Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Reuniting Keaton, Madison, and Jonathan on our Wonderfully Fun-Filled trip to Missouri this past weekend. Wow, Madison has sure sprouted and I was so
happy to see that her Mama has finally let her grow out those beautiful locks of hair!
I smell trouble, I smell serious trouble!! You never know what
is going to happen when these two boys are together. Jonathan and Keaton met at Sunday School at Westside Baptist Church some 4 plus yrs ago, went to pre-k together, moved from Missouri on the same exact day......although, for some reason God decided to have them move the furthest direction east to West Point New York, and moved us almost the furthest direction west to Fort Lewis, WA. We met them in the middle for this trip, what fun these boys had! Some things never change.......

Jonathan and Keaton measuring one another up. Don't let the picture fool you though, Jonathan might be a head taller, but Keaton has some serious bite to back up that bark ;)

My dear friend Teresa Pollman surprised me at a small surprise Bridal Shower given at Christi's house on Friday evening. Jonathan and I came back from the Rolla water park and there she was! Could not have been more pleasantly surprised. Teresa, hands down is the GREATEST mother I have ever met!! She is a great example of a Beautiful Christ Loving Woman who is by far the most optomistic and positive creature on earth! The two of us also had the opportunity to run the Volkslauff 10K Marine Run the following morning on Post in the Womens Individual Race, what fun we had catching up together after on the bus ride!
My dearest friend Misti (Mother of Keaton and Madison) and a GREAT FRIEND. She is such an inspiration for so many reasons and words just can not express how much I miss her. We were friends prior to our husbands deploying to Iraq together and kept eachother great company while they were gone. Under the circumstances, it was one of the best and most difficult of my 31 yrs, but we certainly made the best of it. The two of us & Our Children had great fun together. I continue to battle it out with up above about as to why, why, why we were moved so far apart ;) Misti always beautiful, and always gracious put together most of this bridal to due.
This picture is of the Westside Baptist Church Famous Ms. Barbara Laughlin (who does it ALL), Misti, Myself, Christi, and her twins to come......soon! Sophia Claire & Sienna Grace
So, yet another friend traveling from afar to Missouri too......, Ms. Amy Sharp once Missouri bound, traveled with her 4 and husband from Texas! Amy is so sweet, so soft spoken, and has patience that I will never obtain ;) I haven't seen Amy in two yrs, and it was as if it were just yesterday! Her newest addition, Baby Aaron was such a joy!!

Christi and I at her Dazzling Baby Shower. Christi is 7 1/2 Months pregnant with twin girls, doesn't she look great!! We had so much fun staying with her yet again on this trip to Missouri. Yet another precious friend of mine, she keeps me laughing and on my toes! She received so many cool gifts at the shower that her dear friend Kelley & Dawn threw for her. It was much fun, and I so much enjoyed helping her put together the gifts in her pink & black nursery! It's Darling!
Gunner, Keaton, and Jonathan up to absolutely no good at the Waynesville Park. Look at the color of Jonathan's face, is it obvious that we left 60 degree weather for 105 degrees & 100% humidity with the heat index. His poor face is the color of a cherry.
Triple Trouble!!!
Brooke, Jonathan, and Brianna! Jonathan just loved babying these girls (Christi's daugthers). They just loved all three sharing the recliner and watching mornin cartoons!
Ms. Patsy, Meg, and Mr. Pete.....all former co-workers of mine that met up with me for lunch on the post on Friday. Oh how Patsy makes me laugh with her stories. She is now retired and she told me of a story this time about how her husband fell out of the tree with his chainsaw in hand and landed on her neck and knocked her out just weeks after she retired. She said she thought as she smacked the ground "this is the shortest retirement recoreded in history" ;) She is just hillarious, I wish I was sitting next to her again and working. She is the one person I have met that loves Ice Cream as much as I do. We often ate some for an afternoon treat at work in the "good Ol days" ;) Thank you all three for a great lunch and conversation.
Now, does it really get better??????? Why YES it does!!!! These two ladies with me at CRACKER BARREL are Kathy Baker (my first Government Boss at Unit Movements) and Angela Solorzano (the first person I met when I got to Fort Leonard Wood, and the person who got me my position in Civil Service). Kathy is now working at SDDC at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, and Angela who works now on Fort Hood, TX. We all three met for Breakfast in St Louis, MO!! Kathy is the sweetest Woman on the Planet, she really is! And, Angela is the kindest!!! I miss them both terribly as well, it was so womderful to see them again. God blessed me tremendously by placing these two Women in my Life as soon as I moved to Missouri. Angela and I still talk almost daily and I sure hope that we all will be able to meet up again soon!!!!

Jonathan and I had fabulous time on trip to Missouri, Big Hugs and Kisses to you all, I love you all dearly!!!