Saturday Night Lights!

Joshua is playing football for the second year this year. Small town Arkansas (and Oklahoma) football is something that you can only understand if you experience it. It is intense to put it lightly. It is taken just as seriously as the Arkansas University game that had been played earlier that day. Joshua's game this weekend was "under the lights". It was so fun to watch him and Joshua enjoyed it as well. I think it made the boys feel like they had hit the "big time". Joshua was especially pumped up because Brandon had made the trip over to spend some time him and watch his game. Neely, as well as several other small girls, had their cheering attire on, watching the big girls do it for real. The whole scene was very fun, and nostalgic. It made me very happy to be here in Vilonia, raising my kids in a small town. The boys won their game 14-12 and celebrated at our McDonalds (which is the other half of a shell gas station) when it was over. We packed the place! It was a great evening for everyone! Here are some pic and videos of our night!

Thank Goodness for Home Teachers and Retreats

I thought about a really long post explaining the small miracle that took place in our home over the past couple of weeks, but decided on a summary, cause the other was getting just to sappy....but I want my Heavenly Father to know how thankful I am for His love. The past 8 months have been some of the hardest of my entire life, and our family has moved 3 times in less than a year. This migration has left me feeling very isolated and alone in our struggle. This attitude has been extremly hard on my personally. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from my new home teacher's wife setting up an appointment for him to come see us. My initial response was "Oh, great.", since I had been avoiding anything "churchy" for the entire summer, due to my extremely bad attitude about moving AGAIN, and having to try and "make nice" with ANOTHER new ward. So anyway, our home teacher comes, and I immediately like him. He is kind, quiet, and immediatly understanding of our tough situation. He also mentions that I should get to know his wife and that we sound like we have a lot in common. A few days later she calls and invites me to lunch with herself and several other women in the ward. I pulled myself out of my comfort zone and went. I had a great time and decided to attend the Relief Society Women's Retreat for our ward a couple of weekends later. My immediate concern was what to do with my kids. I tried to get my mom out, but all the flights were full (she works for United) so that was a no go. Then my home teacher's wife volunteers him to watch my kids for the night, I accepted, even though I think he was crazy, and went to the retreat. It was exactly what I needed to mend my wounded spirit, and my Heavenly Father knew that. I didn't have any reverent or spiritual experiences, but I laughed and cried with a unbelievable group of women, and left hoping I could call many of them my friends. My Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to keep going at just that moment in time. I know I am truly a Daughter of my Heavenly Father, and he know me just as well as I know my daughter. He knows my weaknesses, and knows how to work around them to get me where I need to be, and I am SOOOO thankful for that. I have no idea who I would be without that knowledge. All of this because my Home Teacher's wife sent an email. So, thank you to my Home Teacher (the Thompson's) and their love and help, Janae' for reaching out to be my friend, and to all the wonderful women I met this weekend at the retreat. I look forward to being a bigger part of the ward and getting to know you better.

Donan

Diet Update

The diet is going great! Staying motivated....but with all the kids' activities, I find myself eating out more that I should, and of coarse I ate way tooo much at my women's retreat this weekend, which I will update you on tomorrow. As of today...29.5 lbs off! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Neely's 3rd Birthday!

NEELY OPENING PRESENTS
IN THE SANDBOX WITH OUR NEIGHBOR ASHLEY

BLOWING OUT HER CANDLES
YUMMY!
OPENING HER NEW DRESS FROM GRANDMA CHAPMAN

Neely's birthday was a hoot! We celebrated with our family, and some of our new neighbors. We had a PINK princess party. We had a princess cake from Baskin Robbins, complete with pink bubble-gum ice cream. I even bought a dozen pink roses for the table centerpiece. Truly a girly event. She has been asking for a sandbox with pink sand in it since she played with her cousin Haylee's back in April. So we found the sandbox, the pink sand, and all the fixins. We set the sandbox up in the backyard before the party, and she accidentally noticed it while daddy was BBQing our dinner. OPPS! So she played some before the party. Then during the party, I had taken all the sandbox toys, and put them in one of those giant gift bags. She opened a few other presents, and then we let her open the big one. She opened that thing up, and as soon as she figured out what they were, she got the most astonished look on her face, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door! We had to stop her because she had more presents, cake and candles still to go, but she could have cared less...she was soooo excited about the sandbox toys. Our neighbors still tell me that when they think about it, they still laugh. Anyway...here are a few pictures from her special day. Enjoy!

Our Trip to Denver in July

Grandma and Grandpa Trefry recently visited and brought my camera back to me. I had left it there when the kids and I visited in July. So here are the pictures from that trip. We had a great time. We swam a lot in mom and dad's pool, went shopping, and spent a day in Copper Mountain riding the alpine slide and chair lifts. We also spent one afternoon shopping with Lori and came across some water fountains. Neely quickly decided that they were not for looking but rather for playing. It was late in the evening and beginning to cool off. There are people in the background having dinner at a restaurant, who just got a hoot out of watching her. Luckily we were still in the middle of potty training, so I had an extra set of clothes with me in my purse to put on her when we finally drug her away. Enjoy!

Love Ya,

Donan

More Colorado Pictures

Here are pictures of our day in Copper Mountain. We had a great time, but I was certainly dissappointed with the scenery. The pine beetle kill all over the mountains of Colorado has become a real problem and is effecting the beauty. It was really a sad thing to see...but we still had a great time on the alpine slide!

Pictures, Pictures...anyone want a picture?

I spent the whole day...and I mean whole day...going through and grouping photos by date, occasion, person, etc. Up until today, they were just scattered everywhere on my computer with my true intention being to organize them someday. We today was the day. My computer recently crashed and thanks to Brandon, they were all in one folder so I used some software I had and....Bodda-Bing!! Organization at my fingertips! So for all my loved ones out there...if you see anything you love and want me to send it directly to you so that you can print and frame or whatever...just let me know. And now that I am organized I will get back to adding to Grandma Chapmans picture book.

Love Ya,
Donan

Here Goes Nothing!

Inspired by my new friend Janae', I have decided to try this "blog thing". I have enjoyed reading hers and have wished many times in the past that I had an outlet to send pictures and news to our families. I tried the myspace thing, but there is no room to post daily thoughts, activities, and complaints. (I added complaints so when I vent about things, you will all be ready :) ). Anyway...welcome to our crazy life, and inside my crazy head.