The trip to Knoxville

The following is a text that I received from Jamie today as he, his dad, his uncle, and his cousin traveled to Knoxville for the UT v. Memphis basketball game. It was so hilarious (and well-written I might add) that I had to share it. I had no idea Jamie had this type of writing ability...maybe he should start keeping up the blog since I am terrible at keeping it updated.

Anyway, the following is copied exactly from my cell phone...

It was that time. The time to head to the land of orange and white, God's country. After our usual stop at a fast food joint, the journey began. It started as always with a discussion about high school basketball and a prediciton of today's huge game. We then entered the interstate where I knew it would be just a short time and we would be there. A good nap was in the line for me.

All of a sudden I heard this pop, similar to that of a balloon busting, followed by a lot of air. I knew the food Uncle Marty had eaten had not had ample time to have settled -so he, for once, was innocent. The sound continued and it finally hit me- we have a flat tire. I wish I had had a video recorder. It was a sight comparable to a *(I think I better leave the comparison out)- we had to remove the tire.

This is probably the first time in our lives that you saw four guys swallow their pride and do what most guys don't do. Yes, we did it- we got out the instructions and began reading in hopes that one of us four rednecks could figure out how to remove the spare tire. After passing the instructions back and forth several times, we finally discovered where the wrench needed to be placed in order to begin the process of removing the tire. After 15 minutes, the spare tire was off. We then had to figure out where the jack needed to be placed in order to remove the flat tire. We put our brains together and decided the resting place for the jack. We were able to lift the van and remove the flat. We maneuvered enough to get the spare on. Guess what? Yes you guessed it- the spare tire was low- in fact, it was almost flat.

We were fortunate enough to have a device which plugged into the cigarette lighter and we were able to air the once-air-deflated spare tire to near maximum capacity. We were all frozen but could not have been happier to be on our way to see the Vols play.

Believe it or not, this all took place without any cursing, swearing, or wrenches being thrown!

You can imagine how many texts it took to tell the story. And if you know these 4 men who were traveling together, this story is absolutely HILARIOUS! There are a lot of comments I could make, but I think I will just keep my mouth shut. Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.

Catching up...

So it's been since October that I last posted...sorry. Things at our house have been busy and didn't leave much time for blogging. Actually there wasn't much to blog about. It seems like the past two months have been stressful and like our entire family has been in survival mode. I don't know how we get there, or if anyone else feels this way, but sometimes life seems to turn into survival instead of enjoyment. Get up, get ready, take the kids to the sitters, go to work, pick up the kids from the sitters, come home, cook supper, do dishes, give baths, read stories, put kids to bed, pick up the house, go to bed. It is so easy for me to get caught up in the routines of everyday life, that often times I forget that life is supposed to be enjoyable. I forget to "stop and smell the roses" if you will.

One of my New Years Resolutions this year is to do a better job enjoying life. I don't want to look back on this time in my life and have any regrets...I want to have fun, not take life too seriously, and make sure all of my family and friends know how much I love and care for them. I am extremely blessed with wonderful people all around me - I'm not sure what I would do without them. I want to be a more positive person- trying to remind myself to always see the glass as half- full instead of half-empty with streaks on the glass and a chip at the top. I know this won't be easy- isn't it always easier to see the flaws than the blessings of others?

I have greatly enjoyed my Christmas break from school. The girls are at such fun ages- we have had a blast! In fact I am not looking forward to going back to school on Monday...(more on that topic coming soon). This break has made me wish I could spend more time at home with them, but since there are bills to pay, I have decided that I must enjoy and cherish every moment that I am with them.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! Hopefully I will do better posting more often!

Since it's been so long since I posted, here are a few pics that were taken since Hallween- just to catch you up.

This was taken in Pigeon Forge, TN. Jamie and I went with some other couples from our church at the beginning of November and had a BLAST! So beautiful!

Karlie's idea of keeping warm and still looking good!

I know this is blurry, but it's my only picture of the girls in our first snow this winter. This was a present for my birthday- it fell on Dec. 11th and we got a snow day from school on the 12th!

Posing in front of the tree...Karlie kept checking out her big sis to see how she was supposed to pose. It was hilarious to watch her imitate Kinsley.

Karlie's favorite present of all- CHAPSTICK and lip gloss! We have to hide it from her on a daily basis.

Kinsley rockin' out to her Hannah Montana guitar...Karlie got one too. We are at Jamie's dad's house...do you think he likes UT?

Kinsley's first cake in her Easy Bake Oven.

Part of Kinsley's gift from us was redecorating her bedroom. We painted and got new bedding. Decorations are still in the works.

I have been feeling kind of crafty lately...so my latest project involved paint, ribbon, and Kinsley's boring white lamp shade. I think I'll keep my day job.