Alysa less. "H" promptly stated she didn't want to. She wanted to play with Alysa because they are best friends. "L" said, "Well, Alysa's a "B"." And she spelled out the entire word, not just the first letter. "H" told us about this and Alysa's heart was broken. Of course, she knows that "L" is jealous of her friendship with "H". But it still hurts to know someone you really don't even know, or anyone at all, would say such a mean, hurtful thing about you. I am appauled that these young girls (well, SOME young girls) are treating others like this and using names like that. Of course my fist desire was to get the girls' phone # and tell her parents what she'd done (along with snatching out a little hair from the girls' head to teach her a lesson). But I know that doing that would just promote more contention than there already is. So I don't know if I should talk to the girls' teacher so she can inform "L"'s parents, leave it alone or talk to someone myself. Of course I know Alysa and "H" should invite "L" to play with both of them when they're together and that might eliminate some of the ill feelings. But I also think that this little girl should be taught that names like that are unacceptable and hurtful. I was just floored and hurt for my baby girl and needed to vent - and maybe get some feedback on what the best thing to do would be. If you have an opinion, please send it back to me. Thanks for listening.

Ramblings in My Head

Well, let me just start this out by saying, "It's Niki's fault!" Yeah, that's right! My friend, who kept me entertained and quite busy on a daily basis for several months in a row, up and moved back to Utah and left me aaaaaaall alone! School is back in session and I don't know what to do with myself!! I have no one to plan my fun and activities! Oh, I'm sure if I looked around I could find those boring, tedious CHORES to do. But, really, who wants to do that? And besides, there's no one to talk to while doing them. I find myself lingering a little longer at the gym every day, no rush to get anywhere. But the good news is I'm getting more toned, physically, from being at the gym and working so hard there, which is a goal I've had for a loooooong time. Now if I could just give up those darned DQ Blizzards! But the gym has become my social outlet now. I can see, if for no other reason but the socializing, how exercising can become addictive. I have gotten hooked. But I know if it were just me all by myself, I'd probably eventually give it up. Just thoughts swirling around in my head.

My Sweet Alysa

A week ago today, our sweet Alysa started the 3rd grade. It is so hard for me to believe she is growing up so fast. I do believe all the fresh air and sunshine was just like fertilizer for her this summer. Because she seems so much taller to me. Plus, she recently lost the other top front tooth, making her look so much older, without all those tiny baby teeth. She's loving school, making new friends and seems to be right at home here in Kentucky. She loves to read (thank heavens!) and likes science and math too! Dare I dream that will last through the duration of her school years? She's such a beautiful child, inside and out and I just can't imagine life without her sweet smile and bubbly personality.

Briley Zane

Let me apologize ahead of time for "flipping out the photo album". I just had to include some more pictures of my new grand baby. He's just too sweet to keep to myself! The one of his foot we called his "glow toe" as it had a red glowing monitor tapped to it. Awwwww....so sad. He also had a little IV and board taped to his hand. It broke my heart. But I know it was to help him get better.....which he is!!

I'm Baaaaaack! Whew!

It's been a long 2 weeks and so much has happened. I'm just going to recap, rather than make this go on forever.

• July 26 was Marks' 45th Birthday!! Alysa and I were gone that day, so we celebrated a few days early by inviting a few friends over for grilled brats and ice cream cake from the DQ (which was very tasty, I might say).
• Drove to Texas (13 hour trip) and spent the first few days with my mother, who left the following Monday for the MTC in Utah. She has since made it to Sacrament, CA and seems to be loving it. She has a brand new apartment with her own room and bathroom, says the people are very friendly and is really enjoying her companion. I think this mission is a huge blessing to her.

• Barely got my mother off and my grandmother (91 years young) had a severe drop in her heart rate and ended up in the hospital. They wound up putting in a pacemaker, which put a little color back in her cheeks! She hasn't forgotten the doc telling her she should be able to go dancing!! This is a pic of 5 generations, including my grandmother, my dad, me, my son, Wes and his daughter, Skylar. I think this is awesome!

• Of course my main reason for making the trip to Texas was to welcome my new grandson into the world. However, that was not meant to be right away and we were beginning to fret and ring our hands because he just wasn't cooperating with our time frame. So we filled our time with activities like going to the park to play, visiting all the animals at the zoo, hanging at the mall and playing guitar hero in the AC. The temperatures there were 100+ degrees with a heat index of 106/107. I'm talking hotter than haites, downright miserable, shirt drenching HOT!!
  

• So we started getting so worried that we wouldn't get to meet Briley before we had to come back home that I decided to fast about it. Tuesday morning, Aug. 5 we went to Wendy's Dr. appt. and found out nothing had changed....she was still dilated to a 3 (they wouldn't induce unless she was a week overdue and they wouldn't keep her unless she was at least a 5). Bummer!! Even though we were all a little down about the lack of progress, we went through with our plans for the day. We went to Gilmer and visited my grandmother (out of the hospital and staying with my aunt). By now Wendy is having contractions, although we were all a bit guarded with our excitement because she'd already had 2 dry runs and the doc had just told us nothing had changed. So we continued our journey over to Longview for my FAVORITE pizza on the entire planet. This was actually my second trip! This is where things started getting serious. We had eaten our salads and the pizza had pretty much just arrived at the table. Wendy took one bite when I noticed a tear trickle down and she said "As soon as we finish eating, we probably need to go to the hospital." I knew she was in some pain, so we didn't wait. We threw the pizza in boxes, paid the bill and blazed a trail to Tyler (about 40 miles). By the time we arrived at the hospital, Wendy was sick from the meal she'd just eaten and graciously returned it (that was a joke). Wes got a wheel chair and took her upstairs while I took Alysa and Skylar back to their apartment to get needed clothing and cameras!! They checked her right away and we found out she was dilated to a 7!! I barely made it back when she decided she needed to make a trip to the ladies room. But, alas, the nurse would not let her go before being checked again. Upon doing so, we found out she was at a 10 and had a bulging bag, which they promptly erupted. Within 3 minutes of that event, Briley was born!! It was, without doubt, one of the most spectacular things I've ever witnessed in life!!! From the time we got to the hospital to delivery was only 1 hr. 45 min.!! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. He is absolutely scrumptious!! He had a little fluid in his lungs, so he stayed in the Special Care Unit until Thursday (allowing Mark to get a special "compassion" airplane fare) and came home on Friday, where he quickly bumped up his feedings from 2 0z. every 3 hrs. to 3 1/2-4 oz. every 4-5 hrs. What a miracle! We're so glad he made it here safe and sound...and in time for us to fall in love with him before we had to come back to Kentucky. They're a beautiful family and we're so glad they're ours!!

• We get back home on Sunday evening (Mark was home earlier because he flew!). Monday was "Meet the Teacher" open house for Alysa at school. She'd been invited to go putt-putt and to the batting cages with a friend. Then we head to the school to meet her new teacher and found her best bud is NOT in her class - BOOOOOOO! But she sits right beside one of her other gal pals, so she'll be fine. Then we went to eat at Frisch's Big Boy - something Mark and Alysa had really been wanting to do. The food was OK, but we probably won't be making many more trips there. At least we got the picture with Big Boy, which was what was really important!
  

• After dinner, we made a trip out to our new home site, where they'd begun the excavation. They will be laying the footers for the crawl space on Wednesday (same day Alysa starts school), so we are really excited!! If everything continues to go well, we could be in our new home by Christmas! Yeah!!!